The Western Traditions Podcast: Recent Episodes
robertpaxton
Abram rescues Lot. Melchizedek celebrates a type of the Eucharist. A look at Jewish, pagan and Christian ceremonies. The identity of Melchizedek. The long life of Shem, son of Noah.
A look at the great counterpart of the Roman Republic: Carthage. How the Phoenicians colonized the Western Mediterranean and what little else we can learn about this ancient culture that the Romans destroyed completely by the end of the Punic Wars. A meditation on child-sacrifice in ancient cultures.
The history before history. For most of human existence, there was no such thing as writing. Yet our ancestors did leave records and remains that we can study to learn more about the human past.
History and prehistory. Before the dawn of writing, the human past is shrouded in darkness. The episodes of the Ancient World explore events before and just after the rise of civilization.
The Romans expand beyond their central Italian limits. In the 4th and 3rd century BC, they conquer their enemies and allies in central and southern Italy. They are led by consuls like Publius Decius Mus, who sacrificed his own life to give Rome victory. But every Roman soldier shows himself to be both valiant and indomitable.
The stories of three heroes of the early Roman Republic: Coriolanus, Cincinnatus and Camillus. The struggle between the social classes is known as the Conflict of Orders.
In the eighth episode of the Roman series of the Western Traditions Podcast, we embark on a journey back to 509 BC when the Roman Republic was born from the ashes of monarchy. Discover how the Senate, patricians, and consuls shaped the nascent Republic amid a tumultuous landscape of political intrigue and warfare. We delve into the military might of early Rome, its societal structure, and the legislative foundation laid by the Twelve Tables. Brimming with tales of valor, justice, and social evolution, this episode unveils the resilience and strategies that propelled a small city-state toward greatness.
The introduction to the Western Traditions podcast. The Great Books of the Western World and the Bible. The great men and women of western civilization.
The seven kings of Rome. Numa Pompilius succeeds Romulus. The line of kings ends with Tarquinius Superbus. Some background on Roman institutions, practices and vocabulary.
The story of Romulus and Remus. With the capture of the Sabine women, Rome expands territorially and biologically. The birth of the glory of Rome.
The Table of Nations. The Tower of Babel. Introduction to Abram. Genealogy and numerology in the Bible. God brings diversity to humanity.
Our souls are deathless, but nothing retains its own form. Thus speaks Pythagoras in this long and winding tale that combines ancient myth and history. Through a Roman lens, we read of Jupiter, Juno, Neptune, Hercules, Ulysses and more, coming right down to the advent of the Roman Empire.
The gods through the eyes of the earliest Romans. The Indo-European religious inheritance. Jupiter, Juno, Mars, Minerva. The precision and discipline of Roman religious practice. The ties to early Christianity.
God chastises the world with the Flood. Only Noah and his family are spared. A breakdown of symbols and morality in the flood narrative.
Pyrrhus, Greek king and general, fights the Roman tide that threatens to wash over the entire Greek world. The Seleucid Empire and Ptolemaic Egypt flourish and endure. The Maccabees revolt in Judea and start the Hasmonean dynasty of kings in Jerusalem.
Alexander the Great dies and leaves behind a fragmented world of multi-cultural states led by Greek soldiers. The Hellenistic period which follows brings western ideas in to East. More than anything, it paves the way for Eastern religions, like Judaism, Buddhism and Christianity, to infiltrate the West.
Alexander the Great at the Battle of Granicus, the Battle of Issus and at Gaugamela. Jerusalem and Gaza. The Temple of Ammon in Egypt. His horse Bucephalus. His strategos Parmenio. Darius III flees to the East.
The youth of Alexander the Great. His strange mother Olympias. His friends Ptolemy, Nearchus and others. Cleopatra , Darius III and the fall of Thebes.
Virgil writes of Aeneas and the Trojan origins of Rome. The tale is both distinctively Roman and notably Greek. Heroes such as Odysseus and Achilles are recalled, as are monsters such as Scylla and Cerberus. The relationship between Roman mythology and Greek myths.
Phillip II of Macedonia. Alexander the Great. The Sacred Band of Thebes. A brief digression on Greek sexuality. Olympias. Leuctra, Mantinea, Chaeronea. Epaminondas. Pelopidas
Who is rewarded by the school system? Who benefits from the regimentation? Who benefits from the system of alienation? The child who sits still. The child who is quiet. The child who keeps his hands to himself. The child who doesn’t ask to go outside. We are trained to be docile from day one.
Pythagoras, Euclid, Archimedes and more. Over the centuries, the ancient Greeks separate Mathematics and other fields of study from philosophy.
The Aristotelian contribution to Greek Science. Defining first principles. Substance, Accidents and the nature of being.
Asking questions about your reading projects to increase retention of information. The power of handwriting. Avoiding negative input during the early stages of learning.
The blood of thy brother cries out to me from the earth! The typology of Abel and Christ.
Socrates envisions a just society in which men and women are equals, and all are suited perfectly for their station in life. But is the cost of this just society too high? Censorship, lies and eugenics in the philosophy of Plato.
From his jail cell in Athens, Socrates makes his last argument in defense of the immortal soul. Death as separation of body and soul. The essences of Beauty, Justice and more. The perfection and purity of the soul.
Adam and Eve listen to the serpent, and suffer exile from Paradise as a consequence. Adam, Eve, the tree and the serpent prefigure Christ, Mary, the cross and Satan.
Xenophon disregards the advice of Socrates and joins the army of Cyrus the Younger. When Cyrus dies in combat against his brother, Artaxerxes, King of Persia, Xenophon and others lead ten thousand Greek soldiers on a long retreat home.
Made from earth, and from each other, man and woman meet in Paradise. The meaning of marriage. The eschatology of Genesis.
The creation of the world in seven days. Allegory and Anagogy. The textual loop of Scripture.
Socrates stands trial for impiety. The Apology and the Crito. The similarities between Socrates and Christ.
Aristophanes mocks and derides the latest developments in Athenian society, and lambasts the motives for the seemingly endless Peloponnesus War. His play, The Clouds, takes aim at Socrates and all philosophers.
Native Americans are the real westerners. As an outsider, in this series, I investigate the history and culture of more than ten thousand years in the Americas.
Implementing the Western Traditions Podcast as a personal curriculum. For homeschool or for adults.
Introduction to Socrates and Plato and the tetralogies of dialogues. First Principles. Post-war Athens. Analysis of Plato’s dialogue Euthyphro.
The Bible is our book. No matter which religious tradition to which you belong, even if you are non-religious, this is your book. This is your patrimony, just as the Iliad and the Odyssey and the works of Aristotle and Plato are your inheritance.
On the periphery of this online cemetery, we grubby humans rifle through the garbage, looking for a movie on Netflix or flicking past several hundred TikTok’s, all the while, beyond the gates of the graveyard, the bots replicate and babble to one another - the animated, digital ruins of a society that once built pyramids and dared to cross the oceans in ships powered by the wind.
Alcibiades finally comes to power. Lysander leads Sparta to victory. The long walls of Athens come tumbling down.
The mystery religions of Ancient Greece: Eleusis, Orphism and Christianity. From the Kykeon of Demeter to the Eucharist of Jesus.
The Proto-Indo-European diaspora pours into Italy in the Second Millennium BC. Meet the Etruscans, the original nemeses of the Romans.
The West and Christianity have become almost synonymous. This podcast series explains that process and also provides exegesis of the entire Bible.
Ray Kurzweil, immortality, resurrection and the technological singularity in the year 2045.
The proud Athenians invade Sicily only to suffer inglorious defeat and annihilation. Nicias and Demosthenes executed. Alcibiades in exile.
One quarter of our food keeps us alive. The rest keeps doctors alive. Medical science in Classical Era Greece. The works of Hippocrates.
They say that every man thinks about the Roman Empire at least once a day. But does the Roman Empire still exist? Are there still Roman emperors?
The Spartans surrender at Pylos The rise and fall of Brasidas and Cleon. The Peace of Nicias.
All is the one. All is a perfect sphere of being and we are all a part of this One, as is all matter and all time and thought and sensation. All is the One, whom forever exists, born from out of eternity, changeless and infinite.
From the card catalog at the University of Arizona library to the apocalypse of the human race. The introduction to the Technological Singularity.
The playwrights Sophocles and Euripides. Focus of tragedy on the Trojan War and Heracles. The role of women in Greek tragedy. A review of Medea, a play by Euripides. The catharsis of Greek tragedy and its impact on Western Civilization.
Greek drama. Aeschylus and some of his plays: Agamemnon, The Persians and Prometheus Bound.
It begins at Epidamnus but only after conflicts at Potidaea and Plataea are all the cities of Greece brought into general warfare. The Plague of Athens. Pericles’ Funeral Oration. The death of Pericles.
The meta-series of the western traditions podcast. Here we take a look at issues both from the past, and those that await us in the human future. Topics include things like: the technological singularity, gender issues, UFOs and aliens, Universal Basic Income and many more.
The Greek counterattack begins. Athens and her allies form the Delian league. The power struggles of Xanthippus, Pausanias, Themistocles, Cimon, and Pericles.
The final episode of the Persian War. The Athenians and the Spartans defeat the Persian invaders. Victory in Europe!
The Greek fleet makes a last stand at sea against the Persian armada. The rise of Themistocles and Aristides. Xerxes flees Greece and leaves a garrison under Mardonius in Europe.
Xerxes comes to power in Persia. A huge army invades Greece. Themistocles rallies the Athenians. The Greek allies stand at Thermopylae. Leonidas and the 300 fall in battle.
The Persian War begins. The Histories of Herodotus. The Battle of Marathon. Darius and Miltiades.
The many lands of the ancient Greeks. Mystery religions, Greek sexuality and the hoplite warrior.
From Theseus to Solon and Pisistratus, the complex, chaotic history of Athens unfolds. Prelude to the Persian War.
Plutarch’s essay on Lycurgus. Laconia and Lacedaemon. The Spartans, their government, their lives, their army. Leonidas, Gorgo and Thermopylae.
The Greek polis or city-state. The city of Thebes and the tragedy of Oedipus. The value of the state and the importance of politics in classical Greece.
Homer’s second great epic poem about the long-delayed return of Odysseus from the Trojan War.
A wedding attended by gods leads to disastrous war among men. The Trojan War is a fundamental event for all ancient Greeks.
More Greek myths. The sexual conquests of Zeus, tales from Crete and the stories of heroes such as Heracles and Perseus.
The first episode on Greek Mythology, beginning with the creation of the world out of chaos and ending with the advent of the twelve Olympian gods.
The New Kingdom. Egypt, under the leadership of men and women, such as Ramses II and Hatshepsut, reaches its final pinnacle of achievement before declining one last time into the background of history.
The descendants of the early European farmers found a unique civilization on the island of Crete and prepare the way for Greek culture.
The Middle Kingdom of Egypt. Renewal and flourish. The evolution of religious belief. The Hyksos take power and bring Egypt to another intermediate period.
The Hittites take over the Anatolian peninsula in the 2nd millennium BC. The first Indo-European speaking power takes the stage and meets with the Egyptians and the Mesopotamians.
The story returns to Mesopotamia. Here, in the early second millennium BC, Babylon rises to power. The episode further considers societal and technological developments for all of mankind at the height of the Bronze Age.
Old Kingdom Egypt. Great kings and great pyramids. Egypt makes its lasting mark on human history.
The land of milk and honey. Natufian culture transitions over thousands of years into the Semitic Canaanite culture of the Levant.
Another civilization springs up alongside the Nile River. But before there were pharaohs, there was a lot of history in Egypt, from the Paleolithic to the opening of the Bronze Age.
A semi-legendary tribe, far to the north of lands previously described, expands into Europe and Asia carrying language and culture that will be passed down all the way to the present.
The Natufian culture, the Rise of Jericho and Catal Huyuk, Neolithic religion and the cult of the skulls.
Great floods, the Younger Dryas Impact and the Toba eruption all present obstacles and challenges to the survival of early modern humans.
Early modern humans begin to work with copper and then bronze as their societies change and expand.
Early modern humans adapt to a changing world. The Natufian culture rises in the Levant. The developments of agriculture and domestication create the foundations of the world in which we live today.
Early modern humans begin the transition toward the Neolithic, tracking smaller game, experimenting with agriculture and building Gobekli Tepe.
A review of the first portion of the Stone Age - A time in which our ancestors emerge from many diverse groups of archaic humans and spread over the planet, replacing all these others.
The development of life from single-celled organisms all the way to the earliest ancestors of man.
This fourth episode finally jumps into the historical timeline - starting with the creation of the universe.