BONUS: The Real Odysseus (Greece Occidens 3)

Did the Odysseus of Homer's poetry really exist? Whether or not he did, Classical Athens had its own, real-life trickster-hero: Themistocles. Like Odysseus, Themistocles engineered victory in war by a combination of cunning and bravery. Even after the defeat of Persia, Themistocles continued to guide Athenian policy using deception and misdirection to achieve his aims. His life is chronicled in a number of sources, including the "universal history" of the 1st century BC historian Diodorus Siculus.

In this New Humanists+ bonus episode, the third installment of the "Greece Occidens" megaseries, Jonathan and Ryan read and discuss Diodorus Siculus' Bibliotheca Historica XI.39-43, 54-59, the account of Themistocles' odyssey in the years after the Greco-Persian war and leading up to the Peloponnesian War.

Diodorus Siculus' Bibliotheca Historica:  https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Diodorus_Siculus/home.html

New Humanists episode on Nietzsche's Homer's Contest: https://newhumanists.buzzsprout.com/1791279/episodes/13949908-nietzsche-homer-and-cruelty-episode-lvi

New Humanists episode on Nietzsche's The Greek State: https://newhumanists.buzzsprout.com/1791279/episodes/14044549-compassion-versus-classical-antiquity-episode-lvii

Music: Subway Cell by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com