BONUS: Will Athenian Civilization Die Tonight? Artwork

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Join the hosts of New Humanists and founders of the Ancient Language Institute, Jonathan Roberts and Ryan Hammill, on their quest to discover what a renewed humanism looks like for the modern world. The Ancient Language Institute is an online language school and think tank, dedicated to changing the way ancient languages are taught.

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BONUS: Will Athenian Civilization Die Tonight?

Subscriber Episode • June 22, 2026 • Ancient Language Institute

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Complaining to Sparta about Athens' growing power and its breach of a peace treaty, Corinth sought to rouse its reluctant Spartan ally to arm itself and declare war on Athens. The cautious Spartan king Archidamus replied in a circumspect speech that no one should expect a quick victory. Archidamus feared, he said, that the Spartan men assembled to vote on war would simply leave the war as an inheritance to the next generation: "Do not be led on by the hope that if we waste their country, the war will soon be at an end. I fear rather that we may leave it as a legacy to our children."

In this New Humanists+ bonus episode, the eighth installment of the "Greece Occidens" megaseries, Jonathan and Ryan read and discuss Thucydides I.56-88.

Thucydides' The Peloponnesian War (Landmark): https://bookshop.org/a/25626/9780684827902

Thucydides' The Peloponnesian War (Hobbes): https://amzn.to/4vesx75

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