Alastair Blanshard

Yes, yes, yeah. I mean, as fools go, it's how you want to do your fool, I think, really. I mean, within a couple of decades, actually, Athens will be back. And that's because Sparta gets too ambitious and itself falls foul of its own ambitions. It gets involved in a kind of coup in Persia Cyrus, the son of Darius, decides to become a usurper.

When Darius passes on the kingship to Cyrus' older brother Artaxerxes, Cyrus doesn't like this and thinks he can make a better job, and so brings the Spartan forces to join him in overthrowing Artaxerxes. Sparta itself will get itself, through its own ambitions, caught up into all sorts of things. Out of that turmoil, Athens will see an opportunity to rise.

When Darius passes on the kingship to Cyrus' older brother Artaxerxes, Cyrus doesn't like this and thinks he can make a better job, and so brings the Spartan forces to join him in overthrowing Artaxerxes. Sparta itself will get itself, through its own ambitions, caught up into all sorts of things. Out of that turmoil, Athens will see an opportunity to rise.

When Darius passes on the kingship to Cyrus' older brother Artaxerxes, Cyrus doesn't like this and thinks he can make a better job, and so brings the Spartan forces to join him in overthrowing Artaxerxes. Sparta itself will get itself, through its own ambitions, caught up into all sorts of things. Out of that turmoil, Athens will see an opportunity to rise.

Yes. And I mean, I think really what ultimately will, of course, sort out everything is, of course, the rise of the Macedonians. But what you never have after the fall of Athens is that strong kind of bipolar nature of the Greek world. The 5th century is a century of a bipolar world of very dominant Spartans, Peloponnesian League, and Athens and its empire.

Yes. And I mean, I think really what ultimately will, of course, sort out everything is, of course, the rise of the Macedonians. But what you never have after the fall of Athens is that strong kind of bipolar nature of the Greek world. The 5th century is a century of a bipolar world of very dominant Spartans, Peloponnesian League, and Athens and its empire.

Yes. And I mean, I think really what ultimately will, of course, sort out everything is, of course, the rise of the Macedonians. But what you never have after the fall of Athens is that strong kind of bipolar nature of the Greek world. The 5th century is a century of a bipolar world of very dominant Spartans, Peloponnesian League, and Athens and its empire.

If you go through to the fourth century, what you see is it's much more bitty. You see at some point, Sparta is in the ascendancy. At some point, Athens is the ascendancy. Thebes suddenly comes out of nowhere. Thessaly has a go. Jason of Pharaon.

If you go through to the fourth century, what you see is it's much more bitty. You see at some point, Sparta is in the ascendancy. At some point, Athens is the ascendancy. Thebes suddenly comes out of nowhere. Thessaly has a go. Jason of Pharaon.

If you go through to the fourth century, what you see is it's much more bitty. You see at some point, Sparta is in the ascendancy. At some point, Athens is the ascendancy. Thebes suddenly comes out of nowhere. Thessaly has a go. Jason of Pharaon.

And then eventually the Macedonians come and sort everything out. But the fourth century is complicated in a way that the fifth century isn't in terms of geopolitics. And I think if we talk about the fall of Athens, I think that's what we're talking about is the idea that there are only two players and that what the end of Athens does is it opens up the space for all these other players.

And then eventually the Macedonians come and sort everything out. But the fourth century is complicated in a way that the fifth century isn't in terms of geopolitics. And I think if we talk about the fall of Athens, I think that's what we're talking about is the idea that there are only two players and that what the end of Athens does is it opens up the space for all these other players.

And then eventually the Macedonians come and sort everything out. But the fourth century is complicated in a way that the fifth century isn't in terms of geopolitics. And I think if we talk about the fall of Athens, I think that's what we're talking about is the idea that there are only two players and that what the end of Athens does is it opens up the space for all these other players.

And eventually, of course, we'll create a situation which will allow Macedonia to come in and reach its ascendancy.

And eventually, of course, we'll create a situation which will allow Macedonia to come in and reach its ascendancy.

And eventually, of course, we'll create a situation which will allow Macedonia to come in and reach its ascendancy.

No. So he then flees to the Persians. Oh, good idea, I don't think. So he ends up in the court of Pharnabazus, who's one of the sack traps there. And the story goes, I mean, it depends on if you want the political version or the kind of slightly racier version. But anyway, at some point, either on Spartan orders conveyed to Pharnabazus, they decide to kill Alcibiades. That's the political version.

No. So he then flees to the Persians. Oh, good idea, I don't think. So he ends up in the court of Pharnabazus, who's one of the sack traps there. And the story goes, I mean, it depends on if you want the political version or the kind of slightly racier version. But anyway, at some point, either on Spartan orders conveyed to Pharnabazus, they decide to kill Alcibiades. That's the political version.

No. So he then flees to the Persians. Oh, good idea, I don't think. So he ends up in the court of Pharnabazus, who's one of the sack traps there. And the story goes, I mean, it depends on if you want the political version or the kind of slightly racier version. But anyway, at some point, either on Spartan orders conveyed to Pharnabazus, they decide to kill Alcibiades. That's the political version.

The slightly racier version is that he's involved in a kind of an adulterous affair with a woman Possibly the family discovers this. They decide when he's in this tent with this woman to set fire to the tent. Alcibiades rushes out to meet his attacker, supposedly naked, only armed with a sword. They fire arrows into him.