Gregory Aldrete

And I think as a historian, the way you begin to understand an alien, a foreign culture, which is what these cultures are, is to look for those little moments of sympathy. But on the other hand, there's ways in which ancient cultures are wildly different from us. So you also look for those moments where you just think, how the hell could these people have done that?

I just don't understand how they could have thought or acted in this way. And it's lining up those moments of sympathy and kind of disconnection that I think is when you begin to start to understand a foreign culture or an ancient culture.

I just don't understand how they could have thought or acted in this way. And it's lining up those moments of sympathy and kind of disconnection that I think is when you begin to start to understand a foreign culture or an ancient culture.

I just don't understand how they could have thought or acted in this way. And it's lining up those moments of sympathy and kind of disconnection that I think is when you begin to start to understand a foreign culture or an ancient culture.

Yep, yep. And those details would bring it to life. I mean, it's not the grand sweep of things. It's seeing those little hopes and fears. Another thing that I think is a huge difference between the modern world and the ancient is just – Basically, everybody's a farmer. Everybody's a small family farmer. And we forget this.

Yep, yep. And those details would bring it to life. I mean, it's not the grand sweep of things. It's seeing those little hopes and fears. Another thing that I think is a huge difference between the modern world and the ancient is just – Basically, everybody's a farmer. Everybody's a small family farmer. And we forget this.

Yep, yep. And those details would bring it to life. I mean, it's not the grand sweep of things. It's seeing those little hopes and fears. Another thing that I think is a huge difference between the modern world and the ancient is just – Basically, everybody's a farmer. Everybody's a small family farmer. And we forget this.

I was just writing a lecture for my next Great Courses course, and I was writing about farming in the ancient world. And I was really thinking, if we were to write a realistic textbook of, let's say, the Roman Empire, Nine out of ten chapters should be details of what it was like to be a small-time family farmer because that's what 90% of the people in the ancient world did. They weren't soldiers.

I was just writing a lecture for my next Great Courses course, and I was writing about farming in the ancient world. And I was really thinking, if we were to write a realistic textbook of, let's say, the Roman Empire, Nine out of ten chapters should be details of what it was like to be a small-time family farmer because that's what 90% of the people in the ancient world did. They weren't soldiers.

I was just writing a lecture for my next Great Courses course, and I was writing about farming in the ancient world. And I was really thinking, if we were to write a realistic textbook of, let's say, the Roman Empire, Nine out of ten chapters should be details of what it was like to be a small-time family farmer because that's what 90% of the people in the ancient world did. They weren't soldiers.

They weren't priests. They weren't kings. They weren't authors. They weren't artists. They were small-town family farmers, and they lived in a little village. They never traveled 20 miles from that village. They were born there. They married somebody from there. They raised kids. They mucked around in the dirt for a couple decades, and they died. They never saw a battle.

They weren't priests. They weren't kings. They weren't authors. They weren't artists. They were small-town family farmers, and they lived in a little village. They never traveled 20 miles from that village. They were born there. They married somebody from there. They raised kids. They mucked around in the dirt for a couple decades, and they died. They never saw a battle.

They weren't priests. They weren't kings. They weren't authors. They weren't artists. They were small-town family farmers, and they lived in a little village. They never traveled 20 miles from that village. They were born there. They married somebody from there. They raised kids. They mucked around in the dirt for a couple decades, and they died. They never saw a battle.

They never saw a work of art. They never saw a philosopher. They never took part in any of the things we define as being history. So that's what life should be, and that's representative.

They never saw a work of art. They never saw a philosopher. They never took part in any of the things we define as being history. So that's what life should be, and that's representative.

They never saw a work of art. They never saw a philosopher. They never took part in any of the things we define as being history. So that's what life should be, and that's representative.

So, I mean, that's true. There's a reason we focus on that.

So, I mean, that's true. There's a reason we focus on that.

So, I mean, that's true. There's a reason we focus on that.

And I would say let's not forget them. So let's not forget what life was like for 80%, 90% of the people in the ancient world, the ones we don't talk about, because that's important, too.