Everything you want to know about Greeks and the larger ancient civilization. This was my great companion in 2018 when I used to do a 192-mile round trip

A few episodes in. So much work to do all of this. I’ve watched plenty of lecture series off The Great Courses and the like… and they charge a bunch (of $). Maybe some of those commenting should weight the effort vs. cost a bit more here. Or, maybe, go back to reviewing their latest pizza outing on yelp. Even the PHDs off The Great Courses have their own issues. And, in comparison, the host here is both not pompous and, definitionally, nowhere near as pompous as some of those. Thanks for all this.

Need I say anymore?

I appreciate the information, and I’m grateful for your podcast. I too share a fascination with this material.

The info seems pretty good, but the narrator/host must be dyslexic or really indifferent to accuracy, as the the number of words mispronounced in the first half dozen episodes is really getting on my nerves… it’s not just the Greek words, it’s saying “Calvary “ when the right word is “cavalry”… I can’t take any more of it right now… maybe will return later and listen to something more recent than the first few eps in hopes he invests more effort into getting the quality control improved as time went by.

About to start a course on Thucydides. Listening to this podcast, prior to my course, has been extremely helpful in preparing for my course. I particularly appreciate the episodes on the life of the “non-elite.”

Excellent

This guys just reading from a book… is it plagiarism? I’ll guess it is. I’m listening to Kagan on Yale Open Library and it’s great.

Well researched and entertaining. I wish the narrator spent a bit more time learning how words are pronounced, many Greek terms are painfully wrong. But most factual content is pretty good.

I just remembered this podcast after 2 years of not listening, good times and im glad your back.

Plenty of detail, Ryan’s tone can be a little monotonous and rigid at times, but the content is worth listening to. No frivolous modern politics or bending the facts to fit an agenda, Worth subscribing if you want to know about Ancient Greece👌

Good information but he’s kinda all over the place with a narrative. Can be very difficult to follow especially as he speaks really quickly and never takes pauses. It’s all very monotone and rushed and it makes it difficult to comprehend all he’s trying to say. Been following this show since the beginning but I’m just tired of it and won’t be following it anymore. Needs more breaks so the audience can breathe. Maybe shorter episode length as well. Also, SLOW DOWN and enunciate a little more. The narratives could use more structure—start in one place and build, and stop mentioning little things everywhere. It just clogs up the episode and makes it hard to understand what’s going on. Good info but could be presented better.

I’m really enjoying the show and learning a lot. I’m studying modern Greek and so the history of some of the language has been very helpful. A+++

I’m headed to Greece for a tour, this podcast has been excellent for quickly bringing me up to speed.

Seems to not have a good grasp on the history of addiction

A previous reviewer commented on Greek pronunciation in this series. As a former student of Greek, I have a suggestion- find a comparable podcast in Classical or Koine Greek. Great series, snot nose reviewers can pound sand.

Don’t pay him the time of day.

It’s good

Loving this. We appreciate the time and effort

Ryan does a great job on this podcast. Great research great production great presentation and you can tell he put a lot into it it shows and it’s very educational and perfect for those who love history or those who love podcast five stars.

Captivating and thorough podcast on the subject, but as a Greek listener, I wish the host would spend a fraction of the time he spends researching and writing these episodes on learning correct pronunciation.

Love the topics but I couldn’t get over how it sounds like someone reading through a textbook or paper. Only made it 6 ish episodes. There are better options on Ancient Greece now

Ryan Stitt is a serial sexual harasser, and there is plenty of evidence of that from the many women he interacted with online. He has also flagrantly plagiarized from a number of sources, including textbooks by Sara Pomeroy. Do not support this man or his work if you value gender equity and social justice.

This podcast really gives you a sense that nothing is left out. The host gives a thorough, no-nonsense review of Ancient Greek history from all sorts of aspects. Even with the no frills approach, it’s always engaging, the text is really well written and thought out, and the host is able to create a connection with the audience.

This is what seems to me to a very comprehensive general history of Greece, beginning before there was a Greece. Just nerdy enough to be very informative but also entertaining - well narrated moves along at a great pace.Excellent!

Fun to re-learn so much history piece by piece, thank you!

I love your podcast I love Greek mythology and I love how descriptive your episodes are

Bravo Zulu

Here’s what I originally said: “The host is knowledgeable and well-prepared. His expertise shows in less-structured interviews, so it’s not simply a matter of good research in preparing for solo narrative readings.” However….the host is an unrepentant sex pest and a plagiarist. There’s plenty of good ORIGINAL scholarship from less-problematic podcasters.

What originally seemed like well researched and detailed work turns out to resemble a mix of half done Google search and plagiarism. While the podcast itself might come out sounding good and professional, the theft of intellectual property is absolutely horrifying. And on top of stealing other people’s work there’s the whole sexual harassment issue. But that’s a whole different reason not to engage. If you’re willing to look past the individual character of the host though you’ll still find that it is a quite uncomfortable experience listening to brilliant work being “expertly” presented without giving credit where rightly due.

This is my favorite period of history but honestly the narrators delivery was just really hard for me to stick with. It’s not something I even knew I cared about until this podcast. The cadence was singsong and he would drop his voice at the end of every sentence to a level below where his voice was comfortable. It sounds like he’s reading from a textbook instead of being conversational. Really wanted to stick through this. But after 12 episodes I can’t do it.

I love this podcast, which is the most in-depth treatment I’ve found among the podcasts for Ancient Greece. There’s a lot of material (over 100 podcasts), and Ryan keeps it engaging. I’m learning a ton, and I keep coming back for the next episode. Bravo, it’s really impressive that he pulled this much material together for us to enjoy.

..

There is enough about this guys actions towards women (which is deplorable). I will focus more on the material. I just finished his episode about the oikos and polis. Most of what he talked about is very much in mirror to Donald Kagans Yale lecture on the Polis. Plagiarism is always wrong. Also, his pronunciations of Greek words is so wonky that it’s hard to listen. And his style is mediocre at best. Very disappointed because I do love Ancient Greek history and really wanted this to be good. If you want an accurate/professional view of the Greek world and history… listen to Donald Kagans Yale lectures on Ancient Greece.

I get it. The host was caught sending unsolicited sexually explicit photos to women, so now he is going to pander to the woke mob of outraged social justice warriors mindlessly screaming “how dare you” in an effort to get the free pass all the Leftist sexual predators get, but, it will not work and this is a podcast about ancient Greece. I gave up on it in favor of other podcasts that stay on topic.

ROLL TIDE

The host is a predator, but it’s a very good podcast if you want to learn about Ancient Greece, it’s your choice.

This is a good podcast for anyone interested in Ancient Greece.

Thats it. Don’t listen to this guys podcast.

It breaks my heart Ryan didn't come apologize after the numerous accusations from fellow podcasters and friends came out. When they did he used his platform and friendship with me to lie and victim-blame. Abusing fellow academics with plaigirism, then using a position of power to abuse women is not okay. Maybe if Ryan had tried to change we could move on. But you can't just hurt so many people like Ryan did and act like nothing happened.

Don’t give this sexual harasser your time or attention. There are many other wonderful podcasts about ancient history. This man is not a good person.

Don’t waste your time - the guy that produces this is a total creep

I like independent podcasts. Part of that is feeling like you feel a sense of trust and connection to the host/author of the show. The creator of this show is not a person who deserves your trust, connection, or time. When I wrote to him with a question about how a specific subject was addressed on the show, his response was to gasslight me. Apparently I got lucky because the sexual harassment others have received is disgusting. There are many other wonderful history podcasts made by good people with integrity. Give them your time.

The host is a serial harasser of women in Classics, and taking 6 months off doesn’t change that. !

The author of the podcast is accused by multiple women of sexual harassment, and has documented evidence of plagiarism in multiple episodes. There are multiple, better podcasts out there on this subject. Do not patronize this podcast.

The host of this podcast, Ryan Stitt, has repeatedly used his platform as an opportunity to sexually harass dozens of women online (you can find out more by searching his name on Twitter). I urge everyone not to support this podcast in any way, as there are numerous other places to learn about Greek history from people who do not serially harass women. If you need another reason, he’s also plagiarized content from numerous scholars of antiquity (reading entire pages of books on the air without crediting his source).

Verified reports with screen shots showed that the host likes to send unsolicited sexual messages and pictures to unwilling women online, keep that in mind as you decide if you want to listen or not

Amazing! Amazing! Amazing! Work of art! better than all book I have read on Ancient Greek

Which is unfortunate. I’ve stuck it out for around 30 episodes and wanted to enjoy this as much as other history podcasts... but I don’t. The grammar slips, near-miss vocabulary and mispronunciation are getting really grating. I’m not talking about a regional difference, or accent, or common mispronunciations. I’m talking about using the wrong word. It’s distinctly at odds with the long passages using very elevated language. I’ve seen others saying they’ve found the sources (ahem, Wikipedia articles) he’s lifted from and that sounds very believable but I’m disenchanted enough to not care enough to check it out myself. He also doesn’t give much to credit his sources. Honestly that was an impression that I had been trying to combat because I knew that I was basically judging that someone who speaks like this wouldn’t be able to write that intelligently. Despite the fact that he seems to be splicing material together from other sources without citing them, it’s really tough to follow the narrative. For example, I just finished listening to an episode that was purportedly about Herodotus and would have been a great opportunity to explore the the influence of the Father of History on how we understand the history of Classical Greece. Instead it’s this hour-long ‘biography’ of Cyrus the Great and his battle with Croesus with occasional interjections that historians disagree with Herodotus’s account then going right back to reciting it without warning. He literally said Croesus was rescued from the pyre by Apollo according to Herodotus but historians think Thucydides is more reliable with his account of Croesus being killed, then continues to talk about Cyrus consulting his advisor Croesus. That is off the wall to me. I’m a quitter.

Been over 3 months since the last episode, I really hope there will be more soon I’m all caught up.