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This episode is a segment from the big Patreon Supporters-Only Bonus DHP episode CJ is currently working on, “Wooden Walls on the Water,” which will be a multi-hour deep-dive into virtually everything we know about Greek navies (especially the Athenian navy, about which we know the most) in the 5th century BC, including – but not limited to: the design & construction of triremes, the logistical & financial burdens of building & maintaining a large fleet of them, the experience of the crew, & the tactics & experience of battle, with some historical examples of important Greek naval engagements.

This particular segment focuses on the oarsmen, who usually comprised more than 3/4 of a trireme’s total complement of 200 men.

Join CJ as he discusses the three levels of rowers on an Athenian trireme — thalamites, zygites, & thranites — and the uncomfortable, exhausting, dangerous, & often downright disgusting conditions they dealt with when deployed on a trireme, even before they faced the hazards of battle.

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Support the DHP on Patreon!

• Through Labor Day (9/7) of 2026, CJ’s running a Back to (Dangerous History) School Special: There will be a 25% discount on the first year of an annual membership at any level of support, or 25% off the first month of a monthly membership (also at any level of support)!
• If you want to get access to the full, multi-hour Patreon Bonus Episode “Wooden Walls on the Water,” from which this little segment was excerpted, sign up as one of his Patreon supporters at the Journeyman Scholar-Warrior Level (or higher), if you’re not already one of those excellent individuals who keeps the DHP a going concern.
• Just use coupon code 826 when signing up!

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Amazon Affiliate Links (buy ANYTHING – not just these specific items – from Amazon using any of these links & CJ gets a small commission at no cost to you!)

• A Naval History of the Pelopponesian War by Marc DeSantis
• A War Like No Other by Victor Davis Hanson
• Syracuse 415-413 BC by Nic Fields

Links

• Support the Dangerous History Podcast via Patreon
• Subscribe to the Dangerous History Podcast Youtube Channel
• Follow CJ on Twitter/X

CJ’s PO Box Address

(For Sending Him Items — Including, but not Limited to — Sacks of Gold Doubloons, Pieces of Eight, Freeze-Dried Flapjacks, etc. )

CJ Killmer

Dangerous Media Productions

704 E Moody Blvd #43

Bunnell, FL 32110

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Here it is, FINALLY — the third installment of ‘The Mad Dream of Conquest’ series, about the Athenian expedition to Sicily during the Peloponnesian War in the 5th century BC. Enjoy!

Join CJ as he discusses:

• The Syracusan reaction to news of a huge, inbound Athenian expeditionary force, including the wise advice of Hermocrates (that wasn’t sufficiently heeded at first)
• The arrival of the Athenians in the area, & initial difficulties & disappointments they began to encounter
• The debate among the 3 Athenian strategoi (Nicias, Lamachus & Alcibiades) over how to proceed, the strategy adopted, & the lack of significant progress
• The recall of Alcibiades to Athens for trial, & his subsequent escape
• Athenian successes in Sicily that they failed to capitalize upon sufficiently to defeat Syracuse prior to the onset of the winter of 414/415
• Athenian & Syracusan diplomatic efforts during that first winter
• The success of Syracusan diplomacy (with the help of Alcibiades) in securing aid from Corinth & Sparta
• Gylippus, the Spartan strategos sent to take command of the Syracusan war effort against Athens
• Initial Athenian successes during the campaign season of 414 that (despite the death of Lamachus) drove the Syracusans to the brink of surrender
• The arrival of Gylippus in the nick of time, & his stunning successes in turning the tide of the war against Athens & nullifying their efforts to circumvallate & besiege Syracuse
• Nicias’ extremely downtrodden & pessimistic report back to Athens, sent during the winter of 414/413, in which he demanded that the Athenian Assembly either authorize the evacuation of his expeditionary force, or send him significant reinforcements (men, supplies, & money), along with a strong request that he (Nicias) be relieved of command if they chose the latter option

As promised, here’s a zoomed out map of the expedition to Sicily, showing 1) how far the Athenians traveled, & 2) the relative locations of significant cities on Sicily & on the adjacent ‘toe’ of Italy , plus a more zoomed-in map of Syracuse, its harbors, & the surrounding territory.

Like this episode?

Support the DHP on Patreon!

• Through Labor Day (9/7) of 2026, CJ’s running a Back to (Dangerous History) School Special: There will be a 25% discount on the first year of an annual membership at any level of support, or 25% off the first month of a monthly membership (also at any level of support)!
• Just use coupon code 826 when signing up!

You can also throw CJ a $ tip via Paypal here:

Throw CJ a $ tip via Venmo here:

https://www.venmo.com/u/dangerousmedia

Or throw CJ a BTC tip here:

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Amazon Affiliate Links (buy ANYTHING – not just these specific items – from Amazon using any of these links & CJ gets a small commission at no cost to you!)

• The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War
• Sparta’s Sicilian Proxy War by Paul Rahe
• The Rise & Fall of Athens by Plutarch
• Syracuse, 415-413 BC: Destruction of the Athenian Imperial Fleet by Nic Fields
• A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War by Victor Davis Hanson

Links

• Support the Dangerous History Podcast via Patreon
• Subscribe to the Dangerous History Podcast Youtube Channel
• Follow CJ on Twitter/X
• Follow the DHP on Instagram
• Follow the DHP on Facebook
• Hire CJ to speak to your group or at your event

CJ’s PO Box Address

(For Sending Him Items — Including, but not Limited to — Sacks of Gold Doubloons, Pieces of Eight, Freeze-Dried Flapjacks, etc. 😉

CJ Killmer

Dangerous Media Productions

704 E Moody Blvd #43

Bunnell, FL 32110

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Here it is — the 2nd installment of CJ’s already-epic mini-series, ‘The Mad Dream of Conquest,’ set in the Peloponnesian War in 5th-century BC Greece.

Join CJ as he shares an overview of some of the events of the first half of the Peloponnesian War, including:

• Spartan-led Peloponnesian invasions of Attica (the countryside around Athens), which used the traditional Greek tactic of ‘ravaging’ farms in order to try to provoke the Athenians to confront them in a decisive hoplite battle
• Athens’ refusal to do so, as they followed Pericles’ strategy of being purely defensive on land while waging naval & amphibious warfare against the coastal strongholds of the Peloponnesian League
• The horrific plague that afflicted Athens for the first few years of the war, which likely killed 20-30% of Athens, including, eventually, Pericles himself
• The leadership void left by Pericles, which was filled by men of much less competence, none of whom ever enjoyed the supermajority support that Pericles had
• The ‘Peace of Nicias,’ concluded in 421 BC, which was never fully adhered to & wouldn’t last long
• The growing political feud between Nicias & the Athenian doves vs. Alcibiades & the Athenian hawks
• The appeal for Athenian assistance from a few Sicilian poleis against Syracuse, the most powerful polis on that island, & the Athenian debates over the wisdom of intervening there, dominated by debates between Nicias & Alcibiades
• The decision of a majority of the Athenian Assembly to intervene on a massive scale
• Religious/political scandals that created serious potential problems for the Athenian expedition to Sicily on the eve of its departure
• The departure, to great fanfare, of a massive Athenian & allied force to Sicily

Like this episode?

• Support the Dangerous History Podcast via Patreon!

You can also throw CJ a $ tip via Paypal here:

Throw CJ a $ tip via Venmo here:

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Other ways to support the show (including CJ’s PO Box)

Amazon Affiliate Links (buy ANYTHING from Amazon using any of these links & CJ gets a small commission at no cost to you!)

• The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War
• A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War by Victor Davis Hanson
• The Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan
• The Life of Greece: The Story of Civilization, Vol. II by Will Durant

Links

• Support the Dangerous History Podcast via Patreon
• Subscribe to the Dangerous History Podcast Youtube Channel
• Follow CJ on Twitter/X
• Follow the DHP on Instagram
• Follow the DHP on Facebook
• Hire CJ to speak to your group or at your event

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CJ decided he needed a break from modern US history as he continues to recover & reset his life, so this is the first episode of a new DHP miniseries set during the Peloponnesian War in 5th century BC Greece. The series will primarily focus on a famous Athenian military expedition to Sicily that occurred right in the middle of that conflict, an expedition that, to CJ, is eerily similar in some ways to the current war with Iran.

This first episode, though, is backstory & world-building, setting the stage for the massive, complex & costly Peloponnesian War of 431-404 BC during which the Sicilian expedition occurred.

Join CJ as he discusses:

• A brief overview of ancient Greek history, from the Bronze Age through the Persian invasions of 490 & 480 BC.
• The growing rivalries & tensions between the Peloponnesian League (led by Sparta) & the Delian League (led by Athens) in the aftermath of the Persian Wars, including Athens’ increasingly aggressive & destabilizing imperialism, & Sparta’s fears about it
• The rise of Pericles & the construction of the Athenian Long Walls
• The ‘first’ Peloponnesian War of ~460 BC-445 BC, which ended with a treaty known as “The Thirty Years’ Peace”
• The rising tensions & conflicts that caused the Thirty Years’ Peace to only last about half as long as it was intended to
• The ancient Greek historian Thucydides
• The escalating conflicts that led, in 431 BC, to the outbreak of the Second Peloponnesian War (sometimes just referred to as “The Peloponnesian War”), a conflict that would end up dwarfing the previous war in duration, cost, death & destruction

Like this episode?

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bc1qfrz9erz7dqazh9rhz3j7nv696nl52ux8unw79z

Amazon Affiliate Links (buy ANYTHING from Amazon using any of these links & CJ gets a small commission at no cost to you!)

• The Landmark Thucydides: A Comprehensive Guide to the Peloponnesian War
• A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War by Victor Davis Hanson
• The Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan
• The Life of Greece: The Story of Civilization, Vol. II by Will Durant

Links

• Support the Dangerous History Podcast via Patreon
• Subscribe to the Dangerous History Podcast Youtube Channel
• Follow CJ on Twitter/X
• Follow the DHP on Facebook
• Hire CJ to speak to your group or at your event
• Other ways to support the show

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(*This is a reissue of a Dangerous History Episode first published in Aug. 2015)

In this episode, CJ discusses two different paradigms of what war is supposed to be and how it is supposed to be fought.  One is the Western (or European) Way, which originated in Greece and from there filtered through the Romans to become the dominant paradigm among Westerners to this day. The other is the Eastern (or Asian) Way, which originated in China and from there filtered to other parts of the Asian world and beyond, and which forms the intellectual basis of much of modern unconventional tactics and strategy.

Join CJ as he discusses:

• The origins of the Western Way and how it has evolved over the centuries
• The origins of the Eastern Way and how it has evolved over the centuries
• Why this matters to understanding the modern world in general, and the history of modern unconventional warfare in particular

Like this episode?

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Support the Dangerous History Podcast via Patreon

Other ways to support the show (including CJ’s PO Box mailing address)