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I always approach history with the notion that "history is always about the historian and the time that the historian lived in". This historian produced these in the late 90s and he is a capitalist. So it is not surprising to "learn" that ancient Greece was all about competition, and there is a lot of focus on liberal democracy as a thing. I already know a lot of what is covered so this not terribly useful but I will finish it soon and dig into deeper/better sources.

The thing I didn't expect to learn about/from was the initial discussion in the lectures about Philhellenism in the 19th century, especially the German form of it, which has turned out terribly. The War of Greek Independence is a rabbit-hole I will have to explore later, but that's taking me way off the path. I am really looking for grounding to the stuff I am reading about Greek myth and drama.

The lecturer is not full "clash of civilizations" -- but who knows what 9/11 would have done to their brain. They give some time to the problem of centering a "west" and an "east" starting in Ancient Greece, which is better than I expected, but this is not the focus of these lectures nor the sort of discourse I am seeking when listening to them. It is just to say that things could be worse (and I have encountered it when learning about history). I will probably rate this at 2 stars unless something really blows my mind though.