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Cost of Glory

Cost of Glory

Alex Petkas

The most influential biographies ever written, admired by leaders, creators, soldiers, and thinkers for nearly 2,000 years: Plutarch’s Parallel lives. Essential listening for anyone striving after greatness. Alex Petkas, former professor of ancient philosophy and history, revives and dramatically retells these unforgettable stories for modern audiences. The subjects are statesmen, generals, orators, and founders; pious and profane, stoics and hedonists. The stakes bear on the future of Western civilization. The cost of glory is always great. Visit costofglory.com to find out more.
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Top 10 Cost of Glory Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Cost of Glory episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Cost of Glory for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Cost of Glory episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Cost of Glory - 20 - On Having Even More Friends
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01/04/22 • 7 min

Join us in Austin for the Cost of Glory Men's Retreat. January 23-26. Theme: Caesar https://costofglory.com/retreat


Coming back to Plutarch's essay on having many friends, with remarks from Zeuxis, Chilon, and Thucydides

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Cost of Glory - 98 - Gallic Wars 8: Finale
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10/21/24 • 37 min

Caesar ties all loose ends in his Gallic Campaign, in part 8, the final episode of our series on Caesar’s masterwork of psychology, strategy, and propaganda: On the Gallic War (De Bello Gallico).
This is a world-history making story (the conquest of what’s now modern France), told by a world-history making storyteller.

Caesar entered Gaul as a mere politician. He returned 9 years later as a conqueror - and an enemy of the state. He tells how it all happened with his own pen.

In this episode:

  • Final skirmishes with the Bituriges and the Carnutes
  • Siege of a hill-fort, and Caesar takes arms (literally)
  • Conclusion of a bloody chapter, and some takeaways

Cost of Glory is an Infinite Media production — and big thanks to Dr. Richard Johnson of the great city of New York for sponsoring this episode and many others in this series!


Coffee + Great Heroes of History = Imperium Coffee. They make great roasts and are big fans of CoG - use code COSTOFGLORY when you checkout for a discount.

See my favorite, Sertorius Roast - co-designed by yours truly.
https://imperium.coffee/roasts/sertorius/

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Join us in Austin for the Cost of Glory Men's Retreat. January 23-26. Theme: Caesar https://costofglory.com/retreat


An interview with Johnny Burtka, the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. He is a graduate of Hillsdale College, and his most recent book is titled Gateway to Statesmanship—Selections from Xenophon to Churchill.

In this episode:

  • The Mirrors for Princes tradition
  • Obstacles as a Ladder to Greatness
  • The Potency of Xenophon’s ‘Education of Cyrus’
  • The Leadership Qualities of Cyrus
  • The Complex Enduring Power of Cicero’s ‘On Duties’
  • Cultivating Greatness of Soul and the Magnitudo Animi of Churchill
  • Machiavelli as Practitioner, not Political Philosopher
  • Where should an 18-year old dedicate himself to?
  • Washington’s Farewell Address as a Beautiful Political Text

Books Mentioned:

For the episode transcript, be sure to subscribe to my Substack!

Thanks to our sponsor Intercollegiate Studies Institute! Check out their programs on supporting quality thought and intellectual life in and after your college years.

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Cost of Glory - 87 - Pursuing Greatness — with Pano Kanelos
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05/22/24 • 52 min

Join us in Austin for the Cost of Glory Men's Retreat. January 23-26. Theme: Caesar https://costofglory.com/retreat


An interview with Pano Kanelos, the founding president of the University of Austin and the former President of St. John’s College, Annapolis.

In this episode:

  • How founding a university is like running a diner
  • The flourishing of American universities in the 19th century
  • How old philosophers were men of action
  • The Intellectual Foundations Program at UATX
  • How The Brothers Karamazov explains our current moment
  • Pursuing Greatness by finding your North Star
  • Plutarch on self-reflection
  • Why Heroes and Truth-tellers are needed when forming communities
  • Analyzing the opening scene from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar

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Cost of Glory - 82 - How to Tell a Flatterer From a Friend
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03/01/24 • 32 min

Join us in Austin for the Cost of Glory Men's Retreat. January 23-26. Theme: Caesar https://costofglory.com/retreat


Check out Ralston College's FUNDED MA program: https://www.ralston.ac/humanities-ma !

...Plutarch offers some advice on how to choose your friends, and how to be a good one. Examples include Alexander the Great, Cato, Carneades, Plato, Dionysius the Tyrant, and more.

(Here depicted: the monument of Philopappus in Athens, to whom Plutarch's essay is dedicated)

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Cost of Glory - 81 - Spartacus — with Barry Strauss
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02/14/24 • 52 min

Join us in Austin for the Cost of Glory Men's Retreat. January 23-26. Theme: Caesar https://costofglory.com/retreat


An interview with Barry Strauss, Spartacus expert, and author of The Spartacus War

In this episode:

-How Spartacus' Slave revolt almost failed in its early stages
-Overcoming short term thinking as a leader
-Spartacus' influence on modern leaders

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Cost of Glory - 79 - Spencer Klavan: Why Achilles Plays the Lyre
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01/18/24 • 61 min

Join us in Austin for the Cost of Glory Men's Retreat. January 23-26. Theme: Caesar https://costofglory.com/retreat


Why does Achilles, slaughterer of men, play the lyre? A conversation with Spencer Klavan of the Young Heretics podcast.

Check out the Cost of Glory Men's Leadership Retreat: costofglory.com/retreat !

Spencer on Twitter: @spencerklavan
In this conversation, we discuss:
-Spencer & Alex's common ground training as classicists
-How one gets into these ancient books in the first place
-The theory of "Art for Art's Sake": Why it's interesting, plausible, and wrong.
-Epic heroes singing Epic Poetry
-Great books for busy dads

And much, much more...

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Cost of Glory - 78 - Lucullus III: Betrayal
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01/03/24 • 72 min

Join us in Austin for the Cost of Glory Men's Retreat. January 23-26. Theme: Caesar https://costofglory.com/retreat


The fall and political struggles of the great Lucullus, rival of Pompey and Caesar.

Cost of Glory Men's Retreat 2024 application open! - costofglory.com/retreat

Thanks to our sponsor Ancient Language Institute - Tutoring now available:

Latin: https://ancientlanguage.com/latin-tutorials/

Ancient Greek: https://ancientlanguage.com/ancient-greek-tutorials/

Cicero's Pro Archia

https://www.attalus.org/cicero/archias.html

People in this episode:
Mithridates, King of Pontus
Tigranes, King of Armenia
Clodius, the Brother in Law
Pompey
Clodia, the Bad Wife
Servilia, also a Bad Wife
Cato the Younger
Cicero
Caesar

Places in this episode:
Tigranokert
Artaxata
Nisibis
Pontus
Armenia
Rome

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Cost of Glory - 85 - Pompey III: Fields of Pharsalus
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04/30/24 • 119 min

Life of Pompey Part 3 of 3: Pompey's final rise to the heights of Roman power, his war with his friend Julius Caesar, and his final downfall.

People:

(M. Tullius) Cicero

(Titus Pomponius) Atticus

C. Julius Caesar

Cn. Pompeius Magnus (Pompey)

Julia, Caesar's Daughter

(M. Licinius) Crassus

(L. Domitius) Ahenobarbus - Optimate Stalwart (Cos. 54)

(M. Porcius) Cato "The Younger" - the Stoic

(M. Calpurnius) Bibulus - Cos. 59

P. Clodius Pulcher - Populist Thug lord

(T. Annius) Milo - Pompey's Thug lord

M. Caelius (Rufus) - Cicero's young political analyst friend

Publius Licinius Crassus - The Richest Man's Son

Cornelia - Pompey's final wife

(Q. Caecilius) Metellus (Pius) Scipio - Pompey's new Father in Law

Aulus Gabinius - Pompey's friend, exiled after Egyptian expedition

Ptolemy XII Auletes ("The Piper") - exiled king of Egypt

(C. Scribonius) Curio - Optimate turncoat, Caesar's tribune

M. Antonius (Mark Antony)

M. Claudius Marcellus - Optimate stalwart (Cos 51)

C. Claudius Marcellus - Optimate stalwart (Cos. 50, cousin of Cos. 51)

M. Favonius - "Stamp, Pompey!" Senator

Themistocles - Athenian statesman

Camillus - 4th c. BC Roman statesman

T. Labienus - Caesar's general, deserted to Pompey

(M. Junius) Brutus - Future Conspirator

Theophanes of Mytilene - the Historian

Crassianus - Caesar's centurion at Pharsalus

Cratippus of Pergamon - Philosopher at Mytilene

Ptolemy XIII - Boy king of Egypt

Potheinus - Ptolemy XIII's Eunuch

Achillas - Ptolemy XIII's General

Theodotus - Ptolemy XIII's Rhetoric Teacher

Philippus - Pompey's freedman

Places:

The Roman Forum

The Tiber River

Parthia

Carrhae (Battle of) - in Mesopotamia (Parthian Empire)

Gaul (Mod. France)

Pompey's Theater ("Temple of Venus")

Alesia (Battle of) - in Gaul

Naples (Neapolis)

Ravenna (N. Italy, "Cisalpine Gaul" then)

Rubicon River

Ariminum (Rimini)

Corfinium - Italian town in the Apennines

Brundisium - Eastern Port in Italy

Dyrrhachium (Mod. Durrës) - in Epirus (Rom. province of Macedonia)

Thessaly - large plain in central Greece

Pharsalus - town in Thessaly

Tempē - Valley in Thessaly

Mytilene - City on island of Lesbos


Thanks to our sponsor Intercollegiate Studies Institute! www.isi.org. Check out their programs on supporting quality thought and intellectual life in and after your college years.

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FAQ

How many episodes does Cost of Glory have?

Cost of Glory currently has 101 episodes available.

What topics does Cost of Glory cover?

The podcast is about Success, Biography, Leadership, History, Podcasts, Self-Improvement, Education, Ancient Greece, Business and Ancient History.

What is the most popular episode on Cost of Glory?

The episode title '90 - Heroes are Dangerous: Rousseau & Nietzsche with Johnathan Bi' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on Cost of Glory?

The average episode length on Cost of Glory is 45 minutes.

How often are episodes of Cost of Glory released?

Episodes of Cost of Glory are typically released every 12 days, 19 hours.

When was the first episode of Cost of Glory?

The first episode of Cost of Glory was released on Aug 6, 2021.

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