Was listening to lectures called Great Battles of the Ancient World which contains a good overview of Ancient Greek history. Although I went to St. John's and studied Ancient Greek, my understanding of how the history fit together was spotty. In particular, I was curious as to how Alexander the Great fit into the picture. Now I'm reading J.R. Hamilton's "Alexander the Great". I find myself becoming impatient with fiction. Why read fiction, when there's so many great stories that aren't made up?
In a nutshell, Ancient Greek history goes something like this. The Persians invade Ancient Greece for the first time in 492 BC. Amazingly, the Greeks fight off the Persians. The Persians try again in 480 BC. It's harder the second time around, but with their navy, the Greeks push the Persian away a second time.
This war between the Persians and the Greeks is the start of recorded history. It is recorded by Herodotus, the "Father of History".
After defeating the Persians twice, the Greeks start to realize that they are a strong nation. Athens thinks it should be the top dog over all Greece, which pisses off the Spartans. This results in an inter-Greek war, the Peloponnesian war. The Peloponnesian War is recorded by Thucydides.
During the previous two wars, the Greeks innovate in war making. They come up with the Phalanx. This is different from the Homeric way of making war. Not going to go into this here.
The Greeks beat each other to a pulp in the Peloponnesian War, which leads to the rise of Macedon, a kingdom to the north that watches Sparta and Athens and the rest of them beat each other up, but pays close attention to all the new innovations in war making. During this time even the Persians realize that the Greeks are way ahead of them in terms of being able to fight, and hire Greek mercenaries. This leads to the "March of the 10,000", a fascinating story that I had learned nothing about.
Philip II of Macedon innovates Greek warfare, and using diplomacy, bribery and tactical marriages, manages the incredible feat of uniting the Greeks for the planned invasion of Persia. However he is murdered in 336 BC. The task of invading Persia falls to his son, Alexander the Great.
Alexander rampages through Persia all the way to India and down to Egypt, conquering everything in his path, never losing. However he dies in 323 BC, exactly how is one of the great mysteries of history. Because kings at that time became kings by murdering all possible rival claims to the throne, Alexander's empire devolves into chaos.