Ancient Greece By Train

Professor Alice Roberts takes to the railways of Greece and Turkey as she learns about the Ancient Greek civilisation that has had such a powerful effect on our lives today.

This is the third chapter in Alice’s railway journeys going back in time, following her previous adventures probing the stories and history of Ancient Egypt and the Ottomans.

The Ancient Greeks have had such a powerful influence on our modern lives. They created democracy, art, science and medicine. They looked at the big philosophical questions that we still struggle with today. Yet, they have a pagan system with incredible myths and stories of gods and goddesses that have no evidential basis. Alice challenges and confronts the experts about these as well as trying to get to the bottom of the famous stories and storytellers, like did Homer really exist, and is the story of the battle of Troy in The Iliad false?

Alice begins her journey in Thessaloniki and takes a train down the Aegean Coast stopping at daw-dropping sites like Vergina and Delphi, before exploring Athens and Corinth. Swapping trains for boats she learns about ancient life in the Cyclades, before heading to Turkey, where Ancient Greek culture once dominated the Aegean coast there.