Brian Johnson recounts a Heroic community trip to Athens and recommends John Hale’s Lords of the Sea, connecting the power of the ancient Athenian navy to the birth of Athenian democracy and the city’s Golden Age. He reads a favored passage describing the approach of triremes toward the Acropolis and uses the phrase “as the Athenian goes into the harbor” as a metaphor for showing up with excellence. The episode closes with logistics/links (photos, National Geographic article) and a short promotional outro by Michael Balchan about Heroic resources.
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Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic one. In our last series of plus ones, we spent some time hanging out with Donald Robertson as we explored wisdom from his new book, how to Think Like Socrates. Today we're going to spend some more time in Athens. As you know, if you've been following along, nearly 200 members of our heroic community joined us in Athens for an incredible week. We spent some time visiting the Acropolis, the grounds of Plato's Academy and the all marble stadium, the in which the first modern Olympics was held. Now, on the walk to the Olympic Stadium, I spent some time with a new friend who joined us. That new friend happened to be a U.S. navy officer. He recommended I read a book on the ancient Athenian navy called Lords of the Sea by John Hale. So I immediately got it. It was waiting for me when I got home. And I was especially excited to read the book for a number of reasons. First, the day after we experienced the Acropolis and the Olympic stadium, we had the privilege of visiting and boarding an ancient Athenian warship. Fun historical fact. Whereas the Spartans might have had an edge on land, the Athenians had the edge on water. The Athenian navy was the most powerful navy in the ancient world and one of the primary drivers of the culture and the citizens of Athens created that changed the world. In addition, whereas the hoplite soldiers tended to come from families with more wealth who could afford to purchase their armor and weapons, the ancient Athenian naval sailors tended to come from families of citizens with more modest means. Now, coming from a family with a naval background of modest means, my father served in the US Navy and my grandfather fought as a US Marine in World War II. This had significant meaning for me as well. Back to the book. As per the subtitle, the book tells the epic story of the Athenian navy and the birth of democracy. More specifically, it tells us how we have the Athenian Navy to thank for not only the birth of democracy, but for the golden age of Athens that produced those ancient ruins of the Acropolis and the cultural contributions in architecture, the arts and and philosophy. We'll chat about some wisdom from the book in our next several plus ones. For now, here's one of my favorite passages Professor Hale tells us. While still far out at sea, they were greeted by a flash of light on the summit of the Acropolis, four miles inland. It was the sun reflected on the shining spiritip encrusted helmet of a colossal bronze statue of Athena. One of the first great masterpieces of the Athenian artist Phidias. The Statue had been nine years in the making and stood 30ft tall. As the triremes approached the end of their voyaging, the crews strove to look their best with perfect timing and oarsmanship. He continues by saying There is a popular saying as the Athenian goes into the harbor for any task done with the utmost precision. The mariners knew well that thousands of critical eyes were watching and judging their performance. And that's today's plus one. Here's to showing up with excellence as the Athenian goes into Harbor. Little P.S. additional fun fact with Heroic We've had the privilege of working with the commanding officers and sailors on three U.S. aircraft carriers, the USS Ronald Reagan, the USS George H.W. bush and the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. I made sure I brought the hats from each of those carriers so the family could wear them for the special day. Check out the picture of the fam on the trireme linked in this plus one Little PPS Check out this linked National Geographic article for more on those ancient Athenian warships. PPPS we're heading to Rome in 2025. Join us.
What's up? This is Michael, President and Head Coach at Heroic One quick note before we go. I just think it's so amazing that Brian keeps reading all these books and distilling them into more wisdom and less time. By the way, thank you Brian for continuing to read the books distill them for us. I love not having to read the book, just getting them more wisdom and less time through the plus ones of Philosopher's Notes. And if you're into this kind of thing, expressing the best version of yourself and using your greatest gifts make a positive impact on the world. Make sure you head to Heroic Us to check out all the other resources that we have available to you. You can download a bunch of free goodies, including Philosopher's Notes masterclasses in our scientifically proven Heroic app. You can also explore advanced resources to help you go next level, including live and virtual workshops, working one on one with the Heroic Performance Coach or even becoming a certified coach yourself as you master heroic Performance, the fundamentals of Coaching Excellence and Heroic Coaching Prosperity. Again, head to Heroic US to get the ancient wisdom, modern science and practical tools you need to activate your potential and change the world together. And please do hit subscribe. Appreciate you. Have a fantastic day and see you again soon.
