The Steven Pressfield Podcast

In today's episode, we'll attempt to bring all the threads of this series together -- Spartans and Athenians, Alexander the Great, Arjuna and Krishna, the concept of the Inner War, and evolution of the Archetypes. Don't worry, there will be more episodes going forward, in which we'll dig even more deeply into this amazing and fascinating subject. Thanks for sticking with us!New episodes every Monday. SUBSCRIBE and REVIEW.The War of Art - https://amzn.to/38vTIDdGates of Fire - https://amzn.to/3kjpFAX

If the human being was born for adversity ... and if the Warrior Archetype was implanted within our psyche (or evolved on its own) to assist us in fighting wars ... what war should we fight? Who is the enemy? Today's episode makes the case that there's only one real war --- and that's the war inside ourselves. Do you want to call yourself a man (or a woman)? Fight THAT war. Stand up to THAT enemy.New episodes every Monday. SUBSCRIBE and REVIEW.The War of Art - https://amzn.to/38vTIDdGates of Fire - https://amzn.to/3kjpFAX

The Warrior Archetype is tremendously empowering. It can aid us in overcoming obstacles, external and internal. It can be virtuous, noble, honorable, even sacred. But it is not the be-all and end-all of your life or mine. What lies beyond the Warrior Archetype are the archetypes of the Mentor, the Teacher, the Father (or Mother), the King (or Queen), the Sage and the Mystic. Today we'll talk about building upon the noble foundation of the Warrior, as we evolve to higher and more inclusive expressions of ourselves.New episodes every Monday. SUBSCRIBE and REVIEW.The War of Art - https://amzn.to/38vTIDdGates of Fire - https://amzn.to/3kjpFAX

New episodes every Monday. SUBSCRIBE and REVIEW.The War of Art - https://amzn.to/38vTIDdGates of Fire - https://amzn.to/3kjpFAX

The hero in American Westerns (and Samurai tales and post-apocalyptic movies like "Mad Max") is the Warrior Archetype personified, at least in its latter-day configuration of the solitary man of violence, who lives by his own code and operates as a law unto himself. In this episode, we'll attempt to tie this figure in to the world we've been describing through our prior 45 episodes.New episodes every Monday. SUBSCRIBE and REVIEW.The War of Art - https://amzn.to/38vTIDdGates of Fire - https://amzn.to/3kjpFAX

New episodes every Monday. SUBSCRIBE and REVIEW.The War of Art - https://amzn.to/38vTIDdGates of Fire - https://amzn.to/3kjpFAX

The yogis of Alexander's India sat in silence, naked in the sun. Yet to Telamon, our warrior philosopher, they were greater soldiers than any in Alexander's army. Today we'll examine how the Archetype of the Sage or the Mystic contains within it the virtues and strengths of the Warrior--and how Telamon perceived a chance at salvation for himself within this seeming contradiction.New episodes every Monday. SUBSCRIBE and REVIEW.The War of Art - https://amzn.to/38vTIDdGates of Fire - https://amzn.to/3kjpFAX

"I have conquered the need to conquer the world" means "I have defeated the dark side of the Warrior Archetype within me." Is this possible? In today's episode we'll examine the true historical encounter in India between Alexander and the yogis of that era---called by the Macedonians gymnosophists--the "Naked Wise Men."New episodes every Monday. SUBSCRIBE and REVIEW.The War of Art - https://amzn.to/38vTIDdGates of Fire - https://amzn.to/3kjpFAX

Some protest war. Others, like Telamon, embrace it even as they hate it. "All things are born in strife, and all end in srife." But is that an answer? Telamon himself rejects it at the same time he espouses it. What lies beyond the Warrior Archetype? Can we get there? How?New episodes every Monday

Are warriors the same in all centuries, in all nations? I believe they are. Because the Warrior Archetype is universal and indelible. In today's episode we'll dig deeper into the character of Telamon, the Universal Soldier personified. He asks, of himself, the questions that warriors have asked for millennia. Am I a brute only? Can I slay others and not in some way slay myself? To whom can I confide, except my brothers?New episodes every Monday. SUBSCRIBE and REVIEW.The War of Art - https://amzn.to/38vTIDdGates of Fire - https://amzn.to/3kjpFAX

 In this episode, we'll go beyond the virtuous Spartans and the preeminent Alexander to a figure more like our own conflicted selves--my recurring fictional character, Telamon of Arcadia. Telamon is the embodiment of the Warrior Archetype ... unkillable, supreme in combat ... but self-aware, self-questioning, self-tormented. His ordeal is that he must answer, for himself and by himself,  the questions the Spartans and Alexander could not.New episodes every Monday

When a "civilized" army like Alexander's confronts a primitive tribal foe (as Alexander did in the Afghan kingdoms in the 330s B.C.), it often sinks to the level of brutality and pitilessness of its enemy. Ask the British and the Russians of their own experience in that cruel country. Ask our own guys.New episodes every Monday. SUBSCRIBE and REVIEW.The War of Art - https://amzn.to/38vTIDdGates of Fire - https://amzn.to/3kjpFAX

New episodes every Monday. SUBSCRIBE and REVIEW.The War of Art - https://amzn.to/38vTIDdGates of Fire - https://amzn.to/3kjpFAX

New episodes every Monday. SUBSCRIBE and REVIEW.The War of Art - https://amzn.to/38vTIDdGates of Fire - https://amzn.to/3kjpFAX

Do we grow and mature in a smooth, straight line? I don't think so. Jungian psychology says we mature in stages that correspond to the archetypes of the Unconscious--Youth to Warrior to Mentor to Father to King (or Queen) to Sage to Mystic. We'll examine this in today's episode.New episodes every Monday. SUBSCRIBE and REVIEW.The War of Art - https://amzn.to/38vTIDdGates of Fire - https://amzn.to/3kjpFAX

The writer of historical fiction must sometimes bend true-life characters to fit his conception of a story's theme. In The Virtues of War, I made the historical Hephaesteion, Alexander's dearest friend and second-in-command, take a stand for compassion and empathy for others. He becomes the character who feels the most deeply for the defeated and the subjected. In today's episode, we let him speak on the topic of the Warrior Archetype.New episodes every Monday. SUBSCRIBE and REVIEW.The War of Art - https://amzn.to/38vTIDdGates of Fire - https://amzn.to/3kjpFAX

Torn between the dark side of the Warrior Archetype and the light, Alexander (at least in my own historical fiction rendering) was pressed by his friend and second-in-command, Hephaesteion, to choose. He turned instead to Zeus the Creator. In today's episode we'll see how Alexander answered the dilemma of the limits of the Warrior Archetype.New episodes every Monday. SUBSCRIBE and REVIEW wherever you get your podcasts.The War of Art - https://amzn.to/38vTIDdGates of Fire - https://amzn.to/3kjpFAX

Alexander's closest generals were his dear friends Craterus and Hephaesteion. Each represented a different (and conflicting) aspect of the Warrior Archetype. Alexander stood in the middle. In today's episode we'll get more deeply into the dark and light sides of the Warrior Archetype.New episodes every Monday. SUBSCRIBE and REVIEW wherever you get your podcasts.The War of Art - https://amzn.to/38vTIDdGates of Fire - https://amzn.to/3kjpFAX

What are the limits of the Warrior Archetype? When does a virtue like the will to win become the crime of brutality and senseless aggression? Alexander came face to face with this issue on the banks of the Hydaspes River in India, when he encountered and was confronted by the great king Porus.New episodes every Monday. SUBSCRIBE and REVIEW wherever you get your podcasts.The War of Art - https://amzn.to/38vTIDdGates of Fire - https://amzn.to/3kjpFAX

Today we'll examine two more stories of Alexander ... and see if we can learn how we was able, over ten years of war (during which the majority of his soldiers never saw their homes even for a brief leave or furlough) to maintain the passionate devotion of his officers and men.New episodes every Monday. SUBSCRIBE and REVIEW wherever you get your podcasts.

Alexander was twelve years old when horse dealers brought the great stallion Bucephalus, for sale, to his father Philips's court in Macedonia. The princes all agreed that the animal was spectacular. But he was so wild, no one could even mount him. Then Alexander stepped forward. Nearly twenty years later, Alexander was still riding Bucephalus in battle, still in front of everyone else.New episodes every Monday. SUBSCRIBE and REVIEW wherever you get your podcasts.

With today's episode we'll move on from the Spartans, the consummate Warrior Collective, to the paramount individual warrior in history---Alexander the Great. Today we'll tell two stories of Alexander that demonstrate his style of leadership and the ideals he aspired to as a man and as a king.New episodes every Monday. SUBSCRIBE and REVIEW wherever you get your podcasts.

We will talk about the King archetype a lot as this series goes along. Why? Because at the center of all our psyches resides this paramount figure, upon whom our happiness, our honor, and the health and prosperity of our family and our country depend. When the king is absent or unjust, the kingdom falls. When the king rules with justice and wisdom, the kingdom prospers.New episodes every Monday. SUBSCRIBE wherever you get your podcasts.

Why have we concentrated so intensely in this series on the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae? Because you and I are in a battle too. Like the Spartans, we know the outcome in advance. No miracle will save us. No truce, no negotiation, and certainly no "victory" will see us off the field alive. Our question is the same as the Spartans': what are we going to do about it?New episodes every Monday. SUBSCRIBE wherever you get your podcasts.

Why have we concentrated so intensely in this series on the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae? Because you and I are in a battle too. Like the Spartans, we know the outcome in advance. No miracle will save us. No truce, no negotiation, and certainly no "victory" will see us off the field alive. Our question is the same as the Spartans': what are we going to do about it?New episodes every Monday. SUBSCRIBE wherever you get your podcasts.

Today's episode borrows heavily from Victor Davis Hanson's book, 'The Western Way of War," whose thesis is that the way Alexander, Caesar, Napoleon and all great Western generals down to today chose to wage war was to seek a pitched, decisive infantry battle that, at one blow, would decide everything. Where did this idea come from? From the ancient Greeks. New episodes every Monday. SUBSCRIBE wherever you get your podcasts.

If history is written by the (ultimate) winners, it's no wonder that we in the West view the Persian king Xerxes as a villain and the Spartan king Leonidas as a hero. But the warriors of the East were men of honor too, trained "to draw the bow and speak the truth." Let's investigate the Warrior Archetype today for how it regards enemies ... and why we in the West value certain styles of combat over others.New episodes every MondayBe sure to subscribe and leave a review!

This episode was not in our schedule. We stumbled upon the cottage you'll see behind me in the video. It prompted me to recall an "inner war" that changed my life years ago, beneath a red-tile roof just like this one.New episodes every Monday. SUBSCRIBE wherever you get your podcasts.

Spartan men (and women) were encouraged from an early age to develop a very specific style of humor--short, punchy quips, often with a dark fatalistic bite. In today's episode we'll examine two examples, both true-historical and both from Thermopylae. Let's see if we can figure out why this style of humor perfectly fit warriors about to undergo a trial of death.New episodes every Monday. SUBSCRIBE wherever you get your podcasts

Thermo = Hot. Pylae = Gates. In today's episode, we'll get into the tactical blood-and-guts scenario of the battle of Thermopylae ... three days of "hell in a very small place."New episodes every Monday SUBSCRIBE wherever you get your podcasts

The legend is that, around 1250 BCE, an army of Amazon women attacked Athens. Plutarch, who lived in the first century CE, tells us that in his time at Athens there were still graves of warrior women, temples dedicated to them, and a neighborhood called Amazoneum. I'm a believer. Are you?New episodes every MondaySubscribe wherever you get your podcasts

We've all seen "Wonder Woman" and thought it was cool. But was there really a race of warrior women? Did they really sear off the right breast so the arm would grow strong to draw the bow and sling the double-bladed axe? Were the Amazons really the greatest force on horseback ever? Did they actually attack Athens ... and nearly win?New episodes every MondaySubscribe wherever you get your podcasts

On the eve of the great war between Athens and Sparta, a speech was given to the Spartans, warning them of the character of the enemy they were about to take on. The formidable but stolid, deliberate and cautious Spartans would soon face the daring, unpredictable, reckless, audacious combatants of Athens. Which side would win ... and to what expedients would it have to sink to achieve victory?New episodes every MondaySubscribe wherever you get your podcasts

The Greeks gave us democracy, courts of law, philosophy, drama, much more. But their greatest gift -- something that had never existed before, anywhere in the world -- was the idea of the autonomous citizen ... the free individual who, in Pericles' phrase, was "the rightful lord of his own person."New episodes every MondaySubscribe wherever you get your podcasts

The Persian king Darius had never heard of the Greeks, their nations were so distant and so remote on the periphery of his empire. Then the Athenians burned Sardis, one of the king's cities. Thereafter at each evening meal, a servant was instructed to whisper in the monarch's ear, "Sire, remember the Athenians." From this reminder of revenge came wars that went on for centuries and are still shaping our world today.New episodes every Monday.Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Spartan boys were taken from their mothers at age seven and enrolled in "the Upbringing." They remained in this School of Hard Knocks till age eighteen, when they officially became warriors and took their place in the phalanx. Herodotus tells us that Spartans breathed a sigh of relief and gratitude when they went off to war ... it was so much easier than the training.New episodes every Monday.Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts

Every facet of every warrior code is about one thing and one thing only -- Fear. Codes of honor, loyalty, integrity, love of country, fidelity to a cause. They all exist as a counterpoise to the imperative of self-preservation built into our bodies, our cells, our flesh ... the "factory of fear."To learn more about warrior culture, read THE WARRIOR ETHOS and GATES OF FIRE by Steven Pressfield.

To learn more about warrior culture, read THE WARRIOR ETHOS and GATES OF FIRE by Steven Pressfield.

To learn more about warrior culture, read THE WARRIOR ETHOS and GATES OF FIRE by Steven Pressfield.

To learn more about warrior culture, read THE WARRIOR ETHOS and GATES OF FIRE by Steven Pressfield.

To learn more about warrior culture, read THE WARRIOR ETHOS and GATES OF FIRE by Steven Pressfield.

To learn more about warrior culture, read THE WARRIOR ETHOS and GATES OF FIRE by Steven Pressfield.

To learn more about warrior culture, read THE WARRIOR ETHOS by Steven Pressfield.

To learn more about warrior culture, read THE WARRIOR ETHOS by Steven Pressfield.

To learn more about warrior culture, read THE WARRIOR ETHOS by Steven Pressfield.

To learn more about warrior culture, read THE WARRIOR ETHOS by Steven Pressfield.

To learn more about warrior culture, read THE WARRIOR ETHOS by Steven Pressfield.

Steven Pressfield continues discussion of the women of Sparta. To read a great story of Spartan culture, check out the best seller GATES OF FIRE by Steven Pressfield.

"Come back with this or on it." Probably the most famous quotation from a Spartan woman. The Spartan culture was a warrior culture and this expose describes the influence of Spartan mothers.

Steven Pressfield Introduces The Warrior Archetype Series.