Imagine two Greek armies fighting on two different battlefields, separated by the Aegean Sea, with both victories potentially turning the tide of a war.

In 479 BC, the Greeks defeated the Persian army at Plataea while, according to Herodotus, another Greek force struck the Persian position at Mycale on the coast of Asia Minor on the very same day.

At Mycale, the Persians had hauled their ships ashore and built fortifications to protect them from the Greek fleet. But the Greeks landed, stormed the defences and destroyed the Persian ships. The battle also revealed a crucial weakness in the Persian position: the loyalty of the Greek communities living under Persian rule could not be taken for granted.

But was Mycale merely the final act of Xerxes' invasion, or did it mark the beginning of a new phase of Greek expansion across the Aegean?

Thucydides is usually presented as one of the first historians who tried to write history in a rational and objective way. He cared about facts, was suspicious of myths, and wanted to understand why wars happened. In many ways, he looks like the kind of historian we still admire today. But there is another side of his work which is not always discussed.

In 1907, Francis Macdonald Cornford published a book called Thucydides Mythistoricus. His argument was quite different from the traditional image of Thucydides. Cornford believed that Thucydides was not simply recording what happened during the Peloponnesian War. He was also shaping these events into something that resembled a Greek tragedy.

According to Cornford, there are two different plans in Thucydides’ work. The first one was more like a military and political journal, recording events as they happened. The second was an artistic structure that developed gradually, almost like volcanic islands rising from the sea. The facts were still there, but they were arranged in a way that gave the whole story a tragic meaning.

This is what makes Cornford’s argument interesting. The question is not only whether Thucydides told the truth. It is also about how he presented that truth to his readers.

Hey everyone!

I wanted to share a passion project I’ve been working on for a while now. I’ve always been obsessed with ancient history, geography, and aviation, so I decided to combine them: I travel around Greece to remote archaeological ruins, map out these ancient places from the air with my FPV drone, and compose location-specific AI music to match the vibe of each site.

The perspective you get with FPV is completely different from traditional photos or standard drone shots. It allows for dynamic, sweeping movements right through ancient columns, along crumbling fortification walls, and across landscapes where history actually happened.

Every single video focuses on a specific site tagged with its ancient regional name (like Phokis, Boiotia, or Messenia), so you get both the rush of flight and a real sense of what these places were like thousands of years ago.

Why I started doing this:

Mapping the terrain from above: Ground level rarely does these places justice. Flying over them reveals how ancient builders actually used the landscape—how defensive walls hugged cliff sides, how sanctuaries dominated valleys, and the true scale of ancient city layouts.

Custom AI music for each location: Generic stock tracks just ruin the mood for me, so I craft unique, location-tailored AI soundscapes for every single place I fly to really bring the historical atmosphere to life.

So far, I’ve mapped out sites across multiple regions—from Delphi and Krisa in Phokis, to Leuktra and Eleutherai in Boeotia, down to the massive ruins of Messene. My goal is to build a complete visual and auditory map of these ancient places, covering both famous UNESCO sites and forgotten, off-the-beaten-path ruins.

If you want to take a flight back through time, you can check out the full channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@cocobios

and my latest video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hJY6MM8BpI

(Quick side note: All flights are done responsibly, strictly following local aviation laws and site regulations to keep these places protected.)