18: The Tyrant and The Kings
The story of Polykrates, the Tyrant of Samos, intersects repeatedly with the history of the Persian empire during his life. From his rise to power in the vacuum left when Miletus was conquered, to his...
3 Sep 201928min
Announcement 01: Croeseids
Hello everyone! I've got some announcements, updates, and news about the show for you, and as a little bonus for listening to my fundraising spiel, there's a mini-episode on the history of the world's...
28 Aug 201921min
17: The Mad King
The story of Cambyses isn't just the conquest of Egypt, but also the dark side of it. According to Herodotus Cambyses was a mad king, driven to paranoia and acts of terrible violence while he was Egyp...
20 Aug 201925min
16: Pharaoh Cambyses
In 525 BCE, the Persian army crossed into Egypt, in what seems to have been the culmination of years of antagonism between the the new empire and the last great kingdom of the Near East. To accomplish...
6 Aug 201938min
15: The Army That Conquered The World
In preparation for Cambyses' invasion of Egypt, we're covering the early Persian armies. These are the armies that helped Cyrus the Great conquer the known world. They started as troops levied from Pe...
23 Jul 201930min
14: Princes, Princesses, Kings, and Queens
The narrative lurches forward again with a discussion of the new cast, so to speak. Meet Cambyses, Atossa, Bardiya, Artystone, and Roxane, the children of Cyrus the Great, and the new royal family of ...
9 Jul 201928min
13: Kingship 101
What did it mean to be an early king of Persia? They were divine, but not quite. Warriors and economists. The king of Persia, but also Babylon, Egypt, and many other lands. Legitimacy came in many for...
26 Jun 201929min
Episode 12: Iranian Religion
It's time to introduce religion into the mix, starting with the origins and background of ancient Iranian traditions in general, and then narrowing in on the most famous and significant: Zoroastrianis...
11 Jun 201940min
