Author: Trevor Culley

I'm Trevor Culley. My personal experience with both Persian history and podcasts began with a college extra credit assignment to listen to the first Hardcore History history episode on the Achaemenids. I was instantly enthralled with the stories of the Kings of Kings and coming a little late to the party, started listening to podcasts. On one hand, I started heading down the road toward PhD that will let me study ancient Persia for a living. On the other, as I binged my way through both the History of Rome and early episodes of the History of Byzantium I was always excited for the episodes dealing with the Parthians and Sassanids. I'm sure some of you shared my surprise and disappointment to discover that there was not a similarly dedicated podcast dealing with the great empires east of Rome. So that brings us here. I've decided to personally create that dedicated podcast.
Featured

History of Persia Podcast

On By Trevor CulleyIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Episode 38: The Last Battle – History of Persia

Nearly a decade after Aristagoras first went into revolt, and longer since the Athenians had reneged on their offerings of earth and water, the Persian Army came to take Darius' revenge on Athens. For the first time, a Persian army landed on the Greek mainland. They made their camp on an unremarkable open plain that would soon be seared into Greek history forever: Marathon. Patreon Lyceum Newspapers.com 7-Day Free Trial Ad: Newspapers.com — Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/history-of-perisa/support
  1. Episode 38: The Last Battle
  2. Episode 37: Greece Awakens
  3. Episode 36: Return of the Tyrannoi
  4. Episode 35: The Empire Strikes Back
  5. Episode 34: A New Fleet

Episode 38: The Last Battle

On By Trevor CulleyIn Episode PostLeave a comment
  • One possible re-creation of the infantry formations at Marathon. via Wikimedia Commons
  • A Greek helment, and its occupant, uncovered from the Marathon battlefield. Now in the Royal Ontario Museum. via Wikimedia Commons
  • The burial mound (tumulus) housing the ashes of the Athenian dead at Marathon. via Wikimedia Commons
  • “Scene of the Battle of Marathon” by John Steeple Davis, 1900.

Nearly a decade after Aristagoras first went into revolt, and longer since the Athenians had reneged on their offerings of earth and water, the Persian Army came to take Darius’ revenge on Athens. For the first time, a Persian army landed on the Greek mainland. They made their camp on an unremarkable open plain that would soon be seared into Greek history forever: Marathon.
Stream
Download

Patreon
Lyceum

Newspapers.com 7-Day Free Trial

Ad: Newspapers.com

Episode 37: Greece Awakens

On By Trevor CulleyIn Episode PostLeave a comment
A map of all the major Persian offensives against Greeks. Mardonius’ Thraco-Macedonian campaign is marked in green. The Greek campaign of Artaphernes and Datis is marked in brown. Via Wikimedia Commons

Even once the Ionian cities themselves were defeated, the consequences of their Revolt were ongoing. In 492 BCE, a new general, Mardonius, took to the field to settle matters in the Balkans. Two years later, the Persians turned their sites on Athens and Eretria in retribution for the aid they sent to the Ionians. In 490, Artaphernes and Datis launched the first Persian invasion of mainland Greece.
Stream
Download

Patreon
Lyceum

HankGreen.com
A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor
An Absolutely Remarkable Thing

Ad: Hank Green

Re- Introducing The Persian Royal Family Tree Project

On By Trevor CulleyIn Family Tree UpdateLeave a comment

I am pleased to announce some big developments in the ongoing family tree project. First and foremost, I was finally able to eliminate the confusing Dropbox-download and online Geneanet options. The full family tree is now completely online. Unfortunately I still can’t host it here because of the limitations enforced by WordPress. Instead, I’ve created a dedicated Wix site just for the family tree. See here or the Family Tree tab of the menu above.

The second major announcement is that I have completed the Achaemenid Family tree. Everyone from Achaemenes to Darius III and Alexander is now included. In the Complete 700-700 version of the tree (see here), this extends to most of the foreign dynasties with marriage-connections to the Achaemenids. There are some some further branches of the Argead Macedonian family to add, but the Achaemenid portions are complete.

Episode 36: Return of the Tyrannoi

On By Trevor CulleyIn Episode PostLeave a comment
A modern reconstruction of a Greek trireme, the standard war ship of the ancient Mediterranean via Wikimedia Commons

Even with Miletus defeated, the other rebel cities in shambles, Cyprus under control, and their armies victorious, the Persians had not heard the last of Ionian resistance. While the Greek rebels were fighting against the Persian Empire, the deposed tyrant Histiaeus was making plans to try and carve out a new niche for himself in Persian territory.
Stream
Download

Patreon
Lyceum
Support Page

Audible Trial

Ad: Audible

Episode 35: The Empire Strikes Back

On By Trevor CulleyIn Episode PostLeave a comment
The modern ruins of Miletus via Wikimedia Commons

It is a dark time for the Ionian Revolt. Although Sardis has been destroyed, Persian troops have driven the Rebel forces from Aeolis and pursued them across Anatolia.

Facing the renewed Persian Fleet, a group of Greek cities led by Dionysius of Phocaea has established a new plan on the nearby island of Lade.

The Persian satrap Artaphernes, ready to end this rebellion, has dispatched the army and the navy to retake Miletus….
Stream
Download

Patreon
Lyceum
Audible Free Trial

Ad: Audible

Episode 34: A New Fleet

On By Trevor CulleyIn Episode PostLeave a comment
The 10 City-Kingdoms of Achaemenid-era Cyprus, with rough borders via Wikimedia Commons

While three Persian land armies were spreading out over western Anatolia to contain and defeat the Ionian Greek rebels and their allies, a fourth army was headed to the island of Cyprus. The Cypriot King of Salamis, Onesilos had usurped his brother’s throne and incited his neighbors to rebellion. In our first “Battle of Salamis” the Persians retake the strange and strategic island.
Stream
Download

Lyceum.fm
Patreon
Support Page

Interview 01: Dr. Michael Bonner

On By Trevor CulleyIn Episode Post, Interview1 Comment
Sassanid plate with a hunting scene from the tale of Bahram Gur and Azadeh

This time I have something a little different. In place of a regular narrative episode this week, I have my recent interview with Dr. Michael Bonner, author of the new book: The Last Empire of Iran. This jumps far ahead of our current point in the narrative story, all the way to the Sassanid Persian Empire of the 4th-8th centuries CE.

Dr. Bonner and I discussed the origins, sources, conflicts, and fall of Iran’s last pre-Islamic dynasty.
Stream
Download

The Last Empire of Iran by Michael Bonner

Patreon
Support Page

Episode 33: Revenge of the Persians

On By Trevor CulleyIn Episode PostLeave a comment
The Military Campaigns of the Ionian Revolt by Eric Gaba under  GNU Free Documentation License Episode 31-Current

After the shocking attack on Sardis, many more Greek cities joined the Ionian Revolt, despite Persian victory at Ephesus. In 497 BCE, three land campaigns were launched by three Persian generals: Daurises, Hymaies, and Otanes. After a series of lightning victories in early 497, the campaigns began set in to prolonged fighting. Two of the Persian generals were dead by 496, but the Ionians were still losing. Fresh revolts in the Troad and Caria were dealt serious defeats, and Aristagoras of Miletus, once the ringleader of the Ionians, fled into exile.
Stream
Download

Timur Podcast
Apple | Spotify | Stitcher | RSS

Patreon

Episode 32: Begun, the Greek Wars Have

On By Trevor CulleyIn Episode PostLeave a comment
Bust of Solon the Athenian Lawmaker. Copy from a Greek original (c. 110 BC) from the Farnese Collection via Wikimedia Commons  Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

To prepare ourselves for their role in the coming wars between Persian the Greek city states, I’m explaining the history and politics of Archaic Athens, from their first adoption of oligarchy rather than monarchy, down through the adoption of democracy, the Peisistratid tyrants, and the final restoration of democracy by Cleisthenes. At the end of that long process, the Athenians and their Eretrian allies joined forces with the Ionian Greek cities of Anatolia in their revolt against the Persian Empire. In 498 BCE, the Greek army set out from Ephesus in a lightning raid to attack, and ultimately destroy, the Lydian capital at Sardis.
Stream
Download

Patreon
Amazon Fresh
Amazon Prime

The History of Ancient Greece Podcast by Ryan Stitt
Ancient Persia: A Concise History of the Achaemenid Empire by Matt Waters

Ad: Amazon