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.

Episode 30: Persia City

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History of Persia podcast logo, taken from the Apadana north staircase at Persepolis

This time it’s just one episode for a different kind of tour. Explore the early phases of construction at Susa and Persepolis under Darius the Great. The grand Apadana audience halls with their splendid columns. The lavishly decorated palaces built to house Darius throughout the year. The famous works of art and architecture that define the middle Achaemenid period are featured in this episode.
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Inscribed Door Handle
Avesta.org Old Persian translations

Oliver Stone’s Alexander (2004) on the Hellenistic Age Podcast

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Hey everyone! My first collaborative episode is up! I spent some time chatting with Derek of the Hellenistic Age podcast about Oliver Stone’s Alexander (2004 and all the subsequent re-releases). You can check that out on the Hellenistic Age podcast feed (links below)! .

iTunes
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hellenistic-age-podcast/id1377920930?mt=2

Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/show/3OVlqzoNg4KW987igfhskd

Stitcher
http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=225541&refid=stpr

RSS
http://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:439067766/sounds.rss

Episode 29: The Grand Tour, Part 4

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Administrative Divisions of the Achaemenid Empire, 490 BC by Ian Mladjov on Ian Mladjov’s Resources

It’s the final stage of the tour! Our trip through the Persian Empire wraps up with three central provinces of the empire, located in western Iran. This time it’s Susiana, Media, and Parsa itself. We’ll traverse everything from rundown ancient kingdoms, hostile mountain tribes, royal capitals, and one of the wonders of the ancient world. For some of them, we won’t even have to leave the same city. These are the provinces that ruled and defined the Achaemenid Persian Empire.
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Legion vs Phalanx
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Episode 28: The Grand Tour, Part 3

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Administrative Divisions of the Achaemenid Empire, 490 BC by Ian Mladjov on Ian Mladjov’s Resources

The tour of the Persian Empire continues. This time I’m going through the empire within the empire to dissect Assyria and Babylonia. Within these two satrapies, there were many important administrative districts and geographic divisions including Judea, Palestine, Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Akkad in addition to Assyria and Babylon themselves. With hindsight’s 20/20 this was obviously one the most important parts of the empire, and we’ll go through it in detail.
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Oldest Stories
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Episode 27: The Grand Tour, Part 2

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Administrative Divisions of the Achaemenid Empire, 490 BC by Ian Mladjov on Ian Mladjov’s Resources

The tour of the Persian Empire continues, this time covering the western Satrapies. I’m exploring the details and histories of the Persian provinces starting with Armenia and moving counter clockwise, through Anatolia and Europe, over the Mediterranean, North Africa, Arabia, and Assyria. Based on the maps of Ian Mladjov.
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Episode 26: The Grand Tour

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Administrative Divisions of the Achaemenid Empire, 490 BC by Ian Mladjov on Ian Mladjov’s Resources

With the Persian Empire at its greatest ever extent, it’s time to start a tour of the empire. We’re travelling east, out of Parsa, and following the excellent maps of Ian Mladjov counter-clockwise through the eastern provinces. From Karmana to India, to the steppe to Parthia and everywhere in between, to examine the little bit of information we have about the Persian east.
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Holiday Special 2019

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Tribute bearers bringing the foods and goods of the world to the Great King. Bas relief at Persepolis

Happy Holidays Everyone! In place of a regular episode this week, we have the first annual History of Persia Holiday Special. Regardless of what holidays you’re celebrating, or not, I have a surprise topic to cover by audience request this week. Please enjoy!
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Interesting topic? Check out Anthrochef’s History of Food.

Episode 25: Behistun

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The Behistun Inscription with four of the five Persian columns and a bit of Elamite visible. via Wikimedia Commons under GNU Free Documentation License

It’s finally time to talk about the famous Behistun Inscription, commissioned by Darius to commemorate his victories over “Gaumata” and the rebel kings he faced from 522 – 518 BCE. It is part propaganda, part epic, part origin story, and part religious creed, declaring Darius’ position over his hard-won empire. I go through the inscription step by step and give some of the history of the site beyond Darius.
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Episode 24: Darius the Great

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From The History of Darius the Great by Jacob Abbott, 1904

With most of the Persian Empire firmly under his control in 519 BCE, Darius the Great set off to earn that title by conquering surrounding territories and spreading Achaemenid territory to its greatest ever extent. He pushed the boundaries of the known world and established an empire that stretched that spanned nearly 4,000 miles from North Africa to the Indus River Valley.
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