The Aramaic letter formally requesting funds to rebuild the Temple of Yaho in Elephantine
No, the other one. In Egypt. The best source of information on events Egypt under Darius II comes from the letters of the Jewish diaspora community in southern Egypt and their temple on the island of Elephantine. They also tell the story of a dramatic confrontation between the Jews and their Egyptian neighbors that ended in forced reconciliation. Stream Download
A coin depicting Tissaphernes, the Hydarnid Satrap of Lydia via Wikimedia
The reign of Darius II was chaotic. It is impossible to cover everything, everywhere, all at once. So today, we’re covering the interior of the empire as it was racked by civil war and rebellion for the better part of 20 years. Stream Download
An Assyrian Soldier, like those in Megabyzus’ army, as depicted on Xerxes’ tomb via Wikimedia
The story of the Megabyzid family conveniently flows from a solid recap of the story so far straight into the next major event in Achaemenid history: the very first satrap’s revolt, complete with Greek mercenaries and royal family drama. Stream Download
Xerxes depicted in Guillaume Rouillé’s Promptuarium Iconum Insigniorum, 1553
As the reign of another king draw’s toward a close, it’s time to look at the royal family. Xerxes’ household was like a microcosm of early Achaemenid history. His mother, Atossa, drew a direct connection back to Cyrus, his uncles, cousins, and siblings were woven into the political scene of his reign. Herodotus’ catalog of Persian commander’s is also a catalog of the Great King’s family, and many of them held positions of power as Satraps across the empire. The royal family is also an opportunity to look forward, and introduce the next generation of kings, satraps, generals, and rebels. Streaming Download
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. Stream Download
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. Stream Download
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 forms, and this episode explores them.
The remains of Palace S. The first Palace constructed at Pasargadae. Credit: Bernard Gagnon
A sketch of the Seal of Cyrus I from Anshan, featuring the king mounted with a spear in a combat scene. Credit: Livius.org
Left: The winged genius at Pasargadae, Gate R, as it stands today. Right: a sketch depicting how the same relief may have looked while intact. Credit: Pontecelo and John Henry Wright
The Tomb of Cyrus the Great at Pasargadae. Personally I really like this particular picture because it’s one of the few with people in the shot to give a sense of how large the structure is. Credit: Wright.one
Gallery of art and architecture described in the episode, click on a picture to see it full size. Left to right: Palace S at Pasargadae, the Seal of Cyrus I sketched, side by side Gate R today and restored sketch. Bottom: Tomb of Cyrus the Great. Captions posted as a comment on each image All images from Wikimedia Commons via Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License.
This time we’re taking a break from the narrative for a bit. Now that this show has all of Cyrus’s major conquests under its belt, its probably worth getting a sense of what these Persians were actually like. This episode covers art, architecture, clothing, and the major cultural influences of the early Persian period, under the Teispid kings. Let’s see what the world around Cyrus the Great might have looked like.
My homemade map of the Near East between the Bronze Age Collapse and the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Pre-Collapse Map on the “Maps” page.
Here we go, episode 1! Now, as much as I want to get to Persian history, we should probably know at least a little bit about the world before the Persians got there, so this is you lightspeed tour of the Near East, from about 1200 BCE to 616 BCE. Maps for everything are available on the website. Download Anchor Streaming Link
The History of Persia 
