50! Ask Me Anything

Glazed brick mosaic from Darius’ Palace at Susa via Wikimedia

Thank you all so much! The AMA Episode was a great success and I look forward to the next 50 episodes of the History of Persia. This episode has everything: the ancient world in color, beard fashion, video games, book reviews, time travel, and of course me trying to piece together something to say about provinces we don’t actually know much about. Links below in order of appearance:
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Great Courses: The Persian Empire by John W. Lee

Literature and History Podcast

History of Iran Podcast
Khodad Rezakhani @sasanianshah

Top 10ish History Podcasts (in no particular order):

  1. The History of Byzantium – The narrative history of the Eastern Roman/Byzantine Empire beginning c.476 CE.
  2. The Oldest Stories – The history and mythology of the Bronze Age Near East, including Mesopotamia, the Hittites, and Mittani.
  3. The Hellenistic Age Podcast – A combination narrative and cultural history of the Hellenistic World from Alexander to Caesar.
  4. The History of English – The history of the English language, tracing linguistic history from Indo-European to modern English
  5. The Timur Podcast – A biographical history of the great 14th century conqueror Timur, also known as Tamerlane.
  6. History in the Bible – A well researched critical history of the stories told in the Bible and its many variants and accouterments
  7. The Vacation Bible School Podcast – Reading and discussing the Bible in order for an audience of any background.
  8. Behind the Bastards – Robert Evan’s and an array of guests discuss the absolute worst people in history, past and present.
  9. The Pirate History Podcast – A history of the Golden Age of English Piracy beginning with Sir Francis Drake.
  10. History of Aoteroa New Zealand – A history of two of Earth’s most unique island from the beginning of human in habitation.
  11. Words For Granted – A great linguistic history show following the history of individual words in each episode.

History of Modern Iran Podcast

The Heroic Legend of Arslan on Amazon
on Hulu
on crunchyroll

Creation by Gore Vidal
Audible Audio Book

The Ancient World Podcast

Audacity audio editor

Holiday Special 2019 – on Achaemenid food and feasting

Apadana Treasury Relief to showcase different beards

Persepolis in Color – Don’t forget to follow Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones!

Books on the Sassanids and Parthians:
The War of the Three Gods: Romans, Persians, and the Rise of Islam by Peter Crawford
Sasanian Persia: The Rise and Fall of an Empire by Touraj Daryaee
Reign of Arrows: The Rise of the Parthian Empire in the Hellenistic Middle East by Nikolaus Leo Overtoom
ReOrienting the Sasanians: East Iran in Late Antiquity by Khodad Rezakhani
Decline and Fall of the Sasanian Empire: The Sasanian Confederacy and the Arab Conquest of Iran by Parvaneh Pourshariati

Interview with Michael Bonner

Patreon Bonus 13: Why is Persia Under-Emphasized
Original AskHistorians Question

300 Review

In The Words of Zarathustra

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Interview 01: Dr. Michael Bonner

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.
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The Last Empire of Iran by Michael Bonner

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Episode 25: Behistun

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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Behistun Text

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