History of Persia

Last time, we got up to speed on what was going on in the Near East in the centuries before the Persians showed up. What... Read more

Around 550 BCE, King Cyrus II of Anshan went into revolt against the Median King Astyages. The young Cyrus was aided by ... Read more

We're bringing the stories from the last two episodes together now. The Medes and the Babylonians joined forces, beat th... Read more

With most of the Persian Empire firmly under his control in 519 BCE, Darius the Great set off to earn that title by conq... Read more

Just as Cyrus the Great, now officially the King of Persia, was consolidating his hold over the recently conquered Media... Read more

No sooner was Bardiya dead, than the newly minted King Darius had to turn his attention on rebellious subjects. One satr... Read more

In 525 BCE, the Persian army crossed into Egypt, in what seems to have been the culmination of years of antagonism betwe... Read more

Picking right back up in the late summer of 521 BCE, I'm talking about the rest of the rebellions against Darius. That's... Read more

Cyrus's generals take the reins for a bit and the Persian conquerors face their most grueling task yet: subduing the Ion... Read more

In 522 BCE, the Persian Empire sat on the edge of Chaos. Between March and September of that year, 3 men sat on the Pers... Read more

In preperation for Cambyses' invasion of Egypt, we're covering the early Persian armies. These are the armies that helpe... Read more

With the Persian Empire at its greatest ever extent, it's time to start a tour of the empire. We're travelling east, out... Read more

The story of Cambyses isn't just the conquest of Egypt, but also the dark side of it. According to Herodotus Cambyses wa... Read more

It's finally time to talk about the famous Behistun Inscription, commissioned by Darius to commemorate his victories ove... Read more

The story of Polykrates, the Tyrant of Samos, intersects repeatedly with the history of the Persian empire during his li... Read more

In Babylon, October of 539 BCE began in the 17th year of the reign of Nabonidus, but it ended in the 1st year of Cyrus. ... Read more

Hello everyone! I've got some announcements, updates, and news about the show for you, and as a little bonus for listeni... Read more

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... Read more

Returning to the narrative, it's time to see what Cyrus got up to in the final decade of his rule, after conquering Baby... Read more

The tour of the Persian Empire continues. This time I'm going through the empire within the empire to dissect Assyria an... Read more