In this program we'll take a look at the illustrious life of the great Persian King of Kings, Darius I, also known as Darius the Great.  Regarded by many as the most powerful ruler of the Achaemenid Dynasty of ancient Iran, Darius I is also amongst its most controversial.  We'll dive deeper into the life of great king, the contentious debate about his rise to power, and ultimately examine the words of Darius himself about his these and other aspects of his life and beliefs. Contents:00:00  Introduction and Historical Context03:37  Early Life of Darius05:14  Rise to Power as told in the Behistun Inscription16:55  Lineage and Family of Darius18:10  Rebellions and Troubles of 522 BC 20:43  Architect of an Empire: Satrapies, Reforms, Roads and Canals25:19  Darius the Builder: Susa and Persepolis 33:50  Expansion of the Achaemenid Empire35:25  The Ionian Revolt37:17  Invasion of Greece and the Battle of Marathon43:21  Thank You and PatronsSpecial thanks to Farya Faraji for the music: "Achaemenes""Shirin and Khosrow""The Riding Angaros""Memory of Cyrus""Spantodhata's Warning""The Apadana's Shadow""Battle of Cunaxa""Hyrcanian Lullaby""Immortals""Apranik's Charge""March of Achaemenes"Check out more of his work that spans across many countries, cultures and time periods: https://www.youtube.com/@faryafarajiFollow History with Cy:YouTube ChannelInstagramFacebookTwitterWebsite Support the show

This is the episode that many of your have been waiting for - a comprehensive, in-depth look at the Akkadian Empire from just before it was created to its mysterious end.  Founded by Sargon of Akkad and expanded by his descendants Rimush, Manishtushu and Naram-Sin, the Akkadian Empire was the first hegemonic state and superpower of the early Bronze Age.  This program will examine Akkad's beginning, it's rise and expansion to the far corners of the known world, its economy, administration, collapse and legacy.  Contents:00:00 Introduction: The World Before Sargon of Akkad04:37 Lugalzagesi  09:33 The Early Life and Legends of Sargon of Akkad13:24 Who were the Akkadians?16:05 Sargon and Ur-Zababa20:01 The Founding of the Akkadian Empire22:17 Sargon Battles Against Elam and Marhashi23:24 King of Battle25:49 Administration of the Akkadian Empire27:26 Enheduanna30:15 The Glory of Agade36:30 Rimush the Warmonger 45:48 Manishtushu the Consolidator 49:10 Naram-Sin and the Great Revolt53:55 Naram-Sin the Divine57:40 Naram-Sin and Elam1:00:04 Other Conquests of Naram-Sin1:01:28 Akkadian Administration under Naram-Sin1:03:26 Land Distribution and Reforms1:07:28 Family of Naram-Sin and Diplomatic Marriages 1:09:56 Shar-kali-sharri and the End of an Era1:16:55 After Akkad 1:18:29 Thank You and PatronsSupport the show

In this video we'll journey back to the late Bronze Age and explore Mycenaean Civilization in Greece and the wider Aegean world.  We'll also delve into the historical events that may have led to armed conflicts between Mycenaeans and Hittites and that may have ultimately served as the basis for Homer's great epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Contents:00:00 Contents and Introduction02:43 Helladic Chronology Explained03:42 Discovery of Mycenaean Culture05:35 Geography of Greece07:28 Early Mycenaeans10:58 “Mycenae, Rich in Gold”13:32 Linear B16:54 Mycenaean Society and Material Culture21:21 Mycenaean Palatial Centers and Major Kingdoms23:39 Orchomenos25:30 Gla26:00 Thebes27:00 Athens29:10 Tiryns29:49 Pylos31:15 Daily Life, Food and Economy 36:41 Importance of Bronze38:08 Warfare and Weapons40:25 Hunting and Horses41:47 Roads42:26 Religion45:28 Minoans and Maritime Trade48:07 Earthquake on Thera49:26 Mycenaeans on Crete52:22 Mycenaean Political Unity?53:31 Ahhiyawa and the Hittites55:31 Attarissiya of Ahhiya57:55 The Assuwan Confederacy 1:00:10 Piyamaradu and the Tawagalawa Letter1:05:16 Alaksandu of Wilusa (Troy)1:08:29 Ahhiyawa and Tudhaliya IV1:11:20 Are Mycenaean Greece and Ahhiyawa the Same?1:13:07 Mycenaean Trade with the World1:15:08 The Uluburun Shipwreck1:18:01 Fear and Dread1:23:15 Desperate Times, Desperate Measures1:25:53 Possible Theories for the Fall of Mycenaean Civilization1:27:24 End of an Era1:28:54 Thank You and PatronsSupport the show

This program explores the history of the ancient city of Babylon and the land once known as Babylonia.  We'll uncover the story of this great city over the course of fifteen centuries and learn about its impact and why it was so beloved as well as hated by so many in the ancient world.   We'll also meet an interesting and rather eclectic cast of kings including Hammurabi, Zimri-Lim, Rim-Sin, Samsu-iluna, Marduk-apla-iddina II, Sargon II, Sennacherib, Ashurbanipal, Nabopolassar, Nebuchadnezzar I & II, Nabonidus, Cyrus the Great and many more. Contents:00:00 Introduction04:00 Before Babylon: The Fall of the Neo-Sumerian Empire05:30 Ibbi-Sin and Ishbi-Erra09:27 Letter of Puzur-Numushda to Ibbi-Sin12:21 Fall of Ur and the Birth of Babylonian Civilization15:11 Dynasties of Isin and Larsa (Isin-Larsa Period)19:00 The First Dynasty of Babylon26:32 Hammurabi of Babylon27:48 Zimri-Lim of Mari29:48 War with Eshnunna30:46 The Sukkalmah of Elam33:12 War with Elam35:51 Hammurabi and Rim-Sin39:41 Hammurabi and Zimri-Lim42:24 The Law Code of Hammurabi46:07 Rebellions during the Reign of Samsu-iluna52:30 The Last Four Kings of the First Dynasty55:29 The Hittite Invasion of Babylonia58:03 The Kassites take Control01:03:45 The Kassites Reunite Babylonia 01:06:30 Rivalry with Assyria 01:09:05 Assyria show Babylon who’s Boss01:11:40 Tukulti-Ninurta’s Conflict with the Kassites01:14:35 The Second Sack of Babylon01:18:37 Elamite Incursions01:20:10 Babylon Bounces Back01:22:36 The End of the Kassite Era01:25:55 The Second Dynasty of Isin01:27:23 Nebuchadnezzar I Avenges Babylon 01:33:50 Life under the Second Dynasty of Isin01:34:56 Literary Works: Enuma Elish and Sakkiku01:37:24 More Assyrian Meddling 01:43:43 Dark Age and Mysterious Dynasties of Babylon01:44:40 Second Dynasty of the Sealand01:47:43 The Bazi Dynasty01:48:11 The Elamite Dynasty 01:49:10 Dynasty E01:53:52 Tiglath-pileser III and the Neo-Assyrian Era of Babylon02:01:48 Marduk-apla-iddina II of Babylon and Sargon the II of Assyria02:11:19 Sennacherib 01:24:50 The Destruction of Babylon02:27:50 Esarhaddon Rebuilds Babylon02:33:12 Ashurbanipal and Shamash-shumu-ukin02:39:40 Nabopolassar and the Fall of Assyria02:46:54 Nebuchadnezzar II 02:53:10 Nabonidus, the Last Babylonian King02:56:40 Cyrus the Great and the Persian Conquest of Babylon03:01:04 End of an Era03:07:27 Thank You and PatronsSupport the show

In this third installment of the Peloponnesian War podcast, we take a look at life after Pericles and the years 428 and 427 BC.  Leaders of Mytilene's oligarchy have decided that now is the time to leave the Athenian-led alliance.  The conflict in Plataea also finally comes to an end while another bloody civil conflict between factions in Corcyra gets out of hand and shocks the Greek world.  At the end of it, the Athenians head west to see if they can exert their influence in southern Italy and Sicily.  The war is really heading up and who knows where the fires will spread to next! In this third installment of the Peloponnesian War podcast, we take a look at life after Pericles and the years 428 and 427 BC.  Leaders of Mytilene's oligarchy have decided that now is the time to leave the Athenian-led alliance.  The conflict in Plataea also finally comes to an end while another bloody civil conflict between factions in Corcyra gets out of hand and shocks the Greek world.  At the end of it, the Athenians head west to see if they can exert their influence in southern Italy and Sicily.  The war is really heading up and who knows where the fires will spread to next! Contents:00:00 Introduction01:10 Revolt of Mytilene06:25 Judgement of Mytilene: Cleon vs. Diodotus 13:41 The Fate of Plataea16:07 Civil War in Corcyra22:05 Sicily and Syracuse25:43 Thank You and PatronsSupport the show

War begins!  In this episode, we take a look at the start of the great war and the Athenian statesman Pericles' strategy to keep Athens and it's empire safe from the attacks of the Spartan general Archidamos and the Peloponnesian forces.  Find out in this episode of the Peloponnesian War Podcast. Support the show

This is the first episode of the podcast series on the Peloponnesian War.  How did it start?  What does Thucydides, the war's great historian, tell us about the reasons and motivations of Athens, Sparta, Corinth and the different parties involved? Could the conflict have been prevented?  We'll take a look at these questions and more as we go through the story of the greatest internal conflict of ancient Greek history, the Peloponnesian War!   Support the show

Herodotus, arguably the ancient world's greatest historian...or storyteller.  Perhaps a bit of both.  In this episode, we take a look at his life, where he traveled and see what may have been the source for one of his more fantastical stories, namely the gold-digging ants of India. Follow History with Cy:YouTube ChannelInstagramFacebookTwitterWebsite Support the show

In the second of this two part series on the Achaemenid Persian Empire, we continue with Darius the Great's son, Xerxes and some of the main events of the Greco-Persian wars, and then follow the lives of his successors up to Darius III and the fall of the Achaemenid Empire with its conquest by Alexander of Macedonia, a.k.a. Alexander the Great.     Contents: 00:00 Intro and Recap01:33 Xerxes (486-465 BC)03:43 Xerxes Invades Greece08:47 Battle of Thermopylae11:18 Battle of Salamis12:40 Battle of Plataea 14:40 Xerxes after Greece18:26 Artaxerxes I (465-424 BC)25:57 Darius II (424-404 BC)30:07 Cyrus the Younger and the Battle of Cunaxa31:17 Artaxerxes II (404-359 BC)36:50 Artaxerxes III (359-338 BC)39:20 Philip II and the Rise of Macedonia42:25 Darius III (336-330 BC)44:47 Alexander of Macedon and the Battle of the Granicus River47:44 Battle of Issus50:17 Battle of Gaugamela53:40 The Last Days of Darius III57:38 End of the Achaemenid Empire and Aftermath58:54 Thank you and PatronsFollow History with Cy:YouTube ChannelInstagramFacebookTwitterWebsite Support the show

In this first of a two-part series, we'll take a concise look at the history of one of the greatest empires in all of antiquity - the Achaemenid Persian Empire.  Founded by Cyrus II and expanded by his successors Cambyses II and Darius I, the Achaemenid dynasty would not just go on to rule most of the known world at the time, but also transmit the ideas and innovations of its many subject peoples to from the shores of the eastern Mediterranean to the Indus River valley and beyond.  We'll start with examining the Achaemenid's rise to power, the world that they lived in, their religion including Zoroastrianism, and the beginning of their encounters with the Greek-speaking peoples of the Aegean and what would eventually lead to the Greco-Persian wars.    Contents: 00:00 Historical Backdrop (Assyria, Elam and Media)09:35 Cyrus the Great (Early Years)14:00 Cyrus vs. Croesus and Lydia20:31 Cyrus and the Conquest of Babylon24:43 Cyrus as Liberator in Biblical and Babylonian texts27:33 Cyrus and Babylon29:20 Cyrus' Last Campaign against the Massagetae32:00 Cambyses II37:06 Cambyses II - Mad or Maligned King?42:18 Darius I (Darius the Great)43:44 The Behistun Inscription and the Crisis of 522 BC55:50 Persian Ethics, Religion, and Zoroastrianism01:02:56 Achaemenid Administration - Roads, Canals and Satrapies01:08:45 Expansion into Europe and start of the Greco-Persian Wars01:11:19 Battle of Marathon01:14:28 Thank you and PatronsSupport the show

Some of you wanted to know a bit more about the Amorites and they're arrival into Mesopotamia, so I thought I'd do a quick podcast on it. This program will take a look at early references to Amorites in Sumerian, Elbaite and Akkadian documents. Contents:00:00 Introduction01:30 Who were the Amorites?05:20 Earliest mention of Amorites in Sumerian texts06:26 Amorites in texts from Ebla and other cities12:25 Amorites and the fall of Ur16:52 Letter of Ushashum the Amorite to Bilalama of Eshnunna20:16 Thank you and patronsFollow History with Cy:YouTube ChannelInstagramFacebookTwitterWebsite Support the show

The history of ancient Sumer and the Sumerians, from the first notable farming communities to occupy their land to their magnificent cities, innovations, great kingdoms and empires. If you want to get a good grasp of who the Sumerians were, this is the program for you!Follow History with Cy:YouTube ChannelInstagramFacebookTwitterWebsite Support the show

In this podcast, we take a look at the fabled king, Croesus of Lydia, at least from the point of view of Greek writers such as Herodotus and Xenophon.  Croesus was a king who during his day (r. 560-546 BC) was deemed to have been the wealthiest sovereign in the world. However, he lost it all to the Persian king Cyrus the Great while finally learning the lesson that the great Athenian sage, Solon, was trying to convey to him.  It's an interesting tale and fun to examine.  Follow History with Cy:YouTube ChannelInstagramFacebookTwitterWebsite Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/historywithcy)Support the show

The Achaemenid king, Cambyses II of Persia, was the son and successor of Cyrus the Great.  Though Cyrus is lauded by friend and foe alike as the ideal ruler, his son Cambyses in many written sources has been portrayed as just the opposite - a cruel, intolerant and unjust tyrant.  But are these accusations true or simply the result of anti-Persian propaganda that was spread by some of their dissatisfied subject peoples, most notably in Egypt?  Most of what we know about Cambyses II comes from his time in Egypt, which we'll take a look at here to see if we can determine just who the real Cambyses II of Persia was.   Follow History with Cy:YouTube ChannelInstagramFacebookTwitterWebsite Support the show

With this video we start a series of programs and podcasts all dealing with ancient Persia and the beginnings of the Achaemenid Persian Empire of Cyrus II, better known to the world as Cyrus the Great.  We'll first take a quick look at the history of the region around the time when the first Iranian tribes entered the region, followed by the Medes and how they laid the groundwork for the rise of one of history's greatest rulers, Cyrus the Great, founder of Persian Achaemenid Empire.  We'll also examine a good deal of the primary sources (such as the works of Herodotus, Babylonian chronicles, the Cyrus Cylinder, etc.) that help us to put together a better picture of who Cyrus was. You will not want to miss this episode!Follow History with Cy:YouTube ChannelInstagramFacebookTwitterWebsite Support the show

In this podcast we cover the last centuries of what was once an independent and powerful Elam.  During what's known as the Neo-Elamite period (1100-550 BC), Elam went on a steady decline until it's near destruction at the hands of the Neo-Assyrian Empire.  This is the story of the last kings of Elam and the final end of their conflict with the peoples and empires of neighboring Babylonia and Assyria.    Follow History with Cy:YouTube ChannelInstagramFacebookTwitterWebsite Support the show

I thought it'd be a good idea to take some time and discuss the basic religious beliefs and practices that were prevalent in ancient Canaan and the Levant during the Bronze Age.  In this program, you'll learn about the basics of how Canaanite religion developed as well as how it impacted the lives of the people who practiced this form of worship. Follow History with Cy:YouTube ChannelInstagramFacebookTwitterWebsite Support the show

This podcast is for all of your fans of Babylonian history! In it, we take a look at the some of the most obscure centuries in Babylonian history and the events as well as the dynasties that shaped them, namely the Second Dynasty of the Sealand, the Bazi Dynasty, the Elamite Dynasty and the mysterious Dynasty of E.  This is the history of Babylon that you were not taught in school.Sources and Suggested Reading ► https://bit.ly/3e8qWI6Follow History with Cy:YouTube ChannelInstagramFacebookTwitterWebsite Support the show

In this video podcast, we'll take a look at one of the most overlooked peoples of ancient history, the Medes, and reconstruct their early history using Assyrian, Babylonian and Greek sources, namely Herodotus (the Medes don't have any primary sources of their own).  It was the Medes and the Median Empire that laid the foundation upon which the Achaemenid Persian Empire of Cyrus the Great and his descendants rested upon.Sources and Suggested Reading ► https://bit.ly/3ehWgovFollow History with Cy:YouTube ChannelInstagram Facebook Twitter Website Support the show

I thought that this might be a fun topic for those of you who are into examining ancient primary sources.  For those of you who may not know, the Amarna Letters are a collection of 14th century BCE correspondence between three pharaohs of Egypt and other great kings or their vassals and mayors in the Levant.  They're interesting and actually fun to read for what they reveal about international relations in the Near East during the period. The program is divided up into the following sections:0:00 - Introduction to the Amarna Letters3:55 - Bargaining for royal brides 11:30 - Assyria joins the club of great kings13:11 - Trouble in ByblosFollow History with Cy:YouTube ChannelInstagram  Facebook  Twitter  Website Support the show