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History of Persia is

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Company in affiliates Northbrook, Illinois. Hello

1:42

everybody, I'm Trevor Cully

1:44

and this is a special first

1:47

for the history of Persia. I'm

1:50

sure I've mentioned this before, but

1:52

after many technical issues... I'm

2:01

finally able to start releasing

2:03

the new recordings of the

2:05

early episodes. Even

2:07

if you are binging through, if you

2:10

have gone in order, it's

2:12

been a while since you listened

2:14

to Episode 1, Assyria,

2:17

and Setting the Stage. Well,

2:20

in the grand tradition of indie

2:23

podcasting, the audio quality

2:25

and pacing of those

2:27

early episodes is... not

2:29

great? I

2:32

have improved personally, as

2:34

has my equipment, over the last

2:36

five years. And

2:38

since I no longer have the

2:40

original master recordings for the first

2:43

ten episodes, it only made sense

2:45

to make some new ones. Hopefully

2:48

I can impress some new listeners

2:51

and make some much needed updates

2:53

and corrections in those early scripts.

2:56

As of now, I have the first

2:59

three recorded, and Episode

3:01

1 is actually up in

3:03

the feed already. I

3:05

want to make sure I redo the first

3:07

15 episodes over the

3:09

coming months. Today

3:11

and next week, I will be

3:13

releasing the remastered versions of Episodes

3:15

1 and 2 in the

3:18

main feed, so you don't

3:20

have to go all the way back to the beginning

3:22

and find them. These

3:24

are the ones where I discussed the

3:26

world before the rise of Cyrus the

3:29

Great and the Persian Empire. They

3:31

are also the two episodes that

3:33

got the most revision. Episode

3:36

1 almost doubled in length,

3:38

actually. When

3:40

I launched the history of

3:42

Persia, I didn't have quite

3:45

as many resources to find

3:47

information and wasn't sure how

3:49

relevant pre-Iranian history of

3:51

modern Iran would actually be. I

3:54

was also being very conscious of the

3:56

existing history of Iran

3:58

podcasts that fit out while

4:01

trying to cover all of that

4:03

stuff. Turns out

4:05

it was more relevant than I expected

4:08

at the time, and since I've done

4:10

research on the Elamites and the other

4:12

Bronze Age cultures of Iran, I

4:15

wanted to add that in to

4:17

the original episodes. So

4:20

in addition to the remastered versions

4:22

of the original scripts, that

4:24

information has been added about

4:27

those cultures and their history.

4:30

Hopefully if you skipped those episodes

4:32

for whatever reason, you

4:34

might have cause to go back and listen

4:36

to episodes that you've passed up, and

4:39

if it's been a while, I know

4:41

for some of us it's been five

4:43

years, this will be a

4:45

good refresher on where it all began.

4:48

So, take it from the top. Hello

5:05

everyone, welcome to the history

5:08

of Persia, episode 1, Setting

5:11

the Stage, Remastered. So

5:14

episodes 1 and 2 are

5:17

going to have the biggest

5:19

changes in these first few

5:21

remastered episodes. The simple

5:23

fact of the matter is that I had done

5:25

a ton of research on the Persians and

5:28

rushed through a summary of everything before

5:30

that in about an hour of audio.

5:34

I've spent a lot of time

5:36

learning more about that everything before

5:38

period in the last few years

5:40

and want to include that, especially

5:42

topics that I skipped over because

5:44

I wasn't sure how relevant it

5:46

would be in the long run,

5:49

which then turned out to be very

5:51

relevant in the long run. This

5:55

will extend the runtime of these episodes

5:57

just a little, and

5:59

also involve splitting episodes 1 and

6:02

2 between two relatively distinct

6:04

time periods and topics. It

6:08

really makes these two into something

6:10

more like four mini episodes. And

6:14

to highlight that, I'm going to

6:16

stick an ad break in between those

6:19

two time periods, mostly

6:21

to indicate the transition between

6:23

those as a good

6:26

pausing point if you want to come

6:28

back later. In

6:31

episode 1, the mid-episode break

6:33

will mark the transition between

6:35

mostly original script and

6:37

entirely new material. So

6:40

off we go. As

6:42

much as I want to dive

6:45

right into the Persians themselves, they

6:47

were the product of the world

6:49

around them. So

6:51

we will be starting with a

6:53

brief overview of the Near Eastern

6:55

world and its history as it

6:57

stood on the precipice of Persian

7:00

conquest in the 6th century, BCE.

7:03

Choosing a starting point for the history of

7:05

the Near East is practically choosing a starting

7:07

point for the history of the world. More

7:11

than 5,000 years ago it was

7:13

already home to the first cities,

7:15

written language, and empires. Originally,

7:18

this episode started with me saying that

7:20

it is tempting to go all the

7:22

way back, but I want to avoid

7:24

it. I am

7:26

going to start you off with the

7:29

original script because it's still a really

7:31

good introduction to regional geography with a

7:33

narrative. But since

7:35

I get to reconsider my decisions, part

7:38

2 of this double episode will go

7:40

back to the beginning of recorded history.

7:44

But probably not the part you are

7:46

familiar with. Also,

7:49

if you're not already familiar with the

7:51

geography of the ancient Near East, I

7:54

do recommend pulling up a map. I

7:57

have maps of the historical

7:59

states up on the map.

8:01

the website historyofpersiapodcast.com and

8:03

will try to reference modern locations and

8:06

help you match things with a modern

8:08

map. Fortunately, history

8:10

provides us with a convenient starting

8:13

point to begin our narrative at

8:15

the end of the 10th century

8:17

BC, as the Near

8:20

East and the Eastern Mediterranean worlds

8:22

emerged from a prolonged dark age.

8:25

Over the course of the 12th

8:27

century BC, a calamity called the

8:30

Bronze Age Collapse swept

8:32

from Greece and Egypt to modern

8:34

Iran. Trade routes collapsed

8:36

and the Near Eastern world fell

8:39

into a period of economic recession.

8:41

Tin and copper, necessary to make

8:44

the bronze tools that dominated the

8:46

age, became difficult to

8:48

import as trade routes broke down,

8:51

eventually leading to the widespread

8:53

development of ironworking. Once

8:56

great cultures like the Mycenaean

8:58

Greeks, the Hittites, and the

9:00

Babylonians collapsed under military invasions

9:03

and probably famines. These

9:06

same disasters stunted and diminished

9:08

Egypt, Assyria, and Elam. Written

9:11

records from across the region

9:13

are either rare or entirely

9:15

absent from the mid 1100s

9:17

to the late 900s.

9:21

There is widespread evidence for

9:23

internal violence and strife in

9:25

many kingdoms, as well as

9:27

invasions from outside forces such

9:29

as the Eramaeans in Babylonia,

9:31

Phrygians in Anatolia, the

9:34

mysterious Sea Peoples who

9:36

are probably mostly Mycenaean

9:39

Greeks, in Egypt and

9:41

Canaan, and a group

9:43

of people who you may have heard

9:45

of called Iranians entering modern Iran for

9:47

the first time. The

9:50

story of recovery and a

9:52

short geographical tour of the

9:54

ancient Near East begins on

9:56

the Levantine coast in the

9:58

region of Phoenicia. which

10:00

included parts of modern Israel,

10:03

Palestine, Lebanon, and Syria. A

10:06

map of all of this is available on

10:08

the website. Phoenicia

10:11

is the name used by ancient

10:13

Greeks to describe the region called

10:16

Canaan in the Bible and other

10:18

Semitic language texts. Modern

10:21

scholarship tends to follow the biblical precedent

10:23

and use Canaan to describe the region

10:25

in the Bronze Age prior

10:28

to the rise of the Hebrew kingdoms of

10:30

Israel and Judah. While

10:32

Phoenicia is used to describe

10:34

the city-states that maintained open

10:37

pagan Canaanite culture to

10:40

the north of the biblical kingdoms,

10:42

mostly in modern Lebanon. The

10:45

Phoenician cities of Tyr, Sidon,

10:47

Biblos, and Arwaad cannot accurately

10:50

be described as recovering

10:52

from the Bronze Age collapse as they

10:54

did not suffer from the disasters of

10:57

the 12th century. They

11:00

probably suffered economically as their

11:02

international trade partners collapsed, but

11:04

the Phoenicians themselves carried on.

11:08

Over the following centuries while their

11:10

neighbors tried to regain their footing,

11:13

the Phoenicians became the masters of

11:15

luxury goods like quality timber and

11:17

rare dyes. However,

11:20

their real fame comes from

11:22

the Phoenician reputation as the great

11:24

seafaring merchants of the ancient world.

11:27

In the 12th and 11th

11:30

centuries they began exploring the

11:32

whole Mediterranean and by

11:34

the 10th they had established ties

11:36

and colonies as far away

11:38

as modern Spain and Morocco, including

11:41

the city of Carthage, which would become

11:43

the rival of Rome some 700

11:46

years later. Phoenician

11:48

merchants eventually became famed in

11:51

the classical world for their

11:53

crafts and artwork, but

11:55

few of them have survived to the modern

11:57

day. Likewise, they

12:00

their written records and histories are

12:02

largely lost. Greek

12:04

and Roman authors apparently used

12:07

Phoenician sources, but

12:09

today they are only known to

12:11

us indirectly because those Greek and

12:13

Roman authors cited them. Despite

12:16

this, the potential greatest

12:18

legacy of the Phoenicians comes from

12:20

their writing, the alphabet.

12:24

Greek writing systems appear to have

12:27

developed in the Sinai

12:29

Peninsula or Northern Egypt during the

12:31

Late Bronze Age and spread to

12:34

the Phoenicians relatively early. But

12:37

it was through Phoenician trade that

12:39

that system spread out to their

12:41

neighbors, like the Greeks, Hebrews, Aramaeans,

12:43

all during the Dark Age. And

12:46

from there it would spread still further

12:48

to Latin in the West, Persian in

12:50

the East, and many,

12:53

many others over time. North

12:56

of the Phoenician cities were

12:58

the Neo-Hittite kingdoms of Anatolia

13:00

and Northern Syria. How

13:03

much actual continuity of

13:05

blood there was in the ruling

13:08

class is hard to determine, but

13:11

there is clear evidence of cultural

13:13

continuity from the Hittite Empire that

13:15

collapsed in the 12th century. Assyrian

13:18

records continued calling the

13:20

territory Hati, and

13:22

they continued using the Hittite

13:25

hieroglyphic writing system, albeit to

13:27

write in a different but

13:29

related Luwian language. Kings

13:32

of the various Neo-Hittite kingdoms

13:34

claimed descent from ancient Hittite

13:36

rulers, but none of

13:38

these minor states ever recaptured the

13:40

territory of the former empire. We

13:45

also know very little about how

13:47

the Neo-Hittite states were organized, not

13:50

even the exact system of government.

13:53

Despite not leaving detailed documentation

13:55

or wielding significant political power,

13:57

they grew wealthy by controlling

14:00

overland trade routes from east

14:02

to west and remained

14:04

famous because they interacted with Judah

14:07

during the biblical period. Of

14:10

course, some of those trade routes

14:12

doubtlessly connected to the Phoenicians, but

14:14

many of them diverted north across

14:17

Anatolia, which is modern Turkey, and

14:19

into Europe, specifically Greece.

14:23

The Greeks had suffered particularly

14:26

hard conditions in the Bronze

14:28

Age collapse. In

14:30

the late Bronze Age, the

14:32

Mycenaean civilization dominated mainland Greece

14:34

and the surrounding islands. The

14:38

Mycenaeans built monumental palaces and

14:40

evidently became quite wealthy via

14:43

maritime trade and

14:45

participating in foreign wars. But

14:48

in the 1100s BC, the world seems to

14:52

have collapsed around them. Palaces

14:54

and cities were burned and

14:56

abandoned. Their writing system

14:58

called Linear B vanished entirely.

15:02

This truly dark age for the

15:04

Greeks actually lasted longer by

15:06

centuries than it did for most of

15:08

the Near East. With

15:10

no written record or even monumental

15:13

architecture, we are left

15:15

with scant archaeological records and the

15:17

retroactive histories of later Greeks to

15:19

fill in the blanks. What

15:22

is clear is that during this time,

15:25

the Greeks were developing new political theory

15:27

that would eventually emerge into

15:30

their characteristic city-states and early

15:32

forms of democracy, as

15:35

well as oral histories and religious

15:37

myths from the Mycenaean period that

15:39

grew into the mythological tales many

15:42

modern listeners are familiar with. However,

15:47

it was not until the 8th

15:49

century that Greek writing, now based

15:51

on the Phoenician alphabet, re-emerged. It

15:55

was this rebirth of Greek writing

15:57

that allowed Homeric literature, like the

15:59

Iliad, and the Odyssey, or

16:01

the early compilations of Greek mythology

16:04

to come into being. It

16:06

was also in this period that

16:09

several groups of Greek speakers migrated

16:11

eastward to the coast of Anatolia

16:13

where they set up culturally

16:15

Greek colonies, known broadly

16:18

as Ionia. Now

16:21

we move south, but keep the

16:23

Greeks in mind. Those

16:25

of you that have read ahead, so to

16:27

speak, know we will come back to them.

16:30

South of Greece was Egypt, already

16:33

the site of variably great

16:35

empires and fractious kingdoms for

16:37

thousands of years by the

16:39

collapse of the international system

16:42

in the Late Bronze Age. In

16:45

1177 BCE, Pharaoh

16:47

Ramesses III led Egypt in

16:49

battle with migratory marauders called

16:52

the Sea Peoples in his

16:54

records. These

16:56

Sea Peoples became a hot

16:58

topic among modern scholars, as

17:01

many have tried to determine who

17:03

they were and just how much

17:05

of the Bronze Age collapse can

17:07

be blamed on them specifically. Despite

17:11

successfully fending off the invaders,

17:14

Egypt was not unscathed in

17:16

the general collapse. As

17:19

international trade routes were cut off, Egypt

17:22

suffered in the ripple effect. Ramesses

17:25

III was assassinated, and infighting

17:27

among his heirs and their

17:29

descendants weakened the dynasty so

17:32

severely that a rival king,

17:34

the Pharaoh Smendes, took control of

17:37

the northern half of Egypt and

17:39

the priesthood in Thebes effectively ruled

17:41

south. The country was

17:43

reunified in the 10th century by

17:46

a Libyan dynasty, but

17:48

about a hundred years later a

17:50

civil war rocked Egypt once again

17:52

creating instability, and

17:54

within a generation, Nubian kings

17:57

from modern Sudan conquered

17:59

all of Egypt. of Egyptian territory. Immediately

18:02

to the northwest of Egypt,

18:04

a myriad of relatively minor

18:07

kingdoms, mostly of Canaanite descent,

18:10

mixed with new arrivals who came during

18:12

the collapse. And

18:14

if two of them had worshipped

18:16

any other god, I probably wouldn't

18:18

even bother mentioning them.

18:21

They were frequently vassalized by their

18:23

neighbors, and some are often included

18:25

in maps of Egyptian territory. However,

18:29

the little tiny Hebrew-speaking kingdoms

18:31

of Israel and Judah require

18:34

some attention for their legacy

18:37

alone. Little is

18:39

known about how the Jewish kingdoms came

18:41

to exist outside of the biblical account.

18:44

The Pharaoh Mernepta recorded conquering

18:47

a tribe he called Israel

18:49

in the 13th century BC,

18:52

but there is no firm evidence for

18:54

a kingdom, with a

18:56

centralized government and a monarch in a

18:58

capital, until the 11th century

19:00

and none at all for Judah until

19:02

the 9th. It

19:05

wasn't even until the 7th century

19:07

BC that Jerusalem became a clear

19:09

population center. Many

19:12

of their kings, as recorded in the

19:14

Bible, can be verified in the historical

19:16

record, but the evidence

19:19

for historical politics does not always

19:21

match the biblical account. Given

19:24

their position between Egypt and Phoenicia

19:26

on the coast, the

19:28

Hebrew kingdoms were often the

19:30

targets of Egyptian and later

19:33

Assyrian subjugation. Moving

19:35

eastward again we come to the

19:37

Aramaeans, a cultural group that

19:40

was new on the scene during the

19:42

Dark Age. Previously

19:44

a culture of tribal pastoralists

19:47

from around southern Syria or

19:49

northern Arabia, the

19:51

Aramaeans explode onto the scene from

19:54

the 11th to 8th centuries, taking

19:56

control of smaller states in Syria, Mesopotamia,

19:59

and the Middle East. and the Levant.

20:02

This was not a burgeoning new

20:04

empire, but a collection of competing

20:06

city-states similar to the Neo-Hittites or

20:09

the Classical Greeks. There

20:12

was typically a local king, claiming

20:14

the approval of a local god,

20:17

and hereditary succession to the throne.

20:20

There are few internal histories for

20:22

any of the Aramaic kingdoms, and

20:25

their story is usually reconstructed with

20:27

the aid of outside sources, but

20:30

they all agree that there was

20:32

frequent warfare between the Arameans when

20:35

not rallying together to face an

20:37

external foe. Even

20:40

further east, the Arameans invaded

20:42

the territory of Babylonia as

20:44

the Bronze Age transitioned to

20:47

Iron. Centered on

20:49

the ancient and famous capital of

20:51

Babylon, Babylonia had been

20:53

one of the great Bronze Age

20:56

kingdoms, but beginning in 1155

20:58

BCE, the kingdom fractured. Two

21:04

rival claimants to power quickly seized

21:06

control in different areas, but neither

21:08

could claim supremacy, and

21:10

before long a series of unrelated kings

21:13

rose and fell and rose again. Some

21:16

were native Babylonians, others foreigners from

21:18

a group called the Chaldeans, who

21:21

came in the same migratory wave

21:23

as the Arameans, and

21:26

still others came from the land of Elam

21:28

to their east. Describing

21:30

the history of the period,

21:32

historian Mark van de Meeroop

21:35

writes, quote, "...most

21:37

of these men accomplished little, and

21:40

a political history of this period

21:42

can easily read like a mere

21:44

succession of names." The

21:47

Arameans were invaders from the west,

21:50

as were the Chaldeans, but it

21:52

was the Arameans who settled in

21:54

such large numbers along the Tigris

21:57

River that their language started

21:59

to become the new lingua franca

22:01

for the whole region, supplanting

22:03

the already ancient Akkadian language

22:06

in many places. However,

22:09

the Aramaeans that settled in

22:11

Babylon were mostly disinterested in

22:14

political control. That distinction

22:16

went to the Chaldeans, who

22:18

established firm control over western

22:21

and southern Babylonia by

22:23

the mid-ninth century, and

22:25

eventually re-established a powerful

22:27

Babylonian kingdom. Despite

22:29

all the chaos, written records and

22:32

urban life did not dry up

22:34

in Mesopotamia, which is roughly modern

22:37

Iraq, as they did

22:39

in so many other places. Epics

22:42

and chronicles were still inscribed on clay

22:44

tablets that have lasted to the modern

22:47

day and record the history

22:49

and culture of Babylon. Supplemented

22:52

with outside records, we can actually

22:54

develop a fairly clear history. However,

22:57

it would not be until

22:59

about the 8th century that

23:01

urban areas began to expand.

23:04

They just didn't contract. Even

23:08

as the Aramaean and Chaldean

23:10

tribes became part of Babylonia,

23:13

tribal invasions in the west

23:15

continued to put strain on

23:17

Babylonian kings, who would

23:19

eventually start calling on Assyria,

23:22

their northern neighbor for aid.

23:25

However, as some

23:27

kings welcomed the Assyrians, their

23:30

involvement would prove disastrous to

23:32

other Babylonian rulers. But

23:35

more on that in a moment. First

23:38

we look east of Babylon to

23:40

the territory of Elam. Located

23:43

in southwestern Iran, including the modern

23:45

province of Farz, the

23:48

Elamites bring us tantalizingly close

23:50

to the Persians. As

23:52

the Persian Empire would eventually rise

23:54

out of Elamite lands. However,

23:58

before being displaced Iranian tribes out

24:00

of the Zagros Mountains to their

24:02

north, the Elamites were

24:05

a powerful, if not well

24:07

understood, kingdom. Their

24:09

most ancient Bronze Age records are

24:12

written in Proto-Elamite, a language we

24:14

cannot decipher, and the

24:16

Elamite language of this later time is

24:20

very scantily documented. This

24:23

period of collapse seems to

24:25

have struck Elamite territory quite

24:27

harshly, but possibly

24:30

only tangentially related to

24:32

the Bronze Age collapse as seen

24:34

in the Mediterranean. In

24:37

1100 BCE, the

24:39

Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar sacked the

24:41

Elamite capital at Susa, and

24:44

after that they almost entirely vanished

24:47

from the historical record until

24:49

they were fighting alongside

24:51

Babylon against Assyria, about

24:54

400 years later. I

24:57

say the Elamite collapse was tangential to

24:59

the Western collapse because it would seem

25:02

odd that they were so dependent on

25:04

lands so far away

25:06

while Babylon and Assyria were

25:09

much closer, and they

25:11

weathered the storm successfully. Instead,

25:15

alternative suggestions have to be made.

25:17

Though there are no records that say

25:20

anything with certainty, it

25:22

seems plausible that the climate change

25:24

affecting the Mediterranean would also have

25:26

affected Elam in some drastic way.

25:29

Elam was facing its own tribal

25:31

invaders as well, these being the

25:34

early Iranian migrants into the region,

25:37

and on top of that they

25:39

had actually lost their major international

25:41

trade partners to the east several

25:43

centuries earlier, but more on

25:45

that in the next episode. Even

25:48

when they do begin to

25:50

reappear in Babylonian and Assyrian

25:52

records, it is

25:54

still a fractious culture. Elamite

25:57

kings and their rivals are often

25:59

cited as seeking Assyrian aid in

26:01

their attempts to keep and usurp

26:03

the throne. Local

26:05

lords seem to have been so

26:08

powerful that several of my books

26:10

characterize Elam as a confederation

26:12

rather than a true kingdom, and

26:15

it appears that this instability would

26:18

eventually leave them so unstable that

26:20

Iranian tribes from the mountains could

26:22

conquer much of their territory. At

26:26

long last we return to the

26:28

empire that would soon conquer and

26:30

subjugate huge swaths of the Near

26:32

East from the Mediterranean to the

26:34

Zagros Mountains. But

26:37

this is not Persia, not yet. Located

26:40

directly north of Babylonia in

26:43

the northern parts of the Tigris and

26:45

Euphrates rivers was Assyria,

26:48

another Bronze Age kingdom that clung

26:50

to life albeit in a diminished

26:52

state. Assyria was

26:55

a militaristic society, where

26:58

the army formed the structure of the

27:00

state hierarchy. They also

27:02

left a huge written record

27:04

of their kings, armies, and achievements

27:07

written in Akkadian as the powerful

27:09

kingdoms of Mesopotamia had

27:11

done for thousands of years. All

27:15

sources describe them as brutal

27:17

conquerors, their own most of

27:20

all. The Assyrian kings

27:22

loved to play up their own

27:24

brutality to their enemies as a

27:26

propaganda tool, inscribing vivid

27:28

descriptions on monuments wherever they

27:31

conquered. And they conquered

27:33

far and wide. At

27:35

the end of the 10th century BC,

27:38

Assyria was a small state along

27:40

the Tigris River, essentially

27:42

just a corridor between the two

27:44

ancient cities of Asher and Nineveh.

27:47

In 911 King Asherdhan II reinvigorated his kingdom with

27:50

a series of wars. At

27:56

that time, Aramaean tribes were

27:58

becoming increasingly powerful. powerful, and

28:01

urban and village life was diminishing

28:03

in favor of nomadic and pastoralist

28:06

lifestyles. On his

28:08

eastern frontier, he reasserted power over

28:10

the Aramaic tribes that had occupied

28:12

his domains, and

28:15

to his west, Asher

28:17

Don conquered new territory to

28:19

secure his borders. Over

28:21

the first half of the 9th century

28:24

BC, Asher and Nineveh

28:26

were transformed into administrative

28:28

centers for a growing

28:30

empire. The empire

28:32

that began with Asher Don's

28:35

conquest is sometimes called the

28:37

Neo-Assyrian Empire. Neo

28:39

meaning new to indicate that the

28:42

Assyrian Empire of the Bronze Age

28:44

had collapsed, and this

28:46

was essentially a new entity. In

28:50

883, a new king, Asher

28:52

Narshipal II, consolidated and expanded

28:55

eastern Assyrian territory all the

28:57

way to the Zagros Mountains

28:59

in western Iran. It

29:02

is in the context of these

29:04

conquests that the first

29:06

use of the word Persian appears

29:09

to describe an Iranian tribe in

29:11

the mountains. He

29:14

then turned to his north, south,

29:16

and east and conquered every state

29:19

that bordered Assyria. Mostly

29:21

Aramaic polities and other tribal groups,

29:24

but to the south he seized parts

29:26

of Babylon, where he installed

29:29

new kings as old ones no longer

29:31

served his interests. This

29:33

began what would prove to

29:36

be a disastrous course of

29:38

Assyrian kings trying to control

29:40

Babylonian politics. In

29:42

the west, Asher Narshipal faced

29:45

a coalition of Aramaic states,

29:48

including one led by

29:50

Damascus, a city-state

29:52

at the time which gathered a

29:55

force of Aramaeans, Arabs, Phoenicians, and

29:57

Israelites, called Samaritans by a

29:59

new king. his

36:00

reign rather than risk another vassal.

36:03

With the Aramaeans, Neohittites,

36:06

Arartians, Babylonians, and Elamites

36:08

all subservient, the

36:10

Assyrians turned to Egypt. Egypt

36:13

was the last great ancient power left

36:16

standing, and even saying that

36:18

is a stretch, as this was the

36:20

time when Egypt was ruled by Nubian

36:22

kings. Regardless of

36:25

who ruled there, Egypt had been

36:27

supporting revolts in Assyria's western provinces

36:29

for 150 years. There

36:33

had been several direct invasions over

36:35

time, but they had never made

36:37

all that much headway into the

36:40

Egyptian territory. However,

36:42

Ashurbanipal no longer had any

36:44

other rivals to draw his

36:46

attention away, and he turned

36:48

the full force of the

36:50

Assyrian Empire toward the Nile.

36:54

I imagine his personal entourage groaning

36:56

as he turned them around from

36:58

Elam at the eastern edge of

37:00

the world, and decided to march

37:02

all the way to the western edge and

37:05

invade Egypt. But he did, and he

37:08

pushed the Nubian south of the southern

37:10

Egyptian capital at Thebes. He

37:13

made a local notable called Neko, Pharaoh

37:15

Neko I, the new

37:18

ruler and his vassal. Neko's

37:20

son Samtik was taken to be

37:23

educated in Assyria, and

37:25

when Samtik became Pharaoh, he

37:27

remained an ally to the Assyrians, despite

37:30

declaring that Egypt was now

37:33

independent. And

37:35

Assyria would need allies. Despite

37:37

being at the height of their power

37:39

in 640, the Assyrians

37:41

would be wiped from the map less than

37:43

30 years later. Ashurbanipal

37:47

died in 627, and

37:50

the succession was immediately disputed.

37:53

Different parts of the empire backed different claimants

37:55

to the throne, and in

37:58

the chaos, Haldion noble, former Formerly

38:00

an official of the Assyrian hierarchy,

38:03

seized Babylon. His

38:05

name was Nabopulassar, Nabu'apla'usur

38:08

in Akkadian, the language

38:11

used in Babylon. By

38:14

616 he controlled

38:16

most of Babylonia as an

38:18

independent kingdom, with plans

38:20

to launch a campaign of

38:23

revenge into ancient Assyria. In

38:26

two episodes we will follow

38:28

the Babylonians as they build

38:30

the Neo-Babylonian Empire, with

38:32

the help of a newcomer on the

38:34

world stage, the Medes, the

38:36

first Iranian tribe to establish a

38:39

true major state. If

38:42

only for just a moment, before

38:44

Cyrus the Great uses them both

38:46

as stepping stones to his own

38:48

imperial ascendancy. But first

38:51

enjoy the history of Persia remastered,

38:53

with a bit of additional narrative

38:55

about the very early history of

38:58

Iran. I

39:15

routinely wish that I knew more

39:17

languages. Even right in the

39:20

middle of the US, I run into

39:22

Spanish speakers all the time, and my

39:24

social media always has a little Persian,

39:27

Arabic, some Dutch and German. Rosetta Stone

39:29

does help. It's the most

39:31

trusted language learning program after all. It's

39:33

also conveniently available on desktop or on

39:36

the go as an app, and has

39:38

some really cool features that truly immerse

39:40

you in the language you're learning. Just

39:43

the first steps, like learning a new

39:45

alphabet and some simple phrases, helped open

39:47

new doors. And Rosetta Stone

39:49

is a great choice as the

39:52

trusted expert in this for 30

39:54

years, and millions of users with

39:56

25 languages available to learn. They

39:58

focus on fast language. language acquisition

40:01

without English translations to help you

40:03

learn, speak, listen, and think in

40:05

your new language while building long

40:07

term retention. Their true

40:09

accent, speech recognition, also gives

40:11

feedback on pronunciation, which can

40:14

be really important for languages

40:16

like Persian where how you

40:18

say something is very important.

40:20

And on top of being available for

40:22

desktop and mobile, you have the option

40:25

to download lessons and take them offline.

40:27

This is also all available at a

40:29

steal. You can get lifetime membership all

40:31

25 languages for 50% off. Don't

40:36

put off learning that new language. There's

40:38

no better time than right now to

40:40

get started. For a very limited time,

40:42

History of Persia listeners can get Rosetta

40:44

Stone's lifetime membership for 50% off. Visit

40:49

rosettaestone.com/today. That's

40:51

50% off unlimited access to 25

40:54

language courses for the rest of

40:56

your life. Redeem your 50% off

40:59

at rosettaestone.com/today, today.

41:18

Ancient Persia, as in

41:20

the relatively small province where

41:22

the Persians lived before building

41:25

any empires, is

41:27

preserved in the modern province of

41:29

Farce Iran. But

41:31

for 5,000 years, that area was

41:33

part of Elam, a

41:35

kingdom and culture that also

41:38

included modern Khuzestan and

41:40

parts of their surrounding provinces. In

41:43

fact, Elam was usually based

41:45

in Khuzestan more than Farce,

41:48

spreading out from the city of Susa,

41:50

known today as Shush, a

41:53

place that has been continuously inhabited

41:55

with nearly the exact same name

41:58

since the dawn of history. Unfortunately,

42:00

we do not know nearly as

42:03

much about Elamite history as we

42:05

would like to. They

42:07

weren't prolific writers and record

42:10

keepers like their western neighbors,

42:12

or as widespread as their

42:14

Persian successors. On

42:16

top of that, the Elamite language

42:18

was one of the last major

42:20

Near Eastern systems to be deciphered,

42:23

and it is still not all that

42:25

well understood. In

42:27

fact, the earliest Elamite writing

42:30

is still undeciphered. The

42:33

Proto-Elamite script emerged

42:35

shortly after the city of Susa

42:37

itself sometime around 3200 BC,

42:42

and actually has the potential

42:44

to display Sumerian Kinea form

42:47

as the oldest writing in the world if

42:50

scholars ever crack the code. But

42:53

we haven't yet, which means

42:55

the first 600ish years of

42:58

Elamite history are locked

43:00

behind an opaque screen of

43:02

unintelligible glyphs and archaeologists

43:04

digging up pottery and fragments

43:06

of metal. The

43:09

Sumerian King List is basically

43:11

a bullet point record of

43:13

major rulers of Mesopotamia. From

43:16

their own mythological version of the past up

43:18

to 1800 BC. There's

43:22

a section of the list where

43:25

mythology, legend, and history all sort

43:27

of blend together, referencing

43:29

very real kings but claiming they

43:32

lived for hundreds of years. That's

43:35

where Awan shows up for the first

43:37

time. Around

43:40

2600 BCE, Awan,

43:42

a city located on the southeastern

43:44

edge of the Zagros mountain range,

43:48

probably just north of Susa, led

43:50

an invasion of Mesopotamia and conquered

43:53

part of the region, supposedly

43:55

becoming the dominant power for over

43:57

350 years. figures.

44:00

Though only the reign of

44:03

three Elamite kings. There's

44:05

definitely some exaggeration in how long this

44:07

lasted, or in how few kings it

44:10

took. But it's

44:12

inserted into the middle of a

44:14

bunch of historical figures. So

44:16

some version of this invasion

44:19

probably happened. That

44:21

alone is impressive because it implies

44:23

that Awan was able to exert

44:26

its political and military control hundreds

44:29

of miles from home, and probably

44:31

controlled the larger city of Susa,

44:34

all at a time when the

44:36

Sumerian cities of Mesopotamia could barely

44:38

contend with their immediate neighbors. That's

44:42

basically the pattern for all

44:44

of documented Elamite history. Every

44:47

few centuries Mesopotamians would invade

44:49

or conquer Elam, then

44:52

the political wind would shift, the

44:54

Elamites swung back and invaded or

44:56

conquered southern Mesopotamia. There's

44:59

many examples over the course of

45:01

three thousand years, but

45:03

the two greatest successes in Elamite

45:05

history occurred in the

45:08

18th and 12th centuries BCE.

45:11

And both played out because

45:13

the Elamites took advantage of

45:15

weakened and fractious Mesopotamian kingdoms

45:17

competing for control. The

45:20

first came at a time when

45:22

Elam was actually ruled by the

45:25

Sukkalma, a title that

45:27

literally means something like Grand

45:29

Viceroy or Prime Minister. Several

45:32

centuries earlier, the Sukkalma kind

45:34

of displaced the kings in

45:36

terms of political power. And

45:39

within a couple generations, the office

45:41

of king was just abandoned. The

45:45

Sukkalma Shirok-ta led

45:47

a massive campaign of expansion,

45:50

allying with several powerful states

45:52

in northern Mesopotamia, including the

45:55

old Assyrian Empire, allowing

45:57

all of them to conquer new

46:00

territory. in northeastern Iraq and the

46:02

Sagros Mountains, with

46:04

Al-Aam possibly stretching as far north

46:06

as the future site of Hamadan,

46:09

Iran, another city to keep in

46:11

mind going forward. Several

46:14

of Shriqta's sons held power

46:16

after his death, but one,

46:19

Siwei Pahlur-Hupak, was by far

46:21

the greatest. You

46:23

see, in the Bronze Age, Near

46:26

Eastern kings referred to their fellow

46:28

kings as either my father

46:31

or my brother. Father

46:34

for more powerful monarchs, brother

46:37

for those perceived as equals,

46:39

and yes, those were used

46:41

for petty nonsense to insult

46:43

one another all the time.

46:46

However, at this point around

46:48

1800 BCE,

46:51

only the Suqalma of Ilam

46:54

was called father by anybody.

46:57

Even Egypt was in turmoil at the

46:59

time, so many of

47:02

their neighbors recognized the Suqalma far

47:04

far to the east as

47:06

greater than the Faroe. Ilam

47:09

dominated trade flowing from the major

47:11

river valleys of Central Asia and

47:14

northern India, both overland

47:16

and through the Persian Gulf, which

47:18

also gave them control of the

47:21

incense and precious metals that came

47:23

from Arabia, mostly places

47:25

like modern Bahrain and Oman.

47:29

Unfortunately for Siwei Pahlur-Hupak, he

47:31

got overly ambitious at exactly

47:34

the wrong moment. Like

47:36

his father, he entered into a

47:39

campaign of conquest alongside some allies,

47:42

in this case the Kingdom of in

47:44

modern Syria, and the

47:47

newly emerged but uncontested powerhouse

47:49

of Mesopotamia, the

47:51

still young city of Babylon led

47:54

by a still young king named

47:57

Hammurabi. law

48:00

code, Hammurabi was also a

48:02

conqueror, and when Siwe-Paular-Hupak

48:05

tried to cut his allies out of

48:07

the spoils of war, Hammurabi

48:09

didn't take it well. Babylon

48:13

and Mari allied and invaded,

48:15

taking all of Elam's recent

48:17

conquests by force, and

48:19

chasing Siwe-Paular-Hupak all the way

48:22

to Anshan in Eastern Elam.

48:25

Of course, Hammurabi also finished

48:27

building the First Babylonian Empire

48:30

by betraying and conquering Mari,

48:33

so you be the judge here. This

48:35

invasion plunged Elam into a

48:37

historical dark age, where we

48:40

have almost no information. The

48:42

records just completely dry up,

48:44

but it is clear that

48:46

the Sukama's kingdom fractured and

48:48

collapsed. Records

48:51

don't really resume until about

48:53

1500, now with kings

48:55

styling themselves King of Susa

48:57

and Anshan, the most

49:00

important cities of later Elamite history.

49:03

Even then, Elam remained pretty

49:05

insular. From 1300

49:08

to 1158, they got

49:10

involved in Mesopotamian politics, through

49:13

marriage alliances and limited

49:15

financial or military support

49:18

for various Babylonian kings.

49:21

Much like in the Iron Age, it

49:24

was an effort to keep the middle

49:26

Assyrian Empire away from their borders. But

49:29

then, one Elamite king

49:31

got tired of the constant

49:33

back and forth between pro-Assyrian,

49:36

pro-Alam, and pro-Independence Babylonians. They

49:39

were always pulled from lesser

49:41

branches of the original, post-Hamerabi

49:43

royal family, the subordinate nobility,

49:46

and then even cadet branches

49:48

from those elevated noble families.

49:52

Elam's king, Shutrukh

49:54

Nahunte, reasoned that

49:56

since his family had a line

49:59

of succession going back 200 years

50:02

and most of the Elamite

50:04

queens had been Babylonian princesses,

50:07

he was more legitimate as

50:09

king of Babylon than any of the

50:11

current contenders. In

50:13

1158 he invaded and

50:15

conquered Babylonia. It

50:18

was a messy war, so much

50:20

so that the Assyrian army sent

50:22

to intervene settled for just

50:24

carving off some territory and going home.

50:28

Despite some initial chaos,

50:30

Shuttruk Nahunte did conquer

50:32

and occupy Babylon, leaving

50:35

his son in command of

50:37

Mesopotamia and returning home to

50:39

Elam. Arguably, Shuttruk

50:42

Nahunte's campaign established

50:44

the most successful Elamite

50:46

empire. It lasted

50:49

4 generations, but

50:51

unlike the brief apex of the

50:53

Succomas, they were not

50:56

the uncontested power in West

50:58

Asia. There

51:00

were Assyrians, Hittites, and Egyptians

51:02

all vying for that title.

51:05

And unbeknownst to all of them, they

51:07

were living through the Bronze Age collapse.

51:11

It was the period of sudden

51:13

climate change, drought, and famine that

51:15

led to economic downturns, which in

51:17

turn led to calamity and

51:19

military disaster. A

51:22

cascade of events destabilized trade and

51:24

food security from Greece all the

51:26

way to Elam, and nobody was

51:28

spared. Assyria started

51:30

contracting into its heartland. For

51:33

many centuries Egypt fractured,

51:36

and King Nebuchadnezzar I invaded

51:38

and conquered Babylon out of

51:40

the marshes of southern Iraq,

51:43

forcing the Elamites out and

51:45

initiating a dark age in Elamite

51:47

history. And recovery

51:50

only really began with

51:52

the events described in the first half

51:54

of this episode. Some

51:57

of the how and why of this dark age

51:59

will be discussed in the next episode. in the

52:01

remastered editions to episode 2, alongside

52:03

the origins of the Persians

52:05

and their fellow Iranians. Until

52:08

then, if

52:10

you want more information about

52:12

this podcast, you can go

52:15

to historyofpersiapodcast.com. That's

52:18

where you will find my bibliography,

52:20

the Achaemenid Family Tree, and plenty

52:23

of other things including the support

52:25

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52:29

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52:31

ways to do that, but

52:33

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pay a rate based on you. Not

54:16

available in every state, subject to terms and conditions, rating factors and savings

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vary, and in some states your rate could increase with high-risk driving.

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Allstate Fire and Casualty Insurance Company in Affiliates Northbrook,

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Illinois. You know how to

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book flights and hotels. All you're missing is a

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tool to plan the travel experiences you'll have once

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Viator.