161: Meet the Neighbors Speed Round

Map of key locations in the Cleomenean War via Wikimedia

Prepare for a return to the narrative with a quick round of catch up with the Seleucids’ neighbors: Egypt, Macedon, India, and surprisingly, Sparta one last time before the famed warriors of Ancient Greece fade into history.
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Intelligent Speech 2026!!!

Title card featuring cuneiform and the Behistun Inscription. Text: Darius: The Great (Big Liar) Host: Trevor Culley, HoPful Media: History of Persia & America: Secret Wars

Intelligent Speech Online 2026 is almost here, and if I haven’t yet sold you on attending the conference on February 28, 2026 (starting at 9am US Eastern Time), you might be interested in my presentation from last year’s event.

When he seized the Persian throne in 522 BCE, Darius the Great made a public declaration explaining his coup in the Bisotun Inscription. Details changed with each retelling, but that version of story is the only one that survived in ancient sources. Modern historians are pretty sure that it’s one of the most successful lies ever told.
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IntelligentSpeechOnline.com – Intelligent Speech Online 2026 Tickets available now!

Watch the video version of this presentation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uAFcxdySfI

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145: From Antiochus to Ashoka

Sketch of the Aramaic inscription of Ashoka at Khalsi

After losing a large piece of the eastern empire to Chandragupta Maurya, the Seleucids didn’t just ignore their eastern neighbors. In the later decades of Seleucus’ reign, Megasthenes established diplomatic ties between the two eastern kingdoms. In the generations that followed, diplomacy and trade helped to stabilize both the Maurya and the Seleucids.
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136: Ipsus

Rough combat map for the Battle of Ipsus – Cavalry in slashed blocks, phalanges infantry in solid blocks, skirmishers in dots, elephants in ovals – via Wikimedia

The Wars of the Diadochoi did not end in 301 BCE, but their Fourth War finished with a dramatic turning point in the Battle of Ipsus as Antigonus and Demetrius faced off against Seleucus, Lysimachus, and Pleistarchus.
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135: Rise of the Elephant King

Approximate extent of Chandragupta Maurya’s Empire by the end of his life via Wikimedia

After reclaiming Babylon, King Seleucus began consolidating his power over the upper satrapies, but even as he worked to reclaim the Iranian east, the Mauryan Empire began pushing out of India and across the mountains of Gandhara.
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134: Samrat – Meet the Neighbors

Chandragupta and Cāṇakya in the central hall of the Srimadbhagavadgita temple, Mathura via Wikimedia

While Macedon was consolidating and collapsing in the west, a new empire was on the rise in the east. Chandragupta Maurya and his teacher, Chanakya, were busy overthrowing the Nanda Dynasty and expanding their new kingdom to become one of the great powers of Indian history.
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Creation by Gore Vidal – Swords Sorcery & Socialism Crossover Part 2

Trevor and Aurora from Swords, Sorcery, and Socialism found the perfect crossover episode with Creation by Gore Vidal: a historical fiction novel set in the 5th Century BCE that follows a fictional descendant of Zoroaster on his worldwide journey to understand the mysteries of the universe.
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Creation by Gore Vidal – Swords Sorcery & Socialism Crossover Part 1

Trevor and Aurora from Swords, Sorcery, and Socialism found the perfect crossover episode with Creation by Gore Vidal: a historical fiction novel set in the 5th Century BCE that follows a fictional descendant of Zoroaster on his worldwide journey to understand the mysteries of the universe.
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119: Pirates of the Arabian

Map of major stops along Nearchos’ route from the Indus to Susa

While Alexander the Great crossed Gedrosia, Nearchus sailed from the Indus to explore the Arabian Sea and chart the coast of the Macedonian Empire. They faced obstacles, became pirates, and fought seas monsters before even reaching the Persian Gulf.
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118: Dead Men’s Rest

Map of the Macedonians’ route through Eastern Iran and India via Wikimedia

After the Battle of the Hydaspes, Alexander the Great began moving south through the Indus River Valley, battling the Mallians before nearly dying during the siege of their capital city. When he recovered, the Macedonians began to move west for their homeward journey, leaving only Nearchus’ fleet and a few small garrisons behind.
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