149: Theogonies

“Phanes” by Francisco Salviati, 16th Century

The Ancient Greeks had many ideas about the origins of the universe and humanity over the centuries. The best known is probably Hesiod’s Theogony, but the Orphics developed many of their own versions of the story. Today, we explore some of those competing ideas about the dawn of Time.
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146: Dating in the Family

The Xian Stele, Chinese with a Syriac translation date Year of the Greeks 1092, over 1000 years into the Seleucid Era via Wikimedia

Like any good king, Antiochus I Soter had a royal family, and as his reign comes to an end, it’s time to talk about them, from his brother in Anatolia to troublesome sons and wide ranging in-laws. He’s in his Seleucid Era.
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137: Who are you again?… Again

Approximate map of the Hellenistic world c.300 BCE (in Spanish), via Wikimedia

Today, we step back from the narrative to see what kind of empire Seleucus was actually running here.
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Ian Mladjov’s Maps https://sites.google.com/a/umich.edu/imladjov/maps

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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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131: Breaking Babylon

Chronicle 10 via Livius.org

Shortly before the end of the Third War of the Diadochoi, Seleucus set out with a small army to retake his satrapy in Babylon. After several years of neglect by Antigonus Monophthalmus, Seleucus retook the region easily. Before long he held all of the Upper Satrapies against Antigonus, but by the end of the Babylonian War, events in Macedon sundered the empire of Alexander the Great.
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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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114: The Age of Heroes

Humay Chehrzad, the Kayanian Queen, illustration by Jalal al-Din Mirza Jelveh Yazdi, 19th Century

After the conquests of Alexander the Great, the history of the Achaemenids slipped into legend, myth, and obscurity. By the 6th Century CE, the likes of Cyrus the Great, Darius the Great, Xerxes, and Artaxerxes had been all but forgotten in Iran. Instead, the Sassanid Persian Empire remembered the stories of great heroes from the Avesta, occupying the equivalent of the Achaemenids’ place in history.
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93: Ezra

Ezra Reads the Law to the People, Gustav Dore’s Illustrated English Bible, 1866

Now we go back in time to the seventh year of Artaxerxes, and we’ll explore the history of Ezra the Scribe as he compiled an official Jewish Torah on the Great King’s orders.
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Patreon Bonus 26: The Good Book

Patreon Bonus 27: Names and Dates

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So You Think You Can Rule Persia

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