Video · 2025-12-16 · 5h 29m · 12 moments

20. Persia - An Empire in Ashes

✦ AI generated

GUEST Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones GUEST Paul Cooper (narrating Herodotus)GUEST Paul Cooper (narrating the Nabonidus Chronicle)GUEST Paul Cooper

timeline · colored by role

Context◆

Herodotus's accounts of Persia cannot be trusted in their particulars, yet historians cannot do their work without relying on him because the Persians themselves left almost no narrative histories.

Historian Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones argues that Herodotus's histories are riddled with fantasy and fiction, yet remain indispensable since the Persians left no comparable written record of their own.

transcript

Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones: We cannot believe much of what Herodotus says, and yet we cannot do without him. Some historical truths about the Persians may well lie hidden in Herodotus, but one needs to dig deep through the layers of fantasy and fiction to find them.

Anecdote

Cyrus rallied the Persian tribes to rise up and overthrow the Median king Astyages by framing the revolt as a fight for freedom from Median domination.

Cyrus the Great gathered the united Persian tribes at a banquet and rallied them to revolt against his grandfather, the Median king Astyages, framing himself as the champion of Persian liberty.

transcript

Paul Cooper (narrating Herodotus): "Men of Persia," he exclaimed, "you are the arbiters of your own fortune. My voice is the voice of freedom. I am the instrument of your prosperity. Decline all future obedience to Astyages.” The Persians, who had long spurned at the yoke imposed on them, were glad of such a leader.

Anecdote◆

The Delphic oracle's prophecy that Croesus would 'destroy a great empire' if he attacked Persia was fulfilled ironically, since the empire destroyed was his own kingdom of Lydia.

King Croesus of Lydia asked the Delphic oracle whether to attack Persia and was told he would destroy a great empire; the empire he destroyed turned out to be his own, as Cyrus conquered Sardis after a brief campaign.

transcript

Paul Cooper (narrating Herodotus): The judgment given to Croesus by the oracle was that if he should send an army against the Persians, he would destroy a great empire... So, the Persians took Sardis and made Croesus himself prisoner, he having reigned fourteen years and been besieged fourteen days, and, as the oracle foretold, the empire he brought to an end was his own.

Fact◆

Cyrus took Babylon with a policy of tolerance, protecting the city's temples and its patron god Marduk rather than sacking it, which won over the Babylonian population.

When Cyrus's army entered Babylon, he ordered Persian soldiers to guard the great temple of Marduk and ensured religious rites continued uninterrupted, presenting himself as a liberator rather than a conqueror.

transcript

Paul Cooper (narrating the Nabonidus Chronicle): Until the end of the month, the shield-bearers of Persia surrounded the gates of the Esagil. There was no interruption of whatever rites in the Esagil and the other temples, and no ritual date was missed. There was peace in the city when Cyrus spoke greetings to all of Babylon.

Anecdote

Cyrus's decision to free captive peoples held in Babylon, including the deported Judeans, was likely a calculated political move to win favor across his new empire, but its consequences—including being named 'Messiah' in Hebrew scripture—far exceeded anything he could have anticipated.

Paul Cooper explains that Cyrus's decree freeing Babylon's captive populations, including the Judeans, was a shrewd political calculation whose long-term religious and historical impact vastly outstripped his intentions.

transcript

Paul Cooper: Like the people of Babylon with Marduk, the Judeans interpreted Cyrus as having been chosen by their god Yahweh to set them free. Cyrus might have calculated that sending back these few thousand deportees would improve his reputation around his new empire, but he couldn't have predicted quite how long or how far this act of kindness would be remembered.

Claim

Persia became a remarkably successful empire precisely because it combined and reproduced the best ideas—dress, religion, art, technology—from every culture it absorbed rather than imposing uniformity.

Paul Cooper argues that Persia's readiness to absorb foreign customs, dress, and technology from conquered peoples was central to its imperial success, illustrated by Herodotus's observation that no people adopted foreign ways as readily as the Persians.

transcript

Paul Cooper: Herodotus describes this Persian ability to synthesize the ways of others. No race is so ready to adopt foreign ways as the Persian. For instance, they wear the Median costume, as they think it handsomer than their own, and their soldiers wear the Egyptian armor. Persia was an empire that combined and reproduced the best ideas from each culture it absorbed, and in that way it was remarkably successful.

Mechanism

Facing chronic instability after years of rebellion, Darius reorganized the sprawling Persian Empire into twenty administrative regions called satrapies, each ruled by a governor, to strengthen and stabilize imperial rule.

After years of rebellion nearly tore the empire apart, Darius introduced sweeping administrative reforms, dividing Persia into twenty satrapies with standardized currency and weights to hold the vast territory together.

transcript

Paul Cooper: He was determined to bring about a number of reforms designed to strengthen it and turn it into a power that could last. To help him with the administration of this unwieldy territory, Darius reorganized the empire, dividing it into 20 regions over which governors ruled. These governors were called kh-sha-thra-pavan, which would enter Greek as the word 'satrap'.

Claim◆

The Battle of Marathon shattered the myth of Persian invincibility, since a Greek army only half the size of the Persian expeditionary force defeated it by carefully choosing the battlefield.

Paul Cooper frames the Athenian victory at Marathon as a pivotal moment that shattered the myth of Persian invincibility and proved Athens could win without Spartan help.

transcript

Paul Cooper: Although the Persian army that Darius sent was only a relatively small expeditionary force, it had been beaten by a Greek army only half its size. The Athenians had proven that they could fight by themselves without the aid of Sparta, and they had shown that by carefully choosing the battlefield, the Persian forces, previously thought unbeatable, could be overcome.

Example◆

Leonidas ordered most of the Greek army to retreat from Thermopylae while he and a small rearguard stayed behind to buy time and prevent a disastrous pursuit.

Once the Greeks learned the Persians had found a path around Thermopylae, Leonidas sent the bulk of the army away and stayed with his bodyguard and Thespian and Theban allies to hold the pass, both as an act of bravery and tactical necessity to prevent a slaughter during retreat.

transcript

Paul Cooper: He ordered the rest of the army to retreat, and stayed behind with his royal bodyguard and some assorted Thespian and Theban allies to hold the pass a little while longer. This was an act of personal bravery by the Spartans who remained, but it was also a tactical necessity.

Mechanism

After failing to conquer Greece militarily, Persia funded rival Greek city-states against each other, keeping them locked in destructive civil wars for decades.

Following military failures, Artaxerxes I adopted a policy of bankrolling Sparta and other Greek rivals against Athens, fueling the decades-long Peloponnesian War and ensuring Greece never again united against Persia.

transcript

Paul Cooper: One Spartan king would later remark bitterly that the Greeks had been defeated by 10,000 Persian archers, meaning not an army, but the symbol of an archer that the empire stamped on each one of its gold coins.

gives example · 1

Data

Alexander's sack of Persepolis stripped roughly 120,000 talents (nearly 4,000 tons) of gold from the imperial treasury, destroying the financial machinery that had powered the Achaemenid administrative system.

The massive plunder of Persepolis's treasury required thousands of camel-loads to carry away, and in seizing it Alexander destroyed the financial backbone that had sustained Achaemenid administration for centuries.

transcript

Paul Cooper: The gold looted from the treasuries of Persepolis supposedly weighed 120,000 talents, or nearly 4,000 tons. The Macedonians needed thousands of camels to carry it away. This gold had been the treasury of the empire that kept its well-oiled machine running, and in looting it, Alexander had ripped the heart out of the Achaemenid system.

Claim◆

Alexander's soldiers looted the palace treasury of Persepolis and then burned the royal palace and much of the city to the ground, effectively destroying the heart of the Achaemenid system.

After massacring and enslaving the population of Persepolis, Alexander's men stripped the palace of its gold and treasures before burning it down, an act that symbolically and practically ended the Achaemenid imperial system.

transcript

Paul Cooper: Alexander then burned down the royal palace of the great king and much of the city around it. The flames would have been visible for miles, and a great column of black smoke would have climbed into the sky. The thick cedar rafters of the 100 columned halls would have smoldered and finally fallen in.

Highlight slides

The Herodotus Problem✦ from: Herodotus's accounts of Persia cannot be trusted in their particulars, yet historians cannot do their work without relying on him because the Persians themselves left almost no narrative histories.Why He's Still Indispensable✦ from: Herodotus's accounts of Persia cannot be trusted in their particulars, yet historians cannot do their work without relying on him because the Persians themselves left almost no narrative histories.The Oracle's Fateful Prophecy✦ from: The Delphic oracle's prophecy that Croesus would 'destroy a great empire' if he attacked Persia was fulfilled ironically, since the empire destroyed was his own kingdom of Lydia.The Twist: His Own Empire Fell✦ from: The Delphic oracle's prophecy that Croesus would 'destroy a great empire' if he attacked Persia was fulfilled ironically, since the empire destroyed was his own kingdom of Lydia.Cyrus Spared Babylon✦ from: Cyrus took Babylon with a policy of tolerance, protecting the city's temples and its patron god Marduk rather than sacking it, which won over the Babylonian population.Liberator, Not Conqueror✦ from: Cyrus took Babylon with a policy of tolerance, protecting the city's temples and its patron god Marduk rather than sacking it, which won over the Babylonian population.Marathon Shatters Persian Invincibility✦ from: The Battle of Marathon shattered the myth of Persian invincibility, since a Greek army only half the size of the Persian expeditionary force defeated it by carefully choosing the battlefield.Athens Proves Itself Without Sparta✦ from: The Battle of Marathon shattered the myth of Persian invincibility, since a Greek army only half the size of the Persian expeditionary force defeated it by carefully choosing the battlefield.Leonidas Splits the Army at Thermopylae✦ from: Leonidas ordered most of the Greek army to retreat from Thermopylae while he and a small rearguard stayed behind to buy time and prevent a disastrous pursuit.Bravery Meets Tactical Necessity✦ from: Leonidas ordered most of the Greek army to retreat from Thermopylae while he and a small rearguard stayed behind to buy time and prevent a disastrous pursuit.Persepolis Looted✦ from: Alexander's soldiers looted the palace treasury of Persepolis and then burned the royal palace and much of the city to the ground, effectively destroying the heart of the Achaemenid system.The Palace Burns✦ from: Alexander's soldiers looted the palace treasury of Persepolis and then burned the royal palace and much of the city to the ground, effectively destroying the heart of the Achaemenid system.End of an Empire✦ from: Alexander's soldiers looted the palace treasury of Persepolis and then burned the royal palace and much of the city to the ground, effectively destroying the heart of the Achaemenid system.

Related episodes

Video · Lex Fridman

The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire | Lex Fridman Podcast #498

→

Video · The Rest Is History

The Man Who Really Founded America: Thomas Jefferson | Founding Fathers EP 4

→

Audio · Hardcore History

Show 73 - Mania for Subjugation III

→