97. Cyrus the Great: Building the First Superpower

Empire

Jack Davenport

History

4.6 • 4.1K Ratings

🗓️ 14 November 2023

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Born the son of a khan, a tribal chieftain, Cyrus would go on to be a titanic figure of world history. He took Persia from being a minor regional power to the first superpower the world has ever seen. Conquering all of modern day Iran, then Turkey, and finally defeating the power of the day, Babylon: Cyrus undoubtedly deserves the sobriquet of the Great. Listen as William and Anita are joined by Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones to discuss the life of the founder of the Persian Empire, Cyrus the Great. For bonus episodes, ad-free listening, reading lists, book discounts, a weekly newsletter, and a chat community. Sign up at https://empirepod.supportingcast.fm/ Twitter: @Empirepoduk Email: [email protected] Goalhangerpodcasts.com Producer: Callum Hill Exec Producer: Jack Davenport + Neil Fearn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	If you want access to bonus episodes reading lists for every series of empire, a chat community,
0:06.7	discounts for all the books mentioned in the week's podcast, add free listening and a weekly
0:11.5	newsletter, sign up to Empire Club at
0:14.4	W.
0:15.1	W. empire pod UK.com. Hello and welcome to our brand spanking new series of Empire with me and Eta Arnan
0:36.7	and me William Dripple.
0:39.2	It's very very exciting to announce what we're going to announce. Yes, we are going to be talking
0:45.4	about Cyrus the Great in this episode, the man who founded ancient Persia, the
0:50.1	world's first superpower and with us well we couldn't think of anybody better
0:54.4	than Lloyd Llewellyn Jones author of Persians the age of the great kings a rather
0:59.2	sumptuous beautiful may I say beautiful book. This cover alone will tempt you in and it's got all sorts of high praise from people we like very much on this podcast.
1:10.0	Everyone's ever been on this podcast exactly.
1:12.0	Yes I know. Basically our entire cast lists for the series so far.
1:15.7	Lloyd, welcome to the program.
1:17.7	Well, thank you very much.
1:18.8	It's a great, great pleasure to be here.
1:20.4	Thank you.
1:21.2	We're focusing our lens on Cyrus the Great, the man who founded ancient Persia today.
1:27.3	And I've heard it said that Cyrus represents the world's first superpower. Do you think that is an accurate representation?
1:34.8	Yes I think so the title the great gets bandied around so much with great abandon but I think he is a man who actually earns that
1:45.1	supercret and I guess why he does that is because within one lifetime, within his
1:51.6	lifetime, maybe starting at about the age of 18-19, he grows from being a tribal leader in southwest Iran, disorganized tribes to uniting them under one banner, conquering
	...

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