Cyrus the Great
The Ancients
History Hit
4.7 • 4.5K Ratings
🗓️ 3 August 2023
⏱️ 41 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The ancient Persian ruler who founded the Achaemenid Empire, known for his benevolent governance and conquests - Cyrus the Great was a giant of history. History remembers him as someone who conquered numerous lands, established a legendary empire, respected local customs, and allowed religious freedom for his subjects. But what does the archaeology tell us - and was he really that great?
In this episode Tristan welcomes Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones back to the podcast, to delve into this ruler's life. Looking at this origins, travels, family and ultimate demise - what can we learn about Cyrus the Great, and does the archaeology back it up?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the Ancients from History Hit. |
| 0:02.7 | To listen to all of our episodes Add Free and watch hundreds of history documentaries |
| 0:07.6 | downloads the History Hit app, we'll go to historyhit.com forward slash subscribe. |
| 0:14.0 | And if you're an Apple listener, you can subscribe for new Add Free episodes within the app. |
| 0:30.9 | It's The Ancients on History Hit. I'm Tristan Hughes your host, and in today's episode |
| 0:38.7 | where we're talking all about a Titan of Ancient History, King Cyrus the Second, |
| 0:44.1 | Cyrus the Great, the Monarch who helped forge a world superpower in antiquity, the largest |
| 0:52.2 | empire that the world had yet seen that would at its height stretch from the Indus River Valley |
| 0:58.1 | to the borders of Europe with regions such as Macedonia and Thrace. |
| 1:03.7 | This was the Persian Akeemenid Empire, and the story of its founder of Cyrus is extraordinary, |
| 1:12.0 | whether it's his ultimate conquest of Babylon, his unfortunate adventure into modern day Kazakhstan, |
| 1:19.6 | or his earlier conquests as he headed from the Persian Heartlands West, |
| 1:25.2 | ultimately marching as far as Asia Minor, as Anatolia. To talk through the story of Cyrus, |
| 1:32.3 | will I was delighted to interview Professor Lloyd Luellen Jones from the University of Cardiff. |
| 1:38.0 | This was the third of three episodes that Lloyd and I recorded a couple of months back. |
| 1:43.4 | It follows hot on the heels of episodes with Lloyd about Babylon and the Bible, |
| 1:48.1 | and on Persia and the Bible. And in my opinion, this episode on Cyrus was the best of the moon, |
| 1:55.1 | and that is saying something. I really do hope you enjoy, and here's Lloyd. |
| 2:10.3 | Lloyd, always a pleasure having you on the podcast. |
| 2:12.7 | I was a pleasure to be here. Thank you very much for having me. |
| 2:15.2 | Now, Cyrus the Great. We're going to be running through his life story today. |
| 2:20.4 | The greatest of all the Persian kings? Yes. |
... |
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