Episode C4 – The Great Kings

The Ancient World

Scott C.

History

4.6 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 21 May 2021

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Synopsis: The Great King Tudhaliya’s sons, Arnuwanda and Suppiluliuma, take power in a time of growing famine. The collapse of Mycenaean Greece intensifies the predations of Aegean and Mediterranean pirates, who threaten Hittite grain shipments and ally with the Libyans to launch an invasion of Egypt. Among the earliest victims of the seaborne invaders is the storied city of Troy. “But when the whole host reached the walls of Troy, into the city of Priam, breathing rage of fight, with reckless battle-lust they poured; and all that fortress found they full of war and slaughter, palaces, temples, horribly blazing on all sides; glowed their hearts with joy. In deadly mood then charged they on the foe. Ares and fell Enyo maddened there: blood ran in torrents, drenched was all the earth, as Trojans and their alien helpers died.” – Quintus Smyrnaeus, The Fall of Troy, Book 13 (translated by A. S. Way) Map of the Late Bronze Age eastern Mediterranean: https://audio.ancientworldpodcast.com/LBA_Hittite_Map.jpg The Hittite Royal Family: https://audio.ancientworldpodcast.com/LBA_Hittite_Family_Tree.jpg Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi, everyone. This is Scott. If you're a fan of the ancient world, please check out my
0:06.7	new course, The Bronze Age, at avid.fm slash ancient. That's avid.fm slash ancient.
0:16.2	There's discount pricing, a hundred percent satisfaction guarantee, all that good stuff.
0:22.2	So if you're looking for a way to support the show, this is a great way to do it. Thanks
0:27.5	again for listening.
0:46.2	Hattusa's has an enormous footprint covering nearly two square kilometers and was once
0:52.2	surrounded by a circuit of walls raised by superluleum of the first. The lower city
0:58.6	featured elaborate gateways, with statues of warriors, lions, and sphinxes, while
1:05.5	the upper city was dominated by the Great Fortress, with palaces, temples, and administrative
1:12.0	buildings. I was lucky enough to visit the site back in 2018, and the scale of the place
1:19.0	is still impressive, though it's pretty hard to picture it back in its glory days.
1:26.1	Those glory days could reasonably be set in the late 13th century BC, under the Hittite
1:32.4	King Tutalia IV. Not that he was the most famous or accomplished or powerful king, though
1:40.7	he was certainly no slouch on any of those fronts. It just turned out that Tutalia had
1:46.1	the time, treasure, and excuse to refurbish the Hittite capital.
1:52.2	The excuse part was pretty clear cut. According to historian Trevor Brice, archaeological evidence
1:59.8	indicates the destruction of parts of Hattusa, particularly the walls and temple quarter,
2:07.2	during Tutalia's reign. It's unknown how it may have happened, the usual culprits
2:14.2	being accident, invasion, or civil unrest. Maybe one of those dynastic threats he always
2:20.9	feared became a harsh reality. Whichever it was, Tutalia weathered the storm, then
2:27.6	set his sights on a little extreme makeover Hittite edition. According to Brice, Tutalia
2:34.6	more than doubled the size of the upper city, including an extensive temple construction
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Scott C., and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Scott C. and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.