Hey guys, I hope you're doing well. I'm all good here. I'm just getting my gear together for the next episode. I'm recording all about Zoroastrianism. Really, really interesting, something I know nothing about, and I'm looking forward to recording, and then sharing it with you in the next few weeks. Now, today we're kind of keeping in that area of the world, because we're talking about the fall of Babylon in the 6th century,

these larger-than-life figures like the absent Babylonian king Nabonidas, Belchazar, famous from the

Bible, the writing on the wall, and also Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Persian Empire.

It's a really cool story, and who best to talk through it than the one and only Reverend

Professor Lloyd

Llewellyn Jones. Lloyd, as always, he did not disappoint. And what's really exciting about

this episode is that it's going to be on our ancient YouTube channel. That's right,

we've just launched the YouTube channel so you can also watch this episode too, if that is

potentially of interest. Now, that all being said, let's get into

the episode. I really do hope you enjoy. 539 BC, and the greatest city in the ancient world has opened its mighty gates to a new power.

In came the Persian king and conqueror Cyrus with his army, fresh from an incredibly bloody victory against the city's previous ruler.

This city was Babylon.

For the past few decades, Babylon had been the heart of its own powerful empire,

but now that empire was no more.

This is the story of the fall of Babylon,

with our guest, Reverend Professor Lloyd Llewellyn

Jones. Lloyd, great to have you back on. Hello, fabulous to be with you again. And is this one of the big

pivotal moments in Mesopotamian history, this transition from the Babylonian Empire to the Persian Empire?

Yes, I think so.

I mean, generally, you know, if you look at popular histories of Babylon that have been

written over, you know, generations, the beginning of the Persian period is usually the

cutoff point for most Babylonian historians.

...