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Citation Needed, a podcast where we choose a subject, read a single article about it on Wikipedia and pretend we're experts.

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I'm Heath and I'll be hosting this party, and I'm joined by four guys who look like the premise of a joke when they walk into a bar, Cecil, Noah, Tom, and Eli. As long as it isn't in Annabur, I think it'll be a good joke. We're going to be a good one. We're more of a joke when we order at the bar, right? It's like one beer, three waters, and a plate of Tofurky jerky or something. Jokes keep on coming. Yeah. Actually, the joke's on you, Heath, because I look like a joke no matter where I go.

Yes. and a plate of Tofurky jerky or something. Jokes keep on coming. Actually, the joke's on you, Heath, because I look like a joke no matter where I go. It's fair. There you go. I'm the rabbi. Thank you. Yeah. It's a vaguely anti-Semitic joke until Eli explain it's cool all right there he is

cool I know hey podcast listener no I'm not in the rest of the episode we're gonna go right

into it we're gonna go right into it all right no what person place thing concept phenomenon

or event are we gonna to be talking about today?

Today we're talking about history's most expensive party.

All right. So what was history's most expensive party?

It was a multi-day affair that took place from October 12th to the 14th of 1971.

It was hosted by the Shah of Iran in a desert venue near the tomb of Cyrus the Great and marked the 2,500th anniversary of the Persian Empire, which, if you think about it, is a really fucking weird thing to throw history's most lavish party over. Right? It's like it's not a birthday. It wasn't a coronation.

It wasn't an anniversary of his reign. It wasn't a wedding. And it wasn't even a date that could be

pinned down with any kind of historical certainty. Nobody knows for sure what year the Persian

empire began, let alone what fucking day. And yet, the party took the title for history's most

expensive back in 1971. And it's held that title for 54 years in counting. You barely even have to account for inflation. Man, if the 25th anniversary is a silver one, the 25th 100 anniversary is like a nine-carat singularity or you're cheap enough. You hear that, Anna, if you're listening, I'll take our 25,000th anniversary off. I'll sleep in, I promise. Well, there you go, yeah. So first we have to tackle the why of it all, because as extravagant as this thing was, I don't think it could fill a whole episode. So we're going to open with a bit of that dreaded context.

Oh, I know this one.

It's because you've been reflecting lately on the intersection between the celebration of empire and colonialism and how the inevitable decline of empire mirrors and perhaps even portends the annihilation of either way.

Not just your own personal soul, but the very soul of humankind itself and that the party is really a metaphor for the desperate last gaspism of a sort of cultural midlife crisis. It's like he's punching you with a poem. Tom, it's good. No, but it's good to know that you're ready to tag in if they need you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I got you. I need a speaking stick. Word count brothers. Word count brothers.

So, but for me, I feel like if you want to understand why the Shah would pour a huge

percentage of the kingdom's wealth into a made-up anniversary, you have to understand how we came

to power. And for that, we have to rewind all the way back to World War II.

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