Rise of the Assyrians
The Ancients
History Hit
4.7 • 4.5K Ratings
🗓️ 6 April 2023
⏱️ 42 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
At its pinnacle, the kingdom of Assyria stretched from the Mediterranean Sea to the Persian Gulf, a feat few could compare with in 660BCE. With Assyria's conquests documented by contemporary Greek historians, and even in the Hebrew Bible, nearly two millennia of studies have revealed a rich picture of the Assyrian world. With it's size and power undisputed, is it fair to call it the first empire the world had ever seen?
In this episode, Tristan is joined by Yale Professor Eckart Frahm to learn why he believes Assyria marked the first real empire of human history, and why this civilisation is essential to understanding the ancient world. With Assyria’s legacy enduring from the Babylonian and Persian empires to Rome and beyond, what can we learn about this remarkable civilisation?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's the ancients on History Hit. |
| 0:12.6 | I'm Tristan Hughes, your host. |
| 0:14.6 | And in today's episode, where I'm doing this intro from a hotel room up in Preston |
| 0:18.3 | because a couple of days every year, I always make sure to head up to Northern England |
| 0:23.0 | too. |
| 0:24.0 | The only dedicated curling rink in this country in England that is at Preston because, |
| 0:28.8 | yes, one of the weird and wacky sports that I absolutely love is curling. |
| 0:32.8 | But it also means that I am constantly off, however, the ancients machine never stops. |
| 0:39.4 | So before I leave and grab my broom and my shoes and head off to the rink, I want to |
| 0:44.6 | tell you about the episode we got today in this quick introduction. |
| 0:47.0 | We are going back to the ancient Near East. |
| 0:50.0 | We've talked about the Persians and the Sumerians in the past. |
| 0:53.5 | And in today's episode, we're talking about the Assyrians. |
| 0:56.0 | We're focusing in on the rise of the Assyrians in the early 1st millennium BC. |
| 1:02.6 | And why some professors, including our guest today, call this rise by the Assyrians the |
| 1:08.4 | creation of the first empire that the world had ever seen. |
| 1:14.1 | To explain all about this, I was delighted to interview Professor Eckhart from |
| 1:19.0 | Yale University. Eckhart does recently written a book all about the rise and |
| 1:23.6 | full of the Assyrian empire and he was an absolute pleasure to interview. |
| 1:27.7 | So I really do hope you enjoy. So without further ado to talk all about the rise of the Assyrians, |
| 1:34.0 | here's Eckhart. |
| 1:38.5 | Eckhart, it is a pleasure to have you on the podcast today. |
... |
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