Shirin: Heroine of Iran

The Ancients

History Hit

History

4.7 • 4.5K Ratings

🗓️ 26 February 2023

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Princess, Queen, and political influencer - Shirin should be a name as famed as Cleopatra, but how come so few know of her? Coming to influence in Iran during the early 7th Century, Shirin was the Christian wife of the Sasanian King Khosrow II, and was forced to flee to Syria in the aftermath of radical revolution. Upon their return, she was crowned Queen, and ultimately used her influence to help support those in need. But beyond the tragic poems that have posthumously defined her, what do we actually know about Shirin, and what can we learn from her?

In this episode, Tristan welcomes back Dr Eve MacDonald from Cardiff University, to delve into this incredible moment of history. Looking at the role women played in politics, and how they could use positions of power to their advantage, together they delve into Shirin's story and shine a light on this remarkable figure from history.

The Senior Producer was Elena Guthrie.

The Assistant Producer was Annie Coloe.

Edited by Joseph Knight.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	It's the Entrance on History Hit.
0:12.8	I'm Tristan Hughes your host and in today's episode where we're going to ancient Iran.
0:17.7	Some might say early medieval Iran, we're very much on the cusp of breaking into gone medieval
0:24.0	territory here and you know what, this daredevilism in podcast format, I love it.
0:29.7	We've already got about 2 to 3 million years worth of ancient history and prehistory
0:34.4	that we talk about but why not just try and get a bit of the medieval stuff in there once
0:38.8	in a while too, because we're going to 7th century Iran to almost the end of the Sainian
0:46.6	period before the sassanid empire that centered around Iran and Iraq today fell to the emergence
0:56.0	of the Islamic armies that would soon sweep over the eastern and southern Mediterranean.
1:03.6	But in the decades up to this full of the Sassanian empire, you saw the emergence of this extraordinary
1:11.5	woman, this heroine of Iran.
1:14.6	It feels quite relevant to be talking about this strong female character from Iran in today's
1:22.1	climate and her name was Shirin. I had not really heard about Shirin, this princess, this queen
1:30.4	who has interactions with the eastern Mediterranean with Jerusalem and so much more.
1:35.6	I had very very little knowledge about Shirin before researching for today's episode
1:41.1	and before interviewing our brilliant guest today. Our guest is someone who has been on the
1:46.7	ancient's podcast before who has a fountain of knowledge on the Sassanian empire but also on
1:52.4	ancient Carthage on Hannibal Barker and he's also just great fun to be around. I'm talking about
1:58.8	Dr. Eve McDonald from Cardiff University. I met up with Eve to interview her all about Shirin
2:06.8	so without further ado to talk about this extraordinary queen, this heroine of Iran. Here's Eve.
2:27.3	Eve, it is wonderful to have you on the podcast today.
2:30.0	Hello Tristan, what a pleasure to be back.
	...

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