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This episode is brought to you by Multitudes of Chariots.

Tonight, we'll read about the Persian Empire at the Zenith of its expansion from the

book The Retreat of the Ten Thousand by Carl Witt, published in 1896.

The ancient Persian or Iranian Empire was the largest empire the world had ever seen at its time, spanning from the Balkans and

Egypt in the West to Central Asia and the Indus Valley in the East.

In the modern era, this empire has been recognized for its imposition of a successful

model of centralized bureaucratic administration, its

multicultural policy, building complex infrastructure such as road systems and an organized postal system, the use of

official languages across its territories and the development of civil services.

Let's get cozy.

Close your eyes.

Relax your body

into the softness of your bed.

Now, take a few deep breaths.

From time to time to time in the course of the world's history the title of

great has been given to some monarch who has distinguished himself, either by the

splendour of his victories or by the value of his services to his fellowmen.

We speak, for example, of Alexander the Great,

...