In the highlands of the Iranian Plateau, a collection of enormous pillars reach up to the sky... In this episode, we tell the story of the Achaemenid Persian Empire. Find out how this remarkable ancient power sprung up from the rubble of a ruined world to become the most powerful human society on earth. Hear how they raised their grand palaces and monuments, and brought an unprecedented number of people together within their borders, as well as coming into conflict and cooperation with other ancient peoples. And finally find out what happened to bring the palaces of the Persian kings crashing down in fire and flame. FULL SOURCES: https://www.patreon.com/posts/sources-for-20-145588047 CREDITS Voice actors: Michael Hajiantonis Henry Stenhouse Alexandra Boulton Simon Jackson Tom Marshall-Lee Chris Harvey Jack Jacobs Nick Denton Amrit Sandhu Paul Casselle Tim Stephenson Ameen Taher Readings in Old Persian were performed by In Spanish by Scott Fins And readings in Greek were performed by Dimitris Chavres Singing of the Zoroastrian gathas was performed by Ardalan The Theme music is Home at Last by John Bartmann Sound design was by Alexey Sibikin Historical advisor was Dr. Mateen.M. Arghandehpour at the University of Oxford Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT6Y5JJPKe_JDMivpKgVXew/join Chapters: 00:00 - Intro 11:15 - Part I - From the Ashes 19:25 - The Medes, Proto-Iranians and Early Peoples 28:02 - Part II - Cyrus 31:09 - Herodotus 39:58 - Legends of Cyrus and the Feast of Astyages 46:58 - The Upbringing of Cyrus the Great 57:57 - Croesus of Lydia 1:02:07 - The Oracle at Delphi 1:12:54 - The Fall of Sardis 1:19:43 - Conquest of Babylon and Nabonidus 1:33:51 - Part III - The Kingdom 1:35:32 - Life in the Persian Empire 1:42:07 - Gods and Gardens 1:46:20 Persian Burial Practices 1:51:12 - The Palace at Pasargadae 1:54:30 - The Death of Cyrus the Great 2:04:53 - Invasion of Egypt 2:13:19 - The Imposter King 2:17:28 - Darius 2:22:25 - Rebellion 2:28:46 - Roads and Reforms 2:40:35 - The Ionian Revolt 3:01:50 - Part IV - Nemesis 3:05:57 - Battle of Marathon 3:29:40 - Part V - Vengeance 3:24:27 - Xerxes 3:35:24 - Thermopylae 3:50:41 - Salamis and Plataea 4:02:25 - Part VI - A Gathering Storm 4:11:30 - Artaxerxes I and Themistocles 4:19:19 - The War of the Brothers and Xenophon 4:30:15 - Philip II and Macedon 4:40:38 - Part VII - Alexander 4:59:59 - Battle of the Persian Gates 5:02:10 - Persepolis Burns 5:12:23 - The Death of Alexander and Collapse of the Achaemenid Empire 5:17:24 - A.V. Williams Jackson visits Persepolis 5:21:39 - Epilogue and Aeschylus