Cyrus, Darius, Xerxes: The Empire the Greeks Feared

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night" is carved on a New York post office. It comes from a Greek historian describing the riders of a Persian king. This is the story of Cyrus, Darius and Xerxes, told by the Greeks who feared them and by the Persians' own words. Where the Greek writers and the Persians' own records differ, the video says whose version it is. Chapters 0:00 Neither snow nor rain 0:53 The father 2:27 Babylon, in clay 4:20 The fake prince 5:57 The merchant 7:38 Remember the Athenians 8:51 The king who whipped the sea 10:37 Who told the story Sources 1. Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Herodotus". https://www.britannica.com/biography/... 2. Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Achaemenid Empire". https://www.britannica.com/topic/Acha... 3. Herodotus, Histories, tr. A. D. Godley (Loeb, 1920), Perseus Digital Library. https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/... 4. Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Cyrus the Great". https://www.britannica.com/biography/... 5. British Museum, Collection Online: the Cyrus Cylinder (translation by Irving Finkel). https://www.britishmuseum.org/collect... 6. Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Cambyses II". https://www.britannica.com/biography/... 7. Darius I, the Behistun inscription, tr. L. W. King and R. C. Thompson (1907), Wikisource. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Sc... 8. Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Bisitun". https://www.britannica.com/place/Bisitun 9. Encyclopaedia Iranica, "Persepolis Elamite tablets". https://www.iranicaonline.org/article... 10. Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Persian Royal Road". https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pers... 11. Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Battle of Marathon". https://www.britannica.com/event/Batt... 12. Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Xerxes I". https://www.britannica.com/biography/... 13. Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Darius I". https://www.britannica.com/biography/... 14. Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Pasargadae". https://www.britannica.com/place/Pasa... 15. Plutarch, Life of Alexander, tr. Bernadotte Perrin (Loeb, 1919), Perseus Digital Library. https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/... 16. The Nabonidus Chronicle (ABC 7), Livius. https://livius.org/sources/content/me... 17. The Bible, Ezra 1 (King James Version), Bible Gateway. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/... 18. Encyclopaedia Iranica, "Bardiya". https://www.iranicaonline.org/article... 19. U.S. Postal Service, Postal Facts: "No official motto". https://facts.usps.com/no-official-mo... 20. Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Persepolis". https://www.britannica.com/place/Pers... 21. Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Battle of Salamis". https://www.britannica.com/event/Batt... 22. Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Artemisia I". https://www.britannica.com/biography/... 23. Encyclopaedia Britannica, "daric". https://www.britannica.com/topic/daric