The First Empires and How Persia Conquered Them All

In 612 BCE, Nineveh burned, and the fire started a chain of empires. Assyria ruled by fear until Babylon and the Medes destroyed it. Babylon fell to Cyrus, a minor king who overthrew his own overlord. Darius turned his conquests into the largest empire the world had seen, with the Royal Road running across it. And then, far away in Macedon, a boy asked how long the roads were. Correction to Episode 9: we called Cyrus "a farmer's son". He was the son of Cambyses, king of Anshan. We put that right in this episode. Episode 10 of "From Dust to Us" (Season 2, Episode 4). Previous: Ancient Egypt · Next: Ancient Greece CHAPTERS 0:00 One question 0:48 Nineveh burns 1:21 How we got here 1:58 The war machine 3:10 Nineveh falls 3:50 Babylon's last glory 4:36 Cyrus 6:22 Darius and the Royal Road 7:28 The Greek problem 8:44 Two children 10:01 Next time SOURCES Library of Ashurbanipal, Nineveh (British Museum); Epic of Gilgamesh, Tablet XI Babylonian Chronicles: the fall of Nineveh (612 BCE); the Nabonidus Chronicle on Astyages and the fall of Babylon (539 BCE) Cyrus Cylinder (British Museum); Book of Ezra 1 Herodotus, Histories 1 (Croesus and the oracle), 5.52-54 (Royal Road), 8.98 (the messengers), 7-8 (Xerxes' invasion) Behistun Inscription of Darius I; Rawlinson's work on cuneiform Persepolis Fortification Tablets (rations) Xenophon, Anabasis Plutarch, Life of Alexander 5 (the Persian envoys); Justin 7.5 on Philip at Thebes; Arrian, Anabasis 3.6 on Ptolemy