Shows / Oldest Stories
Oldest Stories
History and myth of the Cradle of Civilization, bronze age Mesopotamia, beginning with the dawn of writing. The show will cover the full history of Mesopotamia, from Gilgamesh to Nabonidas, a span of some 2500 years, with myths of heroes and gods, and tales of daily life peppered throughout. Sumer, Akkad, Old Babylon, Hittites, and Israel have all been covered in depth, current episodes get deep into the Assyrian Empire. New episodes every other Wednesday. Online at oldeststories.net.
Episodes
- Oldest Stories
Esarhaddon Purges the Court
The Assyrian Empire was at the height of its power, but King Esarhaddon was losing control of his own court. Prophets were declaring new kings, powerful…
- Oldest Stories
Taharqa the Peaceful and Esarhaddon the Holy
In 673 BC, the mighty Assyrian Empire marched against Egypt, determined to achieve a conquest greater than any Assyrian king had accomplished before. Instead…
- Oldest Stories
The Pedubastis Cycle
The Pedubastis Cycle is a group of ancient Egyptian heroic tales centered on Pharaoh Pedubastis, Inaros, Petechonsis, Pemaus, and the powerful local rulers of…
- Oldest Stories
Assyrian Omen Science
How did ancient Assyria use divination, astrology, and animal livers to make decisions of war, government, and royal policy? Under King Esarhaddon, the…
- Oldest Stories
The Cimmerian Horse Lords
The Cimmerians were among the first great horse nomad powers to crash into the civilizations of the ancient Near East. Emerging from the Scytho-Siberian world…
- Oldest Stories
Esarhaddon and the Empire That Ran Itself
Esarhaddon inherited the Neo-Assyrian Empire at the height of its power—but his kingship looked very different from that of the warrior-kings who came before…
- Oldest Stories
The Lessons of Ahiqar
The ancient story of Ahiqar follows a legendary wise man and royal adviser at the court of the Assyrian king Sennacherib. After adopting his nephew Nadan and…
- Oldest Stories
Sennacherib’s Last Omen
In the final years of Sennacherib’s reign, the Neo-Assyrian Empire entered a strange period of peace. After decades of war, conquest, rebellion, and the…
- Oldest Stories
The Bottom of the Mesopotamia Iceberg
An examination of the deepest level of the Ancient Mesopotamia iceberg, commonly labeled "Theories and Speculative Ideas." The video reviews each claim against…
- Oldest Stories
Sennacherib Builds a Paradise in Nineveh
Sennacherib is remembered as one of the most powerful kings of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, but his greatest legacy may not have been conquest. It was Nineveh: a…
- Oldest Stories
Lachish and How an Assyrian Siege Worked
Its the siege of Lachish, but also a much more wide ranging explanation of Assyrian siegecraft more generally. Including how it was recognizably modern and, in…
- Oldest Stories
Sennacherib vs Hezekiah in 701 BCE: Isaiah and the Battle of Eltekeh
In 701 BCE, Assyrian king Sennacherib launched his western campaign against Judah, bringing him into direct conflict with King Hezekiah and the political…
- Oldest Stories
Babylon Had It Coming
Babylon had survived five destructions before Sennacherib tried to erase it for good. Why did Assyria's most bookish king — a man who loved Babylonian…
- Oldest Stories
Sennacherib's Inheritance
Sennacherib is remembered in the Bible as a villain, the Assyrian king who invaded Judah and stood against Jerusalem. But that reputation, like his father…
- Oldest Stories
The Doom of Sargon II
This episode examines the final major campaign of Sargon II of Assyria (reigned 722–705 BCE) and the long conflict with the Chaldean ruler Marduk-apla-iddina…
- Oldest Stories
AI and History
How does one "do" history, and can an AI do it? The answers:1. You don't "do" history, you feel it.2. AI can do the actions of history, but it can't feel…
- Oldest Stories
The Golden Years of Sargon II
Oldest Stories Album available here: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/oldeststoriesmusic/oldest-stories-vol-1 but also possibly on your favorite music…
- Oldest Stories
Neo-Assyrian Imperial Administration
This episode explores how the Neo-Assyrian Empire actually functioned at the administrative level under Sargon II, focusing on imperial bureaucracy, logistics…
- Oldest Stories
The Great Invasion of Urartu
In this episode of Oldest Stories, we cover Sargon II of Assyria and his most famous campaign: the Great Invasion of Urartu (714 BCE), centered on the…
- Oldest Stories
The Composition of the Sargonid Army
In this episode, we break down the composition of the Neo-Assyrian Army under the Sargonid dynasty (Tiglath-Pileser III, Sargon II, and their successors) and…
- Oldest Stories
The Environment in which the Assyrian Army Emerged
In this episode of Oldest Stories, we step back from the famous conquests of the Neo-Assyrian Empire to ask a more fundamental question: what did ancient…
- Oldest Stories
A Tour of Dur-Sharrukin
Today we attempt an immersive historical reconstruction of Dur-Sharrukin, the short-lived but astonishing capital built by Sargon II of Assyria in the late…
- Oldest Stories
The Rise and Fall and Rise Again of Dur-Sharrukin
Apologies for my voice and the lack of graphics. Been sick again and barely got this out today. Episode 179 examines the founding, construction, abandonment…
- Oldest Stories
The Ascendency of Sargon II
Sargon II of Assyria faces a crisis of legitimacy after a humiliating defeat, but transforms potential disaster into triumph through military genius and…
- Oldest Stories
The Ill-Omened Origins of Sargon II
Listen all the way to the end for a special musical feature about Sargon II. This episode explores one of the most pivotal and least understood turning points…
- Oldest Stories
Shalmaneser the Least
In 727 BCE, the death of Tiglath-Pileser III—one of Assyria’s greatest reformers and conquerors—brought to the throne his son Ululayu, known to history by his…
- Oldest Stories
Tiglath-Pileser Defeats Israel
Yes, there are more important things in the Syro-Ephraimite war than Israel's defeat, but the whole three year campaign is hugely important in world history…
- Oldest Stories
Mesopotamia and the Occult: Discussions on the Ancient World
Nathaniel Heutmaker of the Grail Sciences Podcast and James Bleckley of the Oldest Stories podcast sat down to discuss Mesopotamian myth from an occult…
- Oldest Stories
Mesopotamia and the Occult: The Mortal King in Depth
Gilgamesh is the oldest and greatest hero of recorded human legend. The epic as a whole questions what it means to be human, warns of the dangers of spurning a…
- Oldest Stories
Mesopotamia and the Occult: Dying and Rising in Depth
Dumuzid, the oldest known exemplar of the dying and rising king, is also in many ways the most exceptional. Lover of Inanna, he was apparently quite done with…
- Oldest Stories
Mesopotamia and the Occult: The Passionate Woman in Depth
Inanna, queen of heaven, who descended into the underworld. It is among the oldest stories of the mythology of the world, but also one of the most significant…
- Oldest Stories
The Four Failures of Tiglath-Pileser III
In this episode of Oldest Stories, we explore the later reign of Tiglath-Pileser III, one of the most transformative kings of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. By the…
- Oldest Stories
Deportation, Castration, and Education - The Foundations of Neo-Assyria
What do mass deportation, smashed testicles, and elite boarding schools have in common? In this episode, we take a hard look at the shockingly effective—and…
- Oldest Stories
The Full Story of Ea-Nasir's Copper
You have seen the memes, and maybe you are even familiar with them, but today we look at who was the famous Ea-Nasir, why people would buy from him, and what…
- Oldest Stories
Establishing Assyrian Dominance
In 743 BCE, Tiglath-Pileser III—known in the Bible as Pul—led the Assyrian Empire into its most powerful and centralized form. This episode of Oldest Stories…
- Oldest Stories
Tiglath-Pileser's Revolution
This episode is the essential starting point for understanding the Neo-Assyrian Empire. In 745 BCE, a relatively obscure man named Tukulti-Apil-Esharra—better…
- Oldest Stories
The Assyrian Deep State
This is where to start for the Neo-Assyrian Empire’s epic tale. In this foundational episode, we return to the heartland of Assyria at its lowest point—between…
- Oldest Stories
OS 168 - The Golden Age of Urartu
In this episode of Oldest Stories, we return to the Armenian Highlands in 786 BCE to witness the death of King Menua of Urartu (Biainilli) and the rise of his…
- Oldest Stories
OS 167 - The Northern Wars: Etiuni, Urartu, and Diauehi
Buy the Oldest Stories books!: https://a.co/d/7Wn4jhS :In this episode of Oldest Stories, we explore the complex military and political history of Urartu…
- Oldest Stories
OS 166 - The Forges of Urartu
Sorry for the late post - Spotify had this scheduled, but didn't post it on the correct day. Today we look at the daily life and industry of the Armenian…
- Oldest Stories
OS 165 - The Kings of Urartu
Today we witness the transformation of Urartu—called Biainilli in its own time—from a fledgling mountain kingdom into a formidable Iron Age empire that would…
- Oldest Stories
OS 164 - The Rise of Urartu
In this episode, we explore one of the most dramatic and mysterious transformations in ancient Near Eastern history: the sudden rise of the Kingdom of…
- Oldest Stories
OS 163 - The Birth of Urartu
Explore the fascinating rise of Urartu, an ancient kingdom forged in the crucible of war and environmental hardship. In just two decades during the mid-9th…
- Oldest Stories
OS 162 - The Rise of Phrygia
In the wake of the Bronze Age Collapse, a new power emerged in central Anatolia—the Phrygians. This episode examines their origins, tracing their migration…
- Oldest Stories
OS 161 - A Kingdom of Honey and Blood: The Suhu Rebellion
Suhu is a only modestly important region, and the independant kingdom that lived on the Middle Euphrates from perhaps 775 BCE to 744 BCE is barely more than an…
- Oldest Stories
OS 160 - Graham Hancock and the Philosophy of Archeology
Graham Hancock is a complicated man. On one hand, he is exposing a lot of people to some of the most cutting edge archeological investigations and open…
- Oldest Stories
OS 159 - Slaves and Bronze in Iron Age Assyria
Reading 2800 year old slave documents, we learn a great deal about what concerned the people of Assyria on a day to day basis, at least the ones who lived in…
- Oldest Stories
OS 158 - The Glorious Magnates of Assyria
Today we talk about the governors Nergal-Erish and Mannu-ki-Mat-Assur as they play their part in building the Assyrian empire in a number of often unheralded…
- Oldest Stories
OS 157 - Women and Horses, the Constraints of Assyria
Today we blame the decline of Assyria on horses, and look at Adad-Nirari's desperation to get more of them. Also we see more of the historical Shammu-Ramat…
- Oldest Stories
OS 156 - The Mythical Semiramis in Ancient History
The tale of Semiramis is one of those myths that everyone used to know, and many people used to take quite seriously. It is a tale from the Greek era which…
- Oldest Stories
OS 155 - The Angry Puppet: Shamshi-Adad V
The angry and impotent king Shamshi-Adad would accomplish quite little during his reign of the Neo-Assyrian empire, but he would manage to completely…
- Oldest Stories
OS 154 - Assyrian Civil War: Magnate Edition
The final years of Shalmaneser III's reign over the Neo-Assyrian Empire, was a pivotal period marked by civil war, political intrigue, and shifting power…
- Oldest Stories
OS 153 - Shalmaneser Delegates Authority
The latter half of Shalmaneser's reign is less celebrated, but no less important. We see major campaigns against Urartu, Que, and Parsua, but more importantly…
- Oldest Stories
OS 152 - The Smothered Spark of Babylon's Dark Age
Today we see the political aspect of Babylon during its dark age, focusing on the 10th to 9th centuries BCE. Highlights are reigns of kings like…
- Oldest Stories
OS 151 - The Glowing Embers of Babylon's Dark Age
Today we talk about why, exactly, Babylon was unique and look at how during this dark age they were still creating unique and interesting literary works. This…
- Oldest Stories
OS 150 - The Battle of Qarqar
The lead-up to and significance of the first great battle of the iron age. Qarqar changed the equation for the Assyrian empire, which has until now been…
- Oldest Stories
OS 149 - Shalmaneser Upends the Levant
Today we examine the situation in the Levant from the Bronze age Collapse to the entry of the Assyrians, and then follow Shalmaneser's levantine campaigns as…
- Oldest Stories
OS 148 - Shalmaneser Takes the Throne
A big transition of power as Shalmaneser peacefully takes the crown from his psychotic father, then immediately heads north for some war crimes. Big discussion…
- Oldest Stories
OS 147 - From the River to the Sea
From the Tigris River to the Mediterranian Sea, Assurnasirpal completes the greatest campaign any Mesopotamian king has managed since the time of Sargon the…
- Oldest Stories
The Early History of Near Eastern Cavalry
Bonus episode today, a bit of a crossover with the bronze age stuff I am doing on Youtube about the video game Total War Pharaoh. Despite that, I think it will…