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 StoriesPassionate Daughter Ishtar
Ishtar, the passionate goddess of love and war from ancient Mesopotamia has had a long life, historically speaking, and she continues to be a popular object of…
- Oldest Stories
Industry 3 - Liquid Bread
Our tale of daily life continues. The harvest is over, but the work continues, as there are many steps required to transform boring, nutritious grain into…
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Industry 2 - The Stuff of Life
Today we are talking all about the sort of industry that would have occupied most of the attention of most of the people of the ancient world. That is to say…
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Industry 1 - The Earthen World
Perhaps the defining material of ancient Mesopotamia was dirt. Buildings were made by mud brick, and those buildings were filled by clay pottery of all sorts…
- Oldest Stories
Listener Questions
A long time ago I asked for listener questions, and also posted a call for questions over on tiktok, and here they are finally getting answered. This is…
Oldest StoriesSumer in Genesis
Here by popular demand and my own personal interest, an overview of the first eleven chapters of the biblical book of Genesis, alongside the ancient…
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Canaan 9 - Baal and Mot
Today we conclude the Baal cycle with the epic final confrontation between Baal Hadad, rightful lord of the Canaanite heavens, and Mot, the deity whose name…
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Canaan 8 - The Feast of Baal
If anyone is on Tiktok, there is a new oldeststories channel over there where I am posting facts each day. If you are on tiktok go check it out. Today we…
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Songs 1 - Ancient Akkadian Love Songs
Valentine's Day Special. This is a bunch of love poetry from the Mesopotamian bronze age, as well as some magical love spells. Translation by Benjamin R Foster…
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Canaan 7 - The Baal Cycle
Today we begin perhaps the most significant of the surviving myths from Canaan, the Baal cycle. In the Baal cycle, we look at Ba'al Hadad, the mighty storm…
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Canaan 6 - Aqhat and Daniel
Daniel, sometimes called Danel, depending on your translation, is a figure of great wisdom who even gets name dropped in the bible. In this, the main story we…
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Canaan 5 - The Legend of Kirta
The Legend of Kirta, called Keret in some translations, can be a bit hard to understand, especially for a modern audience used to things like the three act…
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Canaan 4 - Ugarit's Final Century
The final century of the Canaanite city of Ugarit is by far the most well documented, and sheds light not only on how things were going in the city, but also…
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Canaan 3 - The City of Ugarit
The Canaan history series continues as we finally look at the city of Ugarit, its rise and significance both in Northern Canaan and in archeology. Ugarit is…
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Canaan 2 - The Amarna Age in Canaan
Our mini series on Canaan continues, as we transition into the period we know most about, the late bronze age. Here, our sources multiply, and we get to dig…
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Canaan 1 - Bronze Age Levant
The Oldest Stories Hiatus continues, but I a still inspired to push out some episodes when I get a chance. This is the beginning of a mini series on another…
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The Oldest Games
Play is older than humanity, but among the ancient Mesopotamians, a handful of games are attested throughout the ancient period, from all the way to the…
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Elamite 4 - Elamite Religion
This week we take a look at who the Elamites were at home, or at least how they were up in heavens. The Elamites gods are a tough subject to get deep into, but…
Oldest StoriesElamite 3 - The Grand Regents of Elam
Elam did not occupy Sumer after conquering Ur and imprisoning King Ibbi-Sin. Instead, the Kings of Shimashki consolidated power in Elamite territory and…
Oldest StoriesElamite 2 - Elamite Renaissances
In the last years of the Akkadian Empire, Elam managed to seize its independence. The first fully independent King of Elam was Puzur-Inshushinak, who went on…
Oldest StoriesElamite 1 - Back to the Beginning
The Sumerians did not develop writing and urbanization in a vacuum. To their east, the land of Elam developed both at almost the exact same time. From the…
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OS 96 - Fall of the Hittite Empire
In 1200 BCE, the Hittite Empire fell, its capitol of Hattusa was abandoned and its final king, Suppuliliuma II, was probably dead. The circumstances leading up…
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OS 95 - Hattusili Secures His Legacy
Western Anatolia is the biggest player in the fall of the Hittite Empire, and those movements begin now, with the later years of Hattusili III. Additionally…
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OS 94 - Hattusili the Peace Maker
This week the Hittite empire hits its high point, as we look at Hattusili III and Ramesses II's so-called Eternal Treaty, the peace treaty which would help…
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OS 93 - Hattusili's Palace Drama
The Battle of Kadesh may be over, but the drama of the Hittite Empire's final century is only just beginning. Muwatalli's final few years give way to the rise…
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OS 92 - Nergal and Ereshkigal
Today we have pop culture references! We are going to look briefly at Tiamat, who shows up in some Dungeons and Dragons stuff, and then we are going to look at…
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OS 91 - A Muddy Mesopotamian Mess
Tukulti-Ninurta may have brought the Middle Assyrian empire to its territorial height, but the interal political issues he creates along the way will pull down…
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OS 90 - Tukulti-Ninurta's Victories
In Babylon, King Kashtiliash IV has a problem. His kingdom is in decline. And so he takes bold actions to shake up the Mesopotamian order, but ends up shaking…
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OS 89 - The Peaceful Decline of Kassite Babylon
Today we watch the decline of Kassite Babylon, from which distressingly little survives. We look at the prosperity they have achieved, and the ultimate…
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OS 88 - The Destruction of Mitanni
Today we will take a journey through the cultural achievements of Kassite Babylon, which are beginning to reach their famous heights at the cultural…
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OS 87 - Rebirth of an Old City
Finally, the city of Assur wakes up and shakes off the dust of its centuries long obscurity, rising from minor Mitanni vassal to major world player in a single…
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OS 86 - The Battle of Kadesh
Huge apologies for the whistling. That is my internal cue to edit that part. and something seems to have happened where the edits reverted or didn't save…
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OS 85 - New Cities and New Villains
This episode is a good place for new listeners to start if you are interested in the final years of the bronze age and the lead up to the bronze age collapse…
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OS 84 - Mursili's Plague
While he can easily be overshadowed by the military accomplishments of his father Suppiluliuma and his son Muwatalli II, Mursili II is one of the most…
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OS 83 - Vengeance, Mortal and Divine
We have a bit of a hodge podge here as we finish up the reign of Suppiluliuma and move into his successors, Arnuwanda II and Mursili II. But there is a common…
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OS 82 - Suppiluliuma Irritates Egypt
In the aftermath of one of the greatest campaigns of the bronze age, Suppiluliuma's Hittites need to consolidate control over Syria. This is complicated by…
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OS 81 - King Tushratta Begs and Runs Away
Today we will start the great and storied reign of Hittite Great King Suppiluliuma I and his campaigns against the Mitanni. However, because this happens to be…
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OS 80 - The Storm Before The Calm
Today the Hittite Empire will fall, pretty much completely, and be replaced by the western Anatolian state of Arzawa. We have seen the Hittites beaten pretty…
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OS 79 - Magic and Medicine in Hattusa
Magic, science, and medicine are our topic today, focusing primarily one the good number of documents on these topics which survive from the Middle Hittite…
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OS 78 - Foreigners and Vassals of Hatti
Things are tough for the Hittite Empire. The vassals who promise to be loyal keep being disloyal, the enemies who promise to attack keep attacking, and we…
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OS 77 - Idrimi's Adventure and Tudhaliya's Invasion
We return to Anatolia, where our tale remains just as poorly documented and fast moving as it is in Babylon, thought there is light at the end of the tunnel…
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OS 76 - The Amarna Mailbag
The Amarna letters are famous because nowhere else in bronze age history do we have a cache of documents quite like it. Thirteen letters from Kadashman-Enlil…
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OS 75 - Building Babylonia
The growth of Kassite Babylonia, also called Karduniash, continues apace. Just like last week, Kassite Babylonia is very poorly documented, and thus we are…
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OS 74 - A New Dawn for Babylon
Babylon is reborn! Following the decline and sack of Babylon, the entire region was devastated for decades. However, even in these ashes lay the seeds of a new…
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OS 73 - Corruption in Nuzi
True crime! Corruption in city hall! A gang of thugs terrorizing a town! One of the most interesting finds in the town of Nuzi is a series of court documents…
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Bonus 4 - Akitu New Year Special
Happy Mesopotamian New Year! Akitu was celebrated at the start of the year from Sumerian times until the end of Babylonian civilization, and naturally the…
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OS72 - Lawyers of Nuzi
Today we have a very real discussion about some very real people, hearing from the Hurrians in their own words by looking at the goings on in a town called…
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OS 71 - Hurrian Wisdom
The Hurrian Song of Release is an odd text. Part wisdom, part legend, the best we can guess is that it was a set of rituals, cultural memories, and advice to…
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OS 70 - Mighty Monsters of Mitanni
Finishing up the Kumarbi Cycle with the biggest of monsters, the Song of Hedammu and the Song of Ullikummi are the two tales that see some actual character…
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OS 69 - Kumarbi Strikes Back
The Song of Lamma and the song of Silver, two further adventures in the Kumarbi cycle. Tessub may be the Hurrian king in heaven, but Kumarbi still wants to…
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OS 68 - The Song of Kumarbi
Today we begin the great epic of the Hurrians, the Kumarbi cycle, which in multiple fragmentary episodes discusses the multiple conflicts over kingship that…
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OS 67 - Late Bronze Age Warfare
This may be the late bronze age, but it is the golden age of chariot warfare. To a great degree, the power of the great kingdoms is all built upon chariot…
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OS 66 - Enter the Arena
The world of the Late Bronze Age is expanding, and today we introduce the two final players to the near east battleground. Egypt is probably familiar to many…
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OS 65 - Disorder in the Court
The Hittites are not going to exceed the heights of king Mursili for a long, long time, if indeed they ever do. Today we are going to look at a dark century of…
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OS 64 - Village Economics
Part two of daily life in Anatolia under the Hittites continues where we left off last time. And also doesn't get as far as I had planned this time either, but…
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OS 63 - Village People
Daily life for the average anatolian living under the Hittites was not all that terrible, and though much of it is poorly documented, there are still quite a…
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OS 62 - The Man Who Changed The World, Mursili I
Mursili I destroyed two empires, plundering Aleppo and Babylon, and ruled for thirty of the best years in Hittite history. His conquests would pave the way for…
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OS 61 - The Conqueror's Triumph and Death
Hattusili I has already shown himself to be a cut above the Anatolian kings that have come before him, but like all the most ambitious of men he has set his…
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OS 60 - Telipinu, the Vanishing God
A god is furious, and in his fury he has abandoned the people and the kingdom to suffer one catastrophe after another. Today we look at the myth, the ritual…
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OS 59 - The Conquering Lion, Hattusili I
The first king of the Hittites, Hattusili I, thought of himself as a conquering lion. Given his military record, this isn't a completely inappropriate boast…