13. The Assyrians - Empire of Iron

In the lowlands of Northern Iraq, a series of enormous cities lie crumbling in ruins...

In this episode, find out about one of the most remarkable ancient civilizations: the society known today as the neo-Assyrian Empire. Discover how the Assyrians built their empire out of the ashes of the Bronze Age, and built an empire of iron that lasted for centuries. Explore the extraordinary flourishing of art and technology that they fostered. And finally, discover what happened to cause their final, devastating collapse.

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CREDITS:

Sound engineering by Alexey Sibikin

Readings:
Hebrew - Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
Ancient Greek - Pavlos Kapralos

Historical consultant - Dr. Ellie Bennett, University of Helsinki

Voice actors:

Mustafa Raee
Peter Walters
Lachlan Lucas
Carson Wishart
Nick Denton
Rhy Brignell
Annie Kelly
Lou Millington
Jake Barrett-Mills

Colourisations of Assyrian carvings by Jeramy Smith: https://www.progenitorstudios.com/

3D reconstructions of Assyrian cities by Kais Jacob Ishak.

Photography of antiquities by Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin FRCP(Glasg), CC-BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons and World History Encyclopedia.

Drone photography of Mosul and Ashur
by Mohaymn Al Wasmi: https://www.instagram.com/mohaymn9/?h...

Chapters

00:00 - Intro
9:59 - The Fertile Crescent
16:29 - Ashur
27:41 - The Bronze Age Collapse
33:01 - Tiglath-Pileser I
39:40 - Dating and Year Names
42:18 - The Assyrian Army
44:36 - Ashurnasirpal's Conquests
51:24 - Reforming the Army
1:02:15 - Babylon
1:05:55 - Life in the Empire
1:08:10 - Nineveh
1:14:40 - Assyrian Belief
1:16:35 - Cylinder Seals
1:19:40 - Drama of the Sargonid Kings
1:21:43 - The Scourging of Elam
1:22:57 - Campaign against Judah
1:40:10 - Babylon rebels
1:45:00 - The End of Sennacherib
1:55:15 - Esarhaddon
2:04:20 - The Prophecy
2:09:10 - Ashurbanipal's Golden Age
2:30:35 - The Collapse Begins
2:36:00 - The Medes
2:37:02 - Enemies Unite
2:49:33 - The Fall of Assyria
2:55:15 - Austen Henry Layard Visits Nineveh
2:58:53 - Final Poem