Following the death of Menander I Soter, the Indo-Greeks would decline in power over the next 150 years as the newly arrived Indo-Scythians/Indo-Saka seized the Punjab, and with the last king disappearing by 10 A.D, Greek rule in Central Asia and India was brought to a definitive end. In their wake, later powers like the Kushan Empire established control ove ... Show More
Feb 8
116: The Third Punic War - Dido's Lament
Though the Romans expected an easy fight, the Carthaginians put up a valiant defense of their city that dragged on for three years. With no progress being made, command is assigned to Scipio Aemilianus, the adopted grandson of the famed Scipio Africanus. Through his skilled gener ... Show More
37m 17s
Mar 2024
129. Ashoka: The Great Buddhist Emperor of India
Ruling in the 3rd century BC, Ashoka was one of India’s greatest ever rulers. Under his rule, the Mauryan Empire grew into the largest empire India had ever seen. Its capital, Pataliputra was a dazzling, glorious, cosmopolitan city that was eleven times larger than Athens. After ... Show More
50m 47s
Sep 2022
The Fall of Mycenaean Greece and the Trojan War
<p>Mycenaean Greece was one of the glittering jewels of the late Bronze Age world, but it fell to pieces in dramatic fashion: burned palaces, abandoned settlements, and the end of a centuries-old political tradition. Nor was Greece the only place in the Aegean to suffer: On the A ... Show More
46m 46s
Mar 2023
The Roots of Archaic Greece
<p>In the year 800 BC, Greece was an unremarkable corner of the Aegean. Over the next century, however, it underwent a remarkable transformation. Greece's population exploded, cities came into being, long-distance trade boomed, and the first overseas colonies - the beginnings of ... Show More
38m 47s
Jan 2024
112. Ferdowsi: How One Poet Saved Persian Civilisation
After the Arab conquest, Persia was turned upside down. Patronage went to Islam as opposed to Zoroastrianism. The official language of state was now Arabic. Even the very nature of the state changed; for 1,000 years Persia had been the centre of imperial power, dominating those a ... Show More
56m 41s
Mar 2024
130. India meets Rome: Making the Image of the Buddha
In the 1st century AD, the nomadic Kushans settled in what is now Afghanistan and established settlements and trade. From here, they moved down over the Hindu Kush and took large sections of Northern India. Within their new kingdom, Buddhism flourished under the patronage of the ... Show More
46m 25s
Dec 2023
105. The Last Great War of Antiquity
Eurasia is divided into two great superpowers. Khusrow II rules the Sassanian Empire. Maurice, the last of the Justinian dynasty, rules their mighty rivals, the Byzantines. When he is overthrown, Khusrow looks to capitalise upon the chaos, invades his neighbour, and begins to swe ... Show More
47m 49s
Dec 2022
The Rise of the Neo-Assyrian Empire
<p>The Neo-Assyrian Empire has been almost forgotten in comparison to the other massive states of the ancient world, but at its peak, it stretched from the Nile to the Caspian Sea and central Turkey to the Persian Gulf. Assyria was a brutal and dominating force for centuries, and ... Show More
42m 46s