Most satraps, or governors, were related to the king and of persian origin. So they had a notion what was happening actually in the home. And physically, lindsey's ubset, you rihted it's this transference of the of the imperial image,. if you like, can happen in in minutia. In seals and er and bulai for instance. You know, so every every, every wealthy individual the ancient world had his own which we could press into into clay. And this would carry images of kingship. Ad, really right up until modern times.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the role of the great 'City of the Persians' founded by Darius I as the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire that stretched from the Indus Valley to Egypt and the coast of the Black Sea. It was known as the richest city under the sun and was a centre at which the Empire's subject peoples paid tribute to a succession of Achaemenid leaders, until the arrival of Alexander III of Macedon who destroyed it by fire supposedly in revenge for the burning of the Acropolis in Athens.
The image above is a detail from a relief at the Apadana, the huge audience hall, and shows a lion attacking a bull.
With
Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones
Professor of Ancient History at Cardiff University
Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis
Curator of Middle Eastern Coins at the British Museum
And
Lindsay Allen
Lecturer in Greek and Near Eastern History at King's College London
Producer: Simon Tillotson.