History of the World podcast

479 - 447 BCE - The Persians had been expelled from the Balkan peninsula. Fate deals its hand to the Greek lands as the region heads towards further conflict.

480 - 479 BCE - The Achaemenid Persians were now able to march on Athens.  Would the Athenians stay and fight, or abandon their city?  Would the Spartans assist the Athenians, or would either polis put itself in front of their alliance now that the pressure was so high?

480 BCE - Following defeat at Marathon, the Persians were back.  Had the Greeks done enough to prepare for the return and would the interminably militant force of Sparta make the difference?

490 BCE - The Achaemenid Persians had been succesfully expanding their influence across the known world, but when the Athenians supported a revolt of Greek people within the Persian Empire, the Achaemenids sought revenge.

750 - 550 BCE - For a couple of centuries, the people of the Greek poleis all jumped into their boats and scattered in all directions.  Where were they going?  What were they doing?  Why were they doing it?

565 - 493 BCE - The Peisistratid tyranny came under pressure as Athens demanded democracy so vehemently that even the mighty Spartans could not impose their authority over the Athenians.

800 - 565 BCE - We walk through the journey of the Greek capital during the Archaic period and discover what this independent city did to avoid tyranny before succumbing to it.

1200 - 600 BCE - Exactly what did happen in Greece after the Late Bronze Age Collapse and the disappearance of the Mycenaean culture, and what are poleis?

609 BCE - 651 CE - What is Zoroastrianism and how did it originate?  Which belief systems did it influence and which belief systems existed alongside it in Iranian lands?  How did the Persian elite view and use Zoroastrianism in their respective empires?

226 - 651 CE - The rise of the Persians who would rule their own traditional lands once again, and the journey through the centuries which would lead them to the ultimate climax against the Romans at Constantinople.