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 generalship he finally achieves victory over Rome's Punic rivals, and the once-mighty nation that produced the likes of Hannibal Barca was destroyed nearly seven hundred years after its legendary foundation.

Episode Notes:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2026/02/08/116-the-third-punic-war-didos-lament/)

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(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/116-the-third-punic-war-didos-lament-transcript.pdf)

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“Carthage must be destroyed” – and with these words Cato the Elder doomed his North African rival by helping spark the Third Punic War, the last in a century of conflicts between Rome and Carthage. Deprived of its military in the aftermath of Zama and harassed by the Numidian king Massinissa, Carthage nevertheless managed to bounce back as an economic powerhouse during the first half of the second century B.C. Yet this recovery made the Senate suspicious of their Punic neighbor, which rapidly escalated into a war of annihilation as the Romans were determined to secure their position as sole master of the Mediterranean.

Episode Notes:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2026/01/20/115-the-third-punic-war-delenda-est/)

Episode Transcript:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/115-the-third-punic-war-delenda-est-transcript.pdf)

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Starting from the early third century B.C., the Nabataean kingdom ruled over much of the Levant from the Sinai Peninsula to the Hejaz. Most known for their famous rose-colored capital city of Petra, the Nabataeans occupied a unique position within the eastern Mediterranean for nearly five hundred years, competing with the Hellenistic, Hasmonean, and Herodian kingdoms. Yet they also acted as a stabilizing force for the so-called "Incense Road", leaving behind brilliant rock-cut monuments like al-Khazneh ("The Treasury").

Episode Notes:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2025/12/20/114-the-nabataean-kingdom/)

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(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/114-the-nabataean-kingdom-transcript.pdf)

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Civil war continues to grip the Seleucid Empire, as Alexander I Balas is challenged by the young Demetrius II for the throne of Syria. Things come to a head when Ptolemy VI, tied by marriage to Balas through his daughter Cleopatra Thea, launches an invasion of Coele Syria. In August 145 BC, the armies of Demetrius, Alexander, and Ptolemy meet at the Oenoparus River in a showdown whose outcome will surprise everyone involved.

Episode Notes:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2025/10/14/111-the-seleucid-empire-the-elephant-in-the-throne-room/)

Episode Transcript:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/113-the-war-of-the-three-kings-transcript.pdf)

Family Tree - Antiochus IV to Alexander I

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/reign-of-antiochus-iv-to-alexander-i.pdf)

Family Tree - Ptolemy VI

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/reign-of-ptolemy-vi.pdf)

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The newly enthroned Demetrius I Soter managed to instill a degree of order throughout the Seleucid realm, crushing the would-be king Timarchos in Babylonia and the rebellion of Judas Maccabee. Yet his behavior abroad alienated many of the other kings like Attalus II of Pergamon and Ptolemy VI, who in turn bankrolled the ambitions of another Seleucid usurper: Alexander Balas, the (supposed) lost son of Antiochus IV Epiphanes.

Episode Notes:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2025/11/05/112-the-seleucid-empire-breaking-the-hammer/)

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(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/112-the-seleucid-empire-breaking-the-hammer-transcript.pdf)

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With Antiochus IV Epiphanes’ death in Persia, the throne passed to the boy-king Antiochus V Eupator and his standing regent Lysias in 164. Between the Maccabean Revolt, would-be usurpers, and arrogant Roman emissaries, few of the kingdom’s subjects had faith in the ruling pair. This was sensed by Prince Demetrius, the son of Seleucus IV held hostage in Rome, who escaped captivity with the aid of Polybius of Megalopolis and returned to Syria to reclaim his birthright.

Episode Notes:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2025/10/14/111-the-seleucid-empire-the-elephant-in-the-throne-room/)

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(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/111-the-seleucid-empire-the-elephant-in-the-throne-room-transcript.pdf)

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In the aftermath of the Sixth Syrian War, the tripartite division of authority between Ptolemy VI , Cleopatra II, and Ptolemy VIII was a tenuous one at best, having to deal with rebellions of ambitious courtiers and disgruntled subjects. On top of this, the two brothers schemed for control over the Egyptian kingdom, and through their manipulations brought the intervention of the Roman Senate to handle one of the most dysfunctional families in all of antiquity.

Episode Notes:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2025/09/20/110-ptolemaic-egypt-twos-company-threes-a-crowd/)

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(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/110-ptolemaic-egypt-twos-company-threes-a-crowd-transcript.pdf)

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Despite the humiliation at Eleusis in 167 and the troubles in Judea, Antiochus organizes an enormous festival in Daphne to rival the games of Lucius Aemilius Paulus in Amphipolis, showcasing the prosperity of the empire that looked as strong as it ever had before. He would follow this celebration with an anabasis into the Upper Satrapies, but would die in Iran in November 164, and the dynasty would begin on a dark path towards its eventual decline.

Episode Notes:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2025/09/04/109-the-seleucid-empire-a-sinful-root/)

Episode Transcript:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/109-the-seleucid-empire-a-sinful-root-episode-transcript.pdf)

Family Tree - Seleucus IV to Antiochus IV

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/reign-of-seleucus-iv-to-antiochus-iv.pdf)

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The tension between the various factions vying for power in Jerusalem leads to a crisis, when Antiochus IV retaliates by attacking the city and plunders its famed Temple in 168. A wave of persecutions against Jewish religion and customs inspires a rebellion, spearheaded by Judas Maccabee (“the Hammer”) and the Hasmonean family, who achieve victories against the Seleucid crown to reclaim and purify the Temple, later the basis for the holiday of Hanukkah.

Episode Notes:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2025/08/26/108-the-seleucid-empire-the-maccabean-revolt/)

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(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/108-the-seleucid-empire-the-maccabean-revolt.pdf)

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In this episode, we delve into the history of the Jews – both in the homeland of Judea and the many communities of the Diaspora. From the conquests of Alexander, the Jews navigated through a new paradigm that favored “Greekness” and embraced many aspects of Hellenistic culture, while also trying to uphold the Laws of Moses that linked them back to the glory days of Solomon and David. The flowering of diasporic literature, such as the creation of the Septuagint, was one byproduct of Judeo-Greek interaction. Yet tensions with the Hellenistic monarchies could lead to severe unrest, as will eventually culminate in the Maccabean Revolt.

Episode Notes:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2025/07/30/107-jews-and-judaism-from-alexander-the-great-to-antiochus-iii/)

Episode Transcript:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/107-jews-and-judaism-from-alexander-the-great-to-antiochus-iii-transcript.pdf)

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