Historian and broadcaster William Dalrymple (“The Company Quartet“, “Empire“) joins the podcast to discuss his latest book “The Golden Road“. A survey covering from antiquity to the early medieval period, the book seeks to address India’s far-reaching (and often forgotten) influence across the entirety of Eurasia, from tracking the spread of religions like Buddhism and Hinduism, investigating the growing evidence of Indo-Roman trade, and even down to the invention of “Arabic” numerals based on Indian scripts and mathematics.

Episode Notes:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2025/06/15/interview-the-golden-road-how-ancient-india-transformed-the-world-with-william-dalrymple/)

William Dalrymple:

https://williamdalrymple.com/

https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/golden-road-9781639734146/

https://x.com/DalrympleWill

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Among the various peoples of the ancient Mediterranean, few cultures possess such a extensive surviving corpus of texts as the Jews. With the conquest of Alexander and the widespread introduction of Greek culture, Jewish authors voiced their grievances against the Hellenistic kingdoms while celebrating the antiquity of their own history, offering us a valuable perspective of the period at large. We will be discussing selected key texts: the apocalyptic visions of Daniel, the dynastic histories of I and II Maccabees, and the extensive writings of the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus.

Episode Notes:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2025/05/31/106-jewish-literature-in-the-hellenistic-age/)

Episode Transcript:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/106-jewish-literature-in-the-hellenistic-age.pdf)

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“Cleopatra” (1963), a four-hour epic starring Elizabeth Taylor as the titular queen, is legendary in the history of filmmaking. Its notoriously troubled production made it one of the most expensive movies ever made and brought 20th Century Fox on the verge of collapse, but Taylor’s portrayal has defined the image of Cleopatra in pop culture for over sixty years. We look back on the history of the film itself, assess its presentation of Hellenistic Egypt, and talk about the problems of telling the story of powerful woman whose life was so entangled with that of the men around her.

Episode Notes:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2025/04/01/bonus-elizabeth-taylors-cleopatra-1963/)

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War over Coele Syria breaks out yet again. With the death of Cleopatra I, her three very young children (Ptolemy VI, Ptolemy VIII, and Cleopatra II) are raised to the throne by their ambitious ministers Eulaios and Lenaios, who lead campaign of reconquest against Antiochus IV Epiphanes. It turns into a disaster, with the Syrian king launching two successful invasions into Egypt and besieging Alexandria. It seems the Ptolemaic kingdom is on the verge of collapse and Antiochus poised to be master of Egypt... that is unless the Roman Republic has something to say about it.

Episode Notes:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2025/03/14/106-the-sixth-syrian-war-and-day-of-eleusis/)

Episode Transcript:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/105-the-sixth-syrian-war-and-day-of-eleusis.pdf)

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The Seleucid realm experienced twelve unusual years of peace during the reign of Seleucus IV Philopator (187-175), but his alleged murder by a corrupt court official paved the way for Antiochus IV Epiphanes (“God Manifest”) to usurp the throne of Syria from his nephew. An incredibly polarizing figure, Antiochus was renowned for his generous donations towards cities and temples, often in honor of his new patron deity Zeus Olympios, but his behavior earned him the scorn of those like Polybius, who nicknamed him Epimanes (“The Madman”).

Episode Notes:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2025/02/06/104-the-seleucid-empire-madness-and-the-divine/)

Episode Transcript:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/104-the-seleucid-empire-madness-and-the-divine-transcript.pdf)

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After Rome’s declaration of war in 171, Perseus desperately attempts to stand his ground. When the “Third Macedonian War” drags on longer than anticipated, the consul Lucius Aemilius Paulus is called in and destroys the royal army at Pydna in 168, leading to the end of the Antigonid dynasty and the Macedonian kingdom.

Episode Notes:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2025/01/13/103-antigonid-macedon-the-first-domino-falls/)

Episode Transcript:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/103-antigonid-macedon-the-first-domino-falls-transcript.pdf)

Family Tree - Reign of Perseus:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/reign-of-perseus-1.pdf)

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Despite a controversial rise to the throne, King Perseus showed himself to be an able ruler. Continuing his father’s policies of restoring the strength of Macedonia, he earned a positive reputation across the Greek world through his philanthropy and general good behavior. His rising popularity earned the enmity of those like Eumenes II of Pergamon, who accused Perseus of secretly carrying out plans for a war against the Roman Republic, inheriting his father's schemes. Tensions would soon boil over, and the king would find himself in the crosshairs of the Senate, leading to the Third Macedonian War.

Episode Notes:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2024/11/21/102-antigonid-macedon-sins-of-the-father/)

Episode Transcript:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/102-antigonid-macedon-sins-of-the-father-transcript.pdf)

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The long reign of Philip V comes to an end after nearly 42 years on the throne. Following the defeat at Cynoscephalae, the Antigonid ruler spends the next two decades restoring his kingdom through economic and military reforms. By 179, Macedonia was once again a powerhouse to be reckoned with. However, infighting between the two princes Perseus and Demetrius would threaten to undermine the dynasty's unity, as an appropriately Greek tragedy stains the final days of Philip's career.

Episode Notes:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2024/10/16/101-antigonid-macedon-a-house-divided/)

Episode Transcript:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/101-antigonid-macedon-a-house-divided-transcript.pdf)

Family Tree (Reign of Philip V):

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/reign-of-philip-v.pdf)

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Six and a half years since we first started this journey, we finally have reached episode 100. Taking the least original approach possible, I decided to host another question and answer session to celebrate.

Episode Notes:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2024/10/05/100-qa-2-electric-boogaloo/)

Bad Ancient - "Are the Homeric Epics an Accurate Source for the Bronze Age Aegean?"

(https://www.badancient.com/claims/homeric-epics-source-bronze-age-aegean/)

Natty Lifting - "Why Did Bronze Age Lifters Have Flat Chests?" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIcbKGilhME&pp=ygUXYnJvbnplIGFnZSBib2R5YnVpbGRpbmc%3D)

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Our understanding the cosmos and our place in it has perplexed humanity for untold generations. The astronomers and geographers of the Hellenistic period were no different, looking to explain celestial phenomena and the nature of the Earth. Eratosthenes of Cyrene managed to calculate the circumference of the Earth to an astonishingly close value, Hipparchus did the same with the distance of the Moon, and Aristarchus of Samos proposed the earliest known model of heliocentrism 1800 years before Copernicus. The pinnacle of these theories came together was the incredible Antikythera Mechanism, the world's oldest analog computer, which will bring our series on science and technology to an end.

Episode Notes:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2024/08/30/099-hellenistic-science-geography-and-astronomy/)

Episode Transcript:

(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/099-hellenistic-science-astronomy-and-geography-transcript.pdf)

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