Greece vs Persia: The Rise of the First Superpower (TRIH eps 668-669)
490 BCE · Resource
In this episode Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook explore the early Persian response to the Ionian Revolt, beginning with the burning of Sardis in 498 BC and the king Darius I’s fury, likened to George W. Bush after 9/11. They trace the rise of the Achaemenid Empire from Cyrus the Great through Cambyses, Bardiya, and the succession crisis that brought Darius to power. The hosts detail the Persian attempts to suppress the Ionians, the disastrous Persian expedition against the Scythians, and th...
On these timelines: The Rest Is History (podcast), Resources: Combined
Around 490 BCE
- Persian invasions of Greece (499 BCE)
- Gautama Buddha (563 BCE)
- Mahabharata (400 BCE)
- Ramayana (500 BCE)
- Confucius (551 BCE)
- Achaemenid Persian Empire (550 BCE)
- Peloponnesian War (431 BCE)
- Plato (428 BCE)
- Roman Republic founded (509 BCE)
- Parthenon (447 BCE)