Empire: World History - 96. Empires of Iran

Episode Date: November 9, 2023

Persia was the first great superpower. The empire built by Cyrus, Darius, Xerxes and the rest of the Achaemenids stretched from India in the east to the Mediterranean in the west, from Russia in the north to the Gulf of Oman in the south. It laid the foundation for empires of the future. It was destroyed by Alexander the Great, but Iran has risen many times since. In this series we'll look at the ancient Persian empire, but also their successors; the Sassanians, who fought against Rome, in a vast war that eventually led to the Rise of Islam; then the Saffavids, during whose rule Shi'ism took root in Iran; and we'll end with the Iranian Revolution and the way it laid the foundations for political islam and much of the politics that drives the Middle-east today. First episode out Tuesday. For bonus episodes, ad-free listening, reading lists, book discounts, a weekly newsletter, and a chat community. Sign up at https://empirepod.supportingcast.fm/ Twitter: @Empirepoduk Email: [e-mail] Goalhangerpodcasts.com Producer: Callum Hill Exec Producer: Jack Davenport + Neil Fearn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

If you want access to bonus episodes reading lists for every series of Empire, a chat community. Discounts for all the books mentioned in the week's podcasts, add free listening and a weekly newsletter, sign up to Empire Club at www.mpowerpoduk.com. And welcome big clacks and sound because we are announcing our new series on Empire is... Well, this is letting a Persian cat out of the bag. And it is indeed a series, which I am absolutely thrilled about, on Empires of Iran. From the rise of Cyrus to the fall of the Shah. We are going to be looking right across the span of Persian history,

from the first great superpower empires, through this mighty tussle between Persia and Rome, the rise of Islam and Islam. the way that Persia disappears for a while, only to come back massively with the Abbasids, Persian culture reborn, the whole story of how Iran becomes Shia, and that sets its course against much of the rest of the Islamic world, something quite different to the Ottomans or the Mughals. And then we do the fascinating story of modern Iran, how the CIA helped bring down Iran's only democratic government, and finally this extraordinary story of the revolution, how the Shah fell

from power, and the mullahs under this grim-faced Ayatollah Khomeini rose in his place. Yeah, I know. I mean, so, you know, when we say the empire of Iran or the empire of Persia, whichever way you want to put it, and we'll discuss those, both those terms as well, and why they are sometimes loaded, but very interchangeable. But, you know, when we say that this is, when we go back to antiquity, and we say this is history's first superpower, let me tell you, the Iranian Empire was the largest of all ancient world empires. I mean, just let that sink in and then reflect on how little we know about that.

70% of Eurasia was under the Iranian Empire. And what we're going to try and do, as we always do on empire, is just try and draw threads from ancient history to modern thinking as well. Because, of course, as you don't need me to tell you, but Iran very much in the news these days with what is going on in the Middle East. So hopefully this is a lens, an interesting lens, to look through. At a part of the world, I'm pretty sure you don't know very much about. It's going to be quite the ride.

And it's something that matters a lot to you, William, because I mean, you've been to Iran, not long after the revolution, I love Iran and I've been many times and I went for the first time quite soon after revolution when there's still piles of spectacles of those shot dead in the course of the revolution were on display in museums. I got caught in a air raid in Isfahan during the Iran-Iraat war. I've been back since and both researching my East India Company books and how all those stories often spoil over into Iran and the early Africa. Afghan wars. But what I think is fascinating is that this is empires of Iran plural. We're going to be

doing ancient Persia. We're then going to be doing the story of medieval Persia, how less of a political empire, but culturally Persian culture and civilization and language extends all the way from Eastern Anatolia right through modern Iran, through modern Afghanistan, through all the and right the way through India. India became part of the Persianate world for most of the Middle Ages. And even the big Hindu empires, like Marathas, initially were using Persian as a diplomatic language, just like French was a diplomatic language in Russia, and Latin was the diplomatic language throughout medieval West. Persian is the diplomatic language through a whole chunk of Asia for much of the Middle Ages. Hopefully this is going to be a real eye-opener, because

You know, we're going to look at the rise of Islam as well, a central feature of the world today. Islam is the second largest religion in the world, 1.8 billion people. And that clash between Islam and the West has been one of the central themes of history in the last few decades. And there is no, well, hotter zone, shall we put it, than Iran. The Iranian Revolution began the rise of political Islam. Suddenly, for the first time, you had a theocracy returning, something that people thought today. ended with the end of the rule of the Dalai Lama. But suddenly you have the mullahs in charge again and Islam as a political force in the world.

And that, of course, is something that is incredibly current at the moment in the Middle East. And the whole question of the power of the Iranian state in places like Lebanon and Gaza are absolutely the focus of world attention. So this is obviously a series which is going to be incredibly of the moment. and which is going to directly reflect onto the politics of today. Yeah, so we're very excited about it. We have learned a lot already in just the first few that we've recorded. We really are very, very proud of this, and we're very excited to bring it to you.

So please do join us for the new series of Empires of Iran on Empire. With me, Anita Arnand. And me, William Duremple.