The Hellenistic Age

Co-written and directed by Sergio Leone, this 1961 sword and sandal film, starring Rory Calhoun, is a fictional account of Rhodes in the late third century BC, following Alexander the Great's death and before the rise of the Roman Empire.

Directed and co-written by Gianfranco Parolini, this 1962 Italian-French epic film, originally titled Il vecchio testamento and released in Spanish as Los Macabeos, is based on the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire of 167-141 BC.

Part of Let's Talk About Myths, Baby! | Greek Mythology & the Ancient Mediterranean

With Talia Prussin

Talia Prussin joins Liv and Michaela to discuss the Seleucid Empire and the wider Hellenistic period, with many shenanigans and debate over everyone's favourite little guy.

Part of Ancient History Fangirl

A giant statue supposed to depict the god Helios was once pictured straddling the harbor at Rhodes, holding aloft a torch, though some said it looked more like Alexander the Great, on an island full of pirates and smugglers.

Part of Ancient History Fangirl

Mausolus was once an extremely powerful man, yet today he is remembered mainly for the grandness of his tomb, commissioned by his wife, who was also his sister; his name in English now means all tombs.

Part of New Books in Ancient History

With Paul Kosmin

Paul J. Kosmin's Time and Its Adversaries in the Seleucid Empire (Harvard UP, 2018) traces Seleucid kings imposing continuous numbered years, met by rebels predicting history's total end.

Part of Ad Navseam

The Library of Alexandria's fabled burning did not happen all at once, and the pagan-versus-Christian finger pointing over its loss does not help.

Part of New Books in Ancient History

With Angelos Chaniotis

Angelos Chaniotis's Age of Conquests (Harvard UP, 2018) traces how Alexander's successors built an empire from the eastern Mediterranean as far as present-day Afghanistan, later dismantled one by one by Rome.

Part of Ancient History Fangirl

Perhaps first written down by Herodotus sometime in the 400s BC, the list of Seven Wonders did not really get popularized until the 200s, and this episode traces its history through the centuries since.

Part of Ad Navseam

The tomb and body of Alexander simply vanished, and the search runs from Babylon to Memphis, Alexandria and even Venice, though some of the greatest Caesars once visited the tourist attraction.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Ptolemaic explorers, elephant hunters and mining teams travel as far as Somalia, exploit African riches, build infrastructure that leads to Indo-Mediterranean trade routes, and meet the Kingdom of Meroë in contact and conflict.

Part of The Ancients

With Louis Rawlings

In 279 BC, on a plain near Asculum in southern Italy, the Greek warlord Pyrrhus of Epirus faced the legions of the Roman Republic; Tristan Hughes and Dr Louis Rawlings tell how he won the first ever 'Pyrrhic Victory'.

Part of History of Persia

A chat with Derek from the Hellenistic Age Podcast explains the basics of Hellenism, the new era that emerged in the aftermath of Alexander the Great's conquests.

Part of Dan Snow's History Hit

With Tristan Hughes

Tristan explains how Alexander the Great's death at Babylon in 323 BC triggered a gore-soaked showdown among his commanders and, within a fortnight, the first siege of the post-Alexander age.

Part of Our Fake History

Three main culprits are blamed for burning the Great Library of Alexandria, yet they lived roughly 300 years apart, an anomaly that leaves open whether the dramatic destruction is an elaborate myth.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

After Menander I Soter the Indo-Greeks decline over 150 years as Indo-Scythians seize the Punjab and the last king disappears by 10 AD, though evidence points to Hellenistic culture surviving nearly five centuries after Alexander.

Part of The Ancients

With Eduardo Garcia-Molina

At its height the Seleucid Empire stretched from Thrace to the Indus River Valley before a devastating defeat by Rome at the Battle of Magnesia; Eduardo Garcia-Molina argues the Seleucids still resurged under Antiochus IV after that defeat.

Part of Let's Talk About Myths, Baby! | Greek Mythology & the Ancient Mediterranean

With Eduardo Garcia-Molina

Part two with Eduardo García-Molina: more on Hellenistic kings' mythic callbacks and cosplaying heroes, the Seleukids, and the cultures and people of the Hellenistic east.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Ai Khanoum hints at a flourishing Hellenic culture among Greek colonists while Bactrian and Sogdian traditions stay powerful, ending with Greek collapse amid nomadic invasions and civil war in the mid-second century BC.

Part of Ancient History Fangirl

The Lighthouse of Alexandria, built under the Ptolemies in Egypt and known as the Pharos after its island, stood for about 1,600 years and came to represent light and learning, and darker meanings too.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

After the Mauryan collapse, Greco-Bactrian rulers invade India around 185 BC, Demetrius and Menander take Arachosia and Gandhara, and figures like Heliodorus and Sophytos hint at complex Greek and South Asian interactions.

Part of The Ancients

Focussing on 323 to 320 BC, Tristan's book tells the story of Thibron, a Spartan mercenary captain who set out from Crete with around 6,000 battle-hardened mercenaries to forge his own Greco-Libyan empire in North Africa after Alexander's death.

Part of The Ancients

With Joyce Tyldesley, Chris Naunton, Glenn Godenho

Born in 69BCE into the Ptolemaic dynasty, Cleopatra VII emerged victorious from a brutal civil war within two turbulent decades of taking Egypt's throne; Professor Joyce Tyldesley, Dr Chris Naunton and Dr Glenn Godenho discuss her rise and golden age.

Part of Ithaca Bound

With Charlotte Dunn

Dr Charlotte Dunn of the University of Tasmania returns to discuss how the relationship Greek polities had with the Kingdom of Macedon was mixed after Alexander III's death, some congenial, some acquiescing, others outright revolting.

Part of The Ancients

With Silvannen Gerrard

Dr Silvannen Gerrard discusses the use of chariots with blades mounted on either side during the Hellenistic period, particularly by the Seleucid Empire, and how they fit alongside other unusual troop transport such as war elephants and camel archers.

Part of Dan Snow's History Hit

With Tristan Hughes

Tristan reads an abridged chapter from his book on the Perdiccas Years, telling of Spartan mercenary captain Thibron, who left Crete with thousands of mercenaries to forge a Greco-Libyan empire.

Part of Kings and Generals

A full documentary on Pyrrhus, a leading player in the second round of the Diadochi of Alexander the Great, who fought Romans, Carthaginians and Greeks across battles from Heraclea and Asculum to Sparta and Argos.

Part of Let's Talk About Myths, Baby! | Greek Mythology & the Ancient Mediterranean

With Eduardo Garcia-Molina

Conversations: Eduardo García-Molina, who studies the Hellenistic Period and the Seleukids, joins Liv to discuss Hellenistic kings and empires and the cultures and people of the east.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Agathocles, 361 to 289 BC, rules Syracuse for over three decades as tyrant and king, bringing a golden age alongside political massacres, and takes his war with Carthage to the shores of Africa.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Possible encounters between Buddhists and Greeks: the Milindapañha portrays Menander I as a Buddhist convert, Ashoka has his beliefs inscribed in Greek near Kandahar, and Gandharan sculptors turn Heracles into Heracles-Vajrapani.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Ptolemy I Soter, a commander of Alexander turned King and Pharaoh of Egypt and perhaps the craftiest Successor, founds what becomes the longest lasting Hellenistic Kingdom in a reign of nearly 40 years.

Part of Ancient Warfare Podcast

The team discusses the latest magazine issue on Hellenistic mercenary armies in Southern Italy, where Tarentum, possibly a Spartan colony, called in outside help when pressured first by its Italic neighbours and then by Rome itself.

Part of Ancient Warfare Podcast

Jasper, Josho, Michael and Lindsay discuss issue VI 6 on the Celts in the classical world, focusing on the likely too-good-to-be-true tradition that a chieftain named Brennus sacked both Rome and Greece, albeit in different centuries.

Part of The Ancients

With Chris Naunton

After Alexander's death, aged 32, his corpse became a talismanic symbol of legitimacy, and his tomb in Alexandria drew pilgrims until, by the end of the 4th century, all mention of it vanished; Tristan and Dr Chris Naunton discuss theories.

Part of Lesche: Ancient Greece, New Ideas

With Patricia Kim

Patricia Kim, assistant professor at New York University, discusses her book on the art of Hellenistic queenship, tracing Pliny's account of Timochares' proposed floating statue of Arsinoe II.

Part of Dan Snow's History Hit

With Tristan Hughes, Chris Naunton

Dr Chris Naunton joins Tristan to explore what happened to the tomb of Alexander the Great, a place of holy pilgrimage in ancient Alexandria until all mention of it disappeared in the 4th century.

Part of The Ancients

With Nick Rauh

In the aftermath of Alexander the Great's death, monumental Hellenistic super fortresses were built in ancient Rough Cilicia, modern-day southeast Turkey; Nick Rauh takes Tristan through them and this area's importance to preceding superpowers such as the Assyrians and Persians.

Part of Lesche: Ancient Greece, New Ideas

With Paul Kosmin

Paul Kosmin, Philip J. King Professor of Ancient History at Harvard, discusses The Ancient Shore, winner of the American Historical Association's 2025 prize, drawing on Agatharchides of Cnidus, On the Erythraean Sea, from the second century BC.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Seleucus I Nicator goes from minor player in Alexander's campaigns to king of the largest Hellenistic realm, from administration in Babylon to wars against Chandragupta Maurya and the Diadochi.

Part of Ancient Warfare Podcast

With Marc de Santis

The team discusses Ancient Warfare Magazine XII.4, on how the first decades of the Hellenistic era are known for the ever-growing warships of the Ptolemies, though naval warfare was not only about who had the biggest ships.

Part of The Ancients

With Silvannen Gerrard

Existing for almost 250 years, the Seleucid Empire relied on Indian elephants in almost all its major battles, from Ipsus to Magnesia; Dr Silvannen Gerrard explains how these elephants were trained, and their prestige value away from the battlefield.

Part of Ithaca Bound

With Charlotte Dunn

Dr Charlotte Dunn of the University of Tasmania returns to discuss the rise of Ptolemy I, forefather of an Egyptian dynasty that lasted nearly 300 years before ending with Cleopatra VII.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

A sightseeing tour of Alexandria in its heyday under the Ptolemies, founded by Alexander in 332/331: its cosmopolitan population, art and architecture, scholars, and monuments like the Lighthouse of Pharos and the Library.

Part of Ithaca Bound

With Ian Worthington

Professor Ian Worthington of Macquarie University returns to discuss Ptolemy, whose reign in Egypt was successful by many standards, including an heir, Ptolemy II, who succeeded him without turbulence.

Part of Greeced Lightning

Sam and Sara pit two Total War versions of the Battle of Raphia against each other, covering the Hellenistic successor kingdoms, the pronunciation of Seleucid, and African and Asian elephants meeting in one clash.

Part of Our Fake History

Archimedes, one of the ancient world's most important mathematicians, is best remembered for the inventions that saved Syracuse during its siege, above all the mysterious Death Ray said to torch ships from afar.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Antiochus III invades Ptolemy IV's kingdom in 219 BC to reclaim Coele Syria, the Ptolemaic government revives its rusty army through mass recruitment and reforms, and over 140,000 men meet at Raphia.

Part of Ancient Warfare Podcast

The team looks at issue XIV.1, Crucible of Empires: Warfare in Hellenistic Asia Minor, on how, after Alexander the Great's fall, the Successors set to work carving out kingdoms of their own, with Asia Minor an important proving ground.

Part of Gresham College Lectures

With Edith Hall

Edith Hall credits the 3rd century BCE Sicilian polymath Archimedes with founding statics and hydrostatics, and with inventing war machines known as Archimedes' claw and the heat-ray.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Herodotus called Egypt the gift of the Nile, and the Ptolemies added the most rigorously developed, or exploitative, taxation system ever seen in Egypt, becoming the wealthiest people in the world of the 3rd century BC.

Part of History Unplugged Podcast

With Bettany Hughes

The Seven Wonders include the Temple of Artemis, the Statue of Zeus, the Colossus of Rhodes and the Lighthouse at Alexandria, alongside the pyramids of Giza and Babylon's Hanging Gardens; guest Bettany Hughes traveled to each site.

Part of History Unplugged Podcast

With Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones

Behind the singular figure of Cleopatra stood six other women who bore her name, seven queens ruling from 192 to 30 BC; guest Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones unearths their lost stories in The Cleopatras, exploring a part of the Hellenistic World.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

How Egyptians met Ptolemaic rule: Manetho writes his Aegyptiaca in Greek, the Greco-Egyptian family of Dryton and Senmonthis-Apollonia shows mixed identity, and tensions could explode in violence and rebellion.

Part of The Ancients

With Toby Wilkinson

In the chaos after Alexander the Great's death his former general Ptolemy claimed Egypt as his prize; Tristan Hughes and Dr Toby Wilkinson discuss how he laid the foundations for the last ancient dynasty of Egypt.

Part of Ithaca Bound

With Charlotte Dunn

Dr Charlotte Dunn of the University of Tasmania explains how the unexpected death of Alexander III of Macedon, known as Alexander the Great, closed the Classical period and opened the Hellenistic age.

Part of History of Persia

A break from the Seleucids turns to their western neighbors: Egypt under Ptolemy II and Macedon under Antigonus II.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Tristan Hughes of The Ancients Podcast on his book about the Perdiccas years, 323 to 320 BC, framed around the regent Perdiccas and covering events across Europe and Asia as the Argead Empire struggles.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

The Jews of Judea and the Diaspora after Alexander embrace many aspects of Hellenistic culture while trying to uphold the Laws of Moses, produce the Septuagint, and face tensions that eventually culminate in the Maccabean Revolt.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Factional tension in Jerusalem ends in crisis as Antiochus IV attacks the city and plunders its Temple in 168, and persecutions inspire the revolt of Judas Maccabee and the Hasmoneans, who reclaim and purify the Temple.

Part of Alexandria: A Hellenistic World Podcast

In 331 BCE two Egyptian fishermen, Unnefer and Beknef, watch a rambling king found a new city, the start of a story that runs on to 322 BCE.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Philip V's reign of nearly 42 years ends: after two decades of reforms Macedonia is a powerhouse again by 179, while infighting between the princes Perseus and Demetrius threatens the unity of the dynasty.

Part of The Ancients

With Michael Higgins

The last monument added to the Seven Wonders, the Lighthouse of Alexandria was one of the tallest man-made structures in ancient history and the only guiding beacon along 900km of Mediterranean coast; Michael Higgins traces its collapse 1500 years later.

Part of Tides of History

With Charlotte van Regenmortel

The episode traces how the decades after Alexander the Great's death saw warfare intensify across an area stretching from Italy to Afghanistan, and how that warfare created a concept of wage labor transforming the Hellenistic world's economies.

Part of History of Persia

During the Third Syrian War, Seleucus II Callinicus discovers treachery: his younger brother Antiochus Hierax and their relatives in Anatolia try to usurp the throne, forcing a hasty peace with Ptolemy III to face his brother in open civil war.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Demetrius II takes the throne in 145, Diodotus Tryphon endorses the infant Antiochus VI and then proclaims himself king, and Mithridates I of Parthia uses the instability in Syria to conquer Babylonia in 141.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Antiochus VII Sidetes slays the pretender Diodotus Tryphon, subdues John Hyrcanus, and gambles everything on a final anabasis in 130 BC to recover Babylonia from the inexperienced Phraates II.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Tens of thousands of Greeks immigrate to Egypt for posts in the bureaucracy or army, or perhaps to farm, and papyri show lives like Ptolemaeus, devotee of Serapis, and Kleon, chief engineer of the Fayyum reclamation.

Part of The Ancients

With Islam Issa

The Library of Alexandria was one of the most important and celebrated buildings of the ancient Mediterranean; Tristan Hughes and Dr Islam Issa explore the Ptolemies' obsession with acquiring knowledge and whether it really burned down in a great fire.

Part of Tides of History

The episode describes the Hellenistic world stretching from Sicily to India across centuries of new kingdoms, and argues that war, more than any other phenomenon, defined it for the whole of its existence.

Part of Tides of History

The episode places Syracuse and Carthage battling for dominance in Sicily and beyond as the fourth century drew to a close, fighting wars of ever-increasing scale that led directly to the eventual conflicts known as the Punic Wars.

Part of Tides of History

The episode traces how, after Alexander's death, the chance of a relative truly ruling the empire shrank while the generals fought for power, and the outlines of a new world order began to take shape.

Part of History of Persia

The Seleucid narrative returns with Antiochus III as the new king; fresh off the deaths of his father and brother, Antiochus is pulled by his nobles as rebellions, wars and scheming advisers take their toll on the Empire.

Part of History of Persia

After the catastrophic Battle of Raphia, Antiochus III turns north to face the rebel royal Achaios and retake Anatolia amid many surprising alliances.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Cleomenes III restores Sparta enough to bring the Achaean League to its knees in the Cleomenean War of 228 to 222, and Aratus of Sicyon turns to Macedon under the regent Antigonus III Doson.

Part of Tides of History

While Alexander the Great's successors fought over control of his empire, Celtic-speaking migrants moved east along the Danube largely unnoticed by the Greeks to their south, before those Celts launched one of the largest invasions of Greece in recorded history.

Part of History of Persia

After losing territory in the east to Chandragupta Maurya, the Seleucids still engage their eastern neighbors: late in Seleucus' reign, Megasthenes establishes diplomatic ties, and in later generations diplomacy and trade stabilize both the Maurya and the Seleucids.

Part of History of Persia

Despite his Prime Minister's objections, Antiochus III resolves to march east and face the rebel satrap Molon in 220 BCE, launching a new Grand Tour of the Empire as he travels.

Part of Let's Talk About Myths, Baby! | Greek Mythology & the Ancient Mediterranean

This episode finishes the First War of the Diadochi as the Hellenistic succession struggle after Alexander's death continues.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Steppe nomads between the 4th and 2nd centuries BC: new tribes set on a collision course with the Seleucid Empire and Greco-Bactrians, alongside steppe society, relations with the sedentary Greeks, and the emergence of the Parthians and Kushans.

Part of Tides of History

The episode credits Pyrrhus of Epirus with costly but clear victories in his first battles against Rome, yet says he could not win the war, which Rome's dogged determination eventually won, opening the path to seemingly inevitable conflict with Carthage.

Part of Tides of History

By 281 BC Rome controlled much of Italy, still a minor player on the larger Mediterranean scene, until King Pyrrhus of Epirus crossed the Adriatic with Macedonian pikemen and war elephants.

Part of Tides of History

The episode credits Antigonus the One-Eyed with coming closer than almost any other post-Alexander figure to recreating the dead king's empire, though his success aroused the other Successors' anger and his downfall soon followed.

Part of History of Persia

No sooner does the Second War of the Diadochoi end than the Third begins, as Antiognus Monophthalmus tries to seize the whole empire; Ptolemy, Seleucus, Cassander and Lysander rally against him as war spreads from Palestine through Greece to Thrace.

Part of Let's Talk About Myths, Baby! | Greek Mythology & the Ancient Mediterranean

This episode opens a Hellenistic subseries covering the Greek rebellions and the Lamian War that followed Alex's death without a will.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Pyrrhus invades Italy in the first great clashes of Legion against Phalanx, suffers his Pyrrhic victories, takes a shot at ruling Sicily, and retreats to Epirus before his reign ends in an absurd moment.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Ptolemy IV dies in 204, greedy ministers scheme around the boy-king Ptolemy V, and the Great Revolt of 206 to 186 takes Upper Egypt under a rival pharaoh, Haronnophoris, leaving the kingdom near collapse.

Part of Ancient Warfare Podcast

The team discusses the issue Invasion of the Celts: how, after two decades of war, Alexander's successors found a delicate balance until Ptolemy's wayward son destabilised it and the Celts grabbed their chance; the issue covers Brennus' campaign into Greece.

Part of Tides of History

The episode places the 280s BC as the moment when only a few men who had campaigned across Asia with Alexander remained alive, and the Hellenistic world they fought to create was ready to be born.

Part of History of Persia

After reclaiming Babylon, King Seleucus consolidates his power over the upper satrapies, but as he works to reclaim the Iranian east, the Mauryan Empire pushes out of India and across the mountains of Gandhara.

Part of History of Persia

Antiochus I succeeds his father Seleucus in 281 BCE and is immediately plunged into revolts, invasion and crises on every side: Ptolemy II seizes land, the reconquest of the northern dynasts is mismanaged, and Gauls suddenly invade Greece.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

John McTavish on forty years of Successors carving up Alexander's empire: the problems of early Hellenistic sources and chronology, the causes of rapid disintegration, and indigenous responses to the power vacuum.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

After a controversial rise, King Perseus proves an able ruler, and his rising popularity earns the enmity of those like Eumenes II of Pergamon, who accuses him of secretly planning war on Rome, leading to the Third Macedonian War.

Part of Tides of History

The episode argues that Rome's entrance onto the stage of Mediterranean power politics came a decade before the Punic Wars, in a bloody, grinding war against the Hellenistic king Pyrrhus of Epirus.

Part of New Books in Ancient History

With Alexandra F. Morris

Alexandra F. Morris's Disability in Ptolemaic Egypt and the Hellenistic World (Routledge, 2024) uncovers overlooked evidence of dwarfism, blindness and other disabilities between 332 and 30 BCE.

Part of Ithaca Bound

With Jane Masséglia

Dr Jane Masséglia of the University of Leicester discusses how the Hellenistic period brought greater variety and diversity to art in the Mediterranean, and turns to the eastern part of the Basin.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

The 240s and 230s shake up Greece: Macedon under Demetrius II struggles with Greek Leagues, Illyrian tribes and a monarch's premature death, while young King Agis IV seeks to return Sparta to her ancestral ways.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Twenty years of chaos end during the reign of Ptolemy V: his marriage to Cleopatra I Syra, the Great Revolt put down in 186, Egypt as a second-class power, and the history of the Rosetta Stone.

Part of History of Persia

While Cassander and Polyphercon fight for the regency of Macedon, Antigonus Monophthalmus and Eumenes of Cardia fight for supremacy in the Upper Satrapies; Peithon and Seleucus join Antigonus to defeat Eumenes, making Antigonus the most powerful man in the empire.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Pyrrhus, Molossian King of Epirus: a fragmented backwater becomes a major power in the Balkans, and the young Pyrrhus is shuffled from court to court during the Wars of the Diadochi before recovering his kingdom.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

The Seleucids as prolific city-founders turn North Syria into a new imperial heartland standing in for Macedonia, and peoples from Babylonia and Jerusalem to Greek immigrants respond to Seleucid rule and Greek culture.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Emboldened by success in the Social War, Philip V allies with Hannibal Barca against Rome in 215, and the First Macedonian War of 215 to 206 BC is mainly a conflict among the states of Greece.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

The ministers of young Ptolemy VI, Ptolemy VIII and Cleopatra II campaign against Antiochus IV over Coele Syria, and he invades Egypt twice and besieges Alexandria, unless the Roman Republic has something to say about it.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Demetrius I Soter restores a degree of order, crushing Timarchos in Babylonia and the rebellion of Judas Maccabee, yet alienates kings like Attalus II and Ptolemy VI, who bankroll the usurper Alexander Balas.

Part of The Ancients

With Franck Goddio

Founded by Alexander the Great in 323BC and nurtured by the Ptolemies, Alexandria flourished through the Late Hellenistic and Roman Imperial periods before much of it sank beneath the harbour; underwater archaeologist Franck Goddio shares his team's excavation findings.

Part of The Ancients

With Jane Draycott

Cleopatra Selene, daughter of Cleopatra VII and final ruler of the Ptolemaic dynasty, grew up during Ancient Egypt's last days and in Rome during its new empire's first years before ruling Mauretania; Dr Jane Draycott tells her story.

Part of History of Persia

Nine Kings of Macedon, eight A-names, seven warring states, six kingdoms, five marriage pacts, four dead successors, three Ptolemies, two wars of succession and one Victor arrive together as the age of the diadochoi ends with a bang.

Part of History of Persia

During and after the Second Syrian War, Antiochus II juggles the Cappadocian monarchy, threats over Bithynia, and Parthia and Bactria's autonomy against the Parni, in a busy mid-3rd Century BCE for the Seleucid Empire.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

The philosopher-king Antigonus II Gonatas hosts intellectual celebrities at Pella and Macedon prospers, while Greece stirs toward rebellion in the Chremonidean War and with Aratus of Sicyon and the Achaean League.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Galatia, a Celtic enclave in central Anatolia serving the Hellenistic kingdoms as mercenaries and foes, and Odrysian Thrace under Seuthes III, as case studies in self-identity, barbarians and Hellenization.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Ptolemy III and Berenice II oversee the apogee of Hellenistic Egypt: his Third Syrian War sees a near-total conquest of Syria and Mesopotamia, and Berenice, immortalized by Callimachus, holds unprecedented power for a royal lady.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Crowned at 18 after Antigonus III Doson dies in 221, Philip V proves a king in the mold of Pyrrhus and Alexander, campaigning against the Aetolian League in the Social War and sidestepping corrupt advisors.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

After twelve peaceful years under Seleucus IV, Antiochus IV Epiphanes usurps the throne, gives generously to cities and temples often in honor of Zeus Olympios, and earns from Polybius the nickname Epimanes, The Madman.

Part of Let's Talk About Myths, Baby! | Greek Mythology & the Ancient Mediterranean

This episode continues the Wars of the Diadochi, introducing Ptolemy and the alliances that formed after the Lamian War.

Part of Let's Talk About Myths, Baby! | Greek Mythology & the Ancient Mediterranean

This episode covers 318 BC, the tense interbellum year between the first and second Wars of the Diadochi.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Demetrius earns his title besieger of cities, the Diadochi assume the royal diadem, and Antigonus meets the other Successors in a final confrontation at Ipsus in 301 BC.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

The formidable children of Ptolemy I, namely Ptolemy II Philadelphos, Arsinoe II, Magas and Ptolemy Ceraunus, and the incestuous royal sibling marriages that became standard policy of the Ptolemaic Dynasty.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Ptolemy II Philadelphus, 282 to 246 BC, marks the height of the Ptolemaic Kingdom, and Alexandria's wealth and his foreign meddling invite the 1st and 2nd Syrian Wars and trouble from Magas of Cyrene.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Iranian civilization outlives the conquest of Persia as dynasties rule in their own right, among them Mithridates I Ktistes of Pontus, Orontes I of Armenia, and Amastris, last Achaemenid princess and first Hellenistic queen.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Robin Waterfield on his book The Making of a King, about Antigonus II Gonatas, who restored peace in Macedonia in a 40-year reign and of whom very little is known.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

The Attalids of Pergamon, founded by the eunuch Philetaerus, are the first Greek monarchy outside the Successor Kingdoms and sponsor buildings and art celebrating them as defenders of Greek civilization against the Galatians.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

After the Sixth Syrian War, Ptolemy VI, Cleopatra II and Ptolemy VIII share a tenuous rule amid rebellions, while the brothers' scheming for Egypt brings in the Roman Senate.

Part of History of Persia

With Babylonia and the Seleucis of Syria under Ptolemaic occupation, only an Egyptian famine may have saved Seleucus II; freed to go on the offensive, he turns the tide of the Third Syrian War.

Part of History of Persia

After defeating Molon and Alexander in the Upper Satrapies, Antiochus III arranges or accepts the assassination of Hermeias before resuming the Fourth Syrian War against Egypt, as the Seleucids rise toward the Battle of Raphia.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Antiochus I Soter takes over the gargantuan empire, and a Celtic invasion, the First Syrian War and a passionate forbidden romance fill the reign of the last King of the Universe.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

How the Seleucids ruled the largest Hellenistic realm: kings seen through Macedonian-Greek, Near-Eastern or Iranian lenses, satrapies kept in check by a travelling court, and the revolutionary Seleucid Era.

Part of Ancient Warfare Podcast

Jasper, Michael, Lindsay and Josho look at Pyrrhus, second cousin to Alexander the Great, who at age two began his career as a penniless exile after his father was dethroned, and rose to become King of Epirus, Macedon and Sicily.

Part of History of Persia

Following the Fourth Syrian War, Ptolemy IV Philopator returns to Egypt to enjoy his victory and leave administration to his advisers, until native Egyptian revolts bring Egypt's royal party to a screeching halt.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

A prelude to the Fourth Syrian War: Antiochus III and Ptolemy IV are crowned in 222 BC, and while Antiochus tries to hold his realm together, Ptolemy's laziness lets the Alexandrian court fall into conspiracy and corruption.

Part of Dan Snow's History Hit

With Tristan Hughes

Tristan Hughes tells Dan the almost unbelievable tale of what happened after Alexander the Great died: a titanic struggle for control of his empire, with body snatching and soldiers eaten by crocodiles in the Nile.

Part of History of Persia

The Wars of the Diadochoi continue past 301 BCE, and their Fourth War reaches a dramatic turning point at the Battle of Ipsus, where Antigonus and Demetrius face off against Seleucus, Lysimachus and Pleistarchus.

Part of History of Persia

After sweeping the Balkans, three tribes of Gauls in Thrace draw the attention of the embattled Nicomeides of Bithynia as allies against a Seleucid-backed rival; they cross the Bosporus and sweep through his enemies before turning on war-torn Seleucid Anatolia.

Part of History of Persia

No sooner has Antiochus I defeated the newfound Galatians in Anatolia than war erupts in the south: Magas, brother of Ptolemy II and King of Cyrene, allies by marriage with Antiochus before fighting his brother, dragging the Seleucid Empire along.

Part of History of Persia

A grab bag episode covers Seleukid politics in the last decade or so of Antiochus Soter's reign, with temples, cities and rebellion all making an appearance.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

With the throne of Epirus secure, Pyrrhus fights for control of Macedon against Demetrius I Poliorcetes and Lysimachus, before turning his eyes west toward the Roman Republic.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Kyle Erickson on how Seleucid rulers came to terms with a large and diverse population, the variety and scarcity of sources including coinage, and how Seleucid kings and queens broadcast themselves.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

After Raphia and the defeat of Achaeus in 213, Antiochus III marches from Armenia to India between 212 and 205, battling Arsaces II and Euthydemus I, restoring the borders and claiming the epithet Megas.

Part of Ancient Warfare Podcast

Jasper, Murray, Michael and Lindsay discuss the post-Alexander Hellenistic world, covering uniforms and their possible colours, Ross Cowans article on the use of low-tech improvised weapons, and the Amphipolis regulation on Macedonian army discipline.

Part of Dan Snow's History Hit

With Islam Issa

Islam Issa, professor at Birmingham City University, explains how Alexandria went from a vision in Alexander the Great's mind to a global capital of knowledge, with its Lighthouse and Great Library.

Part of History of Persia

With Antipater's sudden death, the Empire of Alexander the Great is thrown into chaos again: his son Cassander forges an alliance for power, Antigonus hunts Eumenes, Polyphercon struggles in Greece, and Ptolemy quietly expands Egypt.

Part of History of Persia

Though the new Seleucid king Antiochus II starts from a relatively strong position, his reign is immediately derailed by the Second Syrian War, as rebellions, invasions and alliances ensue.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Antigonus II Gonatas, traditionally preferring philosophers over the camp, takes the throne of Macedon and seeks to restore order after nearly 25 years of anarchy, facing Celtic barbarians, cannibalistic tyrants and Pyrrhus.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

The Bosporan Kingdom on the Strait of Kerch, settled by Greeks in the 6th century BC, becomes a powerful kingdom backed by grain exports, headed mostly by the Spartocids, Hellenized Thracians tied to steppe tribes as enemies and trading partners.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Antiochus II's brief reign and marriage to Berenice Phernophoros, then the true focus: governors-turned-kings like Andragoras and Diodotus rebel in Parthia and Bactria, and Arsaces leads the Parni in.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

The Ptolemies' split identity: Hellenistic kings and queens in Alexandria who also adopted the role and iconography of pharaoh, promoted royal cults and new deities like Serapis, and legitimized their rule to Greeks and Egyptians.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

The Fifth Syrian War, 202 to 195, finally delivers Coele Syria to the Seleucids after almost a century of conflict, and Antiochus III's ambition to claim Seleucus I's territories leads him to campaign in Europe.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Back from nearly twenty years of exile in 145, Ptolemy VIII Physcon terrorizes enemies and family, takes his niece Cleopatra III as second wife, and a civil war starting in 132 drives him and Cleopatra III out of Egypt.

Part of The Ancients

With Dan Snow

Tristan Hughes joins Dan Snow to tell what happened after Alexander died: the struggle for control of his empire involved war, body snatching, extremely slow carriage chases and a thousand soldiers eaten alive by crocodiles in the Nile.

Part of The Ancients

With Milinda Hoo

Ai Khanum, the City of Lady Moon in eastern Afghanistan, reached its height in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC; Dr Milinda Hoo talks Tristan through its religious and burial structures and why it resists labeling as a Greek city.

Part of The Ancients

With Chris Naunton

Cleopatra was victor of a civil war, mistress of Julius Caesar and Marc Antony, and the last ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt; Dr Chris Naunton discusses his research into the lost Baths of Cleopatra, said to lie somewhere under modern Alexandria.

Part of HistoryExtra podcast

With Islam Issa

Islam Issa tells Rebecca Franks how, according to legend, Alexander the Great's vision on the island of Pharos became the city of Alexandria, symbolised by the Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders, and the Great Library.

Part of History of Persia

Within two years of Alexander the Great's death his empire shatters into civil war: Perdiccas threatens the nobles to solidify power as regent, and with Eumenes and Alkestas faces down Antipater, Antigonus, Craterus and Ptolemy.

Part of History of Persia

A step back from the narrative looks at what kind of empire Seleucus was actually running, an overview of the realm behind all the wars.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

The 3rd War of the Diadochi and the Babylonian War, 316 to 309 BC: Antigonos tries to conquer the Macedonian empire, Seleucus rises from underdog to empire builder, and the Argead house meets its tragic end.

Part of The Ancients

With Andrew Erskine

Erected in celebration after the people of Rhodes defended the island against Alexander the Great's successors in 304 BC, the 108ft statue of Helios stood for only 50 years; Tristan and Professor Andrew Erskine delve into its legacy.

Part of History of Persia

With Antiochus II Theos dead, his wives Laodike and Berenike both push their sons for the Seleucid throne, and both sides call on relatives, the Achaeids and Ptolemies, to plunder and retake the vulnerable Empire.

Part of History of Persia

Having chased his brother out of Asia yet still beaten by the Parthians, Seleucus II returns to Antioch for family drama and another round of war, from the death of Seleucus Callinichus to the reign of Seleucus III Ceranaus.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Demetrius II returns from Parthian captivity to little welcome, Alexander II Zabinas arrives as a Ptolemaic-backed claimant, and Cleopatra Thea bids for sole power, willing to eliminate even her own children.

Part of History of Persia

Winding down Antiochus II Theos means his extended royal family: siblings spread across the Hellenistic world, powerful cousins entrenched in Anatolia, and his two wives, Laodike and Berenike, whose three sons are named Seleucus, Antiochus and Antiochus.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Over 20 unstable years under Seleucus II and Seleucus III: Ptolemy III's 3rd Syrian War, the Parni in Parthia, rebels in places like Pergamon, and above all the War of the Brothers with the usurper Antiochus Hierax.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

The close of the series on the wars of the Diadochi: Demetrius falls, rises and falls again, the last successors to Alexander die, and the next generation of the Hellenistic World rises.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

After Antiochus IV dies in Persia, the boy-king Antiochus V and regent Lysias face the Maccabean Revolt, usurpers and arrogant Roman emissaries, while Prince Demetrius escapes Rome with Polybius's help to reclaim his birthright.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Charlotte Dunn, co-author of the biography Demetrius the Besieger, on the sources for Demetrius I Poliorcetes and on his abilities as king and general in the struggle for Alexander's empire.

Part of History of Persia

Near the end of the Third War of the Diadochoi, Seleucus retakes his satrapy in Babylon from the neglect of Antigonus Monophthalmus and soon holds the Upper Satrapies, while events in Macedon sunder Alexander the Great's empire.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Civil war grips the Seleucid Empire as Demetrius II challenges Alexander I Balas, Ptolemy VI invades Coele Syria, and in August 145 BC the three armies meet at the Oenoparus River.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Despite Eleusis and trouble in Judea, Antiochus IV stages an enormous festival at Daphne to rival the games of Aemilius Paulus, then marches into the Upper Satrapies and dies in Iran in November 164.

Part of Not another Greek History podcast!

The episode covers Cassander, who ended Alexander's dynasty, his wife Thessaloniki, and Ptolemy, founder of Cleopatra's dynasty, asking who murdered Alexander's family, who became a mermaid, and what happened to the Library of Alexandria.

Part of Kings and Generals

Pyrrhus of Epirus returns to Greece after Italy proved untenable, defeated by the Romans at Beneventum, and fights final wars against the Macedonians, Spartans and Argives.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

Egypt's civil war ends with Cleopatra II reunited with her brother and daughter in 124, and Ptolemy VIII's death in 116 closes a ruthless fifty-year career that sets the tone for the rest of the dynasty.

Part of Kings and Generals

Alexander the Great's conquests spread Hellenization from Egypt to China, and the easternmost Greek state, Bactria, wins independence from the Seleucid Empire and blends with the Buddhist Mahayana.

Part of Kings and Generals

After defeating the Roman legions at Heraclea, the Greek king Pyrrhus and his phalanx fight Rome again at Asculum, then attack the Carthaginians on Sicily.

Part of Kings and Generals

Pyrrhus of Epirus, born soon after the death of his relative Alexander the Great, grows up during the wars of the Diadochi and learns war under Alexander's generals.

Part of Kings and Generals

Pyrrhus of Epirus, already fighting in the wars of the Diadochi, is invited by the Greek city of Tarentum to defend it against Rome, and the resulting war opens at Heraclea.

Part of Kings and Generals

The Greeks of the Dayuan region, discovered by China during Zhang Qian's expedition, fight the Han dynasty in the War of the Heavenly Horses, 104 to 101 BC, which contributed to the creation of the Silk Road.

Part of Ancient Warfare Podcast

Murray examines whether armies really set pigs alight to panic war elephants, tracing the claim to a single account of Antigonus II Gonatas at the siege of Megara and questioning its reliability.

Part of Ancient Warfare Podcast

Miles asks what armour Macedonian and late Hellenistic Phalangites wore, whether lighter equipment like the linothorax gave way to heavier metal armour over time, and if not, whether it is known why.

Part of Ancient Warfare Podcast

Josh asks whether the Hellenistic and Successor period had recruiting grounds as specific as Roman units such as Legio IX Hispana, beyond names like Cretan archers and Tarantine cavalry that likely became generic unit types.

Part of Ancient Warfare Podcast

Carlos asks what units or ideas, beyond elephants, the Hellenistic kingdoms adopted from the peoples of the lands they ruled, wondering specifically whether they fielded horse-archer units.

Part of Not another Greek History podcast!

The episode frames Hanukkah as resisting Greek cancel culture, asks whether the first Jewish-Greek war was fought over a statue of Zeus, and describes a 'little horn' that terrified the Greek empire.

Part of Ancient Art Podcast (audio)

The history, artistry and mythology of the Hellenistic Aphrodite of Knidos by Praxiteles, through Hesiod and Pliny the Elder, the Colonna Venus, the Venus de' Medici, the Aphrodite Braschi and the misnomer of the Roman copy.

Part of Ancient Warfare Podcast

A listener asks whether the supposed decline in the quality of Hellenistic cavalry is genuine or exaggerated, given that it reportedly remained elite well into the Roman conquest of the Hellenistic kingdoms.

Part of Ancient Warfare Podcast

Ralph Kirby asks whether the Polybolas, used by both the Successor Macedonian states and Rome, could be considered the least influential weapon of the ancient battlefield, arguing it may have replaced the Scorpio.

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast

An opening episode for a show covering from Alexander to Cleopatra: what the Hellenistic Age is, where the podcast is headed, and why listeners should learn more about this period.

Part of In Our Time · The BBC seminar format; only the Greek episodes are indexed

Part of Ancient Warfare Podcast · Panel discussions from Ancient Warfare Magazine; only the Greek episodes are indexed

With Michael Taylor, Michael Park, Murray Dahm

Part of In Our Time · The BBC seminar format; only the Greek episodes are indexed

Part of Ancient Warfare Podcast · Panel discussions from Ancient Warfare Magazine; only the Greek episodes are indexed

With Michael Park

Part of Ancient Warfare Podcast · Panel discussions from Ancient Warfare Magazine; only the Greek episodes are indexed

With Marc de Santis

Part of Ancient Warfare Podcast · Panel discussions from Ancient Warfare Magazine; only the Greek episodes are indexed

With Marc de Santis

Part of Ancient Warfare Podcast · Panel discussions from Ancient Warfare Magazine; only the Greek episodes are indexed

With Marc de Santis, Seán Hußmann

Part of In Our Time · The BBC seminar format; only the Greek episodes are indexed

Part of Literature and History · Two-hour episodes on famous works, in order; the Greek ones are indexed here

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast · The three centuries between Alexander and Actium

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast · The three centuries between Alexander and Actium

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast · The three centuries between Alexander and Actium

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast · The three centuries between Alexander and Actium

Part of Ancient Warfare Podcast · Panel discussions from Ancient Warfare Magazine; only the Greek episodes are indexed

Part of Our Fake History · Myths that pass for history; only the Greek episodes are indexed

Part of The Ancients · History Hit's interview show; only the Greek episodes are indexed

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast · The three centuries between Alexander and Actium

Part of Let's Talk About Myths, Baby! | Greek Mythology & the Ancient Mediterranean · Liv Albert on Greek myths and the wider ancient Mediterranean, told casually and with sarcasm; only the Greek episodes are indexed

With Jerome Ruddick

Part of The Hellenistic Age Podcast · The three centuries between Alexander and Actium

Part of The Ancients · History Hit's interview show; only the Greek episodes are indexed

With Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones

Part of History of Persia · Persia from Cyrus onward; only the episodes where the Greek world is the subject are indexed

Part of Tides of History · Patrick Wyman's survey of the deep past; only the Greek episodes are indexed

Part of History of Persia · Persia from Cyrus onward; only the episodes where the Greek world is the subject are indexed

Part of History of Persia · Persia from Cyrus onward; only the episodes where the Greek world is the subject are indexed

Part of Ancient Warfare Podcast · Panel discussions from Ancient Warfare Magazine; only the Greek episodes are indexed

Part of The Ancients · History Hit's interview show; only the Greek episodes are indexed

With Graham Wrightson

Part of History of Persia · Persia from Cyrus onward; only the episodes where the Greek world is the subject are indexed

Part of Tides of History · Patrick Wyman's survey of the deep past; only the Greek episodes are indexed

Part of History of Persia · Persia from Cyrus onward; only the episodes where the Greek world is the subject are indexed

Part of History of Persia · Persia from Cyrus onward; only the episodes where the Greek world is the subject are indexed

Part of History of Persia · Persia from Cyrus onward; only the episodes where the Greek world is the subject are indexed

Part of History of Persia · Persia from Cyrus onward; only the episodes where the Greek world is the subject are indexed

Part of History of Persia · Persia from Cyrus onward; only the episodes where the Greek world is the subject are indexed

Part of History of Persia · Persia from Cyrus onward; only the episodes where the Greek world is the subject are indexed

Part of Kings and Generals · Military history in campaigns and battles; only the Greek episodes are indexed