Darius II: Did you mean...?

This video discusses the civilizations of Ancient Persia and the Arabian Peninsula. In this episode, the grand residences at Persepolis and the imperial palaces of Darius are toured. The second half of the video discusses the Arabian...

Athens, Greece, with its famous Acropolis, has come to symbolize the whole of the country in the popular imagination, and not without cause. It not only has its iconic ruins and the famous port of Piraeus but, thanks to ancient writers, its...

Ancient Persian religion was a polytheistic faith which corresponds roughly to what is known today as ancient Persian mythology. It first developed in the region known as Greater Iran (the Caucasus, Central Asia, South Asia, and West Asia...

The Battle of Salamis was a naval battle between Greek and Persian forces in the Saronic Gulf, Greece in September 480 BCE. The Greeks had recently lost the Battle of Thermopylae and drawn the naval Battle at Artemision, both in August 480...

On June 10, 323 BCE Alexander the Great died in Babylon. Although historians have debated the exact cause most agree that the empire he built was left without adequate leadership for there was no clear successor or heir. The military commanders...

Pergamon (also Pergamum) was a major intellectual and cultural center in Mysia (northwest Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey) which flourished under the Attalid Dynasty (281-133 BCE) during the Hellenistic Period. It was the capital of the Kingdom...

Cyrene (modern-day Shahhat, Libya) was a vital cultural center and port of trade in North Africa founded in 631 BCE by Greek colonists from the island of Thera. The city is best known as the birthplace of the philosopher Aristippus of Cyrene...

Mithra is the Persian god of the rising sun, contracts, covenants, and friendship. He also oversaw the orderly change of the seasons, maintained cosmic order, and was responsible for bestowing divine grace on kings, legitimizing their rule...

Susa was one of the oldest cities in the world and part of the site is still inhabited as Shush, Khuzestan Province, Iran. Excavations have uncovered evidence of continual habitation dating back to 4395 BCE but that early community grew from...

Ptolemy I Soter (366-282 BCE) was one of the successor kings to the empire of Alexander the Great. He served not only as king of Egypt but also the founder of the Ptolemaic Dynasty, a dynasty which included the infamous Cleopatra VII. Early...