0:02

History of Persia is

0:05

a Hopful Media Podcast production.

0:26

Hello everyone, welcome to

0:28

a special announcement episode of

0:30

the History of Persia. As

0:34

usual, to make up

0:36

for an announcement that's basically some

0:38

interesting fluff around asking you the

0:40

audience to do me a favor,

0:43

the second part of this episode

0:45

will be about ancient coinage, specifically

0:48

the coins minted by Alexander

0:51

the Great. First

0:53

things first, gotcha. You

0:56

thought this was going to be the next

0:58

episode I promised at the end of episode

1:02

Instead, all you got was

1:05

this reminder to buy a

1:07

t-shirt from historyofpersiapodcast.com. Secondly,

1:11

announcements do not count as

1:13

episodes. So there are

1:15

still three numbered episodes to go before

1:17

the episode 125 Ask Me Anything. Send

1:22

your questions about history, podcasting, me,

1:25

and especially Alexander

1:28

and the Achaemenids

1:30

to historyofpersiapodcast.com, my

1:32

social media, or

1:35

[email protected]. Now

1:38

we can go on to the real

1:40

announcements, and I don't

1:42

know what to say besides, this

1:45

is a big one. A

1:47

few weeks ago I announced

1:50

my new project, America, Secret

1:52

Wars. Another podcast

1:54

that will explore the often

1:57

forgotten, overlooked, or

1:59

deluded. deliberately masked wars between

2:02

the United States and other

2:04

nations. When

2:06

I aired that trailer for the first

2:08

time, I did promise to explain a

2:10

bit more later. Well,

2:14

now is later. Most

2:16

importantly, this does not

2:18

mean that the history of Persia

2:20

is ending. I

2:22

appreciate that the timing might have made it

2:25

look that way, but it's

2:27

really just how everything shook out

2:29

by coincidence. I'm

2:32

not a generally superstitious person,

2:35

but history of Persia launched

2:37

in February of 2019, and

2:40

another February launch date just felt

2:42

auspicious. Maybe

2:44

I have been reading too many

2:46

ancient Greek stories. America's

2:49

Secret Wars is a project born

2:51

out of my own combination

2:54

of casual historical interest

2:56

outside Iran, several

2:59

years of developing social and

3:01

political anxieties, and just

3:04

general awareness and reading about the

3:06

history of the US Navy after

3:08

my brother enlisted in 2020. For

3:12

the half or so of the audience

3:15

that isn't in the United States, the

3:18

standard line we are taught in

3:20

school is basically that from the

3:22

end of our war for independence

3:24

until the Second World War, the

3:27

USA kept to itself and didn't

3:29

have a large army because of

3:32

an initial distrust of powerful domestic

3:34

militaries. That is

3:36

sort of true. There wasn't

3:38

a large standing army all

3:40

the time. We

3:43

were just crawling with militias

3:45

organized by each of the

3:47

individual states in the Union

3:49

and had a comically globetrotting

3:52

Navy and Marine element. There

3:55

are dozens of small

3:57

conflicts, punitive campaigns, evasions

4:00

and threats made in the

4:03

US military's history that just

4:05

get ignored in most coverage.

4:08

You probably do know that

4:11

the United States fought Japan,

4:13

Korea, and China. But

4:16

how many of you knew we did that in the

4:19

mid 19th century? What

4:22

about our post-colonial battles with

4:24

Britain, France, and Spain, or

4:26

the Ottoman Empire? Then,

4:30

after World War II, the

4:32

US got involved in so many

4:34

places it's no wonder that most

4:36

people can't keep track. And

4:39

then there are the dozens

4:41

of sovereign nations that were

4:43

in modern American territory well

4:45

before it was called American.

4:48

We don't seem to like talking

4:50

about our own wars of conquest

4:53

and colonization. That's

4:55

the sort of thing I want to

4:57

explore in this new show. I

5:00

do have to be upfront about something

5:02

else. Secret

5:05

Wars is going to be a

5:07

very different sort of history podcast

5:09

from what history of Persia listeners

5:12

are used to. For

5:15

one thing, it's not

5:17

my expertise in the same way

5:19

that ancient history is. I

5:22

didn't focus on American

5:24

history academically. The

5:26

types of sources are very

5:29

different. This podcast

5:31

will span the whole world in

5:33

terms of geography and language, and

5:35

I can't possibly be as familiar

5:38

with all of them as

5:40

I am with ancient Iran. This

5:43

will have to be a more

5:45

casual sort of podcast. What

5:48

I do have that other

5:50

non-specialist podcasts often do not

5:53

is training in how to engage

5:56

with history, find sources, and interpret

5:58

them. not flying

6:00

blind. To

6:02

help with that casual approach, I'm

6:05

going to bring on guests for

6:07

this new adventure and take a

6:09

more comedic approach in the vein

6:11

of shows like Behind the Bastards,

6:13

Lions Led by Donkeys, or

6:16

Rex Factor so you think you

6:18

can rule Persia, and the rest

6:20

of the Rexipod subgenre. I

6:23

tell the story, they react,

6:25

ask questions, and provide color

6:27

commentary. And we'll

6:29

make fun of the more ridiculous

6:31

things in history together, like

6:33

Spider-Man attempting to annex Taiwan.

6:37

The comedy with guests approach should

6:39

also help both me and the

6:41

audience not suffer from the existential

6:44

dread that would come from just

6:46

reading about a lot of this

6:48

stuff. That

6:50

also means that secret wars

6:53

will be flagged as explicit.

6:56

I have no interest in inserting

6:59

all the bleeps necessary or hacking

7:01

apart a conversation to clean it

7:03

up, but I have

7:05

all the interest in dropping F-bombs as

7:08

a way to emphasize my point and

7:10

making dick jokes. Just

7:12

a heads up so that it's not a

7:15

total culture shock when you switch over. Of

7:18

course, I know this format isn't

7:20

going to appeal to everyone who

7:23

listens to History of Persia, but

7:26

I do hope you all join me

7:28

in the Secret Wars feed, secretwarspod.com,

7:32

and wherever fine podcasts are given

7:35

away for free. If

7:37

not, History of Persia will

7:39

keep going to the end of antiquity or

7:41

the heat death of the universe, whichever

7:44

happens first. On

7:47

that note, I do have

7:49

a few more directly History

7:51

of Persia related announcements. Given

7:55

the size of undertaking a

7:57

new show, they're all still...

8:00

kinda related. To

8:02

anybody out there waiting for that

8:04

pesky ad maintenance warning that's been

8:07

sitting in the podcast description to

8:09

go away or has just skipped

8:11

ahead to avoid dealing with it

8:13

before re-listening to the early episodes,

8:17

most of that will be resolved now.

8:20

At time of recording, everything

8:22

beyond episode 40 is good

8:24

to go, and I

8:27

am going to sit down and deal with

8:29

the rest right after I post this. I

8:32

tried various things first before having

8:34

to do it the old-fashioned way

8:36

and manually edit the entire back

8:39

catalog up to January of 2023,

8:41

which was a time-consuming process

8:45

all on its own. On

8:47

the bright side, I can definitively

8:50

say that I have improved over

8:52

time. In

8:54

addition to that, the remastered episodes

8:56

are actually going to start coming

8:59

out. For anybody that

9:01

forgot about my lackluster announcement last

9:03

time I made it, I

9:06

have now lost the first

9:08

12 episodes' worth of recordings

9:10

twice, once in

9:12

their original form and again in

9:15

their remastered form due to computer

9:17

crashes. Re-remastering

9:19

them has just been such

9:21

a depressing project that it

9:23

hasn't gotten done, but

9:25

they are coming. If

9:28

you go to historyofpersiapodcast.com

9:31

in the next week or so, you

9:34

may find a surprise. I

9:37

have completely redone the website from

9:39

the ground up, and

9:41

while I'm sure I'll still be tweaking it

9:44

over the next couple of months, it

9:46

is largely complete and revamped as

9:49

a website for all of

9:51

Hopful Media to accommodate the introduction

9:53

of Secret Wars. I

9:56

took this approach for a couple of reasons. Most

9:58

importantly, if History of Persia

10:00

remains separate, then Secret Wars would also

10:03

need to be separate, and

10:05

I really don't want to maintain

10:07

three websites when one will do

10:09

just fine. For the

10:11

99% or so of

10:14

listeners who never visit the website, this

10:16

probably doesn't mean anything to you, and

10:20

anybody who does try to

10:22

go to historyofpersiapodcast.com will

10:25

just go straight to the new

10:27

website redirecting to

10:30

hopfulmedia.com. That

10:32

said, if you are a long-time

10:34

listener and you've been using a

10:36

link or a bookmark from

10:38

the old historyofpersiapodcast.wordpress.com

10:41

days, that

10:44

will no longer take you to the

10:46

live website, but there will

10:48

be a link on the old

10:51

version to redirect you. On

10:53

the financial side of things, thank

10:56

you all so much. You are the

10:59

best audience anybody could ever ask for.

11:01

I am so, so sorry. Patreon

11:06

has rightfully been feeling

11:08

somewhat neglected recently for

11:10

a few reasons. If you're

11:13

waiting on a sticker, it's

11:15

coming, but I had to change

11:17

suppliers for that, and it's been harder

11:19

than I expected. Bonus

11:21

episodes will resume with a rapid

11:24

fire drop sometime in March as

11:26

I desperately attempt to get caught

11:28

up. Reading vast

11:31

amounts of historical fiction seemed like

11:33

a great idea when I came

11:35

up with it, but in retrospect,

11:38

that took way too long. That

11:40

said, Patreon is also

11:43

getting a full-body makeover to

11:45

accommodate Secret Wars. Like

11:48

the website, I don't want to

11:50

manage more than one of these,

11:52

especially because Patreon doesn't make it

11:54

very easy to do. Instead,

11:57

I will be tweaking some of the

11:59

categories to give you access. To.

12:01

Benefits for both shows.

12:04

I will cross post the first

12:07

couple episodes of Secret Wars into

12:09

the History of Persia feed as

12:11

part of the promotion for the

12:13

new show. And also to

12:15

give myself time to figure

12:17

out how exactly to add

12:19

a distinct Secret Wars bonus

12:21

feed on patriotic. You'd.

12:24

Think with all the podcast networks

12:26

out there, that would be easy,

12:28

but it is not. Moving

12:31

on from patriotic. I.

12:33

Will also be updating the merch

12:35

store. To. Make room for

12:37

new Hellenistic designs and Secret Wars

12:40

Swagger. The most popular A Came

12:42

Minute designs will still be available

12:44

in a basic selection of t

12:47

shirts and the other items, but

12:49

if you want the full range

12:51

of colors and styles, get them

12:54

before they are gone. I'll

12:56

post another announcement when the new

12:58

designs are ready for launch. Probably.

13:01

Sometime over the summer. That.

13:04

Sit for new stuff announcements.

13:07

So. I'll throw in an ad and

13:09

come back with the coins of Alexander

13:11

the Great. When.

13:29

I was applying. To grad school

13:31

and just one visit to a

13:34

Perspective department, my roommate and I

13:36

kept track of all the languages

13:39

we had been told we needed

13:41

to learn to study Ancient Persia.

13:43

The final tally came to twenty

13:46

seven relevant languages. As somebody overwhelmed

13:48

by Greek, Latin, and the need

13:50

to pick up French and German,

13:53

that was a bit terrifying. Reading

13:55

most dead languages is different from

13:57

speaking them, but just picking. The

14:00

new language in any context is

14:02

daunting. Fortunately, Rosetta Stone is the

14:04

most trusted language learning program available

14:07

on desktop or as an app.

14:09

He had truly immersive you in

14:11

the language you want to learn.

14:13

I've had more than a few

14:16

times where I wished I knew

14:18

modern Persian. Rosetta Stone has been

14:20

be trusted expert in language learning

14:22

for thirty years and built up

14:25

a catalog of twenty five languages

14:27

to learn, all available through their

14:29

lifetime membership. Would you can get to

14:31

day for fifty percent off? Not all. Of

14:33

them overlap with that list from grad school.

14:36

But many do Hebrew, Persian, Lad,

14:38

German, and Russian just to name

14:41

a few. Rosetta Stone has no

14:43

English translations, always the part I

14:45

found most frustrating and instead focuses

14:48

on long term retention that through

14:50

an intuitive process of working up

14:53

from simple words do full sentences.

14:55

Don't. Put off learning that language.

14:57

There's no better time than

15:00

right now to get started

15:02

or a very limited time

15:04

history of Persia. Listeners can

15:06

get Rosetta Stone lifetime membership

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15:15

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15:17

rest of your life. Redeem

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your fifty percent off at

15:21

Rosetta stone.com/today Today. Now.

15:39

That I've asked you to do me a favor. Let's.

15:41

Talk about history. We've.

15:44

Talked about all sorts of

15:46

coinage in the past and

15:48

I actually want to offer a

15:50

major correction. Going all the way

15:52

back to episode five of the

15:55

main show and the very

15:57

first announcement Back and Twenty

15:59

Nineteen Way I launched the

16:01

patriotic. Those. Were

16:03

the episodes where I talked about

16:05

the Old Lady and coinage. Simple

16:07

oblong bits of metal stamped with

16:09

the image of a balls and

16:12

lions heads. The. More

16:14

famous Liddy and Coinage and the

16:16

very first true currency in the

16:18

Mediterranean world is The Crease. It.

16:21

Gold. And silver coins first

16:23

minted under creases. the final liddy

16:26

and king deposed by Cyrus the

16:28

Great. Prior. To

16:30

the crease. it. The. Same design

16:32

was used by his father. All

16:35

the arty's on small tokens made

16:37

from Elect Trump. And.

16:39

Alloy of gold and silver. These.

16:42

Tokens weren't initially minted to

16:44

be used as money. And.

16:47

Idea that didn't even exist.

16:49

In that region at the time.

16:52

But. People probably started using them

16:54

to exchange for goods and

16:57

services. Developing. Into

16:59

a de facto currency. Creases,

17:02

Formalized this, but to do

17:04

so, he also had to

17:06

ensure that his new coins

17:08

would have a consistent gold

17:10

or silver content. So.

17:13

He started minting almost pure

17:15

gold or pure silver crease.

17:18

That. Could be regulated and

17:21

standardized. For. Almost

17:23

two hundred years. At this

17:25

point, the standard interpretation by

17:27

historians has been that someone

17:30

in Lydia developed a technique

17:32

to separate the gold and

17:34

silver from naturally occurring elect

17:36

from deposits. enabling this

17:39

leap forward in the history of

17:41

money. That is what

17:43

I said five years ago. And.

17:46

There are plenty of history books that

17:48

will still repeat that story today. With.

17:51

Historians stretching back to the

17:53

made eighteen hundreds as there's

17:55

a T since. however

18:00

More recent scholarship relying

18:02

on the arcane witchcraft

18:04

of chemistry and geology

18:06

has pointed out a flaw

18:08

in that interpretation. Lydia

18:11

didn't have very many

18:13

actual electrum deposits, but

18:16

it did have almost perfectly

18:18

pure gold available

18:20

in its rivers. As

18:23

it turns out, the silver

18:25

content in most Aliated coins

18:27

actually contains trace minerals that

18:29

can be tracked back to

18:32

mines in other regions like

18:34

mainland Greece. It

18:36

seems that Aliates was actually

18:40

producing electrum tokens on purpose

18:42

by having his smith's alloy

18:44

gold and silver themselves, rather

18:48

than using naturally occurring alloys.

18:51

Some Greek city states in northern

18:53

Anatolia even continued doing this with

18:55

their own local currency well into

18:58

the Achaemenid period. We

19:01

don't really know why Aliates was

19:03

doing this. These

19:05

tokens weren't intended to be currency,

19:07

so it may be as simple

19:10

as the electrum produced the color

19:12

he wanted, as rational

19:14

as using silver to debase the

19:16

gold and stretch his own reserves,

19:19

or anything in between and

19:21

a mixture of factors. What

19:24

is clear is that the

19:26

traditional narrative of how coinage

19:29

developed in Lydia is probably

19:31

wrong and the transition from

19:33

electrum Aliates to true

19:35

gold and silver crecids followed

19:37

a much different path than we

19:40

previously thought. The

19:42

basic idea of the crecid,

19:44

of course, gave rise to

19:46

Achaemenid, Darix, and Seagloy, as

19:49

well as the vast array of

19:52

Greek coins, largely minted on silver

19:54

that I talked about last time

19:56

I made an announcement. So

19:59

we fast-forwarded. forward to the reign of Philip

20:01

II of Macedon. A

20:04

half dozen weight standards and

20:07

measurements dictated the exact value of

20:09

coins in the Greek world, with

20:12

the Athenian Attic standard being

20:14

the most popular and

20:16

most reliable in foreign

20:18

markets. It

20:21

was so reliable that Athenian

20:23

coins or copies minted elsewhere

20:25

became the de facto currency in

20:28

Egypt and were even starting to

20:30

gain a foothold in Babylonian markets.

20:34

Under Philip, Macedon was still

20:36

using its own standard of weight

20:38

for their coinage. The

20:41

most common and least valuable

20:43

coins minted during his time were

20:45

small bronze issues, alongside

20:48

Philip's silver coinage, which

20:51

was minted on the Macedonian

20:53

drachma standard. Babylon

20:56

had sizable gold mines of

20:59

its own, but after capturing

21:01

the major mines in Amphipolis,

21:04

Philip also started minting golden

21:06

coins. But rather

21:08

than using the Macedonian weight system,

21:11

these gold issues were

21:13

minted as Athenian stators,

21:15

with smaller quarter stators

21:17

to encourage more routine

21:19

use of Macedonian gold

21:21

in day-to-day trade. The

21:25

quarter stator featured a large

21:27

goblet, a bow, and a

21:29

war club on the reverse,

21:31

and the face of the hero

21:34

god Heracles with the Nemean lion's

21:36

mythical pelt draped over his head

21:38

on the obverse. Specifically,

21:42

this was Heracles' kunagidas,

21:45

meaning Heracles the hunter, a version

21:47

of the hero depicted as a

21:49

young man who served as the

21:52

patron god of young men and

21:54

hunting parties. The

21:56

full-sized stator featured the face of Apollos, the

21:58

king of the gods. God

22:00

of the Arts on the front, and

22:03

a charioteer on the reverse,

22:05

both celebrating Philip's victory in

22:08

the Olympic Games. When

22:11

Alexander became king, he shifted

22:13

all of Macedon's coinage over

22:15

to the Athenian weight standard,

22:18

and in fact he shifted as many

22:20

of the mints in his empire as

22:22

he could to that

22:24

Attic weight and had them

22:26

all mint the same set

22:28

of coins, establishing the first

22:30

true imperial currency system that

22:33

spanned from tiny bronze coins

22:35

that anybody could use in

22:37

daily life, all the

22:39

way up to massive golden stators,

22:42

and even eventually double stators,

22:44

twice the size and twice

22:46

the value of the

22:48

largest coins normally minted up to

22:51

that era. As

22:53

Alexander conquered more and more

22:55

territory, some of his camp

22:58

followers were functionaries and officials,

23:00

carrying Attic standard weights

23:02

and designs to produce

23:04

new dyes and mint

23:06

Alexander's official coinage all

23:09

across Anatolia, Egypt, and the

23:12

Levant, apparently starting

23:14

to phase out the Akaminted

23:16

coins and other local currencies.

23:19

Three small bronze coins minted

23:21

under Alex featured the same

23:23

design as his father's quarter

23:25

stator, probably because they

23:28

already had many of those dyes which

23:30

could be used to produce many

23:33

bronze coins of a similar size,

23:35

just less valuable due to the

23:37

material. This would help

23:39

quickly shift the most frequently used

23:42

coins over to the Attic weight

23:44

system. Alexander

23:46

embraced his mythical ancestors in

23:48

coinage just like he did

23:50

in most of his life

23:52

philosophy, and used a similar

23:54

image of Heracles' Kunagidas as

23:56

the obverse on his silver

23:58

drachma as well

24:00

as the fractional and greater value

24:03

silver coins on the same standard.

24:06

The reverse side now featured an

24:09

image of Zeus sitting on a

24:11

throne with an eagle resting in

24:13

his outstretched palm and a royal

24:16

scepter in the other hand. If

24:19

that reverse design sounds familiar, it

24:21

should. A very similar

24:24

design was used by datamese

24:26

of Cappadocia during the Great

24:28

Satraps Revolt. Lastly,

24:30

Alexander minted golden stators, double

24:33

stators, and smaller gold coins

24:35

in ever greater numbers as

24:37

he captured the vast gold

24:40

reserves of the Persian Empire.

24:43

These featured an all-new design

24:45

that emphasized both the Greek,

24:48

rather than particularly Macedonian, character

24:50

of his new empire, and

24:53

Alexander's military ambition. The

24:56

obverse showed the face of Athena,

24:59

goddess of warfare, tactics,

25:01

and craftsmanship. A

25:03

popular icon of southern Greece, but

25:06

a relatively recent favorite up in

25:08

Macedon. The

25:10

reverse featured Nikkei, or Nike,

25:13

goddess of victory, soaring on

25:15

large, angelic wings with a naval

25:17

banner in one hand and a

25:20

laurel wreath worn as a crown

25:22

by victors in the other. Symbolizing

25:25

victory on land and sea.

25:29

Part of Alexander's effort to

25:31

unify and solidify his conquests

25:33

as one unified

25:35

territory was the

25:37

transition of his whole domain over

25:40

to this new standard of currency.

25:43

But as the army went further east,

25:45

that plan ran into a problem. Mesopotamia,

25:48

Central Asia, and Iran were

25:51

just barely starting to adopt

25:53

a currency economy. Coins

25:56

were still mostly traded for their metal

25:58

value alongside the currency. raw

26:00

materials, and there simply

26:03

weren't mints for the conquerors to take

26:05

over. However, the

26:07

Persians were aware of this as

26:09

well, and they were just starting

26:11

to make the change themselves when

26:13

Alexander invaded. In

26:15

Babylon, a mint had at least

26:18

been constructed, and it

26:20

may have started production before the

26:22

Battle of Galgamesh. This

26:25

would have been one of many

26:27

projects in place under Darius III,

26:30

and was likely an idea

26:32

formulated under Artaxerxes III, but

26:35

opening a new mint in a

26:37

region still getting used to coinage

26:39

in general took lots of time.

26:43

It's not clear whether or not

26:45

it was functional before Alexander took

26:47

over. The clearest

26:50

sign that this was an

26:52

acamated project rather than an

26:54

Alexandrian one is that

26:56

the Babylonian mint had unique

26:58

stamps to mint a new

27:00

type of acamated coin, a

27:03

large and highly valuable

27:05

double-darrith that only

27:08

reached wider circulation after

27:10

Alexander's death. When

27:12

the Macedonian Empire just had

27:14

to accept that they would

27:16

need to keep circulating the

27:18

acamated standard alongside the Attic's

27:20

coins until there was

27:22

more infrastructure in place. Listeners

27:26

who are vaguely familiar with

27:28

Alexandrian coins may already have

27:30

noticed that there are two

27:32

somewhat famous designs I haven't

27:35

mentioned. Many coins in

27:37

the late 4th and early 3rd

27:39

centuries featured two other

27:42

images on the obverse side.

27:45

One was the face of Alexander

27:47

himself with ram's horns curling behind

27:49

his ears, a symbol

27:52

of the Greco-Egyptian hybrid god

27:54

Zeus Ammon that Alexander

27:56

claimed had revealed his own divinity

27:58

at the sea. Oasis.

28:01

The other was another version

28:04

of Herakles' Kunagidas, but with

28:06

a face that looks suspiciously

28:08

similar to Alexander as well.

28:12

More accurately, these coins had the

28:14

face that Alexander is usually given

28:16

in artwork. With

28:19

slim, delicate features, almost

28:22

elven. Frankly, it

28:24

looks a lot like Link from

28:26

Legend of Zelda, rather than the

28:28

blocky face of the pieces of

28:30

art that we think were actually

28:33

contemporary to Alexander's life. These

28:36

designs, both the more effete

28:38

Alexander and the depictions of

28:41

Zeus-Amon and Herakles with his

28:43

face, are

28:45

mostly posthumous issues. Playing

28:48

on Alexander's fame and divinity

28:50

as a symbol, the

28:53

way earlier coins featured the

28:55

traditional Greek gods. Despite

28:58

that, those coins are some of

29:00

the most well-known depictions of Alexander

29:03

from antiquity. In

29:07

the last 120 or so

29:09

episodes of this podcast, which

29:11

correspond to 230 years of narrative almost

29:16

exactly, I

29:18

have done five of these announcements

29:20

with many episodes about the evolution

29:23

of currency in the Persian Empire.

29:26

But that's done for

29:28

the next 550 years. What

29:33

I can only estimate will be

29:35

the next two or three hundred

29:37

episodes of the show. After

29:41

Alexander's empire collapsed, some

29:43

of the breakaway states adopted

29:46

different currency standards. But

29:49

the part we will focus on, the

29:52

Sallehucid Empire and

29:54

the Parthian Empire that conquered

29:56

them, retained the same

29:58

basic, adequate, and system

30:00

developed in 6th century

30:03

Athens and spread across

30:05

Western Asia by Alexander the

30:07

Great. By the

30:09

end of the 4th century the

30:12

old system of Darix and Sigloy

30:14

supplemented by local mints was phased

30:16

out entirely, and a

30:18

Grecian currency economy was

30:20

gradually spread from the Mediterranean to

30:23

the Hindu Kush. There

30:26

will be other coinage

30:28

related topics like debasement

30:30

or numismatic chronology that

30:32

I will use in these announcement

30:34

episodes. But this is

30:37

basically the final stage of

30:39

development for West Asian coinage,

30:42

and one of Alexander's

30:44

longest lasting impacts on

30:46

the former Achaemenid Empire. Keep

30:49

an eye on this feed tomorrow, and

30:52

if Secret Wars doesn't satisfy

30:54

your palate, we will return

30:56

to discuss Alexander's family and

30:58

love life. But

31:01

until then... If

31:04

you want more information about

31:06

this podcast, you can go

31:08

to historyofpersapodcast.com. That's

31:11

where you will find my

31:13

bibliography, the Achaemenid family tree,

31:15

and plenty of other things

31:17

including the support page to

31:19

financially support this project. There

31:23

are all sorts of ways

31:25

to do that, but most

31:27

importantly there's patreon.com/historyofpersia. You can

31:29

sign up for a monthly

31:32

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31:34

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31:36

to things like ad-free listening,

31:39

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31:42

Even if you don't want to subscribe,

31:45

you can also visit the show's

31:47

store, either through

31:49

historyofpersapodcast.com, or

31:52

historyofpersia.launchcart.com. You

31:55

can also support this show for free

31:57

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32:01

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32:03

to see your feedback, but even

32:06

better than that, tell your friends

32:08

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32:10

Persia. Share it on social media

32:12

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32:14

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32:17

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32:24

much for listening to The

32:26

History of Persia.