Episode S6 – Castle of the Slave

Synopsis: Joseph and Hyrcanus of the Tobiad clan served as tax farmers in Coele Syria for nearly half a century, weathering the transition from Ptolemaic and Seleucid control along with the constant maelstrom of Jerusalem politics. “Hyrcanus determined not to return to Jerusalem any more, […]

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | TuneIn | RSS

Episode C12 – The Two Temples

Synopsis: The growing power of the Israelites and Arameans is reflected in the construction of new temples to Yahweh in Jerusalem and Hadad-Rammon in Damascus. A resurgent Egypt – under increasing influence of the Libyan Meshwesh – begins to eye its former Levantine holdings. “And […]

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | TuneIn | RSS

Episode C11 – The House of David

Synopsis: In the latter half of the 11th century BC, southern Syria witnessed the increasing prominence of semi-nomadic Semitic peoples – including the Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites and Israelites. “Kings came, they fought, the kings of Canaan fought. At Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo, they […]

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | TuneIn | RSS

Episode C10 – These Are Not Foolish Travels

Synopsis: The fracturing and diminishment of Egyptian power in the early Iron Age is captured in “The Report of Wenamun.” I found (King Zakar-baal of Byblos) seated in his upper chamber with his back against a window, and the waves of the great sea of […]

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | TuneIn | RSS

Episode C9 – Horse to Horse, Army to Army

Synopsis: In the mid-11th century BC, the Hittite kingdoms of northern Syria are joined by others– in the Philistine pentapolis, the Amuq plain and the region of Classical Cilicia – with ties to the former Mycenaean Greeks.  The Phoenician cities of the Levantine coast begin […]

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | TuneIn | RSS

Episode C8 – The Heirs of Hatti

Synopsis: The Great Kings of Carchemish continue ruling over a Hittite rump state in northern Syria as they support the region’s recovery.  After an attack by the Assyrian king Ashur-bel-kala, the Carchemish dynasty is supplanted by the house of Suhi. “In that year, in the […]

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | TuneIn | RSS

Episode C7 – The Heirs of Babylon

Synopsis: Even as Anatolia, Syria and Egypt confronted the Bronze Age Collapse, the eastern kingdoms of Assyria, Babylonia and Elam continued their ancient cycle of dynastic conflict. “Why I – who am a king, son of a king, seed of a king, scion of a […]

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | TuneIn | RSS