HeyJaredOldest Stories
History and myth of the Cradle of Civilization, bronze age Mesopotamia, beginning with the dawn of writing.
- Indexed episodes, last 90 days
- 5
- Latest publication
- Sep 23, 2026
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- Jul 15, 2026
Latest episodes
Assyrian Omen Science (opens the original)
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How did ancient Assyria use divination, astrology, and animal livers to make decisions of war, government, and royal policy? Under King Esarhaddon, the Neo-Assyrian Empire developed one of the ancient world’s most sophisticated systems of omen interpretation, combining centuries of recorded observations with extispicy, celestial omens, ritual expertise, and consultation with the gods. This episode examines the intellectual world of Assyrian divination and the system of experts who advised the ro
The Cimmerian Horse Lords (opens the original)
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The Cimmerians were among the first great horse nomad powers to crash into the civilizations of the ancient Near East. Emerging from the Scytho-Siberian world north of the Caucasus, they struck Urartu, devastated Phrygia and Lydia, raided deep into the Near East, and became legendary in Greek memory as one of the great barbarian terrors of antiquity. But how dangerous were they really? In this episode, we look beyond the later legends to reconstruct the Cimmerians and their Scythian cousins as a
Esarhaddon and the Empire That Ran Itself (opens the original)
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Esarhaddon inherited the Neo-Assyrian Empire at the height of its power—but his kingship looked very different from that of the warrior-kings who came before him. Plagued by questions of legitimacy, surrounded by prophets and diviners, and often absent from his own military campaigns, Esarhaddon nevertheless presided over an extraordinarily aggressive and successful Assyrian state. This episode follows the first half of Esarhaddon’s reign: the rebuilding of Babylon, the rise of prophecy as a pol
The Lessons of Ahiqar (opens the original)
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The ancient story of Ahiqar follows a legendary wise man and royal adviser at the court of the Assyrian king Sennacherib. After adopting his nephew Nadan and teaching him a long collection of proverbs, Ahiqar is betrayed, falsely accused of treason, condemned to death, and forced to hide beneath his own house. His eventual return leads to a strange contest of riddles with the Pharaoh of Egypt and a final confrontation with the student who rejected his wisdom. Preserved in an ancient Aramaic papy
Sennacherib’s Last Omen (opens the original)
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In the final years of Sennacherib’s reign, the Neo-Assyrian Empire entered a strange period of peace. After decades of war, conquest, rebellion, and the destruction of Babylon, the greatest military power of the ancient Near East suddenly stopped expanding. Was Sennacherib simply more interested in building Nineveh than campaigning abroad? Had Assyria reached the natural limits of profitable conquest? Or were omens and divination beginning to restrain the king’s decisions? The question became fa
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