Xerxes grand, triumphal parade to conquer Greece took a detour to visit the ruins of Helen’s legendary Troy. How Cyrus the Great conquered the most impregnable city fortress in the world without shedding any blood, while inside the city a ghostly hand was writing a message of doom to the ruler of Babylon. And finally Xerxes arranged to see the might and irresistible power that he had assembled to crush the pesky Greeks. All of this will be covered now.

Tag words: Xerxes; Troy; Helen; Priam; Cyrus the Great; Babylon; Pythias, the Lydian; Herodotus;Magi; Bible; book of Daniel; Euphrates River; Belshazzar; Nabonidus; Belteshazzar; Book of Isaiah;

It was a triumphal victory march like none before or since even up to today, when Xerxes set out to conquer Greece, the whole of Europe even.

John Lewis Gaddis, Professor of History at Yale University, founding director of the Brady-Johnson Programme in Grand Strategy, and 2012 Pullitzer Prize Winner for his biography of George F Kennan, an American diplomat who advocated a containment policy of the Soviet Union during the Cold War, had this to say about Xerxes, on the brink of crossing over from Asia to Europe to conquer everything that stood in his way without submitting.

The date is 480 B.C.E. The place is Abydos, the town on the Asian side of the Hellespont where it narrows to just over a mile in width. The scene is worthy of Hollywood in its heyday. Xerxes, Persia's King of Kings, ascends a throne on a promontory from which he can see armies assembled, the historian Herodotus tells us, of over a million and a half men. Had the number been only a tenth of that, as is more likely, it would still have approximated the size of Eisenhower's forces on D-day in 1944. The Hellespont has no bridge now, but Xerxes had two then: one rested on 360 boats lashed together, the other on 314, both curved to accommodate winds and currents. For after an earlier bridge had broken apart in a storm, the furious king beheaded the builders and ordered the waters themselves whipped and branded. Somewhere on the bottom there presumably lie, to this day, the iron fetters he had thrown in for good.

This is a part of the story of Xerxes invasion that, like everything about his invasion is remarkable, recounted in such vivid and memorable colour by the Greek historian Herodotus.

Tag words: Xerxes; Greece; John Lewis Gaddis; On Grand Strategy; Hellespont; Artabanus; the Magi; Darius; Herodotus; The Histories; Pythius;

From the time of making the decision to invade Greece, military contingents, and their entourages from all over the Persian Empire descended on the capital, Susa. Herodotus tells us that this was made up of 2,641,610 fighting men. He says that he conservatively allows for an equal number of servants, camp followers, crews of provision boats and other craft that sailed with the expedition. So no less than 5,283,220 men and women descended on Susa.

With all of those powerful individuals gathered together in Xerxes capital, Susa, it was natural for Xerxes to want to show off, among other possessions, his beautiful wife, the Queen – but not in a way that she was likely to approve of.

Tag words: Persian Empire; Herodotus; The Histories; Xerxes; Candaules; The English Patient; Kristin-Scott Thomas; Gyges; Queen Vashti; Book of Esther; Bible; Mordecai;

We didn’t start the fire. It was always burning since the world’s been turning. We didn’t light it but we tried to fight it. Hear all about our fight in the Danger Zone - amazing stories, incredible music about military history. I’m Paul. Sit back and relax – if you can. If you’re driving don’t even think of changing stations – you know how dangerous it is to take your hands off the wheel and your eyes off the road.

Tag words: Xerxes; Artabanus; Greece; Darius; Magi;

In 480 BC a battle took place at the Thermopylae Pass, essentially between 300 Spartan warriors and the massive army of Xerxes, the mighty ruler of the mightiest empire that the world had ever seen, with 1,700,000 men at his command, so we are told. Although at another point we’re told that his forces numbered 5,283,220 men - pretty precise eh!

Now you may think that ancient history isn’t your thing. Modern warfare is what really gets your interest. But this was, in fact, a modern war. It was, if you like, a battle between the Chinese Communist Party seeking to become the ruler of our world, or the United Nations trying to achieve its dream, our nightmare, world government ambitions, or the corporate socialism ambitions of the multi-nationals, or the big governments of the West trying (who am I kidding – trying) to socialise our Western democratic nations that were built on the principles that these Greeks found themselves fighting for to prevent the end of their, and our individuality, because that was what we would have lost if these Greeks had lost their struggle 2,500 years ago. Because in this story the men of Greece, especially of Athens and Sparta, were fighting for their individual freedom. Like many people today, they refused to give up that freedom and to go into slavery, even though victory seemed impossible. They fought for their rights to be and remain individuals – and they won. Their struggle, crowned with success, offers hope for us today. It’s a story that we can learn from, a story that can give us hope.

We must make the frightening words of Dennis Prager, in his interview in May 2024, with former Australian Deputy Prime Minister, John Anderson, the truth of which is a possibility that we’re facing today, one that will not happen:

When you think of the many Aussies who died in World War II fighting for freedom and fighting for the West and Americans, of course, and other, I never thought I would ever say this, maybe they died in vain, because whatever they died for is no longer revered by the elites of the countries they fought for.

And to make this story of the struggle between the Greeks and the Persians even more interesting, the account that this programme is based on, is told by the very first historian in the world – Herodotus. The man who invented history. And Herodotus, because I don’t want to exaggerate his writing skill, is the best teller of history that has ever lived and will ever live.

Please join me for this story of the thrilling struggle that many of us today are fighting afresh for our right to be individuals and not to be slaves.

Tag words: Battle of Thermopylae Pass; Spartans; Sparta; Athens; Xerxes; Chinese Communist Party; People’s Liberation Army; United Nations; world government; Dennis Prager; John Anderson; Herodotus; The Histories; Darius; Battle of Marathon; Aristodemus; Battle of Salamis; Battle of Platea; Book of Esther; The Bible; Candaules; John Dickson; Is Jesus History?; Alexander the Great; Arrian; Anabasis of Alexander; Ptolemy; Aristobulus; Callisthenes; Aristotle; Persian War; Gospels; New Testament; Jesus; Tacitus; Annals; Tiberius; Pontius Pilate; Paul the Apostle; road to Damascus; 1 Thessalonians; memory; substantia nigra; Plato; Silvia Ferrara; The Greatest Invention; Themistocles; Delphi Oracle; Joshua Foer; Moonwalking with Einstein; Greek Enlightenment; Richard Cohen; Making History;

For the past few parts I’ve been like a dog with a bone. Looking at animals in war. In this programme I’m going to tell you about atomic bats, under cover pussies, tank destroying dogs and fighting chickens.

Tag words: Smoky the Yorkshire Terrier; General Douglas MacArthur; I Shall Return; the bat bomb; Lyle S. Adams; National Research Defense Committee; Donald Griffin; Project X-Ray; CIA; Project Acoustic Kitty; Great Patriotic War; anti-tank dogs; First Gulf War; Operation Desert Storm; Poultry Chemical Confirmation Devices; Operation Kuwaiti Field Chicken; KFC; grave of The Unknown Chicken;

Animal heroes in war. Today I’m going to talk about a great Australian dog, a navy cat, parachuting turkeys, flaming pigs and did we do something disgusting to the horses that did so much for us in World War I and a whole lot more? Hang around for a surprising answer.

Tag words: animal heroes; Avenue of Remembrance Yungaburra; Merlin; Razz; Andy; Nova; Herbie; Corporal Mark Donaldson; Taliban; Quake; Lieutenant General Harry Chauvel; Australian Mounted Division; Simon the cat; the HMS Amethyst; Dickin Medal; Spanish Civil War; turkeys; ancient Rome; war pigs; elephants in war; Alexander the Great; Pliny the Elder; bottlenose dolphins; Notty; Tanker War; Marine Mammal Program; SEAL; Brandon Webb;