{"podcast":{"title":"Oldest Stories","slug":"oldest-stories-518066","podcast_index_feed_id":518066,"rss_url":"https://anchor.fm/s/fddb990/podcast/rss","website_url":"https://oldeststories.net","image_url":"https://d3t3ozftmdmh3i.cloudfront.net/staging/podcast_uploaded_nologo/2561892/2561892-1709903002785-392175a06c3.jpg","author":"James Bleckley","episode_count":235,"summary":"History and myth of the Cradle of Civilization, bronze age Mesopotamia, beginning with the dawn of writing. The show will cover the full history of Mesopotamia, from Gilgamesh to Nabonidas, a span of some 2500 years, with myths of heroes and gods, and tales of daily life peppered throughout. Sumer, Akkad, Old Babylon, Hittites, and Israel have all been covered in depth, current episodes get deep into the Assyrian Empire. New episodes every other Wednesday. Online at oldeststories.net.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-16T06:19:43.696535+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/oldest-stories-518066"},"episode":{"title":"A Tour of Dur-Sharrukin","slug":"a-tour-of-dur-sharrukin","published_at":"2025-12-31T19:41:46+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/oldest-stories-518066/a-tour-of-dur-sharrukin","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/oldest-stories-518066","url":"https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/oldeststories/episodes/A-Tour-of-Dur-Sharrukin-e3d1fnq","audio_url":"https://anchor.fm/s/fddb990/podcast/play/113343674/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2025-11-31%2Fc87e419a-1c61-ae94-e95b-3bfa987596b3.mp3","summary":"Today we attempt an immersive historical reconstruction of Dur-Sharrukin, the short-lived but astonishing capital built by Sargon II of Assyria in the late eighth century BCE. Set primarily in 706 BCE, this episode takes the listener on a guided tour of the city at the height of its splendor, using a fictional Urartian envoy as a narrative lens to explore what may be the most ambitious urban project of the ancient Near East. Drawing closely on archaeological evidence, royal inscriptions, and comparative material from Assyria and Babylonia, the episode reconstructs the experience of approaching Dur-Sharrukin along the royal roads, passing through its immense fortifications, and moving from the regimented lower city into the elevated palace and temple complex. Along the way, it examines Assyrian logistics, deportation policy, urban planning, law courts, sacred gates, monumental reliefs, and the social reality of an imperial capital populated almost entirely by relocated peoples from across the empire. Particular attention is given to the unprecedented scale and order of the city, its rigid grid layout, state-allocated housing, massive walls, and the palace platform crowned by the ziggurat of Nabu. The episode also explores the hydraulic engineering that made the upper complex possible, including early screw-pump technology that anticipates later traditions surrounding the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Dur-Sharrukin emerges not merely as a capital, but as an ideological statement: a city designed to embody kingship, divine favor, and imperial domination in stone, water, and labor. Although the central figure of Aramu is fictional, the city is not. The episode uses historical fiction as a disciplined tool to illuminate daily experience, perception, and scale in a way that co…","meta_description":"Today we attempt an immersive historical reconstruction of Dur-Sharrukin, the short-lived but astonishing capital built by Sargon II of Assyria in the lat…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2494,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/oldest-stories-518066/episodes/a-tour-of-dur-sharrukin/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/oldest-stories-518066/a-tour-of-dur-sharrukin.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}