{"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":"Mesopotamia and the Occult: Dying and Rising in Depth","slug":"mesopotamia-and-the-occult-dying-and-rising-in-depth","published_at":"2025-10-04T21:18:07+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/oldest-stories-518066/mesopotamia-and-the-occult-dying-and-rising-in-depth","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/oldest-stories-518066","url":"https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/oldeststories/episodes/Mesopotamia-and-the-Occult-Dying-and-Rising-in-Depth-e393gt2","audio_url":"https://anchor.fm/s/fddb990/podcast/play/109216098/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2025-9-4%2F408667094-44100-2-cef0bd75e2b92.mp3","summary":"Dumuzid, the oldest known exemplar of the dying and rising king, is also in many ways the most exceptional. Lover of Inanna, he was apparently quite done with her passionate antics and celebrated when she died, only to be dragged into the underworld for his impiety. But what does it really mean and why has the image endured? James Bleckley of the Oldest Stories Podcast sits down with Nathaniel Heutmaker of the Grail Sciences Podcast to discuss this ancient tale from both an historical and an occult perspective. The Grail Sciences Podcast covers the deeper meaning of the Holy Grail and a variety of occult topics. Nathaniel is deeply read in a variety of world traditions, and expertly weaves it all together over at grailsciences.com/ The Oldest Stories Podcast covers the history, myth, and culture of ancient Mesopotamia, from the invention of writing until the fall of Nabonidas. James has been filling out the story of the oldest civilization for over 6 years at oldeststories.net","meta_description":"Dumuzid, the oldest known exemplar of the dying and rising king, is also in many ways the most exceptional. Lover of Inanna, he was apparently quite done…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":6100,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/oldest-stories-518066/episodes/mesopotamia-and-the-occult-dying-and-rising-in-depth/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/mesopotamia-and-the-occult-dying-and-rising-in-depth.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}