{"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":"The Golden Years of Sargon II","slug":"the-golden-years-of-sargon-ii","published_at":"2026-03-11T17:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/oldest-stories-518066/the-golden-years-of-sargon-ii","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/oldest-stories-518066","url":"https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/oldeststories/episodes/The-Golden-Years-of-Sargon-II-e3g9ceg","audio_url":"https://anchor.fm/s/fddb990/podcast/play/116748176/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-2-11%2Fe22efb80-793b-2d4c-257f-95b652ef9ede.mp3","summary":"Oldest Stories Album available here: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/oldeststoriesmusic/oldest-stories-vol-1 but also possibly on your favorite music distributor service also. Check it out! This episode examines the middle years of the reign of Sargon II of Assyria (r. 722–705 BCE) during a brief period when the Assyrian Empire faced unusually little large-scale war. Following Sargon’s major victory over Urartu in 714–713 BCE, the geopolitical balance of the Near East shifted dramatically. Urartu, long the primary rival to Assyria in the Armenian highlands, was weakened both by Sargon’s campaign and by the simultaneous arrival of Cimmerian nomadic groups moving south from the Eurasian steppe. With the northern frontier temporarily stabilized, Assyria was able to redirect attention to other regions of the empire. The episode explores several smaller conflicts and political developments across the western and northern frontiers of the Assyrian state. These include Assyrian responses to Ionian Greek activity in the eastern Mediterranean, tensions involving the kingdom of Phrygia under King Midas, and Assyrian intervention in Que (Cilicia) and surrounding Anatolian regions. At the same time, Sargon dealt with internal revolts and political instability among the Medes, the mountain regions of Ellipi and Karalla, and the frontier kingdoms of Tabal and Melid. These campaigns illustrate the normal functioning of Assyrian imperial policy: suppression of rebellions, deportations of local populations, and the conversion of client kingdoms into directly administered Assyrian provinces. A major focus of the episode is the internal operation of the Assyrian imperial system during periods without major war. The construction of Dur-Sharrukin (Khorsabad), Sargon II’s new royal capita…","meta_description":"Oldest Stories Album available here: https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/oldeststoriesmusic/oldest-stories-vol-1 but also possibly on your favorite music di…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1847,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/oldest-stories-518066/episodes/the-golden-years-of-sargon-ii/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/the-golden-years-of-sargon-ii.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}