{"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 Ill-Omened Origins of Sargon II","slug":"the-ill-omened-origins-of-sargon-ii","published_at":"2025-11-19T18:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/oldest-stories-518066/the-ill-omened-origins-of-sargon-ii","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/oldest-stories-518066","url":"https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/oldeststories/episodes/The-Ill-Omened-Origins-of-Sargon-II-e3b6k5l","audio_url":"https://anchor.fm/s/fddb990/podcast/play/111414901/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2025-10-19%2F7fc15326-1055-3f44-8d56-f60186e0089b.mp3","summary":"Listen all the way to the end for a special musical feature about Sargon II. This episode explores one of the most pivotal and least understood turning points in Neo-Assyrian history, examining the rise of a king whose origins, motives, and very name remain contested even after a century of scholarship. These are the Oldest Stories, available at OldestStories.net. Note that the song at the end of the episode is AI generated. In 722 BCE, Sargon II seized the Assyrian throne and entered an eighteen-year reign that forms the best-documented era of ancient Mesopotamian history. Yet for all his inscriptions and annals, Sargon himself remains an enigma. His parentage, early career, accession, and the meaning of his throne name are questions that continue to challenge scholars of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. This episode delves deeply into the theories surrounding his origins, including newly translated inscriptions from Assur, shifting interpretations of his name from Sharru-Kenu to Sharru-Ukin, and the implications of his apparent disinterest in his own ancestry. From the ideological weight of throne names to the complexities of logosyllabic Akkadian spelling, we explore how philology, archaeology, and political history intersect to shape our understanding of this king. We also follow Sargon into the disastrous opening months of his reign: the unclear succession, the purge of thousands of internal opponents, the immediate loss of Babylon to Marduk-Apla-Iddina, the Levantine revolts, and the devastating defeat near Der at the hands of the Elamites. These events set the stage for a king on the brink of failure, navigating accusations of ill-omen, political chaos, and the danger of being overthrown before his first year had even ended. Yet they also reveal the moment in which Sarg…","meta_description":"Listen all the way to the end for a special musical feature about Sargon II. This episode explores one of the most pivotal and least understood turning po…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2725,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/oldest-stories-518066/episodes/the-ill-omened-origins-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-ill-omened-origins-of-sargon-ii.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}