To start with I need to define the problem, or else I’m going to end up recounting the whole of not only the Silmarillion but also Unfinished Tales and the Book of Lost Tales and probably Leaf by Niggle while … Continue reading →
Okay for starters there’s this guy Hurin and he’s pretty cool and he goes off to war with his buddies the elves against Morgoth, and it doesn’t work out and Hurin ends up in chains before Morgoth and Morgoth is … Continue reading →
So, wow! Clio sure was something, huh guy? It starts off with Herodotus’s extremely digressive story of Croesus, King of the Lydians, and how he invented “invading Hellenic territory” as a practice. Then it moves into Herodotus’s extremely digressive account … Continue reading →
In the morning Operation SITTING DUCK sprang into action! In what I consider a totally blown opportunity for a stunning ironic reversal, Croesus’s plan worked perfectly! Remember, Croesus told Cyrus to basically let his army get outflanked in unknown territory … Continue reading →
Short one today. So Cyrus hands over Croesus, his prisoner-vizier, to his son. His son is Cambyses, about whom we’ll have a fair bit to say, but not for a while. “Go rule the Persian Empire until I get back, … Continue reading →
Having conquered the crazy rich, awesome city-state of Babylon, Cyrus’s next move was to march his army up towards the Black Sea and fight the Massagetai. The Massagetai were some people, who were in a place. They liked milk. It’s … Continue reading →
As I hinted before, Cyrus invaded Babylon through careful application of a clever trick. Back in Nitocris’s time, when she was doing all of her earthworking and wallmaking, she diverted the Euphrates river (which ran right through/under Babylon, in a … Continue reading →
On the way to Babylon Cyrus and his army crossed a river, the Gyndes. One of Cyrus’s favorite horses drowned in an accident, and supposedly Cyrus was so angry at that mean ol’ river that he paused his march on … Continue reading →
Herodotus kind of loses interest in this particular narrative thread, the one about Harpagos rampaging across Anatolia and Ionia and the various refugees escaping his wrath. He spends a little time talking about some of the other peoples Harpagos conquered, … Continue reading →
Mazares’s death left a power vacuum in Lydia, one immediately filled by none other than Harpagos, the guy who masterminded Cyrus’s rise to power and the rebellion against Cyrus’s father Astyages. Did Harpagos murder Mazares via knife in the gut … Continue reading →
