034 - Rising Tensions

In this episode, we discuss the Persian conquest of Thrace, their failed invasion of Scythia, and the submission of Macedon that brought Persia right up to the foothills of Mt Olympus, at the very borders of mainland Greece; the diplomatic follies of the Athenians; and whether war was or was not inevitable, at least in the last decade of the 500s BC

• Map/The Achaemenid Empire ca. 500 BC

• Photo/Letter from Darius to Gadatas at the Louvre in Paris