And That’s That (Herodotus The Histories Bk 3, Pt. 4)

And that's how book 3 of Herodotus' Histories ends, not with a bang but with an extra duplicitous siege of Babylon. Michaela here saying goodbye to all you wonderful listeners as this is my last episode on LTAMB. But she is creating her own show that will air sometime in the end of October. If you want more updates or to know when she'll be around give her a follow on instagram https://www.instagram.com/historia_pod/ or youtube https://www.youtube.com/@historia_pod! AVAILABLE NOW! The Odyssey: a Modern Retelling. https://geni.us/TheOdysseyBook Submit your question for the next Q&A via email http://mythsbaby.com/questions or a voice note https://www.speakpipe.com/LTAMB. Get ad-free episodes and so, so much more, by subscribing to the Oracle Edition at patreon.com/mythsbaby http://patreon.com/mythsbaby. Enter ourpodcast guest https://www.mythsbaby.com/contact form if you'd like to be on the show as a conversation guest! CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. I try to provide direct warnings when there is reference to anything with overtly traumatic themes but be aware that Greek mythology regularly features assault, death, and many other potentially triggering events. Sources: Herodotus' Histories, translated by Tom Holland. Attributions and licensing information for music used in the podcast can be found here:mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions http://mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions. Learn more about Liv's next group trips https://travelbugxlivalbert.my.canva.site/ to GREECE! Application deadline is November 30 (Subject to change due to demand). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy https://acast.com/privacy for more information.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Hey nerds, really quick note from me. I want to tell you that we now have the applications open for the next set of listener group trips. This is us going back to the original, the trips that we have held in the past that have been so much fun, so successful, and pretty affordable in terms of wandering around Greece with a bunch of nerds. So check out the details and get your applications in at mythsbaby.com/grouptrip.

• 0:43Speaker 00

  State Fair food is getting smaller and pricier.

• 0:46Speaker 01

  We'll have room for fried cookies.

• 0:48Speaker 00

  Okay, you never overspent on food. What's your deal?

• 0:51Speaker 02

  What's his deal? He went to Metro and got $450 in value on the new Samsung Galaxy 837 5G for free and no activation fees.

• 1:00Speaker 00

  Free phone? Oh, sign me up.

• 1:02Speaker 02

  Get that more for your money feeling, only on Metro by T-Mobile.

• 1:05Speaker 03

  Bring your number and activate $40 period plan. $450 based on device discount waived activation fee. Not available with Metro T-Mobile in the past 180 days.

• 1:14Speaker 00

  Hey, it's Hannah Burner from Giggly Squad and the holidays are around the corner, which means I'm officially entering my Hostess Hannah era with Arm & Hammer Hardball Cat Litter. You guys know I love cats and fostering, but when I'm hosting, I do not want my house smelling like cats. I want people focusing on my hosting skills. That's why I love Arm & Hammer Hardball Cat Litter. It delivers long-lasting odor control and forms compact clumps that make cleanup easy, so that's one less thing I need to worry about when people come over. Be guest ready with Arm & Hammer Cat Litter. Find it now at Walmart or Amazon.

• 2:16Speaker 00

  Hello, well, and welcome back to Let's Talk About Myths, Baby. It's me, Michaela Panglish, your Resonant History Nerd. Well, no longer Resonant, actually, because this will be my last episode on the show. My time at Myth Baby has come to an end because that's, I don't know, just life sometimes. But, you know, when life takes something out, it's just making space for something new. And I don't know exactly what that is for me, but it'll sort itself out. I'm not too worried. I will miss you all dearly and sharing history goodness, but I will say that I am working on my own little thing. I will be starting my own show. Surprise, surprise, another history show. I have an air date in mind, just a thought,

• 3:01Speaker 00

  but I still have some time. And I still need to iron out some of the details, but it will likely start airing at the end of October. I'm calling it Historia, and it won't be another Myth Baby. There's only one Myth Baby, and I love the show, and it is such a beautiful creation by Liv, and it's all its own thing. I want Historia to be her own thing, my creation, that is a reflection of me, just as much as Myth Baby is a reflection of Liv. I want to talk about history and the understanding of history and share my love of that with the world, because by God, do I love talking about history and digging deep into the mud of it all. There will be somewhat of a focus on Greco-Roman history,

• 3:43Speaker 00

  simply because that's my expertise, but I'm not going to keep it solely in that realm. Quite frankly, I find history from all over inspiring and fascinating and fun, and I just want to dig into it all. So it will somewhat be a Greco-Roman history show, but not a solely Greco-Roman show, because like I said, there are other things I want to talk about. I would love to actually do a series on the colonization of North America and the history of the genocide of Native American people, especially as there are so many people bopping around trying to deny that residential schools existed, which I'm not going to say their name, because

• 4:24Speaker 00

  I don't think they deserve any sort of recognition. I think that's abhorrent. But I would also love to still talk about things I love, like my favorite chaos boy, Alcibiades. And also would love to talk about modern Greek history and the Greek Revolution in the 1800s and the West's construction of their quote-unquote "history," and taking that from the modern Greeks to such an extent that to this day, they are also denying the Greeks their own history. Regardless, moving on, that's a little bit about Historia. She's going to come into existence soon, and if you'd like to follow along the journey and get more updates about what, when I'm airing and what I'm going to be doing, feel free to follow me at Historia underscore pod on Instagram and Blue Sky and YouTube, and I will link

• 5:09Speaker 00

  in the description as well. She'll be out soon-ish, and I can't wait to create something new and for myself, and I'm excited for this little journey. And yeah, but you know, first I gotta go to Europe and see my best friend, who I haven't seen in a year and a half, and see some of my family in the south of France, who, we are not French, by the way, just one aunt moved to the south of France in the 80s, and now we have family in the south of France. But anyways, sorry for all the rambling. That was a bit too much. I apologize. We should really get into the Herodotus of it all. We're finishing up book three today, so let's just get into it.

• 6:06Speaker 00

  And that's that. Herodotus the Histories, Book Three, Part Four.

• 6:24Speaker 00

  Last, we end the episode on the Indian tribes and what Herodotus knows about them. But now Herodotus is going to move on, and then he starts to talk about Arabia, but still doing geography. That's still happening. It's more tend to Herodotus, I don't know if you noticed this, but he is very interested in geography and how this shapes the people and their environment. You know, I'll give him kudos to that. Herodotus starts the section by talking about the various herbs and spices and smells that can be found in Arabia. He made sure to let us all know about India and how they were rich in gold, but Arabia is where frankincense,

• 7:06Speaker 00

  myrrh, cassia, cinnamon, and rock rose resin comes from. He says that all of these aren't easy to collect. Well, except for the myrrh. We're not going to know anything about how they get myrrh. They gather the frankincense by burning styrax resin, which the Phoenicians then export to Greece. They burn this resin because the frankincense bushes are guarded by the winged snakes. They're back. Isn't that fun? And I guess it's time to talk about them a little bit more, because why not? See, Herodotus has some real concern about these snakes, fully convinced that they are an actual threat to humans, generally. For if they could proliferate the way other animals proliferate, they would surely destroy all the humans around them in no time. He goes on to talk about how a couple animals conceive

• 7:50Speaker 00

  and give birth, and it's wild, not accurate in the least. Like, he says that lionesses only have one cub in their entire life, because when the young are born, their sharp, sharp claws rip her uterus out, which, okay. Anyways, these snakes, see, when the males have sex with the females, the females proceed to wrap themselves around the males and then bite their head off. Woo, fun. But then the babies in the mother's womb are fully aware of what has happened, and they avenge their father and rip themselves out of the mother's womb, killing her in the process. This happens because nature knows the snakes would just proliferate so much and have such great power that they would kill us all. I love Herodotus

• 8:35Speaker 00

  so much. Now, we must know about cassia. See, when the Arabians go out to get it, they wrap themselves in hides, and they go off to these ponds where the cassia grows. Around these ponds are winged bat-like creatures that will promptly attack them when they get near the cassia, so they must be prepared for that, hence the hides. Then we get to cinnamon. Firstly, apparently, no one knows where cinnamon grows. No one can say, but we do know that it grows where Dionysus was raised. Huge birds fly by with dry sticks of cinnamon, which they then make their nests out of. So the Arabians put out dead beasts of burden, all chopped up into bits, that the birds take to their nests. The weight

• 9:16Speaker 00

  of the meat is simply too heavy, and it causes the nests to fall to the ground, which is where they then harvest the cinnamon. Finally, rock resin, which he says is found in the beards of he goats, and it smells like absolute shit in the source. The ones they are able to get it out, it smells great, and they can make lots of perfume and stuff from it. Thanks, Herodotus. What a wild man. But also, how fun and fascinating to find out what people thought of the world around them. And this goes on for a while, and I would love to summarize it all, but I don't think I have enough space and time in this episode, so I'm going to move on to the rest of the book. After the little insurrection by the seven and Darius being made king, there was an incident with one of the original seven.

• 9:59Speaker 00

  His name was Intifrenes and he decided to go to the palace to talk to Darius about some things. Now, the other six were allowed to come by unannounced anytime they wanted, remember from last episode? But the only time they weren't allowed to come was when the king was laying with one of his wives. This so happened to be happening at the moment. When the guards told Intifrenes this, he didn't believe them and he cut off their ears and noses. They then went to Darius and they told him what happened and he immediately imprisoned Intifrenes and his entire family. Well, male family, because women aren't a threat. The wife of Intifrenes went to the palace and was wailing and wailing for her family and

• 10:40Speaker 00

  Darius actually felt bad. This is a common thread. He seems to feel bad for people a bit. So he sends a messenger to her to let her know that she could pick one member of her family to be spared. She proceeds to choose her brother and when Darius asks her why, she says, "I can have another husband. I can have more children. Both my parents are dead. I can't have another brother." Darius was moved by this, so he allowed her brother to be free as well as her eldest son. There we go. We then go back in time again and talk about Polycrates and Ourotes, the governor of Sardis as appointed by Cyrus. Ourotes, I guess, didn't like Polycrates and wanted to bring his end about. There are two reasons given for this.

• 11:24Speaker 00

  The first is that he had gotten into a fight with Mitrobatides, the governor of Dascylium, and Mitrobatides had taunted him that he wasn't able to capture Sardis. Instead, it was Polycrates who had captured this island and was still there to this day. This upset Ourotes so much because of his ego and he decided that Polycrates must be ended. The second reason for Ourotes hating Polycrates is that he had sent a messenger to Polycrates and he had just straight up ignored the messenger. So either reason, pick one, your choice. Whatever the reason Ourotes had, a Lydian man named Mercus went to Samos with a message for Polycrates. Apparently, Polycrates wanted to form a maritime empire, like Minos on Crete or some other guy, but whatever.

• 12:08Speaker 00

  He didn't want Polycrates to have this kind of power, so off he sent his messenger. The message said that he knew what Polycrates was trying to do and that Cambyses was wanting to kill Ourotes. "If you are successful," the message says, "I will be saved as well. And if you can get me out, you can have money from me." Polycrates loved money, so he was down for this idea. He sent Maestris to go check the situation out. Maestris did as such and gave the message from Ourotes to Polycrates.

• 12:38Speaker 00

  Many of Polycrates' friends suggested that he do not take Ourotes up on his deal because, you know, what if he's lying? Polycrates' own daughter had a dream where she saw him rise into the air and be washed by Zeus and anointed by the sun. And afterward, she tried to stop her father from leaving, but once again, Polycrates would not listen because why listen to your daughter, I guess? He threatened that she would live her life as an old maid if she didn't stop and she said, "Okay, do it." Polycrates, once again, didn't listen, instead set off with his entourage of friends, including a physician named Democates. The best physician around, apparently. As soon as Polycrates reached their destination, Magnesia, he was butchered so horribly

• 13:23Speaker 00

  that Herodotus doesn't even tell us the details. It was that horrific and Herodotus is pretty happy to give us details. Ourotes released all the Samians in Polycrates' entourage, but keeps everyone else enslaved. He tells the Samians that they should feel lucky to have been freed by someone as generous as him. This was in the time of the Magians' rule and Ourotes stayed in Sardis, keeping out of the whole business of that rule. During these times, he also took the opportunity to kill Mitrobatides, the guy who taunted him about Sardis, and his son, Cronaspest. He also killed a messenger from Darius, so I think we should expect what is coming next. Darius was now in charge of the Persian Empire.

• 14:04Speaker 00

  We are back on track in the timeline and at this moment, he wanted to make Ourotes pay for what he had done. He called together a group of upper-class Persian men and told them the plan. "Look," he says, "Ourotes must pay for what he has done. He killed someone of your own rank, of his own rank, and that cannot go unpunished. One of you must bring him to me, dead or alive. I don't need you to be aggressive with this, though. Be cunning, be smart, use your brain to trick him. He's a tricky man, but he's a lazy one, too. He didn't lift a hand to help any of the Persians when the Magians had taken over."

• 14:40Speaker 00

  All thirty men there volunteered to do such a thing and so Darius held a lottery. The man who ended up being chosen was named Bagaeus. He had many documents written and sealed with Darius' own signet ring and then he headed off to Sardis. When he got there, he read each of the documents out loud, one by one, seeing if the guards would follow the orders within them. When he got to the document stating, "King Darius forbids you, men of Persia, to serve as the bodyguards of Ourotes", the guards immediately dropped their spears. Bagaeus got to the final document which read, "King Darius commands all the Persians present in Sardis to kill Ourotes", which can you guess what happens next? Yeah, they drew their weapons and stabbed the shit out of Ourotes.

• 15:23Speaker 00

  At the same time, Darius was back in Persia and was doing some hunting. In the middle of this expedition, he jumped off his horse and proceeded to twist his ankle. All of the physicians he had around did their best at trying to make him feel better, twisting it this way and that, trying to get it back into place. A very painful process, apparently. And Darius felt that he had only the best physicians around, the Egyptian ones. But no matter what they did, the ankle simply would not get better. He lived in pain for a whole week, a whole week, guys. That's so long and this poor man had such a pain that he couldn't even get a single wink of sleep at all. Poor guy, what was he to do? Well, this is when Democates comes back into the picture. Remember him? Polycrates' physician friend who was apparently the best all around?

• 16:08Speaker 00

  Yeah, they managed to find him and bring him to the king. The king asked him, "Are you a physician?" And Democates just didn't want to be a part of this at all, so he told him that, "No, no, I am not a physician and I cannot be trusted with one's health." Darius rolled his eyes at this and had the slaves bring out all matters of whips and things at which Democates said, "Well, no, no, actually, I'm not a physician, but I did spend some time with a physician, so I do know some things." He then got to work, somehow finally getting the king to have a little bit of rest. And then he went about very gently and competently working at Darius' ankle. In no time, the king's ankle was healed and Darius brought out golden fetters to give to the physician.

• 16:52Speaker 00

  "Why are you doing this?" asked Democates. "To double my punishment?" Darius liked that. Sassy, sassy guy and so he sent Democates to all his wives, who promptly each gave him a cupful of gold and treasures, so much so that Democates and his own personal slave as well were set for life.

• 17:24Liv Albert?

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• 18:08Liv Albert?

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• 18:50Liv Albert?

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• 19:16Speaker 00

  State Fair food is getting smaller and pricier.

• 19:20Speaker 01

  We'll have room for fried cookies.

• 19:21Speaker 00

  Okay, you never overspend on food. What's your deal?

• 19:25Speaker 02

  What's his deal? He went to Metro and got four hundred and fifty dollars in value on the new Samsung Galaxy A37 5G for free and no activation fees.

• 19:33Speaker 00

  Free phone? Oh, sign me up.

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• 19:47Speaker 05

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• 20:33Speaker 00

  And now we're going to talk more about Democrates, because why not? How did Democrates make his way into Polycrates's care? Well, he started on Quoton, where he just did not have a great relationship with his father, because his dad was an angry man. He lived with an angry man in his household. Democrates left, good for him, and headed for Agina, where he started to learn about the medical arts. Within no time, he had surpassed all the other physicians on the island, despite not having any formal training or tools of his own. In no time, he was the official physician of the Aginatins, and then the Athenians, and then Polycrates, which is how he got to Samos, and was very important for all of us to be made aware of.

• 21:15Speaker 00

  This made Democrates very popular in the Persian court, and he had no want anymore, except for a return to Greece. But he was unsure how to make this happen. One day, Atossa, we all remember her, Cyrus's daughter and Darius's wife, well, she got very sick with a growth in her breast. It had spread and burst, and she had not told anyone about it because of modesty. But at this point, it was time. It wasn't going away, and it was only getting worse. So, Democrates came to her at her bidding and took a look. He promised her that he could cure her. He was sure of it, but if he did, so he had to ask a favor of her. She agrees, and Democrates went about curing her.

• 22:00Speaker 00

  Later, she was in bed with Darius, and after they had done the deed, she got around to doing what Democrates had asked of her. She turned to her husband and said, "You've done so much for the Persians already. You have so much power, but still, you don't do more. You are in the prime of your life, and you must make something of it. Do something. If you do something extraordinary, it will do two things. It will make sure the Persians understand what kind of man rules them a true man, but it will also distract them and take away their resources, so much so that they wouldn't have time or energy to plot against you." Darius listened to this, and you know what? He agreed with his wife. "You're right, Atossa. I do need to do something, and I've been thinking about just the thing.

• 22:46Speaker 00

  I was thinking of building a bridge into Scythia and taking them over." Atossa nodded her head at that and said, "That's good, that's good. Not a bad idea, but what if you invade Greece instead? Because I heard that Lacedaemonian girls make great maidservants, and also the Argive girls, and the Athenian girls, oh, and the Corinthian girls. And don't you know what you... What? You have a perfectly good Greek here who could help you with this. The physician." "Wow, wife, I see that you feel strongly about this, and I think it's not a bad idea. So I'll just start with a little scouting party, so we can get a lay of the land, so to speak," he says. The next day comes, and Darius summons a bunch of men to tell them about his plans.

• 23:30Speaker 00

  They were to take Democrates and go sail around Greece and get a lay of the land there, look at the coastline, and understand the geography of it all. After this, he summoned Democrates to him and told him what was going to happen. Democrates was to be the Persian's guide, and then come back to Persia. He then said he was welcome to bring all of his possessions as gifts to his father and brothers, but Democrates didn't want Darius to catch on to what his own plans were. He told Darius that he would leave his things, so that they were there when he got back. But when he returns, he will send gifts on a separate ship. Off, Democrates and the Persians went, down the coast first to Ceydon to get their ships fully ready. After it was all ready, they headed out for Greece to map the coastline, to get a lay of the land, stopping and going as they went.

• 24:15Speaker 00

  They made their way to Tarentum, which is in the south of Italy, and when they're there, the king of the city, Aristophilides, takes the rudders off the ships and imprisons the Persians, thinking that they're spies. Democrates then found his way off to Quoton, which I don't think I mentioned, but it was actually in the south of Italy as well, so, close. Aristophilides eventually returns the rudders and sends the Persians on their way. The Persians immediately set off after Democrates and make their way to Quoton as well, where they find him walking around the marketplace. They seize him, and the people of the city start to attack them, and the Persians immediately say, "Hey, stop it. Well, you know, we, the Persians, when we start taking people over, we're gonna come here first.

• 24:58Speaker 00

  Like, is this man that important?" Well, the people did not stop attacking them, and eventually, the Persians simply gave up, leaving the city and heading back towards Asia. The Persians were then shipwrecked in Epipigaia, where they were then sold into slavery. However, a man from Tarentum named Gylas lived there as an exile and managed to ransom them back and bring them to Darius. Darius said he could have whatever he wanted, and all he wanted was to return to his city. But because he didn't want to cause much trouble for the Persians, and he didn't want the south of Italy to be thrown into turmoil if a giant Persian fleet showed up, he settled to hang out with the Canidians, who had a special relation with the Tarantines.

• 25:40Speaker 00

  And now, we truly start to get into invasion, because at this point, Darius takes Samos. See, this whole Samos story all really starts when Cambyses is in Egypt, where Darius is just another member of Cambyses' retinue, and is just bouncing around. Another man was there, that being Silosin, the brother of Polycrates, who was in exile. Silosin had on the most wondrous red cloak, and Darius, seeing it, was instantly in love with it. He simply had to have it. So he went up to the man and said, "Tell me the price of this cloak, and I will buy it. I love it so very much and would love to have it." Silosin said, "This cloak? It's priceless.

• 26:21Speaker 00

  I couldn't sell it for anything, but if you are so in love with it, if you simply must have it, then I will give it to you for free." Darius was struck by this and went off with the cloak. Time went by, and Darius was now the king of Persia, and Silosin heard about it. He packed his things up and headed for Darius's court, waiting outside the doors, telling the guards that he had done something wonderful for the king. They brought him in, and Silosin told Darius who he was and what he had done. Darius was struck. "Wow, that's so amazing. This wonderful man who gave him his favorite cloak is here, and he simply must repay him now." Darius's favorite thing. He tells Silosin, "You may have as much gold and silver as you want, just let me know."

• 27:05Speaker 00

  Silosin responds simply, "All I want is my home. Please help me get Samos back." And Darius agrees. Darius then sends a task force off to Samos, led by Otanis. Samos, at the time, was being controlled by Maandriaus, you know, son of Maandriaus, who got his position from Polycrates. When Polycrates was dead, Maandriaus at once built a temple to Zeus the Liberator, and then called all the people of Samos to a meeting. There, he said to them, "You all know that Polycrates put power into my hands, but I do not want to force you to do anything that you don't want to do. I felt it was wrong for Polycrates to take power as he did, being no different than any other man, and I will not do the same thing.

• 27:48Speaker 00

  So here, I shall put the power in your hands and let you make your own decisions, though I will ask for certain provisions. First, that I be allowed six talents from Polycrates's fortune, and secondly, that my family be allowed to hold the priesthood of Zeus the Liberator, since we are the ones who built the temple." One man amongst all the citizens stood up and said, "What makes you think you are qualified to lead? You are just a simple, low-class man. Actually, you should be showing us the account books, so we know you aren't defrauding us." This very man was Telesarchus, and he had a good reputation among the citizens, being one of the higher-ranked men of the city. Maandriaus realized that if he were to leave, another tyrant, such as Telesarchus, would

• 28:32Speaker 00

  simply take his place and nothing would change. So, he changed his mind. He went back to the Acropolis and summoned each of the leading men of Samos, one by one, under the pretense of going over the accounts. As each came, he locked them up, and he kept this going until they were all behind bars. Maandriaus was then suddenly stricken with illness, and his brother, Lacheritus, felt that soon, Maandriaus would die, and he would take over. So while Maandriaus was sick, he went in and killed each of the imprisoned men. Because of this, Samos was quite weak when Otanis and the Persians arrived, and no one tried to stop them. Maandriaus as well sent a message and said that he and his people were ready to leave this island immediately. They didn't want any trouble. Otanis agreed.

• 29:17Speaker 00

  This was going quite easily, actually, for him, how nice. And they all poured libations after the agreement was settled. The Persians then settled themselves around the outside of the Acropolis, waiting for everyone to clear out. But Maandriaus had another brother who was, to put it lightly, batshit crazy. His name was Chereleos, and had, he had literally been living in the dungeon behind bars at this point. When he found out what was happening, he demanded to speak with Maandriaus. He ordered that Chereleos be released and brought to him. As soon as they got together, Chereleos really started to lay into Maandriaus, calling him weak and pathetic and all sorts of things. "Will you really just let these men come in and take your power? You are a coward.

• 30:00Speaker 00

  But, but if you lend me your mercenaries, I will deal with these Persians, and you can escape." Which, of course, Maandriaus agreed to. Herodotus feels that the reason for this is because he didn't want to leave Samos to Silosin undamaged and with all its resources, and knowing that by going back on the promise, it would be the Samian people who would be punished. So, he felt comfortable skedaddling. Plus, he could get away quite easily, because he had a secret passageway that led from the Acropolis to the sea. So off he went, and he got on a ship to leave. While this happened, Chereleos got all the mercenary... While this happened, Chavellios got all the mercenaries together and opened the doors to the unsuspecting Persians, attacking them all as they sat there, waiting for the Acropolis to be vacated.

• 30:44Speaker 00

  They bore down on them and killed them all, but then Otanis arrived with reinforcements and Chavellios and the mercenaries fled to the Acropolis. Otanis was unhappy, and while Darius had told him to, under no circumstances, take any of that shit out on the Samian people, he set his men upon any man, woman, or child that they came across. While some of the Persian forces went off to deal with all the men on the Acropolis, others started raising the town, killing anyone they saw. Meanwhile, Maestris was making his way to Sparta, and when he got there, he immediately sought out a meeting with the king Cleomenes. He brought all of his gold and silver goblets to this meeting, making sure that they were shiny and beautiful, so that when Cleomenes saw them, he would be so amazed and he would want to help them, I guess.

• 31:29Speaker 00

  Cleomenes was truly amazed by this. I guess there's not much gold and silver in Sparta, and he knew that this was a corrupting force. There's that Spartan attitude. So he went to the Ephors and told them about what was happening. The Ephors agreed with the king and duly kicked Maestris out of the Peloponnese, and I fear this will come back one day. Well, that's the end of it, but what happened to Samos? The Persians meticulously made their way through the island, killing any and everyone that they came across, so that when Silosin took control, there was literally not a single living person left alive on the island. However, on the plus side, Otanis had a dream later in life, and also apparently some sort

• 32:11Speaker 00

  of ailment of his genitals, which I guess we had to know about, but his dream said that he should help resettle the island, given that, you know, it was his fault. I'm going to wrap this all up by talking about the capture of Babylon. While Otanis was off dealing with Samos, Darius was preparing to deal with Babylon. During all the events of the past, while no one was paying attention to Babylon and what they were doing, they were done being under Persian control and had prepared for themselves a revolt. Once the revolt had started, the men began by sending all their mothers away, and then killing all but one of the women in their households, so they would still have someone to cook for them.

• 32:52Speaker 00

  But, you know, who wouldn't take much resources from, which was a choice, but who am I to judge? That's a lot. We can judge. That's, that's extreme. Darius prepared his force, and he headed out to deal with the revolt, putting them under a blockade, so they couldn't get any resources of any kind. Yet, because of the great walls around the city, there was no way for the Persian force to find a way in. The Babylonians were not putting up with Darius, however, they refused to bow to him and yelled at him over the walls that they would never fall. They would never fall back and give him what he wanted. They would fall only when mules gave birth to a foal, a little like an ancient "pigs fly, when pigs fly" kind of situation.

• 33:34Speaker 00

  This revolt went on for almost two years, and despite all of Darius's ideas and plans, nothing was working. The Babylonians were determined, but in the twentieth month, Zopirus, the son of Megabites, one of the seven, noticed that his mule had given birth to a foal. So hey, the pigs, they, they had flown. He knew that this was an omen, a good omen for the Persians, and he wanted to be at the front of it all when they finally took Babylon. So he took some drastic measures, to say the least. He proceeds to cut off his ears and his nose, and then he whips himself bloody before taking himself in front of the king. Darius was distraught at the sight of the man. How could something so horrible happen? But Zopirus reassured him that this was all part of the plan.

• 34:19Speaker 00

  See, he told the king, "I will make my way to the gates under the guise of a deserter, and I will tell them that it was you who did this to me. Once I'm inside, you know, because of this horrible thing that has happened to me, they will put me in charge of some of the walls, and, and then you will bring some of the men to the gate of Semiramis, and after a bit more time, you will bring some more men to the gate of Nineveh, and after even a little more time, you will bring men to the Chaldean gates. None of the contingents you bring should have anything but daggers to defend themselves." Then, on the next day after the third contingent arrives, you know, "You will bring the rest of the army, and they should attack the walls from all sides and post some Persians at the Belian and the Kessian gates."

• 35:00Speaker 00

  So Zopirus went off to enact the plan, and just as he expected, the Babylonians let him in right away. He told them what had happened, that it was Darius who had done this to him, and seeing him all bloody and disfigured, they felt for him. He walked in and told them who he was, that he was familiar with the inner circles of Darius, and he could tell them all about his plans moving forward. The Babylonians loved this, because it seemed like such a boon to them, so they gave him a very considerable position of power within the ranks. When the first group of men he told Darius to send arrived, he walked out with the Babylonians and wiped them out. When the second came, he did the exact same thing. The Babylonians were astounded and impressed, and when the final group of men arrived, Zopirus did the same thing.

• 35:45Speaker 00

  Three times he made a plan, and three times he approved himself, and because of this, the Babylonians made him commander in chief of the city's army and the warden of the walls. The next day came, and Darius's army started to attack the walls. Zopirus then went down to the Belian and Kessian gates and opened them up, much to the dismay of the Babylonians, or at least those who noticed. Some saw what happened, turned and ran, while others didn't notice, and they were promptly slaughtered. But the Persians had gotten in, and in no time, they had taken over the city. They proceeded to rip down the walls, something that Cyrus had have done when he had taken Babylon, but at least with that, they wouldn't be able to revolt so easily again in the future. Darius had women from the surrounding regions sent to Babylon so that their people wouldn't

• 36:29Speaker 00

  die out, which is fun, I guess, great. And Zopirus was forever seen by Darius as the greatest of them because of the sacrifice he made. He gave him great gifts every year, and he let him live tax-free for as long as he should live. Zopirus was then the father of Megabites, who would lead the army against the Athenians in Egypt later in time. And this Megabites was the father of Zopirus, another one, who defected from the Persians to Athenians. What fun foreshadowing. And that's it.

• 37:11Speaker 00

  That's all of Book Three of Herodotus, and that's the end of my time here at Myths Baby. I have loved sharing history with you all for this past year while I've been making episodes, and I've loved working on the show for the past five years, but it is time for me to move on to my own things. All the love to the show, all the love to you listeners, and all the love to Liv as well. And remember, if you want to see what I'm doing next and follow me along on this fun new history journey, come on over to @adhistoria_pod, all over the place, to see what comes next. Love you all, and for the last time, buh-bye. Let's talk about Myths Baby is written and produced by Liv Albert. Michaela Panglish was the producer, the Hermes to all your Olympians, moving on to other things now. Select music by Luke Chaos. The podcast is part of the Memory Collective Podcast Network, a collection of creators

• 37:56Speaker 00

  that all strive to bring you accurate and reliable information on the ancient world. These include the wonderful friends at Movies We Dig, The Partial Historian, Sweetbitter, and so much more. Get ad-free episodes and other fun things via the subscription to the Oracle Edition on Patreon at patreon.com/mythbaby, or via the link in the episode's description.

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