Dr Adrian Goldsworthy

So, and it's, you know, all this, he tends to be a peroxide blonde whenever Hollywood gets their hands on him, whether it's Richard Burton or Colin.

An Irish accent.

Yes, exactly.

You know, Burton before, there was a Welshman originally.

So it's actually, he's shown there with sort of mid-coloured hair.

Now again...

fading, and it's a copy of an earlier original.

But it might be that Mediterranean.

Well, it wasn't really black hair, so it was light.

That seemed a rude way of talking about it.

We're getting into character film country now.

Sorry, I spoiled you all.

Right, okay, sorry.

Take it away, Adrian.

Go on, take it away.

Well, you have the women of the royal household.

Because again, when the great king goes on campaign, everybody comes with him.

The whole court comes with him because the empire, the heart of the empire is where the great king is.

And the same way he doesn't have a single capital, he's got several.

When he goes off on campaign in tents, just as Xerxes has done, this is now the heart of the empire.