Professor Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones

Yeah, so there's the beautiful piece on the base to an inscription, like the relief there has Skunkar, the subjected Saka King, who has this beautiful pointed hat, which almost doesn't fit the image. So they had to move the text around because he got added in later. But those hats are apparently characteristic.

Yeah, so there's the beautiful piece on the base to an inscription, like the relief there has Skunkar, the subjected Saka King, who has this beautiful pointed hat, which almost doesn't fit the image. So they had to move the text around because he got added in later. But those hats are apparently characteristic.

Well, I just want to sort of circle back to what we were talking about earlier with the causes of this war, because there is to some extent, although indirectly, there is a Persian version of this, which has to do with what Lloyd's just described, the Bistun inscription in which it's very explicitly stated that the Persian king is essentially the king of all things.

Well, I just want to sort of circle back to what we were talking about earlier with the causes of this war, because there is to some extent, although indirectly, there is a Persian version of this, which has to do with what Lloyd's just described, the Bistun inscription in which it's very explicitly stated that the Persian king is essentially the king of all things.

Well, I just want to sort of circle back to what we were talking about earlier with the causes of this war, because there is to some extent, although indirectly, there is a Persian version of this, which has to do with what Lloyd's just described, the Bistun inscription in which it's very explicitly stated that the Persian king is essentially the king of all things.

Like he is the bringer of order to the world and the agent of the gods, the agent of Aramazda in particular in achieving this. And anybody who defies him is a rebel against the truth, right? There's a rebel against the natural order of the world and all that is good in it. And so there is an understanding of the Persians as being essentially, you know, the legitimate rulers of the entire world.

Like he is the bringer of order to the world and the agent of the gods, the agent of Aramazda in particular in achieving this. And anybody who defies him is a rebel against the truth, right? There's a rebel against the natural order of the world and all that is good in it. And so there is an understanding of the Persians as being essentially, you know, the legitimate rulers of the entire world.

Like he is the bringer of order to the world and the agent of the gods, the agent of Aramazda in particular in achieving this. And anybody who defies him is a rebel against the truth, right? There's a rebel against the natural order of the world and all that is good in it. And so there is an understanding of the Persians as being essentially, you know, the legitimate rulers of the entire world.

And the existence of any autonomous state outside of that system just cannot be allowed to continue because that is a falsehood, right? If you say Darius is not my king or later Xerxes is not my king, you are lying, right? That is essentially a violation of the truth. Yeah, that's absolutely right. Yeah.

And the existence of any autonomous state outside of that system just cannot be allowed to continue because that is a falsehood, right? If you say Darius is not my king or later Xerxes is not my king, you are lying, right? That is essentially a violation of the truth. Yeah, that's absolutely right. Yeah.

And the existence of any autonomous state outside of that system just cannot be allowed to continue because that is a falsehood, right? If you say Darius is not my king or later Xerxes is not my king, you are lying, right? That is essentially a violation of the truth. Yeah, that's absolutely right. Yeah.

So ideologically for Xerxes, the war against the Greeks could very easily be justified by simply pointing at them and saying, they don't pay me tribute. That is all the justification in royal ideology that they need.

So ideologically for Xerxes, the war against the Greeks could very easily be justified by simply pointing at them and saying, they don't pay me tribute. That is all the justification in royal ideology that they need.

So ideologically for Xerxes, the war against the Greeks could very easily be justified by simply pointing at them and saying, they don't pay me tribute. That is all the justification in royal ideology that they need.

And that is also why it's important for them to bring all these people in, at least symbolically, to try and show to both the rest of the world, but also to their own subjects, we rule all of you, right? Like all of this is our domain. This is our sovereignty. And of course, anybody else who exists outside of that, I mean, it's just a matter of time. They have to be included in this.

And that is also why it's important for them to bring all these people in, at least symbolically, to try and show to both the rest of the world, but also to their own subjects, we rule all of you, right? Like all of this is our domain. This is our sovereignty. And of course, anybody else who exists outside of that, I mean, it's just a matter of time. They have to be included in this.

And that is also why it's important for them to bring all these people in, at least symbolically, to try and show to both the rest of the world, but also to their own subjects, we rule all of you, right? Like all of this is our domain. This is our sovereignty. And of course, anybody else who exists outside of that, I mean, it's just a matter of time. They have to be included in this.

That is the way of things. And that is how everything is better.

That is the way of things. And that is how everything is better.

That is the way of things. And that is how everything is better.