The Hellenistic Age Podcast

“Carthage must be destroyed” – and with these words Cato the Elder doomed his North African rival by helping spark the Third Punic War, the last in a century of conflicts between Rome and Carthage. Deprived of its military in the aftermath of Zama and harassed by the Numidian king Massinissa, Carthage nevertheless managed to bounce back as an economic powerhouse during the first half of the second century B.C. Yet this recovery made the Senate suspicious of their Punic neighbor, which rapidly escalated into a war of annihilation as the Romans were determined to secure their position as sole master of the Mediterranean.

Episode Notes:
(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2026/01/20/115-the-third-punic-war-delenda-est/)

Episode Transcript:
(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/115-the-third-punic-war-delenda-est-transcript.pdf)

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Starting from the early third century B.C., the Nabataean kingdom ruled over much of the Levant from the Sinai Peninsula to the Hejaz. Most known for their famous rose-colored capital city of Petra, the Nabataeans occupied a unique position within the eastern Mediterranean for nearly five hundred years, competing with the Hellenistic, Hasmonean, and Herodian kingdoms. Yet they also acted as a stabilizing force for the so-called "Incense Road", leaving behind brilliant rock-cut monuments like al-Khazneh ("The Treasury").

Episode Notes:
(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2025/12/20/114-the-nabataean-kingdom/)

Episode Transcript:
(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/114-the-nabataean-kingdom-transcript.pdf)

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Civil war continues to grip the Seleucid Empire, as Alexander I Balas is challenged by the young Demetrius II for the throne of Syria. Things come to a head when Ptolemy VI, tied by marriage to Balas through his daughter Cleopatra Thea, launches an invasion of Coele Syria. In August 145 BC, the armies of Demetrius, Alexander, and Ptolemy meet at the Oenoparus River in a showdown whose outcome will surprise everyone involved.

Episode Notes:
(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2025/10/14/111-the-seleucid-empire-the-elephant-in-the-throne-room/)

Episode Transcript:
(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/113-the-war-of-the-three-kings-transcript.pdf)

Family Tree - Antiochus IV to Alexander I
(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/reign-of-antiochus-iv-to-alexander-i.pdf)

Family Tree - Ptolemy VI
(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/reign-of-ptolemy-vi.pdf)

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The newly enthroned Demetrius I Soter managed to instill a degree of order throughout the Seleucid realm, crushing the would-be king Timarchos in Babylonia and the rebellion of Judas Maccabee. Yet his behavior abroad alienated many of the other kings like Attalus II of Pergamon and Ptolemy VI, who in turn bankrolled the ambitions of another Seleucid usurper: Alexander Balas, the (supposed) lost son of Antiochus IV Epiphanes.

Episode Notes:
(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2025/11/05/112-the-seleucid-empire-breaking-the-hammer/)

Episode Transcript:
(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/112-the-seleucid-empire-breaking-the-hammer-transcript.pdf)

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With Antiochus IV Epiphanes’ death in Persia, the throne passed to the boy-king Antiochus V Eupator and his standing regent Lysias in 164. Between the Maccabean Revolt, would-be usurpers, and arrogant Roman emissaries, few of the kingdom’s subjects had faith in the ruling pair. This was sensed by Prince Demetrius, the son of Seleucus IV held hostage in Rome, who escaped captivity with the aid of Polybius of Megalopolis and returned to Syria to reclaim his birthright.

Episode Notes:
(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/2025/10/14/111-the-seleucid-empire-the-elephant-in-the-throne-room/)

Episode Transcript:
(https://hellenisticagepodcast.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/111-the-seleucid-empire-the-elephant-in-the-throne-room-transcript.pdf)

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