Fortress Cilicia: Megastructures in the Near East

The Ancients

In the aftermath of Alexander the Great’s death, his empire became the subject of a series of titanic clashes: the Wars of the Successors. In this episode of the podcast, Dr Nick Rauh takes us through some of the monumental Hellenistic super fortresses built during this period in ancient Rough Cilicia, modern day southeast Turkey, along the Northeast Mediterranean shoreline. He also highlights the importance of this area of the ancient world to preceding superpowers such as the Assyrians and the Persians. Nick is a professor of Classics at Purdue University.

Fair warning, we nerd out quite heavily in this podcast, so below are some references to help!

Map of ancient Anatolia (Asia Minor), with place names mentioned in the podcast: https://www.worldhistory.org/img/c/p/1200x627/253.png

The Ptolemaic Kingdom - Hellenistic kingdom centred around Egypt that emerged in the aftermath of Alexander the Great's death.

The Seleucid Kingdom - Hellenistic kingdom centred around Syria / Mesopotamia, that emerged in the aftermath of Alexander the Great's death.

Antigonus the One Eyed - Prominent general during the Wars of the Successors. Father of Demetrius. Enemy of Eumenes of Cardia (Alexander the Great's former secretary).

Demetrius - Son of Antigonus and another prominent general during the Wars of the Successors.

Ovacik Peninsula - Cape Tisan

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