https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/executed-monarchs--7317299
Each episode reconstructs one royal execution in full, cinematic detail: the reign that made enemies of the wrong people, the capture and the trial no monarch believed could happen, the last night, and the morning the sentence was executed before a silent or roaring crowd. No host chatting between clips, no panel debating divine right. Just one complete story, narrated start to finish, built from trial records, ambassadors' dispatches, and eyewitness accounts of the scaffold.

You will watch kings executed by their own parliaments, queens executed on evidence forged by their rivals, and emperors executed in cellars far from any court. Some episodes follow the trial session by session; others trace the civil wars that put a crowned head on the block. All of them treat executed monarchs as what they are: the moments when subjects discovered that thrones bleed.

If you are drawn to royal history at its most dramatic edge, this is built for you. New episodes drop regularly, each one a self-contained fall from throne to scaffold. Subscribe now so the next of the executed monarchs lands the moment it goes live.]]>enHistoryCopyright OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENThttps://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/496cfe8a39d27c249f4d705a51bb2e9f.jpghttps://www.spreaker.com/podcast/executed-monarchs--7317299Wed, 09 Sep 2026 09:13:14 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTOBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTcreators@obomedia.comExecuted kings and queens are history's greatest reversals: one morning the law is whatever they say it is, and soon after, the law kills them. This show tells the true stories of executed monarchs, one scaffold at a time. Each episode reconstructs...
Each episode reconstructs one royal execution in full, cinematic detail: the reign that made enemies of the wrong people, the capture and the trial no monarch believed could happen, the last night, and the morning the sentence was executed before a silent or roaring crowd. No host chatting between clips, no panel debating divine right. Just one complete story, narrated start to finish, built from trial records, ambassadors' dispatches, and eyewitness accounts of the scaffold.

You will watch kings executed by their own parliaments, queens executed on evidence forged by their rivals, and emperors executed in cellars far from any court. Some episodes follow the trial session by session; others trace the civil wars that put a crowned head on the block. All of them treat executed monarchs as what they are: the moments when subjects discovered that thrones bleed.

If you are drawn to royal history at its most dramatic edge, this is built for you. New episodes drop regularly, each one a self-contained fall from throne to scaffold. Subscribe now so the next of the executed monarchs lands the moment it goes live.]]>falsee3b63af4-9ee5-53b7-aa71-f45c1b85446fepisodichttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/you-buy-a-lifted-curse-with-a-coin-would-you-tax-every-head--74906599
You buy a lifted curse with a coin - would you tax every head?

In this episode, we follow Constantine Hangerli's first chaotic year as prince of Wallachia, tracing the choices, payments and pressures that shaped his brief rule. What happens when a system that made you demands you become someone you never intended to be?

Person: Constantine Hangerli
Date: January 4, 1798 (entrance to Bucharest)
Location: Wallachia (Bucharest; Curtea Nouă; Văcărești; Saint Sava)
Topic: Restoration of the văcărit livestock tax after a 35-year ecclesiastical curse
Authority: Patriarch Grigorios V (lifted the curse after payment)

- Entered Bucharest by Podul Mogoșoaiei rather than the traditional route, a move read as an ill omen
- Recommended by Kapudan Pasha Husein Küçük to supply funds for suppressing Osman Pazvantoğlu's rebellion
- Reintroduced the văcărit tax; the curse abolishing it had been placed by Constantine Mavrocordatos in 1763
- Paid Patriarch Grigorios V in Constantinople to lift the ecclesiastical prohibition and documented the transaction
- Faced unanimous refusal from boyars to sign the decree, then secured four signatures through payment (including Nicolae Brâncoveanu and Cornescu)

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74906599Wed, 09 Sep 2026 09:01:20 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTA prince buys a patriarch’s blessing to lift an old curse and restores a livestock tax-would you sign and feed an empire's appetite? You buy a lifted curse with a coin - would you tax every head? In this episode, we follow Constantine Hangerli's...
You buy a lifted curse with a coin - would you tax every head?

In this episode, we follow Constantine Hangerli's first chaotic year as prince of Wallachia, tracing the choices, payments and pressures that shaped his brief rule. What happens when a system that made you demands you become someone you never intended to be?

Person: Constantine Hangerli
Date: January 4, 1798 (entrance to Bucharest)
Location: Wallachia (Bucharest; Curtea Nouă; Văcărești; Saint Sava)
Topic: Restoration of the văcărit livestock tax after a 35-year ecclesiastical curse
Authority: Patriarch Grigorios V (lifted the curse after payment)

- Entered Bucharest by Podul Mogoșoaiei rather than the traditional route, a move read as an ill omen
- Recommended by Kapudan Pasha Husein Küçük to supply funds for suppressing Osman Pazvantoğlu's rebellion
- Reintroduced the văcărit tax; the curse abolishing it had been placed by Constantine Mavrocordatos in 1763
- Paid Patriarch Grigorios V in Constantinople to lift the ecclesiastical prohibition and documented the transaction
- Faced unanimous refusal from boyars to sign the decree, then secured four signatures through payment (including Nicolae Brâncoveanu and Cornescu)

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1313falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/a-dna-test-confirmed-a-carved-gourd-held-a-king-s-blood-for-two-centuries--74906598
A DNA test confirmed a carved gourd held a king's blood for two centuries

In this episode we follow the objects, plans, and small decisions that shaped one man's fate. We trace a carved gourd, a secret flight from Paris, and the slow unraveling of a monarch who preferred caution to boldness, asking whether timidity can survive revolution.

Person: Louis-Auguste (Louis XVI)
Date: 1791 (flight attempt: June 20, 1791)
Location: Paris to Montmédy
Event: Royal family's clandestine escape attempt
Topic: Carved gourd containing preserved human blood matched to French royal line

- A team of scientists opened a carved gourd in 2012 and found human blood preserved for over two hundred years.
- The DNA from the gourd matched the French royal line and was linked to a king who died in 1793.
- Louis-Auguste grew up overshadowed by an older brother, was taught to value timidity, and became king at nineteen carrying that lesson into rule.
- He pursued a cautious, mechanical escape plan: a disguised carriage, false identities, and a route to Montmédy where royalist troops waited.
- The royal family's departure from Paris on the night of June 20, 1791, relied on ordinary appearances and detailed preparations rather than force.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74906598Tue, 08 Sep 2026 09:01:31 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTA king in disguise flees revolutionary Paris with his family-what do you do when the world you built turns on you? A DNA test confirmed a carved gourd held a king's blood for two centuries In this episode we follow the objects, plans, and small...
A DNA test confirmed a carved gourd held a king's blood for two centuries

In this episode we follow the objects, plans, and small decisions that shaped one man's fate. We trace a carved gourd, a secret flight from Paris, and the slow unraveling of a monarch who preferred caution to boldness, asking whether timidity can survive revolution.

Person: Louis-Auguste (Louis XVI)
Date: 1791 (flight attempt: June 20, 1791)
Location: Paris to Montmédy
Event: Royal family's clandestine escape attempt
Topic: Carved gourd containing preserved human blood matched to French royal line

- A team of scientists opened a carved gourd in 2012 and found human blood preserved for over two hundred years.
- The DNA from the gourd matched the French royal line and was linked to a king who died in 1793.
- Louis-Auguste grew up overshadowed by an older brother, was taught to value timidity, and became king at nineteen carrying that lesson into rule.
- He pursued a cautious, mechanical escape plan: a disguised carriage, false identities, and a route to Montmédy where royalist troops waited.
- The royal family's departure from Paris on the night of June 20, 1791, relied on ordinary appearances and detailed preparations rather than force.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1547falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/you-hold-an-eighty-three-year-old-satrap-s-last-bronze-do-you-keep-striking-his-name--74906596
You hold an eighty-three‑year‑old satrap's last bronze-do you keep striking his name?

In this episode, we follow Ariarathes I of Cappadocia in the final decades of his life as he navigates the collapse of the Persian world and the rise of Macedonian rule. We trace his choices from provincial governance to minting coins in Aramaic, and ask whether his persistence was defiance, inertia, or something else.

Person: Ariarathes I
Location: Gaziura, northern Cappadocia
Language on coin: Aramaic inscription "Lord of Gaziura"
Event: Battle of Gaugamela (autumn 331 BC) and aftermath
Age at death: eighty‑three

- He inherited northern Cappadocia from his father Ariamnes and governed it as a familial satrapy for decades.
- He sent troops to support Persian king Artaxerxes III, maintaining traditional satrapal duties before Alexander's arrival.
- He fought at Gaugamela around age seventy‑three, witnessed the fall of Darius III and the end of Achaemenid power.
- Instead of submitting to Macedonian administration, he returned to Gaziura and continued governing and issuing coinage in his own name.
- His last bronze, struck in Aramaic as "Lord of Gaziura," survives in a collection today, the trace of a provincial ruler who kept pressing his name into metal.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74906596Mon, 07 Sep 2026 09:01:44 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTAn 83-year-old satrap in Gaziura keeps stamping his Aramaic name on bronze coins-what would you do? You hold an eighty-three‑year‑old satrap's last bronze-do you keep striking his name? In this episode, we follow Ariarathes I of Cappadocia in...
You hold an eighty-three‑year‑old satrap's last bronze-do you keep striking his name?

In this episode, we follow Ariarathes I of Cappadocia in the final decades of his life as he navigates the collapse of the Persian world and the rise of Macedonian rule. We trace his choices from provincial governance to minting coins in Aramaic, and ask whether his persistence was defiance, inertia, or something else.

Person: Ariarathes I
Location: Gaziura, northern Cappadocia
Language on coin: Aramaic inscription "Lord of Gaziura"
Event: Battle of Gaugamela (autumn 331 BC) and aftermath
Age at death: eighty‑three

- He inherited northern Cappadocia from his father Ariamnes and governed it as a familial satrapy for decades.
- He sent troops to support Persian king Artaxerxes III, maintaining traditional satrapal duties before Alexander's arrival.
- He fought at Gaugamela around age seventy‑three, witnessed the fall of Darius III and the end of Achaemenid power.
- Instead of submitting to Macedonian administration, he returned to Gaziura and continued governing and issuing coinage in his own name.
- His last bronze, struck in Aramaic as "Lord of Gaziura," survives in a collection today, the trace of a provincial ruler who kept pressing his name into metal.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1169falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/you-strike-the-coin-without-the-overlord-s-name-lose-everything--74906595
You strike the coin without the overlord's name - lose everything

In this episode, we follow Dündar Beg’s choices as a provincial ruler in medieval Anatolia, from the buildings he commissioned to the coins he issued, and the tensions those acts created between local authority and Ilkhanid overlordship. What does it mean to stop performing loyalty you no longer feel?

Person: Dündar Beg
Date: 1321
Location: Anatolia (Eğirdir/Felekabad, Burdur)
Period: Thirteenth-fourteenth century transition (Seljuk to Ilkhanate)
Event: Striking a silver coin without the overlord’s name

- Dündar Beg built the Grand Mosque of Burdur (Pazar) and the Taşmedrese in Eğirdir and inscribed ambitious titles there in 1301-1302.
- He moved the Hamidid capital from Uluborlu to Eğirdir around 1300 and renamed it Felekabad after his honorific.
- The Hamidid dynasty originated from land granted to Hamid Beg by Sultan Kayqubad I in 1240 and adapted after the 1243 Mongol victory at Köse Dağ.
- Between 1307-1310 Dündar issued silver coins acknowledging Ilkhan Öljaitü, while simultaneously asserting local power through construction and titles.
- In 1321 a silver coin struck in his mint omitted the Ilkhanid overlord’s name, a solitary act that changed the political signal his currency sent.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74906595Sun, 06 Sep 2026 09:01:43 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTA provincial ruler in medieval Anatolia mints a coin without the Ilkhanid overlord's name and risks everything for his own sovereignty. You strike the coin without the overlord's name - lose everything In this episode, we follow Dündar Beg’s...
You strike the coin without the overlord's name - lose everything

In this episode, we follow Dündar Beg’s choices as a provincial ruler in medieval Anatolia, from the buildings he commissioned to the coins he issued, and the tensions those acts created between local authority and Ilkhanid overlordship. What does it mean to stop performing loyalty you no longer feel?

Person: Dündar Beg
Date: 1321
Location: Anatolia (Eğirdir/Felekabad, Burdur)
Period: Thirteenth-fourteenth century transition (Seljuk to Ilkhanate)
Event: Striking a silver coin without the overlord’s name

- Dündar Beg built the Grand Mosque of Burdur (Pazar) and the Taşmedrese in Eğirdir and inscribed ambitious titles there in 1301-1302.
- He moved the Hamidid capital from Uluborlu to Eğirdir around 1300 and renamed it Felekabad after his honorific.
- The Hamidid dynasty originated from land granted to Hamid Beg by Sultan Kayqubad I in 1240 and adapted after the 1243 Mongol victory at Köse Dağ.
- Between 1307-1310 Dündar issued silver coins acknowledging Ilkhan Öljaitü, while simultaneously asserting local power through construction and titles.
- In 1321 a silver coin struck in his mint omitted the Ilkhanid overlord’s name, a solitary act that changed the political signal his currency sent.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1146falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/you-inherit-an-empire-built-on-conquests-do-you-spare-your-imprisoned-son--74906593
You inherit an empire built on conquests - do you spare your imprisoned son?

In this episode, we follow the moment a long-reigning Persian king is deposed and kept alive for three days before his son, now on the throne, orders a fatal decision. The story traces the rise, the campaigns, and the brittle loyalties that set the stage for that winter night in Ctesiphon - and asks how power survives when it was won by force.

Person: Khosrow II (Khosrow Parviz)
Date: February 628
Location: Ctesiphon; palace at Dastagird; Taq-e Bostan
Event: Khosrow II deposed and imprisoned; son Kavad II succeeds
Topic: Sixteen years of Sasanian expansion and the political fallout

- Khosrow II ruled for thirty-eight years, commissioning monumental reliefs at Taq-e Bostan that were left unfinished when war interrupted the work.
- Early in his reign Khosrow may have been complicit in the blinding and death of his father, Hormizd IV, an action that shadows later events.
- A powerful general, Bahram Chobin, forced Khosrow into exile; Khosrow regained the throne with military aid from Emperor Maurice of Byzantium.
- Khosrow repaid Maurice’s support with territorial concessions, then later launched a massive offensive after Maurice’s murder, seizing cities including Damascus, Jerusalem, and Egypt.
- By directing long campaigns from his palace and relying on commanders and supply lines, Khosrow built an empire whose loyalties and strains would contribute to the crisis that followed.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74906593Sat, 05 Sep 2026 09:01:53 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTA son inherits a vast Persian empire - then faces the prisoner he once locked away. What would you do? You inherit an empire built on conquests - do you spare your imprisoned son? In this episode, we follow the moment a long-reigning Persian...
You inherit an empire built on conquests - do you spare your imprisoned son?

In this episode, we follow the moment a long-reigning Persian king is deposed and kept alive for three days before his son, now on the throne, orders a fatal decision. The story traces the rise, the campaigns, and the brittle loyalties that set the stage for that winter night in Ctesiphon - and asks how power survives when it was won by force.

Person: Khosrow II (Khosrow Parviz)
Date: February 628
Location: Ctesiphon; palace at Dastagird; Taq-e Bostan
Event: Khosrow II deposed and imprisoned; son Kavad II succeeds
Topic: Sixteen years of Sasanian expansion and the political fallout

- Khosrow II ruled for thirty-eight years, commissioning monumental reliefs at Taq-e Bostan that were left unfinished when war interrupted the work.
- Early in his reign Khosrow may have been complicit in the blinding and death of his father, Hormizd IV, an action that shadows later events.
- A powerful general, Bahram Chobin, forced Khosrow into exile; Khosrow regained the throne with military aid from Emperor Maurice of Byzantium.
- Khosrow repaid Maurice’s support with territorial concessions, then later launched a massive offensive after Maurice’s murder, seizing cities including Damascus, Jerusalem, and Egypt.
- By directing long campaigns from his palace and relying on commanders and supply lines, Khosrow built an empire whose loyalties and strains would contribute to the crisis that followed.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1481falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/you-hold-annie-s-spaniel-collar-do-you-let-a-dynasty-die-with-one-shot--74906592
You hold Annie's spaniel collar - do you let a dynasty die with one shot?

In this episode, we follow the domestic moments and duties that shaped Nicholas Alexandrovich Romanov from birth to the night everything changed. We trace his upbringing, marriage, and the ordinary objects - like Jimmy’s collar - that survived the events in Yekaterinburg; what decision did those responsibilities demand of him?

Person: Nicholas Alexandrovich Romanov
Date: 17 July 1918
Location: Basement in Yekaterinburg
Event: End of three hundred and four years of Romanov rule
Object: Jimmy's leather collar

- A small leather collar with a name tag reading "Jimmy" sat in an evidence box for eighty years.
- Nicholas was born 18 May 1868 at the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo as the eldest son destined to be Tsar.
- His father, Alexander III, ruled by force of personality and left Nicholas little practical preparation before dying in November 1894.
- Nicholas internalized two rigid lessons: coronation would endow rule, and autocracy plus Orthodox faith must not yield to reform.
- He married Alix of Hesse (Alexandra Fiodorovna) weeks after Alexander III's death, beginning a reign launched from a period of mourning.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74906592Fri, 04 Sep 2026 19:06:42 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTA young tsar is handed a dynasty and a dog’s leather collar - and must choose whether to keep the crown or let everything end. What would you do? You hold Annie's spaniel collar - do you let a dynasty die with one shot? In this episode, we...
You hold Annie's spaniel collar - do you let a dynasty die with one shot?

In this episode, we follow the domestic moments and duties that shaped Nicholas Alexandrovich Romanov from birth to the night everything changed. We trace his upbringing, marriage, and the ordinary objects - like Jimmy’s collar - that survived the events in Yekaterinburg; what decision did those responsibilities demand of him?

Person: Nicholas Alexandrovich Romanov
Date: 17 July 1918
Location: Basement in Yekaterinburg
Event: End of three hundred and four years of Romanov rule
Object: Jimmy's leather collar

- A small leather collar with a name tag reading "Jimmy" sat in an evidence box for eighty years.
- Nicholas was born 18 May 1868 at the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo as the eldest son destined to be Tsar.
- His father, Alexander III, ruled by force of personality and left Nicholas little practical preparation before dying in November 1894.
- Nicholas internalized two rigid lessons: coronation would endow rule, and autocracy plus Orthodox faith must not yield to reform.
- He married Alix of Hesse (Alexandra Fiodorovna) weeks after Alexander III's death, beginning a reign launched from a period of mourning.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1630falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/you-hold-a-jewelled-candelabrum-in-rome-who-do-you-name--74906590
You hold a jewelled candelabrum in Rome - who do you name?

In this episode we trace Cleopatra Selene’s life from Ptolemaic princess to three-time queen, following the choices she made when power and survival were not aligned. What did a woman with no army but a potent name do to keep legitimacy as her currency?

Person: Cleopatra Selene
Date: born ~130 BCE
Event: sent a jewelled candelabrum to Rome
Location: Roman temple (object placed in Rome)
Status: queen of three Hellenistic kingdoms

- Born daughter of Ptolemy VIII and Cleopatra III into a calculating Ptolemaic court where names carried political weight.
- Married into the Seleucid civil war first to Antiochus IX, then to his half-brother Antiochus VIII, and later to Antiochus X.
- Widowed twice by battlefield deaths and continued to wield legitimacy as her primary resource rather than land or armies.
- Sent a precious, gem-encrusted lamp stand dedicated to a Roman god, which remained in a Roman temple after her envoys were turned away.
- Ruled, minted coins in her own name, and held a fortified city against a feared conqueror before being killed around 69 BCE.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74906590Fri, 04 Sep 2026 19:06:37 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTA queen sends a jewelled candelabrum to Rome while enemies close in - who does she name to protect her legacy in the Mediterranean? You hold a jewelled candelabrum in Rome - who do you name? In this episode we trace Cleopatra Selene’s life from...
You hold a jewelled candelabrum in Rome - who do you name?

In this episode we trace Cleopatra Selene’s life from Ptolemaic princess to three-time queen, following the choices she made when power and survival were not aligned. What did a woman with no army but a potent name do to keep legitimacy as her currency?

Person: Cleopatra Selene
Date: born ~130 BCE
Event: sent a jewelled candelabrum to Rome
Location: Roman temple (object placed in Rome)
Status: queen of three Hellenistic kingdoms

- Born daughter of Ptolemy VIII and Cleopatra III into a calculating Ptolemaic court where names carried political weight.
- Married into the Seleucid civil war first to Antiochus IX, then to his half-brother Antiochus VIII, and later to Antiochus X.
- Widowed twice by battlefield deaths and continued to wield legitimacy as her primary resource rather than land or armies.
- Sent a precious, gem-encrusted lamp stand dedicated to a Roman god, which remained in a Roman temple after her envoys were turned away.
- Ruled, minted coins in her own name, and held a fortified city against a feared conqueror before being killed around 69 BCE.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1203falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/you-must-choose-which-son-sits-beside-your-throne-and-lose-the-rest--74906588
You must choose which son sits beside your throne - and lose the rest

In this episode, we follow the life that follows a father’s choice and the slow erasure of a son from the family record. The episode traces Ivan Sratsimir’s displacement, cultural efforts in Vidin, and the decision that reshaped his fate-what choices did he face and what would you have done?

Person: Ivan Sratsimir
Person: Ivan Alexander
Person: Ivan Shishman
Location: Vidin; Trinity Peninsula (Antarctica referenced by name)
Date: c. 1324-1360s (birth c. 1324-1325; Vidin manuscript 1360)

- Born in Lovech as a son of Despot Ivan Alexander before his father became emperor, Ivan Sratsimir was later co-proclaimed but increasingly sidelined.
- Ivan Alexander divorced Theodora, married Sarah-Theodora, and had Ivan Shishman, whose "born in the purple" status altered succession legitimacy.
- Michael Asen IV’s death in battle removed another co-heir and accelerated the shift of favor away from Ivan Sratsimir.
- The imperial portrait in the Tetraevangelia omits Ivan Sratsimir, replacing him with a son-in-law and signaling a family rewrite while Sratsimir still ruled Vidin.
- In Vidin, Ivan Sratsimir’s court fostered culture: the Tetraevangelia of Metropolitan Danail (1360) and the Vidin Collection were produced under his patronage.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74906588Fri, 04 Sep 2026 19:06:34 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTA displaced Bulgarian prince watches his father name a newborn "born in the purple" over him-what would you have done? You must choose which son sits beside your throne - and lose the rest In this episode, we follow the life that follows a...
You must choose which son sits beside your throne - and lose the rest

In this episode, we follow the life that follows a father’s choice and the slow erasure of a son from the family record. The episode traces Ivan Sratsimir’s displacement, cultural efforts in Vidin, and the decision that reshaped his fate-what choices did he face and what would you have done?

Person: Ivan Sratsimir
Person: Ivan Alexander
Person: Ivan Shishman
Location: Vidin; Trinity Peninsula (Antarctica referenced by name)
Date: c. 1324-1360s (birth c. 1324-1325; Vidin manuscript 1360)

- Born in Lovech as a son of Despot Ivan Alexander before his father became emperor, Ivan Sratsimir was later co-proclaimed but increasingly sidelined.
- Ivan Alexander divorced Theodora, married Sarah-Theodora, and had Ivan Shishman, whose "born in the purple" status altered succession legitimacy.
- Michael Asen IV’s death in battle removed another co-heir and accelerated the shift of favor away from Ivan Sratsimir.
- The imperial portrait in the Tetraevangelia omits Ivan Sratsimir, replacing him with a son-in-law and signaling a family rewrite while Sratsimir still ruled Vidin.
- In Vidin, Ivan Sratsimir’s court fostered culture: the Tetraevangelia of Metropolitan Danail (1360) and the Vidin Collection were produced under his patronage.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1386falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/you-inherit-an-empire-at-miramare-do-you-sign-the-black-decree--74906586
You inherit an empire at Miramare - do you sign the Black Decree?

In this episode, we follow the moments that led a younger Habsburg from Schönbrunn to Miramare, from viceroy to reluctant emperor in Mexico, and the choices he faced when his liberal instincts collided with imperial demands. What do you do when the role you wanted requires you to betray your principles?

Person: Maximilian, Archduke of Austria, Emperor of Mexico
Date: June 19, 1867; July 6, 1832; April 9-10, 1864; May 29, 1864; October, 1865
Location: Miramare Castle; Veracruz; Cerro de las Campanas; Chapultepec Castle
Event: Signing of the Family Pact; acceptance of Mexican crown; landing at Veracruz; signing of the Black Decree; execution at Cerro de las Campanas
Topic: Imposed Mexican Empire; French intervention; Black Decree ordering military trials and executions

- Born a second son at Schönbrunn Palace, Maximilian rose to Commander-in-Chief of the Austrian Navy and Viceroy of Lombardy-Venetia before being dismissed for liberal governance.
- Mexican conservatives and Napoleon III engineered a plebiscite under French occupation and offered Maximilian the throne while Juárez’s republican government remained active.
- At Miramare, Maximilian signed the Family Pact renouncing his Austrian succession rights and accepted the Mexican crown the following day.
- Arriving at Veracruz in 1864, he found a country not welcoming him, a yellow fever outbreak, and Benito Juárez still governing and recognized by the United States.
- Under pressure from stretched French forces and conservative allies, Maximilian signed the October 1865 Black Decree ordering summary military trials and executions for armed republicans.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74906586Fri, 04 Sep 2026 19:06:29 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTAn emperor stands at Miramare with a throne bought for him and a decree that orders executions - do you sign the Black Decree or refuse the empire? You inherit an empire at Miramare - do you sign the Black Decree? In this episode, we follow the...
You inherit an empire at Miramare - do you sign the Black Decree?

In this episode, we follow the moments that led a younger Habsburg from Schönbrunn to Miramare, from viceroy to reluctant emperor in Mexico, and the choices he faced when his liberal instincts collided with imperial demands. What do you do when the role you wanted requires you to betray your principles?

Person: Maximilian, Archduke of Austria, Emperor of Mexico
Date: June 19, 1867; July 6, 1832; April 9-10, 1864; May 29, 1864; October, 1865
Location: Miramare Castle; Veracruz; Cerro de las Campanas; Chapultepec Castle
Event: Signing of the Family Pact; acceptance of Mexican crown; landing at Veracruz; signing of the Black Decree; execution at Cerro de las Campanas
Topic: Imposed Mexican Empire; French intervention; Black Decree ordering military trials and executions

- Born a second son at Schönbrunn Palace, Maximilian rose to Commander-in-Chief of the Austrian Navy and Viceroy of Lombardy-Venetia before being dismissed for liberal governance.
- Mexican conservatives and Napoleon III engineered a plebiscite under French occupation and offered Maximilian the throne while Juárez’s republican government remained active.
- At Miramare, Maximilian signed the Family Pact renouncing his Austrian succession rights and accepted the Mexican crown the following day.
- Arriving at Veracruz in 1864, he found a country not welcoming him, a yellow fever outbreak, and Benito Juárez still governing and recognized by the United States.
- Under pressure from stretched French forces and conservative allies, Maximilian signed the October 1865 Black Decree ordering summary military trials and executions for armed republicans.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1439falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/you-have-one-sentence-to-renounce-your-faith-or-watch-your-children-die--74906585
You have one sentence to renounce your faith or watch your children die

In this episode, we follow the recorded moments around a public choice forced on a Wallachian prince in chains on his sixtieth birthday and the life that led him there. The episode traces his rule, the politics that ensnared him, and the specific decision he faced in front of a crowd on August fifteenth; what question does that choice pose to us?

Person: Constantin Brâncoveanu
Date: August 15, 1714
Location: Istanbul (Yedikule)
Period: Reign 1688-1714
Event: Public execution ordered by Sultan Ahmed III

- A secretary, Anton Maria Del Chiaro, watched the execution parade and recorded seeing six heads on iron spikes, including that of a twelve-year-old boy.
- Brâncoveanu ruled Wallachia for twenty-six years, founding the Royal Academy of Bucharest and a multilingual printing press, and commissioning Hurezi Monastery and several palaces.
- Born in 1654 and raised by his uncle Constantin Cantacuzino, Brâncoveanu navigated pressure between the Ottoman, Habsburg, and Russian empires while building a distinct Brâncovenesc architectural legacy.
- In 1710 he contacted Tsar Peter the Great, accepted gifts, and negotiated toward an alliance, then hesitated at Urlați and ultimately returned the gifts as the Russian campaign faltered.
- Arrested in 1714 after reports reached the Ottoman court, he was imprisoned in the Castle of the Seven Towers, had his fortune seized, and faced a public demand to renounce his faith.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74906585Fri, 04 Sep 2026 19:06:25 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTA vassal prince stands chained in Istanbul and is given one sentence to renounce his faith or watch his children die - what would you do? You have one sentence to renounce your faith or watch your children die In this episode, we follow the...
You have one sentence to renounce your faith or watch your children die

In this episode, we follow the recorded moments around a public choice forced on a Wallachian prince in chains on his sixtieth birthday and the life that led him there. The episode traces his rule, the politics that ensnared him, and the specific decision he faced in front of a crowd on August fifteenth; what question does that choice pose to us?

Person: Constantin Brâncoveanu
Date: August 15, 1714
Location: Istanbul (Yedikule)
Period: Reign 1688-1714
Event: Public execution ordered by Sultan Ahmed III

- A secretary, Anton Maria Del Chiaro, watched the execution parade and recorded seeing six heads on iron spikes, including that of a twelve-year-old boy.
- Brâncoveanu ruled Wallachia for twenty-six years, founding the Royal Academy of Bucharest and a multilingual printing press, and commissioning Hurezi Monastery and several palaces.
- Born in 1654 and raised by his uncle Constantin Cantacuzino, Brâncoveanu navigated pressure between the Ottoman, Habsburg, and Russian empires while building a distinct Brâncovenesc architectural legacy.
- In 1710 he contacted Tsar Peter the Great, accepted gifts, and negotiated toward an alliance, then hesitated at Urlați and ultimately returned the gifts as the Russian campaign faltered.
- Arrested in 1714 after reports reached the Ottoman court, he was imprisoned in the Castle of the Seven Towers, had his fortune seized, and faced a public demand to renounce his faith.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1025falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/you-pour-wine-to-the-princes-while-guards-watch-what-do-you-do--74906583
You pour wine to the princes while guards watch - what do you do?

In this episode, we follow Sima Chi from prince to captive, tracing the decisions and structures that left him an emperor in name and a servant in practice. The narrative asks whether temperament or circumstance made his fate inevitable and what choices, if any, might have changed it.

Person: Sima Chi
Date: January 313 CE (first day image recorded)
Location: Luoyang
Age: 28
Event: Serving wine as a former emperor under guard

- Sima Chi was the youngest son of Emperor Wu, born in 284, granted the title Prince of Yuzhang at age five.
- Emperor Wu reunified China in 280 CE, then distributed military power among his sons, creating autonomous princes.
- The War of the Eight Princes lasted sixteen years, devastating the dynasty’s armies and treasury.
- Sima Chi spent the civil wars reading and studying rather than building military or political power.
- By 310-313 CE the emperor’s guard was dissolved and replaced by forces loyal to a dominant prince, leaving Sima Chi watched, served, and politically powerless.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74906583Fri, 04 Sep 2026 19:06:21 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTA former emperor pours wine for his conquerors under watchful guards - can quiet learning survive when the world demands a fighter? You pour wine to the princes while guards watch - what do you do? In this episode, we follow Sima Chi from prince...
You pour wine to the princes while guards watch - what do you do?

In this episode, we follow Sima Chi from prince to captive, tracing the decisions and structures that left him an emperor in name and a servant in practice. The narrative asks whether temperament or circumstance made his fate inevitable and what choices, if any, might have changed it.

Person: Sima Chi
Date: January 313 CE (first day image recorded)
Location: Luoyang
Age: 28
Event: Serving wine as a former emperor under guard

- Sima Chi was the youngest son of Emperor Wu, born in 284, granted the title Prince of Yuzhang at age five.
- Emperor Wu reunified China in 280 CE, then distributed military power among his sons, creating autonomous princes.
- The War of the Eight Princes lasted sixteen years, devastating the dynasty’s armies and treasury.
- Sima Chi spent the civil wars reading and studying rather than building military or political power.
- By 310-313 CE the emperor’s guard was dissolved and replaced by forces loyal to a dominant prince, leaving Sima Chi watched, served, and politically powerless.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1348falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/you-have-one-pen-and-one-treaty-would-you-mail-the-letter-that-costs-your-life--74906581
You have one pen and one treaty-would you mail the letter that costs your life?

In this episode, we follow Rudolf Duala Manga Bell’s fight to stop a forced land expropriation through legal letters, treaties, and appeals to German authorities. It traces his education, economic position, and the choices he made as the colonial administration moved to clear the Wouri River waterfront. What does it mean to choose paper over arms when everything you’ve built is on the line?

Person: Rudolf Duala Manga Bell
Date: August 8, 1914 (age 41)
Event: German plan to relocate the Duala from Wouri River waterfront (January 15, 1913 actions)
Topic: Letters to the Reichstag citing an 1884 treaty; legal resistance to expropriation
Location: Douala, Wouri River waterfront

- Born 1873, educated in Germany (Gymnasium of Ulm) and traveled to Berlin and Manchester as part of a strategy to engage colonial powers.
- Inherited his father’s position in 1908 with assets including cocoa holdings, timber, rentals, an 8,000-mark pension, and a 7,000-mark debt he reduced through management.
- Traditionally installed as king May 2, 1910, he led a united Duala front across clan lines against the planned waterfront clearances.
- Sent multiple letters to the German Reichstag (first November 1911, another March 1912) arguing the 1884 treaty protected current landowners, and received no substantive reply.
- Colonial internal documents admitted no direct danger of violence from the Duala, yet the administration proceeded with arrests and a one-day trial charging high treason.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74906581Fri, 04 Sep 2026 19:06:17 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTA king in colonial Douala must decide whether to mail a letter that could cost his life-when paper faces rifles and land is at stake. You have one pen and one treaty-would you mail the letter that costs your life? In this episode, we follow...
You have one pen and one treaty-would you mail the letter that costs your life?

In this episode, we follow Rudolf Duala Manga Bell’s fight to stop a forced land expropriation through legal letters, treaties, and appeals to German authorities. It traces his education, economic position, and the choices he made as the colonial administration moved to clear the Wouri River waterfront. What does it mean to choose paper over arms when everything you’ve built is on the line?

Person: Rudolf Duala Manga Bell
Date: August 8, 1914 (age 41)
Event: German plan to relocate the Duala from Wouri River waterfront (January 15, 1913 actions)
Topic: Letters to the Reichstag citing an 1884 treaty; legal resistance to expropriation
Location: Douala, Wouri River waterfront

- Born 1873, educated in Germany (Gymnasium of Ulm) and traveled to Berlin and Manchester as part of a strategy to engage colonial powers.
- Inherited his father’s position in 1908 with assets including cocoa holdings, timber, rentals, an 8,000-mark pension, and a 7,000-mark debt he reduced through management.
- Traditionally installed as king May 2, 1910, he led a united Duala front across clan lines against the planned waterfront clearances.
- Sent multiple letters to the German Reichstag (first November 1911, another March 1912) arguing the 1884 treaty protected current landowners, and received no substantive reply.
- Colonial internal documents admitted no direct danger of violence from the Duala, yet the administration proceeded with arrests and a one-day trial charging high treason.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1084falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-severed-head-that-replaced-the-prop-and-announced-rome-s-defeat--74906580
A wedding feast in an Armenian royal court, fifty-three BC, a performance of Euripides underway — and then a servant lifts a severed head from a silver tray and hands it to the actor playing a doomed king, mid-scene, as a replacement prop. Two kings watch from the audience, one of them a playwright who understands exactly what is being staged in front of him. What does a man do when the theater in front of him is also a message meant only for him?

In this episode, we follow Artavasdes II, King of Armenia, through twenty-one years of impossible choices between Rome and Parthia, asking what it costs a smaller power to survive between two empires that both refuse to leave it alone.

Person: Artavasdes II, King of Armenia
Location: Armenia, later Alexandria
Date: 53 BC
Case: the severed head of Marcus Licinius Crassus, substituted as a prop during a performance of The Bacchae
Status: executed years later on Cleopatra's order, his own head sent abroad as a political gift

- Artavasdes II offered Crassus ten thousand cavalry and thirty thousand infantry, and a route through the Armenian highlands, before the Roman campaign that ended at Carrhae in 53 BC
- He ruled Armenia for twenty-one years, from 55 BC to 34 BC, inheriting the title "King of Kings" from his father, Tigranes the Great
- Plutarch records that when he allied with Mark Antony in 36 BC, he supplied six thousand horse and seven thousand foot, the largest contingent of any allied king
- Mark Antony arrested him at Artaxata, and he was marched through Alexandria bound in golden chains as part of a triumphal procession
- He refused to perform proskynesis before Cleopatra VII, and Armenian legend preserved by the historian Movses Khorenatsi holds that he remains sealed inside Mount Ararat, chained by spirits called the k'ajk'

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74906580Fri, 04 Sep 2026 19:06:13 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe severed head that replaced the prop and announced Rome's defeat A wedding feast in an Armenian royal court, fifty-three BC, a performance of Euripides underway — and then a servant lifts a severed head from a silver tray and hands it to the...
A wedding feast in an Armenian royal court, fifty-three BC, a performance of Euripides underway — and then a servant lifts a severed head from a silver tray and hands it to the actor playing a doomed king, mid-scene, as a replacement prop. Two kings watch from the audience, one of them a playwright who understands exactly what is being staged in front of him. What does a man do when the theater in front of him is also a message meant only for him?

In this episode, we follow Artavasdes II, King of Armenia, through twenty-one years of impossible choices between Rome and Parthia, asking what it costs a smaller power to survive between two empires that both refuse to leave it alone.

Person: Artavasdes II, King of Armenia
Location: Armenia, later Alexandria
Date: 53 BC
Case: the severed head of Marcus Licinius Crassus, substituted as a prop during a performance of The Bacchae
Status: executed years later on Cleopatra's order, his own head sent abroad as a political gift

- Artavasdes II offered Crassus ten thousand cavalry and thirty thousand infantry, and a route through the Armenian highlands, before the Roman campaign that ended at Carrhae in 53 BC
- He ruled Armenia for twenty-one years, from 55 BC to 34 BC, inheriting the title "King of Kings" from his father, Tigranes the Great
- Plutarch records that when he allied with Mark Antony in 36 BC, he supplied six thousand horse and seven thousand foot, the largest contingent of any allied king
- Mark Antony arrested him at Artaxata, and he was marched through Alexandria bound in golden chains as part of a triumphal procession
- He refused to perform proskynesis before Cleopatra VII, and Armenian legend preserved by the historian Movses Khorenatsi holds that he remains sealed inside Mount Ararat, chained by spirits called the k'ajk'

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1344falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-night-messenger-with-heavy-eyebrows-opened-the-gates--74906579
Picture a palace corridor in the dead of night, torches burning low, and a man walking through it with the guards already bribed and the money already spent. The two emperors who trusted him with their most dangerous secret had chosen him because he had nearly died fighting their enemy — so surely, they reasoned, he could never side with it. What did he actually do with that trust, and what did it cost him?

In this episode, we trace the rise and fall of Alexios Doukas Mourtzouphlos, from a bribed treasury and a palace coup to a trial staged by the very men who had sacked his city, asking what it means to make the one choice you believe can save everything — and to watch it consume you instead.

Person: Alexios Doukas Mourtzouphlos (Alexios V)
Location: Constantinople
Date: night of January 28–29, 1204
Case: the palace coup that made him emperor
Status: condemned by a Latin court and executed in Constantinople, december 1204

- Alexios IV had promised the Fourth Crusade 200,000 silver marks, a year of provisions, 10,000 Byzantine soldiers, and 500 permanently stationed knights
- Mourtzouphlos led a direct attack on Latin forces at Trypetos Lithos and was pulled to safety by young archers after his horse stumbled
- He bribed the Varangian Guard using palace treasury funds, with help from a eunuch, and arrested both co-emperors before dawn
- On February 2, 1204, crusaders defeated him at Filea and captured the icon of the Panagia Nikopoios
- After fleeing to Alexios III Angelos, whose daughter Eudokia he had married, he was seized and blinded by his own father-in-law
- He

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74906579Fri, 04 Sep 2026 19:06:10 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Night Messenger with Heavy Eyebrows Opened the Gates Picture a palace corridor in the dead of night, torches burning low, and a man walking through it with the guards already bribed and the money already spent. The two emperors who trusted him...
Picture a palace corridor in the dead of night, torches burning low, and a man walking through it with the guards already bribed and the money already spent. The two emperors who trusted him with their most dangerous secret had chosen him because he had nearly died fighting their enemy — so surely, they reasoned, he could never side with it. What did he actually do with that trust, and what did it cost him?

In this episode, we trace the rise and fall of Alexios Doukas Mourtzouphlos, from a bribed treasury and a palace coup to a trial staged by the very men who had sacked his city, asking what it means to make the one choice you believe can save everything — and to watch it consume you instead.

Person: Alexios Doukas Mourtzouphlos (Alexios V)
Location: Constantinople
Date: night of January 28–29, 1204
Case: the palace coup that made him emperor
Status: condemned by a Latin court and executed in Constantinople, december 1204

- Alexios IV had promised the Fourth Crusade 200,000 silver marks, a year of provisions, 10,000 Byzantine soldiers, and 500 permanently stationed knights
- Mourtzouphlos led a direct attack on Latin forces at Trypetos Lithos and was pulled to safety by young archers after his horse stumbled
- He bribed the Varangian Guard using palace treasury funds, with help from a eunuch, and arrested both co-emperors before dawn
- On February 2, 1204, crusaders defeated him at Filea and captured the icon of the Panagia Nikopoios
- After fleeing to Alexios III Angelos, whose daughter Eudokia he had married, he was seized and blinded by his own father-in-law
- He

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1669falsefullhttps://www.spreaker.com/episode/the-ladder-left-against-the-tower-that-opened-the-fortress--74906577
A ladder is left leaning against the outer wall of a fortress every soldier of the era considered impossible to breach, propped there not by an attacker but by someone already inside. Within days, that fortress falls, and inside it wait sixteen descendants of the empire's founder. What does a man become when the only path to a throne runs through the family that built it?

In this episode, we trace the eleven months from summer 1747 to summer 1748 when Ali-qoli Khan rose as Adel Shah after the assassination of his uncle Nader Shah, asking what a claim to power built on the elimination of every rival ultimately costs the man who claims it.

Person: Ali-qoli Khan (Adel Shah)
Location: Kalat fortress
Date: 21 June 1747
Case: the abandoned ladder left against Kalat's tower wall
Status: not stated

- Nader Shah was assassinated by his own officers on 21 June 1747.
- Ali-qoli Khan entered Mashhad and took the throne as Adel Shah on 6 July 1747, fifteen days after the assassination.
- Nader Shah's empire at its height stretched from the Caucasus to the frontiers of the Indian subcontinent.
- Sixteen descendants of Nader Shah, including three of his sons, were killed inside Kalat after the fortress was breached.
- Shahrokh, a roughly fourteen-year-old grandson of Nader Shah, was captured but kept alive and imprisoned rather than executed.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>https://api.spreaker.com/episode/74906577Fri, 04 Sep 2026 19:06:05 +0000OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENTThe Ladder Left Against the Tower That Opened the Fortress A ladder is left leaning against the outer wall of a fortress every soldier of the era considered impossible to breach, propped there not by an attacker but by someone already inside....
A ladder is left leaning against the outer wall of a fortress every soldier of the era considered impossible to breach, propped there not by an attacker but by someone already inside. Within days, that fortress falls, and inside it wait sixteen descendants of the empire's founder. What does a man become when the only path to a throne runs through the family that built it?

In this episode, we trace the eleven months from summer 1747 to summer 1748 when Ali-qoli Khan rose as Adel Shah after the assassination of his uncle Nader Shah, asking what a claim to power built on the elimination of every rival ultimately costs the man who claims it.

Person: Ali-qoli Khan (Adel Shah)
Location: Kalat fortress
Date: 21 June 1747
Case: the abandoned ladder left against Kalat's tower wall
Status: not stated

- Nader Shah was assassinated by his own officers on 21 June 1747.
- Ali-qoli Khan entered Mashhad and took the throne as Adel Shah on 6 July 1747, fifteen days after the assassination.
- Nader Shah's empire at its height stretched from the Caucasus to the frontiers of the Indian subcontinent.
- Sixteen descendants of Nader Shah, including three of his sons, were killed inside Kalat after the fortress was breached.
- Shahrokh, a roughly fourteen-year-old grandson of Nader Shah, was captured but kept alive and imprisoned rather than executed.

To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.

© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.]]>1254falsefull