pothos.org

A friend has just sent me a link from the BBC website. I was aware that the BBC has been running a radio series about Persia, but haven't had a chance to listen to it, yet. It's always refreshing to get a non-Hellenocentric view ...

It is cursory in the extreme, Alexander is only mentioned in the context of the mythical destruction of the Avesta and the burning of the whole of Persepolis, rather than just the Palace; it seems that Persian eyes are just as biased as Greek ones! Clearly this is intended as a polularist introduction, but the superficial gallop through Iranian History, 17 centuries in twenty five minutes was disappointing, I like the attempts to put the Greeks in their place, as peripheral to the Empire and woefully ill-informed about its structures, I think he would have made better use of the time had he chosen two or three controversies and discussed them more fully, the experts interviewed did not really get to say much interesting. For instance the date of Zarathustra is controversial, here it is accepted that he belonged to prehistory c 1000BC yet it is certainly arguable that his real place is c550, he did mention the Cyrus cylinder, but only to repeat the fallacies about his liberal regime even to the point of treating Xenophon's 'Cyropaideia' as factual!

Guess I'll have to pitch series to Radio Four, maybe get that cute atheist to present, Bethany, blessed be her regions, has gone a bit too Earth Mother for my shallow sexist outlook

agesilaos wrote:Guess I'll have to pitch series to Radio Four, maybe get that cute atheist to present, Bethany, blessed be her regions, has gone a bit too Earth Mother for my shallow sexist outlook

A couple of years ago, I was at a reception held by Boris Johnson - one of his "let's get Latin taught in schools again" efforts. Bettany Hughes was one of the speakers. I can tell you, when she started describing her youthful fascination for the famous Minoan snake-goddess figurine ... and, more importantly, describing the figurine itself ... almost all of the men there began to visibly swoon. Myself included. Boris almost exploded with excitement.

You wouldn't believe how many pitches to Radio 4 I have developed in my head. One day I really ought to send one or two of them in!

Yes, I do think the Persia programme looks a bit superficial. That's one of the reasons why I haven't got round to listening to them. However, one should remember that, for all it's R4, most of the listeners are not exactly experts, and even superficial treatment is better than no treatment at all.