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Goalhanger

The rise and fall of empires, rulers, and the events that shaped world history.
William Dalrymple and Anita Anand explore the intricate stories of revolutions, imperial wars, and the people who built and lost empires.
From the British Empire to the Ottomans to Ancient India, history is shaped by power struggles and territorial conquests. How does it continue to affect the world today?
Empire Club: Become a member of the Empire Club to receive early access to miniseries, ad-free listening, early access to live show tickets, bonus episodes, book discounts, our exclusive newsletter, and access to our members’ chatroom on Discord! Head to empirepoduk.com to sign up.
For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com.

Empire

Born in Siberia to a peasant family, Rasputin was an incredibly charismatic, physically striking, and politically savvy figure. He was a holy man, a mystic, who found his way to the centre of Imperial Russian power. Once he met Nicholas and Alexandra, he gained a central place in the court as the only man who could stop the tsarevich, Alexei, from bleeding. As his influence grew, his reputation among the Russian aristocracy declined. In the end, they felt they had to act. And so, on the night of the 29th December, 1916, he was lured to the Yusopov basement... Listen as William and Anita are joined by Simon Sebag Montefiore to discuss Alexandra, Nicholas, and the life and death of their favourite adviser, Rasputin.

Twitter: @Empirepoduk

Email: empirepoduk@gmail.com

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Producer: Callum Hill
Exec Producer: Jack Davenport + Neil Fearn
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92. Killing Rasputin

Raja Birbal is a man of such exceptional wisdom and wit that he will become the stuff of legends. Birbal is just one of the Nine Gems Akbar surrounds himself with, remarkable people who will help the emperor enact a series of wide reaching and radical reforms. The ruler takes it upon himself to absorb the teachings of all religions he has access to, which includes the Portuguese Jesuits who are making Goa their home. In rejecting tradition in the pursuit of reason, how will Akbar foster open minded religious debate? And how, amidst all this peaceful dialogue, does he still manage to wage war and expand his kingdom? 

Listen as William and Anita discuss how Akbar revolutionised his governance and promoted religious tolerance in his realm. 

Twitter: @Empirepoduk

Email: empirepoduk@gmail.com

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Assistant Producers: Anouska Lewis & Alice Horrell

Producer: Callum Hill

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn
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210. Akbar the Great: Revolutionising Religious Tolerance

As a dyslexic child, Akbar explored his curiosities about the world through visual wonders, and by having literature read aloud to him. As an adult, his love of art evolved as he became the patron of a multicultural group of calligraphers, painters, poets and more. A now renowned Mughal artistic style developed from his court, with iconic paintings full of bright colours and meticulous details. How did Akbar shape this style? And how was his art and architecture impacted by the religious tolerance he promoted?

Listen as William and Anita explore the art and architecture that emerged from Akbar’s court.

Twitter: @Empirepoduk

Email: empirepoduk@gmail.com

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Assistant Producer: Anouska Lewis

Producer: Callum Hill

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn
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211. A Beautiful World: The Art of Akbar

The truth behind the story of the Three Wise Men has more connections to empire than many of us realise…

Featured in every Nativity scene in school plays, churches, and art around the world, the Three Wise Men are key characters in the Christmas story. They are only mentioned once in the Bible, appearing in Matthew’s gospel described as the Magi - meaning Persians of a priestly caste from Persia. But who were they? Where were they from? And what was the meaning behind their gifts?

Listen as Anita and William are joined by Professor Lloyd Lewellyn-Jones to discuss how the story of the Magi highlights the intermingling of Persian and Jewish culture at the time, as well as tensions between two great empires: the Parthians and Rome…

Twitter: @Empirepoduk

Email: empirepoduk@gmail.com

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Assistant Producers: Anouska Lewis & Becki Hills

Producer: Callum Hill

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn
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212. Who Were The Three Wise Men?

The story of the Three Wise Men has been reinterpreted since it was first written down. The gift-bearing visitors to the newborn Jesus were initially described as “Magi”, meaning Persians of a priestly caste, but by the 4th century they were given the individual names of Gaspar, Melchior and Balthazar. And in Medieval Europe they were described not as Three Wise Men, but as Three Kings. Yet there’s more to the evolution of the Magi than Western ideas, in Syriac Christian traditions there are up to 24 Magi, and in the Ethiopian church they are named Hor, Karsudan, and Basanater. So how have these ideas developed over time?

Listen as William and Anita are again joined by Professor Lloyd Lewellyn-Jones to discuss the evolution of the story of the Magi, and the influence of British imperialism on their symbolism…

Twitter: @Empirepoduk

Email: empirepoduk@gmail.com

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Assistant Producers: Anouska Lewis 

Producer: Callum Hill

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn
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213. How Three Wise Men Became Three Kings

“The Nabateans are a silent partner in everything that goes on in the high summer of the Ancient period” - Bettany Hughes

By the time of Jesus’ birth, a mysterious empire had built its wealth through trading two of the gifts present at the Nativity: frankincense and myrrh. Aromatic crystals harvested from the sap of gnarled trees, frankincense and myrrh were highly desirable commodities known as the tears or the breath of the gods. Based along the coast of the Red Sea, the nomadic Nabatean people were engineers, mariners and savvy traders, and they cleverly placed themselves as the middlemen in the trade of this incense. The Nabateans gave the world Arabic, and had a kingdom that even Alexander the Great could not siege - so why do so many of us know nothing about them?

Listen as Anita and William are joined by Bettany Hughes to discuss how the Christmas gifts of frankincense and myrrh powered a mysterious and innovative kingdom… 

Twitter: @Empirepoduk

Email: empirepoduk@gmail.com

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Assistant Producers: Anouska Lewis & Evan Green

Producer: Callum Hill

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn

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214. The Empire of Frankincense & Myrrh

Prince Salim grows up in the continuously expanding empire of his father, Akbar. The young prince is being primed to take on this legacy, but he is more interested in studying the natural world with intense curiosity by dissecting animals and observing their mating rituals. Later, with Akbar dead and Salim ready to rule, he fights off claims to power from his own son, blinding him as punishment for his insubordination. In 1605, Prince Salim becomes Emperor Jahangir, but is it his love of nature or his brutish desire for revenge that characterises his rule? Is he more David Attenborough or Hannibal Lecter? 

Join Anita and William as they debate this question and explore the early life of the fourth Mughal Emperor.

Twitter: @Empirepoduk

Email: empirepoduk@gmail.com

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Assistant Producers: Anouska Lewis & Alice Horrell

Producer: Callum Hill

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn

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215. Jahangir: A World of Light And Darkness

What do you buy for a man who has everything? 

Thomas Roe is tasked with wooing the Emperor Jahangir. On March 6th 1615, he sets sail from England on the 8 month voyage to the Mughal Empire, home to one fifth of the world’s population. He has been sent by James I and the East India Company on a diplomatic mission to improve trading relations. The English envy the fabulously rich Emperor Jahangir whose personal wealth is ten times that of the national revenue of England at the time. Expecting to be greeted as a diplomat, Roe arrives in India and is forced to undergo a customs check. He is ill and accompanied by a badly behaved cook and a drunk chaplain. He hasn’t even reached court in Ajmer and everything seems to be going wrong. Will he succeed in his mission to win over Jahangir?

Listen as Anita and William are joined by Nandini Das, author of Courting India: England, Mughal India and the Origins of Empire, to discuss the grumpy ambassador’s stay at Jahangir’s court and how it shaped the East India Company.

Twitter: @Empirepoduk

Email: empirepoduk@gmail.com

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Assistant Producers: Anouska Lewis & Alice Horrell

Producer: Callum Hill

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn
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216. Seeds of British India: England’s First Ambassador to the Mughal Court

Often overshadowed by his son’s architectural wonders like the Taj Mahal, Emperor Jahangir was a true connoisseur of beauty. 

His reign witnessed a flourishing of art, architecture, and craftsmanship through his patronage of impressive workshops of artists who created vibrant masterpieces. Jahangir continued expressing his love of the natural world through the paintings he commissioned: from zebras to squirrels to exotic birds. And women were not excluded from his world of art. His powerful wife Nur Jahan oversaw architectural projects like the “Baby Taj”, and female painters at court documented the intimate life of the imperial harem. But beyond documenting the world around him, how did Jahangir use art as propaganda, and what is the meaning behind the mysterious zodiac coins he created?

Listen as William and Anita are joined by Susan Stronge, curator of the V&A exhibition, The Great Mughals: Art, Architecture and Opulence, to discuss the visual culture of the court of Jahangir.

Twitter: @Empirepoduk

Email: empirepoduk@gmail.com

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Assistant Producers: Anouska Lewis & Aaliyah Akude

Producer: Callum Hill

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn
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217. Zebras and Zodiacs: Jahangir’s Art Revolution

Shah Jahan, the third son of the opium-addicted Jahangir, was born in 1592 with the name Khurram. More interested in precious gems and architecture than dancing girls at court, Khurram was reserved and carefully crafted his image as the “millennial sovereign”. Upon Jahangir's death, Khurram finds himself embroiled in a fierce succession struggle. His cunning and military experience, honed from years of avoiding his father's armies, proves invaluable in this fight for the throne. 

But Khurram was not powerful on his own. He was surrounded by powerful women – raised by his step-grandmother Ruquiya Sultan, adored by his eldest daughter Jahanara, and most important of all loved and supported by his wife Mumtaz Mahal. She was his confidante and best friend, and to lose her would break his heart. But his broken heart would lead to the building of one of the most beautiful buildings in the world…

Join Anita and William as they explore the early life of the fifth Mughal Emperor, Shah Jahan.

Twitter: @Empirepoduk

Email: empirepoduk@gmail.com

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Assistant Producers: Anouska Lewis & Becki Hills

Producer: Callum Hill

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn
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218. Creator of The Taj Mahal: Shah Jahan’s Rise to Power (Ep 1)

3 characters. 2 nations. 1 disastrous deal. The Sykes-Picot agreement is often blamed as the cause for much of the unrest in the Middle-East today, but what was it exactly? Listen as William and Anita are joined by James Barr to discuss this historic agreement to carve up the Middle-East.

LRB Empire offer: lrb.me/empire

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/empirepod.

Twitter: @Empirepoduk

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Producer: Callum Hill
Exec Producer: Jack Davenport
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38. Sykes-Picot: Carving up the Middle-East

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