Echoes of History

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The Echoes of Valhalla is podcast series accompanying the launch and release of Assassin's Creed: Valhalla. Released on Spotify as a podcast, it comprises of 5 episodes each covering the aspects and stories of the Vikings and their invasion of the kingdoms of England. The first episode was first released on 29 September 2020, with the rest released on 5th October 2020. On 24 March 2022, the series rebranded as Echoes of History and updated to include five more episodes about the Norse myths on Ragnarök to accompany the release of Valhalla's downloadable expansion, Dawn of Ragnarök.

Season summaries

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May 2024 – presentOct 2020 – May 2024

Dive into the real-life history that inspires the locations, characters, and storylines of the legendary world of Assassin's Creed.

'Echoes of History', a Ubisoft podcast brought to you by History Hit, is the place where listeners can explore the narrow side streets of Medici-ruled Florence, cross sand dunes in the shadow of ancient pyramids, climb the rigging of 18th century brigs sailing across the Caribbean, and meet the most powerful warlords in Feudal Japan, all before stepping 'into the Animus' to understand how and why these moments are recreated in the acclaimed historical game series.

Every week, join historian Matt Lewis, and regular contributor Holly Nielsen, as they speak to historical experts about the secrets of the past and uncover how these stories influence Assassin's Creed.

Inspired by Ubisoft's famous video game series Assassin's Creed, the Echoes of History podcast offers a deep and fascinating dive into history. Through storytellers and historians, discover the most epic mythologies, relive the most important times of our history, and meet the most extraordinary characters. With Echoes of History, the past has never been more alive.

Vikings

Deep dive into the history of the next installment in the Assassin's Creed Franchise, Assassin's Creed Valhalla. Listen to an immersive new audio experience and captivating story with insights from great Viking experts.

Echoes of Valhalla invites listeners to relive the epic adventures of Scandinavian warriors invading England with a unique audio podcast experience that has the feel of a documentary series. The documentary aims to showcase the different ways of the Viking society including military strategy, ship building, and the role of women.

Echoes of Valhalla podcast series is divided into five episodes of 15 minutes each and offers the first immersive audio historical documentary series in audio for Assassin's Creed. Comedians, well-known experts, and reconstructed scenes will bring to life the glorious eras of the Vikings, as you have never heard before.

Ragnarök

Echoes of History: Ragnarök takes you deep into the history of this mythology bursting with magical characters and creatures—an imaginary world which guided the brave Vikings of the past and inspired the greatest authors of our time... Through the storytelling of a host accompanied by historians, discover the exploits of Thor against the giants, the tricks of Loki, and prepare for Ragnarök, the end of times.

Behind the Legends

Since 2007, Assassin's Creed has embarked millions of players on an incredible journey through time. As they progressed through the game, players could interact with numerous famous real-life historical figures. To celebrate the 15th anniversary of the franchise, Behind the Legends offers to revisit history with a series of portraits of historical figures surpassed by their legend. From Cleopatra to Jack the Ripper, and from Leonardo da Vinci to Blackbeard, learn more about the real humans behind the legends.

Assassin vs Templars

Hosted by Dan Snow (Dan Snow's History Hit) and Matt Lewis (Gone Medieval), the eight-episode season will release weekly and take a close look at the Assassin Brotherhood and Templar Order and their rich histories, both in the franchise and in real life. Each episode will focus on a different point in the organizations' respective stories, with premiere historians like Dan Jones (The Crusades, The Templars), Dr. Farhad Daftary (The Assassin Legends: Myths of the Isma'ilis), and Juliette Wood (Eternal Chalice: The Enduring Legend of the Holy Grail) sharing their expertise.

Baghdad Soundwalks

Baghdad Soundwalks guides you through the history, intrigue and drama of medieval Baghdad, the setting for Assassin's Creed: Mirage. Join our hosts Ali A. Olomi and Deana Hassanein as they explore an exciting time period which is often overlooked.

Figures of Baghdad

In Figures of Baghdad, we'll get to know some of the great minds of the Abbasid Empire, all of whom are characters you can find in Assassin's Creed: Mirage. From three scholarly brothers who scheme and plot at the center of power, while studying the mysteries of the universe... to a legendary poet who raises herself up from slavery, into the very heart of the caliphs... to the scholars, translators, and scientists who made the House of Wisdom into a wonder of the world. Join our hosts Ali A. Olomi and Deana Hassanein as they explore a time period full of mystery and political intrigue.

Shadows

Introducing a new chapter of Echoes of History, the podcast that explores the incredible real-life stories and events that inspire the locations, characters, and storylines of the legendary Assassin's Creed.

Join your host, historian Matt Lewis, and regular contributor Holly Nielsen, as they guide you into the worlds of Assassin's Creed, talking to historical experts to uncover the secrets of the past before stepping 'into the Animus' to delve into how these moments are recreated.

Episode transcripts

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Ragnarök

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The Birth of the Universe title card

The Birth of the Universe

Norse mythology is a very rich universe, deeply ingrained in the traditions and customs of the Middle Age Scandinavian peoples. Gods and men walk alongside giants, elves, dwarfs, [sic] and all manners of magical creatures. This world was created by the powerful Odin and his brothers from the body of a giant. The start of a mythical and breathtaking adventure.

• Gylfi: You want to know more about the Norse gods? A word of warning: you will not be disappointed. I used to be like you, I only knew the superstitions. I worshiped the strength of Thor, and Odin, and feared Loki's mischief. Who am I? My good friends, my name is Gylfi, king of Sweden. Not the Sweden of today, no. A Sweden from times long past. Like you, one day I decided I wanted to know more about these famous gods who watch us from the sky, so I went to get them myself. I met three of them, their names High, Just-as-High, and Third, and here's what they told me...
• Lance Geiger: I'm Lance Geiger, the History Guy, and you're listening to Echoes of History: Ragnarök, a podcast inspired by the video game Assassin's Creed: Dawn of Ragnarök. How much do you know about Odin, Thor, Loki, and their companions? Do you really know them? Dive into Norse mythology alongside gods, elves, magical creatures, dwarves, and giants, a fantastic universe that guided the destiny of the valiant Vikings as much as it inspired the greatest authors. Episode one, the birth of the universe. Long before the creation of the world, it would be an understatement to say that living in Scandinavia was not exactly pleasant, because in the beginning, it was a vast dark emptiness. Just imagine, total desolation. Nothing grows, nothing lives, and silence reigns everywhere. Not enough to make poets dream, but enough to inspire a man, Snorri Sturluson, a prominent man from Iceland who in the 13th century, well after the Viking epics, decided to gather tales and mythological stories that were passed on orally at the time into a book. This essential work, entitled the Edda, structured our knowledge of Norse mythology. Gísli Sigurdson is a teacher-researcher at the Árni Magnússon Institute in Reykjavik.
• Gísli Sigurdson: In, uh, Norse mythology, the Eddas, so called the Edda poems and Snorri's Prose Edda, they are our main sources for everything we know about Norse mythology, and they were written in Iceland in the 13th century, that is, uh, more than 200 years after the coming of Christianity as the official religion in the country. And people therefore often ask, uh, this question, "How credible can they possibly be about pre-Christian mythology in the north?", and, and, uh, if we turn it around and regard Snorri as an informant about his culture—as we would do in an ethnological or anthropological study—then he is very trustworthy.
• Eric Lacey: —that in fact, Norse mythology, as we receive it, looks like a monolith.
• Lance Geiger: Eric Lacey, lecturer in Language and Literature at the University of Winchester.
• Eric Lacey: It looks like a singular narrative, singular belief structure, and this is probably not close to what the reality was. It was very much about small cultic, uh, devotions, and that each of these would have related stories—they probably come from the same place or the same series of ideas—but that they're not the same story. And this means that the multifaceted creation that we see in Norse mythology as we inherit it is probably as much the product of lots of these stories being brought together as it is a reflection on the Norse creation of the universe.
• Lance Geiger: In the most widespread version of Norse mythology, above the nothingness of the universe there is Niflheim, the realm of mist and darkness, a land colder than death itself, and below the terrible giant Surtr rules over Muspelheim, the realm of fire, the land of hell. Stuck between ice and fire, a frosty abyss that bears the sweet name of Ginnungagap.
• Eric Lacey: I should perhaps be skeptical, because that represents "in the beginning" creating the light and the darkness, and that is exactly what we see at the beginning of Genesis. And so it's not the only place where, um, Snorri Sturluson works Christianity into it, and it's not the only place in Norse paganism that is affected by Norse Christianity, but that's how it begins. Just like Christianity, it begins with the light and the darkness.
• Lance Geiger: One day at the bottom of the void, drops of water formed when the ice of Niflheim met the heat of Muspelheim, giving birth to the giant Ymir. He didn't stay alone for long, he was soon joined by the gigantic cow Auðumbla; it was time for her to come into the world. From her udders flow the rivers of milk on which Ymir feeds. The giant and the animal live side-by-side, and Auðumbla witnesses the birth of all of Ymir's children. Giants sprang from the sweat of his armpits, while other creatures came out of his legs. Everything could have continued this way, but one day, while licking the ice which covered a stone, Auðumbla uncovered Búri, the first of the gods. Sometime later, it is the turn of Borr, Búri's son, to come into the world. How did it happen? No text specifies it. It must be said that Snorri's Edda is not exactly a scholarly text.
• Gísli Sigurdson: What is unique about it is that it is written as a handbook in the mythology, as a handbook for young poets, not for practicing pagans. And, uh, it is written by a Christian who is brought up in learning the old myths for poetical purposes—so he's an insider in the culture of living myths—so the mythology was the frame of reference for their quarterly poetic diction.
• Lance Geiger: From what little we know the passage of the creation of the universe, we know that three children were born from the love of Borr and the giant Bestla: Vili, Vé, and the famous Odin. All could have lived peacefully, but for some unexplained reason, the three young gods decide to kill Ymir and his offspring. As they're busy getting rid of him, they don't realize that not all of the giants die at the same time as their father. For even if many were swept away by the streams of blood spilled by Ymir, two of them escaped unscathed. Will they be forgotten and live their whole lives hidden from the rest of the world? We'll find out only much later. Meanwhile, Ymir's death allows Odin and his brothers to create the universe. They have a lot to do now, and the task is huge. The giant's body is first used to fill the Ginnungagap, but that's not all. His flesh becomes the earth and his skull the sky. His blood fills the oceans, rivers, and lakes, his bones give birth to mountains, and his teeth to rocks. His hair becomes trees. With his eyelashes, the three brothers build the high ramparts that go around Midgard, the realm of men. All the realms—there are nine in total—find their place in the branches of the ash tree Yggdrasil, the gigantic tree that brings them balance. Now that the universe is formed, it must be filled. Odin, Vili, and Vé quickly get down to it. While the three brothers are walking on a beach, they notice two tree trunks washed up on the sand and immediately decide to carve them in their image and make them human beings. After this first mission is accomplished. Odin gives them breath, necessary for life. Vili brings them spirit and emotions, while Vé entrusts them with senses and language. Named Ask and Embla, they are placed in Midgard. It's now up to them to populate the realm of men. Until now, Odin, Vili, and Vé have done everything together, but from that point on, these last two disappear entirely from the stories. Annelie Jarl Ireman, lecturer in Norse Studies at the University of Caen.
• Annelie Ireman: I think they had no other roles to play other than creating the world. In a lot of mythologies, we have this archetype of brothers creating the world, and Odin, Vili, and Vé had such a role. However, Odin's the one who's going to have a role to play after the creation of the world.
• Lance Geiger: Now we just need to see where the gods will settle. It will be in the realm of Asgard. Gods move in and twelve of them sit at Odin's table to rule. Each one settles in a hall in his own image. Thor the god of thunder, a colossus with titanic strength, lives with his beautiful Sif in the manor of Bilskirnir. With its 540 rooms, it is the largest in Asgard. The god of light and kindness, Baldr, moves to Breiðablik, a domain from which evil is banished, and so on for Loki, Heimdall, Váli, Bragi, and all the other gods.
• Gísli Sigurdson: And when it comes to individual gods, so Thor is clearly very popular in place names and personal names, so by all measures that we can take, he must have been a prominent character. You know, it's, uh, very tricky to, uh, to, uh know who was popular, who was the most important god, and, uh, so on, because we know very little—if anything—about the daily religious practice of paganism, the rituals that must have been associated with the myths, and so on, in pagan times. We know that they held their places sacred—forests, and trees, and waterfalls—and probably associated some rituals with these.
• Lance Geiger: Odin settles with his wife Frigg, the goddess of marriage and motherhood. Both live in the magnificent palace of Valaskjálf. More than a home, it is in fact a real fortress, topped by a high tower and a roof entirely covered with shining golden shields. Odin, the father of all things, sits every day on his throne Hliðskjálf with Frigg at his side. There he waits patiently for the news of the universe. Every morning, his two faithful ravens Huginn, whose name means "thought", and Muninn, who name means "memory", fly over the world to observe everything that is happening. At lunch-time, they return to the palace and whisper all that they have learned in their master's ear. Nothing can escape the god-creator of the universe, guardian of the balance of the Nine Realms. In the evening, he peacefully joins the room of banquets, where gigantic fires burn in the center of colossal tables. There's one more emblematic place that Odin watches over, Valhalla, and is in this immense hall located within the walls of Asgard that the Valkyries, fierce female warriors on horseback, take fallen human warriors to join Odin's heavenly army. What's the reward for these lucky warriors? Endless days filled with battles, banquets, and parties.
• Annelie Ireman: Valhalla is Odin's grand palace, it's a massive hall. To understand its size, it said there were 540 doors, and through each door, 800 men could enter at the same time. And if you die in a heroic manner, you're allowed to go there after dying; it's sort of a paradise. Meanwhile, the other inhabitants descended to Helheim, the realm of the dead. In Valhalla, however, they will celebrate. Warriors who died in battle will spend their days, uh, feasting, drinking, and fighting, so we can see the habits and values of the era: you celebrate by eating, drinking, and fighting.
• Lance Geiger: But this life of opulence is not enough for Odin. The god of wisdom and poetry is greedy for more knowledge, so he goes to find Mímir, the guardian of the Well of Knowledge which is under the roots of Yggdrasil. Odin, eager to accumulate as much knowledge about the universe as possible, asked to drink the water from the well. Mímir accepts, on one condition: the father of the gods must give him one of his eyes in exchange. The price is high, but Odin accepts, so he takes his sip of the magic water, and ever since then, his eye floats on the surface of the well. It is true that Odin is now one-eyed, but he has knowledge. Not only does he know the magic formulas that heal and the recipes for love potions, but he also knows how to read the runes, those strange characters engraved in wood.
• Eric Lacey: What he has in common with the other father of the gods is the fact that he is their father-figure both in terms of the respect that they give him and in terms of literal progeny. I think that's probably where the similarities end. He's extraordinarily untrustworthy, Odin is really only out there to look out for himself. And so things like Odin getting runes for all man's knowledge, that's because Odin wants the runes. When Odin gets the mead of poetry, which everybody benefits from, that's not intentional. Odin has gone to get the mead of poetry for himself, he's taken these big gulps of it, and actually, the mead of poetry that ends up with people and goes on to influence people isn't something Odin even meant to give to them. He's escaping from the giant that he's stolen the mead of poetry from and little bits fall out of his mouth.
• Lance Geiger: But this infinite knowledge also reveals terrible news to Odin that will determine all of his future actions. The end of the world of gods and men is near, and it's called Ragnarök. In the more-or-less distant future, a series of apocalyptic events will take place before the gods and their enemies fight in the hardest and bloodiest of battles. For in killing Ymir, Odin and his brothers did not extinguish the line of giants. Those who survived the original confrontation do not intend to live all their lives in the shadow of the gods. They will come back to threaten everything the gods have built. Odin, distraught, returns to Asgard, wondering how to react to this predicted catastrophe. Is it possible to go against Fate? Will he be able to avoid the final confrontation and save the universe? No one knows for sure, but whatever it takes, the father of all gods will prepare his troops and try to preserve this fragile balance.
• Gylfi: The frosty abyss, the giant, the gods, mankind. The story of the gods left me speechless. And there's poor Odin, who from the very beginning knew about the end of the world. I'm glad I'm not in his place. Imagine living knowing how you will die.
• Lance Geiger: Thank you for listening to Echoes of History: Ragnarök, a Ubisoft podcast brought to you by Paradiso Media.

Nine Vast and Rich Realms title card

Nine Vast and Rich Realms

Odin created Asgard, the kingdom of the gods, but that doesn't mean he's resting on his laurels. The father of all things watches over the nine realms, placed in a delicate balance atop the world tree Yggdrasil. These realms are full of mythical creatures, some peaceful, others less so. So, the gods of Asgard must soon face their first conflict.

• Gylfi: I must admit, the gods welcomed me when I traveled to Asgard to pay them a visit. Did I tell you why I went there? No? Well, they dared to play a dirty trick on me. On me, Gylfi, king of Sweden! I fell in love with a woman without knowing that behind her rags was hidden the goddess Gefjon. We had a good time together. Then I naïvely proposed to give her the equivalent of land that four oxen can plow in two days, except, that Gefjon cheated! The four oxen were her sons, animals conceived with a giant. Of course, they plowed much more land than normal oxen. As a result, that traitorous woman cut off an entire region of my kingdom! The gods may have created the universe, but trust me, they are certainly not role models to follow...
• Lance Geiger: I'm Lance Geiger, the History Guy, and you're listening to Echoes of History: Ragnarök, a podcast inspired by the video game Assassin's Creed: Dawn of Ragnarök. How much do you know about Odin, Thor, Loki, and their companions? Do you really know them? Dive into Norse mythology alongside gods, elves, magical creatures, dwarves, and giants, a fantastic universe that guided the destiny of the valiant Vikings as much as it inspired the greatest authors. Episode two, nine vast and rich realms. Well-settled on his throne, Odin can observe his work. He, the creator of the universe. He obviously watches over Asgard, the kingdom of the gods, but he also keeps an eye on Midgard, the realm of man to whom he gave life. But this is only a small part of his task, because in Norse mythology, there is not one but nine realms. All of them are installed between the branches of Yggdrasil, a huge ash tree that took root in Ymir's body at the moment of the creation of the universe by Odin and his brothers.
• Gísli Sigurdson: So Snorri constantly refers to all the things he is telling us about as being in the sky.
• Lance Geiger: Gísli Sigurdson, teacher-researcher at the Árni Magnússon Institute in Reykjavik.
• Gísli Sigurdson: The world tree, described as a white, transparent tree trunk, numerous animals, and the halls and places of the gods. And the halls, we're told, belong to the sun and the places belong to the stars, since the beginning of time. He is pointing our attention to the sky, where we have the Milky Way holding up the dome as the white transparent tree. And the sun-owned halls of the gods, in the Norse mythology, they can be located of course in the sky, and they are probably the Old Norse traditional terminology for the signs of the zodiac.
• Lance Geiger: Before we talk about the realms, let's look at the tree itself, because it turns out that a whole bunch of creatures live on the trunk and branches of this immense tree. A deer, an eagle, a squirrel, a goat that is settled at the top and feeds on its leaves. There's also Níðhǫggr, the dragon who feeds on the corpses of the dead and who constantly gnaws on the roots of the tree. These roots shelter a precious well which is used to water them. It is guarded by the Norns, three sisters who write the destiny of each living being from birth. No one can escape their predictions. According to the legend, the Norns use a loom for this purpose.
• Annelie Ireman: There are spirits or goddesses of some sort who have immense knowledge, and the destiny of men depends on these three Norns, since they're the ones who weave the threat of life of each one.
• Lance Geiger: Annelie Jarl Ireman, lecturer in Norse studies at the University of Caen.
• Annelie Ireman: And when they weave a thread, sometimes there are knots, sometimes are tangles, and that means there were problems in the life of that being. And then, they're the ones who decide the lifespan of each one by cutting the thread when it seems good to them. It's not clear why some lives are long and some short, but it also shows that destiny is omnipresent in Norse mythology for both men and gods. And that's what gave the ancient Scandinavians, the Vikings, uh, their reputation: they're never afraid of death because you can't change anything anyway. The time will come when it is supposed to come and there's no point in trying to avoid it.
• Lance Geiger: The world tree, the supporter of all things, is constantly enduring the shocks of the universe, because Asgard and Midgard are not the only inhabited kingdoms. The Nine Worlds are teeming with life. Eric Lacey, lecturer in Language and Literature at the University of Winchester.
• Eric Lacey: [We] know that they had this idea of the Nine Worlds—that appears in their poetry, it appears in Snorri's Edda—but what we don't ever get is a convenient list of what those Nine Worlds are, probably because it's so obvious to everybody that it didn't need to be stated. So, scholars have taken their best bet—generally following what, um, Snorri says—to say what these Nine Worlds are. And I think it's a pretty good stab at what the the Nine Worlds, uh, entail, but it's not, it's not going to be a hundred per cent sure. There's a little bit of doubt as to what these Nine Worlds entail.
• Lance Geiger: With the exception of the realm of men, which has a somewhat special status, the other eight work in opposition in groups of two. Asgard, the domain of the gods, is opposed to Helheim, the realm of the dead. The fertile plains of Vanaheim mirror the chaotic ruins of Jotunheim. The overwhelming heat of the realm of Muspelheim counterbalances the icy realm of Niflheim, while the darkness of Svartalfheim answers the light of the realm of Alfheim. It is precisely in the darkness of Svartalfaheim, or Nidavellir according to the text, that the dwarves live. They were created by Odin and his two brothers from the larvae that infested Ymir's corpse. Endowed with a human form, great intelligence, and being very skillful with their hands, they set up great forges and became outstanding craftsmen. They are the ones who made the magical objects that became indispensable to the gods. Thanks to them, Odin is the proud owner of Gungnir, a spear that nothing can hold back, and Draupnir, a ring that is an inexhaustible source of wealth. His son Thor, on the other hand, receives the hammer Mjölnir, the flashing lightning which allows him to increase his strength tenfold. Only he can wield it, and he never loses it because wherever he throws it, Mjölnir always returns to his hands. Its association with the Megingjörð strength belt makes the god of thunder practically invincible. The dwarves also make the tie that binds the Fenrir, the terrifying wolf that Odin will have to fight at the time of Ragnarök. But let's not get ahead of ourselves, the ultimate fight is still far away. Let's just remember that the dwarves of Svartalfheim are very good blacksmiths and allies of the gods of Asgard. Odin and the other gods need allies to control the tumult of the Nine Realms. There are enemies everywhere: Asgard is threatened by its mirror world Helheim, the kingdom of the dead over which the terrible Hel reigns. Her appearance is terrifying, the first half of her body is breathtakingly beautiful, while the other half is made of decomposed flesh. She inspires terror and fear. Hel is slowly building an army made up of the souls of all those who did not die in battle, the sick, the infirm. For men, there are thus as many gods to venerate as there are gods to fear, but little is known of their pagan religious practices.
• Gísli Sigurdson: The recent excavation at the farm called Hofstaðir in the north, northeast of Iceland, that has long been associated with the idea of that place having been a temple. The archaeologists and they are presenting the results in such a way that, um, there was clearly some ritualistic behavior going on in and around that building. The animals were not slaughtered in a normal farmer's way, but rather in a very ceremonial manner with a huge and heavy metal weapon, and also the house was decorated on the outside with the skulls from, um, from the animals. This seems to have been a huge building built for ceremonial ritualistic behavior in the culture. How exactly they practiced it, we don't really know.
• Lance Geiger: For Asgard, danger sometimes comes from where Odin least expects it. When the enemies are other gods it's a catastrophe, because at the top of the world tree, two kingdoms of the gods coexist: Asgard, where Æsir live—more so warrior gods including Odin, Thor, Baldr, and others—and Vanaheim, where the Vanir live, associated with the Earth and fertility. All of them could have co-existed peacefully, but a dispute between them will trigger the first war of the universe. It all began the day the Æsir tried to kill Gullveig, a Vanir witch. The gods of Asgard consider her evil and suspect her of leading women astray. They rush her and pierce her with their spears before burning her body. They make three attempts, but it's all in vain. Nothing does it, the witch survives every attempt. From that moment on, in spite of everything, the Æsir have a moral obligation to redeem themselves from the Vanir. It's up to Odin to decide, and this is where his name, which means "fury", takes on its full meaning. Instead of trying to calm everyone down, the father of the gods sends his spear Gungnir towards the Vanir, a solitary initiative that questions his role as the leader of the gods.
• Eric Lacey: He's really unlike the other gods, leader of the gods, in that he doesn't really seem to bear much in terms of leadership. He's very, we might call him Machiavellian: he likes to operate behind the scenes, he likes to manipulate people, but he's not there out-and-out at the front saying, "I am Odin, leader of gods, leader of men, look up to my leadership". He's really operating out of the shadows, and his associations with death, his associations with war, and his associations with poetry are not because he's celebrated for all these, but because all of these arts relate to manipulation as well.
• Lance Geiger: The Vanir didn't need any more incentive to take up arms. After a short conflict that neither side wins, the two parties decide to organize a peace conference. The Æsir and the Vanir spit in the same vat, and their mixed saliva gives birth to Kvasir, the wisest of all creatures. The peace is concluded by the exchange of deities: Njörðr, the Vanir god of wind and sea, moves to Asgard while Hœnir—another name given to Vili, one of Odin's brothers—is sent to Vanaheim. At first, he is revered by the defeated, but he eventually falls into disgrace because of his lack of initiative, which will earn him the nickname Hœnir the Indecisive. In short, from beginning to end, this episode does not show the gods in the best light, and this is a particularity of Norse mythology.
• Eric Lacey: The gods are worshiped because they have these human qualities. They're extraordinarily powerful, but they are people, and I think that for pre-Christian societies, there's something comforting about seeing the same dramas that we see played out in the the social stage being played out across the divine stage. So, the idea that even the powerful gods are unfaithful to their spouses, even the divine gods cheat and lie to each other. And that makes it OK, in some ways, that people do that. Obviously, there is a moral code behind that as well, and there are admonitions to not lie, cheats, or only lie, cheat in certain scenarios. The gods are there in many ways as role models, but as flawed role models. If even a liar, cheater can accomplish these great deeds, then people who aren't as horrible liars and aren't as horrible cheaters, then it's OK for us as well. We've got everything we need to accomplish great deeds, too.
• Lance Geiger: Anyways, Æsir and Vanir are finally reconciled. The gods can now move on to another important subject, the giants who are their common enemy. In particular, the frost giants that populate the world of Jotunheim. It is in this country, covered with forests and gigantic rocks, that the descendants of Ymir settled, well-decided to avenge the death of their ancestor. their leader is Utgard-Loki, a formidable specimen. A master of illusions with exceptional strength, he reigns from his fortress in Utgard, biding his time.
• Gísli Sigurdson: The way they are presented is that these gods, the Æsir, they are always fending off the outer enemies, the evil forces in the world that are constantly just beyond the horizon but creeping up and trying to get at us. So we here down on earth, with the the good gods above us, we are playing together in a team with the giants on the outskirts. So there is this, um, importance of, uh, physical, uh, strength, and, and so on, but also everything that happens within the secured walls. That is more like a domestic life and the peaceful life that we all dream of: be free from violence.
• Lance Geiger: But these frost giants are not the only ones Odin must fear. The powerful Surtr, the master of Muspelheim, the world of fire, commands a whole army of ferocious giants. And if one believes the prophecy of Ragnarök, when the time comes he will brandish his sword of flame on Asgard and reduce the universe to ashes. And that, Odin knows. Fortunately, the father of all things can count on his best warriors to lead his battles.
• Gylfi: How proud they were, High, Just-as-High, and Third, sitting on their thrones telling me how Odin created the universe and all that is in it. I had to convince them to tell me about the war between the Æsir and the Vanir. What a ridiculous feud! Humility is clearly not a quality of the gods of Asgard. In fact, they find any pretext to hit each other. Don't they have anything else to do?
• Lance Geiger: Thank you for listening to Echoes of History: Ragnarök, a Ubisoft podcast brought to you by Paradiso Media.

Exploits of the Gods title card

Exploits of the Gods

Nestled in their kingdom of Asgard, the Norse gods watch over Midgard, the realm of men. There are numerous threats coming from the nine realms, starting with the giants whose taunts and provocations become more and more frequent. Fortunately, men and gods can count on Odin and his powerful son Thor to repel the attacks. And when the god of thunder brandishes his hammer Mjölnir, it's usually the start of a great adventure.

• Gylfi: When I went to Asgard to ask the gods some questions, I must admit that they were not short of information. I was upset after my squabble with the goddess Gefjon, but everyone remained courteous. Let it not be said that Gylfi, king of Sweden, was rude to his hosts! Certainly, I had some prejudice about the arrogance of the gods, but if they are so venerated, there must be a reason. So I asked them: What feats have you accomplished to deserve such adoration?
• Lance Geiger: I'm Lance Geiger, the History Guy, and you're listening to Echoes of History: Ragnarök, a podcast inspired by the video game Assassin's Creed: Dawn of Ragnarök. How much do you know about Odin, Thor, Loki, and their companions? Do you really know them? Dive into Norse mythology alongside gods, elves, magical creatures, dwarves, and giants, a fantastic universe that guided the destiny of the valiant Vikings as much as it inspired the greatest authors. Episode three, exploits of the gods. In Norse mythology, relations between the giants and the gods are far from good. The inhabitants of Asgard are still paying the consequences of the original crime against the giant Ymir, whose body was used by Odin and his brothers to create the universe, and the prophecy of Ragnarök has put the father of all things on alert; it is the giants who will cause the ruin of Asgard. However, even among the gods, the heart has its reasons that reason ignores. Despite the threat, some gods marry or make children with giants. Annelie Jarl Ireman, a lecturer in Norse studies at the University of Caen.
• Annelie Ireman: It may seem paradoxical, but it's actually about balance. In this world, there has to be a balance between good and evil, and the gods are there to maintain order in the face of ever-present dark and unpredictable forces. And these forces in mythology are embodied mainly by giants. The gods created Midgard to protect themselves from the hostile giants, but actually, they weren't all hostile, and the giants are not entirely evil in the same way that the gods are not entirely good, because the gods are complex and ambiguous. They're heroes, yes, but it's not black and white. It's not "the gods are good and the giants are bad", in fact, the giants are not so different from the gods after all.
• Lance Geiger: Among these surprising relationships, Thor, despite being married to the goddess Sif, has two sons with the giantess Járnsaxa: Magni, the god of strength, and Móði, the god of courage. As for Njörðr, the god of the sea and the giantess Skaði, they are happy parents of the twins Freyr and Freyja. Even Loki, the god of discord, succumbs to the charms of the powerful Angrboða. Together, they have three monstrous children: Hel, the goddess of the dead; Fenrir, the terrifying wolf; and Jörmungandr, a gigantic serpent. All three will have a dark and essential role in the continuation of the story. The fact remains that, even if the gods like to make love, they like war even more. Putting aside these few similarities, most of the time, the gods of Asgard and the giants of Jotunheim hate each other. Odin can count on himself and his best warriors to fight the giants and try to contain them, with the almighty Thor on the front line.
• Eric Lacey: The Thor that we see in popular media has so much in common with the old Norse Thor.
• Lance Geiger: Eric Lacy, lecturer in Language and Literature at the University of Winchester.
• Eric Lacey: He's regarded today as a hero of the people, somebody who goes out of his way to save everybody, to put his own life at stake, to deal with cosmic threats. And there must, there must have been something of this even for the average farmer in medieval Iceland, because so many farms in Norway, in Iceland, in Sweden are named after Thor. So, they're commemorating their land to him, they're saying, "This is the god that we want to most pay attention to us in our day-to-day life."
• Lance Geiger: It must be said that there's no shortage of provocations and duels. Starting the day when Hrungnir, the strongest of the ice giants, challenges Odin to a horse race. The father of all things has come to Jotunheim riding Sleipnir, his fantastic eight-legged horse with a grey coat, through the air and over the sea. Impressed, Hrungnir praises this unique beast to Odin. Arrogant by nature, the powerful god can't help but add to his boastings. He eventually allows himself some mockery about Gullfaxi, the giant's mount. However, it is also an incredible horse capable of spinning like the wind in the airs and on water, and endowed with the splendid golden mane. Furious at these mockeries, Hrungnir rushes after Odin, but very quickly, the father of the gods pulls ahead. After a while, the giant finds himself without, wanting it inside the ramparts of Asgard, in the mouth of the enemy. However, to his great surprise, Odin kindly offers him hospitality. The giant, probably exhausted by all these emotions, abuses alcoholic drinks and does not control his words anymore. He says that he will take over Valhalla, kill all the gods, and take Freyja the goddess of fertility and Sif as his wives. Thor's wife in the hands of a giant?! The god of thunder, mad with rage, appears in a flash and challenges Hrungnir to a duel.
• Eric Lacey: Where he differs from the Thor that we see in popular media today, is that he really, really had a very narrow set of enemies that he was really set out to combat. And that narrow set of enemies were the enemies of the gods. Incidentally, they could be the enemies of mankind, so the giants are examples of this. So we get Thor going out of his way to crush giants with his hammer, we see him going out of his way to destroy giants whenever the gods are in trouble. Thor is very simple in many ways: Thor sees a giant, Thor goes out to kill a giant.
• Lance Geiger: Thor and Hrungnir come out of the palace where the festivities are taking place and take up arms. Hrungnir's a formidable opponent. In addition to his size, he has the particularity of having a heart and head made of stone. He's armed with a large whetstone and a huge shield. Thor and Hrungnir rush towards each other. The giant throws his whetstone at Thor with all his strength and it hits him in the face. The god collapses, but before falling, he has time to send Mjölnir flying towards the head of the opponent. The hammer smashes the skull of the giant, who is killed on the spot, but his body falls heavily on Thor who is now trapped, unable to free himself. Distraught, the gods run to him, but none of them can help him. Then Magni, Thor's son, quietly arrives. To everyone's surprise, the little three-year-old manages to lift the giant's inert body and save his father. To thank him for this feat, Thor, moved, offers his son Hrungnir's mount. As you can see among the gods, we learn at a very young age to fight against the giants, and this emphasis on violence and mythology is only a reflection of life in the Middle Ages in Scandinavia.
• Gísli Sigurdson: This is a violent culture, so every man is for himself, has to protect himself and, uh, his family and, uh, his neighbors.
• Lance Geiger: Gísli Sigurdson, teacher-researcher at the Árni Magnússon Institute in Reykjavik.
• Gísli Sigurdson: So there's no state central authority that will take care of that for you. So it's built-in in the culture that, uh, you have to be the, your own protectors and your own executor. Even though you have rules of law and and gatherings where people convene and make decisions that are based on common oral law, there's no one to make sure that the judgment is is executed except for yourself.
• Lance Geiger: But there is a better story. One day, Thor, his servants Þjálfi and Röskva, and Loki decide to visit the giants. While walking through a dark forest, they find shelter for the night in an abandoned house. The next morning, they are awakened by tremors. The house is moving! Well, the house is in fact the glove of a giant named Skrýmir, and the shaking was caused by his snoring. The giant is surprisingly sympathetic and offers to walk with them for a while. During a break, he even allows them to help themselves to his bag of provisions, but Thor, despite his strength, can't untie the knot that closes the bag. Sensing a trick, the god of thunder doesn't take long to act. While Skrýmir is asleep, Thor hits him on the head with a hammer—enough to crack anyone's skull—but the giant wakes up and casually asks if a leaf has fallen on his head. Thor is stunned. He waits for Skrýmir to go back to sleep and hits him again, then once more, but it's no use. Skrýmir is once again unharmed and doesn't notice anything. The next day, Thor, Loki, Þjálfi, and Röskva leave the giant and go on their way. They finally arrive in Utgard, the fortress of the giants, where they are welcomed by King Utgard-Loki. This colossal giant openly mocks the small size of the four companions. Thor, whose exploits are praised everywhere, is mocked as a frail little man?! To test them, the giant submits his guests to a series of challenges. Loki is the first to take the challenge and claims that he can eat faster than any man. The giant Logi appears before him, and despite all his efforts, the god of discord does not manage to match him; the giant seems to burn everything he swallows. As for Þjálfi, he opts for a speed challenge. He races against Hugi, but the giant is much faster than the young boy. Finally, it's Thor's turn. The god first boasts that he is the best drinker there is, but during his test he is unable to drink a whole horn in three sips. Vexed, he then chooses to prove his strength. Utgard-Loki asked him to lift his cat to get popular with the children in the castle. Thor barely manages to lift one of the cat's paws. With his ego wounded, the protector of Asgard asked to prove his worth in a fight. The king of the giants brings Elli, his old nurse. Thor tries his best to show off his strength, but the old woman doesn't even flinch, and when her turn comes, the giantess easily immobilizes the god and even obliges him to put a knee to the ground. Humiliated, Thor, Loki, Þjálfi, and Röskva leave Utgard with their heads down. Could it be that the giants are already overpowering the gods? Utgard-Loki accompanies them, and once outside the fortress walls, the king of the giants and master of illusions reveals that he has played a trick on them. It was Skrýmir. Disguised, he came to meet the gods to observe them, and what he saw frightened him. Thor's hammer blows did not actually hit him, but the impacts shaped three, deep valleys in the landscape. Faced with such power, he decided to trick the gods. Skrýmir reveals to them that during the food contest, Loki failed not against a simple giant but against fire itself. Þjálfi, for his part, ran against thought, but even the fastest of creatures cannot go faster than a spirit. Finally, if Thor did not succeed in emptying the horn, it's because it was directly connected to the sea. He drank so much, however, that his long gulps caused the first tides. Under the guise of this harmless cat was in fact hidden the snake Jörmungandr, which was uncoiling as Thor tried in vain to lift it, and the old woman was the embodiment of old age, from which not even the most powerful of gods can escape. This apparent humiliation had in fact demonstrated the unparalleled strength of the people of Asgard and terrified all the giants who witnessed the ordeal.
• Eric Lacey: And there isn't always a moral with old Norse myths, sometimes they are just mirrors and reflections of reality. But if there is a moral to be taken away from this, then that moral is that even the greatest deeds might not be perceived at the time to be great deeds. When you're too close to the picture, you can't always see how brilliant that accomplishment is, but when you step back and you view it more objectively, then you can see the size of these accomplishments.
• Lance Geiger: Loki and Thor can be proud of themselves. This is neither the first, nor the last, time they challenge giants side-by-side. By friendship or by naïveté, perhaps, Thor often follows Loki in his peregrinations, and if the god of discord can be a solid ally for the god of thunder, it also happens that he gets him in serious trouble, like the time when Loki decided to cut off the beautiful Sif's hair. This nasty trick provoked the anger of Thor. To redeem himself, Loki went to beg the dwarves to make new hair for the goddess. The dwarves did a good job, because since that day, Sif has beautiful golden hair.
• Eric Lacey: Loki seems to show some, uh, influence from Christianity. Now, he's odd, because he probably was just a flawed god like everybody else to begin with, and then becomes more and more evil because of this Christian influence. And some of the most memorable stories from Norse mythology involve, uh, Loki and Thor a little bit like a buddy cop movie, like good cop/bad cop. They seem to have had partners-in-crime sort of vibe, where they go on adventures together, and then later on we get them much more at each other's necks.
• Lance Geiger: But sometimes Loki's tricks are much more serious. Captured by the giant Geirröðr while he was spying on him to pass the time, Loki does not hesitate to promise to deliver Thor without his hammer and his power belt to get out of trouble. Safe to say that the fight between Geirröðr and Thor seems off to a bad start for the god of thunder. Fortunately, the protector of Asgard is warned of the danger in time and manages to kill the giant, but a question begins to rise: is Loki really trustworthy? Ragnarök still threatens Asgard and Loki will play a key role. It remains to be seen which side he's on.
• Gylfi: There's no denying that this Thor is impressive. Even though he learned a valuable lesson with this Skrýmir, I am fascinated by him. The hammer, the lightning, and that strength, damn it! I understand why our proud warriors invoke him at every turn before battles, but still, if I were Thor, I would be wary of Loki. He seems devious.
• Lance Geiger: Thank you for listening to Echoes of History: Ragnarök, a Ubisoft podcast brought to you by Paradiso Media.

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Loki, the Fun God turned Murderous Pariah

In Norse mythology, Loki has a place of his own. Taken into Asgard as an infant, he grew under the protection of Odin. Rival and friend of Thor, he prefers illusions to sheer force. His magical talents are very useful in Asgard. Little by little, however, Loki turns evil and his tricks do not amuse anyone anymore. In the end, the god of discord will turn against the other gods fighting Ragnarök.

• Gylfi: What was I saying before? Oh, yes, it's coming back to me. Does this Loki inspire confidence in you? Not me. To be called the god of discord, there must be something wrong, right? And if I feel it, it must be true. After all, don't my subjects say of me, Gylfi, king of Sweden, that I possess great wisdom? Therefore, I took advantage of my time in Asgard to grill the gods about this Loki...
• Lance Geiger: I'm Lance Geiger, the History Guy, and you're listening to Echoes of History: Ragnarök, a podcast inspired by the video game Assassin's Creed: Dawn of Ragnarök. How much do you know about Odin, Thor, Loki, and their companions? Do you really know them? Dive into Norse mythology alongside gods, elves, magical creatures, dwarves, and giants, a fantastic universe that guided the destiny of the valiant Vikings as much as it inspired the greatest authors. Episode four, Loki, the fun god turned murderous pariah. The character of Loki is omnipresent in Norse mythology. He's in all the fights, with all the tricks of the trade, roaming the universe under several identities. One of his main powers is to transform himself into almost anything. According to his needs, he can be a woman, a horse, a bird, a seal, and even a salmon. The rest of the time, Loki is a rare beauty and his angelic aspect undoubtedly plays a role in the confidence he inspires, in spite of his assumed deceit. It is said that you should keep your friends close and your enemies closer, thus, Odin keeps Loki close to the gods in Asgard, even though he belongs neither to the Æsir nor the Vanir, the two families of the gods of the Nine Realms. Loki is in fact the fruit of the love of a couple of giants taken in by Odin. He makes a blood pact with him, each must help the other or lose his honor.
• Annelie Ireman: Loki is the disruptive element that Odin does not seem to control totally.
• Lance Geiger: Annalie Jarl Ireman, lecturer in Norse studies at the University of Caen.
• Annelie Ireman: We can already ask ourselves, "How can Loki continue to live amongst the gods, since he's not a god, he's in the race of giants?" But he lives among the gods as their friend, as one of their equals. Loki is, in fact, cunning, brave, and appreciated. He often helps the gods, he makes them laugh, too. They like him very much, despite his pranks that sometimes annoy them, and Odin seems to particularly like him, maybe because he recognizes himself in Loki. Odin, too, is selfish and treacherous sometimes.
• Lance Geiger: Married to Sigyn, with whom he has a son, Loki is above all the father of three monstrous children conceived with the giantess Angrboða: the wolf Fenrir, the serpent Jörmungandr, and Hel the goddess of death. These cumbersome offspring will give the gods a hard time.
• Eric Lacey: The gods play out the same drama in many ways to be instructive and to help people navigate between their own social tensions.
• Lance Geiger: Eric Lacey lecturer in language and literature at the university of Winchester.
• Eric Lacey: How does someone like Loki—and Loki's especially interesting here—how does he navigate his own loyalties to his family versus his loyalties to the gods, which are also his family, but the family he's born into as opposed to the family he creates?
• Lance Geiger: As a child, Fenrir is taken in by the gods of Asgard, but over the years he becomes so powerful and aggressive that only Týr, the god of war and justice, can get close to him. The gods all agree on one point, Fenrir must be put out of action. As it is impossible to immobilize him, they use a ruse and the wolf is challenged to play an odd game: let himself be chained to better prove his strength by breaking the link. Amused, the wolf accepts and immediately breaks the chain Lading which the dwarves had made especially for him. Defeated, the Æsir renewed the challenge with a second link, Drome, twice as strong as the first, but still it cannot resist Fenrir's phenomenal strength. The gods give each other worried looks and decide to send a messenger to the dwarves of Svartalfheim to order an unbreakable chain. The blacksmiths set to work and make Gleipnir, a thin silk ribbon made from the noise of a cat's footsteps, a mountain's roots, a bear's sinews, a fish's breath, a bird's spittle, and a woman's beard. But in front of this chain which seems so fragile, Fenrir is wary. The wolf smells a trick and only agrees to let himself be tied up on the condition that an Æsir leave his arm in his huge mouth as a sign of good faith. Only Týr, the one god who's been able to approach the wolf since his birth, dares to take this insane risk, so Fenrir lets himself be chained, and this time it works. The more he struggles, the more the links tighten. Finally, the wolf gives up and snatches Týr's hand. With Fenrir captured, there's one less threat to Asgard.
• Annelie Ireman: Odin knows he will be killed by Fenrir, and yet, he keeps him close to begin with. We imagine he wants to keep him nearby to keep an eye on him—it's better to have your enemy close—and then Fenrir will be kept until Ragnarök, when his unbreakable chains will break and they'll fight. And as all this is predicted, Odin could not have killed Fenrir when he was a little boy, because Fenrir is here to kill Odin.
• Lance Geiger: Odin then takes care of the snake Jörmungandr. How will he deal with this reptile whose size promises to be gigantic? There's only one solution: get rid of it as soon as possible. The moment he was born, Jörmungandr was thrown into the sea that surrounds Midgard, the realm of men. He grows so large that his body ends up circling the Earth until it bites its own tail. Jörmungandr becomes a formidable opponent, and even Thor begins to distrust him. As for Hel, she is sent to rule the world of the dead, where she collects the souls of all the dead who have not fallen in battle. In the darkest of her world, located under one of the roots of Yggdrasil, she patiently builds a gigantic army. The one whose body is half rotten works in the shadows to prepare for Ragnarök. Every one of these cursed children has an influence on Loki.
• Eric Lacey: Loki gets more and more evil because these children grow up to become colossal threats to the gods, to the universe, to mankind. And this is probably where we see the greatest shift in Loki, as he starts to align himself more with his children, as he goes out of his way to protect his children. And in this way, I still think that he's an interesting, flawed god, because it's a man with torn values. Who does he owe greatest allegiance to? And what happens when there is a tension between what his children want and what his brothers, sisters, and father want? So you do have to feel for him a little bit.
• Lance Geiger: While his three children brood on their anger, Loki starts to change, little-by-little. Nor used to help the gods, especially Thor, he now accumulates offenses. He even commits the worst crime, murder. It all begins when, one night, Baldr, son of Odin and god of light, loved by all, has a terrible nightmare that announces his imminent death. Deeply upset, he goes to find his mother Frigg to talk to her about these images that haunt him. Frigg doesn't take her son's dream lightly and uses her powers over nature. Every stone, every plant, every animal, and even the earth, water, and fire must swear to the goddess that they will never harm Baldr. He is saved. Moreover, relieved to know that he is now out of danger, the gods have fun throwing all sorts of things at him without him suffering even the slightest scratch. A deity of light who spreads love and peace around him. Remind you of Jesus, perhaps? Unsurprising, Baldr is a character very much influenced by the arrival of Christianity in Scandinavia at the time.
• Annelie Ireman: Originally, he was probably as war-like a god as the other Æsir because the Æsir represented a very manly heroism, and when the new religion came to the north, this new god—Jesus—was first added to the others because there were so many gods. One more, one less, it didn't make much difference, and since Snorri wrote his Edda in the 13th century after Christianization, Snorri will be marked by the new values, the new habits. And he insists on the gentleness, the kindness of Baldr, whom he describes as luminous, beautiful, and wise, and that establishes a connection between him and Jesus.
• Lance Geiger: In his corner, Loki is the only one not to rejoice for Baldr and wonders how such a miracle is possible. To find out more, he who likes to disguise himself so much slips into women's clothes to go and find Frigg and in a way question her. Reassured by the appearance of this woman, Odin's wife confided that only a branch of mistletoe could still hurt her beloved son. Judging this plant too young and too frail, she didn't consider it necessary to make it take an oath like the others. This is all Loki needed. He immediately goes to get the mistletoe and returns to the field where the gods and Baldr are playing what is now their favorite game. The god of mischief innocently approaches Höðr, Baldr's blind brother who is unable to participate in the festivities and who suddenly stays away. Loki is a good actor, pretending to sympathize and offering to guide Höðr so that he, too, can throw a projectile at Baldr. Only it is the branch of mistletoe that Loki puts in his hand. Baldr falls dead, struck by the only thing that could hurt him. In Asgard, there's widespread dismay. The gods are desperate, Odin is furious, Frigg is inconsolable. Hermóðr, another of Baldr's brothers, is immediately dispatched to Helheim to try to bring back the beloved god. The goddess Hel agrees to free Baldr and send him back to Asgard on one condition: every being in the universe must mourn the death of the god of love. Messengers are sent to the four corners of the world to ask all living beings to shred a tear for Baldr, and everyone complies all except a giantess named Þökk. She did not love Baldr when he was alive, and so she will not mourn his death, an act which in fact condemns Baldr to remain among the dead for eternity. Except that behind the features of this giantess with a heart of stone hides the master of disguises, Loki.
• Eric Lacey: Loki's trickster nature seems to help the gods initially, and then gets a little bit darker, really with that moment where he kills Baldr, and that's probably part of the encroaching influence of Christianity. And then from this point, it gets worse and worse, he aligns much more with his children.
• Lance Geiger: The betrayal of the god of discord does not escape Odin. The father of the gods sees everything that happens in the universe and immediately orders the gods to hunt down the traitor. They find him in a house perched on top of a mountain, where he had taken refuge. This time, the punishment will be heavy for Loki, he went too far. He is tied to sharp rocks that sink into his shoulders, his kidneys, and his feet. Then he is placed under the mouth of a poisonous snake whose poison drips on him. Sigyn, his wife, does everything she can to protect him. To prevent the poison from reaching him, she holds a cup over her husband, but when she has to empty the container, she cannot prevent the venom from dripping, which causes Loki painful burns. The pain is so great and he struggles so violently that he causes terrible earthquakes. From the kind jester who amused the gods with his antics and helped them with his craftiness, Loki has become a fratricidal killer, banished from Asgard for his misdeeds. humiliated personally, and through the fate reserved for his children, Loki does not even have the right to die. So, chained, he prepares his revenge. He waits for his time to come, and when it comes, he will unleash his anger onto Asgard.
• Eric Lacey: And there's a temporariness to it, because the gods know that, one day, Loki will escape, and that day will be Ragnarök, and then Loki will take his, his vengeance for his dire punishment. And it breeds this cycle of violence that is very, very familiar in old Norse society. There was law, but there's also the rule of law of vengeance. So, if somebody killed a person that you—that was a member of your family, they either had to pay for it with cash or they had to pay for it with blood, and we see, in some ways, Loki's place in Ragnarök being part of this paying back for his torture at the hands of the gods in blood by going out to kill them.
• Lance Geiger: The prophecy of Ragnarök has foretold it, and now here we are. Thinking they were simply punishing Loki for his crime, the gods have actually triggered the beginnings of the apocalypse.
• Gylfi: So who was right in the end? Once again, it was me, Gylfi. I told you Loki was devious! Even though I never imagined he would go so far. That story with Baldr, such a horror. You really have to be driven by the darkest evil to kill such a pure god. And I think of poor Höðr, who didn't realize anything. It's made quite a mess of Asgard, and something tells me that this is only the beginning.
• Lance Geiger: Thank you for listening to Echoes of History: Ragnarök, a Ubisoft podcast brought to you by Paradiso Media.

Ragnarök, Twilight of the Gods title card

Ragnarök, Twilight of the Gods

After spending a lifetime battling giants and feasting plentifully between adventures, the gods of Asgard must now face their doom. Ragnarök, Twilight of the Gods, is looming... Across the Nine Realms, natural catastrophes are striking everywhere and the final battle against the giants is drawing ever closer. The time has finally come for Odin, Thor, and the other Æsir to don their armour and face their destiny.

• Gylfi: When I met the gods in Asgard, I was very much marked by the story of the prophecy of Ragnarök. I carried it in the corner of my mind. High, Just-as-High, and Third had only mentioned it briefly, but it had put a dent in my morale. However, it takes a lot to bring down the great Gylfi, king of Sweden. But still, the end of the world? That's inconceivable! When I asked the gods for such details, I really hoped everything would finally end well. I was a little naïve...
• Lance Geiger: I'm Lance Geiger, the History Guy, and you're listening to Echoes of History: Ragnarök, a podcast inspired by the video game Assassin's Creed: Dawn of Ragnarök. How much do you know about Odin, Thor, Loki, and their companions? Do you really know them? Dive into Norse mythology alongside gods, elves, magical creatures, dwarves, and giants, a fantastic universe that guided the destiny of the valiant Vikings as much as it inspired the greatest authors. Episode five, Ragnarök, twilight of the gods. Odin knew since the beginning, since he created the universe with his own hands. The father of all things knew that everything would eventually collapse. The prophecy of Ragnarök is clear, inevitable: one day, the doom of the gods will come. Odin tried everything to change the course of history. He himself has faced the worst monsters, he's relied on Thor to curb the giant's ardor, all the while striving to preserve the fragile balance of the Nine Realms, but even the father of the gods cannot go against destiny.
• Annelie Ireman: I wouldn't say he is haunted by Ragnarök, but he does know about it, which is not the case for all the characters.
• Lance Geiger: Annelie Jarl Ireman, lecturer in Norse studies at the University of Caen.
• Annelie Ireman: He knows Ragnarök is inevitable, because you can't escape your fate, so his job is not to prevent Ragnarök altogether, because he can't do that. His job is to prevent it as long as possible, so to speak. He knows the warning signs, he's always looking for those signs, he is obsessed by everything that happens around him, because he has to know everything that's happening, and when the end will come.
• Lance Geiger: In the end, the fatal blow came from Asgard. The murder of the beloved Baldr, orchestrated by Loki, set in motion the final act of the universe. Soon, the gods see the first sign of Ragnarök when the Nine Realms sink into a relentless winter that lasts three years. The winds blow without interruption and cause infernal snow storms, the men are frozen, and nothing grows on the land cracked with frost and ice. Famine lurks, war is brewing. Exhausted and hungry, the humans who have not yet been decimated begin to kill each other. The gods see the attacks and the plundering on the land of men multiplying. More still, family ties no longer mean anything. Brothers fight each other and sons fight fathers. The fateful day approaches.
• Eric Lacey: There's a kind of stark beauty in Ragnarök, which is the idea that everything must end.
• Lance Geiger: Eric Lacey, lecturer in Language and Literature at the University of Winchester.
• Eric Lacey: Remember, the gods are not—they are very powerful, but they are flawed creatures, just like people are. And all creatures must come to an end at some point. And the way that the gods face Ragnarök—knowing about it but still living their lives and indeed causing the actions that lead about to it—very much mirror how people would have lived their lives in medieval Iceland, in medieval Scandinavia, which is that they knew that death was inevitable.
• Lance Geiger: The darkness of winter is so reinforced by an even deeper darkness. Fenrir, the giant wolf who is also Loki's son, has himself fathered two children, Hati and Sköll, as big as him. For ages, they have tirelessly chased the sun and the moon. At the dawn of Ragnarök, this race ends; the two wolves swallow the two stars. Their light disappears and with it, a feeling of desolation covers the world, an episode that the believers had predicted in their observation of the sky.
• Gísli Sigurdson: The pagans called the Hyades, which is a part of the Taurus sign, that the pagans called it the "wolf's mouth".
• Lance Geiger: Gísli Sigurdson, teacher-researcher at the Árni Magnússon Institute in Reykjavik.
• Gísli Sigurdson: That's a V-shaped star pattern, and this sign of the wolf's mouth is located right on the sun's path in the sky—where the sun is moving through in tune from right to left—so it's moving out of the mouth, really. So by midsummer, the sun has safely escaped this v-shaped mouth of the wolf in the sky, giving to the people of Scandinavia ample reason to celebrate the midsummer festival, which is highly regarded in Sweden still today.
• Lance Geiger: But it's not over yet, because earthquakes are shaking the entire universe. Yggdrasil itself, the indestructible world tree, shakes with all its leaves, threatening the Nine Realms nestled between its branches. All living beings are terrorized by the deafening cacophony. Amidst the crashing mountains, Loki, the fallen god, and Fenrir—both captured by Asgard—break free from their chains. Meanwhile, Loki's other son—Jörmungandr, the serpent of Midgard—leaves the sea to reach the land. The waves caught by the movements of his gigantic body engulf entire villages. All the sudden, while the universe is in complete chaos, all creatures, men, and gods freeze. Heimdall has just blown his horn. This is the dreaded signal, the announcement of Ragnarök. Thanks to his sharp eyesight, Heimdall, who is in charge of watching over the Bifröst—the bridge that links Midgard to Asgard—sees hordes of ice giants coming from Jotunheim. Immediately, Odin gathers all the warriors of Valhalla. After a long wait, the time has come for them to fight. The enemy comes from everywhere. The sky opens to let Surtr the giant pass; he leads the procession of fire giants straight from Muspelheim. As for the goddess Hel, she brings out all the dead of Helheim. Finally, Loki, determined to bring down the gods, appears on the horizon, leading a fleet of ships filled with the bloodthirsty giants. After all this time, the death of Ymir, the primordial giant, will finally be avenged. The Bifröst bridge collapses under the weight of the ice giants, therefore, they must fight elsewhere. All the fighters meet on the immense plain of Vígríðr, more than 500 kilometers wide. The two camps, who have been waiting for this moment for so long, face each other. On one side, the giants of ice and fire, Loki and his monstrous children, and the army of the dead. On the other side, the gods of Asgard, their army of warriors from Valhalla, supported by the faithful Valkyries and the men of Midgard, all ready to fight. Odin at their helm is ready to fight, too. Forget the time when he tried to avoid Ragnarök at all cost, now he must throw himself body and soul into battle. Armed with Gungnir, his divine spear, Odin rushes towards Fenrir. The colossal wolf advances towards him with his mouth wide open, its lower jaw touching the earth and its upper jaw brushing the sky. The father of gods fights majestically, but despite his power and strength, he finally gives in, swallowed by the gigantic wolf. It is an unthinkable scene for both gods and men alike. Odin, the father of all things, is dead! It's an overwhelming and solemn moment. But very quickly, far from giving up, all redouble their energy against their enemies. Víðarr, one of Odin's sons, rushes to Fenrir. He blocks the lower jaw of the wolf with his foot, shod with indestructible leather, and thrusts his sword into Fenrir's mouth to pierce his heart. Fenrir collapses, defeated at last. On his side, Thor faces Jörmungandr. He knows the Midgard serpent because he has already fought him once. Moreover, the god of thunder has almost defeated him. The two enemies fight fiercely, and Thor seems to take the upper hand. Finally, he strikes the snake a final blow with his hammer Mjölnir. The monster collapses, but in his last effort, he bites the mighty warrior. Thor turns away from the corpse and takes nine steps before falling, too, poisoned by the venom. The gods have just lost their best asset, their protector. On the planes of Vígríðr, the Dantean battle continues. Heimdall, the father-guardian of the Bifröst, confronts Loki. The two gods are equal strength and kill each other. Loki has unleashed Ragnarök, but he will not see the end of it. Not far away, Surtr the fearsome fire giant wreaks havoc. He first gets rid of Freyr, who, despite being a god, is not exactly the best fighter. The Asgardians fall, one after the other; it's the doom of the gods. Soon, there's no one left to oppose the fury of Surtr. The giant plunges his huge, flaming sword into the earth, and in one blow, Asgard is set ablaze, soon followed by the whole universe. It is the end.
• Eric Lacey: The emphasis on fire really seems to come from Christianity, just like the notion that on Judgment Day, hellfire will rain upon the earth, and Hell will open up, and we'll see flames all over the earth. And it's not in Old Norse, but it's in a similar area, in Old High German, in the language spoken in Germany about the same time that these stories were being written, composed, preserved in Old Norse. We have a text called the Muspilli, and it's actually a Christian text about the end of the world, about Doomsday, but they're using "Muspel", the word for this fire realm, to describe the end of days. So, Christianity actually borrows the terms to refer to the end of times. And that shows the entrenched and prolonged contact that there was between these pagan religions and Christianity, and the way that they mutually influenced each other.
• Lance Geiger: All traces of life have disappeared. All that Odin built has gone up in smoke. The gods are dead, the giants are gone, and all that remains is a devastated landscape. Even Yggdrasil is mostly reduced to ashes. However, in the deafening silence that follows the apocalypse, rustling can be heard. A young human couple timidly descends from the branches of the world tree. Líf and Lífþrasir had taken refuge in a corner of Yggdrasil spared from the flames. After stepping on the hot, cracked ground, they look around, stunned and afraid. No matter how many times they call, no one answers, and for good reasons. They are the only survivors. Líf and Lífþrasir, whose names mean "life" and "desire for life", understand that their mission is to repopulate the world. However, they're not alone after all. Baldr, freed from the world of the dead, joins what remains of Asgard with a new generation of gods. There is Höðr, his blind brother, as well as Magni, son of Thor. They are enlightened and warmed by the daughter of Sól. Before being devoured by the wolf, the goddess of the sun had conceived a child to replace her in the sky. Thanks to them, the new world will be even more beautiful.
• Eric Lacey: There is, then, this quiet optimism at the end of it, which is that Odin's children will eventually inherit the earth and there'll be a whole new cycle. So, just as Odin originally inherited the world and had the gods, and they had control of it, and they, uh, performed their great deeds, so Odin's children will do the same thing. And it's very much mirroring the cycle of time, like summer and winter, or like the progression of years, or like the the following of generations.
• Annelie Ireman: To come back to Baldr, he's one of the gods who survive Ragnarök. He seems to be destined to become the ruler of the new world, which can perhaps be interpreted as the new Christian era or at least a more peaceful world, perhaps.
• Lance Geiger: If order always rises from chaos, each survivor of Ragnarök will have to learn from it. The arrogance of the gods had lead to their downfall. The universe is entitled to a second chance. It's up to the humans and the gods to seize it.
• Gylfi: And that, my friends, is the end. The end of my story, that is. For the end of the world, we still have some time. Before I left Asgard, the gods asked me to spread their stories around me, and now I have. You know everything. I hope that, like me, you will learn the right lessons from these stories of gods and giants. Perhaps you will be inspired by the exploits of Thor. Or will you be aghast at Odin's arrogance? Maybe Loki's twists and turns will push you in the right direction, unlike him. The Norns have woven your destiny, yes, but there's no reason you can't unravel the threads yourselves.
• Lance Geiger: Thank you for listening to Echoes of History: Ragnarök, a Ubisoft podcast brought to you by Paradiso Media.

Behind the Legends

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Leonidas title card

Leonidas

The legendary Battle of Thermopylae has been told over and over and remains famous for an incredible act of valor: 300 Spartan warriors defending a narrow path against tens of thousands of Persians to protect the retreat of the Greek army. A symbol of courage, sacrifice, and honor. But there's more to the story, as the Spartans weren’t actually alone at this moment. And Leonidas' personality deserves some enlightenment.

• Danny Wallace: How far would you go to defend your people? This is probably what Leonidas, the legendary king of Sparta, asked himself one September morning in 480 BC. The Battle of Thermopylae was underway, and, overwhelmed by the Persians, the Greek army was in disarray. Heading up his troops of 300 valiant Spartans, Leonidas decided to fight until the death. Gazing out over the battlefield, he took stock. 300 Spartans against tens of thousands of Persians. This heroic sacrifice earned Leonidas a place in history, and much more besides. Passed down over generations, the tale of this battle has turned the king of Sparta into a legend, sometimes to outlandish effect.
  
  You're listening to Echoes of History: Behind the Legends, the podcast that tells you the true stories of some of history's most legendary heroes. As the Assassin's Creed franchise turns 15, travel back through 2,500 years of history to meet the men and women whose destiny lead them to greatness. Uncover their stories and bring their legends back to life. Episode one, Leonidas.
  
  The year is 480 BC. The Greek Sanctuary of Delphi is home to a temple to Apollo, where Spartans are jostling to see the Pythia, the temple's priestess who has a foreboding prophecy to share...
  
  "O dwellers in Sparta of the wide spaces;
  Either your famed, great town must be sacked by Perseus' sons,
  Or, if that be not, the whole land of Lacedaemon
  Shall mourn the death of a king."
  
  The Spartans have travelled to Delphi for a reason. Trouble is afoot. The Persian king Xerxes has now made it clear that he plans to invade the whole of Greece. The tyrant is readying himself to lead his endless army through the Hellespont, a narrow strait in today's northwestern Turkey that separates the Greek and Persian Empires. Standing his way, thirty-odd Greek cities have rallied together around Sparta, forming the Hellenic League. King Leonidas' city boasts unparalleled military prestige, and the great man himself has been tasked with leading the Greek coalition into battle against the Persians. Paradoxically, the life of the legendary Leonidas is little known. Most Greek historians filled their writing with anecdotes that paint a portrait of an idealized king: Leonidas, the accomplished warlord; Leonidas, the great leader of men; Leonidas, the epitome of Spartan values—devoted to his city, valiant in battle, self-sacrificing. It isn't always easy to unpick fact from fiction. But, there are a handful of things we do know for certain about Leonidas' life.
  
  As the third son of King Anaxandridas II, he wasn't destined to succeed his father. His older half-brother Cleomenes took to the throne, becoming king of Sparta in 520 BC. At the time, 20-year-old Leonidas had just finished his agoge, an extensive military training program designed to produce devout citizens and disciplined fighters. All male Spartan citizens were required to complete this program, with the exception of legitimate heirs to the throne. Despite his royal ancestry, Leonidas was thus accustomed to acute physical training from childhood, and suffered the whippings dealt out to him by his elders to correct his errors and toughen up his body without complaint. This demanding apprenticeship included fights with other young men, as well as races wearing full military gear and weaponry, designed to prepare them for battle. Ultimately, the Fates conspired to make Leonidas king of Sparta. Political machinations prompted the downfall of Cleomenes, who took his own life in 488 BC, leaving no male heir behind him. Dorieus, his second brother, had died twenty years previously in a campaign to conquer Sicily. As a result, Leonidas' time to rule had come. The fact that he had completed his agoge training was unusual for a king, and undoubtedly imbued him with a special aura and appeal in the eyes of Sparta's citizen-soldiers. Although no mention is made of his prowess in specific battles, Herodotus reports that Leonidas was "the most respected of the Greek generals".
  
  Back to 480 BC. Busy leading the Greek cities' resistance, Leonidas suddenly finds himself at the center of a morbid prophecy: die in battle, or see Sparta fall to the Persians. Yet today, historians all agree, that this presage was a complete fabrication, a legend that was made up well after the events it foreshadowed, the Battle of Thermopylae. The thermopylae, meaning "hot gates" in Greek, refer to a narrow, coastal passage between sea and mountain in eastern Greece. Arriving from the north, with plans to march south to Athens, Xerxes' infantry had no choice but to pass through it. Named after and known for its hot sulfur springs, the site has remained immortalized in history as the stage of the heroic sacrifice undertaken by Leonidas and his Spartans. In fact, the dark prophecy constitutes the first legendary element of a story that was partially true but tinged with myth in order to turn the battle into the stuff of epics. After all, a legend as admirable as the story of Leonidas and his 300 men would require more than just death on the battlefield.
  
  For the sacrifice to attain its fascinating appeal after all these years, the soldiers would have to be aware of their imminent death and decide to accept their fate without fear, all in the name of a higher cause. Leading the Greek troops, 60-year-old Leonidas played a decisive role in the strategies rolled out to beat back the invaders. The Greeks were faced with an insurmountable problem: the Persians drastically outnumbered them. While the figures offed up by Herodotus, over 2 million men—I mean, come on—are pure fantasy, modern scholars believe that at least 200, 000 Persian soldiers crossed the Hellespont in September 480 BC as a mere few thousand Greeks looked on. Leonidas' decision to take on the Persian army at a narrower spot, the Thermopylae, was therefore most likely a strategic one, a choice that turned his army's weakness into a strength. It as also a way to put a renowned Spartan war tactic to work, the hoplite phalanx. Teamwork was central to this compact formation. Long spears in hand, protected by their shields, and armored to the gills, the Spartans were able to withstand the swarms of foot soldiers—greater in number but less well-equipped—for lengthy periods of time. Leonidas proved his worth as a war leader, taking major decisions and boosting morale. He remained on the battlefield until the bitter end, unlike the Persian king Xerxes, who watched the battle unfold from a distance—like a coward.
  
  Four days went by, without the slightest breakthrough. Xerxes had not choice but to acknowledge the fact that the Greeks would neither surrender nor retreat as he had hoped they would. The Persian king sent across a messenger asking the Greeks to lay down their arms. Leonidas replied instantly, "Come and get them." Xerxes decided to attack, but watched on as his 5,000 archers were thwarted, their arrows raining down to shatter against the Greek shields. Over two days, waves of Persian soldiers collided against the Greek phalanxes that blocked the pass without ever faltering. Tens of thousands of Xerxes' men fell, including some of his elite warriors known as the Immortals—which was probably over-selling things a bit. If you're going to call yourself an Immortal, you better be immortal! His salvation ultimately arrived in the form of one man, Ephialtes.
  
  This Greek soldier betrayed his side, revealing the existence of another passage to the Persian king: a mountain path that circumvented the Thermopylae. Problem solved. An unexpected chance to outsmart the Greeks. The next day, in the early hours of the morning, a detachment of Persian foot-soldiers set off to follow Ephialtes' directions. Leonidas' scouts sounded the alarm, and the Spartan king immediately called a war council. Most of the Greek cities voted to retreat, but Leonidas decided to stay with his men nevertheless, releasing those Greeks who wished to leave and saving about 3,000 lives in the process. It fell to the king and his famous 300 soldiers to defend the passage. But, the legend often skips over one key detail: they weren't alone. There's a plot twist! A little over a thousand soldiers from other Greek cities chose to stay behind with the Spartans, with a total of 1,400 men fighting on. So, that film really should have been called "300...plus a load of others".
  
  Legend has turned this battle into a noble sacrifice, in which the Greeks gave themselves up to the death they'd been told would come, buoyed by the faintest glimmer of hope that they might delay the inevitable invasion by a couple of days. It comes as no surprise that the Greek texts, all written long after the battle, focus heavily on this notion of sacrifice. The Battle of Thermopylae was a defeat, after all, and needed to be gilded in some way—we all exaggerate our stories, don't we? And so, Herodotus recounts how Leonidas, despite his age, fell on the final day of fighting, a selfless hero who fought with ardor to the very last. The historian also recounts how, after his death, his men had to fight for his body, which had been seized by the Persians, who were bent on defiling it.
  
  The legend of Leonidas is the tale of absolute self-sacrifice, but, the Spartan king's strategy wasn't as suicidal as it may first appear. By using the terrain to their advantage, and tapping into extraordinary courage, the Greeks risked their lives and managed to whittle down the Persian army. Today's leading military historians even believe that, had the Greeks been able to hold out for an extra few days, the Persians would have experienced some serious logistical problems. An army that large locked in place for such a long time would indeed have struggled with supplies and would've been forced to retreat or scatter. Who knows? If Ephialtes hadn't betrayed his own, perhaps the Greeks might have won. All we know for sure is that this tragic end secured the Battle of Thermopylae's place in history, and turned Leonidas into a legend.
  
  Forty years after the battle, his remains were retrieved and returned to Sparta. A tomb to the hero-king was raised in the heart of the city, and it wasn't long before Leonidas had his very own cult. Every year, an athletics competition for Spartans was held in honor of the fallen king, and Leonidas went on to be immortalized in paintings, films—played by Gerard Butler in the movie 300—and video games. In Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, players become a descendant of the king of Sparta and bear his iconic broken spear. Through the ages, Leonidas has survived as a shining example of sacrifice and selfless devotion to one's country, and is much better known than his cousin and successor, Pausanias the Regent, who defeated the Persian infantry just a year after the Battle of Thermopylae. Which just goes to show, sometimes the vanquished can overshadow the victorious. Thanks for listening to Echoes of History: Behind the Legends, a Ubisoft podcast produced by Paradiso Media.

Cleopatra title card

Cleopatra

Who doesn't know Cleopatra, legendary queen of Egypt? A woman as beautiful as a goddess who claimed power in a world of men, seducing Roman emperor Julius Caesar and general Mark Antony before her tragic death. But this is just a small part of Cleopatra's great accomplishments. The way she accessed the Egyptian throne and how she managed to stay on top during his reign reveal the personality of a true leader.

• Danny Wallace: It was a hot summer's night in Alexandria when Julius Caesar summoned the joint rulers of Egypt, Ptolemy XIII and his sister Cleopatra, to his palace. He was losing patience when a servant presented him with a carpet and began carefully unrolling it. Cleopatra emerged before the Roman general's astonished eyes. The queen was breathtakingly beautiful, and Caesar immediately fell for her. In the blink of an eye, a young 21-year-old woman had a middle-aged man at the height of his power kneeling before her. It's a nice story, and, admittedly, people's fascination with Cleopatra's charm has never really wavered. But it's unclear what she was really like behind the male fantasy; reducing the queen to her seductive power would be a mistake. Cleopatra was, above all, a great politician. Due to her ambition, she was fiercely hated by her—all-male—rivals, who saddled her with an evil reputation. Is it even possible to make out who the real Cleopatra was behind the biased historical accounts of the queen of Egypt?
  
  You're listening to Echoes of History: Behind the Legends, the podcast that tells you the true stories of some of history's most legendary heroes. As the Assassin's Creed franchise turns 15, travel back through 2,500 years of history to meet the men and women whose destiny lead them to greatness. Uncover their stories and bring their legends back to life. Episode two, Cleopatra.
  
  Even though her family had ruled Egypt for centuries, young Cleopatra was a Greek princess, like the rest of her line. As a child, she loved to explore the shelves of the Library of Alexandria, dipping into its 40,000 papyrus scrolls. She may have read the memoirs of her famous ancestor Ptolemy I, who was one of Alexander the Great's best generals. After the conqueror's death, Ptolemy received the kingdom of Egypt. He enlarged his kingdom by conquering other regions, including Syria, Cyprus, and regions of Anatolia. But these glory days were over. Cleopatra discovered this at just 11 years old. In 58 BC, her father, Ptolemy XII, had to flee the country, and she went with him. His reign hadn't been easy. Facing challenges from within his kingdom—which had been reduced to just Egypt and Cyprus—he bought, at great cost, the support of the major power of the time: Rome. But to do so, he had to raise taxes and cede Cyprus. This made him hugely unpopular, and Ptolemy XII was deposed by his people in favor of his own daughter, Cleopatra's older sister Berenice IV. As they fled all the way to Rome, Cleopatra witnessed her father's humiliation. Watched by his daughter, Ptolemy begged for support to mount a return to power. Finally, the Roman governor of Syria agreed to help him. In return for an astronomical amount of money, he sent his soldiers to overthrow Berenice. In 55 BC, Ptolemy XII returned to his throne, but Rome now had control over Egypt. This was the country the king left his children upon his death in 51 BC, and he entrusted the Romans to carry out his last wish: Cleopatra, then aged 18, should rule with her younger brother Ptolemy XIII—who was only 10 at the time! I mean, I only had a paper route at that age. The young queen therefore became the heiress of a Greek dynasty with a prestigious past, but which was in steep decline. She had, however, taken note of a key political reality: she would have to deal with Rome to return her kingdom to its former glory.
  
  This was the background for her audience with Julius Caesar. The Roman general had landed in Alexandria at the end of July 48 BC, after defeating his rival, Pompey. In preparation for future battles, Caesar decided to extend his stay to rebuild his army's forces. Also, Egypt owed him quite a lot of money. To collected it, he needed stability in the country. That's why he tried to reconcile Cleopatra and her brother Ptolemy XIII, who were engaged in a ruthless power struggle—those ten-year-olds for ya! In spite of himself, Caesar quickly found himself embroiled in the war in Alexandria. This pivotal moment in Egyptian history is featured in the game Assassin's Creed: Origins. In this installment, players help Cleopatra conspire in the shadows to seize power. But it took more than politics, and blood was eventually spilled in Alexandria. The people in the capital who supported Ptolemy XIII surrounded the palace. Fighting broke out. Caesar risked his life, but triumphed over the supporters of the young king, who later drowned in early 47 BC. For Cleopatra, it was a total victory. She now reigned alone over Egypt, and enjoyed the protection of the ruler of Rome. And, most importantly, she was carrying his child, Ptolemy Caesar, who was born a few months later. It's clear that Caesar ending up on the queen's side was a matter of circumstance. But, "love at first sight" doesn't explain everything, even though it seems to have been real.
  
  The power couple never left each other's side, and Cleopatra spent a lot of time in Rome, where she received the honors due to a queen. She was there on the 15 of March, 44 BC, when, accused of wanting to establish a monarchy, Caesar was assassinated. Rome then descended into civil war. Caesar's supporters, lead by Roman general Mark Antony and Octavian, Caesar's adopted son, fought against his assassins Brutus and Cassius. Cleopatra, who had returned to Alexandria, was cautious and didn't take sides; the outcome of the war seemed too uncertain. She sought to preserve her kingdom above all else, additional proof that her relationship with Caesar was at least as political as it was romantic. But then, what relationship isn't? Cleopatra had to justify her "wait and see" approach after the definitive victory of Caesar's supporters two years after his death. That was how she found herself summoned by Mark Antony. Much has been written about this meeting and their long relationship. According to biased historical accounts, Cleopatra used her occult power of seduction to charm Antony. She was said to have used potions and sorcery to make him fall for her, just like with Caesar. In reality, the queen managed to seduce the general using her keen political acumen. Informed of Mark Antony's taste for the luxury of eastern monarchies, the queen appeared before him with the full splendor of Egyptian royalty, where the queen was likened to the goddess Isis. She proposed they form a royal and divine couple, in which Mark Antony, who governed the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire, could find a source for political authority. The new political couple was glorified and vilified in equal measure. Writers at the time were unanimous: the queen bewitched Antony for 11 years, turning him away from Roman interests. In reality, this grim portrait was purely the result of propaganda from Octavian and his supporters. Octavian went from being Mark Antony's ally to and condemned his close relationship with the queen. Denouncing this Egyptian woman, this foreigner as a bad influence became the best way for him to discredit his rival. When Antony spent the following winter with Cleopatra in Alexandria, biased historical accounts told of their life of excess, drinking, and debauchery. The anecdote of the pearl told by Pliny the Elder is one such example. To prove to her lover that she could spend 10,000 sesterces in a single meal, Cleopatra removed a pearl from one of her earrings and dissolved it in a goblet of vinegar, before drinking the concoction in one go—I mean, we've all had too much wine, but that's crazy! When Mark Antony finally left Egypt in 40 BC, the lovers were separated for three years. During this time, the relationship between Mark Antony and Octavian deteriorated; it was only a matter of time before war broke out between Caesar's two successors. Cleopatra joined Mark Antony in Antioch, Syria in 37 BC at this moment of extreme tension. There, she pulled off an extraordinary political move.
  
  The queen presented herself in a dominant position: she was the head of a rich and powerful kingdom that could play a decisive role in the upcoming war. Antony was reunited with the woman he loved, but most importantly, found a vital ally. In exchange for her help in the war against Octavian, Antony gave the queen important territories, including Cyprus and regions of Crete and Syria. Cleopatra finally achieved her primary goal: rebuilding a vast Mediterranean kingdom. To seal the alliance, Mark Antony married her and acknowledged their two children born three years earlier—that was nice of him. This new romantic and political union marked the height of Cleopatra's reign. The grand military parade given by Mark Antony to celebrate his conquest of Armenia in 34 BC illustrates this. During the event, Cleopatra was hailed as the Queen of Kings in the heart of Alexandria. But in Rome, this was a scandal. A triumph organized outside the Empire's capital was akin to blasphemy. For the Romans, the event was evidence of Mark Antony's megalomania, demonstrating that he'd lost all reasons in the arms of the Egyptian woman. War with Octavian was now inevitable. Mark Antony lead his fleet alongside Cleopatra. The decisive battle took place in western Greece in September, 31 BC. Octavian is said to have given a particularly violent and xenophobic speech to his troops before the battle. He referred to Cleopatra as "an accursed Egyptian woman" who "worships reptiles and beasts as gods", and who transformed Roman knights and Senators into eunuchs. Mark Antony and his supporters were presented as slaves, devoid of all masculinity, softened by all the years they'd spent living with Eastern customs. When it came to naval warfare, Mark Antony and Cleopatra were quickly outmatched. Abandoning the majority of their vessels, they fled, returning to Egypt. They knew that Octavian and his troops would land sooner or later to claim total victory. His arrival in Alexandria in early August, 30 BC divided the royal couple.
  
  In this protracted conflict, their interests diverged. Mark Antony wanted to continue fighting, while Cleopatra hoped to negotiate with the victor to preserve the kingdom. In a tragic ending, Antony took his own life. It's unclear exactly why. Some say he took his own life because he was betrayed by his beloved. Others attribute it to a false rumor of the death of Cleopatra, which Mark Antony was unable to endure. The story of the queen of Egypt ended 10 days after that of her lover. Cleopatra tried all kinds of political maneuvering during her last confrontation with Octavian in Alexandria: blackmail, the promise of treasure, seduction. But the new leader of Rome remained unmoved. In a rush to be rid of her, he threatened her: if she remained alive, he would make her his prisoner and parade her in the streets of Rome during the triumph he would hold to celebrate his victory. On the 12th of August 30 BC, Cleopatra decided to take her own life. She didn't want to live to see her ancestors' kingdom destroyed. We know that she used poison to take her own life, but here again, history becomes confused with myth. Biased historical accounts claim Cleopatra tested dozens of different poisons on her slaves first, but the most common version of the tale—which is still prevalent today—is even more tragic. Cleopatra, the mistress of her fate from start to finish, orchestrated her own death. While in Octavian's custody, the queen is said to have had a basket of fruit containing a cobra brought to her. Plunging her hand into it, she died as a result of the snake's venomous bite. One year after the death of Cleopatra, a statue of her with a snake wrapped around her arm was paraded through the streets of Rome. Octavian celebrated his triumph over the last queen of Egypt, and, in the process, imposed this version of her death for centuries to come. Behind the hateful portrait fabricate by propaganda, marked by the seal of male chauvinism and xenophobia, Cleopatra remains—for the most part—an enigma. One thing is certain: she was a woman with keen political acumen, capable of restoring Egypt's glory where her predecessors had failed. Thanks for listening to Echoes of History: Behind the Legends, a Ubisoft podcast produced by Paradiso Media.

Jack the Ripper title card

Jack the Ripper

Who is Jack the Ripper? More than 130 years after the horrendous crimes that terrified the Whitechapel borough in London, the identity of the most famous English serial killer is still unknown. The number of murders and the killer's motive also continue to inspire many theories. Nowadays, Jack the Ripper remains a myth as pop culture has taken its toll on him. Time to put the light on the facts.

• Danny Wallace: London, the 1st of September 1888. A woman's body is laid out on a slab at the Old Montague Street mortuary. A young man has come to identify the body through his tears. It is his mother, who was found lying dead in the middle of the night two days earlier on the cobbled streets of Buck's Row, one of the seedy, reeking passages around Whitechapel. Her killer strangled her, then, in a fit of striking brutality, slit her throat right down to her vertebrae, before slicing deeply into her stomach. At any other time, the murdered woman, a homeless prostitute, would have had no more than half a column in the tabloids before decomposing away to general indifference. The case would have been quickly closed. Mary Ann Nichols, though, would not be soon forgotten. She will be forever remembered as the first victim of Jack the Ripper. The murderer, a nightmare for Victorian England, remains the most famous serial killer in history, more than 130 years after his crimes. Jack the Ripper, though, is a faceless killer. Despite the countless legends he's inspired, the mystery of his identity has never been solved.
  
  You're listening to Echoes of History: Behind the Legends, the podcast that tells you the true stories of some of history's most legendary heroes. As the Assassin's Creed franchise turns 15, travel back through 2,500 years of history to meet the men and women whose destiny lead them to greatness. Uncover their stories and bring their legends back to life. Episode three, Jack the Ripper.
  
  At the end of the 19th century, London was leading the world. The capital city of the empire on which the sun never sets dominated the global economy. Its 4 million inhabitants made it the most populous city on the planet. To the west, in affluent neighborhoods like Piccadilly Circus, the ruling classes flaunted their wealth. The east end, however, was at the opposite end of the spectrum, where slums were rife with those the prosperous Empire refused to touch. Unemployed, prostitutes, young criminals, and penniless immigrants, all of whom survived amid the utter indifference of high society. Their misery blended into the thick, polluted London fog. It took a series of sordid murders, including that of poor Mary Ann Nichols, for the light to shine all the way down here.
  
  From Buck's Row, where the first body was found, Hanbury Street is just a few minute's walk away. Annie Chapman, 48, was one of the regular faces wandering this poorly-lit street as soon as night fell. For a few pence, the price of a trick, she could treat herself to a warm potato or spend the night in a pauper's shelter. On the 8th of September 1888, her lifeless body was found at dawn by a local resident at Number 29 Hanbury Street, lying in the backyard of a shabby back of flats. Like the first victim, her throat had been cut and she'd been viciously mutilated. The killer took his sadism further, this time, though. Not satisfied with taking her intestines, he also removed her vagina, uterus, and bladder. Scotland Yard assigned several of its officers to the area, but the investigation led nowhere. Thousands of women, each in the same state of destitution, continued to sell their bodies in the streets of Whitechapel without a care in the world. Their nonchalance was fostered by the fact that the killer disappeared for almost three weeks...until night fell on the 29th of September, when he resurfaced. Twice. The first body, belonging to 45-year-old Elizabeth Stride, was found in Berner Street a little after midnight. As a poor working girl, she was often seen in and around that street. Her throat was slit, but she was not mutilated; the killer must have been interrupted during his merciless ritual. Another body was then found less than an hour later, but this time, the killer seems to have taken his time to complete his frenzied attack. The face of Catherine Eddowes, a 45-year-old, drunkard, had been entirely slashed open. Her throat was cut, she was disemboweled, and her intestines were placed next to her body. The pathologist even reported that a kidney was missing. This time, Scotland Yard was on the warpath. Hundreds of police officers swarmed over the two crime scenes and patrolled tirelessly around Whitechapel, looking for even the slightest clue. Catherine Eddowes' murder was particularly intriguing: it took place in Mitre Square, a little open area just a few streets away from the City. How could the killer have committed such an atrocity in such a highly-frequented area with nobody noticing a thing?
  
  The police chief, Sir Charles Warren, was determined to arrest the bloodthirsty madman who had evaded capture for almost a month. He was further irritate by the fact that the killer was openly mocking the police. In a letter sent on the 25th of September 1888, the murderer boasted the following in red ink: "I am down on whores and I shant quit ripping them till I do get buckled."
  
  He signed it "Jack the Ripper". The daily news decided to publish the letter in its first October issue, and Scotland Yard stuck up hundreds of copies around London, in the hope that someone would recognize the killer's handwriting. But, rather than helping the investigation, the posters created mass hysteria. Anxiety spread, fueled by questions that were left without answers. Who was this uncatchable criminal, flitting around with ghostly silence? Was he a doctor? A butcher? Or a vengeful spirit, come to punish women for walking the wrong path? When would he strike again? At least now, the mystery had a name: Jack the Ripper. The legend was born.
  
  All available police resources were put on the case to unmask the serial killer. Raids were organized in hovels and shelters, thousands of people were interrogated, with their whereabouts and alibis double-checked whenever there was the slightest doubt. But the investigation made no headway. Sir Charles Warren resigned on the 10th of November, his hand forced by his Minister. The night before, a fifth body had been found. After more than a month of inaction, Jack the Ripper had struck again at the very heart of Whitechapel. The tortured body of Mary Jane Kelly, a 23-year-old prostitute, was found at her home, a cramped room at 13 Miller's Court. The autopsy report was not for the faint-hearted. Deep lacerations had disfigured her, she'd been disemboweled, and her breasts had been cut off. Worse still, her organs had been scattered around the room. The police and the forensic pathologists were more determined than ever. More than 80 suspects were arrested, but they were all released again due to lack of evidence. As the investigation ground to a halt, the general public expressed a pressing desire to help "solve" the mystery; every Tom, Dick and Harry had their own theory. For those living in affluent neighborhoods, the Ripper must've come from the slums he was torturing, as depravity leads to depravity! Jack was therefore thought to be a travelling seaman, an alcoholic laborer, a butcher, or a knacker. A fine example of the hypocritical nature of Puritanism in Victorian high society was the fact that most of these prostitutes' customers were known to come over from the well-to-do neighborhoods in the west end. For the poor, Jack bore the face of an aristocrat. A bipolar bourgeois, he'd bleed his prim and proper during the day, and satisfy his murderous impulses at night, just like Stevenson's Dr. Jekyll, who'd emerged just two years before the murders. This hypothesis was supported by descriptions of the killer, albeit approximate, given by some witnesses. The fleeting figure they described was one of an elegant man from a chique area, wearing a top hat and a leather jacket, and finished off with a cape.
  
  Despite the description, time continued to pass in London, and the mystery deepened. In 1892, Scotland Yard admitted defeat. Four years of investigations had led nowhere useful, and no further victims had been found. Had Jack the Ripper committed suicide? Was he a foreigner who moved on? With the case closed, these questions would never be answered. But the legend lived on. Although Scotland Yard's case would remain forever unsolved, self-proclaimed investigators—some rather dishonest—regularly claimed to have "finally" solved the mystery. The end result is long list of suspects covering no less than 333 names, including celebrities such as Alice in Wonderland author Lewis Carroll and even Richard Mansfield, the actor who played Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde at the theater.
  
  One of the wildest theories was that put forward by Dr. Thomas Stowell in 1970. Despite having zero evidence, he claimed that the Whitechapel murderer was a member of the upper echelons of English aristocracy, suffering with syphilis and madness. He claimed that the killer was committed to an asylum by his family in an attempt to protect him from the police after the first four murders, before he escaped to kill Mary Jane Kelly, the final victim. Although he did not give a name, Stowell insinuated that it was the Duke of Clarence, an heir to the throne who died young in 1892, aged just 28 and for whom the rumor mill had already been running unfounded for a while. But this accusation was quickly refuted, as the young Duke was not in London at the time of the murders. Stowell agreed to withdraw his accusation and publicly apologized in a letter to The Times on the 5th of November 1970. The paper published his letter four days later, but, in an incredible twist of fate, Stowell died the night before. This coincidence ensured that his speculation lived on in the minds of conspiracy theorists; some even openly claimed he was silenced.
  
  More recently, on the 6th of September 2014, the Daily Mail stated it had a world exclusive to reveal Jack the Ripper's true identity. It all started with Russell Edwards, a rich property developer who acquired a shawl said to have belonged to Catherine Eddowes, the fourth victim, at an auction. Edwards had it examined by a molecular biology expert, who found traces of semen on the fabric. The recovered DNA was then compared to that of one of the suspects, taken from a distant descendant. This analysis purportedly revealed that Jack the Ripper was none other than Aaron Kosminski, a young Polish-Jewish barber who lived in Whitechapel. The news caused a huge commotion, until famous genetic researchers lambasted the method used by their colleague. Jack the Ripper specialists, known as "Ripperologists" since the 1970s, have also been debating another point: the killer's confession letter. The most serious of them claim that it was fake, invented by one Fredrick Best, a journalist at The Star. This would make Jack the Ripper a pure fabrication, the best ever created to boost newspaper sales. Whether true or false, The Star saw its sales multiply, ten-fold to reach 200,000 issues daily thanks to this series of crimes. Even today, Jack the Ripper is good for business. As a true modern legend, the serial killer has been a source of inspiration for literature and cinema, musicals, and of course, Halloween costumes; each new piece offers its own interpretation of his legend. In the game Assassin's Creed: Syndicate, Jack the Ripper is reinvented as a prince of crime in London. The game's heroine stalks him tirelessly, ultimately killing him. Whether as part of a game or a wild theory, the quest to determine Jack the Ripper's identity continues to fascinate the masses. It's as if we absolutely need to put a name to these crimes in order to lay his ghost to rest. Do we really want to solve the case? Because in order for the legend to persist, we need to believe that Jack the Ripper could've been anyone. Thanks for listening to Echoes of History: Behind the Legends, a Ubisoft podcast produced by Paradiso Media.

Marquis de Sade

Marquis de Sade title card

Writer and philosopher, the Marquis de Sade is a very controversial figure because of his texts, where erotism and pornography had an important place along with cruelty, rape, and murders, to such an extent that his name gave the root of the word "sadistic". Because of his work and his deviant behavior, he spent more than a third of his life in prison. But how did the heir of an ancient French noble family become this despicable yet legendary character?

• Danny Wallace: 12th of September 1772. The Place des Prêcheurs square in Aix-en-Provence in the south of France was thick with people, the crowds clamoring to catch a glimpse of the famous aristocratic libertine about to be executed. He had been sentenced to death for acts of sexual depravity in Marseille just a few weeks earlier. Everybody knew his name: the scandalous, 32-year-old Marquis de Sade had something of a reputation, and the rumor mill had been working overtime. What had started as a session with four young prostitutes, two of whom were intoxicated with stimulants, had been reimagined as a fiendish orgy, the aphrodisiac reinvented as a fatal poison—and French law did not tolerate sodomites and poisoners. But the convicted man had fled, and the figure bursting into flames in the town square in Aix-en-Provence was nothing more than an effigy. From a very young age, the Marquis de Sade sparked moral outrage, scandalizing society at the time and becoming a legend well before his death. He is still famous to this day, having inspired a new word that made its way into everyday speech in 1841: "sadism", or, the act of deriving pleasure from another's suffering, a perversion said to have been invented by the cruel Sade himself. Up until the early 20th century, the Marquis was considered the embodiment of evil, but his honor has since been restored on several occasions. Research was carried out to measure the originality of his writings and the realities of his political work. An unhinged torturer to some, a misunderstood and persecuted writer to others, Sade is a divisive character, and the path to understanding who he truly was is a difficult and winding one that veers between gilded hero and shadow lord.
  
  You're listening to Echoes of History: Behind the Legends, the podcast that tells you the true stories of some of history's most legendary heroes. As the Assassin's Creed franchise turns 15, travel back through 2,500 years of history to meet the men and women whose destiny lead them to greatness. Uncover their stories and bring their legends back to life. Episode four, the Marquis de Sade.
  
  Donatien Alphonse François, Marquis de Sade was a nobleman born in Paris in 1740. Educated in a fashion befitting his rank, he became a cavalry captain in the army and showed great valor during the Seven Years' War. In 1763, he bowed to his father's wishes, marrying Renée-Pélagie de Montreuil, the daughter of a magistrate who was close to the King. But Sade soon turned his back on ambition, devoting himself to libertinism instead. He was an unabashed atheist and a proponent of romantic infidelity who embarked on an insatiable quest for earthly pleasures, openly flouting taboos and conventions—reminds me a little of myself! It didn't take long for him to become the talk of the town. At the age of 23, he was arrested following the accusations of Jeanne Testard, a young worker and occasional prostitute. According to her account, the Marquis threatened her with a sword and forced her to take the Lord's name in vain, among other abuses. The accused was arrested and imprisoned for "outrageous and blasphemous debauchery". He was released soon after, thanks to his father's intervention, but five years later, he was back to his old ways. In his bachelor pad in Arcueil, a suburb of Paris, Sade forced a beggar, Rose Keller, to undress, before tying her up and whipping her until he drew blood, lacerating her back with a pocketknife, and covering her wounds with molten wax. The victim fled and reported her attacker, and the story made the headlines. The attack had taken place on Easter—sacrilege! The Marquis was imprisoned for a short period, before being granted royal pardon thanks to his mother-in-law, Madame de Montreuil.
  
  What happened in Marseille in 1772 was to have much greater legal consequences. On the run for almost five years, the Marquis was finally arrested on the 13th of February 1777, and incarcerated in Vincennes, near Paris, where he served a 13-year sentence, this time triggered by Madame de Montreuil herself. She had been given a sealed lettre de cachet from the King to get rid of the son-in-law who had brought shame on her family and daughter. When he fled Marseille, Sade took his wife's sister with him, making her his mistress. Under French law at the time, this was incest, a criminal offence that further sullied the the infamous Marquis' reputation. The Marseille scandal was the event that cemented the Marquis de Sade's legacy as a prince of darkness. The three cases—Jeanne Testard, Arcueil, and Marseille—converged into one in the newspapers and high society chatter, with sordid new details added for an extra helping of scandal. Just like a fairy tale ogre, Sade was painted as a poisoner and torturer, a bloodthirsty aristocrat who used and abused his privilege to inflict suffering on the poor with zero repercussions. This is a...somewhat excessive portrait, but conversely, Sade's proponents tended to play down the severity of his actions. Apollinaire and the surrealists after him attempted to turn the Marquis into a shining embodiment of a free mind with no master but its own desires. A gilded myth started to take shape, starring a Marquis-turned-martyr, a misunderstood artist, a target of pitiless repression. By his victims' accounts, however, it's difficult to imagine Sade as anything other than a torturer. Jeanne Testard, Rose Keller, and the women of Marseille were clearly raped, and sexual acts and corporal punishment they did not consent to were inflicted on them under threat. Whatever his admirers may say, Sade was a repeat sexual offender.
  
  One other aspect of this dark legend is closer to fact than fiction: the impunity the Marquis enjoyed. He bought his victims' silence with gold—with Rose Keller, for example, receiving 2,400 livres to stay quiet. His father and mother-in-law's political influence meant Sade was able to elude the justice system again and again, making the idea that he had been persecuted by the courts for petty moral matters or atheism not credible. By way of contrast, his contemporary François-Jean Lefebvre de la Barre was beheaded for blasphemy, even though the Marquis' crimes were much more serious. Yet Sade didn't enjoy complete impunity, either. His first long stint in prison was the result of an arbitrary royal decision. A lettre de cachet, signed by Louis XV and confirmed by Louis XVI upon Madame de Montreuil's request, put him behind bars for a full 13 years. The Marquis was denied both trial a lawyer, but he nevertheless survived prison. Despite being locked away, denied walks, living among the rats, he wrote the books that would go on to make him famous.
  
  In 1785, he wrote his best-known book in his cell at the Bastille, The 120 Days of Sodom, drawing up a comprehensive catalogue of the most deviant sexual perversions on little sheets of paper he could hide from the prison guards, sticking them together in a scroll 12 meters long by 11 centimeters wide, and tucking it away in a small hole in the wall in his cell—he probably got a kick out of that. In fact, the Bastille is where the Marquis de Sade makes an appearance in the video game Assassin's Creed: Unity. Protagonist Arno Victor Dorian is incarcerated in Paris' famous prison in early July 1789. On the day he arrives, he meets Sade without realizing. Naked in his cell, the Marquis is clutching the bars of his tiny window, doing his best to get the people of Paris to storm the prison. "They're slitting our throats! They're murdering the prisoners of the Bastille!" The writer did actually say these words, causing him to he transferred to the Charenton asylum, leaving his manuscript of The 120 Days of Sodom behind in the process. For the rest of his days, Sade remained convinced that the manuscript was destroyed along with the Bastille on the 14th of July 1789. In reality, the scroll was discovered by a worker who was helping demolish the fortress and who immediately decided to sell it. The manuscript changed hands several times until it was published in the 20th century.
  
  In surrealist painter Man Ray's 1938 drawing, Sade's stone face appears against a backdrop of the Bastille in flames. The French Revolution is pivotal in the legend of the Marquis, and his biographers remain divided as to just how genuine his commitment to the cause was. In any event, the Revolution was what set him free, as on the 2nd of April 1790, all prisoners incarcerated on the King's orders were released. As an ex-nobleman, Sade was forced to prove his patriotic credentials, and further fueled the myths surrounding him in doing so. He claimed that he threw the king a searing letter just as the monarch was returning to Paris in his carriage following the flight to Varennes. The letter, Sade said, lambasted the king as a despot and traitor. This would have been impossible: anyone who came close to Louis XVI's carriage risked heading to the gallows. It's true Sade did write a letter criticizing the king, entitled "A Citizen Addressing the King of France", but it was merely plastered on a handful of walls across Paris and may have been read out in pubic—Louis XVI, most probably, never came to hear of it. Still, nice to be talked about.
  
  What must be said, however, is that during France's Reign of Terror, Sade displayed undeniable courage in publicly opposing the death penalty, a belief punishable...by the death penalty. Suspected of being a false patriot, he was arrested on the 8th of September 1793. Health issues meant he was spared the guillotine...just. The Reign of Terror and its bloody violence sickened him to the core, but according to darker version of the myth surrounding the man, Robespierre and Marat took inspiration from the Marquis' writing in dishing out death penalties. The idea that Sade had inspired the Reign of Terror was a popular one. In his famous 1975 adaptation Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom, Italian director Pier Paolo Pasolini takes the notion even further, positing that Sade had inspired totalitarianism.
  
  Under Bonaparte's French Consulate regime and Napoleon's Empire, Sade was imprisoned one last time. Having made a small fortune with his erotic and pornographic writings, the Marquis was arrested on the 6th of March 1801 and denied a trial, sentenced to spend the last twelve years of his life locked away. His crime? Being the suspected author of Zoloé, an anonymous, erotic pamphlet published in 1800, a violent attack on Joséphine de Beauharnais, wife of First Consul Bonaparte. In truth, he was sentenced for his entire scandalous body of work, and all of Sade's writings were seized. Deemed to be a maniac, in 1804, he was transferred to the Charenton lunatic asylum, where he died ten years later. The Marquis spent over a third of his life behind bars.
  
  After his death, Sade went to Hell. Literally. In 19th century French libraries, that was the name given to the forbidden book section were the immoral writings were kept. While his work continued doing the rounds on the quiet, it wasn't until 1947 that his first book was officially published by Jean-Jacques Pauvert, sparking years of legal proceedings as a result. But in 1958, the French courts acknowledged the Marquis de Sade as a writer worthy of the name. And, since then, he's been added to the prestigious Pléiade collection, with some of his work even included in secondary school textbooks—I bet that makes a few schoolboys giggle. In 2021, the French state bought the manuscript for The 120 Days of Sodom from a private collector for over €4 million. To France's Ministry of Culture, the famous scroll, and by extension the Marquis de Sade himself, are national treasures. Controversial? Maybe, but treasures all the same. Thanks for listening to Echoes of History: Behind the Legends, a Ubisoft podcast produced by Paradiso Media.

Benjamin Franklin title card

Benjamin Franklin

As the only person to have signed the Declaration of Independence in 1776, Treaty of Alliance with France in 1778, Treaty of Paris in 1783, and U.S. Constitution in 1787, Benjamin Franklin remains in history as perhaps the most important Founding Father of the United States. And this even though he never ruled, earning him the title of "the only president of the United States who was never president of the United States". But behind the politician lies a great man of science responsible for a variety of inventions, starting with the lightning rod.

• Danny Wallace: "Whose portrait appears on an American hundred-dollar bill?" By answering this question, the hero of Danny Boyle's film Slumdog Millionaire crosses the ₹1 million mark in the Indian version of the TV gameshow Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?. With his receding hairline, shoulder-length hair, honest eyes, and slight smile, Benjamin Franklin's face is famous worldwide. He is the only Founding Father of the United States to have signed all three of the key documents that established the new nation: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Treaty of Alliance with France, of which he was the main architect. When he arrived in Paris 1776 to seek the monarchy's support, his extraordinary reputation preceeded him. Franklin's work on electricity had made him famous. At 70 years old, he was a true man of the Enlightenment. He came from a modest background, became wealthy on his own merit, he was a genius inventor, and an accomplished diplomat. His face was already well-known, and engravings, medals, and busts of him were a huge commercial success. Benjamin Franklin was a living legend, and he played a key role in building this legend himself, using his great skill to achieve his goals.
  
  You're listening to Echoes of History: Behind the Legends, the podcast that tells you the true stories of some of history's most legendary heroes. As the Assassin's Creed franchise turns 15, travel back through 2,500 years of history to meet the men and women whose destiny lead them to greatness. Uncover their stories and bring their legends back to life. Episode five, Benjamin Franklin.
  
  Benjamin Franklin was born on the 17th of January 1706 in Boston, Massachusetts to a poor family of Protestant settlers from England. Benjamin, who read the Bible aged just five, was an avid reader, but he had to leave school at 10 to help his family. At 12, to make a living, he became an apprentice to his older brother James, who owned a printing business. In 1721, James Franklin founded the first American daily newspaper, The New-England Courant. In April 1722, a series of articles by one "Silence Dogood" appeared in the paper and were a huge success. This outspoken, old lady tackled controversial subjects, much to the delight of her readers. But what they didn't know was that the young Benjamin Franklin was behind the pseudonym. At just 16 years old, he already had the qualities of a great writer. But the relationship between the two brothers quickly deteriorated. Tired of his elder brother's jealousy and physical bullying, Benjamin left Boston and arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the 6th of October 1723. According to the great man's legend, written by Franklin himself in his autobiography, this date for him was a rebirth. Starting from this moment, this young man of 17—all alone and without a penny to his name—made his own success.
  
  By 1750, Benjamin Franklin had come a long way. He was an accomplished businessman, editor, and printer who'd been publishing the influential newspaper The Pennsylvania Gazette, one of the most widely-read daily newspapers in the colonies since 1729. In 1733, he also began publishing the popular Poor Richard's Almanack. This publication was a big hit in the American colonies. The yearly almanac offered a mixture of weather forecasts, advise of all kinds, puzzles, and Franklin's trademark bon mots. It made its publisher rich, selling more than 10,000 copies a year. At the same time, Benjamin Franklin established himself as a committed citizen. He was particularly active in his community. In 1727, he formed the Junto, a philanthropic association of businessmen in Philadelphia. Together, they created one of the first public libraries in America in 1731, and the University of Pennsylvania in 1749.
  
  At this time, Franklin began to devote himself fully to his true passion: science. He was fascinated by electricity. In 1751, he sent a letter to the Royal Society, the prestigious learned society in London that made him famous throughout Europe. It contained the hypothesis that lightning was electrical, and described an experiment to prove it. In June 1752, the scientist carried out his famous experiment. He constructed a kite to fly in a stormy sky, attaching a wire to the top of it, and tethering it to the ground with a wet string of hemp. To the string, he attached a key, insulated with silk thread, which he held in his hand. When lightning struck the kite, sparks flew from the key. Based on this observation, Franklin invented the lightning rod, which quickly became widespread. The following year, the Royal Society awarded him the Copley Medal, their most prestigious prize.
  
  After 1757, Franklin regularly spent time in England. He had been elected to the Pennsylvania Assembly in 1751, and was chosen to represent its interests in London. This meant that Franklin was in Europe when the 1765 Stamp Act crisis broke out. Adopted by the British Parliament, the Act required American colonists to pay a stamp tax for a whole series of legal documents, newspapers, and adverts. It was incredibly unpopular, as a lot of taxes are, and led to violent protest. Rioters hanged and burned effigies of tax collectors—it's not a bad idea! Parliament backed down and the Stamp Act was repealed the following month. But the rift between the government in London and the colonies was established. This situation worried Franklin, who was still a Loyalist at this stage. He couldn't envisage the colonies' existence outside of the British Empire. His position gradually changed over the following years. In 1773, alarming letters from the British Governor of the colony of Massachusetts were published in a Boston newspaper. Benjamin Franklin was behind this move. Having become Deputy Postmaster General for the colonies of British North America in 1758, he intercepted the compromising letters and revealed to the public the government's oppressive plans to limit the colonists' freedoms. This revelation was the spark that lit the fire of revolution. And this, along with other unpopular measures, led to the Boston Tea Party.
  
  On the 16th of December 1773, the Sons of Liberty—insurgent colonists—threw 342 chests of tea from England into the city's harbor—a crime that I still regard as one of the worst in history. In the aftermath, Franklin was summoned before the Privy Council of the King of England. For an hour, he was publicly humiliated. He was treated as a thief for having taken the letters, and was held responsible for the events in Boston. In March 1775, he left England for good. When he arrived in Philadelphia, the American Revolution had begun and fighting raged. He was chosen to represent Pennsylvania at the Continental Congress, the joint governing body for the 13 revolutionary colonies. On the 21st of June 1776, Franklin received a letter from Thomas Jefferson, his Virginian counterpart in Congress. It contained a draft of the Declaration of Independence. Benjamin Franklin made a few, minor stylistic changes before returning it to its sender. After a few modifications, this text, written by Jefferson, was adopted by all delegates on the 4th of July 1776, creating the United States of America.
  
  A few months later, Benjamin Franklin went to Paris. His mission was to obtain financial and military support from the kingdom of France. Negotiations were difficult—as they so often are with the French. The monarchy was in serious financial crisis and wary of their British enemy. Franklin's reputation was a considerable advantage: he knew how to use his image, presenting himself at court with his legendary simplicity, with no wig or powered face, wearing his dark frock coat and shoes with no buckles. This is the characteristic outfit in which he's portrayed in the video game Assassin's Creed: Rogue. Set in December 1776, the hero, Shay Patrick Cormac, must infiltrate the court of Louis XVI to complete the final mission of the game. Franklin, who has access to the Château de Versailles, helps him get in. Although Franklin was a sensational success with the Parisian elite, he still needed an American military victory. Without it, the French wouldn't join the war. On the 4th of December 1777, he finally received the long-awaited news: a few months earlier, the Americans had forced the British troops to surrender at Saratoga. On the 6th of February 1778, the Treaty of Alliance with France was signed. The French then fought alongside the Americans in their war of independence. Thanks to his support, General Washington's army won a decisive victory in Yorktown on the 19th October 1781.
  
  Franklin did not return to the United States straight away. He remained in Europe for a while to negotiate peace with the British. On the 3rd of September 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed. Benjamin Franklin returned to Philadelphia a hero on the 14th September 1785. Despite his advanced age—he was 70 at this point—and his fragile health, he was chosen to represent Pennsylvania at the Philadelphia Convention, which was responsible for drawing up the Constitution of the United States. After lengthy discussions, this historic text was finally adopted on the 17th September 1787. Benjamin Franklin fell ill and died a few years later on the 17th of April 1790. Despite requesting a modest ceremony, 20,000 people attended his funeral in Philadelphia. One year later, the great man's posthumous autobiography was published. Through this book, which was an immediate hit, Franklin presented an image of himself as a self-made man.
  
  The myth is misleading, of course. Personal achievement played a key role in his life, but it doesn't explain everything. The young Franklin owed his apprenticeship to his brother, and his editorial achievements were principally inspired by previous successes. The Pennsylvania Gazette, for example, largely mimicked The Spectator, a British paper that Franklin admired. And later, within the Junto, the Philadelphia philanthropic club, the entrepreneur benefited from a network of wealthy partners to achieve his ambitious plans. Even in the scientific field, Benjamin Franklin's contribution should be reassessed. The myth of a genius inventor, celebrated on both sides of the Atlantic, minimized the crucial contribution of other scientists. John Freke in Britain and Johann Heinrich Winckler in Germany put forward the hypothesis that lightning is electrical before him. The same is true for the experiment carried out by the Frenchman Thomas-François Dalibard on the 10th of May 1752. Dalibard was the first person to demonstrate the existence of an electrical charge in clouds, several weeks before the legendary kite experiment. And "legendary" is the word, because Franklin's experiment should be taken with a pinch of salt. Some historians question the version taught to all American schoolchildren, which dates the event to June 1752. The Pennsylvania Gazette, the newspaper Franklin himself published, did not describe the event until later, in its edition on the 19th of October 1752, yet, the paper reported on Dalibard's experiment on the 27th of August 1752, so the timeline is certainly curious.
  
  It is well-established that Benjamin Franklin contributed significantly to creating his own legend. A remarkable scientist, a talented writer, media mogul, skilled diplomat, and more. There are grey areas behind the reassuring gaze and modest smile of this major figure. But at a time when founding stories are being called into question, Benjamin Franklin's statues isn't at risk of being toppled because his impressive trajectory, political accomplishments, and scientific discoveries are evidence of the determination and intelligence of a man who continually questioned his prejudices. The ultimate proof of this clear-sightedness is that in the last years of his life, Franklin dedicated himself to a cause that was largely neglected during the Revolution: the abolition of slavery. Although the Declaration of Independence recognized equality between all men, Black slaves were excluded. At one time, Franklin himself had six slaves, and the newspapers that made his fortune contained classified ads for slaves for sale. For a long time, the great scholar shared white peoples' racist ideas about Black people. A visit to a school for Black children in Philadelphia in 1763 opened his eyes to slavery. He then qualified it as "an atrocious debasement of human nature". In 1790, as President of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, Franklin put his weight behind a petition to the federal government to ban slavery. It was not successful; the United States didn't abolish slavery until 1865. Now although Franklin didn't win this battle during his lifetime, here again, he can claim to have been a pioneer. Thanks for listening to Echoes of History: Behind the Legends, a Ubisoft podcast produced by Paradiso Media.

Blackbeard title card

Blackbeard

Think of pirates and there's a great chance that the first image that comes to your mind is a Blackbeard look-a-like: a cruel captain with a long beard and a hat, thirsty for blood, yelling at his men from the upper deck of his ship as he prepares to board an unfortunate merchant's boat. Well, this has been the image of Blackbeard, alias Edward Teach, over the centuries. But the real Teach was not especially cruel and tyrannical, at least no more than any other pirate back in the days.

• Danny Wallace: It's Friday the 22nd of November 1996, and archaeologist Richard Lawrence may just have made the discovery of a lifetime. It's something of a childhood dream come true. Off the coast of North Carolina, thirty feet below the surface of the water, he can make out the vestiges of a shipwreck. And so, he begins to count. One cannon. Two cannons. A third. Too many cannons to count! The firepower is immense, and the archaeologist knows there's a high chance that what he's looking at is Queen Anne's Revenge, the ship belonging to probably the most famous pirate of all time: Blackbeard. Resting at the bottom of Beaufort Inlet, the flagship's location is one hell of a clue: this is where the pirate ship was said to have run aground back in May 1718. But as he drifts back up to the surface, Lawrence is suddenly wracked with doubt. This part of the world is awash with shipwrecks. What if he's wrong? Out of nowhere, a memory stirs: Blackbeard died on November 22nd, 1718. That makes 278 years, to the day. Pure coincidence? Or destiny in motion? A few years later, his inkling was confirmed as fact, and the shipwreck unlocked some precious secrets about this bandit of the seas. Yet, despite it all, Blackbeard remains a mystery even today. We know little about his life except that his reign of terror stretched from the Caribbean to North America's eastern coast back in the Golden Age of Piracy. Famous yet unknown, over time, Blackbeard has come to be celebrated as the ultimate king of the pirates.
  
  You're listening to Echoes of History: Behind the Legends, the podcast that tells you the true stories of some of history's most legendary heroes. As the Assassin's Creed franchise turns 15, travel back through 2,500 years of history to meet the men and women whose destiny lead them to greatness. Uncover their stories and bring their legends back to life. Episode six, Blackbeard.
  
  Tracking a pirate's murky footprints is never easy; these are tough guys to pin down. Firstly, because they rarely knew how to write, and secondly, because their lives as outlaws went hand-in-hand with keeping a low profile. When it comes to Blackbeard, the mystery starts with his name. Edward Drummond? Edward Thatch? Or Edward Teach, even. The archives aren't much help. Some historians believe he was born in Bristol, England, while some claim he was the son of a South Carolina colonial. And others still are convinced he came from a wealthy Jamaican family. Edward Teach—as we'll call him from now on—was born around 1618. However, even that basic detail is shrouded in uncertainty: it's based on the age he was thought to be when he died, which was around 38 years old. Most of the stories about him come from personal accounts from his victims and the people who tried to hunt him down. And, to be honest—well, it's not a pretty picture. Six years after his death, a book was published that would go on to cement Blackbeard's legacy and turn the man into legend. English captain Charles Johnson's A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates was published in 1724, and, it was a runaway success right off the press. The book is a compendium of biographies, and the section on Edward Teach is very well researched. It explains how he serves on Britain's privateer ships during the War of the Spanish Succession until the signing of the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, which puts an end to the conflict. It was at that point that he decided it was his time to shine.
  
  In 1716, at the pirates' safehaven and Bahamian island of New Providence, he meets Captain Hornigold, a seasoned sea-bandit who becomes his mentor and entrusts him with a sloop—a kind of small sailboat. The pair set off to plunder a series of ships off the North American coast. The following year, in the Lesser Antilles, Teach captures La Concorde, a 300-ton French slave ship boasting 26 cannons. He takes control of the ship and increases the cannon count to 40, making it the most powerful pirate ship to sail the seas at that moment. Backed by his crew, Teach is more than a match for the military vessels sent to cross his path. In February 1717, he even takes on—and forces to flee—the Scarborough, a British ship kitted out with 30 cannons and specifically launched to capture La Concorde. With no real rival on the horizon, the frigate belonging to the pirate now known as "Blackbeard" captures ship after ship.
  
  In January 1718, La Concorde is rechristened Queen Anne's Revenge. Teach and his crew are an unstoppable force to be reckoned with. Rumor has it that the pirate was a cruel, bloodthirsty, and merciless man, and there is some truth to the stories. It's safe to say that Blackbeard was no bleeding heart and had no qualms about cutting off a finger here and there should his hostages deny him their diamond-studded rings. But the legends—well, they were overegged. There is no evidence to suggest that Teach was any more violent than any other pirate. Quite the contrary, in fact! With Blackbeard, if you submitted without resistance, you would be spared without harm. Often, no blood was shed, as the captured ships—cowed by the power of the Queen Anne's Revenge—would surrender without a fight. Probably a good move!
  
  Captain Johnson sometimes let his imagination loose in building up the legend of Blackbeard. He recounts how Edward Teach once shut himself away in his ship's hold and set fire to the powder kegs, just to show off to his crew—we've all done it. This kind of outlandish anecdote forms the bedrock of Johnson's general outlook, demonstrating, quote, "to what a Pitch of Wickedness human Nature may arrive". Many experts believe that "Captain Johnson" was simply a nom de plume for none other than Daniel Defoe, the famous author of Robinson Crusoe. The ultimate seafaring adventure novelist, he enjoyed blurring the boundaries between fact and fiction, and was also a marine insurerer and merchant back in Blackbeard's day. As you can imagine, he wasn't the biggest fan of pirates, although they did serve as an endless source of inspiration and fascination to him as a writer. In his business dealings, though, he had nothing but hatred for the buccaneers, and like nothing more than to see them hanged. Hence, Teach being protrayed as a monster, perhaps.
  
  Irrespective of the man behind the writings, one thing's for sure: A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates—not the snappiest title, by the way—breathed live into Blackbeard's appearance in our collective consciousness. The pirate is known for one physical trait in particular—a black beard, obviously—which, according to the book, was left to "grow [to] an extravagant length". Beards have been a symbol of manliness and authority since ancient Greek times, but the book adds one key detail that changes everything. Teach's beard, the author writes, was not only long, but, quote, "as to breadth, it came up to his eyes". And so the beard here is a defect, not an asset. Behind his hairy mask, Teach is closer to beast than man. This monster-like description should be compared and contrasted with the handful of other descriptions of Blackbeard we have at our disposal, like that of Captain Henry Bostock. In December 1717, his merchant ship Margaret is attacked by La Concorde just off the coast of Puerto Rico, with Teach and his mean sparing the crew but seizing its cargo. When Captain Bostock reports back to the British governor of Leeeward Islands, he describes the pirate as a tall spare man with a very black beard, which he wore very long—which is, clearly, a less-terrifying description—and, as an aside, according to Bostock, no harm came to his crew. Once unarmed and pillaged, the Margaret and her crew are set free. All a far cry from the blood-curdling pirate of legend.
  
  A General History of the Robberies and Murders of the most notorious Pyrates—and again, I think I would probably just have called it Pirates—also explains how Teach wore a hat fitted with two lit fuses designed to terrify his enemies. In Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, upon treating the protagonist Edward Kenway to a masterclass in piracy, Blackbeard pulls on a hat adorned with four smoking hemp fuses and spills his secrets. He says, "For an audience, aye. It's all a big show. Give your quarry something to fear, some hellish thing from a fever'd dream, and men will drop to their knees pleading for their Lord before aught else!". Maybe Teach isn't the devil incarnate—but he can certainly make you think he is.
  
  His death mirrors his life: a violent finale befitting the most formidable of pirates. He humiliated the Royal Navy, rendering it powerless to protect the merchant ships that were left prey to his pluundering. He delivered dazzling blows, like the majestic blockade of Charles-Town Harbor in May 1718. He laughed in the face of the Royal Pardon. He sailed the seven seas, tirelessly prowing the waves, and ultimately, he enraged the colonial authorities. Alexander Spotswood, Governor of Virginia finally places a hefty bounty on Blackbeard's head and his crew along with him: £10 per sailor and £100 for their captain. In those days, it was a pretty penny indeed. Governor Spotswood also entrusts Royal Navy lieutenant Maynard with leading a crackdown expedition on Ocracoke, an island just off the coast of North Carolina where Teach has set up shop.
  
  The battle takes place on November 22, 1718. Blackbeard is taken by surprise by Maynard at daybreak, with the pirate having just enough time to set sail on his new ship, the Adventure. The fighting is fierce, the battle a bloodbath, the cannons deafening. Armed with his cutlass and six-pistol harness, Blackbeard eventually boards Maynard's frigate. The lieutenant and pirate clash in an almighty duel, with Teach quickly wounded by a first bullet. Staggering, but not down, he fights tooth and nail, and just as he's about to deliver the final blow to his adversary, he's cut down from behind by one of Maynard's men. Legend has it that he suffers 25 wounds, including 5 gunshot wounds, before falling. Lieutenant Maynard has his head cut off and placed on a pole as a trophy. It's fixed to the mast of the ship as it sails towards Virginia bearing news of his feat.
  
  No pirate worth his salt is complete without a buried treasure. Did Blackbeard take the secret of his booty to the grave with him? Legend has it that he trusted nobody but the Devil himself, and Teach was even believed to have made a pact with Satan, according to which whoever lived longest could claim the treasure for himself. Historians tend to take a more grounded view: Teach was a big spender, and despite his glory on the seas, his looting was often modest compared to the sums raked in by other pirates such as Bartholomew Roberts, Henry Every. The island of Ocracoke was dug up and scoured by thousands of treasure hunters, but, to no avail.
  
  Blackbeard may not have been the richest of pirates, but he was, without the shadow of a doubt, the most famous. In novels, films, manga, video games, his legacy has lived on through the stereotype of the bloodthirsty pirate. The man himself lives on in myth, too. Still today, sailors refer to the unexplained lights that dance on the horizon of the open sea as "Teach's light". And some believe that the pirate continues to wander the seven seas, haunting the oceans for all eternity.
  
  Thanks for listening to Echoes of History: Behind the Legends, a Ubisoft podcast produced by Paradiso Media.

Paul Revere title card

Paul Revere

His name has inspired poems, novels, songs... Paul Revere remains forever attached to his greatest accomplishment: his "Midnight Ride" on April 18th-19th, 1775. A long night of horse riding from Boston to Lexington to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams of the British Army movements. A night that would change the course of the war and of the soon-to-be United States of America. But what history has forgotten is that Paul Revere was more than just a rider. He was a very active member of the Sons of Liberty and worked in the shadows to help the Revolution.

• Danny Wallace: Imagine, for a second, that people from ages past could send us a message through time. On the 6th of January 2015, curators at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts proceed to open a mysterious metal box before an audience of dignitaries. It was found by chance a few months earlier by a worker repairing a pipe, having been hidden in the cornerstone of the Massachusetts State House—the box that is, not the worker. One by one, perfectly conserved objects are revealed to the audience between camera flashes: newspapers, coins, a medal depicting George Washington, and a splendid silver plaque with an engraving explaining its origins—the crown jewel of the discovery. The time capsule was sealed two centuries earlier, on the 4th of July 1795 by the Boston Freemasons to commemorate the independence of the United States. The Grand Master of the Masonic Lodge—Paul Revere, a skilled silversmith—made the plaque and arranged the ceremony governed by Founding Father Samuel Adams. All Americans know the name Paul Revere. Generations of schoolchildren have learned Henry Longfellow's poem by heart, telling of the heroic horse ride of 1775, the midnight ride that enabled Samuel Adams to escape the British troops. The poem is quite far removed from reality. Longfellow embellished the facts to create a national myth. As a result, its hero Paul Revere is often reduced to a single horse ride. Yet, behind the legend lies one of the most important American revolutionaries.
  
  You're listening to Echoes of History: Behind the Legends, the podcast that tells you the true stories of some of history's most legendary heroes. As the Assassin's Creed franchise turns 15, travel back through 2,500 years of history to meet the men and women whose destiny lead them to greatness. Uncover their stories and bring their legends back to life. Episode seven, Paul Revere.
  
  In a portrait dating from 1768, Paul Revere sits at his desk holding a piece of silverware in his left hand and fixing the viewer with his honest gaze. It was painted by John Singleton Copley, a great painter of the time, famed for his portraits of aristocrats and the upper class. As he poses for the portrait, Paul Revere is just a young, unknown craftsman. A portrait of this kind is very expensive, which clearly shows his ambition. Revere is already convinced that he will leave his mark on history.
  
  And he certainly succeeds: Paul Revere's midnight ride in 1775 is one of the founding myths of the American nation, but the legend doesn't come to be until much later. In 1861, poet Henry Longfellow publishes "Paul Revere's Ride," a poem that will ensure the memory of this feat will live on forever. With its jerky rhythm and enveloping rhymes, this text makes the reader feel part of a true epic.
  
  Revere's ride takes place during a period of extreme tension between the insurgent American colonists and the British government. With provocations and clashes increasing, war is imminent. In April 1775, General Gage, who was in command of the British troops in Boston, decides to act. He wants to capture the rebel leaders who are hiding in Lexington, 20 kilometers to the north, and sees the cache of weapons and munitions in neighboring Concord.
  
  On the evening of the 18th of April 1775, Dr. Joseph Warren, a revolutionary friend of Paul Revere, is informed that the British offensive is imminent. He instructs the silversmith to go immediately to Lexington to warn pro-independence leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock. To ensure they are successfully alerted, another courier, William Dawes, has already set off along a different route.
  
  Revere leaves at around 11:00 p.m. He is carrying a nation's fate on his shoulders. First, he has to cross the Charles River by rowboat, where he has his first brush with danger, slipping past Somerset, an imposing British warship. Then, a feverish wait begins when he arrives on the other bank in Charleston. He's waiting for a signal, like something out of one of the greatest Greek myths. As Longfellow's famous poem says, "One if by land and two if by sea." Revere watches the steeple of the Old North Church, the oldest church in Boston. Suddenly, two lanterns are lit by an ally, signaling that the king's troops are going to march on Lexington via the water to the north rather than take the land route to the south.
  
  Revere immediately mounts his horse and they gallop through the night. The poem establishes the image of a solitary horseman engaged in a race against time. And as you read it, you hear the clatter of hooves and imagine this elusive shadow with his cape and tricorn hat galloping through the Middlesex countryside.
  
  Revere alerts every farm and every village; soldiers are already patrolling the hinterland. He has to be careful, so he knocks on doors. Minutemen, men who can arm themselves at a moment's notice, respond to the call. In Paul Revere's wake, an entire nation unites against its oppressor.
  
  The mission is a complete success. Revere arrives in Lexington at around midnight, half an hour before William Dawes. He informs Samuel Adams and John Hancock of the situation. The two men seek shelter and spend the night coming up with a plan of action to counter the British troops' advance. At dawn the following day, the 19th of April, the first shot of the American War of Independence are fired.
  
  Thanks to Paul Revere, Adams and Hancock will be—a few years later—among the Founding Fathers of the American nation. The legend of the midnight ride is now part of American folklore. In 1917, a film produced by Edison Studios depicts the ride. In 1972, Johnny Cash, another American legend, writes a song about Paul Revere. More recently, Bart imagines he's talking to a statue of Revere in Boston in an episode of The Simpsons. And in the game Assassin's Creed III, the hero, Connor Kenway, joins the midnight ride alongside Paul Revere.
  
  Sure, it's a myth, but a fictionalized myth, like in Longfellow's poem. We now know that Revere wasn't the only rider that decisive night. We also know that he never reached Concord, where he was supposed to go after Lexington, and that the signal from the Old North Church wasn't for him: it was a backup plan to warn a courier in Charleston in case Revere and doors were captured en route. Myth or reality, Paul Revere wasn't just a man who rode a horse—that would be silly. The silversmith played a central role in the American independence movement. The legend of the midnight ride has long focused attention on his nocturnal exploit, leaving the rest of his story in the shadows.
  
  Born in 1735, young Paul is raised in the silver workshop of his father, a French Protestant who fled to Boston; in the North Writing School, where craftsman's children are educated; and in the New Brick of "Cockerel" Church, where he practices Calvinism. At the age of 19, his father dies, leaving him the head of the family, and he successfully takes over the family business. In 1756, Paul Revere enlists in the Massachusetts militia, where he serves as a lieutenant in the infantry. Like all colonial soldiers, he is treated with contempt by the British officers who deem them incapable of defending themselves—we've always been a bit like that. Upon his return to Boston, he resumes his flourishing business. All the local upper class purchased their silverware from him. Sharp minded, Revere interacts with all these Harvard-educated notables as an equal.
  
  In 1760, he joins the influential masonic lodge St. Andrews. Two of his fellow Freemasons will come to play a key role in his legend: John Hancock, a wealthy merchant, and Joseph Warren, a renowned surgeon. Both are committed to defending colonial interests—interests that are quickly undermined when the British Empire, heavily in debt because of the Seven Years' War against France, decides its colonies will foot the bill. The 1764 Sugar Act and 1765 Stamp Act imposed new taxes. Politician Samuel Adams then comes up with the mobilizing slogan, "no taxation without representation". He also creates a secret organization in Boston, the Sons of Liberty, which Revere immediately joins.
  
  Alongside this, Revere gets into engraving—I mean, we all get into engraving at some point, don't we? One of his creations is now an icon of American history. The Bloody Massacre perpetrated in King Street Boston on March 5, 1770 by a party of the 29th Regt. is an engraving with a very long title which shows a line of British soldiers opening fire on Bostonians. It is pure propaganda. Entangled in an urban riot, the soldiers that day fired unwillingly. By this point, Revere is a radical Patriot looking to end British tyranny; he distorts reality to get public opinion on his side.
  
  On the 16th December 1773, Revere finds himself one of the Sons of Liberty ringleaders of the famous Boston Tea Party revolt, a major chapter in the novel of the American nation. With the Tea Act, London decides to keep taxing tea in the colonies while exempting Britain. In response, around 50 men board the merchant ships in the port of Boston, and dump 342 chests of tea into the harbor before a crowd of over 5,000 people—I still think that's a terrible waste. The reaction in London is immediate: the harbor is closed and marshal law instated. 3,000 Redcoats are deployed in the city.
  
  In response, Samuel Adams creates a network of couriers to take messages from town to town and make it easier for members of these Sons of liberty to communicate. Revere jumps at the opportunity. A good rider, he always wanted a horse, an outward sign of success if ever there were one. Revere carries out a number of missions, such as in December 1774, when he rides through a snowstorm to alert the patriots of New Hampshire on the imminent arrival of British regiments—I mean, it's all very impressive, but it's the horse I feel sorry for. Of his 18 documented rides, the midnight ride is undoubtedly the most crucial to the history of the United States. As the war kicks off, Revere stops doing these missions and joins the Massachusetts militia. His service during the war isn't particularly notable, and his career as a politician is equally unremarkable. Despite his ambitions, he doesn't manage to obtain an important post in the new federal government after the war. So, he returns to his trade and starts making copper plates used for ships in the burgeoning US Navy.
  
  In his later years, he earns a fortune making bells, some of which can still be heard ringing in New England. Despite his involvement in the independence movement, Revere did not achieve fame during his lifetime. Ironically, he wasn't particularly revered. Upon his death in May 1818, the local press merely publishes a vague tribute celebrating an exemplary life without further details, and his tomb in a Boston cemetery is just one of many engraved stones. The poem that made him a legend was written much later, on the eve of another much deadlier war. Torn apart by the Civil War, America needed Paul Revere again, a hero of the people capable of bringing the whole nation together, and single-handedly changing the course of history.
  
  Thanks for listening to Echoes of History: Behind the Legends, a Ubisoft podcast produced by Paradiso Media.

Niccolo and Maffeo Polo title card

Niccolo and Maffeo Polo

"Polo" is a name engraved in the legend of exploration. Sure, Marco did a lot for that by describing thoroughly his trip to China and his life alongside the Mongol emperor Kublai Khan. But Marco Polo owes a great deal to his father Niccolò and his uncle Maffeo. These two merchants started by establishing trading points on the road to western Europe and Asia before making the full trip to China... twice! The second time, they brought young Marco, who was then 17, with them, marking the beginning of his legend. But there's no reason why the two brothers should remain in the shadow of their descendant.

• Danny Wallace: "Ye Emperors, Kings, Dukes...and all other people desirous of knowing the diversities of...kingdoms, provinces, and regions of all parts of the East, read through this book." So begins The Travels of Marco Polo. The greatest travelogue ever written, published in the 13th century, it was an instant success, taking the reader on an exciting adventure from Venice to the Far East via the Black Sea. Marco Polo made this extraordinary voyage to the ends of the Earth between 1271 and 1295. In this tale, the reader travels with him, crossing never-ending rivers and vast deserts, encountering tribes of nomadic riders, and meeting the Mongol emperor Kublai Khan in person.
  
  Two centuries later, Christopher Columbus, a great admirer of Marco Polo, sailed at his wake via another route, taking The Travels of Marco Polo with him as a travel guide. And many explorers have tried to follow in the Venetian's footsteps. However, he wasn't actually a pioneer or a lone explorer. Without his father, Niccolò, and uncle, Maffeo, we probably wouldn't know his name. The two men reached Khanbaliq, modern day Beijing, first when Marco was just a child. Without this first foray into the heart of another world, Marco Polo would have just been one Venetian merchant among thousands.
  
  You're listening to Echoes of History: Behind the Legends, the podcast that tells you the true stories of some of history's most legendary heroes. As the Assassin's Creed franchise turns 15, travel back through 2,500 years of history to meet the men and women whose destiny lead them to greatness. Uncover their stories and bring their legends back to life. Episode eight, Niccolò and Maffeo Polo.
  
  The story of the manuscripts of The Travels of Marco Polo starts in 1298 in a Genoese prison. Languishing in his cell, poet Rustichello da Pisa finally found a way to escape boredom. His new cellmate, one Marco Polo—Yeah, that one—had an endless supply of stories. This Venetian claimed to have completed an immense journey that started 27 years earlier. Initially suspicious, the poet was soon caught up in this extraordinary tale. The areas explored were described with such precision that the fascinated writer agreed to write everything down. The book was co-written; as Marco dictated the tale, Rustichello transcribed it. More than a century later, in 1392, a Florentine scribe annotated the manuscript, "I, Amelio Bonaguidi...Consider this lies...I don't believe it."Now, admittedly, to suit public taste, the authors had embellished the story—just a little—with marvels: dog-headed men, cats with human faces, ^[citation needed] and the roc, a giant eagle that can capture an elephant—as opposed to the film star. The legend took hold through the fantasy and with it a suspicion: What if Marco Polo was a fraud? We wouldn't say that, but the Venetian certainly didn't visit all the places he described. He didn't set foot in Africa, for example, and he had a way with hyperbole. The word "marvelous" appears 120 times in the Franco-Italian text, which is a marvelous use of the word "marvelous".
  
  However, there is irrefutable proof confirming the essence of his story. Marco Polo did travel to China, and he was a high ranking emissary to the Mongol Khagan emperor Kublai Khan. The most substantial evidence of this can be found in the Venetian's will, written in 1324, the year of his death. The inventory of his assets includes a golden tablet, or paiza—a type of passport entitling the bearer to privileges—engraved in precious metal and worn around the neck. The Khan gave them to his top officials.
  
  The fact remains that Marco Polo's boastfulness minimized the role of his family, specifically, Niccolo, his father, and Maffeo, his uncle. During the account of his stay in China, Marco Polo puts himself in the spotlight so much that the other two men seem as if they're not there at all. Yet, when the journey for which he is now famous began in 1271, Marco was just an inexperienced young man of 17. He was only an apprentice to the two brothers, who were experienced explorers and merchants. And the journey in question was anything but an impromptu expedition into unknown lands. The Polo brothers were on a diplomatic mission for the Khagan himself. Reaching the emperor was a real feat in the first place, accomplished by the brothers a few years earlier in 1266 after crossing much of Asia virtually alone, and often without a guide.
  
  The first pages of The Travels of Marco Polo contain a very concise account of this first voyage. And with time, the legend of Marco Polo erased the perhaps greater achievements of his father and uncle.
  
  When Marco Polo was born in Venice in 1254, his father Niccolò and uncle Maffeo were on an extraordinary voyage. His mother was prepared to raise him alone as she waited for her husband's return, but she died a few weeks after Marco's birth. The boy was cared for by his aunt Flora and grandfather Andrea, a well known local trader. The Polos were a new family of prosperous merchants who lived in the Venetian quarter of San Severo. The family business was long distance trade. Marco the Elder, the eldest brother, was the stable partner who stayed on land in Venice or at a trading post while his two younger brothers traveled to find the best products and markets.
  
  In 1254, Niccolò and Maffeo left Venice for Constantinople, the capital of the Latin Empire. They lived in a house they owned in the Venetian quarter for several years while they grew their investments. But in 1260, the two brothers had to leave the city as the situation for Venetians became precarious.
  
  Before their hasty departure, Niccolò and Maffeo exchanged some of their possessions for precious stones and jewelry, items that are easy to transport and sell. Then, for a while, they moved to Soldaia, a trading post on the Black Sea and Crimea, where the Polo family already had a presence before hitting the road again.
  
  Crossing the Crimean Mountains, they embarked on an unforeseen adventure that took them to the Asiatic steppes of the Golden Horde, the Mongol kingdom led by one of Genghis Khan's descendants. We don't know why they went on this journey. The only available source, The Travels of Marco Polo, gives no explanation. Perhaps they were following a route suggested by other merchants. Maybe they won it in a magazine. One thing is certain: Westerners had already ventured into this part of Asia.
  
  The year Marco was born, 1254, Franciscan missionary William of Rubruck, an envoy of King Louis IX of France, returned from a mission that had taken him all the way to Karakorum, the capital of the Mongol Empire. The two brothers may have heard about this voyage. In the report he left, the monk recalls that Mongol leaders enjoyed valuable gifts such as jewelry—but then, you know, who doesn't? The Polos may have had it all planned when they left Europe.
  
  In any case, they rode to the city of Bulgar on the west bank of the Volga river, where they met Berke, the first Khan of the Golden Horde to convert to Islam. He gave them a warm welcome, and the jewelry they gave him made an impression. In return, Berke gave the Polo brothers goods twice as valuable as the jewelry and the privilege of being able to trade in his kingdom. Niccolò and Maffeo spent a year in the region selling their inventory. At this stage, the two merchants probably planned to return to their homeland wealthy men, thanks to their business. But an unforeseen event pushed them to flee further into the Golden Horde. War broke out between Berke and Hülegü, the Khan who founded the Ilkhanate, the rival Persian kingdom that was expanding and threatening Islamic lands. As the roots to the south were cut off, the Polo brothers moved east along the caravan routes leading to Central Asia. Once again, Niccolò and Maffeo took a gamble on the unknown.
  
  It took 17 days for them to cross a desert populated by just a few herders—I hope they took a deck of cards with them. They managed to reach Bukhara, one of the main crossroads on the Silk Road where they lived and traded for about three years. In 1264, the Polo brothers met a delegation sent by Hülegü to his brother, the great Kublai Khan. Both were the grandsons of legendary conqueror Genghis Khan. The diplomats suggested the brothers join them on their way to Khanbaliq, the new capital the Mongol emperor had just founded. Kublai Khan had never met Europeans and was curious about foreigners. The explorers agreed.
  
  After an arduous, year-long journey—again, always remember to take a deck of cards—braving the cold snow, rain, and crossing swollen rivers, Niccolò and Maffeo were the first Europeans to penetrate so far into eastern Asia0and meet the Khagan. The Mongol emperor received the Polo brothers with all the pomp of his court, but their stay in Khanbaliq was short. After questioning the two explorers on the habits and customs of their country, Kublai Khan sent them on a domestic mission. The two brothers were to return with 100 educated people who would teach the emperor western science, technology, and religion. In his book The Travels of Marco Polo, Marco claims that the Khan entrusted a letter to his father and uncle addressed to the Pope. According to him, the emperor was willing to convert to Christianity, if the church's emissaries convinced him. This is questionable. It chiefly reveals the explorer's views and conviction that his faith was superior to all others.
  
  The return journey was easier. Thanks to a paisa, an engraved golden tablet given to them by Kublai Khan, the Polo brothers were given lodging, horses, and food at each stop. They finally returned to Venice in 1269, and we can only imagine the admiration in Marco's eyes. A boy of 15, meeting his father for the first time. A father he had so often dreamed of, who had accomplished such an incredible voyage. A father and his brother, who gone from merchants to ambassadors, guaranteeing dialogue between two worlds. And we can also imagine the consuming ambition that the tales of Niccolò and Maffeo sparked in the teenager. As a result, two years later, when the two brothers left for their second voyage to the Mongol kingdom, Marco went with them. The Polos arrived in Khanbaliq in 1274. Kublai Khan quickly took a liking to Marco, making him one of his closest emissaries. The emperor sent him on various missions, enabling him to travel through China like no explorer before him. In all, the Polos stayed there for 17 years. On their return to Venice in 1295, Niccolò and Maffeo enjoyed enormous prestige; Maffeo became a member of the Grand Council, the assembly that elected the Doge.
  
  Niccolò and Maffeo do not deserve to be forgotten in the shadow cast by the glory of their successor. Gradually, they're emerging into the light. The Netflix series Marco Polo highlights their role in the history of exploration. And they're also featured in the game Assassin's Creed: Revelations. Niccolò Polo is introduced as a member of the Assassin Brotherhood. In 1257, Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad, the Mentor of the Levantine Brotherhood, gives him his precious codex coveted by the Knights Templar in Constantinople, demonstrating Niccolò's importance. Pure fiction, of course, but after all, they do deserve a little help to regain their rightful place in history.
  
  Thanks for listening to Echoes of History: Behind the Legends, a Ubisoft podcast produced by Paradiso Media.

Lucrezia Borgia title card

Lucrezia Borgia

History has not been kind to Lucrezia Borgia. Daughter of Rodrigo Borgia, who became Pope Alexander VI, she has suffered from her family name (her father was known for his deviant sexual activities). In his eponym play, written more than 300 years after her death, Victor Hugo created a black legend around Lucrezia Borgia, based on allegations of incest, poisoning, and murder on her part. But these rumors, mostly spread by the Borgias' rivals, were never proven to be true. Nowadays, historians attempt to rehabilitate her legacy and demonstrate that Lucrezia Borgia was a victim of a cruel period for women.

• Danny Wallace: In 1501, an unknown writer painted a scandalized picture of life at the Vatican court. What depravity! Incest! Filth! No house of debauchery, no brothel is less decent. At the time, many pamphlets condemned the excess, often in violent terms. Blame was placed on one family, the most prominent family in Christendom, the Borgias, who had reigned over the church for nine years. Rodrigo, the father, became Pope Alexander VI in the summer of 1492. As the Vicar of Christ, he had spiritual authority over kings, and his four children—Giovanni, Cesare, Lucrezia, and Jofré—played the power games alongside him.
  
  Borgia—the mere mention of this name evokes a litany of imagined evils: plots, poison, violence, lust, and blood. The scandalous legend that has surrounded this family since the Renaissance is particularly cruel to the only female sibling. Femme fatale, manipulator, poisoner, Lucrezia is accused of every vice. Her terrible reputation, started by tales spread by her family's enemies, is particularly stubborn. Victor Hugo's play Lucrezia Borgia, performed for the first time in 1883, is largely responsible for this. "Oh! curses on Lucrezia Borgia!...She fills my soul with horror!" exclaims the hero, Gennaro. In the final act, he stabs Lucrezia. Drawing her last breath, she reveals that he is actually her son by incest, a complete fabrication that has all but erased the reality. Behind all this slander and these made-up stories, who was the real Lucrezia Borgia?
  
  You're listening to Echoes of History: Behind the Legends, the podcast that tells you the true stories of some of history's most legendary heroes. As the Assassin's Creed franchise turns 15, travel back through 2,500 years of history to meet the men and women whose destiny lead them to greatness. Uncover their stories and bring their legends back to life. Episode nine, Lucrezia Borgia.
  
  Originally from Spain, the Borgia family earned their status by helping recapture the peninsula from the Muslims. Alfons de Borja was the first to join the church. He was Bishop of Valencia before becoming Pope Callixtus III in 1455 and introducing his nephew Rodrigo to the Papal court. Nepotism was common practice at that time; nobody really questioned the Pope favoring his own family—I mean, no one really questioned the Pope! Thanks to his uncle, the ambitious Rodrigo enjoyed a meteoric rise. As a Cardinal and Vice Chancellor, he was the second-most powerful in the Vatican, just behind the Holy Father. By the age of 26, he amassed a considerable fortune, and with it, influence. But, he was still too young to seek the Papacy himself. As he waited his turn, he influenced the conclaves. With his money and negotiating skills, he was a kingmaker. In 1470, Rodrigo met the beautiful Vannozza Cattanei in a tavern in Rome. Their love affair lasted for years. It was common for the high clergy to reject celibacy at this time; a papal bull of 1486 ^[citation needed] even had to remind members of the church that they couldn't run a brothel—as if you'd need reminding of that. Like a royal couple, Rodrigo and Vannozza spent happy days together in Subiaco Abbey. It was in this small town that Lucrezia was born on the 18th of April 1418. In line with her father's wishes, she received a good education and visited the Orsini palace, where she discovered the inner workings of royal courts and society life.
  
  On the 11th of August 1492, then over 60 years old, Rodrigo Borgia's scheming paid off. After buying several votes in the conclave, he became Pope Alexander VI. From then on, Lucrezia's fate was sealed. At just 12 years old, the much-loved little girl became her father's political tool. At the time, Italy was made up of powerful city-states that constantly fought to expand their influence. Alexander VI was determined to weigh-in on this complex diplomatic game. With Lucrezia, he had a valuable bargaining chip—which is a lovely way to think of your daughter! The Pope's daughter was excellent marriage material, and there was no shortage of suitors: negotiations had been underway for several months with Cardinal Ascanio Sforza, who represented the interests of the powerful Duchy of Milan in Rome. On the 9th of June 1493, Giovanni Sforza, Lord of Pesaro and Gradara, crossed the Porta del Popolo in Rome to the cheers of the crowd. He was a 26-year-old nondescript condottieri for whom the young Lucrezia...felt nothing. But their marriage, which was celebrated 3 days later, gained her father an important ally and the contract included a dowry of 30,000 ducats. Lucrezia was only 13 years old but she made the best of it. She didn't mind her peaceful life in Gradara Castle on the banks of the Adriatic Sea with this...sweet man. The diplomatic situation changed dramatically in early 1494. Troops sent by young Charles VIII, the King of France, crossed the Alps. The king, with an army of 30,000 men, claimed his right to the Kingdom of Naples over Frederick of Aragon. The French were soon at the gates of Rome and the Pope had to take refuge in Castel Sant'Angelo. As the Sforza family supported the French monarchy, Alexander VI worked to end the alliance. He grew closer to the Kingdom of Naples and called his daughter back to his side: he already had another marriage in mind for her.
  
  Giovanni went to Rome with Lucrezia. In the eyes of the Borgia clan, he was now merely a cumbersome spouse, but assassinating a Sforza in this context would have had disastrous consequences. Murder was therefore not an option—which is always nice to hear. Lucrezia's older brother Cesare skillfully spread a rumor of a murder plot against Giovanni. The young woman warned her husband, who quickly fled. Alexander VI was now able to annul their marriage. The negotiations took many months. Tired of being a pawn of men, Lucrezia decided to withdraw from the world, seeking peace in the Dominican convent of San Sisto. Soon, armed men working for the Borgias desecrated the convent and tried to kidnap her. The Mother Superior managed to assert her authority and protect her. After that, Alexander VI sent letter after letter to his daughter, pleading and trying to persuade her to come back to him. Lucrezia remained indifferent, but she remained her father's greatest asset in his political maneuverings. To achieve his goals, the Pope devised a wholly immoral ruse.
  
  He made his Vice Camerlengo Perotto act as a mediator between himself and his daughter. And this handsome man wasn't chosen by chance: the Pope planned for Lucrezia to fall under his spell. Perotto met regularly with the young girl. One day, he had the difficult task of informing her that her brother Giovanni had been killed. His body had been pulled out of the Tiber River. Lucrezia consoled herself in the arms of the young messenger. She fell pregnant and could no longer stay in the cloister. The pregnancy uprooted the family's entire strategy. On the 27th of December 1497, the young woman had to stand before a church tribunal to prove she was a true virgin. This was the price to pay for her marriage to Giovanni Sforza to be annulled. But with her rounded stomach, it was difficult to believe that the marriage hadn't been consummated. And what prince would agree to marry woman about to give birth to a bastard? Excuse my French. Cesare Borgia flew into a murderous rage. He tracked down his sister's lover in the Papal palace. Perotto fled to the Holy Father. Sat on his throne, the Pope wrapped him in his mantle, but Cesare's vengeful blade sliced through the cloth, which was soon drenched in blood. Before the judges, Lucrezia, then six months pregnant, wore a dress tailored to hide her curves. Thanks to her clever attire and the deference of several Cardinals, she regained her diplomatic virginity. The Borgias could devise a new matrimonial alliance.
  
  Giovanni Sforza endured the worst humiliations, but a few thousand ducats helped him come to terms with it. And to clear his name, he spread rumors: his wife never offered herself to him because she was saving herself for her father and brother. This act of retribution gave rise to the reputation for incent that Lucrezia has been saddled with for centuries. In the game Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, the young woman is depicted as a fickle and voluptuous seductress consumed by her various schemes. The hero, Ezio, surprises her passionately kissing her brother Cesare. A few minutes later, he catches her in the act again, this time in the arms of another man. This biased historical account is the work of men, and Lucrezia Borgia is the only victim.
  
  On the 21st of July 1498, Lucrezia married her second husband, Alfonso of Aragon, Duke of Bisceglie and Prince of Salerno. Through this union, the Borgias forged a new alliance, this time with the powerful kingdom of Alfonso II of Naples. Politics aside, it was a happy marriage. Alfonso was handsome, cultured, and only a little younger than Lucrezia, who was 18 at the time. A baby named Rodrigo, named after his maternal grandfather, was soon born. But their happiness was short-lived. In one of those astonishing about-turns that the Borgias had a knack for, they decided to ally with Louis XII, the king of France who had his eye on the Kingdom of Naples. Lucrezia's new husband found himself in the same situation as Giovanni, his predecessor. After surviving one assassination attempt, Alfonso was strangled to death on the 18th of August 1500 by Micheletto Corella, Cesare Borgia's right-hand man. Hiding in Nepi, north of Rome, Lucrezia was overcome with grief. In just a few years, she had lost a brother, two husbands, and a lover, all sacrificed on the altar of her family's ambitions. When she wrote to her father, she called herself "La Infantissima", the Wretched Woman. Alexander VI and Cesare Borgia were sympathetic, but the clan's interests came above all else.
  
  Especially given a new opportunity had arisen: Alfonso d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, had been widowed. The wedding sealing the union between the Borgias and Estes was celebrated in December 1501. A few weeks later, on the 2nd of February 1502, Lucrezia rode her white horse into Ferrara. Her sad reputation preceded her, and the curious crowd spied on every move made by the so-called "whore of the Vatican", but they were captivated by her endless charm. Far from Rome—and therefore, her family—and under the protection of the Duke, the young woman could finally reveal her beautiful soul in this peaceful fiefdom. The terrible rise of the Borgia clan ended with the death of Alexander VI on the 6th of August 1503. Freed from her family's ambitions, Lucrezia became an important protector of the arts. By funding artists, including the young Titian, she enhanced the duchy's cultural influence, and poets sang her praises—which is weird for poets, they usually write stuff down, not sing.
  
  On the 24th of June 1519, at the age of 39, having just given birth to a little girl, Lucrezia drew her last breath after three weeks of agony. In the twilight of her life, she had chosen to observe the precepts of poverty taught by Saint Francis. Through this sincere piety, she probably sought to expunge the sins of her family, who'd used her as a pawn. She had been a victim subject to the whims of men, a victim of her own family, who bequeathed her an evil reputation, but a family from which history is gradually extricating her. The Borgias didn't deserve Lucrezia. Thanks for listening to Echoes of History: Behind the Legends, a Ubisoft podcast produced by Paradiso Media.

Leonardo da Vinci title card

Leonardo da Vinci

Painter, scientist, engineer, inventor, anatomist, sculptor, architect, urban planner, botanist, musician, philosopher, writer: Leonardo da Vinci was all that and even more. The Italian Renaissance polymath artist brought his touch to every field of knowledge possible in his time and is now widely considered as one of the greatest minds ever. But what do we really owe him? The real impact of his inventions and artistic work is still subject to debate today.

• Danny Wallace: "Not only in his lifetime was Leonardo da Vinci held in esteem, but his reputation became even greater among posterity after his death," wrote Vasari, the first art historian, in 1550. More than five centuries after his death, the genius still inspires the same admiration. And even now, he's breaking records: in 2017, Salvator Mundi, a painting attributed to him—though that is disputed—was sold for $450 million. And in 2019, the Louvre dedicated a major exhibition to him which attracted more than a million visitors in four months. Bringing together his greatest paintings and many drawings, the museum celebrated an exceptional mind with limitless curiosity. Da Vinci explored many areas of knowledge, including perspective, geometry, astronomy, architecture, and engineering. Each era has created its own legend about Leonardo: from the 16th century onwards, he was celebrated as a painter; in the 19th, the discovery of his forgotten manuscripts made him famous as an engineer. More recently, some people have tried to tarnish this image, pointing out the gaps in Leonardo da Vinci's knowledge and claiming him a fraud. Despite these sometimes legitimate criticisms, the myth of the "universal man" capable of inventing the future has taken hold—he did design Flying Machines and tanks, after all. However, nothing predisposed the young boy, born in 1552 in the Tuscan countryside, to such glory.
  
  You're listening to Echoes of History: Behind the Legends, the podcast that tells you the true stories of some of history's most legendary heroes. As the Assassin's Creed franchise turns 15, travel back through 2,500 years of history to meet the men and women whose destiny lead them to greatness. Uncover their stories and bring their legends back to life. Episode ten, Leonardo da Vinci.
  
  Born in Vinci, a small town halfway between Pisa and Florence, Leonardo was the son of Piero da Vinci, a notary, and a woman named Caterina, about whom we know almost nothing. Leonardo didn't follow in his father's footsteps—attending university was out of the question as he born out of wedlock. Surrounded by his grandparents' love, he was self-taught. He devoured Ovid's Metamorphoses and spent most of his time contemplating nature. This appreciation of the beauty of landscapes and animals, combined with a particularly keen sense of observation, gave rise to his unmatched drawing skills. A bird in flight, the anatomy of a bee, from an early age, Leonardo filled his small notebooks with sketches.
  
  In 1466, the young man moved to Florence. His father got him an apprenticeship with Andrea del Verrocchio at one of the most prestigious workshops in the city. In this bottega, the master and his pupils excelled in a wide range of crafts, from painting and sculpture to goldsmithing, cabinetmaking, and metalworking. Alongside his talented fellow students—including Perugino and Botticelli—Leonardo observed, exchanged, and accumulated impressive skills. And the city was a constant work in progress; he was fascinated by the building site for the dome of the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. Engineers had designed special cranes to position the building materials with great precision nearly 100 meters above the ground. Young Leonardo was responsonble for making the gilt copper bowl topping the dome. As it was made of several pieces, he had to climb to the top of the Duomo to assemble and solder it using a mirror to reflect the sun's light.
  
  During his time in Florence, Leonardo da Vinci established himself as an independant artist. In 1473, he painted Annunciation, an early work with some inaccuracies, but already showing incredible technical skill and originality. However, when he set up his own workshop five years later at the age of 26, he struggled to stand out from the fierce competition. The Medici court remained inaccessible; without classical training, Leonardo did not have the vital cultural background to shine among the elite. In 1482, he seized the opportunity to spread his wings. The next chapter of his story would be played out in Milan.
  
  When Lorenzo de' Medici sent him to the court of Ludovico Sforza to stage a musical, Leonardo made a bold move: he offered his services to the nobleman. In his letter to Sforza, the artist boasts, oddly enough, of his talents as a military engineer. He claims to be able to design war machines; cannons; and "covered vehicles, safe and unassailable, which will penetrate the enemy and their artillery, and there is no host of armed men so great that they would not break through it." By doing so, he created his own myth. It's true that Leonardo had drawn many military technical drawings, but they were merely sketches designed by borrowing extensively from contemporary engineers, and often unworkable. Except, that Leonardo surpassed all his predecessors in one area: technical drawings where the accuracy of his line worked wonders. In an exploded view of an object, be broke it down, describing each part in detail. He had a perfect understanding of perspective. Leonardo may have taken and compiled the ideas of his predecessors, but in doing so, he surpassed them. Sforza was not so easily won over, and the so-called "engineer" had to wait until 1489 to properly gain entry to Castello Sforzesco.
  
  In the Milanese court, Leonardo gained a reputation for organizing celebrations, a key tool in political communication—and I suppose just fun! To celebrate the wedding of Isabella of Aragon and Gian Galeazzo Sforza in 1490 during the famous Festa del Paradiso, he staged a marvelous operetta, Il Paradiso, using complex machinery and special effects. A gigantic golden sphere spun among the costumed dancers and musicians. Glowing stars, and the seven planets known of at the time, were revealed through openings in the sphere. Between 1495 and 1498, Leonardo, who hadn't abandoned painting, produced one of his masterpieces, The Last Supper, which hung in the refectory of the Dominican convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie. In 1499, when Louis XII, the king of France, chased the Sforza family from Milan, he was blown away by this gorgeous fresco. He even thought of taking it back with him to France—which was a bit cheeky!
  
  During the turbulent Italian Wars, Leonardo became a sort of travelling military engineer, moving from town to town. He'd amassed real skills during this time in Milan, working with the best gunsmiths, observing cannon production in the arsenals, and increasing his knowledge of the art of war. While in Venice in 1500, he tried, but failed, to convince the Senate to carry out major fortification works. In 1502,he was 50 years old and entered the service of Cesare Borgia, who had just captured Urbino. At his side, Leonardo travelled his territory as his chief military engineer. He designed war machines, strengthened fortresses, and drew maps. His map of Imola, which he created in 1502, revolutionized cartography. His design offered the first view of the town from above. But Cesare Borgia's rise came to an end in 1503, when he was imprisoned by his rivals. Leonardo then returned to Florence.
  
  This was where he started the portrait of Lisa del Giocondo. It was never delivered to the wealthy silk merchant who commissioned it. Little did he know he was married to the most famous model of all time. Leonardo never finished the Mona Lisa until 1515 because he was involved in a massive project. In 1503, Piero Soderini, the new statesman of Florence, commissioned him to make a monumental fresco of the Battle of Anghiari, celebrating the Tuscan city's triumph over Milan in 1440. The painter experimented with new techniques involving wax and resin for the project. But the experiment was a catastrophic failure; the colors ran down the wall. In 1506, Leonardo abandoned the work for good—still, a lovely way of painting a wall.
  
  Alongside painting, the inventor tried to uncover the secrets of flight, because, why not? This long-standing obsession can be seen in many drawings in the Codex on the Flight of Birds in 1505. In the game Assassin's Creed II, Ezio Auditore uses a prototype Flying Machine, designed by his friend Leonardo, to enter the Doge's palace in Venice, where the Templar Knights are threatening to kill the Doge. The device used by the hero is an ornithopter with articulated wings. Leonardo really did design such a machine, aiming to imitate the shape and flapping of the wings of a bird of prey, but it would never have worked due to the lack of a sufficiently powerful engine. The scientist did not invent the plane—far from it. On the other hand, he is unquestionably a precursor of biomimicry, technical innovation inspired by nature. Careful observation of birds in flight had enabled him to isolate the principle of lift—so, those long, lazy afternoons as a teenager staring at nature really weren't wasted.
  
  In 1506, Leonardo returned to Milan, now governed by the French. He became the key organizer of celebrations in the small court that formed around the Marshal of France, Charles d'Amboise. In 1509, he was tasked with staging the victory celebrations of Louis XII, who returned to the city a hero after his victory over the Venetians. After a few years in Rome, where he was the protégée of Giuliano de' Medici, Leonardo accepted an invitation from Francis I in 1516. The King of France admired him and wanted him by his side on the banks of the River Loire. "More than my crown, you will be the jewel of my kingdom," ^[citation needed] promised the king—which was very friendly, though, a little creepy.
  
  After a grueling journey, an aging Leonardo moved into the Manoir du Cloux, a manor house given to him by the monarch just a few hundred meters from his own residence, the Château d'Amboise. The scientist brought his books and precious manuscripts with him, as well as some of his best works, including the Mona Lisa. The young Francis I was at the height of his glory following his victory over Charles V at Melegnano. He gave him a pension of 1,000 crowns and named him the King's first painter, engineer, and architect. For the King of France, Leonardo once again became a great orchestrator of court festivities. In April 1515, he built his mechanical lion for the baptism of the Dauphin, Francis. When the king touched the mechanical animal, a secret hatch swung open on its chest releasing lilies, in reference to the fleur-de-lis, the symbol of French royalty.
  
  It was one of the Italian genius' last magical creations. Much weakened, Leonardo died on the 2nd of May 1519 at the age of 67. During his lifetime, he skillfully created his own myth, and after his death, the legend continued. In a famous painting by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, The Death of Leonardo da Vinci, painted in 1819 for the 300th anniversary of his death, the old man takes his last breath in the arms of the King of France, who embraces him like a son. It's pure fiction, as Francis I was in Saint-Germain-en-Laye at the time of Leonardo's death, but it reflects Leonardo's place in our imagination. With his unforgettable pieces that revolutionized painting, and drawings that sometimes feel like he has seen the future, Leonardo da Vinci embodied the creative power of human genius. His career, with its sometimes circuitous path, failures, and many borrowings from the discoveries of others, reminds us that arts and science are first and foremost collective adventures. He may have been a genius, but Leonardo da Vinci was just one cog in the great machine we call progress. Thanks for listening to Echoes of History: Behind the Legends, a Ubisoft podcast produced by Paradiso Media.

Assassins vs Templars

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The Crusades

Islamic, Christian, and Jewish blood spilled across three centuries in the Eastern Mediterranean and Levant, all under the sanction of the Latin Church. The impact of the eight Crusades reverberated across the Medieval world. So, what was the fighting about? Were the relationships between Islamic and Christian groups always hostile? And what are the lasting legacies of the Crusades? Jonathan Phillips joins Dan Snow to find out.

• Woman's Voice: History Hit and Assassin's Creed presents Assassins vs. Templars. Real histories of the secret orders.
• Dan Snow: Hi, everyone. Dan Snow here. This is an amphibious assault, an invasion and occupation on the Echoes of History podcast feed—it's going to be awesome! We're talking about Assassins versus Templars, a special collaboration all about the crusades between History Hit and Ubisoft, the masterminds behind the Assassin's Creed games. So in this series, we're going to explore the real history behind the secret societies that inspired the Assassin's Creed franchise—love that!—the Assassins and the Templars. To do that, we have to dive deep into the Crusades. We're going to have to unearth the myths of the Grail. We're going to discover the real people who inspired the key characters in the game. In this episode, we're going to give you the broad sweep of the crusading movement. We're talking about the First, the Second, the Third—we'll do the rest as well, briefly—their motives and their impact, their legacy, right up to the modern day. Today, I'm joined by Jonathan Phillips, Professor of Crusading History at Royal Holloway. Enjoy. Jonathan, good to have you on the podcast!
• Jonathan Phillips: Thank you, hi.
• Dan Snow: What is it about a Crusade? Why do you get the interest? Why do they choose to set the blockbuster gaming franchise Assassin's Creed in the crusading period, and not just any other war? Like, what, what makes a crusade, a "Crusade"?
• Jonathan Phillips: Crusades are a particular species of war, a holy war, and that is what I think divides them off from more sort of "normal" warfare, as it were, of you invading your neighbor. You do it for religious reasons, it's justified through the lens of faith. That's what drives it onwards. Whether that's the whole reason you go to war in the Crusades is a slightly different matter, but the starting point is about faith.
• Dan Snow: Yeah, because as you're hinting at there, there's also ambition for land, wealth, prestige, all the other opportunities that young men often seize upon to go to war.
• Jonathan Phillips: That's one of the really interesting things about the Crusades. I think people tend to sort of say "It's just about religion." or "It's just about land." I think that doesn't work. You've got to look at a range of reasons why people do things. What motivates people to go thousands of miles from their home, to leave their family, their loved ones, to go into the unknown? It's going to be some pretty powerful drivers to do that.
• Dan Snow: So, just quickly paint me a picture of Europe, North Africa, the Middle East in the 11th century. We've got it—sort of—there's something called Christendom, broadly Christian, Is that, is that a useful concept?
• Jonathan Phillips: Yeah, the Latin West, western Christendom, that works. That would cover what we would say western Europe; maybe the northern half of the Iberian Peninsula, which its southern half is ruled by Muslims; Muslim North Africa; southern Italy; and Sicily still in the late 11th century. And then Europe which is Christian, as you say, nominally under the authority of the papacy—religious authority. Very broken up into different lordships and some smaller kingdoms that are beginning to emerge.
• Dan Snow: And then in southern half of Iberia—modern day southern Spain—North Africa, and the Middle East is one great Muslim empire?
• Jonathan Phillips: At the time of the First Crusade, absolutely not! The big dividing line you have in Islam between Sunni Muslim and Shia Muslim, that operates, really, with the—interestingly—a sort of fault line, as it were, in the late 11th century around Jerusalem. In 1098, it's ruled by Sunnis; early 1099, by the Shia; and then later in 1099, the First Crusade takes it over, so the fluidity around that point is remarkable. The big group that the first Crusaders have got to, to fight are the Sunni Muslims who are ruling Asia Minor—in modern terms, you'd say Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq, that kind of region. Their headquarters, as it were, their spiritual center, that is Baghdad, where the caliph lives and operates.
• Dan Snow: So what are the main Crusades we're going to focus on in this conversation?
• Jonathan Phillips: The main Crusades, we're going to talk about the First, the Second, and the Third Crusade. First Crusade, 1095 to 1099, is the origins, self-evidently, of the Crusade idea launched by Pope Urban II at the Council of Clermont with the idea of recovering the Holy Land for the Christian faith. He comes up with this idea of offering spiritual rewards to the knights and nobles of Europe to travel to the Holy Land and recover Jerusalem, in return for which, their sins will be forgiven. These are men who are sinning all the time, in thought, deed, and particularly in their violent lives.
• Dan Snow: Why now, in the 11th century? Like, what's going on in Europe that suddenly, you can see this force projection deep into the very powerful, previously very secure, lands of Asia Minor and beyond?
• Jonathan Phillips: It's from within, it's from the papacy, which is decided—or managed to create enough strength and authority within itself—that it starts needing to offer some leadership, really. The Pope's job is to be the sort of spiritual shepherd of his flock. And in the course 11th century, that's, that's not really been happening, but by the time you get to the end of the 11th century a group of people have got control of the papacy, they've got the ideas that they need to spiritually clean up western Christendom. And that's where part of it goes from. Plus, the papacy also wants to show its authority over the people of, of Western Europe by driving them, if you like, in this particularly positive direction, as they saw it.
• Dan Snow: And, you mentioned western Christendom being kind of divided up into lots of little countries and lordships. Does that mean there's a surplus of talented, violent, weapons-trained young men knocking about?
• Jonathan Phillips: I think that's the case most of the time in medieval Europe! But the idea that there's lots of landless younger sons kicking around looking for adventure is, is something that is perhaps part of the reason why people went on Crusade. Although, the counter to that is, once they captured Jerusalem, most people come home. So, while it sounds like a, a logical idea, if you like, as to why people signed up for this great adventure, the reality is that most of them came home. Because the people who are then left in Jerusalem in 1099 are going, "Oh my God, there's—there's only about 300 knights here! We really are up against it."
• Dan Snow: You mentioned landless younger sons: William the Conqueror's muppet oldest son went and his little brother stole the throne off him! So, OK, so then, the First Crusade, what's amazing is, it's remarkably successful! They, they—the Pope goes, "Let's all go on this armed sort of pilgrimage and try and steal back Jerusalem". And incredibly, rather than just getting bogged down into a kind of disease-ridden nightmare—of which, too often, the medieval, well, the whole period—back when armies do, they actually do march across southeast Europe, and into what we call the Middle East, and, and capture Jerusalem.
• Jonathan Phillips: It's a remarkable idea, a remarkable story. I mean, the thought that it would actually succeed is astonishing, because, as you say, it really is against all odds. But they do manage to get—battle their way through Asia Minor and defeat the Muslims of the Near East. I think there's a few reasons why they do that. They have, if you like, an alliance between the religious classes and the noble classes and that aim of recovering Jerusalem is shared between them, it drives the Crusade forward. The Muslims to the Near East are really fragmented at that time, there's a lot of political divisions amongst, they're all squabbling against each other. This is the first crusade; they haven't seen one before, obviously, so they've no idea what's hitting them. And that division between the religious classes and the noble classes is there in the Near East, and so the Crusaders are able to prize that apart, if you see what I mean. I think that's one of the reasons that enables them to succeed. And they are just determined, they're desperate, they're thousands of miles from home, and they are highly motivated.
• Dan Snow: So, it—there's a sort of element of just time and, and luck here—
• Jonathan Phillips: Yep.
• Dan Snow: —that Christendom found itself reasonably united, the Muslim world found itself reasonably disunited, and there was an opportunity.
• Jonathan Phillips: Yes. If the First Crusade had turned up in, say, 1090, I think it would have just about got into modern Turkey and then been thrashed and sent home. There's a year, 1093, 1094, one of the contemporary writers says it's "the year of the death of caliphs and commanders". Across the Muslim Near East, uh, Sultans, caliphs, uh, viziers die. Not all of them of natural causes, it has to be said, but there is this sort of turning point around that year that really causes this fragmentation. That's, uh, really, very, very beneficial for the Crusaders.
• Dan Snow: I can't imagine what they would have felt like! There's this—they realize they've got yawning vulnerability, and then suddenly, this band of lunatics turns up, crosses the Bosporus, and before you know it, they're striking deep into your Empire.
• Jonathan Phillips: Yeah. But it was an empire that was inward-looking at that time, because I guess they didn't know what the First Crusade was. Uh, they thought it was another group of, maybe, Byzantine raiders, you know? "We've seen this lot before; they'll go away in the end, they're not that good.". Uh, and so they, they underestimated them, I suppose.
• Dan Snow: They capture Jerusalem.
• Jonathan Phillips: Yep.
• Dan Snow: They have a bad reputation, they put lots of people to the sword—
• Jonathan Phillips: Absolutely.
• Dan Snow: —it's a real bloody event.
• Jonathan Phillips: Yes.
• Dan Snow: So there's real brutal edge to this religious element. You, you—it's a sort of ethnic cleansing, is there?
• Jonathan Phillips: In, in 1099, at the end of the First Crusade, after all those years on the road, and they reach—reached their spiritual goal, yes, there is an, an appalling outpouring of violence. The Muslim and Jewish defenders of Jerusalem are largely massacred. And then they, they have possession of the holy city. And that violence continues for the first few years of the conquest as they mop up the coastal cities. But after a few years they realize that's just not going to work: there's not enough of them, they do need to live alongside, amongst, and as overlords of the people of the Near East. And that population is incredibly polyglot. You've got Sunni Muslims, Shia Muslims, you've got Jews, Nestorians, Jacobites Maronites, Armenians—I know that's a sort of an endless list, but that's the reality of it! And you—as an outside, invading force—you've got to find a way of making, making your, your rule stick. And so you've got to live alongside these people.
• Dan Snow: So you've got a kind of odd European colony now—
• Jonathan Phillips: Mhmm.
• Dan Snow: —in the Middle East, it wouldn't be the last. Why do you need subsequent crusades there? Is that to shore it up or is that to expand it?
• Jonathan Phillips: In the first instance, the Second Crusade is, is about shoring it up. They established what we call the Crusader states in the first ten years of the 12th century and consolidate their hold on the region. But the Muslim Near East begins to react, begins to start pulling itself together; the idea of the jihad, the Muslim holy war, start being invoked again and they start beginning to threaten the Crusaders. And the first big threat is the city of Edessa, which is up in the north, and in 1144, a man called Zengi—who's a very brutal Muslim warlord, he's very comfortable fighting Muslims as well as Christians—takes it, and that is the trigger for the call of the Second Crusade.
• Dan Snow: I guess the problem with the Crusade I have is, unlike like subsequent empires that people might be thinking of, where a big army is defeated in the field in a Portuguese force or an English force or a British force and you can reinforce—the state can send reinforcements, there is no—no one's in charge! There—this is just a sort of voluntary whip-round in Europe.
• Jonathan Phillips: Yeah, crusading in entirely voluntary, in some senses. I mean, the longer it goes on, the more other pressures start appearing. And in the case of the Second Crusade, the pressure is, if you like, the success of the First Crusade because it created heroes of the generation of the men who captured Jerusalem. No other event in medieval history attracted such attention and such fame and glory! OK, they're driven by religion, uh, in part, but some of those nobles were going on crusade because they wanted to become heroes, and oh my god, they did! And so 50 years later, the successor generations are, "Well, you know, you've got to live up to the deeds of your fathers. It will be a disgrace if you let down the deeds of your fathers". That's, if you like, the psychological pressure that the Pope puts on them: shame.
• Dan Snow: But it's still, maybe, it's not as effective as if these colonies were just French or German or British, then there would be a sort of organized effort. So it's still just kind of trying to get people to get up on that horse and head off, is it?
• Jonathan Phillips: They're not colonies in that structured sense at all. They are an outpost, if you like, of Latin Christendom. And so that the connection is one of faith—in other words, you've got to help you other co-religionists hold onto these places—but also, you know, family relations. Your uncle might be a, uh, noble in France and so he, he should come and, come and support you, things like that.
• Dan Snow: Jonathan, tell me about the Second Crusade and (laughs) it will become very obvious, I think, why the makers of Assassin's Creed did not select this Second Crusade to base their game in.
• Jonathan Phillips: It's a disaster. It's the King of Germany, the King of France. They are overconfident, underprepared, they get hammered by the Seljuk Turks in Asia Minor, uh, and then they try to besiege Damascus, and after only five days, they have to retreat; it's an utter humiliation.
• Dan Snow: Is that the one that's so bad that the King of France's wife leaves him after, excuse me, revealing himself being totally hopeless?
• Jonathan Phillips: Yes.
• Dan Snow: Right. OK, so, it's bad for them. Um, so they haven't even shored it up. Are they weakened, the Crusader states?
• Jonathan Phillips: I don't think they've weakened it. What they've done is actually in reverse: they've given the Muslims a lot more confidence, because the, the success of the First Crusade obviously left its mark on the Muslim Near East there, you know. There's this group of invaders, look extremely powerful, extremely effective. But hang on: they are not invincible after all. When the Second Crusade retreats from Damascus, there's a real sort of sense of "Ah, OK. We could really confront this lot now." And in part, that's this drawing together of the religious classes and the noble class. It's a man called Nur al-Din, who is the sort of hard-edged warrior and he's a very pious man as well, and he draws those together and gives the the jihad—the Muslim response to the Crusaders—a much harder, more effective edge.
• Dan Snow: And they start to take back territory.
• Jonathan Phillips: Yes. I mean, he starts starts to—he's got the big cities of Mosul, Aleppo, and Damascus, and he starts increasing the pressure on the Crusaders.
• Dan Snow: And that's what gives us the Third Crusade, which is where Assassin's Creed is set!
• Jonathan Phillips: It is. Uh, Nur al-Din's protégé is a man called Saladin, who's a Kurd who ends up taking control of Egypt—Nur al-Din's big project is to capture Egypt because it's incredibly wealthy and he manages to do that. Saladin rebels against his patron, who then fortunately for him dies, and then Saladin in the course of the 1170s and early 1180s assembles his own empire, if you like, which is, um, made up of Egypt and Syria. And that gives him the strength, with the call of the jihad, to take on the Christians—the Franks as we call them, and defeat them at the Battle of Hattin and reclaim Jerusalem for Islam. And that is the great shock; the Pope is said to have died of a heart attack when he heard the news and so western Europe has to respond.
• Dan Snow: So you've got a more united Muslim world; you've got a military genius in charge, Saladin; he's captured Jerusalem; the Third Crusades like a desperate scramble to try and reverse that; but there's some pretty useful people on the Third, unlike the Second.
• Jonathan Phillips: Yeah. I'm not sure I'd say Saladin is a military genius. He is really—
• Dan Snow: You've only, you've only written his biography, I mean, I can't believe you're wrecking him like this!
• Jonathan Phillips: (laughs) He's very good at organizing, he's very good at diplomacy, he's very good at propaganda, and he's good at drawing resources together. Uh, I'm not so sure he's a military genius, though.
• Dan Snow: A very able military commander!
• Jonathan Phillips: He is—
• Dan Snow: (laughs)
• Jonathan Phillips: —he's a very effective ruler. He has the Muslim Near East together. OK, I know he know he won the Battle of Hattin. But he knows, in a sense, that he's pressed the starting button on the Third Crusade the moment he captures Jerusalem. He knows Christendom is going to respond and the, the leading man of Western European, he's going to have to face them.
• Dan Snow: And they're not too bad this time.
• Jonathan Phillips: They are considerably better than the leaders of the Second Crusade. You got Frederick Barbarossa, the Emperor of Germany who was on the Second Crusade, so he's seen it all before. He is the most powerful man in Western Europe he's got, uh, hundreds of knights come with him on the Third Crusade. He marches there overland, he bullies his way past the Byzantine Empire, he defeats the Seljuk Turks in Asia Minor—nobody's done that before...and then he tries to cross a river in the summer of 1190 and has a heart attack and dies.
• Dan Snow: I mean, no one saw that coming. That's a big turning point.
• Jonathan Phillips: It is. Saladin was very, very worried about the imminent arrival of the German Emperor because he would have been an extremely formidable opponent to face. The German army melts away fairly quickly. A lot of them get sick, too. So Saladin, one of his attributes is luck, add the death of Frederick Barbarossa is part of it. So yes, in terms of, of what he would have had to faced, a big, big part of it doesn't really happen to him. Which leaves, then, Philip of France and Richard the Lionheart of England. I should say this: before those two—the big names—turn up, there's this siege at a place called Acre, and for two years, Western Europeans have been coming over trying to capture this city. So you've got swathes of nobles from—particularly from France—coming across and besieging this city. Many of them die due to illness, but you've got this big, almost like the Siege of Troy that is in the medieval imagination is, is taking place there. Then, finally, in summer of 1191, Philip of France turns up. He's got a sort of small group of knights and nobles with him, well-equipped, well-armed, and then Richard the Lionheart turns up as well, and he provides a huge impetus of strength and military drive.
• Dan Snow: I think just because of the characters, it's just proved incredibly exciting, I felt is the right word—fascinating—few people. You've got the man who will go to be Richard I of England, Richard the Lionheart; you've got very effective French commander; you've got Saladin; you got these military orders, and that's what given us Assassin's Creed, you've go the Templars. These are names that just sort of resonate. Is it just the drama of what's going on here, the characters? What—why is the Third Crusade so—loom so large?
• Jonathan Phillips: I think it's in part because it's a struggle for Jerusalem, so it's got that sort of headline, "The Most Important Spiritual Site in Western Christendom", "Third-Most Important Site for the Islamic Faith". It's got these epic characters, as you say, Saladin, Richard—to a lesser extent, Phillip and Frederick. It's well-written up, so it lasts a long time. There's people there, there's sort of embedded reporters there, talking about it, writing about, so we have a lot of information about it. And these are two, two of the great figures of, of medieval history. And the people who are writing up their stories do like saying how fantastic their leader is. So you got two great reputations, and if you're important and brave, then I have to be as well, because you can't fight somebody who's feeble and hopeless.
• Dan Snow: Oh, that's interesting. So then, sometimes the Christian chroniclers and the Muslims are almost building up the other side as well?
• Jonathan Phillips: There's—there's a sense of that, yes. You've got to have a, uh, worthwhile opponent. But I think you can certainly see that they are great figures. I, I don't think it's over-exaggerated, but there's a part of it.
• Dan Snow: And then we talked about the Assassins, and the people like the Assassins and the Templars. Who are these groups that kind of emerge, and is it just a product of generations of warfare?
• Jonathan Phillips: The Assassins are a, uh, splinter group of Muslims. They are, they are a Shia group, and they're based, really, in northern Syria. They've given Saladin some trouble on the way through: Saladin is his positioning himself as the lead warrior of Sunni Islam and you've got the tension between those two branches of Islam. They threaten to, uh, kill him, to assassinate him a couple of times, they get extremely close and they wound him once. But in the end, they come to an understanding, Because they are a small group and Saladin, if he put his mind to it, in the end, could probably break them—but they might get to him first. So really, they do a deal. He says, "Look, I'll leave you alone if you don't kill me."
• Dan Snow: The Assassins: they've left behind this extraordinary reputation, they've underpinned this giant games franchise Assassin's Creed. There's something that we want them almost to be supernatural in their abilities, like watching a kind of modern movie. Like, we want them to be sort of lifting skylights off and dropping down on rope and stuff to kill people. Or they just, you know, committed assassins?
• Jonathan Phillips: That is something that they do very effectively in the Muslim world, um, as well as murdering Christians from time to time, or being accused of it. They are secretive, they are hidden in the mountains, there's the sort of stories around their use of hashish. And they are, if you like, sort of vague enough and remote enough that you can make things up around the edges of them. But they undoubtedly have those elements in their behavior as well.
• Dan Snow: And then we get the Templars, we get these orders, these religious orders, these kind of religious military orders that emerge in the Crusading states. Again, why is that? Is that because there's no—it's not a recognizably modern sort of government-led military operation, to get, get these sort of freelancers to come in?
• Jonathan Phillips: The military orders are, are founded to protect pilgrims, that's the principle behind them. The Templars are founded In the aftermath of a, uh, big attack on pilgrims. You've all these Westerners coming over to the Holy Land, after to the capture of Jerusalem, who want to visit the holy places. And they're being picked off by sort of bandits, and allegedly lions as well. And this group of French knights decide that they should look after them, and they swear an association—which then becomes a formal religious order of the church—to protect the pilgrims. And pilgrims come over and they're grateful, they give them money, land, and resources. And the Templars become stronger. They become part of the political fabric of, of the Near East: they get churches, they get—and build—castles. They are political force in their own right.
• Dan Snow: It's funny, I can imagine people listening to this who are familiar with modern history: interstate warfare. And it sounds to me like there's lots of kind of curious NGOs taking part—
• Jonathan Phillips: Absolutely.
• Dan Snow: —of the violence of the Crusades, it's quite a kaleidoscope.
• Jonathan Phillips: It is. I mean, you've got groups like The Templars and the Hospitaliers who—founded originally to look after, the clue's in the name, the healthcare, to look after people's well-being—they become militarized as well. Both of those groups are independent. The King of Jerusalem might say, "I want us to go and do something", and they go, "Well, maybe." It's up to them, they are not sworn to, to follow his lead. Usually they are going to put in the same direction, but part of the sort of fascination—it's a rather curious one of the history of the Crusades—is the amount of infighting that takes place between nobles and the tensions between these different groups.
• Dan Snow: And does that mean there's more opportunities for curious, cross-religious understandings and alliances as well? Like, are the tensions within the two sort of broad sides, but do you ever get examples of kind of collaboration, groups that are working "Live and Let Live" within that?
• Jonathan Phillips: That's one of the really interesting things that the Crusades looks like, a bit of "A against B", simple binary. And the realities of living in close proximity in the Near East means that doesn't work! Within about ten years of the First Crusade, you've got Christian and Muslim groups fighting other Christian and Muslim groups, when you've got the overarching religious tension. That's not to mean that, that individuals or nobles can't form relationships, or from time to time, cities or, or political groups need to form relationships. You've got a situation in the mid-12th century where Jerusalem and Damascus are in alliance—Christian Jerusalem, Muslim Damascus—are in an alliance against Aleppo because they're both scared of it. It suits both of them to work together against this other power. And that seems paradoxical to us. "Hang on, what's Jerusalem doing in alliance with Damascus?" It's just the reality of it.
• Dan Snow: Yes, in Assassin's Creed you get the impress—I think it's very 20th century, isn't it? It's that you're—it's black and white, it's like Soviets versus Nazis: you are absolutely on one side or the other and there's nothing but hatred and murder between the two.
• Jonathan Phillips: Yeah. And that's, again, one of the interesting things about the Crusades, the truces, the tensions, the contradictions within that. And yes, at times, you can have personal relationships: that truce between Jerusalem and Damascus, it's negotiated. The diplomats, they share a love of hawking and hunting. And things that are sort of shared between noble groups form, if you like, an easy bridge, and in the course of the Third Crusade, there's an awful lot fighting, there's also an awful lot of diplomacy, too. And so you use your shared cultural markers of things like hawking and hunting to build those bridges.
• Dan Snow: Saladin and Richard the Lionheart had a wary respect for each other, didn't they?
• Jonathan Phillips: They did. They never actually met, but Richard spent a lot of time with Saladin's brother Safadin, and so I think our view of Saladin is a bit sort of blended with his brother. And they were sending each other out, trying to see the weaknesses in the other side from time to time. But they also, over the course of their diplomacy, they have to exchange gifts with one another; they spend time together hawking, hunting, feasting; they like music. And so there is definitely a respect between them.
• Dan Snow: You mentioned we talked about some battles like Hattin, Richard I wins a battle, but I sometimes think the Crusades, they're almost less about the battles in the field than they are about the sieges. These, these are extraordinary, powerfully-defended cities, aren't they? And there's just these grinding sieges, one of which you've already mentioned.
• Jonathan Phillips: Yes. I mean, you do have a, uh, couple of battles, very decisive battles like the Battle of Hattin in 1187. There's one called La Forbie in 1244, which again, hundreds and hundreds of Christian knights are killed. But the Near East, it's very urban, big cities in, in the Near East, and the effort to get into them requires a huge, huge outlay of men and materials.
• Dan Snow: And that's warfare that isn't so much knights galloping on horses, it's almost sort of First World War-style. You know, tunnels, trenches, long-range weapons, it's a very different style of fighting.
• Jonathan Phillips: It is. The siege of Acre lasts almost two years. And the, the Crusaders build this enormous earth embankment around the city. And it's questioning, you know, they're living there for two years, so you think what you need to live. So you start growing crops, you start growing herbs, you dig out baths, uh, you must have a sort of a medical center, you must have a scriptorium. All the sort of different groups, religious groups, and institutions and regional groups are going to have their own little sort of campsites in it. It's quite fascinating to think how, actually, you would operate if you effectively camped out for two years.
• Dan Snow: And I guess if you look at, siege warfare from the medieval period, say, look at the Hundred Years' War between England France, that's where you do get this opportunity for sort of subterfuge, and spies, and opening back gates with keys, and tunnels, and... So there's a, perhaps that's also some of the sense that underpins games like Assassin's Creed, because there's opportunities for individuals to sort of make a bit of a difference in those situations.
• Jonathan Phillips: Yeah. I mean, (laughs) brute force is clearly not working if you're stuck outside somewhere for two years! You do need to gather information, so there's a current of spies. There's also some of the sort of realities of trading: the Christians must be trading with some Muslims to get things and, and vice versa, so again, the simple binaries are broken down a bit. But you will have individual acts. In Acre, there's a swimmer who manages to swim out two or three times from the city and get messages to Saladin; he dies in the end.
• Dan Snow: So, how does the Third Crusade end?.
• Jonathan Phillips: The Third Crusade finishes in 1192. Really, I suppose, I see it as a bit of a nil-nil draw: Saladin loses the city of Acre, Richard the Lionheart defeats him in a couple of battles, but he's never able to besiege Jerusalem. Saladin has managed to hold him off just enough that Richard never actually—
• Dan Snow: Genius! The man's a genius! (laughs)
• Jonathan Phillips: —gets outside—
• Dan Snow: (laughs)
• Jonathan Phillips: "Great military genius"—gets outside the holy city. And, by the end of it, the two of them, they're both ill—in the steel, both of them—they're both running out of money, their troops are exhausted. They're like two heavyweight boxers who've gone 15 rounds with each other and are still just about standing, they, they have to stop. There's tensions within Saladin's empire; Richard the Lionheart's got Prince John being a menace back at home; King Philip, he's gone home. So, they really cannot defeat one another, so that they make a truce, a treaty: Christians keep the coastline, which allows the Crusaders states to survive and the pilgrims to go to Jerusalem, Saladin has kept Jerusalem. And I think he would see that as a, as a great success.
• Dan Snow: And then England and France just falls into civil war fighting each other, absolute chaos, feel like, as the Plantagenet empire is picked apart by the French. So I guess it's an example of where it's good news for the Muslims, because the people of Christendom are sort of busy?
• Jonathan Phillips: Yes, I mean the fact that (laughs) Richard the Lionheart ends up imprisoned on the way home, rather than getting ready to come out again as he said he would, is obviously beneficial to the Muslim Near East. Although, it has to be said, Saladin, when he dies in March 1193, his sons are fighting one another within months. The Ayyubid Empire, which is what his, his family empire is called, fragments pretty quickly.
• Dan Snow: (groans) More princes, are there?
• Jonathan Phillips: Yeah, yeah, there's a lot of spares. Um, you know, they are unable to, if you like, consolidate, uh, the fact that the Crusaders have left.
• Dan Snow: So here we are, we think of the Third Crusade is this kind of climax, almost, but it's certainly not the end, is it? How many more are there?
• Jonathan Phillips: There are several more major crusading expeditions. The numbering system takes you down to the Eighth Crusade. 1291 is the fall of Acre, the end of the Christian hold on the Holy Land.
• Dan Snow: And so they don't succeed in winning back the Holy Land. In fact, the opposite of it.
• Jonathan Phillips: Well, the Fourth Crusade is the Crusade that sacks the greatest Christian city in the world, Constantinople.
• Dan Snow: They accidentally sack Constantinople on the way?
• Jonathan Phillips: No. The Fifth Crusade tries to attack Egypt, fails, completely. The Sixth Crusade is interesting: that's Frederick II of Germany and it's negotiations. That's a really curious episode, if you like, when Frederick II of Germany manages to get Jerusalem back through peaceful negotiation.
• Dan Snow: You're not going to make an award-winning, internationally-renowned video game out of that are you? Come off of it.
• Jonathan Phillips: You, you, you could!
• Dan Snow (laughs)
• Jonathan Phillips: You could, actually. Um, but maybe, maybe down the line. Maybe, maybe, maybe not yet.
• Dan Snow: And is that—but that's quite a short-lived occupation, isn't it?
• Jonathan Phillips: It is. It only lasts 1229 to 1244, and then you have a big push by the Muslim Near East to try very hard to, to shift the Crusaders out and, and does so. And the response to that is Louie IX, St. Louis, um, the great Crusader King of France, which is the biggest Crusade of the 13th century. And, uh, that is a failure, ultimately, but it's important. Not least in the sense of development of French, French identity and things like that; having a crusader king as a saint actually is quite significant. But then by the end of the century, 1291, the fall of Acre is the end of the Crusader states in the Near East, and that's where I suppose we mark the end of the Crusades to the Holy Land. The idea doesn't go away, but 1291 is, Is the end of the line of Christian rule in the Near East.
• Dan Snow: Is the legacy of the Crusades any different just from the legacy so many other terrible, costly, barbaric wars that we've fought over the years? What is it about the Crusades?
• Jonathan Phillips: I think the Crusades' legacy is, is sharper and harsher in the sense that it's done for religion and the binary that it manages to create. I think in the Muslim Near East, it's the memory of the Crusades. OK, the Crusaders are thrown out in 1291, but the memory of, of that Christian occupation doesn't disappear entirely. You've got, over the successive dynasties, the Ottoman Turks; you've got people who are trying to attack Europe, so they're on the receiving end of an Ottoman invasion; and then there are Crusades back against the Ottomans. The idea doesn't disappear from the consciousness of the Near East. But the big change is in the 19th century, when Western Europeans start coming into the Mediterranean again and they themselves look back to the crusading era. The French go, "Ah, you know, our Crusading ancestors, we're recovering those lands." And the Muslim Near East recognizes, "Ah, it's the Europeans again, we've seen this before." So that then brings this idea that's, that's been there, in the ether, should we say, back to prominence. And that's why I think the language, the rhetoric of crusading has such a strong place, particularly in the 19th and then the 20th centuries.
• Dan Snow: Doesn't that French commander during the First World War go into Saladin's tomb in Jerusalem and say "We're back."?
• Jonathan Phillips: Yes, General Gouraud goes into Damascus—
• Dan Snow: It's Damascus.
• Jonathan Phillips: —Saladin's tomb, he kicks it, and says "Saladin, we have returned. This symbolizes the triumph of the cross over the crescent." So the disrespect to this hero of the Muslim Near East is, is remarkable. Whether it's true—whether he said it or not, actually, is disputed, but it's in Syrian school books today, it's in the Hamas doctrine, it was in Nasser's speeches in the 60s. You know, it's, it's there, as this great calculated insult.
• Dan Snow: So it's interesting, we—so it is—the Crusades are more remembered than the countless, constant other wars that have been fought by all of these powers at the same time, and before and after. So it is almost like with the way we talked about, you know, Assassin's Creed as a game: it is almost about the brand of the Crusades. They, they, for whatever reason, they have stuck with us. And are more, seem to be more mobilizing than any other war.
• Jonathan Phillips: It's a very effective shorthand for the West um, attacking us, killing our people, taking our land. It happened in the medieval period, it's happening, or it happened, in the modern. And that's why it's a very attractive, potent symbol. I mean, Western Europe, how we remember the Crusades is a different matter! I think they carried on in the medieval age. You had Crusades in, in Spain and the Baltic against enemies of the papacy. But really, by the time you get to, to the Reformation, they've, they've sort of fallen out of fashion, the idea's lost steam and it's discredited. It comes back in the 19th century, with a sort of romantic literary element—Walter Scott and things like that—and Westerners being in the Mediterranean region. But it's more chivalric, it's more of a noble cause, it's a good idea: you can have crusades for—crusades against alcohol, can have crusades against illnesses, crusades against litter, crusades for fair play in sport, whatever. It's a shorthand for "a noble cause" that's going to be a struggle. And I think that's how—the danger is, that's how it's seen in the West and not understood, if you like, to have the sharp edge that it does in the Near East.
• Dan Snow: In retrospect, was the level of violence, the intensity, any worse in a Crusade than it would have been in, again, these, the other wars I keep keep referring to?
• Jonathan Phillips: You can think of countless wars in, in western Europe where—or, or the Near East—where the levels of violence are the same, but I think it's the nominal motivation is what distinguishes Crusades and give some this, this longer legacy.
• Dan Snow: Thanks for listening, everybody. That's everything you need to know about the Crusades, in general, but we're going to get detail. Next time, it's the rise of the Assassins with Dr. Farhad Daftary. Make sure you're following the Echoes of History podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast so you don't miss it! And so you can listen to the rest of the series. You've been listening to a special collaboration between History Hit and Ubisoft, with post-production done by Paradiso Media.

Rise of the Assassins

Using targeted political murder to protect humanity from injustice and abuse of power, the Assassins are infamous as much for their secrecy as for their actions. The story of the Nizari branch of Ismaili Muslims goes right back to the start of Islam, and continues to this day. Dr. Farhad Daftary joins Matt Lewis to tell us what the Assassins stood for, how they interacted with Christians and other Muslims, and why the Old Man of the Mountain was so important.

• Woman's Voice: History Hit and Assassin's Creed presents Assassins vs. Templars. Real histories of the secret orders.
• Matthew Lewis: Welcome to the inside of one of history's greatest stories. I'm Matt Lewis, and in this collaboration between Ubisoft and History Hit, we're taking you back to the very beginning. The story of Assassin's Creed is one of deadly rivalry between conflicting ideologies that asks whether peace is found through freedom or control. It begins with Assassins and Templars racing to gather the Pieces of Eden in the fiery heat of the Near East and its brutal religious upheaval. We're all Desmond Miles now, and we've found our Animus, a team of the best historians working in their fields who unlock the memories of the past for us, lead us through their secrets, and introduce us to some of the real people who inspired the game. It's time to break into the vaults of two of history's most infamous organizations as we pit the Assassins' Creed against the Templar Order. In this episode, I'm joined by Dr. Farhad Daftary, who is Director Emeritus and Governor at the Department of Academic Research and Publications at the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London. He's written over 200 books, publications, and articles, including The Assassin Legends, and I'm delighted to have him here with us today. Can we start off by talking a little bit about the group that's in the game Assassin's Creed that's known as the Assassins? That's probably how we identify this group, particularly here in the West, but are they more properly known as Nizari Ismailis? And who were they, how did they come about?
• Farhad Daftary: Because I think we need to re-provide a proper historical background to situate this community. On the death of the prophet Muhammad, the Muslim community was split into two main divisions, what later became known as the Sunnis and the Shia. The Shia believed, by contrast to the Sunnis, that the prophet himself had, in fact, designated, in the final months of his life, his son-in-law and first cousin Ali to succeed him. Obviously not as a prophet, but as a leader of the nascent Muslim community. Whereas the Sunnis believed that the prophet had left no such will and testament, and they, therefore, went about and selected his successor to the prophet, who became known as the first caliph. The word "Shia" itself is an abbreviation of Shīʿat ʿAlī, meaning "the party of Ali". The Shia themselves, in the course of times, split into various groups because as the descendants of Ali grew in number, the Shia could not agree on who was the right successor or spiritual leader, to whom they referred as the imam. And therefore, disputes of succession led to subdivisions within the Shia. And eventually, two main Shia groups emerged: the so-called Twelvers, who are the majority today and they are situated in Iran, Iraq, and Bahrain, and so on; and the second-most-important one, who have become known as the Ismailis. Now, the Ismailis themselves, they, really, started in the middle of the 8th century as a revolutionary movement because their overall objective was to install their—the imam acknowledged by them to a new caliphate, and that meant uprooting the Sunni opposite establishment. And it was to achieve that objective that they organized a very active mission, or da'wa. And the religio-political message of this mission was spread by a network of da'is, or missionaries, so by the middle of the 9th century, you had these da'is active in almost every part of the Islamic world, from North Africa to Central Asia. Now, the success, the early success of the Ismaili da'wa soon culminated into the foundation of the Fatimid Caliphate. That was the first Shia caliphate in rivalry with the Sunni caliphate of the Abbasids. This caliphate was founded in the year 909 in North Africa, and by 973, they had transferred the seat of their state from North Africa to Egypt, where they founded the city of Cairo, which served as the new royal capital of the Fatimid state. Now, the Isma'ili imams, or the imams recognized by the Ismailis, ruled as Fatimid caliphs over an expanding, flourishing, major empire. In the year 1099, on the death of the eighth Fatimid caliph, there was a schism, a split, because they could not agree on the rightful successor to him. The old seat—the powerful vizier put on the throne a younger son of the deceased caliph by the name of al-Musta'li who reigned as Fatimid caliph, whereas the Ismailis of the eastern land, especially in Iran and Syria, actually recognized the original heir-designate of the deceased caliph whose name was Nizar. So, the two subdivisions of Ismailis became known as Musta'lis and Nizaris, named after the two sons of the deceased Fatimid caliph al-Mustansir who had claimed his heritage. Now, the cause of Nizar was upheld by the chief da'i in Iran whose name was Hassan-i Sabbāh. Hassan-i Sabbāh had already established himself in the fortress of Alamut, in northern Iran, that henceforth served as what became known as the Nizari Ismaili state. The state was of a particular kind; it was carved out in the very heart of the state of the Seljuk Turks, who were ardently Sunni, and they had this with their own vast state which included all of Iran. Now, Hassan was a revolutionary at the same time that he was an Ismaili da'i, but because he had supported the cause of Nizar, he severed his relations with Cairo and the Fatimid Caliphate, and in fact he founded the independent Nizari Ismaili community, da'wa, and state. Now, he had two full aims: one was to spread Isma'ilism—now the Nizari brand—throughout the Iranian world, and secondly, he had also a political objective of uprooting the Seljuks, who were strongly against the Shia. And it was in the service of these two objectives that Hassan successfully founded this state, and this state was comprised of a network of mountain fortresses—the chief one of which was, of course, Alamut—but they had these fortresses in four or five different regions of Iran. And soon, uh, Hassan, by the early years of the 12th century, began to send da'is, or the propagandists, to Syria to organize the community there, which they did, actually, with much success. And about half a century later, by 1140s or so, they also managed to seize a network of fortresses or castles in central Syria; it was in Syria that the Nizari Ismailis came into contact with the Crusaders.
• Matthew Lewis: I think it's fascinating to think of the Nizari Ismailis, the Assassins, as being, uh, a state. I think we quite often think of them almost a stateless people, yet they effectively had their own state and structures and all of those kinds of things. So, you mentioned that they, they come into contact with the Crusaders. How did the Nizari Ismailis interact with Christians and with other Muslim groups?
• Farhad Daftary: Now, at the headquarters of the Nizari Ismailis—which served as the capital of the state which was Alamut in Iran—and in the rest of the territories of the Nizari Ismailis in Iran, there was no contact between them and the Crusaders because the Crusaders never went to Iran. Whatever contact there was limited to Syria. These contacts were of various natures—they were military, diplomatic, trade—but the Crusaders did not know who these people were. Now, these people were actually referred to by their Muslim co-religionists as "hashshāshī", "hashshāshīn", or "hashshāshīya" based on the—derived from the word, as you say, "hashish". Now, this was indeed, at the time, especially 12th and 13th century centuries in Syria and Egypt, this was a term of abuse which meant "people of low religious morality", or "people of lax social outcasts", and so on. This is how they were addressed by other, you see, Muslims because they were, really, hostile towards one another from early on because the Ismailis always planned to uproot the Sunni rule of the Sunni caliphs and so on, so these two communities never really got along. It was for that sense that the Muslims, in the sources that we have from the period, Ismailis are referred to as "hashshāshīya". But nowhere they have the Assassin legends that we find in Occidental resources, or nowhere they say they were called "hashshāshī" because actually used hashish or had any regular habit of using hashish. Because for the Muslims, the term was understood, and this is why we do not find any of the so-called Assassin legends in the Muslim sources. It's in the Crusaders' sources and the European observers of the Crusaders that we have these legends. The legends apparently evolved in stages. At each stage, new embellishments were added to the tales And the reason why these tales were created in the first place was that the Ismailis resorted to assassination as a political tool. Why? Because they were a very small community, they could not mobilize large armies, and they were fighting large armies both in Iran and in Syria—especially in Syria, they were surrounded by hostile Muslim rulers–the Ayyubids, the Zengids, and so on and so forth. And then Crusaders came on the scene as another hostile factor because the two sides were fighting one another for quite some time over the position of the fortress' center in Syria. In fact, that's mainly how the Crusaders came into contact with the Nizari Ismailis. Now, because they could not mobilize large armies, they resorted to targeted assassination of key military and political figures who threatened the existence of Ismailis in specific communities Now, it's not that they just killed for the sake of killing or murdered at random. They were highly targeted, because they had no other way of dealing with their enemies, but it so happens that at the time, any assassination of any major consequence was assigned to the Ismailis. The actual missions undertaken by the Ismailis where, uh, done so by the so-called fedayi, "the devoted", those who were prepared to sacrifice their own single lives. And this attracted the attention of the Crusaders as well. They were fascinated by the fact that these people, they were so selfless and so devoted that they would carry out these missions Now, the Assassin legends appears for this specific reason of satisfying the Crusaders, to provide logical explanations for the behavior that seemed otherwise irrational to the Crusaders, and this is why these legends, almost all of them, revolve around the recruitment and training of these fedayis. And these developed in stages and found their culmination in the synthesis popularized in Marco Polo's, uh, travelogue, in which he, Marco Polo, he claims that the mischievous chief of these people was known as "Old Man of the Mountain". And that itself was a translation of the Arabic term "Shaykh", meant both "an old man" and also "the chief", but the Crusaders' sources really translated shaykh into its secondary meaning, into "old man", and because he did reside in this mountainous, high fortress, he became known as the Old Man of the Mountain. Though, Marco Polo says that this Old Man of the Mountain had created a sacred garden of paradise at his fortress, into which he led these would-be fedayis under the influence of hashish or some other intoxicating potion. And then when they came to, they found themselves in Paradise and they could partake of all the pleasures promised them in the Quran that they would find in Paradise, like the houris and, you know, the damsels, and so on. And then, when the time was right, he would give them the portion again, put to sleep, take them out of the garden, and then send them on this mission. And this explained why they were so devoted, because he would will tell them that if you return alive from their mission, you will go back to this garden, and if you don't end up alive, you go to the garden promised you in the world. Now, the term "hashshāshī" or "hashshāshīya" become transposed to various, uh, Latin-based and European languages as "assassini", "assassini", "assassini", and so on. And eventually it entered European languages as the world "assassin". And at the time, it did not have the meaning in which sense it is used today, in reference to a professional murderer. It was just the name of this mysterious, obscure community, but because of the assassination missions connected to this community, the word later on became a noun in European languages meaning "a professional killer or murderer". You do not find any of these Assassin legends in the contemporary Muslim sources, especially Sunni ones, even the anti-Ismailis Sunni polemical texts! You do not find any of, uh, these kinds of stories. And these were tales rooted in the imaginative ignorance of the Crusaders and their western beliefs that could not understand Shia immortology, which we know very well today, for instance. In the case of the Iran–Iraq War of recent times, you saw these waves of young men you see walking over mines and so on because they wanted to become shahids, martyrs, who are promised the paradise in heaven. So, the Muslims could understand this behavior, therefore they did not to explain it whereas the westerners, they needed explanations for their satisfaction and hence, the genesis of the so-called Assassin legends.
• Matthew Lewis: You mentioned that the Nizaris were not popular amongst other Muslim groups, particularly; the Crusaders struggle to understand them. In the game, we have Altaïr, the main character, is given a list of 10 people to assassinate and that's a mix of Muslims and Christians. Is that a fair representation of the way the Assassins worked? Were they able to work against both Muslims and Christians at various times?
• Farhad Daftary: They could have. What seems to be the actual missions carried out by the Ismailis were highly secret. We are in no position to know which of the assassinations was actually done by them, ah, because at the time almost every group or faction did resort to assassination. The Crusaders themselves use assassination. The Sunni rulers of the region themselves use assassination. The Seljuks, who were the primary: enemies of the Ismailis, they, too, to deal with their own internal faction fighting, resorted to assassination. But, uh, if they did assassinate to the Crusader figures I think they would have been very few because they did not really perceive of them as the main threat. The main threat to them were the the Sunni Seljuks, the Muslims who were fighting them on a prolonged basis.
• Matthew Lewis: And, it sounds like the Nizaris were keen to use assassination as a way to magnify their power. So you say they were fighting large armies?
• Farhad Daftary: It had, really, two purpose. One was, of course, to remove key enemies in key localities. Secondly was to intimidate the enemies. So they either did this or did not attempt to refute if they were not behind attempts. For instance, we have, uh, a number of stories portraying the fedayis putting knives—daggers—by the bedside of various judges and so on but not killing them. Just to warn them.
• Matthew Lewis: Yeah, it's a bit like The Godfather, horse's head in the bed—
• Farhad Daftary: Exactly!
• Matthew Lewis: —kind of thing.
• Farhad Daftary: Yeah.
• Matthew Lewis: And in the game, so, the primary mode of assassination is normally with a, uh, hidden dagger, and we see Altaïr kind of diving off buildings very dramatically and assassinating people with this hidden dagger. Is there a, uh, standard way in which the Nizaris operated or what? It sounds like they had a much broader range of things—tactics that they would use.
• Farhad Daftary: The actual missions carried out by the Nizaris were of various kinds depending on the individuals involved because they, obviously, had, you see, bodyguards and so on. But, uh to some extent, they tried to commit these acts in public places from which the perpetrators would not survive. I mean, you know, again to publicize the event. The total number of such assassinations that can really be attributed to the daggers of the Nizari fedayis are much, much less than we are led to believe. And in fact, three Persian historians who had access to the Nizari chronicles of the Alamut period— which were kept in the famous library in the fortress of Alamut and elsewhere—they do have a list of the victims of these missions, and this tactic, really, started in the time of Hassan-i Sabbāh himself, the founder of this community and movement who died in 1124. And he reigned for some 30-odd years, and during that entire period the names of the people who were removed by the Nizari fedayis, uh, are less than 30. So, less than one per year, I mean, for a 30-odd, you know, period.
• Matthew Lewis: So it's not, perhaps, is a widely-used a tactic as we think it is.
• Farhad Daftary: Exactly! It was used in a very, you see, targeted and highly selective, uh, reminder for the key individuals who perceived as enemies who posed serious threats to the survival of the Nizari community in specific regions.
• Matthew Lewis: And you mentioned—I just want to come back a little bit to the idea of "the Old Man of the Mountain". Um, in the game, so, Altair's Mentor is, uh, thought to be modeled on Rashīd al-Dīn, who's one of the leaders, one of the Old Men of the Mountain.
• Farhad Daftary: He was the most famous of the Syrian leaders, and he's the original Old Man of the Mountain of the Crusader sources.
• Matthew Lewis: And during the period that he was ruling the Nizari clan, how important was he in the gen—in the largest picture of the Crusades?
• Farhad Daftary: Well, he was a very clever man a highly accomplished administration, because he was really interested in maintaining the independence and the stability of his community which was actually surrounded by numerous hostile forces, as I said the Ayyubids, the Zendids, and the Crusaders. Therefore, very cleverly, he would enter into shifting network of alliances: he would allow himself with one of these against, you see, others and then when the circumstances change, he would change his alliances. So he was a very pragmatic and flexible man In terms of, you know, adopting suitable policies that responded to the circumstances of the time.
• Matthew Lewis: So he wasn't necessarily bound by any religious ideology—
• Farhad Daftary: No, no, not at all.
• Matthew Lewis: —he was really focused on the preservation of the Nizari.
• Farhad Daftary: Exactly.
• Matthew Lewis: And that allowed him to move between—
• Farhad Daftary: Exactly.
• Matthew Lewis: —Christian and Muslim allies and enemies.
• Farhad Daftary: Exactly.
• Matthew Lewis: Fascinating. And I guess we have to acknowledge that, in the game, the rivalry between the Templars and the Assassins is continued into the modern era: it continues today, the Templars are sort of multinational corporation and the Assassins are still working around them. What do we know about what happens to the Nizari group? Could they still exist?
• Farhad Daftary: Yes, of course they do! (laughs) They very much do!
• Matthew Lewis: Very much do.
• Farhad Daftary: The Nizari Ismailis, who were in both Iran, Syria, and then later on, especially in Central Asia and the much later in India. In the year 1256 the Nizari Ismaili state of Iran was uprooted by the Mongols, but the Ismailis did not disappear: they went underground and many of them actually migrated from Iran to Afghanistan and India, where Nizari Ismaili communities are existing. And the line of the imams also is continued in the progeny of the last lord of Alamut, who himself was killed by the Mongols. By the middle of the 15th century, the imams emerge from their hiding, into a more republic state in the village of Anjudan, and then they revived the da'wa activities for the first time after the fall of Alamut. And they initiated the so-called "Anjudan revival" in Nizari Ismailism, which became particularly successful in Central Asia and, you see, India, where a large community of Niz—of Nizari Ismailis appeared, locally known as the Khojas. The Khojas, who hailed from India but are to be found also in various African countries and, you know, in the West, they're all Nizari, uh, Ismailis. They still exist in Syria and in Iran in small communities but the bulk of the Nizari Ismailis of today are situated in Central Asia, especially in Tajikistan, and Afghanistan, and Pakistan, and also India, from where they migrated to East Africa, from where, in turn, from the early 1970s, they emigrated to Western countries, especially to the UK, France, and Portugal in Europe; and to USA and Canada. The line of the imams has also continued uninterruptedly, and, uh, since the beginning of the 19th century, the imams of the Nizari Ismailis became internationally known as the Aga Khans. So the present Aga Khan, the fourth one, who is the 49th—the 49th hereditary imam of the Nizari Ismailis, you see very much alive and he's the spiritual leader of the Nizari Ismaili community, who are numbered to more than 10 million and they are scattered over some 30 countries of, uh, the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America.
• Matthew Lewis: How do you feel about the reputation of Nizari Ismailis? It sounds to me like we tend to call them the Assassins and think they were a very small group that did a very specific thing for a very short time, and that we're probably doing a huge disservice to a very important faith group by doing that.
• Farhad Daftary: I couldn't agree more with you! The Nizari Ismailis where, uh, Shia Muslim communities. And at times, they did adopt the policies by force—not by choice, because their, because their very survival was at stake. As I said, they could not use or immobilize large armies and they were constantly threatened by much more militarily powerful Muslim sources. They did not invent the policy of assassination, which did exist among the Muslims from early on; various early Shia communities, um, as well as, you see, the Qarmatians, ^[citation needed] and the Sunnis themselves, they resorted to that policy. That was a practical, you see, tactic which they adopted. Because the bulk of the assassinations of the time were attributed to them, unfortunately, the whole business of assassination became—in a very gross and exaggerated manner—attached to the name of this community, which really was not the case at all. There are other Shia Muslim communities, and at various periods of their history, they made highly important contribution to Islamic thought and culture, especially during the Fatimid period of their history, as well as, you know, the Alamut period. They patronized, uh, learning, scientific activities, art, and, you see, artists. Uh, in fact, win the Mongol invasions started in the 1220s, they gave refuge to waves of Muslim and non-Muslims—Christian as, as well as Jewish—scholars who were running away from the Mongols, and gave them safe refuge in the fortresses where they partook of the patronage of learning and also their fantastic, you see, libraries. So all of that is really, to use the modern term, they received "bad press", really.
• Matthew Lewis: They needed a good spin doctor. It sounds like, though, there's elements of their reputation that make them the perfect focus for a game like Assassin's Creed but that there's actually so much more to their story, which is fascinating in itself. And thank you so much for sharing that with us, Farhad, it's been absolutely fascinating.
• Farhad Daftary: In fact, it's really as a result of a modern progress in Ismaili studies that dates back to the 40s, that gradually, modern scholars—and the world at large—began to learn much more accurately about the history and the teachings of these people so, by contrast with, a bunch of myths and legends and misrepresentations which had been circulating for 1,000 years. Now, of course, facts will eventually replace fiction, but when fictions are more attractive than facts, sometimes it's not that difficult to—even when you have managed to deconstruct the fiction. But they refuse to disappear because they have appealed to the imaginations of generations. Hashish, daggers, and hoodies are much more interesting than actual fact that what a Shia Muslim community did.
• Matthew Lewis: You're fighting against human nature's desire for a really good story, but I think you've been at the forefront of this work for decades—
• Farhad Daftary: Exactly.
• Matthew Lewis: —and it definitely is changing the focus and the story, so thank you so much for sharing all of that.
• Farhad Daftary: My pleasure.
• Matthew Lewis: It's been a pleasure to have you.
• Farhad Daftary: Thank you very much. Thank you for having me.
• Matthew Lewis: Next time on Assassins vs Templars, it's the mortal enemies of the Assassins, the Knights Templar, who take our focus as we're joined by Professor Helen Nicholson of Cardiff University. Make sure you're following the Echoes of History podcast on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast from, so you don't miss that episode, and also, you can listen to the whole of the series there, too. This series is a special collaboration between Ubisoft and History Hit, with post-production undertaken by Paradiso Media.

The Knights Templar

An order of crusading monks draped in white robes marked with a red cross: the Knights Templar perhaps don’t sound that daunting when you first hear of them. But these monks were one of the most powerful organizations in the world during the crusades. From land ownership to banking to fighting on the frontlines with their faith as a weapon, the Knights Templar were worthy competition for the Assassins. But who were their contemporaries, how did the Knights Templar get so powerful, and how good were they on the battlefield? Find out with Professor Helen Nicholson and Matt Lewis.

Robert de Sablé

What does it take to be the Grand Master of the Knights Templar? Robert de Sablé, born into a respected military family in France was the 11th Grand Master. So was he the evil villain we meet in Assassin's Creed? How high profile was he? And how strong was his support network? Peter Edbury speaks to Dan Snow about the real man behind the legends.

The Assassins and The Crusaders

In 1192, Conrad of Montferrat was assassinated. The question was, did Richard I have anything to do with it? Then, 80 years later Lord Edward, who would soon become King Edward I of England, survived an assassination attempt while on crusade in the Holy Land. Two crusader kings, caught up on opposite sides of the assassins. So what was the relationship between Crusader states and the assassins? Matt Lewis speaks to Nicholas Morton to find out.

The Templars and The Holy Grail

This is the most sought after Christian relic, believed to have miraculous healing powers and divine origins. What isn't known is exactly what it is that we're supposed to be looking for. Different mythologies describe different grails with different properties. To find out more about the folklore of The Grail, how it became so entwined with that of the Knights Templar, and what this story shares with other folklore, Matt speaks to Dr. Juliette Wood. Is there a chance that this object really exists?

Assassins' Deeds

Poisoned blades, a gun, a dagger to the heart—assassinations & killings for political gain have taken place for as long as societies have existed. Just as in the games, we have evidence of assassinations from Ancient Egypt to the American Revolution to the Victorian Age. In this episode with the disaster historian, John Withington, Matt Lewis finds out what motives people have had for assassinations over the years, how their methods might have changed, and how the assassinations carried out by the Nizari branch of Ismaili Muslims fit into this history.

The Fall of the Templars

With a network of fortifications spanning Europe, the backing of the Pope and a fierce reputation, how did the reign of the Knights Templar end in arrest, torture, disbandment and, in some cases, execution? Mike Carr is with Matt Lewis to share the rumors that led to the Knights' downfall, the possible motives of Philip IV, and to explore whether the order continued in any form.

Baghdad Soundwalks

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City of Peace

What would a visitor have seen entering the City of Peace? Deana and Ali tour the medieval metropolis that is Baghdad. Capital city of the Abbasid empire, heart of the Islamic civilization, home to mighty architectural marvels and great intellectual achievements!

• Deana Hassanein: Hello! I'm Deana Hassanein. Welcome to this season of Echoes of History, inspired by Assassin's Creed's "Mirage" from Ubisoft, a series of soundwalks where we take you through 9th-century Baghdad. So over the next ten episodes, we'll be making our way through the winding contours of time, getting to the heart of this civilization, and discovering what makes it so important. I'm joined by Prof. Ali A. Olomi. Ali, why don't you tell us a bit about yourself?
• Ali Olomi: Howdy, guys, I'm Ali. I'm a historian specializing in the medieval Islamic world and I was actually one of the consultants on the Mirage game. Deana, that "howdy" was a clear indication: I am from America.
• Deana Hassanein: I'm not going to comment further: I've never heard someone say "howdy" when I've podcasted with them, that's definitely unique!
• Ali Olomi: (laughs)
• Deana Hassanein: What was it like consulting on the game? You must have got some cool points for that.
• Ali Olomi: I absolutely did! It's probably the most exciting and cool thing I've done as a historian; history is not always an exciting profession, but this was definitely a top mark.
• Deana Hassanein: And the fun is not over, Ali, because we are going to be guiding people through the history of medieval Baghdad, the setting for Assassin's Creed: Mirage. And this is a very exciting time period which is usually overlooked; not many people know much about medieval Baghdad and how rich it is in history, and intrigue, and mystery as well.
• Ali Olomi: Too true! I always say that this period is even more Game of Thrones than Game of Thrones, so get ready.
• Deana Hassanein: So, Ali, today we're taking a tour of Baghdad: talk to me, what am I going to see?
• Ali Olomi: Yeah, that's right, we're going to explore this medieval metropolis, this capital city of the Abbasid Empire, the heart of the Islamic civilization, and home to mighty architectural marvels and great intellectual achievements. So, Deana, I have a question for you: imagine you've just conquered vast swathes of land, overthrown a rival empire, and now you're a ruler of a grand new dynasty—just things you do on a casual weekend. What's the first thing you do?
• Deana Hassanein: Um, probably sit down and take it all in for a moment? That's probably going to be the first thing.
• Ali Olomi: (laughs) Time to decompress!
• Deana Hassanein: Yeah, exactly! But I imagine the answer you're looking for, Ali, is establishing a capital and making sure trade is flowing in my new city.
• Ali Olomi: Absolutely right, you want to get trade flowing, want to make sure you've got money in this new empire you've created. But as you rightly point out, you establish a capital city. Under caliph Mansur in 762, they decide that they need a center for their new empire. And according to the historian al-Tabari, Mansur heard a prophecy, an ancient Christian prophecy, and we do love our prophecies here. According to this prophecy, a man named "Miklas" will establish a city in the area that will eventually become Baghdad. And Mansur loved that, because he claimed that he was called "Miklas" when he was younger. Now, whether that's true or not is up in the air, but certainly it lends some reasoning for caliph Mansur's establishment of the city. So what does he do? He gathers around him his greatest thinkers and architects and astrologers, people like Naubakht and Mashallah ibn Athari and Umar al-Tabari. And he tells them, "Build me a city". These people were city planners and they were also astrologers. What they decide is that they are going to pick a specific time in order to capure a celestial meaning for the city. So on July 30, 762 CE, when the Sun was in Leo—the sign of royalty—and Jupiter was rising over the horizon in Sagittarius—the sign of the philosopher—they created the first ground for Baghdad. This would be a city of nobility, of wealth, and of learning. And together with hundreds of thousands of builders and scores of architects, they would build a blossoming city that would be a cultural and intellectual hub for the known world for the next 500 years. And it would change the course of history forever. Al-Mansur would name this city the "City of Peace", so, very bold ambition there.
• Deana Hassanein: So, prophecies, dreams, and astrology were pretty big back then?
• Ali Olomi: Absolutely. It was a way for them to say that they were ordained by the heavens themselves.
• Deana Hassanein: I love that! And Baghdad wasn't their first capital city, right?
• Ali Olomi: That's right! Their first capital city was the ancient city of Kufa or Anbar; these thing are always a little complicated because the dynasty changes over time, but eventually they establish Baghdad as their own, a way of saying, "This is our land now".
• Deana Hassanein: Nothing marks territory like naming a new capital city, right, Ali?
• Ali Olomi: That's very true. It's a way of really saying for future generations, "Here we are and here we will remain". I mean, we still do it to this day, right? It's why we put our names on big buildings, it's why we give funding for various charities, and it's why we build our cities.
• Deana Hassanein: Yeah, that makes sense. And they actually take other things into consideration as well, like climate.
• Ali Olomi: And the practical consideration of climate matters! As anyone who's ever lived in the southern Mediterranean or southern California knows—
• Deana Hassanein: You're talking to someone who's lived in England her whole life; I know how important climate is, Ali.
• Ali Olomi: (laughs)
• Deana Hassanein: (laughs)
• Ali Olomi: Beach weather, beach weather, beach weather!
• Deana Hassanein: OK, you don't need to rub it in. We get it, we don't get beach weather here. Where are you again, California?
• Ali Olomi: Southern California.
• Deana Hassanein: OK. I'm not trying to be negative, but hopefully it'll rain tomorrow for you.
• Ali Olomi: (laughs)
• Deana Hassanein: (laughs) And other than the practical considerations, the climate would have shaped the culture, too, am I right in saying that?
• Ali Olomi: Absolutely, it really produces a particular type of people, a particular type of work. So culture really matters, real estate matters.
• Deana Hassanein: And it just seems they thought about everything, Ali? Y'know, I thought that they'd go in there, build stuff and hope for the best, but this is not how these people worked, right?
• Ali Olomi: No, they thought about everything. Location was important for them: they wanted to be at the site of the great empires of the past, they wanted the climate—let's do this: imagine you're a traveler, or, say you're an Assassin. You've traversed the hot, dry desert for leagues with only the scorching heat and brutal wind as your companion. You crest the hill and there you see it: glittering in the distance, a vast, round city straddling mighty rivers, its towering minarets jutting defiantly against the backdrop. A jewel in the desert. You move closer and the first thing that greets you is the sound. You hear the sound of life, of laughter and talking, haggling and singing, all pushing back against the empty sound of the wind that you've been hearing for miles. And as you get closer, the temperature drops. Cultivated land, flowing water—all the things you mentioned—they shape that climate, they shape the culture. The cool breeze replaces the hot wind, and the cool shade from the trees and the towering walls offer you shelter from the sun. You enter into that gate and rising up before you is the City of Peace. They thought about all of it!
• Deana Hassanein: That was a very vivid description, I felt like I was based in there. First entering Baghdad, getting that feeling that the traveler would get—the relief, the excitement. And maybe even a little bit overwhelmed, since there's so much going on?
• Ali Olomi: Oh, "overwhelmed" is the right, right word for it. So, Deana, I actually brought a map with me today because we're going to be covering a lot of ground. We're going to look at the different districts and the different quarters, because this is a city that was divided and organized in a certain way. You could even say that it was a kind of Middle Eastern "Venice". I've actually never been to Venice!
• Deana Hassanein: Me neither, don't worry! (laughs)
• Ali Olomi: (laughs) It's an abstract comparison!
• Deana Hassanein: We'll get there, we'll get there. And when you say it's divided, Ali, do you mean as in people went to different districts for different reasons, or divided as in class?
• Ali Olomi: Both! That there were certain functions to different districts, but also that people lived in different places. In fact, you can tell a lot about a civilization by the type of cities it builds and who lives in those cities.
• Deana Hassanein: I see what you mean. So each city has its own design and character, just the same way that if I looked at a picture, I'd immediately be able to tell if this was Paris or London or D.C. This is the exact same thing. I do have a question, Ali: why is this city so round?
• Ali Olomi: That's a really great question, "Why a round city?" It seems like a weird design, but let me tell you: the Abbasids fancied themselves philosopher kings. At the end of the day, they were really just warrior-nerds—
• Deana Hassanein: (laughs)
• Ali Olomi: —who loved to battle at night and philosophy in the day. They were inspired by the ancient Greek philosophers like Euclid, and they were drawn to the ancient Sasanian cities like Gōr. And then, of course, you add in the celestial symbolism like I mentioned before, it's why they relied on specific astronomical and astrological timing. It gave them political legitimacy. In this design, it's meant to mirror the heavens: there are seven heavens and God rests above the heavens, so, too, in this circular city, you have the caliph right in the center of it. The center of the world, so to speak.
• Deana Hassanein: So very intentional in everything they're doing.
• Ali Olomi: Exactly.
• Deana Hassanein: And just in case people don't know, what is a caliph?
• Ali Olomi: The caliph is the political leader of the Islamic world, it literally translates to "successor" or "vicergerent". It's a political and social leader of the Muslim empires.
• Deana Hassanein: OK, so, round city for symbolism and practical reasons, too?
• Ali Olomi: Yeah! Ease of navigation, population flow. Actually, I always tell people, whenever I teach this class about Baghdad, I say, "Have you ever seen Avatar: The Last Airbender?", which is one of my favorite cartoons.
• Deana Hassanein: Yeah.
• Ali Olomi: There's a city in it, the city of Ba Sing Se. And it's a lot like Baghdad, round cities with concentric rings in the Earth Kingdom.
• Deana Hassanein: And what do they always say in that cartoon?
• Ali Olomi: "There is no war in Ba Sing Se." (laughs)
• Deana Hassanein: "—in Ba Sing Se." (laughs) Exactly! Why don't we take a tour of the city, then. Tell me, what would a visitor have seen entering the City of Peace? You've already mentioned it's a round city with at least two rings—an inner, an outer—greater outer walls of brick. Let's have a look at the map! I see Sham, Kufa, Basra, and Khorasan. Are these all locations?
• Ali Olomi: They're actually gates directed towards those cities. So you'd have the Gate of Sham directed toward Syria, the Gate of Kufa towards Kufa, and so on and so forth. And that allows people to flow into the city from those different areas. Then you also had various districts, like Harbiyah, which housed the sort of largest suburb; you'd have the Jewish and Persian population mostly in that area. You also had Karkh, which was the mercantile and commercial hub of the city; it's where all the merchants were, it's where all the market places were. Then you have the Abbasiyah, which is the cultural center with its towering Bayt al-Ḥikmah, that's the House of Wisdom. In fact, you'll see each of these in the game and will tour these elements more in depth in the future. Now, you pointed out very rightly that there's differences in these regions, right?
• Deana Hassanein: Yes, exactly. I'm guessing al-Karkh is much wealthier than Harbiyah, which is more of a slum-like area?
• Ali Olomi: Yeah, you're absolutely right. So it's not just that these areas have certain functions, but they also have their own characteristics. There's actually a really funny story, uh, that a medieval chronicler writes about, about a newlywed who live in Harbiyah—
• Deana Hassanein: Yes.
• Ali Olomi: —but they don't like living in Harbiyah and want to move to Karkh because it is a nicer location. And in fact, they say, "It's better to raise kids in Karkh because it's a nice place." ^[citation needed] and that should sound familiar to anybody who's had to worry about buying a house or raising kids!
• Deana Hassanein: Totally, nothing's changed there! And when we dive into this much deeper, I think people will understand why Harbiyah is this place where this newly-wed didn't want to live in!
• Ali Olomi: (laughs) Karkh, I should mention, is actually near the southern gate. So, where these places are also tells us a little bit about what their function is, by being close to the southern gates connected to the flow of the river and to the canals that move through the city. And those canals would allow you to travel by barge and boat, and even today, we can see that the majority of global trade is run by boats. I mean—
• Deana Hassanein: Yeah.
• Ali Olomi: —do you remember a couple years ago, there was that big ship, I called it "Boaty McBoatface"—
• Deana Hassanein: (laughs)
• Ali Olomi: —that run aground in the Suez Canal?
• Deana Hassanein: Yes, Ali. It was called the Ever Given—
• Ali Olomi: (laughs)
• Deana Hassanein: —and yes, I do remember it because the Egyptian media wouldn't stop! It was, like, constant, and it was like, "Look how much trade we've lost!", so, yeah. I couldn't forget that even if I tried.
• Ali Olomi: And it brought, like, the global economy to a halt. I don't know if it was happening where you were, but we were, we had toilet paper shortages in southern California! (laughs) So it's a really good reminder that, uh, we still rely on boats for moving our goods, and that remains true in medieval Baghdad. So we're looking at centuries that connect us, the idea of moving goods through boats.
• Deana Hassanein: Wow. So what were some of the other locations, Ali?
• Ali Olomi: Alright, so we've got Sharqiyah, which is an administrative and military site. That's like where you go and do all your political business, it's the bureaucracy, it's the paperwork place, we'll call it.
• Deana Hassanein: OK.
• Ali Olomi: And initially, it was actually supposed to be the place, uh, of the prince. It was a sort of house or a palace where the prince and successor the caliph would live, but eventually, it just becomes the administrative place. But there's more! There are three major structures that we see in Baghdad and that we'll be talking about. The Palace, the mosque, and the House. The Palace, as we mentioned, is right in the center surrounded by gardens. And those gardens are important because in Islamic thought, Heaven is one big garden. And it was really opened and designed to be accessible to all.
• Deana Hassanein: So anyone could access the palace?
• Ali Olomi: Absolutely. It's very different from medieval European castle, which is a private location: the palace is open and accessible. Then we have the mosques. There's the Grand Mosque, which was built as a central place of worship and for community work, but also there's different districts that have mosques of their own, so it's a lot like many Middle Eastern cities today. If you've actually ever been to Istanbul with its many mosques, you'll have this experience where, off in the distance, you'll hear the call to prayer, and slowly, it'll get closer and closer as each mosque picks it up. And that is very much what you'll see in medieval Baghdad.
• Deana Hassanein: I think it's also worth noting that, yes, there are grand mosques, but Islam was not the only faith that people in Baghdad followed. We also have Christianity, and Judaism, and if you even look at the population, the 2 million people that were there were made up of Arabs, Persians, North and East Africans, Greek, Jewish as I already mentioned, and even Chinese!
• Ali Olomi: It's an incredibly diverse city, ethnically and religiously.
• Deana Hassanein: OK, can you tell me a bit more about the third structure then, the House of Wisdom?
• Ali Olomi: I love that you didn't miss that! The House of Wisdom is my favorite place. This is where the warrior-nerds would gather, and I fancy myself a warrior-nerd. (laughs)
• Deana Hassanein: Right...
• Ali Olomi: (laughs) Let me have my fantasies!
• Deana Hassanein: OK! (laughs)
• Ali Olomi: They would get together and this is where they translated the Greek, the Persian, Indian, and Syriac sources; we're talking about ancient math and science and philosophy and poetry. And all of that results in a cultural blossoming of the arts and sciences, and it has a massive impact on world history. We're actually going to be diving deeper into its culture in future episodes.
• Deana Hassanein: I can't wait for that. I'm starting to get a feel for the city! The difference between the power, market, cultural, and industrial cities; the importance of symbolism; how intentional they were with their designs...
• Ali Olomi: Oh, yeah, Deana, we've just begun. I mean, if I'm being honest, I could go on for hours and hours—
• Deana Hassanein: (laughs)
• Ali Olomi: —but we've got to save something for the future. In fact, in the next episode, we're going to be talking about the people actually living, working, and contributing to the culture of this city.
• Deana Hassanein: I can't wait, Ali! You've really got me excited for the rest of this season. I'm Deana.
• Ali Olomi: And I'm Ali. This is a Ubisoft podcast produced by Paradiso Media. Be sure to subscribe to Echoes of History podcast so you don't miss the next episode of Baghdad Soundwalks. See you next time, fellow travelers.

Culture of Prosperity

Medieval Muslims imagined themselves as scholarly warriors, poets, and philosophers, knights, and cavaliers. This elite culture and the way it filtered down to the masses is what made this period of Baghdad so exciting. In this episode, we explore the culture of chivalry and the ideal household as the basic foundation of Abbasid culture and society. From the art of horsemanship to the ethos of the powerful, we'll find out what makes Baghdad so unique.

• Deana Hassanein: Hello! I'm Deana
• Ali Olomi: And I'm Ali.
• Deana Hassanein: And today on Baghdad Soundwalks, we're digging deeper into the culture that took roots in medieval Baghdad.
• Ali Olomi: That's right, it's time for the warrior-nerds. (laughs)
• Deana Hassanein: Yay!
• 'Ali Olomi: I kid, but it's also a little bit true. I mean, these medieval Muslims really imagined themselves as scholarly warriors, poets, philosophers, knights, and cavaliers. I do, too, if I may say so!
• Deana Hassanein: (laughs) Oh my God, Ali!
• Ali Olomi: Now this elite class that I sort of mentioned, this is known as al-hassa, and there's sort of two related concepts—we're going to learn a lot of Arabic in this episode—the fattah and the furusiyya.
• Deana Hassanein: OK, woah, woah, woah. We're going to need some definitions for these, please.
• Ali Olomi: (laughs) Yeah, let's slow down. So, first is the hassa. The hassa is this warrior-elite culture, it's the scholarly elite. And it really comes out of this idea that the Abbasids were originally people who mingled with the Persians, and that mingling of an older memory of Arab warriors with local Persians created this this elite warrior class known as the hassa. And that's related to the fattah; the fattah are the actual warriors themselves. It's their knight's code, if you will. In the same way that you find knights have chivalry, you're going to find this fattah warrior class associated with the hassa. And then there's the furusiyya, and the furusiyya is all about horses. It's all about horseback riding and fighting off of horses. There's actually a really funny story to give you an example of what I'm talking of this warrior-elite ethos. There's this case in medieval Baghdad where one man, in a midst of an argument, slaps another man, ^[citation needed] and slapping is a big no-no in hassa culture.
• Deana Hassanein: On the face?
• Ali Olomi: Yeah, on the face. It's considered a big taboo. And because of the slapping, it leads to a duel, and the duel is a horseback jousting, if you will, between these two knights that literally leads to one of them killing the other, all over a slap to the face. So that gives you an idea of this sort of warrior-elite class of horseriders that emerges during this time period.
• Deana Hassanein: Do you know something really interesting? That culture still exists, definitely in Egyptian culture. If ever you were to get into a fight or anything, you just do not slap people on the face, it's so disrespectful.
• Ali Olomi: Yes, the slapping in the face remains taboo in a lot of the Middle East and it's tied to some Islamic ideas, but also this connection to hassa and furusiyya culture.
• Deana Hassanein: Couldn't help but noticing you were describing a very bro-y culture and all the definitions involved men.
• Ali Olomi: Deana, there was a lot of testosterone! (laughs)
• Deana Hassanein: Warrior-nerds! (laughs)
• Ali Olomi: Yeah, we can't deny it, but the way they saw themselves was pretty different. They were fighters, yes, that's true. But they also were poets at heart. For them, true manliness, or masculinity, was in the shedding of tears over beauty and witty dialogue, pondering the mysteries of the universe. So, yeah: they were tussling and fighting, but then they'd be sitting around talking about the latest philosopher.
• Deana Hassanein: You really wouldn't think that from the descriptions and the definitions, you wouldn't think they had this sensitive deep side at all.
• Ali Olomi: Oh, yeah, they had a great appreciation for beauty. Think about how we have hobbies today and these hobbies have cultures of their own.
• Deana Hassanein: Yeah, of course, like CrossFit, MMA, all the marital arts.
• Ali Olomi: Though maybe with more of a philosophical bent. I think you're right on the track with marital arts there. Men in this time would practice swordfighting, uh, as an art, they would practice chess and rhetoric, so right alongside each other. So they'd be master of the horse and they'd be master of calligraphy. So we see a blending of art and marital prowess.
• Deana Hassanein: Where did they find the time to master all of these things?
• Ali Olomi: I mean, they had a lot more time than we did back then. (laughs)
• Deana Hassanein: (laughs) I'm getting tired just hearing about that!
• Ali Olomi: No 9-to-5 jobs!
• Deana Hassanein: And you mentioned horses; they must've been very important.
• Ali Olomi: Oh, yes. I mean, it was a way of demonstrating that you were part of this elite culture: horseback riding, training, equestrian contests, they were the soul of this culture. It was also a status symbol, to be able to tame and ride horses.
• Deana Hassanein: It still is, isn't it, Ali, though? I know it's definitely true in Egypt.
• Ali Olomi: Oh, no, it's definitely true—have you actually ever ridden a horse?
• Deana Hassanein: Um, I'm scared to answer this question. So, when I was younger, yes, not so much now. Um, not that I'm scared of them or anything, but I just feel bad. (laughs)
• Ali Olomi: Yeah, I totally get it. But, I mean, if you've ever seen a horse, they're really elegant creatures—
• Deana Hassanein: Beautiful.
• Ali Olomi: —and they're also incredibly tall.
• Deana Hassanein: Yeah.
• Ali Olomi: They're way taller than you realize. The first time I saw a horse, I was like, "Hold on a minute."
• Deana Hassanein: Yeah.
• Ali Olomi: (laughs) "This doesn't look right, this doesn't look like it looks on TV!"
• Deana Hassanein: Oh, yeah, or Instagram! "This is not what I saw online!" (laughs)
• Ali Olomi: (laughs) "This is way too big of a creature!"
• Deana Hassanein: Was it common to have horses in every household, then, in Baghdad?
• Ali Olomi: You know, Deana, not in every household, but any household that fancied themselves an elite—remember the status symbol. And, of course, in this time period, houses were large, they were compound-like dwellings. You probably still see them in the Middle East to this day: large dwellings—
• Deana Hassanein: Yeah.
• Ali Olomi: —with extended families, even enslaved people, house managers, tutors. And then they always had some type of nearby barn on the property with their horses. Just imagine, for a moment, the large walls with sturdy doors opening up to a courtyard with a small water fountain—a private water fountain for the family. Benches around with cushions. Small trees, plants, and a space to congregate. It's an area where families would live.
• Deana Hassanein: Yeah, it's a very communal space. It still stands now for a lot of Middle Eastern cultures; the whole idea is to create a space for everyone to come together.
• Ali Olomi: Yeah. There was space for the entire extended family, and, of course, the staff. And you have to have these shared spaces, places you could lounge, you could talk, and most importantly, feast. Whether you're Muslim, Jewish, or Christian, Baghdad's home life was all about those large feasts with family and friends. Late dinners were very common, and this remains true in the Middle East, even today.
• Deana Hassanein: I love that as you're telling me all of this information, some of it still stands true? I know for a fact, I would never eat dinner in my household until everyone has arrived. Even if Dad was working late or Mum was working late, it doesn't matter. We wait to eat together because it's more than food, isn't it?
• Ali Olomi: It's so much more than food. And that's what I love about history, particularly this region. Because you're not just looking about the past, you're also looking to see how that past still shapes culture to this day. So, people of Middle Eastern background who are listening to this talk about 9th century Baghdad are going, "Wait a minute, that sounds familiar!"
• Deana Hassanein: Yeah.
• Ali Olomi: That's because it was the basic building block on the social unit and it remains true to this day. The household, it really bound everyone together. And it was in turn bound by a culture that cherished learning and beauty-making, warriors and philosophers, scholars and merchants.
• Deana Hassanein: I can't help but think, "This really sounds great if you're wealthy or if you're a man,"" but what about people outside of that, Ali?
• Ali Olomi: Yeah, you're getting right to the rub if it, Deana, now.
• Deana Hassanein: It's getting feisty now! (laughs)
• Ali Olomi: Yeah, it sounds great if you've got money, right? Elite culture's always great for people who happen to be elite!
• Deana Hassanein: (laughs) Yeah.
• Ali Olomi: And this is important, because it's at this moment that we do start to see the introduction of the seclusion among elite women. It's not actually that common in Islamic history before this. But around 9th century Baghdad, and it's really the Abbasids that are going to introduce this idea of the harem, something we're going to talk about in the future. That said, ordinary women were far more free in many regards. They mingled in the city, they walked about, and they had professions of their own. This is really just elite culture, we're going to see some seclusion of women.
• Deana Hassanein: That's really interesting, because working women were part of the intellectual culture, they worked as translators, but you're telling me the more elite they got, the more secluded they were?
• Ali Olomi: Yeah, there's a bit of a hand-off. and again, we'll talk more about this, but elite women could become scholars in their own right, but generally within the household as their main base of operations. They learned in the house, they continued to work in the house. But ordinary women, women that were from a working-class background, they could be part of the Bayt al-Ḥikmah, the House of Wisdom.
• Deana Hassanein: OK, so, I'm not going to start, I'm going to save it for future episodes when you talk about the harem as you said, but it sounds like women, nothing has changed in terms of having a trade-off. So, either you're an elite woman and have access to wealth and power but have to stay secluded, or you've got to work. Um, were ordinary households built the same as these gorgeous communal homes that you mentioned earlier?
• Ali Olomi: To a more modest scale, I would say. The difference is really the commercial sites like Karkh, where you have this wealth, versus the poorer parts like Harbiyah. That's real, that's very real. But they're still communal. But their congregation spots would be more open, for example. It would not be uncommon to find in poorer households that they don't have a large courtyard but they would gather on the rooftop. And you can still see some of those rooftop spaces in places in the Middle East: they're furnished with small rugs and cushions.
• Deana Hassanein: Oh my God, yes! The iconic rugs. I don't know a Middle Eastern or North African home that doesn't have either a really red one or a really blue one.
• Ali Olomi: Oh, yeah. I have mine. I'll shamelessly admit that I have a rug, and it is beautiful. I mean, get a hookah and share scary stories with your cousins on a breezy summer night? What could be better than that?
• Deana Hassanein: Can you share a scary story with me?
• Ali Olomi: I will someday.
• Deana Hassanein: (laughs) And, you mentioned that this was a wealthy time period: clearly, by your descriptions and obviously from what we see, it's very, very clear. But I presume this is because of what we spoke about last time, the idea of the city's location and the purpose of the city was to draw in merchants, right?
• Ali Olomi: Truth! You're thinking like a historian.
• Deana Hassanein: Yay!
• Ali Olomi: You bring in the merchants and it makes everyone rich a little bit.
• Deana Hassanein: And what would you say stands out the most about the culture of this time period in this city? There seem to be some real differences for me in class and rank: the elites relish in this luxury, and obviously that's all made possible by trade, but how did the other half live?
• Ali Olomi: Yeah, that's a really good question. I think what we're seeing here first is that elite culture and beauty, it makes it way even into the lowest parts of the town. There's a democratizing of the benefits of wealth, if you will. So everyone has a hobby, everyone has connections to this intellectual culture, but there's differences in it. If you're an elite person, that philosopher's coming to your house; if you're a poor person, you're listening to that philosopher in the tea shop. If you were elite, you would raise horses; if you were poor, you would raise pigeons. And even beggars, for example, had their place in the city. There's stratification, but there are places like soup kitchens or mosques where beggars could live. And there are of course people outside of this system. But on the whole, what we're looking at is an integrated society—with stratification and differences in power and class, but one whole Abbasid society.
• Deana Hassanein: Would they ever mix? Or was it strictly the elite with the elite and the poor with the poor?
• Ali Olomi: They would mix in the streets, and particularly in market places, something that we'll be talking about in future episodes, and that's what Baghdad so unique: that even in this moment of stratification of elite versus poor, there are places where they mingle.
• Deana Hassanein: Baghdad is really starting to come alive for me. Next week, let's go even deeper into the harem, but for now, I'm Deana.
• Ali Olomi: And I'm Ali. And this is a Ubisoft podcast produced by Paradiso Media. Be sure to subscribe to Echoes of History podcast so you don't miss the next episode of Baghdad Soundwalks. See you next time, travelers.

The Harem

Originating with the Persian empires, the harem (unlike its salacious modern day portrayals) emerges from the need to create a safe space for rulers and their families. Let's take a tour! You've had an entire day full of courtly intrigue and politics. You retire, passing a curtain separating the public from the private... you pass by special guards whose principal job is protecting your family. You enter an open space scattered with cushions, couches, rugs, games of chess... children playing and laughing... the familiar sounds of ouds and drums...

• Deana Hassanein: Hello, fellow travelers, you're listening to Baghdad Soundwalks. I'm Deana.
• Ali Olomi: And I'm Ali. We have got a juicy one for you today, Deana.
• Deana Hassanein: (laughs)
• Ali Olomi: When I say "harem", what do you imagine—actually, let me rephrase that: if you were a Hollywood producer—
• Deana Hassanein: (laughs)
• Ali Olomi: —and I said "harem", what would you imagine?
• Deana Hassanein: OK, I see women scattered all over a room, wearing sexy clothing—two-pieces, maybe some jewelry. I see a water fountain in the middle, and basically just women waiting around to please a man. Am I right?
• Ali Olomi: I mean, I think of the I Dream of Jeannie get up, with the pajama pants—what do you call those, parachute pants?
• Deana Hassanein: Yes! They're actually called "harem trousers", you know!
• Ali Olomi: Are you kidding?!
• Deana Hassanein: I swear to God! And I used to wear them! (laughs) I used to wear them in my, like, teen phase; they were called "harems".
• Ali Olomi: Jasmine wears them, too, right?
• Deana Hassanein: Yes!
• Ali Olomi: From Aladdin. So that—OK, I did not know they were called harem pants. (laughs)
• Deana Hassanein: I swear they are! (laughs)
• Ali Olomi: How fitting! (laughs) What's interesting is that, like, the harem is imagined as this really salacious place, as you talked about: women waiting around for the sexual pleasure of, of men, you know, full of debauchery. But in reality, when you look at history, the harem was just our private house.
• Deana Hassanein: So how did it get translated that way?
• Ali Olomi: It's an example of what happens in the 19th and 20th century where people start to imagine the Middle East in a particular way. You know, Edward Said has his whole critique about Orientalism, this imagining of the Middle East, and the harem becomes a really big place in that imagining. It becomes an eroticized, and surely there's sex in the harem, but it's not an exclusively sexual place; it's not a pleasure palace.
• Deana Hassanein: Well! Talk about completely different reality!
• Ali Olomi: (laughs) Look, let's be real, it could be a pretty exciting place—there's a lot of harem politics that we'll talk about—but really, the harem is just a sort of fancy word for the private quarters. Middle Eastern households, like we mentioned, were really communal, and doubly so if you were ruler. Because there is no concept of a private castle in the Middle East. The palace? That's a public space, anybody has access to it; you can literally walk in and petition the ruler.
• Deana Hassanein: Right, so you could enter other places of the home, just not the harem.
• Ali Olomi: Right, that was the private space for you, your children, and your family.
• Deana Hassanein: And we both know, Ali, that the harem is not unique to the Middle East.
• Ali Olomi: It's not unique to the region in any way, shape, or form, even if "harem" as an Arabic word definitely is. But let's actually think about this together for a little bit: if you were a public official, or ruler, or such, where would you most be most vulnerable?
• Deana Hassanein: I'd say at home, definitely at home. Because even today, Presidents have entourages when they're out and about, but you need your security at home, as well. Isn't there this, like, statistic that more security breaches happen at the White House than when the President is out and about?
• Ali Olomi: Yeah, that actually makes quite a bit of sense. I know that they keep making those barriers bigger and bigger, and the fences bigger and bigger at the White House. (laughs)
• Deana Hassanein: Yeah, it's got to be when you're at home, then, Ali. We've cracked the case!
• Ali Olomi: Yeah, where you put your head to sleep is the most vulnerable place. And so in light of that, the harem emerges as, you could say, a need to create a safe space for the ruler away from the public, and, of course, the ruler's family who's also at risk.
• Deana Hassanein: And that makes sense. You've mentioned so many times that it's a communal space. They need somewhere where they can be private and safe, and so I get that. And other rulers probably had harems, too, and I heard that it actually predates Islam, right?
• Ali Olomi: We think that the harem probably started with the Persian Empires, we have some evidence of it in sort of the Achaemenids, but mostly the Sasanians who are the precursors to the Abbasids. They sort of created a space where elite women could be secluded from the ordinary population—you got to keep away from the peasants, in other words! (laughs) But it was also a place for the ruler to be at home.
• Deana Hassanein: OK, I get it. And the Muslims then adapted that practice.
• Ali Olomi: The Abbasids for sure did. Remember how we talked about the founding of Baghdad and why they picked that location and their reasonings for it?
• Deana Hassanein: Yeah. Very deep symbolism, astrology, and they wanted to create a link between now, at the time, and the past.
• Ali Olomi: I mean, think of it this way: it's a lot like new management. Have you ever had a job and suddenly it comes under new management?
• Deana Hassanein: I don't even know if you want to touch on this! Don't get me started! (laughs)
• Ali Olomi: Now we need to hear it!
• Deana Hassanein: Yeah, I mean—something that stands out to me is definitely when I was in my first real job, ever, as a teacher. And my first year was fine, second year, I got a new head of the department. And you know people who just change things unnecessarily to kind of mark their territory even though nothing needed to be changed?
• Ali Olomi: Ohhh, yes.
• Deana Hassanein: Yeah, I'm going to leave it there otherwise I'm going to start losing my cool. (laughs)
• Ali Olomi: (laughs) That, there, is exactly what I'm talking about! There's a difference between, say, smart management and bad management, and the difference is how much you try to change things. Smart managers, they keep most things the same, but they have a way of integrating what people are already doing. People have their own rhythm, the things that they do, so rather than change it, they connect with it. Bad managers, on the other hand, almost always want to shake things up too soon and it ends badly. They adapt themselves to the local environment and they adapted a lot of Persian customs, mostly because they intermarried with a lot of the Persians. And so one of the things they adopted is the harem. The idea of an institutional harem, that existed in other parts of the Middle East, but it only became widespread by the time of the Abbasids.
• Deana Hassanein: Can we talk a little bit more about the rulers? So, is it only them who had the harems or was that open to everyone in society?
• Ali Olomi: I always love when you ask this question, 'cause you're always thinking about the difference between the really elite rulers and ordinary people; I love that!
• Deana Hassanein: Thank you!
• Ali Olomi: Because you're right, ordinary folk didn't have harems. They lived pretty communal lives and they had private quarters, but it was nothing quite like the harem.
• Deana Hassanein: So a lot of the culture and a lot of the things you're describing is actually habits of the elite. Didn't that create any jealousy between societies? I mean, I can imagine being a poorer man in Baghdad and being like, "I want a harem."
• Ali Olomi: Maybe, but honestly, it sounds like more of a headache than anything else! (laughs)
• Deana Hassanein: (laughs) And in these harems, were there concubines and wives and mistresses? Tell me a bit more about what I would see.
• Ali Olomi: Yeah, let's talk a little bit more about this. In fact, let's imagine it together: you've had an entire day of courtly intrigue and politics and drama. And you retire. You pass through a curtain separating the public from the private. You pass by special guards—whose only job was to protect your family—and then you enter into an open space. And they've got cushions and couches and rugs. Your family congregates together—women, children—playing, laughing, even music. I mean, you've got to keep entertained! And learning to play an instrument or compose poetry or play chess, that's a must.
• Deana Hassanein: And they all learned these things?
• Ali Olomi: Oh, yeah, the harem was tied to a formal education system! The queen mother would actually teach her daughters and the concubines and others, and even the art of conversation and the art of leisure was taken seriously. There was a style to it, and you wanted to master it.
• Deana Hassanein: I just want to make sure I fully understand this: if you were a woman living in a harem, you were not going to leave that space.
• Ali Olomi: If you were an elite woman living in a harem, you were very unlikely to leave that space.
• Deana Hassanein: OK.
• Ali Olomi: That's not something you looked forward to doing. It was really a sign of their elite status that they had the servants do things for them. And this is found in other cultures as well, where elite women, for example, wouldn't allow themselves to get tanned, and so they would carry umbrellas because it was a sign of them not working the fields. So this was the big difference. Ordinary women, they were very public. We have women that were working alongside men, women in centers of learning, women in the market place. But elite women? No.
• Deana Hassanein: So they consented to this? This is what they wanted?
• Ali Olomi: Well, consent is a little bit more complicated because we're talking about a time period that includes enslaved people. So some women married for choice, and they got power, and some less so. It is definitely a difficult place for a woman to be, but that's not to say that women didn't find a way to exercise power and agency.
• Deana Hassanein: Yeah, of course. I mean, in any male-dominated society, women always find a way.
• Ali Olomi: And that's true! We're looking at patriarchal societies, we're looking at societies dominated by women, but that doesn't mean that women didn't wield power or were simply passive agents of history. We have stories of powerful queens, women at ordinary levels engaging in intellectual pursuits—they're able to achieve that power in spite of the difficulties they that face from society. Look, I'm Middle Eastern, and I can tell you that my mom was definitely in charge of my family.
• Deana Hassanein: (laughs) My mum was in charge of disciplining us for sure. For sure. (laughs)
• Ali Olomi: (laughs) And, in fact, it's by being a mother that women could gain a great deal of power and influence. There's actually a really great example of this of a woman named Khayzuran. Khayzuran is a queen. She actually starts her life off as an enslaved woman, who then marries as a concubine into the harem of the caliph, caliph Mahdi. And it's at that particular point that she starts to work the harem politics. And she works her way up to being his main consort, his main wife. She then gives birth to two sons, one is al-Hadi and the other is Harun al-Rashid. She has a lot of power with her husband, but when her husband dies, her son tries to curtail her power, because a woman's place is not in politics, a woman has no right or say in what the Empire does. So what does Khayzuran do? She has her son killed.
• Deana Hassanein: (gasps)
• Ali Olomi: She has al-Hadi killed and replaces him with his brother Harun al-Rashid, who recognizes her as an important authority, and she becomes the queen mother.
• Deana Hassanein: She killed her own son?!
• Ali Olomi: She killed her own son to maintain her power. There's a great deal of politics here. And there are other really incredible women. There's one known as Zubaydah. Zubaydah has a son, al-Amin—and we're actually going to be talking about al-Amin in a future episode. But al-Amin has very little interest in continuing the line in his family: he's out partying all the time, he's out drinking, al-Amin may even perhaps have been gay, he has a lot of attraction to another male poet. ^[citation needed] And so Zubaydah worried that she's not going to have any grandchildren, a worry—(laughs) something that any Middle Eastern mother has brought up at some point!
• Deana Hassanein: I was just going to say! (laughs)
• Ali Olomi: (laughs) "When am I going to have grandkids?" I hear that from my mom all the time!
• Deana Hassanein: (laughs)
• Ali Olomi: So what does Zubaydah do? She comes up with this really brilliant strategy: she's going to have all the women in the harem dress as young men. She has them pencil on moustaches— ^{[citation needed]}
• Deana Hassanein: Oh my God!
• Ali Olomi: —wear men's clothing in order to keep the interest of al-Amin. So we're looking at, like, really fascinating figures. I mean, there's another one, Queen Buran, who was a scientist. And she ends up becoming the main political and scientific advisor of her husband, Al-Ma'mun. So, this is very difficult time period to be a woman, but women find a way.
• Deana Hassanein: The harem is so radically different from how it's portrayed! I mean, it's still a hot spot! You've got women from all sorts of backgrounds—some enslaved, some princesses, some super-controlling mothers—you've got them rising to power, playing their own game of politics. It's just—I really wasn't expecting to see it in that light. And, these queen mothers, and their sons, and daughters, all on top of raising their kids! It's just, it's very interesting.
• Ali Olomi: Yeah, and at the end of the day, besides all that politics, they were just living, in the same way that we are. There's a lot of things that are different back then, a lot of things we might find strange, there's also some beauty in the fact that people just try to make do with the circumstances that they are given. It's similar to how we go about our lives: it's unique to that time period and history, but it's those similarities and those differences that I always find beautiful in history.
• Deana Hassanein: Next week, let's travel outside the palace walls and look at the bazaar. But for now, I'm Deana.
• Ali Olomi: And I'm Ali. This is a Ubisoft podcast produced by Paradiso Media. Be sure to subscribe to the Echoes of History podcast so you don't miss the next episode of Baghdad Soundwalks. See you next time, travelers.

The Bazaar

In this episode, we'll travel to the bazaar (AKA souk), a place of trade and politics, the beating heart of the city... Throngs of people move about, garbed in clothing that reflect their rank; the rich in their silks and finely woven robes of different colored hues: greens and blues and rich earth tones, old men sitting on the side of streets playing board games, young kids running amok...

• Deana Hassanein: Hello, fellow travelers! I'm Deana.
• Ali Olomi: And I'm Ali. Ready to go shopping, Deana?
• Deana Hassanein: I'm always ready to go shopping, Ali!
• Ali Olomi: (laughs)
• Deana Hassanein: We're headed outside and taking a tour of the bazaar, one of the most important places in the Middle East.
• Ali Olomi: Now, Deana, you've been to Middle Eastern bazaars, or souks, before, right? How about the one in Cairo? Can you tell us a little bit about what you would have seen travelling to the souk?
• Deana Hassanein: Of course. I'm always overstimulated; there's always so much to see. My personal favorite souk is Khan el-Khalili, so, if you haven't visited it before, this is your sign. It's in the heart of Islamic Cairo. I love the cobbled streets, the colorful wooden doors, the lights from the gorgeous lanterns that are hanging around everywhere, all the different spices...But, my favorite place has to be the incense spot—
• Ali Olomi: Hmmm.
• Deana Hassanein: —because for me, Egyptian musk? There's nothing like it.
• Ali Olomi: (laughs) I know the exact smell you're mentioning! And this is actually one of the most fascinating things about studying history, because what you just described is what you would have seen back in the day. We historians always joke that our job is basically switching back and forth talking about how some things change over time and how some things remain the same.
• Deana Hassanein: Alright, Ali, I'm ready for one of your gorgeous descriptions; take us for a walk.
• Ali Olomi: Alright, the first thing we're going to experience, that's the sounds. The bustle, the noise, the voices of people bargaining, laughing, joking, even arguing. It's a city alive with sound.
• Deana Hassanein: You know, it's sort of a comforting sound for me? It brings back a lot of memories. I'm very lucky to have lived a huge portion of my childhood in Egypt—summers, Easters, Christmas breaks—and all of these things you're describing I can feel those exact moments and remember them very well.
• Ali Olomi: It's a city of life and it's a sound of life! And it's the site that match those sounds. I mean, you're going to see throngs of people that are moving about, and they're garbed in clothing that reflect their rank: the rich are going to have their silks and their finely-woven robes, you know, different hues—greens, and and blues, and rich earth tones. And then you have your old men sitting on the side of the street playing board games. And young kids running amok. (laughs)
• Deana Hassanein: Yes! (laughs) And is it just men in the bazaar, is it?
• Ali Olomi: No. This was also, in this area of marketplace politics, where women exerted their most power. So, Zubaydah, one of these powerful queens, lived a relatively secluded life, but she's the one that builds the roads for the marketplace. She uses her money in order to build all of Baghdad's connections, including the road leading to Mecca for the pilgrimage. Now that's one way to stamp your name on history.
• Deana Hassanein: Let's continue the tour, Ali! What else would we find in the bazaar?
• Ali Olomi: That's a good question, but let me ask you something first: when we chatted, what were some of the reasons we decided the location of Baghdad was important?
• Deana Hassanein: Because it's the place of the empires of old. It connected them to the past, but also, and most importantly, it was the perfect location for trade, right?
• Ali Olomi: This was the place all the merchants wanted to be, it's where they were plying their wares. And the gates of Baghdad made it possible. We talked about the babs', and these were roads that would actually lead directly into Baghdad, while at the same time, you'd have canals connecting it to the rivers.
• Deana Hassanein: OK, so, let me get this straight: traders coming in via land and by the sea. What kind of goods are we talking, Ali?
• Ali Olomi: Everything you can imagine. In fact, the historian Yaqut says, "Whatever the heart desires will make its way to Baghdad". So you're going to see porcelain and jade from China, peppers and spice from India and Indonesia, lapis from Afghanistan, and precious metals from East Africa. And all of this is going to flow into Karkh, that industrial, mercantile quarter of Baghdad.
• Deana Hassanein: Who would I see in these markets, Ali? It's at the heart of city life, so I'm guessing it's a pretty good representation of all the city's inhabitants.
• Ali Olomi: You're right on the mark. The bazaar and the souk was a showcase of the bustling chaos of this great city. So you're going to have an Arab population, a Persian population, and African people generally from East Africa and North Africa known as bilād as-sūdān. You've got Kurds and Indians, Syriacs and Greeks, and it's going to be people from a variety of different classes: you have wealthy merchants with their patrons, you have slavers and the enslaved, and, of course, Jews and Christians.
• Deana Hassanein: This sounds like a thriving city, really diverse; I'm really starting to see why trade was such a lifeblood. But how do you manage all the chaos, Ali? We talked about how the round design of the city was all about order, right?
• Ali Olomi: I mean, that's one way you manage it. If you've got a round city, you're able to contain it. And of course, the chaos was the feature and something that had to be managed; they were aware of it. This was a mercantile center, a main marketplace, and so what they did is they allowed it to spill over a little bit from around the city. It would expand so that you saw an encroachment of the market on administrative centers, and it would move beyond the walls. There may even have been a plan to keep it organized initially, but slowly the chaos grew over time. You'd have short-term stalls versus long-time shops, you had separate mosques that sometimes build so people could pray there rather than move throughout the entire city, and then, of course, you had market managers. And these managers ensured that the chaos stayed at an acceptable level.
• Deana Hassanein: What is an "acceptable level" of chaos, Ali?
• Ali Olomi: No rioting!
• Deana Hassanein: (laughs)
• Ali Olomi: No rioting, and not too much cheating.
• Deana Hassanein: Oh?! What do you mean, "cheating"?
• Ali Olomi: So, if you're working off of a marketplace that takes coins in gold and silver, you can manipulate the weights. And so the market managers would go around and make sure that the merchants weren't using shady weights in order to manipulate prices.
• Deana Hassanein: So naughty, but I love all of this stuff!
• Ali Olomi: (laughs) You're reveling in the chaos!
• Deana Hassanein: I thrive off it! OK, Ali, we're going shopping, we're in the bazaar. One thing I really care about is having some food. Are there places to eat in these bazaars, like a medieval kebab, or something?
• Ali Olomi: Oh, yeah. Trade goes really, really well over a cup of tea or even a small meal, so if you're a merchant, you're going to serve some of this. And Middle Eastern hospitality goes back centuries, and you can always sweeten the deal with a little bit of food. We've seen guest culture up close, right, Deana?
• Deana Hassanein: I still see it now! Every weekend, we always have someone over, and we always create a feast as if it's the king or the queen in the house.
• Ali Olomi: There are also formal gathering areas like tea houses, places to eat, and sit down, and get away from the bustle. I'm actually a big fan of these tea houses. I don't drink coffee, so for me, it's the tea houses. And maybe even have some shisha.
• Deana Hassanien: (gasps) I didn't know you liked shisha, you've never mentioned that before! It's a good point, though, Ali, because smoking and tea basically break up the day-to-day hustle.
• Ali Olomi: We're talking about a lot of chaos in this city, but we've got to remember that they're operating in a different sense of time than we do. We live way, way busier lives than the people of the past. They worked hard, but they also knew when to take a break. There was this sense, if you will, of slowing things down. Think about how time works with Islamic prayers, for example: five times a day, the mosques would call out from any corner of Baghdad and shopkeepers would drop everything and attend prayers, some making space in small alleyways and others walking together all the way to the mosque. It was a city of marketplaces, but it wasn't just a series of errands or items in a checklist. Life moved differently.
• Deana Hassanein: What I love about everything we talk about, it always seems to ends up being a social place, and that's still true in certain parts of the world. If you visit places around the Mediterranean or in the Middle East, the day-to-day is definitely very different from the 9-to-5 culture that you see in America or even in the U.K.
• Ali Olomi: Yeah, you can still get a sense of it in certain places in the world. I actually call this the difference between café culture versus coffee shop culture. In cafés, you sit around and do nothing, you talk and just sort of linger for long periods of time. But coffee shops are about getting your drink and going.
• Deana Hassanein: This is so true, by the way. Just before I got here, I hopped into a coffee shop, and on the table it literally had a sticker saying, "30 minute max stay".
• Ali Olomi: (laughs) Coffee culture versus café culture, right?
• Deana Hassanein: I would imagine places where you sit around and chat are also the places that you hear about the local news. I know that when I go to cafés or small shops, you usually see the shop owner listening to the news on the radio.
• Ali Olomi: The marketplace is where you did politics, it's where the news travelled. You could sit around and listen to the latest philosopher, or you could sit around and plot if you have grievances.
• Deana Hassanein: Plotting? Like what?
• Ali Olomi: It's always been there's a place where there's some type of rumbling, of a protest, or some type of rebellion. In fact, there's this really interesting moment: in the 9th century, you're going to see some tensions around succession. A new caliph is named, a man named al-Hadi, and al-Hadi tries to restrict his mother, Khayzuran. Khayzuran is a powerful queen mother, so what does she do? She has him executed. Secretly, she removes him from power. ^[citation needed] But, al-Hadi had the backing of the military force in Baghdad, and so they organize a rebellion in the marketplace. They rise everybody up and they're saying, "We will not accept this new caliph!", Harun al-Rashid. So what does the clever queen mother Khayzuran do? She pays off the guard and quells the rebellion.
• Deana Hassanein: All that in a marketplace?
• Ali Olomi: All that in a marketplace, so you can have a kebab and join a rebellion!
• Deana Hassanein: (laughs) The best kind of combination in medieval Baghdad! You mentioned previously how elite women were secluded but wielded a lot of power. We can definitely see that in the marketplace, especially from the story that you just told, but it seems more open and accessible than courtly politics.
• Ali Olomi: Yeah, and I think we should emphasize that because the marketplace is more open than the court. And so you are going to see women mingling about more with men than, say, the elite space of the palace where you're going to see seclusion, that's very astute. And so there's a trade-off that happens: elite women are secluded but they have access to power and, say, education, whereas other women may not have access to power, but they have access to the marketplace. And you have really rich and exciting lives of people like Al-Shifa' bint Abdullah, who's one of the first healers and nurses in Islamic history and that inspires other women in medieval Baghdad to become educators, and doctors, and to participate in that learning culture. And they generally do that by accessing the marketplace, where the local teachers are and the local philosophers are.
• Deana Hassanein: I really wasn't expecting you to describe the marketplace the way you are. There seems to be a lot of politics involved in the marketplace, which I guess kind of makes sense, since trade and politics goes hand-in-hand.
• Ali Olomi: That's too true. The Abbasids were really good at balancing the sort of warrior-nerd that they had going on, plus being merchants at the same time. But both of those things were fully political: the Abbasids were a mercantile empire, and so the marketplace was the way they did a lot of their diplomacy. You remember that man, Harun al-Rashid, the caliph I just mentioned?
• Deana Hassanein: Yes.
• Ali Olomi: He's actually going to use the marketplace to his advantage. He's going to use those trade routes to develop an alliance with Charlemagne, and he does this by sending special goods from Baghdad all the way to Charlemagne. So for the first time, you're going to see the Frankish Empires will have access to things like peppers from Baghdad, books from Baghdad, and my favorite thing that they'll get is an elephant!
• Deana Hassanein: Ooh!
• Ali Olomi: Harun al-Rashid takes the cake when it comes to ostentatious gifts! And we have actually drawing of this elephant from French authors!
• Deana Hassanein: Can I just say that elephants are one of my favorite animals? It's not ethical, but it would be the best gift to give me, ever! (laughs)
• Ali Olomi: (laughs) Something to think about for your birthday.
• Deana Hassanein: Alright, Ali, what last sight should we see before we leave the bazaar?
• Ali Olomi: I have saved the best for last because I, too, am a warrior-nerd: the book market known as the mutanabbi. This is huge!
• Deana Hassanein: Why is it huge?
• Ali Olomi: I mean, book markets are going to make Baghdad unique compared to any other city in the world. You'll find more books at this time period than anywhere. A traveler from Constantinople will arrive in Baghdad and remark that, on average, a monastery may have a dozen or so books. But he found an entire street of book sellers—
• Deana Hassanein: Wow.
• Ali Olomi: —and each book shop had thousands of books.
• Deana Hassanein: What's amazing is that book markets are still found all over the Middle East, and the books are piled high for people to search through and buy.
• Ali Olomi: Yeah, I mean, if you ever go to the Middle East, you'll find these, like, book stores, and they literally leave a pile of books that you can work through.
• Deana Hassanein: And they're never arranged in alphabetical order, may I add!
• Ali Olomi: (laughs) That's that chaos you love!
• Deana Hassanein: We are chaos! (laughs)
• Ali Olomi: Deana, do you remember what we said about the location of Baghdad?
• Deana Hassanein: Yes, we said that it facilitates trade.
• Ali Olomi: Yes, and this is going to be important when we're talking about this book market, because one of the things we're going to see is the arrival of paper from China. That's why this traveler from Constantinople is seeing thousands upon thousands of books in these book shops, because they have paper versus vellum. Vellum is sheep skin: it's hard to make, it takes time.
• Deana Hassanein: Ooh.
• Ali Olomi: Once you've got paper, you can start mass-producing. For the first time, we have accessible books, we have popular books, and we have high literacy.
• Deana Hassanein: What I love about this discussion, Ali, is there's so much of it is still in the Middle Eastern culture and city life today, which is so beautiful.
• Ali Olomi: That's the impact of medieval Baghdad, it leaves something lasting.
• Deana Hassanein: Today, we walked through the city life of Baghdad and got a glimpse of its market life. Next time, we'll tour its great mosques, but for now, I'm Deana.
• Ali Olomi: And I'm Ali. If you want to follow along the episodes on social media or share your thoughts, use the hashtag "#EchoesOfHistory". This is a Ubisoft podcast produced by Paradiso Media. Be sure to subscribe to Echoes of History podcast so you don't miss the next episode of Baghdad Soundwalks. See you next time, fellow travelers.

The Great Mosque

The Great Mosque was positioned in the center of Baghdad, with numerous smaller mosques dotted around the various neighborhoods. A place of daily prayer, a community center, a place to feed the poor and hungry. The mosque was for everyone from the powerful to the ordinary... You hear the call to prayer as it reverberates throughout the city. It comes in from the distance as the main mosque starts the call, then neighborhood by neighborhood the call is picked up. It's part of the soundscape of the city—cutting through the din and noise, drawing you in to join as one religious body to pray.

• Deana Hassanein: Hello, fellow travelers, you're listening to Baghdad Soundwalks I'm Deana.
• Ali Olomi: And I'm Ali.
• Deana Hassanein: Remember how we discussed how Baghdad's three major structures were the Palace, the mosque, and the House?
• Ali Olomi: Hmm.
• Deana Hassanein: Why don't we take a look through the mosque?
• Ali Olomi: If you're an inhabitant of Baghdad, the mosque would have been so important to your daily life. I mean, think about it: daily prayer organized your time.
• Deana Hassanein: And the prayers you're talking about, Ali, are Muslim prayers. Traditionally, Muslims have 5 daily prayers and they're called salat—
• Ali Olomi: —done usually dawn, noon, afternoon, sunset, and night.
• Deana Hassanein: And we obviously have Arabic words for all of those prayer timings, so others might know them as Fajr, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, and Isha.
• Ali Olomi: Hmm.
• Deana Hassanein: And, Ali, as you know, during these prayers, Muslims recite verses from the Quran. They might be standing, bowing, kneeling—obviously, not all at the same time, and traditionally, it is communal and led by a prayer leader known as the imam. In my family, we try to pray together during Ramadan, but obviously because of busy work schedules, we usually end up praying separately.
• Ali Olomi: I really sympathize with that cause it's the same with my family. During Ramadan, we pray collectively, but every other day, it's by ourselves.
• Deana Hassanein: Then, just as Christians have Sunday worship and Jewish people have Sabbath, Musims have Friday prayer in the afternoon.
• Ali Olomi: And how they usually kept track of those Friday prayers is the adhan, or the "call to prayer". I mean, five times a day, you would hear the distant sounds of the muezzin who makes that call from the minaret, harkening you to prayer. And if you're in a city like Baghdad, or even in a contemporary Muslim city, you can really hear the call to prayer as it reverberates throughout the city. It starts in the distance as the main mosque starts the call. Then neighborhood by neighborhood picks up that call. It's part of the soundscape of the city, cutting through the din and noise to draw you away from whatever it was you were doing and join one another as one religious body to pray.
• Deana Hassanein: And it's something Muslims living in majority-Muslim countries probably take for granted, because as a Muslim who grew up in the West, I hardly ever heard the call to prayer.
• Ali Olomi: The first time I experienced it when I visited Istanbul. Growing up in the U.S., you only hear it at the mosque, but once you're in Istanbul and you hear it reverberate through the city as mosque after mosque picks it up, it really is a completely different experience. And that's kind of how I imagine of what you just described about Cairo, that's how I imagine medieval Baghdad would have been like, with this Great Mosque in the center but all these other smaller mosques for various neighborhoods linked through the call to prayer.
• Deana Hassanein: It's almost like a ripple effect. And how did they keep time in mosques, Ali? We have clocks and iPhones; did they just look at the sun?
• Ali Olomi: They had clocks, too! It's one of the most surprising facts, but they did! It's a really cool thing about this time period, we see amazing advancements in time-keeping technology. They had public sundials, and astrolabes, and water clocks, all very cool.
• Deana Hassanein: Woah, woah, woah, woah! Hold your horses: water clocks?
• Ali Olomi: Yes. These are these fascinating contraptions in which water would drip, and things would rise and fall, and it would give you accurate time.
• Deana Hassanein: Woah...
• Ali Olomi: My favorite is a fake lake with boats on it, and the boats take on water and begin to sink. And when they reach the bottom, it's a certain time of the day.
• Deana Hassanein: Oh my God, that is so clever! And you mentioned the public sundials. Now I know that's got something to do with the sun!
• Ali Olomi: Yes, you're right in that regard!
• Deana Hassanein: (laughs)
• Ali Olomi: They did use the sun. Sundials are these big, beautiful devices that would then cast shade based off of the position of the sun and it would tell you what hour it was. So you would follow the shadows.
• Deana Hassanein: And what was the last one? Because I can't even remember how you pronounced that.
• Ali Olomi: The astrolabe. This is a really cool piece of technology, it's the iPhone of the ancient and medieval world. It's this round device that you would hold up, and it had an arm that you could move to line up to the sun or the stars, and moving plates. And with it, you could do architecture, navigation, time-keeping, directions...
• Deana Hassanein: What?!
• Ali Olomi: It was so advanced that they used it for, like, a thousand years, up until, like, 200 years ago.
• Deana Hassanein: Oh my God, that sounds so cool! The sun and the stars?
• Ali Olomi: Yes, the sun and the stars. It could tell you exactly what stars were in the sky at that time.
• Deana Hassanein: Just like an iPhone with its night mode.
• Ali Olomi: (laughs) Just like an iPhone and its various apps.
• Deana Hassanein: But I feel like this must be better! (laughs) This sounds a lot cooler, right?
• Ali Olomi: A lot cooler, yes. (laughs)
• Deana Hassanein: (laughs) So, some of these clocks or contraptions you're talking about were mechanical. Were they clocks that you kind of, like, wind up?
• Ali Olomi: Some of them were, yeah. There's a story of how Harun al-Rashid, which we've mentioned before, the caliph sends one of these mechanical clocks to, uh, Europe, to the Carolingians. And they think it's just magic because it's got this mechanical, moving automaton to it and they're like, "What is this sorcery?!"
• Deana Hassanein: I'm sitting here and I'm like, "What is this sorcery?"! (laughs)
• Ali Olomi: If I'm being honest, though, I'm partial to the sundials. I actually want one in front of my yard.
• Deana Hassanein: (laughs) So, I need to ask you, were clocks accessible to everyone? Was it, like, in public or was it the rich just kind of had them?
• Ali Olomi: Yeah, they were pretty accessible, and if you didn't have access to the clocks, you had the call to prayer. So they were out in public.
• Deana Hassanein: OK, so, it's very clear that the mosque is important, both as a place of prayer but also, I'm imagining, the social function because of organizing daily life in Baghdad. Is that right to say?
• Ali Olomi: Yeah, absolutely, yeah.
• Deana Hassanein: When was it built?
• Ali Olomi: It was probably the oldest structure alongside the palace, or at least one of the oldest structures. We know that the caliph Mansur, when he built the city, the palace and the mosque were completed very early on because he was in a rush to move in. So the mosque was probably at the same time as the palace or shortly thereafter. In fact, the mosque is generally called "al-Mansur's Mosque".
• Deana Hassanein: Oh, interesting. And when I think of a mosque today, I think, like, domes and minarets. Is that the same as what that mosque would have looked like?
• Ali Olomi: Totally, this structure is very familiar. You would have recognized this structure if you lived in medieval Baghdad. You'd be like, "Oh, I've seen this before!" And there's some similarities that have been passed down over the years and descriptions from various historians that you would recognize. One, Yaqut, ^[citation needed] talks about how the mosque is made of beautiful red brick and the dome is decorated with lapis lazuli from Afghanistan—
• Deana Hassanein: Wow.
• Ali Olomi: —which probably came through the rivers.
• Deana Hassanein: Amazing.
• Ali Olomi: But one of my favorite things about this mosque is that it is slightly different from any mosque you've visited: it was probably crooked.
• Deana Hassanein: What do you mean, "crooked"?
• Ali Olomi: Well, maybe not technically crooked, but—
• Deana Hassanein: (laughs)
• Ali Olomi: —when it was built, they didn't really know the direction of the qibla, and so we're told that they didn't exactly get that direction. And the qibla is the direction of prayer, where you're facing Mecca in order to pray. At the same time, the mosque was build against the palace walls and so it was at a weird, slight angle. And we believe that when people prayed, they prayed at a slight angle. And so that's why I call it a crooked mosque.
• Deana Hassanein: See, now I'm skeptical, because I find it so hard to believe that had water clocks and all these magical contraptions couldn't work out the ibla!
• Ali Olomi: It took them time to get those advancements. When they built it, maybe they didn't have the same mathematical and geographic precision. But they eventually, they get it right.
• Deana Hassanein: And, by the way, "ibla" and "qibla" are the same thing, Egyptians just pronounce it differently, so I didn't just make up a word there. (laughs)
• Ali Olomi: I do love the different dialogues of Arabic.
• Deana Hassanein: So, Ali, did they ever fix that? Because it's a pretty huge error. Mosques today always face Mecca, it's a non-negotiable when you're praying. So, I get that we have the advantage of technology that they didn't, but was that ever fixed?
• Ali Olomi: Yeah, that's a really good point. They do eventually fix it, but it's also, I think when they describe this crooked mosque, it's a reminder of how much the science improves in a short time from when they build the mosque, to only one generation afterwards and they have new technologies. And so the mosque is rebuilt several under Harun al-Rashid and al-Mu'tadid—
• Deana Hassanein: Right.
• Ali Olomi: —you see the mosque expand, and they start to address and improve the mosque based off of the new technologies and sciences.
• Deana Hassanein: OK, but one thing I'm still confused about is, why was the mosque built so close to the palace?
• Ali Olomi: I mean, that geography is very important. After all, as we keep saying about real estate—
• Deana Hassanein: Location, location, location!
• Ali Olomi: If the palace was theoretically in the center of that city, the mosque had to be as well; the palace and the mosque were both these public grounds and so they were linked together.
• Deana Hassanein: This is so different to how we think of castles and palaces today, because usually, it's set up in a way that you're away from everyone.
• Ali Olomi: Exactly, the palace and the mosque kind of blend together as these public spaces!
• Deana Hassanein: And of course, it must be a big boost for the caliph to have the palace and mosque right next to each other. Makes his life easier.
• Ali Olomi: Right on the money, Deana. The mosque was central to the authority of the caliph, it legitimized his rule. Every Friday, as you mentioned, there is a communal prayer, and at that prayer, the sermon would be read in the name of the caliph.
• Deana Hassanein: So when other mosques were being built, did that cause issues?
• Ali Olomi: Hmmm, sort of. There was some problems there, some resistance to the building of these other mosques because it takes away from the authority of the caliph, but there's also this practical consideration: Baghdad was a big city with just too many peoples—
• Deana Hassanein: Yeah.
• Ali Olomi: —and so a single mosque is infeasible. One of the things that Harun al-Rashid does is he builds an auxiliary mosque, which is sort of an extra space that you can go and pray in. And then we start to see neighborhood mosques in Harbiyah and Karkh so that people in those neighborhoods can go to the mosque.
• Deana Hassanein: OK, and Harbiyah is where a lot of non-Muslims lived, I think you mentioned—
• Ali Olomi: Right.
• Deana Hassanein: —so, Persian, Jewish, and visitors as well. Did Jews and Christians have their own religious centers, or was it just mosques?
• Ali Olomi: They did have their own religious centers. We have evidence of a variety of different synagogues and religious sites. Nestorian Christians are probably the largest demographic in the region when the Muslims arrive, and we have Jewish sites as well within Baghdad. And so what happens is that as Baghdad grows, it incorporates these people. In fact, the Mâr Yânûn monastery, which is one of the preexisting monasteries, has this stunning garden, and it may have been one of the inspirations for why the Abbasids moved their capital to the area.
• Deana Hassanein: Oh, wow! That's interesting how the Abbasids blend so many things together: Islam with Greek celestial symbolism, you've also got that Round City design with that Persian location, and even local Christianity.
• Ali Olomi: It's really quite a beautiful blend, Deana. Before Baghdad was built, there were these great monasteries in the area, mostly Syriac and Nestorian. And one of the most famous monasteries was the Monastery of Virgin Gardens; it was inspiring. The historian ibn Tahir actually writes about just how gorgeous these gardens are. I'm actually going to quote from him because he's got a really cool passage about these gardens. He writes, "They were like an embroidered garment adorned with new colors every day. The poppies in them appear like a lover and the ox-eyes like a pale beloved. Behold the staggering branches like maiden figures, and blossoms like their pearl necklaces, and fruits when covered with green leaves swelling breasts hidden under green garments." ^[citation needed]
• Deana Hassanein: Are you sure you didn't write that, Ali? Sound like something you would say.
• Ali Olomi: I strive to be so eloquent.
• Deana Hassanein: (laughs) Why do they have such a thing for gardens, Ali?
• Ali Olomi: Because for them, paradise was a garden.
• Deana Hassanein: Ahh...
• Ali Olomi: It's why monasteries and mosques, even to this day, build beautiful gardens
• Deana Hassanein: OK. So mosques and monasteries were connected in some way.
• Ali Olomi: They were! And the Abbasids were very intentional about that, they incorporated the local Christian population in varying degrees. And it wasn't just in the symbolism of gardens, they even included Christian leaders. There's a famous figure known as Timothy I, and in 781, the caliph Mahdi invites him to have a religious debate with him, a friendly exchange between the Christian leader and the Muslim leader. And Timothy later would actually write about it! He says, "He began to address me and converse with me, not in a harsh and haughty tone, but in a sweet and benevolent way." So there are these beautiful connections between Christians and Muslims.
• Deana Hassanein: It's very sweet, but also very smart, because religion and politics goes hand-in-hand in this time period. A caliph who knows how to bring local populations under his control could rely on their support, right? And, if you're elevating Christian and religious leaders to positions of power, then you can make them allies and, I guess, they're less likely to plot against you.
• Ali Olomi: Well, if you were a clever caliph, then, yes, true.
• Deana Hassanein: OK, so, even things like saying prayers in the name of the caliph really stands out to me, Ali. The symbolism of that is really something: religious services—these really important, sacred rituals—brought to you by the caliph!
• Ali Olomi: Yeah, I mean, even today, many countries still do that. I know here in the U.S., we have a Prayer Breakfast with the President being a part of it.
• Deana Hassanein: What is that?
• Ali Olomi: Basically, every Sunday, the President gets together with his religious advisors, they have breakfast, and they pray.
• Deana Hassanein: Oh, OK!
• Ali Olomi: The symbolism is very much like the caliph and the mosque. And on top of that, we see that the mosque isn't just a religious center; it's also a community center. It feeds the poor and the hungry, and it takes care of the beggars of the city. It was also where the powerful and the ordinary would have to congregate shoulder-to-shoulder. So it reinforced his power, but it was also a pretty radical space.
• Deana Hassanein: What do you mean, "radical"?
• Ali Olomi: Well, if the mosque could legitimize the ruler, it could also delegitimize him.
• Deana Hassanein: Ooh.
• Ali Olomi: In the 11th century, there's this guy named Basasiri, who will conquer Baghdad and in the mosque, he will recite the name of a different caliph to the Abbasids, a symbolic way of saying, "Someone else is in charge of your city now."
• Deana Hassanein: Oh, wow! And they just took it?
• Ali Olomi: Well, he holds it for at least a few years before they finally take it back. One whole year, he manages to say the prayers in another caliph's name.
• Deana Hassanein: Oh, wow! Now that is some intrigue for you, full of drama! But I've got to ask why we talked a lot about men in this episode? You know how I feel about that.
• Ali Olomi: Mmm-hmm.
• Deana Hassanein: Where are the women?
• Ali Olomi: I'm with you, Deana. There's not a lot of women in this story, but we do have examples of women who became religious leaders, and scholars, experts in jurisprudence and Islamic law. One of them was Sutayta Al-Mahāmali, who was a scholar of jurisprudence and we know that she taught from the Great Mosque in Baghdad.
• Deana Hassanein: That is so fascinating... Today, we walked through the Grand Mosque and religious landscape of Baghdad. Next time, Ali, can we please visit the public baths?
• Ali Olomi: I'm in.
• Deana Hassanein: I'm Deana.
• Ali Olomi: And I'm Ali. This is a Ubisoft podcast produced by Paradiso Media. Be sure to subscribe to Echoes of History podcast so you don't miss the next episode of Baghdad Soundwalks. See you next time, fellow travelers.

Hammam

With their elaborate domed ceilings and ornate mosaics, these public steam baths were adopted by Muslims from the Greco-Roman world. Stemming from a time when not everyone had access to running water, hammams were accessible to all regardless of class or wealth. A place of cleansing, religion, healing, and community.

The Caravanserai

Let's take a jaunt to an ancient structure that made all of medieval Baghdad possible, the caravanserai or funduq. Originally built by the Achaemenids as roadside taverns or inns, these were dwellings that connected roads and provided travelers with food and shelter. As the city evolved and expanded, the funduq grew alongside it.

The Palace of the Golden Gate

Alongside the Great Mosque, the palace was the first structure built in Baghdad. Let's imagine this... You're a new visitor, you've traveled for miles, perhaps stopping at the funduq as you slowly make your way to the round city. There's a bustle as crowds of visitors wind their way from the many roads to the gates of Baghdad. As you pass the entry, you see it. Right in your line of sight, the palace in the center of the city, rising above all other buildings with a gleaming green dome against the backdrop...

War between the Brothers

Muslims spilled a lot of ink pondering what good government should look like, what a wise ruler should be like, and why it mattered for society. And this is the type of political intrigue that makes Baghdad, the city of Peace, into a place of civil war. The War of the Two Brothers starts on the Night of the Three Caliphs, where the succession of the throne is shaped by the death of one caliph, the ascension of another, and the birth of a third... it's a turning point... will Baghdad survive it?

Education and the House of Wisdom

The sharing of culture was vital for the Abbasids. Even their predecessors, the Umayyads, had been fascinated by the knowledge of other cultures and societies. The Abbasids took things one step further when they created the House of Wisdom: an important library and institution that funded scholars, learning, and most importantly, translation.

Figures of Baghdad

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Who were the Banū Mūsā brothers?

The medieval scholars of Baghdad were obsessed with math and saw it as the ultimate harmony of the universe. Deana and Ali explore the lives and legacy of the Banū Mūsā brothers: their origin, scholarly works, and schemes. Educated in the House of Wisdom, the Banū Mūsā brothers advanced math, astronomy, and other sciences in the Islamic world, as well as Western civilization.

Who was Al-Mahani?

In medieval Baghdad, there was a particular focus on two elements of knowledge expansion: recording existing principles, and further expanding on this knowledge through experimentation. Al-Mahani represents a key figure in this transitional period of scholarship, translating and commenting upon Euclidean geometry, as well as laying the mathematical groundwork for future astrologists and scientists.

Who was Hunayn ibn Hishaq?

How did this famed Arab physician shape the future of medicine and influence the Muslim Empire for centuries to come? From his humble beginnings as an outspoken student, he would later become the head of the House of Wisdom, the creator of eye medicine, and one of the most prolific scholars of his time..

Who was Arib al'Mamuniyya?

Sold into slavery from a young age, this medieval rockstar Arib al'Mamuniyya went on to impress the caliphs and become a famed poet and musician in her own right. In a time where literacy was a prized possession, Arib lived well by her wits and made waves with proper doses of intellect and controversy.

Who was Al-Jahiz?

In a time bound by rigid social and class divides, knowledge and the pursuit thereof often bridged the gap between lowly beginnings and a prolific career. For historic author al-Jahiz, that meant encyclopedic knowledge of a wide range of topics from science to politics, and theories on evolution that preceded Darwin by almost a thousand years.

Who was Al-Mutawakkil?

In the newly established political capital of Samarra, the caliph is separated from Baghdad by 60 miles and a wall of soldiers. After becoming the leader of this centralized city, al-Mutawakkil adopts a reign of opulence, and has quite an axe to grind. Will he be able to survive the politics of the new elite guard?

Who was Qabiha?

The murder of al-Mutawakkil marked a drastic change in the politics of Baghdad and Samarra. In the emerging anarchy of the region, al-Qabiha was an enchanting and ruthless political force. She would use her power to put an end to the anarchy and secure her son's position as caliph, but will it last?

Who was Al-Mu'tazz?

In a time of anarchy and political upheaval, the established militant force in Samarra now has unprecedented power over the caliph. In this episode, Ali and Deana discuss the life of al-Mu'tazz, son of al-Mutawakkil and heir to the throne. From being the favorite child of his father, to being placed under house-arrest by his newly elected cousin, patience is a virtue for this figure of Baghdad. When he does inherit the caliphate, what better to welcome him than a civil war?

Who was Muhammad ibn Abdallah ibn Tahir?

As the chaos of Samarra spreads to Baghdad, the caliph al-Ma'mun leaves the old capital in the hands of the trusted Tahrid family. Muhammad ibn Abdallah ibn Tahir is appointed Governor of Baghdad and the city thrives, but when the fleeing al-Musta'in takes refuge in Baghdad, ibn Abdallah ibn Tahir must survive the military advances of al-Mu'tazz and find a path of survival for Baghdad.

Who was Ali ibn Muhammad?

Slavery in medieval Baghdad was complex, and though slaves had some social mobility, the Zanj people had been mistreated and were hungry for a rebellion. Ali ibn Muhammad was the driving force for this revolution, and led the Zanj and their disenfranchised allies through 15 years of war. Can ibn Muhammad and his rebels overthrow the Abbasids? Is this the beginning of the end?

Shadows

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Civil War in Feudal Japan: The Sengoku Period

Dating from 1467-1603, the Sengoku or 'Warring States' period is known as the bloodiest in Japan's history; an era of continuous social upheaval and civil war which transformed the country. Shogun-led authority was shattered and 150 years of murder and betrayal followed as fearsome warlords ruled local territories with unflinching ruthlessness.

In the first episode of this series delving into the history behind the latest Assassin's Creed game, Assassin's Creed Shadows, Matt Lewis and Dr. Christopher Harding discuss the origins of the Sengoku Period. Together, they explore how political power was organised in Japan during this time, introduce some of the key players, and discuss how the seeds were sown for Japanese unification.

The Unification of Japan

In the 16th century, Japan was embroiled in what is known as Sengoku jidai—'The Warring States' period. It was a time of bloody battles, social upheaval, and is known as the most violent in Japan's history.

But how, and when, did 150 years of bitter warfare and division come to an end? How did unification change the face of Japanese society?

In the second episode of this series delving into the history behind the latest Assassin's Creed game, Assassin's Creed Shadows, Matt Lewis and Dr. Christopher Harding discover how three men overpowered and outwitted Japan's rival warlords and in doing so, brought about the unification of a fractured region.

Portuguese Missionaries in Japan

When Portuguese merchants ran aground on the Japanese isle of Tanegashima in 1543 two worlds collided—Europeans had encountered Japan for the first time. For the next 50 years, Portuguese-sponsored missionaries flooded into this newly discovered land aiming to exploit it for western benefit. But in the fiery cauldron of Sengoku Japan, Portuguese missionaries were but one player in the most bloody and brutal of political games.

In the third episode of this series delving into the history behind the latest Assassin's Creed game, Assassin's Creed Shadows, join Matt Lewis and Prof. Fredrick Cryns as they uncover how these missionaries fit into 16th century Japan's patchwork of warlords and daimyos, and the momentous impact they had on feudal Japanese warfare and society.

Yasuke: The First African Samurai

Yasuke is one of the most captivating and yet mysterious figures within Japanese history. In 1581, at the height of the civil war, he crossed paths with the country's most powerful warlord, Oda Nobunaga. Their meeting bound the two men together and set Yasuke on a path to becoming the first known samurai of African descent in Japan.

Delving into the history behind one of the two main characters in the latest Assassin's Creed game, Assassin's Creed Shadows, Matt Lewis and Thomas Lockley examine the few surviving historical sources to reveal what we know about Yasuke, Japan's first African samurai.

Oda Nobunaga

Oda Nobunaga. He's one of feudal Japan's most infamous and consequential figures, known to many as Japan's first 'Great Unifier'. From humble beginnings as the daimyo of Owari Province, he embarked on a mission to unite all of Japan under his sole control. But how did he emerge as Japan's dominant warlord in an era of incessant social upheaval and civil war?

In the fifth episode delving into the history behind the latest Assassin's Creed game, Assassin's Creed Shadows, Matt Lewis and Nathan Ledbetter explore Nobunaga's ruthless ascent to power, his brutal battles with the Shinobi Ikki league, and his tragic downfall at the hands of his ally, Akechi Mitsuhide.

The Tensho Iga War

In the sixth episode delving into the history behind the latest Assassin's Creed game, Assassin's Creed Shadows, Matt Lewis and Nathan Ledbetter follow the sound of marching footsteps and clashing blades into Japan's mountainous Iga province, to learn about the fearsome conflict between samurai armies and guerrilla shinobi, or ninja, that was the Tenshō Iga War between 1578 and 1581.

Kyoto: Japan's Imperial City

During the Ōnin Wars of the early Sengoku period, Kyoto was razed as civil war struck the Imperial capital. Only with unification did the city begin to rebuild. This episode will explore the rise and fall and rise again of Kyoto, what life in the city might have looked like, and why it held such significance to unification in the 16th century. In turn, we'll reveal how the Sengoku period shaped the city's meaning for early modern Japan.

Delving into the history behind a major location in the latest Assassin's Creed game, Assassin's Creed Shadows, Matt Lewis and Lesley Downer shed light on the culture, fortunes, and misfortunes of the great city of Kyoto.

How To Fit In: Feudal Japan

What was life like in feudal Japan? If you were born into the chaos of the Warring States period, would you have been a farmer, a merchant, or a samurai? Or perhaps even an Emperor?

Delving into the history behind the latest Assassin's Creed game, Assassin's Creed Shadows, Matt Lewis and Dr. Tomoko Kate Kitagawa shed light on the customs, culture and class structures of medieval Japan. They explore what daily life would have been like for people beyond the famous names of history and legend, and how they saw themselves within the shifting society of the Sengoku era.

Syndicate

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Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria was the last English monarch of the House of Hanover and gave her name to an era in British history. Although small in stature, she was a towering figure as she witnessed major turning points in British history. Yet she is often caricatured as a spiky and stubborn woman to deal with.

In this episode, historian Alex Churchill joins Matt Lewis to lift the veil on Victoria's life as queen, unpacking the myths about her personality, exploring how she ruled in tandem with her beloved husband Albert, survived eight assassination attempts, and then emerged from his shadow to rule with imperial magnificence.

Scotland Yard: The Origins Of London's Police

Scotland Yard: the home of London's Metropolitan Police Force. In this episode, Matt Lewis and Dr. Jonah Miller look at the history of both Scotland Yard as a place and on the policemen and detectives that worked within it. What went on inside? Why did it come to be known as Scotland Yard? And how significant a role did it play in shaping Victorian London?

The Industrial Revolution: The Birth Of Modern London

The Industrial Revolution began in Britain in the late 18th century, giving birth to an era that has changed world history. The period was characterized by rapid economic, social, and technological growth. Marked by innovation and inventions like the steam engine, spinning jenny, and telephone, industrialization also saw a rise in urbanization, the factory system, poverty, and the exploitation of a new urban working class. This in turn led to social and political movements such as communism.

Matt Lewis and Tom Furber from The London Archives provide an overview of how the Industrial Revolution came about and transformed the city of London at its epicenter. What were some of the most important advances during this period? What were the effects of rapid industrialization on Victorian society?

The Crown's Greatest Jewel: The Koh-i-Noor Diamond

The literal jewel in the British crown, the Koh-i-Noor diamond has a history as rich as its caratage. Queen Victoria received it from the last maharaja of the Sikh Empire, and it has become a symbol of British colonialism ever since—even in the eyes of the Empress of India herself.

In this episode, thanks to a glitch in the Animus, Dan Snow steps in to interview Shrabani Basu about the famous Koh-i-Noor diamond—its origin and its storied journey to modern day controversy.

Odyssey

123

Hippocrates: The Father of Medicine

Around 460 BCE, a man was born in Ancient Greece who would change medicine forever. He invented a new scientific approach to medicine that recognized disease as a natural phenomenon, rather than the will of the gods. Or at least, that's what we're told.

Matt Lewis joins Prof. Helen King, author of Hippocrates Now and Immaculate Forms, to reveal what we really know about Hippocrates' life, his medical philosophy, and the legacy he left modern medicine. They pick apart what the sources actually tell us about him, and ask whether he really is the author of the Hippocratic Oath.

The Ancient Olympics: Games Of The Gods

A tradition that endured millennia. The ancient Olympic Games began in 776 BC and took place every four years until at least 396 AD. It was a major religious and sporting festival, attended by over 40,000 spectators who flocked to watch athletes compete in sports like wrestling, chariot racing, and athletics.

Matt Lewis is joined by Dr. Nigel Spivey to explore the history of the ancient Olympic games, delving into its various origin stories and outlining how the games evolved over a thousand years of history. What was competing and spectating at the games like for ordinary people? What was the significance of the Olympic Games on wider Hellenic society?

The Parthenon: Humble Temple Or Power Play?

An enduring symbol of ancient Greek artistry and architecture. Arguably the most recognizable monument they left behind. The Parthenon.

Built atop the Acropolis in Athens during the 5th century BCE, its construction was completed just before the start of the Peloponnesian War. Today, its ruined marble pillars are printed on postcards the world over, and visited daily by hordes of bustling tourists. Tristan Hughes from The Ancients podcast guides Matt Lewis through the very long story of the Parthenon—from its origins in embezzlement, to its ruin in war, and the mysterious functions it served in between.

Origins

123

Ptolemy XIII: The Forgotten Pharaoh

Antony and Cleopatra. Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great. These are household names thanks to Shakespeare's plays, big budget TV shows and films, and histories written about them since antiquity. But Ptolemy XIII is an afterthought, if anyone bothers to think about him at all.

Today Matt Lewis and Prof. Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones shed light on a ruler who was instrumental in the rise to power of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar, and was a key player in the end of an era in the ancient world, yet about whom little is known.

The Sphinx: Egypt's Greatest Mystery

The Great Sphinx of Giza is the most recognizable statue in the world—and one of the most mysterious. Even its Western name is misleading, since the monument bears little resemblance to the sphinx of ancient Greek mythology. Conflicting stories about who built it and why have circulated since ancient times. These include tales of what lies inside...

In this episode, Dr. Chris Naunton joins Matt Lewis to explore how the Sphinx was likely made, the evidence for who made it, and the many myths that surround it to this day.

The Alexandrian War: Caesar's Mistake

In 47 BCE, Julius Caesar arrived in Egypt as a victorious general, ready to make an easy alliance with the Pharaoh. Instead, he found himself besieged in Egypt's capital city by the very ruler who wanted to ally with him. Trapped and outnumbered, Caesar's glory was almost cut short.

In this episode, Matt Lewis and Dr. Jen Gerrish unravel the messy politics, personalities, and relationships that led to Caesar's most dangerous moment.

Liberation

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Declaration of Independence: History's Most Influential Document?

Assassin's Creed III offers players a glimpse into the room where it happened—the signing of the Declaration of Independence. But was the Declaration more than just a document? Who wrote it? And what were the immediate and lasting impacts of making such a Declaration?

To answer these questions and more, Matt Lewis is joined by Prof Frank Cogliano, whose latest book A Revolutionary Friendship: Washington, Jefferson, and the American Republic is available now.

Lexington & Concord: History's Unlikeliest Battlefields

The shot heard 'round the world; the start of the American Revolution. An event that would have profound consequences for world history, especially western democracy. Who'd have thought that something of such magnitude would begin in a small settlement with as many cows as people living in it?

Don Wildman hops across the Atlantic from American History Hit to help Matt Lewis understand how two tiny towns became the spark that lit the fire of the American War of Independence.

George Washington: The Man Who Could Be King

George Washington is perhaps the most consequential leader in the USA's short history. Having demonstrated his leadership credentials as commander-in-chief during the American Revolutionary War, he then set a precedent for all subsequent US presidents to follow by refusing the opportunity to seize power. Yet he also craved to be part of the British Empire and ignored pleas to right other wrongs of his era.

Alexis Coe, New York Times Bestselling author of You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington, joins Matt Lewis to unpack the complexities and contradictions of History's Greatest Man.

Unity

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Napoleon: The Dictator of Democracy

Napoleon Bonaparte is a household name; a rare example of someone who is as well remembered by his supporters as by his enemies. His life is rich with dramatic irony. He was a key figure in the creation of the First French Republic, yet became a self-appointed Emperor. Surrounded by enemies, he secured peace in France through war abroad and was hated by the monarchies of Europe, who feared he would bring democracy to their lands.

Dan Snow from Dan Snow's History Hit joins Matt Lewis to ask who exactly was this man? Where did he come from and what is his legacy for the Western world?

The Storming of the Bastille

The storming of the Bastille is one of the key events of the French Revolution and is known throughout the world. But it is fair to say that the name is better known than the event itself. Was it more than just a prison break? Why was it so important to the revolutionaries? And what did this event contribute to the democratic and social changes that followed?

Matt Lewis is joined by Professor David Andress from the University of Portsmouth to reveal the events of that fateful day, the reasons behind them, and their lasting impact.

Marie Antoinette: The Cake-Loving Queen

Today, we'll study someone who was both a cause and a victim of the French Revolution: the cake-promoting queen, Marie Antoinette.

In Assassin's Creed: Unity, we glimpse Marie Antoinette living the high-life while the poor people of Paris starve. By walking the streets of Paris, we also get an idea of the public perception of her as a detached, and even cruel, consort. Understanding her reputation helps us understand her fate, which we'll examine closely today.

Matt is helped Maddy and Anthony from the After Dark podcast to take us on a journey through the final days of Marie Antoinette.

Valhalla

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The High King of Ireland

Viking Age Ireland was divided into many rival kingdoms. However, some men could rise to become High King of Ireland. Men like Flann Sinna. How did he become High King? Did he wield real power over the other kingdoms? When did the High Kingship come to an end?

Matt Lewis is joined by Professor Máire Ní Mhaonaigh to explain the significance of the High Kingship and the reign of Flann Sinna, which oversaw the profound effects of the Norse arrival.

Samhain: The First Halloween

Halloween is a tradition that only grows in popularity each year. Yet its origins are mysterious, shrouded by myth and misconception.

Some of its roots trace back to the Gaelic festival of Samhain. In this episode, Matt Lewis and Dr. Kelly Fitzgerald explore the traditions and significance of Samhain to the people who celebrated it, and its connections to Halloween.

How The Vikings Shaped Ireland and Britain

The Viking Age saw the creation of new towns and new kingdoms in Britain and Ireland. What impact did Norse settlers have on politics, culture and the economy? Professor Fiona Edmonds joins Matt Lewis to reveal the ways in which Vikings shaped medieval Ireland and Britain.

Renaissance

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The Borgias: History's Most Villainous Family

The Borgias are a lynchpin in the history of the Italian Renaissance. Their tale of intrigue, corruption, and cut-throat ambition still inspires storytellers, and they appear as primary villains in Assassin's Creed II.

But is their reputation deserved? To reveal how much history has underserved the Borgias, Matt Lewis talks to Associate Professor Jennifer DeSilva, whose book The Borgia Family: Rumor and Reputation peels back the layers of fiction shrouding the truth.

The Duomo of Florence

The Renaissance was an age of sweeping transformation in politics, literature, science, art, and architecture. Perhaps nothing better represents the latter achievements than il Duomo di Firenze—the Cathedral of Florence, the city where the epic Ezio trilogy of Assassin's Creed—and the Renaissance—began. The story of the Duomo is both more complicated and more controversial than you’d expect. Matt Lewis is joined by architectural historian Emma Wells to shed light on the marvels and mysteries of Florence Cathedral.

The Pazzi Conspiracy

At its height in the 15th century, Florence was ruled by the renowned Medici family renowned for their banking nous and towering intellect—the Medici. But in 1478, a conspiracy was concocted, supported by Pope Sixtus IV, that aimed to extinguish the Medici line.

Matt Lewis asks Professor Catherine Fletcher to tell the story of how the Pazzi conspiracy unfolded...

The Fall of Constantinople

Assassin's Creed: Revelations transports us to Constantinople, only a couple of generations after its conquest by the Ottoman Empire. It is one of history's defining events, turning the city into the bridge between Christian West and Islamic East.

Dr. Gemma Masson gives Matt Lewis an overview of the events of the conquest and the impact it had on both the face of the city and the lives of the people who called it home.

Topkapı Palace

Chinese Chronicles

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The Great Wall of China

The Great Wall of China is both older and newer than you might think, with mysteries and controversies buried in its foundations. To help shed a light on the complex history of this iconic monument, Matt Lewis is joined by historian and travel guide Dr Jeremiah Jenne, co-host of the podcast Barbarians at the Gate.

The Eight Tigers: Imperial Eunuchs

The infamous eunuchs of the Ming imperial court are the primary villains of Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China. The Eight Tigers were a real threat to the power of the Ming dynasty, but were they as villainous as their reputation suggests?

Matt Lewis is joined by Dr. Che Huang to help him learn more about the Eight Tigers, and imperial eunuchs in general.

The Mongol Invasions of Ming China

In Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China, players foil a plot by Altan Khan to invade Ming China with his Mongol army. But who was Altan Khan, and how successful were the Mongols in crossing the Great Wall of China?

To answer these questions and more, Matt Lewis is joined by Associate Professor Nic Morton, author of The Mongol Storm: Making and Breaking Empires.

Mirage

1

Vikings in Medieval Baghdad

In the ninth century, the Vikings earned a fearsome reputation along the coasts of western Europe. But they also travelled eastwards and reached Constantinople, the Caspian Sea, and even Baghdad, the bustling heart of the mighty Islamic Abbasid Empire.

Matt Lewis is joined by Dr. Cat Jarman to explore why Viking raiders traded the frozen hinterlands of Northern Europe for the heat and hubbub of the Near East.

Cast

(By order of appearance, hosts indicated with italics)

Ragnarök

• James Brack as Gylfi
  • David Sighicelli (French)
  • Mark Bremer (German)
• Lance Geiger as himself
  • Benjamin Brillaud (French)
  • Marios Gavrilis (German)
• Prof. Gísli Sigurdson as himself
• Prof. Eric Lacey as himself
• Prof. Annelie Jarl Ireman as herself

Behind the Legends

• Danny Wallace as himself
  • Bruno Choël (French)

Assassins vs. Templars

• Dan Snow as himself
• Prof. Jonathan Phillips as himself
• Dr. Farhad Daftary as himself
• Prof. Helen Nicholson as herself
• Matthew Lewis as himself
• Prof. Peter Edbury as himself
• Prof. Nicholas Morton as himself
• Prof. Juliette Wood as herself
• John Withington as himself
• Dr. Mike Carr as himself

Baghdad Soundwalks, Figures of Baghdad

• Deana Hassanein as herself
  • Dan Hirschfeld (German)
• Dr. Ali A. Olomi as himself
  • Dr. Nadja Danilenko (German)

Shadows

• Matthew Lewis as himself
• Holly Nielsen as herself
• Dr. Christopher Harding as himself
• Prof. Fredrick Cryns as himself
• Prof. Thomas Lockley as himself
• Nathan Ledbetter as himself
• Lesley Downer as herself
• Dr. Tomoko Lisa Kate Kitagawa as herself

Syndicate

• Matthew Lewis as himself
• Alexandra Churchill as herself
• Dr. Jonah Miller as himself
• Tom Furber as himself
• Shrabani Basu as herself

Odyssey

• Matthew Lewis as himself
• Prof. Helen King as herself
• Dr. Nigel Spivey as himself
• Tristan Hughes as himself

Origins

• Matthew Lewis as himself
• Prof. Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones as himself
• Dr. Chris Naunton as himself
• Dr. Jen Gerrish as herself

Liberation

• Matthew Lewis as himself
• Prof. Francis Cogliano as himself
• Don Wildman as himself
• Alexis Coe as herself

Unity

• Matthew Lewis as himself
• Dan Snow as himself
• Prof. David Andress as himself
• Dr. Maddy Pelling as herself
• Dr. Anthony Delaney as himself

Valhalla

• Matthew Lewis as himself
• Prof. Máire Ní Mhaonaigh as herself
• Dr. Kelly Fitzgerald as herself
• Prof. Fiona Edmonds as herself

Renaissance

• Matthew Lewis as himself
• Prof. Jennifer DeSilva as herself
• Dr. Emma J. Wells as herself
• Prof. Catherine Fletcher as herself
• Dr. Gemma Masson as herself

Chinese Chronicles

• Matthew Lewis as himself
• Dr. Jeremiah Jenne as himself
• Dr. Che Huang as himself
• Assoc. Prof. Nic Morton as himself

Mirage

• Matthew Lewis as himself
• Dr. Cat Jarman as herself

Episodes list

Season
№	Episode title	Air date	Series
1	Episode 1: The Sons of the Great North	29 September 2020	Vikings
	Episode 2: Dragon of the Seas	30 September 2020
	Episode 3: Thor's Hammer	1 October 2020
	Episode 4: Birth of an Empire	4 October 2020
	Episode 5: The Dawn of a New Era	5 October 2020

Gallery

Title cardsInternational cardsVideos

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  Echoes of History: Ragnarök former title card
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  Echoes of History: Behind the Legends former title card
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  Echoes of History
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  1 July 2022 – 6 April 2023
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  Echoes of History
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  6 April 2023 – 10 January 2024;
  c. April – 15 May 2024
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  Echoes of History
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  10 January – 4 March 2024
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  Echoes of History: Ragnarök title card
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  Echoes of History: Behind the Legends title card
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  Syndicate title card
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  Origins title card
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  Liberation title card
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  Unity title card
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  Valhalla title card
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  Renaissance title card
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  Chinese Chronicles title card
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  Mirage title card

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  Échos de l'Histoire
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  1 July 2022 – 6 April 2023
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  Échos de l'Histoire
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  6 April 2023 – 10 January 2024;
  c. April 2024 – present
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  Échos de l'Histoire
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  10 January – 4 March 2024
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  Échos de l'Histoire: Au-delà des Légendes French title card
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  Echos der Geschichte
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  1 July 2022 – 6 April 2023
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  Echos der Geschichte
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  6 April 2023 – 10 January 2024;
  c. April 2024 – present
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  Echos der Geschichte
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  10 January – 4 March 2024
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  Echos der Geschichte: Hinter den Legenden German title card
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  Echos der Geschichte: Die Geräuschkulisse Bagdads German title card

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  Echos de la Historia
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  1 July 2022 – 6 April 2023
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  Echos de la Historia
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  6 April 2023 – 10 January 2024;
  c. April 2024 – present
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  Echoes de la Historia
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  10 January – 4 March 2024
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  Echos de la Historia: Detras de las Leyendas Spanish title card
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  历史的回声: 末日曙光
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  历史的回声: 传奇人物轶事 Chinese title card

• File:ECHOES OF HISTORY - RAGNARÖK EP 1 - The birth of the universe
• File:ECHOES OF HISTORY - RAGNARÖK EP 2 - Nine vast and rich realms
• File:ECHOES OF HISTORY - RAGNARÖK EP 3 - Exploits of the gods
• File:ECHOES OF HISTORY - RAGNARÖK EP 4 - Loki, the fun god turned murderous pariah
• File:ECHOES OF HISTORY - RAGNARÖK EP 5 - Ragnarök, Twilight of the Gods

External links

EnglishFrenchGermanSpanishChinese

• Echoes of History on Acast
• Echoes of History on Spotify
• Echoes of History on other platforms

• Échos de l'Histoire sur Acast
• Échos de l'Histoire on Spotify
• Échos de l'Histoire sur d'autres plateformes

• Echos der Geschichte auf Acast
• Echos der Geschichte on Spotify
• Echos der Geschichte auf anderen Plattformen

• Ecos de la Historia en Acast
• Ecos de la Historia on Spotify
• Ecos de la Historia en otras plataformas

• 历史的回声 蜻蜓 FM 上的