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Alexander the Great's Mad Scientist

The Ancients

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WARNING: graphic descriptions of violence and warfare


Meet Diades, Alexander the Great’s overlooked military engineer, the man who made the impossible siege of Tyre happen.

Tristan Hughes and Professor Edmund Richardson retell the thrilling, brutal, brilliant story of invention, ambition, and ancient warfare at its most extreme.

In 332 BC, he turned a coastal blockade into a 1km causeway, then faced fire ships, molten sand, and a city that refused to yield.


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Alexander the Great | Rise to Power

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Tyre: The Jewel of Phoenicia

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The Ancients is now on YouTube! Watch here: @TheAncientsPodcast


Presented by Tristan Hughes. Audio editor is Tim Astall. Produced by Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds

The Ancients is a History Hit podcast.


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Alexander the Great's Mad Scientist

The Ancients

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