590: Ancient Persia, Modern Iran, and war

The boys drink and review Crowhill's latest homebrew then discuss Iran. Persia was one of the first great empires. At times it stretched from Libya in the west, into India and the stans in the east, and stretched into the Slavic countries in the north. Some of the notable names are Cyrus, Darius, and Xerxes. Isaiah mentioned Cyrus as God's chosen but took a jab at Zoroastrianism in the process. Persian dominance came to an end in waves. First, Alexander the Great conquered them, then Islam came along and caused a bloody mess, then the Mongols invaded and slaughtered so many Persians that the population didn't recover until the mid 20th century. In more recent times, Iran was a very modern, pro-western country. Americans tend to think of Iran as a country full of screaming lunatics, but that's not true. It's not a particularly Muslim country. Mosque attendance is very low. But somehow that lunatic Ayatollah Khomeini was able to take over and the country has been under the thumb of crazies for decades. That might end soon. Protests against the oppressive regime have increased, and Donald Trump seems inclined to put an end to the rule of the mullahs. At the end of the show, the boys make some predictions about what comes next. We'll see. 📬 Send us your thoughts: [email protected] 🌐 More episodes: pigweedandcrowhill.com👍 Like, subscribe, and tell a friend