Goldie Ghamari - October 26, 2025


The Shah's 2500-year celebration of Cyrus the Great and the Persian Empire. Persepolis, Iran (1971)


Episode Stats


Length

55 minutes

Words per minute

51.47655

Word count

2,857

Sentence count

167

Harmful content

Misogyny

2

sentences flagged

Hate speech

35

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Persia, a land of barren mountain and burning desert, a harsh land in which the climate is
00:00:09.160 sparing in its bounties, an ancient land which is the meeting point between east and west,
00:00:16.900 between Russia and India, between Arabia and the Caspian Sea. Iranians call it Iran,
00:00:24.600 Their soft and musical language, Persian 0.99
00:00:28.880 On the rim of the country's dead heart
00:00:32.120 The old enemy, sand, sand, sand
00:00:38.980 They're flowered under its powder blue skies
00:00:43.140 A wonder in the story of mankind
00:00:54.600 beautiful women in a land blessed to this day with beautiful women inspired the miniature
00:01:14.200 painters brushes women with silvery voices and melting eyes eyes like the eyes of the gazelle
00:01:23.080 which leaps over the tarnished gold of the mountainsides.
00:01:29.640 Over the centuries grew palaces and mosques
00:01:32.760 which still dazzle the eye.
00:01:41.500 In Persian gardens scented with jasmine,
00:01:45.020 the lotus flowers bloomed
00:01:46.360 and the nightingales serenaded lovers to their dreamlands.
00:01:49.860 Persia was the inspiration of Omar Khayyam and the Thousand and One Nights.
00:02:11.860 In later centuries, conquerors trampled on its heritage.
00:02:15.860 But through golden ages, the spirit of Persia has always triumphed.
00:02:21.860 In this world of beauty was born more than five centuries before Christ,
00:02:27.860 the mightiest empire in the then history of the world.
00:02:45.860 The first capital was here, in Passargat.
00:03:15.860 In celebration of 2,500 years of nationhood, the Persian people, led by their Shah,
00:03:31.160 His Imperial Majesty Mohammed Reza Pallavi Arya Meir Shah and Shah,
00:03:36.520 make homage at the tomb of Cyrus the Great, the first Shah of all.
00:03:45.860 Cyrus, king of kings, champion long before Magna Carta of human rights and liberties.
00:04:01.280 Cyrus, the Lord's anointed of the prophet Isaiah in the Old Testament.
00:04:07.060 Cyrus, the founder of Persian culture and the father of Iran, the land, five times the size of Great Britain. 0.95
00:04:15.860 which this Shah rules today.
00:04:21.240 In solemnly dedicating himself to the memory of his predecessor,
00:04:25.140 the Shah was keeping a promise he had made ten years earlier.
00:04:29.740 As he left the tomb to join his empress and his ten-year-old son,
00:04:34.000 the crown prince, he was filled with a sense of occasion.
00:04:38.740 It had fallen to him, after a twilight in his nation's long history,
00:04:42.900 to remind the world and his own people of Persian pride.
00:05:12.900 The king of Hachaman Shib, the king of Iran, from the side of me, the king of Iran, and from the side of my country.
00:05:34.900 O Cyrus, great king, king of kings, Hachamanian king, king of the land of Iran, I, the Shah-Nshah of Iran, offer thee salutations from myself and from my nation.
00:05:52.820 At this glorious moment in the history of Iran
00:05:57.600 I and all Iranians
00:06:00.520 The offspring of the empire which thou founded
00:06:03.900 2,500 years ago
00:06:06.700 Bow our heads in reverence
00:06:09.300 Before thy tomb
00:06:11.340 We cherish
00:06:14.300 Thy undying memory
00:06:16.880 You are not suggesting that we are in lack.
00:06:25.160 And if you like yours, please declare in time!
00:06:31.880 The fullest of my life, devoted to the heroes,
00:06:42.300 PYM JBZ
00:07:12.300 ...
00:07:40.300 ...
00:07:41.300 In the middle of October 1971, 62 heads of state or their direct representatives converged
00:07:56.300 on the airport of the fairytale city of Shiraz, set in the desert beside the Persian Gulf.
00:08:11.300 I don't know.
00:08:41.300 in a patchwork of color in a whirl of salutes bowels and curtsies familiar faces in the world
00:09:00.620 scene stepped out of their aircraft over red carpets fringed with guards of honor
00:09:06.100 into the welcoming Persian sunlight.
00:09:09.700 It was just like this.
00:09:12.620 Too much was happening to pick out the detail.
00:09:16.060 For all the arrivals, ceremony and protocol had to be carefully observed.
00:09:21.300 None who were there saw it all.
00:09:24.940 So began one of the most historic cultural gatherings the world has ever seen.
00:09:29.840 The flags of the guest nations flew in salute as the VIPs flew in.
00:09:36.840 This was no party of the year, it was the celebration of 25 centuries.
00:09:59.840 Throughout the day, escorted cars drove out through Shiraz into the desert
00:10:11.660 towards the ruined palace of the great kings of antiquity,
00:10:15.060 the historic birthplace of the Persian Empire.
00:10:18.580 The guests were traveling to a reception without precedent,
00:10:22.360 even in the days of Cyrus the Great.
00:10:29.840 Their camp, if you can call it a camp, was shaped like a star with five wings branching
00:10:38.340 out from the royal pavilion to represent the five continents.
00:10:42.720 Each head of state had an apartment with a sitting room, two bedrooms and two bathrooms
00:10:46.660 and a service room with an electric stove and ironing board for their entourage.
00:11:06.660 The Shah had personally supervised all the preparations.
00:11:09.660 In sight of the ruins of the great palace of his predecessors,
00:11:12.660 which had taken 187 years to build,
00:11:15.660 build. The complex of new building was a major piece of construction, even for modern times.
00:11:22.780 One day it is thought that it might become a super hotel for wealthy tourists.
00:11:29.980 The great hand weavers of Persian carpets had been using their uncanny skill to make portraits
00:11:34.940 in silk of each of the distinguished guests. The portraits were to be hung in their sitting rooms.
00:11:40.860 As the famous men and women matched their pictures with their presence,
00:11:44.300 they were given an excited greeting. Persia was in gala mood.
00:12:01.300 The villagers had heard on radio and television
00:12:05.300 that the great people of the world were coming to honor their country.
00:12:10.300 A country which had ruled in the past what was the then-known Earth.
00:12:17.300 A country which, after centuries of apathy, their Shah was determined to lead into the 20th century.
00:12:26.300 He began by inviting the world to stop, look and listen.
00:12:31.300 the modern world had half forgotten persia's place on the map the best beginning for the future was to
00:12:42.580 sound the trumpets and recall the persian people to the glories of their own past what happened
00:12:49.620 and was assuredly unforgettable.
00:12:52.620 Throughout the day and into the night, the Shah was in constant attendance on the newly
00:13:20.940 arriving guests. His hand, for a hundred times, was stretched in welcome.
00:13:50.940 Looking at these scenes, a poker player might well reflect that here is that rare hand in cards, which is called a royal flush.
00:14:20.940 leaders whom we all recognize had a unique opportunity for relaxed conversation
00:14:33.120 well perhaps not now with the tv cameras looking on but others were talking elsewhere
00:14:38.600 an international congress of 250 scholars were already in session at shiraz the papers they
00:14:47.660 read on Persian culture were to be published and circulated to research
00:14:51.380 institutes throughout the world. Such a brain's trust of Persian study had never 0.98
00:14:56.640 been collected before.
00:15:03.600 In Shiraz, where there is a garden appropriately named Garden of Paradise,
00:15:09.020 the lights twinkled like diamonds, like the bubbles in a glass of champagne.
00:15:17.660 Thank you.
00:15:47.660 It is not often that a state occasion like this has been shown to the world, not often, if ever.
00:16:11.000 But so many leaders of state have been gathered together simply to honor an anniversary in the history of a civilization.
00:16:19.000 In the state reception room of the Royal Pavilion in Persepolis move people who influence the destiny of mankind.
00:16:27.000 The order of precedence, the etiquette of who sits where and who leads who to dinner call for all the skills of diplomacy.
00:16:41.000 ORGAN PLAYS
00:17:11.000 Your Majesties, Honorable Presidents of Republics,
00:17:28.000 Highnesses, Eminences, Excellences, Ladies and Gentlemen,
00:17:36.000 the Shah was proposing the toast of his guests.
00:17:40.000 Look at some of them.
00:17:45.000 In our gathering this evening, past history is linked with the realities of today.
00:17:51.000 Such a bond of past and present, achieved by understanding and friendship, is surely an omen of good.
00:18:10.000 On the following evening, the guests moved out into the star-spangled Persian night toward
00:18:17.660 Persepolis, the ruined palace of Cyrus' successor, Darius and his son Xerxes.
00:18:25.580 Alexander the Great, the conqueror who reduced it to a shell, is said to have needed 10,000
00:18:32.560 mules and 6,000 camels to remove the treasures which were housed in the precincts.
00:18:40.000 The climax for the royal guests was a sans-lumière among the great stones, where it all happened.
00:18:48.880 From the tomb in the mountainside overlooking the palace where he ruled 500 years before Christ,
00:18:55.480 the voice of Darius the Great speaks again.
00:18:59.580 Open! 0.88
00:19:03.160 Open the gates guarded by winged bulls with human heads.
00:19:10.000 And now comes the procession of the Ambassadors, their beards and ringlets, their hair curled.
00:19:32.300 A long procession towards the stairways of stone and black marble, guarded by the lances
00:19:38.100 of our royal guard, the 10,000 immortals. 0.92
00:19:41.860 The long train of the horsemen from the steps 0.99
00:19:44.320 of the Arab camel drivers moving toward the tall forest 1.00
00:19:47.980 of stone columns that reach to the sky 0.60
00:19:51.240 in a gesture of prayer.
00:19:56.380 The Iolians and the Aeolians, living on land and sea,
00:20:01.600 bring you their rams and amber chalices. 0.88
00:20:08.100 And when I reconquered Cyprus and the Greek colonies of Asia, I too left them all their liberties. 0.81
00:20:33.100 Ahura Mazda has dained through the words of my mouth
00:20:37.140 to allow his image to cohabit with those of the Greek gods on coins.
00:21:03.100 Thank you.
00:21:33.100 ¶¶
00:22:03.100 Long, long ago, the ancient Persians invented the postal system with relays of horsemen bringing news from the distant outposts of empire.
00:22:33.100 Today, in the company of his guests, in the long shadow of the ruins of Persepolis,
00:22:39.100 messengers of good omen bring the Shah the greetings of his Senate in Tehran.
00:22:45.100 Today we submit to history the account of the past 2,500 years and we firmly believe
00:23:08.580 that the balance is proudly to our credit. 0.97
00:23:38.580 Persia is on parade, a parade of the great warriors of Persian history, led by the prehistoric
00:24:05.000 men in skins who were the first of all.
00:24:17.000 Here are the war chariots of the Archimenean kings who conquered and civilized the ancient world,
00:24:23.000 whose trumpets were a call of peace.
00:24:35.000 Thank you.
00:25:05.000 These were the Persian infantry with wicker shields, sons of Cyrus and Darius, who ruled so many peoples, but awarded them all the rights of free men.
00:25:23.580 There were no slaves in the Persian Empire.
00:25:35.000 Thank you.
00:26:05.000 For more than 10 years, archaeological experts studying the records which remain pieced together
00:26:26.340 how the old warriors must have looked.
00:26:28.160 No stirrups for the cavalry.
00:26:30.440 Stirrups were invented centuries later.
00:26:32.380 Every historic detail in this parade, so far as we can know today, is exact.
00:26:54.360 This wooden fortress, pulled by a span of oxen, was one of the first siege weapons.
00:27:02.380 Thank you.
00:27:33.200 In these frail oared boats, armies whose soldiers and wagon train were said to have stretched 28 miles, crossed the Mediterranean. 0.77
00:27:43.760 Over the centuries, through dynasties that have spread long before Christ of modern times, Persia has prevailed. 0.88
00:27:52.140 Conquerors from the time of Alexander have adopted Persian ways.
00:27:57.080 The spirit of the country has risen again and again.
00:28:02.380 The trumpets have never ceased sounding.
00:28:06.380 During the next 500 years, years in which the Great Wall of China was built,
00:28:34.500 in which Hannibal crossed the Alps
00:28:37.440 and Julius Caesar conquered Gaul.
00:28:41.040 These were the Parthian soldiers of the Arsacid dynasty.
00:29:04.500 Thank you.
00:29:34.500 Thank you. 0.70
00:30:04.500 The Sassanians, with their sugar loaf hats, which is still worn in Persia today, 0.73
00:30:11.340 followed during the centuries when Mohammed founded Islam, 0.94
00:30:15.100 and the powers of ancient Rome sank into final decline. 1.00
00:30:34.500 The Saffirits ruled Persia in the age 0.99
00:31:04.420 when Charlemagne was crowned the Holy Roman Emperor in 800 A.D. 0.95
00:31:09.420 The Dilemites were contemporaries of William the Conqueror, the Battle of Hastings, 1066 and all that. 0.95
00:31:39.420 Columbus was discovering America when the Safavids were on the march. 0.75
00:32:09.420 The Afsharits were a short-lived dynasty in Persian terms 1.00
00:32:17.080 who belonged to the time when Barney Prince Charlie
00:32:19.620 raised the flag of the Stuart Rebellion in Scotland. 1.00
00:32:39.420 The Afsharits mounted muskets on swivels on their camels. 0.99
00:33:09.420 The Zans, although they can scarcely have heard about it, fought their battles at the time of the Declaration of American Independence. 1.00
00:33:39.420 The style of their uniform shows that the Cajas belong to the Napoleonic era. 0.77
00:34:09.420 Thank you. 0.72
00:34:39.420 The armed services of the latest to the present dynasty in Persia, the Pallavi, gather for a grand assembly.
00:34:57.840 The world is looking on. 0.93
00:35:09.420 These are the household troops of the Shah. 0.58
00:35:32.420 Here is the new army which the Shah has created to develop literacy, health and international development.
00:35:38.420 a peace army to fight poverty, hunger, and social injustice.
00:35:44.420 A great international cause in which Persia wishes to play her part.
00:36:08.420 Thank you.
00:36:38.420 Thank you.
00:37:08.420 The fountains which inspired the poets, philosophers and thinkers of this old land centuries ago
00:37:30.540 whisper their watery music.
00:37:33.040 as the flags drift in the evening breeze
00:37:40.680 after the formalities of the state reception
00:37:43.580 the shah and his empress invite his guests
00:37:47.120 to a traditional persian party
00:37:49.120 the way it works is that he doesn't sit down himself
00:38:01.860 Moving among his guests, he makes them all happy
00:38:05.860 The music and the food are traditional
00:38:31.860 It wouldn't have been complete without the dancing girls.
00:39:01.860 It could have been the first occasion in most of the VIP's lives 0.99
00:39:26.360 that so many of them who are normally whisked about in plush limousines
00:39:30.620 have crowded into coaches but what coaches they were carrying them from the pavilions
00:39:37.580 at Persepolis to the airport at Shiraz then by air to Tehran the modern capital of Persia
00:39:53.100 just in case they were still hungry confections were served on the way
00:40:00.620 Thank you.
00:40:30.620 In the aircraft, the Shah had brief moments in which he was on his own,
00:40:49.180 with time to look at what he was saying about the celebrations in the newspapers.
00:40:52.660 From a headquarters in Persepolis, the press was tapping and typing comments to the world.
00:41:22.660 For most of them it was a surprise to discover how the new Persia was evolving.
00:41:33.660 They only remembered the old, when Persia had slept. 0.93
00:41:39.660 The organization of the Great Parade was in itself an eye-opener. 0.98
00:41:43.660 The celebrations were the signal that the flame of Persia was burning again. 0.98
00:41:49.660 Great nations come and go. 0.55
00:41:52.660 A century ago, Persia had been of no importance except to historians, romanticists, and students of archaeology.
00:42:01.660 Look at her now.
00:42:03.660 She is making her challenge to join the new world. 0.66
00:42:09.660 Her greatest enemy is illiteracy.
00:42:12.660 She has started to beat it by building 4,000 new schools in a year.
00:42:17.660 schools for adults as well as children her other enemy is her scarcity of water
00:42:27.380 by building great dams persia's water too is being brought under control
00:42:32.820 she is moving fast into heavy industry the country has to do a lot yet to catch up
00:42:40.280 industrially with the western world but one of the wonders of her is that this old sleeping beauty
00:42:46.280 is now awake.
00:42:49.940 So much is happening so quickly.
00:42:55.080 Her modern spirit was first aroused 0.57
00:42:58.120 during the reign of the present Shah's father.
00:43:02.380 During the celebrations of the 2,500 anniversary,
00:43:06.460 his son remembered him.
00:43:08.520 in tehran the cavalcade of cars swept towards the mausoleum of reza shah the great
00:43:18.840 his son wished to do honor to the memory of his father the ceremony was solemn and short
00:43:26.480 most of us would wish to pay our own respects to our own fathers his own had founded a new
00:43:34.200 in Persia. The Persian people already call him Reza the Great.
00:44:04.200 After that, the climax of the celebrations.
00:44:24.440 The first glimpse of the floodlit monument outside the airport of Tehran in honor of the present Shah.
00:44:34.200 Below the monument is a museum of Persian art and a cinema.
00:44:40.420 To open it?
00:44:42.220 Well, what would you expect?
00:45:04.200 Let's stand by Yep
00:45:19.300 It's good
00:45:24.800 Thank you
00:45:27.820 I can do so many.
00:45:44.000 I can do this.
00:45:46.480 Yes, it's the fifth.
00:45:47.900 In fact, Bo Bo, don't go.
00:45:50.420 So much money.
00:45:51.520 On the last day of the celebrations, there was a spectacular to mark the inauguration
00:46:16.520 of a vast new sports stadium in Tehran designed to seat 100,000 people.
00:46:22.240 As the Shah arrived, they seemed to be all there.
00:46:46.520 Thank you. 0.99
00:47:16.520 Swinging heavy clubs is a traditional sport.
00:47:46.520 The strongmen of Persia pride themselves on their muscular development.
00:48:16.520 Thank you.
00:48:46.520 Thank you.
00:49:16.520 Thank you.
00:49:46.520 .
00:49:52.500 .
00:50:05.640 .
00:50:09.520 .
00:50:12.240 Notice that the soldiers are doing their arms drill without orders to the music of the Viennese waltz.
00:50:42.240 Towards the end of the celebrations, the Shah heard an address from the religious representatives of the world,
00:51:06.020 a confirmation that religious tolerance should be extended to all men.
00:51:11.740 Not all countries accept it.
00:51:13.740 In ancient tradition, Persia does.
00:51:36.020 As the VIPs said their goodbyes, they left behind them, each in their own language, and over their own famous names, a message of goodwill.
00:51:48.020 In our world, we might call them bread-and-butter letters.
00:51:53.560 In Persia's world, they remember the words of their great poet and thinker, Sadi, who 700 years ago wrote,
00:52:02.740 If ambitious of a great name, make a practice of munificence, for the crop will not shoot till thou shalt sow the seed.
00:52:32.740 Thank you.
00:53:02.740 Thank you.
00:53:32.740 In Tehran, the new monument
00:54:00.080 is likely to become as familiar as London's Big Ben, the Eiffel Tower of Paris, the New
00:54:05.080 York Statue of Liberty.
00:54:09.080 Symbol des grandes fêtes de l'Iran, ce cylindre en argile cuite de Cyrus proclame que c'est
00:54:17.080 ici que pour la première fois les droits de l'homme devinrent loi.
00:54:30.080 Thank you.
00:55:00.080 We'll be right back.