Sold as a slave to the great Abbasid Caliph, al-Khayzuran quickly rose to the very top of the pyramid. Through marriage and motherhood, she became wife of the caliph and then Queen Mother and in both instances she wielded extraordinary power. In the court at Baghdad - the very heart of the civilised world - al-Khayzuran had major influence and it is possible that during her lifetime, she was the most powerful woman in the world, determining politics from Morocco to Afghanistan. Some even say she assassinated one of her sons, and put a second on the throne. Listen as William and Anita are joined by Hugh Kennedy to discuss the extraordinary life of al-Khayzuran.
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119. The Last Shah
118. Iran's First Revolution
117. Nader Shah: The Sword of Persia
116. Isfahan: The City of Dreams
115. The Great Conversion: How Iran became Shia
114. The Persian Renaissance
113. Timur: Scourge of God
112. Ferdowsi: How One Poet Saved Persian Civilisation
111. Shackleton: The Hero of Antarctica
110. Antarctica: The Continent that wouldn’t be Conquered
109. The Endeavour: Into the Unknown
108. The Endeavour & the Great Southern Continent
107. China's Greatest Admiral: The Story of Zheng He
106. The Rise of Islam
105. The Last Great War of Antiquity
104. How Persian Religion Changed the World
103. Alexander the Great: Defeating Darius
102. Alexander the Great: The Conquest of Persia
101. Salamis: Athens’ Revenge
100. Thermopylae: Xerxes, Leonidas, and the 300
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