Echoes of History

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 …

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 ins, these were dwellings…

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…

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 …

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 …

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 a…

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…

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 m…

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 e…

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, exe…

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 assassin…

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 m…

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…

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 Assa…

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 powe…

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 Ism…

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 a…

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 …

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).…

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 o…