The Lineage Archive Dialogues

This episode traces the Hanan Cusco line of the Sapa Inca from its origins in a modest Cusco besieged by the Chanka, through Cusi Yupanqui's defense of the city and his rise as Pachacuti, who reshaped Cusco and the Qorikancha and set the dynasty on the path to empire. It then follows the expansion of Tawantinsuyu, with its roads, quipu records, and mitmaqkuna resettlements, and the rivalries over succession that undermined the court. The story closes with the civil war between Huáscar and Atahualpa, the capture and execution of Atahualpa at Cajamarca, and the 1572 execution of Túpac Amaru at Vilcabamba, which ended the line. It ends by considering the surviving architecture, festivals, and Andean memory of the dynasty.More: https://thelineagearchive.com/dynasty/sapa-inca-dynasty

The episode traces the Safavid dynasty from its origins as a family of Sufi sheikhs centered on the shrine of Safi al-Din Ardabili in northwest Iran, through the rise of Ismail, who took Tabriz in 1501 and proclaimed Twelver Shi'ism the state faith. It covers the defeat at Chaldiran in 1514, the reforms of Tahmasp and the golden age under Shah Abbas I in Isfahan, and the dynasty's decline, culminating in the 1722 Afghan siege of Isfahan and the abdication of Shah Sultan Husayn. The closing sections consider the lasting religious, artistic and territorial legacy of the Safavids in modern Iran.More: https://thelineagearchive.com/dynasty/safavid-dynasty

The episode traces the rise of the Qajar dynasty in Iran after the collapse of the Safavids, following Agha Mohammad Khan from his childhood captivity and brutal castration to his campaigns against the Zand dynasty, including the 1794 execution of Lotf Ali Khan Zand and the Qajar takeover of Shiraz. It covers his choice of Tehran as capital, his 1789 coronation, and the marriage alliances and clerical backing he used to hold power. The story then moves through the nineteenth-century reign of Naser al-Din Shah, the dynasty's cultural peak at Golestan Palace, and the Russian and British pressures that eroded its territory and authority. It ends with the Constitutional Revolution, the fall of the dynasty in 1925, and the lasting legacy of its palaces, politics and diaspora.More: https://thelineagearchive.com/dynasty/qajar-dynasty

This episode traces the rise and fall of the Pahlavi dynasty in Iran, from Reza Khan's climb through the Persian Cossack Brigade and his 1921 coup with Sayyed Zia'eddin Tabataba'i, to his 1925 coronation as Reza Shah. It follows his centralizing reforms, the crushing of tribal revolts, the Trans-Iranian Railway, and the 1941 Anglo-Soviet occupation that forced his abdication in favor of Mohammad Reza. The story then moves through the oil nationalization crisis, the White Revolution, and the 1971 Persepolis celebrations, ending with the mounting unrest that led to the Shah's departure in January 1979 and the legacy the dynasty left behind.More: https://thelineagearchive.com/dynasty/pahlavi-dynasty

The episode traces the Ottonian dynasty from its origins among the Saxon counts, through Henry the Fowler's election as king in 919 and his victory over the Magyars at Riade in 933, to Otto I's coronation as Holy Roman Emperor in 962. It follows the court at Magdeburg, the Byzantine marriage of Otto II and Theophanu, the disasters at Stilo and the death of Otto III in 1002, and the extinction of the line with Henry II in 1024. It closes by considering the dynasty's lasting imprint on church-state relations, art, and the memory of empire.More: https://thelineagearchive.com/dynasty/ottonian-dynasty

Episode four traces the long decline of the Ottoman dynasty, from the palace at Topkapi through the late seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. It covers the Janissaries' turn from loyal shield to source of mutinies that could depose sultans, economic strain from silver inflation, the weakening of provincial control, and the loss of European territory at Karlowitz in 1699. It closes with the Tanzimat reforms, the reign of Abdul Hamid II, and the Young Turk Revolution, as the empire's rulers faced a crisis they could no longer control.More: https://thelineagearchive.com/dynasty/ottoman-dynasty

This episode traces the Asaf Jahi dynasty of Hyderabad from its founding, when Mir Qamar-ud-din Khan defeated the Mughal governor Mubariz Khan at the Battle of Shakar Kheda in 1724 and took the title Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah. It follows the dynasty through the eighteenth-century struggles with the Marathas, Mysore, and European powers, including the Subsidiary Alliance with the British in 1798, and into the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries of palace building, reform, and growing British oversight. The account ends with the reign of Mir Osman Ali Khan, the Razakars, and the Indian army's 1948 takeover of Hyderabad, which ended the dynasty's sovereignty.More: https://thelineagearchive.com/dynasty/asaf-jahi-dynasty

This episode traces the Nguyễn family's rise from regional lords in Phú Xuân (modern Huế) during the eighteenth-century civil wars, through the Tây Sơn Rebellion and the fugitive years of Nguyễn Phúc Ánh, to his coronation as Emperor Gia Long in 1802. It then follows the dynasty's consolidation under Gia Long and Minh Mạng, its court ceremony and bureaucracy, and its decline under French colonial pressure in the mid-nineteenth century. The episode closes with the abdication of Emperor Bảo Đại in 1945 and the lasting legacy of the Nguyễn in Huế's monuments, royal tombs, and cultural traditions.More: https://thelineagearchive.com/dynasty/nguyen-dynasty