History of the World podcast

510 - 323 BCE - Greek Gods, Olympic Games, Oracle of Delphi, architecture, pottery, Great Dionysia, historians, science, mathematics, philosophy and education all rolled up into one complete episode.

With Athens a shadow of its former self, the road to glory was left open to the Spartans, but an old adversary called Thebes would have something to say about it.

447 - 404 BCE - The conflict reaches a defining climax as natural events and individual decisions involve much of the Greek speaking world.  Will it be Athens or Sparta who prevails?

479 - 447 BCE - The Persians had been expelled from the Balkan peninsula. Fate deals its hand to the Greek lands as the region heads towards further conflict.

480 - 479 BCE - The Achaemenid Persians were now able to march on Athens.  Would the Athenians stay and fight, or abandon their city?  Would the Spartans assist the Athenians, or would either polis put itself in front of their alliance now that the pressure was so high?

480 BCE - Following defeat at Marathon, the Persians were back.  Had the Greeks done enough to prepare for the return and would the interminably militant force of Sparta make the difference?

490 BCE - The Achaemenid Persians had been succesfully expanding their influence across the known world, but when the Athenians supported a revolt of Greek people within the Persian Empire, the Achaemenids sought revenge.

750 - 550 BCE - For a couple of centuries, the people of the Greek poleis all jumped into their boats and scattered in all directions.  Where were they going?  What were they doing?  Why were they doing it?

565 - 493 BCE - The Peisistratid tyranny came under pressure as Athens demanded democracy so vehemently that even the mighty Spartans could not impose their authority over the Athenians.

800 - 565 BCE - We walk through the journey of the Greek capital during the Archaic period and discover what this independent city did to avoid tyranny before succumbing to it.

1200 - 600 BCE - Exactly what did happen in Greece after the Late Bronze Age Collapse and the disappearance of the Mycenaean culture, and what are poleis?

609 BCE - 651 CE - What is Zoroastrianism and how did it originate?  Which belief systems did it influence and which belief systems existed alongside it in Iranian lands?  How did the Persian elite view and use Zoroastrianism in their respective empires?

226 - 651 CE - The rise of the Persians who would rule their own traditional lands once again, and the journey through the centuries which would lead them to the ultimate climax against the Romans at Constantinople.

329 BCE - 224 CE - Plotting the progress of the Persian Empire after its fall to Alexander the Great, and leading into the incredible and inevitable conflicts with the Romans.

522 - 329 BCE - A closer look at the dramatic stories of the empire under the rule of Darius the Great, Xerxes I and Darius III.

609 - 522 BCE - This episode will bridge the gap between the fall of the Assyrian Empire and the rise of the Achaemenid Empire including the life of Cyrus the Great.

With this being the last unofficial episode before next week's launch of Volume 3, we take a closer look at the period between the Bronze Age and the Classical Age.

A look forward to the subject matter for Volume 3, plus an announcement regarding when the first episode will come out.

On what date, in which year was the first day ever?

The most successful dynasty of Babylon, in terms of longevity, is not talked about enough, until now.

A light hearted look at the History of the World podcast's history on YouTube.

How does this great 15th century BCE pharaoh of Egypt stack up to the featured pharaoh of volume two of the podcast, Ramesses II?

More to fill those empty weeks between volumes with a brief reminder about who the Mitanni's were and what they did.

A new species of hominin was named in 2019 called Homo luzonensis.  What is it, and where does it fit into our story of human evolution?

A short and sweet debrief following the conclusion of volume two, and a look ahead at what is coming soon.