History of the World podcast

2040 - 1640 BCE - A new kingdom emerges in the Egyptian lands, but things are slightly different this time, with the Pharaohs needing to build their reputation by displaying those strong leadership qualities that are needed to keep the Egyptian society bonded together.

3150 - 2134 BCE - From the unification of the Egyptian kingdom through its journey through great prosperity and a golden age of pyramid building, right through to its subsequent fall towards the end of the third millennium BCE.

3000 - 700 BCE - We walk together through the entire journey of Mesopotamia, eastern Anatolia and the Levant during the two thousand year plus ancient era of the Near East.

1200 - 516 BCE - Digging deeper into the spiritual side of the geographical area which gave birth to Judaism and how polytheism turned into monotheism.  We try to uncover the true identity of God.

1200 - 264 BCE - The expert Mediterranean traders that the Greeks called the Phoenicians, who established the important colony of Carthage, the principal centre of Phoenician politics.

701 BCE - Assyria under the rule of Sennacherib needed to subjugate the Kingdom of Judah under the rule of Hezekiah.  Sennacherib wanted the Judean capital city of Jerusalem, but first he would need to take the city of Lachish.

2000 - 610 BCE - The incredible story of an empire that survived the Late Bronze Age Collapse and then dominated the Near East like no other before, with iron age technology and an aggressive foreign policy.

1200 - 1050 BCE - All of the societies of the Near East either weakened considerably or disappeared altogether.  What could have possibly happened to cause this dramatic turn of events?

1700 - 1200 BCE - The first Indo-Europeans documented arrived in Anatolia and completely changed the face of the Near East, even going toe to toe with the mighty Egyptians, as well as the revived Assyrians.

1900 - 1595 BCE - Semitic speakers from the west had established their own kingdoms throughout Mesopotamia.  The Babylonians became the most powerful of the first half of the second millennium BCE especially under the lawmaker king, Hammurabi.

3000 - 2000 BCE - The fascinating rise and fall of this iconic Sumerian city-state and a look at the incredible work of Sir Leonard Woolley.

2300 - 2083 BCE - Sargon the Great conquered Sumer and extended what some refer to as the first Empire.  This is the story of the earliest known civilised Semitic speakers.

3000 - 2340 BCE - The first known civilisation of Mesopotamia.  Separating fact from myth within the first cuneiform writings, and the Sumerian conquest and decline.

We take a brief look at the unignorable prehistoric cave art of Lascaux and why it could have been created.

We take a brief but closer look at some of the diverse theories relating to the construction and meaning of Göbekli Tepe.

History of the World podcast welcomes in the New Year with some of your valued messages, an update on the performance of the podcast, and most importantly of all, an announcement about the start of Volume 2.

Put on your tuxedo or your evening gown for the prestigious 2018 History of the World podcast awards ceremony.

We discuss the incredible story of Piltdown Man as well as provide updates relating to the state of the podcast.

A brief look forward to the next volume of podcasts focusing on the Ancient World.

A summary of the Neolithic period of human history covering the period between 10,000 BCE and 3000 BCE.  An attempt to collate all that we have learned from Episodes 15 through to 23.

A vital look at how the drying out of the Sahara desert forced populations to congregate and adapt along the Nile's banks forcing powerful leaders to take the future of Egypt into their own hands.

We explore how all of the Neolithic advances and environmental changes affected the prehistoric peoples and cultures of Mesopotamia previous to the ancient dynastic Sumerian period.

We explore two very fundamental changes to village life in and around the rivers of the Fertile Crescent. Irrigation and the emergence of a class based society.

This week's podcast centres around Stonehenge, but in order to try to understand this most famous of megaliths, we discuss the Neolithic wonders of the Orkney Islands and the Carnac Stones of Brittany.

Göbekli Tepe in the Fertile Crescent appears to have marked the start of a megalithic period which ultimately spread across Europe.  Clouded in mystery, we endeavour to uncover the facts.