The Ancient World

“As there are no pacts of faith between lions and men,nor do wolves and lambs have spirit in kind,…nor for us twowill there be oaths;…Recollect your every skill.  Now the need is very greatto be a spearman and brave warrior.” – Achilles, the Iliad The Mycenaean Greeks melded their warrior ethos with Minoan artistry to rule over an Aegean empire extending to the shores of ancient Troy.  The Aryans, distant relatives of the Mitanni, imported their Vedic culture into Northern India by chariot and sword.  Meanwhile, China’s Shang Dynasty, after ousting the corrupt Xia to build a mighty Bronze Age kingdom, saw the Mandate of Heaven pass to the Zhou.http://s407341505.onlinehome.us/Episode_7_Between_Lions_And_Men.mp3

After expelling the Hyksos, the rulers of Egypt’s 18th Dynasty led their New Kingdom in an unprecedented drive for territorial expansion.  In Syria and the Levant, they were forced to contend with powerful new states forged by the Hurrians and the Hittites.http://s407341505.onlinehome.us/Episode_6_The_New_Kingdoms.mp3

“I was asleep upon my bed, having become weary…like a snake of the necropolis. As I came to, I awoke to fighting, and found that it was an attack of the bodyguard. If I had quickly taken weapons in my hand, I would have made the wretches retreat with a charge! But there is none mighty in the night, none who can fight alone.” – Amenemhet I In the turbulent period between 2,000 and 1,500 BC, Egyptian rulers were not the only ones caught off guard. After rising to new heights, Minoan Crete, Hammurabi’s Babylon and Middle Kingdom Egypt all fell victim to disaster and foreign invasion. http://s407341505.onlinehome.us/Episode_5_Blind-sided.mp3

“From the heights of these pyramids, forty centuries look down on us.” – Napoleon Bonaparte The power of Egypt’s Old Kingdom rulers was reflected in their awe-inspiring monuments.  The Harappan civilization of the Indus River valley traded across Central Asia, the Near East, and beyond.   In the Far East, Great Yu controlled the waters and founded the first Chinese dynasty, the Xia. http://s407341505.onlinehome.us/Episode_4_The_Pyramid_Builders.mp3

“Now any king who wants to call himself my equal, wherever I went, let him go!”  - Sargon the Great In 2,334 BC, Sargon of Akkad forged the world’s first empire and created a legend that would inspire Near Eastern rulers for millennia.   The Third Dynasty of Ur built its smaller but more centralized structure on Akkadian foundations. http://s407341505.onlinehome.us/Episode_3_Wherever_I_Went.mp3

Contemporary with early Sumer and Egypt, the Norte Chico thrived along the Peruvian coast, while the Neolithic Britons built their mysterious stone circles. The first European civilization, the Minoans of ancient Crete, exerted a strong cultural influence over the eastern Mediterranean. http://s407341505.onlinehome.us/Episode_2_Circles_and_Labyrinths.mp3

"more ancient than the mind can imagine" - The Epic of Gilgamesh The Sumerians of Mesopotamia, the Elamites of the Persian plateau, and the Egyptians of the Nile River valley were among the first civilizations to emerge in the ancient world. http://s407341505.onlinehome.us/Episode_1_Climb_The_Stone_Staircase.mp3