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The Western Zhou, 1046-771 BC
Season 5 Episode 55
The Zhou Dynasty ruled for longer than any other in Chinese history. Much of the cultural foundation of China was laid down during that age, from Confucius to Sun Tzu. While a powerful state at its i…
Published on 2 years ago
The Fall of the Shang Dynasty and the Rise of the Zhou
Season 5 Episode 54
The Shang Dynasty marks China's entrance to history, but it was very different than the China we know from later periods: Human sacrifice on a massive scale, shaman-kings conducting rituals to the an…
Published on 2 years ago
The Rise of the State in China
Season 5 Episode 53
Chinese history is defined, more than anything else, by the importance of the state: its origins, its development, and the precise lineage leading back from the present deep into prehistory. But rath…
Published on 2 years ago
The Languages of Eurasia around 500 BC
Season 5 Episode 52
As an age of bronze gave way to one of iron, and then classical empires, the importance of writing grew all across Eurasia. That means more written sources for us to work with, but it also tells us d…
Published on 2 years ago
Cities, the Etruscans, and Global Urbanism: Interview with Professor Simon Stoddart
Season 5 Episode 51
Cities are one of the defining features of the Iron Age Mediterranean, as urbanism spread across the sea and beyond to form the backbone of the classical age that would follow. Professor Simon Stodda…
Published on 2 years, 1 month ago
Did Justinian Restore the Roman Empire or Ruin It? Professor Peter Sarris on the Emperor Justinian and His Legacy
Season 5 Episode 50
Justinian is, without a doubt, one of the most impactful historical figures of the past 2,000 years. Professor Peter Sarris, a longtime favorite historian of mine, has written an oustanding new accou…
Published on 2 years, 1 month ago
The Scythian World
Season 5 Episode 49
The Scythians transformed the Eurasian steppe. They built giant burial mounds for their powerful kings, raided and plundered their sedentary neighbors, and laid down the template for every nomadic em…
Published on 2 years, 1 month ago
The Iron Age Steppe and the Emergence of the Scythians
Season 5 Episode 48
For millennia, the Eurasian steppe has been the highway connecting the distant ends of Europe and Asia. But at the beginning of the Iron Age, something important changed. A new people, the Scythians,…
Published on 2 years, 1 month ago
The Greco-Persian Wars 4: Plataea and the Aftermath
Season 5 Episode 47
The Persian Wars came to an end in the spring of 479 BC, when the land forces of the allied Greeks met the Persian army in an epic clash at Plataea. But the legacy of the Persian Wars would last for …
Published on 2 years, 2 months ago
Cutting-Edge Archaeology on the Eurasian Steppe: Gino Caspari on the Scythians
Season 5 Episode 46
In excavating massive Iron Age burial mounds in southern Siberia, Dr. Gino Caspari is doing some of the most innovative archaeology in the world, and he's doing it in one of the most remote places on…
Published on 2 years, 2 months ago