Few places weathered the Bronze Age Collapse better than the Levant, the strip of land bordering the eastern Mediterranean that runs from Syria to Egypt. One small part of that coastline, mostly in what's now Lebanon, became a launching pad for some of the most ambitious and wide-ranging commercial ventures in history. The Phoenicians, natives of this area, ... Show More
Mar 19
Popular History and Academic History
Academic history and popular history are very different things, but what is their purpose? And how should we, as people who like and consume history, understand and use them?Patrick launched a brand-new history show! It’s called Past Lives, and every episode explores the life of ... Show More
33m 20s
Mar 12
Migration in Human History
If we want to understand how and why the human story has unfolded in the way it has, then we have to understand migration: large numbers of people moving long distances. It's a surprisingly difficult topic to understand, but in the past couple of decades, we've developed better i ... Show More
35m 4s
Jan 2024
114. The Persian Renaissance
After conquering much of Eurasia, Timur showed no interest in building institutions and so after his death, like the Mongol Empire before it, the Timurid Empire soon fragmented and collapsed. However, some of Timur’s grandchildren took over parts of the Empire and ushered in eras ... Show More
44m 27s
Jul 2023
The Lighthouse of Alexandria
<p>The last monument to be added to the list of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Lighthouse of Alexandria (also known as the Pharos), was one of the tallest man-made structures in ancient history. Serving as the only guiding beacon along 900km of Mediterranean coast, i ... Show More
44m 38s