A Little History of the World No.11
OK so it’s 800 BCE and now we can introduce some people you’ve definitely heard of. But Ancient Greece wasn’t really a single society as the name suggests, but a collection of smaller, competing, tribes. They included the Ionians who founded Athens and the Dorians better known as the Spartans.
A Little History of the World No.10
As merchants and traders, the Phoenicians needed receipts and invoices. This meant they needed a more efficient way of writing things down. Their ingenious solution changed our world.
This is part 10 in our series covering world history in 15-second instagrams. You can watch the rest of the series here.
A Little History of the World No.9
On the Mediterranean Coast in modern day #lebanon a society of great merchants and traders grew. In their legendary Phoenician ships they sailed all around the Mediterranean buying and selling goods. They also gave us something we still use today..any guesses?
A Little History of the World No.8
In July 1908 archeologists discovered something in the ruins of a Minoan temple on the island of Crete. A circular clay disc about 6.5 inches in diameter, that completely overturns our ideas of ancient technology.
A Little History of the World no.7
1700 BCE and the world was full of many gods from Osis to Baal to Osiris. Then a small tribe of farmers and shepherds came up with a different approach to religion: they believed in just one God. They were the Jews. It would take a while to catch on but it was an idea that would define the course of history.
A Little History of the World No.6
1750 BCE. Law, and presumably lawyers, have been around a lot longer than you think. As early as 2100 BCE rulers were writing down laws of the land to keep order. The earliest surviving law book is what we now call the Code of Hummurabi, in 1750 BCE. Carved in stone, it sets down 300 laws, 30 of which were punishable by death. Many of its strict laws, including ‘an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth’ found their way into the Jewish Torah and later the Old Testament.
A Little History of the World No.5.
Ever wondered why Monday is called Monday or Saturday is called Saturday? Well, that was decided by the Babylonians more than 4,000 years ago. And the answer is right above your head.
Watch more episodes from this series at delve.tv
A Little History Of The World No.4
Egypt wasn’t the only great civilisation around this time. The Mayans in Mexico, the Indus Valley civilisation in modern day Pakistan and the Xia Dynasty in China all emerged too.
We are publishing a short-fire history of the world throughout April and possibly beyond, inspired by EH Gombrich’s classic book “A Little History of the World”.
Find out more on our website.
A Little History Of The World No3
The Egyptian civilisation, of pharaohs and pyramids, lasted nearly 3000 years from 3150 BCE to its decline around 550 BCE. Even then it was still an important kingdom for another 500 or so years until 30 BCE.
It was stable, strict and mostly peaceful. Its ending was sudden and unexpected (we’ll get to that soon), but still no empire or civilisation has even come close to such a reign.
