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A Little History of the World No.16 

Back to the Mediterranean and it’s time to meet one of the most incredible figures in ancient history. After the assassination of his father Phillip, Alexander was crowned King of Macedonia, a small country north of Greece. But that wasn’t enough for him. Over the next 12 years he marched eastwards and in a very short time ruled a huge kingdom that stretched all the way to India.

What’s even more incredible is how young he was; seriously you should go and find out more about him. 

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A Little History of the World No.15 

So far history has mostly been focused around the Mediterranean Sea. But civilisations were thriving all over the world. To the east, in what we now call India and China great cities were built. These societies had great thinkers too and around this time their ideas about love life and the universe began to spread. You’ll recognise their names: Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism.

(P.S. yet, the little histories are back! There’ll be at least one a week over the summer - more at delve.tv)

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A Little History of the World No.14 

After conquering Babylonia and Egypt the Persians turned their sights on Greece. Over 20 years two kings, Darius and Xerxes repeatedly attacked the islands.

Partly because they were more forward thinking, and partly because they were fighting for their lives, the Greek tribes united to push back the invaders time and time again. 

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A Little History of the World No.13 

Here’s one of history’s remarkable stories: a small tribe from what we now call #Iran rebelled against the Babylonians who ruled them. Within a few years they changed the map, and their king Cyrus I ruled over a huge stretch of land. He called himself The King of Kings. His son and grandson Darius and Xerxes would carry on his empire after he died. 

Learn more history at delve.tv/instagram

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A Little History of the World No.12 

A 300 year period in Greece brought us some of the foundations of the modern world, a culture and ideals that many if us still believe today. 

Where would we be without ancient greece?

Image credits: Benjamin Harlow, Juan Pablo Bravo, Michael V Suriano & Simon Child from The Noun Project

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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. 

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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. 

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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 

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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.

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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.