Tides of History

Latest Episodes:

The Rigveda and the Dawn of the Iron Age in South Asia Feb 22, 2024

Show notes

The Rigveda, a collection of hymns written in the Sanskrit language more than 3,000 years ago, is the oldest religious text in the Hindu tradition. It's also an incredible window onto life at the dawn of the Iron Age in South Asia.

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The Fall of the Indus Valley Civilization Feb 15, 2024

Show notes

The Indus Valley Civilization is one of the most enigmatic, sophisticated, and compelling ancient societies. For seven centuries, it thrived in the western portions of South Asia, building enormous mud-brick cities without domination by ruling kings or elites. But then, over the course of several hundred years, the IVC slowly disintegrated. Why?

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The Rise of China's Warring States Feb 08, 2024

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The Warring States period in China (c. 481-221 BC) was an era of mass-mobilization warfare unlike any other the world had seen to that point. Armies of hundreds of thousands of men fought on an increasing scale for centuries, wiping out state after state until only one - Qin - would remain to rule all of China.

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Ordinary People in Ancient East Asia: Interview with Professor Kate Pechenkina Feb 01, 2024

Show notes

Professor Kate Pechenkina is an expert on the bioarchaeology of East Asia, utilizing cutting-edge tools to tell us about the lives and experiences of ordinary people in the distant past: diet, disease, trauma, the kinds of topics that written evidence simply doesn't illuminate.

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Confucius and His Age Jan 25, 2024

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Confucius is one of the most famous and influential thinkers in all of human history, but who was he? What did he believe, and what did he teach? And how did his time and place - the closing years of the Spring and Autumn period - make him what he was?

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China in the Eastern Zhou: Spring and Autumn Jan 18, 2024

Show notes

The Spring and Autumn period, lasting from 771 to 481 BC, marked the high point of aristocratic power in ancient China. This was an age of nobility and political fragmentation, as the Zhou Dynasty's power dwindled away and small states fought one another in endless cycles of violence. Rulers fell prey to plots and assassinations, and new families rose to power, upending the established order.

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Venice through the Ages, from Salt-Panners to Maritime Empire to Tourism: Interview with Professor Dennis Romano Jan 11, 2024

Show notes

Venice's lagoon is an unstable environment, but it has hosted one of the longest-lasting and most stable cities in world history. The history of Venice is many different things: politics on an imperial scale, industrial production, cultural influence, tourism, and above all, trade. Professor Dennis Romano is one of the most eminent historians of medieval and early modern Venice and author of the new book Venice: The Remarkable History of the Lagoon City. He joins me to talk about La Serenissima and its place in the last 1500 years.

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The State and the Environmental History of Early China: Interview with Professor Brian Lander Jan 04, 2024

Show notes

The environment of China has been so thoroughly shaped by human activity that it's difficult to imagine it as a wild landscape, as it was at the end of the last Ice Age. Since then, first agriculture and then the state have altered it, replacing native flora and fauna on an enormous scale. Professor Brian Lander, author of The King's Harvest: A Political Ecology of China from the First Farmers to the First States, joins me to discuss those two linked topics.

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The Western Zhou, 1046-771 BC Dec 28, 2023

Show notes

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 inception, centralized power only functioned for a century at most during the Zhou; afterward, the ruling dynasty became increasingly irrelevant as a political force, and regional lords rose to rule independent states.

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The Fall of the Shang Dynasty and the Rise of the Zhou Dec 21, 2023

Show notes

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 ancestors, and loose alliances rather than bureaucratic administration defined the age.

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