Episode 2 of the Fall of Civilizations Podcast is now live!
Sometime around the year 1100 BC, a wave of destruction washed over the Eastern Mediterranean. It wiped whole civilizations off the map, and left only ash and ruin in its wake.
This catastrophe, known as “the Late Bronze Age Collapse”, has become one of the enduring puzzles of archaeology. I want to explore how so many societies could collapse all at once, and seemingly without warning, as well as examine the lessons it might teach us in our increasingly globalised and interconnected world.
Coming soon to Spotify, Stitcher and iTunes.
Some ways to Listen below:
Overall I have been enjoying the podcast, but I noticed in this episode that you kept referring to Medinet Habu as the tomb of Ramses III, and at least once you said the mummy of Ramses III was found here. Well, Medinet Habu was really a mortuary temple, not a tomb; here priests prayed for the pharaoh’s spirit, and Ramses left reliefs and inscriptions showing how he wanted to be remembered. Like other New Kingdom pharaohs, he was buried nearby, in the Valley of the Kings. Actually his mummy turned up in the tomb of Amenhotep II; it was left there, along with some other royal mummies, by priests rescuing them from those persistent tomb robbers.
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Ah thank you for the correction, Charles! I always appreciate my attentive listeners.
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You might also find it interesting that when Boris Karloff played “The Mummy,” and he wanted to compare himself with a real mummy, to make sure his costume and makeup looked right, he used Ramses III as his model!
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Interesting! You can really see that.
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Piccadilly…
At 15:44 you say, “10 tons of bronze and 1 ton of tin” is the exact ratio you need to smelt 11 tons of bronze.
Just started listening a couple days ago. I’m really enjoying these! Thanks for making the history so accessible.
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Thank you! Really glad you’ve been enjoying
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Just found this podcast. The script is really well written. I appreciate the production that goes into it whether it’s the actors reading ancient poetry, the music or just the background noises of crows in the distance. It really paints the picture in my mind. Really well done.
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Dude, where’s the pictures at ? I’ve gone through your twitter but it’s such a hassle to find the pictures you allude to in the podcasts. Why not add it to the blog entry here ?
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The images are on patreon, but these days I’d just advise watching the video version: https://youtu.be/B965f8AcNbw
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Thanks! Will do – the podcast is awesome as always 🙂
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