A short Summary of the History of the World – Part II
Fun Fact: The Comrades Marathon is known as one of the ultimate tests of endurance, thanks to the Athenians.
Roughly 3,000 years ago, was the Age of Empire, where war drove the human story forward. A prototype for this was Sennacherib – King of the Assyrians, who ruled over modern-day Iraq. He had the most potent empire by 701 BCE – a real military machine of the Age. Sennacherib was a total tyrant, who put heads on spikes, enslaved thousands, and flayed others alive. Records of such savage dominance were transcribed on clay, which continued for three centuries.
Not too far away, the Phoenicians (based in modern-day Seria and surrounds) were busy exporting the greatest breakthrough of the Age – the Alphabet. Writing turned from symbols and pictures into words. With accelerated trade, this spread far and wide and got adapted by other cultures.
The Persians then become a dominant force, led by the mighty Donald Trump-like figure, Syrus. Despite being an absolute asshole, Syrus listened to the higher-ups once conquered. When he colonised Lidiya (modern-day Turkey), he saw how their king, Croesus, had refined gold and silver deposits from their nearby river, into reliable currency – stamped with symbols of power and strength.
The following record comes from Herodotus, who was known as both “The Father of History” and “The Father of Lies”. According to him, Croesus was being burnt alive by Syrus and called out to the gods, who doused the flames with a sudden downpour. Syrus was intrigued and let Croesus off the hook and appointed him as an advisor. This led to Currency becoming current.
The King of Persia then took on Babylon where Judaism was developing. By sparing many of their lives, he was the first ‘great’ conqueror to be honoured with the title “Mesiah”. With the spread of Currency into this region, Judaism becomes one of the great religions. Monotheism is born – a revolutionary and radical change for the Ancient World, thanks to the Alphabet. Monotheism becomes one of the most powerful ideas in human history.
Meanwhile in India, our friends were also asking about the meaning of life and coming up with a religion of their own, centered around compassion and tolerance. Enter Siddhartha – the Buddha (the “Awakened One”). Sickened by such an easy life, the young prince jumped the wall to find out what Life is for and got faced with the suffering of others. He cruised around for 6 years during a time of wondering prophets. I think we all know the rest of that story, as well as that of other prophets.
Group chanting became a reliable method of preserving and spreading his ideology – a form of oral history. Siddhartha was one of the great radical thinkers in history, who envisioned a world with no hierarchy and no aggression, which is open to everyone.
The Greeks were also busy asking the question of how we should all live together. Their large slave-labour force was allowing the Athenians time to think about such things. Democracy is born – open not to everyone, but men only, so long as you weren’t a slave.
Then War knocked on the door. It was the Persians, who had the largest empire at the time. The ultimate showdown at Marathon occurred in 490 BCE, where the Athenians beat the Persians with a death toll of 6,000 dead Persians to just 200 dead Greeks. But another Persian force was on its way to take Athens.
So this group of tired Greeks ran the 40+ kilometers all the way back, with heavy shields and suits of armour, to defend their home. They did this successfully, which resulted in an amazing sense of confidence for the Greeks and sparked their Golden Age.
(Note that other sources state that it was a single messenger named Pheidippides who ran the marathon to deliver news of the Greek victory, before dropping dead on the spot).
356 BCE: Alexander the Great is being tutored in all fields by Aristotle. He LOVED the Persian story and got told to “seek out a kingdom worthy of yourself”. Well, he did. The Greek language becomes the common language. Like Syrus (his hero), Alexander wanted to mesh different cultures and married two Persian women. He encouraged his generals to do the same, but they got a bit bleak with him. A drunken scuff resulted in his death.
Nevertheless, the spread of Greek culture and language continue to influence the whole of the known world, but how to govern was still up for debate. Socrates comes into the story, who begins to ask awkward questions. He asks his followers to question everything – especially those in power operating under this new regime labeled as Democracy (Demo – “people, the masses” and -kratia “rule, government”).
Needless to say that Socrates was a threat to those in ‘democratic’ power, who force him to sip some deadly hemlock for “corrupting the youth”. He dies for his beliefs and for asking the wrong questions of those in power and in control of the People.
Meanwhile in the East, other big thinkers were making a mark. Confucious was one of them, who was keen on a society based on stability, peace, tolerance, order, and kindness. Two of his famous lines are: “Without feelings of respect, what is there to distinguish men from beasts?” and “Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself”. Sounds rather familiar.
It is said that his Master was too distracted by drink and courtesans to pay attention, so Confucious packed up and left and had one hectic mid-life crisis. He hit the road in a similar fashion to Siddhartha and preached basic good behaviour. He died at age 72, but his followers wrote about him and his teachings. Confucianism is still deeply embedded and practiced in Chinese society today.
A short Summary of the History of the World – Part I
A short Summary of the History of the World – Part III
Disclaimer: This information has been taken from the brilliant Andrew Marr’s History of the World series (2012), which is highly recommended as a good, overall summary of our collective history.
