Languages of the World in 1200 BC

Patrick's new book Lost Worlds: How Humans Tried, Failed, Succeeded, and Built Our World comes out May 5th! Check out a free preview of the first chapter of the audiobook, "The World As It Was," and learn about the Clovis people and reindeer hunters in Europe at the end of the la ...  Show more

Does history repeat itself? Not really, but that's not the reason it's worth studying: Our past is nothing more or less than the collective record of our species' achievements and failures, and it contains a variety of lessons, few of them easy and straightforward. In this episod ...  Show more

One of the most widely spoken languages in the world is Chinese.  In addition to being one of the most popular languages in the world, it also has some of the oldest roots and, in many respects, is completely different from every other language spoken today.  But when we refer to ...  Show more

In the 1880s, a Polish ophthalmologist set out to create a universal language. A language that could be a second language for everyone around that world that no one country or one people would control.  It was a good idea, but things didn’t quite pan out as he had hoped, and alon ...  Show more

Located roughly in the territory of the modern-day nation of Iran is the ancient region known as Persia.  Persia sat at a strategic crossroad between South Asia, Central Asia, the Middle East, the Arabian Peninsula, and Asia Minor. It was influenced not only by all of the great c ...  Show more

If you were transported to the ancient world, there's only one language that could be used in Roman Briton and China alike. It was Syriac: the lingua franca of the Silk Road and your best language to learn to conquer the ancient world.     TO HELP OUT THE SHOW Leave an honest rev ...  Show more