Sol Invictus, Ishtar, Mithra, Pazuzu: Stories of Forgotten Gods
For tonight's bedtime story, let's explore the stories of various gods from Antiquity that once were very relevant to the societies that worshipped them, before mostly disappearing from memories: • Sol Invictus, the sun god of the Romans that was propelled from obscure cult to im ...Show more
Nature Sleep Story: Wonder of Trees
This is a remake of one of our first episodes because the original sound was harsh and uneven when I started the podcast. For tonight's talk, I invite you to a long moment in the woods. We explore the origins of plants and how they evolved from microscopic algae to mosses, ferns, ...Show more
The Myth of El Dorado
In tonight's story, I take you on a historical tour of the myth of El Dorado. I discuss what the early years of the Spanish conquest of America were like, how the encounter between older European legends and the reality of pre-Columbian America created new myths about fabulous pl ...Show more
History of the Forbidden City
In this soft-spoken bedtime story about China, I take you to the discovery of the Forbidden City. We explore this extraordinary complex and follow the history of Imperial China from the rise of the Ming Dynasty and the construction of the Forbidden City in the 15th Century, to th ...Show more
History of Ceramics
In this soft-spoken sleep documentary, I tell you about ceramics: what pottery, earthenware, stoneware, terracotta, and porcelain are; how they appeared; and how significant they have been since prehistory around the world—in Ancient Egypt, Greece, the Americas, the Islamic world ...Show more