10 - The Old Kingdom OR Pyramid Power Preserves Provisions Perfectly!

Listen all of you! The priest of Hathor will beat twice any one of you who enters this tomb or does harm to it.

The gods will confront him because I am honored by his Lord.

The gods will not allow anything to happen to me.

Anyone who does anything bad to my tomb, then the crocodile, the hippopotamus and the lion will eat him.

-Inscription on the tomb of a man named Petety at the Giza necropolis

source: Ducktales
(This is what happens when you solve a mystery or rewrite history folks.)

Episode 10! I've made it to the double digits! Alright, this time around we take a look at the era of the pyramid builders and blow the lid off how they were built. Also in a shameless display of self promotion, have you checked out the Twitter page yet? You should! Because don't you want to be connected to this podcast on EVERY SINGLE MEDIA FORMAT?

Actually don't answer that. Just keep being awesome and listening to the episodes.

MP3 Direct Link


Music Credits
Little Red King - Rain in the Desert

Resources
Statue of Djoser
Statue of Seated Imhotep
Fantastic site for numerous depictions of Djoser's Step Pyramid
Buried Pyramid of Sekhemkhet
Meidum, or the collapsed pyramid of Huni
Bent Pyramid of Sneferu
Red Pyramid of Sneferu
The Great Pyramid
Essay by Dr. Hawass describing his find of the Great Pyramid workers.
NOVA - "This Old Pyramid" a MUST watch.
Interview with Mythbusters Kari Byron on Pyramid Power...in case you didn't know, pyramids magically preserve food and sharpen razors. Yep.
Civilization IV - Building the Great Pyramid (i LOVE this clip)

140 characters or your money back!

source: www.agent-x.com.au

(EDIT: 160...140...whatever.)

Alright I took the plunge and made a twitter page for the podcast. Because social media demands you use every single resource available! So at this point, aside from a myspace page, I think I'm totally covered. If you've liked the facebook page (thanks again!) you won't miss out on much. I'll probably use the twitter account to update the show's status and post cool things I've found but don't know where to share them. That makes sense, right?

Well if you use twitter I invite you to start following me. https://twitter.com/PodcastHistory is the link, much easier to remember then podcasthistoryofourworldtwitteraccountspectaculargroovytime, which was my original idea. 

Right, back to work on episode 10. 

9 - Egypt OR De'nile ain't just an overused joke!

"Do not stand up against me,

Do not witness against me,

Do not oppose me in tribunal,

Do not incline against me."

- Heart Scarab c.Middle Kingdom found near Nebankh

source: Sam and Max : Surfin' the Highway

(Careful ancient Egyptians! Don't get too close to Max's face!)

We're feeling fine with episode nine! After a two week delay comes our first foray into the exciting and mysterious world of the ancient Egyptians! While the Sumerians were digging mud pits and eking out an existence in a swamp, the Egyptians were kicking back in the paradise of the Nile river. Only problem? Constant attacks from evil mummies, alien gods and wololo priests!



MP3 Direct Link

Music Credits:

http://www.freestockmusic.com
http://www.playonloop.com/

Resources

Google Maps right over Egypt. Take a look!
An EXTENSIVE collection of ancient Egyptian texts and passages...an internet treasure trove.
A comprehensive collection of Badarian artifacts and sites. So cool.
Good little blurb about makeup.
The Osiris Myth. Bet you didn't know about a certain body part being cut off, did you?
Scorpion macehead.
And a closeup of the macehead. Note the scorpion insignia.
The Narmer Palette.
Crisp drawing of the Narmer Palette.
Narmer's catfish insignia!
The Palermo Stone
White Crown of Upper Egypt (Hedjet)
Red Crown of Lower Egypt (Deshret)
The Double Crown (Pschent)
The Nemes Headdress
Various hypothesized rules of Senet
Yes, the creators of Lost could have went with checkers or chess, but nooo we have to be different and use a board game no one's ever heard of! What!? I'm not bitter after all these years!

8 - The Third Dynasty of Ur OR The Richest Man in Babylon

"When the exalted Anu, king of the Anunnaki, and Enlil, lord of heaven and earth, he who determines the destiny of the land, committed the rule of all mankind to Marduk, the chief son of Ea; when they made him great among the gods; when they pronounced the lofty name of Babylon; when they made it famous among the quarters of the world and in its midst established an everlasting kingdom whose foundations were firm as heaven and earth - at that time, Anu and Enlil called me, Hammurabi, the exalted prince, the worshiper of the gods, to cause justice to prevail in the land, to destroy the wicked and the evil, to prevent the strong from oppressing the weak, to go forth like the Sun over the black head race, to enlighten the land and to further the welfare of the people."

-Prologue to the Code of Hammurabi

(Aside from his famous laws, Hammurabi was a disco dancing machine.)

Episode 8 is looking great as we explore the early days of Babylon. Look at Hammurabi and Einstein go! Hah! I could watch them all day. Maybe I will...can't look away...

Also, stuff!
- Transcripts have been updated, and I've added a new page for a bibliography.
- Check out the new logo! Because my brother, Matt, thought he could do a better job than my slapdash photoshop work and you know what?? He's right. Damn fine work I say!

And to everyone who has rated the show and/or downloaded it...you have bumped me up into the top 10 history podcasts on iTunes. and that is AWESOME. Please continue to support the show and in return I'll make more episodes and dancing gifs. It's a deal!

MP3 Direct Link

Music Credits
ensemble de Organographia - "Hurrian Hymns 7 & 10"

Supplemental learning!
Map of the 3rd Dynasty of Ur. It's en francais but you still get the picture.
Another neat map showing the territorial influence of Ur III, but you might need to tilt your head for this one!
Map of the empires of Mesopotamia around 1400 BC...a bit later than what's covered in this episode, but it's a good visual aid to what's going on.
Foundation Figure of Ur-Nammu
Fragments of the law code of Ur-Nammu
Map of Babylonian Empire (Hammurabi)
Hammurabi, standing, receiving a gift from Shamash
Hammurabi, sans schnoz
Hammurabi, as he appears on the U.S. House of Representatives
Code of Hammurabi: side view
Code of Hammurabi: full stele
The full code of Hammurabi in Akkadian and English by Robert Francis Harper

New month, new pic!

This month's background picture is of the iconic Pyramids of the Giza Necropolis. And if you look really closely, you can see the extraterrestrial graffiti that says "Glork'narx, son of Flootarn was here"
(image courtesy of http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page)