8. The Sumerians - Fall of the First Cities
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN commenters strongly recommend it as an audiobook-length, deeply informative introduction to Sumer and early Mesopotamian civilization.
What it is
Episode 8 of the Fall of Civilizations podcast, a roughly two and a half hour history of the Sumerians. It covers their mysterious origins, invention of writing and mathematics, great early cities and eventual collapse, with myths, proverbs and recreated music.
Recommended by 7 HN commenters across 9 different months, 2020 to 2023.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec wanderingstan · 2022-10 · on “Drone photos reveal an early Mesopotamian city made of marsh islands”
If you’re interested in the history of Lagash and the wider Sumerian civilization, I highly recommend the _Fall of Civilizations Podcast_ episode 8. [this video] At 2.5 hours it’s more like an audiobook. During the pandemic this was my gateway into learning a ton about this ancient civilization, when humanity first began to write and thus be able to communicate with us thousands of years later.
Strong rec Strom · 2022-11 · on “Ur”
Fall of Civilizations is absolutely amazing stuff, I double recommend it. It has an episode that covers this specific topic as well - [this video]
Recommends oblio · 2020-11 · on “1% of farms operate 70% of world's farmland”
> The producer of "civilization and culture"? In what sense? Farms produce the goods we eat, how does that lead to culture and civilization? I'm not that knowledgeable at history - if that is the case, then I'd really like to read more about it. Well, I recommend any history book about the Fertile Crescent and Ancient Egypt. If you have 1 hour, hear/listen to this podcast/video: [this video]
Recommends wanderingstan · 2021-02 · on “How to write cuneiform”
I went down the cuneiform rabbit hole last summer after listening to the excellent “Fall of Civilizations Podcast” episode about Sumer: [this video] This led to many of Finkel’s videos and the book mentioned in this post. (So far I’m not too impressed with the book, TBH.)
Recommends andyxor · 2021-08 · on “Archaeologists discover 4k-year-old ancient city in Iraqi desert”
this is just 30km from Ur, I thought Akkad capital was more to the north , in the traditionally Akkadian territory [LINK] btw this is great series on that time (and what preceded it) "The Sumerians - Fall of the First Cities" [this video]
Recommends mannerheim · 2021-09 · on “Life-size camel sculptures in Saudi Arabia are older than Stonehenge, pyramids”
Arizona is very hot, very arid, and also very favourable for agriculture, with significant production of lettuce and cotton. As long as you can make sure your crops get water through irrigation (which ancient Mesopotamians were very skilled at), your crops will thrive. In fact, the heat and sunlight actually provide a bit of an advantage. However, a number of factors eventually led to the collapse of the civilisations in the fertile crescent. One factor has been the region getting warmer and drier, which poses a challenge even with irrigation. As an example of how different the climate is now from what it was then, Uruk used to be on a channel of the Euphrates, but now that riverbed is compl
Recommends miltondts · 2021-12 · on “The sea people: Alexander the Great trod in the footsteps of forgotten Greeks”
And one more resource with the history of many civilizations: [LINK] I especially enjoyed [this video] , as I had no idea the first cities were already so advanced and lasted for so many centuries. EDIT: fixed youtube link.
Recommends miltondts · 2021-12 · on “Ask HN: What is the best podcast you listened to in 2021?”
Fall of civilizations has the history of many: [LINK] I especially enjoyed [this video] , as I had no idea the first cities were already so advanced and lasted for so many centuries.