Podcasts about Indus River

This episode we will finish up the travels of Xuanzang, who circumnavigated the Indian subcontinent while he was there, spending over a decade and a half travelings, visiting important Buddhist pilgrimage sites, and studying at the feet of learned monks of India, and in particular at Nalanda monastery--a true center of learning from this period. For more, check out our blogpost page:  https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/episode-122 Rough Transcript Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.  My name is Joshua and this is episode 122:  Journey to the West, Part 3 The courtyard at Nalanda was quiet.  Although hundreds of people were crowded in, trying to hear what was being said, they were all doing their best to be silent and still.  Only the wind or an errant bird dared speak up.  The master's voice may not have been what it once was—he was definitely getting on in years—but Silabhadra's mind was as sharp as ever. At the front of the crowd was a relatively young face from a far off land.  Xuanzang had made it to the greatest center of learning in the world, and he had been accepted as a student of perhaps the greatest sage of his era.  Here he was, receiving lessons on some of the deepest teachings of the Mahayana Buddhist sect, the very thing he had come to learn and bring home. As he watched and listened with rapt attention, the ancient teacher began to speak….   For the last two episodes, and continuing with this one, we have been covering the travels of the monk Xuanzang in the early 7th century, starting around 629 and concluding in 645.  Born during the Sui dynasty, Xuanzang felt that the translations of the Buddhist sutras available in China were insufficient—many of them had been made long ago, and often were translations of translations.  Xuanzang decided to travel to India in the hopes of getting copies in the original language to provide more accurate translations of the sutras, particularly the Mahayana sutras.  His own accounts of his journeys, even if drawn from his memory years afterwards, provide some of our most detailed contemporary evidence of the Silk Road and the people and places along the way.  After he returned, he got to work on his translations, and became quite famous.  Several of the Japanese students of Buddhism who traveled to the Tang dynasty in the 650s studied under him directly and brought his teachings back to Japan with them.  His school of “Faxiang” Buddhism became known in Japan as the Hosso sect, and was quite popular during the 7th and 8th centuries.  Xuanzang himself, known as Genjou in Japan, would continue to be venerated as an important monk in the history of Buddhism, and his travels would eventually be popularized in fantastic ways across East Asia. Over the last couple of episodes we talked about Xuanzang's illegal and harrowing departure from the Tang empire, where he had to sneak across the border into the deserts of the Western Regions.  We then covered his time traveling from Gaochang, to Suyab, and down to Balkh, in modern Afghanistan.  This was all territory under the at least nominal control of the Gokturk empire.  From Balkh he traveled to Bamyan, and then on to Kapisa, north of modern Kabul, Afghanistan.  However, after Kapisa, Xuanzang was finally entering into the northern territories of what he knew as “India”, or “Tianzhu”. Here I would note that I'm using “India” to refer not to a single country, but to the entirety of the Indian subcontinent, and all of the various kingdoms there -- including areas now part of the modern countries of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka.  The Sinitic characters used to denote this region are pronounced, today, as “Tianzhu”, with a rough meaning of “Center of Heaven”, but it is likely that these characters were originally pronounced in such a way that the name likely came from terms like “Sindhu” or “Induka”.  This is related to the name of the Sindh or Indus river, from which India gets its name.  Xuanzang's “Record of the Western Regions” notes that the proper pronunciation of the land should be “Indu”.  In Japan, this term was transmitted through the Sinitic characters, or kanji, and pronounced as “Tenjiku”.  Since it featured so prominently in the stories of the life of the Buddha and many of the Buddhist sutras, Tenjiku was known to the people of the Japanese archipelago as a far off place that was both real and fantastical. In the 12th century, over a thousand stories were captured for the “Konjaku Monogatarishu”, or the “Collection of Tales Old and New”, which is divided up into tales from Japan, China, and India.  In the famous 9th or 10th century story, “Taketori Monogatari”, or the “Bamboo-Cutter's Tale”, about princess Kaguya hime, one of the tasks the princess sets to her suitors is to go to India to find the begging bowl of the Buddha.  Records like those produced by Xuanzang and his fellow monks, along with the stories in the sutras, likely provided the majority of what people in the Japanese archipelago knew about India, at least to begin with. Xuanzang talks about the land of India as being divided into five distinct parts—roughly the north, south, east, west, and center.  He notes that three sides face the sea and that the Snow Mountains—aka the Himalayas—are in the north.  It is, he says, “Wide in the north and narrow in the south, in the shape of a crescent moon”.  Certainly the “Wide in the north and narrow in the south” fit the subcontinent accurately enough, and it is largely surrounded by the waters of what we know as the Indian Ocean to the west, the east, and the south.  The note about the Crescent Moon might be driven by Xuanzang's understanding of a false etymology for the term “Indus”, which he claims comes from the word for “moon”.  Rather, this term appears to refer to the Indus River, also known as the Sindh or Sindhus, which comes from an ancient word meaning something like “River” or “Stream”. Xuanzang also notes that the people of the land were divided into castes, with the Brahman caste at the top of the social hierarchy.    The land was further divided into approximately 70 different countries, according to his accounts.  This is known broadly as the Early Medieval period, in India, in which the region was divided into different kingdoms and empires that rose and fell across the subcontinent, with a total size roughly equivalent to that covered by the countries of the modern European Union.  Just like Europe, there were many different polities and different languages spoken across the land – but just as Latin was the common language in Europe, due to its use in Christianity, Sanskrit was the scholarly and religious language in much of India, and could also be used as a bridge language.  Presumably, Xuanzang understood Sanskrit to some extent as a Buddhist monk.  And, just a quick note, all of this was before the introduction of Islam, though there were other religions also practiced throughout the subcontinent, but Xuanzang was primarily focused on his Buddhist studies. Xuanzang describes India as having three distinct seasons—The hot season, the rainy season, and the cold season, in that order.  Each of these were four month long periods.  Even today, the cycle of the monsoon rains is a major impact on the life of people in South Asia.  During the rainy season, the monks themselves would retreat back to their monasteries and cease their wanderings about the countryside. This tradition, called “Vassa”, is still a central practice in many Theravada Buddhist societies such as Thailand and Laos today, where they likewise experience this kind of intensely wet monsoon season. Xuanzang goes on to give an in depth analysis of the people and customs of the Indian subcontinent, as he traveled from country to country. So, as we've done before, we'll follow his lead in describing the different locations he visited. The first country of India that Xuanzang came to was the country of Lampa, or Lamapaka, thought to be modern Laghman province in Afghanistan.  At the time it was a dependency of Kapisa.  The Snow Mountains, likely meaning the Hindu Kush, the western edge of the Himalayas, lay at its north, while the “Black Mountains” surrounded it on the other three sides.  Xuanzang mentions how the people of Lampa grow non-glutinous rice—likely something similar to basmati rice, which is more prevalent in South Asian cuisine, as compared to glutinous rice like more often used in East Asia. From Lampa he headed to Nagarahara, likely referring to a site near the Kabul River associated with the ruins of a stupa called Nagara Gundi, about 4 kilometers west of modern Jalalabad, Afghanistan.  This was another vassal city-state of Kapisa.  They were still Mahayana Buddhists, but there were other religions as well, which Xuanzang refers to as “heretical”, though I'm not entirely sure how that is meant in this context.  He does say that many of the stupas were dilapidated and in poor condition. Xuanzang was now entering areas where he likely believed the historical Buddha had once walked.  In fact, Lampa was perhaps the extent of historical Buddha's travels, according to the stories and the sutras, though this seems unlikely to have been true.  The most plausible locations for the Historical Buddha's pilgrimages were along the Ganges river, which was on the other side of the subcontinent, flowing east towards modern Kolkatta and the Bengal Bay.  However, as Buddhism spread, so, too, did stories of the Buddha's travels.  And so, as far as Xuanzang was concerned, he was following in the footsteps of the Buddha. Speaking of which, at Nagarahara, Xuanzang mentions “footprints” of the Buddha.  This is a Buddhist tradition found in many places.  Xuanzang claims that the Tathagatha, the Englightened One, or the Buddha, would fly, because when he walked the land itself shook.  Footprint shapes in rock could be said to be evidence of the Buddha's travels.  Today, in many Buddhist areas you can find footprints carved into rock conforming to stories about the Buddha, such as all the toes being of the same length, or other various signs.  These may have started out as natural depressions in the rock, or pieces of artwork, but they were believed by many to be the actual point at which the Buddha himself touched down.  There are famous examples of these footprints in Sri Lanka, Thailand, and China.  Of course there are also traditions of creating images of the footprint as an object of worship.  Images of footprints, similar to images of the Great Wheel of the Law, may have been some of the earliest images for veneration, as images of the Buddha himself did not appear until much later in the tradition.  One of the oldest such footprints in Japan is at Yakushiji temple, and dated to 753.  It was created based on a rubbing brought back by an envoy to the Tang court, while they were in Chang'an. Like Buddha footprints, there are many other images and stories that show up multiple times in different places, even in Xuanzang's own narrative.  For example, in Nagarahara Xuanzang also shares a story of a cave, where an image of the Buddha could be just barely made out on the wall – maybe maybe an old carving that had just worn away, or maybe an image that was deliberately placed in the darkness as a metaphor for finding the Buddha—finding enlightenment.  This is not an uncommon theme in Buddhism as a whole.  In any case, the story around this image was that it had been placed there to subdue a naga. Now a naga is a mythical snake-like being, and  we are told that this particular naga was the reincarnation of a man who had invoked a curse on the nearby kingdom, then threw himself from a cliff in order to become a naga and sow destruction.  As the story went, the man was indeed reborn, but before he could bring destruction, the Buddha showed up and subdued him, convincing him that this was not right.  And so the naga agreed to stay in the cave, where the Buddha left an image—a shadow—to remind the naga any time that its thoughts might turn to destruction. Later in his travels, at a place name Kausambi, Xuanzang mentions another cave where the Buddha had subdued a venomous dragon and left his shadow on the cave wall.  Allowing for the possibility that the Buddha just had a particular M.O. when dealing with destructive beings, we should also consider the possibility that the story developed in one region—probably closer to the early center of Buddhism, and then traveled outward, such that it was later adopted and adapted to local traditions.  From Nagarahara, Xuanzang continued to the country of Gandhara and its capital city of Purushapura, aka modern Peshwar.  This kingdom was also under vassalage to the Kapisan king.  Here and elsewhere in the journey, Xuanzang notes not only evidence of the historical Buddha, but also monasteries and stupas purported to have been built by King Kanishka and King Asoka.  These were important figures who were held in high regard for spreading Buddhism during their reign.  Continuing through the region of Gandhara, he also passed through Udakhand and the city of Salatura, known as the birthplace of the ancient Sanskrit grammarian, Daksiputra Panini, author of the Astadhyayi [Aestudjayi].  This work is the oldest surviving description of classical Sanskrit, and used grammatical and other concepts that wouldn't be introduced into Western linguistics for eons.  Daksiputra Panini thrived around the 5th or 4th century BCE, but was likely one of the reasons that Sanskrit continued to be used as a language of scholarship and learning even as it died out of usage as the day to day language of the common people.  His works and legacy would have been invaluable to translators like Xuanzang in understanding and translating from Sanskrit. Xuanzang continued on his journey to Kashmira, situated in the Kashmir Valley.  This valley sits between the modern states of Pakistan and India, and its ownership is actively disputed by each.  It is the namesake of the famous cashmere wool—wool from the winter coats of a type of goat that was bred in the mountainous regions.  The winter coat would be made of soft, downy fibers and would naturally fall out in the spring, which the goatherds harvested and made into an extremely fine wool.  In the 7th century and earlier, however, the region was known not as much for its wool, but as a center for Hindu and Buddhist studies.  Xuanzang ended up spending two years in Kashmira studying with teachers there.  Eventually, though, he continued on, passing through the country of Rajpura, and continuing on to Takka and the city of Sakala—modern day Sialkot in the Punjab region of modern Pakistan.  Leaving Sakala, he was traveling with a group when suddenly disaster struck and they were accosted by a group of bandits.  They took the clothes and money of Xuanzang and those with him and then they drove the group into a dry pond in an attempt to corral them while they figured out what they would do—presumably meaning kill them all.  Fortunately for the group, there was a water drain at the southern edge of the pond large enough for one man to pass through.  Xuanzang and one other went through the gap and they were able to escape to a nearby village.  Once they got there, they told the people what had happened, and the villagers quickly gathered weapons and ran out to confront the brigands, who saw a large group coming and ran away.  Thus they were able to rescue the rest of Xuanzang's traveling companions.  Xuanzang's companions were devastated, having lost all of their possessions.  However, Xuanzang comforted them.  After all, they still had their lives.  By this time, Xuanzang had certainly seen his fair share of life and death problems along the road.  They continued on, still in the country of Takka, to the next great city.  There they met a Brahman, and once they told him what had happened, he started marshalling the forces of the city on their behalf.  During Xuanzang's stay in Kashmira, he had built a reputation, and people knew of the quote-unquote “Chinese monk”.  And even though the people in this region were not necessarily Buddhist—many were “heretics” likely referring to those of Hindu faith—the people responded to this pre-Internet “GoFundMe” request with incredible generosity.  They brought Xuanzang food and cloth to make into suits of clothes.  Xuanzang distributed this to his travel companions, and ended up still having enough cloth for 50 suits of clothes himself.  He then stayed at that city a month. It is odd that they don't seem to mention the name of this location.  Perhaps there is something unspeakable about it?  Still, it seems that they were quite generous, even if they were “heretics” according to Xuanzang. From the country of Takka, he next proceeded to the kingdom of Cinabhukti, where he spent 14 months—just over a year—studying with the monks there.  Once he had learned what he could, he proceeded onwards, passing through several countries in northern India until he came to the headwaters of the sacred Ganges rivers.  The Indus and the Ganges rivers are in many ways similar to the Yellow River and Yangzi, at least in regards to their importance to the people of India.  However, whereas the Yellow River and Yangzi both flow east towards the Pacific Ocean, the Indus and Ganges flow in opposite directions.  The Indus flows southwest, from the Himalayas down through modern India into modern Pakistan, emptying into the western Indian Ocean.  The Ganges flows east along the base of the Himalayas and enters the eastern Indian Ocean at Kolkatta.   At the headwaters of the Ganges, Xuanzang found a Buddhist monk named Jayagupta and chose to spend the winter and half of the following spring listening to his sermons and learning at his feet. From there he continued his travels, and ended up being summoned by King Harshavardhana of Kanyakubja, known today as the modern city of Kannauj.  Harshavardhana ruled an immense state that covered much of the territory around the sacred Ganges river.  As word of this strange monk from a far off land reached him, the King wanted to see him for himself.  Xuanzang stayed in Kannauj for three months, completing his studies of the Vibhasha Shastra, aka the Abhidarmma Mahavibhasha Shastra, known in Japanese as the Abidatsuma Daibibasharon, or just as the Daibibasharon or the Basharon, with the latter two terms referring to the translations that Xuanzang performed.   This work is not a sutra, per se, but rather an encyclopedic work that attempted to speak on all of the various doctrinal issues of its day.  It is thought to have been authored around 150 CE, and was influential in the Buddhist teachings of Kashmira, when that was a center of Orthodoxy at the time.  This is what Xuanzang had started studying, and it seems that in Kannauj he was finally able to grasp everything he felt he needed to know about it in order to effectively translate it and teach it when he returned.  That said, his quest was not over.  And after his time in Kannauj, he decided to continue on. His next stop was at the city of Ayodhya.  This was—and is—a city of particular importance in Hindu traditions.  It is said to be the city mentioned in the epic tale known as the Ramayana, though many argue that it was simply named that later in honor of that ancient city.  It does appear to be a city that the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, visited and where he preached.  It was also the home of a famous monk from Gandhara who authored a number of Buddhist tomes and was considered, at least by Xuanzang, a proper Boddhisatva.  And so Xuanzang spent some time paying homage to the places where the Buddha and other holy figures had once walked. “Ayodhya” appears in many forms across Asia.  It is a major pilgrimage center, and the city of “Ayutthaya” in Thailand was named for it, evoking the Ramayana—known in Thai as the Ramakien—which they would adopt as their own national story.  In Silla, there is a story that queen Boju, aka Heo Hwang-ok, wife to the 2nd century King Suro of Geumgwan Gaya, traveled to the peninsula all the way from the foreign country of “Ayuta”, thought to mean Ayodhya.  Her story was written down in the Gaya histories and survives as a fragment found in the Samguk Yusa.  Members of the Gimhae Kim, Gimhae Heo, and Incheon Yi clans all trace their lineage back to her and King Suro. From Ayodhya, Xuanzang took a trip down the Ganges river.  The boat was packed to bursting with some 80 other travelers, and as they traveled towards a particularly heavily forested area, they were set upon by bandits, who rowed their ships out from hiding in the trees and forced the travelers to the shore.  There the bandits made all the travelers strip down and take off their clothing so that the bandits could search for gold or valuables.  According to Xuanzang's biography, these bandits were followers of Durga, a Hindu warrior-goddess, and it is said that each year they would look for someone of particularly handsome features to sacrifice to her.  With Xuanzang's foreign features, they chose him.  And so they took him to be killed.  Xuanzang mentioned that he was on a pilgrimage, and that by interrupting him before they finished he was worried it might be inauspicious for them, but he didn't put up a fight and merely asked to be given time to meditate and calm his mind and that they perform the execution quickly so that he wouldn't even notice. From there, according to the story, a series of miracles occurred that ended up with Xuanzang being released and the bandits worshipping at his feet.  It is times like this we must remember that this biography was being written by Xuanzang's students based on stories he told them about his travels.  While being accosted by bandits on the river strikes me as perfectly plausible, we don't necessarily have the most reliable narrators, so I'm going to have to wonder about the rest.  Speaking of unreliable narration, the exact route that Xuanzang traveled from here on is unclear to me, based on his stated goals and where he was going.  It is possible that he was wandering as opportunities presented themselves —I don't know that he had any kind of map or GPS, like we've said in the past.  And it may be that the routes from one place to another were not always straightforward.  Regardless, he seems to wander southeast for a period before turning again to the north and eventually reaching the city of Shravasti. Shravasti appeared in our discussion of the men of Tukhara in Episode 119.  With the men of Tukhara there was also mentioned a woman from Shravasti.  While it is unlikely that was actually the case—the names were probably about individuals from the Ryukyuan island chain rather than from India—it is probably worth nothing that Shravasti was a thriving place in ancient times.  It was at one time the capital city of the kingdom of Kosala, sharing that distinction with the city of Ayodhya, back in the 7th to 5th centuries BCE.  It is also where the historical Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama, was said to have spend many years of his life.  This latter fact would have no doubt made it a place of particular importance to Xuanzang on his journeys. From there he traveled east, ending up following the foothills of the Himalayas, and finally came to some of the most central pilgrimages sites for followers of the historical Buddha.  First, he reached Lumbini wood, in modern Nepal, said to have been the birthplace of Prince Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha.  And then he visited Kushinagara, the site where the Buddha ascended to nirvana—in other words, the place where he passed away.  From there, he traveled to Varanasi, and the deer park monastery, at the place where the Buddha is said to have given one of his most famous sermons.  He even visited the Bodhi tree, the tree under which Siddhartha Gautama is said to have attained enlightenment.  He spent eight or nine days there at Bodhgaya, and word must have spread about his arrival, because several monks from the eminent Nalanda Monastery called upon him and asked him to come to the monastery with them. Nalanda Monastery was about 80 km from Bodhgaya.  This was a grand monastery and center of learning—some say that it was, for a time, the greatest in the world.  It had been founded in the 5th century by the Gupta dynasty, and many of the Gupta rulers and others donated to support the monastery, which also acted as a university.  After the fall of the Gupta dynasty, the monastery was supported by King Harsha of Kannauj, whom Xuanzang had visited earlier.  It ultimately thrived for some 750 years, and is considered by some to be the oldest residential university—meaning that students would come to the temple complex and stay in residence for years at a time to study.  According to Xuanzang, Nalanda hosted some 10,000 monks. Including hosts and guests.  They didn't only study Buddhist teachings, but also logic, grammar, medicine, and divination.  Lectures were given at more than 100 separate places—or classrooms—every day.  It was at Nalanda, that Xuanzang would meet the teacher Silabhadra, who was known as the Right Dharma Store.  Xuanzang requested that he be allowed to study the Yogacharabhumi Shastra—the Yugashijiron, in Japanese.  This is the work that Xuanzang is said to have been most interested in, and one of the works that he is credited with bringing back in one of the first full translations to the Tang dynasty and then to others in East Asia.  It is an encyclopedic work dedicated to the various forms of Yogacara practice, which focuses on the mental disciplines, and includes yoga and meditation practices.  It has a huge influence on nearly all Mahayana schools, including things like the famous Zen and Pure Land schools of Buddhism.  The Yogacharabhumi Shastra is the earliest such encyclopedic work, compiled between the 3rd and 5th centuries—so even if the monk Faxian had brought portions of it back, it was probably not in the final form that Xuanzang was able to access. Silabhadra, for his part, was an ancient teacher—some put his age at 106 years, and his son was in his 70s.  He was one of the few at Nalandra who supposedly knew all of the various texts that they had at the monastery, including the Yogacarabhumi Shastra.  Xuanzang seems to have been quite pleased to study under him.  Xuanzang stayed at the house of Silabhadra's son, Buddhabhadra, and they welcomed him with entertainment that lasted seven days.  We are told that he was then given his own lodgings, a stipend of spices, incense, rice, oil, butter, and milk, along with a servant and a Brahman.  As a visiting monk, he was not responsible for the normal monastic duties, instead being expected to spend the time in study.  Going out, he was carried around by an elephant.   This was certainly the royal treatment. Xuanzang's life at Nalandra wasn't all books: south of the monastery was the city of Rajagrha, the old capital of the kingdom of Magadha, where the ancient Gupta kings had once lived, and on occasional breaks from his studies, Xuanzang would venture out to see the various holy sites.  This included the famous Mt. Grdhrakuta, or Vulture Peak, a location said to be favored by the historical Buddha and central to the Lotus Sutra, arguably the founding document of Mahayana Buddhist tradition. After all, “Mahayana” means “Greater Vehicle” and it is in the Lotus Sutra that we see the metaphor of using different vehicles to escape a burning house.   We've already talked a bit about how the image of Vulture Peak had already become important in Japanese Buddhism: In Episode 112 we talked about how in 648, Abe no Oho-omi had drums piled up at Shitennoji in the shape of Vulture Peak. But although the sightseeing definitely enhanced his experience, Xuanzang was first and foremost there to study.  He spent 15 months just listening to his teacher expound on the Yogacarabhumi Shastra, but he also heard expositions on various other teachings as well.  He ended up studying at Nalandra Monastery for 5 years, gaining a much better understanding of Sanskrit and the various texts, which would be critically important when it came to translating them, later. But, Xuanzang was not one to stay in any one place forever, and so after 5 years—some 8 years or more into his journey, he continued on, following the Ganges east, to modern Bangladesh.  Here he heard about various other lands, such as Dvarapati—possibly referring to Dvaravati, in modern Thailand, as well as Kamalanka and Isanapura.  The latter was in modern Cambodia, the capital of the ancient Chenla kingdom.  Then Mahacampa—possibly referring to the Champa region of Vietnam—and the country of Yamanadvipa.  But there was still more of India for Xuanzang to discover, and more teachings to uncover, and so Xuanzang decided instead to head southwest, following the coast.  He heard of the country of Sinhala, referring to the island of Sri Lanka, but he was urged not to go by ship, as the long journey was perilous.  Instead he could stay on relatively dry land and head down to the southern tip of the subcontinent and then make a quick hop from there across to the island.  He traveled a long distance, all the way down to Kancipuram, the seat of the Pallava dynasty, near modern day Chennai.  From the seaport near Kancipuram, it was only three days to Sinhala—that is to say Sri Lanka—but before he could set out, he met a group of monks who had just arrived.  They told him that the king of Sinhala had died , and there was a great famine and civil disturbances.  So they had fled with some 300 other monks. Xuanzang eventually decided not to make the journey, but he did talk with the monks and gathered information on the lands to the south, on Sri Lanka, and on the islands south of that, by which I suspect he may have meant the Maldives.  While Sri Lanka is an area important to Buddhist scholarship, particularly to the Theravada schools, this likely did not impress Xuanzang, and indeed he seemed to feel that his studies in Nalanda had more than provided him what he needed.  Sri Lanka, however, is the source of the Pali canon, one of the most complete early canons of Buddhism, which had a huge influence on Theravada Buddhism in Southeast Asia and elsewhere. So Xuanzang took plenty of notes but decided to forego the ocean voyage and headed northwest, instead.  He traveled across the breadth of India to Gujarat, and then turned back east, returning to pay respects once more to his teacher in Nalanda.  While there he heard of another virtuous monk named Prajnabhadra at a nearby monastery.  And so he went to spend several months with him, as well.  He also studied with a layman, Sastrin Jayasena, at Stickwood Hill.  Jayasena was a ksatriya, or nobleman, by birth, and studied both Buddhist and non-Buddhist texts.  He was courted by kings, but had left to continue his studies.  Xuanzang studied with him for another couple of years. Xuanzang remained at Nalanda, learning and teaching, expounding on what he had learned and gathering many copies of the various documents that he wished to take back with him, though he wondered how he might do it.  In the meantime, he also acquired quite the reputation.  We are told that King Siladitya had asked Nalanda for monks who could refute Theravada teachings, and Xuanzang agreed to go.  It isn't clear, but it seems that “Siladitya” was a title, and likely referred to King Harsha of Kannauj, whom we mentioned earlier.  Since he was a foreigner, then there could be no trouble that was brought on Nalanda and the other monks if he did poorly.  While he was waiting to hear back from Siladitya's court, which was apparently taking time to arrange things, the king of Kamarupta reached out to Nalanda with a request that Xuanzang come visit them.  While Xuanzang was reluctant to be gone too long, he was eventually encouraged to go and assuage the king. Kamarupta was a kingdom around the modern Assam region, ruled by King Bhaskaravarman, also known as King Kumara, a royal title.  This kingdom included parts of Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal.  Bhaskaravarman, like so many other regents, seems to have been intrigued by the presence of this foreign monk, who had traveled all this way and who had studied at the famous Nalanda Monastery in Magadha. He invited Xuanzang to come to him.  Xuanzang's teacher, Silabhadra, had exhorted him to spread the right Dharma, and to even go to those non-Buddhists in hopes that they might be converted, or at least partially swayed. King Bhaskaravarman was quite taken with Xuanzang, wining and dining him while listening to him preach.  While there, Xuanzang learned about the country of Kamarupta.  He also learned about a path north, by which it was said it was a two month journey to arrive at the land of Shu, in the Sichuan Basin, on the upper reaches of the Yangzi – a kind of shortcut back to the Tang court.  However, the journey was treacherous—possibly even more treacherous than the journey to India had been. Eventually word reached the ears of King Siladitya that Xuanzang was at the court of King Bhaskaravarman, and Siladitya got quite upset.  Xuanzang had not yet come to *his* court, so Siladitya demanded that Bhaskaravarman send the monk to him immediately.  Bhaskaravarman refused, saying he'd rather give Siladitya his own head, which Siladitya said he would gladly accept.  Bhaskaravarman realized he may have miscalculated, and so he sailed up the Ganges with a host of men and Xuanzang to meet with Siladitya.  After a bit of posturing, Siladitya met with Xuanzang, who went with him, and eventually confronted the members of the Theravada sect in debate.  Apparently it almost got ugly, but for the King's intervention.  After a particularly devastating critique of the Theravada position, the Theravada monks are blamed for trying to use violence against Xuanzang and his fellow Mahayana monks from Nalanda, who were prepared to defend themselves.  The King had to step in and break it up before it went too far. Ultimately, Xuanzang was a celebrity at this point and both kings seem to have supported him, especially as he was realizing it was about time to head back to his own country.  Both kings was offered ships, should Xuanzang wish to sail south and then up the coast.  However, Xuanzang elected to take the northern route, hoping to go back through Gaochang, and see that city and its ruler again.  And so the Kings gave him money and valuables , along with wagons for all of the texts.  They also sent an army to protect all of the treasures, and even an elephant and more – sending him back in style with a huge send-off. So Xuanzang retraced his earlier steps, this time on an elephant.  He traveled back to Taxila, to Kashmir, and beyond.  He was invited to stay in Kashmira, but because of his retinue, he wasn't quite at leisure to just go where he wanted.  At one point, near Kapisa—modern Bagram, north of Kabul—they had to cross a river, and about 50 of the almost 700 documents were lost.  The King of Kapisa heard of this and had his own monks make copies to replace them based on their own schools.  The King of Kasmira, hearing that he was in Kapisa, also came to pay his respects. Xuanzang traveled with the King of Kapisa northwest for over a month and reached Lampaka, where he did take some time to visit the various holy sites before continuing northwest.  They had to cross the Snow Mountains—the outskirts of the Himalayas, and even though it wasn't the highest part of the range it was still challenging.  He had to dismount his elephant and travel on foot.  Finally, after going over the high mountains and coming down, he arrived back in the region of Tukhara, in the country of Khowst.  He then came to Kunduz, and paid his respects to the grandson of Yehu Khan.  He was given more guards to escort him eastward, traveling with some merchants.  This was back in Gokturk controlled lands, over a decade later than when he had last visited.  He continued east to Badakshan, stopping there for a month because of the cold weather and snow.  He eventually traveled through the regions of Tukhara and over the Pamir range.  He came down on the side of the Tarim Basin, and noted how the rivers on one side flowed west, while on the other side they flowed east.  The goings were treacherous, and at one point they were beset by bandits.  Though he and the documents were safe, his elephant panicked and fled into the river and drowned.  He eventually ended up in the country of Kashgar, in modern Xinjiang province, at the western edge of the Taklamakan desert. From there he had two options.  He could go north and hug the southern edge of the Tianshan mountains, or he could stay to the south, along the northern edge of the Himalayan range and the Tibetan plateau.  He chose to go south.  He traveled through Khotan, a land of wool and carpets.  This was a major trade kingdom, and they also grew mulberry trees for silkworms, and were known for their jade.  The king himself heard of Xuanzang and welcomed him, as many others had done.  While he was staying at the Khotanese capital, Xuanzang penned a letter to the Tang court, letting them know of his journey, and that he was returning.  He sent it with some merchants and a man of Gaochang to deliver it to the court. Remember, Xuanzang had left the Tang empire illegally.  Unless he wanted to sneak back in his best hope was that the court was willing to forgive and forget all of that, given everything that he was bringing back with him.  The wait was no doubt agonizing, but he did get a letter back.  It assured him that he was welcome back, and that all of the kingdoms from Khotan back to the governor of Dunhuang had been made aware and were ready to receive him. With such assurances, Xuanzang packed up and headed out.  The king of Khotan granted him more gifts to help see him on his way.  Nonetheless, there was still a perilous journey ahead.  Even knowing the way, the road went through miles and miles of desert, such that in some places you could only tell the trail by the bleached bones of horses and travelers who had not been so fortunate.  Eventually, however, Xuanzang made it to the Jumo River and then on to Dunhuang, from whence he was eventually escorted back to the capital city. It was now the year 645, the year of the Isshi Incident in Yamato and the death of Soga.  Xuanzang had been gone for approximately 16 years.  In that time, the Tang had defeated the Gokturks and taken Gaochang, expanding their control over the trade routes in the desert.  Xuanzang, for his part, was bringing back 657 scriptures, bound in 520 bundles carried by a train of some 20 horses.  He was given a hero's welcome, and eventually he would be set up in a monastery where he could begin the next part of his journey:  Translating all of these books. This was the work of a lifetime, but it is one that would have a profound impact on Buddhism across East Asia.  Xuanzang's translations would revolutionize the understanding of Mahayana Buddhist teachings, and students would come from as far away as the Yamato court to study under him and learn from the teacher who studied and taught at none other than Nalanda monastery itself.  His school would become popular in the Yamato capital, and the main school of several temples, at least for a time.  In addition, his accounts and his biography would introduce many people to the wider world of central and south Asia.  While I could go on, this has already been a story in three parts, and this is, after all, the Chronicles of Japan, so we should probably tune back into what is going on with Yamato.  Next episode, we'll look at one of the most detailed accounts we have of a mission to Chang'an. Until then, I hope that this has been enjoyable.  Xuanzang's story is one of those that isn't just about him, but about the interconnected nature of the entire world at the time.  While his journey is quite epic, there were many people traveling the roads, though most of them didn't write about it afterwards.  People, artifacts, and ideas traveled much greater distances than we often consider at this time, well before any kind of modern travel.  It was dangerous, but often lucrative, and it meant that various regions could have influence well beyond what one might expect. And so, thank you once again for listening and for all of your support. If you like what we are doing, please tell your friends and feel free to rate us wherever you listen to podcasts.  If you feel the need to do more, and want to help us keep this going, we have information about how you can donate on Patreon or through our KoFi site, ko-fi.com/sengokudaimyo, or find the links over at our main website,  SengokuDaimyo.com/Podcast, where we will have some more discussion on topics from this episode. Also, feel free to reach out to our Sengoku Daimyo Facebook page.  You can also email us at the.sengoku.daimyo@gmail.com.  Thank you, also, to Ellen for their work editing the podcast. And that's all for now.  Thank you again, and I'll see you next episode on Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan

Today on TPE we go to Hyderabad and Wan ki Wasi to find out why is Sindh protesting against the canals on the Indus River.The Pakistan Experience is an independently produced podcast looking to tell stories about Pakistan through conversations. Please consider supporting us on Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/thepakistanexperienceTo support the channel:Jazzcash/Easypaisa - 0325 -2982912Patreon.com/thepakistanexperienceAnd Please stay in touch:https://twitter.com/ThePakistanExp1https://www.facebook.com/thepakistanexperiencehttps://instagram.com/thepakistanexpeperienceThe podcast is hosted by comedian and writer, Shehzad Ghias Shaikh. Shehzad is a Fulbright scholar with a Masters in Theatre from Brooklyn College. He is also one of the foremost Stand-up comedians in Pakistan and frequently writes for numerous publications. Instagram.com/shehzadghiasshaikhFacebook.com/Shehzadghias/Twitter.com/shehzad89Join this channel to get access to perks:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC44l9XMwecN5nSgIF2Dvivg/join

Alya Bakshal is the Womens Secretary at Awaami Workers Party and the Federal President of the Women's Democratic Front, we got a chance to talk to her on the sidelines of the AWP protest against the plan to build canals on the Indus River.Chapters:0:00 Introduction and Water Issues2:30 Issues of Farmers4:50 Why vote for PPP then7:00 Politics9:00 Resistance in Sindh13:00 We all need to Unite15:30 Awaam kee awaazThe Pakistan Experience is an independently produced podcast looking to tell stories about Pakistan through conversations. Please consider supporting us on Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/thepakistanexperienceTo support the channel:Jazzcash/Easypaisa - 0325 -2982912Patreon.com/thepakistanexperienceAnd Please stay in touch:https://twitter.com/ThePakistanExp1https://www.facebook.com/thepakistanexperiencehttps://instagram.com/thepakistanexpeperienceThe podcast is hosted by comedian and writer, Shehzad Ghias Shaikh. Shehzad is a Fulbright scholar with a Masters in Theatre from Brooklyn College. He is also one of the foremost Stand-up comedians in Pakistan and frequently writes for numerous publications. Instagram.com/shehzadghiasshaikhFacebook.com/Shehzadghias/Twitter.com/shehzad89Join this channel to get access to perks:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC44l9XMwecN5nSgIF2Dvivg/join

Iqbal Chand Malhotra is an Indian filmmaker, author, and expert on geopolitics. He studied Economics at Cambridge University and has produced over 500 hours of documentaries. As the Chairman of AIM Television, he focuses on topics like terrorism, geopolitics, and nuclear strategies. He has also been a juror for the International Emmy Awards. Malhotra has directed three award-winning documentaries: The Legend of Malerkotla, Subhas Chandra Bose: The Mystery, and Netaji Bose and the Lost Treasure. He co-wrote the bestseller Kashmir's Untold Story – Declassified and authored Red Fear – The China Threat. You Can buy his books here: https://www.amazon.in/Books-Iqbal-Chand-Malhotra/s?rh=n%3A976389031%2Cp_27%3AIqbal%2BChand%2BMalhotra You can check out his documentaries here: https://aimtelevision.com/ In this episode, Vinamre and Iqbal talk about: - How China weakened India's industries and how India can reduce its dependence on China - The future of India-U.S. ties and Starlink's role in India - China's dams on the Indus River and their impact - The British opium trade in China - Pakistan's role in the drug trade and how Pakistan created the Taliban - His experiences in Afghanistan and Turkmenistan with drug lords and renting an AK-47 - China's tricks in 1962 and the existence of “The Great Game”. Watch the episode to learn more about China's threat to India and the history of India-China relations. Timestamps: 00:00 - Introduction 1:10 - Deindustrialization of India by China 10:30 - What can India do to disengage from the Chinese economy? 14:43 - Why is he so harsh towards China? 17:48 - India-U.S. relations and Starlink in India 20:28 - China is building dams on Indus rivers 23:20 - Opium trade in China by the British 24:36 - Pakistan is a narcotic state 28:18 - The Taliban was created by Pakistan, not America 31:05 - Traveling in different parts of Afghanistan 35:48 - The crazy dictator of Turkmenistan 39:13 - Renting an AK-47 44:00 - Meeting the drug lord of Afghanistan 50:08 - How did he end up in these places? 54:22 - Traveling to China and Kailash Mansarovar 59:00 - How China fooled us in 1962 war 1:11:00 - Does "The Great Game" still exist in the modern era? 1:13:20 - Conclusion ==================================================================== This is the official channel for Dostcast, a podcast by Vinamre Kasanaa. Connect with me LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vinamre-kasanaa-b8524496/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vinamrekasanaa/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/VinamreKasanaa Dostcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dostcast/ Dostcast on Twitter: https://twitter.com/dostcast Dostcast on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61557567524054 ==================================================================== Contact Us For business inquiries: dostcast@egiplay.com

There are an estimated 54,000 glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalayas. These glaciers cover 60,000 square kilometers and serve as a major source of the water in the region's rivers, including as much as 40 percent in the Indus River system - the backbone of agriculture and food production in Pakistan, for example. But in recent decades glaciologists – those who study glaciers – are concerned with how fast Himalayan glaciers are melting, and what that could mean for the more than a billion people downstream who depend on these glaciers for agriculture, fresh water, energy production, and basic livelihood.Smriti Srivastava is a Wilkes Center Postdoctoral Research Associate in the School of Environment, Society & Sustainability at the University of Utah.  She has studied Himalayan glaciers throughout her academic and research career, which has included several field expeditions to study the glaciers up close. (Featured image: Smriti Srivastava's photo of her research team led by Prof. Mohd. Farooq Azam, with the Indian Institute of Technology Indore, while hiking the Drang-Drung Glacier at 5300 m a.s.l in September 2023, one of the largest glaciers in the Himalaya-Karakoram mountain range. Photo credit: Himanshu Kaushik)https://wilkescenter.utah.edu/podcast/26-sizing-up-the-melting-glaciers-of-the-himalayas/

Columbus Day is October 14, and is always a guarantee that there will be arguments and political posturing about how either Christopher Columbus was some great hero who discovered America, but thought it was India and so called the people Indians, or about how we was a white monster who slaughtered innocent red people who he stumbled upon randomly. Neither narrative holds up to scrutiny. Columbus was married into the family of Henry Sinclair, who ventured to the Americas from Scotland in 1398. Others like Leif Erikson came hundreds of years before that, sometime around 1000 AD. Columbus certainly didn't mistake the people he found for the population of India because that place then was called Hindustan, meaning people who lived on land beyond the Indus River. Instead he wrote of them as Indios, or “una gente in Dios,” meaning “a people in God.” The only problem was they didn't believe in the same God necessarily, and though the people generally wanted to trade and have friendship, they did not want to be forcibly converted to another religion. But this is the case for every group of people, not just Indians supposedly oppressed by Europeans. Part of the narrative includes the myths of smallpox blankets, blind murder of all heathens, and theft of all their land and resources. Yet there is only one case of potential bio-warfare at Fort Pitt, as a result of Indians refusing peace terms, and we know that Columbus himself saw the people as ready to be converted so they certainly were not heathens having already been designated "indios." Furthermore, the romanticizing of Indians as believing no-one could own the land or private property is a malicious lie, considering that most tribes had a sophisticated understanding of the previous - not to mention the Iroquois Confederacy was instrumental in forming the US Constitution many hundreds of years later. The idea that Europeans ripped Natives off, which suggest they were dumb, which they weren't, is another malicious lie. In fact, Indians and Europeans traded largely in peace, with the latter prizing the former's goods, something that may have lead to sickness spreading among tribes. Most conflicts arose from non-Indian land speculators and fur traders, but also from Indians who saw Europeans as barbarians. Today we have politicians wanting to rename Columbus Day and instead call it Indigenous Peoples Day. The problem is “indigenous” means originating from a specific place, and in the case of Indians they certainly didn't originate in the Americas. In fact, by chronology, in a sense, Erikson and Sinclair were more Native American than the Arawak greeted by Columbus. Not to mention Richard Marsh found white Indians in Panama. Recent research has also found that Australian Aboriginal DNA is within Brazilian Indians.-FREE ARCHIVE (w. ads)SUBSCRIPTION ARCHIVEX / TWITTER FACEBOOKWEBSITEPAYPALCashApp: $rdgable EMAIL: rdgable@yahoo.com / TSTRadio@protonmail.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/tst-radio--5328407/support.

Columbus Day is October 14, and is always a guarantee that there will be arguments and political posturing about how either Christopher Columbus was some great hero who discovered America, but thought it was India and so called the people Indians, or about how we was a white monster who slaughtered innocent red people who he stumbled upon randomly. Neither narrative holds up to scrutiny. Columbus was married into the family of Henry Sinclair, who ventured to the Americas from Scotland in 1398. Others like Leif Erikson came hundreds of years before that, sometime around 1000 AD. Columbus certainly didn't mistake the people he found for the population of India because that place then was called Hindustan, meaning people who lived on land beyond the Indus River. Instead he wrote of them as Indios, or “una gente in Dios,” meaning “a people in God.” The only problem was they didn't believe in the same God necessarily, and though the people generally wanted to trade and have friendship, they did not want to be forcibly converted to another religion. But this is the case for every group of people, not just Indians supposedly oppressed by Europeans. Part of the narrative includes the myths of smallpox blankets, blind murder of all heathens, and theft of all their land and resources. Yet there is only one case of potential bio-warfare at Fort Pitt, as a result of Indians refusing peace terms, and we know that Columbus himself saw the people as ready to be converted so they certainly were not heathens having already been designated "indios." Furthermore, the romanticizing of Indians as believing no-one could own the land or private property is a malicious lie, considering that most tribes had a sophisticated understanding of the previous - not to mention the Iroquois Confederacy was instrumental in forming the US Constitution many hundreds of years later. The idea that Europeans ripped Natives off, which suggest they were dumb, which they weren't, is another malicious lie. In fact, Indians and Europeans traded largely in peace, with the latter prizing the former's goods, something that may have lead to sickness spreading among tribes. Most conflicts arose from non-Indian land speculators and fur traders, but also from Indians who saw Europeans as barbarians. Today we have politicians wanting to rename Columbus Day and instead call it Indigenous Peoples Day. The problem is “indigenous” means originating from a specific place, and in the case of Indians they certainly didn't originate in the Americas. In fact, by chronology, in a sense, Erikson and Sinclair were more Native American than the Arawak greeted by Columbus. Not to mention Richard Marsh found white Indians in Panama. Recent research has also found that Australian Aboriginal DNA is within Brazilian Indians.-FREE ARCHIVE & RSS: https://www.spreaker.com/show/the-secret-teachings Twitter: https://twitter.com/TST___Radio Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thesecretteachings WEBSITE (BOOKS, RESUBSCRIBE for early show access): http://thesecretteachings.info Paypal: rdgable@yahoo.com CashApp: $rdgable EMAIL: rdgable@yahoo.com / TSTRadio@protonmail.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-secret-teachings-with-ryan-gable--5328407/support.

The Indus Valley Civilization was a cultural and political entity which flourished in the northern region of the Indian subcontinent between c. 7000 - c. 600 BCE. Its modern name derives from its location in the valley of the Indus River, but it is also commonly referred to as the Indus-SarasvatiCivilization and the Harrapan Civilization. These latter designations come from the Sarasvati River mentioned in Vedic sources, which flowed adjacent to the Indus River, and the ancient city of Harappa in the region, the first one found in the modern era. None of these names derive from any ancient texts because, although scholars generally believe the people of this civilization developed a writing system (known as Indus Script or Harappan Script) it has not yet been deciphered. Article written by JoshuaJ Mark and narrated by Lianne Walker

In 330 BC, Alexander the Great conquers the city of Persepolis, the ceremonial capital of the Persian Empire. His troops later burn it to the ground, capping centuries of tensions between the Hellenistic Greeks and Macedonians and the Persians. That event kicks off Rachel Kousser's book Alexander at the End of the World: The Forgotten Final Years of Alexander the Great (Mariner Books, 2024), which tells the story of how Alexander—the unbeaten military genius and the most powerful man in that part of the world—decided to keep going, chasing rebellious ex-Persians and launching an unprecedented invasion of India. But what drove Alexander to keep marching? What was the kind of empire Alexander wanted to build? And why did he eventually turn back at the Indus River, his soldiers begging for him to return home? Rachel Kousser is the chair of the Classics department at the Graduate Center, City University of New York and a professor of ancient art and archaeology at Brooklyn College. She is also the author of The Afterlives of Greek Sculpture: Interaction, Transformation, Destruction (Cambridge University Press: 2017) and Hellenistic and Roman Ideal Sculpture: The Allure of the Classical (Cambridge University Press: 2008). She can be followed on Instagram at @rkousser. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Alexander at the End of the World. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In 330 BC, Alexander the Great conquers the city of Persepolis, the ceremonial capital of the Persian Empire. His troops later burn it to the ground, capping centuries of tensions between the Hellenistic Greeks and Macedonians and the Persians. That event kicks off Rachel Kousser's book Alexander at the End of the World: The Forgotten Final Years of Alexander the Great (Mariner Books, 2024), which tells the story of how Alexander—the unbeaten military genius and the most powerful man in that part of the world—decided to keep going, chasing rebellious ex-Persians and launching an unprecedented invasion of India. But what drove Alexander to keep marching? What was the kind of empire Alexander wanted to build? And why did he eventually turn back at the Indus River, his soldiers begging for him to return home? Rachel Kousser is the chair of the Classics department at the Graduate Center, City University of New York and a professor of ancient art and archaeology at Brooklyn College. She is also the author of The Afterlives of Greek Sculpture: Interaction, Transformation, Destruction (Cambridge University Press: 2017) and Hellenistic and Roman Ideal Sculpture: The Allure of the Classical (Cambridge University Press: 2008). She can be followed on Instagram at @rkousser. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Alexander at the End of the World. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

In 330 BC, Alexander the Great conquers the city of Persepolis, the ceremonial capital of the Persian Empire. His troops later burn it to the ground, capping centuries of tensions between the Hellenistic Greeks and Macedonians and the Persians. That event kicks off Rachel Kousser's book Alexander at the End of the World: The Forgotten Final Years of Alexander the Great (Mariner Books, 2024), which tells the story of how Alexander—the unbeaten military genius and the most powerful man in that part of the world—decided to keep going, chasing rebellious ex-Persians and launching an unprecedented invasion of India. But what drove Alexander to keep marching? What was the kind of empire Alexander wanted to build? And why did he eventually turn back at the Indus River, his soldiers begging for him to return home? Rachel Kousser is the chair of the Classics department at the Graduate Center, City University of New York and a professor of ancient art and archaeology at Brooklyn College. She is also the author of The Afterlives of Greek Sculpture: Interaction, Transformation, Destruction (Cambridge University Press: 2017) and Hellenistic and Roman Ideal Sculpture: The Allure of the Classical (Cambridge University Press: 2008). She can be followed on Instagram at @rkousser. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Alexander at the End of the World. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/military-history

In 330 BC, Alexander the Great conquers the city of Persepolis, the ceremonial capital of the Persian Empire. His troops later burn it to the ground, capping centuries of tensions between the Hellenistic Greeks and Macedonians and the Persians. That event kicks off Rachel Kousser's book Alexander at the End of the World: The Forgotten Final Years of Alexander the Great (Mariner Books, 2024), which tells the story of how Alexander—the unbeaten military genius and the most powerful man in that part of the world—decided to keep going, chasing rebellious ex-Persians and launching an unprecedented invasion of India. But what drove Alexander to keep marching? What was the kind of empire Alexander wanted to build? And why did he eventually turn back at the Indus River, his soldiers begging for him to return home? Rachel Kousser is the chair of the Classics department at the Graduate Center, City University of New York and a professor of ancient art and archaeology at Brooklyn College. She is also the author of The Afterlives of Greek Sculpture: Interaction, Transformation, Destruction (Cambridge University Press: 2017) and Hellenistic and Roman Ideal Sculpture: The Allure of the Classical (Cambridge University Press: 2008). She can be followed on Instagram at @rkousser. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Alexander at the End of the World. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/middle-eastern-studies

In 330 BC, Alexander the Great conquers the city of Persepolis, the ceremonial capital of the Persian Empire. His troops later burn it to the ground, capping centuries of tensions between the Hellenistic Greeks and Macedonians and the Persians. That event kicks off Rachel Kousser's book Alexander at the End of the World: The Forgotten Final Years of Alexander the Great (Mariner Books, 2024), which tells the story of how Alexander—the unbeaten military genius and the most powerful man in that part of the world—decided to keep going, chasing rebellious ex-Persians and launching an unprecedented invasion of India. But what drove Alexander to keep marching? What was the kind of empire Alexander wanted to build? And why did he eventually turn back at the Indus River, his soldiers begging for him to return home? Rachel Kousser is the chair of the Classics department at the Graduate Center, City University of New York and a professor of ancient art and archaeology at Brooklyn College. She is also the author of The Afterlives of Greek Sculpture: Interaction, Transformation, Destruction (Cambridge University Press: 2017) and Hellenistic and Roman Ideal Sculpture: The Allure of the Classical (Cambridge University Press: 2008). She can be followed on Instagram at @rkousser. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Alexander at the End of the World. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biography

In 330 BC, Alexander the Great conquers the city of Persepolis, the ceremonial capital of the Persian Empire. His troops later burn it to the ground, capping centuries of tensions between the Hellenistic Greeks and Macedonians and the Persians. That event kicks off Rachel Kousser's book Alexander at the End of the World: The Forgotten Final Years of Alexander the Great (Mariner Books, 2024), which tells the story of how Alexander—the unbeaten military genius and the most powerful man in that part of the world—decided to keep going, chasing rebellious ex-Persians and launching an unprecedented invasion of India. But what drove Alexander to keep marching? What was the kind of empire Alexander wanted to build? And why did he eventually turn back at the Indus River, his soldiers begging for him to return home? Rachel Kousser is the chair of the Classics department at the Graduate Center, City University of New York and a professor of ancient art and archaeology at Brooklyn College. She is also the author of The Afterlives of Greek Sculpture: Interaction, Transformation, Destruction (Cambridge University Press: 2017) and Hellenistic and Roman Ideal Sculpture: The Allure of the Classical (Cambridge University Press: 2008). She can be followed on Instagram at @rkousser. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Alexander at the End of the World. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 330 BC, Alexander the Great conquers the city of Persepolis, the ceremonial capital of the Persian Empire. His troops later burn it to the ground, capping centuries of tensions between the Hellenistic Greeks and Macedonians and the Persians. That event kicks off Rachel Kousser's book Alexander at the End of the World: The Forgotten Final Years of Alexander the Great (Mariner Books, 2024), which tells the story of how Alexander—the unbeaten military genius and the most powerful man in that part of the world—decided to keep going, chasing rebellious ex-Persians and launching an unprecedented invasion of India. But what drove Alexander to keep marching? What was the kind of empire Alexander wanted to build? And why did he eventually turn back at the Indus River, his soldiers begging for him to return home? Rachel Kousser is the chair of the Classics department at the Graduate Center, City University of New York and a professor of ancient art and archaeology at Brooklyn College. She is also the author of The Afterlives of Greek Sculpture: Interaction, Transformation, Destruction (Cambridge University Press: 2017) and Hellenistic and Roman Ideal Sculpture: The Allure of the Classical (Cambridge University Press: 2008). She can be followed on Instagram at @rkousser. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Alexander at the End of the World. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/asian-review

In 330 BC, Alexander the Great conquers the city of Persepolis, the ceremonial capital of the Persian Empire. His troops later burn it to the ground, capping centuries of tensions between the Hellenistic Greeks and Macedonians and the Persians. That event kicks off Rachel Kousser's book Alexander at the End of the World: The Forgotten Final Years of Alexander the Great (Mariner Books, 2024), which tells the story of how Alexander—the unbeaten military genius and the most powerful man in that part of the world—decided to keep going, chasing rebellious ex-Persians and launching an unprecedented invasion of India. But what drove Alexander to keep marching? What was the kind of empire Alexander wanted to build? And why did he eventually turn back at the Indus River, his soldiers begging for him to return home? Rachel Kousser is the chair of the Classics department at the Graduate Center, City University of New York and a professor of ancient art and archaeology at Brooklyn College. She is also the author of The Afterlives of Greek Sculpture: Interaction, Transformation, Destruction (Cambridge University Press: 2017) and Hellenistic and Roman Ideal Sculpture: The Allure of the Classical (Cambridge University Press: 2008). She can be followed on Instagram at @rkousser. You can find more reviews, excerpts, interviews, and essays at The Asian Review of Books, including its review of Alexander at the End of the World. Follow on Twitter at @BookReviewsAsia. Nicholas Gordon is an editor for a global magazine, and a reviewer for the Asian Review of Books. He can be found on Twitter at @nickrigordon. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/book-of-the-day

India is a country in South Asia whose name comes from the Indus River. The name 'Bharata' is used as a designation for the country in their constitution referencing the ancient mythological emperor, Bharata, whose story is told, in part, in the Indian epic Mahabharata. If you want to support our non-profit organization, visit our Patreon page: https://www.worldhistory.org/patreon/ Article written by Joshua J. Mark and narrated by Lianne Walker.

In Pakistan, a dolphin species that's lived in the Indus River for millions of years was facing near-extinction. Now, thanks to the help of nearby fisher-people, the dolphin is making a fragile recovery.

In this thrilling episode, we embark on a two-wheeled expedition through one of the world's most breathtaking landscapes - the Karakoram Highway in Pakistan. Join us as we pedal our way through this mountainous wonderland, exploring the culture, the challenges, and the sheer beauty that make this journey a must for every adventurer.Hosted by seasoned cyclist and travel enthusiast, George Balarezo, this episode takes you on a virtual journey through the heart of the Karakoram Range. Our adventure begins in Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, where George sets the stage for the breathtaking ride ahead. From the bustling streets of Islamabad, he cycles northward, reaching the gateway to the Karakoram Highway in the town of Abbottabad. Along the way, he shares insights on the challenges faced by cyclists, including the extreme altitude, rapidly changing weather conditions, and the sheer physical demands of cycling at high elevations.As he pedals deeper into the Karakoram Range, the landscape transforms from lush valleys to rugged mountains, with the mighty Indus River flowing alongside. George discusses the unique culture and hospitality of the local people, providing a glimpse into the warm and welcoming communities that dot the route.Throughout the episode, George provides practical tips for anyone considering this epic cycling journey. For armchair travelers and adventurous souls alike, this episode is a captivating exploration of one of the most challenging and awe-inspiring cycling routes on the planet. Join us as we embark on a virtual adventure along the Karakoram Highway, and discover why it is a true cyclist's dream and a testament to the beauty of Pakistan's northern frontier.Enjoy the conversation. Be bold. Be intrepid.To support the podcast please leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.To find out more about host George Balarezo's adventures, you can find the book Unhinged in Ethiopia: Two Thousand Kilometers of Hell and Heaven on a Bicycle at the following link- https://intrepidglobalcitizen.com/Contact me at george@intrepidglobalcitizen.com and let me know your thoughts and feelings about the podcast or if you have a story you'd like to share. 

The Harappan civilisation, also known as the Indus Valley civilisation, was an ancient urban civilisation that thrived in the Indus River valley in South Asia around 4000 years ago. Known for its well-planned cities, advanced drainage systems, and incredible culture - it played an integral role in ancient History. But with a script that still remains undeciphered to this day - what do we actually know about the Harappan civilisation?In this episode, Tristan welcomes archaeologist Disha Ahluwalia to the podcast to talk about her work and research surrounding the Harappan. Looking at the archaeological evidence, their appearances in other cultures, and the legacy left behind at Rakhigarhi- who were the Harappan, and how did they influence the course of history?Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free original podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world renowned historians like Dan Snow, Suzannah Lipscomb, Lucy Worsley, Matt Lewis, Tristan Hughes and more. Get 50% off your first 3 months with code ANCIENTS. Download the app on your smart TV or in the app store or sign up here.You can take part in our listener survey here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Colonialist practices, past and present, combined with climate change are having catastrophic effects on poorer countries in the global south. In this episode, Sam and Deboki talk with experts about how and why that's the case and unpack two major examples of this impact: the 2022 Pakistan floods and the global factory, particularly the garment industry. Laurie Parson's book is here. The organizations he suggests at the end of the episode are Fashion Revolution, Clean Clothes Campaign, and Transform Trade. Sam's Tiny Show & Tell story is here. Deboki's book suggestions: Consumed: The Need for Collective Change, Colonialism, Climate Change, and Consumerism and Worn: A People's History of Clothing. Check out The Weirdest Thing I Learned This Week here.

This week on The New Arab Voice we're joined by journalist Ali Abbas Ahmadi to examine the deadly floods that hit Pakistan six months ago. The rains started to fall in June and would not stop until August, during which time, the might Indus River would flood, spreading devastation ; particularly in the provinces of Sindh and Balochistan.The floods killed 1,700 people and left tens of millions of Pakistanis homeless. The flood waters would also wash aways the livelihoods  of millions; laying waste to farms, killing livestock, and destroying stores of grain and seeds.This week, we speak with one of the farmers who lost their land and livelihood, and ask what are the major challenges facing those affected? How has Pakistan dealt with food shortages, and how has the political instability added to the failure to provide support. We speak with Dr Zaffar Mahmood (@DrZaffarMehmoo1), an independent expert on food safety and food security, who has worked as a consultant with the Pakistani government and the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation. And Marvin Pervez, the regional director of an NGO called Community World Service Asia (@communitywsasia). Him and his team work with people on the ground in Pakistan.Sign up for our newsletter here.This podcast is written by Ali Abbas Ahmadi and produced by Hugo Goodridge.Theme music by Omar al-Fil. Other music by Blue Dot Sessions.To get in touch with the producers, follow then tweet us at @TheNewArabVoice or email hugo.goodridge@newarab.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our salvation depends on valuing Christ and his Kingdom above the entire collection of goods and experiences in the world. - Sermon Transcript - Turn to your Bibles this morning as we continue our study in the Gospel of Mark, and looking at just a couple of verses at the end of Mark 8. The end of Mark 8 is very powerful, a very rich set of scriptures, and I want to zero in on it this morning. As I do, I want to ask you a question. What is the most valuable thing on earth? When we think about value, value is usually economically evaluated by its price. The world’s entire economic system is based on setting a price for everything. Economists speak of the theory of price, which most people know as the law of supply and demand, probably you've heard of that. The price for any good or services is based on the supply of those goods and services, compared to the demand for them. In market economies around the world, the price of gold is high, because there's a very high demand and relatively low supply. Conversely, the price for salt is much lower. Because while there's a strong demand for it, it's so plentiful, the oceans are full of it, so the price is low. Have you noticed prices higher than a few years ago? Have you had any sticker shock at the supermarket at all? Perhaps you've had some sticker shock at the gas pump. We are in inflation now, we're told, so the prices are getting higher. I don't know what the remedy is. No, I'm not going there. I'm not spending the whole sermon on inflation. But we've noticed, the price of beef, the price of other things is just much higher than it used to be. When it comes to luxury items such, as a one-of-a-kind painting by a renowned artist like a Rembrandt or a Van Gogh, an art appraiser is skilled at knowing the history of art, the demand, the recent demand in the art market for an oil painting by one of those masters, what it's sold for at an auction in the past, and the prices is set accordingly. Luxury items like high-end watches, for example, like Patek Philippe, they set a range of prices based on entry level for that watch, $20,000. Can you imagine spending $20,000 on a wristwatch? But that's just entry level. They can go as high as $1.5 million. The prices are set by the quality of the materials, workmanship, the artistry, complications of the call, and demand. This price evaluation, the valuation of worth, of relative worth, is at the center of two of Jesus' parables, his most famous parables. They're in Matthew 13. The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field. When a man found it, he hid it again, and then in his joy, went out and sold everything he had, and bought that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, one translation says, a “pearl of great price", he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. Market value and relative pricing are essential to both of those parables. In the first parable, the man, you can picture him digging in a field with a shovel maybe, and a shovel hits some metal, some clank or something like that. He hears the sound he's not used to hearing, so he spends more time digging and then finds, let's say a treasure chest. You could picture it that way, and he somehow gets it out. He pries off the lock, opens the heavy lid to this chest, and finds incalculable treasure inside. Jesus doesn't say what or how much, but this man knows it's the treasure of a lifetime. It's certainly worth more than the sum total of all of his possessions in his life. Everything he owns in the world is worth less than what's in that treasure box. He's filled with joy, because he knows that. He hides the treasure again, then sells everything that he owns to buy that field. The whole time he is filled with joy, because he knows the field & its treasure is worth it. The treasure in the box is worth greater than anything he owns in the world. In the second parable, the merchant is looking for fine pearls. That man is an expert in his field, and his field is pearls. He knows pearls better than anyone else. He's been studying pearls his entire life. One of the most precious commodities in the ancient world was pearls. Worth far more by weight than any other precious substance. He already has a collection of pearls. He's a pearl merchant. But he's constantly searching for more pearls, better pearls. One day, what a day, he finds the most perfect pearl he's ever seen in his life. He knows pearls like you don't know pearls. But this man knows his business, and he knows that this one pearl is worth more than his entire inventory. So, he sells all of those pearls, so he can have enough money to buy this one pearl, he gladly sells it to buy this one pearl. What is the treasure hidden in the field? What is the pearl of great price? I would argue, it is Jesus Christ himself. It is the kingdom. So I've heard, so it is. Jesus is worth more than anything that we have in this world. Our salvation depends on that kind of valuation, of valuing Christ and his kingdom above the entire collection of goods and experiences there are in this world. The merchant's mindset, valuation, pricing, esteem, weighing all of these skills tell you Jesus is worth everything. But maybe a corollary of that whole analysis, is the estimation of the worth of our souls, our eternal souls. We need to do the same kind of relative valuation, comparing the worth and value of our souls to the things that we could gain in this world. What is the marketplace or the market price for your soul? That's what these two verses ask. Look at verse 36- 37, "What would it profit a man if he should gain the whole world yet forfeit his soul?" Or, what can a man give an exchange for his soul? "What is the marketplace or the market price for your soul?" At the end of your life, your life of achievement, you will stand before Christ and give him an account on Judgment Day. The issue hanging in the balance on Judgment Day is the eternal destiny of your soul. The central point of this text and of my sermon is this, your soul has infinite worth, infinite value, more than the net worth of the entire world. Your soul will either be eternally alive, living in the presence of God in heaven, or eternally dying under His wrath in hell. The world and all of its pleasures and pains is passing away, and will soon disappear, but your soul will endure forever in one of those two places. Thus, Jesus is warning us to make certain that we don't lose our soul. I . Understanding the Context in the Gospel of Mark Let's step back now for a moment and understand the context. The last time I preached on Mark, I preached on what I considered to be, and still do, the greatest challenge of your life or mine as a Christian, the challenge to deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Jesus. That has a context. Jesus is there with His disciples in Caesarea Philippi talking about His identity. “Who do people say that I am? What about you? Who do you say that I am?” Then you have Peter's full confession, in Matthew, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus then makes this shocking prediction to His disciples. Verse 31, 32, "Jesus began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priest and teachers of the law and that he must be killed and after three days rise again, he spoke plainly about this. Peter was shocked, and took Jesus aside,", verse 32, ..."and began to rebuke him. Never Lord.", he said, "This shall never happen to you." Then Jesus turns, and doesn't do it privately as Peter sought to do, but publicly rebuked Peter because He knew that Peter was speaking for all of them. They all would've said it. He rebuked Peter, verse 33, “'Get behind me, Satan,’” He said. ‘You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men. ‘“ Then He issued that call to the crowd and to all of His disciples, the call indeed to the whole world. “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.'" Peter's immediate motive in rebuking Jesus was not so much concern about Jesus, although Jesus was the center of his hopes, certainly that was there. But we have to imagine that his concerns were selfish. Peter's conceptions of his own future were wrapped up in Jesus, the king and Jesus' kingdom as he understood it. He wanted to save his life in this world, as he conceived it, and he wanted in so doing, to make it as rich, and pleasureful, and comfortable, and powerful, and we could add some other things, as he could. That's what he wanted. Jesus said to him, "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of man." You're thinking in a human way about my kingdom, not in God's way. As we walked through last time, He gave this call. “Deny yourself is to say no to yourself, to your selfish drives, your selfish agenda, your fleshly yearnings. Say no to that. Say no to yourself. Take up your cross means be willing to die for me and for the gospel. Follow me means to obey me, to obey what I tell you, and to imitate me.” And Luke adds, do it daily. Deny yourself daily. Take up the cross daily. That's the context then of the statement we're looking at today. But here, in these verses that we're looking at, Jesus turns up the intensity further. The call on the disciples is to realize that anything that hinder them from following Christ was actually an ultimate threat to them, a threat to their eternal happiness. He wanted to give the disciples a sense of the immense worth and value of the soul. "For what would it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and yet forfeit his soul? Or what could a man give in exchange for his soul?” From this text, I want to focus on two issues, the world and what it means to gain it, and the soul and what it means to lose it. Then I want to zero in on Jesus' two questions. What would it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and yet forfeit his soul? And what would a man give in exchange for his soul? I want to seek to sharpen these questions to a fine point. I'm going to urge you to be absolutely certain that your soul's final state is of the utmost importance to you, that you have a proper valuation of your soul. I want to plead with you to be certain that your sins will be forgiven through faith in Jesus, and that you'll be welcomed on that final day into heaven and not cast away into hell. To help you do this, I'm going to focus next week more on kind of the final thing, the inducement and the warning, there's an inducement and warning. We're going to develop that more next week. In verse 38 it says, "If anyone's ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation of him, will the Son of Man be ashamed when He comes in His father's glory with the holy angels?" And then Matthew's version of this account, Matthew 16:27, "For the Son of Man is going to come in His father's glory with His angels and then He will reward each person for whatever he has done.” Judgment Day is coming, and so the inducements are positive to be in that world of glory called heaven. And they are negative, that you would not be condemned to the world of torment. Those are the inducements. II. The World and What It Means to Gain It Let's zero in on the first, the world and what it means to gain it. Look at verse 36, "What would it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?" First of all, no one has ever accomplished this, though many have tried to do it. Jesus is clearly using hyperbole. He's using an exaggerated statement to make a point. Many empire builders of all ages have sought to control the world and have been unable to do so. The largest empire in history by sheer land mass, contiguous land mass, was that of Kublai Khan, Genghis Khann’s descendant, the Mongolian empire in the year 1260. That was the peak, 12.8 million square miles, larger than the Soviet Union, five times larger than the empire of Alexander the Great. However, for all of that, they only achieved 24.6% of the habitable land mass of the earth, which has 52 million square miles of habitable land. They tried, but that's as far as they got, and they didn't hold it for long. Others have sought to just kind of corner the market on one little part of the world. Like John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil Company, at its pinnacle of influence, owned 90% of the petroleum industry in the world. What would that be worth today? 90% of the petroleum industry in the world? As a result of that control, Rockefeller was the first billionaire in the world. Some valuations of John D Rockefeller's fortune put him at present value of $420 billion. Perhaps the richest man in history, depends how you read it. So he, for a little while, controlled most of the oil, just the oil. During the age of the great American industrialists, the titans of industry were always seeking a monopoly in one form or another. Railroads with the Vanderbilts, Carnegie with his steel, J.P. Morgan with his finance, but no one could control all in any of those areas, even though they tried to do it. But Jesus is saying, even if you could gain the whole world, if it cost you your soul, it wouldn't be worth it. The world is attractive, you should admit it. Certainly, Psalm 73 speaks a beautiful theological truth in verse 25, "Whom have I in heaven but you and earth has nothing I desire besides you." That's beautiful, and it's true ultimately, but frankly, the world is alluring. It is appealing. The world has some natural attractions to us that are not corrupt. The world is physically beautiful, the beauty of the earth. There's the pleasures of food, and travel, and entertainment, and hobbies, a good novel, an exciting movie, an absorbing board game, sports, things like that. The value of the esteem of other people. The satisfaction of earthly successes in business, or in academics, or athletics, or other fields of endeavor. All of those should be enjoyed as good gifts of God. But any and all of them can become idols, if they become the reason for your existence. "The satisfaction of earthly successes in business, or in academics, or athletics, or other fields of endeavor. All of those should be enjoyed as good gifts of God. But any and all of them can become idols, if they become the reason for your existence." When we talk about the allure of the world, the lusts of the eye, the lusts of the flesh, the boastful pride of life, 1st John 2 talks about that, the allure, all of those things are ultimately empty. Power, for example. The most powerful military conqueror, and the most successful military conqueror in history, Alexander the Great, never lost a single battle in 12 years of campaigning. But at the end of his conquest, he didn't want to stop, but his army mutinied, way out near the Indus River in India. They were done. Battle after battle, he just sat down and wept that there were no more battles to fight. Picture him weeping there, and ask him what pleasure all this conquest brought him? He was dead soon after that. What about wealth? The wealthiest man from the ancient world was a king named Croesus, the King of Lydia, in modern day Turkey. He ruled from 560 to 545 BC. Gold from the mines, and from the sands of the river Pactolus, filled his coffers to overflowing, an overwhelmingly wealthy man. But all that did is attract the attention of a certain Cyrus the Great of Persia, who paid him a visit with his army, and then sentenced him to be burned to death alive. As the flames drew near, you could well imagine, that the wealth of Croesus brought him no joy at all. He would gladly have traded all of it to live another day. What about wisdom? Solomon was said to be the wisest man that had ever lived up to that point, but his wisdom brought him no ultimate happiness. He wrote in Ecclesiastes 1:18, "For with much wisdom comes much sorrow." The more knowledge, the more grief. Some of the most brilliant, some of the most intelligent people in history, have struggled intensely with depression and mental illness. Then there's fame. I don't actually know why anyone would want that. But I remember, thinking about fame when back in 1992, the Olympics in Barcelona, they put together the Dream Team, the basketball team which had Michael Jordan. There was a documentary made about the Dream Team, and Jordan was walking along the street, and the camera stopped and panned back, and there was this huge poster, hanging down the side of a six-story building of Michael Jordan dunking. So there's the real Michael Jordan under this massive six story big poster, and he just kind of looked up at himself dunking. But if you look at famous people like him, he couldn't go out of the hotel room at night without being mobbed like a rockstar. Some famous people are constantly hounded by paparazzi and and would yearn for a simple life of obscurity. Fame wasn't all that it was cut out to be. What about pleasure and a world craving pleasure? Some people it seems, have cornered the market on hedonism. They go from one kind of pleasure sight to the next. They drink in the best foods, finest of wines, the most beautiful scenery. I remember reading a book by a venture capitalist, Tom Perkins, who sank $150 million into what was at that time, the largest privately owned sailboat in the world. That was his goal, the Maltese Falcon. But the pleasure of that distinction apparently lasted only one year, because some other mogul built a bigger one, and then Tom Perkins sold his. It just didn't bring in much joy after that. Then there's beauty, physical beauty. I think about Hollywood movie stars, female movie stars, who are willing to trade their health for constant cosmetic surgery to stay in the game, but they can't oppose the continual march of time. I wonder if there are some that have seen their beauty fading, and seen spots in movies being given to younger starlets, and they know their moment has passed, and how depressing that is. All of these allurements are part of God's physical world. None of them are evil in themselves, but all of them have led countless souls astray in their quest. What does it mean to gain the world? It's power, wealth, wisdom, fame, pleasure, beauty. Death stands over every one of these, and turns them all to dust in the wind. III. The Soul, and What It Means To Lose It But how much more agony would come to the damned when they consider for what paltry things they exchanged their immortal souls? Satan is willing constantly, in some way, to stand and broker a trade. Remember the temptation of Jesus? He offered him all the kingdoms of the world in his splendor. He would've given the entire world to Jesus, but Jesus didn't accept it. There's a famous story well known of Dr. Faustus and the Faustian bargain. The whole idea of selling your soul to the devil. Dr. Faustus, in that book, makes a deal with the devil in exchange for his body and soul, that he gives to the devil in the end. The man is to receive supernatural powers, and pleasures, successes, for twenty-four years. The devil agrees to the trade. Dr. Faustus enjoys the pleasures of sin for a season, but his doom is sealed. At the end of the twenty-four years, Faustus attempts to thwart the devil's plans, but he meets a frightful demise, nonetheless.In common speech when somebody's doing really, really well, sometimes you'll hear it's like they must have sold their soul to the devil for it. Something like that. That's where that whole idea comes from. I want you to know, theologically, Satan has no such authority to make a trade. Satan's going to be very busy on Judgment Day. He will be condemned to the Lake of Fire himself. He has no such power. But he is the one behind the world system that's alluring souls astray. That's what it means when it says the whole world lies in the power of the Evil One. What is the soul, and what does it mean to lose it? What is your soul? It's more than merely your inner self, like your true self, or your very self, something like that. The idea by that is that, by pursuing worldly things, money, fame, power, pleasure, you'll no longer be true to yourself. You'll kind of lose your true identity kind of thing. You'll stop being the person you want to be. None of your friends that you grew up with will know you anymore. They won't recognize you. You'll have a big head, you'll have been changed. All of that's true, I think, usually, but that's not what Jesus is talking about. Not at all. For He goes on to discuss the terrorist Judgment Day after the Second Coming. I think it's more than just your physical life, just being alive. The ESV in Matthew 16:26 gives you that sense by its translation."For what would it profit a man if he gains the whole world in forfeits his life? Or what shall a man give in return for his life?" I understand that's a valid way to translate the Greek word behind it, but I don't think that's what Jesus is talking about here. A number of years ago, I came across a story by Leo Tolstoy, How Much Land Does a Man Need? I've quoted a number of times in a number of sermons, and not going back through it again. But in that story, the central character of the home is just constantly moving on to get a bigger, and bigger, and bigger, chunk of Bashkir land, and ends up literally physically dying, and by the effort, and they take the shovel that he carried with him in the circuit as he was going along this land, and they dug six feet down and buried him. That answered the question Tolstoy was asking, how much land does he need? That much, enough to bury him. Again, I don't think this is what Jesus is referring to. It is true that the pursuit of these things can have detrimental physical effects on you, it might even lead to your death. But that's not what Jesus is talking about here. We know that, because He's actually challenging His disciples to be willing to die as martyrs, literally to die physically, for Him and for the kingdom. Some will, his apostles, most of them did die as martyrs. That doesn't make sense. It doesn't line up, that’s not what he's talking about, your physical life on earth. Whoever wants to save his life will lose it. Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. So that's not what He's referring to. No. The soul of verse 36, Mark 8:36 is more than that. The soul is that core center of your being. The immaterial part of you, that is able to have a love relationship with God, both now and eternally. It is able to be conscious, aware, it knows, and can relate to and love God. That's what the soul is. It makes you the person you are, unique. To love God, to speak to God, to obey God, to choose God, the core of your being. That's what the soul is, an immaterial part of you housed in the tent of your bodies. Peter talked about the husk, the flesh of your body that was housed there. Physical death is the separation of the soul from the body. The concept of an immortal soul is not from Greek philosophy, as some scholars will tell you, it's a biblical concept. For what would it be that is absent from the body but present with the Lord but your soul? There is an immaterial part of you that's housed in your body, that's your soul. What does it mean then, to lose your soul? To lose your soul would be to be condemned to hell by Jesus, the judge of all the earth. The soul is in peril, in grave danger, of perishing. As in John 3:16, "What would it profit someone if he or..." John 3:16, "For God's so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not," what? "Perish." What's the perishing there? It's hell. It's dying forever in hell, where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. To hear Jesus, the judge of all the earth say, as in Matthew 25:41, "Depart from me, you who are cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." That's what it means to lose your soul, to hear that spoken about you. That's what it means to lose your soul. In Luke 16, the rich man was in agony in hell. He yearned for Lazarus to come dip his finger in the water, and cool his tongue in the fire. That's what it means to lose your soul, to be there, in eternal conscious torment. How does that happen? How is the soul thus lost? Jesus in our text pits the pursuit of the world against the welfare of the soul. The seeking of the whole world here, in this sense, is the enemy of your soul. Deeper still, the Bible's answer to this vital question is simple, "By sin is the soul lost,” unforgiven sin. As Jesus makes it plain, souls are lost by Judgment Day's evaluation, the evaluation of the judge of all the earth of your life choices, of what you did with your life. Matthew 16:27, "For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His father, with His angels, and then He will repay every man according to his deeds." That's Judgment Day. So the great issue of your life is simply this. Will I lose my soul on Judgment Day or not? IV. Jesus’ Two Piercing Questions To make this clear, He then asks these two penetrating questions, both focus on the terror of that moment on Judgment Day. First of all, a question of profit, verse 36, "What would it profit a man if he should gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?" So here He uses business terms, gain and lost. It's accounting terms in the Greek. Like profit and loss in an accountant's ledger book. It has to do with relative value and worth. The clear implication is, that the eternal soul is worth more, is worth more than any physical thing in the universe. That's the logic of this. It's an astonishing thought. All of the gold, and the silver, and the diamonds, and the real estate, and all the stuff, the physical stuff of the, if you added it all up, it comes short of the value of a single human soul. That's the logic here. There's not a single human being on earth for which that is not true. It doesn't matter how high or low a person rises economically. You could imagine some orphan in a city, somewhere in Bangladesh, picking through garbage. It would be foolish for that orphan to trade his or her soul for the entire world, physical world, it'd be foolish. So also, the CEO of a Fortune 500 company, same thing. It would be foolish for that individual to trade their soul for the entire world. It would not make a difference if it was an addict, strung out on heroin in Amsterdam, it would be foolish for that person to trade their soul for the entire world. There are no worthless human beings. For no matter what their outward condition, no matter how high or low they've attained in the achievements of the world, how educated or literate, wealthy or poor, it doesn't matter. They have a possession of infinite value, their soul. And to forfeit, to lose that soul, is the most terrifyingly foolish thing that any person could ever do. "All of the gold, and the silver, and the diamonds, and the real estate, and all the stuff, … if you added it all up, it comes short of the value of a single human soul." Then, it's a question of exchange in verse 37, "Or what would a man give in exchange for his soul?" Again, the language of commerce, of making an equitable trade. I can hardly say the next sentence in my sermon. Imagine yourself hearing, concerning you, this dreadful sentence. "Depart from me, you who are cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." And then, a holy angel is dispatched to tie you hand and foot, and throw you outside into the darkness where there'll be weeping and mashing teeth. The horror of it comes crashing down. You can scarcely believe that it refers to you. You always tried to be a good person, basically a good person, but none of that means anything. You cherish memories of good deeds, or religious moments in your life, or a notion that a God who condemned people is not a God you wanted to be with anyway. All of these things don't mean anything at that moment. All of that reasoning will be blown away like a wispy cobweb at that moment. For now, the sentence has been spoken of you. As you're nearing the searing heat of the Lake of Fire, what would you give in that moment in exchange for your soul? Of course, it'll be too late then, because you'll have nothing to give. Everything you thought was yours, wasn't yours, it was a stewardship. It's all been taken from you. But imagine, just for argument, that it hadn't. Suppose you still retained your whole, the lot, all of it still yours. What percentage of it would you give at that moment? Up to half for your soul? What would you give in exchange for your soul at that moment? What wouldn't you give? That's the point here. Then it will be too late. The time to face these two questions is now. "I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation." [2 Corinthians 6:2]. So the question goes back to your present life. The moment is now. When you can decide what you will love, what you'll pursue, what you'll do with your life, what exchanges you can make. What would you give now that your soul might be saved? We're not saved by the exchange. you're saved by simple faith in Jesus, like the thief on the cross. You don't earn anything by the exchange, none of that. But we're just following the logic of this verse here. Is there anything that you now possess that you fear that you would lose if you turned to Christ and followed him fully? Get rid of that fear, it’s hindering your soul. Are you afraid of losing the esteem of your unsaved friends if you followed Christ? Are you afraid of losing a lucrative career if you followed Christ? Are you afraid of not having fun in life if you follow Christ? The pleasures, and joys, and possessions, and freedoms, what do these verses say to you? Cast those fears aside. They are the enemy of your eternal soul. Which of those things could you rightly say, "That's too big a cost for me to pay for my soul. God, you can have anything but not that.” Is there any such thing for you? V. Jesus’ Two Compelling Reasons Now, Jesus' two compelling reasons. We'll walk more thoroughly through them next week, God willing, the coming judgment and the coming glory, these are the reasons why. Verse 38, "If anyone's ashamed of me and of my words and this adulterous and sinful generation of him, will the Son of Man be ashamed when He comes in His father's glory with the holy angels?" Matthew 16:27, "For the Son of Man is going to come in His father's glory with His angels and then He'll award each person according to what he has done." Jesus' two great arguments for wisdom about gaining the whole world are clear. Judgment Day is coming, with the terror and threat of hell standing over every human being on the face of the earth. And secondly, eternal glory is coming. He's coming in the father's glory. The new heaven, the new earth are going to be lit up with that beauty and that glory. You don't want to miss it. Those are the inducements to making a wise choice when it comes to the gospel. VI. Application First and foremost, of course, repent and trust in Christ. That's the pressure of these verses. Trust in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Jesus came to save lost people. The Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost. That's the issue here of losing a soul. Jesus came to save your soul. Do you not see the infinite worth of Jesus' blood? How one man, the God man, in one day bought the souls, the infinite souls, of a multitude greater than anyone could count from every tribe, language, people, and nation. It says in Revelation 5, "By your blood, you have purchased people for God from every tribe, language, people, and nation." In one day He bought them. Incredible. The worth and value of Jesus's blood. Trust in Christ. Jesus took into himself the wrath of God. As I was driving this morning here with my daughter, Daphne, we were talking about that story about Elijah, Elijah with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. The nation was thoroughly corrupt, and pursuing Baal worship, and also Yahweh worship, depending what day of week it was, I guess. Synchrotistic, worshiping one, worshiping the other. Remember that whole story? They're all there, Elijah and the prophets of Baal, and they're having a contest. There's been drought, drought, drought, drought on the land. Everybody's desperate for rain. Elijah had prayed that it wouldn't rain, and it didn't rain for three and a half years. Now the time has come for God to deal with the sin that led to that curse, so they're all assembled there. Elijah said, "How long are you going to limp between two opinions? If Yahweh is God, follow him. If Baal is God, then follow him.” But the people remained quiet, kind of sitting on the fence. Disgusting. The prophets of Baal can't do anything. Now it's Elijah's turn, now it's God's turn. Elijah builds that altar, puts the animal sacrifice on it, pours a bunch of water on it, and just leaves it there. Then he prays. You remember what happened? Fire came from heaven, fire. Now here's the interesting thing. I'd never thought of this before this morning. All the people wanted was rain, water coming down from heaven. But before the water could come, what has to come down from heaven first? Fire. The holy wrath of God on that sinful people. Do you see where it came down? What did it come down on? It came down on the sacrifice. It came down on the substitute, not on the people, and that animal, like all animal sacrifice, represents Jesus. That's what Jesus drank for you and me on the cross, that we would not lose our souls. Should you not be thankful to Him if you're a Christian? Say, "Thank you, Jesus, for drinking fire for me." So come to Christ, let him be your substitute. Let him drink the wrath you deserve. Let him take away the condemnation that you deserve. Examine yourself. Make certain that you have trusted in Christ, that your sins are forgiven, that you don't lose your soul on Judgment Day, that you never hear those words spoken about you. But that's not all. Meditate on the infinite worth of every single person you meet this week. They all have infinitely valuable souls, all of them do. Most of them are on their way to hearing those words spoken about them. Do we have a responsibility toward them on behalf of their infinite souls? We're supposed to value their souls more than they apparently do. And we do that by evangelism. The very ministry we heard about today, international ministry. We can get involved in that. But there are other kinds of ministries. You don't have to wait for a ministry. You can share the gospel with your unsaved coworker this week. Say, "I heard the most interesting sermon. Can I share with you?" Just do that tomorrow. See what God does. We have a responsibility to the lost souls that are around us, each of them of infinite worth and value. Close with me in prayer. Father, we thank you for the beauty, and the perfection, and the power of your word. Word of God, living and active, sharper than any double-edged sword. We pray that it would penetrate into our souls and save us. Save us from sin, save us from condemnation, oh Lord. And then Lord, send us out, unleash us. Help us to take these ideas and share them with people who need to hear them, who desperately need to hear the truth. We are accountable for the people you brought into our lives. Help us to tell them the truth. In Jesus' name. Amen.

War A to Z▪️Abbas I The Great▪️Born - January 27 1571, IranDied - January 19 1629, Iran▪️Wars/Battles of Note - Uzbek-Persian Wars, Turko-Persian Wars, Mogul-Persian Wars, Tabriz 1603,Sis 1606, Siege of Baghdad 1624-1626▪️Through a combination of guile, patience, and determination, Abbas the Great ruled a powerful Persian state for over forty years. Upon taking the throne he faced threats from every direction including the vaunted Janissaries of the Turks and the mighty Mogul Empire to the south. Understanding that he could only deal with one enemy at a time, Abbas prioritized each opponent and then in turn dealt with the Uzbeks, Ottomans, Moguls, and even the Portuguese. His was court of culture and when not campaigning he was a powerful patron of the arts and builder of beautiful cities. On his death the Persian Empire ran from the Indus River to the Tigris River.▪️Rate/Review/Subscribe

Welcome to the Instant Trivia podcast episode 668, where we ask the best trivia on the Internet. Round 1. Category: Oz 1: This character gets a ride (likely to his home in Omaha) in the balloon meant to take Dorothy to Kansas. the Wizard. 2: The Wicked Witch's golden cap allows her to summon these to do her bidding 3 times. the flying monkeys. 3: Dorothy followed the Yellow Brick Road to this place, the capital of Oz. the Emerald City. 4: One chapter is called "The Magic Art of the Great" this 6-letter word meaning a hoax or fraud. humbug. 5: In L. Frank Baum's original book, this, not ruby, is the color of Dorothy's slippers. silver. Round 2. Category: Classic Pop Groups 1: When this group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Mike Love gave the acceptance speech. The Beach Boys. 2: In 1963, with "Walk Like a Man", this group became the first to score 3 straight No. 1 singles in the U.S.. The Four Seasons. 3: After Smokey Robinson left this group, they had a No. 1 hit in 1975 with "Love Machine (Part 1)". The Miracles. 4: This girl group followed up their No. 1 hit "Please Mr. Postman" with "Twistin' Postman". The Marvelettes. 5: "Nights In White Satin" appeared on their 1968 LP "Days of Future Passed" 4 years before the reissue hit the Top 10. The Moody Blues. Round 3. Category: God Save The British King Or Queen 1: All 3 of the kings with this name died violently. Richard. 2: At her death, aged 81, she was the oldest British monarch ever. Queen Victoria. 3: It has been reported that he was once seen having a conversation with an oak tree. George III. 4: John Bradshaw presided over the high court that sentenced this British king to death in 1649. Charles I. 5: In 1603 he became the first British monarch of the House of Stuart. James I. Round 4. Category: A River Runs Through Them 1: Georgetown and Alexandria. the Potomac. 2: Montreal and Quebec. the St. Lawrence. 3: Vientiane and Phnom Penh. the Mekong River. 4: Knoxville and Chattanooga. the Tennessee River. 5: Hyderabad and Sukkur. the Indus River. Round 5. Category: Bumps On The Globe 1: If Montana invaded Idaho, its forces would cross the Bitterroot range of these mountains. Rockies. 2: This country's Cordillera Cantabrica is even tougher to get across than the nearby Pyrenees. Spain. 3: The Kjolen Mountains, on the Norway-Sweden border, extend north into this people's "land". Lapps. 4: Eastern Russia's Stanovoy Mountains form a watershed between the Pacific Ocean and this one. Arctic Ocean. 5: The Elburz Mountains, on the Caspian Sea's south shore in this country, rise to over 18,000 feet at Mt. Damavand. Iran. Thanks for listening! Come back tomorrow for more exciting trivia! Special thanks to https://blog.feedspot.com/trivia_podcasts/

As I mentioned, this story of Babel can read like a fable or “just-so” folktale to explain where languages and nations come from. But there is far more in this brief story than what the literal reading offers. I've said it before: literalism kills. That type of fundamentalist reading will slam the door on modern readers getting anything out of the Bible. Every story, every verse must be read using The Four Senses of Scripture to even get started on unpacking the meaning. These senses are: literal, allegorical, moral, and lastly, anagogical, or how it relates to Christ. Those who stop on the literal reading think the earth is 6,000 years old. Now, let me pause to say - you can believe the earth is 6,000 years old, because it really doesn't matter for your daily life. You can also believe the earth is flat and it won't change much in your real life. The church doesn't say you cannot believe those things. But if you only use one of these Four Senses to read scripture, you will miss out on a lot. In addition, faith and reason are the two wings that make us fly, as St. JP II said. So it's best to take in what reason, including science, has learned, so that you don't flap in circles with only one wing. Those arguing purely for reason vs those arguing purely for faith is the battle of two flocks of birds flying in circles due to their single-wingedness. You may get what you need with the literal reading, but it's like looking at a two dimensional picture. If you use all four senses of scripture, it suddenly become three dimensional, more alive and real than anything Meta can fake with a VR headset. This is why study bibles are important. The footnotes help a great deal in getting the at literal, allegorical, moral, and Christ-facing points. My recommendations are: The Word on Fire Bible, The Didache Bible, The Navarre Bible, The Ignatius Study Bible. For Protestants, there are some terrific study Bibles as well are faithful and useful (the NIV and the ESV and the MacArthur). There are others, but if you struggle to read the Bible and want to heave it across the room, you may want to try one of these. Read the notes as you go. There will be difficult passages to your modern ears, but that's good. That's where you can put a question mark and come back to it. I have learned more from the Hard Sayings than from the easy parts. Now, the bad news. Even if you read with the “four senses of scripture” and use a study Bible, you will hit dead ends because of translation issues on specific words. So let's talk about one of those words: “gentiles.”A major point of understanding that I whiffed on for years was that “the gentiles” refers to “the nations.” While this may seem insignificant, I believe it makes an enormous difference to our modern ears. The origin of the nations came from this scattering event in the Tower of Babel story, but when Jesus is alive he speaks of “the gentiles” and my mind always just assumed that this meant “The Romans.” When the “gentiles” means all “nations,” like Ethiopia and Egypt and Libya and the Irish and the Chinese, I can start to see how the event at Babel overarches the Bible as whole. This event at Babel speaks to a larger theme than just scattered tongues. Rome is just the dominant nation at the time Christ is born, but there are many other “Romes” along the way that ram into the nation of Israel. Obviously we have linguistics and anthropology and archaeology to help us understand where languages and nations came from. We know of the Indus River valley and of Mesopotamia and of Mesoamerica. We have lots of scholarship and science to help us with those things, and I'm glad that we do. Thank goodness for the Enlightenment, as they spent two hundred years finding reasons to deny the Bible that are oddly, repeatedly, confirming events of the Bible. Science seems to be working in mysterious ways. But I do not go to Genesis for science. I don't know why anyone would. Sure, the Big Bang fits right in there with “let there be light” but to expect Genesis to fit with modern linguistics is ridiculous and it blocks readers from seeing the deeper wisdom of these words. I go to scripture for understanding the soul, and if I really want to know how one language morphed from one place to the next, I'll enroll in college courses. They key to remember is that the wisdom of Genesis is about the spiritual and physical world, whereas the finite studies of scientific research remain in the physical. Science is stuck in this world by design. Science, when done correctly, does not attempt to build a “Gate to God,” but focuses on observable nature and repeatable experiments. That is its strength and reason for existence and usefulness. Ok, now back to the words gentiles and nations. What the outcome of Babel is describing is our constant state of tension that we have in the world between nations. Every time the word gentiles or nations is used, it's referring to this scattering of people. The separation of languages leads to separated groups of people who misunderstand each other. Misunderstanding leads to fear and fear leads to…oh hell - let's just let Yoda say it: “Fear is the path to the dark side…fear leads to anger…anger leads to hate…hate leads to suffering.”You nailed it, Yoda. That's what the Bible is telling us here, because the Tower of Babel is the third fall of man. Maybe the fourth. There is a sexual fall of man that clearly happens with the Nephilim story, but I'll never finish this if I add that one in here as well. So I'm sticking with three falls for now: Adam and Eve fall, Cain falls, and Babel falls. This third fall is the origin story of the separation of peoples, and the confusion that drives a wedge between people is the inability to understand one another. Pride swells up quickly when misunderstanding gives offense, and between peoples or nations this is the cause of violence and war. We still have the “common language” however. No, the common language did not go away. In the post-Babel world, we still understand competition and greed and envy and anger. We still know that “God helps those who help themselves” whether we say it in Akkadian, Greek, or English. The common language came from our first two falls with Adam and Cain, and if you add in the sexual fall into immorality from chapter 6, you get the full recipe for disaster that leads to the Great Flood. Then the world gets reset. Truly, “The Great Reset” was not Covid, but the Great Flood. The problems, however, being soon after the flood when Noah gets hammered with liquor. I dare to say there is a fall there, as well, but that puts my up to five falls. Perhaps we should call Noah's fall a stumble. When we finally get to Babel, the idea presented is that people who work together in a common language can have harmony, or at least it seems that way in the story. But a key problem stands in of the story like an elephant in the room. The common goal of “making a name for ourselves” reeks of the smell that came from the prior falls of Adam and Cain. To “make a name” for oneself is to reject God. To desire one's name to be spoken in awe is a temptation that hardly differs from the shiny one's temptation in the garden when it tells Eve that she “will be like gods” if she eats the fruit. Moreover, if everyone intends to make a name for himself, then everyone wants to be a god. This results in too many gods, and ultimately chaos, because gods don't like to be told what to do. This should sound familiar because that it the state of America today, where we used to say, “For God and Country!” we now focus on the individual, as in, “Don't tell me what to do!” The common language of fallen man can build an empire, but it cannot hold the peace, nor can it join us together in endless song, because power attracts others who might also like a taste of it. In fact, the empires that have “made a name for themselves” have done so through violence and coercion, not love. This is why Jesus is so radical, and unlike Babel, his radical self-emptying becomes the very thing that conquers the world. In not trying to make a name for himself, he makes the greatest name in history. This rejection of God repeats over and over, causing further problems, and as far as Biblical messages go, that is the Old Testament in a nutshell. Adam and Eve's pride lead them to reject God. Cain was mastered by sin that was “crouching at his door” because he failed to rely on God, and tried to rely on himself. Finally, we get scattered into nations that distrust one another. Our fig leaves just keep getting bigger. We went from using fig foliage at first, to drones and cyberwar in today's U.S. Army. Once again, pride brought about the plan to build a Tower to overtake God, and as punishment, just as we were banished from the Garden of Eden, and Cain was kicked out to wander, in Babel we are separated from one another, and therefore pushed further still from God. Another way to think of it is that God retreated from us for our arrogance. We are in this state for a reason, as he waits to return and set things right. Just like Adam did, nations also have fear. When they build armies and play games of espionage, they are like Adam, saying to God in the garden, “I was afraid, because I was naked, so I hid.” The nations hide behind guns and tanks and jets and missiles, because being open to our neighbors is terrifying. If tomorrow Russia and the United States said, “Let's just dismantle all the bombs,” and they actually did so, they would then be naked and afraid because they are not the only countries with nukes. The only way the nations stop hiding behind defenses is if all nations decided at once, without pretense or falsehood, to defuse all bombs. Now, aside from divine intervention, does anyone believe that will happen? The disarmament talks stalled and even if the superpowers said they had defused all bombs, they would surely have their fingers crossed behind their back while announcing it. Is anyone so naive as to believe that either nation would actually get rid of all the missiles? Throughout history, the nations constantly resort to violence when squabbling over territory and resources. Many modern readers cannot stomach the Old Testament because of the violence. Brutal and ruthless warfare is described in a good chunk of the Old Testament. It confuses modern people that the sacred scripture would contain so much bloodshed, which is odd because we can literally watch it happening on TV today. We can watch World War II or Gulf War or Iraq War footage. We can see newscasts from Ethiopia or Sudan or Syria. It has not gone away, it's just gotten more impersonal. I used to say that gunpowder killed the classics because in a swordfight you could have some dialogue and drama. No one ever has a good conversation in a gunfight. In the Old Testament, there are even places where the Most High God, the living God, is instructing his chosen people to commit atrocities. In light of this, it seems the single nation before the Tower of Babel would have been better, right? Scattering the people into nations seems to have led to a lot of awful, disgusting butchery that could have been avoided. This is a huge stumbling block for readers today who look at the bloodshed and ask, “How could a living, loving God allow it?” Keep in mind that the story of the Tower of Babel and all that follows in the Old Testament is telling us about the world as it is, not as we would like it to be. The origin of “the nations” is probably less important than realizing that the state of the world that Abraham is born into is one that already has “the nations.” A fact is presented to us. The world of Abraham is full of warring nations already, and the first 11 chapters of Genesis are describing how the fallen world came to be. Imagine a voiceover that splits chapter 11 and 12 saying, “We now join our fallen world already in progress.” Much time has passed since Noah and Babel. We are joining the story in the middle as soon as Abraham is introduced in chapter 12. Living among “the nations,” he is called out to form a new nation. The LORD said to Abram: Go forth from your land, your relatives, and from your father's house to a land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the families of the earth will find blessing in you. (Gen 12:1-3)To understand what is happening here, we have to remember that this declaration is the first thing we hear about Abraham (who is still named Abram at this point). We have just left the “scattering” of peoples into diverse nations, which describes how the world became a bunch of warring tribes and states, and the very next thing is God telling Abraham that he will form a new nation, one that will eventually bring all families under God's blessing once again. Every bit of the Old Testament that follows is the process of forming that nation, all driving us toward Mary, where she can give birth to Jesus. The walls between the nations do not move until Jesus comes, and really not until Pentecost, when the inversion of Babel happens. However, Jesus doesn't ride out to the nations and shout down the walls, as it happened in Jericho. In fact, Jesus' ministry is very much confined within the walls of God's nation, the nation of Israel. But in chapter 8 of Matthew, we see something significant happen where he first goes outside the nation, just a little bit. Jesus heals a Roman centurion's son, who is not a card carrying member of the nation of Israel, but he did help build a synagogue. The elders lobby to Jesus for healing, on behalf of this man. Upon hearing the centurion's faith, Jesus performs the healing of his son. (Lk 7:1-11)This is quite radical, as he is now healing outside of the lines of the nation of Israel. Then in chapter 15 of Matthew, we see Jesus take another step outside the wall of the nation. He heals the daughter of a Canaanite woman because of her faith in him. At first, he tells her, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” This line tells us a great deal about his ministry. In a kind of test, she passes by persisting in asking for help. She calls to Christ for help and won't let him go. She is a model of faith, of daily conversion, for after having been called, she will not depart him. In other words, she persists, endures, perseveres, and as we know, Jesus tells us that “by our endurance we will gain our soul.” This is a great lesson in prayer and perseverance, but for our purposes here, the Canaanite woman's persistence almost seems to open the door to all nations. At that point, even though Jesus has just said he only came for the children of Israel, he seems to be healing people from all over the place. No, it doesn't say this explicitly, but right after the Canaanite woman's daughter is healed, he heals crowds of people, and it doesn't tell us if these people were all Jews or if it included those from “the nations.” Lastly, to top it off, at the end of chapter 15 in Matthew, he feeds four thousand people with the loaves and fishes miracle, and the only pre-requisite to getting some bread seems to be hunger - no passport or ID needed. But again, here it does not list out the members of the crowd. We get the Table of Nations in Genesis but we don't get a Table of the Hungry in the loaves and fishes miracle. For these Gospel stories, we don't get the luxury of a Book of Numbers where long lists of names are presented. In any case, everyone who comes to Jesus is fed, and those who need healing and persist in asking for him, Jew or non-Jew, is healed. The key is to keep asking. The origin of nations in the Tower of Babel story is a critical point to understand because references to “the nations” and “gentiles” are everywhere in the New Testament. “Gentiles” has to be one of the most confusing words in the entire Bible to modern ears, just like “kingdom” is to our ears as we abide in modern democracies. For me, “gentiles” is much easier to read as “the nations” or “foreigners” or “non-Jews.” This helps me understand how radical the healings of Jesus were, because accepting foreigners was not something ancient people did. The family and the culture was your whole identity. Even until recent times, this was the case, and really still is for people who live in the real world and not in online in virtual groups. Jesus starts chipping away at the walls between “the nations.” By accepting women into his inner circle, he's chipping away at other walls, too. In our age of diversity celebrations, we have completely forgotten where this notion of acceptance and breaking down boundaries came from. It is from Jesus Christ, a carpenter who is God. Lest we forget: without Christendom, we do not get to our current buzzwords of diversity, equity, and inclusion. (Tip: none of those are new ideas, they are just repackaged parts of Catholic Social Teaching, and CST is far more comprehensive, if anyone ever actually read it. In our Present Privilege and Enlightenment Fragility, we ignore wisdom that was gained long before our era, so we have gurus who “re-discover” it. But there is nothing original in our modern moralists, except for that they drop God out of the equation and pin Original Sin on certain groups and excuse it from others. As Fulton Sheen said, “There are not over a hundred people in the United States who hate the Catholic Church. There are millions, however, who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church — which is, of course, quite a different thing…As a matter of fact, if we Catholics believed all of the untruths and lies which were said against the Church, we probably would hate the Church a thousand times more than they do.”)The origin of nations is important because it explains the state of the world that Abraham and the nation of Israel are formed within. This tension between nations is clearly the cause of massive suffering in the world, just as it is today. There are various important passages about who rules the nation with perhaps the most important one being when Jesus is tempted in the desert. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit whydidpetersink.substack.com

"Pakistan Pakistan, populous multiethnic country of South Asia. Having a predominately Indo-Iranian speaking population, Pakistan has historically and culturally been associated with its neighbours Iran, Afghanistan, and India. Since Pakistan and India achieved independence in 1947, Pakistan has bee" "--START AD- #TheMummichogblogOfMalta Amazon Top and Flash Deals(Affiliate Link - You will support our translations if you purchase through the following link) - https://amzn.to/3CqsdJH Compare all the top travel sites in just one search to find the best hotel deals at HotelsCombined - awarded world's best hotel price comparison site. (Affiliate Link - You will support our translations if you purchase through the following link) - https://www.hotelscombined.com/?a_aid=20558 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."""" #Jesus #Catholic. Smooth Radio Malta is Malta's number one digital radio station, playing Your Relaxing Favourites - Smooth provides a ‘clutter free' mix, appealing to a core 35-59 audience offering soft adult contemporary classics. We operate a playlist of popular tracks which is updated on a regular basis. https://smooth.com.mt/listen/ Follow on Telegram: https://t.me/themummichogblogdotcom END AD---" "n distinguished from its larger southeastern neighbour by its overwhelmingly Muslim population (as opposed to the predominance of Hindus in India). Pakistan has struggled throughout its existence to attain political stability and sustained social development. Its capital is Islamabad, in the foothills of the Himalayas in the northern part of the country, and its largest city is Karachi, in the south on the coast of the Arabian Sea. Pakistan Pakistan Mohammed Ali Jinnah Mohammed Ali Jinnah tomb of Mohammed Ali Jinnah tomb of Mohammed Ali Jinnah Pakistan was brought into being at the time of the partition of British India, in response to the demands of Islamic nationalists: as articulated by the All India Muslim League under the leadership of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, India's Muslims would receive just representation only in their own country. From independence until 1971, Pakistan (both de facto and in law) consisted of two regions—West Pakistan, in the Indus River basin in the northwestern portion of the Indian subcontinent, and East Pakistan, located more than 1,000 miles (1,600 km) to the east in the vast delta of the Ganges-Brahmaputra river system. In response to grave internal political problems that erupted in civil war in 1971, East Pakistan was proclaimed the independent country of Bangladesh. Gilgit-Baltistan: Hunza River valley Gilgit-Baltistan: Hunza River valley Pakistan encompasses a rich diversity of landscapes, starting in the northwest, from the soaring Pamirs and the Karakoram Range through a maze of mountain ranges, a complex of valleys, and inhospitable plateaus, down to the remarkably even surface of the fertile Indus River plain, which drains southward into the Arabian Sea. It contains a section of the ancient Silk Road and the Khyber Pass, the famous passageway that has brought outside influences into the otherwise isolated subcontinent. Lofty peaks such as K2 and Nanga Parbat, in the Pakistani-administered region of Kashmir, present a challenging lure to mountain climbers. Along the Indus River, the artery of the country, the ancient site of Mohenjo-daro marks one of the cradles of civilization. Yet, politically and culturally, Pakistan has struggled to define itself. Established as a parliamentary democracy that espoused secular ideas, the country has experienced repeated military coups, and religion—that is to say, adherence to the values of Sunni Islam—has increasingly become a standard by which political leaders are measured. In addition, parts of northern Pakistan—particularly the areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa formerly designated as Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA)—have become a haven for members of several

The Indus River running through northwest India into Pakistan received its name from the Sanskrit term sindhu. The Persians designated the land around the Indus River as Hindu, a mispronunciation of the Sanskrit sindhu. Sanskrit word for river, sindhu. The Indus River running through northwest India into Pakistan received its name from the Sanskrit term sindhu. The Persians designated the land around the Indus River as Hindu, a mispronunciation of the Sanskrit sindhu. In 1921 archaeologists uncovered evidence of an ancientù civilization along the Indus River, which today is dated to around 3300BC and thought to represent one jùuof the largest centers of human habitation in the ancient world. The Indus Valley Civilization extend quite far from the banks of the Indus River including parts of contemporary Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and India. Scholars believe that the Indus Valley Civilization had begun to decline by 1800BC, possibly due to climate change. Because of its location between the Indian Subcontinent and the Iranian plateau, the area has seen many military invasions including Alexander the Great, the Persian empire, and the Kushan empire. In 712AD, the Muslims invaded the Indus Valley. To distinguish themselves, they called all non-Muslims Hindus; the name of the land became, by default, the name of the people and their religious.

Timur was a Turco-Mongol conqueror who established the Timurid Empire in modern-day Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asia, becoming the Timurid dynasty's first ruler. Timur invaded northern India in 1398, attacking the Delhi Sultanate, which was ruled by the Tughlaq dynasty's Sultan Nasir-ud-Din Mahmud Shah Tughluq. He sacked Tulamba and massacred its inhabitants after crossing the Indus River on September 30, 1398. Then he advanced further and by October, had captured Multan. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/venus-jain3/message

Check out what I'm up to this summer and fall and see if you can learn some Greek and Latin with me.Full Show Notes Available at https://plutarch.life/alexanderSeason 4 is brought to you by Hackett Publishing - Use the coupon code PLUTARCH for 20% off and free shipping at hackettpublishing.comKey Virtues and Vices Generosity (μεγαλόδωρος) - When his wealth becomes nearly infinite his generosity keeps pace with it. Many examples given of Alexander's largesse as he builds his empire. Justice (δική) - When founding and running a empire this big, justice has to be a key concern. Alexander tries to balance respect for the current Persian customs as he finds them and the Hellenization of the Persian peoples. While he doesn't walk that line as well as he could have, many of his Macedonians treat the Persians far worse and Alexander is often left picking up the pieces. Friendship (φιλία)- Plutarch, like Aristotle, sees philosophy as the foundation of a life of powerful and lasting friendships. Alexander lives this virtue in many ways but, when he falls short, he fails in impressive ways (cf. Clitus the Black). Ambition (φιλοτιμία) - This one cuts both ways. Aristotle uses the same word to describe the virtue as he does to describe its excess (what we still today call “overly-ambitious”). Alexander's ambition means the only things that slow him down or change his course are mutiny or death. Important Places Thebes - Not just in Plutarch's backyard, but the city punished for revolting after Philip's death. It is burned to the ground and 30,000 of its inhabitant are sold into slavery. Plutarch thinks this must anger the god Dionysius, who was born close to Thebes. The Battle of Granicus River - Alexander's first battle against the Persian army. Is he reckless or bold? Do we judge him by the consequences?Battle of Issus - Alexander's second major battle against the Persian host, and the first in which Darius is present. Darius flees and Alexander chose better terrain than he realized. The Siege of Tyre - This strategic city gives Alexander an excuse to take care of the Persian Navy so that his supply lines are not disrupted as he traverses into the heart of the Persian Empire. Alexandria - Alexander, under the guidance of Homer, founds a city at the mouth of the Nile that will prosper for the next thousand years. Acting as the Greek and Roman capital of Egypt, Alexandria is still the second-most populous city in Egypt after Cairo today. The Battle of Gaugamela - The last decisive battle to put Darius on the run. Alexander claims that Greece has been avenged and uses the title King of Persia after this. The Battle of Hydapses - Moving beyond the frontiers of the Persian Empire, Alexander crosses the Indus River and defeats King Poros, only to return his kingdom to him because of respect for a worthy enemy. Shortly after this his men mutiny and Alexander must turn back home. Babylon - Before he makes it home, the whole army has a prolonged victory feast in Babylon. Perhaps complications from drinking cause Alexander to fall into a fever from which he does not recover and he dies in Babylon at the age of 33, having conquered the Greeks and the Persian Empire. What if he'd managed to conquer himself? How far does Plutarch think he could have gone? Support the show

Check out what I'm up to this summer and fall and see if you can learn some Greek and Latin with me.Full Show Notes Available at https://plutarch.life/alexanderSeason 4 is brought to you by Hackett Publishing - Use the coupon code PLUTARCH for 20% off and free shipping at hackettpublishing.com     Important People-Bucephalus - Yes, a horse is an important character! Fiery, hard-working, and lasting till the edge of Alexander's empire, Bucephalus (ox-head) provides an analogue for us to see a fiery temperament tamed. -Philip - Alexander's ambitious father and the succesful military reformer who almost led an expedition against Persia himself. His untimely assassination makes that task fall to Alexander. -Olympias - An ambitious and scheming mother, Olympias always pushes Alexander to do more and work harder. While at home, she frequently conflicts with Antipater, the regent Alexander left in charge of Macedonia in his decade-long absence. -Darius III - The last Achaemenid emperor of Persia flees from Alexander twice but, overall, is treated well by his enemy. He didn't choose his successor, but ultimatley respects the man who sits on the throne of Cyrus after his death. -Poros - One of the last king-generals that Alexander defeats before turning around to head back home. Poros lives on the far side of the Indus River and earns Alexander's respect in a hard-fought battle. Alexander keeps him in his current position and adds lands to his after defeating him. -Aristotle - One of the greatest philosophers who ever lived worked as the personal tutor to Alexander the Great for at least two years. The two men continue to correspond later in life but some versions of the story have their relationship cool significantly after Alexander executes his grand-nephew, Callisthenes (cf. sections 53-55)-Philotas - A contemporary of Alexander rising in the ranks under his father, Parmenio. Both experienced leaders who served under Philip and Alexander, Philotas's pride finds him implicated in a conspiracy and Alexander kills him and his father. -Clitus (Cleitus) - A member of Alexander's companion cavalry who saves his life at The Battle of Granicus River. When he later tries to publicly correct Alexander for adopting too many Persian customs, the fight leads to his tragic death, which Alexander struggles to recover from.  -Callisthenes - Grand-nephew of Aristotle accompanying Alexander on the Persian Expedition. He acts as a proxy for Alexander's relationship with the ethical and political lessons Alexander had learned from Aristotle. When he dies (some reports say by Alexander's order, others do not), it seems Alexander lost his last link with his childhood education.Important Places-Thebes - Not just in Plutarch's backyard, but the city punished for revolting after Philip's death. It is burned to the ground and 30,000 of its inhabitant are sold into slavery. Plutarch thinks this must anger the god Dionysius, who was born close to Thebes. -The Battle of Granicus River -Battle of Issus-The Siege of Tyre-Alexandria-The Battle of Gaugamela-The Battle of HydapsesKey Virtues and Vices-Generosity -Justice  -Friendship   -Ambition (φιλοτιμία)Support the show

Welcome to the Instant Trivia podcast episode 399, where we ask the best trivia on the Internet. Round 1. Category: Your Days Are Numbered 1: Dies Martis is the Latin name for this day of the week. Tuesday. 2: Number of months with only 30 days. four. 3: Years that read the same upside down and right side up include 1881, 6009 and this year of the 1960s. 1961. 4: Title of the 1965 Beatles No. 1 hit song that is a calendrical impossiblity. "Eight Days A Week". 5: In the DD/MM/YYYY format, it was the most recent date in which all 3 were even numbers. December 30, 2006. Round 2. Category: A Spot Of "T" 1: It's what was showered down upon Charles Lindbergh at a parade in NYC in June 1927. ticker tape. 2: To write down words, especially from audio to written form. transcribe. 3: In 1998 a $15 million production of this opera was staged in its actual setting, the Forbidden City. Turandot. 4: Middle Caicos is the largest island in this British dependency in the West Indies. the Turks and Caicos. 5: This general came to power in Panama in 1968 and led the drive to end U.S. control of the canal. Omar Torrijos. Round 3. Category: "In" Places 1: In February 1994 an earthquake struck the island of Sumatra in this nation, killing 215 people. Indonesia. 2: Civilization in the valley of this Pakistani river dates back about 4500 years. the Indus River. 3: Technically, it comprises the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles and the Lesser Antilles. the West Indies. 4: This capital of Tyrol has hosted 2 Winter Olympic games. Innsbruck. 5: This Missouri city is headquarters to the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Independence. Round 4. Category: Wham-O 1: In 1997 Wham-O introduced a Max Flight version of this 1950s sensation that flew farther and was easy to catch. the Frisbee. 2: Wham-O owners heard about Australian kids using a bamboo ring for exercise; it became this 1958 fad. a Hula hoop. 3: Wham-O received its name from this first product; when a projectile hit its target, it made a "Wham-O" sound. a slingshot. 4: This 1962 Wham-O game named for a dance craze came with a moveable cross bar and 2 support stands. limbo. 5: Versions of this lawn toy to keep you cool in the summer include "Wave Rider" and "Bounce 'N Splash". a Slip 'N Slide. Round 5. Category: "Ez" Does It 1: It's the crime of stealing money that has been entrusted to one's care. embezzlement. 2: In its 1979 peace treaty with Egypt, Israel was guaranteed unrestricted use of this waterway. the Suez Canal. 3: "And a Voice to Sing With" and "Daybreak" are autobiographies by this famous folk singer. Joan Baez. 4: He was ruler of the Aztecs at the time Cortes came a-calling. Montezuma. 5: The name of this Indian tribe that lives in Idaho is French for "pierced nose". Nez Perce. Thanks for listening! Come back tomorrow for more exciting trivia!

Another Indus river dolphin was found dead near the Taunsa Barrage (a damn) in the Indus River (Pakistan) bringing the total to three Indus dolphins in the past month found dead. This past dolphin was found in fishing gear, which is the greatest threat to the population that is already limited by the physical barriers of six barrages within the river.  Non-governmental organizations are trying to pressure the government to enforce policies that regulate the type of fishing gear, material, and mesh size as there has not been any enforcement on the fishing contractors in the area.  Link to article: https://www.dawn.com/news/1667055 Connect with Speak Up For Blue: Website: https://www.speakupforblue.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/speakupforblue/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/speakupforblue 

Welcome to the Instant Trivia podcast episode 303, where we ask the best trivia on the Internet. Round 1. Category: Band Names 1: The name of this Houston trio honors Texas bluesman Z.Z. Hill. ZZ Top. 2: A road sign inspired the name of this band from the land "Down Under". Men at Work. 3: Debbie Harry had often been called this, so it was "a natural" for the name of her band. Blondie. 4: This "Money For Nothing" group was named for its sorry financial condition. Dire Straits. 5: The last name adopted by all members of this punk band was an alias used by Paul McCartney. The Ramones (Ramone accepted). Round 2. Category: Yum... Candy! 1: Some of this company's fine chocolates are embossed with its naked lady on a horse logo. Godiva. 2: Chick-O-Sticks aren't chicken-flavored; they're made from peanut butter and this tropical treat. coconut. 3: In 1997 this candy introduced a female character who's green; she called her autobiography "I Melt For No One". M and M's. 4: The candy once marketed as "Mrs. Stover's Bungalow Candies" is sold under this brand name today. Russell Stover. 5: It was the last name of the brothers who perfected their now-famous English toffee bar back in 1928. Heath. Round 3. Category: "In" Places 1: In February 1994 an earthquake struck the island of Sumatra in this nation, killing 215 people. Indonesia. 2: Civilization in the valley of this Pakistani river dates back about 4500 years. the Indus River. 3: Technically, it comprises the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles and the Lesser Antilles. the West Indies. 4: This capital of Tyrol has hosted 2 Winter Olympic games. Innsbruck. 5: This Missouri city is headquarters to the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Independence. Round 4. Category: Pugilists 1: This boxer liked his nickname "Marvelous Marvin" so much that he had his name legally changed. Marvin Hagler. 2: In a 27-year ring career, Archie Moore set a record by winning the most bouts, 141, in this way. a knockout. 3: 3 Rays have won Olympic gold medals in boxing for the U.S.: Ray Mercer, Ray Seales and this "sweet" guy. "Sugar" Ray Leonard. 4: This bare-knuckles heavyweight champ was known as "The Great John L.". Sullivan. 5: 1 of 2 men to whom Floyd Patterson lost the World Heavyweight title. Ingemar Johansson (or Sonny Liston). Round 5. Category: Hollywood Blvd. 1: In June 1999 the Metro Rail opened a station named for this world-famous intersection. Hollywood and Vine. 2: In 1994 Schwarzenegger's size 12 boot prints were planted in its "Forecourt of the Stars". Mann's Chinese Theatre (or Grauman's Chinese Theatre). 3: These awards are slated to return to the boulevard at a new theatre in 2001. Academy Awards (Oscars). 4: June 16, 1999 was "Another Day In Paradise" when this composer got a star on the Walk of Fame. Phil Collins. 5: Cybill Shepherd has sung in this hotel's Cinegrill. Roosevelt Hotel. Thanks for listening! Come back tomorrow for more exciting trivia!

Saturday, 30 October 2021   Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Acts 2:9   The list of various dialects (even within various languages) is now presented. This list is probably not all inclusive, but it gives a sense of the scope of what was heard by those gathered in Jerusalem. Hence, it gives the scope of the miracle itself. As these are Galileans speaking forth, and as there are such an expansive number of individual languages and dialects, it reveals the knowledge and understanding of the Spirit who caused these people to speak.   The languages, as they are presented, generally follow from east to west in their geographic locations. Albert Barnes gives a detailed description of these people groups and his work will be cited here.   The list begins with “Parthians.” Of them, Barnes says, “Parthians mean those Jews or proselytes who dwelt in Parthia. This country was a part of Persia, and was situated between the Persian Gulf and the Tigris on the west, and the Indus River on the east. The term ‘Parthia' originally referred to a small mountainous district lying to the northeast of Media. Afterward it came to be applied to the great Parthian kingdom into which this province expanded. Parthia proper, or Ancient Parthia, lying between Asia and Hyrcania, the residence of a rude and poor tribe, and traversed by bare mountains, woods, and sandy steppes, formed a part of the great Persian monarchy. Its inhabitants were of Scythian origin. About 256 years before Christ, Arsaces rose against the Syro-Macedonian power, and commenced a new dynasty in her own person, designated by the title of Arsacidae. This was the beginning of the great Parthian empire, which extended itself in the early days of Christianity over all the provinces of what had been the Persian kingdom, having the Euphrates for its western boundary, by which it was separated from the dominions of Rome (Kitto's Encyclop.). Their empire lasted about 400 years. The Parthians were much distinguished for their manner of fighting. They usually fought on horseback, and when appearing to retreat, discharged their arrows with great execution behind them. They disputed the empire of the East with the Romans for a long time. The language spoken there was that of Persia, and in ancient writers Parthia and Persia often mean the same country.”   Next, Luke says, “and Medes.” Of them, Barnes says, “Inhabitants of Media. This country was situated westward and southward of the Caspian Sea, between 35 degrees and 40 degrees of north latitude. It had Persia on the south and Armenia on the west. It was about the size of Spain, and was one of the richest parts of Asia. In the Scriptures it is called Madai, Genesis 10:2. The Medes are often mentioned, frequently in connection with the Persians, with whom they were often connected under the same government, 2 Kings 17:6; 2 Kings 18:11; Esther 1:3, Esther 1:14, Esther 1:18-19; Jeremiah 25:25; Daniel 5:28; Daniel 6:8; Daniel 8:20; Daniel 9:1. The language spoken here was also that of Persia.”   After them come the “Elamites.” Barnes states, “The nation was descended from Elam, the son of Shem, Genesis 10:22. It is mentioned as being in alliance with Amraphel, the king of Shinar, and Arioch, king of Ellasar, and Tidal, king of nations, Genesis 14:1. Of these nations in alliance, Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, was the chief, Genesis 14:4. See also Ezra 2:7; Ezra 8:7; Nehemiah 7:12, Nehemiah 7:34; Isaiah 11:11; Isaiah 21:2; Isaiah 22:6, etc. They are mentioned as a part of the Persian empire, and Daniel is said to have resided at Shushan, which is in the province of Elam, Daniel 8:2. The Greeks and Romans gave to this country the name of Elymais. It is now called Kusistan. It was bounded by Persia on the east, by Media on the north, by Babylonia on the west, and by the Persian Gulf on the south. The Elamites were a warlike people, and celebrated for the use of the bow, Isaiah 22:6; Jeremiah 49:35. The language of this people was of course the Persian. Its capital, Shusan, called by the Greeks Susa, was much celebrated. It is said to have been fifteen miles in circumference, and was adorned with the celebrated palace of Ahasuerus. The inhabitants still pretend to show there the tomb of the prophet Daniel.”   Luke next turns to “those dwelling in Mesopotamia.” Barnes details them, saying, “This name, which is Greek, signifies between the rivers; that is, the region lying between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. In Hebrew it was called Aram-Naharaim; that is, Aram, or Syria, of the two rivers. It was also called Padan Aram, the plain of Syria. In this region were situated some important places mentioned in the Bible: "Ur of the Chaldees, the birthplace of Abraham Genesis 11:27-28; Haran, where Terah stopped on his journey and died Genesis 11:31-32; Charchemish 2 Chronicles 35:20; Hena 2 Kings 19:13; Sepharvaim 2 Kings 17:24. This region, known as Mesopotamia, extended between the two rivers from their sources to Babylon on the south. It had on the north Armenia, on the west Syria, on the east Persia, and on the south Babylonia. It was an extensive, level, and fertile country. The language spoken here was probably the Syriac, with perhaps a mixture of the Chaldee.”   Luke next mentions “Judea.” In this, Barnes notably and wisely states, “This expression has greatly perplexed commentators. It has been thought difficult to see why Judea should be mentioned, as if it were a matter of surprise that they could speak in this language. Some have supposed that there is an error in the manuscripts, and have proposed to read Armenia, or India, or Lydia, or Idumea, etc. But all this has been without any authority. Others have supposed that the language of Galilee was so different from that of the other parts of Judea as to render it remarkable that they could speak that dialect. But this is an idle supposition. This is one of the many instances in which commentators have perplexed themselves to very little purpose. Luke recorded this as any other historian would have done. In running over the languages which they spoke, he enumerated this as a matter of course; not that it was remarkable simply that they should speak the language of Judea, but that they should speak so many, meaning about the same by it as if he had said they spoke every language in the world. It is as if a similar miracle were to occur at this time among an assembly of native Englishmen and foreigners. In describing it, nothing would be more natural than to say they spoke French, and German, and Spanish, and English, and Italian, etc. In this there would be nothing remarkable except that they spoke so many languages.”   Luke next turns to “Cappadocia.” Barnes diligently notes, “This was a region of Asia Minor, and was bounded on the east by the Euphrates and Armenia, on the north by Pontus, west by Phrygia and Galatia, and south by Mount Taurus, beyond which are Cilicia and Syria. The language which was spoken here is not certainly known. It was probably, however, a mixed dialect, made up of Greek and Syriac, perhaps the same as that of their neighbors, the Lycaonians, Acts 14:11. This place was formerly celebrated for iniquity, and is mentioned in Greek writers as one of the three eminently wicked places whose name began with C. The others were Crete (compare Titus 1:12) and Cilicia. After its conversion to the Christian religion, however, it produced many eminent men, among whom were Gregory Nyssen and Basil the Great. It was one of the places to which Peter directed an epistle, 1 Peter 1:1.”   After that, Luke states “Pontus.” Again, to Barnes – “This was another province of Asia Minor, and was situated north of Cappadocia, and was bounded west by Paphlagonia. Pontus and Cappadocia under the Romans constituted one province. This was one of the places to which the apostle Peter directed his epistle, 1 Peter 1:1. This was the birthplace of Aquila, one of the companions of Paul, Acts 18:2, Acts 18:18, Acts 18:26; Romans 16:3; 1 Corinthians 16:19; 2 Timothy 4:19.”   The verse ends with, “and Asia.” Of this area, Barnes details the following, “Pontus and Cappadocia, etc., were parts of Asia. But the word Asia is doubtless used here to denote the regions or provinces west of these, which are not particularly enumerated. Thus, it is used Acts 6:9; Acts 16:6; Acts 20:16. It probably embraced Mysia, Aeolis, Ionia, Caria, and Lydia. "The term probably denoted not so much a definite region as a jurisdiction, the limits of which varied from time to time, according to the plan of government which the Romans adopted for their Asiatic provinces" (Prof. Hackett, in loco). The capital of this region was Ephesus. See also 1 Peter 1:1. This region was frequently called Ionia, and was afterward the seat of the seven churches in Asia, Revelation 1:4.”   Concerning the term “Asia,” Vincent's Word Studies further clarifies the term, saying, “Not the Asiatic continent nor Asia Minor. In the time of the apostles the term was commonly understood of the proconsular province of Asia, principally of the kingdom of Pergamus left by Attalus III. to the Romans, and including Lydia, Mysia, Caria, and at times parts of Phrygia. The name Asia Minor did not come into use until the fourth century of our era.”   Life application: When reading commentaries on verses such as Acts 2:9, be sure to thank the Lord for all of the diligent work that has gone into recording information about these places by scholars of past ages. At times they provide scriptural references that will help identify who is being referred to elsewhere in the Bible. Great scholars of the past spent a lot of time in rooms lighted by lamps, pouring over maps, books, and the Bible itself to put together reliable records of what is being described.   We are those who benefit from their labors, and they have made our lives much easier as we prepare our own commentaries, Bible studies, and sermons for those in our lives to also benefit from. A big “thank you” to them is due when we meet on the fairer shores we will someday walk upon.   And above all, thank the Lord that He has given us such wonderful words through Luke and the other writers of the Bible to get us going in our journey of understanding the greatness of what God is doing in redemptive history as He arranges His word, builds up His foundations, and weaves together His church. Yes, thank God for all He has done to give us the surety of His word and thus the surety of our salvation which is so clearly presented in this word.   Lord God, thank you for the wonderful stream of instruction You have given us, both in Your word and in those who have evaluated Your word throughout the ages. We have a reliable testimony to all that is going on in the wonderful story of the redemption of man because of those things You have put together for us. Thank You, O God! Amen!  

Today was a conversation filled with laughter, great insight and some incredible kayaking stories as I sit down for an interview with the one and only, Johnny Chase. Johnny shares many hilarious stories from getting into kayaking to getting bit by a rattlesnake and overcoming his fears by banging his head against a rock.Movie Reference - The River RunnerPodcast reference - Sam Sutton InterviewBook- Touching the VoidInstagram: @j_chase_kayakPlease let me know what you think about this content with a rating or review on Apple Podcasts, or hit my up with a DM on Instagram @NickTroutmanKayak I would love to hear more about the subjects that you are most interested in, or any individuals that you would like me to interview. Thanks for listening,Nick Troutman See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In the 6th century BC, Tomyris rises to become Queen of the Massagatae, a confederation of nomads who roam the Eurasian steppe just east of the Caspian Sea. The culture of these fierce Scythians insists that women fight alongside men in battle.When her husband is killed in battle Cyrus the Great, leader of the Persian Empire, who has amassed lands from the Mediterranean Sea to the Indus River, attempts to force Tomyris into a marriage and a merger. She not only refuses, but battles and defeats the world's greatest warrior. “In order to survive now so that our people may thrive later, I must be brutal. That is how men have ruled. That is how they have thrived, and it is time for this woman to do the same.”Contact us: violentfemmearmy@gmail.comWebsite: violentfem.meFollow ViolentFemme on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/violentfem.me/Follow Rahaleh on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rahaleh/Support this podcast: https://www.patreon.com/violentfemme

Cyrus the Great was the founder of the Achaemenian Empire. His empire, stretching from the Aegean Sea to the Indus River, was the largest that had ever existed at the time of his rule. Cyrus pieced his kingdom together using a mixture of conquest and diplomacy, attesting to his skills as a warrior and a statesman.

Raja Dahir Sen (663 - 712 CE) was the last Hindu ruler of Sindh in the western region of the Indian subcontinent that now comes in modern Pakistan after partition of India in 1947. In 711 CE his kingdom was invaded by the Ummayad Caliphate led by Muhammad bin Qasim where Dahir died while defending his kingdom. According to the Chachnama, the Umayyad campaign against Arori Raja Dahir was due to a pirate raid off the coast of the Sindhi coast that resulted in gifts to the Ummayad caliph from the king of Serendib being stolen. He was killed at the Battle of Aror which took place between his dynasty and the Arabs at the banks of the Indus River, near modern-day Nawabshah at the hands of the Arab general Muhammad bin Qasim. His body was then decapitated and his head was sent to the governor of Basra, Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf. His headless body was then cremated by his own soldiers. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/bharatpodcast/message

In this episode, we are joined by Scott Lindgren and Rush Sturges who give us all the inside beta on the...

Back in our 15th episode of this series, we looked at Khwarezmian prince Jalal al-Din Mingburnu's exploits in India in the early 1220s. Having fled there after Chinggis Khan's devastating invasion of the Khwarezmian Empire, Jalal al-Din's flight brought India to the attention of the Mongols. While Chinggis Khan did not invade the subcontinent, this was not the last that India would see of the Mongols. In today's episode, we return to northern India, dominated by the Sultanate of Delhi, and look at its interactions with the Mongols who repeatedly raided its borders. Why the Delhi Sultans, from Iltutmish, Balban to Alauddin Khalji were able to largely successfully resist the Mongols will be examined, over nearly the century of Mongol-Delhi interactions. I'm your host David, and this is Kings and Generals: Ages of Conquest.   The Delhi Sultanate arose from the ruins of the Ghurid Empire which had stretched from Afghanistan to Bengal. The Ghurids, or Shansabanids,  had been a regional power in central Afghanistan emerging in the ninth century but were subdued by the Ghaznavids, also known as the Yamanids, a persianised Turkic dynasty which dominated much of the Iranian world up to the borders of India from the tenth to the twelfth centuries. The Ghaznavids under their great expander, the mighty Mahmud of Ghazna, reduced the Ghurids to a subject state early in the eleventh century, though in turn the Ghaznavids were pushed from Iran by the Seljuqs with the famous battle of Dandanaqan in 1040, and became tributary to the Seljuqs under their Sultan Sanjar at the start of the twelfth century. In this time, the Ghurid elite converted from Buddhism to Islam, and could be said to have bided their time. The Seljuqs weakened over the twelfth century with the arrival of  the Qara-Khitai, the Ghuzz Turk invasions and independence of the Khwarezmian Empire in the north. In turn, the weakness of the Seljuqs advanced the weakness of the Ghaznavids, which provided an opportunity for the Ghurids to rise in the second half of the twelfth century. Under the brilliant leadership of Mu'izz al-Din Muhammad Ghuri, better known simply as Muhammad of Ghor, and his brother Ghiyath al-Din, the Ghurids conquered the remnants of the Ghaznavids. Repulsing invasions by the Ghuzz  Turks and proving a staunch foe to the Qara-Khitai and Khwarezm-Shahs, Muhammad of Ghor received backing from the Caliph and expanded across the region. By the end of his life, he had forged an empire stretching from eastern Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan across Northern India to Bengal.   Muhammad of Ghor's military might rested in large part on his loyal ghulams, Turkic slave soldiers, though over the thirteenth century the term gave way to mamluk. A similar institution existed in the form of the Ottoman janissaries. While it was common for any good regional warlord to employ nomadic Turkic tribes due to their military prowess, they often proved unreliable and self-interested. For the conquest-minded Muhammad of Ghor, he could not put much stock on nomad chiefs  who may value their own advancement over Muhammad's glory. Instead, Muhammad looked to the classic islamic institution of slave soldiers. Ghulams and Mamluks were young boys, generally sold by enemy Turkic tribes, that were brought into the Islamic world and raised from birth to be elite soldiers. Generally having already some horse and archery skills from their youth, these boys were converted to Islam and given the finest training in military matters, with top of the line equipment, weapons and horses, in addition to receiving education and even salaries. The result was a core of fierce warriors loyal not to any tribal or family ties, but to their fellow ghulams and their master, who sheltered and provided for them. No shortage of Islamic princes lamented on how their ghulams tended to be more loyal than their own sons; the sons awaited only the death of the father, while the ghulams wanted only his glory. Famously, the child-less Muhammad of Ghor is supposed to have remarked that, while other monarchs could have a few sons, he had thousands in the form of his ghulams.   The source of many of Muhammad of Ghor's ghulams were various Qipchap Turkic tribes from the great steppe. As in late Ayyubid and early Mamluk Egypt, and indeed much of the islamic world, the Cuman-Qipchaqs were prized as warriors. His ghulams proved themselves in combat repeatedly. Though supported by local tribes, both Turkic and Pashtun, Muhammad of Ghor over his life increasingly relied on his ghulams, and in time they commanded his armies and acted as his governors. Attacking the Hindu kingdoms of northern India at the close of the twelfth century, Muhammad of Ghor had to return to Afghanistan to face the Khwarezm-Shah Tekish, and Tekish's son Muhammad. Muhammad bin Tekish, of course, we know best as the gentleman who antagonized Chinggis Khan some two decades later. In Muhammad of Ghor's absence fighting the Khwarezmians, his ghulams like Qutb ad-Din Aybeg were left to command his troops and govern his territories in India. And these same loyal ghulams, upon the childless Muhammad of Ghor's assassination in 1206, then quite loyally tore the Ghurid empire to pieces, each one declaring himself master of his own domain.    Qutb ad-Din Aybeg claimed Delhi, and though he tried to establish a dynasty, his early death in 1210 in a polo accident resulted in his young son pushed out by one of his own ghulams, his son-in-law Shams-ud-Din Iltutmish. Iltutmish, a Qipchaq like Aybeg, consolidated the Delhi Sultanate as one of the chief powers of northern India. So began the first of five separate Turko-Afghan dynasties that would rule the Delhi Sultanate over the next three centuries. Because of the ghulam, or mamluk origin of the first dynasty, the first dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate is sometimes known as the Mamluk Sultanate of Delhi, sometimes to mirror the contemporary Qipchaq founded Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt. For the next two hundred years, their foreign policy on their northern border was defined by the Mongol Empire and its successor states.    Relations between the Delhi Sultanate and Mongols began in the 1220s, in the middle of Iltutmish's reign, when Chinggis Khan himself rode to their borders chasing the Khwarezmian Prince Jalal al-Din Mingburnu, son of the late Khwarezm-Shah Muhammad II. Chinggis did not invade India, though he sent some forces to pursue Jalal al-Din in India. According to the Persian writer Juvaini, Chinggis actually did advance some days into the Punjab, having hoped to find a route that would allow him to march around the Himalayas and attack the Jin Dynasty from the south, but could not find such a road. Other medieval sources and modern historians offer alternative explanations for Chinggis' refusal to spend more time in India, with reasons ranging from respect for Delhi's neutrality, the heat of northern India, bad omens, Delhi's diplomacy appeasing the Khan through token submission, to the simple fact that Chinggis may not have had interest expanding into a new, unknown territory while already dealing with much of Iran, Central Asia and China, with Chinggis intending all along to return to China and deal with the Jin and Tangut. We discussed the matter more in episodes 9 and 15. As it was, Chinggis returned to the east, and died while on campaign against the Tangut in 1227. As we saw in episode 15, Jalal al-Din spent a few years in India making a mess of things, nearly attacking Delhi before withdrawing to Iran after a massive coalition of the post-Ghurid and Hindu forces threatened him.  The great consequences of Mingburnu's time in India was that he and the Mongols sent to pursue him  greatly undermined Iltutmish of Delhi's other Ghurid rivals in the northwest and the Punjab. Thanks to wars between the Khwarezmian and Mongol forces, Iltutmish over the late 1220s and 1230s gradually absorbed the other post-Ghurid powers up to the Indus River. In addition, he became overlord of a number of regional Hindu kingdoms; some have for this region compared the Delhi Sultanate to a collection of subkingdoms. By Iltutmish's death in 1236, the Delhi Sultanate was the great power of northern India and the Gangetic plain, from the Indus to Bengal, with recognition from the Caliph as the only Muslim sovereign in India, and indeed, one of the mightiest Muslim rulers in the world.   However, in Iltutmish's final years the Mongol presence on his border increased. When Chormaqun Noyan and his army entered Iran at the start of the 1230s to complete the conquest of the region and finish off Jalal al-Din -something we discussed in detail in episode 15- a portion of his force was sent into southeastern Iran and Khurasan, which included modern Afghanistan. The remnants of the empire Jalal al-Din Mingburnu had left in Afghanistan and India submitted to the Mongols, and the Mongol Empire now directly bordered the Delhi Sultanate. A tamma force under Dayir was stationed in Afghanistan, and part of the duty of the tamma was to disrupt the states along the borders of the Mongol Empire. As such, Mongol raids into the Punjab and Sind began with increasing regularity in the late 1230 and 40s, which proved difficult for Iltutmish's troubled successors.   Iltutmish's eldest son and heir had been groomed for the throne, but his premature death in Bengal was a severe blow to the Sultan. A younger son, Rukn ud-Din Firoz Shah, ultimately succeeded Iltutmish, but the youth enjoyed alcohol and good times more than the complicated court machinations and governance. The boy's mother acted as the true governor, using her power to take out her grievances. It was not a winning combination. Within months a rebellion removed Firoz Shah and his mother from the scene, which placed Iltutmish's daughter Raziyya on the throne. Famous as the only female Muslim monarchs in India's history, and popularly known as Raziyya Sultana, her ascension owed much to the strong Turkic force in the government, many of whom were only recent converts to Islam. Some are known to have been denizens of the former Qara-Khitai empire, which had influential women empresses, and therefore the prospect of a woman ruling in her own name was not as dreadful to them.    Apparently Raziyya had been expected to act as a figurehead, though proved herself, in the vein of all good Qipchap women, to be very assertive and insisted on a prominent, public role. Enjoying horseback archery and riding elephants in public, she supposedly even dressed as a man. Seeking to expand her powerbase, she sought to create additional sources of support in competition to the Turkic ghulams. Her appointees to power included Ghuris, Tajiks, Hindus and even Africans. The ghulams did not appreciate it, and by 1240 Raziyya was deposed and, after a brief attempt to restore her to the throne, killed in favour of her brother, Bahram Shah. So ended the brief reign of perhaps the most well known female Muslim monarch. Her brother and successor Bahram Shah did not long enjoy the throne. A brave and often blood thirsty individual, his effort to totally remove the powerful Turkic aristocracy, increasingly showing itself a rival to power to the Sultan, resulted in his commanders storming Delhi and killing him only two years into his reign.  Bahram Shah's most notable act was appointing Juzjani, a refugee from Khwarezm, as grand qadi of Delhi. Minhaj-i-SIraj Juzjani is one of the most important sources for the period, writing a mammoth history in the 1250s. We've visited it often in the course of this series to generally remark on his well known hatred of the Mongols but it is a key for the early history of the Delhi Sultanate. His great history, the Tabaqat-i-nasiri, was translated into English in the late nineteenth century by Major Raverty, and can be found in two volumes free to download by archive.org.   After Sultan Bahram Shah's death, he was succeeded by Rukn ud-Din Firoz's son, ‘Ala al-Din Mas'ud Shah. Despite having gained the throne with the support of the Turkic aristocracy,  like his predecessors Mas'ud shah sought to weaken them. His four year reign ended with his death at the hands of the youngest surviving son of Iltutmish, Mahmud Shah. From 1246 until 1266, Mahmud proved the longest reigning of Iltutmish' sons. He was though, the most ineffective, and gradually found himself reduced to puppet by his na'ib, Balban, who we will return to shortly.   While these political upheavals rocked the capital, the Mongols pressed on the northwestern border. In 1241 a Mongol force under Bahadur Tair took Lahore, and Multan was captured in 1245, and by the 1250s, Sind and the Punjab were largely under Mongol control and Mongol raids were a nearly annual occurrence. By the reign of Mahmud Shah, the authority of the Delhi monarch, both within his court and northern India, had declined dramatically. Fortunately for the Delhi Sultan, no full Mongol invasion yet threatened, but the stream of refugees from Iran and Central Asia must have brought constant news of the Mongol terror. Juzjani certainly reported seemingly every rumour he heard, and was certainly under the impression that at least some of the Mongol leadership, particularly Chagatai, favoured the extermination of Islam. The learned and informed in Delhi must have feared greatly what would happen if the Mongols pushed the advantage while Delhi was in the midst of another coup.   Sultan Mahmud Shah bin Iltutmish was overshadowed by his wazir and eventual successor Balban, who changed Delhi policy to the Mongols. An Ölberli Qipchaq and ghulam, Balban had risen in influence over the 1240s, and finally between 1246 and 1249 was raised to the viceroyalty, his might beneath only the Sultan himself. Often, you will see him referred to as a member of the “Forty,” or the “Forty Chiefs.” These were, if you believe some modern writers, forty ghulams of Sultan Iltutmish who acted as kingmakers in Delhi since Iltutmish's death. However, as pointed out by historians like Peter Jackson, the “Forty”  are only mentioned by Ziya' al-Din Barani, an official writing in Persian in the Delhi Sultanate in the mid-fourteenth century. No other source on Delhi from the thirteenth or fourteenth centuries, especially the more contemporary Juzjani, mention such a distinct coalition. It seems likely that “Forty” refers to the fact that these men commanded corps of forty elite men; such groups are mentioned in other contemporary sources, and the same organization was present in the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt at the same time.  The “Forty” was not some provisional governmental body composed of forty men who tried to exert their power over the Sultans, but rather Barani's way to refer to the influential members of the aristocracy and elite- many of whom were Qipchaq Turks, but including Ghuris, Tajiks and even Hindus-  who were associated with the military elite and had a vested interest in remaining influential, and were no monolithic body. Balban was a part of this elite, a man experienced with command and the court.   From 1249 through to 1266, with only a brief break, Balban was the #2 man in the Delhi Sultanate, the na'ib, who handled government himself, styled himself Ulugh Khan and married his daughter to the Sultan. Sultan Mahmud Shah turned into a shadowy figure behind Balban's power. In 1266, Mahmud Shah and his children died in unclear, but almost certainly not natural, circumstances, and Balban took the throne himself. So ended the line of Iltutmish. After many years in the viceroyalty, Balban had moved his allies and friends into prominent positions of power, and thus held the throne securely. He was therefore able to finally act more aggressively towards the Mongols. Initially, diplomacy under Mahmud Shah and Balban had sought to appease the Mongols, and envoys from Hulegu in the 1250s had been honoured and respected, friendly relations urged. Considering the size and might of Hulegu's army, it was a wise decision. But following Hulegu's death in 1265, the outbreak of civil war between the Mongols and Balban's direct seizure of the throne in 1266, Balban went on the offensive. On his order, the Sultanate retook Multan and Lahore by force. Balban worked to fortify India's rugged border through building forts garrisoned by the various mountain tribes. Further, Balban welcomed Mongols, Persian and Central Asian refugees fleeing the Mongol civil wars in the 1260s, and gave many of them military positions which provided the Delhi Sultans' with knowledge of Mongolian military tactics. Similar to the Mamluks of Egypt, Mongol refugees were valuable immigrants and their flight was welcomed. Supposedly entire neighbourhoods in Delhi were formed from the Mongols who fled there. Some of these men of Mongol background came to positions of great prominence, after their conversion to Islam of course. Under Balban and his successors, these neo-Muslims, as they were called by Barani,  were given command of armies and powerful positions close to the Sultan. One of these men was a member of the Khalaj tribes, named Jalal al-Din.   Beginning in the 1260s, the source of the Mongol incursions into India changed. Rather than an imperial effort, it became led by the Neguderis based in southern Afghanistan, known also as the Qaraunas. With the outbreak of war between the Ilkhanate and Golden Horde, the Ilkhan Hulagu had attacked the Jochid forces who had been a part of his army. Many fled to southern Afghanistan under their general Neguder, becoming a local and unruly power the Ilkhan and Chagatai princes sought to control. From then on, the Neguderis undertook nearly annual raids into India's northwestern frontier.   Over Balban's long reign he often still relied on diplomacy to keep the Mongols at bay in between periods of fighting. While he consolidated Delhi's hold on northern India, Balban expanded southwards and restored the Delhi Sultante's hegemony after a nadir in the 1240s. While often successful and gaining valuable experience with Mongol tactics, Balban received a great shock in 1285 when his favourite son and heir, Muhammad Shah, governor of Lahore, Multan and Dipalpur, was killed in a vicious Mongol attack on Multan. The once vigorous Balban lived the rest of his life quietly, and largely retired from governance, dying in 1287, succeeded by an inept grandson named Kayqubad. Of the eight sultans who reigned between 1236 and 1296, Sultan Balban was the only one known to have died of natural causes.   Sultan Kayqubad's reign ended quickly, and following his murder in 1290, Jalal al-Din Khalji established the second dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate, the Khalji dynasty.  The name Khalji refers to their background, for their family came from Khalaj tribesmen of what is now Afghanistan.While generally later medieval and modern biographers have seen the Khalaj as a Turkic people, the indication from contemporary sources is that they were seen as a group distinct from the Turks- perhaps due to not being associated with horsemanship or ghulams. The Khalaj were originally Turkic speakers, but over  centuries had mingled with the various Pashtun peoples of Afghanistan. The Pashtun are a branch of the Iranian peoples, speaking a language from the Eastern Iranic language family. While associated with the Pashtun, the Khalaj were distinct from them; Juzjani, during his writing in the 1250s, always distinguished the Khalaj from Turks, Persians and Pashtuns. As such, you will often find the Khalji remarked as a Turko-Afghan dynasty. Individuals of Khalaj stock were certainly raised to prominent positions under the Khalji Sultans, but contrary to some statements, it was not a replacement of the existing multi-ethnic, but still largely Turkic nobility, but a mere another addition to it, just one group among Turks, Mongols, Hindus, Persians and more.   Around 70 years old when he became Sultan in 1290, Jalal al-Din Khalji first appeared in Mongol service. According to the fourteenth century Ilkhanate historian Wassaf, Jalal al-Din had held command over the Khalaj on behalf of the Mongol appointed governor of Binban, west of the Indus River. A fifteenth century source identifies Jalal al-Din's father as Yughrush, the name of the Khalaj Amir who is known to have taken part in a Mongol embassy to Delhi in 1260. In the ebb and flow of frontier fortunes, perhaps falling out with the Mongols or too ambitious for the existing climate, at some point in the 1260s Jalal al-Din and a body of his men fled to the Delhi Sultanate to offer their services to Sultan Balban, who rewarded them a position on the frontier against the Mongols. This was part of a growing trend in the second half of the thirteenth century. Whereas Iltutmish and the early Sultans had given command of the borders to men trained as ghulams or mamluks, under Balban and the Khaljis the border with the Mongols was increasingly defended by Turkic tribal leaders, who came with their own retinues and forces. Many had even been in Mongol service and therefore had intimate experience with them. It was a position for any ambitious general to develop a reputation, experience and a sizable military following.    Jalal al-Din's prominence grew over the reign of Balban as he built his reputation against the Mongols. In the reign of Balban's grandson Kayqubad, Jalal al-Din Khalji was invited to Delhi to assist against Kayqubad's court rivals. Despite becoming Kayqubad's regent, it did little good for the young sultan who was soon murdered, and  Jalal al-Din seized power in the aftermath, though faced stiff court resistance throughout his reign.    Sultan Jalal al-Din Khalji is generally portrayed as downright mild-mannered. A devout  and forgiving Muslim, often shown to be extraordinarily benevolent and generous to his subjects, he was also very capable miltiarily, personally leading armies against independent Hindu kingdoms and Mongols invaders, a great contrast to Sultan Balban who only rarely headed armies during his long dominance. One of his most notable victories came at Bar-Ram in 1292, where when a ceasefire was declared, some 4,000 of the Mongols under their Prince decided to stay in India after converting to Islam. Sultan Jalal al-Din also cultivated good relations with the Ilkhans. A notable exception to the Sultan's demeanor, an outright moral failing in the view of his medieval biographers like Barani, was the brutal murder of a famous sufi whose hospice was found to be attached to a conspiracy against him. Jalal al-Din Khalji's violent reaction was rather unusual for him, given his general clemency to others who plotted against him.    The general kindness, almost certainly overstated, made him appear weak to his ambitious nephew, Alauddin. In 1296 Alauddin Khalji killed his uncle, and arrested and blinded his sons and their allies, and thus usurped power in the Sultanate. So began the reign of the most famous Delhi Sultan. You may know him best as the primary antagonist in the recent Bollywood film, Padmavat, where he is portrayed by Indian actor Ranveer Singh.  Alauddin Khalji was not noted for any benevolence, but for his cunning, ruthlessness, and paranoia alongside an iron will and exceptional military ability. Cruel but highly capable, his reign began with a large Neguderi incursion, attacking Multan, Sind and Lahore. Alauddin's commanders Ulugh Khan and Zafar Khan were mobilized with a larger army than the Mongols, and at Jaran-Manjur defeated them, capturing many men, women and children and executing them.   Alauddin Khalji initiated a number of reforms to strengthen his control and prepare against Mongol invasions. Most of these were directed to enlarging the Delhi military and making it more effective, and building new fortifications. His army and officers were paid in cash and the Sultan had personal control over the army, rather than leaving it in the hands of his amirs. Economic reforms were undertaken as well, with high taxes, up to 50% of each crop, and efforts to prevent hoarding to keep prices low, making it cheaper to feed his men. His position was strengthened by a strong spy network and his loyal eunuch and possible lover, Malik Kefar, who secured him from court intrigues. Alauddin Khalji showed exceptional cruelty as he waged war against Mongol and Hindu alike. His wars in Gujarat were accompanied by the destruction of hundreds of Hindu temples and the massacres of men, women and children. The only extant history written in the reign of Sultan Alauddin, that of Amir Khusrau, speaks of the sultan killing some 30,000 Hindus in a single day during his 1303 campaign in Chittoor. In the words of Khusrau, he cut them down as if they were nothing but dry grass. Alauddin's conquest of the independent Hindu kingdom of Ranthambore in Rajasthan in 1301, a state which had long held out against the Delhi Sultans, was an event which has since held significance in Indian memory. A number of later poems were written on the fall  of Ranthambore which have done much to cement Alauddin's legacy for Indians as a cruel tyrant with a near genocidal hatred for Hindus. Whether Alauddin actually carried such hatred for Hindus, or this was a consequence of a violent imitation of the cruelty associated with the very successful Mongols, is of little consolation for the many thousands killed on his order.   While these developments were occurring within the Sultanate, to the north was a major shift in the Mongol territory, largely covered in our second episode on the Chagatai Khanate and on Qaidu Khan. With Qaidu's influence, Du'a was appointed as Khan over the Chagatai Khanate. Splitting rule of central Asia between them, Du'a and his oldest and favourite son, Qutlugh Khwaja, were able to finally bring the fearsome Neguderis, or Qara'unas,  under their power in the 1290s. Qutlugh Khwaja was given command over them. While Qaidu and Du'a focused on the border with Khubilai Khan in the northeast, Qutlugh Khwaja from his southern base turned the Chagatayid-Neguderi attention to India in the closing years of the thirteenth century.  The reasons for this are unclear: we lack sources from the Chagatai perspective, but Ilkhanid and Indian sources give Du'a an intense interest in India. India was famously wealthy and barring raids into the Punjab, was largely untouched by the Mongols. Further, the defeats suffered in the previous incursions into India needed to be avenged, much like Khubilai and his wrath towards Japan or the Ilkhans towards the Mamluk Sultanate. While the Chagatayids could feel they lacked the ability to make great gains against the Ilkhanate or the Yuan, they could have felt a haughtiness to the Turkic and Hindu forces that awaited them in India, and therefore anticipated easy successes.   While generally the Mongol attacks on India are termed as raids, intended for plunder and undertaken on the direction of individual Neguderi chiefs, the most serious invasions which threatened the Delhi Sultanate occurred on Du'a's order. The 1296 attack was already noted, and two years later another Mongol force was sent into India. Alauddin Khalji's army under Ulugh Khan was campaigning in Gujarat when the Mongols attacked in 1298. The commander left in Delhi, Zafar Khan, was able to raise a large army and defeat the Mongols, once more driving them back across the border. The residents of the Sultanate, despite having repulsed attacks before, were not unaware of the destruction caused by the Mongols: many of the new inhabitants of Delhi over the previous decades had been refugees fleeing Mongol terror.  Each Mongol attack was therefore a cause for panic and fear. Thus, Zafar Khan was very popular after his victory, which may have given the always suspicious Sultan Alauddin concern over his loyalty. It was not unfounded that a prominent general with enough reputation could make a claim for the throne: Alauddin's own uncle Jalal al-Din had done just that.   In late 1298 or 1299 began the most serious Mongol invasion of India. On the orders of Du'a Khan, his sons Qutlugh Khwaja and Temur Buqa marched with 50-60,000 Neguderi and Chagatai horsemen over the border. According to sources like Barani, the purpose of this assault was expressly for conquest, and even if we cannot corroborate it from the Chagatai perspective it is evident that this was a serious undertaking compared to earlier attacks. With the arrival of Qutlugh Khwaja's army, greater than any preceding it, the Sultanate erupted into panic. Qutlugh Khwaja intended to make his mark as the next great Mongol conqueror.   The sources have Qutlugh Khwaja bypassing villages to maximize speed, intending to strike directly at the city of Delhi itself while the Sultan's army was once again on campaign in Gujarat. At the River Jumna, Zafar Khan confronted Qutlugh but was defeated and forced to retreat to Delhi. News of the defeat of the heroic Zafar Khan caused thousands to abandon their homes in fear, and the capital was soon flooded with refugees flying before the oncoming army. Famine, overcrowding and fear now gripped Delhi as the swarm drained its resources, all while Qutlugh Khwaja closed in.   Alauddin held a council with his generals in the city, where he was advised to abandon the capital: the Mongols were too numerous, too powerful and too close for them to stand a chance.  Alauddin trusted his sword however, and raised what forces he could. Some 24 kilometres north of Delhi, Alauddin Khalji met Qutlugh Khwaja at a site called Kili.   While the sources give Alauddin a force of some 300,000 men with 2,700 war elephants, it is nigh impossible Alauddin suddenly put together and supplied an army of such a size on short notice. Modern estimates give a more feasible number at around 70,000 with 700 elephants, still a huge army that likely outnumbered the Mongols. Both forces deployed in the standard formation for steppe armies, a center and two wings. The Sultan took the Delhi center, while Zafar Khan commanded the right wing and Ulugh Khan the left, with elephants dispersed among the three groups. Like the Mongols, the Delhi forces relied on Turkic horse archers, light and heavy cavalry, with much of their army experienced in the same style of warfare as the Mongols.    Zafar Khan, looking to avenge his defeat on the Jumna, led the first charge, attacking the Mongol left flank, which broke before him. Zafar gave chase to drive them from the field, but as he was led further away from the rest of the army, he soon found that he had fallen for a feigned retreat. Zafar was encircled, the Noyan Taraghai leading the ambush. Zafar realized that he had been left to die: the Sultan made no effort to rescue the clearly doomed force, his mistrust of his subordinate's growing popularity being too great. Abandoned and surrounded, Zafar gave his best until he was captured. Qutlugh Khwaja was impressed by Zafar's courage, and offered to let him join the Mongols, where surely his bravery would be appreciated, even offering to make him Sultan of Delhi. Zafar Khan was to the end loyal to his Sultan, and refused, and Qutlugh Khwaja ordered the execution of him and all his men and elephants.   With this victory, Qutlugh Khwaja was poised to defeat Alauddin and conquer the Sultanate. At this point however, the Mongol forces retreated. It seems that at some point over the course of the battle, perhaps in a final struggle during the execution of Zafar Khan's troops, Qutlugh Khwaja was seriously injured, causing his army to retreat. Before he could make it back home, Qutlugh died of his injuries. The Chagatais had lost their prince and another invasion, and Du'a Khan his eldest son, with little to show for it.    This defeat did not end the Mongol invasions of India though, as Noyan Taraghai attacked in 1303 while Alauddin was returning from campaigning in Chittoor where his forces suffered heavy losses. Much of his army was still occupied besieging a major Hindu stronghold. Isolated and besieged near Delhi, inconclusive fighting continued for two months as Sultan Alauddin led a grim resistance. The approaching summer heat and the stalemate tested Taraghai's patience, and he too retreated, almost certainly unaware how tenuous Alauddin's position had been.  From 1304 until 1308 invasions were annual, but victories over major Mongol armies had broken down much of the aura of Mongol terror, Alauddin appearing divinely protected. Mongol armies were defeated in battle, their commanders trampled to death by elephants in Delhi and pillars constructed of Mongol skulls outside the city, and Alauddin undertook a massacre of the Mongols living in Delhi.   The question remains: why were the Mongols so ineffective in India? Delhi familiarity with Mongol tactics was a major factor, both from combat experience, similar army models and the presence of Mongol defectors. Alauddin's military and economic reforms allowed him to afford and quickly raise large armies, while his strong, centralized government kept his state from collapsing under the pressures of these invasions. India's hot summers were hard on the Mongols and their horses, impacting pasturage and limiting when the Mongols attacked. Finally, Alauddin and his generals were simply skilled commanders and a match for the Mongol captains, with luck on their side more often than not. Indian sources however, generally ascribed victory to divine intervention rather than skill, which may be why these Mongol defeats are not remembered like Ayn Jalut.    After Qaidu's death, Du'a helped organize a general peace between the Mongol Khanates, even suggesting they put aside their differences and launch a joint attack on India. However, the death of Du'a in 1307 and reemergence of tension with the neighbouring Khanates brought the attention of the Chagatais away from India. In 1328-1329 Du'a's son Tarmashirin undertook the final major Mongol offensive into India, with similar results desultory. Tarmashirin was briefly the Chagatai Khan from 1331-1334, but his death, as well as the collapse of the Ilkhanate, put Central Asia into chaos. Mongol forces were now focused on internal conflict rather than external assault. Much of this we covered in our third episode on the Chagatai khanate, which created the opportunity for a certain Barlas tribesman named Temur to take power in 1370.    Alauddin Khalji continued to rule with an iron hand and expanded the Sultanate. He fell ill in his final years and grew ever more paranoid and disinterested in government, giving more power to his viceroy, Malik Kafur. On Alauddin's death in 1316, he was succeeded by a young son with Malik Kafur acting as regent. Kafur was quickly murdered and Alauddin's son deposed by a brother, Mubarak Shah. Mubarak Shah ruled for only four years before he was murdered by his vizier in 1320, ending Delhi's Khalji Dynasty. The usurper was quickly overthrown by one of Alauddin Khalji's generals, Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq, and so began the Delhi Tughluq Dynasty, the third dynasty of the Sultanate   Like Jalal al-Din Khalji, Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq had rose to prominence as a frontier commander against the Mongols, particularly from his post at Depalpur during the reign of Alauddin. Sources of the period, including the Moroccan traveller Ibn Battuta who visited his court, indicate Ghiyath al-Din was of nomadic background, possibly Mongol or Neguderi, who had entered the Sultanate during the reign of Alauddin Khalji's uncle, working as a horse keeper for a merchant. The long reigns of Ghiyath al-Din's successors, Muhammad Tughluq and Firuz Shah were stable, but saw the slow decline of Delhi's power and permanent losses of Bengal and of the Deccan. Hindu and other smaller Muslim empires expanded at the expense of the Delhi Sultante. As the Tughluq Dynasty stagnated in the closing years of the fourteenth century, the great conqueror Temur cast his eye towards the jewel of northern India. In late 1398 Delhi was sacked and looted by Temur, but limped on until the 16th century when it was finally destroyed by a descendant of both Temur and Chinggis Khan, Babur.      The later interaction of the Delhi Sultanate with the heirs of the Mongols is a topic for future discussions, so be sure to subscribe to the Kings and Generals Podcast to follow. If you enjoyed this, then consider supporting us on patreon at www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals to help keep bringing you great content. This episode was researched and written by our series historian, Jack Wilson. I'm your host David, and we'll catch you on the next one.

Welcome to the Instant Trivia podcast episode 128, where we ask the best trivia on the Internet. Round 1. Category: The Wok Of Fame 1: To eat Chinese food like a native, use 2 of these 10 1/2-inch wooden implements. Chopsticks. 2: The 4 main Chinese types of these strips of dried dough are soup, sauce, stir-fried and shallow-fried. Noodles. 3: Some people may have adverse reactions to this Chinese food flavor enhancer that's also called "Mei-Jing". MSG (Monosodium glutamate). 4: Predigested seaweed formed into these avian homes is a treasured Chinese soup ingredient. bird nests. 5: Meaning "heart's delight", it's a variety of snacks like fried dumplings and steamed buns. Dim sum. Round 2. Category: March Of Time 1: Once home to Al Capone and a birdman, it closed its cell doors March 21, 1963. Alcatraz. 2: On March 25, 1957 6 countries signed the Treaty of Rome to form this, the EEC. European Economic Community. 3: This city's Bakerloo subway line opened March 10, 1906. London. 4: The U.S. voted against joining this organization March 19, 1920; today we're here and it isn't. League of Nations. 5: On March 1, 1954 the U.S. conducted the first of a series of hydrogen bomb tests on this Pacific atoll. Bikini Atoll. Round 3. Category: "In" Places 1: In February 1994 an earthquake struck the island of Sumatra in this nation, killing 215 people. Indonesia. 2: Civilization in the valley of this Pakistani river dates back about 4500 years. the Indus River. 3: Technically, it comprises the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles and the Lesser Antilles. the West Indies. 4: This capital of Tyrol has hosted 2 Winter Olympic games. Innsbruck. 5: This Missouri city is headquarters to the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Independence. Round 4. Category: Mel Blank 1: His voice brought Daffy Duck to life. Mel Blanc. 2: In 1990 he was Hamlet and in 1994 he was Maverick. Mel Gibson. 3: He wrote and directed but did not produce "The Producers". Mel Brooks. 4: He took "Coca Cola Cowboy" to No. 1 on the country charts in 1979. Mel Tillis. 5: This attractive brunette played thirtysomething Hope Steadman on "thirtysomething". Mel Harris. Round 5. Category: Tv Shows On Tv Shows 1: (Hi. I'm Debbe Dunning.) It's the name of the home improvement show that's featured on "Home Improvement". Tool Time. 2: Like "Meet the Press", Murphy Brown's fictional news show "F.Y.I." tapes in this city. Washington, D.C.. 3: This "Simpsons" TV clown has worked with Sideshow Bob, Sideshow Mel and Sideshow Luke Perry. Krusty the Klown. 4: He plays talk show host Larry Sanders on HBO's "The Larry Sanders Show". Garry Shandling. 5: The TV producer he plays on "The Tom Show" was dumped by Shannon Tweed, not Roseanne. Tom Arnold. Thanks for listening! Come back tomorrow for more exciting trivia!

Hello Interactors,Today we’re branching into topography and the role western colonial expansion plays in the creation and articulation of our naturally occurring geography. Most of us are not very skilled at critiquing the role maps have played in shaping how we see the globe and the people on it. But I’m optimistic that when we do we can better confront the boundaries that maps have created between people and place.As interactors, you’re special individuals self-selected to be a part of an evolutionary journey. You’re also members of an attentive community so I welcome your participation.Please leave your comments below or email me directly.Now let’s go…NAME THAT PLACEI spent last April talking about how the United States was surveyed and diced in little squares that are featured in our maps today. It was a technique ripped out of ancient Rome as a way to rationally quantify space across massive swaths of land. The United States perfected gridded cartesian cadastral cartography, but drawing little lines on paper as a means of assessing, assuming, and asserting control over land had been done for centuries by European colonial settlers around the world – beginning in the Renaissance. The Renaissance accelerated mapping. This was an era of discovering new knowledge, instrumentation, and the measuring and quantification of the natural world. Mercator’s projection stemmed from the invention of perspective; a word derived from the Latin word perspicere – “to see through.” European colonial maps were drawn mostly to navigate, control, and dominate land – and its human occupants. We have all been controlled by these maps in one way or other and we still are. Our knowledge of the world largely stems from the same perspective Mercator was offering up centuries ago. The entire world sees the world through the eyes of Western explorers, conquerors, and cartographers. That includes elements of maps as simple as place names. Take place names in Africa, as an example. The country occupied by France until 1960, Niger, comes from the Latin word for “shining black”. Its derogatory adaptation by the British added another ‘g’ making a word we now call the n-word. But niger was not the most popular Latin word used to describe people of Africa, it was an ancient Greek derivative; Aethiops – which means “burn face”. If you replace the ‘s’ at the end with the ‘a’ from the beginning, you see where the name Ethiopia comes from. Even the name of my home state of Iowa has dubious origins. Sure it’s named after the Indigenous tribe, the Iowa or Ioway, but the Iowa people did not call themselves that. They referred to themselves in their own language as the Báxoje (Bah-Kho-Je). They settled primarily in the eastern and south eastern part of the land we now call Iowa. Most of them were forced to relocate to reservations in Kansas and Oklahoma. It’s believed the name Iowa, came from a Sioux word – ayuhwa which means “sleepy ones.” It would be like the south winning the Civil War and then turning around and declaring the region to their north henceforth be referred to as: Yankees. Even the word Sioux is a French cheapening of a word from the Ojbiwe people– Nadouessioux (na·towe·ssiw). The Sioux were actually a nation combined of the Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota people. They referred to themselves as Oceti Sakowin (oh-CHEH-tee SHAW-kow-we) or “Seven Council Fires”. They covered the sweeping plains of most of what we now call Minnesota; which stems from the Dakota phrase Mni Sota Makoce – “where the waters reflect the sky”. They extended south to the northwest corner of so-called Iowa and east to the more aptly named state of South Dakota. These people were expelled from Minnesota after the Dakota War of 1862. They continue to suffer today the pains felt by America’s largest mass execution in history at the hands of none other than Abraham Lincoln. Just months after signing the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln ordered 38 Dakota and Lakota men to be hung. Dissatisfied with the pace and politics of the makeshift trial of 303 Indigenous people, he decided on his own who should live and who should die. On April 23rd, 1863 the United States declared their treaties with the Lakota and Dakota null and void, closed their reservations, and marched them off their land. It took until this year, 2021, for the United States to give a southern sliver of land back to them. And in Northern Minnesota they’re still fighting to protect the water that reflects the sky.MAPS AND MATH FROM A MAN FROM BATH There’s another Westernized place name just west of where the Dakota and Lakota people thrived called Gannett Peak. It’s the tallest mountain in the state of Wyoming and is part of the Bridger-Teton range. I’m sure you’ve heard of the more popular neighboring range, the Grand Teton’s; another notable (and sexist) French place name which means – ‘Big Boobs’. Gannett Peak is named after Henry Gannett – the father of American mapmaking. Born in Bath, Maine in 1846 he went on to graduate from Harvard’s Lawrence Scientific School in 1869. After some time in the field documenting geology from the Great Lakes to the mines of Colorado he returned to Harvard for a degree in mining engineering. He spent a couple years working at the Harvard College Observatory making maps and calculating the building’s precise longitude. He then was hired as the chief astronomer-topographer-geographer by the United States Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories in 1872. A mouthful. Perhaps daunted by such a long name for a department charged with precision and clarity of information, the USGGST was shortened to USGS in 1779 – the U.S. Geological Society. Some claim Gannett lobbied for USGGS in an attempt to maintain the word geographical and not just geological. If so, he was likely outvoted by his boss and prominent geologist, Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden. His book, The Great West: its Attractions and Resources gives you a clue as to why geologists were maybe more revered than geographers in the late seventeen and eighteen hundreds. After all, there’s gold in them there hills.The study of naturally occurring geometric properties and their spatial relations over a continuous plane is the work of topology. Documenting and surveying those studies is the work of a topographer. And the artifact they generate is called a topographic map. The first large scale topographic mapping project was Cassini’s Geometric Map of France in 1792. Then, in 1802 the British followed with the highly precise topographic map of India. As I’ve noted in previous posts, the earliest surveying and mapping of the British colonies and the United States were funded and controlled by government backed private companies like the Hudson Bay Company in the 1600s and the Ohio Company of Associates in the 1700s. IT’S UP TO YOU TO QUESTION YOUR VIEWThe topographic map of India was also directed by a British colonizing super-spreader the East India Company. They, together with the British government, had been at it for 200 years already. But in the early 1800s they were seeking accuracy. They wanted far more precise control over the Indigenous land, resources, trade, and people. The people of India are second to Africa in genetic diversity and emerged via Africa through the Indus River valley; hence the name India. This massive southeast Asian continent was first named by the Spanish or Portuguese – India is Latin for “Region of the Indus River”. The map that the East India Company commissioned in 1802 is called the Great Trigonometrical Survey. Trigonometry had already been awhile. In 140BC its Greek inventor, Hipparchus, used it, as the British did, for spherical trigonometry – the relationship of spherical triangles that emerge when three circles wrapping around a sphere intersect to form a spherical triangle. It’s used to measure the spherical curvature of the earth and was employed with precision by the East India Company using instruments with cool names like theodolite and Zenith sector. What resulted was a map of India featuring a fine-grained triangulated lattice accurately depicting the designated borders of British claimed territories. It was also the first accurate height measurements of Mount Everest, K2, and Kanchenjunga. Those heights were surveyed by Indigenous Tibetan surveyors who were secretly hired and trained by the British. Europeans were not allowed into Tibet at the time, so the surveyors had to pretend they were just hiking. This trigonometrical triangulated technique was the first accurate measure of a section of the longitudinal arc. The same arced sections that defined the curved edges of Henry Gannett’s topographic quadrangle mapping system which he perfected seventy years later on the other side of the globe at an arc distance of roughly 8,448 miles or 13,595 kilometers.Gannett’s career arc makes it easy to see why he figures prominently in American geography. Following is just a sampling of his contributions.He was the first geographer assigned to the census for the country’s tenth census survey. Gannett was responsible for drawing the first census tracts and invented the enumeration of districts based on population and geography. He chaired the Board of Geographic Names and later wrote a book on the history of United States place names. You can read a digitized version online. It includes a surprisingly long list of place names across the country and their origins. He demarcated the first 110,000 miles of national forests and served as Teddy Roosevelt’s research program director for his National Conservation Commission which projected future natural resource use.He helped form the National Geographic Society, Association of American Geographers, and other astronomy and geology clubs.He published two hundred articles on human geography, cartography, and geomorphology all while editing a handful of journals and publishing textbooks.The topographical techniques and programs Gannett pioneered were used all the way to the 1980’s and 90’s as GPS and computers took over. As amazing as his work was, it was no match for satellite imagery, GPS, and computer imaging. The topography he painstakingly surveyed and mapped is now available to anyone with access to a computer and an internet connection.Gannett was one of many geographers throughout the history of western colonization. Sure he was more influential than most, but they were all tasked with the same thing. Whether it was triangulating British territories in India, finessing French regions in Africa, or delineating Dutch districts in Brazil they were all measuring, mapping, and manipulating how others should see the world. It’s the paradox of mapmaking. No matter your intent, whatever line you draw will reflect the bias you bring. Mercator was biased by perspective because that’s what the culture of his time led him to do. Gannett mapped natural occurring features of the land because the mapping of minerals and other natural resources was in high demand. Iowa was named Iowa because that’s what they knew. Even attempts to counter-map the dominance of cartesian colonial cartography can’t escape its own bias. Nobody can. But we live on a melting planet, so our days remain a few. If we’re going to survive this calamity, we must see that our thoughts are skewed. So the next you look at a map, consider its point of view. If we all do this together, we can invent a world anew. Sources: Henry Gannett Chapter. The History of Cartography, Volume 6: Cartography in the Twentieth Century. Edited by Mark Monmonier.Wikipedia. Subscribe at interplace.io

In yet another sign of rapprochement after the LoC ceasefire arrangement, India and Pakistan officials held talks on Indus River water rights on 23 March. The two-day meet, an annual affair, is being held after two years. All this and more in our weekly news segment from Pakistan.

In this first of a two-part series, we'll take a concise look at the history of one of the greatest empires in all of antiquity - the Achaemenid Persian Empire.  Founded by Cyrus II and expanded by his successors Cambyses II and Darius I, the Achaemenid dynasty would not just go on to rule most of the known world at the time, but also transmit the ideas and innovations of its many subject peoples to from the shores of the eastern Mediterranean to the Indus River valley and beyond.  We'll start with examining the Achaemenid's rise to power, the world that they lived in, their religion including Zoroastrianism, and the beginning of their encounters with the Greek-speaking peoples of the Aegean and what would eventually lead to the Greco-Persian wars.    Contents: 00:00 Historical Backdrop (Assyria, Elam and Media)09:35 Cyrus the Great (Early Years)14:00 Cyrus vs. Croesus and Lydia20:31 Cyrus and the Conquest of Babylon24:43 Cyrus as Liberator in Biblical and Babylonian texts27:33 Cyrus and Babylon29:20 Cyrus' Last Campaign against the Massagetae32:00 Cambyses II37:06 Cambyses II - Mad or Maligned King?42:18 Darius I (Darius the Great)43:44 The Behistun Inscription and the Crisis of 522 BC55:50 Persian Ethics, Religion, and Zoroastrianism01:02:56 Achaemenid Administration - Roads, Canals and Satrapies01:08:45 Expansion into Europe and start of the Greco-Persian Wars01:11:19 Battle of Marathon01:14:28 Thank you and PatronsSupport the show (https://www.patreon.com/historywithcy)

The word "Hindu" is derived from the word for Indus River (in modern day Pakistan and Northern India). The term was first used to describe the people who lived beyond the river Indus. There doesn't seem to be a completely agreed upon start date or how it actually got started. But it is a very old religion. But most Hindu's say “Its not a religion but a way of life.” I understand this is a way of life for them but because they believe and have faith in a god or gods and afterlife, it is essentially a religion. In this podcast, I talk about the main points of Hinduism and some of their key terms. If you found this podcast beneficial, please take a minute to leave a review and then share it with someone whom you think can benefit from it. Follow on Instagram: Reel Life Student Ministry - https://www.instagram.com/reellifestudents/ Micah - https://www.instagram.com/micahmurphree Facebook: Reel Life Student Ministry - https://www.facebook.com/ReelLifeStudents/ Micah - https://www.facebook.com/MicahSr You can contact me by email: micahmurphree@gmail.com If you would rather watch the podcast, you can watch them on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5FShL4iZqwVQDBLxPy0MVg/ If you want to see more about me and my crazy family, check out our family vlog here (Murph Squad Family): https://www.youtube.com/c/MurphSquadFamilyVlog

Humanity realized we could do more with stone tools some two and a half million years ago. We made stone hammers and cutting implements made by flaking stone, sharpening deer bone, and sticks, sometimes sharpened into spears. It took 750,000 years, but we figured out we could attach those to sticks to make hand axes and other cutting tools about 1.75 million years ago. Humanity had discovered the first of six simple machines, the wedge.  During this period we also learned to harness fire. Because fire frightened off animals that liked to cart humans off in the night the population increased, we began to cook food, and the mortality rate increased.  More humans. We learned to build rafts and began to cross larger bodies of water. We spread. Out of Africa, into the Levant, up into modern Germany, France, into Asia, Spain, and up to the British isles by 700,000 years ago. And these humanoid ancestors traded. Food, shell beads, bone tools, even arrows.  By 380,000-250,000 years ago we got the first anatomically modern humans. The oldest of those remains has been found in modern day Morocco in Northern Africa. We also have evidence of that spread from the African Rift to Turkey in Western Asia to the Horn of Africa in Ethiopia, Eritraea, across the Red Sea and then down into Israel, South Africa, the Sudan, the UAE, Oman, into China, Indonesia, and the Philopenes.  200,000 years ago we had cored stone on spears, awls, and in the late Stone Age saw the emergence of craftsmanship and cultural identity. This might be cave paintings or art made of stone. We got clothing around 170,000 years ago, when the area of the Sahara Desert was still fertile ground and as people migrated out of there we got the first structures of sandstone blocks at the border of Egypt and modern Sudan. As societies grew, we started to decorate, first with seashell beads around 80,000, with the final wave of humans leaving Africa just in time for the Toba Volcano supereruption to devastate human populations 75,000 years ago.  And still we persisted, with cave art arriving 70,000 years ago. And our populations grew.  Around 50,000 years ago we got the first carved art and the first baby boom. We began to bury our dead and so got the first religions. In the millennia that followed we settled in Australia, Europe, Japan, Siberia, the Arctic Circle, and even into the Americas. This time period was known as the Great Leap Forward and we got microliths, or small geometric blades shaped into different forms. This is when the oldest settlements have been found from Egypt, the Italian peninsula, up to Germany, Great Britain, out to Romania, Russia, Tibet, and France. We got needles and deep sea fishing. Tuna sashimi anyone? By 40,000 years ago the neanderthals went extinct and modern humans were left to forge our destiny in the world. The first aboriginal Australians settled the areas we now call Sydney and Melbourne. We started to domesticate dogs and create more intricate figurines, often of a Venus. We made ivory beads, and even flutes of bone. We slowly spread. Nomadic peoples, looking for good hunting and gathering spots. In the Pavolv Hills in the modern Czech Republic they started weaving and firing figurines from clay. We began to cremate our dead. Cultures like the Kebaran spread, to just south of Haifa. But as those tribes grew, there was strength in numbers.  The Bhimbetka rock shelters began in the heart of modern-day India, with nearly 800 shelters spread across 8 square miles from 30,000 years ago to well into the Bronze Age. Here, we see elephants, deer, hunters, arrows, battles with swords, and even horses. A snapshot into the lives of of generation after generation. Other cave systems have been found throughout the world including Belum in India but also Germany, France, and most other areas humans settled. As we found good places to settle, we learned that we could do more than forage and hunt for our food.  Our needs became more complex. Over those next ten thousand years we built ovens and began using fibers, twisting some into rope, making clothing out of others, and fishing with nets. We got our first semi-permanent settlements, such as Dolce Vestonice in the modern day Czech Republic, where they had a kiln that could be used to fire clay, such as the Venus statue found there - and a wolf bone possibly used as a counting stick. The people there had woven cloth, a boundary made of mammoth bones, useful to keep animals out - and a communal bonfire in the center of the village. A similar settlement in modern Siberia shows a 24,000 year old village. Except the homes were a bit more subterranean.  Most parts of the world began to cultivate agriculture between 20,000 and 15,000 years ago according to location. During this period we solved the age old problem of food supplies, which introduced new needs. And so we saw the beginnings of pottery and textiles. Many of the cultures for the next 15,000 years are now often referred to based on the types of pottery they would make. These cultures settled close to the water, surrounding seas or rivers. And we built large burial mounds. Tools from this time have been found throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, and in modern Mumbai in India. Some cultures were starting to become sedentary, such as the Natufian culture we collected grains, started making bread, cultivating cereals like rye, we got more complex socioeconomics, and these villages were growing to support upwards of 150 people.  The Paleolithic time of living in caves and huts, which began some two and a half million years ago was ending. By 10,000 BCE, Stone Age technology evolved to include axes, chisels, and gouges. This is a time many parts of the world entered the Mesolithic period. The earth was warming and people were building settlements. Some were used between cycles of hunting. As the plants we left in those settlements grew more plentiful, people started to stay there more, some becoming permanent inhabitants. Settlements like in Nanzhuangtou, China. Where we saw dogs and stones used to grind and the cultivation of seed grasses.  The mesolithic period is when we saw a lot of cave paintings and engraving. And we started to see a division of labor. A greater amount of resources led to further innovation. Some of the inventions would then have been made in multiple times and places again and again until we go them right.  One of those was agriculture.  The practice of domesticating barley, grains, and wheat began in the millennia leading up to 10,000 BCE and spread up from Northeast Africa and into Western Asia and throughout. There was enough of a surplus that we got the first granary by 9500 BCE. This is roughly the time we saw the first calendar circles emerge. Tracking time would be done first with rocks used to form early megalithic structures.  Domestication then spread to animals with sheep coming in around the same time, then cattle, all of which could be done in a pastoral or somewhat nomadic lifestyle. Humans then began to domesticate goats and pigs by 8000 BCE, in the Middle East and China. Something else started to appear in the eight millennium BCE: a copper pendant was found in Iraq. Which brings us to the Neolithic Age. And people were settling along the Indus River, forming larger complexes such as Mehrgarh, also from 7000 BCE. The first known dentistry dates back to this time, showing drilled molars. People in the Timna Valley, located in modern Israel also started to mine copper. This led us to the second real crafting specialists after pottery. Metallurgy was born.  Those specialists sought to improve their works. Potters started using wheels, although we wouldn't think to use them vertically to pull a cart until somewhere between 6000 BCE and 4000 BCE. Again, there are six simple machines. The next is the wheel and axle.  Humans were nomadic, or mostly nomadic, up until this point but settlements and those who lived in them were growing. We starting to settle in places like Lake Nasser and along the river banks from there, up the Nile to modern day Egypt. Nomadic people settled into areas along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean and between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers with Maghzaliyah being another village supporting 150 people. They began to building using packed earth, or clay, for walls and stone for foundations. This is where one of the earliest copper axes has been found. And from those early beginnings, copper and so metallurgy spread for nearly 5,000 years.  Cultures like the Yangshao culture in modern China first began with slash and burn cultivation, or plant a crop until the soil stops producing and move on. They built rammed earth homes with thatched, or wattle, roofs. They were the first to show dragons in artwork. In short, with our bellies full, we could turn our attention to the crafts and increasing our standard of living. And those discoveries were passed from complex to complex in trade, and then in trade networks.  Still, people gotta' eat. Those who hadn't settled would raid these small villages, if only out of hunger. And so the cultural complexes grew so neolithic people could protect one another. Strength in numbers. Like a force multiplier.  By 6000 BCE we got predynastic cultures flourishing in Egypt. With the final remnants of the ice age retreating, raiders moved in on the young civilization complexes from the spreading desert in search of food. The area from the Nile Valley in northern Egypt, up the coast of the Mediterranean and into the Tigris and Euphrates is now known as the Fertile Crescent - and given the agriculture and then pottery found there, known as the cradle of civilization. Here, we got farming. We weren't haphazardly putting crops we liked in the grounds but we started to irrigate and learn to cultivate.  Generations passed down information about when to plant various crops was handed down. Time was kept by the season and the movement of the stars. People began settling into larger groups in various parts of the world. Small settlements at first. Rice was cultivated in China, along the Yangtze River. This led to the rise of the Beifudi and Peiligang cultures, with the first site at Jaihu with over 45 homes and between 250 and 800 people. Here, we see raised altars, carved pottery, and even ceramics.  We also saw the rise of the Houli culture in Neolithic China. Similar to other sites from the time, we see hunting, fishing, early rice and millet production and semi-subterranean housing. But we also see cooked rice, jade artifacts, and enough similarities to show technology transfer between Chinese settlements and so trade. Around 5300 BCE we saw them followed by the Beixin culture, netting fish, harvesting hemp seeds, building burial sites away from settlements, burying the dead with tools and weapons. The foods included fruits, chicken and eggs,  and lives began getting longer with more nutritious diets. Cultures were mingling. Trading. Horses started to be tamed, spreading from around 5000 BCE in Kazakstan. The first use of the third simple machine came around 5000 BCE when the lever was used first, although it wouldn't truly be understood until Archimedes.  Polished stone axes emerged in Denmark and England. Suddenly people could clear out larger and larger amounts of forest and settlements could grow. Larger settlements meant more to hunt, gather, or farm food - and more specialists to foster innovation. In todays Southern Iraq this led to the growth of a city called Eridu.  Eridu was the city of the first Sumerian kings. The bay on the Persian Gulf allowed trading and being situated at the mouth of the Euphrates it was at the heart of the cradle of civilization. The original neolithic Sumerians had been tribal fishers and told stories of kings from before the floods, tens of thousands of years before the era. They were joined by the Samarra culture, which dates back to 5,700 BCE, to the north who brought knowledge of irrigation and nomadic herders coming up from lands we would think of today as the Middle East. The intermixing of skills and strengths allowed the earliest villages to be settled in 5,300 BCE and grow into an urban center we would consider a city today.  This was the beginning of the Sumerian Empire Going back to 5300, houses had been made of mud bricks and reed. But they would build temples, ziggurats, and grow to cover over 25 acres with over 4,000 people. As the people moved north and gradually merged with other cultural complexes, the civilization grew.  Uruk grew to over 50,000 people and is the etymological source of the name Iraq. And the population of all those cities and the surrounding areas that became Sumer is said to have grown to over a million people. They carved anthropomorphic furniture. They made jewelry of gold and created crude copper plates. They made music with flutes and stringed instruments, like the lyre. They used saws and drills. They went to war with arrows and spears and daggers. They used tablets for writing, using a system we now call cuneiform. Perhaps they wrote to indicate lunar months as they were the first known people to use 12 29-30 day months. They could sign writings with seals, which they are also credited with. How many months would it be before Abraham of Ur would become the central figure of the Old Testament in the Bible?  With scale they needed better instruments to keep track of people, stock, and other calculations. The Sumerian abacus - later used by the Egyptians and then the device we know of as an abacus today entered widespread use in the sixth century in the Persian empire. More and more humans were learning larger precision counting and numbering systems.  They didn't just irrigate their fields; they built levees to control floodwaters and canals to channel river water into irrigation networks. Because water was so critical to their way of life, the Sumerian city-states would war and so built armies.  Writing and arithmetic don't learn themselves. The Sumerians also developed the concept of going to school for twelve years. This allowed someone to be a scribe or writer, which were prestigious as they were as necessary in early civilizations as they are today.  In the meantime, metallurgy saw gold appear in 4,000 BCE. Silver and lead in 3,000 BCE, and then copper alloys. Eventually with a little tin added to the copper. By 3000 BCE this ushered in the Bronze Age. And the need for different resources to grow a city or empire moved centers of power to where those resources could be found.  The Mesopotamian region also saw a number of other empires rise and fall. The Akkadians, Babylonians (where Hammurabi would eventually give the first written set of laws), Chaldeans, Assyrians, Hebrews, Phoenicians, and one of the greatest empires in history, the Persians, who came out of villages in Modern Iran that went back past 10,000 BCE to rule much of the known world at the time. The Persians were able to inherit all of the advances of the Sumerians, but also the other cultures of Mesopotamia and those they traded with. One of their trading partners that the Persians conquered later in the life of the empire, was Egypt.  Long before the Persians and then Alexander conquered Egypt they were a great empire. Wadi Halfa had been inhabited going back 100,000 years ago. Industries, complexes, and cultures came and went. Some would die out but most would merge with other cultures. There is not much archaeological evidence of what happened from 9,000 to 6,000 BCE but around this time many from  the Levant and Fertile Crescent migrated into the area bringing agriculture, pottery, then metallurgy.  These were the Nabta then Tasian then Badarian then Naqada then Amratian and in around 3500 BCE we got the Gerzean who set the foundation for what we may think of as Ancient Egypt today with a drop in rain and suddenly people moved more quickly from the desert like lands around the Nile into the mincreasingly metropolitan centers. Cities grew and with trade routes between Egypt and Mesopotamia they frequently mimicked the larger culture.  From 3200 BCE to 3000 BCE we saw irrigation begin in protodynastic Egypt. We saw them importing obsidian from Ethiopia, cedar from Lebanon, and grow. The Canaanites traded with them and often through those types of trading partners, Mesopotamian know-how infused the empire. As did trade with the Nubians to the south, who had pioneered astrological devices. At this point we got Scorpion, Iry-Hor, Ka, Scorpion II, Double Falcon. This represented the confederation of tribes who under Narmer would unite Egypt and he would become the first Pharaoh. They would all be buried in Umm El Qa'ab, along with kings of the first dynasty who went from a confederation to a state to an empire.  The Egyptians would develop their own written language, using hieroglyphs. They took writing to the next level, using ink on papyrus. They took geometry and mathematics. They invented toothpaste. They built locked doors. They took the calendar to the next level as well, giving us 364 day years and three seasons. They'd of added a fourth if they'd of ever visited Minnesota, don'tchaknow. And many of those Obelisks raided by the Romans and then everyone else that occupied Egypt - those were often used as sun clocks. They drank wine, which is traced in its earliest form to China.  Imhotep was arguably one of the first great engineers and philosophers. Not only was he the architect of the first pyramid, but he supposedly wrote a number of great wisdom texts, was a high priest of Ra, and acted as a physician. And for his work in the 27th century BCE, he was made a deity, one of the few outside of the royal family of Egypt to receive such an honor.  Egyptians used a screw cut of wood around 2500 BCE, the fourth simple machine. They used it to press olives and make wine.  They used the fifth to build pyramids, the inclined plane. And they helped bring us the last of the simple machines, the pulley. And those pyramids. Where the Mesopotamians built Ziggurats, the Egyptians built more than 130 pyramids from 2700 BCE to 1700 BCE. And the Great Pyramid of Giza would remain the largest building in the world for 3,800 years. It is built out of 2.3 million blocks, some of which weigh as much as 80 tonnes. Can you imagine 100,000 people building a grave for you?  The sundial emerged in 1,500 BCE, presumably in Egypt - and so while humans had always had limited lifespans, our lives could then be divided up into increments of time.  The Chinese cultural complexes grew as well. Technology and evolving social structures allowed the first recorded unification of all those neolithic peoples when You the Great and his father brought flood control, That family, as the Pharos had, claimed direct heritage to the gods, in this case, the Yellow Emperor. The Xia Dynasty began in China in 2070 BCE. They would flourish until 1600 BCE when they were overthrown by the Shang who lasted until 1046 when they were overthrown by the Zhou - the last ancient Chinese dynasty before Imperial China.  Greek civilizations began to grow as well. Minoan civilization from 1600 to 1400 BCE grew to house up to 80,000 people in Knossos. Crete is a large island a little less than half way from Greece to Egypt. There are sites throughout the islands south of Greece that show a strong Aegean and Anatolian Cycladic culture emerging from 4,000 BCE but given the location, Crete became the seat of the Minoans, first an agricultural community and then merchants, facilitating trade with Egypt and throughout the Mediterranean. The population went from less than 2,000 people in 2500 BCE to up to 100,000 in 1600 BCE. They were one of the first to be able to import knowledge, in the form of papyrus from Egypt. The Mycenaeans in mainland Greece, along with earthquakes that destroyed a number of the buildings on Crete, contributed to the fall of the Minoan civilization and alongside the Hittites, Assyrians, Egyptians, and Babylonians, we got the rise of the first mainland European empire: Mycenaean Greece. Sparta would rise, Athens, Corinth, Thebes. After conquering Troy in the Trojan War the empire went into decline with the Bronze Age collapse. We can read about the war in the Iliad and the return home in the Odyssey, written by Homer nearly 400 years later.  The Bronze Age ended in around 1,200 BCE - as various early empires outgrew the ability to rule ancient metropolises and lands effectively, as climate change forced increasingly urbanized centers to de-urbanize, as the source of tin dried up, and as smaller empires banded together to attack larger empires. Many of these empires became dependent on trade. Trade spread ideas and technology and science. But tribalism and warfare disrupted trade routes and fractured societies. We had to get better at re-using copper to build new things. The fall of cultures caused refugees, as we see today. It's likely a conflagration of changing cultures and what we now call Sea People caused the collapse. These Sea People include refugees, foreign warlords, and mercenaries used by existing empires. These could have been the former Philistines, Minoans, warriors coming down from the Black Sea, the Italians, people escaping a famine on the Anatolian peninsula, the Mycenaeans as they fled the Dorian invasion, Sardinians, Sicilians, or even Hittites after the fall of that empire. The likely story is a little bit of each of these. But the Neo-Assyrians were weakened in order to take Mesopotamia and then the Neo-Babylonians were. And finally the Persian Empire would ultimately be the biggest winners. But at the end of the Bronze Age, we had all the components for the birth of the Iron Age. Humans had writing, were formally educating our young, we'd codified laws, we mined, we had metallurgy, we tamed nature with animal husbandry, we developed dense agriculture, we architected, we warred, we destroyed, we rebuilt, we healed, and we began to explain the universe. We started to harness multiple of the six simple machines to do something more in the world. We had epics that taught the next generation to identify places in the stars and pass on important knowledge to the next generation.  And precision was becoming more important. Like being able to predict an eclipse. This led Chaldean astronomers to establish Saros, a period of 223 synodic months to predict the eclipse cycle. And instead of humans computing those times, within just a few hundred years, Archimedes would document the use of and begin putting math behind many of the six simple devices so we could take interdisciplinary approaches to leveraging compound and complex machines to build devices like the Antikythera mechanism. We were computing.  We also see that precision in the way buildings were created.  After the collapse of the Bronze Age there would be a time of strife. Warfare, famines, disrupted trade. The great works of the Pharaohs, Mycenaeans and other world powers of the time would be put on hold until a new world order started to form. As those empires grew, the impacts would be lasting and the reach would be greater than ever.  We'll add a link to the episode that looks at these, taking us from the Bronze Age to antiquity. But humanity slowly woke up to proto-technology. And certain aspects of our lives have been inherited over so many generations from then. 

From surviving epic drops to setting world-first descents of un-run river rapids, Dane Jackson has no shortage of gnarly stories. You don’t have to paddle to enjoy chatting with a river rat. Anyone familiar with whitewater has more than their fair share of “Big Fish” stories and brushes with disaster. So it came as no surprise that Dane Jackson — roundly considered the world’s pre-eminent whitewater paddler — had plenty of these tales at the ready. Jackson not only famously dropped off the second-tallest waterfall in the world (he’s quick to debate just how tall that is), he also sent the then-unsent Rondu Gorge of the Indus River, which is, to date, the longest rapid ever paddled. He also holds the course record at the famed Green River Narrows Race. All that’s to say that Jackson can spin a yarn. So naturally, we put a microphone in his face to get it all on record. The post Dane Jackson: How to Survive Kayaking Over a Waterfall (and Other Fun Facts) appeared first on GearJunkie.

India and Pakistan are on the front line of climate change and are two of the most water-stressed countries in the world. Drought has already caused violent clashes, deadly protests and a spate of farmer suicides. Now tensions between the two nations have been ratcheted up by an acrimonious dispute over a proposed dam on the River Indus. Will Robson looks at how these conflicts over mankind's most precious resource threaten the stability of the whole region. He starts at the local and interprovincial level, where the absence of formal dispute resolution mechanisms has led to an escalating threat of violence. He will also explore the geopolitical tensions surrounding the Indus River that runs from China through India and Pakistan, and at how climate change is threatening to derail historical treaties between these nuclear armed states.

In this episode of the BTP podcast, Emaad joins Pouya in a free form conversation around topics such as Physics, world currencies, crypto currencies and a decentralized banking system and an idea of world UBI.   Emaad is an Astrophysicist with a passion for technology   Emaad's Social:  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/parachaexplores/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/parachuchutrain LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emaadparacha/   Pouya's Social: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pouyalj/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/pouyalj LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pouyalajevardi/   Episode Transcript:----more----   SUMMARY KEYWORDS currency, layover, canada, people, country, places, digital currencies, saskatchewan, money, picture, ubi, talking, notes, winnipeg, toronto, cryptocurrency, world, research, cryptocurrencies, thought SPEAKERS Pouya LJ, Emaad   Pouya LJ  00:17 Hey, man, how's it going? Good,   Emaad  00:19 man, how are you?   Pouya LJ  00:20 Pretty good, pretty good. We're actually talking off off camera and not camera, but I'm recording about some stuff that is going on with you and your life. And I thought, you know what, it's actually quite interesting. Let's bring it in. Let's bring it in there according. Okay, so for sure. So let's, let's circle back to five minutes before our conversation go to. So you were telling me that you started a massive program? And you were telling the story of how that that happened?   Emaad  00:46 Yeah, for sure. So well, I was in touch with one of my professors, ever since I gave my final for that course, which I, if you remember, I was with you. Yeah. I was taking it with you last year in like, April. And I spoke to the professor and he was interested. And he actually followed up on email as well. And he's like, oh, like, you know, would you be interested in doing research, or a few other courses on side, and I think I discussed that with you as well, last time. Yes. Because it's always a good idea to take some courses, take some courses even after you graduate, because they're gonna help you with, they're gonna help you with your graduate applications. If you have a gap here, you can take one or two courses, put them on your transcript, and that's going to be helpful for you. So I didn't take that route. But I spoke to the professor, I met with him a lot, I read on his research, etc. And eventually, around November, that's when the time came to apply. So I went ahead and applied got a bunch of references. And all I had to do was wait pretty much until March, when I got my when I got my admission. And when I got my, I guess offer from University of Toronto. So right now it's a master's in physics that I'm doing at the University of Toronto. And what I'll be researching on is with Professor Barth, Netherfield, who is a pretty well known Canadian astronomer. And what he does in his lab, and the cool thing is he actually has his own lab. So it's a whole building that's dedicated for him. It's not an office, it's not a room, it's not a lab space. It's a whole building at the University of Toronto, um, I think it's a two storey building, but his his, so at the ground floor is sort of a lab or a huge space lab space. And then there's, there's computers and stuff upstairs. And what he does is he creates telescopes that are as they're trying to be as effective as Hubble. But at a cheaper cost. That's his ultimate goal to create accessible telescopes, accessible space telescopes. And then what he does is he launches them to space on balloons. So he goes to Antarctica, Sudbury or Timmins, Ontario. There's also New Zealand, where he goes, and then he launches them into space. He's trying to be as close to the north and south poles as possible. And what he aims to do is he aims to do similar research that can be done with Hubble, but at a much lesser cost, because you're doing balloon based astronomy. So, you know, you don't have to pay for thousands and thousands of tons of jet fuel to get the telescope up, like Hubble and maintain it with the International Space Station.   Pouya LJ  03:41 Yeah, well, that's, that's super interesting. And so what what got you? I mean, I know you wanted to do some sort of grad school program, but what got you to this specific program? What happened? I will   Emaad  03:55 be honest, I will be 100% honest, I wasn't really planning. I never thought that it would that I would be doing this last year. Especially when we were finishing our undergrad degree. I Well, I was finishing my undergrad degree and you're about to finish. We were taking the courses then. Yeah. And when I finished my last final, I think it was my second last final with you.   Pouya LJ  04:18 Yeah, sorry. My bad.   Emaad  04:19 Yeah, I thought you know what this is it. Like, I'm never gonna touch physics ever again. If you remember correctly, that week was probably the toughest week of our lives.   Pouya LJ  04:30 I I remember,   Emaad  04:33 there was classical mechanics. At at, at what time it was I think 9am 9am to 12pm. And then the next day we had electro mag. electromagnetism. Yeah. From 9am to 10 9am to 12pm. And then we had a one day break. Yeah, and we had general relativity.   Pouya LJ  04:55 Yeah, not not easy courses. Yeah,   Emaad  04:56 not even courses at all. Again from 9am to 12pm. And I honestly thought, you know what this is it like I'm done with everything related to physics. Yeah. And I wanted to, and then I worked in the cloud computing side of things. So I worked for a company called about extreme. And what I did with them was I helped consult for cloud based solutions on Microsoft Azure. And I helped build them as well. So I helped build chatbots, knowledge mining applications, more so towards the AI, more, so the applications that, that use AI, or more specifically Microsoft's own cognitive toolkit. But I was hoping to go more into that field. And I did look into some masters. But to be frank, I didn't have that much guidance. At that time with me, I didn't know which one to go for which one would be best. And I accidentally applied for a research based one. And the problem with that is that you need to have, it's very helpful to have a computer science background, if you want to go into a research based computer science degree. Yeah, that was sort of my mistake. But I did apply for a master's in physics as well. And I thought about it, I thought about whether it's a good idea to do it or not. And it is a one year program. And if I still want to apply for other graduate degrees in computer science, or data science, or artificial intelligence related fields, I can still do that, while I'm finishing up a Master's. So if I'm going to start next year, if I'll have to start a master's in computer science, or data science or something, next year for that might as well get a Master's, get another masters. Over with it, this is not gonna hurt. And it's a research based Master's. So the coolest thing about research based Master's is, most in most universities, in Canada, they pay you to do it, you're not paying anything out of your pocket, your tuition is covered. And on top of that, you're getting money for being a TA you're getting money for being a research assistant, and you're just getting grants. So that's one of the best things about about research based degrees. And this is applicable everywhere, around Canada, at least for whatever research base degree you have, whether it's a PhD or masters, you're going to be getting funding for it may not be obviously as much as you would get if you were doing the job or whatever. But I mean, look on the bright side, you're getting a degree out of it.   Pouya LJ  07:32 No, of course, that makes a lot of sense. Wow, that's a cool, cool, cool story, because we've been in contact through, you know, text messages and whatnot, but we haven't talked for probably over a year now. Yeah, or so. And I think   Emaad  07:49 some more comprehensive talk.   Pouya LJ  07:51 Yeah, like, exactly like catching up and stuff anyways. So. So it was it was a it was a shock to me, because I thought you're you're working for that company, that you were talking about classes. But   Emaad  08:04 the funny thing is, I actually might still be, I'm still debating on whether I should keep it part time or not. Because because of two main reasons. One, it's always important to get work experience. And even though this summer was kind of late for them, because of COVID. So there weren't that many projects coming in. Because our our main clients, the company has been clients are cities and governments in the United States, city government, state governments in the United States. So they've been more focused on COVID binding COVID. And they're less inclined on doing the projects that we've had in pipeline, I see. But now new things are coming up. And it's always exciting to work on these projects. That's that's one main issue. One mean, that's one main reason because there are upcoming projects. And the second thing is to further enhance my own learning. There's new things again, coming up. within Microsoft, Microsoft is releasing new products. And technology is a field where if you're not on top of it, you're gonna fall off the ladder very fast. So it's always better to be on top of it know your stuff. They still pay, they still help with certifications, the company helps it certification. So it's always better to get new certifications, because they also expired. Microsoft certifications expire every two years. So it's always good to have certification stay on top of things so that maybe when the Masters is over, if I don't want to pursue physics, then there's always this option of this option of cloud computing and AI.   Pouya LJ  09:44 No, that's true. That makes a lot of sense under what's good thinking. Thanks. No, no, that's true. Anyways, so we also had something else in actually we had entirely something else in mind to talk about which is fun. It's a, it's fun to talk about different stuff, too. You have some interesting thing going on which you actually got featured on a CBC article, I believe, if I'm not mistaken. Yes. So you like travel? I think a lot of people do. And you travel, you go round, you get their currency. And, you know, like, on the currency, there's typically a picture of something, your monument, a lot of times a monument and you go there with the currency and you take a picture, can you do you want to explain it better than I   Emaad  10:32 did? what you're doing, for sure. So a lot of a lot of listeners would probably know that. What a lot of a lot of different banknotes and a lot of coins, they occasionally have places on them. And that's representative of the country's identity. So if you look at the United States dollars, they'll have different government buildings on them. The five has Lincoln lincoln memorial in DC, the 10 has the US Treasury 20 has White House 50 has the Capitol building, and then 100 has the Independence Hall in Philadelphia. And you know, that's the same for a lot of other countries as well, they occasionally put a place in the country, on their banknotes just as a representative of their own identity representative of their own culture. And what I've been doing, this is a project actually started about, well, it's going to be it's going to be nearly five years, about five years back. And what I wanted to do was I wanted to travel to different places, would that would currencies of those places. So it could be where I'm from, I'm from Pakistan, so I could go, I could go there for Canada, US and other places as well, because a lot of currencies have places on them. So I made a plan to go to those places, travel to those exact spots that are on the currencies of those countries, and then take pictures over there. And it's been five years, I think it's I've taken more than 35 pictures more than 35 at least. And over the course of Yeah, over the course of five years in six countries. If I if my math is not mistaken.   Pouya LJ  12:23 I think you got it. You got it nailed down. Yeah. Well, that's interesting. So what inspired you to do that?   Emaad  12:32 That's, that's always a funny question. Because a lot of people ask that. Yeah. And I feel like part of me feels like, should I just make something up? That sound cool, because, honestly, speaking, there's nothing cool about the inspiration. All I know is like back in, I think five years ago, around November 2015. That's when I went to this place called mind Jotaro, which is in Pakistan. It's, it was part it was ruins from the Indus Valley civilisation, which is one of the three oldest civilizations in the world. Apart from the Egyptian, and I think the Mesopotamian. So that was actually based in around Pakistan, and there's a very big river in Pakistan called the Indus River was based around that. And I went there, and they remember, when I was growing up, I always saw the specific picture in my textbooks in school, and also on the notes. And I always thought about, you know, what a cool place that is, it's basically ruins 5000 year old ruins, or, and, you know, I want to go there and travel and see and see those ruins. And I always saw them on the back of the notes. So when I went there, I was finally able to go there on a family trip. I went there, and I asked the tour guide, I had an old 20 rupee note, which actually has its picture on it. And I went to, I went to the tour guide, and I was like, Hey, where was this picture taken? He took me to the exact spot. And I took a picture of it. And then what I did was, I put it up not just on Facebook and stuff, but also on Reddit. Because I thought this is something pretty cool. People would appreciate it. And it people did. People liked it a lot. I was received very well. And I thought, you know what, this is probably a really good excuse to travel to different places in Pakistan, at least at that time. And that time, I was just thinking of bugs. So I thought you know what, I should maybe do this. In Pakistan, I get a really good excuse to travel to different places, and the pictures would come out pretty nice. So that's sort of where it started. I've always thought about you know, I should make a cool story. I should just make it up and then just put that version out there but the origins aren't that amazing. No, no, look, it's actually pretty.   Pouya LJ  15:02 I don't know what you're talking about. It's actually pretty good. It's a very green coming about at a younger age. When you thought about this, it's actually I think, a very cool story on its own and beyond that, I think nothing, nothing beats the order, the honesty, the the originality and the truth and honesty of the story. Yeah, as boring as it sounds, I think. Yeah, back that is orange, that, first of all, is original. So it's not somebody else's thought, or somebody else might have thought it. But on the other hand, because it's truthful, it's genuine. I think that has a lot of value to it personally, that's it doesn't have to be extra sexy actually, now not to get to cultural issues. But maybe that's that's one of the problems with our culture, especially the online culture these days, because everybody wants to make everything extra sexy. And that's it. Yeah. Sometimes publicity is actually the sexy part.   Emaad  16:01 That is very true. Yeah. Instead of you know, making up something big. And in the story that could have lifted up so many holes and stuff like that. It's always better to just stay simple.   Pouya LJ  16:10 Yeah. Yeah. No, I completely loved it. And don't don't sell it short. It is more interesting than you think it is. Okay, so that's cool. Cool story. Now, that gets us to currencies. So I know you have interest in technology. We actually talked about it today. And there is a degree of Okay, so that those are like government backed currencies. Now, obviously, those are the paper ones. All, I mean, we always were backed by those, but we also are removing them from our day to day interactions more and more. Yeah, as you progress towards credit cards, or debit cards are basically becoming electronic, which loses a little bit of touch. So I think you're bringing out a little bit on the stalls, you're there to, to the to the people who have forgotten what their dollars or whatever currencies look like. Yeah,   Emaad  17:07 you know, there's a funny thing about that. I was I was meeting up with a friend of mine, a few days back. And we were speaking about this project and stuff because I met him after a long while. And he, he was telling me, well, I said he's actually from China. So I said, oh, maybe I should go to China next and, and take take pictures of Chinese currency. Yeah. And he laughed about it. He's like, good luck finding one. Oh, because China has basically moved on to digital currency they have I think WeChat and Ali pay. I think those are the names if I'm correct. But what they do is they it's all digital payments, they have QR codes, they just scan there, they just scan those QR codes so they can pay whatever they whatever amount they need to pay. And, you know, if I'm paying money to you, if I'm giving money to you, or anything that's over V chat, as well. And it's such a streamlined system that they've made, that they no longer have to use paper currency at all. So he was laughing about that. And that resonates with what you said, because so many people are just digital, they're into digital banking, there's no more paper currency anymore. There's no more paper currency. Because I mean, why carry it around? Why case so much of it around in your wallet, when you can just put one card? And that accesses all your money at once.   Pouya LJ  18:29 Right? Yeah, no, that's true. And it makes a lot of sense. But but but you're adding that value on a artistic and social level I suppose. To to your work, which is, which is very interesting. Do you have you have what are the next plans? Do you have any any plans? Now? Like concrete plans to go next country or city or   Emaad  18:49 whatever? I mean, how can you make it How can anyone make any concrete plan?   Pouya LJ  18:54 Well, actually, that's true. That was a stupid question. Over there, I totally forgot.   Emaad  19:00 It's a very tough time to create concrete plans. I mean, I've done a country's I've completed our Pakistan, my home country, the EU, the US, Panama, Canada, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates. And Funny enough, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. I've only done a couple of their notes, not all of them. And that was because I was only there for a very short time. I think I was in UAE for about like 15 hours. And I was in Oman for about like 10 hours. Was that a layover? So that those are layover? Yeah. So what I've been doing is I occasionally travel between Canada and Pakistan often. If I'm if I want to go back home, meet family etc. And what I've always been trying to do is trying to find cool layovers. So usually I fly through the Middle East. And that's that sort of that sort of normal, because there's lots of airlines that connect through the Middle East, and or it through Turkey or through other countries or through Europe. So what I try to do is I try to find a different layover, where I can not only visit a new countries airport, but also stay there for like 1015 hours. A lot of airlines will offer is they offered like, two three hour connection. And then they also offer a 15 hour connection. And usually, the 15 hour connection is much cheaper, because so many people are just hoping to get to the airport, stay there for one hour and then get on their next flight angle. But instead, what I try to do is I try to find like a 15 hour layover or a 20 hour layover, so I can actually see the country I can go out of the airport, get an excuse to see. Yeah, see places. And along with that, what I do is then I exchange some exchange some money to get their own currency. I'd well I do research before to see which notes should would make sense. And then what I do is I I try to see which notes would make sense which notes are within reach of where I am. And then I get those notes from a currency exchange at the airport. And then I just tried to go to those places. And that's sort of how I've done it pretty much for most of us. That's how much that's how I've been doing it recently. With the layovers, I've also done Canada. There's a bunch of places within Canada. Sorry, before you   Pouya LJ  21:32 go ahead, I have to add something. For those people who complain about the boringness of layovers, get creative people. This is how you how you make it worth your while I   Emaad  21:42 continue. That is That is very true. I mean, I I love layovers, because an excuse to you know, go around, go travel. Yeah, for sure. I know a lot of people for for a lot of people. I mean, I'll make sense. Yeah, maybe they're in a hurry to get back or get somewhere or something. And they just here to airports. It could be a variety of reasons, or they're tired. But I personally believe that if there's a layover, I should spend it. Traveling or, you know, looking at different things make the most of it. This summer, I was going to travel via Turkey, via Turkish Airlines. And I had the option of a five hour layover in Istanbul, or a 25 hour layover. So I opted for the 25 hour layover, which is actually much cheaper, of course. So I both saved money. And I talked to the airline. And this is something cool. A lot of airlines will do this for you. They will give you a hotel room, and they'll cover your visa costs. They'll cover your visit transit visa costs, as well free of cost. Turkish Airlines was doing that Turkish Airlines gave a free hotel. Free hotel for one night, which is very cool. I mean, I just I just go there and they will take me to the hotel. They'll give me a free hotel. And then I can just go and visit. I did this with Emirates as well. When I was traveling with Emirates, I had a 15 or 16 hour layover in Dubai. And all I had to do was just apply online, it takes five seconds. And when I get to the airport, they give me they give me a hotel voucher, and food voucher, and a couple of food vouchers. So my food was covered. They gave me a free hotel. And they gave me they transported me from the hotel to the airport and the airport and airport to the hotel. And this is all for free. And it's not something you need business class for is an economy class ticket. Right?   Pouya LJ  23:51 Yeah, you were you were going on to sorry, it took you off a tangent, but you were sorry. Originally you were going off to talk about your experience in Canada on what you did.   Emaad  24:00 Yeah, for sure. Um, I mean for Canada, the current notes are not super indicative of different places in Canada. Number of the $5 note, which you might have seen has space on the back has international has actually the Canadarm that is something that can be made it on the International Space Station. It has that so I think that's kind of tough. The $10 note has Jasper National Park that one I've actually done. I did that last year. I did a train going through Jasper National Park in Alberta. The $20 note has a memorial. It's still a place it's still a building but that memorial is actually in France, interestingly enough, and then the 50 and 100 don't really have any specific places on them. So what I've instead been doing is I've looked at older nodes in Canada. So there's the old one $1 old $1 notes old hundred dollar notes, a lot of old $1 notes are in Ottawa, they have a lot of government buildings on them. And the old hundred dollar note was in Lunenburg, which is in Nova Scotia, so I went there last winter, just on a road trip to take a picture of it there. Now, there's another one that I took, which is the newest note for of Canada, which is the new $10 note. And I went to Winnipeg, just for a two day trip, I was able to find a really cheap flight out of Hamilton, Hamilton to Winnipeg at fault places. I was able to find a really cheap flight. So I went on a weekend trip over there. And that is the one when you started the call when you started this podcast. That's the one that you were mentioning the that was the one that was featured on CBC. Nice. Um, so CBC took note of that, and they said, oh, wow, someone came to visit Winnipeg from Toronto to take a picture. This is something like that. And they should feature   Pouya LJ  26:06 Yeah, a little bit of caveat for anybody who knows anything about geography of Canada and especially in the wintertime. I don't know when you went there was it winter or I think it was winter because I can see some snow there or there's some snow anyways. So point being it like you from Nova Scotia. You know, the Winnebago, they have nothing in common like there's like to go out of your way to go there. It's not like you're having a layover in Istanbul or Dubai or something. It's a different game. ballgame. So just I have to add that caveat for people who are not   Emaad  26:41 Yeah. And they're and they're far like,   Pouya LJ  26:43 yeah, now that's what I mean.   Emaad  26:45 The province where Toronto is, it's Ontario, and Winnipeg is in Manitoba. And they're both bordering each other. But the problem The biggest problem is trying to so far south in Canada, as opposed to other places in in Canada, like Winnipeg, in Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver. They're very far up north. Toronto is very far south. Yeah, it was a two hour flight just to win it back itself. Which is mind blowing. Because you're going north, you're going north, Northwest a lot. Yeah. But it was pretty cool. It was a fun trip. My flight got canceled on the way back, which is very fun as well. Oh. But that gave me more excuses. You know, travel, pay my friend. We decided to go to CES Saskatchewan, just to the border of it. And Funny enough, now that I'm remembering it. Well, we decided to do was we had a rental car. So we just extended one more day. And he said, You know what? It's a four hour drive to Saskatchewan, which going back to your Canadian geography has nothing in it. There's nothing in there. It's a whole province with nothing in it. Yeah, it's it's just in the middle of Canada. It's just land. There's nothing wrong. I don't think anyone even lives there. And it's just a four hour drive just to the border of it and the border of it. Believe it or not, there was nothing there. It was just a sign that said Welcome to Saskatchewan. So we took a picture with it just to prove that we have been here. And then we went on a four hour trip back to Winnipeg. And on that four hour trip back to Winnipeg, my friend drove and I decided to I decided to finish my application for my physics Master's. And I submitted it that night while I was somewhere on the road between Saskatchewan in Winnipeg.   Pouya LJ  28:38 Yeah, that's that's, that's pretty cool. And I'm actually trying to figure out how much the province like the population of the province, but for some reason I'm failing. I think it's I don't know if it's the city of population.   Emaad  28:54 No, there's a city called Saskatoon. And there's two major cities and ask a tune in Regina. Yeah, but the population of Saskatchewan. I find, I think it's 1 million.   Pouya LJ  29:07 Yeah, it's a gigantic province, with 1 million population.   Emaad  29:12 I think it's the I don't know if it's the biggest.   Pouya LJ  29:16 No, it's not the biggest, like on the map is definitely smaller than Ontario, Quebec, even British Columbia, but it's close enough to Alberta maybe a little bit smaller than Alberta. But point being it's still a lot of land there. And the entire population is like 1,000,001.1. Just Just to, you know, confirm your   Emaad  29:40 identity is there's one there's 1.86. So basically two people per kilometer squared. Yes, a few. If you create a box that is a kilometer wide and kilometer, that is just to each each side of the box is a kilometre, which is a very big number. There's only two people who live in there.   Pouya LJ  30:07 Yeah, that's a very big house for you.   Emaad  30:11 And versus Ontario, if I'm correct, the density of Ontario is 15 people per kilometer squared. Right? So that's, that's the key difference.   Pouya LJ  30:23 Yeah, that's like, so unfolds almost. Yeah. I'm done by five anyways. Um, yeah, what? Let's, let's move on a little bit, because we want to talk about we got to, you know, more computerized digital currencies, not necessarily digital currencies in terms of cryptocurrency, which we'll get to but, um, so we talked, we talked about technology coming into disrupting really anything, everything, and currency being one of them. for for for many reasons, why, now that that naturally brings us also to the realm of cryptocurrency, which, well, what are you going to do? cryptocurrencies don't have monuments on them printed, that they don't print? But joke aside? What are your thoughts on the digitization of currency and maybe even you know, distributed currencies such as cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin, what have you? Do? Do you have any interest in them? Do you read about them?   Emaad  31:31 Yeah, I do. I do a lot. And I, I think it's very interesting, not just from an investing perspective, but from a practical perspective.   Pouya LJ  31:40 Well, investment can be practical if you do it right.   Emaad  31:42 Investing can be practical, but it comes with its own caveats, especially investing in cryptocurrency, it's a very risky thing to do. Sure. And you could, you could probably just lose a lot of your money. If you invest, without thinking or without, you know, without the right tools without the right resources. If you do that, then you can lose a lot of money in crypto, but I was talking more so the practicality on the practical side of things on the technology behind it. how they've made something open source, and decentralized. They've made something which no one can touch and chain, no one person can go in and touch and change. Its cryptocurrency and Bitcoin and those things, they they're the Ledger's. They're, their records, they're everything, they, they stay with the people. There's no one person who controls everything. And I think that's that's a beautiful aspect of the digital currency. Because its power comes in its numbers. If a lot of people use Bitcoin, then it's more strong. There's more, I guess records, there's more copies of everything. And that technology can then be applied to so many different things that can be applied to contracts. blockchain can be applied to supply chain logistics, to ensure nothing has changed to ensure there's to ensure the right tracing of materials that people are getting food, and so many different things. But just from a currency standpoint, this is a very tough debate. Because a lot of countries a lot of banks are against this because this is against what they've been doing throughout throughout, I guess, throughout the startup humanity, or throughout the start of banking, at least because the main essence of a bank and a central bank is in the name. It's centralized. Yeah. And if you decentralize parents, if you decentralize money, if you decentralize your own local currency, then how are you going to achieve anything? In terms of you know, regulating power, regulating finances, making sure money doesn't go into the wrong hands. Even the wrong may be a subjective word. But there's so many different things that come in with it, that I personally believe it would be a bit tough to move to it all together. In my opinion,   Pouya LJ  34:12 by altogether You mean like removing the central banks from the central, the regular currencies of countries? Yeah. And making it the dominant. Okay.   Emaad  34:20 Yes. But with that, I also think it is hard for them, the centralized banks to completely remove cryptocurrencies. I mean, a lot of a bunch of countries have made it illegal to have them. I don't know which countries are but I remember there were a bunch of countries that said it's illegal to trade it or have it even. But they're not going anywhere, either. Because they're a force to be reckoned with. They're they're not they're not just something small with banks and say, Oh, that's illegal. Get rid of them. You know, Pete, they're, like I said before, their strength comes in how many people hold it, and I think that's going to be interesting. Day by day. I was talking to a friend of mine who wanted to transfer money from, I think it was from the EU or not from. Yeah, it was from Pakistan to the US. And she was asking me, what's the best way to do it. And whether she should wire transferred, whether she should Western Union it or something else. And I looked at the fees and wire transfer fees were more than 1500. dollars, she would have to pay Western Union fees were around that probably even higher, that she'll have to pay. And that's a huge chunk of your money that they're taking. Yeah. But I suggested, oh, why don't you just buy crypto over there? over the counter crypto, which is you're just paying someone money, and they transfer cryptocurrency to your wallet. And then you just transfer that crypto to whoever you need to send it to in the US. And that takes wire transfers can take two weeks, Western Union can take like at least a day or two that can take like five seconds, maybe a bit more obviously be based on based on how much you pay for the gas, etc. so many different things. But it's still less than less than a day, you can get money from here to there. And then they can just sell it over the counter or cash it out. Or they can do whatever they want. And that's how you can just easily transfer money using crypto as well. So I think it is a force to be reckoned with, what banks would need to do is figure out what's the middle ground here? How can they eat, right? incorporate that into their own systems into their own, into their own platforms? Because Funny enough, the weakest. The point, the place where digital currencies are weak, is the fact that some people can't trust them because they're decentralized. So they're like, oh, then who's going to be taking who's going to be, you know, handling it, who's going to be in charge of dispersing it and stuff. So there's no trust there. But on the other hand, people have started losing trust onto central banks themselves. Because they don't make the best policies. So it's sometimes it's better to have something decentralized.   Pouya LJ  37:29 Yeah, that does make sense. So there is definitely I mean, as with a lot of things, there's there are weaknesses and strengths. And obviously, one of the strength of cryptocurrencies, is mobility of it, etc. Also, just just to close that loop of legality, so the three countries that are definitely illegal, and there's like, there are some countries that have greater areas, but in Algeria, Egypt and Morocco is outright illegal, just for closing that loop. And there's a lot of other countries that are like, somewhere in between. Yeah, meaning some restrictions. But generally speaking, it's legal, etc. So we can put this into notes. And,   Emaad  38:19 yeah, for sure. So now there is something interesting that I, that I came across, and I worked with, I worked briefly with, with the team behind it. There's something called UBI. This is just very generic. There's something called UBI, universal basic income. Yeah, and this is something that has been debated in a lot of countries attempted in a lot of countries and a bunch of places at least, I think Germany is trying that out right now. And just giving universal basic income to some of its citizens.   Pouya LJ  38:54 Andrew Yang is making a lot of noise,   Emaad  38:56 Yang was making that the biggest point of his presidency, there were a couple of places I think in Canada that tried it, if I'm if I'm not wrong, a while back. And there's I can't get much into the details of it. But there is a there is a there's a consortium that is actually based in Canada, that is trying to get together a lot of UBI experts from around the world and work towards creating a global UBI which is going to be a key Their aim is that it's adopted throughout the world. And everyone gets a certain UBI per month, per day, per hour per second. I mean, there's going to be one amount per month, but then that's going to be per week and then you get that every second of your existence. And that's going to be actually I think one of the smartest ways to go about it would probably be on blog. And that's something that that I came across. And I briefly work with them on some of their some and some of the technical side of their project. And that's something that's very cool because now it's using blockchain using using utilizing blockchain, which is, again, the technology that's been brought forward by these digital currencies. And that's where the practicality thing comes in. But now they're putting it into a very large scale where they're asking for global adoption and global adoption for it. which hopefully would replace the need for conventional currency, and create a global system where everyone can earn a basic income to live, essentially, to at least cover where they're living to cover their food to cover their health related things. Which is, I believe it should be right for everyone. Everyone should be able to do that.   Pouya LJ  41:04 Yeah. So now the natural question, especially for universal UBI. Being while UBI has universal and but my point is being like around the world, not just containing a country. An actual question is cost of living and the value of currency, etc. is completely diff No, assuming we still trading regular currencies, not just the crypto ones, that there is a degree of asymmetry here that so is the proposal of this team. By the way, can you can you mention them by name?   Emaad  41:41 I don't know if that's? I mean, the name is global UPI.   Pouya LJ  41:44 Oh, you mentioned it? Okay. Yeah. Anyways, so is the proposal a fixed amount for every single person on the planet? Or is it different, depending on assessment of what are your cost of living? Where you live? by country, by city by province by? I don't know, what have you? Is there a distinction? Or it's just a fixed amount?   Emaad  42:09 See, that's the the project is I believe in preliminary phases, or I'm not 100% sure where they are, and whether they're in testing or whether they're sort of just beginning to research on it. And I frankly, do not know the answer to this.   Pouya LJ  42:27 Do you have Do you have your own thoughts on the matter?   Emaad  42:30 And the thing is, if if it is a global currency, and if everyone is has sort of access to the same currency? Yeah, then there shouldn't really be a problem with cost of living?   Pouya LJ  42:46 Well, I think I think there will be still, what, two two folds for one fold. Is that, okay, if we only adopt, I would,   Emaad  42:53 my question is, why would something be why would like, let's go to the Big Mac index, which is something I promise economists use. If there's a Big Mac in the US for let's say, let's say the the UBI currency, the new currency for the world is world dollars. Sure. There's a Big Mac in the US, which costs one world dollar. The currency in Turkey is also world dollar. Why would the Big Mac there be less?   Pouya LJ  43:26 Yeah. Okay, that's so that's that's the first fold of the problem, though I was talking about. And that is, as if that's the, okay, if that's the dominant currency traded?   Emaad  43:39 Sure. Their goal is to have world adoption of this. Okay. So that   Pouya LJ  43:45 will solve   Emaad  43:46 the would give way to, yeah, it would give away. Well, digital and non digital banks, central banks would give weight, this currency to come in. And the main essence of this currency is to make sure that it's secure and no one person would be able to access everything and change everything. Does that compromise the security of it? Yeah. So if there is, again, like I said, if there's a Big Mac for one US dollar, one world dollar, then wouldn't have the same Big Mac, we won World dollar somewhere else, because there's no other currency to base it off of. Yeah. So where would the cost of living? How would the cost of living and stuff be compared?   Pouya LJ  44:32 Well, you when you're talking about stuff, like I don't know, franchises or something? Yes, you're absolutely right. That makes sense. But if you're talking about for example, cost of land. Well, that definitely certainly has differences as you do within a country. Let's take Canada for example. Obviously, the price of homes in the heart of Toronto is completely different than say Saskatoon, that was what we were talking about, right? So, so in that sense, I mean, you can argue that the cost of living within The cities also started within the country is also different, which is reasonable. That's   Emaad  45:05 that's based on demand. Exactly supply that's really based off of, I mean, what the currency is doing, but it's no normal. So there's more space here more people want to live here.   Pouya LJ  45:16 Absolutely, they're gonna be worth more. So the land was an example of a commodity or, or something that would have different values, depending on where you are in a country and more importantly, in a world, right, that has the certainly has different, different many things have different values in different places in the world. And that alone can cost per debate, the cost of living by a lot, depending on which part of the world you're living, the basic cost of living, let's say, shelter, basic food, water, clean water, and   Emaad  45:51 I get what I get the question that you're I get what you're saying. And I agree that other things could be worth more other things could be worth less. And you're right, there's places in Canada right now, up very north, where food is so expensive. Exactly. Because they have to transport it over there and get it over there. So the cost of living over there is high. Yes, I agree with you. I agree with what you're saying that. Also living can be different because of these reasons. But the thing is that the UBI that I mentioned, sure, it doesn't aim to fully cover everything in your life. Yeah, of course. Because if it does that, then yeah, there's no motivation to do anything, even though that's a completely different debate with UBI motivation. But it's more so meant as a cushion for you. In some places, I mean, you could move to Saskatchewan. And you may be able to live comfortably on a UBI. Yeah, there's rent, there may be cheap food, there may be cheap. I mean, they're farmers, a lot of farms over there, but everything maybe cheap over there. So you might save money with the UBI. But where it says if you're in Toronto, then if you're getting a certain UBI, you may not be able to cover all your expenses with a UBI, you might still have to work. But I guess that's just the that's that's how this is. That's how everything should be. Because I mean, if if you're going somewhere else, if you're going somewhere where there's a very, there's very low demand for something and things should be cheaper. Yeah, if you're going somewhere where there's more demand and things would ideally be more expensive. That's the main essence of sort of a capitalist environment. Yeah, more equals more money.   Pouya LJ  47:44 No, absolutely. That That doesn't make sense. My concern was, and you're right, within a country, etc. So the difference that I was imagining is that the Delta within a country is much more marginal than a Delta currently, at least in the in the whole world. Like, if you give the highest value and the lowest value cost of living in different parts of the world, the delta is much larger than within one country. Okay, that actually to be argued, depending on the country you pick, but yeah, but for most of the world, at least. But I suppose if you and part of that comes from the the big Delta around the whole world, perhaps comes from the fact that the currencies have different values, maybe if you actually do a flatten out everything, and everybody adopts a common currency, at least as a dominant chords, that the trade end, I mean, it doesn't mean that the rest of the currencies will be eliminated completely, but they're not the main one at least, then maybe there's Yeah, maybe there's a degree of flattening this. This Delta make it a little bit smaller. That could be argued, I don't know. But that was Yeah, I'm just trying to paint a picture of what I was   Emaad  49:00 imagining. No, yeah, I understand. I understand what you're saying. But like I said, it's not something that is meant to replace everything in your life, and give you access to everything you want. Because that's gonna lead into way many more problems, because then everyone has access to whatever they want, for sure. But it's more so a cushion for you to at least live your life, to not starve on the streets do not to have your basic necessities at least covered wherever you are, you can be in Toronto, you could be wherever. And obviously, for the economic system to grow, people would still need to work because to create a living they would need there wouldn't be innovation around the world. And none of that is in danger. Because of UBI   Pouya LJ  49:45 Yeah, no, no, that makes sense. I mean, obviously these topics especially the UBI and cryptocurrency have endless spanned, and we can spend hours and hours talking about them which we may at some point, but We've come we've come a long way. I think all we've done almost one hour right now. So, yeah, I think it's a good place to, you know, close the loop on everything do you have? Do you have anything you want to add to summarize? No,   Emaad  50:16 not so much. I mean, I agree. This is a good, some good point. Where to where to pause it. And I'm sure there's going to be way many more discussions about UBI. And I'd love to, you know, have more. You, of course, as I as I research more on   Pouya LJ  50:32 it, exactly how I think about it. Now, I think it's gonna be really good. These discussions are obviously always fun to have and a lot of times constructive helpful. And yeah, I enjoy talking.   Emaad  50:47 Yeah. And yeah, that's really good. So it was a great, it was a great time discussing all these cool things.   Pouya LJ  50:53 Yeah. Yeah, no, that's great. Okay, so we'll put your information in the show notes, too. But do you want to tell people where they can find you online?   Emaad  51:04 Yeah, for sure. I mean, I'm, you can find me on Instagram, which is pr racha explores. That's pa ra, ch, e XP l or Yes. Or you can also find me on LinkedIn, which is e mod beracha. That is e m, a D. and last name is parotta. Pa ra ch a, if you want to talk about anything regarding the currency project, which is going to be more on my Instagram, or more about physics, or UBI, or anything like that, and I'd love to talk more.   Pouya LJ  51:41 Yeah, that's awesome. As I mentioned, obviously, we're going to put this in the show notes, so anybody who didn't get that they can go and look it up there. Thanks again, Bob. I was really fun talking to you Jason

    While Ogedai Khaan led his armies in the final war against the Jurchen Jin Dynasty, covered in our previous episode, this was far from the only theatre his forces operated in. As the conquest of northern China was completed, Chormaqun Noyan brought Mongols armies back to the west, returning to Iran to hunt down the energetic Khwarezmian Prince, Jalal al-Din Mingburnu, hoping to restore his father’s empire. In the course of this, the Mongols effectively completed the conquest of Iran, the Caucasus and entered Anatolia- a great southwestern expansion of the empire. At the same time, Mongol armies under Subutai conquered the western steppes and Rus’ principalities, a vast, two pronged pincer assault on western Eurasia, and the subject of our following episodes.       First, we must wind the clock back from the 1230s to the Khwarezmian campaign of Chinggis Khan in the 1220s. As you’ll recall from that episode, the Mongol invasion at the end of 1219 brought about the near total collapse of the Khwarezmian defense and flight of the empire’s ruler, Muhammad II Khwarezm-Shah. Muhammad died at the end of 1220, harried to his end by Jebe and Subutai. On his death in December, Shah Muhammad’s son Jalal al-Din Mingburnu, a far braver and more talented general, took up the mantle of leadership- or rather, what was left of it. Rallying what forces he could, he eventually made his way into what is now Afghanistan, defeating two Mongol armies but finally crushed by Chinggis Khan himself on the Indus river in November 1221. At the battle's climax, Mingburnu spurred his horse off the cliff and into the Indus, swimming across and making into the Punjab. Chinggis Khan, to give the devil his due, is said to have personally ordered archers not to fire on him, admiring Jalal al-Din’s courage. The same mercy was not spread to other Khwarezmian troops trying to make it across the river.       Jalal al-Din spent the next three years in northwestern India. At that time, northern India was ruled by several Muslim warlords, mainly former generals of the Ghurid Empire which had once stretched from Iran across northern India. Among these was the general Iltutmish, based in Delhi- the origins of the Delhi Sultanate. At the end of the thirteenth century, the Delhi Sultanate had the strength to repel Mongolian invasion, but in the 1220s was only one power among several. At the time of Jalal al-Din’s arrival,  Iltutmish of Delhi’s main rival was Qubacha, a fellow Ghurid controlling the Punjab and lower reaches of the Indus River. Despite being fellow Muslims, the post-Ghurid powers had little love for the Khwarezmians. Jalal al-Din’s father Muhammad had been a stalwart foe of the Ghurids, and after the Ghurid collapse in the early 1200s, it was the Khwarezm-shah who had gobbled up their western territories in Iran and Afghanistan, bringing Khwarezmian influence right to the borders of India.  Jalal al-Din’s own appanage given to him by his father was the former Ghurid capital of Ghazna. Further, the Khwarezmians had also become foes of the ‘Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad, who provided his holy support to those generals battling the Khwarezm-shah. The Khwarezmian reputation was that of an aggressive, unreliable and expansionist empire, and the chief scion of that house, Jalal al-Din, was not destined to enjoy a warm welcome among his co-religionists in India, nor among those Hindu rulers still extant in the region.        Upon his defeat on the Indus, Jalal al-Din needed to make space for himself from the Mongols, who initially turned back from the river but soon sent parties to hunt for Mingburnu.  Managing to gather survivors from the Indus battle and other refugees from the invasion, his victory over local Hindus in the Salt Range brought defections to Jalal al-Din’s force. Charismatic and with a reputation as a superb warrior, Jalal al-Din rarely had trouble attracting followers- making friends with other states was another matter. With Mongol forces under Dorbei Doqshin approaching, Jalal al-Din fled further into India, coming to within a few days of Delhi. His envoys sent to Sultan Ilutumish were killed, for Iltutmish, a wily politician, had likely weighed the costs of providing aid to Mingburnu with the Mongols now approaching. Delhi was too well protected for Jalal al-Din to assault, so he doubled back to the west, ransacking as he went and successfully avoiding Dorbei Doqshin’s Mongols. Dorbei abandoned the pursuit, returning to Chinggis Khan at Samarkand in late 1222, where he was severely reprimanded and ordered back to India.       Jalal al-Din in the meanwhile attacked the Ghurid successor in northwestern India and Iltutmish’s main rival, Qubacha, forcing him to submit and pay tribute. Most of 1223 he spent ravaging cities along the Indus, making his way to the Gujarat peninsula. Having successfully pissed off everyone between the Indus and the Ganges rivers, Jalal al-Din was greeted with rumours of a grand coalition -Iltutmish, Qubacha, and various Hindu lords- uniting against him, as well as Dorbei Doqshin’s second approach. Learning that a half-brother had set up a state in western Iran, Jalal al-Din decided it was a good time to leave India in 1224, leaving his officers Ozbeg-bei and Hasan Qarluq in control of his Indian territory. They, along with Qubacha, took the full brunt of Dorbei Doqshin’s returning army, who took his frustration out on them when he found himself unable to locate Jalal al-Din. While this proved unfortunate for them,  Iltutmish did rather well out of this episode. With his major rivals weakened by Jalal al-Din and Mongol attacks but his own state relatively untouched, over the late 1220s and 30s Iltutmish was able to overcome these rivals and set the Delhi Sultanate on a path to regional dominance. In due course we will return to Iltutmish’s successors, but now we must follow our friend Jalal al-Din westwards.       Jalal al-Din’s three years in India did little for his dream of restoring the Khwarezmian Empire, but saw better opportunity in the efforts of his half-brother, Ghiyath al-Din. Around Rayy, modern Tehren, Ghiyath al-Din had started to reestablish Khwarezmian control. Jalal al-Din’s  thought seems to have been that, if anyone was to continue the Khwarezmian Empire, it was going to be him, damn it! Mingburnu cut across southern Iran, hoping to restore Khwarezmian rule as he went, first stopping in the province of Kerman. There, Baraq Hajib ruled, a former general of the Qara-Khitai brought into Khwarezmian service who established his independence in the wake of the Mongol invasion.  Jalal al-Din gained his submission and married one of his daughters, though Baraq soon revolted and Mingburnu carried on. At Shiraz in the province of Fars he was welcomed and again married a daughter of the local dynasty, the Salghurids. He then departed for Isfahan, where he rested his main army. With a handful of picked horsemen, said to be carrying banners of white cloth like the Mongols, Jalal al-Din led a daring raid against his half-brother, attacking him in his camp, capturing him and absorbing his followers and territories.        This greatly strengthened his position. Knowing that the former northeastern sections of the Khwarezmian empire, including the former capitals of Gurganj and Samarkand were under firm Mongol control, Mingburnu must’ve thought it more prudent to push west, in theory providing himself more resources and space to resist the Mongols. Gaining the submission of the chiefs of Luristan, marrying princesses of local Turkomans, he now had a not-insubstantial force under his belt.  Most of southern, central and western Iran had now submitted or was under his direct control. Casting his eyes west, he marched towards Baghdad. Supposedly he was expecting assistance from the Caliph, at that time an-Nasir, who had reigned since 1180. Caliph an-Nasir had been paralyzed and blind for a few years at that point, but the memory of Muhammad Khwarezm-shah’s own failed march on Baghdad had not been forgotten. Anticipating that the son shared the same greed as the father, an army was dispatched to repel Jalal al-Din. Drawing them into a feigned retreat, Jalal al-Din put them to flight, pursuing them as far as Baghdad’s suburbs before withdrawing, and then defeating a force sent from Irbil, capturing that city’s ruler.        Lacking the means to siege Baghdad itself, Jalal al-Din sought easier targets. He moved next against the Eldeguzid atabegs of Azerbaijan- former Khwarezmian vassals who had submitted to the Mongols- and destroyed them in 1225, taking their capital of Tabriz. A brief Georgian foray against Tabriz while Jalal al-Din was mopping up remnants of the Eldeguzids brought him, for the first time in his life, into conflict with Christians. Over the next few years, Jalal al-Din unleashed a torrent of destruction against the Kingdom of Georgia. At that time ruling Georgia and Greater Armenia, the kingdom had suffered terribly during Jebe and Subutai’s own expedition through the region only a few years prior. In 1226, Jalal al-Din took the Geergian capital Tbilisi, destroying the churches within the city. According to a contemporay historian, Kirakos Ganjaketsi, rather than spend time to determine who in the city’s diverse population was Christian or Muslim, Jalal al-Din simply ordered all the men to be circumsized.       After this, Mingburnu marched rapidly back to Iran, having heard rumours that Baraq Hajib was attacking Isfahan, the new Khwarezmian capital. Baraq apologized and sent gifts, and while Jalal al-Din rested in Isfahan, he learned that the Georgians revolted. Speeding back to Georgia, Jalal al-Din undertook a slaughter outside the walls of Akhlat, but was unable to enter the city. In similar time, news reached him of another threat to Isfahan. A Mongol army was approaching the city, ordered there by Chin-Temur, the Mongol appointed governor of  Gurganj, a former capital of Khwarezm. Jalal al-Din brought his army back to Isfahan, and in August 1228, bravely led his forces to be defeated by the Mongols. His half-brother Ghiyath al-Din fled, and Jalal al-Din was forced to retreat when the Mongols drove back his remaining forces. However, with losses high or fearing a trap, the Mongols failed to advance, and withdrew back to their own empire. Thus was Isfahan saved, if narrowly.        Really changing things up, Jalal al-Din returned to Georgia again in late 1228, and inflicted one of the most famous defeats in Georgian history at Bolnisi, known also as Mindori. A large army of Georgians, Armenians, various ethnic groups from across the Caucasian mountains as well as a significant Qipchaq component had been assembled against him. Qipchaqs had a long history serving as mercenaries for both the Georgian Kingdom and the Khwarezm-shahs, and we may well assume a number were present among Mingburnu’s forces. Outnumbered and lacking swordsmen and lancers, it was a precarious position for Jalal al-Din. His vizier, Yulduzchi, suggested it would be better to pass behind the enemy, cutting them off from water, thus weakening the larger force in the heat. Jalal al-Din’s reaction as recorded by Juvaini is rather illustrative of his character. Becoming as enraged as was possible for him, he hurled a pencase at the vizier’s head while shouting “they are a flock of sheep! Does the lion complain of the size of the flock?” It is unfortunate for Mingburnu that this was a mantra he applied to everything.       Yulduzchi repented, paying a fine of 50,000 dinars. Opening contact with the Qipchaq, reminding them of his own connections with their people, he successfully convinced them to remove themselves from the battlefield. Then he convinced the Georgians to send champions out to face him- supposedly Jalal al-Din killed them all himself, then ordered a general charge against the demoralized Georgians. The foe was destroyed and we might regard this as the high water mark of his military career. The last half of 1229 Jalal al-Din was held up besieging Akhlat, falling only to great massacre in April 1230 after a 8 month siege. Learning that the Seljuq Sultan Kayqubad I, master of Anatolia, was organizing an alliance against him, Jalal al-Din moved west. Falling ill, he lost his strength and was unable to ride his horse, forced to be carried in a litter. At Yassıçemen near Erzincan in August 1230, Jalal al-Din met an allied force of Seljuqs under Kayqubad I and the Ayyubid Sultan of Syria al-Ashraf, the nephew of the famed Saladin. During the battle Jalal al-Din tried to mount his horse, but lacked the strength to even hold the reins. His courtiers pulled him back. Seeing his banners fall back, the army thought Jalal al-Din was retreating, and thinking the battle thus lost, fled. The Seljuq-Ayyubid forces, believing it a feigned retreat, held their ground. Jalal al-Din escaped another major military defeat, this time while seriously ill. Certain to improve his mood was news of a large Mongol army now approaching.        Far to the east, Ogedai had been elected Great Khan of the Mongol Empire. Aware of Jalal al-Din’s resurgence, Ogedai could not allow him to reform the Khwarezmian Empire. Seeking to complete the conquest of the region, perhaps even hoping to take Baghdad itself, Ogedai ordered fresh troops to be sent. Commanded by Chormaqun, a member of the keshig, the imperial bodyguard and a veteran of the Khwarezmian campaign, this is our first mention in the sources of the tamma. The tamma was essentially the closest the Mongols came to garrison duty, sent to the empire’s borders to expand, consolidate and intimidate, rather than a full, tsunami like tidal wave of invasion.  There is some suggestion Chormaqun may have initially been ordered west by Chinggis Khan in his final days, but would have been held up by the Khan’s death in 1227. Ogedai in that case would have been reaffirming his father’s decision.        So, Chormaqun set out with perhaps 30,000 men, ordered to be supported and reinforced by the appointed basqaqs and darughachi governing the western Mongol empire, like Chin-Temur. In early 1230 Chormaqun crossed the Amu Darya  and began the proper subjugation of Khurasan, which had been left a ruinous buffer after the 1220 invasion. Chormaqun bypassed those few strongpoints still holding out, leaving Chin-Temur to reduce them and set up a proper administration in his wake. By autumn 1230, Chormaqun was in Mazandaran, northern Iran, and took Rayy, which he set up as his headquarters. Chormaqun spent the next two years in Rayy, from where he ordered his various forces and took the submission of most of the powers in Iran, the states of the south sending representatives and recognizing Mongol rule. By 1233 essentially all that was left of Jalal al-Din’s reconstituted Khwarezmian Empire in Iran had submitted to the Mongols, leaving his capital of Isfahan isolated until it fell in 1236. In eastern Khurasan, that is, now modern eastern Iran and Afghanistan, Chormaqun’s lieutnentats Dayir and Monggedu operated, driving out Khwarezmian holdouts. By 1235 they had brought the Mongol Empire to the borders of India, forcing an officer Jalal al-Din had left behind, Hasan Qarluq, to submit. It seems even the Isma’ilis, the famed ‘Order of Assassins,’ allied themselves with the Mongols, providing intelligence on Jalal al-Din’s movements and strength.    By spring 1231, Mongol forces had entered Azerbaijan’s Mughan plain, zeroing in on Mingburnu. He frantically sent word to the Seljuq Sultan and Ayyubid Sultan of Syria, urging cooperation against the Mongols. But it was too little too late. Jalal al-Din had long ago soured the relationship through his aggression. Too busy raiding and campaigning, he had not created anything in the last decade to actually prepare for the return of the Mongols, and now he paid for it. He spent 1231 hopping across the Caucasus, narrowly avoiding Mongol forces. At one point, he only just escaped his camp as the Mongols came across it, only the action of a general waving Mingburnu’s banners and therefore distracting them, giving Jalal al-Din enough time to escape.   Near Diyar Bakir, known also as Amida, in what is now southeastern Turkey, his luck finally ran out.  Hounded down to just a few followers, in mid-1231 he was killed by Kurdish bandits robbing him for his robes. The clothes were recognized, the Kurds killed and the body thought to be that of Jalal al-Din buried. So ended the reign of Jalal al-Din Mingburnu, final ruler of the Khwarezmian Empire. A fine soldier and warrior but a poor king, he could not improve upon the Khwarezmian tradition of treachery and aggression to his neighbours. With the time, energy, troops, experience and personal charisma, Jalal al-Din had the potential to build a proper resistance to the Mongols, yet he instead squandered this opportunity, in many ways showing himself little better than them. Still he remained a powerful symbol; for years, rumours persisted of his survival, and every once and a while someone would claim his identity, only to be swiftly killed by the Mongols. Many a medieval Muslim author glorified him, such as his own secretary Nasawi, the Khwarezmian refugee to Delhi Juzjani, and even Juvaini, a beaureaucrat who worked for the Mongols. We might consider him the Bonnie Prince Charlie of the 13th century Muslim world. A figure whose actual person could not stand up to the legend and potential of his idea.   Jalal al-Din’s demise had other consequences. For one, there was still a large body of Khwarezmian troops in the region, fleeing the Mongols and now acting as mercenaries. In time, they were displaced from their refuge in Syria, making their way south and in 1244, took Jerusalem. Jerusalem had only been in Christian control again since Emperor Frederick II’s crusade in 1228. Not until 1917 would Jerusalem again be controlled by non-Muslims.    In Azerbaijan, Tabriz came under Mongol rule quickly after Mingburnu’s death. With Iran secured, Chormaqun marched into newly subjugated Azerbaijan, and there planned the conquest of the Caucasus. Georgia was severely weakened; first Jebe and Subutai’s attacks, then Jalal al-Din’s repeated depredations, it would be just a matter of reducing fortresses.  In 1236 Chormaqun ordered a three pronged assault against the territories of the Georgian Kingdom: Chormaqun himself drove into Greater Armenia, Mular up the Kura Valley and Chagatai Noyan, known as ‘the lesser’ to distinguish himself from Chinggis’ son, attacked Georgia proper. So weakened, the Georgians could offer no unified defence, with each lord retreating to his own castle in the mountains. The Mongols moved at a leisurely, careful pace, forcing some castles but needing to starve out others. Some Armenian and Georgian lords, like the influential Awag Zak’arian, willingly submitted, receiving special treatment and encouraging others to follow his example. With the flight of the Georgian Queen Rusudan from Tbilisi, Awag was the most powerful lord in the kingdom, and assisted in the Mongol expansion. In 1238 Tbilisi fell to Chagatai Noyan, Queen Rusudan fleeing into the far western mountains of Georgian territory, near the Black Sea. So remote was it that the Mongols did not even pursue her. By that point, Subutai and Batu’s armies were overrunning the steppes north of the Caucasus, so perhaps they felt her trapped between them.   The conquest of the Caucasus was essentially complete by 1240. Though it saw its shares of massacres, it was considerably less disastrous for the locals than, say, the war against the Jurchen Jin had been in north China. Most local forms of government were allowed to continue operating, though now with Mongol overlordship at the top. The Mughan plain in Azerbaijan became a favoured centre for Mongol power, and in time, a political centre under the Ilkhanate. For more details on Mongol rule in the region, one can easily find a copy of Bayarsaikhan Dashdondag’s The Mongols and the Armenians online, kindly uploaded to the internet and academia.edu by Dashdondag herself.   The early 1240s saw notable political upheaval in the Mongol Empire- of course at the end of 1241, we have Ogedai Khaan’s own death, though we’ll deal with that in a later episode. Chormaqun was struck down by a paralytic disease, leaving him unable to command, his wife acting as regent until officially replaced by his lieutenant, Baiju Noyan.  Baiju had a habit, even for Mongol standards, of ordering senseless executions. It is Baiju who brings us to the final section of today’s episode, the battle of Kose Dagh.    The Seljuqs of Rum, as the Anatolian branch of the once mighty dynasty was known, had experienced a heyday and expansion under Kayqubad I. After his death in 1236, he was succeeded by Kaykhusraw II, not his equal and certainly not up to repelling the predatory Baiju. From 1240 to 1241 a Turkoman revolt led by Baba Ishak hamstrung the Seljuq state, and Baiju took note of this Seljuq weakness.  In 1242, hungry to continue expanding, Baiju led his armies into Anatolia.  The Seljuq controlled Armenian city of Erzurum was a first target. After a two month siege, catapults brought down the city walls, the Christians and Muslims within the city brought to an indiscriminate slaughter. Valuable gospels found in Erzurum were gifted by Baiju to his Chirstian followers, while Armenian princes in his army sought to rescue those taken as slaves. Following further campaigning, Baiju returned to the Mughan plain for winter 1242, before returning in Spring 1243. The Seljuq Sultan Kaykhusraw II had boasted he would march and defeat the Mongols in the Mughan; Baiju marched back into Anatolia before Kaykhsuraw’s men were even mobilized. Kaykhusraw tried to get reinforcements from his vassals and allies, at Trebizond, Aleppo, Nicaea, and Cilician Armenia. The Armenian King, Het’um I, was a stout observer, and knew that the drunkard Sultan Kaykhusraw fared little chance, and held his forces back.   Erzincan, Sivas, Kayseri, all fell to Baiju as he pushed into Anatolia. He brought with him a large, multi-ethnic force, with notable Armenian and Georgian contingents. Baiju encouraged the intermingling of his forces, so as to prevent ethnic rivalries flaring up and increasing unit cohesion. By June 26th, 1243, Baiju caught the Sultan’s army in the defile of Kose Dagh, in what is now northeastern Turkey. The Seljuqs likewise brought a diverse contingent, including important Frankish mercenaries commanded by a Cypriot and a Venetian. Kaykhusraw drank himself into a stupor the night before, and was so hungover that army organization was non-existent, his force failing to assemble until late in the day. Stationed well beyond the lines, the Sultan had little awareness of what was happening at the front. Moral was poor, the Mongols’ reputation was one of invincibility and absolute terror. There could be only one end.    Mongol horse archers supported by Georgian and Armenian heavy cavalry clashed with the Turkish and Frankish troops of the Seljuq Sultan. Within an hour, they had broken and fled. So sudden was the Seljuq flight that Baiju suspected it had to be a feigned retreat, and held his army back. Only cautiously did he send scouts forward to check out the abandoned Sultan’s camp, and when they found it truly abandoned, the celebration was great. Kaykhsuraw left all his treasure behind in his flight, and what a great deal of treasure it was. Though he survived, his reputation and military were broken. The Seljuqs had little option but to submit to the Mongols- as did the King of Armenian Cilicia, Het’um I, leaving the Mongols as masters of Anatolia.    The Kose Dagh campaign was a part of a growing shift in Mongol military thought. Under Chinggis Khan, campaigns were normally a reaction to an incident or a need; the Otrar Massacre was of course an important precipitate to the Khwarezmian campaign, but Chinggis Khan had tried to avoid it, even after the massacre sending envoys to seek a peaceable solution. Only when his envoys were killed by Muhammad Khwarezm-shah did Chinggis Khan order an assault. The initial campaigns ordered by Ogedai were sent against targets who had survived Chinggis Khan’s invasions, that is the Jurchen Jin and Jalal al-Din. But by Chormaqun’s final years and the time Baiju took office in 1241, the justifications for invasions grew ever flimsier. The greatly weakened Kingdom of Georgia and the Seljuqs of Rum were not a threat to the already vast Mongol Empire, though the Georgians were considered enemies since Jebe and Subutai’s expedition. No, this was conquest for the sake of conquest. Baiju attacked the Seljuqs in their moment of weakness, for little reason other than the expansion of the Mongol Empire. This was the manifestation of the belief that the Chinggisids were to rule everything under the Eternal Blue Heaven. The very existence of non-subject powers was, in itself, resistance against the will of Heaven. The Khan had no allies, only vassals.    The submission of the Anatolian Seljuqs by the mid 1240s marked the highpoint of Mongol efforts in the region for some years. Baiju probed Syria, bringing the submission of local Ayyubid princes there, and his armies tested the borders of Iraq. However, the Mongols seem to have been under the impression that Baghdad was supported by a massive army, and were hesitant to commit to any serious operation against it. It would not be until the arrival of Hulegu in the 1250s that the Mongol conquest in the region would be finalized. As it was, Mongol rule now stretched from the Mediterranean and Black Seas all the way to the Pacific Ocean, and still continued to expand. Our next episode will begin to cover the conquest of the greatest western steppe, the prelude to the invasion of Europe proper, so be sure to subscribe to the Kings and Generals podcast and to continue helping us bring you more outstanding content, please visit our patreon at www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. Thank you for listening, I am your host David and we will catch you on the next one!

“For some years I continued averse from mentioning this event, deeming it so horrible that I shrank from recording it and ever withdrawing one foot as I advanced the other. To whom, indeed, can it be easy to write the announcement of the death-blow of Islam and the Muslims, or who is he on whom the rememberance thereof can weigh lightly? O would that my mother had not born me or that I had died and become a forgotten thing ere this befell! Yet, withal a number of my friends urged me to set it down in writing, and I hesitated long, but at last came to the conclusion that to omit this matter could serve no useful purpose.   I say, therefore, that this thing involves the description of the greatest catastrophe and the most dire calamity which befell all men generally, and the Muslims in particular; so that, should one say that the world, since God Almighty created Adam until now, has not been afflicted with the like thereof, he would but speak the truth. For indeed history does not contain anything which approaches or comes near unto it… Nay, it is unlikely that mankind will see the like of this calamity, until the world comes to an end and perishes, except the final outbreak of Gog and Magog. For even the Antichrist will spare such as follow him, though he destroy those who oppose him, but these Mongols spared none, slaying women and men and children, ripping open pregnant women and killing unborn babes.”    So begins the famous excerpt from Ibn al-Athir on the Mongol invasion of the Khwarezmian Empire. Living in Mosul, in northern Iraq, ibn al-Athir was just outside the range of Mongol armies as they annihilated the neighbouring Khwarezmian Empire in just a few short  years. Daily, news must have come into Mosul of stories of Mongol devastation and atrocities, suddenly Mongol armies were operating hundreds of kilometres farther west than previously thought, or how they were now doubling back, terrified townsfolk wondering if Mosul was next. The writers who lived through the Mongol invasion or just  after it, such as ibn al-Athir, Nasawi, Juzjani, and the most well known, Juvaini, all describe the invasion in near-apocalyptic terms, the Mongols a punishment sent by God. For how else, if not divine retribution, could one explain how every city could all fall so swiftly to these strange people from the north?    Today, we present the Mongol Invasion of the Khwarezmian Empire. I’m your host David and this the Ages of Conquests presentation of…The mongol invasions.   In our previous episode, we discussed in detail the period from 1216-1219, after Chinggis Khan returned from north China and entered into initial diplomatic contact with the Khwarezmian Empire. War between the Khwarezmian and Mongol empires came from three factors which occurred over this short period. The first was the breakdown and absorption of the empire of Qara-Khitai, which had served as a buffer state separating the two empires. Mongol forces under Jebe Noyan took most of the eastern half of the empire, while the Khwarezmians seized the territory from the Ferghana Valley westwards. The second was a battle between Mongol forces  under Jochi and Subutai against the Khwarezm-shah Muhammad II sometime in late 1218 or early 1219. And finally, the massacre of a Mongol trade caravan at the Khwarezmian city of Otrar by its governor, Shah Muhammad’s uncle Inalchuq. An envoy Chinggis Khan sent afterwards to try and solve the dispute was then executed by Muhammad. Coupled with the engagement with Jochi and Subutai, it seemed that the Khwarezm-shah had declared war on the Mongols, and with the fall of Qara-Khitai, now shared a border with them in what is now eastern Kazakhstan.       Though the Khwarezmian Empire now holds a reputation as a giant with feet of clay, this would not have been apparent from Chinggis Khan’s position. The Khwarezmians controlled a vast territory. Originally based in the Khwarezm region in modern Uzbekistan, south of the Aral sea, where their house’s founder, Anushtegin (Anush-te-gin) Gharchi (gar-chi), was appointed governor in 1077 by the final Great Seljuq Sultan, Malik-Shah I. Anushtegin’s successors expanded to incorporate Transoxania, central Kazakhstan, and south into Afghanistan, most of Iran and even Azerbaijan, though much of this territory south of modern Turkmenistan had only been taken since 1200, and Khwarezmian control was loose. Much of their military was Turkic Qipchaq-Qangli peoples from the steppe, fighting in similar fashion to the Mongols: horse archers, heavy cavalry, and supported by various Iranian peoples as infantry.  The Qipchaq-Qangli also made up a significant portion of the administrative and upper bureaucracy of the empire.    Having spent the early 12th century as vassals of the Seljuqs and then the Qara-Khitai, the house of Anushtegin showed themselves to be consistently ambitious and treacherous. In the 1190s, Muhammad’s father Tekesh, in alliance with the Caliph,  defeated and killed the final Seljuq Sultan Toghrul III, allowing Khwarezmian expansion into western Iran, but beginning their rivalry with the Abbasid Caliphs in Baghdad. The disintegration of the Ghurids in 1206 brought Khwarezmain rule to the northwestern borders of India, and the collapse of the Qara-Khitai due to Kuchlug’s usurpation extended Khwarezmian authority east into the Ferghana Valley.       With this massive expansion of the empire in a three decade period, Khwarezm-shah Muhmmad, ruling since 1200, could, quite rightly, feel he was among the most powerful sovereigns on earth, which may in part explain his haughty treatment of Chinggis Khan’s ambassadors. From the Mongol perspective, the Khwarezmians were acting antagonistically, and as a rapidly expanding empire, it seemed possible they would try and seize the new Mongol controlled territory of the former Qara-Khitai.       Internally, the Khwarezmian state was not as strong as it appeared. Since most of the empire was so newly taken, how reliable it would prove in the face of invasion would be questionable. The Qipchaq-Qangli in the administration and military not only mistreated the urban Iranian population, but many of them were essentially mercenaries, or held more loyalty to Muhammad’s mother, Terken Khatun, than him. Indeed, Muhammad and his mother were often at odds, and with Terken Khatun often issuing orders that conflicted with those of her son. Officers across the empire would receive contrasting orders from both, and would follow whichever arrived later. The antagonism between mother and son would hamstring the Khwarezmian defense.    Neither had Muhammad’s actions in the last two decades made him friends outside of the empire. From Baghdad to Delhi, the Khwarezm-shah had a reputation as greedy, unreliable and driven to conquer. Few tears would be shed for him, should he face calamity. Most of the contemporary sources lay the blame for the invasion squarely on Muhammad Khwarezm-shah, ibn al-Athir for instance, directly citing Muhammad’s conquest of the local kingdoms, leaving him as the sole defence, as the reason for the speed of the Mongol conquests. Most sources also cite his treatment of the merchant caravan and envoys, and present the Mongol invasion as something he brought on himself, and was equally unsuited to defend against.       With that background on Khwarezm, and the reasons for the war between the two empires, let’s get into the actual invasion, shall we?       Chinggis Khan made his preparations and set out in summer 1219. The general Mukhali with 20,000 Mongols, and several tens of thousand of Khitan, Jurchen, Chinese and Tangut soldiers, was left to maintain pressure on the Jin Dynasty, while Chinggis’ brother Temuge [te-mew-guh] was left with a small force keep Mongolia secured. The remainder of all available forces were to be taken west against Khwarezm. This was not just Mongolian cavalry, but subject Uighurs, Qarluqs, Khitans, and Jurchen horsemen, with Chinese siege engineers and doctors. 100-200,000 armed men are the common range for estimates, not including families and attendants who would have accompanied the army. Additionally, herds of horses and remounts for the soldiers, hundreds of thousands of sheep and goats to feed the men, and oxen and camels to haul wagons, gers, supplies and materials to construct siege weapons. The total animals brought may very well have approached a million.       Orders had also been sent for the Tangut to provide troops for the western campaign, but with the rise of the anti-Mongol minister in the Tangut court, Asa Gambu, they declined and told off the Mongol envoys. Now, this was not the cause for the later destruction of the Tangut, spoiler alert, by the way, as is often reported: the Tangut did provide troops for Mukhali’s campaigns, occurring at the same time. But it was the start of an insubordination, and finally independence, which would lead to the utter destruction of the Tangut state. But that is getting ahead of ourselves.   Shah Muhammad did not sit idle, and convened a war council at his new capital of Samarkand to decide the defense. One strategy proposed was by Muhammad’s valiant son, Jalal al-Din Mingburnu, who suggested the full might of Khwarezm should be levied and meet the Mongols in a titanic clash on the Syr Darya River, a formidable barrier where crossings would be limited. Muhammad balked at pulling all his garrisons north,  for in their absence his southern territories could assert independence. His fear at meeting the Mongols in open battle may have played a role as well. Ultimately, it was decided to spread garrisons across the major cities of Transoxania, Khwarezm and Khurasan: the northeastern frontier which would face the brunt of the Mongol assault, while Muhammad stayed south of the Amu Darya River to ensure the south of the empire didn’t rebel.    Though this plan has been criticized in the decades and centuries that followed, it wasn’t totally without merit. Just mostly. Attacks by steppe tribes were hardly new, but generally they lacked the siege equipment to take the walled cities of the region, and would contend themselves with pillaging the countryside. Muhammad assumed the Mongols would do the same, and in theory a long march without succeeding in taking any cities would smother the flame of Mongol wrath quickly. Transoxania, the region between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, or Oxus and Jaxartes as these rivers were known in antiquity, marked the most important geographic barrier to the Mongols in the northern half of the empire. Crossings over each river were limited, and much of the expanse in between them was marked by the harsh Qizil Qum Desert. There would be reason enough to expect that it would slow them down, and perhaps even prevent, Mongol passage, or at least limit it to a few select routes which could be guarded. Unfortunately, Muhammad didn’t comprehend the significance of the experience the Mongols gained in China from 1211-1215, or that they now came west with a large body of Chinese engineers to build their siege machines, or that if the Gobi desert proved no barrier to the Mongols, then neither would the Qizil Qum.   Chinggis Khan’s armies reached the Khwarezmian border city of Otrar in autumn 1219, where the trade caravan had been massacred. With strong walls and a stout defence, Chinggis left a force to besiege Otrar while his armies split and marched up and down the Syr Darya river. Otrar fell after a difficult, five month siege, and its governor Inalchuq was captured. In famous tradition, when Inalchuq was brought before Chinggis, the Khan saw fit to punish him by pouring molten silver into his eyes and ears. It doesn’t often pay to defy Khal Drogo...I mean Chinggis Khan.    That Mongol armies split up after reaching Otrar proved a major issue for the Khwarezmian defenders: had the full force stayed encamped outside of Otrar, waiting to starve it out, the possibility was there that the Khwarezmians could bring their weight to bear upon them. But now, with Mongol armies ravaging both up and downstream of the Syr Darya, while keeping Otrar under siege, it was impossible to combine against them. Further issues came when Chinggis Khan himself suddenly crossed the Syr Darya and Qizil Qum desert: it had been expected he would have take the route directly to Samarkand, protected by a mighty garrison, while the Qizil Qum was thought too difficult for a large army to pass. The Mongols and their horses were sturdy, and they passed in winter with the assistance of local guides. In the early months of 1220, Chinggis Khan had appeared behind enemy lines. The towns of Zarnuq and Nur were the first Khwarezmian settlements to fall, shortly followed by the major centre of Bukhara. A sortie by the garrison was quickly destroyed, the citadel holding out only a little while longer. It is at Bukhara that Chinggis Khan, for the only time we know for certain, entered a city, and allegedly gave a famous speech, calling himself the punishment of God, if we are to believe Juvaini.   Bukhara’s population, particularly young men, were forced into the hashar: a forced levy used by the Mongols essentially as arrow fodder. Driven before the main army, Mongol lances pointed at their backs, the hashar would push siege equipment, fill in moats and be sent against the gates and walls of cities. In these highly exposed positions, they soaked up arrows which would have otherwise fallen onto valuable Mongol warriors; it served to frighten and demoralize the garrison and other populations; it made the Mongol army appear larger; and ground down a segment of the population most likely to resist later. Such multifaceted psychological tools were favourite weapons of the Mongols. The hashar of Bukhara and other settlements on the route were driven to Samarkand, the chief city of the region and Muhammad’s capital. With strong walls and a garrison of fierce Turkic warriors supported by war elephants, Samarkand would be a fearsome target to force. Chinggis arrived before it in March 1220, where he was reinforced by his sons Chagatai and Ogedai, who had taken Otrar and brought the captive Inalchuq. Three days into the siege, Samarkand’s garrison rode out to attack the Mongols, and were cut down to the last man. The city surrendered by the end of week, its citadel holding out until a nearby dam was destroyed, its floodwaters undermining its walls.    Craftsmen and artisans were put aside for Mongol service; women were taken as slaves; and the remainder were forced into the hashar. Unexpectedly quickly, the jewel of the northern half of Shah Muhammad’s empire had been snatched away. Near the ruins of Samarkand, Chinggis divided his forces again, divisions crisscrossing across the empire. On the advice of a Khwarezmian defector, Chinggis Khan had letters forged and sent to top Khwarezmian generals, making it seem that the Mongols were cooperating with Muhammad’s mother, Terken Khatun. This further paralyzed whatever still remained of Khwarezmian leadership. Chinggis sent his generals Jebe, Subutai and Toquchar after Shah Muhammad, whose courage had fled almost immediately. As Samarkand burned, Muhammad fled south.    Muhamamd Khwarezm-shah spent the remainder of his life on the run, Jebe and Subutai hot on his heels. Across Khurasan he rode, then northern Iran, where Terken Khatun was captured. He rode until December 1220 when the bedraggled Shah died on an island in the Caspian Sea, his final days spent suffering from pneumonia, awarding titles and lands to his sons. Titles and lands that were no longer his to give. So ended the reign of Ala ad-din Muhammad bin Tekesh, Shah of Khwarezm, whose actions signed the deathwarrant for many untold hundreds of thousands of people. Beside him had been his son, Jalal al-Din Mingburnu, who took his father’s title and would lead a resistance against the Mongols. This was not the end of Jebe and Subutai’s great voyage, but we’ll give that tale its own episode and focus on the main campaign here.   Once Mongol armies crossed the Amu Darya, the southern river of Transoxania, and Muhammad fled west, the fate of Khwarezm was sealed. The names of the cities change; the length of the sieges change; but the outcome rarely does. Cities that resisted were forced  open, their garrisons massacred, the populations enslaved. For strenuous resistance or the death of a Chinggisid prince, like that of Toquchar outside of Nishapur, then the entire population would be put to the sword, the city destroyed. These served as a stark message; resist, and you will perish. In contrast, those who surrendered immediately were largely left untouched. Often, they were ordered to dismantle their walls, provide food and tribute, and sometimes men for the Mongols and accept a Mongol appointed overseer, a daruqachi (da-roo-ka-chi), basqaq (bas-kak) or shahna (sha-nah), as they were known in Persian sources. Beyond that, the Mongols cared little for the internal affairs of towns, and they were left to their own devices. If they revolted afterwards though, as happened in Merv did, a spectacular example would be made of them- it is from these cases where we see stories of towers of skulls made from the inhabitants.    Did Chinggis Khan at the outset intend on conquering the Khwarezmian Empire? It is hard to say- certainly not even he would have anticipated how quickly the Khwarezmian defence would fail. Each city was essentially left to its own defence, ensuring the Mongols could surround and bring their weight to bear on individual sites. As Muhammad had fled, accompanied by Jalal al-Din, there was noone to organize any greater unity among the Khwarezmian amirs. After his father’s death at the end of 1220, Jalal al-Din and his brothers returned to the mainland, making their way to Gurganj, the original Khwarezmian capital. There, Jalal al-Din attempted to organize things, but some amirs, even in this crisis, refused to recognize him, as Terken Khatun had wanted another of Muhammad’s sons, a more malleable individual, to succeed him. With assassination attempts against him, Jalal al-Din abandoned Gurganj. Not long after he left, Jochi, Chagatai and Ogedai surrounded and destroyed the city after a lengthy siege.    Jalal al-Din fled southeast to Afghanistan, the former Ghurid territory which was his patrimony and where Mongol armies had not yet arrived. There, he was able to gather an army of Qangli, Qarluqs, Khalaj, Afghans and Ghuris, perhaps 60,000 in total. Jalal al-Din was a capable general, and led this army to defeat two Mongols forces. One of these, at Parwan, was a sizable force led by Shigi Qutuqu (tchut-oo-tchoo), the grand judge of the empire and Chinggis’ adopted son. The victory at Parwan late in summer 1221 set off a series of revolts in Khurasan, cities like Herat and Merv which had submitted previously, threw off Mongol rule. Chinggis Khan’s youngest son Tolui was sent to punish them severely for this. For Jalal al-Din, he suffered a catastrophic defection in his victory: a conflict over loot from the battlefield between some of his commanders led to one abandoning him, taking half the army with him. Unfortunately for the Khwarezmian prince, this coincided with Mongol forces converging upon Chinggis to march against him. Jalal al-Din, with now only half of his army, was to face the full might of the Mongol invasion.    Jalal al-Din attempted to flee to India, but the Mongols moved quickly, and caught him on the Indus river around November 1221. The Khwarezmian prince fought fiercely, his army backed up to a cliff over the river. Commanding the centre himself, even while his flanks crumpled under Mongol arrows he held firm, but fate could not be avoided. With a final charge, he pushed back the Mongols, then spurred his horse around, and in full armour, spear still in hand, lunged off the cliff into the river. Mongol archers rushed to the cliffside to send arrows after him, but according to Juvaini, Chinggis Khan personally ordered them to hold, and watched Jalal al-Din and horse swim across the river to India.  Then, turning to his sons he said:   “This is the kind of son that every father dreams of! Having escaped two whirlpools-  water and fire- and reached the bank of safety, he will commit many a glorious deed and  cause innumerable misfortunes. How can a man of reason but reckon with him?”   Chinggis Khan always appreciated heroic acts and Jalal al-Din, for his courage, earned the respect of the Khan. The other Khwarezmian soldiers were not so lucky, and those also trying to make the river crossing were sunk by Mongol arrows. The Battle on the Indus River essentially marked the end of the Khwarezmian Empire. Though Jalal al-Din escaped, and spent some years in India before making his way back to western Iran and resisting there, the state effectively ceased to exist. Most of Iran would be left in the hands of local dynasties for the next two decades, Khurasan left a ruinous buffer while Transoxania was absorbed into the empire, the threat of the return of Mongol forces hovering over all.    It is impossible to say how many were killed in the invasion. Sources like Juvaini often give grealy inflated numbers for those killed in certain cities, recording 2.4 million killed at Herat or 1.3 million at Merv, while another source gives 1.7 million lost at Nishapur. These numbers are certainly exaggerations, more to give an idea of total destruction than specific losses. It is doubtful that any city in the Khwarezmian Empire approached one million inhabitants, even when flooded with refugees fleeing the Mongols. Juvaini’s work will also mention 1.3 million killed at Merv, then have the Mongols return not long after and find another 10,000 to kill. It is also hard to distinguish how many were killed directly from Mongol arrows, or from the famine and spread of disease following the invasion. Many of the irrigation canals needed for sustaining agriculture around these cities were either directly destroyed, or had the people who knew how to maintain them killed or driven off. The starvation which set in following the reduction in agricultural production must have claimed many thousands.    Beyond that, we have mention of internal fighting, cities using the Mongol invasion as a chance to carry out old grudges, and following the Mongols’ withdrawal, the fighting between local dynasties, bandits and rebels would have claimed yet more lives. That many tens or hundreds of thousands of people were driven from their homes, fleeing the Khwarezmian empire entirely or carried back east as slaves, must not be discounted.    Gaining a truly accurate tally of the dead is impossible, but easily at least 1-3 million people were killed during, or because of, the invasion. It left not just a physical and demographic scaring, but a mental one as well, the Mongols becoming a byword for incomparable calamity even today. It is no wonder so many sources present the invasion in apocalyptic terms, though efforts at recovery and reconstruction under Mongol rule will be something we will explore in future episodes.   With Jalal al-Din Mingburnu’s defeat, Chinggis began the slow journey back to Mongolia. The campaign had been a victory beyond his wildest dreams, and it is at this point that the Mongols likely began to develop the belief that it was Heaven’s Will for them to conquer the world. For how else could one explain what had happened? Everywhere they went, military victory soon followed. The authority of Chinggis Khan among the Mongols was near absolute, though he still had the matter of the succession to deal with, as well as unfinished business in North China. Contrary to some statements, Chinggis did not immediately turn about from the Indus to attack the Tangut- it was not until after 1223, with the death of the general Mukhali, that the Tangut would openly rebel, and earn their own destruction.   Our next episodes will be discussing the great expedition of Jebe and Subtuai through the Caucasus and battle against the Rus’ and Qipchaq at the Kalka River, as well as Chinggis Khan’s final years, so be sure to subscribe to Ages of Conquest: A Kings and Generals podcast and to continue helping us bring you more outstanding content, please visit our patreon at www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. Thank you for listening, I am your host David and we will catch you on the next one!

Today we dive into the world of professional white water kayaker Bren Orton. This episode is brought to you by the We Get Outdoors Tribe - where your next adventure is just one click away. Click on this link https://www.facebook.com/groups/wegetoutdoors/ to join for free right now… Bren is one of the few humans on planet earth who lives the dream of calling white water kayaking his job. He is the holder of the British Kayak Waterfall Record, sponsored by some of the worlds leading brands and co-founder of the youtube channels Send and Senders. Documenting his white water kayaking adventures around the world gives Bren the perfect platform to show us that he is one of the most versatile white water kayakers on the planet today. In this interview we get to find out, - How he smashed the British Waterfall Record - How he progressed from a young up & coming talent to a professional kayaker - Stories of kayaking adventures in far-flung destinations - The true impact of almost dying while kayaking off the massive 105ft Alexandra Falls - What Bren believes the future of white water kayaking and waterfalls is - His reaction to Dane Jackson’s recent massive first descent on the Indus River in Pakistan - What Bren never leaves home without - Getting and staying sponsored - His must-read books AND an incredible 60 -second rant on veganism as a vegetarian. Bren is proudly sponsored by, Pyranha Kayaks Dewerstone Palm Equipment System X Werner Paddles Follow Bren’s adventures here https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3fm... https://www.patreon.com/Senders This episode is brought to you by the We Get Outdoors Tribe - where your next adventure is just one click away. Click on this link https://www.facebook.com/groups/wegetoutdoors/ to join for free right now…

Do you think the Indus River great or not

So this is about the "Indus River Worm" and the "Odonotyrannos" also known as the tooth-tyrant. Naturally we all have this desire to know the unknown and hear stories that defy logic. Well, this is a story recorded by the Greeks themselves over 2,000 years ago in the mysterious Indus Valley, with one encounter even being recorded by none other than Alexander The Great himself in a personal letter to Aristotle. This is a deep dive into the weird and wild!!!! I hope everyone enjoys it. If you did, don't forget to subscribe. I have more weird and wild content coming. Welcome to The Fringe!MUSIC: from YouTube library. (Foreign_Land) and (Djinn)TWITTER: https://twitter.com/MurphyFringe ---------> https://twitter.com/MurphyFringe @MurphyFringe

Indus Valley Civilization, written by Cristian Violatti and narrated by Richard de Man: https://www.ancient.eu/Indus_Valley_Civilization/ If you like our audio articles, please support us by becoming a member or donating to our non-profit company: - www.ancient.eu/membership/ - www.ancient.eu/donate/ - www.patreon.com/ahe The Indus Valley Civilization was an ancient civilization located in what is Pakistan and northwest India today, on the fertile flood plain of the Indus River and its vicinity. Evidence of religious practices in this area date back approximately to 5500 BCE. Farming settlements began around 4000 BCE and around 3000 BCE there appeared the first signs of urbanization. By 2600 BCE, dozens of towns and cities had been established, and between 2500 and 2000 BCE the Indus Valley Civilization was at its peak.

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Hey there word nerds! Today I have the pleasure of speaking to middle grade author William Meyer! From the Indus River to the Italian Renaissance, no topic has piqued the imagination of this high school history teacher’s students as intensely as the study of Ancient Egypt. As a result of both their interest and his own childhood curiosity about the mysteries of that era, he wrote the Horace j. Edwards and the Time Keepers series. Listen in as we chat about his fantastic series and how to keep consistency and momentum going in a story. In this episode Bill and I discuss: How to keep your momentum going to write your second book. Tips and tricks to write a novel under a deadline. Why middle grade readers want the same but different story, and how to write it  for them. The nuts and bolts of worldbuilding in historical fiction with magic, and how to create and stick to your own rules. How to balance giving children characters agency to be the hero and grounding them in the reality of our world. Plus, Bill’s #1 tip for writers. For more info and show notes: DIYMFA.com/170

“Water scarcity is a nightmare scenario that is all too real and all but inevitable in Pakistan,” says Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Wilson Center’s Asia Program, in this week’s podcast. Pakistan faces the intersecting challenges of population growth, inefficient infrastructure and policies, deep societal inequality, and climate change, leading to a situation where the country is “voraciously consuming water even as water tables are plummeting precipitously,” says Kugelman. Not only are water problems exacerbating internal tensions, they’re complicating relations with fellow riparian and upstream rival, India. The degree of Pakistan’s dilemma is profound. A 2015 International Monetary Fund report found that Pakistan’s water consumption is the fourth highest in the world and its water intensity rate (the amount of water needed for every unit of GDP) is also among the highest. Groundwater reserves, the “last resort of water security,” says Kugelman, is a “safety net that is fraying.” He cites a NASA study that found the Indus Basin aquifer, shared between India and Pakistan, is the second most overdrawn in the world. High levels of consumption are driven by the “robust demand of a rapidly growing population, which now numbers close to 200 million people,” says Kugelman. The annual growth rate is around 1.8 percent, and is projected to stay above 1 percent until at least 2030. Poor infrastructure and policy also contribute to the dilemma. “Pakistan is unfortunately rather notorious for its leaky, dilapidated pipes, canals, and dams,” says Kugelman, which in turn supply a huge agricultural sector that guzzles water at an enormous rate. The government subsidizes water-intensive crops, like sugar, while encouraging inefficient irrigation methods, like flood irrigation. Overall, agriculture may account for 90 percent of Pakistan’s water usage, says Kugelman. In “feudal-like conditions” of deep inequality, tenants struggle to access water on land controlled by elites, who face little scrutiny in how they use it. “It’s been said that land ownership is as a proxy for water rights,” says Kugelman. “If you don’t own land, your right to water is highly tenuous.” While these factors drive up demand, climate change is imperiling supply. The glaciers of the Western Himalayas, the headwaters of the Indus River and its tributaries, have been melting rapidly. “The government in Pakistan has claimed that glacial melt on Pakistan’s mountains has increased by nearly 25 percent in recent years,” says Kugelman. “The once mighty Indus River has slowed to essentially a trickle in parts of the southern province of Sindh.” Many in Pakistan, including anti-India terror groups, see these problems and accuse India of hoarding water and depleting rivers that flow across the border. Some believe the only solution is to “liberate” the disputed border areas of Jammu and Kashmir. But Kugelman says there is no evidence to support this accusation and that India is “more of a convenient scapegoat than a genuine explanation.” India has mostly built “run of the river” dams that do not store appreciable amounts of water and thus do not keep water from flowing across the border, he says. The Indus Waters Treaty also gives Pakistan the rights to the three largest rivers of the basin, amounting to 80 percent of flows, says Kugelman. “The broader reality is that there has actually been a fair level of cooperation between these two enemies in managing transboundary water resources in the Indus Basin.” Climate change and rapid population growth are changing conditions significantly and there have been calls on both sides for the treaty to be renegotiated, but Kugelman believes there is not enough trust between the two for a renegotiation to be productive at the moment. “It is 100 percent wrong to claim that water is a soft issue, that the two sides can use water as a confidence building measure,” he asserts. Resolution of Pakistan’s water problems will require mainly domestic changes, but in the public eye are more connected with cross-border, nationalist contentions, a dynamic that only entrenches problems. “You cannot separate transboundary water management from the ugly, complex, political disputes in India-Pakistan relations,” he says. “There is really nothing apolitical about transboundary water management on the Indian Subcontinent.” Michael Kugelman spoke at the Wilson Center on May 9, 2017. Friday Podcasts are also available for download on iTunes and Google Play.

The Three Hares Symbol The symbol of three hares in a circle joined together at the ears is found in many religions all over world. No one knows the exact meaning of the symbol. ⦁    There is a German riddle concerning the motif of the three hares is quite describing: ⦁     Three hares sharing three ears, yet every one of them has two. This design features three hares, which are shown chasing each other / running in a circle, and joined together at their ears. Although one might expect three hares to have a total of six ears, the ones in the motif have only three ears in total.  Due to an optical illusion, however, it looks as though each hare has a pair of ears. The Three Hares Motif is A Cross-Cultural Symbol with Numerous Interpretations. This design has been uncovered in Buddhist caves that are 2500 years old.  It is found in some Christian churches throughout Europe, in Islamic art and in Judaism. Until recently there has been little awareness of its wide distribution, and peple are uncovering new examples all the time. Striking depictions of three hares joined at the ears have been found in roof bosses of medieval parish churches in Devon, 13th century Mongol metal work from Iran and cave temples from the Chinese Sui dynasty of 589-618. All cultures have interpreted this ancient symbol according to what is appropriate with their belief. In Christianity it has become a symbol of the trinity; Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Originally it may have represented the Triple Goddess.  The hare has a long history of being connected to the moon, as has the goddess. Academics are intrigued at the motif’s apparent prominence in Christian, Islamic and Buddhist holy contexts separated by 5,000 miles and almost 1,000 years. The Three Hares is an ancient motif found in various parts of the world.   Although the Three Hares is a motif shared by a number of cultures, it is likely that its symbolism changed as it crossed the different cultural barriers. Hence, this design probably has differing meanings in the many cultures where it is found. The earliest known examples of the Three Hares motif can be found in China. It can be seen on the ceilings of some of the temples in the Mogao Caves (also known as the Mogao Grottoes or the Cave of the Thousand Buddhas). There are at least 17 temples in this complex where the Three Hares motif is depicted on the ceiling.  The earliest motifs found in this Buddhist site near Dunhuang, Gansu Province, Western China, are thought to date back to the 6th century AD, when China was under the Sui Dynasty.  In the subsequent Tang Dynasty, the icon of the Three Hares continued to be used. Dunhuang, The town, is famous for a network of caves containing thousands of documents and fabrics from the Silk Road, which were sealed in about 1000 AD. The caves and their contents – preserved astonishingly well by the dry local climate – were rediscovered by Hungarian-born, British-based explorer Marc Aurel Stein, who trekked along the Silk Road a series of times between 1900 and 1930. Although China possesses the earliest known examples of this motif, it has been speculated that the Three Hares is not a Chinese design, and may have originated further west, perhaps from Mesopotamia, Central Asia, or the Hellenistic world.  This is based on the fact that many other artistic elements in the Mogao Caves are from the West.   Nevertheless, examples of the design from these proposed areas that predate those at the Mogao Caves have yet to be discovered. Beginning in the Han dynasty (202 BCE-220 CE), Dunhuang was an important stop on the Silk Road, the ancient trade route that stretched from Chang’an (present-day Xi’an) in the east to Central Asia, India, Persia—and, eventually, the Roman Empire—in the west.   And during the period of the Sixteen Kingdoms (366-439), at Mogao, less than a day’s journey from Dunhuang, Buddhist monks began digging out hundreds of cave temples from the cliffs along the Daquan River. The caves were decorated with statues, murals and decorative images, and construction of new caves continued at Mogao for over 500 years. During the Sui and Tang dynasties (581-907), three-hares images were painted on the center of the ceilings of at least 17 caves.  Typically, the circle of hares is surrounded by eight large lotus petals and forms the focal point of a large painted canopy covering the entire ceiling. The following photos show what some of these images look like today. The beautiful image from Cave 407 is the most familiar of all the three-hares designs at Dunhuang. The hares are surrounded by two bands of lotus petals against a background of feitian (celestial maidens) flying in the same direction as the hares.  Notice the hares’ eyes, all four legs, and the white scarves trailing from around their necks. Interestingly, this is the only one of the 17 cave images in which the three hares are clearly running in a counterclockwise direction. The three-hares image of Cave 305 is badly deteriorated. But close study clearly reveals the white triangular silhouette indicating the hares’ ears as well as parts of their bodies. In Cave 420, all that remains is the triangle formed by the hares’ three ears along with parts of their heads. In Cave 406, the rough white silhouettes of the three hares are clearly seen against a tan background.  It would require close examination to determine whether these white areas are places where a darker pigment of the original hares has changed color over time or the original pigment has peeled off to expose a white undercoat. In Cave 383, the slender hares are gracefully leaping with front and hind legs fully outstretched. In Cave 397, the white silhouette of one hare and parts of the other two are still clearly visible. It appears that bits of the original pigment remain, although its tone may have changed over time. In some places all the paint has peeled off, exposing the beige clay. The images of the three hares in Cave 205 are very well preserved. Less so for the images in Caves 144 and 99. In addition to the caves shown above, the three hares motif also appears in Caves 200, 237, 358 and 468 from the Middle Tang dynasty (781-847) and Caves 127, 139, 145 and 147 from the Late Tang dynasty (848-906). (In Cave 127, the artist—either by carelessness or design—has created a unique variation of the three-hares image. Each hare’s ears are together, and the ears of all three hares form a Y-shaped pinwheel instead of the usual triangle.) Of all 17 three-hares images, the one in Cave 139 is the most detailed. This image is also the best preserved—perhaps because the cave is accessible only through a small elevated opening on the right side of the entryway to Cave 138. The three hares are tan against a light green background and are surrounded by eight lotus petals. Each hare is beautifully drawn in pen-like detail, with clearly visible features, including mouth, nose, eyes (with eyeballs!), all four legs, feet (including toes!) and tail. Even the fur on the stomach, breast, legs and head of each rabbit is shown. Four Hares at Guge There is also at least one site in present-day Tibet with puzzling images of hares sharing ears.  Images of four hares sharing four ears can be found in the ruins of the ancient kingdom of Guge, which thrived from the mid-10th century until its defeat in 1630.  On the ceiling of Guge’s White Temple are 314 painted panels, and one of these panels has two roundels, each showing four hares chasing each other in a clockwise direction…. Other Buddhist Images of Three and Four Hares Other Buddhist images of three and four hares occur in Ladakh, within the present Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.  At Alchi on the bank of the Indus River is a temple complex that was built in the late 12th to early 13th century while Alchi was within the western Tibetan cultural sphere. Within this temple complex, inside the Sumtsek, or Three-Tiered Temple, is a sculpture of Maitreya. On Maitreya’s dhoti are painted more than 60 roundels depicting scenes from the life of Buddha Sakyamuni. Each space between four such roundels is decorated with images with long-eared animals chasing each other in a clockwise direction. Some of the spaces show three animals sharing three ears, while others show four animals sharing four ears.” Dr Tom Greeves, a landscape archaeologist, has suggested the motif was brought to the West along the Silk Road. Dr Greeves, from Tavistock, Devon, said: “It is a very beautiful and stirring image which has an intrinsic power which is quite lovely. “We can deduce from the motif’s use in holy places in different religions and cultures, and the prominence it was given, that the symbol had a special significance. The Silk Road played an important role in the diffusion of the Three Hares motif. It was via this trade route that the Three Hares symbol found its way into the western part of China. Assuming that all later examples of the Three Hare motif have their origin in the ones found in China, then it is possible to say that the motif travelled along the Silk Road to distant lands as well. We don’t know for sure how the symbol travelled to the West but the most likely explanation is that they were on the valuable oriental silks brought to Western medieval churches to wrap holy relics, as altar cloths and in vestments. More than 1000 years ago, Dunhuang was a key staging point on the Silk Road, the famous network of trading routes which linked China with Central Asia and Iran, with branches into Tibet and South Asia. As well as commodities, the Silk Road saw religions and ideas spread great distances, and the researchers said this could be the key to the hare motif. Some later examples of this motif have been found in places such as Turkmenistan, Iran, Egypt, Syria, Germany, France, and England.  The objects on which the Three Hares motif have been found include glass, ceramics, coins, and textiles.  Many of these artifacts date to the time of the Pax Mongolica , i.e. the 13th century, a period when trade and the exchange of ideas between East and West flourished. The Three Hares appear on 13th century Mongol metal work, and on a copper coin, found in Iran, dated to 1281.[16][17][18] Another appears on an ancient Islamic reliquary from southern Russia. Another 13th or early 14th century Reliquary was from Iran from Mongol rule, and is preserved in the treasury of Cathedral of Trier Germany. On its base, the casket reveals Islamic iconography, and originally featured two images of the three hares. One was lost through damage.[19] In central Asian and Middle Eastern contexts the motif occurs • in glass (an Islamic medallion of ca. 1100, now in Berlin); • on ceramics (impressed pottery vessels at Merv, Turkmenistan in 12th c.; polychrome pottery from Egypt/Syria ca. 1200; a tile of ca. 1200, now in Kuwait); • woven on textile (four hares, 2nd quarter to mid-13th c., now in Cleveland); and • on a copper Mongol coin (Urmia, Iran, minted 1281-2). The other possibility is that the motif has a much older provenance, given the religious context in which the Three Hares motif turns up mostly in England, northern Germany, France …and with most of the symbols having either Anglo-Saxon, Celtic or semitic (Ashkenazi) medieval religious associations. In Britain the motif is most common in Devon where 17 parish churches contain roof bosses depicting the hares. On Dartmoor, it is known locally as “The Tinners’ Rabbits”, but there are no known associations with tin mining. Some claim that the Devon name, Tinners’ Rabbits, is related to local tin miners adopting it. The mines generated wealth in the region and funded the building and repair of many local churches, and thus the symbol may have been used as the miners signature mark.[21] The architectural ornament of the Three Hares also occurs in churches that are unrelated to the miners of South West England. Other occurrences in England include floor tiles at Chester Cathedral,[22] stained glass at Long Melford, Suffolk[A] and a ceiling in Scarborough, Yorkshire. The motif of the Three Hares is used in a number of medieval European churches, particularly in France (e.g., in the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière in Lyons)[23] and Germany. It occurs with the greatest frequency in the churches of the West Country of England. The motif appears in illuminated manuscripts,[24] architectural wood carving, stone carving, window tracery and stained glass. In South Western England there are nearly thirty recorded examples of the Three Hares appearing on ‘roof bosses’ (carved wooden knobs) on the ceilings in medieval churches in Devon, (particularly Dartmoor). There is a good example of a roof boss of the Three hares at Widecombe-in-the-Moor,[7] Dartmoor, with another in the town of Tavistock on the edge of the moor. The motif occurs with similar central placement in Synagogues.[2] Another occurrence is on the ossuary that by tradition contained the bones of St. Lazarus.[25] Where it occurs in England, the Three Hares motif usually appears in a prominent place in the church, such as the central rib of the chancel roof, or on a central rib of the nave. This suggests that the symbol held significance to the church, and casts doubt on the theory that they may have been a masons’ or carpenters’ signature marks.[1] There are two possible and perhaps concurrent reasons why the Three Hares may have found popularity as a symbol within the church. Firstly, it was widely believed that the hare was hermaphrodite and could reproduce without loss of virginity.[19] This led to an association with the Virgin Mary, with hares sometimes occurring in illuminated manuscripts and Northern European paintings of the Virgin and Christ Child. The other Christian association may have been with the Holy Trinity,[19][26] representing the “One in Three and Three in One” of which the triangle or three interlocking shapes such as rings are common symbols. In many locations the Three Hares are positioned adjacent to the Green Man, a symbol associated with the continuance of Anglo-Saxon or Celtic paganism. 16th century German scholar Rabbi Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi, saw the rabbits as a symbol of the Diaspora. The replica of the Chodorow Synagogue from Poland (on display at the Museum of the Jewish Diaspora in Tel Aviv) has a ceiling with a large central painting which depicts a double headed eagle holds two brown rabbits in its claws without harming them. … There are examples elsewhere in Britain in a chapel in Cotehele, Cornwall, in medieval stained glass in the Holy Trinity church in Long Melford, Suffolk, in a plaster ceiling in Scarborough, North Yorks, and on floor tiles from Chester Cathedral and in the parish church in Long Crendon, Bucks. The hare frequently appears in the form of the symbol of the “rotating rabbits”. An ancient German riddle describes this graphic thus: Three hares sharing three ears, Yet every one of them has two.[2] This curious graphic riddle can be found in all of the famous wooden synagogues from the period of the 17th and 18th century in the Ashknaz region (in Germany) that are on museum display in Beth Hatefutsoth Museum in Tel Aviv, the Jewish Museum Berlin and The Israel Museum in Jerusalem. They also appear in the Synagogue from Horb am Neckar (donated to the Israel Museum). The three animals adorn the wooden panels of the prayer room from Unterlimpurg near Schwäbisch Hall, which may be seen in replica in the Jewish Museum Berlin. They also are seen in a main exhibit of the Diaspora Museum in Tel Aviv. Israeli art historian Ida Uberman wrote about this house of worship: “… Here we find depictions of three kinds of animals, all organized in circles: eagles, fishes and hares. These three represent the Kabbalistic elements of the world: earth, water and fire/heavens… The fact that they are always three is important, for that number . . . is important in the Kabbalistic context”.[2] Not only do they appear among floral and animal ornaments, but they are often in a distinguished location, directly above the Torah ark, the place where the holy scriptures repose…”  — Wikipedia: The Three Hares It seems also likely that the commonly seen medieval Christian or Jewish symbols may have been one of the fairly universally known pagan fertility symbols in the past: The Bavarian “Community of Hasloch’s arms[depicted below] is blazoned as: Azure edged Or three hares passant in triskelion of the second, each sharing each ear with one of the others, in chief a rose argent seeded of the second, in base the same, features three hares. It is said, “The stone with the image of three hares, previously adorned the old village well, now stands beside the town hall.” “Hares and rabbits have appeared as a representation or manifestation of various deities in many cultures, including: Hittavainen, Finnish god of Hares;[35] Kaltes-Ekwa, Siberian goddess of the moon; Jade Rabbit, maker of medicine on the moon for the Chinese gods, depicted often with a mortar and pestle;[13][36] Ometotchtli (Two Rabbits,) Aztec god of fertility, etc., who led 400 other Rabbit gods known as the Centzon Totochtin; Kalulu, Tumbuka mythology (Central African) Trickster god; and Nanabozho (Great Rabbit,) Ojibway deity, a shape-shifter and a cocreator of the world.[36][37] See generally, Rabbits in the arts.” — (Wikipedia) The Celts (and Anglo-Saxons, Germans, Dutch and French) all have a folklore of hares, eggs and spring ritual folklore, the Egyptians have their Hare goddess, over a whole district of province Hermopolis, and the hare was sacred and messenger to both Wenet and Thoth (deity of scribes, in kind with the Mayan hare deity who invented writing). Sacred, moon-gazing hares were sacred and associated with moon goddesses like Ostara, Ishtar, Innanna associated with renewal, rebirth and cycles of the moon … as were the Jewish kabbalistic and Persian triple hares, which had in common with the Chinese, Korean and Japanese ones that associated the hare with goddesses of immortality, who bore the task of pounding elixirs or rice-cakes. The first known literary reference is from A Survey of the Cathedral of St Davids published in 1717 by Browne Willis. It says: “In one key stone near the west end are three rabbits plac’d triangularly, with the backsides of their heads turn’d inwards, and so contriv’d that the three ears supply the place of six so that every head seems to have its full quota of ears. This is constantly shewn to strangers as a curiosity worth regarding.” The three hares are depicted in churches, chapels and cathedrals in France and Germany. The symbol has been found in Iran on a copper coin minted in 1281 and on a brass tray, both from the time of the Mongol Empire. Meanings of the Three Hares The symbol’s meaning remains obscure but the hare has long had divine and mystical associations in the East and the West.   Legends often give the animal magical qualities. It has also been associated in stories with fertility, feminity and the lunar cycle. The Three Hares symbolized different things for the different cultures who used it. In the absence of contemporary written records, however, these meanings can only be speculation. For example, in Christian Europe, one interpretation of the motif is that it symbolized the Holy Trinity, which may explain its depictions in churches.  The problem with this hypothesis is that it was made some centuries after the motif was made, and might not coincide with the original meaning as intended by its creators. Another theory is that the hare represents the Virgin Mary, as hares were once mistakenly believed to have been able to procreate without a mate, thus giving birth without losing their virginity.  In some churches, this motif is juxtaposed with an image of the Green Man, perhaps to highlight the contrast between the redemption of humanity with its sinful nature. In the East, on the other hand, the hare is said to represent peace and tranquility, and has been regarded as an auspicious animal.  This may be the reason for its use in the decoration of the Mogao Caves for example. “The earliest occurrences appear to be in cave temples in China, dated to the Sui dynasty (6th to 7th centuries).  The iconography spread along the Silk Road, and was a symbol associated with Buddhism.  The hares have been said to be “A hieroglyph of ‘to be’.” In other contexts the metaphor has been given different meaning.  For example, Guan Youhui, a retired researcher from the Dunhuang Academy, who spent 50 years studying the decorative patterns in the Mogao Caves, believes the three rabbits image-—”like many images in Chinese folk art that carry auspicious symbolism—represent peace and tranquility.” The hares have appeared in Lotus motifs. In both Eastern and Western cultures, the hare was once believed to have magical qualities, and it has been associated with mysticism and the divine. Additionally, the hare can be found in numerous stories relating to fertility, femininity, and the lunar cycle. Thus, it may be these connections that led to the hare being incorporated into the Three Hares motifs. “If we can open a window on something that in the past had relevance and meaning to people separated by thousands of miles and hundreds of years, it could benefit our present day understanding of the things we share with different cultures and religions.” Yew Help http://www.ancient-origins.net/history/three-hares-motif-cross-cultural-symbol-numerous-interpretations-005640 http://www.chrischapmanphotography.co.uk/hares/ http://chinesepuzzles.org/three-hares/ http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/devon/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8280000/8280645.stm http://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/three_hares.htm http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1466046/Caves-hold-clue-to-the-riddle-of-the-three-hares.html https://japanesemythology.wordpress.com/origin-of-the-three-hares-motif/