Podcasts about Sea Peoples

Merneptah vs the Libyans. In 1221 BCE, Egypt faced a crisis. Tribal coalitions from the west, and some "Peoples of the Sea" were marching on the Nile Valley. They came in their thousands, armed and ready to settle. Caught by surprise, King Merneptah and his warriors hastened to the defence... Support the show and get early releases, ad-free episodes, bonus video content, and pictures/videos of animals I meet in Egypt and travelling www.patreon.com/egyptpodcast Music by Bettina Joy de Guzman; Luke Chaos; and Keith Zizza. Bibliography Cline, E. H. (2021). 1177 B.C. The Year Civilization Collapsed (Revised edn). Princeton University Press. D'Amato, R., & Salimbeti, Andrea. (2015). Sea Peoples of the Bronze Age Mediterranean c.1400 BC–1000 BC. Osprey. Darnell, J. C., & Manassa, C. M. (2007). Tutankhamun's armies: Battle and conquest during ancient Egypt's late eighteenth dynasty. John Wiley & Sons. Davies, B. G. (1997). Egyptian Historical Inscriptions of the Nineteenth Dynasty. Paul Aströms förlag. Dean, R. (2017). Warfare & Weaponry in Dynastic Egypt. Pen & Sword. Finné, M., Woodbridge, J., Labuhn, I., & Roberts, N. (2019). Holocene hydro-climatic variability in the Mediterranean: A synthetic multi-proxy reconstruction. The Holocene, 29, 847--863. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0959683619826634 Heagren, B. (2010). The Art of War in Pharaonic Egypt [Unpublished PhD. Thesis, The University of Auckland]. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/49463150_The_art_of_war_in_pharaonic_Egypt_an_analysis_of_the_tactical_logistic_and_operational_capabilities_of_the_Egyptian_army Healy, M. (1992). New Kingdom Egypt. Osprey Publishing. Kaniewski, D., Campo, E. V., Guiot, J., Burel, S. L., Otto, T., & Baeteman, C. (2013). Environmental Roots of the Late Bronze Age Crisis. PLOS ONE, 8(8), e71004. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0071004 Kaniewski, D., Marriner, N., Bretschneider, J., Jans, G., Morhange, C., Cheddadi, R., Otto, T., Luce, F., & Van Campo, E. (2019). 300-year drought frames Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age transition in the Near East: New palaeoecological data from Cyprus and Syria. Regional Environmental Change, 19, 2287--2297. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10113-018-01460-w Kitchen, K. A. (1975). Ramesside Inscriptions Historical and Biographical (Vols. 1–8). Blackwell. https://archive.org/details/KennethA.KitchenRamessideInscriptionsVol1 Kitchen, K. A. (1993a). Ramesside Inscriptions Translated and Annotated: Notes and Comments (Vols. 1–2). Blackwell. Kitchen, K. A. (1993b). Ramesside Inscriptions Translated and Annotated: Translations (Vols. 1–7). Blackwell. Kopanias, K. (2017). Mercenaries or refugees? The evidence from the inscriptions of Merenptah on the “Sea Peoples.” Journal of Greek Archaeology, 2, 119--133. https://www.ancientportsantiques.com/wp-content/uploads/Documents/AUTHORS/SeaPeoples/SeaPeoples-Kopanias2017.pdf Manassa, C. (2003). The Great Karnak Inscription of Merneptah: Grand Strategy in the 13th Century BC. The Yale Egyptological Seminar. Pollastrini, A. M. (2024). Helmets and Body Armour in New Kingdom Egypt. Bloomsbury Academic. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781350323520 Sabbahy, L. (2013). Depictional Study of Chariot Use in New Kingdom Egypt. In A. Veldmeijer & S. Ikram (Eds.), Chasing Chariots: Proceedings of the First International Chariot Conference (Cairo 2012) (pp. 191--202). Sidestone Press. Shaw, G. J. (2017). War and Trade with the Pharaohs: An Archaeological Study of Ancient Egypt's Foreign Relations. Pen & Sword. Shaw, I. (2019). Ancient Egyptian Warfare. Casemate. Snape, S. (2003a). The Emergence of Libya on the Horizon of Egypt. In D. O'Connor & S. Quirke (Eds.), Mysterious Lands (pp. 93--106). UCL Press. Snape, S. (2003b). Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham and Egyptian Foreign Trade in the Thirteenth Century BC. Sea Routes: Interconnections in the Mediterranean 16th-6th c. BC. https://www.academia.edu/107251529/Snape_ZUR_and_Egyptian_Foreign_Trade_Zawiyet_Umm_el_Rakham_and_Egyptian_foreign_trade_in_the_thirteenth_century_BC_ Snape, S. (2023). What was Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham for? Early Ramesside Strategy in the Libyan West. In F. Hoffmann & M. R. Abbas (Eds.), Perspectives on the Ramesside Military System (pp. 143--155). Zaphon. Spalinger, A. J. (2004). Review: Manassa, Colleen 2003. The Great Karnak inscription of Merneptah: Grand strategy in the 13th century BC. Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 90(reviews supplement), 45--47. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3822286 Zutterman, C. (2003). The bow in the Ancient Near East, a re-evaluation of archery from the late 2nd millennium to the end of the Achaemenid empire. IrAnt, 38, 119--165. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey actually a masterpiece or just empty spectacle? Two military history experts dive deep into Nolan's most polarizing film yet, breaking down what critics are missing and what the director actually achieved in adapting one of literature's greatest epics. In this episode of Echoes of War from the Pacific War channel, hosts Craig and Gaurav tackle Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey—a film that's become surprisingly political and divisive across the internet. They discuss the movie's historical portrayal, stunning cinematic elements, and the clever ways Nolan adapted Homer's timeless narrative for a modern audience. More importantly, they separate the legitimate criticism from the noise surrounding this film. From the terrifying presence of the Sea People to Nolan's exploration of trauma-stricken war veterans returning home, Craig and Gaurav analyze what works brilliantly in the film and what missed the mark. They examine the deeper themes of memory, history, and the psychological toll of war—elements that many critics claim are absent but the hosts argue are woven throughout the story. One thing becomes clear: Nolan made bold creative choices that opened him up to significant criticism, but perhaps for reasons worth exploring. Whether you're a Christopher Nolan fan, a history buff, or someone interested in thoughtful film analysis, this episode offers a nuanced take on what The Odyssey actually accomplishes as both a war epic and an intimate character study. You'll hear perspectives you haven't seen elsewhere, backed by genuine expertise in both military history and cinema. Don't forget I have a Youtube Membership: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbp8JMZizR4zak9wpM3Fvrw/join or my Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/pacificwarchannel where you can get exclusive content like "What if Japan invaded the USSR during WW2?"

Our recent guests, Dr. Eric Cline and Dr. Jesse Millek have wildly different takes on the Bronze Age Collapse, and the picture that comes clear when you lay them side by side is not the one the textbooks handed down. The Sea Peoples did not come off the water and burn the world; the world was already coming apart from the inside, empires overreaching, trade thinning rather than snapping, cities emptying without a single sword raised against them. We walk the whole arc here, from the Minoans and their lost writing to the Hittites at each other's throats to the slow bleed of belief that hollows a civilization long before anything falls, and we ask the question that keeps this three-thousand-year-old story pulling millions of views. Why does the end of the Bronze Age feel so much like a mirror, and what does it know about us that we would rather not know about ourselves?TEXTS REFERENCED: The Mycenaean World: https://www.scribd.com/document/670938930/The-Mycenaean-World-Chadwick-PressLife & Society in The Hittite World: https://www.academia.edu/2231393/Life_and_Society_in_The_Hitite_World_by_Trevor_BryceVillage Life in Ancient Egypt: file:///Users/michaeldelay/Documents/SCIENCE/books/village-life-in-ancient-egypt-laundry-lists-and-love-songs-new-ed-0199247536-9780199247530_compress.pdfPATREON https://www.patreon.com/c/demystifysciPARADOX LOST PRE-SALE: https://buy.stripe.com/7sY7sKdoN5d29eUdYddEs0bHOMEBREW MUSIC - Check out our new album!Hard Copies (Vinyl): FREE SHIPPING https://demystifysci-shop.fourthwall.com/products/vinyl-lp-secretary-of-nature-everything-is-so-good-hereStreaming:https://secretaryofnature.bandcamp.com/album/everything-is-so-good-herePARADIGM DRIFThttps://demystifysci.com/paradigm-drift-show00:00 Go! Synthesizing Cline and Millek00:06:26 Why This Collapse Still Haunts Us00:10:07 Cities That Ran Without Rulers00:12:24 What the Sea Peoples Story Gets Wrong00:18:05 Empires That Broke Themselves00:24:35 What Rose From the Ashes00:28:25 Records We Can't Read00:38:28 Why People Stay Loyal to Empires00:43:35 When Belief Runs Out00:51:17 Wars That Lost Their Meaning00:59:22 What Survives When Government Doesn't01:08:34 Who Gets the Wealth After Collapse01:15:24 Was Empire Ever Necessary01:22:11 What Can and Can't Be Rebuilt01:36:43 Repair It or Let It Burn#bronzeage #ancienthistory #bronzeagecollapse #seapeoples #archaeology #ancientcivilizations #history #minoans #hittites #collapse MERCH: Rock some DemystifySci gear : https://demystifysci-shop.fourthwall.com/AMAZON: Do your shopping through this link: https://amzn.to/3YyoT98DONATE: https://bit.ly/3wkPqaDSUBSTACK: https://substack.com/@UCqV4_7i9h1_V7hY48eZZSLw@demystifysci RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/2be66934/podcast/rssMAILING LIST: https://bit.ly/3v3kz2S SOCIAL: - Discord: https://discord.gg/MJzKT8CQub- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DemystifySci- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/DemystifySci/- Twitter: https://twitter.com/DemystifySciMUSIC: -Shilo Delay: https://g.co/kgs/oty671

The Odyssey (2026) Directed by: Christopher Nolan Written by: Christopher Nolan Starring: Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Charlize Theron, Samantha Morton, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong'o, Elliot Page, John Leguizamo, Benny Safdie, Jon Bernthal, Himesh Patel, Mia Goth, Bill Irwin, Travis Scott IMDB: [IMDB LINK] Episode Summary In this episode of Mindframes, Michael and Dave discuss The Odyssey (2026), Christopher Nolan's three-hour adaptation of Homer — a $250 million epic and the first narrative feature shot entirely on IMAX 70mm. The discussion covers Nolan as an auteur and whether the "never made a bad movie" claim holds up, the practical-effects approach to the Cyclops and Circe, the deliberately cold Northern palette imposed on the Mediterranean, Ludwig Göransson's score, and an ensemble so large the hosts concede they can't get to everyone. After the ratings, the spoiler section turns to the film's central choice: the Olympian gods have been removed while the monsters remain, and what that does to Odysseus' moral agency. Comparisons range across Nolan's own filmography, Troy, The Northman, and the sword-and-sandal epics of the 1950s and '60s. Reviews Michael: 4.5 / 5 — came out thinking four, and it has only grown in his esteem since. Praises the baseline of visual and musical quality, Damon working better as a lead than expected, and a supporting cast that carries every stop on the journey. Docks it for a cast so crowded it distracts, and for an ending too in love with its own moralism. Dave: 4.5 / 5 — would watch it again in a heartbeat. Calls it a film that grabs hold of empire, heroism, reverence, and humility all at once, and rates the separation of gods from monsters as pitch perfect. His one dent in the fender: the film plays a little episodic, a series of very large encounters rather than a single build. Thematic Discussion The Odyssey removes the Olympians but keeps the monsters. Circe, the Sirens, and the Cyclops are all simply part of the natural world here; it's Athena and Zeus who stay shadowy and inferred. Michael's reading is that this absence exists to hand moral agency back to Odysseus — if the gods were visibly steering, his guilt over the Trojan Horse wouldn't be his to carry. That guilt is framed through xenia, the Greek code of hospitality. Odysseus offered a gift that turned out to be murder, and comes to believe that breaking that norm is what set his civilization's collapse in motion. The hosts draw the parallel to the erosion of political and social norms in contemporary America, and to the film's closing turn — the Bronze Age is ending because of the Sea Peoples, and the Greeks realize they are the Sea Peoples. The episode's central disagreement is over Athena. Dave reads her as constructed: she wears the face of a priestess Odysseus watched his own men murder in her temple, and the film is showing how humans build gods out of guilt and the sense that something is sacred. Michael pushes back that the film sustains a genuine ambiguity — the idea that gods appear in human form is planted repeatedly, and the priestess is decapitated at the exact moment Athena's statue is, which leaves open that Odysseus may believe they killed a god. He points to the same ambiguity in the Cyclops' cry to Poseidon, which some of the crew claim to hear and neither Odysseus nor the audience does. Neither host resolves it, and both prefer it that way. Michael's position is that the ambiguity is the answer rather than the absence of one — something underpins their world that they don't fully see and are damaging anyway, whether that's Zeus and Poseidon or simply decency and the value of human life. Dave, arriving from a position of religious faith, says he likes that Odysseus has to live in the same uncertain world the rest of us do. The structural evidence they land on: Homer ends with a deus ex machina, Athena descending to stop the cycle of revenge. Nolan cuts it. Nobody intervenes, so Odysseus abdicates, gives the throne to Telemachus, and sails west with Penelope — a change that hands the ending's moral weight entirely to the man. Timestamps Time Segment 00:00 Intro & setup 05:08 Nolan's filmography — is he an auteur? 08:51 Practical filmmaking and visual style 09:37 IMAX 70mm and the limits of the format 14:40 Hoyte van Hoytema 17:16 Why the Mediterranean looks cold 19:39 Ludwig Göransson's score 25:20 Travis Scott, the bard, and the casting discourse 28:56 The ensemble 39:39 Reviews & ratings 49:56 Spoiler section begins 52:18 Xenia and the collapse of norms 54:50 The gods and moral agency 56:12 The Athena reveal 1:01:46 The case for ambiguity 1:05:03 "We're the Sea Peoples" 1:09:02 The ending Nolan changed 1:19:36 Final interpretation debate — are the gods there? 1:26:49 Closing thoughts Films & Directors Mentioned Memento — Christopher Nolan Inception — Christopher Nolan The Prestige — Christopher Nolan Interstellar — Christopher Nolan Dunkirk — Christopher Nolan Tenet — Christopher Nolan Oppenheimer — Christopher Nolan Troy The Northman Dune Saving Private Ryan Fruitvale Station — Ryan Coogler Creed — Ryan Coogler Black Panther — Ryan Coogler Sinners — Ryan Coogler Minority Report The Whale Anemone Disclosure Day — Steven Spielberg Barbie Michael John Ford and Monument Valley Hans Zimmer The sword-and-sandal epics of the 1950s and '60s Contact Web: https://mindframesfilm.com Facebook: Mindframes Network: Now Playing Network Email: info@mindframesfilm.com

The Late Bronze Age, when the Trojan War supposedly took place, was way more modern than Homer made it seem. But around 1177 BCE, a vast network of interconnected societies suddenly collapsed. What caused arguably the greatest societal collapse in the history of the world? Hint: It's a lot more complicated than the "Sea Peoples." Guest: Eric Cline, professor at George Washington University and author of 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed For show transcripts, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠vox.com/unxtranscripts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠For more, go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠vox.com/unexplainable⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠And please email us! ⁠⁠⁠unexplainable@vox.com⁠⁠⁠We read every email.Support Unexplainable (and get ad-free episodes) by becoming a Vox Member today: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠vox.com/members⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Thank you! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey is more than an epic adventure—it's a story about what happens when you finally make it home and realize the world kept moving without you. Alex explores how a film rooted in ancient myth becomes a powerful meditation on memory, regret, and the passage of time while examining the Sea Peoples, the Bronze Age collapse, Nolan's casting choices, and why the film's emotional final act resonated so deeply with his own experience of returning to America after years living abroad.

Dave & Cody are joined by film professor Paul to review Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, which just posted the biggest live-action opening of 2026 and the best reviews of Nolan's career. The table digs into Ludwig Göransson's score, the IMAX cinematography, the 60-foot Cyclops puppet, Robert Pattinson's genuinely repulsive heel turn, and John Leguizamo's surprise best-in-career performance. Dave makes the case that softening Odysseus's hubris costs the third act its humility, and lays out a Pastor's Corner connecting the film's Sea Peoples references to the real Bronze Age collapse and what happens to a civilization that loses its faith. Plus a recast, an Argos tribute, and a spirited defense of Taco Bell.SPOILER WARNING: Full spoilers for The Odyssey after the news segment.Movie reviewed: The Odyssey (2026) — Written and directed by Christopher Nolan. Starring Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Robert Pattinson, Lupita Nyong'o, Zendaya, Charlize Theron, Elliot Page, Jon Bernthal, and John Leguizamo. In theaters now.

For a hundred and fifty years we were told the same story, that the Sea Peoples came in off the water around 1200 BC and burned the Late Bronze Age to the ground, city by city, until nothing was left but ash for centuries. Netherlands Institute for the Near East Archaeologist Jesse Millek walks back into that rubble with a lantern and finds most of it was never there, that more than half the destructions inked onto our maps of the eastern Mediterranean simply did not happen. From Ugarit to Cyprus to the Levantine coast he traces the trade routes that kept breathing and the Canaanite cities that quietly turned Phoenician, the slow honest truth of a world that transformed instead of falling.PATREON https://www.patreon.com/c/demystifysciPARADOX LOST PRE-SALE: https://buy.stripe.com/7sY7sKdoN5d29eUdYddEs0bHOMEBREW MUSIC - Check out our new album!Hard Copies (Vinyl): FREE SHIPPING https://demystifysci-shop.fourthwall.com/products/vinyl-lp-secretary-of-nature-everything-is-so-good-hereStreaming:https://secretaryofnature.bandcamp.com/album/everything-is-so-good-herePARADIGM DRIFThttps://demystifysci.com/paradigm-drift-show00:00 Go! 00:01:52 Sea Peoples as a Modern Invention00:10:02 Tel Batash and Transition Without Destruction00:16:34 Why We Crave a Catastrophe00:24:13 How Canaanites Became Phoenicians00:35:13 Who the Golden Age Belonged To00:48:17 Sixty Percent of Destructions Never Happened01:04:33 Where the Copper Went After 1200 BC#BronzeAgeCollapse #SeaPeoples #Archaeology #AncientHistory #AncientEgypt #BronzeAge #Mycenae #Troy #AncientCivilizationsMERCH: Rock some DemystifySci gear : https://demystifysci-shop.fourthwall.com/AMAZON: Do your shopping through this link: https://amzn.to/3YyoT98DONATE: https://bit.ly/3wkPqaDSUBSTACK: https://substack.com/@UCqV4_7i9h1_V7hY48eZZSLw@demystifysci RSS: https://anchor.fm/s/2be66934/podcast/rssMAILING LIST: https://bit.ly/3v3kz2S SOCIAL: - Discord: https://discord.gg/MJzKT8CQub- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/DemystifySci- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/DemystifySci/- Twitter: https://twitter.com/DemystifySciMUSIC: -Shilo Delay: https://g.co/kgs/oty671

“I want someone who has regrets. I want someone who's learned the hard way. I want someone who understands that life is made of those messy compromises.” — Joel Christensen on the Odysseus he hopes to see in Matt Damon Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey is out — the controversial movie of the year, much of the controversy raging before anyone had seen a frame. So, before either of us had seen the epic, I talked to the CUNY classicist Joel Christensen, author of the timely Why Odysseus? Survivor, Scoundrel, (Anti)hero. What, I asked Christensen, did he most dread about Hollywood's treatment of his beloved Odyssey? His answer: a hero too noble to be interesting. The Odysseus of the epic is a survivor, a scoundrel, an antihero — the master sergeant who does what needs to be done, from engineering the Trojan Horse to making sure Hector's infant son doesn't survive it. Christensen's worry about Matt Damon came down to one word: too likeable. What he wanted instead was a man with regrets — De Niro in Raging Bull rather than anybody noble. So did Christensen get the Odysseus he wanted? Below is his review, written after seeing the film when it came out. Postscript: Joel Christensen's Verdict on the Film Nolan's Odyssey is not Homer's Odyssey. This should be clear to anyone. Nolan faced an almost impossible task well: ancient audiences knew the story already. Modern audiences do not, so he created a ring structure with the beginning union of Penelope and Odysseus anticipating the reunion at the end, also introducing plot elements like the dog Argos and the pin by which Penelope will recognize Odysseus. The film is not Homer. Homer's power is poetry; the film's is image. Some of the images are striking: the scene when Circe turns his men into animals is the most arresting in the whole movie, showing everything that can be done with visceral imagery and a slight adaptation (Circe here is a survivor of sexual assault). The changes made to the plot such as omitting the Phaeacians, Nestor, Laertes, the bed and more are not as jarring as some of the general decisions. Calling “Zeus' Law” “do unto others…” makes an understandable translation to a Christian context, but it is somewhat nonsensical for Homer. Depicting a mutilated Helen is a strange decision that I am struggling with. What the movie gets right is making humans responsible for their own suffering. In a novel take on Odysseus as a traumatized warrior, the hero spends seven years with Calypso eating Lotus to forget the loss of his men. Damon, too likeable, regrets the trick of the Trojan Horse after witnessing the slaughter during the sack of Troy. We find out as well that the “sea people” from history, bringing an end to the “civilization” are actually the Greeks returning from the Trojan War and suffering for the transgressions they committed there. Is this ending an echo of Zeus' plan to end the race of heroes in the Trojan War? Is it an allegory for our civilizational collapse in the future thanks to technology, environmental catastrophe, and fascism? Any potential social critique dissipates with the movie's end. The traumatized veteran turns out to be merciful and kills only some of the suitors, showing many mercy. Then, guilty of violating “Zeus' Law”, Odysseus happily goes into exile with Penelope, leaving Telemachus to be king. There's no way to make Homer's Odyssey into a film and convey all its ambiguity and depth. That would be an unfair expectation. Nolan's film is a compelling spectacle and it makes me wonder more about how it reflects who we are as an audience. Do we need the hero to be ultimately good, even if he messed up? Are we so simple that we need to hear about Zeus' Law and the Sea People so repetitively? I fear that in this age where fiction and fact are so hard to disentangle, that we long for narratives that are just simpler. We don't get the Odyssey we want; we get the one we deserve. Five Takeaways •       A Complicated Man: The Translation Problem. Every word of Homer carries echoes no English can hold, and the fights over Nolan's dialogue replay the fights over translation. Emily Wilson detonated a controversy by rendering polytropos — poly, many; tropos, turn — as “a complicated man,” alluding at once to Odysseus's travels and the many forms of his character; Daniel Mendelsohn's “man of roundabout ways” does the work too, if you can stop thinking about rotaries. Even the objection to Tom Holland's Telemachus saying “dad” collapses on inspection: Telemachus uses the colloquial form in Homer. And the “authentic” dialect purists want was an artificial amalgam that no ancient Greek ever spoke. •       The Culture Wars Come for Homer. Nobody remembers a brouhaha over Wolfgang Petersen's Troy — a pretty bad movie, Christensen notes — but Nolan's Odyssey generates more controversy than a scholar can track daily. Lupita Nyong'o's Helen is attacked as inauthentic by one side and as cultural appropriation by the other; since 2015, classicists have watched the Western tradition weaponized by the alt-right while their own field argues about who owns it. Christensen's advice channels the epic itself: between Scylla and Charybdis, take Scylla. You'll lose six men. The alternative is losing the ship — and if the story doesn't persuade in three hours, nobody will remember the armor anyway. •       The Valence of Violence. Modern audiences are more accustomed to represented violence than any in history — you don't need Natural Born Killers when Twitter serves unverifiable clips from Gaza and Iran. The question Christensen brings to the film is what the violence is for. Uberto Pasolini's The Return gave Ralph Fiennes's Odysseus a steady, untroubled thump of arrows; the epic's own slaughter of the suitors, read closely, approaches Tarantino-adjacent parody. And the hardest tests are the atrocities the adaptations always cut: the mutilation of the goatherd Melanthius, and Telemachus hanging the enslaved women. Does the violence glorify the hero — or show what even the best of us are capable of? •       Keep Penelope Ambiguous. The great interpretive question of the Odyssey is when Penelope knows the beggar is her husband — the suitors, dead in the underworld, are convinced she was in on it all along. The epic grants her remarkable intelligence and agency, then reins it in: Agamemnon's ghost praises her by way of insulting all women, and she vanishes from the text. Christensen's advice to Nolan wouldn't be Margaret Atwood's Penelopiad, which centers the women's voices; it would be more screen time and total ambiguity — no access to her mind, a wife who matches her husband in wits and may even have outwitted him. Though based on Nolan's arc, he doubts we'll get a woman at the center. •       Survivor, Scoundrel, (Anti)hero. Christensen's worry about Matt Damon was simple: too likable. Odysseus is the master sergeant — the one who takes the hard orders, tricks Achilles into the war, engineers the Horse, and makes sure Hector's infant son doesn't survive to rebuild Troy. The ancient hero is neither good nor ...

In the early 11th century BCE, the Egyptian official Wen-Amun was dispatched on a diplomatic mission to Byblos to acquire timber for the sacred barque of Amun-Ra. His journey quickly unraveled -- pursued by the Tjekker, one of the Sea Peoples active in the region -- Wen-Amun was blown off course and landed in Alashiya (Cyprus). There, he faced a hostile reception, as the locals approached seemingly intent on violence. Brought before Princess Hatiba, Wen-Amun, desperate and stranded, called out to see if anyone could understand Egyptian. Remarkably, one man stepped forward to translate his plea. At this pivotal moment, the narrative breaks off, leaving Wen-Amun's fate unknown. Yet his misadventure offers a striking glimpse into Egypt's waning influence abroad and the diplomatic uncertainty of the time. At the same time, the presence of an Egyptian speaker in Cyprus points to the deep interconnectivity of the Late Bronze Age world -- an idea we'll explore further in our next episode with Dr. Louise Steel, as we examine the ties between Cyprus and Egypt during this formative period.  

Lately I've been seeing a growing number of memes pointing out the "blink-and-you'll-miss-it" references to the Sea Peoples in Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey. It's encouraging to see one of the ancient Mediterranean's most enduring mysteries finding its way into popular culture. In light of that renewed interest, I thought this would be a good opportunity to publish a dramatized reading of one of the most remarkable collections of texts from the end of the Bronze Age: the correspondence between the kings of Ugarit and Alashiya (ancient Cyprus). These exchanges are preserved in the Ugaritica, the published corpus of cuneiform tablets excavated at the ancient city of Ugarit (modern Ras Shamra, Syria). Discovered beginning in 1928, these archives comprise thousands of administrative, literary, diplomatic, and economic texts dating primarily to the 14th and 13th centuries BCE. Among them are letters exchanged between rulers across the eastern Mediterranean, offering an extraordinarily intimate glimpse into the political world immediately preceding the Bronze Age Collapse. The particular correspondence dramatized here* belongs to the final decades of the 13th century BCE, when the great palace kingdoms of the eastern Mediterranean were under increasing pressure. Trade networks were breaking down, kingdoms were falling, and the groups later known collectively as the "Sea Peoples" were beginning to appear in the historical record. These letters capture that world at the very moment it was beginning to unravel. I chose these exchanges because they reveal something important about the international standing of Alashiya. One of the most striking features is the diplomatic language employed by the king of Ugarit. He repeatedly addresses the king of Alashiya as "my father." This is not merely a polite turn of phrase. In the carefully calibrated language of Late Bronze Age diplomacy, such terms reflected perceived status and hierarchy. Contrast this with the famous correspondence between the kings of Alashiya and the Egyptian pharaohs, in which both rulers consistently address one another as "my brother." That title denoted equality among the so-called "Great Kings" of the Late Bronze Age. The differing forms of address suggest that, at least from Ugarit's perspective, the king of Alashiya occupied a position of exceptional prestige. That prestige was no accident. Cyprus possessed the eastern Mediterranean's richest copper resources, and copper was one of the indispensable commodities of the Bronze Age. Combined with tin, it produced bronze--the metal upon which armies, agriculture, tools, trade, and prestige depended. To command Cyprus was to command one of the ancient world's most strategically important resources, making Alashiya a kingdom whose influence extended far beyond the island itself. If these dramatizations spark your curiosity about Cyprus' central role in the Bronze Age, you may also enjoy these episodes of the History of Cyprus Podcast: Episode 7: Gripped by the Hand of Nergal: Cyprus in the Bronze Age — with Louise Hitchcock (2 October 2022) Episode 8: A Cyprocentric Perspective: Cyprus' History of Research — with Maria Iacovou (2 November 2022) Episode 14: The Copper Island: Copper Production in Ancient Cyprus — with Lina Kassianidou (2 May 2023) Episode 24: King Kinyras and the Cypria: Cyprus in the Homeric World — with John Franklin (2 March 2024) Episode 25: 1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed — with Eric Cline Bonus Episode: Surfaces, Surveys and Spatiotemporal Dynamics: The Hala Sultan Tekke Hinterland Project — with Jan Coenaerts and Polte De Weirdt (10 May 2025) Episode 47: Signs, Scripts & Silence: Cypro-Minoan — with Cassandra Donnelly (2 February 2026) And, coming next month (2 August): Episode 53: Fragments of Faience, Glints of Gold: Cyprus and Egypt in Contact — with Louise Steel Taken together, these conversations paint a picture of Cyprus not as a peripheral island, but as one of the principal actors in the political, economic, and cultural networks of the Late Bronze Age Mediterranean. The correspondence you'll hear in this dramatization offers a rare opportunity to listen to that world in its own words--voices exchanged across the sea just before one of history's greatest civilizational upheavals. *A brief note on the production: I've taken a few creative liberties to help bring these ancient letters to life. For example, the scratching sound you'll hear isn't entirely authentic. A more accurate soundscape would have been the impression of a stylus pressed into wet clay rather than the scratching of pen on paper. Unfortunately, convincingly recreating the sound of cuneiform being inscribed proved rather difficult, so I've opted for an approximation that hopefully conveys the spirit of the act, even if not its precise reality.

Welcome back to Gnostic Insights and to the Gnostic Reformation on Substack. Dr. Cyd Ropp and Bishop Nathan Wilson Today's episode is the last installment of my interview with Bishop Nathan Wilson of The Gnostic Union. Brother Nathan continues with his illustration of how correct translation of the original Koine Greek of the New Testament changes the way we may interpret Biblical scripture more precisely. The translations he shares come from his freely available Gnostic Christian Truth Bible that you can find online in PDF form, with side by side comparisons of the original Koine with English. I'm including the link here in the transcript of the episode, so if you are listening to this in podcast form, you may wish to go to Gnostic Insights dot com to read the transcript. His Bible and other Gnostic scriptures could use another round of editorial polishing, in my opinion, to insert an indexed table of contents, so it may be a bit difficult to make your way through it. And in next week’s episode, I’ll take a long look at what we’ve been hearing for the last four weeks. If you have anything you would like me to discuss or any questions coming off of Bishop Wilson’s discussion, bring them up and we can talk about them on next week's episode. I know I’m going to want to talk about the role of Sophia and the Divine Feminine and the concept of gender on the ethereal plane. I would also like to talk to you about how the study of history and philology differs from theology and philosophy and how they are not necessarily gnosis. And here at Gnostic Insights, of course, and on the Gnostic Reformation, I avoid talking about gnosis and only share gnosis itself. So I’d like to explain that to you about that as well. So please drop me some comments here at the end of this episode and I can address them in next week’s episode. Bishop Nathan Wilson: So Mark 8:17. All right. So this would be Jesus here. “And having gnosis, he said to them, why reason because you have no bread or do you not understand that the heart of you has been hardened?” So this is among disciples arguing that they have no bread. Jesus having spiritual gnosis, understanding what’s going on, says, “What are you arguing about?” Which is kind of interesting that he mentioned, but I’ll mention something that’s a real kick in the can. So this is in Mark 15:42. And this is a text that no theology want to give you because it would make them feel uncomfortable. And it’s regarding Pontius Pilate having gnosis regarding Jesus crucifixion. So this is a note they definitely do not want. I was kind of thinking about what does this mean? And I figured out what it’s regarding to. Mark 15:45. Okay, so this is Pontius Pilate. I’ll read 15:44 first. “But Pilate wondered if he had already died, having called to him the centurion and questioned him if he had already died. And with gnosis from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph.” AI generated image of Pilate questioning the Centurian. The three crucified men were inserted by the AI to symbolically represent the crucifixition of Jesus and the two thieves. Golgotha is actually not that close to the palace window. So that meaning inside knowledge from the centurion has been given to him about Jesus. So that could imply that he was still alive and that Pontius might have been involved in this plot. That’s what that text would imply; it doesn’t necessarily have to mean that. It can just mean that within a knowledge he’s been told by the centurion Jesus is dead, so it can apply that too. So however you want to read that text is up to you. But I found that quite fascinating and I had to really look at that. I’m like, well, I'm sorry, we can’t have that in there. That’s why that’s been censored. But that’s fascinating. So we even have Jesus having a gnosis and leaving an area and that’s in Matthew 12:15. I’ll jump into that too. So there’s a couple of scenes that Jesus has gnosis. There’s even times he has gnosis in regarding what other people were thinking. So having to understand them mentally. So that’s cool. So gnosis appears quite often. It’s just it doesn’t appear in the English text. But in the Old Testament it’s even more. Cyd:That's interesting. Bishop Nathan Wilson:Yes, it is. Very. Okay. So “withdrew from the area” Matthew 12:15 I want. Right. “And Jesus having gnosis, withdrew from there and many great multitudes followed him and he healed them.” Or it can translate to took care of them or cured them all. So that word here we have can be for a therapeia or a therapeo. And this word meaning to heal someone or to spend time with them, to heal them with God’s word or with medicine, to heal them with medical substance, so narcotics. It can be just simply curing them or just spending time with someone so say talking to someone, healing them and their emotions. So healing their emotions. So that’s beautiful. Not just simply Jesus hocus pocus and and leaving. It’s he’s spending time with people. And this word has been used in ancient Greek medical texts for implying medical substances or therapy. So the word therapeia is where our word therapy comes from. So this can be Jesus the therapist. So that’s beautiful. Absolutely fantastic. I like that. So it gives more power to the text. Shows that one person can make a difference. So any one of us can do this and heal multitudes through spiritual touch, through spiritual messaging, through the simple act of love. So that’s powerful. That’s useful. Cyd:And this is something that only people can do. Well, no, actually dogs are very good therapists as well. But I wouldn’t think that an AI therapist or an AI Jesus has any gnosis truly. Bishop Nathan Wilson:I’m not really one big for AI because I think AI is basically just all secondhand information. It’s just built from all our information that we’ve already got. So we have here something else. This is something pretty interesting too. Matthew 16:8. And it’s Jesus having gnosis: “Why do you argue amongst yourselves? You of little faith because you have no bread” [or meaning food.] But say, regarding to the word for artos being bread. So when you have the Jesus prayer, Give us this daily bread, this could translate to give us our daily necessaries of life. That’s much more. So daily maintenance, so being maintained spiritually, being maintained by God, for God giving us the means to live spiritually as well as physically. So it’s much more powerful than just simple, just bread and food. So Jesus speaking a lot of times symbolically. So the symbolic teachings are meant to be useful to all of us. So something that we can practically take on, not simply does something that’s outside of ourselves. So that’s within ourselves that we can actually use. So gnosis. And I’ll go into Matthew 22:18. And that’s with Jesus about having gnosis on the wickedness of the Pharisees. So this doesn’t mean that all Pharisees are bad though. Jesus had Pharisees that followed him. This just means a select few of them. So basically the rich corrupted ones of them. So he was also against the Sadducees too. Mostly Sadducees probably because they were the richer lots. But he was not really a friend to those who were corrupt and using the money that they were given to further subject the people to more condemnation, which Jesus was very much pro-life, was equality where the Pharisees and Sadducees in large numbers were not. Which is a shame. Okay, so 22, I think it was I’m looking for. Matthew 22:18. Okay. Cyd:You know that Old Testament God of the Sadducees and Pharisees doesn’t have love. So they are not getting any gnosis from that Jehovah level. Bishop Nathan Wilson:No. And it goes back to where it’s first worshipped. The first to worship this God, Yahweh, were very violent. They were the Shasu. They were known to force marry the Egyptian and Ethiopian young girls they raided. So when we look at the depictions of the Shasu, they are mixed in colour—they're black, they’re white, they’re copper skinned. They didn’t care what colour you were, they just took. They were looking for sex slaves, basically wives. So what’s interesting is the same river that they used, the Euphrates River, not all of them were river-based pirates. Some were just tent dwelling nomads. But some of them did have the funds or means to use ships. So we certainly had sea people. So some of those sea people were Canaanite raiders. So they’ll use the Euphrates River to go out raiding, to go out to the main street or elsewhere to raid outside of their own lands. Muslim pirates would use the same river to do the same thing. So that’s interesting.[Editor’s note: The speaker appears to be connecting several groups—nomadic Shasu, Sea Peoples, and later Muslim-era raiders. While the Euphrates served as an important transportation corridor, the specific claim that the Shasu or Sea Peoples used it as river-pirates is not clear from the sources consulted by the CoPilot AI and may reflect an interpretation rather than an established historical consensus. Of course, the AIs are relaying to us approved, conventional data, so their data bases would not contain the types of stories Bishop Wilson speaks of.]All in the name of this Jehovah, in the name of Yahweh, in the name of the demiurge, this evil gets done. And it’s always the poor that suffer, the poor and women. And who are the ones that Jesus is speaking to? The poor and to women. So it’s shocking. So most Christians don’t look at this either. A lot of Muslims don’t either, because they will be following Jesus [Isa]. So who they call Isa, they clearly don’t. So the message contradicts. So Muhammad called himself a man of war. Moses as well. But it depends on what version of Moses you’re looking at as well. So during the time of Jesus, as I mentioned, there were different versions of Judaism. There were different Torahs and different Jewish Bibles. So some believed in a peaceful Moses and even a peaceful Abraham. Others believed in Abraham the Pirat. So Abraham the Pirate. And some didn’t take this view. So others believed in Abraham ready to sacrifice his son. And others believed that he was hearing a fallen angel, mistook it for God, and God had to intervene. And we see this sort of in the Essene story somewhat. So that’s more of a Gnostic take. Some Essenes view, because they’re Dead Sea Scrolls, which is a Qumran Essene sect, they believe that it was Belial that was behind the scenes doing this. And God was basically aware that Belial was doing it and would interfere. So he would do this in order for Belial to expose himself and then be shamed. So a very different story. So the story of Job we read is the Pharisee story, which is Satan being in the angelic courts. So being asked by God, so not acting outside of God. So he was only there to test human beings. So Satan’s not the bad guy in that story. It’s Yahweh. But when we look at other stories, it’s different. Even the Ethiopian version is different. They have two stories. One with Belial and the other one with a figure called Mastema, who is the opponent against God trying to cause the sacrifice of Abraham’s son. So, trippy. So this is regarding to the Pharisees as well. “So Jesus, having gnosis of the wickedness of them, said, Why do you test me, you hypocrites?” So this is in reference to the coin, when he showed them the icon. So what’s interesting about that scene is Judas, who was a Zealot, basically, I think it was Judas of Galilee, who rebelled against Rome, he also said the same thing. “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s.”[Matthew 22:21] So when Jesus is speaking in the scene, he doesn’t touch the coin. The icon on there in question is the emperor who is stating, you know, son of Caesar, son of God. Jesus is saying, no, basically give this back to Caesar and give to Israel, God, what is God’s, which is the land. So Israel. But I don’t think it’s more from the land—I think that’s a zealot opinion. I think when he’s talking about this, when he says Israel, I’m thinking he’s looking at the word context and he’s meaning El preserved so those who belong to El. So when he says those who belong to Israel, he’s not saying just anything, he’s talking about the lost sheep of El Elyon. So those were in other lands, lead them back here. So ones who have gone astray, which is interesting. So ones who are worshipping pagan gods or worshipping Yahweh. So he’s saying, bring them back to El, bring them back to God, repentance. This is why the Pharisees and Sadducees disliked him. He had a different God. Some that liked him as well, but they had trouble understanding it. Cyd:Right. Well, and that is still the case. Hey, we’re going to have to wrap this up in just a few minutes. So is there any scripture you would like to make sure that you share before we wrap it up? Bishop Nathan Wilson:Okay. Well, if you like, I can share either the temple scene, which is a Matthew 21:12, or I can share the little, the short scene of the Pharisees being condemned by Jesus for basically dressing up like prostitutes. You might have a, you might have a lot of that. Cyd:Yeah. Okay. That, that looks to be the one you want to share the most. Papyrus Oxyconocus 840 Bishop Nathan Wilson:So I’ll share that one. It’s very short. So this is the text in general. Just this little bit. Okay. The Greek side is on here. [Nathan displays his fragment facsimile.] So I have the Greek side by side. So this is side one and side two. So side two is even shorter. “So before committing injustice, he carefully plans it all.” So this is Jesus speaking about the evil. “Be on guard, lest you suffer the same things as they.” So this is the Pharisees and Sadducees he’s talking about. “For the evil doers among people do not receive punishment only in this life, but also suffer judgment and great torment. And having received them, he brought them into the purification area. And as he was walking in the temple, a certain Pharisee, a high priest named Soreb [conventional translation is Levi; editorial note],” Which is kind of interesting. That word Zoar/Tzoar [uncertain], is Tsa'ar, [uncertain] which is a city condemned by God [but ultimately spared by God; editorial note]. So this is kind of like a pun on the Pharisee leader being punished by God. So like, possibly, maybe a Pharisee Messiah figure. So meaning they’re rejecting Jesus because they already have their Messiah they believe. So that’s something to be taken into a note. So this Soreb [Levi ?] approaches, met them and said, “Zoar, who gave you permission to walk in the purification area and to look upon these holy vessels, not having washed, nor your disciples having their feet baptized, but having being unclean, you have trampled upon this holy place, which is pure, which no one may enter unless you have bathed and changed into the garments of those baptized. Nor does anyone dare to touch these holy vessels.” So they’re in the temple right now in the inner sanctuary, touching the holy relics and not wearing the same baptism clothing as them. They’re not liking this. So this is what Jesus says. “The Savior answered and said to him, Woe to you blind ones who do not see. You wash in these poured out waters in which dogs and pigs have been thrown into day and night. And after washing your outer skin, you wipe it. And just like the prostitutes and flute players anoint themselves and wash and wipe and adorn themselves to cause the desires of men. But from within, they are full of scorpions and all evil. But I and my disciples who you say are not baptized have been baptized in the waters of eternal Zoe. That has come from God. But woe to those…” And the ending is missing. That’s why side two has not been given. [referring to side two of the fragment which is partially destroyed and not in the public domain] Cyd:Right. Now that’s a fragment. Where was that fragment found? Bishop Nathan Wilson:I forgot. The fragment is called Papyrus Oxyconocus 840. But you can just type in P. Oxy 840. I would say that was probably if I’d gone by memory, that might have been discovered maybe in Alexandria, if not maybe in Thrace, but I believe it was Alexandria, Egypt that might have been discovered. There was one, I believe, that was discovered in the Middle East, maybe Jerusalem. But I believe that one there was discovered in Alexandria. I might be wrong about that. I have to relook where that was discovered. But it is important. So a text that has not been given to public domain yet, which is quite a shame. Cyd:Yeah. Well, it’s been delightful talking to you. And you certainly have an encyclopedic knowledge of these ancient texts. It’s very beautiful. It’s very nice being around you. You have the good vibe. Bishop Nathan Wilson:It’s been a pleasure speaking to you as well, Dr. Cyd Ropp. It’s been an absolute pleasure. So I’m stoked. So sorry if I get excited and all that sort of stuff as well. I love meeting new people, especially fellow spiritual people. Always lovely to see, especially Gnostics. Cyd:Yeah. Well, I recommend The Gnostic Union. Go check out the Facebook site. That’s where all the action is, right? It’s the Facebook site. Bishop Nathan Wilson:And on the YouTube, yeah. We can all get together. Cyd:On the YouTube. Bishop Nathan Wilson:I’ve got a few old videos as well. So you can see the difference in my theology, how it’s changed. My whole belief system changed when I start translating, so I found out I was wrong about a couple of other things. So I still keep some old videos because some people might want to hang on to some of those beliefs as well. I have no problems with that. I’m very open-minded and whichever people want to believe, they can believe, as long as we’re loving to each other and kind. It’s all that matters. Being good humans. Cyd:Right. Well, since we’re going to be putting this on your site as well as mine, let me tell people that I have a Substack called The Gnostic Reformation. And my homepage is GnosticInsights.com. Well, it’s just been a blessing. Thank you very much. Bishop Nathan Wilson:You’re welcome. And feel free to share your stuff on The Gnostic Union Facebook page too. If you ever want to share stuff, feel free to. We accept other people’s work too. So feel free to share it. Cyd:How often? I mean, I post weekly. You don’t want me cross-posting weekly. Bishop Nathan Wilson:Oh, that’s fine. We don’t mind. You can post there weekly. We won’t mind. Anything that’s Gnostic, we’ll gladly accept. So we want to encourage all Gnostic schools of thought and everyone that wants to seek it, we want to encourage that. Cyd:Oh that’s excellent. Okay. Well, thank you so much for being with me today, Bishop Nathan Wilson. God bless us all. Bishop Nathan Wilson:God bless as well. Thank you for having me. Cyd:Okay. Bye-bye. Thank you. Well, that’s the conclusion of that long interview with Bishop Nathan Wilson of The Gnostic Union. These episodes have been running long, a half hour and more, so I think we’ll keep this one short, and give you a break. Until then, drop some comments and questions that I can address in next week's episode.This interview was recorded via Zoom, and so I have the video of the interview as well as these audios, and I’ve left it as one long video to post to YouTube. So I’m putting it up on YouTube now that we’re done with the audio podcast versions, and you can go to YouTube if you’d like to watch Brother Nathan talking about these things. He does have a few visual aids. His papyrus facsimiles and whatnot are pretty cool to look at. So I encourage you to go to my YouTube channel, Cyd Ropp, and it’s under the Gnostic Insights playlist, and leave a thumbs up. I’m going to try to grow the Gnostic Insights presence there on YouTube. It’s going to take a lot of effort and a lot of support on your part. So please give me a hand here, and let’s kick it off with this Bishop Wilson. The other YouTube video that’s already there is that animated version of my children’s book, Children of the Fullness: A Gnostic Myth. So if you haven’t watched that yet, you could catch it as well. Until then, God bless us all, and Onward and Upward. Until then, drop some comments and questions I can address in next week's episode. God bless us all and onward and upward. Children of the Fullness: A Gnostic Myth is the first gnostic book written for young children. Click here to go to amazon.com

Welcome back to Gnostic Insights and to the Gnostic Reformation on Substack. Dr. Cyd Ropp and Bishop Nathan Wilson Today's episode is the last installment of my interview with Bishop Nathan Wilson of The Gnostic Union. Brother Nathan continues with his illustration of how correct translation of the original Koine Greek of the New Testament changes the way we may interpret Biblical scripture more precisely. The translations he shares come from his freely available Gnostic Christian Truth Bible that you can find online in PDF form, with side by side comparisons of the original Koine with English. I'm including the link here in the transcript of the episode, so if you are listening to this in podcast form, you may wish to go to Gnostic Insights dot com to read the transcript. His Bible and other Gnostic scriptures could use another round of editorial polishing, in my opinion, to insert an indexed table of contents, so it may be a bit difficult to make your way through it. And in next week’s episode, I’ll take a long look at what we’ve been hearing for the last four weeks. If you have anything you would like me to discuss or any questions coming off of Bishop Wilson’s discussion, bring them up and we can talk about them on next week's episode. I know I’m going to want to talk about the role of Sophia and the Divine Feminine and the concept of gender on the ethereal plane. I would also like to talk to you about how the study of history and philology differs from theology and philosophy and how they are not necessarily gnosis. And here at Gnostic Insights, of course, and on the Gnostic Reformation, I avoid talking about gnosis and only share gnosis itself. So I’d like to explain that to you about that as well. So please drop me some comments here at the end of this episode and I can address them in next week’s episode. Bishop Nathan Wilson: So Mark 8:17. All right. So this would be Jesus here. “And having gnosis, he said to them, why reason because you have no bread or do you not understand that the heart of you has been hardened?” So this is among disciples arguing that they have no bread. Jesus having spiritual gnosis, understanding what’s going on, says, “What are you arguing about?” Which is kind of interesting that he mentioned, but I’ll mention something that’s a real kick in the can. So this is in Mark 15:42. And this is a text that no theology want to give you because it would make them feel uncomfortable. And it’s regarding Pontius Pilate having gnosis regarding Jesus crucifixion. So this is a note they definitely do not want. I was kind of thinking about what does this mean? And I figured out what it’s regarding to. Mark 15:45. Okay, so this is Pontius Pilate. I’ll read 15:44 first. “But Pilate wondered if he had already died, having called to him the centurion and questioned him if he had already died. And with gnosis from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph.” AI generated image of Pilate questioning the Centurian. The three crucified men were inserted by the AI to symbolically represent the crucifixition of Jesus and the two thieves. Golgotha is actually not that close to the palace window. So that meaning inside knowledge from the centurion has been given to him about Jesus. So that could imply that he was still alive and that Pontius might have been involved in this plot. That’s what that text would imply; it doesn’t necessarily have to mean that. It can just mean that within a knowledge he’s been told by the centurion Jesus is dead, so it can apply that too. So however you want to read that text is up to you. But I found that quite fascinating and I had to really look at that. I’m like, well, I'm sorry, we can’t have that in there. That’s why that’s been censored. But that’s fascinating. So we even have Jesus having a gnosis and leaving an area and that’s in Matthew 12:15. I’ll jump into that too. So there’s a couple of scenes that Jesus has gnosis. There’s even times he has gnosis in regarding what other people were thinking. So having to understand them mentally. So that’s cool. So gnosis appears quite often. It’s just it doesn’t appear in the English text. But in the Old Testament it’s even more. Cyd:That's interesting. Bishop Nathan Wilson:Yes, it is. Very. Okay. So “withdrew from the area” Matthew 12:15 I want. Right. “And Jesus having gnosis, withdrew from there and many great multitudes followed him and he healed them.” Or it can translate to took care of them or cured them all. So that word here we have can be for a therapeia or a therapeo. And this word meaning to heal someone or to spend time with them, to heal them with God’s word or with medicine, to heal them with medical substance, so narcotics. It can be just simply curing them or just spending time with someone so say talking to someone, healing them and their emotions. So healing their emotions. So that’s beautiful. Not just simply Jesus hocus pocus and and leaving. It’s he’s spending time with people. And this word has been used in ancient Greek medical texts for implying medical substances or therapy. So the word therapeia is where our word therapy comes from. So this can be Jesus the therapist. So that’s beautiful. Absolutely fantastic. I like that. So it gives more power to the text. Shows that one person can make a difference. So any one of us can do this and heal multitudes through spiritual touch, through spiritual messaging, through the simple act of love. So that’s powerful. That’s useful. Cyd:And this is something that only people can do. Well, no, actually dogs are very good therapists as well. But I wouldn’t think that an AI therapist or an AI Jesus has any gnosis truly. Bishop Nathan Wilson:I’m not really one big for AI because I think AI is basically just all secondhand information. It’s just built from all our information that we’ve already got. So we have here something else. This is something pretty interesting too. Matthew 16:8. And it’s Jesus having gnosis: “Why do you argue amongst yourselves? You of little faith because you have no bread” [or meaning food.] But say, regarding to the word for artos being bread. So when you have the Jesus prayer, Give us this daily bread, this could translate to give us our daily necessaries of life. That’s much more. So daily maintenance, so being maintained spiritually, being maintained by God, for God giving us the means to live spiritually as well as physically. So it’s much more powerful than just simple, just bread and food. So Jesus speaking a lot of times symbolically. So the symbolic teachings are meant to be useful to all of us. So something that we can practically take on, not simply does something that’s outside of ourselves. So that’s within ourselves that we can actually use. So gnosis. And I’ll go into Matthew 22:18. And that’s with Jesus about having gnosis on the wickedness of the Pharisees. So this doesn’t mean that all Pharisees are bad though. Jesus had Pharisees that followed him. This just means a select few of them. So basically the rich corrupted ones of them. So he was also against the Sadducees too. Mostly Sadducees probably because they were the richer lots. But he was not really a friend to those who were corrupt and using the money that they were given to further subject the people to more condemnation, which Jesus was very much pro-life, was equality where the Pharisees and Sadducees in large numbers were not. Which is a shame. Okay, so 22, I think it was I’m looking for. Matthew 22:18. Okay. Cyd:You know that Old Testament God of the Sadducees and Pharisees doesn’t have love. So they are not getting any gnosis from that Jehovah level. Bishop Nathan Wilson:No. And it goes back to where it’s first worshipped. The first to worship this God, Yahweh, were very violent. They were the Shasu. They were known to force marry the Egyptian and Ethiopian young girls they raided. So when we look at the depictions of the Shasu, they are mixed in colour—they're black, they’re white, they’re copper skinned. They didn’t care what colour you were, they just took. They were looking for sex slaves, basically wives. So what’s interesting is the same river that they used, the Euphrates River, not all of them were river-based pirates. Some were just tent dwelling nomads. But some of them did have the funds or means to use ships. So we certainly had sea people. So some of those sea people were Canaanite raiders. So they’ll use the Euphrates River to go out raiding, to go out to the main street or elsewhere to raid outside of their own lands. Muslim pirates would use the same river to do the same thing. So that’s interesting.[Editor’s note: The speaker appears to be connecting several groups—nomadic Shasu, Sea Peoples, and later Muslim-era raiders. While the Euphrates served as an important transportation corridor, the specific claim that the Shasu or Sea Peoples used it as river-pirates is not clear from the sources consulted by the CoPilot AI and may reflect an interpretation rather than an established historical consensus. Of course, the AIs are relaying to us approved, conventional data, so their data bases would not contain the types of stories Bishop Wilson speaks of.]All in the name of this Jehovah, in the name of Yahweh, in the name of the demiurge, this evil gets done. And it’s always the poor that suffer, the poor and women. And who are the ones that Jesus is speaking to? The poor and to women. So it’s shocking. So most Christians don’t look at this either. A lot of Muslims don’t either, because they will be following Jesus [Isa]. So who they call Isa, they clearly don’t. So the message contradicts. So Muhammad called himself a man of war. Moses as well. But it depends on what version of Moses you’re looking at as well. So during the time of Jesus, as I mentioned, there were different versions of Judaism. There were different Torahs and different Jewish Bibles. So some believed in a peaceful Moses and even a peaceful Abraham. Others believed in Abraham the Pirat. So Abraham the Pirate. And some didn’t take this view. So others believed in Abraham ready to sacrifice his son. And others believed that he was hearing a fallen angel, mistook it for God, and God had to intervene. And we see this sort of in the Essene story somewhat. So that’s more of a Gnostic take. Some Essenes view, because they’re Dead Sea Scrolls, which is a Qumran Essene sect, they believe that it was Belial that was behind the scenes doing this. And God was basically aware that Belial was doing it and would interfere. So he would do this in order for Belial to expose himself and then be shamed. So a very different story. So the story of Job we read is the Pharisee story, which is Satan being in the angelic courts. So being asked by God, so not acting outside of God. So he was only there to test human beings. So Satan’s not the bad guy in that story. It’s Yahweh. But when we look at other stories, it’s different. Even the Ethiopian version is different. They have two stories. One with Belial and the other one with a figure called Mastema, who is the opponent against God trying to cause the sacrifice of Abraham’s son. So, trippy. So this is regarding to the Pharisees as well. “So Jesus, having gnosis of the wickedness of them, said, Why do you test me, you hypocrites?” So this is in reference to the coin, when he showed them the icon. So what’s interesting about that scene is Judas, who was a Zealot, basically, I think it was Judas of Galilee, who rebelled against Rome, he also said the same thing. “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s.”[Matthew 22:21] So when Jesus is speaking in the scene, he doesn’t touch the coin. The icon on there in question is the emperor who is stating, you know, son of Caesar, son of God. Jesus is saying, no, basically give this back to Caesar and give to Israel, God, what is God’s, which is the land. So Israel. But I don’t think it’s more from the land—I think that’s a zealot opinion. I think when he’s talking about this, when he says Israel, I’m thinking he’s looking at the word context and he’s meaning El preserved so those who belong to El. So when he says those who belong to Israel, he’s not saying just anything, he’s talking about the lost sheep of El Elyon. So those were in other lands, lead them back here. So ones who have gone astray, which is interesting. So ones who are worshipping pagan gods or worshipping Yahweh. So he’s saying, bring them back to El, bring them back to God, repentance. This is why the Pharisees and Sadducees disliked him. He had a different God. Some that liked him as well, but they had trouble understanding it. Cyd:Right. Well, and that is still the case. Hey, we’re going to have to wrap this up in just a few minutes. So is there any scripture you would like to make sure that you share before we wrap it up? Bishop Nathan Wilson:Okay. Well, if you like, I can share either the temple scene, which is a Matthew 21:12, or I can share the little, the short scene of the Pharisees being condemned by Jesus for basically dressing up like prostitutes. You might have a, you might have a lot of that. Cyd:Yeah. Okay. That, that looks to be the one you want to share the most. Papyrus Oxyconocus 840 Bishop Nathan Wilson:So I’ll share that one. It’s very short. So this is the text in general. Just this little bit. Okay. The Greek side is on here. [Nathan displays his fragment facsimile.] So I have the Greek side by side. So this is side one and side two. So side two is even shorter. “So before committing injustice, he carefully plans it all.” So this is Jesus speaking about the evil. “Be on guard, lest you suffer the same things as they.” So this is the Pharisees and Sadducees he’s talking about. “For the evil doers among people do not receive punishment only in this life, but also suffer judgment and great torment. And having received them, he brought them into the purification area. And as he was walking in the temple, a certain Pharisee, a high priest named Soreb [conventional translation is Levi; editorial note],” Which is kind of interesting. That word Zoar/Tzoar [uncertain], is Tsa'ar, [uncertain] which is a city condemned by God [but ultimately spared by God; editorial note]. So this is kind of like a pun on the Pharisee leader being punished by God. So like, possibly, maybe a Pharisee Messiah figure. So meaning they’re rejecting Jesus because they already have their Messiah they believe. So that’s something to be taken into a note. So this Soreb [Levi ?] approaches, met them and said, “Zoar, who gave you permission to walk in the purification area and to look upon these holy vessels, not having washed, nor your disciples having their feet baptized, but having being unclean, you have trampled upon this holy place, which is pure, which no one may enter unless you have bathed and changed into the garments of those baptized. Nor does anyone dare to touch these holy vessels.” So they’re in the temple right now in the inner sanctuary, touching the holy relics and not wearing the same baptism clothing as them. They’re not liking this. So this is what Jesus says. “The Savior answered and said to him, Woe to you blind ones who do not see. You wash in these poured out waters in which dogs and pigs have been thrown into day and night. And after washing your outer skin, you wipe it. And just like the prostitutes and flute players anoint themselves and wash and wipe and adorn themselves to cause the desires of men. But from within, they are full of scorpions and all evil. But I and my disciples who you say are not baptized have been baptized in the waters of eternal Zoe. That has come from God. But woe to those…” And the ending is missing. That’s why side two has not been given. [referring to side two of the fragment which is partially destroyed and not in the public domain] Cyd:Right. Now that’s a fragment. Where was that fragment found? Bishop Nathan Wilson:I forgot. The fragment is called Papyrus Oxyconocus 840. But you can just type in P. Oxy 840. I would say that was probably if I’d gone by memory, that might have been discovered maybe in Alexandria, if not maybe in Thrace, but I believe it was Alexandria, Egypt that might have been discovered. There was one, I believe, that was discovered in the Middle East, maybe Jerusalem. But I believe that one there was discovered in Alexandria. I might be wrong about that. I have to relook where that was discovered. But it is important. So a text that has not been given to public domain yet, which is quite a shame. Cyd:Yeah. Well, it’s been delightful talking to you. And you certainly have an encyclopedic knowledge of these ancient texts. It’s very beautiful. It’s very nice being around you. You have the good vibe. Bishop Nathan Wilson:It’s been a pleasure speaking to you as well, Dr. Cyd Ropp. It’s been an absolute pleasure. So I’m stoked. So sorry if I get excited and all that sort of stuff as well. I love meeting new people, especially fellow spiritual people. Always lovely to see, especially Gnostics. Cyd:Yeah. Well, I recommend The Gnostic Union. Go check out the Facebook site. That’s where all the action is, right? It’s the Facebook site. Bishop Nathan Wilson:And on the YouTube, yeah. We can all get together. Cyd:On the YouTube. Bishop Nathan Wilson:I’ve got a few old videos as well. So you can see the difference in my theology, how it’s changed. My whole belief system changed when I start translating, so I found out I was wrong about a couple of other things. So I still keep some old videos because some people might want to hang on to some of those beliefs as well. I have no problems with that. I’m very open-minded and whichever people want to believe, they can believe, as long as we’re loving to each other and kind. It’s all that matters. Being good humans. Cyd:Right. Well, since we’re going to be putting this on your site as well as mine, let me tell people that I have a Substack called The Gnostic Reformation. And my homepage is GnosticInsights.com. Well, it’s just been a blessing. Thank you very much. Bishop Nathan Wilson:You’re welcome. And feel free to share your stuff on The Gnostic Union Facebook page too. If you ever want to share stuff, feel free to. We accept other people’s work too. So feel free to share it. Cyd:How often? I mean, I post weekly. You don’t want me cross-posting weekly. Bishop Nathan Wilson:Oh, that’s fine. We don’t mind. You can post there weekly. We won’t mind. Anything that’s Gnostic, we’ll gladly accept. So we want to encourage all Gnostic schools of thought and everyone that wants to seek it, we want to encourage that. Cyd:Oh that’s excellent. Okay. Well, thank you so much for being with me today, Bishop Nathan Wilson. God bless us all. Bishop Nathan Wilson:God bless as well. Thank you for having me. Cyd:Okay. Bye-bye. Thank you. Well, that’s the conclusion of that long interview with Bishop Nathan Wilson of The Gnostic Union. These episodes have been running long, a half hour and more, so I think we’ll keep this one short, and give you a break. Until then, drop some comments and questions that I can address in next week's episode.This interview was recorded via Zoom, and so I have the video of the interview as well as these audios, and I’ve left it as one long video to post to YouTube. So I’m putting it up on YouTube now that we’re done with the audio podcast versions, and you can go to YouTube if you’d like to watch Brother Nathan talking about these things. He does have a few visual aids. His papyrus facsimiles and whatnot are pretty cool to look at. So I encourage you to go to my YouTube channel, Cyd Ropp, and it’s under the Gnostic Insights playlist, and leave a thumbs up. I’m going to try to grow the Gnostic Insights presence there on YouTube. It’s going to take a lot of effort and a lot of support on your part. So please give me a hand here, and let’s kick it off with this Bishop Wilson. The other YouTube video that’s already there is that animated version of my children’s book, Children of the Fullness: A Gnostic Myth. So if you haven’t watched that yet, you could catch it as well. Until then, God bless us all, and Onward and Upward. Until then, drop some comments and questions I can address in next week's episode. God bless us all and onward and upward. Children of the Fullness: A Gnostic Myth is the first gnostic book written for young children. Click here to go to amazon.com

This week on One More Game, Jerica finally rolls credits on Dave the Diver, while Josh experiences the game for the very first time—and neither of us can stop talking about it.We break down what makes Dave the Diver one of the most surprising games we've ever played, why its progression constantly keeps you hooked, our favorite characters, gameplay systems, music, and the few criticisms we have after spending dozens of hours with it.We also share our early impressions of Into the Jungle, discussing why it already feels like one of the best examples of meaningful DLC and why it might be the perfect reason to jump back into one of the best indie games ever made.If you've been waiting for an excuse to play Dave the Diver... this is it.00:00 Start01:29 Why We're Revisiting Dave the Diver04:08 Housekeeping06:24 First Impressions08:14 What Is Dave the Diver?16:26 Why the Characters Work So Well22:07 The Sea People & World Building28:14 Gameplay That Never Stops Evolving42:26 Restaurant Management & Building Your Staff52:02 Music & Sound Design57:52 Our Biggest Criticisms01:04:10 The Surprisingly Great Photo Mode01:08:32 Into the Jungle DLC Impressions01:21:57 Could This Become Dave the Diver 2?01:27:08 Final ScoresSupport the showJK! Games! is a weekly gaming podcast where we bring you the news and reviews we actually care about.Our recurring play-along series — One More Game — is our version of a video game book club. We choose one title, set checkpoints, and break it down over multiple episodes. Currently Dave the Diver!You can:• Play at your own pace• Stay spoiler-light• Or dive deep with usWhether you're Easy Mode or Expert, you belong in the conversation.Join our Discord to play along and share your theories each week.Want to show us some love? Click Me!DiscordTwitch YoutubeInstaBsky

The books of Samuel begin during one of the most dramatic periods in ancient history. Long before Samuel anointed Israel's first kings, the ancient world experienced the Bronze Age Collapse—a period marked by drought, famine, earthquakes, invasions, population migrations, and the fall of great empires. In this episode, we explore the rise and fall of the Bronze Age world, the interconnected trade networks that united Egypt, the Hittites, Babylonia, and other great powers, and the events that led to their decline. We examine the archaeological evidence for prolonged drought in the eastern Mediterranean, the role of the Sea Peoples, the collapse of trade, and the emergence of the Iron Age. Finally, we connect these world-changing events to the biblical period of the Judges and consider how the collapse of the old world may have created the conditions for Israel's rise as a kingdom under Samuel, Saul, and David. If you'd like to support The History of the Bible, visit our Patreon Page. Your feedback is valuable to us! Share your thoughts and insights via our feedback form. Let us know how our podcast has impacted you or someone you know by filling out our impact form. If you have concerns about any information presented, please inform us via our correction form. #HistoryOfTheBible #BibleHistory #BookOfSamuel #Samuel #Saul #KingDavid #Judges #BronzeAge #BronzeAgeCollapse #IronAge #AncientIsrael #BiblicalHistory #BiblicalArchaeology #AncientNearEast #SeaPeoples #Philistines #Archaeology #OldTestament #BibleStudy #AncientWorld #AncientHistory #KingdomOfIsrael #DavidAndGoliath #AncientCivilizations #HistoryPodcast Sources The Holy Bible (ESV) ESV Study Bible ESV Archaeology Study Bible Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible (NIV) Rose Book of Bible Charts, Maps, and Timelines Satellite Bible Atlas by William Schlegel The Earth and Its Peoples: A Global History Biblical Archaeology Society – Bronze Age Collapse: Pollen Study Highlights Late Bronze Age Drought Biblical Archaeology Society Armstrong Institute of Biblical Archaeology World History Encyclopedia – Bronze Age Collapse

Armageddon is more than just a biblical prophecy hailing the end of days. It is a real place: Megiddo, an ancient city that for thousands of years stood at the crossroads of empires, trade routes and wars in the ancient Near East.In this episode of The Ancients, Tristan Hughes is joined by friend of the show Eric Cline to uncover the true story of the real Armageddon. Why did Megiddo become associated with the world's final battle? What made this city so strategically important for millennia? From Bronze Age kingdoms to biblical tradition and modern archaeology, discover the remarkable history behind one of the most famous names in history and myth.MOREBronze Age Collapse:Listen on AppleListen on Spotify The Sea Peoples:Listen on AppleListen on Spotify Presented by Tristan Hughes. Audio editor is Aidan Lonergan. The producer is Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.All music courtesy of Epidemic SoundsThe Ancients is a History Hit podcast.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

1. Eric Cline discusses the Late Bronze Age through the lens of the Uluburun shipwreck, which represents the era's globalized trade network. The ship's cargo, including copper from Cyprus and tin from Afghanistan, highlights the interconnectedness of civilizations like the Egyptians, Hittites, and Mycenaeans. Cline explains that the collapse around 1177 BC was not caused by a single event but a "perfect storm" of factors, including drought, famine, earthquakes, and the Sea Peoples' migrations. This catastrophic sequence occurred so rapidly that societies lacked the time to recover, leading to a systemic failure of the ancient world's trade routes. (1)

3. Cline examines the varying fates of Egypt and emerging Levantine groups after the collapse. Egypt is described as "merely coping," struggling with internal anarchy and a delayed reaction to regional droughts while retreating from its previous international prominence. Conversely, the power vacuum allowed smaller entities like the Israelites and Philistines to flourish. Cline discusses the archaeological debate regarding whether the Israelites were local highland dwellers who transformed or external migrants. He also identifies the Philistines as part of the Sea Peoples, noting recent DNA evidence from Ashkelon that confirms their mixed ancestry and Mediterranean origins. (3)

5. The conversation details the collapse of the Hittite Empire in central Anatolia. Despite once being equal to Egypt, the Hittites suffered from poor leadership and internal rot, exacerbated by plagues and famine. Their capital, Hattusa, was eventually burned, possibly by local enemies rather than the Sea Peoples. While the main empire disappeared, "rump states" survived in northern Syria, becoming the Neo-Hittites mentioned in the Bible. Additionally, Cline mentions recent computer modeling that suggests the simultaneous collapse of the Hittites and the port city of Ugarit was sufficient to bring down the entire global trade network. (5)

What if some of history's greatest civilizations didn't fall in spectacular wars… but stopped?Tonight on Juxtaposition, we explore four ancient mysteries in which entire systems of human organization faded, fractured, or vanished — leaving behind monuments, cities, and ruins… but with almost no explanation.We begin with the urban giants of the Indus Valley Civilization, whose meticulously planned cities suddenly lost cohesion after six centuries of stability.We travel back even further to Göbekli Tepe, where hunter-gatherers built massive stone temples thousands of years before agriculture — and then deliberately buried them.From there, we examine the mysterious maritime raiders known as the Sea Peoples, recorded in Egyptian reliefs during the reign of Ramesses III, whose sudden appearance coincides with the collapse of Bronze Age powers across the Mediterranean.Finally, we confront the larger puzzle historians still struggle to explain: the Late Bronze Age collapse, when interconnected kingdoms, trade networks, and writing systems disappeared within a generation.These civilizations built cities, monuments, and international systems that lasted centuries.Then something changed.Not all collapses come with conquering armies or burning cities. Sometimes the structures remain… but the system that gave them meaning dissolves.Tonight we explore the ruins — and the silence they left behind.

“Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair.” Ramesses II reigned as Egypt's unchallenged champion for more than sixty years. But within decades the dynasty of Egypt's greatest pharaoh had fallen apart. Tristan Hughes is joined by Dr Campbell Price to chart how the reign of Ramesses the Great descended into slow collapse. From monumental building projects that once proclaimed eternal power to the advent of instability to the looming threat of the Sea Peoples, discover how Egypt's New Kingdom began to fracture under the weight of its own success. This is the dramatic final chapter in the story of the House of Ramesses.MOREThe House of Ramesses II: Egypt's Greatest Pharaoh?Listen on AppleListen on SpotifyThe Legend of Osiris: King of the DeadListen on AppleListen on Spotify Watch this episode on our YouTube channel: @TheAncientsPodcastPresented by Tristan Hughes. Audio editor is Aidan Lonergan. The producer is Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.All music courtesy of Epidemic SoundsThe Ancients is a History Hit podcast.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. You can take part in our listener survey here:https://insights.historyhit.com/history-hit-podcast-always-on Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Who were the ‘Sea Peoples'? Was the Bronze Age Collapse caused by a single catastrophic event? How did the Egyptians try to adapt to the changing climate? From the scientific evidence hidden in ancient pollen to the first historical mention of "Israel" and the rise of the Philistines, this episode uncovers how a global systemic collapse redrew the map of the ancient world. William and Anita are joined by Professor Eric Cline, author of 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed, and After 1177 B.C.: The Survival Of Civilizations, to explore how a series of catastrophes shattered the interconnected superpowers of the Pharaohs, Hittites, and Mycenaeans…  Join the Empire Club: Unlock the full Empire experience – with bonus episodes, ad-free listening, early access to miniseries and live show tickets, exclusive book discounts, a members-only newsletter, and access to our private Discord chatroom. Sign up directly at empirepoduk.com  For more Goalhanger Podcasts, head to www.goalhanger.com. Email: empire@goalhanger.com Instagram: @empirepoduk Blue Sky: @empirepoduk X: @empirepoduk Editors: Bruno Di Castri and Jack Meek Producer: Anouska Lewis Executive Producer: Dom Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Henrique Agostinho joins us LIVE to explore cyclopean walls, megalithic architecture, polygonal stonework, and the mysteries of ancient construction. Lost technology, global anomalies, and the architecture that shouldn't exist. This Sunday we're joined by Henrique Agostinho, creator of the One-Eyed Giant Building Walls channel, for a deep dive into the world of cyclopean architecture, polygonal stonework, and the mysteries of megalithic construction across the globe. Henrique's research spans ancient sites in Peru, Greece, Italy, Japan, and beyond — places where polygonal walls appear and disappear with no clear origin, no known builders, and no modern explanation. These structures defy conventional archaeology and raise profound questions about lost technology, global contact, and the possibility of a forgotten civilisation. Areas to explore: The paradox of impossible stonework — how were these walls built, and by whom? The theory of a global megalithic blueprint — recurring patterns across continents The mystery of abandoned know-how — why was this construction method lost? What caused the Bronze Age Collapse and who are the enigmatic Sea Peoples? What Baalbek can tell us about our forgotten ancestors The 44th Parallel and how it shaped human history (Dragons vs Cyclopeans) The real purpose of the ‘High Places', from The Temple Mount to the Acropolis of Athens  If you're fascinated by ancient engineering, forbidden archaeology, or the idea that our history may be far older — and stranger — than we're told, this episode is for you.

In this episode, we dive deep into the mysterious people known as the Philistines — one of Israel's greatest and most persistent rivals. Where did they come from? Were they truly the crude warriors we often imagine, or was there more to their story? We'll uncover their origins, their connection to the Sea Peoples, and how they built one of the most advanced and artistic cultures along the Mediterranean coast. From iron weapons to fortified cities, their influence reshaped the ancient world — and forever changed Israel's history.   If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review, and follow The History of the Bible on your favorite podcast platform. Your ratings and reviews help others discover the show and support the creation of future episodes. If you'd like to support The History of the Bible, visit our Patreon Page. Follow us on Facebook for updates, discussions, and behind-the-scenes content. Your feedback is valuable to us! Share your thoughts and insights via our feedback form. Let us know how our podcast has impacted you or someone you know by filling out our impact form. If you have concerns about any information presented, please inform us via our correction form.   #Philistines #BibleHistory #AncientIsrael #OldTestament #BiblicalArchaeology #SeaPeoples #BiblePodcast #Archaeology #AncientWorld #Gath #Gaza #Ashdod #Ashkelon #Ekron #HebrewBible #HistoryOfTheBible #Canaan #BiblicalStudies #AncientNearEast #ArchaeologyPodcast   Episode's Sources https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/ancient-israel/plants-and-the-philistine-cult-at-gath/ https://www.encyclopedia.com/environment/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/philistine-religion https://www.britannica.com/topic/Dagan https://biblearchaeology.org/research/judges-united-monarchy/3850-dagon-the-philistine-fish-god https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Beelzebub https://www.thetorah.com/article/the-philistines-ancient-records-archaeological-remains-and-biblical-traditions

Workers involved in tomb construction in the Valley of the Kings staged the earliest recorded strike in history on 14th November, 1157 B.C. Having not been paid their ration of food for 18 days, they set about disrupting temple life and rituals, to the shock of Pharaoh Ramses III's administration. The workers' struggle wasn't solely about wages; it reflected broader discontent, too, as they voiced concerns about alleged corruption, such as barley being replaced with dirt in payments. And the strike indicated a shift in the workers' perceptions, as they realised they couldn't rely solely on the divine authority of the Pharaoh to meet their basic needs. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal how Ancient Egypt was financially decimated by the suppression of the ‘Sea Peoples'; explain how an offer of cake was (unsurprisingly) not enough to pacify the protests; and consider whether the workers' picket-line slogans needed a little workshopping…  Further Reading: • ‘When Was The First Strike In History?' (HistoryExtra, 2016): https://www.historyextra.com/period/ancient-egypt/when-first-strike-history/ • ‘Red Traces, Part 4: Strikers and Pharaohs in Ancient Egypt' (Counterfire, 2023): https://www.counterfire.org/article/red-traces-part-4-strikers-and-pharaohs-in-ancient-egypt/ • 'Rameses III Describes Invasion Of Sea Peoples' (Voices of the Past, 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01eyTLfFJqQ This episode first aired in 2023 Love the show? Support us!  Join 

Send us a text Ever heard of a graveyard where the coffins are shaped like humans—some lifelike, others downright bizarre? In this episode, we dig into the secrets of the Philistines at Beit Shean: a crossroads of kings, conquerors, and cultures. It's biblical drama, ancient mysteries, and archaeological surprises—buried, literally, in the dirt of the Holy Land. Support the show

We're obsessed with apocalypses, big and small. We fantasize about what the future might look like after the fall of society and fear the coming tribulation. Rome fretted about decline until its end. Stories of the Sea Peoples terrified the monarchs of the Late Bronze Age. During the 30 Years' War, Europeans imagined Armageddon had finally begun.But a funny thing happens after the collapse: things tend to get a little better for everyone.Luke Kemp is here to hold our hands through the end of the world as we know it. Kemp is a researcher at Cambridge's Centre for the Study of Existential Risk and the author of the book Goliath's Curse: The History and Future of Societal Collapse.Beauty in collapseMatthew's AI testThe Doctor Doom mask“Collapse was good for most people.”Sea People's mentionedWhy a Goliath and not a Leviathan?Down with Thomas HobbesFear of a mass panic driving collapse“Emergency powers have a very funny tendency to stick around”The problem with guns, germs, and steelThe Tree of EvilOn the purpose of human sacrificeDoctor Doom is the belle of the ballAre we ending on a high note?Buy Goliath's CurseCentre for the Study of Existential RiskThe rewards of ruinSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/warcollege. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we dive deep into the mysterious people known as the Philistines — one of Israel's greatest and most persistent rivals. Where did they come from? Were they truly the crude warriors we often imagine, or was there more to their story? We'll uncover their origins, their connection to the Sea Peoples, and how they built one of the most advanced and artistic cultures along the Mediterranean coast. From iron weapons to fortified cities, their influence reshaped the ancient world — and forever changed Israel's history.   If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review, and follow The History of the Bible on your favorite podcast platform. Your ratings and reviews help others discover the show and support the creation of future episodes. If you'd like to support The History of the Bible, visit our Patreon Page. Follow us on Facebook for updates, discussions, and behind-the-scenes content. Your feedback is valuable to us! Share your thoughts and insights via our feedback form. Let us know how our podcast has impacted you or someone you know by filling out our impact form. If you have concerns about any information presented, please inform us via our correction form. Highlights The Origin of the Philistines The Connection to the Sea Peoples Iron Weapons and the Fall of the Bronze Age The Five Cities of Philistia Art, Architecture, and Aegean Influence #Philistines #BibleHistory #AncientIsrael #OldTestament #BiblicalArchaeology #SeaPeoples #BiblePodcast #Archaeology #AncientWorld #Gath #Gaza #Ashdod #Ashkelon #Ekron #HebrewBible #HistoryOfTheBible #Canaan #BiblicalStudies #AncientNearEast #ArchaeologyPodcast   Episode's Sources https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Philistine https://armstronginstitute.org/30-uncovering-the-bibles-buried-civilizations-the-philistines https://biblehub.com/exodus/13-17.htm https://www.worldhistory.org/Sea_Peoples/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/ancient-dna-sheds-new-light-biblical-philistines-180972561/ https://thewitness.org/who-were-the-philistines/ https://armstronginstitute.org/1015-israels-philistine-foes  

On this episode we pull a bit of a Time Travelling Dad and jump way back thousands of years to learn the stories of some Wakanda’s famous War Dogs. From the Sea Peoples to the 20th century each episode takes a slice of history and explores through the eyes of a Wakandan agent out to keep the secret and power of vibranium from falling into the wrong hands. Dan Moren, John Moltz and Guy English.

On this episode we pull a bit of a Time Travelling Dad and jump way back thousands of years to learn the stories of some Wakanda’s famous War Dogs. From the Sea Peoples to the 20th century each episode takes a slice of history and explores through the eyes of a Wakandan agent out to keep the secret and power of vibranium from falling into the wrong hands. Dan Moren, John Moltz and Guy English.

Egypt's Retreat and the Emergence of New Kingdoms in the Early Iron Age AUTHOR NAME: Eric Cline BOOK TITLE: 1177 BC, the year civilization collapsed; After 1177 BC, The Survival of Civilizations Following the collapse, Egypt, despite surviving, merely coped and retreated from the international stage, entering the chaotic Third Intermediate Period. The resulting power vacuum allowed the emergence of smaller kingdoms like Israel, Judah, and Moab. Archaeology uses Old Testament texts as guideposts for the First Millennium BC. The Philistines are identified as the Sea Peoples group called the Peleset, evidenced by DNA extracted from Ashkelon burials.

: 1. Professor Eric Cline's books, 1177 BC, the year civilization collapsed and After 1177 BC, The Survival of Civilizations, highlight Late Bronze Age globalization through the Uluburun shipwreck (c. 1300 BC), revealing diverse cargo like copper from Cyprus and tin from Afghanistan . The 1177 BC collapse resulted from a "perfect storm" of drought, famine, Sea Peoples, disease, and earthquakes. New computer modeling suggests the simultaneous fall of the Hittites and Ugarit was  . . . . . .

2/8. Professor Eric Cline's work explains that the 1177 BC collapse resulted from a "perfect storm" of drought, famine, Sea Peoples (invaders/migrants), disease, and earthquakes. New computer modeling, detailed in his research, concluded that the simultaneous fall of the Hittites and the port city of Ugarit was critical and sufficient to bring down the entire globalized network. Ugarit, a key trading nexus, faced an earthquake, drought, famine, and an unnamed invader, making it a "poster child" for the collapse.

5/8. As discussed by Professor Eric Cline, the Philistines are definitively identified as part of the Sea Peoples, likely the "Pleset" mentioned by the Egyptians. They settled in five key cities, including Ashdod, Ashkelon, and Gaza. Archaeological and recent DNA evidence from children in Ashkelon shows a mix of local Canaanite and "other" (possibly Aegean/Sardinian/Spanish) ancestry, indicating their descendants were from the original Sea Peoples, confirming their identity and origins. 1ST CE, NAPLES

Tristan Hughes sits down with Professor Eric Cline to explore the enigmatic Sea Peoples, often blamed for the catastrophic Bronze Age collapse over 3,000 years ago.Together they explore surviving sources from ancient Egypt to find out who the Sea Peoples were, and how they swept into Egypt. They discuss the diverse groups that comprised these invaders, and question whether they were truly the primary cause of this ancient civilisation's downfall.From revelations from the latest archaeological evidence, DNA findings from Tel Dor and other sites, Tristan and Eric unlock one of ancient history's greatest puzzles.MOREThe Bronze Age CollapseRameses the GreatPresented by Tristan Hughes. Audio editor is Aidan Lonergan and the producer is Joseph Knight. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.All music courtesy of Epidemic SoundsThe Ancients is a History Hit podcast.LIVE SHOW: Buy tickets for The Ancients at the London Podcast Festival here: https://www.kingsplace.co.uk/whats-on/words/the-ancients-2/Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe. You can take part in our listener survey here: https://insights.historyhit.com/history-hit-podcast-always-on Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Founders of SeaPeople, Logan and Caroline Rowell take us through the motivation behind creating an all-encompassing app for cruiser connectivity. It's basically a "Welcome to 2025" to the next generation of cruisers. Much of offshore communications are quite frankly, decades behind tech. SeaPeople is embracing techs ability to create community in the most remote corners of the earth. In this engaging conversation, we discuss the fine balancing act of staying connected versus unplugging, things we miss about the dinosaur days of sailing and things we love about instant access to data, like-minds and community. Thanks for listening and go check out SeaPeople!  -- Support the podcast & become a member of The Quarterdeck, where Andy, August & Mia dive deep on the art of seam'nship. Nerd out with us on our members-only forum and talk boats, gear, safety-at-sea, meet like-minded sailors, find crew, and more. Check it out on quarterdeck.59-north.com. See you there! -- This episode is sponsored by Orca. Visit getorca.com to modernize your onboard navigation with the Orca Display and Orca Core. We've got them on SPICA & ISBJØRN and so far are LOVING the experience of proper tablet navigation, waterproof wireless charging, logged passages and slick charts and instruments. 

PREVIEW: BRONZE AGE COLLAPSE MEDITERRANEAN BASIN: Author Eric Cline, "After 1177 BC," underlines the unknown of the invaders called Sea Peoples. More to come. SEPTEMBER 1941

Heart of Darkness at Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham. Far from the Nile Valley, on Egypt's northern coastline, Ramessid soldiers and civilians constructed a significant fortress to control the maritime roads. This remote garrison faced off against Libyan tribes coming from the far west (e.g. the Meshwesh of Cyrenaica), traded with Mediterranean merchants, possibly dealt with marauding pirates and Sea Peoples, and built a life for themselves on the western frontier. Alas, it wasn't all beaches and bonhomie, as soldiers like Nebra, the commander, would learn… Prof. Steven Snape is the author of many books and articles including The Complete Cities of Ancient Egypt (2014); Ancient Egyptian Tombs: The Culture of Life and Death (2011); Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham I: The Temple and the Chapels (with Penny Wilson, 2007); Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham II: The Monuments of Neb-Re (with Glenn Godenho, forthcoming). Learn more about excavations and discoveries at this site in a free lecture, “ Zawiyet Umm el-Rakham and the Ramesside Defence System on the Maryut Coast,” on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQ1QelBxYiU& Steven Snape papers and publications at Academia.edu https://liverpool.academia.edu/StevenSnape Steven Snape at The University of Liverpool: https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/people/steven-snape; Research Profile https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/people/steven-snape/research Prof. Snape is currently reading The Arabian Nightmare by Robert Irwin (1983). Wikipedia Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Delta raiders. Decades before their famous migrations, the "Sea Peoples" were already active and visible in the eastern Mediterranean; and Ramesses II had his own dealings with these groups. In year 2 of his reign, Ramesses II (Usir-Ma'at-Ra) dealt with a coastal raid by the Sherden, who came from the "islands in the midst" of the sea (which the Egyptians called the "Great Green"). The battle, and its aftermath, is referenced in several of Ramesses' inscriptions. We explore this curious first chapter in the Sea Peoples' story... Music: Michael Levy "Odysseus and the Sirens” www.ancientlyre.com Website: www.egyptianhistorypodcast.com Support the show via Patreon www.patreon.com/egyptpodcast Make a one-time donation via PayPal payments https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/BHC6MGDBC6SXU We have merch! Browse our designs at Dashery by TeePublic https://egyptpodcast.dashery.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, we uncover the fascinating story of Shamgar, a lesser-known but mighty figure from Judges 3:31. Was he truly an Israelite judge or a foreign mercenary used by God? Join us as we explore his possible Hurrian or Canaanite roots, his ties to Egypt, and his epic stand against the Philistines, early Sea Peoples of Aegean descent. Through historical insights and biblical context, we reveal how Shamgar may have brought peace to Israel in a time of chaos. Don't miss this deep dive into ancient history, biblical mystery, and divine providence.   If you'd like to support "The History of the Bible", visit our Patreon Page at https://patreon.com/TheHistoryoftheBible. Your feedback is valuable to us! Share your thoughts and insights via our feedback form at https://forms.gle/AtzUReJ8gLuFYPaP8. Let us know how our podcast has impacted you or someone you know by filling out our impact form at https://forms.gle/jr4EdGsqCaFk4qZm8. If you have concerns about any information presented, please inform us via our correction form at https://forms.gle/PiMMkPnJFaa4j5p37.   #BiblePodcast, #BiblicalHistory, #OldTestament, #BookOfJudges, #Shamgar, #Philistines, #SeaPeoples, #AncientIsrael, #BiblicalArchaeology, #ChristianPodcast, #BibleStudyPodcast, #HiddenBibleFigures, #GodsWarrior, #HistoricalBible, #FaithAndHistory, #UnexpectedHeroes, #DivineProvidence, #BiblicalMystery, #Hurrians, #EgyptianMythology   Episode's Sources Bible, NIV Study Bible.  Bible, ESV Study Bible https://www.gotquestions.org/oxgoad-Bible.html https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-bible/who-were-philistines-where-did-they-come-from/ https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-bible/illuminating-the-philistines-origins/ https://www.worldhistory.org/Philistines/

In this week's episode, I take a look at some of the historical influences & inspirations that went into my new book GHOST IN THE ASSEMBLY. This coupon code will get you 25% off SILENT ORDER: OMNIBUS ONE at my Payhip store: SILENT25 The coupon code is valid through April 7th, 2025. So if you need a new book to read for spring, we've got you covered! TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates   Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 244 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is March 21st, 2025, and today we are looking at some of the historical influences that went into Ghost in the Assembly. Before we get into that, we will do Coupon of the Week and an update my current writing and audiobook projects. And then Question of the Week, which we did have time for this week.   This week's coupon code will get you 25% off the ebook of Silent Order: Omnibus One at my Payhip store. That coupon code is SILENT25. I'll have the links and the coupon code in the show notes. This coupon code is valid through April 7, 2025, so if you need a new book to read for these spring months, we have got you covered.   Now an update on my current writing projects. I am 44,000 words into Shield of Battle, the fifth book in the Shield War series. I'm hoping to have that out towards the end of April, if all goes well. A reminder that the Shield War series will be six books, so Shield the Battle will be the second to last one. I have also started on the sequel to Ghost in the Assembly, and I am 4,000 words into that, give or take. I had originally planned to call this book Ghost in the Assassins, but I thought that sounded too similar to Ghost in the Assembly. So the fifth book in the Ghost Armor series will be called Ghost in the Corruption. A reminder that Ghost Armor will be six books long and Ghost in the Corruption will be the fifth of six books, so the second to last book in that series as well.   In audio news, recording has started for Shield of Deception and Ghost in the Assembly. Shield of Deception will be excellently narrated by Brad Wills and Hollis McCarthy will excellently narrate Ghost in the Assembly. I expect both of them will probably be out sometime towards the end of May if all goes well, given how long it usually takes to record an audiobook.   In Stealth and Spells Online news, I am 68,000 words into the third and final book in this trilogy. Once Ghost Armor and Shield War are complete, then I will hopefully release the final book in the Stealth and Spells Online because I've been working on that as a tertiary project for quite a long time now. So that's where I'm at with my current writing and audiobook projects.   00:02:17 Question of the Week   Now let's move on to Question of the Week. Question of the Week is of course designed to inspire enjoyable discussions of interesting topics. This week's question, what is your favorite style of fantasy setting (like a more high fantasy, one like Middle Earth or the Forgotten Realms, urban fantasy like the Dresden Files or Kate Daniels or more steampunk like Everon and so on)? No wrong answers, obviously.   And as you can imagine this inspired quite a few responses.   Perry says: Hyperborea! Lankhmar is up there as well. Setting where magic is rare, and usually dangerous or evil. The first edition of the Forgotten Realms (the grey box from the ‘80s) was great. Enough detail to let you use the setting, lots of room to make it your own. Then all the Forgotten Realms novels started to appear with the release of the second edition in the ‘90s and everybody in the world suddenly had powerful magic at their fingertips. Elminster, the Seven Sisters, Drizz't, and others took the appeal right out of the setting for me.   Joachim says: I like the Spelljammer Campaign setting best. A lot of great modules. It seemed it was not overly successful. A shame. I had a campaign running in this setting with some people who liked it. In addition to the Spelljammer modules, you can easily transfer any normal module centered on a small town onto an asteroid.   Evan says: A huge Sanderson Cosmere fan here, especially Stormlight Archive. I like the magical progression tied in to character development, with a bit of mystery of how things work or an unknown that takes time to unwind or tease out.   Justin says: My problem here is separating the settings from the authors. Given that near impossibility, I would cast my vote for high fantasy with a bit of techno/steampunk mixed in. Example – Andre Norton's Witch World.   Bonnie says: I seem to gravitate towards the swords and sorcery genre like Frostborn, but I also enjoyed the urban fantasy/Nadia and the other genres. I have to thank you for introducing me to all of these.   Michael says: Okay, Jonathan, that's the second time I've noticed you indicating a preference for sword and sorcery saga where a barbarian hero travels between corrupt city states and now I really, really want you to write this. And yeah, that's definitely my favorite type of setting too.   Simone says: Definitely urban fantasy. Even in your books, which offer an unusual variety of fantasy settings, I find I enjoy the Cloak series the best.   Roger says: Being an old fogey, I prefer high fantasy always. Can't seem to get my head around urban fantasy. It jars with me.   John says: While I enjoy all settings, I'm also a traditionalist and want a non-industrial, non punk setting without some sprawling empire, more like the aftermath of empire with multiple successor states.   Jonathan T. says: Personally, Star Wars has always been fantasy in a science fiction setting, and that remains a personal favorite. Other than that, I suppose I'm for high fantasy, although I'm not opposed to high fantasy slapstick either such as the Wuntvor trilogy. At some point I must try again to surmount the obstacle known as The Wheel of Time.   Catriona says: Epic and high fantasy are my favorite, enjoy Dark Fantasy, too. Urban fantasy is a hard pass for me.   Juana says: Sword and sorcery, parfait gentle knights, medieval societies, historical fiction like Doyle's The White Company and Sir Nigel. Wherever Nadia lives.   Justin says: Sword and sorcery, magical creatures/beasts. Definitely needs different environments like cities and wild mountains and forests. Not sure what genre that is, but that's what I like.   MG says: High fantasy.   Brandy says: I like ones with a clearly defined map. Sometimes it seems like the world wasn't thought about clearly, so it makes it hard to imagine and I find those stories the least successful. The ones I go back to repeatedly, the ones I read over and over or pimp out to other authors or groups are those I feel like they have a great structure and map, even if it's added on to later. So high, low, or middle, I just really just want the author to tell a great story and make it a great one.   Speaking as an author myself, I really dislike drawing maps, but fantasy readers really like maps, so that's why I have been doing more and more maps lately.   Pauline says: Urban fantasy is definitely my favorite.   Jeremy says: High Fantasy is my favorite. However, my favorite fantasy author is Terry Brooks. His series is Low Fantasy based on Earth. I found out years after reading the series LOL.   For myself, I think my favorite would be a pre-industrial setting with a lot of city-states and various dangerous magic, like you have a barbarian hero wandering from city-state to city-state with monster infested ruins and wilderness between them. When he gets to the city states, he can fight corrupt sorcerers, arrogant nobles, and thieves guilds, and then move on to a new adventure in the next book. So basically a sword and sorcery style setting. So that's it for Question of the Week.   00:06:30 Main Topic of the Week: Ghost in the Assembly: Inspirations and Sources (Note: Spoilers for Ghost in the Assembly!)   This week and now onto our main topic, Ghost in the Assembly inspirations and sources that went into the book. I should mention that this episode contains mild spoilers for Ghost in the Assembly. So if you have not finished reading Ghost in the Assembly yet, stop listening and go finish reading Ghost in the Assembly.   So I thought it would be interesting to talk about some of the ideas and influences that went into Ghost in the Assembly. I have to admit, it took me a few years of thinking between Ghost Night and Ghost Armor to figure out how to write more Caina stories because Caina had become a political figure by the end of Ghost Night and political figures typically do bad things for personal advancement and then lie about it. That is in some ways the essential definition of a political figure. This of course, is hard for a writer to use as a sympathetic protagonist.   Of course, I eventually realized the way around this, the success of a political figure cannot be judged by their personal morality or even their political morality, but by the results of their decisions. Did they do the most for the greatest good of their people? Therefore, I just needed to write a political figure who did somewhat sketchy things (like subverting the Kyracian houses via buying up their debt) in the name of the greater good of the people (defending them from the impending attack of the Red Krakens).   I frequently said that if you want to write a good fantasy novel, you should try to stick to about 15 to 25% of the actual harshness of the past. I don't think you want to go full Grimdark, but you don't want your fantasy world to be indistinguishable from a typical 21st century parliamentary democracy because I think that kind of defeats the purpose of fantasy where you want to visit a world that is eldritch and strange and at least somewhat different than our own. So for Ghost in the Assembly, I went to about 15 to 25% of the experience of ancient Greek democracy. For the entire time that New Kyre and the Kyracians have been in the series (Ghost in the Storm was way the heck back in 2012 and the Kyracians were mentioned before that), they've always been very loosely based on the democracy of ancient Athens. In fact, the very name Assembly of New Kyre comes from ancient Athens, where the gathering of voting citizens was called the ecclesia, which translates into English as assembly. Interestingly, this is also the origins of the word ecclesiastical in terms of a church since one of the first words for the church was ecclesia in the sense of the assembly of the believers in Christ.   Athens wasn't the first ancient Greek democracy, but it was one of the most successful. It was also one of the democracies that self-destructed in the most spectacularly dramatic fashion possible. The Athenians decided to convert the Delian League from an alliance of city-states into their own private empire. A demagogue convinced them to waste enormous resources attacking Syracuse and Sicily, which ended disastrously. The Athenians were eventually defeated by the more militaristic Spartans.   People have debated for centuries whether or not this means democracy is inferior to the Spartans' harsher system, but that overlooks the key fact that a few decades later, Athens, Sparta, and all the rest of the Greek city-states were conquered by the Macedonians anyway. I suppose the actual historical lesson is that a city-state, regardless of its government, is no match for a larger centralized state with better leaders and better military organization. In fact, historically city-states tend to eventually get subsumed into larger political entities. If they last for a long time, it tends to be because of geography (like in ancient Greece) or because of weak and or remote central authority like the medieval Italian city-states, which were ostensibly under the authority of the Holy Roman emperor but in practice tended to do whatever they wanted. Places like modern Vatican City tend to be special exceptions.   Caina's criticism of the assembly of New Kyre in the book is that it is not as egalitarian as it pretends and is easily swayed by both demagogues and bribes. The Athenian assembly of citizens had both these problems, but far worse. You needed to have a substantial level of property to be allowed to vote, and there were numerous examples of the votes swinging on bribes or last minute orations. The Athenian assembly was easily swayed into making bad decisions, such as supporting the disastrous attack on Syracuse during the Peloponnesian War that was the start of Athens' downfall.   In Ghost in the Assembly, Lady Eirenea Tritos is one of the nine chief magistrates of the city, but in an Athenian democracy, women were not allowed to vote and most definitely were not allowed to hold political office. The ancient Greeks in general did not have a very high opinion of women. One Greek orator said that men had wives to produce legitimate heirs, concubines to attend to the body's “daily needs”, and prostitutes for pleasure.   Because of things like that, I thought a setting with a hundred percent of the harshness of ancient Greece would be off-putting to the reader. So as I said, I shot for between 15 and 25% of the actual harshness. New Kyre is definitely richer, better governed, and less elitist and chauvinistic than the ancient Greeks. That said, New Kyre isn't an egalitarian place. Nobles have vastly more rights and money than commoners, and both nobles and commoners own slaves and only the poorest commoners own no slaves themselves. Indeed, slavery is so common in New Kyre that the other nobles see Kylon's decision that House Kardamnos will have no slaves as a sign of malevolent and sinister foreign influence.   Kalliope's fear that she could be dispossessed and Kylon simply take her children is very real. If Kylon wanted, he probably could keep Kalliope from seeing Nikarion and Zoe ever again, though that would inevitably put him in conflict with Lysikas Agramemnos and Calliope is charismatic enough to powerful allies to her side. If Kylon did in fact refuse to allow Kalliope to see their children, he might well set off a civil war. But Kylon, who lost both his parents when he was young, doesn't want to deprive his children of a loving mother.   Of course, the ancient Greeks never had to fight the Red Krakens and orcs. The Red Krakens, the Caphtori, are kind of written like snake-worshipping Vikings. In fact, Caphtori are inspired by the “Sea Peoples”, pirates that seem to have contributed to the collapse of Bronzes Age civilization. Historians argue endlessly about the impact of the Sea Peoples or whether they existed at all, but if they did exist, they might well have been proto-Ancient Greeks, perhaps Mycenaean in origin.   Since having one ancient Greek-esque group fighting another would've been confusing in the book, I made the Caphtori/Red Kraken more like Vikings, which I suppose is a bit of historical anachronism, but Ghost Armor is a constructed world with elves, orcs, and sorcerers, so it's not like I'm writing period accurate historical fiction here.   So these are some of the influences that went into Ghost in the Assembly. I don't have any grand concluding point here. Those were just some of the ideas I thought about and went into the story. Though I should mention that for a while I was a graduate student in medieval history and I hated the experience so much I left and went into IT instead. That said ,decades later it has proven a useful source of plot ideas for fantasy novels, so it worked out in the end.   One final note, a reader suggested that Kalliope Agramemnos and Mardun Scorneus might hook up in later books. And I have to admit, I laughed at that suggestion. Kalliope would react with dismay at the thought of marrying anyone other than an extremely high ranking Kyracian noble, and at the prospect of marrying Kalliope, Mardun would think about it, fake his death, and flee back to the Empire, preferring to take his chances with the Magisterium rather than Kalliope. Anyway, thank you to everyone who has read Ghost in the Assembly. I am very grateful that so many people have enjoyed the book.   So that is it for this week. Thank you for listening to The Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show useful. A reminder that you can listen to all back episodes of the show on https://thepulpwritershow.com. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave your review on your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy and see you all next week.  

In this enlightening conversation, Doc Brown, along with Dr. Judd Burton and Dr. Louis Markos delve into the rich tapestry of Greek mythology, the historical context of the Trojan War, and the significant events leading to the Bronze Age collapse. They explore the impact of natural disasters, the role of the Sea Peoples, and the historical context of the Exodus, all while emphasizing the importance of the Greek Dark Ages in shaping oral traditions and the Homeric literature. In this conversation, Lou Markos and Dr. Judd Burton explore the intricate relationship between mythology and history, particularly focusing on the Homeric epics and their reflections of the cultural memory of the Dark Ages. They discuss how the Iliad and the Odyssey encapsulate both historical events and mythological narratives, revealing insights into ancient civilizations and their legacies.The dialogue also touches on the relevance of classical studies in understanding modern contexts and challenges the linear perspectives of history influenced by evolutionary thought. In this conversation, Dr. Judd Burton and Lou Markos delve into the historical significance of biblical figures like Moses, the legacy of the Nephilim, and the pervasive nature of mythology in human culture. They explore how these themes intersect with history and the importance of reclaiming classical education to understand our cultural heritage. The discussion also touches on the role of mythology in shaping human understanding and the need for a holistic approach to education that integrates literature, history, and philosophy.Head over to http://www.prometheuslenspodcast.com to sign up for the "All Access Pass" and get early access to episodes, private community, members only episodes, private Q & A's, and coming documentaries. We also have a $4 dollar a month package that gets you early access and an ad free listening experience!The Epic of Esau book:https://a.co/d/dU8d7x9 Love the quality of these videos? Sign up for Riverside.fm through this link for a special offer!https://www.riverside.fm/?utm_campaign=campaign_5&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_source=rewardful&via=justin-brownSPONSORS:Squatch Survival Gear:http://www.squatchsurvivalgear.com Need help with video or audio? Give my boy Jason a shout! Tamayo.jason@gmail.comWant to donate to the show? Send your one time donation to “Elrod32” on Venmo or PayPal. All donations will get a shout out and thank you on a recording.Have you written a book? Have a show idea? Had a supernatural experience you'd like to share on the show? Go to the website and click the contact link. I'd love to hear from you!

Dan Richards aka  @DeDunking  explains the Ancient Computer Program Found in Inca Temple & More Evidence Of Lost Civilization. From examining controversial theories about the Giza pyramids and ancient vase technology to investigating megalithic construction methods at Sacsayhuamán and Baalbek, we dive deep into the evidence behind lost technological capabilities. Was the Oracle of Delphi's power linked to natural phenomena? Did the Incas develop a sophisticated binary code? Dan shares his research on these questions and more, including new perspectives on the Great Flood narratives, the mysterious Sea Peoples, and the hotly debated Younger Dryas impact theory. WELCOME TO CAMP!

"PREVIEW: Conversation with Eric Cline, author of 'After 1177 BC,' regarding the mysterious Sea Peoples who invaded and undermined the order of seven collaborating cultures in the Bronze Age. More later." 1715 DEATH OF PATROCLUS

We welcome back Professor Michael York to discuss Canaanite Gods. This includes the Israelites, Akkadians, Babylonians, and others. Due to proximity, we venture a bit into Sumeria, Egypt, Vedic India and beyond. We even touch upon Hittites, Minoans and Sea Peoples. But it's mostly Yahweh versus Ba'al with a dash of Inanna and Ashura, and other easy to pronounce names. Along the way we discuss soime recurring themes like evil baby eating Gods to matriarchal godheads versus patriarchal godheads. Somewhere along the line, Margorie Taylor Green came up. Oh my! Anyway, you don't want to miss this regional Gods discussion, which had earlier roots and ramifications that continue today.And I wasn't crazy about AI and translation. The Professor found this afterwards  https://www.hellenic.org.au/post/the-babylonian-engine#:~:text=The%20AI%20model%20was%20trained,and%20from%20cuneiform%20symbols%20directly.

The new bestselling book “The Dragon's Prophecy” opens up an entire other realm of the unseen forces determining the events of our times. Cahn uncovers mysteries never before revealed including the return of the Sea Peoples, the Dark Resurrection, the Black Sabbath, the Prince of Persia, the Countdown of Days and much more, and how it all converges into “End of Days” and end-time prophecy and much more.Jonathan's Youtube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@jonathancahn.officialTo sow into this stream Monthly/ONE time/ https://bit.ly/2NRIBcM PAYPAL https://shorturl.at/eJY57www.Isaiahsaldivar.comwww.Instagram.com/Isaiahsaldivarwww.Facebook.com/Isaiahsaldivarwww.youtube.com/IsaiahsaldivarOrder My New Book, "How To Cast Out Demons," Here! https://a.co/d/87NYEfcTo sow www.Isaiahsaldivar.com/partner

In this episode of History 102, 'WhatIfAltHist' creator Rudyard Lynch and co-host Austin Padgett explore how an interconnected world of chariot-riding elites, complex trade networks, and temple bureaucracies imploded within a single generation. From mysterious Sea Peoples to the rise of iron weapons, they unpack how this collapse birthed a new heroic age that gave us the Greeks, Jews, and Persians. --

PREVIEW: PHILISTINES: SEA PEOPLES: Conversation with archaeologist Eric Cline for his new book, "After 1177 BC," re the awakening of the collapsed Bronze Age into the powers of the Iron Age in Mesopotamia, the Levant, and Egypt. Much more tonight.  And who were the Sea Peoples?7 Persia 1307

In which the great Mediterranean civilizations of the late Bronze Age collapse virtually overnight due to some mysterious visitors, and Ken knows a lot about white broccoli. Certificate #9795.

Modern genetics tells us that the residents of the far-flung Polynesian islands are one of the most closely related people in the world. But, thanks to the exploration of their ancestors, they're also the most widely dispersed. Polynesian exploration of the Pacific has been compared to humankind's missions into space, and has led to a unique and vibrant culture for these islanders. So what do these people scattered across 1,000 islands have in common? How did the earliest pioneers survive epic journeys at sea? And what enables sailors to navigate such treacherous waters without any form of writing or physical map-making?  This is a Short History Of Polynesian Exploration. A Noiser production, written by Jo Furniss. With thanks to Dr Christina Thompson, editor of the Harvard Review, and author of the book Sea People, The Puzzle of Polynesia. Get every episode of Short History Of a week early with Noiser+. You'll also get ad-free listening, bonus material, and early access to shows across the Noiser network. Click the Noiser+ banner to get started. Or, if you're on Spotify or Android, go to noiser.com/subscriptions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices