Working on one. Here’s a short intro:

https://youtu.be/HV-BTj1VfpI

Book not written but here’s a start: https://youtu.be/HV-BTj1VfpI

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I've recently finished reading Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling by Ross King. It tells the story of how the famous Renaissance artist was commissioned to create the stunning frescos on the Sistine Chapel. It provides a detailed account of the creatioin of this masterpiece, including all the fairly mundane aspects involved in creating such art. Ross King balances the character of Michelangelo with that of Raphael, who was also active in Rome at the same time as the ceiling was being frescoed. Raphael is an excellent contrast to the somewhat cantankerous Michelangelo. And the third principal in this story is Pope Julius II, who commissioned both of them, and is off warring across Italy for most of the story.

It's a well told tale. King is a excellent teller of Renaissance histories - I cannot recommend enough his Bookseller of Florence. He's also done a couple of other set pieces based around Renaissnace creations - one on Brunelleschi's Dome in Florence, and another on Leonardo's Last Supper. All are to be recommended.

(As as aside, I also read his novel Ex Libris, which is a bibliomystery set in the early days of the 17th century in Europe - sadly, whilst the first half of this is entertaining, it fades a bit towards the end...)

This is way too recent, basically covering the silk roads and emerging "Indies Companies" rather than Ancient Egypt and their contemporaries. Is there any documentary about ancient trade networks?

Egypt was as ancient to the Roman Empire as the Roman Empire is to us

NYC pastrami….oh the memories of eating in bed and having sex with what’s her name

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Since 1400 BCE or CE?

Wrong! Mummies had their pores exfoliated by some sort of advanced power tools. Clearly either aliens or some hyper advanced human civilization ten thousand years ago made all mummies, NOT ancient humans. Mainstream archaeodermatology is LYING to you! ^^^^^^^^^^^^/s

The Deadwood movie isn't great but it ties things up I suppose.

I get why they did it, but I really didn't like the flash backs in the movie. Especially having just watched the show but I recognize they had a huge gap in time. I still think most viewers would have rewatched for a refresher instead of trying to force a movie that could stand on its own.

I’ll check it out, thanks!

Check out the Great Courses series called "The Economic History of the World Since 1400" or something along those lines. It is INCREDIBLE. It's on Prime if you've got it.

It's definitely a broad overview because you can only fit so much in a course, but dang, is it ever useful. It's great context for where we are and how we got here.

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Cleopatra was a potolemy not an actual ancient Egyptian.

First mummified egyptians occurred in 3500 BCE.

Rome and Deadwood were Sopranos hangover victims at HBO. Expensive to produce but didn't bring in the subscribers like Tony and co did

At least Deadwood got a finale movie of sorts

to preserve the body longer so the afterlife is a better experience. your inside have a lot more bacteria than your outsides do. those bacteria rot and bloat your corpse etc etc. so, removal of most of the bacterial load, and further mummification keeps the exterior flesh from rotting away. That's why we can still find the preserve remains.

You thought you already knew it, not we thought we already knew it.

I really liked it. It came out before had the funds to do epic stories justice. As a result the creators had to jam what was going to be multiple seasons into the final season and speed run the rise Octavius.

The cast is great and I really like how the focal point of the story wasn’t just the “great men” ( Caesar, Pompey, Octavius, Cicero). They use Mckidd’s character to view Rome and the events of the time period through multiple lenses which I really enjoyed.

I wish they could have had the full run but it’s good as-is.

Maybe? Like I said, the "Formal" definition of civilization, which is a fairly specific and biased towards western style civilizations; we know virtually nothing of a civilization if it left behind no relics.

Almost any place where human lives will leave behind some traces though, even if at first they are not obvious. Things like pottery last forever; bone fragments and tools are almost ubiquitous. And of course, the hallmark of homo sapiens vs. pre-modern hominins, art. Beads, figurines, musical instruments, and drawings/carvings.

Though there do exist some cases where we have identified ancient human presence due to a lack of something being there; remains of wooden post-holes in neolithic sites at europe suggested wooden henges and large buildings. In stone-age China, we find remarkably few stone tools. It is believed that this is because they were using bamboo instead, which was easier to obtain and to work. But also left behind little in the way of evidence.

Got it on my list to watch, any good?

Have you seen the HBO series Rome?

Well, one of the first civilizations thats recent enough to still have relics left standing. There must have been plenty of prehistoric civilizations who used much more temporary materials like wood for most of their structures and they left little to nothing to show for their great achievements.

I very enjoyed an Australian acedemic R.J.B. Bosworth, he has a book called "Mussolini's Italy" besides a biography of IL Duce , unlike many acedemics is a good read.

"Can you believe those barbarians used SOAP AND HOT WATER instead of a biofilter in the transporter?"

• some smug 24th century person