Disclaimer

I am using an automatic transcript service as it is not possible for me to do it on my own and I cannot afford human transcription at the moment. The service claims to have about 95% accuracy, which means there will still be some mistakes, so my apologies for having a less than perfect transcript, but I hope I can afford human transcription soon and I will solve this problem. However, the service is pretty good, and the transcript is almost perfect.

Transcript

Welcome to the second episode of our series. 100 events that changed the world. In our first episode, we talked about the first 10 events that changed the history of the world. Today. We’re going to continue and talk about the next 10 events. We will start by talking about the first civilization in Mesoamerica.

[00:00:26] We will talk about the emergence of Greek culture. We will talk about the first use of coins. We will talk about the canonization of the Torah. We will talk about the tiger of chin that unified China. We will talk about the invention of concrete and how this revolutionized engineering. We will talk about connecting the East and West along the silk road, we will talk about the birth of the Roman empire.

[00:00:51] We will talk about the foundation of Christianity and our final event for this episode is going to be the building of the white horse temple and the spread of Buddhism. So without further ado, let’s start talking about our second episode in the series and talk about 10 more events that changed the history of the world.

[00:01:10] Now, let’s start talking about the 11th event. And that is the first civilization in Mesoamerica. That is about 1200 BC as of 1200 BC, the Western hemispheres first civilization, the Olmec society had formed as villages on the banks of rivers near present day, Vera Cruz called Olmec or dwellers in the land of rubber, due to the abundance of rubber trees in the area.

[00:01:38] They were dependent on corn, the ample corn harvest from the area supported all Mac merchants, artisans, and rulers planting and seasonal activities were governed by an Olmec calendar based on lunar months. When not tolling in the fields, peasants, erected monuments, and public projects in ceremonial complexes, which served as the center of the civilization.

[00:02:05] The complex has featured earthen pyramids, wall Plaza, stone, temples, and bowl courts for games and ritual significance. They also sculpted enormous stern faced heads thought to represent all my cruisers scribes kept track of events using pictographs called glyphs, the first known alphabet in the Americas, and yet to be deciphered, the Olmec civilization regarded as mezzo America’s root culture ended around 400 BC.

[00:02:35] But it’s technical and intellectual achievements, as well as manufactured goods were exported via extensive trade networks. The Omak influenced people throughout the region, especially the Maya who during the classic period, which was between 250 and 980 drew heavily from Olmec culture. And for millennia afterward.

[00:02:59] And now let’s talk about the 12th event that changed the history of the world. And that is the emergence of the Greek culture. Now that happened about 750 BC Homer, a blind poet who lived around 750 BC created the greatest epics of ancient Greek literature. The Iliad and Odyssey passed down orally for generations.

[00:03:20] His stories were among the first Greek works to be written down. The story of RDCs Homer’s hero is an account of the Trojan Wars, which in Greek mythology were said to have been caused by a spat between goddesses, Athena, Hara, and Aphrodite in their pages. These epics recount heroic deeds and tragic events, but they also explore moral, ethical and psychological themes with remarkable subtlety.

[00:03:47] They record a way of life, not far removed from that of Greek society in Homer’s time, the Elliot, an Odyssey influenced much of Greek culture, including its literature education and an era of enormous creativity around 480 BC in Athens. Sophocles  and Aristo fan is pen plays that often commented on the contemporary political situation while exploring themes of power, love, and betrayal, the work of philosophers, Socrates, and Plato and historian.

[00:04:21] Two cities elucidated the ideas and events of Greek civilization and democracy. This era coincided with the rise of democracy. This new form of government in which citizens elect their leaders is without a doubt, the Greeks greatest legacy and an influence upon the founding fathers and the United States constitution.

[00:04:42] And now let’s talk about the 13th event that changed the history of the world. And that is the first use of coins that happened around 650 BC. Around 650 BC. The first coinage was struck by the kingdom of Lydia located in Western Anatolia, along the  river, where gold was plentiful. Metal currencies in the form of gold bars, copper ingots, lumps of bronze, and even small farming implements had existed in parts of the globe for millennia, but the Lydians were the first to stamp their small bean shaped pieces of gold and silver alloy known as Electrum with an insignia of their issuing authority, this guaranteed them an established value, making them the world’s first true coins.

[00:05:30] The Lydians trading partners, the Greeks quickly recognize the advantages of this practice. By the end of the sixth century BC, they were minting silver coins in colonies throughout the Mediterranean, except for Sparta where owning silver or gold was unlawful Persia, India, and China soon followed suit establishing precious metals as the accepted measure of value across Eurasia.

[00:05:55] After coins were brought to Rome around 347, BC banks started to replace stores in the forum or public marketplace. Early coins made of precious metals had actual value and were often re-issued when a new leader came into power. In order to bear his image. By contrast, today’s coins are no longer manufactured from gold or silver and some like the American penny cost more to produce them.

[00:06:21] They are worth. But the use of coins and currency undoubtedly changed the way the world goes. And now for the 14th event, that changed the history of the world. And that is the canonization of the Torah that happened around 444 BC. The core belief of Judaism are found in the laws that were revealed to the prophet Moses on Mount Sinai.

[00:06:42] The belief in one God who controls history and guarantees that virtue is rewarded and wickedness is punished, established Judaism as a monotheistic religion and separated it from the polytheistic religions of the ancient world. Scholars and believers dispute, whether Moses himself or later writers recorded the Jewish law into the first five books of the Hebrew Bible known as the Torah, but after six centuries of written compiled nations and several more of oral traditions at temple scribe named Israel was given the authority in 444 BC to proclaim the Torah, the official law of Judah, a vassal state of the Ackman at empire, the first Persian empire.

[00:07:27] In the centuries before Israel’s proclamation, the Israel lights as the Hebrews came to be known, suffered military defeats and forced diasporas and enslavement. Throughout, they maintained a sense of faith and community in large part due to the teachings of Moses and a series of later prophets whose teachings appear in later parts of the Hebrew Bible, the canonization of the Torah began centuries of interpretation and re-interpretation of every word it contained.

[00:07:57] It would go on to profoundly influenced the morals and values of countless Jews, Christians and Muslims alike. And now for our 15th event, and that is the tiger of Chen unifies China. That happened in two 21 BC, the first emperor of a United China change.  who lived between two 59 to two 10 BC did far more than provide his name to his country.

[00:08:22] After assuming the throne of the state of chin in two 46 BC at the age of 13, the young King led his armies to defeat or rival States and unify them into China’s first empire. His ferocity gained him the nickname tiger of chin. He said the work rearranging the political and social structure with a King as its center.

[00:08:45] He organized the army codafide law established standards for weights measures, a system of writing and coinage and built new roads, canals, and irrigation systems throughout the empire, including consolidating and enlarging a series of walls into what we now call the great wall of China. However chin was viewed as a tyrannical, desperate by the succeeding Han dynasty, which rejected what they saw as his illegitimate wielding of power.

[00:09:14] Ironically, they still ruled through Chin’s centralized political institutions, but legitimize their power by establishing a bureaucracy of officials modeled on Confucian notions of service to a ruler with a mandate of heaven. Tyrannical or not the tiger of chins successfully centralized power expanded territory and unified China.

[00:09:36] Thousands of years later, China is still a global economic powerhouse and the most populous nation in the world. And now for the 16th event, that changed the history of the world. And that is the invention of concrete, which revolutionized engineering that happened in 200 BC. The Roman development of concrete around 200 BC revolutionized civil engineering by lowering costs of construction and allowing forms, not strictly dependent on the limitations of quarried stone made out of a mixture of volcanic Ash, lime, rubble, and water.

[00:10:12] The concrete had a pliable nature that allowed curved architectural forms such as the volt and dome characteristic of many Roman buildings, including the Colosseum and the Pantheon. These buildings reflected the Romans belief in the importance of taking part in civic life from public spectacles to religious festivals, the waterproof quality of concrete made it essential in other feats of engineering, such as the aqueducts bridges, harbors, and bath houses of the Roman world.

[00:10:42] The engineers of the empires aqueducts used rounded arches to distribute the weight and gravity and carry the water into cities where Leadpipes funneled it into fountains and public baths. Concrete was also employed in the empire paved roads with spent 50,000 miles around the Mediterranean. The via Appia Rome’s first road eventually stretched from Rome to the port city of dizzy, many buildings, aqueducts, and parts of the via Appia are still visible throughout what was once the Roman empire at Testament to the genius of Roman concrete and engineering.

[00:11:20] And talking about roads. We cannot overlook the importance of the silk road, and that is the 17th event that changed the history of the world that is connecting East to West along the silk road. That also happened in 200 BC at the fable silk road, a network of footpaths and caravan trails across rugged mountains and barren land stretched from China to India and the Mediterranean as early as the second century, BC.

[00:11:46] It was important in development of Eurasian culture in about one 38 BC Chinese emperor. Wooty faced a dilemma that has plagued China through much of its history, being graded by peoples from the North and West. This time, it was a nomadic people called young new  in a palace attendant as an invoice to make an Alliance with another group, the UGI who disliked the young new, because the nomads had killed the UGS King.

[00:12:16] The trip was not a diplomatic success. Jen was captured by the young, new and imprisoned for a decade. When he escaped, he made his way to Bactria Northwest of India, where the new UGI King was not interested in an Alliance. But what Chen did bring back was valuable information about the lens West of China.

[00:12:36] For instance, spotting Chinese goods for sale in bacteria. He learned they had traveled there via bingo. Clearly Overland trade with the West was possible. Emperor Han will T use this knowledge to set up trade routes, which grew over time into the immense network of East West caravan passages known as the silk road, far more than silk traveled on the road.

[00:13:01] But the precious fabric was an important Chinese commodity silk spread from China to India, where it became highly prized as it also did when it spread to Persia, Mesopotamia, and the Roman empire. East Asian traders brought spices, including cinnamon closed, not Meg and ginger to the West, where they were used as flavorings, drugs, perfumes, and aphrodisiacs, India traded pepper, pearls, Sesame oil textiles, coral and ivory along the road.

[00:13:31] Central Asian nations sent horses and Jade back China while Mediterranean merchants traded wool gold, silver gems, glassware, olive oil and wine. Religious, including Buddhism, Christianity and Islam also traveled these roots. Many Indian merchants were Buddhists and spread their religion to the cities they visited, including SummerCon.

[00:13:53] And Bahara in modern Uzbekistan. And cascara in China beginning in the first or second century Christian missionaries, including the apostle Paul disseminated the gospel through the near East and North Africa via the route. Later starting in the seventh century, Ady Arab Muslims traveled to China along the silk road to spread Islam.

[00:14:14] Along with goods and religions, smallpox, measles, and bubonic plague also proliferated along the route. Both Han China and Augustine Rome were stricken by epidemics in the second and third centuries. Smallpox in particular killed millions of Romans during the plague of, and tonight in 165 to 188 D. The exchange continued well into the 14th century.

[00:14:39] Looking back, it is clear. The silk road was the first example of globalization. And now for the 18th event, that changed the history of the world. And that is when the Roman empire is born becoming Augustus. That happened in 27 BC guys, Octavius was the great nephew of Julius Caesar and his adopted son and personal air claiming his inheritance was a 13 year old deal involving civil Wars and sticky alliances.

[00:15:09] But in 27, BC, the Roman Senate bestowed Octavius, the name Augustus, meaning revered personage, known as Caesar Augustus. He spent the next four decades sculpting the role of the Roman emperor. Adding powers and reforming the constitution until he became ineffective. A dictator Augustus was the first in a long line of Roman emperors.

[00:15:32] During 45 years of unopposed rule, he overhauled the workings of Roman government reorganize. The military installed a fire brigade and a police force in the city of Rome and expanded the boundary of the Roman empire to include much of Europe, North Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean. Augustus ushered in the PAX Romana or Roman peace, an era characterized by increased law trade communication and relative prosperity, which she used to commission monuments, public buildings, temples and roads throughout the empire.

[00:16:06] The Roman empire was the first super power stretching from Europe and Africa to Asia and the middle East, the empire, his ability to assimilate so many cultures into its own was an essential part of its success. And its legacy is part of cultures, the world over, including our own. And now for the 19th event that changed the history of the world.

[00:16:26] And that is the ministry of Jesus, the foundation of Christianity. And that happened circa 29, 80. The Jewish preacher, Jesus of Nazareth began his public ministry in the Roman province of Palestine around 29. Ady Palestine was rife with tensions between Gentiles and Jews, Roman overlords and subjects, and among various sects of Judaism itself.

[00:16:50] Though a man of peace, Jesus gathered large crowds with his preaching and Roman governors and Jewish priests viewed anyone capable of attracting such crowds as politically dangerous. Jesus was never charged with any serious legal offense in his native region of Galilea. But when he entered Jerusalem to observe Passover and was greeted by a mass of admirers, even his message of compassion became a potent of conflict.

[00:17:18] He was crucified as an agitator by Roman authorities around 38. The first followers of Jesus were Jews. His message of salvation that anyone who believed in his teachings of love, forgiveness and universal brotherhood would be granted universal life also had considerable appeal to pagans in Syria and Asia minor.

[00:17:40] His message spread throughout the Roman empire and into Iran and Mesopotamia believers like soul of Tarsus later called Paul traveled far spreading Jesus’ teachings. These teachings are the basis of Christianity and have survived in the new Testament as some of the most powerful cultural and political forces in history.

[00:18:01] And now for our final event for today for this episode, that is the 20th event that changed the history of the world. That is when the white horse temple was built and Buddhism spreads. That was about 68. Ady Buddhism had been gaining in popularity since the Buddha Siddhartha Gautama founded it in Northern India in the sixth century, BC.

[00:18:22] Set to be born into a prominent family, Siddhartha renounced his wealth and lived as an ascetic. Wondering for six years, it was while sitting under a Bodhi tree for 49 days that he became the Buddha or Enlighted one through meditation. He determined that suffering stemmed from desire. And the way to avoid desire was through the four noble truths and the noble eightfold path.

[00:18:47] These doctrines or Dharma promulgated the middle way that a moderate reflective, disciplined lifestyle would eventually lead to detachment from material desires, liberation from the cycle of rebirth and attainment of spiritual enlightenment or Nirvana. Han emperor. Mingy an early Buddhist erected. The first Buddhist temple in China in 68 called the white horse temple nine miles East of the city of Lujan.

[00:19:15] It is likely that at first only foreign merchants and missionaries use the temple since Confucianism was the primary mode of thought in China. At the time, these foreigners, however, were permitted to live and preach from enclaves in several cities. And the number of Buddhist converts gradually grew today.

[00:19:34] There are an estimated 350 million Buddhists around the world. Now with that event, these will be the 10 events that I wanted to share with you today. We have talked about 20 events so far in our first and second episode, but we still have 80 events to go. So don’t go away, stick around and we will continue in the series talking about 10 events in every episode.

[00:19:57] And in episode three, we will talk about 10 more events that changed the history of the world. Don’t forget that you can find the transcript and a lot of extra materials and other things you can use to improve your English and to learn about different subjects on our website, English bus, podcast.com.

[00:20:12] You can find the link in the description of the episode, take the link and take your English and knowledge with it to the next level. With that being said, this is your host. Any, thank you very much for listening to another episode from English. Plus I will see you next time.