Crash Course on Ancient History - Rise of Egypt and Mesopotamia

Episode 3 of my crash course on Ancient History! In this episode, we dive into history, discussing the formation of Ancient Egypt as a nation-state and the development of cities in Mesopotamia.
Bibliography and Sources
Bob Brier. “History of Ancient Egypt”. The Great Courses. www.thegreatco...
Gerald J. Davis. Gilgamesh: The New Translation.
Lukas de Blois and R.J. Van der Spek. An Introduction to Ancient History, 3rd Edition.
Amanda H. Podany (2022). Weavers, Scribes, and Kings: A New History of the Ancient Near East.
Steven Snape (2021). Ancient Egypt: The Definitive Visual History. www.amazon.com...
Helen Strudwick (editor) (2006). The Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt: An Illustrated Guide.
Marc Van de Mieroop
* A History of the Ancient Near East, ca. 3000 - 323 BCE, Third Edition. (2016)
* A History of Ancient Egypt, Second Edition. (2022).
Richard H. Wilkinson (2003). The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt. www.amazon.com...
Toby Wilkinson
* Tutankhamun’s Trumpet. www.amazon.com...
* Writings from Ancient Egypt. www.amazon.com...
* The Rise and Fall of Ancient Egypt (2010).
World History Encyclopedia. Worldhistory.org.

[@chbumgardner]

Your description of the growth of early written language is fascinating! When looking back at these early writings in Mesopotamia and Egypt, do you see a lot of what could be propaganda? Particularly if writing was really pioneered for the bureaucracies and especially in autocratic Egypt, I wonder how the writings skew our modern day perceptions of these ancient nation-states.

[@AncientHistoryBytesBC]

Oh there is no doubt that they were largely a tool for propaganda but also bureaucracy. We definitely have to take ancient inscriptions of kings’ endeavors with a huge grain of salt because they were always meant to be good PR, rather than historically accurate. But that being said, we don’t have too much to go on, so I think historians and archaeologists usually have to read between the lines to figure out what truly happened.