Somewhere between the mythology and the fiction I started writing about the actual ancient world: the first cities, the first alphabet, the empires that collapsed and the ruins nobody can fully explain. Partly research for my books, partly because I cannot stop. These are the history and mystery posts on Urban Epics, grouped so you can read them in order or pick the one question that is bugging you.
The first civilizations
- Who were the Sumerians and what did they invent? A civilization that seems to arrive out of nowhere, fully formed, with writing, cities and law.
- What was life like in ancient Mesopotamia? Canals, markets, temples and the daily life of the place that gave us the first cities.
- What is the oldest written language in the world? The first people who decided to write it down, and what survives.
- How did the Bronze Age lead to urbanization? Bronze plows, surplus grain, and why that turned villages into states.
- Who were the ancient Phoenicians and why are they important? The traders who gave us the alphabet and then mostly vanished from the story.
Empires
- What are the origins of the Achaemenid Persian Empire? Cyrus, Darius and a kingdom that stretched further than anything before it.
- What is the history of Zoroastrianism? One of the oldest organized religions in the world, and the ideas it quietly passed on to the bigger names.
- What caused the fall of the Roman Empire? An invincible machine grinding to a halt, and the theories about why.
- Who was Cleopatra? Strategist, diplomat, and the last ruler of a dynasty that was Greek, not Egyptian.
- Who was Tutankhamun and why is his tomb famous? A minor king made famous by the one tomb the robbers missed.
Ancient mysteries
- What were the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, and did they exist? A tiered paradise in the desert that no Babylonian text mentions.
- What is the mystery of the lost city of Atlantis? Plato’s story, and every theory that has grown on top of it since.
- What is the mystery of the Nazca Lines in Peru? Desert drawings you can only read from the air, made by people who could not fly.
- What happened to the Anasazi civilization? The Ancestral Puebloans built cliff cities and then walked away from them.
The myths these cultures told are on the mythology guides page, and my Emerald Tablet novel is set in Egypt and built on the real alchemical literature.
More on Urban Epics: mermaid lore, scary stories and monsters, YA book lists, writing advice, my books and free chapters.
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