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Fall of Civilizations Podcast

@fallofcivilizations.com
7.7K followers 293 following 277 posts

A history podcast by @PaulMMCooper.com looking at a different collapsed society each episode. fallofcivilizationspodcast.com

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Jonathan Last @johnnythin.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
For #TombTuesday here's the Roman gravestone of a 12-year-old boy named Septentrionis ('northerner'), presumably a slave, who had danced well for two days in the theatre at Antibes (biduo saltavit et placuit). The original is in the local museum and there's a reproduction on a wall in the town.
Gravestone in the Archaeological Museum of Antibes, with the epitaph:
"DM
PVERISEPTENTRI
ONISANNORXIIQVI
ANTIPOLIINTHEATRO
BIDVOSALTAVITETPLA
CVIT"
The epitaph is set in a semicircle surmounted by seven ?cypress trees, above a vase with a cross-hatched body from which two leafy branches emerge.A replica of the gravestone on the wall of a building in the old town of Antibes
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jessstilllife.bsky.social @jessstilllife.bsky.social · 14h
I guilt tripped my daughter across 3,500 miles to 📸 this so I’d better post it! Afrasiyab, the ancient original site of Samarkand, occupied from 600 BCE until the Mongol invasion #HillfortsWednesday
A ridge of desert rock with crumbling evidence of stone construction of walls and buildings
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andrew phillips @herfst.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Chameleon, from the Greek χαμαί ‘on the earth’ and λέων ‘lion’, was calqued from Akkadian nēš(u ša) qaqqari lit. ‘lion of the ground’, a figure attested in the Epic of Gilgamesh (line 314 ᴜʀ.ᴍᴀʜ šá qaq‐qa‐ri). The term is paralleled in lexical tablets from Ebla (ca. 2300 BCE) as na‐iš qar‐qá‐rí‐m.
Neo-Assyrian cuneiform clay tablet with a portion of the Epic of Gilgamesh, heavily fragmented.Line art of cuneiform tablet. The term ‘lion of the ground’ is highlighted.
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Henry Stenhouse @hensten.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Listen to me and others far more talented in this ep! My parents told me afterwards that I had visited the Raffles hotel in Singapore as a child, so clearly it was meant to be
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Fall of Civilizations Podcast @fallofcivilizations.com · 26/09/2026
The video for Episode 21 is now available for everyone!
youtu.be
21. Majapahit - Empire of the Islands
YouTube video by Fall of Civilizations
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John Flournoy @johnflournoy.science · 23/09/2026
I've been listening to a lot of @fallofcivilizations.com and it's so so good. Went looking for a map overlay of the Aztec empire on modern Mexico and was surprised and delighted to find this AMAZING 3d reconstruction of Tenochtitlan tenochtitlan.thomaskole.nl
tenochtitlan.thomaskole.nl
a portrait of Tenochtitlan
a 3D reconstruction of the capital of the Aztec Empire
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Jennifer Raff @jenniferraff.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Oh hey I have a new paper out with my amazing co-authors 😃
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Kristina Killgrove @killgrove.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
The newly discovered cuneiform tablet fragment contains text from a section of the Treaty of Kadesh related to the treatment of Hittite and Egyptian refugees in the Bronze Age (circa 1269 BC). 🧪🏺
livescience.com
'We have found traces of peace, thousands of years old': Fragment of world's oldest known peace treaty found in Turkey
Archaeologists excavating in the ancient Hittite capital of Hattusha have uncovered a fragment of the world's oldest peace treaty, signed around 1269 B.C.
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Fall of Civilizations Podcast @fallofcivilizations.com · 19/09/2026
Episode 21 is out now for subscribers!
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Niels @pinkusfloydus.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Couldn't leave out this one , arrived with the mail today @fallofcivilizations.com , really enjoy his audio and video podcasts , wonder If I also enjoy mister Paul Cooper his History Books :-)
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Mateusz Fafinski @calthalas.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
"In some places Rome does not fall at all. In others, such as Italy, there are multiple, sometimes repeated farewell parties, where the guests do not want to leave and the host does not switch the music off." How do we think about the Fall of Rome today? www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
cambridge.org
Towards and beyond the ‘Fall’: rethinking Rome’s end | The Journal of Roman Studies | Cambridge Core
Towards and beyond the ‘Fall’: rethinking Rome’s end
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Patrick Wyman @patrickwyman.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
I've spent a lot of years studying a lot of collapses, and the truth of the matter is that they're always mundane: mild climatic shifts that reduce crop yields, a dumbass in power who makes some terrible decisions, neglecting things that obviously matter but the will to fix them can't be summoned.
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Fall of Civilizations Podcast @fallofcivilizations.com · 17/09/2026
The video version of Episode 21 is coming for Patreon subscribers on Saturday! This part of the world really has to be seen to be believed. With original reenactments and some of the best drone photography I've ever seen, find out how the Majapahit Empire of Indonesia rose and fell...
patreon.com
Episode 21 is coming soon to video! | Fall of Civilizations Podcast
I'm really excited to announce the release of the video version for Episode 21 on the Majapahit Empire and the history of Java. This has bee
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Rachel Cordasco @rachelcordasco.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Look what I found at the bookstore!! The @fallofcivilizations.com book! 😍
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KL Wooderson. @communi-kate.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
I always find @fallofcivilizations.com episodes great for story inspiration. This episode, filled with elephant generals, shadow puppets, Raffles, Chinese shipyards, doctor assassins and volcano gods, gave me two flash fiction ideas and a novel. #writing #writesky #inspiration
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Fall of Civilizations Podcast @fallofcivilizations.com · 28/08/2026
If you're in the US you can now get the Fall of Civilizations book in paperback! LINKS: - Bookshop (support independent bookstores): bookshop.org/p/books/fall... – HarperCollins: www.harpercollins.com/products/fal... – Amazon: a.co/0ieHcTfy – Barnes & Noble: www.barnesandnoble.com/w/fall-of-ci...
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Rachel Cordasco @rachelcordasco.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
This excellent episode has inspired me to spotlight Indonesian #SFinTranslation in the November issue of Small Planet: the SF in Translation Magazine.
sfintranslation.com
Small Planet: The SFT Magazine – Speculative Fiction in Translation
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Damon Young @damonyoung.com.au · 24/08/2026
I don’t see much good news nowadays, but this discovery has me *grinning*. An Egyptian mummy was found with THE ILIAD on its abdomen. Not some religious scripture, but Homer’s epic poem. It dates from from Egypt’s Roman period, so roughly sixteen centuries ago.
cnn.com
Egyptian mummy unearthed with literary text on abdomen in first ever find | CNN
Archaeologists working at the ancient city of Oxyrhynchus in Egypt have unearthed a mummy with a passage from Homer’s “Iliad” stuck to its abdomen, in a first-of-its-kind discovery.
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Pike Spector (he/him) @baronvonurchin.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
I highly recommend listening to @paulmmcooper.com’s @fallofcivilizations.com episode on Rapa Nui - Episode 6 Where Giants Walked This episode seriously challenges ideas and conclusions deeply rooted in colonizer and imperial mindsets that are, fundamentally, quite racist and unsupported
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Scientific American @sciam.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
For decades, an influential theory blamed the Rapanui for their own downfall—a story made famous by Jared Diamond’s book "Collapse." New evidence tells a different tale.
scientificamerican.com
What really happened on Easter Island?
For decades, an influential theory blamed the Rapanui for their own downfall—a story made famous by Jared Diamond’s book Collapse. New evidence tells a different tale
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Fall of Civilizations Podcast @fallofcivilizations.com · 15/08/2026
Saw that someone on Etsy is doing fancy leatherbound editions of the Fall of Civilizations book. Very cool! www.etsy.com/uk/listing/4...
etsy.com
Fall of Civilizations by Paul Cooper Rebound Leather Edition - Etsy UK
This Book Sets & Collections item by vellichorbindings has 8 favourites from Etsy shoppers. Dispatched from India. Listed on 21 Jul, 2026
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Fall of Civilizations Podcast @fallofcivilizations.com · 13/08/2026
Saw on Reddit this guy has started doing dub remixes of Fall of Civs readings... jamesreeves.bandcamp.com/album/crocod...
jamesreeves.bandcamp.com
Crocodile Eye, by James A. Reeves
2 track album
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Frida @fridajv.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
Finally listened to this episode today and felt like pacing around my apartment afterwards. Every single episode of this podcast is SO GOOD and makes me once again want to quit everything else I do so I have time to read more history books.
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Tostoini @tostoini.it · 04/08/2026
Is it really summer if you're not listening for *hours* to @paulmmcooper.com during a long drive to a place to walk, swim or just stare at animals & plants doing their thing, cooking, pausing the podcast in ten minutes intervals to discuss what you're discovering about the world? I DON'T THINK SO.
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Fall of Civilizations Podcast @fallofcivilizations.com · 01/08/2026
Some photos of our recent film shoot in Indonesia for our video for Episode 21, on the Empire of Majapahit. Really excited to share the results with you all when it's done! All reenactment footage we use is 100% real, with human actors and costumes, and always will be!
Photo of our film shoot in Indonesia. A camera looking at some men in costume.Photo of our film shoot in Indonesia. Some royal women and a queen walk down the stairs.Photo of our film shoot in Indonesia. Two men in Javanese costume stand in front of a far-off temple.Photo of our film shoot in Indonesia. The people are in traditional costumes and are holding a banner saying "Fall of Civilizations from Indonesia".
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Valerie @sparklinghobbit.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Yet another masterpiece (I have heard it on Patreon already). But hearing it once is never enough.
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Ken Childs @thekenchilds.com · 31/07/2026
HELL YEAH GANG!
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Fall of Civilizations Podcast @fallofcivilizations.com · 31/07/2026
🏝️🌋 Episode 21 is now live! 🌋🏝️ This time we look at the Majapahit Empire on the island of Java. With traditional music, shadow puppet performances, and readings in Old Javanese, find out how the empire of the islands fell. YouTube: youtu.be/01CZBhZM430?... Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/3xZ9...
Sunset at the temple of Borobudur in Java.
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Paul Cooper @paulmmcooper.com · 29/07/2026
Having got an advanced copy of this, I can say it is very good.
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Henry Stenhouse @hensten.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Very happy to say that I once again contributed some VO readings for this episode of Fall of Civilizations, and they had me *very* excited to listen to the full thing. This'll do perfectly for a long drive next weekend!
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Fall of Civilizations Podcast @fallofcivilizations.com · 27/07/2026
Episode 21 is now live for subscribers! This time we look at the Majapahit Empire which arose in the 13th century on the island of Java. With the haunting sounds of traditional gamelan music, shadow puppet performances, and readings in Old Javanese, find out how the empire of the islands fell.
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Fall of Civilizations Podcast @fallofcivilizations.com · 27/07/2026
Coming later today... Fall of Civilizations Episode 21, available for Patreon subscribers!
patreon.com
Episode 21 is out now for subscribers! | Fall of Civilizations Podcast
Episode 21 is out now for subscribers! by Fall of Civilizations Podcast on Patreon. Join Fall of Civilizations Podcast's community for exclusive content and updates.
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yaoi gagarin @mel.bzky.team · 22/07/2026
the emotional crux of the illiad is a broken old man begging the man who killed his son to let him bury the body. the odyssey is more than anything about a mans failure to really come home after war, despite the fact he won
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yaoi gagarin @mel.bzky.team · 22/07/2026
the illiad/odyssey are great because theyre history's first piece of anti-war art twisted by idiots into an uncritical endorsement of war
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Fall of Civilizations Podcast @fallofcivilizations.com · 15/07/2026
Been doing some filming today for Fall of Civilizations Episode 21! Can you guess? 😬
The sun rises over a mysterious location...A camera shooting some people out of focus on the background. But where is it??
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Fall of Civilizations Podcast @fallofcivilizations.com · 14/07/2026
Just finished recording for Fall of Civilizations Episode 21! Can't wait to get editing on this one.
I am sitting at my desk with my microphone.
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horror Ewacui @ewacat.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
oh this is awesome www.science.org/content/arti...
science.org
Scrawled signature names a Maya astronomer for the first time
The autograph accompanies formulas devised to sync calendars with planetary movement
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Paul Cooper @paulmmcooper.com · 24/06/2026
I chatted to Tim Hartford at BBC Sounds about how civilizations die... share.google/I1xKTpBIatb4...
share.google
Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford - How Civilizations Die - with Paul Cooper - BBC Sounds
Tim is joined by Paul Cooperto explore why the Han dynasty and the Roman Empire collapsed
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Following Hadrian @followinghadrian.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
#AmphitheatreSaturday - The Amphitheatre of Capua, built in the late 1st century AD, was the second largest after Rome’s Colosseum. Restored under Hadrian and inaugurated by Antoninus Pius in AD 155, it had a decorated façade and a hypogeum for gladiators, animals, and machinery.
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Dr Toby Driver @drtobydriver.bsky.social · 07/06/2026
Saw a Roman aqueduct today..was quite impressed 😮😉 The astonishing C1st AD Pont du Gard in Provence, built to provide Roman Nimes with water as part of a 30 mile network. No mortar used - and still standing 1900 years later Incredible engineering 📷 My own, today
A view of a 3 tier Roman aqueduct over a river
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elia ayoub @ayoub.bsky.social · 12/06/2026
Amazing. Ancient Egyptian versus Modern Egyptian Arabic. Video is in Egyptian Arabic but you'll get the gist of it. Some words haven't changed in 5,000 years. Via www.instagram.com/reel/DYKjGpA...
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Carausius @carausius286.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
This is Minoan clay model of a house. Initially thought to be a child’s toy, it’s now seen as a construction model for a real house. Its architectural motifs are typical for the middle Minoan period when the palace complexes were at their height. 🕰️1,900-1,700 BC 🏛️📷 Heraklion Archaeological Museum
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Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
For #ReliefWednesday a glimpse into everyday life in the Roman Empire: this relief from #Ostia shows a vegetable and flower seller behind a market stall, presenting a carefully arranged display of goods. Dating late 2nd/early 3rd century AD 📷Archaeological Museum Ostia
A stone relief witha  market stall, depicting a person in a draped garment standing behind the stall, surrounded by baskets and bundles of goods. The figure raises one hand in a gesture, while in front and to the sides are carved representations of various vegetables, baskets with flowers. Below the stall, a large rectangular basket with a woven pattern is set between two trestle supports.
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Fall of Civilizations Podcast @fallofcivilizations.com · 25/05/2026
Writing this new Fall of Civs episode has presented the greatest yet number of potential tangents to the narrative. It's taking an iron will to keep this story moving forward without devolving into a Mandelbrot of interesting digressions
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Fall of Civilizations Podcast @fallofcivilizations.com · 25/05/2026
A wonderful and detailed series for those still thinking about Episode 17.
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Sarah E. Bond @sarahebond.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
Since it is National Brother's Day and my son is spending it by taunting his sister about donuts, I will leave you with much more peaceful siblings, namely the Romano-Egyptian tondo of the Two Brothers (Antinoopolis, 117-138 CE). egyptianmuseumcairo.eg/artefacts/po...
Gallery number: 14 – Upper Floor

Period: Roman Period, reign of Hadrian, (c. AD 117–138)

Size: H. 24 cm, W. 38.5 cm

Place of discovery: Middle Egypt, el-Sheikh Abada, (Antinoe)

Material: Wood (unspecified), encaustic, pigment (unspecified)
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Paul Cooper @paulmmcooper.com · 23/05/2026
Amazing video of the construction of the Kusuma Neolithic Hall, a recreation of a 4,500 year old structure found near Stonehenge... More: www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
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Kevin Wilbraham @kpw1453.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
The remains of the Roman fortlet at Kinneil, near Bo’ness on the Antonine Wall - the only example of an Antonine Wall fortlet which is still visible. 📸 My own. #RomanFortThursday #RomanScotland #AntonineWall #Kinneil
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Dr Danny Bate @dannybate.com · 20/05/2026
A lovely ancient etymology is that Akkadian had the word unnedukku for 'letter' (the kind you send), borrowed from Sumerian – not a Sumerian word, but rather a phrase meaning 'may you say to them'. It was a common initial request to a fellow scribe, for them to read out the letter to its recipient.
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Lincoln Michel @thelincoln.bsky.social · 18/05/2026
The world owes the Mongols
Map showing the Mongol empire and spread of dumplings
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