David Kalivas is back

It took more than a year and a half for David Kalivas' World History Podcast to be revived - we nearly thought it had podfaded. Five new lectures were added, three of which on Egypt, Mesopotamia and monotheism in a series of connected thoughts. What sets Kalivas apart from other lecturers and history podcasters is the natural ease at which he manages to give a broad overview, yet pick out vital details and maintain a very relaxed, near casual tone of voice.

Egypt and Mesopotamia both emerged as early civilizations. Egypt maintained a stable rule for thousands of years, whereas in Mesopotamia there was a succession of cultures; one conquering the next and so forth. These two river valley civilizations succeed the previous podcast series where the Chinese and Indus Valley Civilizations were described.

From the exchange between Mesopotamia and Egypt we inherited monotheism; the ancient Hebrews stem from Abraham who came out of old Ur and eventually rode to Egypt. Egypt is also the scene of the Exodus. Even though Kalivas does not suggest an actual link, he makes a point at paralleling Akhnaten's attempt to turn the Egyptian cult into a proto-monotheism and Moses implemented monotheism, taking the people out of Egypt, roughly at the same time.