I'm a young author of a recently released book on world history ("The Great World History Book"), where I went deep into studying unusual characters, such as Indian yogis, medieval alchemists, Greek philsophers, Arabic logicians, Sumerian astronomers and so on. I post the greatest insights from my years of research on my insta page ("stephans.history.of.the.world").
Being a long-lasting bored panda fan, I know you guys are just the audience for these mind-blowing insights. Let's dive right in.
More info: Instagram
The 11th century, Europeans were students of the Arabs
In the Middle Ages, the "barbaric" Europeans did everything they can to learn from the advanced Arabic civilization.
Charlemagne impressed by the advanced Arab engineering
The Great Arabic water pump
Equal in the eyes of God
Early Christians made great strides to secure the equality of all people
Please read this quote by a witness of the Fall of Rome!
The Athenians were way ahead of their time
Self-discipline to the extreme!
The early Christian monks went to great lengths to show their self-discipline in order to dedicate their lives to God
Early study of the mind
The early yogi's on India left us descriptions of their deep study of the mind
Learn from the great sage
The teachings of Indian great sage Uddalaka still get us close to appreciating the ultimate mystery of being alive (I deny reading his texts when on LSD)
Alexander versus Indian monks
Alexander the Great reached all the way to India, where he met yogis.
Conclusion: the yogi's were not impressed
The Great Flood
An earlier version of Noah's story was found on cuneiform tablets
The Ouroboros
Originally an Egyptian symbol, the Ouroboros became the prime symbol for the medieval alchemist's quest for gold
The elixer of immortality
The most famous emperor of China was obsessed with immortality
The elixir, part 2
He even build a massive fleet to search for the legendary potion.
Earth is not flat
Plato and Aristotle already knew the earth was a globe. Aristotle even gave various observational proofs
Venus observations on clay
The first civilization (the Sumerian Civilization) produced the first great astronomers.
The Sumerians even discovered five planets!
Even the plague taught humanity something important
Columbus wasn't the first European to discover America
The terrifying Viking dragonships
The Vikings—on their famous dragonship—terrorized Europe starting in the 8th century. They even managed to take over England
Clashes between Vikings and Native Americans
The encounters between Vikings and Native Americans are documented in the medieval document called "The Sage of the Greenlanders"
Enlightenment!
Zen stories seek to turn us to an uncomplicated experience of life
A wise lesson from a zen-master
One way to uncomplicate life is to not be controlled by your thoughts
Arabian translation movement
While Europe had squandered the wisdom of Greece, the Arab went to great extends to safeguard it
Luckily, today's virus is not as bad as the plague
A vision of the underworld from the Sumerians
Such a horrifying nightmare!
The first YIN-YANG
The second circle (from the 11th century) was the first version of the famous yin-yang symbol
The discovery of "zero"
Somehow, the Greeks never figured out how to use the zero in calculations. The idea was developed in 6th century India
First person account of the slave trade
Olaudah description of his experience of a slave ship helped the British public turn against slavery (some parts of his story have cast doubt on the veracity of his story, but it was influential nevertheless)
The Wrath of Achilles
When Agamemnon stole Achilles slave-wife, Achilles abandoned his companions on the battlefield and withdrew in his tent in anger
I'm sorry, but the Aladdin story was a forgery
Aladdin was not in the original medieval Arabian Nights. It was a forgery from around 1700
Also, this!
People often don't believe me when I say this, but it is stated in the very first sentence of the story