History Unbound

With the Byzantine Empire along the Mediterranean, and the Sassanid Empire in Persia, the last of the classical empires ruled the world. Then something happened in the desolate peninsula of Arabia that would change the balance of power in the Middle East and the world. An Arab businessman had a vision that would lead to a religion that would swallow up both Persia and the Byzantines, and eventually collect 1.9 billion people. The man was Muhammad and the religion was Islam.

In the last episode, we talked about the fall of the western Roman Empire. But what about the other half? This episode looks at the Byzantine Empire led by two brash young visionaries - Justinian and Theodora. They dream about putting Rome back together again, but can they even protect themselves from the powerful Sassanid Persian Empire?
If so, can they really put the band back together again?

Yes, we're back in Rome, looking at the fall of the western Roman Empire and what happened next. You could also think of this episode as Christianity Part 2, since the Roman Church was gaining power in the 5th century and continued to grow after the fall of Rome. But who took over? Listen and find out!

We are looking at India again in an age of Buddhism and Hinduism living in harmony. Its the Mauryan and Gupta Dynasties and an almost-unified India. But does it last? And what do they accomplish, really? And what does it have to do with Star Wars? Listen to History Unbound and find out!

We're finally back in China. It's after the fall of the Qin Dynasty, and there's a new emperor in town. But unlike the 11-year-long Qin, the Han Dynasty lasted for 400 years. What happened during that time? And what happens when China's most powerful empire meets Europe's? Do the Romans play nice? Listen in and find out.