The History of the World Podcast, written and presented by Chris Hasler. Volume 2, The Ancient World.

Episode 28, Indo-Europeans. Oh, If you buy a book see a section devoted to Indo-European peoples.

This is because Indo-Europeans are concept that is not based on archaeological discoveries,

which is completely unlike the stories that we have told about the Mesopotamians,

the Hittites, the Phoenicians, the

Minoans, the Mycenians and the Indus Valley civilization.

Instead, the Indo-European concept is based on the study of languages.

Now this is not to be confused with the study of writing, which was something that we discussed in two earlier

episodes. So it is important to clarify that the study of

writing and the study of language are different. For example, cuneiform was a study of writing and it was used by the Sumerians.

The Acadians spoke a Semitic language that was totally distinct from the Sumerian language.

However, the Acadians would adopt the cuneiform writing style

when they discovered it.

So although writing and language are linked, their histories are distinct.

Let's go to the timeline of history that we have been exploring during this volume of the podcast. If we look particularly at the episode regarding

the Phoenicians, the Mediterranean seafaring traders, then we discussed a world where the Greeks had begun to re-emerge in civilised societies

following the demise of the Mycenaeans many centuries previous.

We also saw the beginnings of the Roman Republic on the Italian Peninsula

when we talked of their rivals the Carthaginians during the same episode.

The Latins of the Italian Peninsula and the Greeks of the Balkan

Peninsula had strong trade links with each other along with the trade of goods

would have been the trade of words. In linguistics

...