Mankind: The Story of all of Us (Part 2: Iron Men)

Beginning in 2012 (nearly 10 years ago), the History Channel has released this 12-episode docu-series about some of the most famous events of the 2 million years of the existence of our species.

This is Part 2 of this 12 part wiki page series about the docu-series. In this part, we talk about the episode "Iron Men" where it covers the Iron Age, where we have found and invented better tools and weapons made of Iron.

## Iron Men

The episode picks up where the last episode left off, talking about the mighty Egyptian Empire. Then, sometime after Thutmose's conquering of Megiddo, mysterious savages invade Egypt, the docu-series calls them "The Sea People", they were hungry, they were savages, they were murderers who left nothing alive. But their invasion meant the end of Egypt's superpower status, and the supply of copper had also dried up. Which paved a way for a new super metal to take over; Iron.

The episode than takes a bit of a trip to a small island called "Cyprus" which is off the coast of modern day Turkey.

But it's on this island (according to the docu-series) where the Iron Age will begin. Iron is not like Copper where it needed a large amount of tin to work with, it needed rusty rocks and even charcoal (like the stuff you use at your backyard barbecue) so it can melt to gather to create this new metal.

Iron is of abundance on our Earth, in fact our planet's core is made of Iron and the big reason why Earth is surrounded by a magnetic field, without it our earth wouldn't be able to sustain an atmosphere, or liquid water, or to sustain life. But what the Iron Age represented was not just us humans having the ability to create the metal, but use it to improve civilizations, and help us create new societies as we can create better tools as Iron is harder than Copper and can hold an edge better.

But also, invent new weapons of war, as well as new war tactics.

And this is where the episode goes to Greece as the Greek City States are under constant threat from the huge Persian Empire.

One of the City states is Sparta, and with the state's legendary warriors; the Spartans, they were armed with short swords and spears with tips, both were made of iron. They were also highly trained in hand to hand combat as they were trained in the first known martial art; Pankration. They are led by the Spartan general; "Pausanias" and are determined to defend Sparta, but the Persians outnumber them nearly 7 to 1. The Athenians however, are indecisive on what to do, either accept Persia as their new leader, or ally with their common enemy.

So this is where the Athenians came up with a simple voting system, they gathered up all the black and white stones and have men (and the page means \*men\*) pick out a stone and drop them in a big urn. Picking out a black stone means you chose to back down and have Persia take over, a white stone meant you agreed to help out Sparta and fight for freedom. The Athenians in the end agreed to make peace with Sparta, and fight against the Persians.

This is where the episode goes on to talk about Democracy (which is the basis of our nation; The United States) where this particular decision to either "fight or surrender" wasn't made by the leader of Athens, but by it's armed men (again, the page means \*men\*). A voting system that would be used in our modern times.

The episode could be talking about the "Battle of Plataea" which was in 479 BC as the Athenians and the Spartans were outnumbered by the Persians. The Spartans use the "Phalanx" which is forming rigid squares to be basically invincible and to drive in their weapons into their enemies. In the end, the allied Greeks defeated the Persians.

The Athenians commemorate their victory over Persia, the Parthenon. It takes 15 years to build, and becomes the biggest building in what would be known as "The Necropolis"

### The Qin Dynasty

This episode now takes a trip to the Far East, and into modern day China.

This is where one warlord; Qin Shi Huang is determined to unify 7 warring dynasties.

He will do it by using a revolutionary style of weapon; the Crossbow that uses iron arrows. The Chinese Crossbow draws back more than an European Crossbow which allows the arrow to go farther and penetrate more. The Chines crossbow is also like the "AK-47" of it's day, it uses standardized parts which can be fixed or replaced very easily and it doesn't take a big chunk of skill to operate as only 3 men are needed to operate it. With this new technology, and new war tactics, Qin Shi Huang's men have a great advantage over their enemies and quickly conquer the other 6 warring dynasties, and in 221 BC, he created the first unified Empire in China's history.

But that is not to say he did it with a huge heart though as Qin Shi Huang ruled with an iron hand, in fact not only where there as many as 3 attempts to assassinate him, but there was also an insurrection against his newfound power. He was also obsessed with immortality and feared death, he wanted to find what was called the "Elixir of Life" and a magical spring which is said to hold the key to eternal life. Eventually he would fall ill.

His doctors prescribed him with mercury tablets which they believed to hold the key to the Elixir of Life, but what they really did was poisoned his body as Mercury is a toxic metal (it's also the same liquid material used on old fashioned thermometers). Eventually in 210 BC, Qin Shi Huang would die from the poison liquid.

Like the Ancient Egyptians before him, Qin Shi Huang also believed in other people dying with him so he didn't have to journey to the afterlife alone. Going with him were the wives that didn't give him heirs as well as hundreds of craftsmen and scholars to his tomb would remain a secret.

Today, it's no longer a secret. The Terracotta Army consists of 8,000 soldiers, each one of them unique, believed to be modeled on real people.

### First Exploration

The Episode than goes to Tunisia as they now talk about some of the first recorded explorations for discovery.

With the advent of Iron tools, it also allowed to build better ships that are lighter, travel faster and farther. The episode goes back to the 400s BC, but not to Greece, but to the coasts of North Africa where they talk about one of the first recorded explorers; Hanno, from the empire of Carthage. He and his fleet sailed all along the west coast of Africa to discover and even map out more of the world, during his expedition to Africa, he would witness the eruption of Mt. Cameroon.

Another Carthaginian expedition also made a discovery (so the docu-series says) that the ape is our earliest predecessor to us humans.

So yeah, you can say that Darwin didn't make that discovery.

### The Babylonian Exile

The episode now goes to the middle east, and to the Babylonian Empire (sometime in the 500s BC) where people of an organized religion called Jewish people are now beginning to write their script down, a script that would be known as the "Torah" (which would later be the precursor to the Christian Bible).

This is where other organized religions would also rise such as Hindu in India, Buddhism in most of Asia, and even Confucianism in China. The Jewish people wrote the Torah so they can keep a record of their beliefs and even believe in an "Israeli god" in which they call "Yahweh" (pronounced "Ya-way"). But because the Babylonian Empire is under constant threat from outside factions, their delicate writings are also under threat. One man, "Zerubbabel" (a guy who is King Solomon's grandson) persuades them to join him and leave Babylon (the empire's capitol city) so that their writings can survive, though most were reluctant to go since they know Babylon so well, but others were more easily persuaded and follow Zerubbabel back to where it's believed to be King Solomon's home; Jerusalem, a city that will have even more religious history in the future.

Well, that'll do it for this part. In the next part (click here) we will cover the Roman Empire, and how it shaped Mankind for the next half millennia of its existence. Until next time, this is JohnnyOTGS signing out.