Homo complexus

By Richard Likes History

Here to make every listener realise that human history and our interaction with the natural world around us is the strangest, most fascinating story of all. Still go and read fiction though.... more

· History

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FAQs about Homo complexus:

How many episodes does Homo complexus have?

The podcast currently has 20 episodes available.

Homo complexus episodes:

June 12, 2026 17 | Origins of Noah's Ark
Spoiler Alert: the Ark is from Iraq (love how that rhymes).

YouTube link for this episode: https://youtu.be/TU2QiCFzykA

If you would like to get in touch:
Email: [email protected]
X: @Skerkwagga1939
Instagram: @richardlikeshistory
Produced by Richard Marais

(0:00) 3,600 years of flood myths
(2:27) Sîn-lēqi-unninni
(3:34) The Atrahasis: Babylon's flood myth
(6:39) Sîn-lēqi-unninni: Iraq's Homer
(8:01) The Epic of Gilgamesh
(15:00) Ashurbanipal of Nineveh
(19:26) Old Persian helps decipher cuneiform
(24:51) The Rigveda of Hinduism
...more
27min
June 12, 2026 16 | Enheduanna: humanity's first author
We should all know that humanity's oldest author was the formidable high priestess of Ur, who lived 4,300 years ago.

YouTube link for this episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OzVvk73X1iI
Speaking of rivers, here is a really cool and quirky video by one of my favourite YouTubers, Beau Miles: https://youtu.be/GnSUre9C_Nc?si=g46hXW-2ie-hpXek

If you want to get in touch:
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @richardlikeshistory
X: @Skerkwagga1939
Produced by Richard Marais

(0:00) Enheduanna's exaltation
(4:36) Sargon of Akkad
(5:59) Uruk: the first city?
(7:12) The people of Enheduanna's time
(10:49) Enheduanna's fate
...more
16min
June 11, 2026 15 | Where does writing come from?
The very symbols that I have used to write this description have a more fascinating past than almost anything you can imagine.

YouTube link to this episode: https://youtu.be/tyOJPYqKqcE

If you want to get in touch:
Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @richardlikeshistory
X: @Skerkwagga1939
Produced by Richard Marais

(0:00) Back to the Bronze Age
(3:22) Ancient Egypt
(9:48) The people of the Bronze Age
(14:07) The Homeric Epics
(15:57) Origin of the Turks
(16:39) Who had writing in the Bronze Age?
(20:49) Bronze Age Collapse
(29:24) Enter the Chinese
(30:11) Phoenicia saves our ass
(38:00) Greeks add vowels
(40:28) The Alphabet spreads
(45:30) The exceptions
(48:09) Epilogue
...more
50min
June 05, 2026 14 | What even was the Bronze Age?
What was the world really like 5,000 to 3,000 years ago, when Odysseus supposedly sailed back from Troy?

YouTube link for this episode: https://youtu.be/_Gihp_OUye0

Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @RichardLikesHistory ⁠
X: @skerkwagga1939
Produced by Richard Marais

(0:00) The Fertile Crescent and Egypt
(3:30) Europe and 'Ancient Greece'
(7:29) China
(9:13) The Indus
(12:38) Southern Africa: Earth's first iron smelters
(14:16) South America and the 'quipu' system
(17:52) Russia and the Siberian frontier
(20:21) Australia
(22:39) Pasifika
(25:19) Southeast Asia and its "Peaceful Bronze Age"
(27:19) North America: hunter-gatherer metropolis
...more
32min
June 03, 2026 13 | How did a Mediterranean sea snail inspire the Israeli flag? And is God supposed to have a wife?
Why is the Israeli flag blue? Was Yahweh from Arabia or Egypt? And when did the Israelites stop worshipping his wife, Asherah?

YouTube link for this episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLswO5O2Ffo

Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @RichardLikesHistory
X: @skerkwagga1939
Produced by Richard Marais

(0:00) 5,000 years of Arabian Sea trade
(2:57) Indigo: India's blue gold
(3:56) Murex snails in the Mediterranean
(5:06) Tekhelet: Biblical blue
(6:01) The secret recipe for Tekhelet is lost
(6:40) God mandates blue fringes
(11:31) Otto Elsner rediscovers Tekhelet after 1,300 years
(12:31) Where the hell does Yahweh come from?
(15:48) Moses, Midian, and the Burnish Bush
(17:59) Yahweh becomes El and marries Asherah
(20:50) Babylonian defeath turns Israel monotheistic
(23:34) What do we actually know about Moses?
...more
27min
May 31, 2026 12 | How the Khoekhoe almost saved South Africa from colonisation
How did a group of Khoekhoe cattle herders, armed with only fire-hardened spears, scare Western Europe to the extent that the colonisation of South Africa was abandoned for the next 142 years?

If you are interested in learning more about the Battle of Salt River, have a look at this video with Tauriq Jenkins, the Supreme High Commissioner of the Goringhaecona Khoena Council. Really gives you a feel for the place where this extraordinary event took place on March 1, 1510. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkAtFeIN2Pg

YouTube link for this episode: https://youtu.be/Nxda95VUYtU

Email: [email protected]
Instagram: ⁠ @RichardLikesHistory ⁠
X: @skerkwagga1939
Produced by Richard Marais

(0:00) The Malabar Coast and the pepper trade
(6:26) Vasco da Gama opens a back door for Portugal
(9:53) Francisco de Almeida: the fearless admiral
(14:22) Albuquerque arrives and gets arrested
(17:24) The Battle of Salt River
(19:50) Correction: Cochin not Calicut
(20:24) The Battle of Salt River - continued
(22:17) Interlude: South Africa's human past
(25:42) Almeida meets his end
(28:30) Legacy of the Khoekhoe resistance
...more
32min
May 28, 2026 A taste of the podcast
If you like what you hear, there is a never-ending amount of fascinating history to unpack and explore. I welcome any suggestions on what to cover as well! At the moment, I'm just doing whatever takes my fancy - I'm particularly in love with the Age of Exploration (15th - 17th centuries AD) at the moment.
...more
1min
May 28, 2026 11 | A chat with Des Latham: Coenraad de Buys, Shaka’s aunt Mkabayi, Almeida’s death, and much more
Des is an amazing South African historian, covering topics as diverse as the Falklands War and the geology that created the Southern African inland plateau in his broadcasting and podcasting career. Today, we discuss the complex past of the place we both call home, and the stories that have always been far to convenient to ignore.

Please check Des out on his website (https://desmondlatham.blog/), YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts.

YouTube link: https://youtu.be/qfnhQOkcZJ4

Email: [email protected]
Instagram: ⁠ @RichardLikesHistory ⁠
X: @skerkwagga1939
Produced by Richard Marais

(0:00) Introducing Des
(1:47) Roots and identity
(8:02) Dispassionate history
(16:11) The story of Shaka Zulu and Mkabayi
(20:23) Looking at the past with an open mind
(23:50) Coenraad de Buys
(33:28) South Africa's cultural melting-pot
(43:41) The importance of geography
(46:26) The clicks of the Khoisan languages
(47:32) The Khoe kill some Portuguese slavers
(55:37) Trade in Southern Africa before Europeans
(1:00:10) The San and the Khoekhoe ('Khoisan')
...more
1h 4min
May 19, 2026 10 | The Fall of the Incas (PART 3): Peru’s spiral into anarchy and the end of Francisco Pizarro
The final chapter in this epic 3-part series. Featuring Atahuallpa's infamous ransom, the rise of Manco, the civil war between the Pizarrists and the Almagristas, the demise of all four Pizarro brothers, the abject failure of King Charles I's 'New Laws' that were meant to improve the lives of indigenous Peruvians, and much more.
YouTube link for this episode: https://youtu.be/bmfoOLYuQfo

Email: [email protected]
Instagram: @RichardLikesHistory
X: @skerkwagga1939
Produced by Richard Marais

(0:00) Atahuallpa's infamous ransom
(4:34) Hernando Pizarro's visit to Pachacamac
(6:49) Chalcuchima's capture
(8:49) Atahuallpa realises he is screwed
(11:12) Diego de Almagro arrives, Atahualpa dies
(13:02) The long march down to Cuzco
(15:11) The Battle of Vilcaconga and the end of Quizquiz
(18:12) Manco is installed at Cuzco
(21:18) What about Chalcuchima and Rumiñahui?
(24:14) Almagro's fateful journey across the Atacama
(25:27) The Pizarro brothers humiliate Manco into revolt
(28:19) Almagro saves the day
(30:12) Civil War: Almagristas vs Pizarrists
(33:53) Manco's murder
(36:23) Francisco Pizarro's murder
(38:04) New laws spark a conquistador revolt
(42:26) Pedro de la Gasca repeals humanitarian reforms
(45:02) The end of the Neo-Inca State
...more
51min
May 14, 2026 09 | The Curse of the Koh-i-Noor: from the Mughals to Nader Shah, Ranjit Singh, and the British
The story of the most famous diamond in the world. How did the eye of the Mughal Emperor's dazzling Peacock Throne end up in the Tower of London?
YouTube link for this episode: https://youtu.be/MQTQBn-f8BM

Email: [email protected]
Instagram: ⁠ @RichardLikesHistory
X: @skerkwagga1939
Produced by Richard Marais

(0:00) What is the Koh-i-Noor?
(3:36) The Peacock Throne of the Mughal Emperor
(4:44) Nader Shah sacks Delhi
(5:40) Ahmad Shah Durrani founds Aghanistan
(7:20) Ranjit Singh, Maharajah of the Sikhs
(10:30) Duleep Singh gets conned by Dalhousie
(12:45) Queen Vic's terror and Albert's blunder
(15:12) Who has the strongest claim?
...more
18min

FAQs about Homo complexus:

How many episodes does Homo complexus have?

The podcast currently has 20 episodes available.