The World's Oldest Letters

<p>What do the world’s first letters reveal about life in the Bronze Age?</p><br><p>Tristan Hughes is joined by Dr Amanda Podany to uncover the remarkable written culture of ancient Mesopotamia, when clay tablets carried messages across vast distances and a proto-postal system linked cities like Ur and Babylon. From royal correspondence and diplomatic negotiations to worried family notes and furious consumer complaints -including the iconic rant against the merchant Ea-Nasir for terrible copper - these texts offer a vivid, relatable window into everyday life 4,000 years ago. Step into the earliest age of writing and discover how humanity first learned to communicate across time and space.</p><br><p>Translations in this episode taken from A. Leo Oppenheim,&nbsp;<em>Letters from Mesopotamia</em>&nbsp;(1967) & J. M. Sasson,&nbsp;<em>From the Mari Archives</em>&nbsp;(2015).</p><br><p>Presented by Tristan Hughes. Audio editor is Aidan Lonergan. The producer is Joseph Knight. The senior prod...