TED Talks

I love TED talks! This Sunday morning as I sipped my tea and ate my bagel I listened to a talk by Neil MacGregor on the Cyrus Cylinder.

http://www.ted.com/talks/neil_macgregor_2600_years_of_history_in_one_object.html

In 18 minutes, MacGregor beautifully links World History I and II together. According to the cylinder, Cyrus, the first emperor of Persia, was led by God (spoiler alert: which God is in dispute) to restore the Jews to their homeland and allow people in the Persian empire to worship freely whomever they desired. MacGregor threads this artifact through 2600 years of Persian/Iranian history. He highlights not only Cyrus himself, but Alexander the Great's conquest, the Balfour Declaration, the Shah as Western puppet, the Iran/Iraq war, and the Islamic Republic.

What a great way to start a Sunday!

Kara Kaufman