History Summarized: The Greek Age of Cities

[I hope it's okay to post this here. It got considerably longer than I thought it was going to be.] I have a book recommendation for Red, and a video topic request for Blue! I just read The Sea-Ringed World, a fascinating collection of Indigenous myths [mainly South American, with a few others], collected by Indigenous authors and writers. My favourites are the one where a talking llama warns a shepherd about the great flood coming to wipe out humanity, and the two end up taking shelter on a mountain top along with a whole bunch of animals [including a fox, which had its poor tail stuck in the floodwaters and that's why foxes have white on the end of their tails], the one where prince falls in love with a lightning god with a snake for a leg, and the explanation as to where the Axolotl came from. [Short version: the gods sacrificed themselves in a sacred bonfire to bring forth the fifth world, but Queztalcoatl's nagual [animal spirit double] was too afraid and ran away and turned into an axolotl [literally means 'Xolotl in water'] to escape. Spoiler alert, it didn't work.] Anyway, I'm also going to get the 'companion' book written by the translator, Feathered Serpent-Dark Heart of Sky, a collection of Aztec stories specifically. Just from reading the preview, there's a part of the creation myth that has many parallels to a part of the Book of Enoch, which, to me, is indicative of how despite our differences, human culture still has many similarities to each other, and I think that's such an awesome and wonderful thing. I mean, Quetzalcoatl himself seems to have more in common with East Asian dragons than any of the usual Western suspects, with the whole 'divine flying snake/bringer of rain' thing. Since I'm in the middle of a mythology hyper-focus, and just generally have those kinds of myths on my mind right now, may I request a video on the history of some lesser known South American cultures, maybe some of the oldest, like the Toltec and Olmec? [I just checked the playlist, and the History Summarized video on the Maya, Aztec, and Inca was six years ago! Where did the time go?]

Do you think the Olympics started after a war as a sort of outlet for competition? Like, obviously a lot of people enjoy competing and combating with each other for personal and cultural bragging rights, but to do it in a way that doesn’t end numerous lives and destroy vital farmland? Like medieval jousting or esports!

Huh, TIL the origin of "Tyrant." The more ya know when it comes to OSP!

OvO