Cyrus the Great — When Power Learned Restraint

by Helen Kain | Jul 18, 2026 | Act I - Inheritance, Fascinating People, FP Act I — Inheritance

The ancient Greeks loved a good origin story, and Herodotus gives Cyrus one of the best. According to the historian, Cyrus survived an order for his execution as an infant, was secretly raised by a shepherd, and first revealed his true nature while playing...

Ptolemy I Soter — When Knowledge Found a Home

by Helen Kain | Jul 18, 2026 | Act I - Inheritance, Fascinating People, FP Act I — Inheritance

Some people change history by conquering kingdoms. Others change it by deciding what is worth preserving. Ptolemy I Soter managed to do both. Most people first meet him as one of Alexander the Great’s generals, standing somewhere in the background while...

Alexander the Great — When the World Grew Larger

by Helen Kain | Jul 18, 2026 | Act I - Inheritance, Fascinating People, FP Act I — Inheritance

Alexander the Great never seemed content to stand still. Before he reached the age of thirty, he had marched farther than any king before him, defeated the greatest empire of his day, founded cities across three continents, and begun imagining a world unlike anything...

Nebuchadnezzar II — When Civilization Inspired Wonder

by Helen Kain | Jul 17, 2026 | Act I - Inheritance, Fascinating People, FP Act I — Inheritance

Some rulers are remembered for the battles they fought. Others for the laws they wrote. Nebuchadnezzar II is remembered for something rather different. More than 2,500 years after his death, the very name Babylon still conjures images of towering walls, magnificent...

Hammurabi — When Justice Became Predictable

by Helen Kain | Jul 17, 2026 | Act I - Inheritance, Fascinating People, FP Act I — Inheritance

Some people cannot tolerate disorder. They walk into a room and immediately begin organizing it. They notice inconsistencies that everyone else has simply learned to live with. When something is confusing or unpredictable, they instinctively ask, “Surely there...

Mesopotamia — The First Step was Counting

by Helen Kain | Jul 15, 2026 | Act I - Inheritance, CT Act I — Inheritance

When we think about the beginnings of civilization, our minds often leap to pyramids, kings and great cities. The real story may have begun somewhere far less dramatic.  It may have begun with someone trying to remember how many sheep, or sacks of grain, or jars of...