Aramaic Achaemenid Empire shared written language

One written language helped run a vast empire

The Achaemenid Empire stretched across many regions and languages, but its administration used a highly standardized form of written Aramaic. The practice had been inherited from earlier empires, giving officials a shared written language across a huge territory—and possibly helping hold the empire together.

Parts of your cells descend from free-living bacteria

Mitochondria and chloroplasts are descendants of bacteria that once lived on their own before becoming part of other cells. They still carry signs of this past, including their own circular DNA and a bacteria-like way of dividing.

A Peruvian village still used quipus in 1994

In 1994, people in the Peruvian village of Tupicocha were still using quipus for official local records and government work. Their quipus were built much like examples from before the Spanish conquest, although the villagers did not describe them as Inca objects.

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Aramaic Achaemenid Empire shared written language

One written language helped run a vast empire

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