Series 3: The Forbidden Experiment
Part 1
The Greek historian Herodotus describes how the Egyptian Pharaoh Psamtik I conducted a strange and cruel investigation into the origins of language.
Part 1
The Greek historian Herodotus describes how the Egyptian Pharaoh Psamtik I conducted a strange and cruel investigation into the origins of language.
Part 2
The Holy Roman Emperor and amateur ornithologist Frederick II was alleged to have conducted a linguistic experiment similar to that of Psamtik. I explore that rumour in the context of medieval ideas about the origin of language.
Part 2
The Holy Roman Emperor and amateur ornithologist Frederick II was alleged to have conducted a linguistic experiment similar to that of Psamtik. I explore that rumour in the context of medieval ideas about the origin of language.
Part 3
Our third rumour of this depraved linguistic experiment takes us to an uninhabited island in the Firth of Forth, where, in 1493, King James IV of Scotland is said to have emulated Psamtik I and Frederick II. Continued in the next episode.
Part 3
Our third rumour of this depraved linguistic experiment takes us to an uninhabited island in the Firth of Forth, where, in 1493, King James IV of Scotland is said to have emulated Psamtik I and Frederick II. Continued in the next episode.
Part 4
Following on from the episode on James IV's experiment, this episode investigates why people at the time might have thought it was plausible that the children would end up speaking Hebrew, by looking at the rumour's context in the world of Renaissance linguistics, bringing in characters such as a linguist who thought an Italian nun was a female equivalent of Jesus Christ, and another who argued that the language spoken by Adam in the Garden of Eden was an early form of Dutch.
Part 4
Following on from the episode on James IV's experiment, this episode investigates why people at the time might have thought it was plausible that the children would end up speaking Hebrew, by looking at the rumour's context in the world of Renaissance linguistics, bringing in characters such as a linguist who thought an Italian nun was a female equivalent of Jesus Christ, and another who argued that the language spoken by Adam in the Garden of Eden was an early form of Dutch.