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Overcoming Bias
When They Hear Less Than You Say Something must be done.
3 weeks ago
A Collection of...
Collections: The Strange Armor of Dragon Age: The Veilguard This week we’re going to have a bit of fun looking at some of the interesting armor choices for the...
4 weeks ago
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4 weeks ago
This week we’re going to have a bit of fun looking at some of the interesting armor choices for the recent Dragon Age: The Veilguard. In a way, this is an extension of the post on “The Problem with Sci-Fi Body Armor,” because I think Veilguard provides a pretty exceptional...
Open Culture
Warner Bros. Lets You Watch 31 Films Free Online: David Byrne’s True Stories, Christopher Guest’s... It’s Friday, which means that tonight, many of us will sit down to watch a movie with our family,...
4 weeks ago
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4 weeks ago
It’s Friday, which means that tonight, many of us will sit down to watch a movie with our family, our friends, our significant other, or — for some cinephiles, best of all — by ourselves. If you haven’t yet lined up any home-cinematic experience in particular, consider taking a...
Hidden History
The Fantasy Game of Tak The board game Tak (pronounced to rhyme with “back”) originally appeared as a prop in the...
a week ago
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a week ago
The board game Tak (pronounced to rhyme with “back”) originally appeared as a prop in the fantasy/scifi book series The Kingkiller Chronicle, and was then brought to life in the real world. History In 1994, aspiring author Patrick Rothfuss began work on his first book,...
African History...
On the history of the Bantu expansion: old misconceptions and new evidence The southern half of the African continent is populated by speakers of about 550 closely related...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
The southern half of the African continent is populated by speakers of about 550 closely related languages that are referred to as the Bantu languages.
Trying to Understand...
Stories We Tell Each Other. Because contingency frightens us.
3 weeks ago
Wrong Side of...
Journey to the Imperial City Travels in Vietnam, Part 2
4 weeks ago
Open Culture
Hear an AI Chatbot, Masquerading as a Clueless Grandmother, Waste the Time of an Internet Scam... And now for a good use of AI. The UK-based telecom company O2 has developed a chatbot (“named...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
And now for a good use of AI. The UK-based telecom company O2 has developed a chatbot (“named Daisy”) that performs a noble task. Impersonating an elderly grandmother, the chatbot engages with internet fraudsters and then systematically frustrates them and wastes their time. As...
Open Culture
Hear the Jazz-Funk Musical Adaptation of Dune by David Matthews (1977) Even if you’ve never read Frank Herbert’s Dune, you may well have encountered its adaptations to a...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Even if you’ve never read Frank Herbert’s Dune, you may well have encountered its adaptations to a variety of other media: comic books, video games, board games, television series, and of course films, David Lynch’s 1984 version and Denis Villeneuve’s two-parter earlier this...
Open Culture
Watch David Byrne Lead a Massive Choir in Singing David Bowie’s “Heroes” Throughout the years, we’ve featured performances of Choir!Choir!Choir!–a large amateur choir from...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Throughout the years, we’ve featured performances of Choir!Choir!Choir!–a large amateur choir from Toronto that meets weekly and sings their hearts out. You’ve seen them sing Prince’s “When Doves Cry,” Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun” (to honor Chris Cornell) and Leonard Cohen’s...
CrimethInc.
Eight Things You Can Do to Stop ICE The Trump administration is paving the way for mass deportations by building new prison camps and...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
The Trump administration is paving the way for mass deportations by building new prison camps and invoking the Alien Enemies Act, which was used to justify the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Motivated by nativism and white nationalism, Steven Miller and...
History Today Feed
‘The Crowd in the Early Middle Ages’ by Shane Bobrycki review ‘The Crowd in the Early Middle Ages’ by Shane Bobrycki review JamesHoare Wed, 02/12/2025 - 09:25
3 weeks ago
Classical Wisdom
The Goddess of Spring Flora and the Floralia Festival
4 weeks ago
History Today Feed
‘The Brothers Grimm: A Biography’ by Ann Schmiesing review ‘The Brothers Grimm: A Biography’ by Ann Schmiesing review JamesHoare Mon, 02/10/2025 - 11:03
3 weeks ago
Flashbak
Émile-Allain Séguy’s Insectes, 1925 – A Hymn To Nature In 20 Beautiful Illustrated Plates “Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no...
4 weeks ago
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4 weeks ago
“Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no control. It is determined for the insect, as well as for the star. Human beings, vegetables, or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible...
Res Obscura
Happy Lupercalia A special discount on subscriptions in honor of the Roman wolf holiday
3 weeks ago
A Collection of...
Fireside Friday, February 14, 2025 (On Grant Funding) Hey folks! Happy Valentine’s Day. Fireside this week and then hopefully next week we’ll start into...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
Hey folks! Happy Valentine’s Day. Fireside this week and then hopefully next week we’ll start into our look at the Siege of Eregion in Season 2 of Rings of Power and also the larger Tolkien legendarium. I confess, watching the show, my suspension of disbelief fell much faster...
Open Culture
Optical Poems by Oskar Fischinger: Discover the Avant-Garde Animator Despised by Hitler & Dissed by... At a time when much of animation was consumed with little anthropomorphized animals sporting white...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
At a time when much of animation was consumed with little anthropomorphized animals sporting white gloves, Oskar Fischinger went in a completely different direction. His work is all about dancing geometric shapes and abstract forms spinning around a flat featureless background....
Open Culture
Inside SNL: Al Franken Reveals How Saturday Night Live Is Crafted Every Week As Saturday Night Live celebrates its 50th anniversary, Al Franken takes you inside the making of an...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
As Saturday Night Live celebrates its 50th anniversary, Al Franken takes you inside the making of an SNL episode. He should know a thing or two about the subject. Part of the original SNL writing team, Franken spent 15 years writing and performing for the show. (Anyone remember...
History Today Feed
Doing Business with Russia Doing Business with Russia JamesHoare Thu, 02/06/2025 - 09:24
4 weeks ago
Wrong Side of...
The case against child voters Votes at 16 is the most cynical of politics
3 weeks ago
Open Culture
When William S. Burroughs Appeared on Saturday Night Live: His First TV Appearance (1981) Though he never said so directly, we might expect that Situationist Guy Debord would have included...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Though he never said so directly, we might expect that Situationist Guy Debord would have included Saturday Night Live in what he called the “Spectacle”—the mass media presentation of a totalizing reality, “the ruling order’s nonstop discourse about itself, its never-ending...
Dreams of Space -...
Die Mondexpedition (1966) Die Mondexpedition is the original  German book that was translated into English in 1969 as The Log...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Die Mondexpedition is the original  German book that was translated into English in 1969 as The Log of a Moon Expedition. It's full title at the time was Die Mondexpedition: 14 Mal 24 Stunden auf dem Mond roughly translated as The Lunar Expedition: 14 times on the moon for 24...
Open Culture
David Bowie Performs an Ethereal Acoustic Version of “Heroes,” with a Bottle Cap Strapped to His... Not long ago I stumbled upon this pretty wonderful video of David Bowie playing an acoustic version...
a week ago
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a week ago
Not long ago I stumbled upon this pretty wonderful video of David Bowie playing an acoustic version of “Heroes,” one of my favorite songs, and I thought I’d quickly share it today. Why wait? Appearing at Neil Young’s annual Bridge School Benefit concert in October 1996, Bowie...
History Today Feed
On the Spot: Geoffrey Parker On the Spot: Geoffrey Parker JamesHoare Tue, 02/11/2025 - 08:25
3 weeks ago
African History...
A history of the medieval coastal towns of Mozambique ca. 500-1890 CE. The East African coast is home to the longest contiguous chain of urban settlements on the...
a week ago
Classical Wisdom
Why Do We Love Violence? The Tainted Glory of the Gladiator
3 weeks ago
Open Culture
Watch the Historic First Episode of Saturday Night Live with Host George Carlin (1975) 50 years of Saturday Night Live. It all started here with this first episode, aired on October 11,...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
50 years of Saturday Night Live. It all started here with this first episode, aired on October 11, 1975. George Carlin hosted the show. Billy Preston and Janis Ian served up the music. Jim Henson staged an elaborate puppet show. And “the Not Ready for Prime Time Players”...
Open Culture
Brian Eno Attempts to Figure Out What Art Does in a New Book Co-Written with Artist Bette A Brian Eno was thinking about the purpose of art a decade ago, as evidenced by his 2015 John Peel...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Brian Eno was thinking about the purpose of art a decade ago, as evidenced by his 2015 John Peel Lecture (previously featured here on Open Culture). But he was also thinking about it three decades ago, as evidenced by A Year with Swollen Appendices, his diary of the year 1995...
Flashbak
The Brilliant Paper Bag Hats Made by Self-Taught Artist moses of Hawaii Born Murray Odessky on October 16, 1931, the artist who would eventually change his name to “moses”...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
Born Murray Odessky on October 16, 1931, the artist who would eventually change his name to “moses” moved to the Big Island of Hawaii and began to create 255 brilliant paper bag hats – sculptures that he donated to the Mingei Museum in San Diego, CA. Until he died in 2015, moses...
Classical Wisdom
Weekend Quiz Plus Roundup of Resources
3 weeks ago
Open Culture
Watch 10 Great German Expressionist Films: Nosferatu, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari & More In 1913, Germany, flush with a new nation’s patriotic zeal, looked like it might become the dominant...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
In 1913, Germany, flush with a new nation’s patriotic zeal, looked like it might become the dominant nation of Europe and a real rival to that global superpower Great Britain. Then it hit the buzzsaw of World War I. After the German government collapsed in 1918 from the economic...
A Collection of...
Collections: The Siege of Eregion, Part I: What Logistics? This is the first part of our [I don’t know; a few?] part series looking at the Siege of Eregion...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
This is the first part of our [I don’t know; a few?] part series looking at the Siege of Eregion sequence from the second season of Amazon’s Rings of Power and what we can learn by pointing out its missteps. And I’m not going to bury the lede here: this entire sequence is a mess....
Open Culture
How the Fairlight CMI Synthesizer Revolutionized Music In the credits of Phil Collins’ No Jacket Required appears the disclaimer that “there is no...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
In the credits of Phil Collins’ No Jacket Required appears the disclaimer that “there is no Fairlight on this record.” Cryptic though it may have appeared to most of that album’s many buyers, technology-minded musicians would’ve got it. In the half-decades since its introduction,...
Open Culture
See Vivaldi’s Four Seasons Visualized in Colorfully Animated Scores Music is often described as the most abstract of all the arts, and arguably the least visual as...
4 weeks ago
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4 weeks ago
Music is often described as the most abstract of all the arts, and arguably the least visual as well. But these qualities, which seem so basic to the nature of the form, have been challenged for at least three centuries, not least by composers themselves. Take Antonio Vivaldi,...
Open Culture
Meet Jesse Welles, the Folk Singer Who Turns News into Folk Music, Writing Songs on Elections, Plane... At first glance, Jesse Welles resembles nothing so much as a time traveler from the year 1968....
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
At first glance, Jesse Welles resembles nothing so much as a time traveler from the year 1968. That’s how I would open a profile about him, but The New York Times’ David Peisner takes a different approach, describing him recording a song in his home studio. “Welles, a...
Global Inequality...
Trump, the state and the revolution To say that Trump in his new incarnation is different from the Trump No.
2 weeks ago
Overcoming Bias
Futarchy and the Transfer Problem I recently tweeted on the ineffectiveness of Medicine, and thus on waste we could cut by cutting...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
I recently tweeted on the ineffectiveness of Medicine, and thus on waste we could cut by cutting back on it.
Hidden History
The Vigenere Cipher The Vigenere Cipher is an encryption system that was developed over 500 years ago, and a variant of...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
The Vigenere Cipher is an encryption system that was developed over 500 years ago, and a variant of it was still being used by Soviet KGB spies in the 1950s. Ever since people have been writing, they have been searching for ways to make their written messages secure. This has...
Open Culture
A Behind-the-Scenes Tour of Saturday Night Live’s Iconic Studio To help celebrate SNL’s 50th anniversary, Architectural Digest has released a new video featuring...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
To help celebrate SNL’s 50th anniversary, Architectural Digest has released a new video featuring Heidi Gardner, Chloe Fineman, and Ego Nwodim giving a tour of the Saturday Night Live set. The show has been broadcasting live from Studio 8H, located at 30 Rockefeller, since SNL...
Hidden History
The Sobibor Rebellion In October 1943, inmates at the Nazi extermination camp in Sobibor, in Poland, organized an uprising...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
In October 1943, inmates at the Nazi extermination camp in Sobibor, in Poland, organized an uprising that destroyed the camp and led to the escape of hundreds of prisoners. In January 1942, a group of fifteen Nazi government officials met in the Wannsee suburb of Berlin with...
Wrong Side of...
The beautiful rebirth of Dresden (1) The Florence on the Elbe
3 weeks ago
Open Culture
Neil deGrasse Tyson Explains Who Was the Greatest Scientific Mind in History Neil deGrasse Tyson has spent his career talking up not just science itself, but also its...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
Neil deGrasse Tyson has spent his career talking up not just science itself, but also its practitioners. If asked to name the greatest scientist of all time, one might expect him to need a minute to think about it — or even to find himself unable to choose. But that’s hardly...
Open Culture
Horrifying 1906 Illustrations of H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds: Discover the Art of Henrique Alvim... H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds has terrified and fascinated readers and writers for decades since its...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds has terrified and fascinated readers and writers for decades since its 1898 publication and has inspired numerous adaptations. The most notorious use of Wells’ book was by Orson Welles, whom the author called “my little namesake,” and whose 1938 War...
Trying to Understand...
What We Talk About, When We Talk About Talks. The End may be further away than you think.
2 weeks ago
The Scholar's Stage
The Euro-American Split (I): Dread Possibility THERE ARE DECADES WHEN possibility is constrained in a narrow frame. The terrain has been surveyed,...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
THERE ARE DECADES WHEN possibility is constrained in a narrow frame. The terrain has been surveyed, boundaries have been laid, and rules have been established. In such an age there is still room for high drama: The decisive round of a boxing match draws the eye despite the...
Global Inequality...
Poison for the soul Review of David Lay Williams’s “The Greatest of All Plagues”
2 weeks ago
Open Culture
Jane Austen Used Pins to Edit Her Manuscripts: Before the Word Processor & White-Out Before the word processor, before White-Out, before Post-It Notes, there were straight pins. Or, at...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
Before the word processor, before White-Out, before Post-It Notes, there were straight pins. Or, at least that’s what Jane Austen used to make edits in one of her rare manuscripts. In 2011, Oxford’s Bodleian Library acquired the manuscript of Austen’s abandoned novel, The...
Classical Wisdom
The American Cincinnatus Washington's Great Inspiration
2 weeks ago
Patterns in Humanity
Sub-replacement fertility in pre-baby boom Europe Past perspectives on fertility decline
2 weeks ago
History Today Feed
Searching for the Soul of the Beaver Searching for the Soul of the Beaver JamesHoare Thu, 02/13/2025 - 09:28
3 weeks ago
History Today Feed
The Firebombing of Tokyo The Firebombing of Tokyo JamesHoare Tue, 02/18/2025 - 07:00
2 weeks ago
Wrong Side of...
The lone wolves of Germany Why weak states resort to collective punishment of citizens
2 weeks ago
History Today Feed
The Great German Peasant’s War The Great German Peasant’s War JamesHoare Mon, 02/17/2025 - 08:55
2 weeks ago
Overcoming Bias
Futarchy And Self-Dealing Governance Compared to divided government, a more central government has stronger incentives to help the polity...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Compared to divided government, a more central government has stronger incentives to help the polity as a whole.
Open Culture
Flannery O’Connor: Friends Don’t Let Friends Read Ayn Rand In a letter dated May 31, 1960, Flannery O’Connor, the author best known for her classic story, “A...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
In a letter dated May 31, 1960, Flannery O’Connor, the author best known for her classic story, “A Good Man is Hard to Find” (listen to her read the story here) penned a letter to her friend, the playwright Maryat Lee. It begins rather abruptly, likely because it’s responding to...
Open Culture
When William Faulkner Set the World Record for Writing the Longest Sentence in Literature: Read the... Image by Carl Van Vechten, via Wikimedia Commons “How did Faulkner pull it off?” is a question many...
a week ago
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a week ago
Image by Carl Van Vechten, via Wikimedia Commons “How did Faulkner pull it off?” is a question many a fledgling writer has asked themselves while struggling through a period of apprenticeship like that novelist John Barth describes in his 1999 talk “My Faulkner.”...
Wrong Side of...
‘I say the Americans really won the war’ Vietnam’s victory over communism
3 weeks ago
Open Culture
Tracing English Back to Its Oldest Known Ancestor: An Introduction to Proto-Indo-European People understand evolution in all sorts of different ways. We’ve all heard a variety of folk...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
People understand evolution in all sorts of different ways. We’ve all heard a variety of folk explanations of that all-important phenomenon, from “survival of the fittest” to “humans come from monkeys,” that run the spectrum from broadly correct to badly mangled. One less often...
CrimethInc.
The Students Walk Out in Los Angeles : A Report from the Streets In the opening weeks of Donald Trump’s second presidency, some of the fiercest expressions of...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
In the opening weeks of Donald Trump’s second presidency, some of the fiercest expressions of defiance have come from the communities that Trump is threatening to attack. In Los Angeles, students have engaged in weeks of walkouts and other protests against the mass deportations...
Overcoming Bias
Reenacting Trauma So far I’ve watched 34 episodes of Couples Therapy, wherein Dr.
3 weeks ago
Wrong Side of...
Rome’s miserable fate The Year of the Plague #3
2 weeks ago
Flashbak
The International Atlas of Clouds and of States of the Sky by the Office National Météorologique,... “Ho! Ho! Ho! To the bottle I go To heal my heart and drown my woe Rain may fall, and wind may blow...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
“Ho! Ho! Ho! To the bottle I go To heal my heart and drown my woe Rain may fall, and wind may blow And many miles be still to go But under a tall tree will I lie And let the clouds go sailing by” — J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring     … Continue reading "The...
Open Culture
How Do You Use AI in Your Daily Life? Share the Applications That Have Made a Big Difference Image by Jernej Furman, via Wikimedia Commons It would be difficult to imagine the last couple of...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Image by Jernej Furman, via Wikimedia Commons It would be difficult to imagine the last couple of years without artificial intelligence, even if you don’t use it. Can you recall the last day without some AI-related news item or social-media post — or indeed, a time when the hype...
Flashbak
Painted Backgrounds for Early 20th Century Photographers, 1908 Before image filters and digital backdrops added depth and interest to photographs, placing subjects...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
Before image filters and digital backdrops added depth and interest to photographs, placing subjects in exquisite settings, there were hand-painted backgrounds for photography studios. Beginning in the mid-1800s, decorative backgrounds worked at the intersection of traditional...
Flashbak
The Art of Erotic Ex Libris (NSFW) Ex Libris is a Latin phrase that translates as “from the books”. Also known as bookplates, Ex Libris...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
Ex Libris is a Latin phrase that translates as “from the books”. Also known as bookplates, Ex Libris were first used in Germany in the 15th Century. These designs are pasted into a book’s inside cover or endpaper as a sign of ownership. The first books were highly valuable and...
CrimethInc.
Become an Anarchist or Forever Hold Your Peace As Donald Trump and Elon Musk subordinate the United States government to their pursuit of...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
As Donald Trump and Elon Musk subordinate the United States government to their pursuit of totalitarian power, Democrats remain in a defensive posture, accusing them of lawlessness. But neither courts nor laws will suffice to halt the descent into autocracy. Massive numbers of...
Overcoming Bias
Our Big Oops Humanity has a huge problem, of which few are aware.
a week ago
African History...
Internal diasporas and the state in African history The Wangara chronicle, one of West Africa's oldest surviving historical texts composed around 1650,...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
The Wangara chronicle, one of West Africa's oldest surviving historical texts composed around 1650, contains an interesting account explaining the migration of a group of scholars from medieval Malī against the wishes of its ruler:
Open Culture
The Architectural History of the Louvre: 800 Years in Three Minutes Setting aside just one day for the Louvre is a classic first-time Paris visitor’s mistake. The place...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Setting aside just one day for the Louvre is a classic first-time Paris visitor’s mistake. The place is simply too big to comprehend on one visit, or indeed on ten visits. To grow so vast has taken eight centuries, a process explained in under three minutes by the official video...
Wrong Side of...
Democracy vs liberalism in the heart of Europe ‘All state authority is derived from the people’
a week ago
Classical Wisdom
Weekend Quiz Lots and Lots of Love
2 weeks ago
Flashbak
Marvels of the Universe, 1912 – Curious Scientific Illustrations From A Compendium of Life First published in 1912, readers could learn all things about everything in Marvels of the Universe...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
First published in 1912, readers could learn all things about everything in Marvels of the Universe : a popular work on the marvels of the heavens, the earth, plant life, animal life, the mighty deep. It was published as a periodical in London by Hutchinson and Company, founded...
History Today Feed
‘The Great Siege of Malta’ by Marcus Bull review ‘The Great Siege of Malta’ by Marcus Bull review JamesHoare Wed, 02/19/2025 - 08:00
2 weeks ago
Classical Wisdom
What is Love? Daphnis, Chloe and the Ancient Novel
3 weeks ago
Classical Wisdom
The Colosseum Rome's Iconic Arena
2 weeks ago
Open Culture
What It Was Like to Get a Meal at a Medieval Tavern At least since The Canterbury Tales, the setting of the medieval tavern has held out the promise of...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
At least since The Canterbury Tales, the setting of the medieval tavern has held out the promise of adventure. For their customer base during the actual Middle Ages, however, they had more utilitarian virtues. “If you ever find yourself in the late medieval period, and you are in...
Flashbak
The Talking Parrot Tells All: When Madame Tussaud’s Caught Fire, 1925 “Criminals represented in the Chamber of Horrors, however, will have no feelings in the matter, as...
a week ago
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a week ago
“Criminals represented in the Chamber of Horrors, however, will have no feelings in the matter, as they are all dead” – Report on the fire as Madame Tussaud’s, London 18 March 1925   The fire that tore threw London attraction Madame Tussaud’s on 18 March 1925 melted the famous...
History Today Feed
Adolphe Sax’s Brass Wars Adolphe Sax’s Brass Wars JamesHoare Tue, 02/18/2025 - 08:00
2 weeks ago
Flashbak
Cover Stars of The Face Magazine – Photos 1980 – 2004 There’s a new exhibition of The Face, the glossy British magazine that through the 80s and 90s was...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
There’s a new exhibition of The Face, the glossy British magazine that through the 80s and 90s was the lightning rod of the progress of popular culture and styled a generation. The Face was well produced, designed and written monthly with music at its core but an expanded focus...
Classical Wisdom
Who Were the "Pre-Socratics"? Classical Wisdom Litterae
2 weeks ago
Flashbak
Illustrations from Lorenz Oken’s Atlas of Living Things, 1833-1834 These wonderful illustrations of a broad variety of fora fauna are from German naturalist Lorenz...
3 weeks ago
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3 weeks ago
These wonderful illustrations of a broad variety of fora fauna are from German naturalist Lorenz Oken’s huge atlas of living things, the Allgemeine Naturgeschichte für alle Stände atlas (1833-1834) (General natural history for all classes). Published over seven instalments, its...
Classical Wisdom
Fun Fact: The Other Types of Love Can you think of 30 meanings of “Love”?
3 weeks ago
Flashbak
Grant Wood: America The Sensual Grant Wood’s most famous picture is American Gothic (1930), that painting stepped in storytelling...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Grant Wood’s most famous picture is American Gothic (1930), that painting stepped in storytelling and subversive wit of two farmers looking lean, staid and weather-beaten as they stand guard before their lean and staid home. But there’s lot more to him that than hit. Wood was a...
History Today Feed
Pelayo: the Reluctant Visigoth and the Reconquista Pelayo: the Reluctant Visigoth and the Reconquista JamesHoare Wed, 02/19/2025 - 07:00
2 weeks ago
Trying to Understand...
Quand ça s’arrêtera en Ukraine, qui éteindra les lumières? Another of my essays in French.
a week ago
Open Culture
Jimi Hendrix Plays the Beatles: “Sgt. Pepper’s,” “Day Tripper,” and “Tomorrow Never Knows” Who invented rock and roll? Ask Chuck Berry, he’ll tell you. It was Chuck Berry. Or was it Bill...
a week ago
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a week ago
Who invented rock and roll? Ask Chuck Berry, he’ll tell you. It was Chuck Berry. Or was it Bill Haley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard? Muddy Waters? Robert Johnson? Maybe even Lead Belly? You didn’t, but if you asked me, I’d say that rock and roll, like country blues, came not...
History Today Feed
The Birth of Giovanni Morelli The Birth of Giovanni Morelli JamesHoare Mon, 02/24/2025 - 08:57
a week ago
Classical Wisdom
Greek Mythology's Greatest Love Story Cupid and Psyche
3 weeks ago
Open Culture
What Makes Diego Velázquez’s Las Meninas One of the Most Fascinating Paintings in Art History Diego Velázquez painted Las Meninas almost 370 years ago, and it’s been under scrutiny ever since....
a week ago
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a week ago
Diego Velázquez painted Las Meninas almost 370 years ago, and it’s been under scrutiny ever since. If the public’s appetite to know more about it has diminished over time, that certainly isn’t reflected in the view count of the analysis from YouTube channel Rabbit Hole above,...
Open Culture
Why Are the Names of British Towns & Cities So Hard to Pronounce?: A Humorous But Informative Primer When they make their first transoceanic voyage, more than a few Americans choose to go to England,...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
When they make their first transoceanic voyage, more than a few Americans choose to go to England, on the assumption that, whatever culture shock they might experience, at least none of the difficulties will be linguistic. Only when it’s too late do they discover the true meaning...
Flashbak
Christy Rupp: Rat Patrol in New York City, 1979 In 1979, American artist Christy Rupp (born 1949) created a street poster of a prowling, life-sized...
a week ago
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a week ago
In 1979, American artist Christy Rupp (born 1949) created a street poster of a prowling, life-sized rat. With a keen interest in animal behaviour and habitat, Rupp’s popster coincided with a three-week strike by NYC sanitation workers. As the rubbish bags piled up on the city’s...
weird medieval guys
My favourite etymologies: "to curry favour" Or, the unfathomably dark depths of the equine soul
a week ago
History Today Feed
Curbing the Power of the Popes Curbing the Power of the Popes JamesHoare Fri, 02/21/2025 - 07:00
2 weeks ago
Classical Wisdom
The Top 10 Pre-Socratics, ahem, Natural Philosophers Time to Rename "the tyrants of the spirit"?
2 weeks ago
Classical Wisdom
What is the Key to Happiness? Do You Agree with Aristotle?
a week ago
History Today Feed
How Have Cults Shaped American History? How Have Cults Shaped American History? JamesHoare Thu, 02/20/2025 - 08:36
2 weeks ago
Wrong Side of...
The beautiful rebirth of Dresden (2) A city rises from the ashes
3 weeks ago
Wrong Side of...
A continent led by donkeys Europe’s independence from the US will be hard and expensive
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Weekly Wisdom Quiz Plus Roundup of Resources
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Living The Outlaw Life in Suburban America: ‘Once the needle goes in, it never comes out’ ‘There weren’t supposed to be drugs back then. It was supposed to be mom’s apple pie and white...
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‘There weren’t supposed to be drugs back then. It was supposed to be mom’s apple pie and white picket fences.” – Larry Clark on drugs, outsiders and “a record of his secret teenage life.” in suburban America     When director and photographer Larry Clark (born January 19, 1943) ...
Overcoming Bias
Four Awakenings We start our lives focused on the concrete immediate narrow world around us in space, time, social...
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We start our lives focused on the concrete immediate narrow world around us in space, time, social distance, and abstraction.
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Diocletian’s Great Persecution Diocletian’s Great Persecution JamesHoare Mon, 02/17/2025 - 08:56
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The 48 Laws of Power Explained in 30 Minutes: “Never Outshine the Master,” “Re-Create Yourself,” and... Robert Greene’s The 48 Laws of Power has been a popular book since its first publication over a...
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a week ago
Robert Greene’s The 48 Laws of Power has been a popular book since its first publication over a quarter-century ago. Judging by the discussion that continues among its fervent (and often proselytizing) fans, it’s easy to forget that its title isn’t How to Become Powerful....
Open Culture
Neil deGrasse Tyson Lists the Best and Worst Sci-Fi Movies: The Blob, Back to the Future, 2001: A... Neil deGrasse Tyson may not be a film critic. But if you watch the video above from his Youtube...
a week ago
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a week ago
Neil deGrasse Tyson may not be a film critic. But if you watch the video above from his Youtube channel StarTalk Plus, you’ll see that — to use one of his own favorite locutions — he loves him a good science fiction movie. Given his professional credentials as an astrophysicist...
Res Obscura
AI legibility, physical archives, and the future of research A followup to "The leading AI models are now good historians"
3 days ago
Hundred Rabbits
Summary of changes for February 2025 Hey everyone! This is the list of all the changes we've done to our projects during the month of...
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Hey everyone! This is the list of all the changes we've done to our projects during the month of February. Summary Of Changes 100r.co, added Dinghy gelcoat, Week 10, Week 11, and Week 12 of the Victoria to Sitka logbook. Updated solar with new pictures and corrected information...
A Collection of...
Collections: The Siege of Eregion, Part II: What Siege Camp? This is the second part of our [your guess is as good as mine] part series looking at the Siege of...
a week ago
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a week ago
This is the second part of our [your guess is as good as mine] part series looking at the Siege of Eregion from the second season of Amazon’s Rings of Power. Last week, we saw how the logistics of this sequence absolutely do not work: Adar’s army has to cover an absurd amount of...
CrimethInc.
"The Only Immigrant Trying to Steal My Job Is Elon Musk" : A Bus Driver's Perspective on Elon Musk's... In the following narrative, a bus driver describes how the cuts that Elon Musk is carrying out in...
a week ago
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a week ago
In the following narrative, a bus driver describes how the cuts that Elon Musk is carrying out in the federal government are affecting ordinary public transit workers. There is a poetic opposition between the figure of the anonymous bus driver and Elon Musk, the billionaire car...
History Today Feed
‘Friends in Youth’ by Minoo Dinshaw review ‘Friends in Youth’ by Minoo Dinshaw review JamesHoare Wed, 02/26/2025 - 09:00
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An Uneasy Propaganda Alliance An Uneasy Propaganda Alliance JamesHoare Tue, 02/25/2025 - 09:21
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Wrong Side of...
Phantom Borders The past is never dead. It's not even past
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African History...
African cities in the 19th century: cosmopolitan urban spaces between three worlds. When the German adventurer Gerhard Rohlfs visited the city of Ibadan in 1867, he described it as...
6 days ago
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6 days ago
When the German adventurer Gerhard Rohlfs visited the city of Ibadan in 1867, he described it as “one of the greatest cities of the interior of Africa” with “endlessly long and wide streets made up of trading stalls.” However, unlike many of the West African cities he had...
Classical Wisdom
The Dark Side of Love Euripides' Epic Battle between Love and Law
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Before The Past Was New. Why should we bother trying to understand?
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Ella Fitzgerald Sings Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love” (1969) In 1969, Ella Fitzgerald released Sunshine of Your Love, a live album recorded at the Venetian Room...
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a week ago
In 1969, Ella Fitzgerald released Sunshine of Your Love, a live album recorded at the Venetian Room in The Fairmont San Francisco. Recorded by music producer Norman Granz, the album featured contemporary pop songs that showcased Fitzgerald’s ability to transcend jazz standards....
Dreams of Space -...
Our Defenders (1976) Even if a bit inappropriate, given politics, here is a cool Russian pop-up book. Not really space...
4 weeks ago
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4 weeks ago
Even if a bit inappropriate, given politics, here is a cool Russian pop-up book. Not really space flight oriented but still interesting. Our Defenders was a book illustrating the Russian military including battlefield rockets. The images are stereotypical of Soviet times and an...
Flashbak
Notes on the Sexual Habits of the ‘Astonishingly Depraved’ Adélie Penguin, 1911 “There seems to be no crime too low for these Penguins” – Dr. George Murray Levick, notes on the...
a week ago
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a week ago
“There seems to be no crime too low for these Penguins” – Dr. George Murray Levick, notes on the sexual habits of the Adélie penguin, Antarctica, 1911     Back in 1911, a select group of readers learned of the “astonishing depravity” and “hooligan males” of the Adélie penguins...
Overcoming Bias
Can Systems Stop Culture Drift? Compared to before writing, religions that had sacred texts were better able to resist changes to...
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a week ago
Compared to before writing, religions that had sacred texts were better able to resist changes to their religious dogmas and dogma-enforce social rules.
Flashbak
Dear Me: Letters by Famous Faces to Their Teenage Selves Alun CummingAmongst letters to their 16-year-old selves, writer Stephen King advises against taking...
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a week ago
Alun CummingAmongst letters to their 16-year-old selves, writer Stephen King advises against taking recreational drugs. Musician Alice Cooper has words of romance –  “Trashy girls are exciting for about five minutes… Keep your eye out for a good-lookin’ church girl. Then you’ll...
Open Culture
The Experimental Movement That Created The Beatles’ Weirdest Song, “Revolution 9” As of this writing, the Beatles’ “Revolution 9″ has more than 13,800,000 plays on Spotify. This has...
a week ago
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a week ago
As of this writing, the Beatles’ “Revolution 9″ has more than 13,800,000 plays on Spotify. This has no doubt generated decent revenue, even given the platform’s oft-lamented payout rates. But compare that number to the more than half-a-billion streams of “Blackbird,” also on the...
Flashbak
The Making of The Conversation – An Interview with Francis Ford Coppola, 1974 In 1966, Francis Ford Coppola was working as a scriptwriter when he talked with fellow American...
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a week ago
In 1966, Francis Ford Coppola was working as a scriptwriter when he talked with fellow American director Irvin Kershner (born Isadore Kershner (April 29, 1923 – November 27, 2010)) about spy movies. The time was ripe with espionage plots. The James Bond films were hugely popular...
Classical Wisdom
Going LIVE with Armand D’Angour Love Isn’t Only for the 14th
a week ago
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The Nabataeans are Coming The Nabataeans are Coming JamesHoare Thu, 02/27/2025 - 09:00
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Wrong Side of...
Crop rotation in the 14th century The Year of the Plague, part 4
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Hidden History
Project Mercury Project Mercury was America’s entry into the Space Race and was intended to put a human into space...
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4 days ago
Project Mercury was America’s entry into the Space Race and was intended to put a human into space before the Soviet Union did. The Soviet launch of the Sputnik satellite in October 1957 caused a near-panic in the United States and led to desperate calls to “catch up”. President...
History Today Feed
The Nabateans are Coming The Nabateans are Coming JamesHoare Thu, 02/27/2025 - 09:00
a week ago
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Kate Bush, Annie Lennox and 1,000 Musicians Protest AI with a New Silent Album The good news is that an album has just been released by Kate Bush, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn of...
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a week ago
The good news is that an album has just been released by Kate Bush, Annie Lennox, Damon Albarn of Gorillaz, The Clash, Tori Amos, Hans Zimmer, Pet Shop Boys, Jamiroquai, and Yusuf (previously known as Cat Stevens), Billy Ocean, and many other musicians besides, most of them...
Classical Wisdom
Dialogues of Plato Conversations Across Time
a week ago
History Today Feed
Maiden Flight of the Spitfire Maiden Flight of the Spitfire JamesHoare Mon, 03/03/2025 - 09:11
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The Story Of Menstruation: Watch Walt Disney’s Sex Ed Film from 1946 From 1945 to 1951, Disney produced a series of educational films to be shown in American schools....
5 days ago
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5 days ago
From 1945 to 1951, Disney produced a series of educational films to be shown in American schools. How to bathe an infant. How not to catch a cold. Why you shouldn’t drive fast. Disney covered these subjects in its educational shorts, and then eventually got to the touchy subject...
Overcoming Bias
Respect The Social Wild While most foragers had great respect for nature, our farmer-era ancestors had less resepct.
5 days ago
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6 days ago
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Andrei Tarkovsky’s Message to Young People: “Learn to Be Alone,” Enjoy Solitude I remember the first time I sat down and watched Andrei Tarkovsky’s lyrical, meandering sci-fi epic...
4 days ago
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4 days ago
I remember the first time I sat down and watched Andrei Tarkovsky’s lyrical, meandering sci-fi epic Stalker. It was a long time ago, before the advent of smartphones and tablets. I watched a beat-up VHS copy on a non-“smart” TV, and had no ability to pause every few minutes and...
Trying to Understand...
All About Aid. Well, probably more than you wanted to know, anyway.
3 days ago
TheCollector
Hel: The Giantess Queen of the Norse Underworld Helheim The giant Hel was one of the children of the trickster giant Loki. Born half-living and half-dead,...
3 days ago
4
3 days ago
The giant Hel was one of the children of the trickster giant Loki. Born half-living and half-dead, she was a terror to look upon and feared by the gods, so Odin banished her to the underworld, where she became its queen. Her power in Helheim was absolute; not even Odin could...
Wrong Side of...
Farewell to Our Kith and Kin Why doesn't Britain doesn't stand up for Canada?
5 days ago
Classical Wisdom
What’s the Role of Education? For the Individual... and for Society?
5 days ago
Open Culture
How Stephen King Foretold the Rise of Trump in a 1979 Novel Nobody opens a Stephen King novel expecting to see a reflection of the real world. Then again, as...
3 days ago
4
3 days ago
Nobody opens a Stephen King novel expecting to see a reflection of the real world. Then again, as those who get hooked on his books can attest, never is his work ever wholly detached from reality. Time and time again, he delivers lurid visions of the macabre, grotesque, and...
Open Culture
Where The Simpsons Began: Discover the Original Shorts That Appeared on The Tracey Ullman Show... When it first went on air in the late nineteen-eighties, Fox had to prove itself capable of playing...
5 days ago
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5 days ago
When it first went on air in the late nineteen-eighties, Fox had to prove itself capable of playing in a televisual league with the likes of NBC, CBS, and ABC. To that end, it began building its prime-time lineup with two original programs more thematically and aesthetically...
Open Culture
Carl Jung’s Hand-Drawn, Rarely-Seen Manuscript The Red Book Despite his one-time friend and mentor Sigmund Freud’s enormous impact on Western...
3 days ago
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3 days ago
Despite his one-time friend and mentor Sigmund Freud’s enormous impact on Western self-understanding, I would argue it is Carl Jung who is still most with us in our communal practices: from his focus on introversion and extroversion to his view of syncretic, intuitive forms of...
Flashbak
Harold Fisk Maps the History of the Mississippi River, 1944 In 1944, Harold Fisk was a geologist and cartographer working for the US Army Corps of Engineers...
4 days ago
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4 days ago
In 1944, Harold Fisk was a geologist and cartographer working for the US Army Corps of Engineers when he made these 15 maps to illustrate the government’s “Geological Investigation of the Alluvial Valley of the Lower Mississippi River”. Fisk’s ingenious maps shows a different...
Open Culture
How the Nazis Waged War on Modern Art: Inside the “Degenerate Art” Exhibition of 1937 Before his fateful entry into politics, Adolf Hitler wanted to be an artist. Even to the most...
4 days ago
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4 days ago
Before his fateful entry into politics, Adolf Hitler wanted to be an artist. Even to the most neutral imaginable observer, the known examples of the estimated 2,000 to 3,000 paintings and other works of art he produced in his early adulthood would hardly evidence astonishing...
Wrong Side of...
Bumping up against solid reality Pourquoi mourir pour Donetsk? Britain's young might well wonder
3 days ago
Flashbak
Johann Gottlob von Kurr’s The Mineral Kingdom, 1859 Johann Gottlob von Kurr (1798-1870) was professor of mineralogy and botany at the Stuttgart...
6 days ago
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6 days ago
Johann Gottlob von Kurr (1798-1870) was professor of mineralogy and botany at the Stuttgart Polytechnic Institute when in 1858 he published Das Mineralreich in Bildern. The work was delivered in two sections. The first is an introduction including topics such as the formation of...
TheCollector
Himmler, Hitler, & Occultism: The Nazi Search for the Arcane The Nazi regime’s fascination with the occult has long captivated and horrified people in equal...
3 days ago
4
3 days ago
The Nazi regime’s fascination with the occult has long captivated and horrified people in equal measure. The idea that one of history’s most brutal regimes actively pursued mystical artifacts and esoteric beliefs seems almost unfathomable. Yet, as this exploration reveals,...
Overcoming Bias
Philosophical Angst As Culture Skepticism In her new book, my podcast co-host Agnes Callard does a great job of expressing classic...
4 days ago
Flashbak
Mystery, God And The Wonder of Death: Cristoforo de Predis’ Illuminated Visions “He commanded and they were created.” – Psalm 33     Cristoforo de Predis (1440-1486) painted his...
3 days ago
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3 days ago
“He commanded and they were created.” – Psalm 33     Cristoforo de Predis (1440-1486) painted his visions of the final judgement in the late 15th Century. We see fish above the sea, the sun and moon dying, blood dripping from trees and winged demons dropping naked, fragile...
TheCollector
What Are the Top 5 World Heritage Sites in the Philippines? The Philippines is one of the most beautiful archipelagos in the world. Connecting 7640 islands, it...
3 days ago
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3 days ago
The Philippines is one of the most beautiful archipelagos in the world. Connecting 7640 islands, it is a canvas where nature has painted some of its most magnificent wonders. With a history spanning hundreds of years, the country attracts tourists from all over the world for its...
TheCollector
How to Decode Goryeo Buddhist Paintings in Korean Art Among Korea’s rarest and most beautiful religious artifacts, the Goryeo Period Buddhist paintings...
a week ago
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a week ago
Among Korea’s rarest and most beautiful religious artifacts, the Goryeo Period Buddhist paintings were largely lost due to colonization and war. Retrieved from Japanese temples, their imagery is now interpreted to represent stories of the afterlife. Alongside their religious...
History Today Feed
Pompey’s Greatest Show on Earth Pompey’s Greatest Show on Earth JamesHoare Tue, 03/04/2025 - 09:08
4 days ago
Classical Wisdom
What to Expect When You're Dead *New Event* April 2nd, 2025
4 days ago
TheCollector
What Is the Epistle of Jude About? Though the Epistle of Jude addresses much of the same content that the other epistles do, how the...
3 days ago
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3 days ago
Though the Epistle of Jude addresses much of the same content that the other epistles do, how the author does it is different. He quotes from the Book of Enoch and refers to Sodom and Gomorrah, the epic tale of destruction in the Old Testament. His use of this source material is...
TheCollector
10 Locations from the Odyssey and Their Real-Life Counterparts Christopher Nolan’s upcoming film, “The Odyssey,” slated for release on July 17, 2026, is a...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Christopher Nolan’s upcoming film, “The Odyssey,” slated for release on July 17, 2026, is a cinematic adaptation of Homer’s ancient Greek epic poem. The narrative follows Odysseus, portrayed by Matt Damon, on his arduous journey home following the Trojan War, encountering...
TheCollector
What Is the Story of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle? The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is one of the most important artifacts of English history. As a text, it...
3 days ago
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3 days ago
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle is one of the most important artifacts of English history. As a text, it is a remarkable record of events that helps shine a light onto the so-called “Dark Ages.” However, the Chronicle is more than just a record. In many ways, it is more than a mere...
History Today Feed
The Wild Hunt in England The Wild Hunt in England JamesHoare Wed, 03/05/2025 - 09:23
3 days ago
TheCollector
Arthur Wellesley: The Iron Duke of Wellington Who Beat Napoleon Undoubtedly one of Britain’s greatest heroes, Arthur Wellesley, the 1st Duke of Wellington, is known...
a week ago
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a week ago
Undoubtedly one of Britain’s greatest heroes, Arthur Wellesley, the 1st Duke of Wellington, is known mainly for his victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, which ended over seven centuries of conflict between England and France.   His influence, however, spread...
TheCollector
Goryeo Celadon: The Famed Ceramics of Medieval Korean Art The precise craft of making celadon ceramics in Korea from the 10th century until the 14th century...
a week ago
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a week ago
The precise craft of making celadon ceramics in Korea from the 10th century until the 14th century produced timeless art objects that are still admired today. They were created with a jade-green glaze on top of painstakingly etched inlay, the pinnacle of technological advancement...
TheCollector
El Greco Altarpieces Reunited For First Time in 200 Years Nine monumental paintings by El Greco once decorated monastery walls in Toledo, Spain, where the...
2 weeks ago
3
2 weeks ago
Nine monumental paintings by El Greco once decorated monastery walls in Toledo, Spain, where the Greek-born artist spent most of his career. Most of these canvases eventually ended up elsewhere—but now, thanks to Madrid’s Prado Museum, they are hanging together again for the...
Open Culture
Historian Answers Burning Questions About The Renaissance Courtesy of Wired, historian Alexander Bevilacqua (Williams College) answers the internet’s burning...
2 days ago
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2 days ago
Courtesy of Wired, historian Alexander Bevilacqua (Williams College) answers the internet’s burning questions about the cultural rebirth that came to be known as The Renaissance. In 30+ minutes, Bevilacqua covers an array of questions, including: When did The Renaissance begin?...
Open Culture
The Classic 1972 Concert Film Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii Gets Restored & Will Soon Hit IMAX... Today, when we watch genre-defining concert films like Monterey Pop, Woodstock, Gimme Shelter, or...
2 days ago
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2 days ago
Today, when we watch genre-defining concert films like Monterey Pop, Woodstock, Gimme Shelter, or Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, we look upon the audience with nearly as much interest as we do the performers. But Pink Floyd never did things in quite the same way as...
A Collection of...
Collections: What Do Historians Do? For this week, I want to take a step back (we’ll be back to our series on Rings of Power next week!)...
yesterday
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yesterday
For this week, I want to take a step back (we’ll be back to our series on Rings of Power next week!) and talk about the craft of history: we’ve talked about “How Your History Gets Made” from the perspective of the different people who do it – research historians, public...
Classical Wisdom
Roman Britain: Origin or Decline? What can we learn from Transition?
3 days ago
TheCollector
Tristan da Cunha: An Island at the Edge of the World Located in the South Atlantic, directly between Cape Town in South Africa and Buenos Aires in...
a week ago
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a week ago
Located in the South Atlantic, directly between Cape Town in South Africa and Buenos Aires in Argentina, the island of Tristan da Cunha is the most remote inhabited place on the planet. It is a windswept place of natural beauty that has been home to a unique community for more...
Flashbak
23 Before And After Vintage Snapshots “Never put off till tomorrow what may be done day after tomorrow just as well.” — Mark Twain    ...
2 days ago
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2 days ago
“Never put off till tomorrow what may be done day after tomorrow just as well.” — Mark Twain     Take a moment to look at the photo above. We don’t know Maureen. She’s the subject of a pair of ‘BEFORE’ and AFTER’ polaroids from Robert E Jackson’s astounding archive of snapshots....
TheCollector
10 Charming Historic Towns in Scotland The Kingdom of Scotland was founded in 843 AD when Kenneth MacAlpin unified the Picts and Scots,...
2 days ago
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2 days ago
The Kingdom of Scotland was founded in 843 AD when Kenneth MacAlpin unified the Picts and Scots, though its story stretches back much further—to the ancient standing stones of Orkney, the Roman frontier of the Antonine Wall, and the shadowy reigns of the early Celtic kings....
TheCollector
Who Was Jan Hus? The Priest Who Defied the Pope Before Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the church in Wittenburg, Germany, before...
2 days ago
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2 days ago
Before Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of the church in Wittenburg, Germany, before Gutenberg’s printing press, and even before the Protestant Reformation, opposition to the theology and hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church was rare. One of the more prominent...
TheCollector
Bayeux Tapestry Fragment Rediscovered in Germany A missing piece of the Bayeux Tapestry, one of the world’s most famous medieval artworks, was...
2 days ago
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2 days ago
A missing piece of the Bayeux Tapestry, one of the world’s most famous medieval artworks, was recently rediscovered in Germany. The epic embroidery, which depicts events leading up to William the Conqueror’s victory over King Harold II, dates back to the 11th century.   Fragment...
Overcoming Bias
Futarchy As Meta Governance While anyone can buy stock in public firms, private equity firms are instead held by a more...
3 days ago
2
3 days ago
While anyone can buy stock in public firms, private equity firms are instead held by a more concentrated and exclusive set of owners.
TheCollector
How to Keep Your Head in King Henry VIII’s Court Treason, tyranny, and terror are fabled words of King Henry VIII, one of history’s most...
6 days ago
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6 days ago
Treason, tyranny, and terror are fabled words of King Henry VIII, one of history’s most controversial autocrats and matrimonial monsters. During his reign, King Henry VIII would marry six times, beheading two of his queens and two of his trusted ministers.   Historians concur...
TheCollector
Ancient “Woodhenge” Discovered in Denmark Newly unearthed evidence of a Stonehenge-like circle in Denmark, which has been dubbed “Woodhenge,”...
a week ago
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a week ago
Newly unearthed evidence of a Stonehenge-like circle in Denmark, which has been dubbed “Woodhenge,” may offer new insights into shared belief systems across Neolithic-era Europe.   “The Timber Circle is a Window into the Past”   According to experts, the recently discovered...
TheCollector
Paul Cezanne’s Metaphysical Paintings in 3 Works: A Failed Synthesis? Paul Cézanne’s late works attempted to relay nature, as well as his own impressions of it, with...
a week ago
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a week ago
Paul Cézanne’s late works attempted to relay nature, as well as his own impressions of it, with minimal artifice. He eschewed the weighty influence of artistic tradition—especially the rules of linear perspective—and increasingly relied upon the pure tones of individual...
TheCollector
10 Historic Towns in Germany You Should Visit Germany’s past is written across its landscapes, from the Roman frontier to medieval fortresses and...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Germany’s past is written across its landscapes, from the Roman frontier to medieval fortresses and the echoes of empire. It was here that Charlemagne forged the foundations of the Holy Roman Empire in the 9th century, where Martin Luther ignited the Protestant Reformation in the...
TheCollector
Who Are the Main Aboriginal Clans from West & Central Australia? Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland form the macro-region known as Eastern Australia, along...
2 days ago
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2 days ago
Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland form the macro-region known as Eastern Australia, along with the Tasmanian Island, Jervis Bay Territory, and the Australian Capital Territory. The remaining mainland states of South Australia, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory...
TheCollector
Who Won the Battle of Gaines’ Mill? With the Union and Confederate capital cities so close together, it seemed common sense for the...
5 days ago
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5 days ago
With the Union and Confederate capital cities so close together, it seemed common sense for the Union to use its manpower and industrial advantage to take the quickest route to end the war: seize the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. The Peninsula Campaign of 1862 was an...
TheCollector
Who Won the Battle of Fort Donelson? Initial Union attempts to storm the nearby Confederate capital city of Richmond, Virginia had been...
6 days ago
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6 days ago
Initial Union attempts to storm the nearby Confederate capital city of Richmond, Virginia had been unsuccessful in 1861. Thus, the Union began the process of retaking Confederate territory in the Western Theater west of Virginia. The first target was Tennessee, the “top” of the...
TheCollector
What Is the History of Arizona’s London Bridge? Many have heard the rhyme “London Bridge is Falling Down,” and many know that the current London...
6 days ago
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6 days ago
Many have heard the rhyme “London Bridge is Falling Down,” and many know that the current London Bridge was not the original. However, did you know that a bridge that used to be in London actually took a trip overseas, and now resides on a completely different body of water?  ...
TheCollector
The Authorship Debate: Who Is the Real Shakespeare? William Shakespeare is widely attributed as the author of 39 plays and 154 sonnets. They are lauded...
a week ago
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a week ago
William Shakespeare is widely attributed as the author of 39 plays and 154 sonnets. They are lauded as works of poetic and theatrical genius. Their all-encompassing nature demonstrates a thorough knowledge of classical texts, world travel and other languages. It is partly this...
TheCollector
Value Theory: Is it Immoral to Disrespect the Environment? Imagine being the last man on Earth. After your death, nothing would be left on the planet. In such...
a week ago
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a week ago
Imagine being the last man on Earth. After your death, nothing would be left on the planet. In such conditions, would it be immoral to blow up and destroy the very last Redwood on Earth before your death? This thought experiment, by New Zealander philosopher Richard Sylvan, is...
TheCollector
Heracles Steals the Cattle of Geryon: The Hero’s Tenth Labor King Eurystheus tasked Heracles with stealing the cattle of the three-headed giant Geryon, ruler of...
a week ago
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a week ago
King Eurystheus tasked Heracles with stealing the cattle of the three-headed giant Geryon, ruler of Erytheia, an island at the westernmost edge of the world. During his journey to the mysterious island, Heracles crossed the scorching Sahara Desert and argued with the god of the...
TheCollector
Why European Militaries Collectively Downsized After the Cold War Throughout the Cold War, European militaries were very well-armed and capable of fighting intense...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Throughout the Cold War, European militaries were very well-armed and capable of fighting intense conflicts over an extended period. Centuries of warfare on the European continent had conditioned people throughout Europe that war was a fact of life. Yet by the 1990s and early...
TheCollector
Satyrs in Greek Art: Rowdy Party Animals Satyrs were creatures linked strongly with Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, pleasure, and theater....
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
Satyrs were creatures linked strongly with Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, pleasure, and theater. These party-loving, mischievous, and uninhibited creatures were an exception in ancient Greek art because there was no solid mythological tradition around satyrs. Instead, they were...
TheCollector
The Stono Rebellion: America’s Largest Slave Uprising By 1739, slavery in colonial America had been entrenched for over 100 years. The dependence on...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
By 1739, slavery in colonial America had been entrenched for over 100 years. The dependence on enslaved people to grow American crops was only increasing, but freedom was in the air. One September night, South Carolina slaves rose up to fight for their liberty. Though the exact...
TheCollector
History of Christian Missionaries: From Apostles to Modern Day Christians believe Jesus Christ came to Earth with a divine message. After the Ascension, the...
2 days ago
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2 days ago
Christians believe Jesus Christ came to Earth with a divine message. After the Ascension, the followers of Jesus took the baton from him and picked up the task of spreading that same message. These messengers were called missionaries. This post will investigate Christian...
Open Culture
A Tour of the Final Home Designed By Frank Lloyd Wright: The Circular Sun House Some remember the nineteen-nineties in America as the second coming of the nineteen-fifties....
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Some remember the nineteen-nineties in America as the second coming of the nineteen-fifties. Whatever holes one can poke in that historical framing, it does feel strangely plausible inside Frank Lloyd Wright’s Circular Sun House. Though not actually built until 1967, it was...
TheCollector
Where Was King Arthur’s Mount Badon? War between the Britons and the Anglo-Saxons started in c. 430 CE and continued for centuries. For...
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War between the Britons and the Anglo-Saxons started in c. 430 CE and continued for centuries. For some time, the Anglo-Saxons faced little difficulty in conquering new territory. However, a war leader, either named Ambrosius Aurelianus or King Arthur, helped the Britons fight...
TheCollector
What Bible Translations Existed Before and During the Protestant Reformation? For various reasons, up until well after the Protestant Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church...
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For various reasons, up until well after the Protestant Reformation, the Roman Catholic Church generally resisted the translation of the Bible into vernacular, or common, languages. However, the Catholic Church was unable to stem the tide for various reasons, particularly in the...
TheCollector
The Mind-Body Problem & Consciousness: Dualism vs. Materialism Dualism is the idea that while the body is made of physical material, the mind is made of something...
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Dualism is the idea that while the body is made of physical material, the mind is made of something immaterial. The counterpart to this is materialism, which posits that both the mind and body are composed of the same material, physical substance. There is much more to each...
TheCollector
10 Must-Visit Historic Towns in Mississippi From its early indigenous cultures to European settlement and its role in pivotal moments like the...
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From its early indigenous cultures to European settlement and its role in pivotal moments like the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement, the Magnolia State has been at the heart of American history. Known for its Delta blues, rich literary tradition, and Southern hospitality,...
TheCollector
What We Know About Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ So Far For his next historical blockbuster, award-winning filmmaker Christopher Nolan is taking on The...
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For his next historical blockbuster, award-winning filmmaker Christopher Nolan is taking on The Odyssey. The film, set to be released next year, will likely be the most ambitious—and the most expensive—adaptation of Homer’s epic Greek poem to date. Read on to discover newly...
TheCollector
What Did Albert Camus Really Mean by the Absurd? It is widely (but wrongly) believed that what Camus means by the absurd is something like life...
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It is widely (but wrongly) believed that what Camus means by the absurd is something like life viewed from a distance is completely meaningless. What Camus actually says is that life viewed in a particular way only appears meaningless. The crucial nuance, often missed, is that...
TheCollector
The Battle of Navarino: The Last Battle of the Age of Sail The Battle of Navarino on October 20, 1827 sits between two eras. As the first steam-powered ships...
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The Battle of Navarino on October 20, 1827 sits between two eras. As the first steam-powered ships took to the seas, two great masses of wooden sailing ships clashed in one last fleet action with the fate of an empire on the line. For a final time fleets of sailing ships impacted...
TheCollector
Augustine vs Baudrillard: Are Words Signs of Reality or Hyperreality? To say that the famous pessimist Augustine wrote prolifically because of his hope in the power of...
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To say that the famous pessimist Augustine wrote prolifically because of his hope in the power of the word is not to speak rashly. Words, Augustine thought, illuminate the ontology of human existence. Contrastingly, the French postmodern philosopher and cultural theorist, Jean...
TheCollector
Simone Weil: Did George Herbert Convert the French Mystic? Despite living about 300 years before her, George Herbert drastically influenced the life of Simone...
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Despite living about 300 years before her, George Herbert drastically influenced the life of Simone Weil, a Jewish philosopher of the early to mid-20th century. Weil, accustomed to terrible migraines, was reading one of Herbert’s poems when she had an experience that changed her...
TheCollector
Roman-Era Hermes Statue Found in Ancient City of Aspendos Turkish archaeologists unearthed an ancient statue of Hermes, the winged messenger of the gods, in...
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Turkish archaeologists unearthed an ancient statue of Hermes, the winged messenger of the gods, in the Greco-Roman city of Aspendos. It was found alongside objects associated with other major deities in Greek mythology.   Turkish Archaeologists Uncover Fragmented Hermes Statue  ...
TheCollector
Are We Justified in Using Inductive Reasoning? Imagine being a scientist developing a new drug. You test it on over 1,000,000 patients of...
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Imagine being a scientist developing a new drug. You test it on over 1,000,000 patients of widespread backgrounds, and none experiences any side effects. You put it on the market and, once again, receive no notification of undesired outcomes. Imagine then prescribing it to one of...
TheCollector
How the Song of Roland Shaped the Way We (Still) Think of Charlemagne The Song of Roland, one of the earliest pieces of French literature, started as a verbally shared...
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The Song of Roland, one of the earliest pieces of French literature, started as a verbally shared poem that was eventually written down. Several manuscripts of it exist, but Digby 23 has had the most influence. Because The Song of Roland sings the praise of Charlemagne, it is...
TheCollector
Understanding Beethoven in 5 Compositions Ludwig van Beethoven is labeled as an innovator and a rebel in the world of music. To paraphrase Bob...
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Ludwig van Beethoven is labeled as an innovator and a rebel in the world of music. To paraphrase Bob Marley’s song, No Woman No Cry, “No Beethoven, no modern music.” Despite his growing and eventual deafness, he composed some of the world’s most memorable music. His association...
TheCollector
Who Won the Battle of Hampton Roads? The Union blockaded the Confederate coast during the American Civil War as part of the Anaconda...
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The Union blockaded the Confederate coast during the American Civil War as part of the Anaconda Plan. To fight the overwhelming Union advantage in manpower and ships, the Confederacy adopted a new technology: the ironclad vessel. These low-profile ships were covered in metal...
TheCollector
10 Oldest Universities in Continuous Operation in the U.S. Universities have long been the backbone of intellectual progress, dating back to ancient...
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Universities have long been the backbone of intellectual progress, dating back to ancient institutions like Nalanda and the Academy of Athens. The medieval era saw the rise of structured higher education in Europe, with Bologna (1088) and Oxford (1096) becoming global centers of...
TheCollector
The Valois Dynasty: Crisis, Triumph, and Downfall Upon the death of Philip IV in 1314, the French Crown was the most powerful in Europe. The new king...
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Upon the death of Philip IV in 1314, the French Crown was the most powerful in Europe. The new king Louis X was the successor of Clovis, Charlemagne, and Saint Louis; his royal patron St Denis watched over the dynasty which had maintained an unbroken patrilineal succession for...
TheCollector
10 Oldest Museums in the U.S. Museums have long been places of curiosity and wonder, housing objects that tell the stories of...
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Museums have long been places of curiosity and wonder, housing objects that tell the stories of civilizations past. The idea of collecting and displaying artifacts for public study dates back centuries. Consider the Mouseion of Alexandria, an ancient Greek institution devoted to...
TheCollector
Emotivism: Are Moral Statements Mere Emotions? The concept of morality is often recognized as difficult to define. Discerning moral from immoral is...
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The concept of morality is often recognized as difficult to define. Discerning moral from immoral is bound to result in heated debates, so much so that it often appears impossible to reach an agreement on the outcome of discussions on the matter. What is it then—within the nature...
TheCollector
Great Wall of China Is Centuries Older Than Previously Thought Dating back millennia and once spanning over 13,000 miles, the Great Wall of China is one of the...
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Dating back millennia and once spanning over 13,000 miles, the Great Wall of China is one of the most ambitious construction projects ever undertaken by humans. Recent excavations at the ancient monument suggest that its oldest sections were built 300 years earlier than...
TheCollector
Split-Brain: Two Selves in One? We tend to perceive ourselves as something unified and immutable—whether we call it our soul,...
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We tend to perceive ourselves as something unified and immutable—whether we call it our soul, essence, or self. Yet, whenever we try to explain it, the questions start. Is it just perception itself? Could it be composed of several elements or even just be an illusion? There has...
TheCollector
Excavations Reveal Ancient “Mosaic House” in Pergamon Turkish archaeologists discovered 2,000-year-old mosaics in Pergamon, an important center of power...
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Turkish archaeologists discovered 2,000-year-old mosaics in Pergamon, an important center of power and culture in Hellenistic Greece. The “ornate” tile floors, which belong to a Roman period residence, offer new insights into the lives of the ancient city’s elite.   Mosaic House...
TheCollector
Science and Philosophy: Are They So Different? Any expression, headline, or news containing the word scientific is often awarded high authority...
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Any expression, headline, or news containing the word scientific is often awarded high authority within mainstream media and the community. It is thought that the use of the scientific method for the pursuit of an investigation guarantees its validity and reliability. However,...
TheCollector
The 10 Museums With the Largest Ancient Egyptian Collections Egyptian artifacts are showcased at international museums across the Western world. If anyone was...
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Egyptian artifacts are showcased at international museums across the Western world. If anyone was determined to see every great collection of ancient Egyptian art, they would need to travel across three continents. The museums on this list have tens of thousands of Egyptian...
TheCollector
Archaeologists May Have Found Second Pharaonic Tomb in Egypt The recent discovery of King Thutmose II’s long-lost royal tomb has been touted as Egypt’s most...
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The recent discovery of King Thutmose II’s long-lost royal tomb has been touted as Egypt’s most impressive archaeological find since King Tut. Now, just days later, the same archaeologists say there is a yet-undiscovered second tomb of Thutmose II located nearby.   The Royal...
TheCollector
10 Myths About the Greek God Dionysus Dionysus was one of the twelve Olympian deities the ancient Greeks believed ruled over the cosmos....
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Dionysus was one of the twelve Olympian deities the ancient Greeks believed ruled over the cosmos. He was the patron god of wine and merriment, credited with the discovery of the grapevine. He was also known to cause madness in those who offended him. Dionysus was commonly...
TheCollector
Is Lying Always Wrong? Exploring Different Ethical Routes Have you ever felt that telling the truth is morally overrated? There are certainly many situations...
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Have you ever felt that telling the truth is morally overrated? There are certainly many situations where total transparency could trigger disastrous outcomes for all parties involved. Wouldn’t lying then be a moral duty in order to mitigate such negative consequences?  These...
TheCollector
Who Won the Siege of Petersburg? Despite having much of its most valuable territory retaken by the summer of 1864, the Confederacy...
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Despite having much of its most valuable territory retaken by the summer of 1864, the Confederacy continued to resist. If it could hold on, perhaps it could win the war by wearing down the Union enough to seek peace terms. Thus, new general-in-chief Ulysses S. Grant needed to...
TheCollector
What Is the Difference Between Sunni and Shia Islam? According to Muslim tradition, Muhammad’s prophetic status was well-established among his followers...
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According to Muslim tradition, Muhammad’s prophetic status was well-established among his followers before his death. However, a disagreement emerged soon afterward about the prophet’s death regarding his intent for the leadership structure of the fledgling Muslim community. The...
TheCollector
Leahy Law: Context, Overview, & History During the Cold War, the United States became a major exporter of weapons to countries fighting...
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During the Cold War, the United States became a major exporter of weapons to countries fighting communism around the world. The issue of US arms sales to foreign militaries accused of human rights violations has been the subject of intense debate in the American political arena...
TheCollector
Bodhidharma: The Legendary Founder of Kung Fu & Zen (Myth vs Facts) Zen Buddhism’s enigmatic teachings and its masters have influenced East Asian art, philosophy, and...
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Zen Buddhism’s enigmatic teachings and its masters have influenced East Asian art, philosophy, and poetry for over a thousand years. However, the entire tradition traces itself back to one legendary man, credited not only with bringing Zen to China but also with the development...
TheCollector
How Did the Arrival of Europeans Change North America? The process of colonizing North America transpired quickly between 1492 and 1620 with an increasing...
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The process of colonizing North America transpired quickly between 1492 and 1620 with an increasing number of settlers arriving in bigger groups after 1600. As more Europeans arrived in the region, demand for land escalated. Eventually, the invaders displaced Native Americans...
TheCollector
Don Quixote: Was the First Modern Novel Born in Captivity? First published in 1605, Don Quixote is considered by many to be the first modern novel. Because of...
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First published in 1605, Don Quixote is considered by many to be the first modern novel. Because of this, it is still widely read and beloved over 400 years later. However, the daunting nature and outdated language of the massive text preclude many from having more than a passing...
TheCollector
Egypt Announces First Royal Tomb Discovery Since King Tut The royal tomb of King Tutankhamun, located in Egypt’s famous Valley of the Kings, was discovered in...
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The royal tomb of King Tutankhamun, located in Egypt’s famous Valley of the Kings, was discovered in 1922. Now, for the first time since then, another royal tomb has been unearthed in Egypt: that of King Thutmose II. The Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiques has dubbed the...
TheCollector
5 Women in Epistemology You Should Know Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that deals with knowledge, belief, and the relationship...
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Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that deals with knowledge, belief, and the relationship between the two. Being one of the core philosophical disciplines from antiquity, epistemology has always been dominated by men. Nonetheless, in the last decades, almost all novelties...
TheCollector
What Is Black History Month? Originating in the United States, BHM has become an annual celebration of the history and...
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Originating in the United States, BHM has become an annual celebration of the history and achievements of black people in many countries across the world, such as the UK and Canada. The months predominantly used for celebration are February and October, with the celebrations...
TheCollector
Who Is Ruby Bridges? On November 14, 1960, six-year-old Ruby Bridges became one of the first Black students to attend an...
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On November 14, 1960, six-year-old Ruby Bridges became one of the first Black students to attend an all-white public school in the South. Escorted by federal marshals through crowds of segregationists, Ruby stepped onto her new school’s campus and into the history books. Ruby is...
TheCollector
What Is Rudolf Steiner’s Philosophy of Freedom? Do you want to learn about philosophy and how it affects our idea of freedom? If you do, then Rudolf...
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Do you want to learn about philosophy and how it affects our idea of freedom? If you do, then Rudolf Steiner’s philosophy of freedom is something you’ll find incredibly interesting. In his famous book The Philosophy of Freedom, Steiner, an Austrian philosopher, anthroposophist,...
TheCollector
London in WWII: The Horror of the London Blitz “We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields...
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“We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender,” famously declared British Prime Minister Winston Churchill to the House of Commons on June 4, 1940. At...
TheCollector
The Stroop Effect: Can Your Brain Glitch? The Stroop effect is one of the most fascinating discoveries of experimental psychology that...
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The Stroop effect is one of the most fascinating discoveries of experimental psychology that uncovers how our brain processes information. Named after psychologist John Ridley Stroop, it reveals how cognitive interferences can make seemingly simple cognitive tasks surprisingly...
TheCollector
Is The Prince of Egypt (1998) an Accurate Portrayal of Ancient Egypt? The Prince of Egypt is a 1998 award-winning animated film based on the Book of Exodus in the Bible....
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The Prince of Egypt is a 1998 award-winning animated film based on the Book of Exodus in the Bible. Set in ancient Egypt, the main characters reference actual historical figures. In this article, we will examine how life in ancient Egypt is shown in the movie to find out how...
TheCollector
10 Beautiful Libraries in the U.S. You Should Visit Libraries have long stood as pillars of knowledge and culture, evolving from ancient archives to...
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Libraries have long stood as pillars of knowledge and culture, evolving from ancient archives to modern public institutions. The earliest known libraries date back to the 7th century B.C., such as the Library of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh, which housed a vast collection of cuneiform...
TheCollector
The Surprising Ways Tomb Robbing Changed the Course of Egyptian History In ancient Egypt, the physical memory of the deceased was essential. They believed that another life...
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In ancient Egypt, the physical memory of the deceased was essential. They believed that another life would begin in the afterlife that was the same as life on Earth but without any problems. Their tombs were packed with objects necessary for survival in this afterlife....
TheCollector
The German Revolution of 1918-1919: The Birth of the Weimar Republic On November 10, 1918, Theodor Wolff, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Berliner Tageblatt,...
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On November 10, 1918, Theodor Wolff, the editor-in-chief of the newspaper Berliner Tageblatt, announced that “the greatest of all revolutions” had occurred in Germany. The previous day, a wave of anti-war protests, collectively known as the November Revolution, had caused the...
TheCollector
Joya de Cerén: A Glimpse at the Mayan Pompeii While numerous Mayan discoveries and archeological sites can be found throughout Central America,...
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While numerous Mayan discoveries and archeological sites can be found throughout Central America, the distinctiveness of Joya de Cerén provides a peek at Mayan life in a small farming settlement over 1,500 years ago. A volcanic eruption and the resulting ash that froze the city...
TheCollector
Why Is There So Much Blood in Mesoamerican Mythology? In the Aztec mythos, Huitzilopotchli sought revenge on his sister Coyolxauhqui for attacking their...
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In the Aztec mythos, Huitzilopotchli sought revenge on his sister Coyolxauhqui for attacking their mother, throwing her head into the sky to become the moon watching over. In the Maya mythos, Buluc-Chabta wore a necklace made of human eyes. Brutality and war were often the way of...
TheCollector
10 Ancient Cities That You Can Still Visit Today The term ancient times generally refers to the period before the Middle Ages, spanning from the rise...
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The term ancient times generally refers to the period before the Middle Ages, spanning from the rise of the first civilizations around 3000 BCE to roughly 500 CE. It was an era defined by towering empires, complex societies, and monumental achievements in art, architecture, and...
TheCollector
Collection of Old Masters Poised to Break Auction Records With discerning taste and a sprawling Park Avenue apartment to fill, American philanthropists Jordan...
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With discerning taste and a sprawling Park Avenue apartment to fill, American philanthropists Jordan and Thomas A. Saunders III spent decades acquiring a storied collection of European Old Master paintings. Now, this collection is heading to Sotheby’s, where it is likely to set...
TheCollector
Interview With Adriano Marinazzo: Michelangelo Masterpieces in the US TheCollector recently had the pleasure of speaking with curator Adriano Marinazzo about...
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TheCollector recently had the pleasure of speaking with curator Adriano Marinazzo about Michelangelo: The Genesis of the Sistine, an exciting new exhibition held at the Muscarelle Museum of Art at William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. On view from March 6 to May 28, 2025, the...
TheCollector
Who Is Jesus in Islam? According to a well-known hadith (a term for authoritative Islamic traditions about Muhammad),...
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According to a well-known hadith (a term for authoritative Islamic traditions about Muhammad), Muhammad saw Jesus as the closest of all the prophets to himself, both in this life and hereafter. Jesus is also honored in Islam with several titles given to no other prophet—including...
TheCollector
6 Famous Artworks That Are Lost Forever For centuries, humans have considered pieces of art important enough to preserve and cherish despite...
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For centuries, humans have considered pieces of art important enough to preserve and cherish despite their seeming impracticality. Still, in spite of our efforts to keep them intact, works of art too often fall victim to tragic accidents. Some pieces remain known only in art...
TheCollector
Newly Discovered Frescoes Reveal Ancient Ritual in Pompeii A century before the ancient city’s destruction, artists adorned the walls of a Pompeii banquet hall...
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A century before the ancient city’s destruction, artists adorned the walls of a Pompeii banquet hall with a procession of Dionysian revelers. Brightly colored and nearly life-sized, the newly identified fresco figures dance, hunt, and imbibe in the name of the god of wine.  ...
TheCollector
5 Special Forces Groups of World War II World War II spawned innovations in all aspects of warfare. From jets to rudimentary guided rockets...
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World War II spawned innovations in all aspects of warfare. From jets to rudimentary guided rockets and missiles, this conflict forever changed the face of war. The rise of special forces units within the militaries of the participants was also a significant development within...
TheCollector
What Are the Five Pillars of Islam? The foundation of religious life for Sunni Muslims, who comprise around eighty-five percent of...
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The foundation of religious life for Sunni Muslims, who comprise around eighty-five percent of Muslims worldwide, is known as the “Five Pillars of Islam.” They are designed not merely for personal use, but to foster solidarity within the Muslim ummah, or community. They are not a...
TheCollector
3 Key Muslim Leaders Who Rose During the Second Crusade Pope Urban II’s call for a crusade to the Holy Land saw an astonishing response across Western...
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Pope Urban II’s call for a crusade to the Holy Land saw an astonishing response across Western Europe. A desire for wealth, adventure, and salvation saw the launch of the First Crusade in 1096. Three years later, Jerusalem fell to Christian advances. Shock waves rippled...
TheCollector
Brazil in World War II: The Forgotten Ally In the 1930s, Brazilian dictator Getúlio Vargas pushed to expand and industrialize his country’s...
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In the 1930s, Brazilian dictator Getúlio Vargas pushed to expand and industrialize his country’s economy—until the outbreak of World War II upended his plans. In response to repeated Axis attacks on Brazilian shipping, Brazil joined the Allies in 1942 and made significant, though...
TheCollector
Discover Leah Chase: How a Black Chef Changed Food, Art, & History Chefs have over the years have become their own form of celebrities. While women were still getting...
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Chefs have over the years have become their own form of celebrities. While women were still getting a foothold in a former boy’s club, Leah Chase, a chef in New Orleans, Louisiana, broke the glass ceiling, becoming an author and television personality known today as the “Queen of...
TheCollector
9 Defining Moments in British Medieval Warfare Interestingly, the medieval period in Britain begins with a battle. In 1066 CE, the Battle of...
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Interestingly, the medieval period in Britain begins with a battle. In 1066 CE, the Battle of Hastings marked the beginning of Norman rule and a new era in Britain. Medieval warfare in Britain was often used as a tool to help implement feudalism and maintain the centralization of...
TheCollector
A Day in the Life of a Medieval Woman in England “Medieval” has come to mean backward, uninformed, and brutal, particularly when looking at the lives...
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“Medieval” has come to mean backward, uninformed, and brutal, particularly when looking at the lives of women. This does not reflect the reality of the time but is an interpretation of a later age that sought to create a divide between the enlightened Classical world and their...
TheCollector
Director of Dreams: Who Is Akira Kurosawa? Today, the world knows Japanese cinema. Whether anime, 1950s Godzilla movies, or rogue samurai,...
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Today, the world knows Japanese cinema. Whether anime, 1950s Godzilla movies, or rogue samurai, Japanese movies have undoubtedly caused a splash the international realm of modern and contemporary film. Master Director, Akira Kurosawa, etched his mark deeply in his home country of...
TheCollector
Once-Stolen Egon Schiele Work Set to Fetch $1.9 Million at Auction Fritz Grünbaum, a Viennese art collector, acquired dozens of works by the enigmatic expressionist...
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Fritz Grünbaum, a Viennese art collector, acquired dozens of works by the enigmatic expressionist Egon Schiele in the early 20th century. Grünbaum was murdered under Nazi Germany’s occupation of Austria, and his art collection was seized and dispersed. Now, a Schiele watercolor...
TheCollector
Coherentism and Its Limits: Definition & Criticism Imagine waking up on a seemingly normal morning and discovering that all the knowledge you—and most...
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Imagine waking up on a seemingly normal morning and discovering that all the knowledge you—and most of the world—held accountable up to that moment was inaccurate and unreliable. While this seems like an implausible scenario, it is logically possible for some groundbreaking...
TheCollector
Paul Delaroche’s Artistic Career: A Master of History Paintings Paul Delaroche was a 19th-century French painter who specialized in and earned his fame in history...
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Paul Delaroche was a 19th-century French painter who specialized in and earned his fame in history paintings. Most of his work focused on emotional tales taken from English history. Delaroche experienced massive success among his contemporaries, and his paintings continue to...
TheCollector
9 Myths About the Greek Goddess Hera In Greek mythology, Hera was the goddess of women, marriage and married life. She was the queen of...
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In Greek mythology, Hera was the goddess of women, marriage and married life. She was the queen of the gods by her marriage to Zeus. In art, she was generally depicted wearing a crown and a peplos, a long sleeveless robe that was customary for women in ancient Greece. She was a...
TheCollector
How Many Israelite Temples Were Built? According to the Bible, David gathered building materials for a temple that was to replace Israel’s...
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According to the Bible, David gathered building materials for a temple that was to replace Israel’s mobile house of worship, called the tabernacle, which had been built under Moses’s direction during Israel’s nomadic years in the Sinai Peninsula. David’s son and successor Solomon...
TheCollector
10 Oldest Skyscrapers Around the World Skyscrapers weren’t always the shimmering glass-and-steel giants we know today. In the late 19th...
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Skyscrapers weren’t always the shimmering glass-and-steel giants we know today. In the late 19th century, the idea of building upward wasn’t just a necessity. It was a statement. Cities were swelling, land was expensive, and new engineering feats made it possible to defy...
TheCollector
10 Myths About the Greek Goddess Artemis Artemis is one of the twelve Olympian gods in Greek myth, the daughter of Leto and Zeus. Unlike her...
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Artemis is one of the twelve Olympian gods in Greek myth, the daughter of Leto and Zeus. Unlike her twin brother, Apollo, who represented civilization and order, Artemis represented the untamed wilderness. Depicted as a young maiden, the goddess was very protective of her...
TheCollector
6 Famous Operas Based on the Bible Performance arts are often based on traditions and narratives that have inspired human history...
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Performance arts are often based on traditions and narratives that have inspired human history throughout the ages. It is no surprise then that the Bible has played a role in creating a myriad of musical and artistic works by a diverse array of writers and composers. Several of...
TheCollector
Who Was Rudolf Steiner? (Life and Philosophy) Do you ever think about the people who have changed our world and how we think? Rudolf Steiner was...
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Do you ever think about the people who have changed our world and how we think? Rudolf Steiner was one such person. He wasn’t just a philosopher or writer, he was an innovative educator, esotericist, artist, and original thinker whose ideas still astound us today. Steiner’s...
TheCollector
Aristotle’s Unexplored Discovery: Being as Implication Parmenides’ thoughts on the nature of Being painted the nature of reality as monistic and...
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Parmenides’ thoughts on the nature of Being painted the nature of reality as monistic and unchanging, derived from the axiom of “nothing can come from nothing.” Aristotle’s reply to Parmenides’ views on change allowed for breakthroughs in the history of human thought. Some of...
TheCollector
North America to Get its First Leonardo da Vinci Museum Leonardo lovers in North America are soon in for a rare treat. Following complex collaborations...
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2 weeks ago
Leonardo lovers in North America are soon in for a rare treat. Following complex collaborations between international parties, the first-of-its-kind Leonardo da Vinci Museum of North America is officially heading to Pueblo, Colorado.   Leonardo da Vinci Museum Set to Open in...
TheCollector
The Battle of Shiloh: A Battle in Two Parts The Battle of Shiloh was a complex two-day struggle in the early Spring of 1862 on the banks of the...
2 weeks ago
2
2 weeks ago
The Battle of Shiloh was a complex two-day struggle in the early Spring of 1862 on the banks of the Tennessee River near Savannah, Tennessee, in Hardin County. The movements, engagements, first-hand accounts, and secondary source material have been heavily studied since the...
TheCollector
7 of the Most Inhospitable Places on Earth If one thing can be said about the human species, it’s that we are incredibly resourceful. We can...
2 weeks ago
2
2 weeks ago
If one thing can be said about the human species, it’s that we are incredibly resourceful. We can survive and put down roots virtually anywhere we choose, from the icy wastes of the Arctic to the searing heat of the Sahara.   Yet some places on the planet are so inhospitable that...
TheCollector
Connecting the Wrong Dots: What Is Apophenia? Apophenia is our tendency to find meaningful connections between unrelated things. Otherwise known...
2 weeks ago
2
2 weeks ago
Apophenia is our tendency to find meaningful connections between unrelated things. Otherwise known as patternicity, it is a common phenomenon that highlights our intrinsic need for meaning and order in our lives. Can we dismiss apophenia as a mere cognitive bias, an error of...
TheCollector
Attalid Kingdom of Pergamon: A Great Power of the Hellenistic World During the Hellenistic era, an obscure city in western Asia Minor (modern Turkey) became one of the...
2 weeks ago
2
2 weeks ago
During the Hellenistic era, an obscure city in western Asia Minor (modern Turkey) became one of the leading states of the 3rd and 2nd centuries BCE. The Attalids, who ruled Pergamon, were a curious dynasty. Unusually harmonious in an era known for intra-dynastic strife, they were...
TheCollector
Nietzsche’s Eternal Recurrence: A Metaphor for Embracing Life Nietzsche’s ideas concerning the eternal recurrence (or eternal return) were far from unique. But...
2 weeks ago
2
2 weeks ago
Nietzsche’s ideas concerning the eternal recurrence (or eternal return) were far from unique. But his own interpretation of the thought that life repeats itself eternally formed the foundation of so much of his own philosophy. Did he mean for us to take it literally or...
TheCollector
Post-Modern Stoics? The Revival of Stoicism in the Late 20th Century It probably should not be too much of a surprise that Stoicism, one of the most deviant and...
2 weeks ago
2
2 weeks ago
It probably should not be too much of a surprise that Stoicism, one of the most deviant and uncharacteristic branches of ancient philosophy (the Cynics notwithstanding), should attract the attention of late 20th-century intelligentsia. Even Plotinus spoke of the Stoics as being...
TheCollector
Lost Camille Claudel Sculpture Sells for $3.8 Million A bronze sculpture by Camille Claudel, lost for over a century, was recently rediscovered in an...
2 weeks ago
2
2 weeks ago
A bronze sculpture by Camille Claudel, lost for over a century, was recently rediscovered in an uninhabited Parisian apartment. Over the weekend, the bronze cast of The Age of Maturity fetched $3.8 million at a Philocale auction in Orléans, France—proving that Claudel’s artistic...
TheCollector
What Was the Role of Judges in Ancient Israel Before It Became a Monarchy? The story of Israel’s Exodus from Egypt, with Moses as its protagonist, is probably the most...
2 weeks ago
2
2 weeks ago
The story of Israel’s Exodus from Egypt, with Moses as its protagonist, is probably the most well-known of all stories in the Hebrew Bible. Joshua’s conquest of Canaan, epitomized by the siege of Jericho, is also retold often. Similarly, David’s slaying of Goliath, his flight...
TheCollector
Trove of Ancient Gold Jewelry Found in Egypt’s Karnak Temple Ongoing excavations at Egypt’s Karnak Temple Complex revealed a cache of ancient gold artifacts....
2 days ago
2
2 days ago
Ongoing excavations at Egypt’s Karnak Temple Complex revealed a cache of ancient gold artifacts. Stashed for centuries inside a ceramic vessel, the collection of jewelry, amulets, and statuettes remains remarkably well-preserved.   Karnak Temple Jewelry Dates Back to Egypt’s 26th...
TheCollector
Was the Spanish Inquisition Really That Harsh? (Truths & Myths) When most people think of the Spanish Inquisition, they picture horrific scenes of torture and...
2 days ago
2
2 days ago
When most people think of the Spanish Inquisition, they picture horrific scenes of torture and cruelty, thousands of people burning at the stake, and a tyrannical religious regime with too much power. What led to these misconceptions and propaganda surrounding the Inquisition,...
TheCollector
The Complex and Contentious History of Crimea The status of the Crimean Peninsula has entered international public consciousness over the past...
2 weeks ago
2
2 weeks ago
The status of the Crimean Peninsula has entered international public consciousness over the past decade. Since the events of 2014, when it was annexed from Ukraine by the Russian Federation, the state has been labeled as occupied by some and liberated by others.   This, however,...
Flashbak
René Magritte’s Art Deco Posters and Music Covers Belgian painter René Magritte (21 November 1898 – 15 August 1967) is best known for his Surrealist...
15 hours ago
2
15 hours ago
Belgian painter René Magritte (21 November 1898 – 15 August 1967) is best known for his Surrealist art. But before he relocated from Brussels to Paris in 1927 and began hanging out with André Breton (19 February 1896 – 28 September 1966) and other Surrealists, Magritte worked as...
Open Culture
Get 40% Off 3 Months of Coursera Plus & Access Unlimited Courses – Offer Ends March 9 Now through March 9, 2025, Coursera is offering 40% off a three-month subscription to Coursera Plus....
yesterday
1
yesterday
Now through March 9, 2025, Coursera is offering 40% off a three-month subscription to Coursera Plus. This plan provides access to 7,000+ courses for one all-inclusive price, including programs from 350 universities (e.g., Duke and the University of Michigan) and companies like...
Open Culture
Watch the Sci-Fi Short Film “I’m Not a Robot”: Winner of a 2025 Academy Award Victoria Warmerdam, the writer and director of the short film, “I’m Not a Robot,” summarizes the...
23 hours ago
1
23 hours ago
Victoria Warmerdam, the writer and director of the short film, “I’m Not a Robot,” summarizes the plot of her 22-minute film as follows: The film “tells the story of Lara, a music producer who spirals into an existential crisis after repeatedly failing a CAPTCHA test—leading her...
TheCollector
What Are the Origins of the Folk Horror Genre? Originating in British cinema during the 1960s and 1970s, classic works of folk horror such as The...
21 hours ago
1
21 hours ago
Originating in British cinema during the 1960s and 1970s, classic works of folk horror such as The Wicker Man (1973), have created their own set of features usually used as shorthand by folk horror creators in many mediums. Featuring isolated, rural communities grappling with the...
Dreams of Space -...
Rockets and Space Coloring Book (1960) Some nice space pictures (to color) for you today.  Coloring books may be one of the ultimate forms...
5 hours ago
1
5 hours ago
Some nice space pictures (to color) for you today.  Coloring books may be one of the ultimate forms of ephemera. There were meant to be used, admired? and then thrown away. Yet many children owned them and there were at least 40 issued between 1950 and 1970 on space themes. If...
TheCollector
Baroque Music: Contrast and Drama The Baroque Era’s genesis lay in Italy, established during the Council of Trent between 1545 and...
yesterday
1
yesterday
The Baroque Era’s genesis lay in Italy, established during the Council of Trent between 1545 and 1653. The Council’s mission was simple: How could they inspire people to follow the Catholic faith and come back to the Church’s fold? Where the Protestants opted for simplicity, the...
TheCollector
8 Locations in Greece Related to the Odyssey Homer’s The Odyssey has been a cornerstone of Western literature for millennia, chronicling the epic...
23 hours ago
1
23 hours ago
Homer’s The Odyssey has been a cornerstone of Western literature for millennia, chronicling the epic journey of King Odysseus as he strives to return home after the Trojan War. This timeless narrative has inspired countless adaptations, with the latest being Christopher Nolan’s...
Classical Wisdom
Ancients After Alexander The Hellenistic Age
18 hours ago
TheCollector
4 Must-Read Works by Søren Kierkegaard, Father of Existentialism Søren Kierkegaard is largely considered to be the father of existentialism. He wrote extensively...
19 hours ago
1
19 hours ago
Søren Kierkegaard is largely considered to be the father of existentialism. He wrote extensively about subjects such as the human condition, despair, anxiety about existence, and how to achieve an authentic and actualized Self. Kierkegaard never shied away from the messy parts of...
TheCollector
Still-Life: 8 Facts About the Most Underrated Genre Still-life painting is one of the oldest genres in history, yet it is often dismissed as too simple...
15 hours ago
1
15 hours ago
Still-life painting is one of the oldest genres in history, yet it is often dismissed as too simple and not serious enough to be considered “high” art. Still, this genre has a long history spanning from antiquity. Still-life painting has evolved with human society, adapting to...
TheCollector
Archaeologists Find World’s Oldest Known Bone Tools in Africa Early hominids were systematically producing bone tools at least one million years sooner than...
14 hours ago
1
14 hours ago
Early hominids were systematically producing bone tools at least one million years sooner than archaeologists previously believed, according to a new study published in Nature. Researchers from the CSIC-Spanish National Research Council unearthed an ancient bone toolkit in...
History Today Feed
The Affair of the Sausages The Affair of the Sausages JamesHoare Fri, 03/07/2025 - 08:52
23 hours ago
TheCollector
The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk: How Russia Left World War I In both World Wars, people assume the Allied Powers had a crushing advantage and would have...
11 hours ago
1
11 hours ago
In both World Wars, people assume the Allied Powers had a crushing advantage and would have inevitably won the conflicts. World War I, however, was almost a victory for Germany. Far from the American focus on the Atlantic Ocean, Germany had also been fighting Russia, which was an...
Wrong Side of...
The Lives of the Othered Are some people worth less?
yesterday
Trying to Understand...
A Week Off And A New Language See you again soon
a year ago
Res Obscura
Simulating History with ChatGPT The Case for LLMs as Hallucination Engines
a year ago
CrimethInc.
2024: Out of the Frying Pan, into the Fire : The Year in Review It’s time to take stock of the year have just lived through and get oriented for the year ahead....
2 months ago
119
2 months ago
It’s time to take stock of the year have just lived through and get oriented for the year ahead. Here, we review the events of 2024 and our own contributions to the fight for a better world. A year that began amid genocide in Palestine and war in Ukraine and Sudan is concluding...
Trying to Understand...
The Rise of Extractive Politics It's about having small expectations.
a year ago
Classical Wisdom
Weekend Roundup Sacred Flames and Divine Philosophers
a year ago
Open Culture
Binge-Watch Classic Television Programs Free: The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Lone Ranger, Dragnet, That... Earlier this week, we featured the 99-year-old Dick Van Dyke’s performance in Coldplay’s new music...
2 months ago
96
2 months ago
Earlier this week, we featured the 99-year-old Dick Van Dyke’s performance in Coldplay’s new music video, full of visual references to the sitcom that made him a household name in the early nineteen-sixties. And a household name he remains these six decades later, though one does...
Wrong Side of...
Rats! The Year of the Plague #2
a month ago
Classical Wisdom
Should We Follow Silly Laws? And what happens when we don’t?
a year ago
Open Culture
The New York Times Presents the 100 Best Books of the 21st Century, Selected by 503 Novelists, Poets... For longtime readers of American book journalism, scrolling through the New York Times Book Review’s...
2 months ago
89
2 months ago
For longtime readers of American book journalism, scrolling through the New York Times Book Review’s just-published list of the 100 best books of the twenty-first century will summon dim memories of many a once-unignorable critical fuss. At one time or another over the past 25...
Open Culture
Francis Ford Coppola Picks His Favorite Criterion Movies & Gives Advice to Filmmakers Upon stepping into the hallowed Criterion Closet, stocked with hundreds of that cinephile video...
2 months ago
88
2 months ago
Upon stepping into the hallowed Criterion Closet, stocked with hundreds of that cinephile video label’s finest releases, Francis Ford Coppola speaks of a director who “believed in a film he wanted to make, and used his entire fortune, because the financing system of the time...
History Today Feed
Forgeries, Fakes, and Phantom Time Forgeries, Fakes, and Phantom Time JamesHoare Tue, 01/28/2025 - 08:38
a month ago
History Today Feed
How Did Christianity Change the Roman Empire? How Did Christianity Change the Roman Empire? j.hoare Thu, 12/07/2023 - 09:29
a year ago
Open Culture
Benedict Cumberbatch Reads Kurt Vonnegut’s Letter of Advice to People Living in the Year 2088 There was a time when a company like Volkswagen could commission various luminaries to write letters...
2 months ago
83
2 months ago
There was a time when a company like Volkswagen could commission various luminaries to write letters to the future, then publish them in Time magazine as part of an ad campaign. In fact, that time wasn’t so very long ago: it was the year 1988, to be precise, when no less an...
Open Culture
Read J. R. R. Tolkien’s “Letter From Father Christmas” To His Young Children (1925) J.R.R. Tolkien is best known for the sweeping fantasy landscapes of Lord of The Rings and The...
2 months ago
82
2 months ago
J.R.R. Tolkien is best known for the sweeping fantasy landscapes of Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit. Apart from being a celebrated author, the Oxford University professor of Anglo-Saxon was also a devoted father who doted on his children. In 1920, a few short years after Tolkien...
Classical Wisdom
Can We Choose NOT to Be Harmed? How can we train Resilience?
a year ago
African History...
A history of the Rozvi kingdom (1680-1830) From Changamire's expulsion of the Portuguese to the ruined cities of Zimbabwe.
a year ago
Classical Wisdom
How To Eat: An Ancient Guide to Healthy Living Registration *NOW* Open
a month ago
Overcoming Bias
Celebrity v CEO v Politician Why are celebrities, CEOs, and politicians three different types of people who don’t overlap much?
a month ago
A Collection of...
Collections: How to Roman Republic 101, Addenda: The Socii This week, as an addendum to our series on Roman civic governance (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, IIIc, IV, V),...
a year ago
78
a year ago
This week, as an addendum to our series on Roman civic governance (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, IIIc, IV, V), we’re going to take a look at how Rome handles those parts of Italy it controls but which it does not inhabit. These are Rome’s ‘allies’ (socii), a euphemistic label for the...
Trying to Understand...
A Short Essay About A Long-Playing Record One I bought fifty years ago.
9 months ago
A Collection of...
Collections: On the Reign of Alexander III of Macedon, the Great? This week, in part as a follow-on to our series on the contest between Hellenistic armies and Roman...
9 months ago
76
9 months ago
This week, in part as a follow-on to our series on the contest between Hellenistic armies and Roman legions, I wanted to take the opportunity to talk about Alexander III, who you almost certainly know as Alexander the Great. But I want to discuss his reign with that title, ‘the...
Open Culture
Explore the Newly-Launched Public Domain Image Archive with 10,000+ Free Historical Images We’ve often featured the work of the Public Domain Review here on Open Culture, and also various...
a month ago
76
a month ago
We’ve often featured the work of the Public Domain Review here on Open Culture, and also various searchable copyright-free image databases that have arisen over the years. It makes sense that those two worlds would collide, and now they’ve done so in the form of the just-launched...
Classical Wisdom
Weekend Roundup Mothers of the Ancient World
9 months ago
Trying to Understand...
Things Are Falling Apart ... And the centre's not looking too good, either.
a year ago
History Today Feed
Portugal, the Mamluks, and the Age of Discovery Portugal, the Mamluks, and the Age of Discovery JamesHoare Wed, 01/22/2025 - 09:03
a month ago
Wrong Side of...
The Terrible Loneliness of Genius The Canon Club: Vincent van Gogh
a month ago
Classical Wisdom
Do You Listen Well? Lessons on Listening from Plutarch
a year ago
A Collection of...
Collections: On the Reign of Alexander III of Macedon, the Great? Part II This is the second and final part of our look at Alexander III of Macedon (Part I), who you almost...
9 months ago
74
9 months ago
This is the second and final part of our look at Alexander III of Macedon (Part I), who you almost certainly know as Alexander the Great. Last week, we looked at the sources for Alexander’s life, the historiography (that is, the history-of-the-history) of his modern reception and...
weird medieval guys
Explore medieval life and death with these 5 brilliant interactive maps! Travels, murders, and......eels?!!
a year ago
Open Culture
How Leonardo da Vinci Painted The Last Supper: A Deep Dive Into a Masterpiece When Leonardo da Vinci was 42 years old, he hadn’t yet completed any major publicly viewable work....
2 months ago
73
2 months ago
When Leonardo da Vinci was 42 years old, he hadn’t yet completed any major publicly viewable work. Not that he’d been idle: in that same era, while working for the Duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, he “developed, organized, and directed productions for festival pageants, triumphal...
Res Obscura
LLM-based educational games will be a big deal For the first time, digital games can make qualitative assessments of learning. Here's what that...
9 months ago
73
9 months ago
For the first time, digital games can make qualitative assessments of learning. Here's what that might look like.
History Today Feed
Who to Blame for Early Modern Climate Change? Who to Blame for Early Modern Climate Change? JamesHoare Thu, 01/23/2025 - 09:18
a month ago
Trying to Understand...
Into the Waste Land Nothing connects.
a year ago
Trying to Understand...
War Is Complicated. And not just the fighting bit.
a year ago
Open Culture
99-Year-Old Dick Van Dyke Sings & Dances in a Touching New Coldplay Video, Directed by Spike Jonze There’s one thing right with our world, and it’s Dick Van Dyke. Appearing in a new Coldplay music...
2 months ago
71
2 months ago
There’s one thing right with our world, and it’s Dick Van Dyke. Appearing in a new Coldplay music video, Mr. Van Dyke dances barefoot and sings knowingly a little off-key—before reflecting on a century of life on this planet. What is love? Is he afraid of dying? What does luck...
African History...
A history of the Majeerteen Sultanate: 1700-1927. Maritime trade and diplomacy in the northern Horn of Africa.
a year ago
History Today Feed
On the Spot: Eugene Rogan On the Spot: Eugene Rogan JamesHoare Tue, 05/14/2024 - 09:43
9 months ago
Classical Wisdom
The Mother Goddess of Rome And Her Controversial Religion
10 months ago
Open Culture
What’s Entering the Public Domain in 2025: Hemingway’s A Farewell to Arms, Faulkner’s The Sound and... Each Public Domain Day seems to bring us a richer crop of copyright-liberated books, plays, films,...
2 months ago
70
2 months ago
Each Public Domain Day seems to bring us a richer crop of copyright-liberated books, plays, films, musical compositions, sound recordings, works of art, and other pieces of intellectual property. This year happens to be an especially notable one for connoisseurs of Belgian...
Res Obscura
Centuries of Childhood The history of childhood is one of multiplicity — so why do we tell parents such simplistic stories...
8 months ago
69
8 months ago
The history of childhood is one of multiplicity — so why do we tell parents such simplistic stories about it?
A Collection of...
Collections: Coinage and the Tyranny of Fantasy ‘Gold’ This week on the blog I want to take a brief detour into discussing historical coinage, particularly...
2 months ago
69
2 months ago
This week on the blog I want to take a brief detour into discussing historical coinage, particularly in the context of modern fantasy and roleplaying settings. In particular, the notions I want to tackle are first how did ancient currency systems work in terms of value (what...
Trying to Understand...
Honesty: What's In It For Me? First, do lots of harm.
a year ago
Trying to Understand...
China And Russia Walk Into A Room. And don't say a word about Europe.
9 months ago
Flashbak
The Sun by Frans Masereel, A Story Without Words – 1919 “One discovers the light in darkness, that is what darkness is for; but everything in our lives...
a month ago
68
a month ago
“One discovers the light in darkness, that is what darkness is for; but everything in our lives depends on how we bear the light,” – James Baldwin, Nothing Personal      The Sun (1919) by Frans Masereel (1889–1972) opens with an artist resting his head on his desk beneath an open...
weird medieval guys
Why did medieval people invent so many collective nouns? A pride of lions, a paddling of ducks, and....a herd of harlots?
a year ago
A Collection of...
Gap Week: December 27, 2024 (Year in Review) Hey folks! Year is coming to a close, so once again I’m going to offer a bit of an end-of-year...
2 months ago
67
2 months ago
Hey folks! Year is coming to a close, so once again I’m going to offer a bit of an end-of-year reflection on the state of the project, along with a brief ‘what’s on the stove’ coverage of what may be coming up. Also, here’s a cat picture: In terms of the project itself, 2024 was,...
weird medieval guys
An 800 year prayer book that's decorated with puns Plus a little history of manuscript illustration
a year ago
Trying to Understand...
Useless in Gaza As always, if you don't know what you're doing.
a year ago
Classical Wisdom
Are Protests the Best Way to Say Nay? Can Mobs Make the Change They Want to See?
9 months ago
African History...
Persian myths and realities on the Swahili coast: contextualizing the 'Shirazi' civilization. Why geneticists found what archeologists and historians had failed to locate.
a year ago
Trying to Understand...
Too Much of Not A Lot Winning the day and losing the war.
a year ago
Classical Wisdom
Do We Need Dress Codes? Are standards elevating or elitist?
a year ago
African History...
a brief note on Ethnicity and the State in Africa the evolution of the Tutsi/Hutu dichotomy in the precolonial Great Lakes.
9 months ago
weird medieval guys
The Medieval Monks Who Lived on Top of Giant Pillars A history of the monastic high life
a year ago
Res Obscura
Before psychedelic therapy for wartime trauma, there was narcosynthesis Notes on using AI to analyze three World War II-era films about drugs and PTSD
a year ago
African History...
A complete history of Abomey: capital of Dahomey (ca. 1650-1894) Urbanism in the forest region.
a year ago
Trying to Understand...
We Are All Civilisational States It's just that some people don't realise it.
a year ago
A Collection of...
Collections: Ancient Greek and Phoenician Colonization Davis senatum consuluit a.d. III Idus Octobris apud aedem Patreontis; de colonis Graecis et Punicis...
a year ago
65
a year ago
Davis senatum consuluit a.d. III Idus Octobris apud aedem Patreontis; de colonis Graecis et Punicis verba fecit… This week we’re taking a brief look, by ACOUP Senate request, at Greek and Phoenician colonization in the ancient Mediterranean. In particular, the focus requested was...
African History...
a brief note on contacts between ancient African kingdoms and Rome. finding the lost city of Rhapta on the east African coast.
9 months ago
Flashbak
Liverpool Kids: Surviving Inner City Life In 1975 Paul Trevor’s photographs of Liverpool in 1975 formed part of The Survival Programme, which featured...
9 months ago
64
9 months ago
Paul Trevor’s photographs of Liverpool in 1975 formed part of The Survival Programme, which featured pictures, interviews, drafts and other materials made by member of the Exit Photography Group – Nicholas Battye, Chris Steele-Perkins and Paul Trevor. Created between 1974 and...
Trying to Understand...
Teach Your Children .... Not to be afraid of moral relativism.
a year ago
Trying to Understand...
Let's Hear It For The "Underlying Causes." Here's the answer. What was the question again?
a year ago
African History...
A history of the Buganda kingdom. government in central Africa.
a year ago
Patterns in Humanity
Immigration and crime: Denmark Are immigrants overrepresented in crime? If so, which immigrants? And why?
7 months ago
African History...
Guns and Spears: a military history of the Zulu kingdom. Popular history of Africa before the colonial era often divides the continent’s military systems...
a year ago
63
a year ago
Popular history of Africa before the colonial era often divides the continent’s military systems into two broad categories —the relatively modern armies along the Atlantic coast which used firearms, versus the 'traditional' armies in the interior that fought with arrows and...
Res Obscura
Why did clothing become boring? An investigation into when, how, and why everyone started dressing the same — and what it was like...
3 months ago
63
3 months ago
An investigation into when, how, and why everyone started dressing the same — and what it was like when they didn't
African History...
The myth of Mansa Musa's enslaved entourage "Stories about his [Mansa Musa's] journey have numerous anecdotes which are not true and which the...
a year ago
63
a year ago
"Stories about his [Mansa Musa's] journey have numerous anecdotes which are not true and which the mind refuses to admit".
African History...
on the Nubian priests of Rome and the Moors of Spain When the 12th-century West African scholar Ibrahim al-Kanemi moved to the city of Seville in Spain...
2 months ago
63
2 months ago
When the 12th-century West African scholar Ibrahim al-Kanemi moved to the city of Seville in Spain and became one of the most celebrated Andalusian poets, he wasn't the first from his region to visit the Moorish kingdom.
Patterns in Humanity
Sweden's immigration taboo Immigration data kept behind closed doors
6 months ago
Trying to Understand...
One Way Or Another .... We're going to get you.
a year ago
Open Culture
Hunter S. Thompson Remembers Jimmy Carter’s Captivating Bob Dylan Speech (1974) 51 years ago, Hunter S. Thompson wrote Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72, which “is still...
2 months ago
63
2 months ago
51 years ago, Hunter S. Thompson wrote Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail ’72, which “is still considered a kind of bible of political reporting,” noted Matt Taibbi in a 40th anniversary edition of the book. Fear and Loathing ’72 entered the canon of American political...
History Today Feed
How the CCP is Closing China How the CCP is Closing China JamesHoare Mon, 05/13/2024 - 10:47
9 months ago
Trying to Understand...
The Threat of Back to Normal Global power has always been distributed.
a year ago
African History...
Life and works of Africa's most famous Woman scholar: Nana Asmau (1793-1864) On the contribution of Muslim women in African history.
10 months ago
Trying to Understand...
The Year's Midnight. Kindness can be a revolutionary act.
over a year ago
A Collection of...
Collections: Nitpicking Gladiator II, Part II Last week, we started our nitpicking of Gladiator II (2024) by looking at the problems with the...
2 months ago
62
2 months ago
Last week, we started our nitpicking of Gladiator II (2024) by looking at the problems with the films chronology and its portrayal of the Roman army of the early third century, both in its equipment and in its battle tactics. This week, we’re going to move forward to the main...
Open Culture
Compare the “It Ain’t Me Babe” Scene from A Complete Unknown to the Real Bob Dylan & Joan Baez... A Complete Unknown, the new movie about Bob Dylan’s rise in the folk-music scene of the early...
a month ago
62
a month ago
A Complete Unknown, the new movie about Bob Dylan’s rise in the folk-music scene of the early nineteen-sixties and subsequent electrified break with it, has been praised for not taking excessive liberties, at least by the standards of popular music biopics. Its conversion of a...
Global Inequality...
The life of Maynard K. A review of Zach Carter’s “The Price of Peace”
9 months ago
Trying to Understand...
Let's Be Enemies Since it seems to be the fashion these days.
over a year ago
Trying to Understand...
Understanding What's Happening in France. The kinetic phase may come next.
a year ago
Flashbak
A Book of Dreams: 25 Vintage Visions To Awaken Your Mind We’re dreaming today with collector Robert E Jackson. Triggered by the undertow of memory and fed by...
9 months ago
61
9 months ago
We’re dreaming today with collector Robert E Jackson. Triggered by the undertow of memory and fed by desire, our dreams are visions of other lives, possible clues to the future. “The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the...
History Today Feed
Doc Holliday: The Perennial Sidekick Doc Holliday: The Perennial Sidekick JamesHoare Tue, 10/29/2024 - 09:42
4 months ago
History Today Feed
An Exhibition on Rational Dress for Victorian Women An Exhibition on Rational Dress for Victorian Women JamesHoare Sun, 05/19/2024 - 00:00
9 months ago
A Collection of...
Collections: How to Roman Republic, Part V: The Courts This is the fifth part of our five part series (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, IIIc, IV) on the structure of the...
a year ago
61
a year ago
This is the fifth part of our five part series (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, IIIc, IV) on the structure of the Roman Republic during the third and second centuries BC, the ‘Middle Republic.’ Last time we looked at the odd but very important role played by the ROman Senate as the central...
History Today Feed
Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin and the Making of Stars Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin and the Making of Stars JamesHoare Tue, 05/07/2024 - 12:09
10 months ago
Patterns in Humanity
The case for prisons The purpose of prisons, and the evidence of their efficacy
5 months ago
Res Obscura
Why I love etymologies Telephones popularized "hello," "lox" is 8,000 years old, and other reasons why the history of words...
10 months ago
61
10 months ago
Telephones popularized "hello," "lox" is 8,000 years old, and other reasons why the history of words matters
Dr Alun Withey
The Troublesome Gibbet of John Haines, the ‘Wounded Highwayman’ of Hounslow. For this post, I am going to wander into the world of crime in the late eighteenth century, and the...
a year ago
61
a year ago
For this post, I am going to wander into the world of crime in the late eighteenth century, and the grisly fate that befell many who committed the heinous crime of highway robbery. (Full disclosure: I’m not an historian of crime, gibbets or highwaymen…perhaps the case I’m about...
Classical Wisdom
Tolkien and the Classics Plato, Cicero... Bilbo?
a year ago
weird medieval guys
Why is medieval art so weird? Listen now (73 min) | In this inaugural episode of the Weird Medieval Guys podcast, Olivia and Aran...
a year ago
61
a year ago
Listen now (73 min) | In this inaugural episode of the Weird Medieval Guys podcast, Olivia and Aran discuss why medieval art is so intriguing to modern viewers and what makes so much of it so weird. Also discussed are Galaxy Quest, Mel Gibson's crimes against the Middle Ages, and...
A Collection of...
Gap Week: April 19, 2024 (Manor Lords First Impression) Hey folks, this week is a bit of a gap week as I am heading out to the annual meeting of the Society...
10 months ago
61
10 months ago
Hey folks, this week is a bit of a gap week as I am heading out to the annual meeting of the Society for Military History (and, indeed, by the time you read this, I will be there). Normally, I post the abstract of my conference talk for these sorts of things, but since I …...
Global Inequality...
2x2 geopolitics Wars and ideology simplified
8 months ago
Classical Wisdom
12 Ancient Greek Terms that Should Totally Make a Comeback Eudaimonia, Arete, and much more...
a year ago
Trying to Understand...
The Third World War Has Been Cancelled. It was all too difficult, finally.
8 months ago
Trying to Understand...
Ukraine In NATO Would Be A Disaster ... But not necessarily for the reasons you think.
a year ago
Flashbak
A Shagtastic Tour of Swinging Britain in 1967 Among British Pathé’s newsreel films made for UK cinemas up until 1970 vis this wonderful time of...
10 months ago
60
10 months ago
Among British Pathé’s newsreel films made for UK cinemas up until 1970 vis this wonderful time of Swinging Britain capsule from 1967. Shot on 35mm film and backed by the lilting holiday camp music, a narrator these videos are not a little kitsch. In Swinging Britain we take an...
Trying to Understand...
Another Of My Essays In French And some odds and ends.
7 months ago
Trying to Understand...
Games Nations Play. But they forget the people and the Street.
10 months ago
weird medieval guys
Medieval Muslims loved their cats so much Cat shelters, cat shoes, cat jewellery, and more from the Islamic Middle Ages
a year ago
Open Culture
Watch The Insects’ Christmas from 1913: A Stop Motion Film Starring a Cast of Dead Bugs Kind Reader, Will you do us the honor of accepting our holiday invitation? Carve five minutes from...
2 months ago
60
2 months ago
Kind Reader, Will you do us the honor of accepting our holiday invitation? Carve five minutes from your holiday schedule to spend time celebrating The Insects’ Christmas, above. In addition to offering brief respite from the chaos of consumerism and modern expectations, this...
A Collection of...
Fireside Friday, July 12, 2024 Fireside this week! I had hoped to have the start of the Imperator Teaching Paradox series ready for...
7 months ago
60
7 months ago
Fireside this week! I had hoped to have the start of the Imperator Teaching Paradox series ready for this week, but it has been a bit stubborn and I do not want to derail my book writing/revising schedule in order to push it out before it is ready. So that will almost certainly...
African History...
a brief note on the history of Music in Africa plus an overview of Ethiopian musical traditions
a year ago
Classical Wisdom
The Tragedy of Ajax Greece's Second Greatest Soldier?
9 months ago
African History...
A history of the south-western Saharan towns of Tichitt, Walata, Wadan and Chinguetti (800-1912) Trade and civilization on west-africa's desert frontier
a year ago
African History...
A history of the Loango kingdom (ca.1500-1883) : Power, Ivory and Art in west-central Africa. Africa's past carved in ivory
a year ago
African History...
Kingdoms at the forest's edge: a history of Mangbetu (ca. 1750-1895) The northern region of central Africa between the modern countries of D.R.Congo and South Sudan has...
9 months ago
59
9 months ago
The northern region of central Africa between the modern countries of D.R.Congo and South Sudan has a long and complex history shaped by its internal cultural developments and its unique ecology between the savannah and the forest. Among the most remarkable states that emerged in...
Trying to Understand...
Service to what nation? Why people should stop talking about conscription.
8 months ago
Open Culture
The Sinking of the Britannic: An Animated Introduction to the Titanic’s Forgotten Sister Ship We all know about the Titanic. Less often do we hear about the Britannic—the sister passenger liner...
2 months ago
59
2 months ago
We all know about the Titanic. Less often do we hear about the Britannic—the sister passenger liner that the British turned into a hospital ship during World War I. Launched in 1914, two years after the Titanic sank in the North Atlantic Ocean, the Britannic featured a number of...
Global Inequality...
The end and the beginning of history Three ways of thinking about Lea Ypi’s Free
8 months ago
Classical Wisdom
Does FREE WILL Exist? And if not, what are the consequences?
2 months ago
Classical Wisdom
Essential Classics Memorial Sales Ends
9 months ago
African History...
A history of the Damagaram sultanate of Zinder: ca. 1730-1899. Politics, Guns, and Trade in the pre-colonial Sahel
a year ago
African History...
a brief note on themes in African art. Cartography, Culture and History in the artwork of the Bamum kingdom.
7 months ago
History Today Feed
Catching Nessie on Film Catching Nessie on Film JamesHoare Thu, 05/16/2024 - 09:41
9 months ago
Classical Wisdom
Should We Own Stuff? The Wealth and Gold of Ancient Georgia
a year ago
Classical Wisdom
The Two Trojan Wars Secret Origins
a year ago
Open Culture
How A Charlie Brown Christmas, and Its Beloved Soundtrack Album, Almost Never Happened A Charlie Brown Christmas uses a cast of amateur child voice actors, deals with the theme of...
2 months ago
58
2 months ago
A Charlie Brown Christmas uses a cast of amateur child voice actors, deals with the theme of seasonal depression, and culminates in the recitation of a Bible verse, all to a jazz score. It was not, safe to say, the special that CBS had expected, to say nothing of its sponsor, the...
A Collection of...
Collections: How to Raise a Tribal Army in Pre-Roman Europe, Part I: Aristocrats, Retainers and... For the next few posts, I want to take a look at how some ‘tribal’ peoples raised armies, in...
9 months ago
58
9 months ago
For the next few posts, I want to take a look at how some ‘tribal’ peoples raised armies, in contrast to the way that ancient (or later) states raised armies. As moderns, we are so familiar with the way that states function that the far older systems of non-state organization and...
Trying to Understand...
If We Had More Than a Hammer ... We might not be in this mess.
a year ago
Res Obscura
How well can AI imitate a 17th century doctor? Arcadio Huang is ill in 1710s Paris. Can GPT-4 and Gemini find a cure?
a year ago
Dr Alun Withey
Finding Your Beard Style in the 19th Century In the previous post I noted the variety of facial hair styles that were worn by men in the...
over a year ago
58
over a year ago
In the previous post I noted the variety of facial hair styles that were worn by men in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, depending on factors including status, location and age. Rather than each age having one particular style of facial hair that was ubiquitous, the...
Classical Wisdom
Who’s in the Tomb? A Macedonian Mystery: The Tombs of Aigai
10 months ago
African History...
Roads and wheeled transport in African history. Why the kingdoms of Kush and Dahomey used wheels while Asante did not.
a year ago
A Collection of...
Collections: On the Gracchi, Part I: Tiberius Gracchus This week, we’re going to talk a bit about the brothers Tiberius (trib. 133) and Gaius (trib. 123-2)...
a month ago
58
a month ago
This week, we’re going to talk a bit about the brothers Tiberius (trib. 133) and Gaius (trib. 123-2) Gracchus, the famous Roman reformers of the late second century. There’s actually a fair bit to say about both of them, so we’re going to split this treatment over two weeks,...
History Today Feed
Robert the Bruce: Born To Be King? Robert the Bruce: Born To Be King? JamesHoare Mon, 06/17/2024 - 11:11
8 months ago
African History...
The pyramids of ancient Nubia and Meroe: death on the Nile and the mortuary architecture of Kush a complete history of an African monument
over a year ago
A Collection of...
Collections: Phalanx’s Twilight, Legion’s Triumph, Part Ib: Subjects of the Successors This is the second part of the first part of our four part look at the context between the...
a year ago
58
a year ago
This is the second part of the first part of our four part look at the context between the Hellenistic army and its Macedonian phalanx and the Romans with their legions. Last week, we looked at the weapons, organization and fighting style of the Macedonian phalanx, the infantry...
Flashbak
The Months: Gardens of Art by Eugène Grasset In 1894, Eugène Grasset (25 May 1845 – 23 October 1917) received a commission from the French...
2 months ago
58
2 months ago
In 1894, Eugène Grasset (25 May 1845 – 23 October 1917) received a commission from the French department store La Belle Jardinière to create 12 original works of art to be used as a calendar. Grasset’s woodcuts show women in fashionable costumes of the period each bearing a sign...
African History...
The intellectual history of Ethiopia and Eritrea: Ge'ez manuscripts and scholars (ca. 200-1900CE) The unique manuscript collections of Ethiopia and Eritrea written in the Ge'ez script are arguably...
2 months ago
58
2 months ago
The unique manuscript collections of Ethiopia and Eritrea written in the Ge'ez script are arguably the best-known works of literature produced in pre-colonial Africa.
CrimethInc.
News from the Front: The Reflections of a Russian Anarchist in Rojava : On the Collapse of Assad,... The toppling of the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria was many years overdue. Yet the tragedies in...
2 months ago
58
2 months ago
The toppling of the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria was many years overdue. Yet the tragedies in Syria are not over. Israel has bombed hundreds of locations around the country and seized a considerable amount of land in the southwest, while Turkish proxy forces are threatening...
Res Obscura
When technology follows art From optics to machine learning, artists have played an important, if underrated, role in the...
a year ago
58
a year ago
From optics to machine learning, artists have played an important, if underrated, role in the history of technology
A Collection of...
Collections: On Bread and Circuses Coming off of some of the discussion of Gladiator II (I, II), this week I want to discuss the place...
2 months ago
58
2 months ago
Coming off of some of the discussion of Gladiator II (I, II), this week I want to discuss the place of ‘bread and circuses’ in the narrative of Roman decadence and decline. This is one of those phrases which long ago entered the standard lexicon, but which gets used and...
Open Culture
How Keith Jarrett Played on a Broken Piano & Turned a Potentially Disastrous Concert Into the... Nearly fifty years ago, the celebrated young pianist Keith Jarrett arrived in the West German city...
2 months ago
58
2 months ago
Nearly fifty years ago, the celebrated young pianist Keith Jarrett arrived in the West German city of Köln (better known in English as Cologne). Having just come off a 500-mile-long road trip from Switzerland, where he’d played a concert the previous day, he was left with barely...
Dr Alun Withey
Cuts, Rashes & Chatter! The Pain of the 18th-century Shave! Unless there are particular reasons, for example a skin condition, or a faulty razor, shaving today...
over a year ago
58
over a year ago
Unless there are particular reasons, for example a skin condition, or a faulty razor, shaving today is usually a pretty mundane – if not a pleasant – experience. Indeed, the rise of traditional barbershops over the past few years, offering shaving as an experience, together with...
Flashbak
New York City’s NIGHT Magazine – 1978-79 Launched in September 1978, Anton Perich’s self-financed NIGHT magazine showcased New York City’s...
8 months ago
58
8 months ago
Launched in September 1978, Anton Perich’s self-financed NIGHT magazine showcased New York City’s mix of fashion, art, and music at clubs like Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager’s Studio 54 and Howard Stein and Peppo Vanini’s Xenon, where nightlife and performance met. Distribution...
Classical Wisdom
Why Did Rome Fall? & Which Lesson Should We Take Away?
a year ago
History Today Feed
‘Spice’ by Roger Crowley review ‘Spice’ by Roger Crowley review JamesHoare Tue, 06/18/2024 - 09:03
8 months ago
African History...
The heroic age in Darfur: a history of the pre-colonial kingdom of Darfur ca. 1500-1916. The political marginalization of the Darfur region since the creation of colonial Sudan has resulted...
8 months ago
57
8 months ago
The political marginalization of the Darfur region since the creation of colonial Sudan has resulted in one of the continent's longest-standing conflicts, which threatens to destroy the country's social fabric and its historical heritage. Just as the plight of modern Darfur...
Flashbak
Evelyn Richter’s Street Photography Reveals the Reality of Life in East Germany For photographer Evelyn Richter (1930–2021) East Germany was not computers being towed by the...
6 months ago
57
6 months ago
For photographer Evelyn Richter (1930–2021) East Germany was not computers being towed by the bikini-clad proletariat, Western holidaymakers, badly disguised secret police and being on the wrong side of the Berlin Wall. A self-described “documentarian and historian”, Richter...
Trying to Understand...
Peter Pan goes to Ukraine Some people never grow up.
over a year ago
A Collection of...
Collections: How to Raise a Tribal Army in Pre-Roman Europe, Part III: Going To War With the Army... This is the third and final part of our three-part (I, II, III) look at how some ‘tribal’ or more...
8 months ago
57
8 months ago
This is the third and final part of our three-part (I, II, III) look at how some ‘tribal’ or more correctly, non-state agrarian peoples – particularly the Celtiberians, Gauls and also many Germanic-language speaking peoples on the Rhine and Danube- raised armies to fight the...
Open Culture
How Medieval Islamic Engineering Brought Water to the Alhambra Between 711 and 1492, much of the Iberian Peninsula, including modern-day Spain, was under Muslim...
2 months ago
57
2 months ago
Between 711 and 1492, much of the Iberian Peninsula, including modern-day Spain, was under Muslim rule. Not that it was easy to hold on to the place for that length of time: after the fall of Toledo in 1085, Al-Andalus, as the territory was called, continued to lose cities over...
History Today Feed
Challenging the ‘Ugliness’ of Anne of Cleves Challenging the ‘Ugliness’ of Anne of Cleves JamesHoare Fri, 03/22/2024 - 09:20
11 months ago
History Today Feed
‘Hitler’s People’ by Richard Evans review ‘Hitler’s People’ by Richard Evans review JamesHoare Tue, 08/27/2024 - 09:31
6 months ago
Flashbak
American Noir: Mugshots And Crimes From A Small Pennsylvanian Town (1930s – 1950s) Small Town Noir is a study of life and crime in New Castle, western Pennsylvania. The site compiles...
9 months ago
57
9 months ago
Small Town Noir is a study of life and crime in New Castle, western Pennsylvania. The site compiles the mugshots of criminals who lived in the town in the 1930, 40s and 50s, with notes on their offences. The mugshots were pulled from the rubbish when the town’s police department...
Dr Alun Withey
Should I Stay or Should I go?: Encouraging travel in the early modern period. Travel today is often portrayed as a healthy activity, good for body, mind…and what’s left of the...
8 months ago
57
8 months ago
Travel today is often portrayed as a healthy activity, good for body, mind…and what’s left of the spirit!  A good holiday is generally viewed as a tonic, and holiday company advertisements extol the virtues of ‘getting away’, encountering new places, people and cultures and (if...
Trying to Understand...
Their Enemies The Russians But what about the rest of us?
a year ago
A Collection of...
Fireside Friday, June 28, 2024 Fireside this week! My hope in terms of the upcoming schedule is to have my usual July 4th post next...
8 months ago
57
8 months ago
Fireside this week! My hope in terms of the upcoming schedule is to have my usual July 4th post next week (we’re discussing political philosophy in an election year, so I am sure everyone will be very chill; regardless let me repeat you will be civil) and then after that to dive...
Trying to Understand...
How About a Victory for the Left Occasionally? Here are a few modest ideas.
over a year ago
Classical Wisdom
Weekend Roundup Origins of Stoicism
8 months ago
Classical Wisdom
The Mysterious Phaistos Disk And the Palace where it was found...
a year ago
Classical Wisdom
Why Read Modern Books? Now Available: Night Drew Her Sable Cloak
a year ago
Classical Wisdom
Plato On Knowledge What is True?
10 months ago
Res Obscura
Historical maps probably helped cause World War I On cartography as historical argument
a year ago
Dr Alun Withey
Creams, Clothes and Cases: The material culture of pre-modern travel. I am currently on study leave, getting on with research for my new project on the history of travel...
a year ago
56
a year ago
I am currently on study leave, getting on with research for my new project on the history of travel preparations. One thing that I’m particularly interested in is the material culture of travel, and what sorts of things were available for travellers as they got ready for their...
Trying to Understand...
So They Want Negotiations, Now. Have they any idea what they are talking about?
a year ago
Flashbak
‘Look at Me’: Scot Sothern’s powerful photographs of life on LA’s streets In amongst the crowds drifting along Hollywood Boulevard there’s an old guy sitting on an orange...
10 months ago
56
10 months ago
In amongst the crowds drifting along Hollywood Boulevard there’s an old guy sitting on an orange bucket. He’s wearing dirty jeans and a grey hoodie. The guy’s in his seventies. Weather-worn. Grizzled beard. Walking stick. Back trouble caused by “old spinal injuries and bad...
African History...
The Swazi kingdom and its neighbours in the 19th century: from the rise of Zulu to the British an island in the maelstrom
over a year ago
Trying to Understand...
They Say They Want Rearmament .... We-ell, you know ....
over a year ago
Flashbak
Arnaldo Putzu and His Fabulous Hand-Painted Covers for Look-In Magazine And Movie Posters You might not know the name Arnaldo Putzu (1927 – 2012) but chances are that if you grew up in the...
7 months ago
56
7 months ago
You might not know the name Arnaldo Putzu (1927 – 2012) but chances are that if you grew up in the 1960s and 1970s you’ve seen his work on movie posters and magazine covers. Born in Rome, Putzu studied at the Rome Academy and discovered a love of portrait painting. After...
Classical Wisdom
Weekend Roundup The Best of the Best
a year ago
African History...
The radical philosophy of the Hatata: a 17th century treatise by the Ethiopian thinker Zara Yacob the historical context of the Hatata in African philosophy.
10 months ago
Res Obscura
Simulating History with Multimodal AI: an Update Generative AI offers a new, more engaging (and, hopefully, more empathetic) way of teaching history....
a year ago
56
a year ago
Generative AI offers a new, more engaging (and, hopefully, more empathetic) way of teaching history. But how to use it?
African History...
The complete history of Kano (999-1903) journal of African cities chapter 9
a year ago
Dr Alun Withey
News Just In: Dr W Joins TikTok – @dralun7 Yes, it’s true – I’ve finally joined the 21st century and decided to try something new. I am still...
2 months ago
55
2 months ago
Yes, it’s true – I’ve finally joined the 21st century and decided to try something new. I am still only setting things up, so please be patient with the extremely cheesy and clunky vids as I try to work out what I’m doing! I’ve only got a couple of videos up at the moment too, …...
Classical Wisdom
Weekend Roundup Plato Vs Aristotle
9 months ago
Trying to Understand...
Round Two? There Is No Round Two. Game pretty much over in Ukraine.
a year ago
Global Inequality...
To be young, perchance to dream A review of Miloš Vojinović's “The political ideas of the Young Bosnia”
2 months ago
Trying to Understand...
Little People With Agency. No, not that Agency.
5 months ago
Classical Wisdom
Socrates' Wayward Student ...and the Philosophy of Pleasure
a year ago
Trying to Understand...
The Evils Of Professionalism In politics, anyway.
8 months ago
African History...
A history of Women's political power and matriliny in the kingdom of Kongo. In the 19th century, anthropologists were fascinated by the concept of matrilineal descent in which...
a year ago
55
a year ago
In the 19th century, anthropologists were fascinated by the concept of matrilineal descent in which kinship is traced through the female line. Matriliny was often confounded with matriarchy as a supposedly earlier stage of social evolution than patriarchy. Matriliny thus became a...
Trying to Understand...
Will it Bend or Will it Break? The international system, that is.
over a year ago
African History...
a brief note on Africa in 16th century global history. the international relations and manuscripts of Kongo
a year ago
Trying to Understand...
Reality Would Like A Word. Paging Tom and Daisy Buchanan
a year ago
Flashbak
Vanity Fair’s Bifurcated Girls: The Article That Introduced America To Girlie Magazines, 1903 Bifurcated Girls is a salacious illustrated story that first appeared in the June 1903 issue of...
9 months ago
55
9 months ago
Bifurcated Girls is a salacious illustrated story that first appeared in the June 1903 issue of Vanity Fair magazine. That’s not the glossy publication we know today, rather the a short-lived pulp magazine published by the Commonwealth Publishing Company of New York City...
Flashbak
Edmund Dulac’s American Weekly Covers – 1924-1951 Edmund Dulac is remembered today as one of the founding fathers of the Golden Age of Illustration,...
8 months ago
55
8 months ago
Edmund Dulac is remembered today as one of the founding fathers of the Golden Age of Illustration, roughly from 1875-1925, writes Albert Seligman. His luxurious Gift Books of the early 20th century were covered in vellum and issued in signed limited editions with tipped-in color...
Flashbak
Photos of Iggy Pop And The Stooges Playing NYC Club Ungano’s in 1970 In August 1970, American photographer Bud Lee (1940-2016) took photographs of Iggy Pop and the...
9 months ago
55
9 months ago
In August 1970, American photographer Bud Lee (1940-2016) took photographs of Iggy Pop and the Stooges performing at brothers Nick and Arnie Ungano’s basement club on New York’s West 70th Street between Amsterdam and West End Avenues. The ban were celebrating the release of their...
Res Obscura
The leading AI models are now very good historians Three case studies with GPT-4o, o1, and Claude Sonnet 3.5, and what they mean
a month ago
Trying to Understand...
And Now for Something Completely Different. Am I me? Are You you? ?
over a year ago
African History...
The desert town of Southern Africa: A history of Khauxanas 1780-1906 A view of pre-colonial Namibia from the khoisan town of ||Khauxa!nas.
a year ago
Open Culture
The Engineering of the Strandbeest: How the Magnificent Mechanical Creatures Have Technologically... Life evolves, but machines are invented: this dichotomy hardly conflicts with what most of us have...
2 months ago
55
2 months ago
Life evolves, but machines are invented: this dichotomy hardly conflicts with what most of us have learned about biology and technology. But certain specimens roaming around in the world can blur that line — and in the curious case of the Strandbeesten, they really are roaming...
African History...
a brief note on African travel literature in history a Swahili document on south-central Africa.
9 months ago
Trying to Understand...
It's War, Josep, But Not As We Know It Trying to understand what Ukraine is all about.
over a year ago
A Collection of...
Fireside Friday, May 31, 2024 (Academic Departments) Fireside this week! I am spinning up to write a Teaching Paradox series on Imperator later this...
9 months ago
55
9 months ago
Fireside this week! I am spinning up to write a Teaching Paradox series on Imperator later this week, but not quite ready to get started yet. I’m also thinking, perhaps before that, of doing a short post or set of posts on the organization of non-state ‘tribal’ societies in...
Classical Wisdom
Do We Need Passports? Or Borders? Watch now (23 sec) | Crossing with Radiohead
a year ago
History Today Feed
The Scandalous Success of the Daily Mail The Scandalous Success of the Daily Mail j.hoare Mon, 01/01/2024 - 13:07
a year ago
Trying to Understand...
Don't Give Peace Too Many Chances. Nothing is more dangerous than a flawed peace treaty.
over a year ago
Global Inequality...
Marx Truncated A review of Shlomo Avineri’s “Karl Marx”
8 months ago
History Today Feed
‘Age of Wolf and Wind’ by Davide Zori review ‘Age of Wolf and Wind’ by Davide Zori review JamesHoare Wed, 05/29/2024 - 10:27
9 months ago
Trying to Understand...
Everything is (Somewhat) Connected. But some things are more connected than others.
over a year ago
History Today Feed
‘The Wild Men’, ‘The Men of 1924’ and ‘A Century of Labour’ review ‘The Wild Men’, ‘The Men of 1924’ and ‘A Century of Labour’ review JamesHoare Tue, 01/30/2024 -...
a year ago
History Today Feed
Radical Conservatives and the Federal Union Radical Conservatives and the Federal Union JamesHoare Tue, 08/13/2024 - 09:21
6 months ago
Trying to Understand...
Books To Help Us Understand The World? Well, a few, anyway. And a bit.
a year ago
Classical Wisdom
Religion in the Olympics The Olympics: Do they Unite or Divide Us?
7 months ago
Trying to Understand...
People, States and Borders. And other dubious ideas.
6 months ago
A Collection of...
Collections: How to Raise a Tribal Army in Pre-Roman Europe, Part II: Government Without States This is the second part of our (planned) three part (I) look at how some ‘tribal’ or more correctly,...
8 months ago
54
8 months ago
This is the second part of our (planned) three part (I) look at how some ‘tribal’ or more correctly, non-state agrarian peoples raised armies to fight the Romans (and others) in the third through first centuries BC. Last time, we looked at the subsistence basis of these societies...
Trying to Understand...
Can't Do, Won't Do! But striking poses is fun and easy.
a year ago
Trying to Understand...
The Modern World Is Boring. Where are the heroes and the adventures now?
8 months ago
A Collection of...
Collections: How to Roman Republic 101, Addenda: The Provinces This is the second and (in theory) last addendum to our series on Roman civic governance (I, II,...
a year ago
54
a year ago
This is the second and (in theory) last addendum to our series on Roman civic governance (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, IIIc, IV, V, A1). Having discussed how Rome handles those parts of Italy it controls but which were not part of the Roman Republic itself, we now look at how the Romans...
Flashbak
Armand Henrion: The Artist Who Always Painted Himself As A Clown Armand Henrion (1875 – 1958) was a Belgian-born artist. He contributed to the Expressionist...
8 months ago
54
8 months ago
Armand Henrion (1875 – 1958) was a Belgian-born artist. He contributed to the Expressionist movement, worked in France and became a French citizen. And he liked to paint self-portraits – hundreds of them – in which he is dressed as a clown (more Pierrot than Bozo).     Pierrot...
Global Inequality...
Trump and the Rise of Asia My interview with "Atlantico"
3 months ago
Classical Wisdom
Weekend Roundup Constantine and the Queen of Carthage
a year ago
Classical Wisdom
Weekend Roundup Plutarch and Pleasure
a year ago
Classical Wisdom
Weekend Roundup Blindspots and Biographies
a year ago
Open Culture
Watch the Surrealist Glass Harmonica, the Only Animated Film Ever Banned by Soviet Censors (1968) The Soviet Union’s repressive state censorship went to absurd lengths to control what its citizens...
2 months ago
54
2 months ago
The Soviet Union’s repressive state censorship went to absurd lengths to control what its citizens read, viewed, and listened to, such as the almost comical removal of purged former comrades from photographs during Stalin’s reign. When it came to aesthetics, Stalinism mostly...
Classical Wisdom
Emotions: Better Out or In? Can Catharsis Help... or Harm?
9 months ago
Open Culture
An Illustrator Creates a Kindle for Charles Dickens, Placing 40 Miniature Classics within a Large... For a design class project, Rachel Walsh, a student at Cardiff School of Art and Design, set out to...
2 months ago
54
2 months ago
For a design class project, Rachel Walsh, a student at Cardiff School of Art and Design, set out to explain the concept of a Kindle to Charles Dickens. Recognizing that Dickens, a 19th-century author, wouldn’t understand modern terms like ebooks, downloads or the internet, she...
A Collection of...
Collections: Phalanx’s Twilight, Legion’s Triumph, Part IVb: Antiochus III This is the second part of the fourth part of our four(ish) part (Ia, Ib, IIa, IIb, IIIa, IIIb, IVa)...
11 months ago
54
11 months ago
This is the second part of the fourth part of our four(ish) part (Ia, Ib, IIa, IIb, IIIa, IIIb, IVa) look at the context between the Roman military system based on the manipular legion and the Hellenistic military system structured around the Macedonian sarisa phalanx in the...
Classical Wisdom
Art of the Etruscans Romans before the Romans
10 months ago
Classical Wisdom
Sparta and… Scotland? Laconic wit through the centuries
a year ago
African History...
The forgotten ruins of Botswana: stone towns at the desert's edge. At its height in the 17th century, the stone towns of the ‘zimbabwe culture’ encompassed an area the...
9 months ago
53
9 months ago
At its height in the 17th century, the stone towns of the ‘zimbabwe culture’ encompassed an area the size of France. The hundreds of ruins spread across three countries in south-eastern Africa are among the continent’s best-preserved historical monuments and have been the subject...
A Collection of...
Gap Week: December 29, 2023 (Year In Review) Hey folks! I had planned to do a Fireside for this week with a sort of ‘year-in-review’ musing, but...
a year ago
53
a year ago
Hey folks! I had planned to do a Fireside for this week with a sort of ‘year-in-review’ musing, but between the holidays and the whole pedant household coming down with a nasty cold, I’m a bit short of the time and energy to put together a full fireside with...
Flashbak
Waiting For A Miracle: Kiev in 1998 In 1998, Juri Nesterov was in Kiev, the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It was a city of...
9 months ago
53
9 months ago
In 1998, Juri Nesterov was in Kiev, the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It was a city of hope. In 1991, After 57 years as the capital of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union, the city became the capital of independent Ukraine. In the picture...
Classical Wisdom
Jews in the Roman Bathhouse Is it time to rethink the relationship between Judaism and Greco-Roman society?
a year ago
Classical Wisdom
Artemisia of Caria Commander, Queen, and Eva Green
a year ago
Open Culture
Famous Architects Dress as Their Famous New York City Buildings (1931) On January 13, 1931, the Society of Beaux-Arts Architects held a ball at the Hotel Astor in New York...
2 months ago
53
2 months ago
On January 13, 1931, the Society of Beaux-Arts Architects held a ball at the Hotel Astor in New York City. According to an advertisement for the event, anyone who paid $15 per ticket (big money during the Depression) could see a “hilarious modern art exhibition” and things...
Dr Alun Withey
Medicine on the Move: Early Modern Travel and Remedies As my new project on the history of travel, health risk and preparation begins to get underway, one...
a year ago
53
a year ago
As my new project on the history of travel, health risk and preparation begins to get underway, one of the things that I am thinking about is the place of travel within early modern medical remedy culture. What kinds of conditions could befall travellers? What did early modern...
Trying to Understand...
Macron is Safe for the Moment But the future worries me.
a year ago
Open Culture
Bob Dylan Reads “ ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” On His Holiday Radio Show (2006) Allow me to name just a few of the people I want to hear hosting and curating radio shows—former Sex...
2 months ago
53
2 months ago
Allow me to name just a few of the people I want to hear hosting and curating radio shows—former Sex Pistols’ singer John Lydon, former Clash frontman Joe Strummer, former Woody Guthrie impersonator Bob Dylan.… Luckily for me, this ain’t just fantasy baseball; at various times,...
Classical Wisdom
Weekend Roundup The Story of Thebes
a year ago
A Collection of...
Collections: The Philosophy of Liberty – On Liberalism It is once again the week of July 4th and so, as is customary here, I am going to use this week’s...
8 months ago
53
8 months ago
It is once again the week of July 4th and so, as is customary here, I am going to use this week’s post to talk about the United States or more correctly this week about the political philosophy the United States was founded on: liberalism. Now an immediate clarification is...
Trying to Understand...
A Fistful of Clockwork Oranges What's it going to be, then?
a year ago
Classical Wisdom
Events Listing Ancient Women, Marcus Aurelius, Economics and Resilience...
a year ago
African History...
a brief note on the intellectual contributions of African scholars in the diaspora the biography of a West African mathematician in Cairo.
10 months ago
Trying to Understand...
The Year of Failing To Understand. Not your usual end-of-year review.
2 months ago
Classical Wisdom
Empedocles The Philosopher God?
a year ago
Dr Alun Withey
Barbers and (the lack of!) Polite Advertising Over the past few years, I have spent much time looking at ‘polite’ advertising in the 18th century....
over a year ago
52
over a year ago
Over the past few years, I have spent much time looking at ‘polite’ advertising in the 18th century. During this period, a whole range of retailers advertised their goods and services to appeal to ladies and gentlemen of taste. Without discussing anything so base as price or...
African History...
A history of the west African diaspora in Arabia and Jerusalem before 1900 The legacy of west African travel to Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem.
a year ago
African History...
A complete history of Jenne: 250BC-1893AD Journal of African cities chapter 6
over a year ago
Trying to Understand...
You And Whose Army? NATO would do well to stay out of Ukraine.
over a year ago
African History...
Join me on Notes "On the Zanzibari envoy to 11th century china and the recent Swahili-Persian DNA study"
a year ago
Trying to Understand...
NATO's Phantom Armies. And the ghost of Carl von Clausewitz.
9 months ago
Trying to Understand...
I Hate My Job And I Want To Cry. Tried chopping wood and carrying water?
a year ago
History Today Feed
The Prophecies of Merlin The Prophecies of Merlin JamesHoare Mon, 04/22/2024 - 11:22
10 months ago
African History...
The Dahlak islands and the African dynasty of Yemen a complete history of a cosmopolitan archipelago in the red sea (4th-19th century)
over a year ago
Classical Wisdom
Dido: Queen of Carthage Doomed Lover of Ancient Myth
a year ago
Classical Wisdom
Origins of Latin Literature ...and the Master of Roman Comedy
a year ago
Global Inequality...
Devant la guerre On E. H. Carr's "The twenty years' crisis 1919-39"
3 months ago
Flashbak
High-Class Erotic Illustrations by Édouard-Henri Avril (NSFW) In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, pornography was the preserve of the well to...
7 months ago
51
7 months ago
In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, pornography was the preserve of the well to do. Smut was published in  shot-run books of a couple of hundred copies. These books were full of stories and poems, but the highlights were the explicit erotic illustrations drawn...
Global Inequality...
“To the Finland Station” Trump as a tool of history
2 months ago
Classical Wisdom
Weekend Roundup Lost and Found
a year ago
Open Culture
The Junky’s Christmas: William S. Burrough’s Dark Claymation Christmas Film Produced by Francis Ford... Back in 1993, the Beat writer William S. Burroughs wrote and narrated a 21-minute claymation...
2 months ago
51
2 months ago
Back in 1993, the Beat writer William S. Burroughs wrote and narrated a 21-minute claymation Christmas film oddly produced by Francis Ford Coppola. And, as you can well imagine, it’s not your normal happy Christmas flick. Nope, this film – The Junky’s Christmas – is all about...
History Today Feed
Habsburg Prague, Capital of the Renaissance Habsburg Prague, Capital of the Renaissance JamesHoare Fri, 12/20/2024 - 09:47
2 months ago
Open Culture
Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” Performed by a Choir of 4,000 Singers Throughout the years, we’ve featured performances of Choir!Choir!Choir!–a large amateur choir from...
2 months ago
50
2 months ago
Throughout the years, we’ve featured performances of Choir!Choir!Choir!–a large amateur choir from Toronto that meets weekly and sings their hearts out. You’ve seen them sing Prince’s “When Doves Cry,” Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun” (to honor Chris Cornell), and Patti Smith’s...
Dr Alun Withey
Packing the Essentials!: Preparing to Travel in the 18th Century. Now that Covid restrictions have finally been lifted, and summer is at least theoretically here –...
over a year ago
50
over a year ago
Now that Covid restrictions have finally been lifted, and summer is at least theoretically here – it’s raining outside as I write! – many people are returning to travel and undertaking the holidays that have had to be postponed over the past couple of years. The pandemic aside,...
History Today Feed
Sex Before Sex Education Sex Before Sex Education JamesHoare Thu, 12/19/2024 - 12:10
2 months ago
Open Culture
A Simple, Down-to-Earth Christmas Card from the Great Depression (1933) The Smithsonian sets the scene for this Christmas card sent in 1933, a few years into the Great...
2 months ago
50
2 months ago
The Smithsonian sets the scene for this Christmas card sent in 1933, a few years into the Great Depression. They write: Despite the glum economic situation, the Pinero family used a brown paper bag to fashion an inexpensive holiday greeting card. They penned a clever rhyme and...
Trying to Understand...
The West is Weak Where it Matters ... ...and some of the consequences are not obvious.
over a year ago
History Today Feed
Death of the King of Siam Death of the King of Siam JamesHoare Tue, 10/01/2024 - 10:26
5 months ago
African History...
The complete history of Gondar: Africa's city of castles (1636-1900) Journal of African cities chapter 8
a year ago
History Today Feed
The UN Declaration of Human Rights The UN Declaration of Human Rights JamesHoare Tue, 12/10/2024 - 09:05
2 months ago
Wrong Side of...
Will the last young professional to leave Britain turn off the lights? 'Get out as early as you can, And don’t have any kids yourself’
2 months ago
Patterns in Humanity
Age and infertility Facts and misconceptions about maternal age-related infertility
2 months ago
Classical Wisdom
[Video] Roundtable Discussion with Mary Naples Watch now (60 min) | Cult of the Capture Bride: How Ancient Women Took Power
a year ago
Trying to Understand...
The Past Is Another Country. A book review from the future.
7 months ago
Trying to Understand...
Don't Confuse Me With Facts. They know what they think.
a year ago
Res Obscura
Why Early Modern Books Are So Beautiful Three theories
a year ago
African History...
The kingdom of Ndongo and the Portuguese: Queen Njinga and the dynasty of women sovereigns... The effects of early colonial warfare in central Africa
over a year ago
Dr Alun Withey
How Much?! Barbers & the Price of Shaving. One of the central themes of my new book is how the practice of shaving has changed over time and,...
over a year ago
49
over a year ago
One of the central themes of my new book is how the practice of shaving has changed over time and, more importantly, who has been responsible for it. From the second half of the eighteenth century, individual men began to take more responsibility for shaving themselves, helped on...
Classical Wisdom
Aristotle on Luck Do You Feel Lucky?
a year ago
African History...
The pre-Islamic civilizations of west Africa While West Africa has been part of the Muslim world since the late Middle Ages, as famously...
2 months ago
49
2 months ago
While West Africa has been part of the Muslim world since the late Middle Ages, as famously demonstrated by the golden pilgrimage of Mali's Mansa Musa in 1324, Islam had only arrived in the region at the close of the 1st millennium.
Dr Alun Withey
The Health Risks of Travel in Early-Modern Britain As I start to make some progress on my new research project on travel, health and risk I am turning...
over a year ago
49
over a year ago
As I start to make some progress on my new research project on travel, health and risk I am turning my attention to the sorts of things that early modern travellers were fearful of. As a bit of a nervous traveller myself, it’s quite comforting to know that there is actually a...
Patterns in Humanity
Global crime How do crime rates vary around the world? And how reliable is the data?
3 months ago
African History...
A muslim kingdom in the Ethiopian highlands: the history of Ifat and Adal ca. 1285-1520. During the late Middle Ages, the northern Horn of Africa was home to some of the continent's most...
8 months ago
49
8 months ago
During the late Middle Ages, the northern Horn of Africa was home to some of the continent's most powerful dynasties, whose history significantly shaped the region's social landscape. The history of one of these dynasties, often referred to as the Solomonids, has been...
Trying to Understand...
A Short Service Announcement. From this week, and on an experimental basis, I’m enabling paid subscriptions for those who may be...
a year ago
49
a year ago
From this week, and on an experimental basis, I’m enabling paid subscriptions for those who may be interested. The essays themselves will continue to be entirely free, and I don’t have plans to produce subscriber-only material. I’ve also set up a Buy Me a Coffee cup.
Classical Wisdom
Have We Become Anti-Human? Is this a problem? And Can/Should it be Helped?
a year ago
Open Culture
Arthur C. Clarke Predicts the Rise of Artificial Intelligence & Questions What Will Happen to... We now live in the midst of an artificial-intelligence boom, but it’s hardly the first of its kind....
2 months ago
48
2 months ago
We now live in the midst of an artificial-intelligence boom, but it’s hardly the first of its kind. In fact, the field has been subject to a boom-and-bust cycle since at least the early nineteen-fifties. Eventually, those busts — which occurred when realizable AI technology...
African History...
a brief note on the long history of African diplomacy. historical links between west africa and the Maghreb.
8 months ago
History Today Feed
James I: A Foreign King on the English Throne James I: A Foreign King on the English Throne JamesHoare Tue, 05/21/2024 - 08:46
9 months ago
History Today Feed
The Death of Caspar Hauser The Death of Caspar Hauser j.hoare Sun, 12/17/2023 - 00:00
a year ago
History Today Feed
What is Modernity? What is Modernity? JamesHoare Thu, 01/02/2025 - 09:09
2 months ago
African History...
a brief note on new discoveries in African archeology and the stone ruins of Cameroon. Among the first ancient Egyptian accounts on its southern neighbors is an old kingdom inscription...
7 months ago
48
7 months ago
Among the first ancient Egyptian accounts on its southern neighbors is an old kingdom inscription that describes a trading expedition to an unspecified region called the land of Punt. Egyptologists had long debated about the location of this mysterious territory before recent...
Classical Wisdom
The First Biographers ...and the Surprising Legacy of Ancient Literature
a year ago
African History...
How Africans wrote their own history: Debates and dialogues between four west African historians in... Facts, myths and royal propaganda.
a year ago
History Today Feed
How the South Became Republican How the South Became Republican JamesHoare Thu, 08/29/2024 - 09:34
6 months ago
Trying to Understand...
The Machine Stops. And fiddling won't fix it.
6 months ago
A Collection of...
Fireside Friday, January 10, 2025 Hey folks, Fireside this week! I’m currently working on a post “On the Gracchi” taking a somewhat...
a month ago
48
a month ago
Hey folks, Fireside this week! I’m currently working on a post “On the Gracchi” taking a somewhat darker look at everyone’s favorite Roman reformers (though hardly the same black takedowns Alexander and Cleopatra got) , which will hopefully be ready for next week. Before we dive...
Classical Wisdom
Marcus Aurelius VS Diogenes Comparing the Stoics and the Cynics...
a year ago
Wrong Side of...
The Indian-American century On the Anglo-Indo-sphere
2 months ago
Trying to Understand...
The Sense Of An Ending. But right back where we started from.
7 months ago
Dr Alun Withey
Are Beards Over? A Historical Perspective. Recently I spoke with the Guardian journalist Tim Dowling for an excellent article he was writing...
over a year ago
47
over a year ago
Recently I spoke with the Guardian journalist Tim Dowling for an excellent article he was writing (published last week) about whether beards are finally ‘over’, and I thought it would be interesting to reflect on some of this. Since re-emerging around 2014, gaining popularity...
Flashbak
Eugene Von Bruenchenhein And His Wife Marie: A Love Story Eugene Von Bruenchenhein (1910–1983) was an American self-taught artist from Milwaukee, Wisconsin....
2 months ago
47
2 months ago
Eugene Von Bruenchenhein (1910–1983) was an American self-taught artist from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He left a vast archive of poetry, apocalyptic paintings, paintbrushes made with his wife’s hair, drawings, notebooks, audio tapes and hundreds of sculptures made from chicken bones,...
Classical Wisdom
Five Reasons Why Socrates Was A Terrible Husband Should you meet your heroes?
9 months ago
Trying to Understand...
Ukraine and the end of "Europe." Nation-states were the problem: supranationality was not the answer.
over a year ago
Overcoming Bias
Feels Gone Wrong The films A Complete Unknown, on Bob Dylan, and In Restless Dreams, on Paul Simon, make vivid to me...
2 months ago
47
2 months ago
The films A Complete Unknown, on Bob Dylan, and In Restless Dreams, on Paul Simon, make vivid to me the huge emotional appeal of becoming a musician like them.
African History...
A social history of the Lamu city-state (1370-1885) Journal of African cities chapter 5
over a year ago
Flashbak
The Boston Years: On The Streets 1972-75 In 1972, Philip Flip Collier was in Boston. Philip, who has previously shared his terrific...
6 months ago
47
6 months ago
In 1972, Philip Flip Collier was in Boston. Philip, who has previously shared his terrific photographs of 1970s NYC, enrolled at the city’s New England School of Photography where he studied for the next two years with the hope of becoming a commercial photographer, but I could...
Patterns in Humanity
2024 in writing A brief recap of my 2024 posts
2 months ago
Dr Alun Withey
To Tip or Not To Tip: A Victorian Traveller’s Perspective Like it or not, tipping is a big part of hospitality and the service industry. Debates about how...
2 months ago
47
2 months ago
Like it or not, tipping is a big part of hospitality and the service industry. Debates about how much/whether to tip rumble on, but they are not new. Even in the 18th and 19th centuries, travellers were complaining about the amount of unwanted or unexpected extras they had to pay...
Dr Alun Withey
Beard Fashions and Class Over the past few centuries, fashions in facial hair have changed substantially. In the mid...
over a year ago
47
over a year ago
Over the past few centuries, fashions in facial hair have changed substantially. In the mid seventeenth century many men wore the ‘Van Dyke’ style of a small, pointy beard and moustaches. By the end of the 1600s, beards were in decline, leaving many men with just moustaches. The...
History Today Feed
The French Resistance: Fantasy and Failure The French Resistance: Fantasy and Failure JamesHoare Tue, 09/17/2024 - 06:00
5 months ago
African History...
A complete history of Zeila (Zayla): ca. 800-1885 CE. Journal of African cities: chapter 14
5 months ago
Hidden History
The Great Horse Flu Epidemic of 1872 An epidemic of “Horse Flu” in 1872 virtually shut down the US economy and paralyzed the entire...
2 months ago
46
2 months ago
An epidemic of “Horse Flu” in 1872 virtually shut down the US economy and paralyzed the entire country. By the 1870s, the once-rural agrarian United States was beginning to emerge as an industrial power. The Civil War had spurred the rapid development of industry such as iron...
Open Culture
Laurie Anderson’s Mind-Blowing Performance of C. P. Cavafy’s Poems “Waiting for the Barbarians” &... In the video above, Laurie Anderson describes C. P. Cavafy’s poem “Waiting for the Barbarians” as...
2 months ago
46
2 months ago
In the video above, Laurie Anderson describes C. P. Cavafy’s poem “Waiting for the Barbarians” as being “set in ancient Rome.” That’s a reasonable interpretation, given that it contains an emperor, senators, and orators, though Cavafy himself said that none of them are...
weird medieval guys
The coolest medieval woman you've never heard of Christine de Pizan on Circe, Medusa, and other virtuous ladies
a year ago
Res Obscura
How well can GPT-4 simulate an acid trip in 1963? An experiment with historical simulation
a year ago
Classical Wisdom
Weekend Roundup Last Chance!
a year ago
A Collection of...
Collections: Teaching Paradox, Imperator, Part I: Divisa in Partes Tres This is the first part of a three-part (if I can keep it) series, examining the historical...
7 months ago
46
7 months ago
This is the first part of a three-part (if I can keep it) series, examining the historical assumptions of Imperator: Rome, a historical grand strategy game by Paradox Interactive, set during the rise and collapse of the Roman Republic from 304-27 BC and covering the broader...
Classical Wisdom
Healthy Skepticism for Better Debates Philosophical Tools for the Holidays
3 months ago