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This is the fourth part of our [five? -ish? I, II, III] part series on the Siege of Eregion in Amazon’s Rings of Power. Last week, we took the opportunity presented by Adar’s absurd plan to dam a river using catapults to collapse a mountain to discuss the capabilities and functioning principles of historical counterweight … Continue reading Collections: The Siege of Eregion, Part IV: What Siege Equipment? →
a month ago

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More from A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry

Collections: Why Celebrimbor Fell but Boromir Conquered: the Moral Universe of Tolkien

This week (and probably next) I want to talk a bit more Tolkien, but in a somewhat different vein from normal. Rather than discussing the historicity of Tolkien’s world or adaptations of it, I want to take a moment to discuss some of the themes of Tolkien’s work, which express themselves in the metaphysical architecture … Continue reading Collections: Why Celebrimbor Fell but Boromir Conquered: the Moral Universe of Tolkien →

3 days ago 6 votes
Collections: The Siege of Eregion, Part V: What Tactics?

This is the final part of our five part (I, II, III, IV) series on the Siege of Eregion in Amazon’s Rings of Power. Last time, we looked at the orc siege and marveled at both their lack of works and also their nonsensical siege engines, concluding that Adar had launched a siege assault which … Continue reading Collections: The Siege of Eregion, Part V: What Tactics? →

a week ago 11 votes
Fireside Friday, April 4, 2025

Fireside this week! I am still a bit behind after attending the annual meeting of the Society for Military History – conferences always leave me a bit tired and slow to get back to writing, even as they also stimulate my thinking – so the conclusion of our look at Rings of Power must wait … Continue reading Fireside Friday, April 4, 2025 →

2 weeks ago 15 votes
Gap Week: March 28, 2025

Hey folks! The conclusion of our look at the Siege of Eregion in Rings of Power will have to wait a week because I am off to a conference this week, the annual meeting of the Society for Military History, this year in Mobile, Alabama! I’m set to talk about how Roman military commanders were … Continue reading Gap Week: March 28, 2025 →

3 weeks ago 20 votes

More in history

A forgotten African empire: the history of medieval Kānem (ca. 800-1472)

A century before Mansa Musa’s famous pilgrimage, the political and cultural landscape of medieval West Africa was dominated by the empire of Kānem.

16 hours ago 3 votes
Beatrix Potter’s Illustrated Peter Rabbit Letters

The Peter Rabbit letters were written and illustrated by Beatrix Potter on 4th September 1893. What would become The Tale of Peter Rabbit was first told in a letter to Noel Moore, the five-year-old son of Beatrix’s former governess Annie Moore (née Carter). Noel was ill in bed and Beatrix (28 July 1866 – 22 … Continue reading "Beatrix Potter’s Illustrated Peter Rabbit Letters" The post Beatrix Potter’s Illustrated Peter Rabbit Letters appeared first on Flashbak.

21 hours ago 2 votes
Weekly Wisdom Quiz

Homer, Heroes, and Hesiod

18 hours ago 2 votes
Whose Streets? Our Streets! New York Protests 1980 – 2000

“Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.” ― Henry David Thoreau,    Photographs of demonstrations in New York City between 1980 and 2000 are at the Whose Streets? Our Streets! exhibition at the Bronx Documentary Center. The show explores New York protest and the locals’ reactions to police brutality, gentrification, … Continue reading "Whose Streets? Our Streets! New York Protests 1980 – 2000" The post Whose Streets? Our Streets! New York Protests 1980 – 2000 appeared first on Flashbak.

39 minutes ago 1 votes
Agatha Christie: Discover the Woman Behind the Mystery

Known as the “Queen of Crime,” Agatha Christie was a prolific novelist and playwright from England. Some of her most-known works include books like And Then There Were None and Murder on the Orient Express. She invented beloved fictional detectives like the iconic Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple. The Guinness Book of World Records […]

2 days ago 2 votes