More from A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
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 →
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? →
This is the third part of our [I, II, I don’t know, a few more?] part series looking at Rings of Power‘s Siege of Eregion from a military history perspective. Last week, we discussed the remarkably bad siege preparation of both sides: Adar’s complete lack of a fortified siege camp and Eregion’s complete lack of … Continue reading Collections: The Siege of Eregion, Part III: What Catapults? →
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 historians, educators and so … Continue reading Collections: What Do Historians Do? →
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 territory … Continue reading Collections: The Siege of Eregion, Part II: What Siege Camp? →
More in history
Just look at this photo. Just look at this young girl’s smile. We know her name: O‑o-dee. And we know that she was a member of the Kiowa tribe in the Oklahoma Territory. And we know that the photo was taken in 1894. But that smile is like a time machine. O‑o-dee might just as […]
Excavations at a necropolis in southern Italy’s Liternum Archaeological Park revealed two ornate tombs—one of which belonged to a gladiator, according to an etched marble epitaph. “This necropolis, thanks to its excellently preserved wall structures and tombs, adds an important piece to our knowledge regarding the history of the [ancient Roman] colony of Liternum,” […]
‘Buddhism’ by Donald S. Lopez Jr. review JamesHoare Mon, 03/31/2025 - 08:57
During WWI and WWII, the Women’s Land Army contributed greatly to food production in Britain. These women worked tirelessly on farms across the United Kingdom in an effort to support struggling farmers who had lost their mostly male workforce to the armed forces. They completed a variety of agricultural jobs, including harvesting, plowing, fruit […]
For all the means of communication and exchange we’ve established between the cultures of the world, no matter how distant they may be from one another, we still have no truly universal single human language. The reason could date back to antiquity, when we first attempted a grand collective project: that of building a tower […]