Color My (Ancient) World

Thanks mostly to a Renaissance aesthetic notion, we’ve come to imagine ancient Greece and Rome as places of stark beauty—pure white marble temples filled with pale statues. Though it’s not a surprise to archaeologists and art historians, many of us more pedestrian folk can be stunned to learn that the clean, dignified marble statues and edifices of ancient Greece were … 

Smells Like Turtle Soup

I talked about King Croesus’s encounter with the Oracle at Delphi in class today, and I thought I’d post the bit from Herodotus’s History where he tells the story, with a little more detail than my own hazy recollection. So here it is, translated from the Greek by A. D. Godley. Keep in mind that the voice of Herodotus comes … 

More Hardcore

A little while ago, I plugged Dan Carlin’s excellent Hardcore History podcast. I thought I’d bring it up again because he just released a sort of “interim” episode (all too short!) in which he interviews James Burke, writer and host of a few of my all-time favorite documentary series: Connections and The Day the Universe Changed. In this interview, Burke … 

Speaking of History…

We were? Well, speaking of education (see post below), I can’t believe I left this one out. I’ve been digging Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History podcast for several months now. In fact, you may have heard me mention it in class once or twice. If you like history, or think you might like history, if it didn’t involve, you know, classes and … 

Zeus Almighty

Since various aspects of ancient religious practices have come up in class lately, I thought I’d post this: the Associated Press reports that a group of worshippers performed a ceremony in honor of Zeus today at the ancient Temple of Olympian Zeus in Athens. The group had been denied access to the temple, but went ahead with the ceremony anyway, … 

Ooo, It Makes Me Wonder.

Ladies and Gentlemen: In the year 2000 or so, Swiss film maker-traveler-adventurer Bernard Weber decided it was about time the world had a new set of Wonders, since all of the “ancient” Wonders had long ago fallen over, or been looted, pillaged, and/or burned into obscurity. (Well, except those pyramids. But, man! They’re sturdy.) With that in mind, he started … 

Imaginary Influencers

This is an interesting idea — a new book by Allan Lazar, Dan Karlan, and Jeremy Salter takes a look at the top 101 most influential fictional characters in history. The book’s subtitle, “How characters of myth, legends, television, and movies have shaped our society, changed our behavior, and set the course of history,” is a compelling reminder of the …