Category: History
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A Monarchy of Letters: Royal Correspondence and English Diplomacy in the Reign of Elizabeth I
Rayne Allinson’s new book, A Monarchy in Letters: Royal Correspondence and English Diplomacy in the Reign of Elizabeth I, highlights some of the gaps missing in the historiography of the queen’s own involvement in foreign affairs. The author acknowledges that there is a curious void here; what about the queen’s own words? Obviously, the queen’s preferences […]
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The Politics of Football in Yugoslavia, Richard Mills
Football in the Balkans is usually associated with hooliganism and nationalist incidents accompanying international competitions such as the 2018 World Cup. The misconception of the 1990 Maksimir Stadium riot as the day when the violent breakup of Yugoslavia started, and the persisting omnipresence of this myth further contributes to the reduction of the game in […]
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The Persian Wars
The Persian Wars LEARNING OBJECTIVE Explain the consequences of the Persian Wars. KEY POINTS The Persian Wars began in 499 BCE, when Greeks in the Persian-controlled territory rose in the Ionian Revolt. Athens, and other Greek cities, sent aid, but were quickly forced to back down after defeat in 494 BCE. Subsequently, the Persians suffered many […]
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Civil Wars: A History in Ideas, David Armitage
Civil war plagues our times. As David Armitage notes in his brilliant work, Civil Wars: A History in Ideas, the idea of the ‘Long Peace’ after the Second World War is in many ways misleading as intrastate conflict has become far more common than in previous centuries. From the former Yugoslavia to the recent horrors in […]
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The Encyclopædia Britannica and the Spirit of Enlightenment
Title page for first edition (1771) of Encyclopaedia Britannica, or, A Dictionary of Arts and Sciences. Typ 705.71.363, Houghton Library, Harvard University The Encyclopædia Britannica and the Spirit of Enlightenment On December 6, 1768, the first volume of the first edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica was published in London as , ‘A Dictionary of Arts and Sciences, […]
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Early Roman Historiography with Gaius Sallustius Crispus
Early Roman Historiography with Gaius Sallustius Crispus Gaius Sallustius Crispus (86 BC – 35 BC) On October 1, 86 BC, Roman historian, politicianGaius Sallustius Crispus was born. Sallustius is the earliest known Roman historian with surviving works to his name, of which we have Catiline‘s War, The Jugurthine War, and the Histories (of which only fragments survive). The Bellum Catiline, Sallustius’ first published work, contains the history of the memorable year 63 and the story […]
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Averroes – The Commentator and Polymath
Averroes, a closeup of The School of Athens Averroes – The Commentator and Polymath Abū l-Walīd Muḥammad Ibn ʾAḥmad Ibn Rušd, better known as Averroes, passed away. Averroes wrote on logic, Aristotelian and Islamic philosophy, theology, the Maliki school of Islamic jurisprudence, psychology, political and Andalusian classical music theory, geography, mathematics, and the mediæval sciences […]
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Cognitive Sciences and Medieval Studies: An Introduction
Cognitive Sciences and Medieval Studies breaks ground on very important, yet controversial, territory. As its title indicates, this volume primarily explores what we might call the principles of the mind or brain in European medieval society, in unique ways. The editorial introduction defines cognitive sciences as ‘an interdisciplinary field for the study and understanding of the […]
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The Rise of Egyptian Civilization
The prehistory of Egypt spans from early human settlements to the beginning of the Early Dynastic Period of Egypt (c. 3100 BCE), which started with the first Pharoah Narmer (also known as Menes). It is equivalent to the Neolithic period, and is divided into cultural periods, named after locations where Egyptian settlements were found. The […]
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