Last Saturday, I visited the ancient history collection of the Carlos Museum at Emory University here in Atlanta and was straight-up shocked at its size and quality. It’s embarrassing that an ancient Mediterranean history geek like me failed to realize this collection was sitting just four miles from my home. If you’ve ever met me—or have read any of my posts—you know I’m a ridiculous human being. I get overly excited about the distant future, and I gush over the ancient past. How many people do you know who listen to Roman history audiobooks in the car more often than they listen to music? … [Read more...]
Pace Yourself, Barbarian
I love movie clichés...sometimes. I say sometimes because most of them are not lovable. The gun that never runs out of bullets, the villain eating steak, the antagonist who tells the protagonist with “We are not so different, you and I.” But some are fun to notice, appreciate, and analyze. One of my favorites comes by way of films set in the pre-gunpowder age: it’s the two armies facing off across a field then charging at each other full bore and slamming into each other at speed. Directors love this shot. You know the one: It’s a static side-angle camera shot of the battle right where … [Read more...]
Enemies on the Horizon
Imagine you’re good-natured city dweller in the ancient Roman empire. You sell your goods at the market each morning, chase rats in your apartment in the afternoon, and play dice with your friends each evening. Each day after you finish up at the market, you walk to the city center to hear the latest gossip from important citizens and to read the posted news on the Acta Diurna. On this day, the news is bad. A giant army of strange-looking people has been spotted at the borders of the empire, and they are headed your way. No one has ever heard of or seen them before. The men are … [Read more...]
The Copper Sword and Wicker Shield
Construction workers in England have dug up another amazing treasure, this time in preparations to build a soccer field. Among the loot: a near-perfectly preserved bronze-age sword and spearhead with gold worked into the metal. This stuff is magic to me. I have half a mind to spend a month roaming around England kicking up random patches of soil. I’m sure they would welcome that. This find is old, old, old. The bronze-age sword and sheath are about three thousand years old. That’s two thousand years before Beowulf was written. Well before even the Greek golden age. The world … [Read more...]
Stoicism and Ancient Life
I love imagining the brutality of life in the Middle Ages. Not in a vicarious enjoyment way (I’d never survive), but in a “how did civilization even exist?” way. Disease, malnourishment, tainted food, dysentery, lack of cohesive government, frequent invasions, lawlessness, and the general stabbiness of the population all added up to one rough ride. And yet people lived, pushed forward, and advanced society. Some were even happy (I’m guessing). Last year, a storm pushed over a big tree in Collooney, Ireland (has there ever been a more Irish name than Collooney?). Attached to the roots was … [Read more...]