3 Theses, Third Thursday: Hard History
Putting people & societies into neat boxes is a tricky issue, but I’m tired of everything inexplicable defaulting to “must be for rituals!”
Tagged: phoenicia
Reading Roundup: Heating Oil Fraud, Ancient Fire & Ice Volcanoes
Micro-reviews from my recently-read pile: ancient marriage politics, Mediterranean dyes, Hittite architecture & whales throughout the ages.
Reading Roundup: Unconventional Gods & Elitist Fashions
A wide-ranging reflection on what I learned in January, mostly about the history of fashion, ancient infrastructure, economy and war.
Civilizations Thrive in Adverse Environments
The earliest human civilizations arose in conditions that were favorable for agriculture. Ancient river valley cultures gave rise to some of history’s longest-lasting and most powerful civilizations, including the Egyptians...
Analysis: Karen Haegemans on Elissa of Carthage
Elissa of Carthage (commonly known as Dido, the wanderer) is one of the more fascinating examples of history becoming myth. History is rife with examples of strong women dismissed as mythology...
Beyond Rome: Infrastructure in Ancient Civilizations
There’s an idea floating around that roads, aqueducts, and other large-scale civil engineering projects required Roman-era engineering. This is a false narrative. A fantasy world doesn’t need iron-age technology to...
Deborah & Andamana: Female Judges as Rulers
Some people think that if women ruled, there would be less war. This probably isn’t true. But there are some great examples of female rulers in history who came to...
Ancient Priests: Practical Impacts of Early Experts
Recently, I’ve been thinking about the role of ancient priests and how temples helped early civilizations thrive. As a culture, we do a pretty poor job of looking beyond the...
Maritime Empires: the Phoenician Gap
We in the West seem to spend a lot of time tracing our cultures back to the maritime empires — thalassocracies — like the Greeks and the Vikings, but we spend very little time talking about the civilization that inspired Greece to consolidate its military power.
