Welcome to your favourite collection of ancient oddities — where the plagues are firmly history 🙂 I won’t bother you with Stuff To Learn During Quarantine. I figured your social feed is chock full of that stuff anyway, and you would have seen it. Same with actual historical information about historical plagues, because, again, everyone’s […]
Ancient Greece
Book Review: 1177 B.C.: The Year Civilization Collapsed, by Eric H. Cline
I watched Cline’s lecture on the topic (see below) and found it fascinating, so wanted to follow up with reading more details. This book should be required reading to anyone interested in the bronze age and antiquity. What to Expect Cline starts with an over-view of the collapse of the Late Bronze Age, and then […]
The Importance of Space
Today, we are used to seeing the ruins of ancient Roman and Greek building like in this picture: a few columns and a broken outer shell, the pieces erected back by modern archaeologists to give us a sense of the ancient grandeur. But what was it like, when those buildings were living, breathing spaces, used […]
Book Review: 24 Hours in Ancient Athens, by Philip Matyszak
I’ve read a couple of Matyszak’s fictional-non-fiction works before, and I find his style refreshing. 24 Hours in Ancient Athens doesn’t disappoint, and delivers an excellent education resources – packaged in easy to consume storytelling. What to Expect This isn’t fiction in the normal sense – no plot and characters as such. Instead, Matyszak reconstructs […]
Ancient Texts
Today’s post collects interesting articles on the subjects on ancient texts. From high-tech reading of ancient Roman scrolls to medieval books made now available (and down to some really pissed-off bronze age customers), we have an amazing selection for lovers of words. Protect yourself! First, let’s start with a bit of fun. Every author these […]
History, Fantasy, and Food
Take one of the greatest empires the world has ever seen. At its peak it controlled vast swathes of land and many different cultures – including their associated cuisines. But what happens when you add a fantastical element to the mix? As anyone who read my short stories or novels knows, though they’re set in […]
Roman Trinkets and Small Finds
A collections of links for some funky finds from Ancient Rome. First is this Roman army multi-tool. One can envisage it as a precursor to the Swiss — sorry, Helvetican — army knife. It has a knife, spoon, and fork, a spike, spatula and small pick. Though since it’s made of silver it might have […]
Ancient Maps (a fetish)
I need to confess. I have a fetish for ancient maps. (Yeah, I know, shocking). I remember some that my father had hanging in the den, and I always loved looking at them. Given the subject period for Felix, I doubt you’ll be surprised at the squeals of glee I emitted when I came across […]
National Maritime Week – two millennia ago
A few weeks ago, Mary R. Woldering has asked me to contribute a piece for her blog, with the theme of National Maritime Week. I have chosen to address the issue of the life of ancient galley-slaves, and who really rowed the naval war galleys. Below I reproduce the full post. Hi, and welcome to the […]
Book Review: Eno and the Pirates
If you’re reading this blog, you probably figured out that I have a thing for Historical-Fantasy Mysteries. No big surprises, really. So when I came across CB Pratt’s Eno and the Pirates, I was immediately excited! Another historical-fantasy hero from the ancient world. Since I had a cold and was not in the mood for writing, […]
