Tag: Ancient History

Today In History–17 October

On this day in the year 1244 during the 6th crusade the Frankish Army was defeated by the Egyptians……

The Sixth Crusade was of monumental importance to Europe as it managed to achieve what previous Crusades had failed to do – recapture the Holy Land. Considerably less fighting was involved in this Crusade, rather it was the diplomatic manoeuvring by the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II of Hohenstaufen, which achieved the desired outcome and saw the Kingdom Of Jerusalem regain control of Jerusalem and other surrounding areas for the next 15 years.

The Crusade – which began seven years after the failed Fifth Crusade – was brought about by Frederick, who sought to assuage his guilt at his lack of leadership of the Fifth Crusade by launching the Sixth Crusade to recover Jerusalem, paid for by Holy Roman Empire funds.

http://historylearning.com/medieval-england/the-crusades/sixth-crusade/

The final battle was fought in Gaza in Palestine.

The defeat of the Frankish Army lead to a couple of things……the loss of power and prestige of the papacy and of course the 7th Crusade……ancient exercise of today’s endless wars.

History is a good thing…..but only if you learn from it…..if not then it bites you in the ass.

Archeology Today

I know that sounds like a monthly magazine…..

My regulars know that I am a bit of an amateur archeologist and historian….I find the acts of our distant ancestors as amazing and fascinating…..Easter Island has been a source of wonder and speculation….just how did they do those massive statues?

Of course those ding-dongs of the “Ancient Aliens”say that only visitors from the outer worlds could have  assisted in the making and moving of these statues……but…….

The tale of the demise of Easter Island’s people may have to be rewritten. The story has long held that infighting as resources ran out was one of the main drivers of the collapse, but a new study published in the Journal of Pacific Archaeology suggests a different scenario. CNN reports on the “unlikely method” of examining the society via of some of the stone tools used to carve the island’s famous stone figures: Researchers performed a chemical analysis on four of the statues and fragments from 17 of the roughly 1,600 basalt tools, called toki, that had been excavated. The goal was to determine where the basalt had come from. There were three quarries on the island that were potential sources of the volcanic rock; the key discovery is that there was “near exclusive” use of a single quarry to make the toki.

Here’s the jump researchers are making from there, per a press release: Lead study author Dale Simpson Jr. sees that as “solid evidence that there was cooperation among families and craft groups. … The idea of competition and collapse on Easter Island might be overstated.” But Jo Anne Van Tilburg, who led the excavations, cautions against coming to an overstated conclusion in this case. She says the findings bolster the view “of craft specialization based on information exchange, but we can’t know at this stage if the interaction was collaborative. It may also have been coercive in some way. Human behavior is complex.” (This separate study pushes the same theory but based on different evidence: obsidian.)

When I relax in my garden I like to consume nuts, fruit and cheese…..aged cheese is always better…..but how about a cheese that is 3000 years old?

For thousands of years beneath Egypt’s desert sands, a solidified whitish substance sat in a broken jar. Scientists now say it’s “probably the most ancient archaeological solid residue of cheese ever found,” per the AP. Archaeologists came across the finding while cleaning the sands around a 19th-dynasty tomb at the vast Saqqara necropolis of the ancient city of Memphis. The tomb of Ptahmes, the mayor of ancient Memphis, was initially discovered in 1885 but had been swallowed by shifting sands until its rediscovery in 2010. The whitish solidified mass was found during the excavation work between 2013 and 2014, along with a canvas fabric that may have been used to cover the jar, a study published this week in Analytical Chemistry said. The 3,200-year-old cheese was found to be made from a mixture of cow milk and that of a sheep or goat.

Cheese-making has been depicted on wall murals of ancient Egyptian tombs from 2,000 BC. Also, a 2012 study published in the science journal Nature traces the earliest evidence of the industry to the 6th millennium BC in northern Europe, some 7,000 years ago. Older cheese residues discovered were typically attributed to natural fermented milk like yoghurt or kefir, but the discovery at Saqqara revealed no trace of proteins from natural milk fermentation, said study lead author Enrico Greco. “For this reason we can say that it is the oldest solid cheese ever found to date.” There is little information on this particular cheese-making process, but “it was necessary to develop a specific technology and procedures that did not exist before,” Greco said. “This is a very important point in the history of dairy food.”

Okay, what wine would I pair with this “aged” cheese?

That is my offering on this Sunday…..I hope you have a wonderful day and all is well with you and your family….chuq

The End Of Endism

This post is going to cover a whole bunch of theories about society….a mish mash to keep my readers on their toes…….I wish that the endism today was about the end of my health issues but no such luck…….I have a day for tests so I may not be around like normal…..please bear with me and I will return to normal as soon as I can.

Not long ago a dude named Fukuyama put forth a theory about the end of history….it was called endism.

Readers of The American Conservative—or anyone else interested in understanding how the United States in recent decades managed to squander so much so fast—might want to check out the Fall 2017 issue of the quarterly Hedgehog Review. The theme of this particular issue is “The End of the End of History?,” a reference to the essay that (question mark and all) catapulted Francis Fukuyama to global fame back in 1989. History had “ended,” Fukuyama proposed, when the passing of the Cold War left liberal democratic capitalism—a.k.a., the American Way of Life—without a plausible challenger. Our way had become the only way as others would inevitably acknowledge.

In fact, in the years that followed, history proved to be more resilient, willful, and stubbornly opaque than Fukuyama and the legions rushing to endorse “endism” imagined. With climate change endangering the planet and a sitting American president threatening “fire and fury like the world has never seen,” the end might be near, but it’s not the end that Fukuyama’s acolytes had in mind back when the collapse of communism seemingly resolved life’s ultimate questions.

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-end-of-endism/

Got you attention yet?

Now if you watch much history on the boob tube then you will hear about the collapse of civilizations……like the collapse of the Roman civilization….or the Maya….so on.

But do civilizations really collapse?

There’s a common story of how the Maya civilisation was wiped out: they fell foul of unstoppable climate change. Several periods of extreme drought withered their crops and killed off thousands in their overpopulated cities. ‘There was nothing they could do or could have done. In the end, the food and water ran out – and they died,’ wrote Richardson Gill in 2007. The jungle reclaimed the cities with their palaces and pyramids until they were rediscovered in the 19th century by intrepid explorers.

Likewise, we all know that the Easter Islanders chopped down all the palm trees on their small, isolated island to clear farmland for their ever-growing population and to move their characteristic moai statues, not realising that they were eroding their landscape, reducing their food production, and ultimately cutting themselves off from the bounty of the sea – and the possibility of escape. The Europeans who found the island in the 18th century wondered how such primitive people could ever have had a civilisation developed enough to carve the majestic stone heads.

https://aeon.co/essays/what-the-idea-of-civilisational-collapse-says-about-history

Now we turn to “modernism”…….

The America Conservative looks at “modernism” and conservatism…….

Nearly 30 years before he shocked National Review by endorsing Barack Obama for president, senior editor Jeffery Hart announced a divorce of a different kind from the American right. With “The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to a Modern American Conservatism”—published in The New Right Papers in 1982 and previewed in NR a few months earlier—Hart split with tradition and declared himself on the side of modernism in art, literature, and morals.

“Despite its recent victories, the conservative cause has been creating unnecessary difficulties for itself,” he wrote, and as “a professor of English at Dartmouth, a senior editor of National Review, and a conservative activist”—he might have added former Reagan speechwriter—Hart knew better than most what limits the right’s philosophy ran up against. “The fact is, a lot of my students are not sold on conservatism. … They think conservatives are preppies against sex.”

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/modernism-conservatism/

Now you have a wide array of theories that have been passed down over the decades….and handle in a true IST method…..is there anything you would like to add to the conversation?

Meeting Of The Psi Phi Society

First let me wish all the Fathers that follow and read IST a very Happy Father’s Day.  Enjoy your special day.

Yesterday I got to watch the start of 24 hrs du Le Mans……as a sports car racing fan this is a must…..I am pulling for the Ford GT and the Toyota in the “hybrid” category…..had to take a break from the race to attend my meeting…..

To celebrate the race I am preparing a Cassoulet served with a fine white Bordeaux and a baguette….very French…….oui?

The Psi Phi Society has nothing to do with science fiction or the channel on cable (SyFy)……it is just a friendly (mostly) discussion group that meets a couple times a year.

My Sunday begins and I would like to talk about the meeting of the Psi Phi Society…..we have our get together at a local steak house and hold our discussions and debates.

After our meal we settle in with a cocktail and decide what the topic will be for the evening…..the group is me and another professor, a preacher, a scientist (chemist), a nurse, a contractor and a local artist.

As you would imagine with a diverse group there would be diverse opinions on what the discuss….after about an hour of debate my fellow professor, a historian, brought up a topic that we all found interesting….what race were the Greeks and Romans?  (To be honest she picked up the check for all of us as a bribe to discuss her topic)

She brought up a paper that she had read recently on this subject…..to be on equal footing we asked the owner of the steakhouse (a friend) if he would print out the paper so that we could read it and then debate…..

Recent films about ancient Greece such as Troy, Helen of Troy, and 300, have used actors who are of Anglo-Saxon or Celtic ancestry (e.g. Brad Pitt, Gerard Butler). Recent films about ancient Rome, such as Gladiator and HBO’s series Rome, have done the same (e.g. Russell Crowe). Were the directors right, from an historical point of view? Were the ancient Greeks and Romans of North European stock?

Most classical historians today are silent on the subject. For example, Paul Cartledge, a professor of Greek culture at Cambridge, writes about his specialty, Sparta, for educated but non-academic readers, yet nowhere that I can find does he discuss the racial origins of the Spartans. Some years ago I asked several classics professors about the race of the ancient Greeks only to be met with shrugs that suggested that no one knew, and that it was not something worth looking into. Today, an interest in the race of the ancients seems to be taken as an unhealthy sign, and any evidence of their Nordic origins discounted for fear it might give rise to dangerous sentiments.

Source: What Race Were the Greeks and Romans? – The Unz Review

The discussion went into the late evening.

Me?

I came down on the side that the Greeks were of Minoan descent because they were great seafaring people and opened up new lands for colonies and settlements….thus Romans were descendants of these people as well…therefore olive skin with dark hair.

The evening ended when I got a call from a friend in Lebanon and had to cut my evening short.

We did decide to have another meeting next month…..

If you read the paper then….what do you think?

Settling in for a good a restful day and in prep for Monday and a new week……after all it is Father’s day….I hope everyone enjoys their special day……plus the race should be ending shortly…..Peace Out……chuq

Vikings and Abbasids

One of my fave books and then movies was 13th Warrior…….It is said to be based on a true story of an Arab ambassador sent to the Vikings to learn their ways and trade purposes……it is said to be based on the journal that the Arab diplomat kept in his travels…….

Evidence has been found that links the two, Vikings and Arabs, together….artifact that is not just some writings……………

If you have not seen it then by all means use the weekend to watch a truly good movie……..

 

Vikings and Abbasids: Worlds apart but interconnected | Middle East Eye.

Could It Be Atlantis?

Probably not….but it made a good title……..

Newser) – It was believed that underwater ruins off the Greek island of Delos were simply ancient docks—but now experts are telling a much more exciting story. They’ve found what’s left of several buildings, including a pottery workshop, at the site just six feet below the surface.The ruins likely date to the first century BC, the Huffington Post reports. They were home to 16 pots and parts of a kiln, as well as what’s left of walls and colonnades. Greek media is calling the site an “underwater Pompeii,” Discovery reports.

Indeed, “similar workshops have been found in Pompeii and Herculaneum,” Greek officials say. It’s unclear how the site, which seems to have collapsed, met its underwater fate. Greek myth holds that the island of Delos is where the god Apollo was born, and the area was home to both an Apollo cult and a major slave trade. It declined after many of its inhabitants were slaughtered by attackers in 88 BC, and it was finally abandoned around 500 AD, Discovery notes. The site is central to Greek history, the Independent reports, and the area is subject to continuing excavation. (Click to read about the biggest ancient stone block ever found.)

And the myth continues.

Sex Is Where You Find It

It is no secret that I am a history buff……since it is the start of my weekend I think I will dedicate it to historical stuff…….when I was traveling I got to go to the ruins in Pompeii…..a very interesting tour by the way……I especially was fascinated by the erotic graffiti that was found in the ruins…..I have also seen what some call the Porno Scroll, a piece of Egyptian papyrus with some explicit drawings……I bring all this up because of a report I read last week……..

Think phallic graffiti art exclusively belongs to the baseless present? Think again. An archaeologist has uncovered what the Guardian touts as the earliest erotic graffiti on the planet, found in Greece—and predating, in one case, even Athens’ Acropolis. Since 2011, Dr. Andreas Vlachopoulos has been directing fieldwork on the Aegean island of Astypalaia, and the professor may have given the students working with him a little more insight than he’d at first intended when he happened upon extremely explicit erotica chiseled into the limestone rocks that line the cape. In one instance, dating back to 5th century BC, two gigantic penises are etched next to the name Dion; in another, dating to 6th century BC, one man boasted: “Nikasitimos was here mounting Timiona.”

“We know that in ancient Greece sexual desire between men was not a taboo,” Vlachopoulos tells the Guardian. “But this graffiti … is not just among the earliest ever discovered. By using the verb in the past continuous [tense], it clearly says that these two men were making love over a long period of time, emphasizing the sexual act in a way that is highly unusual in erotic artwork.” One theory is that soldiers were once stationed at this outpost overlooking the bay; other carvings include that of ships, daggers, and wave-symbolizing spirals. Either way Astypalaia, best known for what Archaeology International called “the largest ancient children’s cemetery in the world,” with at least 2,700 infant burials identified in one place, can now add ancient porn among its claims to fame. (Meanwhile, in Italy, art restorers have been accused of scrubbing away the erotic…)

Our ancestors were NO different from us…….they enjoyed the same things we enjoy…….anybody got an opinion they would like to share?

The Fertile Crescent

The weekend….time for a little history that is not mind numbing…….People think that I am fascinated with Egypt or Greece or Rome….NOT!  I have always had a thing for the “Cresent” area….they were the first in so many areas……read the Saga of Gilgamesh and tell me where you have seen it before…….

I have always been a history buff, especially the area known as the “Fertile Crescent” or the “Cradle Of Civilization” such history as Sumer, Babylon, Assyrians, et al……..back in the days when I was working in the Middle East I had the fortune to visit several archeological sites in Iraq as well as the National Museum in Baghdad…..some fascinating stuff……..and now there seems to be a new find in Iraq……

(Newser) – Introducing the city of Idu, a once-thriving metropolis in what is now northern Iraq. Archeologists discovered its ruins beneath a mound in the Kurdistan region and say Idu was a major city about 3,000 years ago, reports LiveScience. It belonged to the Assyrian Empire, except for a relatively brief era of independence, and the Assyrians used it as a base from which to rule neighboring territory.

The art and inscriptions recovered paint a picture of grand palaces, with one ruler—named Ba’ilanu, for the record—boasting that his mansion was “greater than that of his fathers.” LiveScience also notes that the find is interesting for another reason: Archeological digs in northern Iraq have been few and far between for decades because of the region’s continuous conflict. Proof: Signs of Saddam Hussein’s attack on a nearby village in 1987 are still visible, say the researchers.

It is a shame that the situation in Iraq today may well make it impossible for the proper excavation of the new find….who knows what great secrets could be revealed?