History, politics, and culture articles and forum discussions.
I was trying to find the reference point within the Divine Comedy which places the beginning of Dante’s journey as Good Friday. The Princeton Dante Project has this to say in the notes: As the text will later make clear ([Inf XXI 112-114]), we are observing the 1266th anniversary of Good Friday (which fell on […]
The concept of commissioning artwork during the Renaissance in Italy was the norm. Read below for what it was like for a commission during that time (my emphasis in bold): Renaissance art was made to order. There were no art galleries, because the concept of art made without commission, without function, and without a designated […]
In my opinion, the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 violated the precepts of justice in at least three ways. In a nutshell, the Act gave legal force to southern slave owners to retrieve their slaves who escaped to the North. The Act was important to southerners because it was seen as a kind of quid […]
It’s often beneficial to reflect on the past and consider the events we’ve experienced in recent history. With this in mind, I wanted to take a moment to revisit some of this year’s notable occurrences and highlight what I believe were some of the most significant stories—both the obvious and the less apparent. Let’s dive […]
A night of waiting and expectation for history to unfold In just a few hours, the polls open for the 2024 U.S. presidential election. The feelings I have are surely shared by other people, including those on the opposite political side as myself. These feelings reflect the mounting tension that has been building up for […]
Over the holiday break I had the opportunity to visit a major museum in Pittsburgh that I had never before visited. I was with a small group of people so the amount of time I could spend in any one wing was limited, but I was still able to whet my intellectual appetite for the […]
At the beginning of the Great War, plans were put afoot for the Army to move, by road, all the sheep from the farms of the southern counties of Sussex, Kent and Surrey to Salisbury Plain in order to keep them safe should the Germans invade England. One junior officer, given this task, queried the […]
Marriage customs in Ancient Babylon Ancient Babylonia was a society, which, although it did not know coinage, was extremely wealthy due to their outstanding skill in barter and trade. The fertile lands along the Euphrates were ideal for the growing of more than sufficient crops for the population, and soon a profitable trade system sprung […]
What is the single military battle with the most far-reaching effects and consequences? What battle, if it had come out differently, would have had the most profound change on the march of history? No brainer for me: Teutoburg Forest. This ended Roman excursions into Germania. From then on, Europe was divided into to camps: Romantic […]
