Byzantium The Lost Empire
Empress Theodora in a Byzantine Mosaic This series ran on UK television a couple of years ago. The photography is truly stunning. I am going to be reminding myself with…
Quantitative Easing the Roman Way
When someone finds a Roman coin in a field, they often imagine that they have stumbled across something of great value. It is after all old, rare and made of…
Barbarian Emperor: Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Chapter 7 Part 1
If you want to follow this series it starts with the reign of the first Roman emperor Augustus. The previous episode is covers the reign of Alexander Severus the last…
God is not Great by Christopher Hitchens
I am very grateful to the lay preachers at Frenchgate Chapel in the nineteen sixties for being just about the worst advocates for their religion I can imagine. They not…
History Books Review on New and Noteworthy in History on iTunes
I have just looked and to my amazement History Books Review is on the new and noteworthy page for history podcasts on iTunes. Blimey.
Leo the Wise by Lars Brownworth – Kindle Mini Book
Its a mini-book so this is a mini-review. Leo the Wise was the founder of the Macedonian dynasty of the Byzantine Empire. His life was fairly eventful, but it isn't…
The Fractal Geometery of Nature by Benoit Mandelbrot
I was saddened to hear of the death of the great Benoit Mandelbrot today. Although this is a history blog, I am a scientist. My love of history comes from…
Another update….
I am not going to make a habit of posting updates on what I am up to, but I thought a bit of explanation of what is going on might…
Alexander Severus: Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Chapter 6 Part 5
If you want to follow this series it starts with the reign of the first Roman emperor Augustus. The previous episode is about the most eccentric emperor of Rome, Elagabalus.…
Women in Ancient Rome: Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Chapter 6 Part 4
Eighteenth Century Britain was one of the main cauldrons in which the ideas of the Enlightenment were bubbling, and Gibbon was one of its leading figures. The enlightened view of the world that was being pioneered then is still with us, shaping how we think to this very day.