BuzzFeed recently uncovered an old video of now-presidential hopeful Ben Carson expressing the belief that ancient Egyptian pyramids were granaries rather than the archeologically accepted explanation of them being tombs. When asked, Carson acknowledged that he still holds this belief. “My own personal theory is that Joseph built the pyramidsContinue Reading
There’s talk of late of where transgender people should go to the bathroom. If you’re physically male, but you consider yourself female, do you use the men’s room or the ladies’ room? What if you have gender reassignment surgery, so you’re physically a different gender than you were at birth?Continue Reading
More than two years after his remains were identified and 530 years after his death, King Richard III of England will be laid to rest (again) on March 26. Historical Significance of Richard III’s Burial This is quite likely the last burial of an English king, as modern monarchs areContinue Reading
Today’s page is dedicated to those fans who have wondered when I’m going to put up more bizarre historical art. About 300 years ago, some genius Japanese artist gave us He-Gassen, or “the fart war.” I can’t make this up if I tried. Not quite safe for work. And thenContinue Reading
Every semester a student asks me this question: how long did people live in ancient times? Was it really only 35 years? General life expectancy across the world for most of history was, indeed 35. However, “life expectancy” is a terribly imprecise term, giving the impression that any particular personContinue Reading
HERE THERE BE A FEW SPOILERS I’ve previously written about how alternative-history needs a basis in history. Other forms of fiction frequently benefit as well, and Game of Thrones is no exception. Dragons and whitewalkers aside, George R.R. Martin wants Westeros to feel somewhat familiar to us. He also wantsContinue Reading
HERE THERE BE SPOILERS. I HAVE NOT READ THE BOOKS, BUT THIS DISCUSSES EVENTS UP TO THE END OF SEASON 4. No matter how much I make up, there’s stuff in history that’s just as bad or worse. –George R.R. Martin All sorts of things influence writers: people they know,Continue Reading
The TV show Cosmos has managed to not offend me for several weeks, and this last episode certainly didn’t offend, it merely annoyed. In its introduction to our understanding of the stars, host Neil deGrasse Tyson discusses a variety of myths surrounding constellations, particularly about the Pleiades. Among the ancientContinue Reading
Medieval marginalia is most known for being bizarre and offensive. It frequently is, but not always, particularly in earlier manuscripts. In the mid 12th century, Peter Lombard wrote a gloss of the psalms. That is, he created pages that displayed both the text of the Book of Psalms and hisContinue Reading
First, let me be clear: wide-release movies are not meant to be documentaries. There will be deviations of history, and I’m fine with that. I will also say that I greatly enjoyed Braveheart as a movie. However, if you’re going to make a historical movie, you might want to includeContinue Reading