“At one glanceI love youWith a thousand heartsLet the zealots thinkLoving is sinfulNever mindLet me burn in the hellfireOf that sin”This is just one snippet of a poem from an unusual source: Mihrî Hatun of the Ottoman Empire (1460-1515). In a place and time where most written voices were of men, the _meclis_ were intellectual
Mihri Hatun the Early Modern Ottoman Woman Poet Read More »
Yesterday, Shippensburg’s special collections librarian James Sterner gave a presentation about the history of book printing in Early Modern Europe. The university recently recieved a collection of rare books, including a 1609 copy of an English translation of Josephus’s _History of the Wars_.James Sterner used this copy to discuss the process of printing at this
Early Modern Book Printing Presentation Read More »
This is as close an approximation to a long-dead historical figure as we are likely to get: this is “Amir Timur” aka Tamerlane, one of history’s most brutal killers, who conquered much of Central Asia, modern Iran and Afghanistan during his lifetime of 68 years (d 1405). The reconstruction was done by a well-known Soviet
The Casualties of Timur (aka Tamerlane) Read More »
This is one of the coolest sources of Ancient Egyptian mythology, dealing with magical healing spells, the myth of the death and resurrection of the God Horus, and, most interesting from my perspective, the enormous power of the Goddess Isis. Dating from 380-342 BCE, the “Metternich Stela” has a hecking ton of hieroglyphs detailing magical
The Metternich Stela and Isis Read More »
“Born with a silver spoon in one’s mouth” is a common expression that means your family is rich. The origins of this saying go a long way back, and are connected to a tradition of giving silver spoons to infants getting baptized into the Christian faith. Wiktionary traces the first recorded statement to a 1721
Silver Baptismal Gift Tradition Read More »
This is a re-creation of the nomadic Seljuk Turkish dynasty’s tents, as they maybe looked in the late 11th century. The Seljuks are most well known for destroying the powerful armies of the Byzantines, inspiring their emperor to request military forces from Western Europe, and hence, kick-starting the Crusades. However, this is not the most
The Seljuk Turks and the “Plain of Testicles” Read More »
Oh, boo! Now I have to get walled off in a building surrounded by my own gold and given nothing to eat until I starve! — this might as well be the caption of the illumination here from the early 1400s, illustrating the death of the last ruler of the Abbasid Dynasty, often called the
The Death of the Last Abbasid Caliph, al-Musta Read More »
If you look for more than a second at the squiggles on this image, you will soon make out patterns of squares as well as some long lines joining them. These images made huge headlines in the fields of archaeology and history this month because of what they have revealed about an ancient civilization in
Ancient Civilization Discovered in the Ecuadorian Amazon Read More »
One of the most fascinating monsters in human cultures is the ghoul — here, you see a particularly nasty one about to be done in by the hero Shah Namah in a 10th-century Persian manuscript. The legends of ghouls extend back in time to the pre-Islamic Arabian Peninsula, but have persisted into modern times, much
The History of Ghouls Read More »
So if you’re into certain video games, Swedish metal bands, or the Young Adult fiction writer Rick Riordan, you may have heard the name “Naglfar.” Regardless, you can say you read about the most hideous ship in all of human history here. And that’s because Naglfar was a boat from Viking mythology made up entirely
Naglfar the Viking “Nail-Ship” Read More »
The effects of relentless (often religious-based) warfare in 16th-first half of 17th centuries brought horrifying new ways to suffer and die. Due to the widespread emergence of firearms and cannons, soldiers faced gunshot wounds, burns (often caused when the equipment blew up on the combatants intending to use their weapons), and loss of limbs. Although
Medical Advancements in Early Modern European Warfare Read More »
In the wake of the Protestant Reformation in Europe (c.a. 1500-1650), warfare changed dramatically. Shown by this illustration from 1535 with two men loading fieldguns (look how fancy these cannon-sized weapons are), firearms were a major feature. Cannons and handguns replaced pikes and plate-mail armored soldiers, resulting in combats that were less direct, but caused
Innovations in Early Modern Warfare Read More »
From the 1500s through the middle of the 1600s, near constant warfare beleagured Europe, taking on new horrifying expressions. This picture shows one moment where the fighting got so bad that people put aside their differences to ally themselves with one another in order to have a break from the violence — a brief episode
The Pacification of Ghent Read More »
My vote for the uttermost macabre U.S. state motto goes to Maryland. It comes from the original seal of the state dating to the early 1600s, which bears the words running across the horizontal banner below the two male figures, stating “FATTI MASCHII PAROLE FEMINE,” and we’re just gonna need a minute to process this.
Maryland’s State Motto Read More »
This painting is breathtaking — especially when you consider that an artist painted the original in about 1535 — this is a copy from the first part of the 1600s. Entitled “Vädersolstavlan,” the Swedish name translates into “The Sun-Dog Painting” and may be the first artistic rendering of this celestial phenomenon. Sun-dogs happen in the
Sun-dogs, Astrology, and Apocalyptic Thought in the Italian Renaissance Read More »
There is a very long history of apocalyptic thinking in the history of Christianity, and one particularly strident episode came in the wake of the Protestant Reformation — specifically with regards to Martin Luther, who truly believed the End Times were imminent. Interpreted through Luther’s lens of European religious trends in the early 16th century,
Martin Luther and Apocalyptic Thought in the Italian Renaissance Read More »
Giants appear in many ancient mythologies, and the Bible is no different in this way. One specific origin story for Biblical giants comes from the book of Genesis, which explains how the nephilim came about (6:1-4): “When humankind began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons
Giants and Nephalim in the Bible Read More »
Here’s the Devil from the movie _Spawn_ (1997), and he looks a lot like the demon Mavet (Canaanite Mot), who personified death in ancient Judaism. The role of demons in Jewish and Christian history changed during Biblical times. In the Ancient Mesopotamian world, the _daimons_ were originally not as evil as their eventual manifestations —
Demons in the Bible Read More »
The Luray Caverns in northern Virginia are one of the most touristed cave systems in the world, drawing about a half a million people a year. They are adorned with striking rock formations of stalagmites, stalactites, and columns, all made from white calcium carbonate, red-toned iron oxide, and grey magnesium oxide. These permeate the limestone
Luray Caverns of northern Virginia Read More »
Here is poet and painter William Blake’s “Angel of the Revelation”, illustrated between 1803-1805, and you might notice the giant, mostly naked (it was the Victoriano age) figure does not have wings. And this is because Biblical angels didn’t. (In the Abrahamic tradition, the winged Seraphim and Cherubim eventually were considered angels, but in the
Angels in the Bible Read More »
