Take a guess as to what this Medieval illustration is a drawing of: upside-down fallopian tubes? Sea-creatures? Mirror-image diagrams of some planetary motion? The answer is below, but before you look — ask yourself how you are arriving at your guesses. The process of investigative inquiry to figure out the nature of reality is something […]
Hasan Ibn al-Haytham and the Scientific Method Read More »
Slander against the Islamic prophet Muhammad was rife in the Medieval Christian world. The religion of Islam spread rapidly and successfully, and in the agrarian hinterlands of Western Europe, many people’s fear of Islam was matched by their ignorance of it. Many depictions of Muhammad from the 12th to the 18th centuries reflect this. Here,
Depictions of Muhammad in Medieval Europe Read More »
“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 »
A new article from the science journal _Nature_ throws another wrench in the mystery about the origins of the greatest pandemic in history, the Black Death. Here you see the Chüy Valley in modern Kyrgyzstan and one of the tombstones involved in the recent study. Dating to 1338, and written in Syriac, the stone’s translation
This cast of a Mesopotamian ruler dating from 2300-2000 BCE is a fine example of the artistic skill of some of the world’s earliest metallurgists. Usually we think of the Bronze Age, when people first started metalworking, as marked by the mixture of copper with tin — a classic combination which produced a pliable, hard,
Arsenical Copper Mask Read More »
Shippensburg University hosted a speaker event on the Israel-Palestine crisis in Gaza. Four specialists gave short presentations from their areas of expertise: Dr. Mireille Rebeiz from Dickinson College spoke about international law and human rights; the three other scholars are from Shippensburg University. Dr. David Weaver addressed the military strategy of Hamas and IDF (Israel
Discussion of the Israel-Palestine Crisis in Gaza at Shippensburg University Read More »
Slavery is a horrible human invention that has been around at least since the development of cities. And probably just as ancient were slave rebellions by those discontented with their situation, many of them ultimately failures, but nonetheless important for understanding the history of resistance to oppression. The Zanj Rebellion of 869-883 is a fascinating
“Have you thought of al-Lat and al-‘Uzza and Manat the third, the other?” . . . . “These are the exalted gharaniq, whose intercession is hoped for . . .” And these are the infamous Satanic Verses, passages in an Islamic tradition that most Muslims have rejected, but that an early source claims were lines
Ancient Islamic Goddesses Read More »
Look above the manager roof in this scene from Italian Renaissance master Giotto di Bondone’s _Adoration of the Magi_. The “star” that Giotto painted had been famous for centuries as the one featured in the Gospel of Matthew which inspired the wise men to travel to King Herod of Judea to inquire about the prophecy
Comet of Bethlehem Read More »
This painting by al-Qazwini (1203-1283) shows a monster from the Gog and Magog legend. The Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, and the Qur’an each mention Gog and Magog as either monstrous people or wild places. Their stories evolved, but usually referred to a threatening, beastly pseudo-human group that threatened a righteous (usually Godly) and civilized
Gog and Magog Legend Painting Read More »
Here is a teeny hat for a hawk to wear during a hunting expedition. Dating to about 1700 CE, it was made for somebody’s pet “bāz”, or falcon/hawk in Persia/modern Iran. The cover here is made of velvet and silver thread, but that’s not the only reason we know it was meant for this bāz
These are the ruins of Hattusa, a capital city of the ancient Hittite Empire (1650-1200 BCE) located in modern Turkey. This week, archaeologists revealed that they had discovered a language that no one had even known existed. In our modern world, where languages are rapidly disappearing (linguists say that if things proceed at current levels,
Discovery of an Ancient Language among the Hittites in the Land of Kalasma Read More »
Magical incantation bowl written in Jewish Aramaic. Bowls like these were designed as protective magic against demons.
Jewish Magical Incantation Bowl Read More »
This is the earliest fragment of the Gospel of Mark. It was found on a famous ancient Egyptian garbage dump that was discovered early last century, but this bit was only identified recently. Date: 150-250 CE
Earliest Fragment of Gospel of Mark Read More »
This is the Marduk Gate of the ancient city of Babylon, one of the world’s oldest urban settlements and now a UNESCO heritage site. King Nebuchadnezzar II built this gate about 575 BCE. Whatever beauty it contains now, where it lies in lonely ruins some 85 km south of Baghdad, is nothing compared to the
Poem about Ancient Babylon Discovered and the Marduk-Gate Read More »
A reconstruction of the Jerusalem palace of King Herod the Great (d. 4 BCE). Only ruins remain, but the opulance and decor of the palace/fortress meant to many contemporary Jews that Herod was a Roman accomodationist. This had many Jewish groups – the Pharisees, the Essenes, and the Zealots, for example, upset.
Jerusalem Palace of King Herod The Great Read More »
This is Plympton 322, and this mathematical tablet written in cuneiform has been studied a lot to work out how much the Babylonians understood trigonometry. I love how much we still can learn and study about the history of math!
This is the Ishtar Gate to the entrance of the city of Babylon, dating to the 6th century. The lion was important to the Goddess Ishtar, who was worshipped as one of the main deities of Mesopotamia.
Ishtar Gate Entrance Read More »
The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s writeup of this 12th-c painting of a camel found on the walls of the monastery Church of San Baudelio de Berlanga in Spain somewhat charitably declares that the painter “could have been inspired by an actual camel”. After all, there is the single hump of the dromedary camel, and this
Camels in the Bible Read More »
This is a tablet from Ancient Mesopotamia dating to 1800 BCE. It is a hymn to Ninsaki, the goddess of beer. It is also a beer recipe. Some scholars think that beer might have been invented even before bread – whether this is true or not, beer was super important (calories, socialization, nutrients, safer than
Hymn to Ninsaki Tablet Read More »
