What the Barista is Brewing Today
Grab some espresso and dive in for some brewmination
Thinking Outside the Boxing Ring: How a Tattoo Helped Identify a Boxer
The 1950s were a popular time for boxing as a number of extraordinary fighters came on the scene during the time. It’s a quick moment of action frozen in time. Joey Maxim, World Light Heavyweight Champion, is being knocked to the side, his face contorted from a powerful blow. His opponent, fists raised, can only[…]
Almost as Good as Presley: Caruso the Pop Idol
When he died in 1921 the singer Enrico Caruso left behind him approximately 290 commercially released recordings, and a significant mark upon on the opera world including more than 800 appearances at the New York Met. This explores Caruso’s popular appeal and how he straddled the divide between ‘pop’ and ‘classical’. This article, Almost as[…]
Sulla’s Civil Wars in Ancient Rome
Civil wars in which Lucius Cornelius Sulla, a Roman statesman and general, attempted to take control of the Roman Republic. Background The Roman general and longtime consul Gaius Marius had gained great prominence during the 2nd century BC, particularly as a result of his campaign against the rebelling African king Jugurtha.[1] The campaign was successful,[…]
The Collapse of the Ancient Hellenistic Seleucid Empire
The Romans and Parthians used internal dissent and succession problems within the Seleucid royal house to bring it down. Introduction For most of the third and second centuries BC, the Seleucid Empire was the greatest of Alexander the Great’s Hellenistic successor states. Stretching from boundary of Persia to the Mediterranean Sea, and at times including[…]
A Brief History of CBD and Its Possible Future
The history of cannabis is relatively long, as humans have used the plant for at least 12,000 years. It seems likely that most ancient cultures used marijuana as a medicine rather than as an intoxicant. A study published in Science Advances in June 2019 wrote that cannabis plants were burned in wooden braziers in the[…]
How CBD Became So Popular: CBD Through History
It may seem as though CBD has sprung up from nowhere, but this isn’t the case. CBD actually has a very long and complicated history. For a while, it remained relatively underground in the black-market environment of cannabis. However, it has now resurfaced in the mainstream and had a $4.6 billion market in 2018. Here[…]
American Scenes of Everyday Life, 1840–1910
Examining how representations of American life changed in art over the course of 70 years. Between the eve of the American Revolution and World War I, a group of modest British colonies became states; the frontier pushed westward to span the continent; a rural and agricultural society became urban and industrial; and the United States—reunified[…]
The Real Birth of the American Republic
This week, nearly 225 years ago, the lofty ideals of the Constitution passed their first test. By Joseph Stromberg The dawn of American democracy didn’t come in 1776, with the Declaration of Independence. It didn’t come in 1788, when the Constitution was ratified by the states, or in 1789, when George Washington took office. According[…]
Daily Life and Commercial Activities in Ancient Roman Macedonia
Examining the guilds and professional associations driving ancient commerce in Hellenistic Roman Macedon. Establishment of a New Political Reality In 168-167 BC, we have the dissolution of the Macedonian kingdom by the Romans and a new political reality in the region. Aemilius Paullus, the victor of Pydna, gathered the representatives of Macedonian poleis and ethne[…]
Baking Bread in Ancient Egypt
A few experimental archaeologists are reclaiming recipes from ancient societies. By Keridwen Cornelius Around 2000 B.C., a baker in the ancient Egyptian city of Thebes captured yeast from the air and kneaded it into a triangle of dough. The baked bread was then buried in a dedication ceremony beneath the temple of Pharaoh Mentuhotep II[…]
History of Online Gambling Regulation
The first time that online gambling was made available to the public was when Liechtenstein’s International Lottery tickets went on sale on the web in 1994. As internet usage and online gambling began to increase, it soon became obvious that gambling on the web would have to become regulated in a similar way to land-based[…]
Lyndon Baines Johnson: A Presidency of Social Unrest
LBJ presided over a society in unrest while battling to have an impact on civil rights and programs for the underprivileged. The ‘Great Society’ Texan Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ) took the oath of office on the plane carrying John F. Kennedy’s body from Dallas to Washington, D.C. on November 22, 1963. Johnson’s presidency began in[…]
John F. Kennedy: A Presidency of Frontiers
Throughout his presidency, Kennedy continued to give the public a clear understanding of his priorities. The New Frontier of Politics Compared to the relative quiet of Eisenhower’s presidency in the 1950s, the 1960s were rife with political activity. President Eisenhower left the White House after serving for eight years, opening the door for a vibrant[…]
Homo Sapiens May Have Saved Early Neanderthals from Extinction
Early Neanderthals likely benefited from an ingression of H. sapiens Y chromosomes some-time between 370,000 and 100,000 years ago. An international team led by Martin Petr and Janet Kelso of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, has succeeded in sequencing the Y chromosomes of two Denisovans and three Neanderthals. The surprising[…]
How Ancient Microbial Life Used Arsenic to Thrive in a World without Oxygen
Scientists discovered a living microbial mat that uses arsenic instead of oxygen for photosynthesis and respiration. Introduction Billions of years ago, life on Earth was mostly just large slimy mats of microbes living in shallow water. Sometimes, these microbial communities made carbonate minerals that over many years cemented together to become layered limestone rocks called[…]
Religious Responses to Satire since Ancient Greece
Condemnation of satirists has often taken the form of censorship, public humiliation, imprisonment, and even death. Satire as Criticism Indeed, condemnation of satirists has more commonly taken the form of censorship, public humiliation and imprisonment. Aristophanes, who wrote satiric plays 2,400 years ago, was condemned during his lifetime for his depictions of citizens of Athens.[…]
A Brief History of ‘Sacred Violence’ since the Ancient World
From ancient world to the crusades of the medieval period to today, people have sought ways to ‘sanctify’ harmful actions. Introduction Along with their swastikas borrowed from Nazi Germany, white supremacists marching in the U.S. and elsewhere have in recent years displayed crosses embellished with the Latin phrase “Deus Vult” – “God wills it.” Taken[…]
Ancient Greek Classics on Grief and the Importance of Mourning the Dead
Memories of the past were an important guide to the future. This is in part why the funeral oration became so important in Athenian life. Introduction As a scholar of classical studies, I tend to look to the past to help understand the present. Ancient literature, especially ancient Greek epics, explore what it means to[…]
Ancient Egyptian Mortuary Rituals
When someone died in ancient Egypt the funeral was a public event which allowed the living to mourn and the deceased to move on. Introduction Ever since European archaeologists began excavating in Egypt in the 18th and 19th centuries CE, the ancient culture has been largely associated with death. Even into the mid-20th century CE[…]
The Power of Branding, a Look at Several Industries
In the business world, branding has almost become a “buzzword” that gets tossed around inside board rooms. With social media being as prevalent as it is, companies are more conscious than ever about the image they send out. Branding comes down to the inspiration behind your business, and the story or image you cultivate around it.[…]
A History of Gambling in the United States
A look at gambling and gaming since the colonial period. Colonial Gambling Games of chance came to the British-American colonies with the first settlers.[1] Attitudes toward gambling varied greatly from community to community, but there were no large-scale restrictions on the practice at the time. By the 1680s, an emerging upper class in Virginia cemented[…]
Londinium, the Proud City: A History of Rebuilding London since Late Antiquity
The resulting texture of the metropolis has a diversity of buildings unlike any other. In 1942, at the height of the Second World War, the British government published a plan for the destruction and rebuilding of whatever of London was left standing after German bombing. The ambition compared with Albert Speer’s ‘Germania’ proposal for a new[…]
An Overview of the City of Rome from Its Origins to the Archaic Period
Legends aside, Rome’s earliest beginnings are humble and relatively ordinary. The Eternal City Rome is often described as the “eternal city,” conveying the idea that it lives (and has lived) forever, perhaps even suggesting a sort of unchanging immortality. However, even those things that are iconically eternal have a beginning. The humble beginnings of Rome[…]
Tomb Robbing in Ancient Egypt
By the time of the New Kingdom of Egypt the problem was so severe that Amenhotep I ordered the construction of the Valley of the Kings. Introduction The tombs of the great kings and nobles of Egypt were built to safeguard the corpse and possessions of the deceased for eternity and yet, while many have[…]
The Rise of the State in Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egyptian culture began long before there was an Egyptian state. Introduction Ancient Egypt is known for many things that immediately come to mind: pyramids, large temples, and the life-giving Nile River are the three most apparent, and of course, there are hundreds of other features that made the early civilization among the most important[…]
Humfrey Wanley, Library-Keeper of the Harleian Library in 1705
He continued to expand the Harleian Library with thousands of manuscripts. One of the many gems of the British Library is the Harleian collection, founded by Robert Harley, Lord High Treasurer and 1st Earl of Oxford, and his son, Edward (1689–1741), 2nd Earl of Oxford. It’s the largest intact 18th-century manuscript collection in the world,[…]
Medieval Bookbindings: From Precious Gems to Sealskin
These deluxe bindings are known as treasure bindings, because of their lavish and high-quality materials and craftsmanship. We tend to focus on the inside of the Library’s collection items, on their varied texts and remarkable illustrations. But the physical outside of a manuscript can be just as intriguing. Most medieval and early modern manuscripts no[…]
Magna Mater: The Cult of Cybele in Ancient Rome
Originally, the Cybelean cult was brought to Rome during the time of the Second Punic War (218 -201 BCE). Introduction History verifies the importance of religion not only on a society’s development but also on its survival; in this respect the Romans were no different than other ancient civilizations. During the formative years of the[…]
The Cult of Athena in Ancient Greece
In Athens, the cult of Athena Polias was the most important religious faction. Much like the Vestal Virgins of Rome, the priestesses of Greek religion enjoyed a great many perks that other Greek women did not. In exchange for the commitment to their religious and civic responsibilities, they were often paid, given property, and most[…]
History of Education in Society during the Second World War
The Second World War was one of the most cataclysmic events humanity has ever experienced, wreaking havoc and destruction across the world. So far reaching across the globe were the effects of the war that it comes as no surprise that many history courses will dedicate a large amount of the curriculum to understanding the[…]
