Fans, friends, and followers of Herodotus — any thoughts about my college student repeatedly mentioning “Native Americans” in their assignment about Histories III.99? Passage pictured here for reference.
Shahrouz, PhD
@parchmentwizard.bsky.social
Professor | PhD, Yale History | Specialist in the Middle Ages + World History | Manuscript collector | Taking each day 24 hours at a time.
Ancient parchments, covered in ancient disease DNA! Researchers led by @ucddublin.bsky.social's @gingerhowley.bsky.social recover the genes of a deadly animal pathogen from medieval manuscripts. @science.org
Ancient sheep virus found hiding in medieval parchment
Newly recovered sheeppox sequences reveal when and how the virus emerged
science.org
Year after year, semester after semester, before me cometh a fresh flock of students, wide-eyed, hungry, hopeful for what college may offer them, and, LO, they receive through me the sublime revelation that AD does not, in fact, mean After Death. And through this I will cure the earth. Amen.
What do I do if one of my college students told me today that she remembers seeing her parents watch Game of Thrones when she was a little kid? It’s fine if I’m getting older, but other people aren’t supposed to get so much younger.
This line in Nolan’s Odyssey movie is sooo funny: “Why are we leaving? If this is the end of the Bronze Age, shouldn't we stay and fight for it?” “Hey fellas, are we wrapping up the prehistoric era yet?” “Omg I think we’re entering Late Antiquity now.” “Mom, I’m being deployed to WWI tomorrow.”
Look, Mom! They’re making comics about medievalists! #medievalsky
Shahrouz, PhD@parchmentwizard.bsky.social · 2y agoIn honor of Marc Bloch’s entry into the Panthéon, some encouraging words from The Historian’s Craft, which he wrote nearly 80 years ago while fighting with the French Resistance, just months before the Nazis captured and later executed him. #medievalsky
Archaeologists uncovered a medieval notebook from a latrine in the city of Paderborn, W-Germany. The 700 to 800 year old notebook consists of wooden tablets coated in wax and is enclosed within a leather binding decorated with embossed lily motifs 📷LWL/ S. Brentführer www.lwl.org/pressemittei...
Napoleon famously embraced the *brand new* smallpox vaccine (Edward Jenner had developed the vaccine only a few years before Napoleon first rose to power) and tried to mobilize widespread vaccination for both the citizenry and his troops.
bobby@bobbylewis.blacksky.app · 6mo agoit’s so funny that the drunk tv host in charge of the military is like “real warriors don’t need vaccines” when all the greatest generals in history would have done anything for a jab that kept their armies safe from disease
Looking for help. I'm having trouble with the word in the image. "Per se p...am presentem et sequentem." The ending is "am," following "ecclesiam" in the next line, but I can't piece together something sensible from the rest. "Per se patrimoniam"? The lower stroke in "a" is missing elsewhere.
This letter, addressed to a spice merchant in Montpellier, is dated to the 1250s and written mostly in medieval Occitan. The most compelling part to me is that it's written on paper rather than parchment. Remarkably early example of paper in this region, especially among merchants! #medievalsky
New semester, same tricks. Except I'm adding more banned phrases. (Yes, the worst political climate for me to be banning speech, but an informal poll of me and me alone revealed that phrases like "since the dawn of time" are heinous.) #medievalsky
Shahrouz, PhD@parchmentwizard.bsky.social · 2y agoI've finally done it. The instructions for the papers in my undergraduate history courses explicitly prohibit the use of the phrase "throughout human history." But will it be enough? #medievalsky
Students of history will see the parallels between Reza Pahlavi and Napoleon III. Pahlavi might be far less connected, less capable, and less canny than any Bonaparte, but his claim that he'll "step forward" to "lead this transition" via referendum echoes 1848/1852, down to the royalist backsliding.
Have a friend, relative, or anonymous internet adversary complaining about the “historical accuracy” of the costumes in Nolan’s upcoming Odyssey film? Let ‘em see how medieval artists depicted ancient subjects—including Homeric stories! This 14th-c. portrayal of the Trojan war will melt their brains
Have a friend, relative, or anonymous internet adversary complaining about the “historical accuracy” of the costumes in Nolan’s upcoming Odyssey film? Let ‘em see how medieval artists depicted ancient subjects—including Homeric stories! This 14th-c. portrayal of the Trojan war will melt their brains
In my third decade of life, I realized that referring to Superman and his love interest by their first names results in Lois and Clark. Intentional or not, this fact has been on my mind without interruption for about 36 hours and counting.
The teachers "mistakenly taught their students about the wrong Roman ruler — Augustus Caesar instead of his predecessor, Julius Caesar." Were the teachers not suspicious of the fact that their Caesar managed to live into old age and died in a much less perforated state? apnews.com/article/aust...
Studying the wrong ancient Roman ruler gets Australian high school seniors out of a history exam
Teachers at nine high schools in northeastern Australia discovered days before an ancient history exam that they had mistakenly taught their students about the wrong Roman ruler — Augustus Caesar inst...
apnews.com
I should be grading, which of course means I have exhausted every possible route on the internet to learn about arrowheads made from meteorites, including the Mörigen Arrowhead, found in Estonia and thought to have been made from one of the Kaali meteorites nearly 3,000 years ago.
Averroes, Commentary on Aristotle's Metaphysics: fragment from a MS of the Latin translation by Michael Scot (Copenhagen, KB, Fragm. 1091) www5.kb.dk/manus/vmanus...
I would like to share my recent discovery that a McDonald's Big Mac combo is not a wise choice as the very first meal after a stomach bug.
Reviving this quote from the historian Marc Bloch, killed in 1944 while resisting the Nazis in France. #medievalsky "I think our country sinks beneath the yoke. It weeps, it bleeds, and each new day a gash Is added to her wounds." (Macbeth, 4.3.45-47)
Shahrouz, PhD@parchmentwizard.bsky.social · 2y agoIn honor of Marc Bloch’s entry into the Panthéon, some encouraging words from The Historian’s Craft, which he wrote nearly 80 years ago while fighting with the French Resistance, just months before the Nazis captured and later executed him. #medievalsky
Game Informer is back! The entire team is returning and we can't wait to reconnect. Come join us to celebrate the best in games, the people who make games, and the people who play games from all around the world. www.gameinformer.com/letter-from-...
I teach a History of Medicine course and insist, following @monicamedhist.bsky.social, that my students distinguish correctly between "Trota" and "Trotula." A French pop media article came up on my feed with a reminder that her erasure endures. #medievalsky www.radiofrance.fr/francecultur...
Les femmes et la médecine au Moyen Âge : le cas de Trotula de Salerne
Que sait-on de Trotula de Salerne, pionnière de la gynécologie et de l'obstétrique au Moyen Âge ? A-t-elle été victime de ce qu'on appelle aujourd'hui l'effet Matilda ? Pourquoi cette figure encore my...
radiofrance.fr
Is the Early Modern period a black hole of history? As a medievalist, I am frequently exhilarated and dismayed by how often I encounter something seemingly important but totally unknown to me when venturing past my curfew of 1499.
I'm amazed by the efforts of the staff at The Getty Villa @gettymuseum.bsky.social to protect the museum during the Palisades Fire. youtu.be/dbt4p7xMfk8?...
Getty Villa employees recount how they raced to save the museum from the Palisades Fire
YouTube video by ABC7
youtu.be
I've finally done it. The instructions for the papers in my undergraduate history courses explicitly prohibit the use of the phrase "throughout human history." But will it be enough? #medievalsky
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