Avsnitt
-
We examine the origins of the Korean people and state – from prehistoric migrations and technological advances, through the formation of warrior confederations, the rise and fall of the Chinese colony, the tumult and intrigue of the “Three Kingdoms” era, and the arrival of Buddhism, and finally to the unification of most of Korea under the Silla kingdom.Suggested reading: Han Woo-Keun, “The History of Korea”; Michael J. Seth, “A History of Korea” & “A Brief History of Korea”; Takashi Hatada, “A History of Korea”; Ki-Baek Lee, “A New History of Korea”Map of approximate borders of Gojoseon, the first regional confederaton in Korea, ca. 200s BC, before takeover by Wiman: https://www.reddit.com/r/MapPorn/comments/rkauac/the_first_kingdom_of_korea/#lightboxMap of Korea during the Three-Kingdoms period ca. 500 AD, at the height of Koguryeo power: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Three_Kingdoms_of_Korea_Map-es.svgImage: wall mural depicting the Azure Dragon, embodying spring & the east, in a Goguryeo tombPlease sign on as a patron to hear all patron-only lectures! -- https://www.patreon.com/c/user?u=5530632
-
We journey through the different eras and incarnations of Troy as archaeologists have reconstructed them from the excavations at Hissarlik. We then explore the surviving evidence -- including linguistic theories, newly discovered tablets from the ancient Hittite capital, and the long-lost and rediscovered "Priam's Treasure" that Schliemann unearthed-- to form a picture of who the Trojans were and what sort of city they created in the Bronze Age world.Image: Gold jewels & vessels from "Priam's Treasure" as displayed at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, 1990s.Music: "Les Cyclopes," by Rameau, performed by Paul Barton & published by FeurichFurther Reading: Tolstikov & Treister, “The Gold of Troy”; Allen, “Finding the Walls of Troy”; Traill, “Schliemann of Troy”; Moorehead, “Lost and Found: the 9,000 Treasures of Troy”; McCarty, “Troy: The Myth and Reality Behind the Epic Legend”; Gainsford, Kiwi Hellenist blog, “The Trojan War #3: Bronze Age Evidence,” ; Fitton & Villing, British Museum blog, “The Search for the Lost City of Troy,” Please sign up as a patron at any level, to hear patron-only lectures, including on the Dead Sea Scrolls -- https://www.patreon.com/c/user?u=5530632
-
Saknas det avsnitt?
-
Unlocked after 1 year for patrons only -- We trace the evolution of Japanese society, including the tensions between its peaceable, Buddhist-inspired aspect and its martial aspect; its extraordinary transformation in the Meiji period, from an antiquated hermit kingdom to a dynamic modern power; and its crucial alliance with its European mirror image, Great Britain – which set the stage for its role in the First World War.Dan Carrick & Japanese singers’ performance of Gilbert & Sullivan’s 1885 adaptation of the Meiji anthem, “Miya Sama” -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOh5MIVP1bUA Japanese rendition of “Miya Sama” -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DpgzFtHuBgImage: the grand receiving room of Nijojo, KyotoSuggested further reading: Perez, “The History of Japan”; Mason & Caiger, “A History of Japan,” 2nd ed.Please sign up on Patreon at any level to hear all patron-only lectures: https://www.patreon.com/c/user?u=5530632
-
It is one of the foundational achievements of archaeology, and one of the most momentous discoveries ever made in any field --We follow the long debate over whether and where the remains of the ancient legendary city of Troy could be found, and we see how the mystery was solved by the excavations overseen by the brilliant, ruthless, and indefatigable German businessman, explorer, and serial liar, Heinrich Schliemann.Pt. 2 will examine how modern scholars and excavators have used the finds from the site in Turkey -- including the long lost priceless "Treasure of Priam" -- to reconstruct the city and its place in the Bronze-Age world.Music: "Les Cyclopes" by Jean-Philippe Rameau, played on piano by Paul Barton, and published by Feurich Piano.Image: Sophia Schliemann posing in a gold diadem, necklace, and earrings from Troy 2, dubbed "The Jewels of Helen," 1873-4.Suggested further reading: Tolstikov & Treister, “The Gold of Troy”; Allen, “Finding the Walls of Troy”; Traill, “Schliemann of Troy”; Moorehead, “Lost and Found: the 9,000 Treasures of Troy”Please sign up as a patron to hear all patron-only lectures, including the previous "Doorways in Time" on the Dead Sea Scrolls -- https://www.patreon.com/c/user?u=5530632
-
A sample from a lecture on Patreon for patrons only for one year:
We trace the strugles of Venice, through conquest, revolution, and depression, to fashion a place for itself in the modern world, to channel or keep at bay the new floods -- of rising seas, of diseased canals, and of tourist hordes -- and most of all, to somehow square the circle of preservation and modernity.
Sign up as a patron at any level to hear this lecture: https://www.patreon.com/posts/impossible-city-121039973
Image: The Palazzo dei Camerlenghi & Rialto Bridge on the Grand Canal in the flood of Nov. 4, 1966
Intro music: Giuseppe Verdi, La Traviata, overture
Closing music: Giuseppe Verdi, La Traviata, brindisi / drinking song -
We use a recent controversial murder case as a way to reconsider recent world events--such as war in Europe and the return of Trump--from the perspective of the epistemological crisis and the decline of trust in Truth, Facts, and Reality.
CHAPTERS:
0:00:20 – Intro & Disclaimers
0:11:45 – The Great Witch Hunt: overview
0:28:25 – The Great Witch Hunt: midwives & caregivers
0:45:10 – The Lucy Letby Case: narrative
1:15:55 – The Lucy Letby Case: analysis
1:44:10 – The Lucy Letby Case: reactions & aftermath
1:51:25 – Defensiveness & the epistemic house of cards
2:08:00 – The partisanization of knowledge
2:20:40 – The trials of the expert class
2:38:40 – Lessons of World War I
2:46:30 – The threat to democracy is the presidency
2:55:50 – The “economy”
2:59:10 – Conclusions: Notre Dame restored
Image: 18th-century farmhouse on eroding cliff's edge, Trimingham, Norfolk, England, April 2024.
Audio version of my 2022 article, "In the American Tempest: Democracy, Conspiracy, and Machine" -- https://soundcloud.com/historiansplaining/article-in-the-american-tempest-democracy-conspiracy-machine
Jeffrey Friedman's 2023 article, "Post-Truth and the Epistemological Crisis" -- https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08913811.2023.2221502
Please sign up as a patron to hear patron-only lectures, such as on the Epic of Gilgamesh --
https://www.patreon.com/c/user?u=5530632 -
We trace Venice's remarkable flowering between the 1300s and 1500s, in which it astonished Europe as a center of commercial and imperial power, learning, and art, as well as its repeated struggles -- with the bubonic plague, the Ottoman Turks, the rival Italian states, and the Catholic Church -- that forced Venice to give up its empire, and to transform into a pleasure-ground of music, theater, sex, and revelry -- arguably becoming the world's first tourist attraction -- before finally losing its long-treasured independence and becoming a pawn of modern powers.
Image: Painting by Canaletto, 1730s, showing the Sensa festival fleet and the Bucintoro returning to San Marco after the marriage to the sea ceremony.
Thank you to Sarai Cole for permitting use of an exceprt of her rendition of Vivaldi's "Filiae Maestae Jerusalem" / "Sileant Zephyri" -- https://soundcloud.com/sarai-cole-freericks/sileant-zephyri-from-filiae-maestae-jerusalem-vivaldi
Suggested further reading: Ferrarro, "Venice: History of the Floating City"; Madden, "Venice: A New History"; Morris, "The Venetian Empire: A Sea Voyage"
Please sign up as a patron to help keep the pod coming, and to hear patron-only lectures, including the recent series on the Epic of Gilgamesh -- https://www.patreon.com/c/user?u=5530632 -
We trace the tortuous path by which a scattering of villages in a marshy lagoon, founded by refugees from violence and political breakdown, forged their own stable and cohesive independent republic which would last for a thousand years, and with it a splendrous city where East and West mingled, a sprawling trade network linking Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, and finally a waterborne empire that was the forerunner of the modern European colonial states.Image: Detail of a woodcut illustration showing a view of Venice, by Reuwich & Schoffer, 1486.Suggested Further Reading: Morris, "The Venetian Empire: A Sea Voyage"; Madden, "Venice: A New History"; Ferrarro, "Venice: A History of the Floating City."Please sign on as a patron to hear patron-only tracks, such as the series on the Epic of Gilgamesh: https://www.patreon.com/c/user?u=5530632
-
A randomly-chosen sample from the deepest most thorough analysis that you can find anywhere of the profoundly ancient Epic of Gilgamesh, on patreon for patrons only for one year:
We examine the Epic of Gilgamesh as a piece of literature, for its strange dream-like style and form, its points of similarity to Biblical and ancient Greek and European mythology, and finally, its deep levels of psychological and political allegory, ultimately revealing the love between Enkidu and Gilgamesh as a parable of the fraught relationship between civilization and the wild.
Please sign up as a patron at any level to hear both of the patron-only lectures on Gilgamesh: https://www.patreon.com/posts/myth-of-month-24-114591189
Image: Gilgamesh grappling with Enkidu; illustration by Wael Tarabieh.
Our previous lecture on the discovery of the Library of Ashurbanipal, where the Epic of Gilgamesh was rediscovered: Historiansplaining – Unlocked-the-great-archaeological-discoveries-pt-3-the-library-of-ashurbanipal
The SOAS's recordings of scholars reading Akkadian texts: https://www.soas.ac.uk/baplar/recordings
Suggested further reading: George, "The Epic of Gilgamesh"; N.K. Sandars, "The Epic of Gilgamesh"; Heidel, "The Epic of Gilgamesh and Old Testament Parallels"; Stephen Mitchell, "Gilgamesh"; Michael Schmidt, "Gilgamesh: The Life of a Poem"; Rivkah Scharf Kluger, "The Archetypal Significance of Gilgamesh." -
Two randomly selected excerpts from Myth of the Month 24, on the Epic of Gilgamesh:
He is the earliest human being whose name and life story are known to history. We examine the origins and contents of the most ancient narrative ever found anywhere on Earth, and trace how it has been rediscovered, re-used, and re-translated in the modern world, becoming a living and evolving text in a time of anxiety over the fate of civilization.
Please sign on as a patron at any level, to hear this lecture and many others: https://www.patreon.com/posts/114062724
Image: Sumerian bas-relief sculpture of a man subduing a bull, possibly representing Gilgamesh slaying the Bull of Heaven, 2200s BC.
Our previous lecture on the discovery of the Library of Ashurbanipal, where the Epic of Gilgamesh was rediscovered: https://soundcloud.com/historiansplaining/unlocked-the-great-archaeological-discoveries-pt-3-the-library-of-ashurbanipal
Suggested further reading: George, "The Epic of Gilgamesh"; N.K. Sandars, "The Epic of Gilgamesh"; Heidel, "The Epic of Gilgamesh and Old Testament Parallels"; Stephen Mitchell, "Gilgamesh"; Michael Schmidt, "Gilgamesh: The Life of a Poem." -
Unlocked after 1 year for patrons only:
We consider the turbulent history and politics of the country most often blamed for the outbreak of the First World War -- Germany. The youngest of all the combatant nations in World War I, The German Reich's deep class, regional, and religious divides drove Kaiser Wilhelm and his inner circle to seek national aggrandizement abroad as a source of unity at home--which inadvertently led them to unite their rivals against them and dragged them into a war not of their making.
Suggested further reading: Christopher Clark, "Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia"; Mary Fulbrook, "A Concise History of Germany."
Image: Hand-Colored Photograph of Kaiser Wilhelm II in Tangier, Morocco, 1905
Please sign up at any level to help keep this podcast coming and to hear all patron-only lectures: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632 -
We examine the complex and tumultuous history of the lands around the Caribbean basin, including the rise of the massive sugar-plantation colonies of Jamaica and Saint Domingue, which depended upon an enormous traffic in enslaved African workers, the emergence of distinctive creole languages and spiritual practices, the flourishing of piracy amidst inter-imperial wars, and the long struggle of resistance by slave rebels and defiant Maroons which eventually culminated in the catacylismic upheaval known today as the Haitian Revolution.Image: Women at a linen market, Dominica, by Agostino Brunias, ca. 1780.Our previous lecture on Creating the Caribbean: https://soundcloud.com/historiansplaining/creating-the-caribbean-the-colonial-west-indies-pt-1-1496-1697Suggested further reading: Richard Dunn, "Sugar and Slaves"; Trevor Burnard, "Master, Tyranny, & Desire: Thomas Thistlewood and His Slaves"; John Sensbach, "Rebecca's Revival"; Marcus Rediker, "The Slave Ship"; Rediker & Linebaugh, "The Many-Headed Hydra"; Christopher L. Brown, "Moral Capital: Foundations of British Abolitionism."Please support to keep this podcast coming and to hear patron-only lectures including on the Dead Sea Scrolls: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632
-
We examine the tumultuous history--from the Portuguese Inquisition to the American Revolution to modern-day multi-million-dollar legal fights--surrounding a pair of rare colonial Jewish ceremonial artworks called "rimonim" or Torah finials. We consider the unique life and career of the Jewish silversmith who made them, and the symbolism that they encode, centering on life, hope, and regeneration.Please support this podcast! -- https://www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632See my latest video on “Red, White & Royal Blue” on youtube: https://youtu.be/MoaQXcLhkx4 – or without ads on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/110423206Suggested further reading: Laura Leibman, “Messianism, Secrecy, and Mysticism: A New Interpretation of Early American Jewish Life”; Guido Schoenberger, “The Ritual Silver Made By Myer Myers,” Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society, Sept. 1953.
-
Sign up as a patron at any level to hear this full lecture on the Dead Sea Scrolls, on patreon for patrons only: https://www.patreon.com/posts/doorways-in-time-109054869The most massive and momentous manuscript discovery of modern times, the Dead Sea Scrolls blew the lid off of the long-mysterious world of messianic and apocalyptic ferment before the destruction of the Second Temple—yet it took decades of conflict and struggle to bring them to public light. We trace why the scrolls became the object of a long international struggle, what they actually say, and what they reveal about the roots of the Bible, Christianity, and modern Judaism.Suggested further reading: Lim, “The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Very Short Introduction”; Collins, “The Dead Sea Scrolls: A Biography”; Shanks, ed., “Understanding the Dead Sea Scrolls: A Reader from the Biblical Archaeology Review”; Eisenman & Wise, “The Dead Sea Scrolls Uncovered”; Wise, Abegg, & Cook, eds., “The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation.”Image: The Great Isaiah Scroll from Cave 1 as displayed in the Shrine of the Book
-
To conclude our series on the origins of World War I, we trace how combat broke out on three different continents in the late summer and fall of 1914, and then examine the various real and imagined causes of the Great War, from the Anglo-German naval rivalry to French revanchism, and finally consider the deeper transformation in the idea of sovereignty in the West that gave a feud between an old empire and a new nation-state in the Balkans the power to ignite a global war.
Image: Mehmet Pasha Sokollu Bridge, Višegrad, Bosnia, with section destroyed, 1915.
Sign up as a patron at any level, in order to hear patron-only lectures on Germany, Japan, and the events of the July Crisis: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632
Recently unlocked lecture on Bosnia & the Assassination: https://www.patreon.com/posts/origins-of-first-86366245 -
We consider the rich, often mysterious, and fraught history of Bosnia -- a longtime borderland of East and West, disputed between rival empires, religions, and civilizations -- and trace how the politics of this small, mountainous Slavic country set the stage for the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand in 1914, and in turn, the outbreak of a global war.
Image: interior of the "Painted Mosque," Travnik, Bosnia
Please sign on at any level to hear patron-only lectures, including on Germany, Japan, and the July Crisis --https://www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632 -
We review the diplomatic landscape of Europe on the eve of war in the summer of 1914—and then follow the dizzying cascade of events that followed after the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914. We trace on the ensuing crisis that ricocheted through embassies, banquet halls, and barracks all across Europe, and plunged all the great powers of the continent into a war that soon spread around the world.Suggested further reading: Christopher Clark, “The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914”; Margaret MacMillan, “The War That Ended Peace: The Road to 1914”; Barbara Tuchman, “The Guns of August.”Image: Photograph of nine kings (George V of Britain seated, center; Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany standing, in red), at Windsor, for funeral of Edward VII of Britain, May, 1910.Sign up here to listen to the entire lecture, as well as lectures on Germany, Japan, and Bosnia & the Assassination: https://www.patreon.com/posts/105028218
-
Unlocked after one year on Patreon for patrons only:
What is "culture"? And how did a metaphor from gardening invade social-science discourse in 19th-century Germany and America and then take the world by storm? We consider the myriad, often contradictory, ways that "culture" is deployed in current rhetoric, usually to sneak in hidden value judgments; then we trace how an ancient Latin term for gardening came to refer to the "cultivation" of good character, then to the shaping of society by high art and refined customs, and then ultimately, under the influence of German and American imperial politics, to a purportedly unified, organic whole encompassing the sum total of all learned behaviors in a given society.
However you define it, I make the case that it is the defining myth of our time, and that we should get rid of it.
You can also play this episode on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/myth-of-month-22-82746773
Image: "Old New York" diorama, Museum of Natural History, New York
music: "Fandango," by Scarlatti or Soler, early 18th cent.; Midi version by El Gran Mago Paco Quito
Suggested further reading:
--Michael A. Elliott, "The Culture Concept: Writing and Difference in the Age of Realism"
--Hammersley, "The Concept of Culture: A History and Reappraisal." -
This is the audio track of my latest video:
"Red, White & Royal Blue: A Historian's Analysis, pt. 1: "We Really Need to Get You a Book on English History" -- The Historical Context of RW&RB"
We start our detailed analysis of the recent gay romcom, Red White & Royal Blue, by considering the expansive historical background that gives meaning to the fictitious love affair between a British prince and a son of the US President -- from the constant scrutiny of royals' bodies and love lives, to the political symbolism of royal marriages, to the reactions to homosexuality in the palace, to the awkward and paradoxical role of the American presidency and the so-called "first family," and finally to the shifting and fraught diplomatic relationship between Britain and America in the two World Wars. We conclude with a comparison between RW&RB and its post-war forerunner, "The Americanization of Emily."
See an edited version of this video on youtube (with ads) here -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAWtgmGyk-w
See this video in full without ads here --https://www.patreon.com/posts/103674430
Watch the introductory video of this series ("I know I Owe You an Explanation") here -- https://www.patreon.com/posts/red-white-royal-98784602
music: J.S. Bach, "Shafe Konnen Sicher Weiden," performed by Marco Cera. Marco Cera's youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@marcocera993 -
We examine the prophetic warnings from scholars and bureaucrats that a great-power war in the twentieth century would lead to bloody stalemate, mass destruction, and a wave of revolutions; and we trace how war strategists and generals reacted to the prophets of doom, formulating new war plans, from Russia’s blundering steamroll, to Germany’s precarious and ill-fated Schlieffen plan, to Britain's devious and mercurial scheme of economic warfare.Suggested further reading: Barbara Tuchman, “The Guns of August”; Nicholas Lambert, “Planning Armageddon”Nicholas Lambert’s discussion of Britain’s hope of economic warfare, “The Short War Assumption” -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kp7jJ-POo90&pp=ygUQbmljaG9sYXMgbGFtYmVydA%3D%3DMargaret MacMillan’s lecture on war planning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RUFHkal6Jk&pp=ygUbbWFyZ2FyZXQgbWFjbWlsbGFuIHBsYW5uaW5nImage: Cartoon of the dispute over Alsace-Lorraine as a medieval romance, Puck Magazine, 1898Please sign up as a patron to support this podcast, and hear recent posts on Germany and Japan in the lead-up to World War I -- https://www.patreon.com/user?u=5530632
- Visa fler
