A look at history and popular culture
This week we're taking a bit of a detour to critique some video-game armor, in this case the armor of Baldur's Gate III. I have been meaning to do a general critique of the Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition armor system from a historical perspective for a while, and the massive outsized success of BG3 … Continue reading Collections: The Gap in the Armor of Baldur’s Gate and 5e
This week, Michael Taylor, Associate Professor of History at SUNY Albany, returns to offer an interesting argument about the longterm impact of the M1 Garand, the US army's extremely successful World War II and Korean era battle rifle, introduced in 1936. A fantastically successful design, Taylor argues here that it cast a baleful shadow over … Continue reading Michael Taylor on The Development of the M1 Garand and its Implications
Fireside this week! Depending on the order that things get written, we may have a few weeks of 'break' from our How to Roman Republic series, but do not fret: we will finish it. The one thing I am looking to 'slot in' as it were is a look at the armor of Baldur's Gate … Continue reading Fireside Friday, September 1, 2023
This is the third section of the third part of our our planned five part series (I, II, IIIa, IIIb) on the structure of the Roman Republic during the third and second centuries, the ‘Middle’ Republic.' Last time we looked at the top of the Roman political career in the republic, the offices that carried … Continue reading Collections: How to Roman Republic 101, Part IIIc: Ten Tribunes, Two Censors and Twenty-Six Guys
This is the second section of the third part of our planned five part series (I, II, IIIa) on the structure of the Roman Republic during the third and second centuries, the 'Middle' Republic. Last week we discussed the overall structure of the 'career path' for a Roman politician and the first few offices along … Continue reading Collections: How to Roman Republic 101, Part IIIb: Imperium
This is the third of our planned five part series (I, II) on the structure of the Roman Republic during the third and second centuries. Last time we discussed Rome's popular assemblies, which at least notionally expressed the will of the people. One of the key tasks those assemblies had, we noted, was the election … Continue reading Collections: How to Roman Republic 101, Part IIIa: Starting Down the Path of Honors
Hey all, Fireside this week, as I look to take a bit of time to focus on getting some writing done and some syllabi written before the semester begins in earnest later this week. Also before we dive in I want to note that it appears that Patreon has been having some trouble processing some … Continue reading Fireside Friday, August 4, 2023
This is the second of our planned five-part look (I) at the nature and structure of the Roman Republic, particularly the governing institutions of the Middle Republic, the period of the republic's height from c. 287-100 BC. Last time we discussed the component parts and nature of the res publica as a whole. This week, … Continue reading Collections: How to Roman Republic 101, Part II: Romans, Assemble!
This is the first of a planned five-part series looking at the structure of the Roman Republic as another example of civic governance structures in antiquity, to match our series on the Greek polis. As with that series, we're going to start by defining our community and its constituent parts in this part, before moving … Continue reading Collections: How to Roman Republic 101, Part I: SPQR
Fireside this week! Next week we're going to launch into our next big series on the structure of the Roman Republic, a companion to How to Polis, 101, but because of what is going on with the book project (a topic on which Patrons get monthly updates!) I wanted a lighter week before we dived … Continue reading Fireside Friday, July 14, 2023