A Collection of Unmitigated Pedantry
A look at history and popular culture
This is the third part of our four-part series (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, Intermission, IVa, IVb) discussing the debates surrounding ancient Greek hoplites and the formation in which they (mostly?) fought, the phalanx. Last week, we looked at how the equipment which defined the hoplite - hoplite (ὁπλίτης), after all, means 'equipped man') - and … Continue reading Collections: Hoplite Wars, Part IIIa: An Archaic Phalanx?
This is the second part of what looks like it'll be end up as a four part series (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, Intermission, IVa, IVb) discussing the debates surrounding ancient Greek hoplites, the heavy infantry of the Archaic (800-480) and Classical (480-323) periods. Last week, we outlined the contours of the debate: the major points … Continue reading Collections: Hoplite Wars, Part II: Hoplite Equipment, Hoplight or Hopheavy?
This is the fifth and final part of our series (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, IVa, IVb, IVc, IVd,IVe, V) looking at the structures of life for pre-modern peasant farmers and showing how historical modeling can help us explore the experiences of people who rarely leave much evidence of their day-to-day personal lives. I've been stressing … Continue reading Collections: Life, Work, Death and the Peasant, Part V: Life In Cycles
This is the fifth dish of the fourth course of our series (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, IVa, IVb, IVc, IVd,IVe, V) looking at the lives of pre-modern peasant farmers, who made up a majority of all of the humans who have ever lived. We are trying to grapple here with what has thus been the … Continue reading Collections: Life, Work, Death and the Peasant, Part IVe: The No-Rest Of It
This is the fourth thread of the fourth part of our series (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, IVa, IVb, IVc, IVd,IVe, V) looking at the lives of pre-modern peasant farmers, who make up a majority of all of the humans who have ever lived. We're thus probing here was has been, in effect, the modal human … Continue reading Collections: Life, Work, Death and the Peasant, Part IVd: Spinning Plates
This is the third piece of the fourth part of our series (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, IVa, IVb, IVc, IVd,IVe, V) looking at the lives of pre-modern peasant farmers – a majority of all of the humans who have ever lived. Last time, we started looking at the subsistence of peasant agriculture by considering the … Continue reading Collections: Life, Work, Death and the Peasant, Part IVc: Rent and Extraction
This is the continuation - the first of several - of the fourth part of our series (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, IVa, IVb, IVc, IVd,IVe, V) looking at the lives of pre-modern peasant farmers - a majority of all of the humans who have ever lived. Last time we discussed the survival requirements (in food … Continue reading Collections: Life, Work, Death and the Peasant, Part IVb: Working Days
This is the start of the fourth part of our series (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, IVa, IVb, IVc, IVd,IVe, V) discussing the structures of life for pre-modern peasants, who made up the majority of all humans who have ever lived. In the last few sections, we've looked broadly at how mortality, marriage and childbearing patterns … Continue reading Collections: Life, Work, Death and the Peasant, Part IVa: Subsistence and a Little More
Hey folks, Fireside this week! The new semester is starting up next week, so things may be a little more fireside-y than usual over the next few weeks, but I do promise we will get to the end of "Life, Work, Death and the Peasant" eventually. That said, since I am teaching Latin rather than … Continue reading Fireside Friday, August 15, 2025 (On Latin Pronunciation)
This is the back half of the third part of our series (I, II, IIIa, IIIb, IVa, IVb, IVc, IVd,IVe, V) discussing the patterns of life for the pre-modern peasants who made up the great majority of humans who lived in the past. Last week, we started looking at family formation through the lens of … Continue reading Collections: Life, Work, Death and the Peasant, Part IIIb: Children and Childrearing