What do Vladimir Klitschko, Inspector Gadget, friend and ally of He-Man, Mekaneck, the Kayan people of Myanmar and the fourth century Roman emperor Constans I all have in common? They have all been seen to have an extremely long neck. In the process of attempting (unsuccessfully) to collect coins of every Roman emperor... https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1614865888783241.1073741841.1451452015124630&type=1&l=1857b58065 ... I have come across some peculiar i

When ancient historians think about a problematic or ever-changing plan for the Roman imperial succession, they inevitably think of that of Augustus and that mess involving Agrippa, Marcellus, Gaius and Lucius Caesar, Tiberius, Julia, Livia and others... But another emperor to rule over 30 years may have undertaken more succession plans and have all of them superseded in some way, either by himself or by others – Constantine I. Constantine I It is probably fair to say that

Despite the potential polluting of an individual’s faith, it is clear that Christians served in the Roman army.[1] However, it is very difficult to gauge their numbers due to the lack of soldiers’ epitaphs from the first three centuries CE containing any indication of their Christianity.[2] Such a lack of epigraphical evidence could suggest that many Christians did not join the army.[3] However, it may instead highlight a lack of Christians across the Empire as a whole[4] or

The fate of the Ark of the Covenant, that gold covered wooden chest that held the Tablets of Law upon which God delivered the Ten Commandments to Moses on Mount Sinai, is one of the great mysteries of the ancient world. Kept in the Holy of Holies of Solomon's Temple, the Ark seems to disappear from the Biblical record in connection with the Babylonian capture of Jerusalem in 587BC - either taken away to Babylon by the forces of Nebuchadnezzar II… “And they took all the holy

Episode 62: Did the Peace of Callias actually exist? https://mncvgk.podbean.com/e/a-soldier-and-a-scholar-62-the-peace-of-nicias-maybe/ A (hopefully) fun and accessible portal into Ancient History, with some academic and 'real world' insights. WARNING While it does not appear throughout, some episodes feature some stronger language than others.

The fourth and fifth centuries were a period of considerable change for the Roman Empire but perhaps the most important and long-lasting change came in the realm of religion. In the year 300, Diocletian and his fellow tetrarchs presided over a staunchly polytheistic Empire and had no reason to presume that that would change any time soon. However, within twenty-five years, the Christianising Constantine was sole Augustus and by the end of the century, Theodosius was promoting

In the face of repeated rebellion at the centre of his empire, Maximinus Thrax emerged from his winter quarters in Sirmium and marched on Italy, aiming to deal with the rebellious Senate and its dual usurpers, Pupienus and Balbinus. Crossing into northern Italy with no opposition, Maximinus thought it would be a simple task to reach Rome; however, he soon received word that the largest city in the area, Aquileia, had shut its gates to the Pannonian legions he had sent on ah

Episode 61 - After years of success, were with the failure of Inaros, the death of Cimon and the check in Boeotia the beginning of things going badly for Athens and her 'allies'...? https://mncvgk.podbean.com/e/a-soldier-and-a-scholar-62-athens-goes-pear-shaped/ A (hopefully) fun and accessible portal into Ancient History, with some academic and 'real world' insights. WARNING While it does not appear throughout, some episodes feature some stronger language than others.

Not really sure why, but over the course of writing my first book, I added what I thought were interesting/appropriate quotations to the beginning of my chapters, before then also adding a couple at the beginning of the book itself… It started off as an almost entirely academic pursuit, as seen in the quotations used in ‘Book I’, but as can be seen below, there is now an undercurrent of ‘how many “subject appropriate” quotations can I get from different or even silly places”…

Whether it be Marie Curie dying due to cancer caused by her radioactive discoveries, William Bullock succumbing to crush injuries caused by his own rotary printing press or most recently Stockton Rush perishing in the implosion of his unregulated submersible, people throughout history have fallen victim of their own creations, even if those creations were not intended as being weapons of death. Being hoist by one's own petard was a prevalent enough idea that it could birth

In 452, the year after his massive invasion of Gaul culminated in the seemingly inconclusive Battle of Catalunian Fields, Attila the Hun invaded Italy. This strategic choice says nothing conclusive about the result of Catalunian Fields or the success of the Eastern Roman Empire’s dealing with Hunnic raids into the Balkans, even if the Chronicle of 452 suggests that Attila targeted Italy to avenge his ‘defeat’ in Gaul the previous year. The Hunnic invasion of Italy is usuall

Episode 60 - Part 2 of the look at the cultural milieu of Golden Age Athens under Pericles. https://mncvgk.podbean.com/e/a-soldier-and-a-scholar-the-golden-age-of-pericles-pt-2/ A (hopefully) fun and accessible portal into Ancient History, with some academic and 'real world' insights. WARNING While it does not appear throughout, some episodes feature some stronger language than others.

The Gothic sack of Rome in 410 was undoubtedly a traumatic event for those involved and a major psychological blow to the Empire as a whole, but it was lacking in long-term effects. In comparison, the Constantinopolitan takeover of Gainas, along with the rebellion of Tribigild, was more prolonged and could be said to have had more identifiable consequences for the Eastern Roman Empire beyond the symbolic. Indeed, the powerplays of both Tribigild and Gainas were simultaneously

What do the following men all have in common? Superstar Billy Graham Ted Arcidi Tony Atlas Mark Henry Bill Kazmaier Brock Lesnar The Yeti Bruno Sammartino George Hackenschmidt Aside from all being professional wrestlers, they also all used the bearhug as a ‘finishing’ move at some point in their careers.* And yet, while the lattermost of that list – George Hackenschmidt – is usually credited with creating the professional wrestling version of the bearhug, the hold itsel

Episode 59 - With its wide political hegemony and booming economic income, Athens brings about an artistic and cultural flourishing considered a Golden Age https://mncvgk.podbean.com/e/a-soldier-and-a-scholar-59-the-golden-age-of-pericles/ A (hopefully) fun and accessible portal into Ancient History, with some academic and 'real world' insights. WARNING While it does not appear throughout, some episodes feature some stronger language than others.

Just for St Valentine's Day, let's look at an ancient iteration of the more modern phenomenon that is "bae." While seemingly an acronym for "before anyone else" which has somehow morphed into an adjective/noun, the Romans managed to get there first... During the late third/early fourth century, several of the Tetrarchs issued coins... DIOCLETIANVS BAE AVG Diocletian A.D. 284-305 DN DIOCLETIANO BAE ATIS Diocletian A.D. 284-305 DN DIOCLETIANO BAE ATISS Diocletian A.D. 284-305

It seems then that there was some potential background to the accusation that Gainas and Tribigild were in cahoots. And even if Gainas was not directly involved in aiding and abetting Tribigild as a plot against Eutropius (who they both disliked, with Tribigild supposedly having been rejected in a petition he put to Eutropius – Claudian, In Eutr. II.176ff., 320-321), his actions in the field do appear somewhat suspect or at least counter-productive. Gainas was appointed joint

By 519, the Acacian Schism between the Roman and Eastern churches had raged for 35 years. This was the latest falling out over the nature of Jesus Christ - was he fully human, fully divine, both, neither?, which was as much to do with imperial attempts to reconcile the opposing factions. Specifically in this case, it was the imperial promulgation and backing of the Henotikon , a compromise that inevitably satisfied no one, and met with decisive rejection from the papacy. An

Episode 58 - Athens is at her height... but is it all downhill from here? https://mncvgk.podbean.com/e/a-soldier-and-a-scholar-58-the-mountaintop/ A (hopefully) fun and accessible portal into Ancient History, with some academic and 'real world' insights. WARNING While it does not appear throughout, some episodes feature some stronger language than others.

Odysseus: We now set out on our odyssey. Crewman: [raising hand] what's an ‘odyssey’? Odysseus: A long journey named after the only survivor. Crewman: Oh ok… wait… what?!? An amusing joke for a classicist, which assumes knowledge of the ‘fact’ that Odysseus was the only survivor of his ill-fated attempt to return home to Ithaca after the Trojan War. However, in the course of the second great journey to a homeland after the Fall of Troy recounted in the Aeneid , we fin