#ancmedtoot — Public Fediverse posts

Rome was one of the biggest republics west of India. After a few hundred years of tyranny, its assemblyplace was reduced to a space the size of a soccer pitch hemmed in by the monuments of big men. Edit typos #ancMedToot #histodons #rome #historyOfDemocracy

Rome was one of the biggest republics west of India. After a few hundred years of tyranny, its assemblyplace was reduced to a space the size of a soccer pitch hemmed in by the monuments of big men. Edit typos #ancMedToot #histodons #rome #historyOfDemocracy

Rome was one of the biggest republics west of India. After a few hundred years of tyranny, its assemblyplace was reduced to a space the size of a soccer pitch hemmed in by the monuments of big men. Edit typos #ancMedToot #histodons #rome #historyOfDemocracy

Rome was one of the biggest republics west of India. After a few hundred years of tyranny, its assemblyplace was reduced to a space the size of a soccer pitch hemmed in by the monuments of big men. Edit typos #ancMedToot #histodons #rome #historyOfDemocracy

New post: some of my recent publications https://www.bookandsword.com/2025/06/14/some-recent-publications/ #histodons #materialCulture #militartHisttory #antiquidons #ancMedToot

Classic post: the biggest Assyriological film festival in history https://www.bookandsword.com/2018/12/02/the-biggest-assyriological-film-festival-in-history/ #histodons #ancMedToot #philology #cuneitoot

Classic post: the myth of the heavily-burdened hoplite. Ancient Greek soldiers were ultralight athletes not knights prepared to take the most powerful weapon in the world head on. https://www.bookandsword.com/2019/06/15/the-myth-of-the-heavily-burdened-hoplite/ #histodons #ancMedToot #classics #militaryHistory

New post: Babylonia and Beyond the River, or the peculiar geography of the Neo-Babylonian Empire https://www.bookandsword.com/2025/05/31/babylonia-and-across-the-river/ #achaemenidEmpire #histodons #ancMedToot

Classic post: what do Darius the Great and Julius Caesar have in common? https://www.bookandsword.com/2015/11/21/veni-vidi-vici/ #histodons #ancMedToot #philology #achaemenidEmpire #businessBabylonian

New post: how heavy were Neo-Assyrian bows? Sculptures of draw techniques give a hint https://www.bookandsword.com/2025/05/17/how-heavy-were-iron-age-bows-part-3/ #archery #histodons #cuneitoot #neoAssyrian #ancMedToot

Ancient World Magazine has another post on Cleopatra's unlucky child Caesarion https://www.ancientworldmagazine.com/articles/caesarion-son-julius-caesar-cleopatra/ #antiquidons #egyptology #hellenistic #ancMedToot

I am proud of this two-part series on the Astronomical Diary for the battle of Gaugamela which explains cubeiform and German scholarship in English https://www.bookandsword.com/2015/06/27/two-perspectives-on-the-astronomical-diary-for-gaugamela-part-1-background/ #cuneitoot #histodons #ancMedToot

Classic post: a comment on Diodorus. Diodorus Siculus was as prejudiced about foreigners as the average Euro or settler a hundred years ago, but he still knew that Phoenician cities had citizen-soldiers.

https://www.bookandsword.com/2014/02/08/417/ #antiquidons #ancMedToot #histodons

Classic post: I now have 21 examples of 120,000 as "the size a terrifying foreign army or doomed city should be" in Jewish, Greek, and Roman literature. Twelve is the number of fulfillment. https://www.bookandsword.com/2020/03/28/some-terrifying-numbers/ #histodons #ancMedToot

Classic post: what happens when the big rich temple in the next city sends a lot of armed servants and a bishop who explains that your god is just an aspect of their god so hand over the treasury? https://www.bookandsword.com/2023/09/02/w-g-lambert-on-theological-imperialism/ #histodons #ancMedToot #cuneitoot

What do you do when you are old in Babylonia and don't have a living son? Tappašar's solution https://persiababylonia.org/2018/07/05/getting-to-know-the-babylonians-tappasar-and-the-death-of-her-husband/ #cuneitoot #prosography #ancMedToot

An excellent escape from social media is Karwansaray's magazines on ancient history, medieval history, and tabletop wargames. I have written for several of them over the years.
https://www.karwansaraypublishers.com/ #histodons #archaeology #ancMedToot

Classic post: conserving the cedar of Lebanon in Neo-Assyrian and Roman times https://www.bookandsword.com/2024/11/09/do-not-cut-these-trees/ #ancMedToot #histodons #environmental_history

Classic post: the domain of Cyrus the Younger https://www.bookandsword.com/2016/09/24/the-domain-of-cyrus-the-younger/ #antiquidons #histodons #ancMedToot

More information about my one-session online course on Ancient Siege on Tuesday 4 February https://www.bookandsword.com/2025/01/16/online-course-ancient-siege/ #histodons #antiquidons #ancMedToot

A memorial volume for Matthew Trundle with lots of numismatics and military economics https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2025/2025.01.10/ #histodons #antiquidons #ancMedToot

A French life of Nebuchadnezzar (!) https://www.lisez.com/livre-grand-format/nabuchodonosor/9782262105150 #cuneitToot #ancMedToot

Alessia Pilloni has a blog post about Mesopotamian astral science and modern astrology (the kind you find in newspapers was invented in the 20th century to hold the ads apart although it has much earlier ancestors) https://blogs.fu-berlin.de/zodiacblog/2024/10/08/how-far-and-how-close-is-babylonian-horoscopy-to-us/ #cuneitoot #ancMedToot

Things I learned: Ancient Near Eastern city gates are characterized by a series of two to six gateways one behind another. But unlike in a medieval gatehouse, there is usually no sign that any except the first contained a wooden gate (gates usually turned in vertical sockets and needed stone or brick slots in the wall for a bar). https://www.academia.edu/36154657/D_P_Mielke_Hittite_Fortifications_between_Function_and_Symbolism #archaeology #cuneitoot #ancMedToot #hittite #bronzeAge

If I were teaching I would be tempted to send a student to edit Wikipedia pages like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murashu_family (this one is based on random books and articles which happen to mention the family, not the most important recent books). I gave it a quick edit but I can't afford the time to rewrite it completely. #wikipedia #cuneitoot #ancMedToot #mesopotamia

The Phoenician or Iberian shipwrecks of Mazarrón near Cartagena, Spain https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/phoenician-ships-of-mazarron #archaeology #ancMedToot #punic

This terracotta statuette from Babylon is one of very few images of a woman in the 'Elamite robe' or Faltengewand from the Achaemenid period. Photo of Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Vorderasiatisches Museum, object VA Bab 00405 by Olaf M. Teßmer CC BY-SA 4.0 https://id.smb.museum/object/2060160/bekleidete-frau-auf-einem-postament-stehend #cuneiToot #ancMedToot #materialCulture