December 2014 – History From Below

Drawing Lines: Torture in Roman Law (on PhDiva)

Over at the wonderful Dorothy King’s blog, PhDiva, I have written a guest blog on torture in Roman law and the early realization that it was a problematic and often ineffective tactic. Beyond that, it emphasizes the insidious nature of torture within a legal system. Find the post: HERE.

The Hand of God: Depicting Legitimacy in Late Antiquity

As virtually every ancient or medieval historian has done in their career, I will kick us off today with a scene from Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life. We cut to a general addressing a rather sparse audience: “Well, of course, warfare isn’t all fun. Right. Stop that! It’s all very well to laugh at the Military, but,Continue reading “The Hand of God: Depicting Legitimacy in Late Antiquity”