Another year of blogging is almost in the proverbial books and I must say that while 2016 was a wretched year socio-politically, it was professionally quite satisfying. My first book, Trade and Taboo was published and I even began writing for Forbes regularly. There is no doubt that I have much to be thankful for asContinue reading “‘Pie Zeses’: Toasting To A New Year”
Monthly Archives: December 2016
‘The Eagle Huntress’ And The Ancient History Of Falconry
Over at the Forbes blog this week, I discuss the ancient and medieval history of falconry in the Mediterranean. After seeing the new documentary film ‘The Eagle Huntress,’ about a 13-year-old girl named Aisholpan learning to become an eagle hunter with her father in Mongolia, I went back to some class notes on Greco-Roman attitudes towards theContinue reading “‘The Eagle Huntress’ And The Ancient History Of Falconry”
Numbering The Stars: Remembering the Contributions of Medieval Muslim Astronomers And Catalogers
This week over at the Forbes blog, I discuss the International Astronomical Union (IAU)‘s publication of an official catalog of 227 star names. The list was published this week in order to further standardize how we reference stars and constellations, since each one has had numerous monikers in Greek, Roman, Chinese, Arabic and many other languages over the many millenia thatContinue reading “Numbering The Stars: Remembering the Contributions of Medieval Muslim Astronomers And Catalogers”
