Originally posted on The Renaissance Mathematicus:
Last Sunday the eminent British historian of the twentieth century, Richard Evans, tweeted the following: Let’s remember we use Arabic numerals – 1, 2, 3 etc. Try dividing MCMLXVI by XXXIX – Sir Richard Evans (@Richard Evans36) There was no context to the tweet, a reply or whatever, so…
As I wrote about in this week’s Forbes blog post, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York yesterday announced the release of 375,000 images of artwork into the Public Domain. Those of you who follow this blog know that I talk endlessly (some might say freely!) about the merits of open content initiatives. Ergo, I … More Open Access: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Just Gave Us 375,000 More Reasons to Celebrate The Public Domain
In the Roman Catholic Church, the celebration held forty days after Christmas is the festival of Candlemas (February 2). Candlemas recognizes the presentation of Jesus in the temple and the purification of the Virgin Mary forty days after giving birth (Luke 2:22-29). This was in accordance with Jewish purity law (Lev. 12:4) which required women who … More The Itinerarium Egeriae: Mapping Egeria’s Pilgrimage On Candlemas
It has been a hectic morning attempting to read and respond to the flurry of activity surrounding my column this week over at Forbes, which argues that scholars should remove their work from the for-profit platform Academia.edu. I am neither the first nor the last academic to harangue members of the academy to take this step, … More #DeleteAcademiaEdu: The Argument For Non-Profit Repositories
It was a great trip to the combined annual meeting for the Society for Classical Studies and Archaeological Institute of America (SCS-AIA) in Toronto, but it definitely put me behind on my blogging schedule. No matter! Welcome to a new year, pious readers, and with it comes a reflection on immutable actions over at Forbes. For … More January 10, 49 BCE: Revising The Tale Of Caesar’s Crossing of the Rubicon
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 as … More ‘Pie Zeses’: Toasting To A New Year
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 the … More ‘The Eagle Huntress’ And The Ancient History Of Falconry
