It existed for some 400 years, was the biggest republic in Europe, and whose political ideas, some historians believe, might have influenced Shakespeare's Hamlet. Listen to the fascinating history of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in this dedicated BBC In Our Time history podcast episode: The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Enjoy! "...the republic that emerged from the union of …
Continue reading Spreading the Word: History of the Largest Republic in Europe
The small town of Attard in Malta has a beautiful garden filled with exotic trees, old pathways, and romantic fountains. Home to proud peacocks, a few chickens, lots of pigeons, several turtles, some cats, and two swans - one black, one white - the garden belongs to a palace of the same name. The name …
Did you know there was a period in our planet's past that is sometimes referred to as the Boring Billion? Billion years of not much anything?! Have a look and listen to this deep dive into Earth's history to explore how boring that billion really was. Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sbwUeTyDb0 Keeping up the "Spreading the Word" tradition, …
A fascinating retelling of an early account of the 'weird new Christians' given in the 2nd century CE by a Roman. What a different perspective it is. Enjoy! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTilTcdVAb8&t=269s Keeping up the "Spreading the Word" tradition, every weekend, I hope to share with you an article I've read or a video I've seen and considered …
Continue reading Spreading the Word: Early Account of Christianity
It can be argued that history as an academic discipline, itself one of the oldest human and social sciences, can never provide a true reflection of events it claims to investigate. By 'true' I mean here 'objective' and by this I mean an account that is free from the influence of the personal interests of …
Continue reading Complexity Of The Science And Religion History
The first Arabic philosopher, 9th century thinker al-Kindī, said that truth and wisdom are valuable regardless of where they come from. What did he mean?
The story behind the tradition to celebrate New Year's eve on December 31st and New Year on January 1st
The tea bag has a curious story. The typical tea bag of today is an invention of the 20th century. It became popular towards the second half of the last century. Before that, all tea that was consumed in the world was loose-leaf. How very different the tea-drinking experience used to be. It required more …
One of the last pre-Socratic philosophers of Ancient Greece, Anaxagoras hailed from the Ionian city of Clazomenae but is notable for being the first one to bring philosophy to Athens. There he taught and flourished for about 30 years until the mid-5th century BCE when he went back to Ionia due to charges brought against …
Continue reading Anaxagoras on Change: Everything Contains Everything
Parmenides, in his prime in the early 5th century BCE, was a very influential pre-Socratic Greek philosopher. He was one of the leading figures of the school of thought named after his home city - Elea. According to 19th-century Scottish philosopher's Thomas Davidson's translation of the fragments available to us from the work of Parmenides, …
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