Archives / 2013 / April

ORBIS. Space in the Roman World

ORBIS. Space in the Roman World

constantinakatsari April 6, 2013

You may want to read the latest updates on ORBIS, The Stanford Geospatial Network Model of the Roman World. According to the official website: “Spanning one-ninth of the earth’s circumference across three continents, the Roman Empire ruled one quarter of humanity through complex networks of political power, military domination and economic exchange. These extensive connections were sustained by premodern transportation and communication technologies that relied on energy generated by... »

‘I Hate (Love) Wikipedia’

‘I Hate (Love) Wikipedia’

constantinakatsari April 6, 2013

Most academics I know are quick to condemn the value of wikipedia as a concept as well as content. When a new batch of undergraduates arrive at the university for the first time, professors are eager to warn them against the evils of the online encyclopaedia. They usually mention how unreliable are the entries, how impossible it is to identify the writer behind them, how the text does not engage in current debates. How justified are such comments? I will not present you here with statistics or t... »

Viking nuggets of poetry

Viking nuggets of poetry

constantinakatsari April 5, 2013

This is a topic I know very little about but I find terribly fascinating. As a Roman historian I find myself in the ‘superior’ position to judge other cultures and to find them inferior. With regard to the Viking culture, until recently I thought that it was a primitive sort of civilisation, based on a militarised society that was solely interested in war, plunder, rapes etc. At least, this is the image I got from 1950s and 1960s movies! Imagine my surprise when I noticed the following announcem... »

Who wrote Shakespeare’s plays?

Who wrote Shakespeare’s plays?

constantinakatsari April 4, 2013

The debate on the authorship of Shakespeare’s works has been raging for several centuries. Scholars are not closer to agreeing on any one and there is a strong possibility that there will be no conclusion in the near future. English professors took central stage in this debate… until now. An astrophysicist entered the race, hoping that he will come up with a solution through the rigorous application of statistical analysis. Peter Sturrock, a Stanford University professor, in his latest boo... »

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