constantinakatsari | Love of History

How to Get a Job in History and Why you Should NOT Work for Free

constantinakatsari November 27, 2013

I have been a historian since I remember myself and I always managed to make money out of my chosen profession/ love/ hobby/ purpose in life. I have not always been working at a University as most people would expect. In fact, I started my long history career as an assistant in a Kebap House (go figure!) at the tender age of seventeen. I have learned a lot in that Kebap House about History. I listened to the odd conversation about illegal excavations, I got interested in the gossip about the arc... »

What was more important, the Classical or the Hellenistic era?

constantinakatsari November 23, 2013

For some scholars, the Hellenistic period is considered as a period of decadence or degeneration when compared to the brilliance of the Greek Classical Era. Without a doubt, the Hellenistic times were the beginning of a new status quo. However it was closely connected to its preceded time period. The Classical period is known as the best time of the Ancient Greek antiquity, the most impressive era; being so significant itself that it cast a serious influence to all western civilization. More par... »

Alexius Comnenus’ not so radical reforms

constantinakatsari November 15, 2013

Alexius Comenus, whom I mentioned in previous blog posts, was not only interested in external danger. He also managed to reform a large part of the Byzantine society, despite the widespread opposition. Alexius initially was mainly interested in promoting his own family; therefore, he created a new hierarchy of court titles for its members. This action turned the imperial family into a new order imposed at the top of the Byzantine society. The titles distributed to his family were, of course, a... »

Alexius Comnenus, the defender of the Byzantine empire

constantinakatsari November 14, 2013

At this point in my life I am infatuated with Byzantine History. So I thought to deal for a while with one of my favourite emperors Alexius Comnenus. When the byzantine empire was thought to be at its needs, he restored it and defended it successfully again and again and again. That was a combination of political acumen and military intelligence. In the following paragraphs I describe some of the events that raised his profile in my eyes. In a previous post I described how Alexius have su... »

The latest interview of Dr. Constantina Katsari to BBC Radio Leicester

constantinakatsari November 12, 2013

My decision to leave the university of Leicester this year puzzled my friends, family, colleagues and others who followed my work closely. So, I decided to reveal my new and exciting plans on BBC Radio. Ben Jackson has been very kind to invite me on his show several months ago. Since I was going through a massive transformation in my professional as well as personal life, I decided to postpone it until this October. Finally, the interview was on air a few weeks ago and I decided to cut it down i... »

Crusaders against Christians

constantinakatsari November 4, 2013

Did you know that the Crusades against Islam actually affected also the Eastern Roman Empire? The crusaders in their quest for political power and economic supremacy did not always distinguish between muslims and christians. The results of their actions were evident in their behaviour against the emperor of Byzantium and his subjects. Alexius, the first emperor of the dynasty, was in power when the first Crusade took place. In the autumn of 1096, when the Crusaders started gathering outside the ... »

The licentiousness of the Greek colonists of Sybaris

constantinakatsari October 17, 2013

By the end of the 8th century BC the Greeks had already colonised large parts of Sicily and Southern Italy. The reason behind such an expansion was undoubtedly profit: they were probably looking for new agricultural lands, trading ports and metals. Some of these colonies became very rich as they were exporting large quantities of agricultural produce back to mainland Greece. The outcome was the breeding of a new aristocracy in the colonised cities. The new aristocrats were rich and ambitious as ... »

Herodotus, the Father of History or Blogging?

constantinakatsari October 15, 2013

Herodotus, The Father of History or Blogging? Herodotus was a Greek historian that has been acknowledged as the Father of History ever since antiquity. Of course, the title does not reflect accurately the state of historical studies at the time, since other similar historians preceded him. The fact is the Herodotus was the first write to use prose in order to describe lengthy events; The Greek-Persian Wars. He was born in Halicarnassus, modern Bodrum in Turkey, in the early 5th century BC. The c... »

Sparta: The Comic Book

constantinakatsari October 14, 2013

On October 9th, the first issue of a five-part monthly comics series set in ancient Sparta came to life. ‘Titled Three, it’s a fictional story centred on three fugitive helots set in the 360s BC. The author is the well-known UK comics author, Kieron Gillen, supported by the equally renowned comics artist Ryan Kelly and colourist Jordie Bellaire. The title purposely evokes the mythologised Sparta of Frank Miller’s and Zack Snyder’s 300; but Gillen’s aim was to counter-balance that over-glor... »

Arabs and Christians in peace

constantinakatsari August 17, 2013

I am not certain why but for the last few weeks I have been fascinated with the Arabs and their impact in European cultures. I am predominately interested in the outcome of their contact with the Byzantines in the eastern Mediterranean. Many times I wondered how did the Arabs view the Christians? It is evident in the sources that Islam respected deeply both the Arabs and the Christians. After all, the Muslims believe into the largest part of the Christian Bible, which is characterised in the Qur... »

constantinakatsari's Posts