History

Entrepreneurial Skills for Students in the Humanities

constantinakatsari June 2, 2016

When you move across academic circles, you notice a general discontent about the state of Higher Education. The complaints are shot from all quarters. The professors are lamenting the good old age when they had time for research. The lecturers are complaining about the burden of becoming jacks of all trades. The administrators feel like they are second class citizens in a university that still nurtures medieval hierarchies. And they all complain about the students who exhibit a newly acquired cu... »

The Arabic Invasion of Europe

constantinakatsari July 13, 2013

Arab influence on European culture was undoubtedly important and long lasting. The Byzantines were the first people that came in direct contact with the Arabic civilisation. On 14 September 628 the byzantine emperor Heraclius returned to Constantinople victorious after his military clashes with the Persian neighbours. He brought with him the True Cross of Christ that, until then, remained in Jerusalem. The Cross had a powerful meaning for the people of Constantinople. It signified the fact that ... »

Economic Reality and Greek Culture

constantinakatsari June 3, 2013

You all know how modern Greece became bankrupt, how its population lives under extreme economic conditions, how the government is trying to pay off the debts (though, not that successfully). The IMF process demanded that the entire economy deflated, that the salaries and the prices were reduced, so that Greece became competitive again. Competitive in what, though? Since the euro entered our lives, most Greeks have been living on borrowed money and time. They neither created products nor offered ... »

Sade’s Queer Theory

constantinakatsari April 11, 2013

I have always been a fan of Sade, as I thought he was way too advanced for his time. Consequently, he paid the price! So, when I saw on H-Net list the advertisement of a new book on him, I thought I should share the news with you. It may be a little bit expensive to buy but I will be there when the library gets it. William F. Edmiston, Sade: Queer Theorist, Voltaire Foundation, SVEC 2013:03, ISBN 978-0-7294-1064-9, x+244 pages, £60 / €80 / $105. “Following an overview of queer theory, Will... »

‘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... »

Realencyclopaedie online

constantinakatsari December 1, 2012

“Since 2007, a handful of volunteers is working on the task of reproducing the Pauly-Wissowa’s ‘Realencyclopaedie’ in the internet [2]. This project is hosted on Wikisource, a sister project of Wikipedia. Of course, Wikisource only features RE articles that are out of copyright, which means (in Europe) the author must be dead for more than 70 years. Now this project has reached a milestone: 10,000 articles, nearly all of them proof-read and interlinked. Also, the voluntee... »

Redundancies at the Foundation of the Hellenic World

constantinakatsari February 2, 2012

Something is rotten in the State of Greece. This time the stench comes from the Foundation of the Hellenic World, which used to promote research on Greek civilisation outside the strict borders of the modern Greek state. This private Foundation (though heavily subsidised by the government) reached its peak a decade ago, when I received my postdoctoral fellowship from them. They funded my research on the Economy of Roman Asia Minor under the guidance of Prof. Stephen Mitchell at the University of... »

Ancient History Competition 48

constantinakatsari July 14, 2011

Which Byzantine emperor became a widower three times in a span of three and a half years? »

The Syrian closed currency system in the Roman empire

constantinakatsari June 22, 2011

“Most researchers believe that Egypt was the only closed currency system in the Roman world, e.g. a system in which the fluctuation of currency is restricted due to strict governmental control. In actual fact, there is another well developed closed currency system in the east, the provinces of wider Syria. The local silver coinage, the tetradrachm, was used exclusively in the markets of the Syrian cities. Their complete absence from excavations in neighbouring Asia Minor and Cyprus is prom... »

Institute of Historical Research Postgraduate Courses

constantinakatsari September 17, 2010

Each year the IHR, University of London runs a wide-ranging and extensive programme of training in skills for historical researchers from universities throughout the UK. Using a range of teaching approaches (workshops, seminars, lectures, hands-on practicals and visits), important and specialised skills are explained and explored by expert practitioners. Courses are short (from one day to one term), cover the whole range of necessary skills – from archival use and languages to databases an... »