British/General Ancient-Renaissance History

[Sir Perceval of Daventry]

Besides Lady Deloria (and she is welcome to join in this thread!!) and myself, is anyone else here into British history, or history in general, spanning from Ancient Babylon and Egypt, up to the Renaissance?

If so, what are your favorite periods in history? I love the Tudor era of England and find King Henry VIII a fascinating, if wicked, man. I really want to learn more about British history myself and would love to become something of an expert of the periods from Ancient Egyptian history to the European Renaissance.

I'd love if we could use this thread to discuss history and share knowledge with each other and have historical discussions about various events, figures and places. History geeks unite! .

[Baggins]

As both an Archaeologist and Historian, I would say so... Although most of my focus is on modern periods...

[Sir Perceval of Daventry]

As both an Archaeologist and Historian, I would say so... Although most of my focus is on modern periods...

Modern periods in America, or Europe, or in general? I'm pretty keen on American history; Half my shelf is decided to works about the various Presidencies from 1900 to Clinton, as well as general histories, specific biographies, a book about Yalta...

[Blackthorne]

History is a subject that doesn't get enough credit these days.  Most schools are too concerned with Math and Science.  But I loved History - I was a History Major in College for a year.  I switched to the much more lucrative English Major and now I have all the jobs - but I still love my history.

I love pretty much any history I can read about - American (North and South American history is great), European, Mediterranean, African, Middle Eastern and The "Far East".... love it.


Bt

[KatieHal]

I switched to the much more lucrative English Major and now I have all the jobs.

Wait, there's a way to do that? How?? And why didn't anyone tell me?!

(waves her English major flag )

[Blackthorne]

I switched to the much more lucrative English Major and now I have all the jobs.

Wait, there's a way to do that? How?? And why didn't anyone tell me?!

(waves her English major flag )

Hahah!  Yes, there is!  They don't tell you because it's a big secret.   But, hey, us English Majors stick together.


Bt

[KatieHal]

We aren't talking teaching or publishing, though, right? I know about those two already, and lucrative they ain't!

[Baggins]

History is a subject that doesn't get enough credit these days.  Most schools are too concerned with Math and Science

I've heard some schools are thinking about getting rid of their history departments even!

I believe this is dangerous, If people don't learn from history, they are bound to repeat it...

[Blackthorne]

History is a subject that doesn't get enough credit these days.  Most schools are too concerned with Math and Science

I've heard some schools are thinking about getting rid of their history departments even!

I believe this is dangerous, If people don't learn from history, they are bound to repeat it...

Truer words have never been spoken.  Getting rid of history departments?  That's just idiotic.


Bt

[Big C from Cauney island]

I'm a fan of roman history.  Hence why I love assasins creed brotherhood and going through Rome.
Also, the ancient americas (Mayans, Aztecs, Inca, etc.) interest me too. I would love to go visit machu pichu.

[LadyTerra]

I'm rather fond of the anthropology side of history, and how their myths/legends affected culture.

Getting rid of history from grade school curriculum is idiotic, but I think whoever decides what is taught can do a better job at presenting the right info.  I remember having to memorize dates that turned out to be wrong, and we barely even touched any culture besides the "standard" ancient ones and the major wars.

[Fierce Deity]

History is a subject that doesn't get enough credit these days.  Most schools are too concerned with Math and Science

I've heard some schools are thinking about getting rid of their history departments even!

I believe this is dangerous, If people don't learn from history, they are bound to repeat it...

Though I agree that removing History from school is a bad decision, I feel that history repeats itself regardless. It's human nature, but that's a different subject for a different time.

I love History as well. It was the only thing that I could attach to throughout school. I never understood Chemistry or Calculus, but I always understood History. Now that I'm in college, I too am an English major, but if a History major could branch out into a successful path, I probably would have taken that route. I take the English route, cause writing has always been a passion of mine. I write anything from poems to novels, and lyrics when I'm working on music.

But yes, History, right. What exactly did you want to discuss Perceval? When it comes to European history, I am drawn to the religious persecution of the Vatican as well as the events of the Inquisition. A lot of that stems from and is drawn to a lot of conspiracy speculation, but I take it all for face value. No point in dwelling on something that can't be proven one way or another. Aside from that, I like reading on the French Revolution. It was an impressive force from the people that made a stamp on history forever. Also, the era of exploration was another grand impression on the world. Finding the western hemisphere and discovering the New World. So much to ponder. 

[Lambonius]

History eh?  I have a Master's in Art History, which I now teach (along with other art classes) for a living at the community college in my area.  My area of expertise from grad school is World War I era avant-garde art, but now that I teach survey courses, I've pretty much had to become an expert on the whole chronology of Western art history.

PS:  For the uninitiated, art history is still the study of history, we just primarily use artworks as our guides instead of reading primary source texts (though we also do that, too.) 

[Deloria]

My ex-boyfriend's art history professor insisted that the sheep on the relief of the ara pacis was actually an armadillo.

[Fierce Deity]

My ex-boyfriend's art history professor insisted that the sheep on the relief of the ara pacis was actually an armadillo.

In his defense, it is a pretty small object, and it's hard to make out any specific details from that resolution. I probably wouldn't have figured out that it was a sheep without using a zoom icon or without somebody telling me what it was. The only reason I wouldn't jump on the "armadillo" bandwagon is because there is no indication that he has a shell of any kind. Though the sheep does have a pretty narrow snout from that angle. 

[Baggins]

It kinda looks like a tapir from the poor resolution of that screenshot...

[Deloria]

It's just that armadillos aren't really native to Europe.

[Baggins]

Obviously...

Neither are tapirs...

[Lambonius]

Haha...nah, it's very obviously a sheep.  Here's a better shot (I have tons of super high res images of these types of things from my lecture powerpoints.)



It's a bit stylized, but it's typical of the way sheep were represented in Roman & Early Christian art.  Compare the sheep in the Good Shepherd mosaic from the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia in Ravenna.



(Posted on: September 11, 2011, 02:48:07 PM)

I'm happy to give further art history lessons if need be. 

[Baggins]

Yep definitley a sheep, but as someone said, its understandable that someone could mix it up, from that lower quality image above!

But obviously wouldn't be either of those animals since they didn't exist in europe! Nor would it be an ant eater or a large shrew!

In the low quality shot, the snout looks even longer, since the seed looks like they are part of the nose! You can definitely make out the seeds/feed in your high quality image!

For more clarification, I think it might be an image of a very specific type of sheep, the 'fattailed sheep', that has a similar head shape, and thick tails.



The species was originally from Persia, but it or similar breeds were spread out across europe...