From the Gylfaginning, or "The Tricking of Gylfi," from the Prose Edda, ca. 1220:

Margir staðir eru þar göfugligir. Sá er einn staðr þar er kallaðr er Álfheimr. Þar byggir fólk þat er Ljósálfar heita, en Døkkálfar búa niðri í jörðu, ok eru þeir ólíkir þeim sýnum ok miklu ólíkari reyndum. Ljósálfar eru fegri en sól sýnum, en Døkkálfar eru svartari ( Read more... )

The Battle of Carrhae was the Asian Thermopylae.I wonder if there are any Iranian nationalist historians who use that episode to make sweeping generalizations about Eastern and Western culture. Of course, to do such would be absurd; in doing that they'd have to ignore any counter-examples that didn't help their thesis, thus abandoning all pretense ( Read more... )

This can't wait, so I have to post it now. Different guy, this time.

Guy at Party: The majority of people in the South were not slave-owners.

Me (nodding): Of course.

Guy at Party (continuing): They were mostly middle-class ( Read more... )

Guy at party: Yeah, I liked [HBO's] Rome, but I think they should have gotten more into the persecution of the Christians.

Me (immediately): But Caesar was assassinated in 44, and Antony was defeated in 31, I think? Jesus wouldn't be born for another few decades.

Guy at party: Yeah, but...

Too much important shit to talk about. Too much bullshit going on. Too much, too much to think about, to write about. I'm stunned by the sheer amount of things that I need to express and so I'm going to reflect, meditate, and try to get some damn work done. I hope I find some rest this weekend ( Read more... )

Continuing from the last post...

I talked to a friend of mine last night; he'd gotten a chance to see the film. Unfortunately, though I trust his judgment on many things, he hadn't seen other films from which I expected much and received little. 300 could be another Alexander, another Troy, another Patriot, even. If I knew how he felt about ( Read more... )

I studied history because of a natural compulsion. It made sense and comforted me. Then, the more sense it made, the more it hurt, so I stopped. I haven't actually applied myself to a history book for some time--now they're for reference, and I don't read them for long ( Read more... )