Category Archives: history

Early Ottoman Constantinople: Assassin’s Creed’s Hippodrome

Posted on July 22, 2012 by Lucas

I’ve played a bit more since the last post and now I’ve travelled around most of Assassin’s Creed Revelations‘ Constantinople, although much of it superficially. When I finished the last post I was headed towards the Hippodrome, and not long … Continue reading →

Posted in Byzantium, history, Turkey | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Early Ottoman Constantinople: Preliminary Thoughts on the ‘Assassin’s Creed Revelations’ Rendition

Posted on July 17, 2012 by Lucas

After Assassin’s Creed II I had no interest in ever picking up another Assassin’s Creed game ever again. Florence and Venice were beautiful, but the gameplay was tiresome and repetitive, and the sci-fi plot is a major irritant to what … Continue reading →

Posted in Byzantium, history, Turkey | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

A brief and silly post about smelly Franks

Posted on June 20, 2012 by Lucas

I just stumbled onto this little gem today during lunch at work in Notker the Stammerer’s Life of Charlemagne, and I figured that the world (which is comprised of the three people who read this blog) needed to see. Without … Continue reading →

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The Basileus in Byzantium

Posted on June 19, 2012 by Lucas

In the reign of Herakleios (r. 610-641) the Roman emperor took for the first time the Greek title of βασιλεύς (basileus). This has been regarded by many as one of the potential dates for the foundation of Byzantium and the … Continue reading →

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The Church of the Holy Apostles

Posted on June 12, 2012 by Lucas

Visitors to Istanbul today cannot miss Justinian’s enormous Hagia Sophia. What most are likely unaware of is that while the Hagia Sophia was always the main church in Byzantine Constantinople, another church which has disappeared today consistently served as the … Continue reading →

Posted in Byzantium, history, Turkey | 6 Comments

Graphing History

Posted on May 10, 2012 by Lucas

Applying quantitative analysis to history is fraught with hazards, but attempting to do so for the ancient and mediaeval periods is frequently impossible due to the nature of the source material that we have. Whenever I see historical material charted … Continue reading →

Posted in Christianity, history | Tagged , | 7 Comments

History and Religion

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Lucas

First off, some context. This was written against several individuals who stated that religion causes horrible things. While I agree that religion has caused atrocities, to squarely blame such things entirely on the religion is a mistake. To set out … Continue reading →

Posted in Christianity, history | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Considering the Dark Ages

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Lucas

I saw this post earlier this morning and rather than merely respond (in agreement) I figured it warranted a post of its own. The study of the ‘Dark Ages’ have been subject to all sorts of abuse. (It is necessary … Continue reading →

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Some quick notes on the crusades

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Lucas

Here are some summarized forum responses I made on the subject of the crusades that I feel are worthy of putting up in a blog post. What I’m responding to has been edited to clarify the issue being discussed and … Continue reading →

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Thoughts and thinking on graduate study at Oxford

Posted on January 30, 2012 by Lucas

Having been at the University of Calgary for four and a half years now, I am nearly done my degree. Hopefully it will all be good at the end of the term and they’ll let me graduate. Although I have … Continue reading →

Posted in Byzantium, history | Tagged | 5 Comments