IRIS

Fresh on the heels of the (somewhat dubious) attempt to fix the date of Odysseus’ return to Ithaca using astronomical information, comes this. Using details from Caesar’s Commentary and taking advantage of a fortuitous confluence of celestial events, scholars claim the traditional date of Caesar’s invasion of England should be slightly revised. The BBC reports:
Julius […]

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Every Monday, the LiveScience website publishes an article on a discovery, event, or character that influenced the course of history. This week’s note is “How the Eruption of Thera [modern Santorini] Changed the World”:
The world map might look differently had the Greek volcano Thera not erupted 3,500 years ago in what geologists believe was the […]

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According to a new poll, it seems Britons are busy turning their storied history into myth and legend (via AFP):
LONDON (AFP) - Britons are losing their grip on reality, according to a poll out Monday which showed that nearly a quarter think Winston Churchill was a myth while the majority reckon Sherlock Holmes was real. […]

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Herodotus and Robert Strassler’s new Landmark Herodotus took center stage yesterday on NPR’s “On Point with Tom Ashbrook” (program available in archive). No word on whether that inveterate Herodotus-hater Plutarch, author of “On the Malice of Herodotus”, was available for comment.

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