In writing that, George Santayana was, I think, right. He missed something key, though. Unlike the ancients, we are wont to think of history only as a catalogue of what not to dos, rather than also a manual for dealing well with the ambiguities and uncertainties of the age and managing historical unknowns and constraints. Ignorance of history leads the the making of mistakes we should have learned to avoid. But ignorance of history also prevents us from following models that have worked well under similar circumstances, and closes off the possibility of reflecting on what went well. History ..read more

In the ‘Poetics’, Aristotle focuses on the elements that constitute effective drama and epic poetry, building on the idea that all forms of art are imitative. This imitation, or mimesis, can occur either through direct representation, as in tragedy, where actions and emotions are directly presented through dialogue and action without a narrator, or through mediated representation, as is the case in epic poetry, which mediates the story through a speaker or a narrative voice. Aristotle’s discussion of narrative voice and perspective is seminal, and has influenced the Western canon and our ow ..read more

If you wanted knowledge in the ancient world, there were two main places to find it : with thinkers and the schools founded either by those thinkers or their disciples - oral centres of knowledge (and often, but not always, wisdom) and the books in the libraries founded by powerful rulers such as in Alexandria, Pergamum or Nineveh. If you wanted to find knowledge, ancient or more recent, in the medieval West, there were also two places one could look in, either in monastic libraries or in the libraries of cathedrals and, to a lesser extent, those of powerful European leaders (more so toward ..read more

The ancient Roman Portonaccio sarcophagus, 2nd-century AD, Museo Nazionale Romano In my previous life as an academic historian, I used to ask my undergraduate students why they chose history. Nearly always the answer was 'because I'm fascinated by [insert historical age/period/event/figure]'. If you asked me back in 2007 why I signed up for a second undergraduate degree in history, I would've given you a similar answer: because I love the medieval period. My history lecturer friends today are reporting similar views from their students. It takes love and affection for a focused area of ..read more

More than any other culture in the world, the Western tradition has been one focused on propositional clarity, certainty, fixity and on internal coherence. With very few exceptions in its history, the Western model has privileged or tended towards objective truth, univocality and a desire to grasp, capture and exploit the power of the human mind and its lordship over the natural and social environment. As Isaiah Berlin put it, according to the Western worldview, if a question cannot be answered, it is not a question worth asking. The Western mind doesn't cope well with ambiguity. And the be ..read more

A clay tablet containing a fragment of the Epic of Gilgamesh, 2003-1595 BC, Iraq, Sulaymaniyah Museum I found myself in a dark forest, having lost the right path. Climb the stone staircase, more ancient than the mind can imagine. Speak, Muse, of the clever man who roamed far and wide, after he had conquered the hallowed heights of Troy. He enters his roo… Read more ..read more

In a series of stargazing observations in the winter of 1610 using his newly designed telescope, Galileo Galilei noticed that the four bright spots around Jupiter were not fixed stars, but objects orbiting the planet. Four hundred years later, we still refer to Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto as the Galilean moons of Jupiter, the planet's largest satel… Read more ..read more

Socrates 'If I do not know what something is, how could I know what qualities it possesses?' If knowledge is acquired, then one should know what to look for. But to know what to look for would make knowing unnecessary. And not knowing what to look for would make knowing impossible. Welcome to the world of Socratic dilemmas. Welcome to Meno's paradox. Biblon… Read more ..read more

In book 6 of the Aeneid, Virgil warns the reader in these terms: '... facilis descensus Averno noctes atque dies patet atri ianua Ditis; sed revocare gradum superasque evadere ad auras, hoc opus, hic labor est...' (4.126-31) "The descent to Avernus [the Underworld] is easy; the gate of Pluto stands open night and day; but to retrace one's steps and return … Read more ..read more

Does a falling tree which nobody hears make any sound? Is an idea that everyone thinks brilliant but fails to take root worth pursuing? Biblonia is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Can history recorded in primary sources but not made available for the reading public be sa… Read more ..read more