Wow, between your sexy avatar and a history degree, you’re awesome. Any favorite books you’d like to share?
:o Thanks!
History books or just regular books?
Hm. History books here, regular books over in the book selection forums.
I am a big fan of early American history, nineteenth century American political history, and the independence movements in Latin America.
Lately I’ve been looking to learn more about the history of the Ottoman empire (I want to take a trip to Turkey in a year or two) and have been reading things piecemeal as I find them. Anyone have good suggestions for that topic?
Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert K. Massie
The Discoverers by Daniel J. Boorstin
And although it’s fiction - Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet
As I mentioned earlier, I’m currently reading about the French and Indian War in the context of the Seven Year’s War and yes, early/colonial American history is a fascinating part of world history, it’s usually dealt with from the perspectives of outsiders, say, the British merchantmen under Elizabeth I who sought to establish trading outposts/military bases in the New World, but more recent approaches focus much more on what the Colonials’ own agenda and their point of view was.
I’m also interested in Indian history and the Indians’ relationship to the verious East India Companies that came there from Europe.
Lately I’ve been looking to learn more about the history of the Ottoman empire (I want to take a trip to Turkey in a year or two) and have been reading things piecemeal as I find them. Anyone have good suggestions for that topic?
Hm, amazon shows some good-looking works that cover the entire Ottoman Empire, but I have to admit I’ve never read any specific book about Turkey. The Ottoman Empire was always the complete underdog at the very fringe of the European world. Well, at least after the Middle Ages.
Oh, but this reminds me of great story. In a class about ruler cults in the ancient world, I had to give a talk about what happened to the dead body of Alexander the Great and during the research I discovered a story that could be straight from an Indiana Jones movie.
After Alexander’s death, warring factions inside the Greek/Macedonian Empire struggled for possession of the body, which was embalmed in honey like a peanut and was being carried back to Greece in a beautiful litter, when one of the pretenders to the throne snatched the body from the train and brought it to Memphis and later on to Alexandria. The sarcophagus in which the body was buried is supposed to be in the British Museum in London, but any record of where the body itself has gone breaks off after the Turks invaded Egypt in the 7th century. And that’s where the good part starts. During the Middle Ages and up to the 19th century, various adventurers and hobby archeologists went on mystical quests to find the body of Alexander the Great in Alexandria and a guy from the Greek embassy claimed in the 1800s to have laid eyes upon the mummy in a cellar deep under the streets of Alexandria and there were all kinds of conspiracy stories about secret orders that keep any knowledge about the whereabouts of the body from the public. It was really very Indy-esque.
Anyway, if you’re interested in the ancient history of Turkey, the book “Persian Fire” by Tom Holland, the man who brought us “Rubicon” is certainly worth a look.
Oh yeah, Massie is great, in fact, I’m gonna start reading his “Castles of Steel”, the sequel to “Dreadnought” this weekend or next week.
That sounds awesome. I love mystical quests undertaken in real life! But “embalmed in honey like a peanut…” as in, the body covered in honey then resembled a peanut? Or there is some delicious snack out there that involves injecting honey into a shelled peanut and then later eating it? Apparently I need to read up on ancient embalming techniques.
The peanut thing was a joke the professor came up with, I admit it was a lame to joke to begin with and it loses something in the translation, the gist is that yes, they actually used honey to embalm the body:
From Wiki on honey: Ancient Egyptian and Middle-Eastern peoples also used honey for embalming the dead.
And well, so, the prof thought of these peanuts that you can buy that are coated with honey and salt … it was a lame joke.
Love history i’m going to school in september and thats what my major will be…
Just wanted to make a quick recommendation for anyone who is interested in the American Revolution time period—check out A Narrative Of A Revolutionary Soldier: Some Of The Adventures, Dangers, And Sufferings Of Joseph Plumb Martin. Written, obviously, by Joseph Plumb Martin.
Anyhoo, after reading countless books on this time period that were written from both American and British perspectives, I noticed they more or less used the same primary sources. Martin’s book was one such source, and it is a fascinating look at this time period. It doesn’t go into too much detail of the battles, but it reveals what life was like as a continental soldier during this time. The interesting thing about Martin was that he was in the war from the very beginning to the very end. He started off as militia, and then joined the regulars, and by Yorktown, he had become a sapper. The second thing about his book was that you would expect it to be very dry, since it’s coming from the 1700s, but there is some subtle humor in the book, and I actually laughed out loud at some parts.
Worth checking out in my opinion.
Yes, the story is that Alexander was somehow preserved in in honey. There is nothing more concrete than that. They don’t know the technique used, they have not seen any culture use honey in this fashion. There is a LOT of speculation & disagreement on the validity of these stories. Given the number of these stories I think at least part of them is likely.
They would kind of carry him around as a symbol of power as well as a relgious symbol, almost like people use crucifxes today.
I wonder if it was actually beeswax. There might be a translation issue there.
I’m certain it’s honey. Could be a different kind of honey, could be they added stuff to the honey, but it really says honey.
Yes, GR is right, they say honey. Keep in mind most of these texts are in Greek which we have a pretty vast knowledge of. I’t unlikely a translation issue.