BBC's A History of the World in 100 Objects via The Leonard Lopate show

BBC is doing a 100-part series, featuring items from the British Museum, looking at a history of the world through these man-made objects.

For those of you who are unfortunate enough to not get BBC or WNYC's Leonard Lopate's show, where the show will feature a week day short for each object, I will be listening, writing up and posting up each of the 100 objects featured in this series.






To listen to the intro to the series:





The series also has a companion book




-VB

European-America's Early History - St. Augustine

I had a great long post for you, but unfortunately, the internet stopped working and deleted most of it.. Therefore, please accept my apology for a much shorter post than originally intended.

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to spend the weekend in beautiful, warm St. Augustine, Florida. St. Augustine was established in 1565 by Don Pedro Menendez de Aviles and is the oldest permanent settlement in the continental United States. This little town is packed with history and as a historian myself, I couldn't resist the toursity, historical attractions.

First up was the Castillo de San Marcos National Monument; the fort!

Arial view of Castillo (pic not mine)

 The Spanish were here a lot longer than the fort was, almost 150 years prior to the building of the fort. The Spanish had only errected wooden forts and cities, but constant invaders (other countries and pirates) continuously ransacked the area, pillaging and burning. The Spanish did not reliquish their hold on the area and in 1672, they started the building of the Castillo.

The fort, although switching hands several times, has never been defeated in battle. This is mainly due to the construction of the walls. The walls are made of coquina or limestone and tiny shells, which creates air pockets into the walls. Rather than cannonballs destroying the walls when fired upon, the walls would absorb the balls. Also, at one point, the fort was fortified with up to 74 cannons with ranges up to 3.5 miles.



Image not mine.



Old ruins not your thing? Well second up, and perhaps more interesting for some people, was St. Augutine's Ghost and Gravestones, a ghost trolley tour throughout the town. While some of you may be unbelievers (BE DOOMED [they made us shout that out at people making fun of us - VB]), the stories they told about the buildings and the deaths of people were historically true. The hauntings.. well, I will leave that up to you.

Here are some of the tales they told and some photo testimonials.

The final historical, tourist attraction I went to was the Fountain of Youth. The Fountain of Youth made popular, quite recently with the 4th Pirates of the Caribbean movie, was believed to make any person who drank the water to remain youthful forever.

I drank some of the water and I wasn't impressed. What I was impressed with was with the rest of the site. Although very touristy, the exhibits and living history attractions had a lot of information, including firearms demonstrations. This area was the older part of St. Augustine, where the old wooden forts, mentioned above were built before the Castillo. This park also focuses on the Native Americans living in the area prior and after the Spanish came. For more information on a detailed history of the area or the exhibits themselves.

-VB

Images ARE mine, mostly, well actually my Husband's.

Jesus Wars Reviewed

I finally completed the book Jesus Wars: How Four Patriarchs, Three Queens, and Two Emperors Decided What Christians Would Believe for the Next 1,500 Years by Philip Jenkins. The book examines the early history of Christianity, particularly the 4th and 5th centuries C.E. The book is very appropriately named. During these early years, there was battle after battle in Christology definitions. Not just battles of words, but actual physical violence.
The clergy was trying to determine who Christ was, or rather, what he was. Some, the earliest followers of Jesus, called Ebonites, were Jewish and believed that Jesus was a man and a prophet, not at all divine. Others believed that Jesus was born human but at his baptism he was adopted by God or that God had descended upon him and he became divine and human. Others believed he was both God and human while others believed that he was completely divine. The violence exhibited between primarily the latter two belief systems was immense, even monks fell prey to murderous tendencies. They worked diligently to destroy the opposing belief, Jews and pagans.
The people of power, found in the title of the book, were they ones who determined what all would believe and were more than willing to annihilate the others. And they did. Through the various Councils, the theories of Christ were discussed, determined and previous theories were thrown away. At one of the gatherings, the Second Council of Ephesus in 449 C.E. there was a quote that came from it, ''May those who divide Christ be divided with the sword, may they be hewn in pieces, may the be burned alive!'' Shocking, I know. So, what happened at this Council?

In 449, the leading Fathers of the Christian church met in Ephesus, in Asia Minor, to debate pressing theological issues. At a critical moment, a band of monks and soldiers took control of the meeting hall, forcing bishops to sign a blank paper on which the winning side later filled in its own favored statement. The document targeted the patriarch of Constantinople, Flavian, one of the three or four greatest clerics in the Christian world. Yelling ''Slaughter him!'' a mob of monks attacked Flavian, beating him so badly that he died a few days later. So outrageous was the intimidation that the ultimate winners in the conflict invalidated this whole council. The repudiated it as a Latrocinium--loosely, a Gangster Synod (Jenkins 1).

 The Empress Pulcheria, who ''saved Orthodoxy'', had a special affinity for the Virgin Mary and a strong hatred towards Jews, perhaps even starting Anti-Semitism in Europe. Any insult to the Virgin Mary, including stating that she did not give birth to a fully divine God, would result in violence. It is through this interest in the Virgin Mary and the crucifixion that people began to question the ''orthodox'' view of Christology, the fully divine Jesus. How could a mere woman give birth to the Creator of the world? How could He suffer through the crucifixion?
Overall, I recommend this book if you have an interest in Christian history or are Christian. If you don't have any interest in Christian history, the book may be a bit dry in some parts. It is important to have knowledge of the past, especially something of this magnitude.
To close, I want to highlight perhaps my favorite quote in the book. Tertullian the African, in 200 C.E., said ''I believe it (Jesus being fully divine/God having flesh) because it is absurd'' (Jenkins 49).

-VB

In Remembrance of Vesuvius

Today marks the 1,932 year anniversary of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. In honor of today, I want to briefly review the travelling Pompeii exhibit in New York City Discovery Times Square.

Pompeii the Exhibit: Life and Death in the Shadow of Vesuvius

The exhibit is fantastic and one of the best ones I have ever seen. A brief intro video explains Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius, excellent for those who don't know much. Next you enter into the artwork/artifact portion of the exhibit. Some of the pieces they have such as large frescoes and an entire fountain are incredible. Life in the Shadow of Vesuvius.
The coolest part of the exhibit is when they simulate the actual eruption and show you what the city most likely looked like when it happened. You then move into the body portion of the exhibit. This room is very eerie. The reason Pompeii is so incredibly important for history because it literally suspended the city in time, including the people who are captured in their last moments, huddled together or with cloth over their mouths.Death in the Shadow of Vesuvius.

(There was a real body inside there!)

All-in-all the exhibit was incredible and a once in a lifetime opportunity for all those who might never get to see Pompeii. It is only running until September 5th, so if you are in New York City, stop by and check it out. 

Pictures courtesy of the discovery times square website. 

-VL

An Introduction

Hello, all.

Like my little side bio says, I'm Valerie. I have decided to create a blog to write about one of my true loves, history. Currently I am a graduate student at Penn State University and am studying Humanities. I am hoping to pursue my PhD at some point and eventually become a professor. In order to succeed in that field, one has to write. A lot. So I will be using this blog as practice to write, explore, pursue history.

-VL