Herodotus: Book V
Herodotus give his account of the resentments of Miletus against the Persians and the story of the Ionian Revolt, which is the beginning of open warfare between the Greeks and Persians
Category: Fleming
Disperandum
How many times have you read a movement Conservative’s explanation of political correctness and critical theory as the products of Marxism?
Herodotus, Book IV
The Fourth book is largely taken up with Herodotus’ intriguing account of the Scythians and with Darius’ ill-advised expedition against these strange people. The Scyths were a people of Iranian stock, probably very similar to the Medes and Persians before they entered the Middle East and found themselves subjected to the constraints of civilization. They were nomadic horsemen, fearless warriors, and hard to govern. While Darius claims one reason or another for holding a grudge, it would seem that Herodotus regards the expedition as an instance of megalomania.
Saving the Remnant, Part V
A podcast with Stephen Heiner and Thomas Fleming on the Fall of the Western Empire, the Gothic Kingdom of Italy, and the enduring legacy of the Roman Empire.
From Abraham to Napoleon: 4000 Years of Ethnic Conflict, Part I
This seems a good time to republish revised version of an essay from the book Peace in the Promised Land, published in 2005. I am by no means an expert on most of the periods discussed, but I have tried to grapple with the sources and with modern scholarship.
Herodotus, Book I
What is important to note in this first bit of history is his willingness to give different accounts and explanations and to allow readers to make up their own minds. It is not that he does not have opinions that he freely expresses, and he certainly, by an artful narrative style, leads us in one direction or another, but the final judgment is left up to the reader. Would we had such a writer to day.
Take Five News: Short Takes on The Descent Into Savagery
State mandates on COVID, Biden’s take-over of the Supreme Court, Thug shootings, What to do when civilizations collapse,
Debunking American History, Part IV: The Second American Revolution
The United States were in origin a confederation of American republics, ruled for the most part by their own constitutions and laws and whose member states were bound in a contract of union with very strict limits. Between 1776 and 1860, the complex and republican system was devolving–by a sort of political entropy–into a simpler system that concentrated more and more power at the top.
