This bit is a good bit. Once upon a time Proteus, the king of Egypt who dealt with Helen of Troy, passed away and the kingdom fell to his successor Remphis. Remphis had a problem. He had too much money! … Continue reading →
Generally when I’m talking about stuff I liked it’s with the goal of bringing novelty to the attention of you, the imagined Sometimes I Write Things reader. Given that as far as I can tell, the actual readership of this … Continue reading →
Herodotus, first of all, credits the Egyptians with a tremendous amount of intelligence, cunning, and invention. They’re the oldest civilization, he says, and also the smartest. To defend this assertion he lists off a number of items the Egyptians invented, … Continue reading →
Have you read “the Case of Charles Dexter Ward,” by H.P. Lovecraft? Are you sure? I ask because, listen, I do a podcast called Appendix N. It’s me and another guy with my name (which he spells Geoff) talking about … Continue reading →
EUTERPE is Herodotus’s book-length guide to Egypt. Rather than continue on with the main narrative of the Persian Wars, he instead spends the entire volume discussing the history, geography, and culture of one country. We won’t learn about what happened … Continue reading →
Once upon a time I had a favorite computer game magazine. This was in 1993 or so, before there was an internet to speak of, and we had to go to newsstands for our game-reviews-as-rewritten-press-releases and breathless interviews with … Continue reading →
What follows are some of the digressions from the main narrative that Herodotus explored in this section, packaged separately for your convenience. # SOME OF THE CITY-STATES HARPAGOS SACKED! The Carians! These guys invented putting crests on helmets! Also shields … Continue reading →
At the moment I’m about a third of the way through Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks, and I’ve been watching Orphan Black on Amazon streaming, and in the one case I haven’t finished it yet and in the other I don’t … Continue reading →
While Harpagos rampaged through Ionia and environs, Cyrus conquered most of the rest of the Middle East. He triumphantly rolled over of most of modern-day Armenia, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, excepting those portions that he’d already controlled; this period … Continue reading →
I mentioned, last week, that my imagined audience for “I Liked It: A Series of Blog Posts” is basically my sister if she had a little more time on her hands, not a whole lot, just a little. However this It … Continue reading →
