June 2024 – Book and Sword

Two Ways of Looking at the Russo-Ukrainian War

the winding road up to a stone fortress with a bridge crossing a ditch between the camera level and the next level — The city-side entrance to fortress Hohensalzburg was designed in the 17th century, but many aspects of a 17th century siege would be familiar to a soldier in the Great War or on parts of the front in Ukraine without many drones

In Spring 2024 there were two ways of looking at the war in Ukraine. One was to emphasize that Ukraine was short of troops and artillery ammunition, that Russian forces were capturing a sunflower field here and a village there, and that US aid to Ukraine may end if the Republicans win the next US election. We don’t hear much about the small Ukrainian operations on the east bank of the Dnipro River any more so perhaps they have withdrawn those few hundred men. Ukraine can’t get enough of its young men in uniform, in part because the officials in charge of exemptions and exit permits accept bribes. In this view, Russian forces will grind down Ukrainian forces and force the Ukrainian government to sign over territory. The ground war is not going well for Ukraine. The other way was to emphasize that Ukraine continues to strike Russian naval vessels and ports, destroys Russian aircraft and air defence systems, and launched a strategic bombing campaign against Russian oil refineries. The air and naval war are going better.

Hellenistic Diplomacy

a pale mosaic with a red white brown colour scheme of the head of a bug-eyed brown-haired woman with a hat shaped like a war galley, a cloak buttoned at the shoulder, and some kind of tunic or corselet — This Ptolemaic queen of Egypt is decked in a naval crown, an anchor brooch, and a military cloak fastened at the right shoulder. One school of thought is that she is boasting about a victory at sea over one of the Seleukid kings of Asia, because their symbol was the anchor. From https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mosaic_of_Berenice_II,_Ptolemaic_Queen_and_joint_ruler_with_Ptolemy_III_of_Egypt,_Thmuis,_Egypt.jpg

Hellenistic diplomacy, like all Hellenistic rulership, was fundamentally personal: agreements and alliances were not struck between abstract states or nations, but between individuals. When a monarch died, previous agreements no longer stood, and new agreements with the next monarch had to be negotiated. The contemporary purpose of these marriage alliances at the time was to create a direct and personal link two monarchs, symbolized and meditated by marriage to a royal woman. In other words, the marriage of Stratonice I to Seleucus created a direct bond between her husband and her father that, in turn, united their two families.
Alex McAuley, “Weaving the Dynastic Web: Hellenistic Marriage Alliances,” Ancient History 49 p. 22 https://www.karwansaraypublishers.com/en-ca/products/ancient-history-magazine-49

Are 80% of Patreon Pledges Hidden?

a screenshot from the Graphtreon website with charts and statistics about total creations and pledges on Patreon — Graphtreon is awesome! Patreon is awesome! But Patreon is also another giant institution which we are are asked to trust but don’t have a way to verify

Patreon is essential for funding many types of digital creations. Patreon is not the best at processing payments or building and running websites. So a lot of us are very interested in them as a business because they offer an alternative to surveillance advertising and creating merchandise or face-to-face services to sell, but they seem kind of flimsy. Because they are a private business, we have to guess a lot. One of the things we have to guess about is whether they are a $24 million / year business or a $120 million / year business. (All sums in this post are in US dollars).

A Cornice from Pompeii

a piece of plastered and painted architectural ornament with a flower and shell motif painted in red, blue, and green — Some architectural terracotta moulding from the House of the Black Room, Pompeii c/o BBC

There are many things to talk about the excavations at the House of the Black Room in Pompeii, from the awesome Parthian Perseus to the poor bakery workers who may have been locked in their quarters to die when the volcano erupted. Onetime Bookandswordblog commentator Sophie Hay gets to work there! One thing which I like is this piece of terracotta architectural decoration with painting which is colourful but not fussily precise.

Cross-Post: Pleiades Project Training

From the pleiades-community mailing list: Free summer training sessions on using the #PleiadesGazetteer of ancient places are now open for registration at https://pleiades.stoa.org/events There are two classes, each offered three times over the course of the summer: Finding and Using: Learn how the gazetteer is organized, what it contains, and how to search and use... Continue reading: Cross-Post: Pleiades Project Training

Editing and Translation Services

Do you need a second pair of eyes on that book, paper, or project report? I have been editing business and academic writing since 2013. Aside from ancient world studies and medieval studies, I have experience creating software documentation and a background in academic computer science. Because of my time living in Austria, I have experience with the challenges of writing in a second language or a new field.

Month: June 2024