All About History

welcome

In many parts of the world today, huge swathes of the population can still be decimated by the spread of lethal diseases and viruses. For the most part, the industrialised world has managed to stave off such pandemic events, but it wasn’t so long ago in our history that Europe and Asia would regularly be ravaged by outbreaks of typhus, yellow fever and various forms of plague. Medical science has advanced enough to keep many of these catastrophic outbreaks at bay, but how were they handled in the past? This issue we welcome Winston Black, a historian of medicine and religion in Medieval Europe, to walk us through the evolution of plague medicine, from quack cures to important medical breakthroughs. And of course we break down the truths and myths of…

editor’s picks

The Quest For Justice We speak with Wolfson History Prize-winning author Mary Fulbrook about her moving book Reckonings and finding justice for victims of the Holocaust Daughters Of The Storm Melanie Clegg joins us again to look at the many women who fought for equality in the midst of the chaos and violence of the French Revolution The Worst US Presidents Ben Gazur breaks down the careers of the presidents that American academics have consistently polled as the least worthy, the most corrupt and the most regrettable…

defining moments

PROTEST CHAIN On 23 August 1989 around two million people from across the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania formed a human chain spanning 419.7 miles as a means of peacefully protesting against the Soviet Union, of which all three were still a part. The protests began as part of the ‘Black Ribbon Day’ protests marking the 50th anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany in 1939. 1989 A MINI ICON The British Motor Corporation’s 1959 Austin Mini was a groundbreaking car in a number of respects. It achieved its small frame thanks to the engine and gearbox sitting together in less space than typical vehicles. This also meant they shared oil, which gets to the heart of the whole design philosophy by Alec Issigonis, which was…

mesopotamia’s rise

5000 BCE First cities built 5000 The Sumerians are credited with building the first known cities in Mesopotamia and by extension, the first in the world. Eridu, located in the south east of modern Iraq, is the oldest known city and was first excavated in 1855. 4000 FIRST ZIGGURATS BUILT 4000 Probably the most iconic and eye-catching remnants of the ancient Mesopotamian cultures, the ziggurat is aesthetically similar to the Egyptian pyramids that would follow it. Cursive writing invented 3500 Having moved away from pictograms for their alphabet, the act of joining up characters to speed up the writing process becomes widely used. Known as cuneiform, the tight text style is used to keep records and pass messages. 2800 Gilgamesh rises to power 2800 BCE Later to become a hero of legend, Gilgamesh becomes king of the city state of…

ziggurat

Hanging gardens One of the most famous ziggurats is probably the Temple of Babylon, otherwise known as Etemenanki, or ‘temple of the foundation of heaven and earth’. Rebuilt by Nabopolassar and Nebuchadnezzar II, its terraces are supposed to have featured exotic plants and flowers in what has become known as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. However, archaeological evidence of this is scarce. Gods, priests and kings As the place where the heavens and the Earth met, the ziggurat was important in Mesopotamian religion. While usually priests were the only ones allowed up them, their construction was ordered by kings and other secular rulers as a display of power. Ur-Nammu, for instance, built ziggurats at Ur, Eridu, Uruk and Nippur during his reign. Stairway to heaven Unlike the Egyptian pyramids that ziggurats are so often compared…

scribe

CONFORMING TO TYPE The men of Mesopotamia had long hair and beards, and the scribes were no exception. They are said to have spent much time oiling their facial hair, creating tiered patterns and decorative ringlets using tongs and curling irons. Long beards would be an indication of a higher social class – to which the scribes certainly belonged. PEN IS MIGHTIER A stylus was used by scribes to create the various cuneiform symbols on a soft, moist clay or wax surface. Predominately made from the giant reed (Arundo donax) and cut to form a tip that would allow it to make wedge shapes, its glossy waterproof exterior prevented it from sticking. ROLLING OUT MESSAGES Small round cylinder seals made from stone or metal were engraved with figurative sociological or religious scenes depicting men, animals…