As part of the #tuesdaysdetabla project and the application of the “deliberate practice” concept, I bought a book titled The History of Surfing, by…
history
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28 May 1453 at dusk… Books: Byzantium | The Decline and Fall
Imagine yourself crossing the threshold of Hagia Sophia as a random tourist visiting Istanbul. You’re wearing your blue jeans, white sneakers, and a t-shirt…
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The City
"You may imagine how they gazed, all those who had never before seen Constantinople... and the splendid palaces and soaring churches – so many…
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Books: Byzantium | The Apogee | John Julius Norwich
After three decades of war, he annihilates the Bulgars and extends the dominion of the Empire from Iberia (eastern shore of the Black Sea)…
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The tragic figure of Michael IV the Paphlagonian
Then the final time arrived. He had himself carried to his own monastery of SS Cosmas and Damian, stripped off his imperial clothes and…
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Michael Psellus | ‘Basileus’ of modesty
"The Nile may water the land of the Egyptians, but it is my golden words that nourish their spirit. Ask the Persians and the…
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Books: Byzantium | The Early Centuries | John Julius Norwich
The terrified boy was clutching the altar with one hand and a fragment of the True Cross with the other. One of the agents,…
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Books: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
The Greeks thought of themselves of a more refined and superior tradition than the Romans. “The east was in the immemorial possession of arts…
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Books: The Crusades, so much devotion and so little understanding | S. Runciman
I never liked history. How was I to make sense of the humongous data dump that we were subjected to during so many years…