Claude Debussy (1862-1918) was a French composer most famous for his piano and orchestral music. Works like Clare de Lune have become piano standards while La Mer, with its unusual use of instruments and impressionistic use of waves of sounds instead of melodies, broke the mould of convention and ushered in the innovative music of modernism in the 20th century.
Juneteenth is an annual event celebrating the end of chattel slavery in the United States in commemorating the issuance of General Order No. 3 (which included the line "all slaves are free") in Galveston, Texas on 19 June 1865. In 2021, Juneteenth was declared a federal holiday and is also celebrated outside of the United States. There are many other myths surrounding Juneteenth, as with any historical event, but these do not in any way diminish the significance of 19 June 1865 or the celebration that commemorates that day. Juneteenth celebrations began in Texas in January 1866 under the name "Freedom Day" and then "Jubilee Day" referencing the Year of Jubilee from the Bible when, every seven years, slaves would be freed, but these were informal gatherings, not recognized by the state. 19 June 1865 was ruled as the date ending slavery in the state by the Texas Supreme Court in October 1868. This ruling was necessary because those who had purchased slaves or rented them from others and had not paid in full refused to pay any more as they no longer had use of those slaves. LEARN MORE --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8z3YlvOQkqQ
The Saxon Wars (772-804) were a series of conflicts between the Franks under Charlemagne, who sought to conquer Saxony and convert the populace to Christianity, and the Saxons who resisted. The conflict lasted over 30 years through 18 campaigns and cost thousands of lives before Charlemagne's victory in 804 and Saxon conversion/assimilation into the general population.
Jessie Hewitt’s Institutionalizing Gender: Madness, the Family, and Psychiatric Power in Nineteenth-Century France ties together themes of French society, psychiatry, the family, and gender analysis into one seminal text. Hewitt works to answer several questions in this book, including how the asylum influenced bourgeois gender during the 19th century, how madness influenced gender norms, and the role of gender in the origins of psychiatry, as impacted by the discipline’s founders, Philippe Pinel and Jean-Etineene Dominique Esquirol. The author's intervention in history is not a bottom-up process as she argues, despite being partially from the patient’s perspective, but it rather allows mental patients to engage in conversations about insanity as “active and necessary participants."
The Saxons were a Germanic people of the region north of the Elbe River stretching from Holstein (in modern-day Germany) to the North Sea. The Saxons who migrated to Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries CE along with the Angles, Frisians, and Jutes came to be known as Anglo-Saxons to differentiate them from those on the continent.
Pliny the Younger (61-112 CE) was the nephew of Pliny the Elder (23-79 CE), the author of the 37-volume Natural History. He had a remarkable political career, gained a reputation as an excellent lawyer and orator, but he is most famous for his writings. Although only one of his orations, the Panegyricus Traiani survives, his letters, the Epistulae, cover a wide range of subjects and provide insight into the everyday life and concerns of the contemporary elite. Among the most notable are his account of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and his correspondence with Emperor Trajan (r. 98-117 CE) regarding Christians.
The Battle of Civitate was fought in southeastern Italy on 18 June 1053 between a papal army of Pope Leo IX (r. 1049-1054) and an outnumbered force of Norman knights seeking recognition of their conquests and titles. The Normans were victorious, and 37 years after their arrival, the Norman conquest of Southern Italy could begin in earnest.
Ancient Roman culture affected vast numbers of people across the known world of its time, beginning with the rise of the Roman Republic (509-27 BCE) and throughout the duration of the Roman Empire (27 BCE - c. 476 CE in the West and 1453 CE in the East). The Roman Empire at its height (c. 122 CE) extended from Italy to Britain down to Greece and North Africa to Egypt, the Levant, Asia Minor, and Mesopotamia into Central Asia. Roman civilization, language, and customs influenced the lives of the people in all these regions and continues to resonate in the present day through its various legacies. LEARN MORE --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=icGWztf5W0Q
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) was a Russian composer most famous for his symphonies, the ballets Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker, and the operas Eugene Onegin and The Queen of Spades. A composer of innovative and uniquely Russian music with a high sense of melody, Tchaikovsky's work remains among the most popular of any of the great composers.
The Van Buren Sisters vs. The Pants Police, by J. F. Fox, illustrated by Anna Kwan, is an informative, entertaining, and historically accurate children’s book that is sure to be a hit with history afficionados but also engaging for anyone, regardless of their interest in past events. The book tells the story of Augusta and Adeline Van Buren, relatives of Martin Van Buren (8th President of the United States), who traveled across the country from Brooklyn, New York to San Francisco, California in 1916 to prove that women could serve in the U.S. military as dispatch riders.
The Year of the Four Emperors, 69 CE
A map illustrating the fluctuation of powers in the Roman Empire during 69 CE (also known as The Year of the Four Emperors,) a turbulent period in Roman history that involved the rapid succession of Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian as emperors riding on personal ambition, political instability, power struggles, and military conflicts.
Image by Simeon Netchev
Pelops was a Greek hero and king of Pisa in Greek mythology. As the son of Tantalus, he was a member of the cursed House of Atreus, and was cruelly sacrificed by his father in a twisted way to test the gods – an act that backfired and led to Tantalus' eternal punishment.
From its infancy, Roman literature borrowed heavily from the Greeks. However, they were able to shake the shackles and create a vibrant literature of their own; poetry, prose, and history. The Roman authors influenced countless others in the decades and centuries that followed – Dante, Shakespeare, Milton, and many more. One cannot enter either a library or bookstore without seeing Roman poetry and prose on the bookshelves; Cicero, Tacitus, Suetonius, as well as Virgil and Horace. Western literature owes a debt of gratitude to the Romans for what they have given the world. The Roman Empire and its predecessor the Roman Republic produced an abundance of celebrated literature; poetry, comedies, dramas, histories, and philosophical tracts; the Romans avoided tragedies. Much of it survives to this day. However, Roman Literature cannot stand alone. They owe a debt to their neighbor, the Greeks (more specifically Athens). Most educated Romans were well aware of their own literary inferiority, and because of this Roman writers could easily copy Greek classical themes, even going so far as to translate many of the notable Greek works into Latin. However, to many Romans, this exercise would have been needless, for a number of highly educated citizens could speak and read both Greek and Latin. Many young, upper-class Romans even continued their education in Athens. Although the link to Greek Hellenism would remain for years to come, the Romans would soon develop a rich literature of their own. LEARN MORE --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMSv5iR5wmo
The ancient Mesopotamians pioneered many strategies, tactics and policies in warfare that would be used for thousands of years to come, some of which continue to this day. The Akkadian Empire was the first to build a standing army and the Assyrians perfected siege warfare.
Ancient Mesopotamia, located in the Fertile Crescent between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, witnessed the emergence of cities and empires primarily due to the vital role of agriculture. The rich alluvial soil and access to water sources allowed the Mesopotamians to develop sophisticated agriculture and by irrigation systems, which produced the food surplus required for the growth of cities.
The French Consulate was the government of the First French Republic from 10 November 1799 to 18 May 1804, spanning the last four years of the Republic's existence. Headed by Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) as First Consul, the Consulate served as a bridge between the French Revolution (1789-1799) and the First French Empire (1804-1814; 1815).
Napoleon vs. The Bunnies, by J.F. Fox and illustrated by Anna Kwan, is an absolute delight. The book is intended for young readers and addresses a little-known event in the life of Napoleon Bonaparte: the time he was frightened by an enormous band of rabbits.
Hecate (Hekate) is a goddess of Greek mythology capable of both good and evil. She was associated with witchcraft, magic, the Moon, doorways, and creatures of the night like hell-hounds and ghosts. Hecate often carries a torch in her connection with the night. She has three faces for her role as the goddess of boundaries and the guardian of crossroads.
Etowah Mounds (also known as Etowah Indian Mounds) is a National Historic Landmark and archaeological site near Cartersville, Georgia, USA, enclosing the ruins of a prehistoric Native American city whose original name is unknown. The present designation of Etowah means "town" in the language of the Muscogee-Creek Native Americans.
Uat-Ur was the ancient Egyptian name for the Mediterranean Sea (also known as Wadj-Wer) and is translated as 'the Great Green'. Uat-Ur was understood as a living entity imbued with the spirit of the divine which, like all other aspects of the natural world, was a gift from the gods.