Artilleryman, strategist, statesman, legislator… One of the things that sets Napoleon Bonaparte apart from other military leaders and politicians is his extraordinary ability to excel in various fields. Well, there is one more quality to add to the most famous Corsican of all time, though it is practically unknown to most: that of a writer. […]
Jorge Álvarez
Degree in History and Diploma in Archival and Library Science. Founder and director of Apuntes magazine (2002-2005). Creator of the blog El Viajero Incidental. Travel and tourism blogger since 2009 in Viajeros. Editor of LBV Magazine.
Posted inModern Era
Juggernaut, the origin of the word that defines a destructive, uncontrollable, and unstoppable force
To define the plague that devastates the world in her novel The Last Man, Mary Shelley (also the author of Frankenstein) writes: Like Juggernaut, it proceeds crushing the being of all who stand in the high road of life. The term Juggernaut is also used by Robert Louis Stevenson in The Strange Case of Dr. […]
Posted inAncient Greece
Kallipateira, the Woman Who Sneaked into the Olympic Games Disguised as a Man and Lived to Tell the Tale
“Rhodian princess, how did you enter? / It is an ancient custom here to expel women from here.” / “I have a nephew, Eucleos, / three brothers, son, father, Olympic athletes; / you must let me, Hellanodikai, / and to behold the beautiful / bodies, where is the field of Heracles? / They are fighting […]
Posted inModern Era
Charles Masson, the traveler, spy, and archaeologist who was the first European to see the ruins of Harappa
Today we’ll take a brief look at the life and work of another one of those characters we can define as unclassifiable, a mix of soldiers, travelers, adventurers, scientists, and scholars, who often fly free. The one we’ll see next was English, named Charles Masson, and both the British Museum and the British Library owe […]
Posted inAncient Greece, Ancient Rome
Kingdom of the Bosporus, the Longest-Lasting Greek State of Antiquity
Greeks and Romans referred to the current Kerch Strait as the Cimmerian Bosporus, the strait that connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Azov, separating the Kerch and Taman peninsulas in the vicinity of Crimea. Today, this area is a war zone between Russia and Ukraine, but in antiquity, it was a region that, […]
Posted inModern Era
“The Adventures of Baron Trump”, the 19th-century literary saga that has parallels with Donald Trump
Can you imagine a novel where a boy named Trump embarks on thrilling adventures, discovers strange civilizations, and gets into trouble with natives for unintentionally insulting them in their unfamiliar language? Well, you don’t have to imagine it because it exists; however, its protagonist is not the ineffable former U.S. president, but another who calls […]
Posted inModern Era
Šcepan Mali, the first and only tsar of Montenegro, who pretended to be the Russian Peter III
Donji Brčeli is an Orthodox monastery founded by the Serbian noblewoman Jelena Balšić Kosača between the 14th and 15th centuries. Restored in 1861 to restore the appearance lost due to a fire set by the Ottomans, it is part of the monumental heritage of the village of Virpazar (Montenegro) and still houses a religious community. […]
Posted inAncient Greece
Cynisca, the Spartan Who Became the First Woman to Achieve Victory in the Olympic Games
The Olympic Games of Antiquity were an exclusively male event, and women were prohibited from attending, whether as athletes or spectators; at least the gynaikes (married women), since Pausanias seems to indicate that the parthenai (unmarried young women) could indeed be in the stands. However, Spartan women enjoyed greater freedom, and just as their education […]
Posted inMiddle Ages
The Battle of Lucena, in which the Nasrid Sultan Boabdil was captured for the first time
Among the many curious pieces that can be seen on a visit to the Spanish Army Museum, which is located in the Alcázar of Toledo, is Boabdil’s sword. It is a jineta weapon (with a straight blade, double-edged, and rounded hilt, typical of the Nasrids and introduced into Al-Andalus by the Zenata Berbers) that was […]
Posted inAncient Rome
Flavius Scorpus, the Hispanic Charioteer Who Won 2,048 Races Without Losing a Single One
Those who become fans of Those About to Die, a recent television series about gladiators directed by Roland Emmerich and starring Anthony Hopkins as Vespasian, will notice that among the main characters there is one who leads a rather wild life: the charioteer. This character is based on a real person who indeed lived during […]