https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-67484645
Well I never
Can we infer a touch of political interference by local council member?
Possibly but I won't comment further :D
It is interesting that the BBC writer continues to use he/him, even reporting an article where a provincial museum has decided on she/her.
So, front page of the BBC for a small sign in a small museum about one single coin belonging to a... colourful... but inconsequential princeps. :o
It's a quiet news day
Quote from: Imperial Dave on November 21, 2023, 07:38:33 PMIt's a quiet news day
Well, it makes a change from the Gaza War, the Covid enquiry and the dead teenagers in Wales :(
Yes, that one about the lads in North Wales affected me quite badly. It's the kind of thing I used to do when I was their age. Very very tragic
Quote from: Imperial Dave on November 21, 2023, 09:24:09 PMYes, that one about the lads in North Wales affected me quite badly. It's the kind of thing I used to do when I was their age. Very very tragic
At their age, I went on a road trip to Cornwall with three mates in one's car. On one dark night we nearly had a prang on a country road. There but for the grace of God .....
This one got to me.
I had a similar bunch of mates and we used to drive into to the Brecon Beacons to hike and camp when we were doing our A-levels. I could really identify with these poor lads
Quote from: Imperial Dave on November 22, 2023, 06:21:47 AMI had a similar bunch of mates and we used to drive into to the Brecon Beacons to hike and camp when we were doing our A-levels. I could really identify with these poor lads
Yes, it is a genuinely sad story and I too feel it. I remember driving up through the west coast of the lake district on a camping trip and another car came round a corner so fast and wide I avoided them by driving on their inside on the wrong side of the road.
We all have our stories, it's just theirs has no happy ending. Rest in Peace.
And now https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/nov/24/was-roman-emperor-elagabalus-really-trans-and-does-it-really-matter
Of course. Nero and Caligula did spring to mind as stated in the article as "assassinated" characters. In the end we won't know and as Mary Besrd says perhaps we shouldn't paint them with modern labels
Quote from: Imperial Dave on November 25, 2023, 06:23:06 AMwe shouldn't paint them with modern labels
A proper historian's answer :) Trouble is, writers do tend to shape a narrative around terms we understand, to help us access the past. In this case, rushing to stick modern labels on a coin collection leads to massive over-simplification of a complex story. But it did give a chance for journalists to speak to proper historians and highlight something about Ancient Rome many (like me) didn't know.
True
Quote from: Erpingham on November 25, 2023, 10:33:53 AMQuote from: Imperial Dave on November 25, 2023, 06:23:06 AMwe shouldn't paint them with modern labels
A proper historian's answer :) Trouble is, writers do tend to shape a narrative around terms we understand, to help us access the past. In this case, rushing to stick modern labels on a coin collection leads to massive over-simplification of a complex story. But it did give a chance for journalists to speak to proper historians and highlight something about Ancient Rome many (like me) didn't know.
Not only that but it provides job opportunities for the next generation of historians to reinterpret it in the light of the mores and fads of another generation. Thus history remains 'relevant' and mortgages are paid. After all, the original protagonists, being long dead, are unlikely to sue
Next time some form asks me how I self Identify I am going to struggle not to write in 'Cantankerous old man' ;)
And for me, a slightly more erudite curmudgeonly old man
IMHO, both of you are pussycats compared to my father who has had nearly a century of practice.
;D
A sensei grump?
We are not worthy
Quote from: Jim Webster on November 25, 2023, 05:27:40 PMQuote from: Erpingham on November 25, 2023, 10:33:53 AMQuote from: Imperial Dave on November 25, 2023, 06:23:06 AMwe shouldn't paint them with modern labels
A proper historian's answer :) Trouble is, writers do tend to shape a narrative around terms we understand, to help us access the past. In this case, rushing to stick modern labels on a coin collection leads to massive over-simplification of a complex story. But it did give a chance for journalists to speak to proper historians and highlight something about Ancient Rome many (like me) didn't know.
Not only that but it provides job opportunities for the next generation of historians to reinterpret it in the light of the mores and fads of another generation. Thus history remains 'relevant' and mortgages are paid. After all, the original protagonists, being long dead, are unlikely to sue
Next time some form asks me how I self Identify I am going to struggle not to write in 'Cantankerous old man' ;)
While I would not self identify as an historian, or necessarily as a mildly cantankerous man on the edge of old age, I do think that the calumny of Historians (or scientists) only being in the business to pay off a mortgage needs to be called out whenever it rears its ugly head. Here it is being used to attack historians (though are we sure it is actually historians doing this?) for putting forward new ideas that don't sit comfortably with the stories and attitudes we remember from our old history classes. Elsewhere, exactly the same line of attack is used if historians don't accept some weird and improbable theory - they can't accept new ideas as they have uphold the status quo in order to pay their mortgages! Anyone who has seen the vicious glee with which historians lay into each other when an opinion is advanced that is not grounded in evidence and careful deliberation knows that these characterisations are nonsense. If I see this repeated on these august channels again I will have to challenge the perpetrator to a duel with pike blocks at dawn on a 4 by 6 table!