Showing posts with label ancient history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ancient history. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 09, 2026

Persians: The Age of the Great Kings by Lloyd Llewellyn-Jones: Book Review


Started: July 29, 2026



Links to some of the stuff mentioned:

Related playlists: 




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Friday, May 22, 2026

The Flames of Rome by Paul L. Maier: Book Review


Started: April 3, 2026

This is a reread.  I read this book before when I was in high school, as I've mentioned before on this blog here, here, here and here.










I was able to read this book thanks to the Michigan statewide state-wide interlibrary loan service called MeLCat, which may be in danger thanks to a Presidential executive order.  If you, like me, enjoy using MeLCat, contact your local representatives and let them know. 
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Tuesday, February 24, 2026

Oldest Stories Podcast: Review


Started: June 25, 2025





Links to things mentioned:
Oldest Stories Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@entirelyalive/videos







Related Playlists:




My listening progress, for anyone who is interested, is chronicled on my started post and also listed below:
1st Listening
June 25, 2025--Episode 12 – Anunnaki 3 Enlil Lord of Wind
June 27, 2025--Episode 16 – Lagash 2 Reform and Corruption in Lagash
June 28, 2025--OS 17 - Sargon Rising
June 29, 2025--OS 19 - Sargon at War
June 30--OS 20 Sargon, the Next Generation
July 1--OS 22 - Slanderous Legends of Naram-Sin
July 2--OS 23 - The Fall of Akkad
July 3--OS 24 - The Rebirth of Sumer
July 4--OS 27 - The Study of Sumer and Ancient Aliens
July 5--OS 28 - The Chamorros of Saipan
July 6--OS 29 - The Enuma Elish
July 7--OS 33 - A Time of Ritual and Law
July 8--OS 39 - The Merchants and Families of Assyria
July 9--OS 41 - Shamshi-Adad and the Upper Mesopotamian Empire
July 10--Bonus 1 - The Slaying of Illuyanka
July 11--OS 50 - Hammurabi's Code of Laws
July 12--OS 51 - The New Order
July 13--OS 52 - Theogony of Dunnu and the Education of Scribes
July 14--Bonus 3 - Lament for Ur
July 15--OS 61 - The Conqueror's Triumph and Death
July 16--OS 66 Enter the Arena
July 17--OS 70 - Mighty Monsters of Mitanni
July 18--OS 73 - Corruption in Nuzi
July 20--OS 74 - A New Dawn for Babylon
July 21--OS 77 - Idrimi's Adventure and Tudhaliya's Invasion
July 22--OS 82 - Suppiluliuma Irritates Egypt
July 23--OS 86 The Battle of Kadesh
July 24--OS 91 A Muddy Mesopotamian Mess
July 25--OS 95 Hattusili Secures His Legacy
July 26--OS 96 Fall of the Hittite Empire
July 28--Elamite 4 - Elamite Religion
July 29--Canaan 3 - The City of Ugarit
July 30--Canaan 8 - The Feast of Baal
July 31--Industry 2 - The Stuff of Life
August 1--An Overview of Bronze Age Mesopotamia
August 2--OS 98 - Nabu-Kudurri-Usur
August 3--OS 99 - The Legend of Nebuchadnezzar
August 4--OS 100 - The Babylonian Theodicy
August 5--OS 102 - A Bit More About Tiglath Pileser
August 6--OS 103 - The Babylonian Aristotle, Esagil-Kin-Apli
August 9--OS 105 Four Legs Good, Two Legs Bad
August 11--OS 109 - Israel's Numbers Problem
August 12--OS 112 - Israel's Conquest and Integration in Canaan
August 13--OS 114 - Israel's Judges and Defeats
August 14--OS 115 - The Place of Faith in Biblical History
August 16--OS 117 - Israel's First King
August 18--OS 121 - Israel's Favorite King
August 19--OS 123 - Israel's Great High Priest
August 20--OS 125 - Israel's Divided Kingdoms
August 21--OS 127 - Israel's First Historical King
August 22--OS 129 - Israelite and Phoenician Prosperity
August 23--OS 130 Israel Runs Out of Names
August 24--Oldest Stories is Now a Book!
August 25--OS 132 Judah Ascends
August 26--The Book of Job in a Near Eastern Context
August 27--Isaiah 55
August 28--OS 134 - Poverty Pessimism, and Comedy in Ancient Mesopotamia
August 29--OS 135 - Middle Class Demons of Mesopotamia
September 1--OS 136 - The Fifty Shades of Marduk
September 2--OS 137 - The Oldest Dreams
September 3--OS 139- An Iron King for an Iron Age
September 4--OS 141- the Unintended Aramization of Assyria
September 5--OS 143 - Assurnasirpal Has Too Much Energy
September 8--Bonus: The Early History of New Eastern Cavalry
September 9--OS 148 - Shalmaneser Takes the Throne
September 10--OS 150 - The Battle of Qarqar
September 11--OS 152 - The Smothered Spark of Babylon's Dark Age
September 12--OS 154 - The Assyrian Civil War: Magnate Edition
September 15--OS 156 - The Mythical Semiramis in Ancient History
September 16--OS 158 - The Glorious Magnates of Assyria
September 17--OS 160 - Graham Hancock and the Philosophy of Archeology
September 18--OS 161 - A Kingdom of Honey and Blood: The Suhu Rebellion
September 19--OS 163 - The Birth of Urartu
September 20--OS 164 - The Rise of Urartu
September 22--OS 166 - The Forges of Urartu
September 23--The Assyrian Deep State
September 24--Establishing Assyrian Dominance
September 25--The Full Story of Ea-Nasir's Copper
September 26--The Four Failures of Tiglath-Pileser III
September 29--Mesopotamia and the Occult: The Passionate Woman in Depth
Finished First Listening:  Starting Second Listening
September 30--OS 2.5 - Before the Beginning
October 1--OS 05 - Gilgamesh has Adventures
October 2--OS 08 - Ishtar Gains Power
October October 3--OS 16 - Reform and Corruption in Lagash
October 6--OS 17 - Sargon Rising
October 7--OS 19 - Sargon at war
October 8--OS 21 - Surpassing Sargon with Naram-Sin
October 9--OS 23 - The Fall of Akkad
October 10--OS 24 - The Rebirth of Sumer
October 12--OS 25 - The Last Sumerian, Ibbi-Sin
October 13--OS 28 - The Chamorros of Saipan
October 14--OS 30 - The Tablet of Destinies
October 15--OS 33 - A Time of Ritual and Law
October 16--OS 35 Middle Bronze Age Warfare
October 17--OS 38 Rim-sin the Pretty Good
October 19--OS 39 The Merchants and Families of Assyria
October 21--OS 42 Hammurabi's Kingdom and Character
October 22--OS 44 - Hammurabi's Military and Elamite Rule
October 23--OS 44 - Hammurabi's Rebels and Oracles
October 24--OS 48 - Hammurabi's Women and Slaves
October 27--OS 50 - Hammurabi's Code of Laws
October 28--OS 51 - The New Order
October 29--OS 53 - Poem of the Righteous Sufferer
October 30--Bonus 2 - Fanciful Notions of Antiquity
October 31--OS 56 - Obscure Struggles in Assyria
November 3--OS 58 - Rise of the Hittites
November 5--OS 61 - The Conqueror's Triumph and Death
November 6--OS 64 - Village Economics
November 7--OS 66 - Enter the Arena
November 10--OS 67 - Late Bronze Age Warfare
November 11--OS 68 - The Song of Kumarbi
November 12--OS 69 - Kumarbi Strikes Back
November 14--OS 71 - Hurrian Wisdom
November 17--OS 73 - Corruption in Nuzi
November 18--OS 75 - Building Babylonia
November 19--OS 77 - Idrimi's Adventure and Tudhaliya's Invasion
November 20--OS 79 - Magic and Medicine in Hattusa
November 21--OS 81 - King Tushratta Begs and Runs Away
November 22--OS 82 - Suppiluliuma Irritates Egypt
November 24--OS 85 - New Cities and New Villians
November 25--OS 87 - Rebirth of an Old City
December 1--OS 90 - Tukulti-Ninurta's Victories
December 2--OS 92 - Nergal and Ereshkigal
December 3--OS 95 Hattusili Secures His Legacy
December 4--Elamite 1 - Back to the Beginning
December 5--The Oldest Games
December 6--Canaan 1 - Bronze Age Levant
December 7--Canaan 1 - The Amarna Age in Canaan
December 8-- Canaan 4 - Ugarit's Final Century
December 9--Canaan 7 - The Baal Cycle
December 10--Canaan 8 - The Feast of Baal
December 11--Canaan 9 - Baal and Mot
December 12--Sumer in Genesis
December 13--Listener Questions
December 15--Industry 2 - The Stuff of Life
December 16--Passionate Daughter Ishtar
December 17--Industry 4.5 - Last Century's Fashions (pt 2 of 2)
December 18--Industry 5 - The Bronze of the Age
December 19--OS 99 - The Legend of Nebuchadnezzar
December 21--OS 100 - The Babylonian Theodicy
December 22--OS 102 - A Bit More About Tiglath Pileser
December 23--OS 103 - The Babylonian Aristotle, Esagil-Kin-Apli
December 24--OS 104 - Arameans Everywhere
December 25--OS 105 Four Legs Good, Two Legs Bad
December 26--OS 106 The Fate of Anatolia
December 27--OS 107 - The Bible as History and Skeptical Views
December 29--OS 109 - Israel's Numbers Problem
December 30--OS 110 - Israel and the Hebrews
December 31--OS 111 - Israel's Wandering and Settlement
January 1, 2026--OS 113 - Israel's Settlements and Philistine Neighbors
January 2--OS 114 - Israel's Judges and Defeats
January 3--OS 115 - The Place of Faith in Biblical History
January 5--OS 117 - Israel's First King
January 6--OS 119 - Israel's Young Shepherd
January 7--OS 122 - Israel's King David
January 8--OS 124 - Israel's Wisdom and Wealth
January 9--OS 126 - Israel's Great Confusion
January 10--OS 127 - Israel's First Historical King
January 11--OS 129 - Israelite and Phoenician Prosperity
January 12--OS 131 - Israel's Brutal Judgement
January 13--OS 132 Judah Ascends
January 14--The Book of Job in a Near Eastern Context
January 15--Isaiah 55
January 16--OS 135 - Middle Class Demons of Mesopotamia
January 17--OS 136 - The Fifty Shades of Marduk
January 18--OS 137 - The Oldest Dreams
January 19--OS 139- An Iron King for an Iron Age
January 20--OS 141- the Unintended Aramization of Assyria
January 21--OS 145 - The Early Neo-Assyrian Army
January 23--OS 146 - How Assyria Operated
January 25--OS 148 - Shalmaneser Takes the Throne
January 26--OS 151 - The Glowing Embers of Babylon's Dark Age
January 27--OS 152 - The Smothered Spark of Babylon's Dark Age
January 28--OS 155 - The Angry Puppet: Shamshi-Adad V
January 29--OS 158 - The Glorious magnates of Assyria
January 30--OS 160 - Graham Hancock and the Philosophy of Archeology
January 31--OS 162 - The Rise of Phrygia
February 2--OS 166 - The Forges of Urartu
February 3--The Assyrian Deep State
February 4--Establishing Assyrian Dominance
February 5--Deportation, Castration, and Education-The Foundations of Neo-Assyria
February 6--Mesopotamia and the Occult: The Passionate Woman in Depth
February 7--Mesopotamia and the Occult: Dying and Rising in Depth
February 9--Mesopotamia and the Occult: The Mortal King in Depth
February 10--Mesopotamia and the Occult: Discussions on the Ancient World
February 11--Tiglath Pileser Defeats Israel - Oldest Stories Podcast
February 12--The Ill-Omened Origins of Sargon II
February 13--A Tour of Dur-Sharrukin
February 15--The Environment in which the Assyrian Army Emerged
February 16--The Composition of the Sargonid Army
February 17--The Great Invasion of Urartu

Addendum: May 28, 2026

*Sigh* I really didn't want to write this post, but I feel like I have to now.
In my (admittedly long and rambling) review of the Oldest Stories Podcast, I at one point briefly mentioned that I was uncomfortable with some of the views expressed on the Oldest Stories Podcast Twitter account, but since these views mostly tended to stay separate from the content of the podcast, I wasn't going to hold the politics of the podcaster against him.
At the time I said that, the Oldest Stories Podcast wasn't actively tweeting.  (He had gone on a Twitter hiatus since mid-January).  But in the past few days, he's been active on Twitter again, and some of what he has been tweeting is objectionable. And (unless my memory is playing me false) what he is currently tweeting is more blatant and more objectionable than anything he had previously tweeted--at least within the last year.

Now, since I published my review back in February, I have continued to promote new episodes of the podcast on this blog (here, here, here, here, here, here and here).  But I'm now going to stop doing this, for fear that my promotion of the podcast could be taken as agreement with the views expressed on the Twitter account.

Now, I need to make a couple of important caveats here:
1). This guy is not a celebrity or public figure.  He's an ordinary Joe who is podcasting in his free time.  So for that reason, I am going to do my best to avoid putting him on blast.  I'm not going to link to the offensive tweets.  I'm not going to describe them. In fact, I wouldn't be writing this blog post at all, except for the fact that I have been recommending and promoting the Oldest Stories podcast on this blog, and I feel I need to make clear that I am not promoting the views expressed on the Oldest Stories Twitter account.  (For reasons that are mysterious to me, he is using the Oldest Stories Twitter account to post these views, which make it difficult to separate his personal views from his podcast.)

2). I believe that we can and should separate the art from the artist, and that we should also expose ourselves to people who have a variety of viewpoints.  So I'm not going to stop listening to the podcast myself.  I'm just no longer going to be promoting that podcast.  (I'm going to continue listening to it quietly, without linking to it from this blog.)
And again, the fact that he's using the Oldest Stories Twitter account to promote his personal political views makes it hard to promote one without feeling like you're endorsing the other.

I'm also not calling for him to be cancelled, or anything like that.  I'm just trying to put some distance between his views and my own endorsements.

(I had thought about continuing to link to his new episodes, but also including a disclaimer with each new blog post saying, "I don't approve of the views on his Twitter feed," but I decided against it.  I don't want to have to say that every single time, and he's not going to appreciate that kind of qualified support anyway.)

One last thing: I had mentioned in my original review of the Oldest Stories Podcast that I was seriously considering buying his books (based on the podcast) and reviewing those as well.  But I no longer have any plans to purchase or review his books.
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Wednesday, February 11, 2026

Augustus Caesar's World by Genevieve Foster: Book Review



As noted in the video, this is a reread.  I first read it in 7th grade.  But, since this is my first time reviewing this book on this blog, according to my new rules, it gets a video only review.



Notes: As I mentioned in the video, this book is advertised as a history, but much of it reads as historical fiction.  So I'm also going to add it to my historical fiction index.  Also, as also mentioned in the video, a lot of this book is about religion.  So I'm also going to add it to my religion index.
I got caught off at the very end when my camera automatically shut off, but I had said most of what I wanted to say.

Links to stuff mentioned:

Related Playlists:







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Saturday, October 18, 2025

Pontius Pilate by Paul L. Maier: Book Review



This is a reread.  I read this book before in 9th grade, and have mentioned it before on this blog here, here and here.  But because this is my first time reviewing this book on this blog, according to my new rules I'm doing this as a video only review.










I was able to read this book thanks to the Michigan statewide state-wide interlibrary loan service called MeLCat, which may be in danger thanks to a Presidential executive order.  If you, like me, enjoy using MeLCat, contact your local representatives and let them know. 

Did you enjoy this review? Consider supporting me on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/joelswagman

Support me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/JoelSwagman

Check out this book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/48sBEsq    (This is an Amazon Associate's Link.  If you buy anything through that link, I get a commission.)
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Thursday, September 18, 2025

The History of Rome, Volume I: The Republic by Mike Duncan: Book Review



This is my first time reading this book, so according to my new rules, I'm doing this as a video only review.
I debated classifying this book as a reread, since it is just the transcript of the podcast, and I had already done the podcast.  And is there really a difference between a podcast and an audiobook?  But in the end, I decided that I'm going to consider the book and the podcast as different entities, and so this is not a reread.







I was able to read this book thanks to the Michigan statewide state-wide interlibrary loan service called MeLCat, which may be in danger thanks to a Presidential executive order.  If you, like me, enjoy using MeLCat, contact your local representatives and let them know. 

Did you enjoy this review? Consider supporting me on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/joelswagman

Support me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/JoelSwagman

Check out this book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4loh9jL       (This is an Amazon Associate's Link.  If you buy anything through that link, I get a commission.)
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Wednesday, June 25, 2025

Gilgamesh the King by Robert Silverberg: Book Review


Started: May 25, 2025

(This is my first time reading this book, so according to my new rules, I'm doing this as a video only review.)




Related Playlists:



I was able to read this book thanks to the Michigan statewide state-wide interlibrary loan service called MeLCat, which may be in danger thanks to a Presidential executive order.  If you, like me, enjoy using MeLCat, contact your local representatives and let them know. 

Did you enjoy this review? Consider supporting me on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/joelswagman

Support me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/JoelSwagman

Check out this book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/44uJf7z          (This is an Amazon Associate's Link.  If you buy anything through that link, I get a commission.)
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Saturday, May 24, 2025

The Tribe of Benjamin, The Tribe of Simeon and The Kingdom of Judah--Interesting Random Facts

I've told this story a couple times before (here and here), but when I was in 7th grade, I was taking confirmation classes (W) at my church, and as we worked through the Biblical narrative, we got to the split between Israel and Judah.  The confirmation teacher summarized it like this.  "There were 10 tribes that formed the northern Kingdom of Israel. The tribe of Judah in the South was left to become the Kingdom of Judah.  And there was one tribe, the tribe of Benjamin, that was stuck in the middle between these two kingdoms."

This contradicted what I had learned in Bible class at the Christian school I attended during the week.  So I raised my hand and said, "No, that's wrong. The tribe of Benjamin was part of the Kingdom of Judah."     
The confirmation teacher didn't agree.  "No, the tribe of Benjamin was in the middle," he said.
But I was sure I was right, so as the class moved on to other topics, I began flipping through my Bible to find proof that the tribe of Benjamin was definitely part of the Kingdom of Judah.  Everyone in the confirmation class had copies of the NIV Student Bible, which contained boxes of explanatory text next to the Bible passages, and I found a text box in the Student Bible that clearly said the southern Kingdom of Judah consisted of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin.  I tapped the teacher on the arm (we were all seated around a table, and I was sitting next to him), and showed him the passage.  He stopped the class to issue a correction.  "Okay, everyone, it looks like Joel was right.  The tribe of Benjamin was part of the Kingdom of Judah."

I was so proud of myself.  I knew the Bible better than the teacher (or so I thought.)  For years afterwards, this was a point of pride for me.
...until, of course, I eventually matured, and realized what an annoying little snot I must have been.  "Ah, so that's why nobody liked me."  (Nobody, after all, likes an annoying pedant.) *

However, some 30+ years later, I think I'm beginning to realize that my confirmation teacher might actually have been right.
In my re-readthrough of the Bible, I noticed that the historical books of 1st Kings and 2nd Kings often describes the Kingdom of Judah as just the tribe of Judah.  The tribe of Benjamin is mentioned as joining up with Judah a couple of times, but only a couple of times.  
Upon noticing this, I went to Wikipedia to double check whether or not the tribe of Benjamin was actually part of the Kingdom of Judah.  Wikipedia (at least as of this writing) appears to unambiguously classify Benjamin as part of the Southern Kingdom.  
After the brief period of the United Kingdom of Israel, Benjamin became part of the southern Kingdom of Judah following the split into two kingdoms.
So, that settled my mind for a little while.
But more recently, I've been reading through Psalms, and I came to Psalm 80, which reads:
Shepherd of Israel, listen
you who lead Joseph like a flock;
enthroned on the cherubs, shine
on Ephraim, Benjamin and Mannesseh;
rouse your strength,
come to save us
The footnote in The Jerusalem Bible identifies "Ephriam, Benjamin and Mannesseh" as "The principle tribes of the North".
So, I crossed reference this with the notes for The NIV Study Bible, which goes into more detail:
It seems likely that "Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh" (v. 2) here represent the northern kingdom.  If Jeroboam was indeed given ten tribes (see 1 Kings 11:29-36), leaving only one to Rehoboam–Judah (see 1 Kings 12:20), which was actually two tribes because Simeon was located within Judah–then Benjamin belonged to the northern kingdom.  However, part of Benjamin must always have remained with the southern kingdom since its territory actually bordered on Jerusalem itself, and the southern kingdom continued to control Jerusalem’s environs (see 1 Kings 12:21). This suggests that the disaster suffered was the Assyrian campaign that swept the northern kingdom away (see 2 Kings 17:1-6). 
(p.864 of NIV Study Bible).
Okay, time to Google for more information.  I found this website here on the Tribe of Benjamin, which goes into a lot more detail, and also seems to confirm that Benjamin was neither part of the Northern Kingdom nor the Southern Kingdom:
The northern border of Benjamin would come to constitute the northern frontier of the southern kingdom of Judah. It became the limit of the southern frontier of the northern kingdom of Israel. Simply put, the land of Benjamin was the frontier between Israel and Judah. It buffered the north from the south, and the Benjamite northern border was the very line of separation between the two kingdoms - much like the DMZ between North and South Korea today.
Consequently, the loyalties of the tribe of Benjamin were always divided, and many skirmishes were fought along this frontier over the course of its history. Only one major war was waged on the soil of Benjamin, though sporadic fighting occurred along the frontier, with both sides caught in a perpetual cycle of gaining, then subsequently losing, ground.

It would be nice to have more references here, so I could check the Bible myself, and find out what war and skirmishes are being referred to.  (I don't remember skirmishes over the Tribe of Benjamin being mentioned a lot in 1st and 2nd Kings, but I could just be forgetting.)  But the website sounds like it knows what it's talking about.

So how about that?  I guess my confirmation teacher was right after all!

********************************************

On another note:
Speaking of  the Kingdom of Judah, there's actually one more tribe in the mix: the Tribe of Simeon.  In my youth, both at my Christian school and at my Church don't ever remember the tribe of Simeon being discussed at all.  It was always the 10 Northern Tribes of Israel, and Benjamin and Judah in the South.  But I don't remember anyone mentioning the Tribe of Simeon.
But if you look on the map, it looks like the Tribe of Simeon was completely surrounded by the Tribe of Judah.   
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c2/12_Tribes_of_Israel_Map.svg


(I mentioned this before in my review of Genesis.  According to the Bible, it looks like Simeon was absorbed by Judah in response to the curse that Jacob put on Simeon and Levi for their attack on the Shechemites in Genesis 34.)
So that means there must have been at least 3 tribes in the Southern Kingdom: Judah, Benjamin (sort of) and Judah.

Notes
*Although actually, I think at the time, the urge to correct my confirmation teacher was less about wanting to prove I was smarter than the teacher, and more about trying to protect what I thought I already knew.  Some children have a hard time tolerating ambiguity, and I was one of them.  Having already learned the "fact" that the tribe of Benjamin was part of the Kingdom of Judah, I didn't want to have to unlearn this, and accept that there was some confusion about the historical record.  I had already learned this thing!  Don't you dare tell me I have to learn it differently now.

Amazon Links
* Check out the NIV Student Bible on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/43tZ5xD 
* Jerusalem Bible here: https://amzn.to/4fbgM92
* NIV Study Bible here: https://amzn.to/43zCIHa
(These are Amazon Associate's Links.  If you buy anything through these links, I get a commission.)
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Babylon: Mesopotamia and the Birth of Civilization by Paul Kriwaczek: Book Review

 (Book Review--History)

Started: May 16, 2025

(This is my first time reading this book, so according to my new rules, I'm doing this as a video only review.)





I was able to read this book thanks to the Michigan statewide state-wide interlibrary loan service called MeLCat, which may be in danger thanks to a Presidential executive order.  If you, like me, enjoy using MeLCat, contact your local representatives and let them know. 

Did you enjoy this review? Consider supporting me on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/joelswagman

Support me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/JoelSwagman

Check out this book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3FeFs4q       (This is an Amazon Associate's Link.  If you buy anything through that link, I get a commission.)
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Thursday, May 01, 2025

I, Claudius (TV Miniseries): Review



This is part of my so-called "Scripted Review" series, in which I make a Youtube video based on an old blogpost.  For more information on what this is and why I'm doing it, see HERE:

This is also part of my Television Addiction series.  For my explanation of what the Television Addiction series is and why I'm doing it, see: https://youtu.be/T5CEQ9-35xA and http://joelswagman.blogspot.com/2021/04/television-addiction-article-on.html

I, Claudius

            I didn’t expect to see this 1976 BBC miniseries in the Cambodian DVD shops, but I was very happy to stumble upon it.
            Actually, I’ve been wanting to get my hands this series for about 20 years now, ever since I read the book I, Claudius by Robert Graves back when I was 14. 
            (Robert Graves actually wrote two books about the life of Claudius: I, Claudius, and the sequel Claudius the God.  I never went on to read Claudius the God because our school library didn’t have it, but I,Claudius made a big impression on me.  The BBC miniseries covers both books.)
            Considering how old this series is, it holds up remarkably well, and in my opinion is every bit as interesting to watch as more recent historical dramas. 
            It also shows how great historical fiction about ancient Rome can be produced on a small budget.
            And a final bonus: I, Claudius has some great famous actors in it: Brian Blessed, John Rhys-Davies, and for Star Trek fans, a young (well…younger) Patrick Stewart playing Sejanus. 



Did you enjoy this review? Consider supporting me on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/joelswagman

Support me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/JoelSwagman

Check out this series on Amazon: https://amzn.to/42Ee3C1           (This is an Amazon Associate's Link.  If you buy anything through that link, I get a commission.)
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Friday, April 11, 2025

Assyria: The Rise and Fall of the World's First Empire by Eckart Frahm: Book Review


Started: March 25, 2025

(This is my first time reading this book, so according to my new rules, I'm doing this as a video only review.)





Did you enjoy this review? Consider supporting me on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/joelswagman

Support me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/JoelSwagman

Check out this book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3Y4ggUq       (This is an Amazon Associate's Link.  If you buy anything through that link, I get a commission.)
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Tuesday, February 18, 2025

Pompeii by Robert Harris: Book Review



(This is my first time reading this book, so according to my new rules, I'm doing this as a video only review.)





Did you enjoy this review? Consider supporting me on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/joelswagman

Support me on Patreon: https://patreon.com/JoelSwagman

Check out this book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/4hP5LvD    (This is an Amazon Associate's Link.  If you buy anything through that link, I get a commission.)
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Sunday, September 22, 2024

Tyrant by Valerio Massimo Manfredi: Book Review

Translated by Christine Feddersen-Manfredi


On My Shelves: December 24, 2023

(This is my first time reading this book, so according to my new rules, I'm doing this as a video only review.) 



Links to stuff mentioned:


* Alexander: Child of a Dream by Valerio Massimo Manfredi (Alexander Trilogy Book 1): https://joelswagman.blogspot.com/2014/12/alexander-child-of-dream-by-valerio.html

* Alexander: The Sands of Ammon by Valerio Massimo Manfredi (Alexander Trilogy Book 2): https://joelswagman.blogspot.com/2015/02/alexander-sands-of-ammon-by-valerio.html

* Alexander: The Ends of the Earth by Valerio Massimo Manfredi (Alexander Trilogy Book 3): https://joelswagman.blogspot.com/2015/03/alexander-ends-of-earth-by-valerio.html

* Introduction to Ancient Greek History with Donald Kagan: https://joelswagman.blogspot.com/2016/01/introduction-to-ancient-greek-history.html

* 105 Carthage Enters the War by Ryan Stitt: https://youtu.be/MmincJLvbNE?si=AR9KQQ6qI8sb61QW
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Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Tides of War by Steven Pressfield: Book Review


On My Shelves: September 17, 2023
Finished: March 26, 2024

This is my first time reading this book, so according to my new rules, I'm doing this as a video only review.



Links to Videos mentioned: 
* The Alcibiades video by Overly Sarcastic Productions: https://youtu.be/kRLkjBUgB2o?si=Ab_yimF58KHrNZHu

March 03, 2024 Tides of War p.1-142
March 10, 2024 Tides of War p.142-244
March 17, 2024 Tides of War p.244-270
March 24, 2024 Tides of War p.270-386

Playlist HERE:

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