I've been doing a deep dive into 'alternative history' or pseudo-history. I came across the New Chronology Theory of Russian mathematician Anatoly Fomenko. It's pretty wacky. But his mathematical analysis seems to have some merit. What do you make of his theory that timelines are compressed in reality, and historical events have been recycled and outright fabricated with King Lists from ancient and medieval civilizations being compared showing almost perfect alignment?
David. Can you share your views (positive or otherwise) on historical fiction. Eg the works of Mary Renault or Colleen McCullough set in antiquity. In my view they are a net positive, popularising history and making it more accessible to a greater number of people and in many cases leading them to read non-fictional accounts of the same periods. But I expect you will have a more critical take.
I restacked one of your recent posts on the late Roman imperial economy and put this as the comment. I suppose I’ll submit it in the spirit of a question (with some edits) to see if you agree/disagree and if you’d want to elaborate.
“It’s interesting that, as far as I know, the ancient Romans & Greeks didn’t really have a concept of economics as we think of it. Most of their “economic” (oikonomikos) writings are on household management, agrarian stuff, small-scale trading, taxes, and lots of legal stuff. Economics as an abstract field of study, especially macro, didn’t seem to exist. The didn’t have general theories. It’s not clear that they even had a coherent concept of “the Market” as a dynamic, self-regulating, or integrated system. Their knowledge of prices, supply, demand, etc seems to have been largely practical and ad hoc. It’s fascinating that it took going through the middle ages before economic theorizing as we’d recognize it started to develop.”
I should have modified
Who controlled the area in between the 1100s to the Venetian conquest?
Better question
I am a Croatian American and just got back from visiting Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro and Albania
Been fascinated with the medieval history of that area
From the alignment of the Croatian Kingdom with Hungary in the early 1100s to Venetian control over Dalmatia in the 1400s, who controlled the area?
Did the Golden Horde have an impact?
Thanks for what u do and I look forward to your answer
And u can call me by my Substack name ExpertofSome
I've been doing a deep dive into 'alternative history' or pseudo-history. I came across the New Chronology Theory of Russian mathematician Anatoly Fomenko. It's pretty wacky. But his mathematical analysis seems to have some merit. What do you make of his theory that timelines are compressed in reality, and historical events have been recycled and outright fabricated with King Lists from ancient and medieval civilizations being compared showing almost perfect alignment?
I'll have to look into that!
David. Can you share your views (positive or otherwise) on historical fiction. Eg the works of Mary Renault or Colleen McCullough set in antiquity. In my view they are a net positive, popularising history and making it more accessible to a greater number of people and in many cases leading them to read non-fictional accounts of the same periods. But I expect you will have a more critical take.
Oh, no, I love historical fiction. McCullough was a beast!
I restacked one of your recent posts on the late Roman imperial economy and put this as the comment. I suppose I’ll submit it in the spirit of a question (with some edits) to see if you agree/disagree and if you’d want to elaborate.
“It’s interesting that, as far as I know, the ancient Romans & Greeks didn’t really have a concept of economics as we think of it. Most of their “economic” (oikonomikos) writings are on household management, agrarian stuff, small-scale trading, taxes, and lots of legal stuff. Economics as an abstract field of study, especially macro, didn’t seem to exist. The didn’t have general theories. It’s not clear that they even had a coherent concept of “the Market” as a dynamic, self-regulating, or integrated system. Their knowledge of prices, supply, demand, etc seems to have been largely practical and ad hoc. It’s fascinating that it took going through the middle ages before economic theorizing as we’d recognize it started to develop.”
Got it!