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Showing posts with the label Ancient History

A New Leaf for the Looking Glass 2026/27

Dear all, Upon inheriting the Looking Glass from our predecessors, we identified a number of key issues. Firstly, there were simply not enough articles being published, due both to a lack of submissions from the school community and limited responsiveness from the previous Academic Team. Secondly, the Looking Glass had not been advertised or explained effectively enough to the wider school community. As a result, we plan to implement a more consistent and engaging stream of articles on the Looking Glass. As part of this initiative, we are looking to recruit a select group of keen writers from across the lower school who would be willing to produce one high-quality piece of writing, discussion, or media each month for publication on the Looking Glass. We believe this will be hugely beneficial both to the school community, which will gain access to a wider range of opinions and viewpoints, and to prospective writers, who will be able to reference their experience contributing to the Look...

The Challenge of Reconstructing Ancient Greek and Roman Statues and Buildings

IBRAHIM CHAUDRY The immediate international and government reaction after witnessing the devastating intentional destruction of cultural sites, libraries and ancient architecture by terrorism in Mosul and Palmyra throughout the last decade seems straight-forward and inevitable: outrage mixed with defiance. However, when assessing whether an attempt should be made to reconstruct Ancient Greek architecture, often damaged through Ottoman Empire weaponry, as was the case with the Parthenon in 1687, the response is significantly more complicated; the dilemma of satisfying the aesthetic appeal for tourists exploring beautiful architecture with the archival appeal for historians is difficult to overcome, all whilst trying to ensure revenue is maximised and costs minimised.  The merits of any reconstruction project can only be judged on its initial purposes. Assuming that the process isn’t being undertaken to urgently prevent further damage to a sculpture or building, the three general aim...

On the Modern-day Pandora’s Box : 2. Beginning our Voyage – The Greek Genesis

This is the third instalment in Haroun's essay series on the impact of technology on human civilisation; you can find the previous essay here:  https://wbgslookingglass.blogspot.com/2022/01/on-modern-day-pandoras-box-1-voyage.html HAROUN DUGSIE The Greek Genesis Well, we can turn the metaphorical clock back to when the Greeks had just settled into their Bronze Age, at the turn of 2000 BCE, during the Minoan era. This ‘Minoan Greece’ is mysterious in its unknown tales and stories as we aren’t sure what an average life was like then (we only have an idea of what the average Greek life would be like when we skip forwards to Archaic Greece, but we’re getting a little ahead of ourselves). Scholars and academics are in fact debating if the infamous tales of the Minotaur of the Greek Mythology actually came from that mysterious Minoan period. The later Mycenaean (widely pronounced as ‘My-can-ean’ or ‘Mice-a-Neeyan’) Period around 1750 to 1100 BCE holds a similar period of mystery and...

History is shaped just as much by chance as it is by long-term social and economic trends

[This fantastic essay was the winner in the KS4 category of the WBGS History Essay Prize 2021-22, where the task was to argue whether or not "History is shaped just as much by chance as it is by long term social and economic trends"] ESA BRISTER History has been shaped by many things, including by events and by decisions which are almost infinitely variable in their detail. This could be succinctly summarized as being shaped by “chance,” by “trends,” or by a combination of the two.  Chance may be defined as the possibility of something happening. It is usually understood to be unexpected or at least unlikely. A trend may be defined as a general direction in which something is developing or changing, and will therefore more likely be predictable. However, for the purposes of this essay, which primarily addresses socio-economic trends, I will define these socio-economic trends as the general direction which economies and societies take and in which they tend to act. An example ...

How to be born before your birthday

  [Image credit:  https://pixabay.com/photos/written-art-monastery-church-4934081/ ] This essay won the inaugural WBGS Fuller Research Prize Competition in 2021 JOE MCHUGH When was Jesus born? At face value, this question seems like a simple one to answer. The day? the 25 th . The month? December. The year? Well, if the year now is AD 2021, then surely Jesus was born 2021 years ago. So, December 25 th , 2021 years ago, making that the year 0? However, the Anno Domini system of dating years we use in our calendar, the Gregorian calendar, does not include a year 0. Instead, it skips from 1BC to AD 1. The contemporary consensus on Jesus’ birth year is c.4BC. How can someone be born four years before their own birthday? This date bases itself on the historical figure in the Bible, King Herod, the Roman client King of Judea from 36-1BC. 1 In addition to ancient historians, astrological data about the presumed Star of Bethlehem in Mathew 2:1-2 also concludes c.4BC. The lunar occulta...