Roman Empire during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages
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Metal band Anger Within release their brand new EP, Through The Eyes Of The Bedouin, via Pavement Entertainment. The EP was co-produced by Matt Washburn (Mastodon) and mixed and recorded at Ledbelly Studios in Dawsonville, GA. Featuring five tracks, Anger Within fuse metal, hardcore punk, and death metal to create an aggressive, non-compromising form of modern day thrash on this EP.On the title track, vocalist and guitarist Wulf Morris says, “When I write songs these days, I try to do something outside of the box, something that not every metal band is doing. ‘Through The Eyes Of The Bedouin' gave me the opportunity to incorporate some Middle Eastern styled music, and lyrics that told a story about desert nomads in ancient times.”Anger Within are a long standing, original metal act from Atlanta, GA. Inspired by classic Metallica, Sepultura, Napalm Death, and other great legacy acts, they are ready to bring their music to a worldwide audience. They have opened up for Excruciating Pain, Karma To Burn, Two Man Advantage, Byzantine, Thy Will Be Done, Origin, Sworn Enemy, Dying Fetus, Kingdom Of Sorrow, Soilent Green, Madball, Primer 55, D.R.I., Malevolent Creation, Six Feet Under, Cannabis Corpse, Decrepit Birth, Marty Friedman, Holy Grail, Soulfly, Sacred Reich, Raven, Incite, Salem's Childe, & Venom Inc. They have also played the Atlanta stop of the Vans Warped Tour, (2010 & 2012,) on the Ernie Ball Battle Of The Bands stage @ Lakewood Amphitheater.Wulf Morris – vocals/guitarBryan Powers – lead guitarChris Hoff – drumsJason Confer – bass/backup vocalsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-like-it-s-live--4113802/support.
In 6th century Constantinople, Emperor Justinian would lead the Byzantine empire into conquering other lands, constructing impressive architecture, and instituting a new legal code that still influences nations today. But before a lot of that was done, Justinian faced the wrath of his subjects, with their rage coming to a head at one of the unlikeliest of places - a chariot race. Videos: Yale Courses: The Reign of Justinian Articles and books: Nika Riots: A Week of Chaos that Shook Byzantine Constantinople Nika Riots: History, Causes and Aftermath Blue versus Green: Rocking the Byzantine Empire CHARIOT-RACING HOOLIGANISM? THE NIKA RIOTS OF CONSTANTINOPLE Justinian: Emperor, Soldier, Saint, by Peter Sarris
Today we cover the major problems of our day: no one is thinking about challenging their paradigms. Whether it's evolution, politics, naturalism, papism or cults, the same spirit or sorcery underlies all of it. Superchats at any time here: https://streamlabs.com/jaydyer/tip Merch https://jaydyer-shop.fourthwall.com/collections/all Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnt7Iy8GlmdPwy_Tzyx93bA/join Support my work via Bitcoin here! bc1q07n9qqsvcx33yz6z8xj6meupqxxug9n55zzhqd Image Philosophy Course is here: https://marketplace.autonomyagora.com/philosophy101 Set up recurring Choq subscription with the discount code JAY60LIFE for 60% off now https://choq.com Subscribe to my site here: https://jaysanalysis.com/membership-account/membership-levels/ Music by Dr Evo the Producer, Jay Dyer and Amid the Ruins 1453 https://www.youtube.com/@amidtheruinsOVERHAULBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/jay-sanalysis--1423846/support.
Since the seventh century, September 1 has symbolized the day of the creation of the world in the Byzantine tradition and has been the opening feast of its liturgical year (known as the Feast of the Indiction), in parallel with Rosh Hashanah marking the Jewish New Year. We are celebrating this new feast day, Creation […]
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IntroductionSince the seventh century, September 1 has symbolized the day of thecreation of the world in the Byzantine tradition and has been the openingfeast of its liturgical year, in parallel with Rosh Hashanah marking theJewish New Year. Creation in Christ celebrates the ongoing creation of theworld in and through Christ, who sustains, unites, and holds all createdthings. We hear today of the triune God who creates all things: sun andmoon, shining stars, sea monsters, creeping things and flying birds—and,yes, even human beings. God-in-Christ still takes care of all things andinvites us to join in as caretakers of God's good creation. Readings:Genesis 1, Matthew 18:15-20 and Matthew 18:15-20
Your Faith Journey - Finding God Through Words, Song and Praise
Year A – Creation in Christ – September 6, 2026 Pastor Megan Floyd Genesis 1:1-2:4a Psalm 148 Acts 17:22a, 24-28 John 1:1-5 Grace and peace to you from God, our Creator, from the Holy Spirit, who gives life to all creation, and from Jesus Christ, through whom all things were made. Amen. *** Today is a little unusual… because today, we are celebrating something that is both very old… and very new. We are celebrating the Feast of Creation in Christ… officially, it lands on September 1, but we observe it in worship on the first Sunday following that day. It is very old… because Christians have been praying about creation on this day for centuries. And very new… because this is the first year we are celebrating it as a new festival in the Revised Common Lectionary… which is the three-year cycle of scripture readings and celebrations that guide our church calendar. So… what exactly are we doing? Where did this come from? …And why are we suddenly celebrating the Feast of Creation in Christ? Well… I'm so glad you asked! …The story begins in the Eastern Orthodox Church. For centuries, September 1 has carried a particular significance in the Byzantine Christian tradition. Since at least the seventh century, it has symbolized the beginning of creation… and it became the opening of the Byzantine liturgical year. So… the beginning of the church year was connected with the beginning of God's creative work. "In the beginning…" Genesis begins that way… and John begins his Gospel the same way. … "In the beginning was the Word…" And so, in 1989, Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios of Constantinople made an extraordinary invitation. He invited the entire Christian world to come together every September 1 in prayer… to give thanks to God for the gift of creation… and to pray for its protection and salvation. And something began to happen. Churches around the world began taking up that invitation. Christians from different traditions began praying for creation together. And eventually, September 1 became associated not only with an ancient Orthodox observance, but with a growing ecumenical movement of Christians caring for creation and giving thanks to the Creator. Then, in recent years, Christians from different traditions began asking a question: Could this ancient Eastern Christian observance become something the whole church could share? So… Christians began meeting together. Orthodox Christians… Lutherans… Catholics… Anglicans… Methodists… Reformed Christians… and Christians from many other traditions. Thirteen Christian world communions and ecumenical bodies participated in the conversations. And some of those conversations happened in Assisi… the hometown of St. Francis… a place already deeply associated with Christian love for creation. …This became known as the Assisi Process. They prayed… listened… and studied. And they asked a theological question that is really at the heart of what we're doing today: What does creation have to do with Jesus Christ? And the answer is… everything. …But this is not simply a Christian version of Earth Day. …This feast is bigger than all of that. …This is a feast of Christ. That's why the official name is not simply "Creation." It is… "Creation in Christ." When we say "Creation in Christ," We are saying that the one we meet in Jesus Christ is not a stranger to creation. …Christ does not arrive late in the story. Jesus doesn't suddenly appear in Bethlehem and begin God's work of salvation. John tells us: "In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God. And the Word was God. …And all things came into being through him." All things. …Before Bethlehem… before the manger… before the cross and the empty tomb… Christ was there. …The eternal Word of God… through whom all things came into being. Creation is not a prelude to the Christian story… but is, in fact, where the Christian story begins. Genesis tells us that in the beginning, the earth was formless and empty… and darkness covered the face of the deep. And then God speaks. "Let there be light." And there is light. God speaks… and creation responds. And then God separates, gathers, names, and blesses. …And again and again… God looks at what has been made… and calls it good. And then the Spirit of God moves over the waters… the Hebrew word is ruach… it means wind… breath… Spirit. God speaks… the Spirit moves… and creation comes into being. And so even here, at the very beginning, we have learned to see the mystery of the Trinity. God creates... the Word speaks creation into being… and the Spirit gives life. And yet… Genesis is not giving us a complete doctrine of the Trinity… that comes later, as the church reflects on the whole story of Scripture and on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. But once we know that story… we begin to see something that was there all along. Because Creation reveals something about the God who creates. The God we meet in Scripture is not solitary. …God is relationship… and love… God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. …And creation itself is the work of that Triune God. And our Psalm today doesn't simply tell humans to praise God… It calls everything to praise. The sun, moon, and stars… the waters… the mountains… the trees… the wild animals... even the turkey buzzards that live around this church…and finally… us. Praise the Lord! The whole of creation is caught up in worship… And that is one of the things this feast… this festival… is inviting us to remember. We are not standing outside of creation looking in… we are creatures within creation. …We are part of the song. And Paul says something similar in Athens… when he tells the people there that the God he proclaims is the God who made heaven and earth, and that this God does not live in a temple made by human hands. And yet… God is not far from us… because… in God… we live and move and have our being. The God who created everything is not distant from what God has made. …God is both beyond creation… and intimately present within it. And that means creation itself can become a kind of revelation. …Not because creation is God… we do not worship the trees… but we worship the God who made them. And when we look at creation… we can begin to see something about the One who made it. We see beauty… and relationship… and abundance… and interdependence. …We see life giving way to more life. And in all of this, we begin to glimpse the God whose very life… is love. I think this is part of what makes it so beautiful that Christians from the East and the West are celebrating this festival… together. Somewhere in the world right now, Orthodox Christians are praying these prayers… and somewhere else, Methodists are hearing these same Scriptures… and somewhere else, an Anglican congregation is singing a hymn to praise Creation. All different faith traditions… all giving thanks for creation… in different languages… and using different liturgies… but all praising the same Creator… all confessing the same Christ… all receiving the same Spirit. That is… beautiful! And while it's true that being ecumenical won't solve all of our disagreements… it does help us discover what we already share. There is one creation… one human family… one Creator… one Spirit… and one Christ… through whom all things were made. And Creation is not merely something God made a long time ago… Creation is ongoing… and God continues to meet us through created things. Because creation is not just the beginning of our story with God, but it is also the beginning of God's saving work for us. God creates a world… and God loves what God has made… and so when that creation becomes broken… God does not abandon it. …When we become broken… God does not abandon us. Instead… the Word becomes flesh… and Christ enters our world… enters our suffering… our sin… and our death. …and he carries all of it to the cross. And then… on the third day… he rises… because the God who said in the beginning, "Let there be light"… speaks again into the darkness of death… and there is life. So today, as we raise our voices in praise with Christian siblings all around the world… we also celebrate together… that the one through whom all things were made… is the same one who is still making all things new. The Creator has become our Redeemer. The Word has become flesh. The Spirit continues to give us the breath of life. And in Christ… all of creation, including us, is being gathered back into the love of God… this day and always. Amen.
Saturday, 5 September 2026 Last of all the woman died also. Matthew 22:27 “Afterward, also of all, she died, even the woman.” (CG) In the previous verse, it said that the next of seven sons had his dead brother's wife to raise up seed, and he died. This continued to the seventh son, all of them having her and then dying. Next, it says, “Afterward, also of all, she died, even the woman.” Note: The Tischendorf and the Westcott and Hort editions leave out the word kai, translated here as even. The Pulpit Commentary says of this, “and seemingly with good reason.” If kai is original as indicated in the Byzantine and Majority texts, it is inexcusable to leave out a part of God's word. Both doing and saying something like that epitomize the arrogance of some people in how they handle Scripture. As for the verse, the first words say, “Afterward, also, of all.” The point of the words is that the woman was left until the end. There was a family with seven sons, and she was brought into the family, marrying the oldest son. After this, her husband died. From there, the law stated that she was to become the wife of the dead husband's brother to raise up his name through his seed. This precept was followed, but before a child was born, he too died. This continued through all seven sons. All seven eventually died without leaving a son in the first son's name. Therefore, all of the players in this scene, whether true or hypothetical, were dead but her. At that point, it says, “she died.” It is a sad note, but one which speaks of the inevitable fate of humanity. Though her life was used within the family in a manner obedient to the precept found in the law, it was not enough to keep her from the effects of law on humanity. As Paul says – “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Romans 3:19, 20 The Sadducees were probably not concerned about these points at all. They have come to Jesus for an entirely different reason. However, these points all come into the larger point of Jesus' ministry and how it bears on humanity. With their statement concerning her, they finish with a point of emphasis, as if they are sealing the matter once and for all, “even the woman.” Whatever hope there could have been for raising up the dead man's name is lost with her gone. In Ruth, a similar account is given where a father, his wife, and their two sons go to Moab. While there, the two sons marry women of Moab. Eventually, however, the father and both sons died. Eventually, the wife of the father returned to Israel, and one of her daughters-in-law accompanied her. Through a series of events, she was accepted for marriage to a close relative, if a closer relative would not marry her. The closer relative could not accept the terms without marring his own inheritance. Therefore, it says – “And Boaz said to the elders and all the people, ‘You are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Elimelech's, and all that was Chilion's and Mahlon's, from the hand of Naomi. 10 Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon, I have acquired as my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brethren and from his position at the gate. You are witnesses this day.'” Ruth 4:9, 10 In the account in Matthew, with the woman's death, even the possibility of some broader application of the principle seen later in Ruth—where the name of the dead is preserved through a more distant kinsman—was gone. This is not the focus of the question that the Sadducees will propose to Jesus, but it is a way of finalizing this matter in regard to the oldest son, his name within the society, and how it could be raised up. Life application: Going to Ruth for an extended evaluation of this verse is appropriate, even in the point of law is fulfilled from Deuteronomy through the actions of the family in question. The reason for this is that extended matters can arise which affect points of law within the Bible. Knowing the rest of Scripture allows us to consider what is going on and how those things are unfolding in the process of redemption. The final words “even the woman” provided an emphasis that the Sadducees felt was sufficient to end the matter before presenting their question. Jesus' evaluation of, and response to, their words will be based on other parts of Scripture they did not consider. Therefore, reading and remembering all parts of Scripture will help you properly evaluate and respond to questions that may be proposed to you. Be sure to read the Bible daily. In doing so, the word will continually stay fresh in your mind. Lord God, help us to keep the word near as we pass through this life. There are so many times when a chance to share what it says arises. Unless we have it fresh in our minds, such opportunities may be lost. Help us to keep this as a priority always. To Your glory, we pray. Amen.
Gaius and Germanicus: The hosts debate whether empires end, comparing modern American dynamics with ancient Rome. Germanicus notes that as Rome expanded, its elites became highly globalized and disconnected from regular citizens, a pattern mirrored by modern Western globalists. When Rome collapsed in the West, the Eastern Empiretransformed cohesively into a Greek-Roman Byzantine state bound by shared religion and language. In contrast, American elites have degraded domestic coherence over thirty years. Germanicus hopes for a similar "renovatio" for America, though he remains skeptical, as Gaius closes discussing rising global sea temperatures. (3)
Alexius Comnenus is a well-known Byzantine Emperor not least because his daughter, Anna, wrote one of the greatest works of medieval literature about him called “The Alexiad.” It's a cracking read, full of vivid character descriptions, battle scenes, back-stabbing politics and written in an epic style that echoes the Roman and Greek classics. It's not just central to the history of Byzantium but also to the Crusades since she's our main non-western commentator on the First Crusade and wrote some of the best descriptions of the fiery leaders of that Crusade, like Count Bohemond. It is of course, a tribute, or a hagiography to use that term, to her father who emerges as an Odysseus-like hero. She describes him thus:“His dark eyebrows were curved, and beneath them the gaze of his eyes was both terrible and kind. When he came into a gathering and began to speak, you were conscious from the moment he opened his mouth of the fiery eloquence of his tongue…”Alexius has gone down in history as the man who saved Byzantium largely because that's what his daughter has told us, but historians are now questioning whether that was true and, in this episode, I want to suggest his reign was failing by 1095, and his appeal to the Pope for help against the Turks was the result of weakness, and not because he was in a strong position to launch a counter-offensive against the Turks as proposed in the Alexiad. Support the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com
In this stream I am joined by Jose Miguel to discuss the 4,000 year history of China and explain why modern China is the way it is. Make sure to check it out and let me know what you think. God bless Jose's Substack: https://josemiguel1492.substack.com/ Support Jose: https://buymeacoffee.com/josemiguel
In 533, a twenty-eight-year-old general named Belisarius sailed from Constantinople with 15,000 men to reconquer North Africa from the Vandals, a kingdom that had held it for nearly a century since the sack of Rome. The last time the Eastern Empire had attempted the crossing, the entire fleet had been destroyed. Belisarius landed, defeated the Vandal king in two battles, entered Carthage without a fight, sat on the enemy's throne, and was awarded the first proper Roman triumph in five hundred years. Then Justinian sent him to retake Italy with 7,000 troops. He took Sicily, took Naples, took Rome, and held it against a Gothic army that outnumbered him roughly twenty-to-one for over a year, personally leading cavalry charges from the crumbling Aurelian Walls. When the Goths offered him the crown of the Western Roman Empire, he pretended to accept, walked into Ravenna, arrested the Gothic leadership, and shipped them to Constantinople. Italy was Roman again. And Justinian, terrified of the man who had made it possible, recalled him, stripped his command, and never gave him the resources to finish anything again. Today's guests are Matteo and Matthew Storm, the father-and-son hosts of Lost Roman Heroes, who devoted a five-part series and over five hours to the life of Belisarius. We discuss why a man who did more than anyone since Aurelian to restore the Roman Empire has been almost completely erased from popular memory, how the Plague of Justinian and a volcanic winter destroyed everything Belisarius had reconquered, why Procopius wrote two radically contradictory portraits of the same man, and whether Antonina was the most unfairly maligned woman in Byzantine history or one of its most destructive. We look at why Justinian gave the eunuch Narses everything he never gave Belisarius and what that reveals about how empires manage the men they depend on, why the legend of Belisarius blinded and begging in the streets has persisted for fifteen hundred years despite being almost certainly false, and whether a civilization truly dies when its last true believer falls.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Donald Hugh McIntyre passed in 2025, but is remembered as one of the most insightful polymaths... while his blog Etherplan lives on. The episode came out in the first week of February 2019, ran two hours, and set the genetic code for Bitcoin Takeover podcast. Time stamps: 00:02:45 – Introduction: who is Donald McIntyre 00:04:49 – Was Bitcoin inevitable? 00:06:29 – 10,000 years of top-down structures vs 3.5 million years of evolution 00:08:27 – Cypherpunks: Chaum, Tim May, Nick Szabo 00:09:43 – The ancient desire for unconfiscatable money 00:11:55 – Bitcoin as a bottom-up system 00:12:39 – Living in a dual world: banks vs private keys 00:15:02 – Trusted third parties are security holes 00:16:40 – Nick Szabo's social scalability explained 00:18:27 – Why banking excludes: the unbanked in the US and Latin America 00:20:14 – Privacy, intelligence agencies & the false sense of security 00:21:13 – Is Bitcoin enough to make people demand decentralization? 00:23:23 – Asia's interest in Ethereum Classic & immutability 00:24:51 – Mt. Gox, breaches & untrustworthy third parties 00:25:57 – Not your keys, not your coins 00:27:28 – JP Morgan's building & the marketing of strength 00:28:45 – The instant gratification bribe 00:29:58 – The tradeoff: security means inefficiency 00:31:27 – The high performance fallacy 00:32:26 – Decentralization theater & scammers 00:33:48 – Hyperbitcoinization: elites first or the people who need it? 00:36:26 – The jet set analogy: how technologies bootstrap 00:40:54 – The Lindy effect 00:41:47 – The geeks got in before the bankers 00:43:25 – The token as intrinsic to the protocol 00:46:27 – Bitcoin as a biological invention 00:47:02 – How Nick Szabo thinks (and why he went to law school) 00:48:38 – Shelling Out: the origins of money 00:51:20 – The 150-person brain & money as a bridge between strangers 00:52:39 – Dawkins & reciprocal altruism 00:53:52 – Stone tools, subjective value & the first trade 00:56:15 – Reading Szabo 30 times: one article = six months of university 01:00:52 – Lomekwi, Oldowan & Acheulean: Donald's stone tool theory 01:03:42 – Stashes of hand axes as prehistoric vaults 01:04:58 – Is money millions of years old? 01:07:51 – Darwin, Dawkins & John Maynard Smith 01:08:31 – The logic of animal conflict 01:10:53 – Territory, asymmetry & conflict minimization 01:12:08 – Money as a conflict minimization device 01:12:36 – Bitcoin's game theory & the Byzantine generals problem 01:15:32 – Chimpanzees, bipedalism & why our brains grew 01:17:19 – Bitcoin carnivores 01:17:40 – Szabo & Satoshi: the Newton-Leibniz parallel 01:19:23 – Satoshi's credits: bit gold, RPOW, Hashcash, b-money 01:19:59 – The mystery of Wei Dai 01:20:54 – Remembering Tim May 01:21:53 – The JW Weatherman interview & the CoinDesk piece 01:23:40 – Tim May as the father figure who was never satisfied 01:24:39 – Why not David Chaum? The Elixxir disappointment 01:26:35 – Never underestimate the elders 01:28:08 – What the cypherpunks built: Tor, WikiLeaks, BitTorrent 01:30:17 – Napster, Megaupload & the raid in New Zealand 01:30:30 – Cryptography as a wall: violence made useless 01:34:10 – The shifting Ethereum narrative 01:35:27 – World computer: a marketing confession 01:38:11 – The spectrum from marketers to scammers 01:39:59 – The DAO fork fight & leaving for Ethereum Classic 01:40:44 – What Ethereum Classic adds to Bitcoin 01:41:17 – Liquid & RSK: glorified trusted third parties 01:41:57 – Turing completeness on the base layer 01:43:48 – The future: four or five networks 01:44:26 – ETC's monetary policy: 210 to 230 million 01:46:19 – The 51% attack that happened that week 01:47:48 – 220,000 ETC, 15 double spends & 5,000 confirmations 01:49:15 – The $5,000 ETC thesis 01:50:37 – What happens when Ethereum moves to proof of stake 01:51:37 – ProgPoW, the issuance cut & doing everything wrong 01:52:16 – The Nick Johnson poll on reversing double spends 01:52:54 – The Parity bailout & the precedent of the DAO 01:54:53 – Bitcoin: soft forks, Schnorr & the SHA-256 exception 01:57:09 – Governments will never voluntarily give up fiat 01:59:14 – Donald's criticisms of Bitcoin 02:00:02 – The 21 million cap as a political decision 02:01:13 – The miner lobby scenario, 40 years from now 02:02:09 – Merge mining, drivechains & the super miners 02:02:14 – Miners as the future Google and Apple 02:04:46 – Paul Sztorc, Truth Coin & the guest suggestion 02:05:40 – "Do you think I have a chance with Nick Szabo?" 02:06:31 – The selfish joy of podcasting 02:09:51 – Enlightening, a Lightning pun & goodbye
This week Beau chats to Raffaello Urbani - aka Metatron - all about the history of Sicily, from the ancient Greeks and Phoenicians, through the Roman period, through the Byzantine period, Muslim invasions, Norman invasions, German invasions, French invasions, Spanish invasions, twentieth century capture by the fascist and subsequent allied liberation, and much much more.
In this episode of The Wrap with Chris Whalen, Chris breaks down the 777 Partners bankruptcy — a sprawling collapse touching insurance, reinsurance, soccer clubs, and airlines that he says is a preview of how private credit ultimately unwinds: slowly, messily, and with fraud along the way. He explains why the contagion risk to insurance matters most for ordinary people, since firms like Apollo, Brookfield, and Blue Owl use insurance balance sheets to fund private credit strategies, leaving annuity and life policyholders exposed. Chris also digs into United Wholesale Mortgage, arguing the real problem wasn't the Two Harbors hedge but years of cash extraction and overvalued servicing assets — and what Oaktree's $1.5 billion rescue means now that "the grim reaper of Wall Street" is in the building. On markets, he describes a manic tape where cycles no longer exist, questions whether AI valuations survive Chinese competitors offering the same functionality at a tenth of the cost, and wonders whether Kevin Warsh will finally let the market take a hit. He then makes the case that the cooler CPI print is masking a genuine inflation problem: diesel is up roughly 35% since February, key industrial chemicals and LNG capacity was destroyed in the Iran conflict, and those input costs are rippling into food, housing, construction, and packaging. Finally, Chris explains why he thinks the gold and silver bull markets remain fully intact, and what the Byzantine Empire taught him about what happens when gold runs short.Thank you to our sponsor, Monetary Metals. Learn more at https://www.monetary-metals.com/THEWRAP/Links: The Institutional Risk Analyst: https://www.theinstitutionalriskanalyst.com/ 777 Partners blog post: https://www.theinstitutionalriskanalyst.com/post/theira879 Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/rcwhalen Seeing Around Corners book: https://www.theinstitutionalriskanalyst.com/product-page/seeing-around-corners-achieving-success-in-business-and-life-hardcoverUse the code TheWrap2026 for 25% off your first year of The Institutional Risk Analyst https://www.theinstitutionalriskanalyst.com/plans-pricingTimestamps:0:00 - Intro1:37 - 777 Partners bankruptcy: what the demise of private credit looks like3:56 - Does this accelerate the slow-motion train wreck?5:45 - Contagion risk to insurance: annuities, life policies, and private credit balance sheets7:36 - United Wholesale Mortgage, Mat Ishbia, and the Oaktree rescue10:44 - Oaktree, the "grim reaper of Wall Street," and stress in mortgage lending11:00 - DSCR loans and the rental-property workaround12:13 - Monetary Metals: earn a yield on your gold13:22 - Markets at records: "the numbers are too big"15:20 - The Warsh Fed: will bailouts end?16:05 - AI valuations, the price war, and Chinese competition17:36 - Inflation beneath the surface: input costs are exploding18:08 - Diesel up 35%, heating oil, chemicals, and the fall squeeze20:02 - Food prices, farmers, and the Iran war fallout22:39 - Spillover into housing, construction materials, and packaging24:19 - Gold's run higher and Chinese buying25:13 - Silver: a commercial trade, and the supply problem26:44 - The WGA precious metals top 25 list28:14 - Lessons from Byzantine monetary history29:38 - Parting thoughts: private credit surprises, the Middle East, and the midterms30:39 - Closing
The Battle of Manzikert in 1071 changed history. Not only was it the first step towards the end of the Byzantine Empire but it also established the foundation for modern Turkey. In western Europe, the growing threat of the Seljuk Turks would result in the First Crusade. And yet the the Byzantine defeat in the battle was far from inevitable as so many history books claim. Indeed, it was the opposite. It was the Byzantines who were winning until one of the most outrageous acts of betrayal in history snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. Find out what happened here!Support the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com
August 12th, 2026 - We discuss a German Bishop's declaration that he will not sanction lay preaching despite the Vatican ban. Then, we welcome back Fr. Jason Charron to examine the Eastern churches and whether or not they are feeling the pressure to modernize their liturgies. Links, Show Notes & More - https://thestationofthecross.com/act Email Us! ACT@TheStationOfTheCross.com
In this Conflicted Conversation, Nicholas Morton discusses his new book The Crusader Storm: A Global History of the Wars for the Middle East. Associate Professor in History at Nottingham Trent University, Nicholas reframes the Crusades as one part of a much larger transformation of the medieval Middle East, driven above all by Seljuk-Turkmen expansion, Byzantine contraction, Fatimid decline and the fragmentation of political power. Nicholas explains: The Seljuk-Turkmen transformation of the medieval Middle East Why the Crusades were not the region's main event Dandanqan, nomadic warfare and the rise of Seljuk power Abbasids, Fatimids and fragmented government before the First Crusade Manzikert, Byzantine civil war and the Turkish conquest of Anatolia Frankish-Turkish rivalry, alliances and shared warrior culture Crusader violence and Christianity's uneasy relationship with holy war Nizari Ismailis, Seljuk civil wars and competing Muslim priorities Damascus and Byzantium as key powers in Crusader geopolitics The Middle East as a crossroads of trade, ideas and cultural exchange Follow Nicholas on X: https://x.com/NicholasMorto11 On Bluesky: @nicmorton.bsky.social On Instagram: @Nicholas Morton And his You Tube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@MedievalNearEast Join the Conflicted Community here: https://conflicted.supportingcast.fm/ Find us on X: https://x.com/MHconflicted And Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MHconflicted And Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/conflictedpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Conflicted is a Message Heard production. Executive Producers: Jake Warren & Max Warren. Produced by Thomas Small and edited by Lizzy Andrews. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
I met Yonatan Sompolinsky in Romania during his summer holiday, so we decided to do a roadtrip interview about covenants, the state of Kaspa development, why intents are more interesting than smart contracts & stag hunts. 00:00:54 – Intro: a road trip with Yonatan Sompolinsky 00:01:50 – Life since S16 E41: Oxford Union & the state of Kaspa 00:02:53 – Kaspa shipped covenants while Bitcoin debates OP_CAT 00:04:24 – Sequencing commitments & based apps explained 00:06:48 – Why OP_CAT alone can't do censorship-resistant based rollups 00:07:21 – BitVM & optimistic vs optimistically verified rollups 00:08:05 – ZK was born for privacy but lives for scaling 00:09:18 – "For the record, I'm very bearish on rollups" 00:12:27 – Ethereum quietly abandons the L2 roadmap 00:13:33 – What ZK is actually for: a thin L1 & separation of layers 00:15:05 – Kaspa follows Bitcoin's UTXO design principles 00:16:04 – Ephemeral logic: generalized atomic swaps 00:17:25 – Camera gymnastics & an Aston Martin 00:19:28 – What covenants won't give you: the DeFi Lego box 00:20:05 – One-time logic vs contract deployment 00:23:18 – The use case question & crypto's crisis of utility 00:26:17 – Bitcoin the turtle & the DAGKnight progress report 00:28:17 – DAGKnight: 49% Byzantine resilience, no latency parameter 00:29:50 – Why 100 BPS on GHOSTDAG would 8x confirmation times 00:30:21 – Sponsors: Cake Wallet, LayerTwo Labs, Braiins, Orange Rock & SideShift 00:34:33 – Zcash made a comeback 00:35:19 – The mental map: where Kaspa is unique 00:38:49 – Real-time decentralization: sampling the honest majority 00:39:47 – Solana & Hyperliquid: fast, but led by one 00:42:46 – Only proof of work bundles proposing & content 00:44:35 – A bear market in usage, not just price 00:45:53 – Old-world use case: bridges & oracles 00:47:22 – Tourism break: Bușteni, mascots & ski resorts 00:49:38 – Hit-and-run agents & the agentic economy 00:51:06 – Having your cake and eating it too 00:54:32 – Vlad on Ecash, miner fees & Satoshi's biggest bet 00:56:37 – Sinaia & the royal train station 00:57:38 – "Bitcoin is dead boring to me at this stage" 00:59:50 – Ironwood, verifiable supply & Tachyon 01:00:39 – Driving like six confirmations 01:01:59 – The tectonic shift nobody noticed: verifying the supply 01:03:43 – The bug & Zcash's unfixable history 01:06:04 – Kaspa's pruning vs historical correctness 01:08:12 – How Zcash's rise paves the way for Kaspa 01:09:17 – The Zooko sleeping-in-the-car story 01:10:32 – "Just launch": Zooko one day before the Sapling bug 01:12:05 – Downplaying the bug & the counterfeit scenario 01:14:34 – Peter Todd's demurrage & the Ironwood migration 01:17:25 – Would any other coin survive this? 01:18:55 – Ethereum's identity crisis 01:21:28 – Back to L1: too little, too late; Solana's cohesion 01:22:46 – Oxford Union & political ambitions 01:24:44 – Hayek: true vs false individualism 01:26:04 – The isolated individual: Lopp, Poelstra & early Bitcoiners 01:32:52 – The enthusiastic individualist 01:34:52 – Coordination markets & Project Stag Hunt 01:35:19 – Prisoner's dilemma vs stag hunt 01:36:24 – Moloch, the demon of defection 01:37:18 – Part 2: stag hunt as the optimistic game 01:42:43 – Intents & NEAR Intents 01:44:03 – Intents vs smart contracts 01:45:21 – Part 3: Rousseau's ape men 01:49:45 – Intendos: "if many sign this, consider mine signed" 01:51:44 – Example: migrating a liquidity pool together 01:53:34 – Pack formation & threshold homomorphic encryption 01:55:42 – Actionable but not committed 01:57:18 – The Netflix example: voice for the scattered majority 02:01:36 – Who are the stags we need to hunt? 02:02:11 – Minarchist, anarchist or libertarian? 02:03:32 – Stag = shared utility; escaping Ethereum's L2 mess 02:06:28 – Composable Intendos 02:07:58 – Exiting network effects 02:09:11 – The Kaspa-Ethereum overlap: GHOST & Casper 02:11:55 – "I don't like DAGs": it's just a data structure 02:12:51 – Why DAGKnight survives a world war 02:15:22 – Michael Sutton & the Argent language 02:16:58 – Bypassing the impossibility theorem 02:18:06 – Ahead of his time or poor communicator? 02:19:31 – BPS vs TPS: the shift already happened 02:21:05 – Falling between the cracks 02:23:17 – The next narrative: coordination markets 02:24:26 – Brașov to Bucharest: documenting the trip 02:25:31 – Roles reversed: Yonatan interviews Vlad 02:27:06 – ACTA protests, internet freedom & political science 02:28:53 – Sztorc's party metaphor 02:29:57 – Zcash at $30 & the Coldcard hack 02:31:40 – What Kaspa actually needs: wallets, not exchanges 02:33:56 – Broadening cypherpunk: from protective to positive 02:37:16 – What have we really accomplished? 02:39:33 – Arriving at the Palace of Parliament 02:43:57 – The secret handshake & farewell
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for August 9, 2026 is: anecdote AN-ik-doht noun An anecdote is a short narrative about an interesting, funny, or biographical incident. // Dinner with our uncles means lots of anecdotes involving the mischief they got into as kids. See the entry > Examples: “Standing in front of a room of about 40 people … [NASCAR driver, Lavar] Scott told stories about his racing family. ‘One time, my grandmother raced my grandfather, and she flipped her Mustang,' said Scott. The anecdote was greeted with a chorus of laughs.” — Devin Jackson, The Orlando Sentinel, 28 June 2026 Did you know? The Byzantine historian Procopius wrote three historical works in Greek. In the first two, he dealt with wars and public works projects, but the third was different. Referred to as the Anekdota, from the Greek adjective anekdotos meaning “unpublished,” it contained bitter attacks on the emperor Justinian, his wife, and other notables of contemporary Constantinople. Understandably, it was not published until after Procopius's death. English speakers originally used an anglicized version of the book's name for similar secret or unpublished histories or biographies, but by the 17th century, the meaning of anecdote had been broadened to cover brief and interesting or amusing tales of events or incidents.
In this episode of The Wrap with Chris Whalen, Chris breaks down the week across mortgages, rates, and precious metals. He opens with United Wholesale Mortgage, explaining why he believes Matt Ishbia should resign after the company hedged the balance sheet of an acquisition target it didn't own and never won — a misstep that produced a six hundred million dollar loss and forced a rescue from Oak Tree on onerous terms that leave common shareholders at the back of the line. Chris contrasts that with Rocket's standout quarter and lays out his broader housing view: investment banks hold this market together until the IPO fees are booked, then step back, setting up a potential correction next year and a general decline in home prices of ten to twenty percent by 2028. From there the conversation turns to the return of financial repression — short-end yields pushed down while the long end reacts to deficits and inflation — and why, with debt approaching forty trillion, he considers Fed independence a fiction and the Treasury the dog to the Fed's tail. Chris also unpacks the Bank of Japan's thirty-day repo with the Fed, why it lit a fire under gold and silver, and David Kotok's idea of using euro-denominated US credit default swaps to benchmark gold. He closes on taxing wealth over income, the erosion of fiscal credibility, and his gold book research into thirteen hundred years of Byzantine monetary stability.Thank you to our sponsor, Monetary Metals. Learn more at https://www.monetary-metals.com/THEWRAP/Links: The Institutional Risk Analyst: https://www.theinstitutionalriskanalyst.com/ Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/rcwhalen Seeing Around Corners book: https://www.theinstitutionalriskanalyst.com/product-page/seeing-around-corners-achieving-success-in-business-and-life-hardcoverUse the code TheWrap2026 for 25% off your first year of The Institutional Risk Analyst https://www.theinstitutionalriskanalyst.com/plans-pricingTimestamps:0:00 — Intro1:08 — Why Matt Ishbia should resign from UWM2:30 — The Oak Tree rescue and what it means for shareholders3:31 — Mortgage earnings: PennyMac, loanDepot, Rocket4:23 — Is UWM going to be sold?5:43 — Health of the broader mortgage industry6:50 — Seven percent rates and where volume is coming from7:30 — What the Fed does next, and the long end8:20 — "Misery on the eights" — is the timeline accelerating?9:20 — Housing correction: 10–20% by 202810:40 — The return of financial repression12:00 — Why the Treasury benefits, and the shift to T-bills13:06 — "The Treasury is the dog, the Fed is the tail"13:40 — The dollar, foreign central banks, and gold reserves14:20 — The Bank of Japan repo transaction explained15:14 — What Warsh does if the FOMC wants a hike16:30 — Inflation, diesel exports, and the energy squeeze17:34 — David Kotok on benchmarking gold with credit default swaps18:40 — Why fiscal fear flows into gold19:30 — How far away is a US debt restructuring?21:04 — Taxing wealth instead of income22:42 — What cutting the deficit would actually do to rates25:15 — Back to the BOJ: why it forced gold and silver higher28:00 — What if Japan doesn't take the bonds back?28:48 — Foreign central banks are selling Treasuries29:47 — Does the US care about gold the way the rest of the world does?32:10 — Bessent and the K-shaped economy33:12 — Housekeeping: viewer question episode33:50 — Parting thoughts
Every schoolchild in the English-speaking world learns William the Conqueror's name. What most of them never hear is that William spent his final years bitter about another Norman knight — a man his own contemporaries considered the more accomplished conqueror of their generation.His name was Robert Guiscard. He was born to a minor noble family in Normandy with too many sons and too little land. He arrived in Southern Italy as a bandit stealing horses in Calabria. Twenty years later he was Duke of Apulia, had defeated the Byzantine Emperor in battle, and was planning to march on Constantinople itself. When William landed at Hastings in 1066, Guiscard had already been ruling more Italian territory for seven years than William would ever hold in England.And Guiscard wasn't alone. He was one of twelve brothers. Between them, the sons of a minor Norman lord named Tancred de Hauteville built the Kingdom of Sicily — a multicultural state employing Muslim scholars, Byzantine bureaucrats, and Latin monks in the same government. From Robert Guiscard's ducal title in 1059 to Napoleon's dissolution of the kingdom in 1816, that political architecture ran for 725 years.Today I'm joined by Memory Medieval to walk through the Norman conquest history didn't teach you.Follow Memory Medieval on X: @MemoryMedieval Substack: memorymedieval.substack.com Feigned Flight publication: feignedflight.com════════════════════════════
News items read by Laura Kennedy include: Ancient Amazon civilization reshapes understanding of rainforest history (details) (details) Byzantine shipwreck yields remarkable gold treasure (details) Ghost DNA study uncovers unknown human ancestors (details) (details) Newly identified Assyrian kings reshape ancient royal history (details) (details)
The Byzantine Empire didn't have to fall—history simply chose differently.The fall of Constantinople in 1453 is often presented as the inevitable end of a decaying empire—but what if that narrative is completely wrong? In this episode of History Rage, historian and author Laura Bolick dismantles one of history's most persistent myths: that the Byzantine Empire was doomed long before the Ottoman cannons fired.Drawing on her book Saving Byzantium: The Struggle to Salvage an Empire, Laura reveals a world full of missed opportunities, fragile alliances, political infighting, and last-minute efforts that nearly changed history. Rather than a slow collapse caused by decadence, the Byzantine story is one of diplomacy, survival, and desperate attempts to rally Western support that very nearly worked.At the heart of this story are two remarkable figures—Cardinal Johannes Bessarion and Isidore of Kiev—who risked everything to secure military aid from Western Europe. Their mission to unite the Orthodox and Catholic Churches was intended to bring the crusading forces that might have saved Constantinople. Incredibly, Ottoman commanders themselves nearly abandoned the siege before a final breakthrough changed the course of history forever.This episode explores the deeper causes behind the fall of Byzantium, including Western complacency, internal European conflicts, and the dangerous assumption that great cities could never truly fall. It's a powerful reminder that history isn't predetermined—it's shaped by decisions, timing, and human choices.In This Episode, We Discuss:Why the fall of Constantinople was not historically inevitableHow Western Europe failed to support Byzantium when it mattered mostThe political and religious tensions between Orthodox and Catholic ChurchesThe role of crusades in late medieval diplomacyHow the Ottomans engineered one of history's most remarkable siegesWhat Byzantium's fall teaches us about modern geopolitical complacencyAbout the GuestLaura Bolick is an art historian and researcher specialising in late medieval Byzantium and Renaissance intellectual culture. Her work focuses on the cultural survival of Byzantium and the figures who fought to preserve its legacy.Book: Saving Byzantium: The Struggle to Salvage an EmpireBuy from the History Rage Bookshop:https://uk.bookshop.org/a/10120/9781398122192(Using this link supports independent bookshops and the podcast.)Follow Laura BolickCheck your preferred bookseller for Saving Byzantium: The Struggle to Salvage an EmpireLook out for talks, articles, and appearances connected to Byzantine and Renaissance historyFollow & Support History RageLove bold historical debate and myth-busting scholarship? Here's how to stay connected:Website: https://historyrage.comTwitter/X: https://twitter.com/historyrageFacebook: https://facebook.com/historyrageInstagram: https://instagram.com/historyrageSupport the PodcastSubscribe on Apple PodcastsListen ad-free for £3/month via Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/historyrageShare this episode with fellow history enthusiastsYour support helps keep historical myths under siege.Why This Episode MattersHistory often looks inevitable in hindsight—but as this episode reveals, the fall of Byzantium was anything but certain. From near-abandoned sieges to failed crusades and shifting alliances, the fate of Constantinople hung on fragile moments and human decisions. Understanding those moments doesn't just reshape medieval history—it challenges how we think about the future. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this episode, we'll look at why the Seljuk Turks suddenly appeared in the Middle East in the eleventh century. The name Seljuk and the origins of Seljuk power lie with a man called Seljuk, who rose to prominence in the late tenth century. He was an Oghuz Turk, and at that time the Oghuz Turks were a group of nomads living around the Volga River. Originally from Mongolia, the Turks were ethnically similar to the Huns of the late Roman period and the future Mongols of the thirteenth century. History AnalyzedHistory Analyzed is a podcast which investigates both history's biggest moments and...Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com
The Roman pattern didn't end with Rome. It just kept running at a smaller scale.Everywhere the Western Empire had held together — Hispania, Gaul, North Africa, Italy, Britain — the political form gave out, but the substance didn't disappear. It fragmented, reassembled, and kept running the same three-part pattern at a new scale: money weakens the center, borders get harder to defend, and power drifts from institutions to individuals. That's the kill chain. And every post-Roman kingdom ran it, in slightly different form, over the next three centuries.By 800 AD, a Frankish king was crowned Emperor of the Romans by a pope who was still running what was left of Roman administration. 324 years after the "fall." The empire hadn't come back. It had been transformed — Roman memory fused with post-Roman military and economic power, held together by the Church.This is the finale of the "Life After the Fall of Rome" series. It's the synthesis of every argument the series has made: what actually happens when a civilization ends. And it's the setup for what comes next — because the Roman pattern didn't start with the fall. It started centuries earlier in the Republic. That's where we're going next.CHAPTERS:00:00 The Roman Pattern Didn't End with Rome02:03 Money, Borders, Power: The Three Fault Lines08:32 Visigothic Hispania: Religion as a Political Wall15:06 Frankish Gaul: The Most Successful Adaptation22:27 North Africa: Vandals, Byzantines, and Arabs28:13 Lombard Italy: Decentralization as Survival33:23 Anglo-Saxon Britain: The Frontier That Collapsed First38:21 The Papacy: How the Church Kept the Substance41:13 The Byzantine East: The Roman System That Survived47:38 800 AD: Charlemagne Becomes Emperor of the Romans51:24 The Modern Question: Money, Borders, Power Today1:00:33 Where the Pattern Started: The RepublicSOURCESPeter Heather — The Fall of the Roman Empire (2006) — the argument that barbarian kingdoms were assembled from Roman parts, not opposed to RomeMary Beard — the "lights went out" version of the fall was largely invented by later generationsBrian Ward-Perkins — The Fall of Rome and the End of Civilization (2005) — the archaeological evidence for material collapse, especially in BritainProcopius — History of the Wars — Belisarius's secretary, firsthand witness to the Vandal War and Justinian's Italian campaignsThe Corpus Juris Civilis (Justinian Code, compiled 530s) — the surviving Roman legal framework
This week Mother Natalia gives some examples of how to go to confession, specifically in the Byzantine tradition. Fr. Michael outlines some practicalities from the priest's point of view and what you will hear the priest say in confession. Mother Natalia gives an example of what it might look like to go to confession when it's the parish confession time and so you don't have tons of time for interaction with the priest. The second example is when you go to confession in the context of spiritual direction, or retreat, or a scheduled confession where the priest has much more time to listen.References:Fr. Damien Ference on NPRLife Hacks: Going to ConfessionFollow and Contact Us!Follow us on Instagram and FacebookWe're on YouTube!Join our Goodreads GroupFr. Michael's TwitterChrist the Bridegroom MonasteryOur WebsiteOur NonprofitSend us Fan MailSupport the show
Monday of the 16th Week in Ordinary Time Optional Memorial of St. Apollinaris; born in Antioch, and became a disciple of St. Peter; his successor as bishop of Ravenna, St. Peter Chrysologus, preached a sermon in his honor in the 5th century, recalling how in the Church’s infancy, St. Apollinaris showed deep faith and dedication in the face of punishment; two beautiful churches in the onetime important Byzantine city of Ravenna are dedicated to him; he died in 79 A.D. Office of Readings and Morning Prayer for 7/20/26 Gospel: Matthew 12:38-42
In the years from 1068 to 1071, the Byzantine emperor Romanus Diogenes tried but failed to stem the Turkish raids into Anatolia. Finally, he decided to lead his army far into the east, to stem the raids at their point of origin, near the fortress of Manzikert. There he would fight a battle that would change history.Support the showFor a free ebook, maps and blogs check out my website nickholmesauthor.com
Jay Dyer's interview on Tucker Carlson this week once again proved how far Christians are willing to go out of either ignorance or malicious intent to slap their label on things that do not belong to them, even if they contributed to the same after the fact. Jay claimed that the Byzantine empire was the greatest in history of the world because of Christianity. He also claimed yoga was anti-Christian and magic was wicked, while simultaneously saying that he believed literal bread and wine could be turned into the literal flesh and blood of a God and then consumed. Constantinople was founded in 330 CE. Christianity was adopted as the state religion of the Roman empire in 380 CE. Byzantine was not referred to as such until approximately 100 years later. However, Byzantine was simply the eastern half of the Roman empire. Although Byzantine was primarily Christian, Christians did not build it from the ground because the eastern empire was a continuation of the collective empire, and it inherited all the same economic, social, legal, etc. elements from a primarily non-Christian world. To paint Byzantine as a Christian empire as opposed to the alternative Muslim world is dishonest because their greatest enemy was the non-Muslim Sasanian empire, which embraced Zoroastrianism -- a religion not dissimilar from, but far predating, Christianity. The Byzantine empire utilized slave labor to the same extent the Romans or Muslims used them. Further east, Laozi was writing the same things found in the New Testament 500 years before Jesus. Buddha was tempted by Mara, like Jesus was tempted, but 500 years before. It is entirely relative to talk about the first hospitals and schools being Christian, because most previous societies had them. In fact, the Chinese Han Dynasty had both long before Christendom and Byzantine. Hindus, Buddhists, Muslims, all contributed to the university and hospital. The ancient Egyptians had medical centers and the Ancient Greeks had schools. The world's first and oldest continuously operating university is the University of Al-Qarawiyyin in Fez, Morocco. Founded in 859 AD by a Muslim named Fatima al-Fihri. The University of Bologna in Italy was founded in 1088 AD and is widely regarded as the oldest university in Europe and the first institution to use the term universitas (meaning a corporation of students). However, Taixue is likely the oldest institutional university in the world, dating back to 124 BC under Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty. Just as eastern Roman Empire wasn't called "byzantine" until after its collapse, Christians like to take credit for the first university, which was only such in name, not in conception or function.*The is the FREE archive, which includes advertisements. If you want an ad-free experience, subscribe below.
Send us Fan MailLet's travel back more than 1,100 years to meet Kassia of Constantinople, the earliest known female composer whose music still survives today. In just sixty seconds, I'll introduce you to this extraordinary Byzantine abbess, poet, and composer whose works are still sung today.Love classical music? There's more to discover.If you enjoyed this episode, you can read the companion article and subscribe on Substack at The Classical Music Minute. And for a brand-new narrated classical music story every day, download the Classical Minute app for iPhone.Until next time, I'm Steven Hobé. Thanks for listening to The Classical Music Minute.
We're excited to share a special feed drop from The a16z Crypto Show. In the first episode of First Principles: The Scientific Roots of Blockchain Technology, Tim Roughgarden and Ittai Abraham trace the decades of computer science research that laid the foundation for modern blockchains. Long before Bitcoin, researchers were studying one of distributed computing's hardest challenges: how independent machines can reliably agree on a shared state, even when some participants are faulty or malicious. Bitcoin didn't invent that problem, but it introduced a breakthrough solution in a radically different, permissionless setting. The conversation explores Byzantine agreement, state machine replication, proof of work, proof of stake, Tendermint, Casper, DAG-based protocols, and why concepts developed decades ago continue to shape the design of today's fastest and most secure blockchain networks. Resources: Follow Tim Roughgarden on X: https://x.com/Tim_Roughgarden Follow Ittai Abraham on X: https://x.com/ittaia Follow a16z Crypto on X: https://x.com/a16zcrypto Subscribe to The a16z Crypto Show: https://a16zcrypto.substack.com/subscribe/ Stay Updated:Find a16z on YouTube: YouTubeFind a16z on XFind a16z on LinkedInListen to the a16z Show on SpotifyListen to the a16z Show on Apple PodcastsFollow our host: https://twitter.com/eriktorenberg Please note that the content here is for informational purposes only; should NOT be taken as legal, business, tax, or investment advice or be used to evaluate any investment or security; and is not directed at any investors or potential investors in any a16z fund. a16z and its affiliates may maintain investments in the companies discussed. For more details please see a16z.com/disclosures. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Patrick answers candid questions about suffering, God’s hiddenness, and the interplay between free will and evil, weaving in scripture and Catholic tradition at every turn. Moving from the complexities of Church authority battles to the gentle art of helping friends become curious about faith, Patrick sprinkles practical wisdom on topics like late-in-life marriage, prenuptial agreements, and how anyone can approach the Liturgy of the Hours. April - Why doesn't God show His face and talk to us? Why does he allow suffering? (01:18) Bob –What is the difference between SSPX and Armenian or Byzantine rites of church? (09:49) Molly (email) - My non-religious neighbors’ two sons attended Vacation Bible Camp at our parish, loved it, and now want to learn more about Catholicism—how can I gently support and encourage their interest as a close family friend without overwhelming them with books or too much information? (18:07) Alex - My girlfriend seems pathologically jealous. Is there something in the Bible that can help her overcome this? (23:59) Yollie - Is there a time when you are too old to get married? Does a prenuptial agreement invalidate a marriage? (34:22) Linda - What is the Church’s view on novenas? (37:35) Monica (email) – Is there a laymen’s version of the Liturgy of the Hours? (40:45) Doloris (email) - Our parish priest mentioned that the verse in Matthew about the yoke being light was something many scholars believe that Jesus quoted from Sirach. If that’s true, wouldn’t that be a strong case toward the legitimacy of Sirach in the Bible? Fr. Jim (email) – Lay people can bless their homes Mack (email) - When everything in tech is getting smaller and faster these huge Data Centers do not make any sense to me.
Covering some 6,500m2 (70,000ft2), the spectacular mosaic cycle of Monreale Cathedral in Sicily is one of the largest in the world. The mosaics were created in the 12th and 13th centuries by order of Norman King William II in the Byzantine style. While the nave and clerestory mosaics depict Old Testament stories, the side aisle walls, instead, depict New Testament stories. The entire program culminates in the apse of the great cathedral with a massive "Christ Pantocrator" image.
After a quick check on the Nina Totenberg embargo kerfuffle and one more revelation from Justice Thomas's memoir, we devote the episode to Chatrie v. United States, the Court's first major Fourth Amendment decision in years. We trace how the geofence-warrant ruling builds on — and goes beyond — Katz, United States v. Jones, and Carpenter v. United States, and what's left of the third-party doctrine and the mosaic theory. Will explains the positive law model of the Fourth Amendment; Dan tries to claim Justice Gorsuch's separate opinion for his general-law approach. We close with the dissents, the advisory-opinion objection, and whether the Court should be saying more about the Fourth Amendment or less about everything. Along the way: Venmo heroin deals, smart microwaves, whether Will has genuinely forgotten his passcode, and a field-trip assignment for Chicagoland listeners.Highlights[00:00:21] Cold open: three recording sessions in three days, and the theories swirling around the Nina Totenberg screw-up[00:02:04] Justice Alito's embargo story: the press-room idea he liked until he learned they have to let the journalists out of the room[00:03:04] My Grandfather's Son follow-up: Justice Thomas's over-cautious marijuana confession[00:04:35] Cleanup-order watch: GVRs still owed in light of Slaughter, Landor, and B.P.J.[00:04:57] The main event: Chatrie v. United States, the geofence-warrant case — and why a 5-Justice Fourth Amendment majority is a good get for Justice Kagan[00:06:51] What a geofence actually is (there is no fence) and the three-step Google Location History protocol[00:13:52] General warrants, particularity, the University of Chicago backpacks hypo, and Ybarra v. Illinois — with a field-trip assignment to the Aurora Tap House[00:21:09] Three questions — search, reasonableness, exclusion — and the clever cert grant that fenced out the exclusionary rule[00:25:52] The setup: Jones and the two tracks of Fourth Amendment doctrine, step 0 (the third-party doctrine), then Carpenter[00:33:13] Will's positive law model of the Fourth Amendment, and Justice Gorsuch's Carpenter dissent[00:36:29] Orin Kerr's mosaic theory: "building out the mosaic Byzantine style, it starts to become searchier"[00:39:15] Kagan shuts the mosaic door: where the Fourth Amendment applies, it applies regardless of quantity — a fortiori from Carpenter[00:47:36] What survives of the third-party doctrine: Strava, public Venmo feeds, and the "For heroin" hypo[00:50:53] Why it's a big deal: the anti-mosaic holding, and a majority of Justices revealed as Carpenter people[00:54:48] Tangent: Face ID, the Fifth Amendment, Will's forgotten passcodes, and his enemies[00:56:55] Does the Stored Communications Act make all this academic?[00:58:34] The Jackson concurrence's particularity nudge, en banc remand practice, and Levy & Newman on unwritten circuit rules[01:00:43] The Gorsuch concurrence: papers, effects, property — Will disowns it and gives it to Dan's general-law approach[01:08:36] The Alito dissent: the advisory-opinion objection, footnote 4, the Davis carve-out, and the NRA v. Vullo precedent for a do-over remand[01:18:59] Justice Barrett's à-la-carte joins and her one-paragraph dissent — "we should have more dissents like this"[01:22:31] Two kinds of law professors, "The Supreme Court Flunks Trusts," and whether we're good on law[01:24:15] Sign-off: the rare promise of a schedule — a fourth recording session this weekRelevant linksCasesChatrie v. United States — slip opinionYbarra v. IllinoisUnited States v. JonesKatz v. United StatesSmith v. MarylandCarpenter v. United States — slip opinionFlorida v. JardinesDavis v. United StatesNRA v. VulloCommentary & articlesAmy Howe, "Court rules that law enforcement's use of 'geofence warrant' was a 'search'" (SCOTUSblog)Kate Shaw, Will Baude & Steve Vladeck, end-of-term Supreme Court roundtable (N.Y. Times, July 1, 2026) — the "hosannas" Will mentions on airWilliam Baude & James Y. Stern, "The Positive Law Model of the Fourth Amendment," 129 Harv. L. Rev. 1821 (2016)Danielle D'Onfro & Daniel Epps, "The Fourth Amendment and General Law," 132 Yale L.J. 910 (2023)Orin S. Kerr, "The Mosaic Theory of the Fourth Amendment," 111 Mich. L. Rev. 311 (2012)John H. Langbein, "The Supreme Court Flunks Trusts," 1990 Sup. Ct. Rev. 207OtherClarence Thomas, My Grandfather's Son (2007)Jon O. Newman & Marin K. Levy, Written and Unwritten: The Rules, Internal Procedures, and Customs of the United States Courts of Appeals (Cambridge 2024)
Rome wasn't killed by its enemies. It was killed by a rescue.Everyone knows the fall of Rome — 476, the last emperor, the barbarian king, the lights going out. Almost nobody knows what happened when the Eastern Empire under Justinian tried to take Italy back. The Gothic Wars of 535-554 emptied the peninsula. Milan — one of the great cities of the north — was leveled, its men slaughtered, its women and children enslaved. Rome itself was besieged over and over. The aqueducts were cut for the first time in the city's history. And the Plague of Justinian rode the exact same roads Belisarius had reopened for trade, killing perhaps a third of the Mediterranean world.By the time Justinian declared victory in 554, Rome held maybe 50,000 people — down from hundreds of thousands under Theodoric. There was almost no one left to govern. So the Pope started doing it. Not because God willed it — because no one else was left standing.This is Episode 3 of the "Life After the Fall of Rome" series. We're going to follow the 20-year kill chain from Justinian's decision to reconquer Italy through Belisarius's early successes, the sieges, Milan's destruction, the plague, the Gothic king Totila appealing directly to Italians against their supposed "liberators," and the arrival of the Lombards in 568 who found an Italy that 20 years of Byzantine reconquest had prepared for them.The barbarians took the crown in 476. The Eastern Empire took the civilization in 554. And the pattern is closer to an operating manual for every rescue operation that's ever been launched: when a government tries to restore something that no longer exists, it doesn't bring back the past — it destroys what's left.If you're new, start with Episode 1 ("Rome Didn't Fall — Here's What Actually Happened") and Episode 2 ("Theoderic: The Goth Who Kept Rome Alive for 33 Years") linked below.
World news in 7 minutes. Monday 6th July 2026.Today: US and Venezuela independence days. Iran Khamenei funeral. Ukraine drone strike. Germany AfD. France forest fire. China pastor released. Mali rebels. And Egypt discovers Byzantine city. With Ben MallettSEND7 is supported by our amazing listeners like you.Our supporters get access to the transcripts written by us every day.Our supporters get access to an English worksheet made by us once per week.Our supporters get access to our weekly news quiz made by us once per week.We give 10% of our profit to Effective Altruism charities.You can become a supporter at send7.org/supportContact us at podcast@send7.org or send an audio message at speakpipe.com/send7Please leave a rating on Apple podcasts or Spotify.We don't use AI! Every word is written and recorded by us!Since 2020, SEND7 (Simple English News Daily in 7 minutes) has been telling the most important world news stories in intermediate English. Every day, listen to the most important stories from every part of the world in slow, clear English. Whether you are an intermediate learner trying to improve your advanced, technical and business English, or if you are a native speaker who just wants to hear a summary of world news as fast as possible, join Stephen Devincenzi, Ben Mallett and Juliet Martin every morning. Transcripts, worksheets and our weekly world news quiz are available for our amazing supporters at send7.org. Simple English News Daily is the perfect way to start your day, by practising your listening skills and understanding complicated stories in a simple way. It is also highly valuable for IELTS and TOEFL students. Students, teachers, TEFL teachers, and people with English as a second language, tell us that they use SEND7 because they can learn English through hard topics, but simple grammar. We believe that the best way to improve your spoken English is to immerse yourself in real-life content, such as what our podcast provides. SEND7 covers all news including politics, business, natural events and human rights. Whether it is happening in Europe, Africa, Asia, the Americas or Oceania, you will hear it on SEND7, and you will understand it.For more information visit send7.org/contact or send an email to podcast@send7.org
CannCon and Ashe in America kick off Part 2 of G. Edward Griffin's The Creature from Jekyll Island with Chapter 7, and the crash course on money is anything but boring. Before a single page is read, the Supreme Court hands down a ruling that Trump can fire FTC commissioners but not Federal Reserve board governors, and Clarence Thomas lights up his dissent by saying the problem is not with the president but with the Constitution itself. Then Griffin takes it from barter to Byzantine, walking through four types of money, the natural price-stabilizing power of gold, the Monopoly board explanation of inflation, and the Roman Empire's currency debasement collapse compared to 800 years of Byzantine monetary stability. Alan Greenspan's 1966 essay calling gold the enemy of the welfare state gets read aloud, followed by the uncomfortable note that once he became Fed chairman, he went completely silent on the subject. The free market and sound money win every time. Government intervention loses every time. Griffin calls it a natural law. History agrees.
Before the triumphs of Michelangelo and Raphael transformed Rome during the High Renaissance, the foundations of the Roman Humanism were laid by remarkable scholars, patrons, and artists whose stories are often overlooked. In this episode, we explore the extraordinary patronage of Cardinal Basilios Bessarion, the Byzantine humanist whose vision helped bridge the intellectual worlds of East and West following the fall of Constantinople.Through the remarkable frescoes of the Bessarion Chapel, painted by the Roman artist Antoniazzo Romano, we uncover how theology, diplomacy, classical learning, and artistic innovation converged in fifteenth-century Rome. From Greek philosophy and manuscript collecting to the visual synthesis of Byzantine and Italian artistic traditions, this episode reveals how one cardinal's ambitious patronage helped shape the cultural landscape that would eventually give rise to the High Renaissance.Works Discussed: Antoniazzo Romano, Bessarion Chapel, 1463-1467, Santi XII Apostoli, Rome https://www.churches-of-rome.info/CoR_Info/SA-040/ChapBessarion.htmlAntoniazzo Romano, Madonna of Cardinal Bessarion, 1467 Support/Watch/Learn: https://linktr.ee/italian_renaissance_podcastThe Florentine Renaissance CourseSupport the show
Byzantine Tradition(Sunday June 28th 2026AD) by Duchovny Dom Monastery
Vanessa and Lorenzo nerdout about art job, project art and art lover, then they get into mount system, Florida life, family vacation, Duchamp, strong women, team sports, University of Virginia, leaving Florida, beautiful campus, college majors, Byzantine art, masters, tangible impact, UNI college, secret London, meeting James, I love cake, world tour, South America, jello airplane, #1 museum in the country and so much more! https://toledomuseum.org/
Of the millions of victims of the Black Death, one was a teenager named Joseph ben Meir Abulafia, who died of the plague in Toledo in 1349 alongside his new wife. His tombstone was inscribed as a conversation with the dead: "I am the man who has seen desolation and destruction, blood and pestilence. The days of my youth were cut short suddenly, in the prime of my life." His unnamed mother survived, left alone and childless, her days filled with "bitter weeping." That inscription is one of seventy-six medieval tombstones from Toledo's Jewish cemetery that preserve the most personal voices of history's deadliest pandemic, a catastrophe that killed an estimated 100 million people in six years and whose aftershocks lasted for centuries. Today's guest is Thomas Asbridge, author of The Black Death: A Global History of Humanity's Most Devastating Pandemic. We discuss how a minor Venetian merchant's business papers, preserved by his widow in a convent, reveal that the medieval trade networks which kept cities fed were also purpose-built to spread epidemic disease across thousands of miles. We look at why the Byzantine emperor wrote about his fourteen-year-old son's death with clinical detachment, how a Franciscan intellectual who had questioned whether other worlds existed died carrying holy water through plague-ravaged Messina, and why the only European king killed by the Black Death was besieging Gibraltar with dreams of marching to Jerusalem when the plague found his camp. The pandemic's most devastating long-term consequences were felt not in Europe but in the Muslim world, where the once-invincible Mamluk Empire was broken by recurrent outbreaks and eventually conquered by the Ottomans, and that this forgotten collapse may have been the true hinge point that set the West on its path to global dominance.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
How can we study the late ancient and Byzantine history from ecological perspectives? How might one grapple with the more-than-human in sources and media created by humans? Exploring the diverse ways in which pre-modern texts engaged with the broader natural world, Ecologizing Late Ancient and Byzantine Worlds (Bloomsbury, 2025) presents scholarly ventures into the terrains of the past. From the ancient treatises on dreams to monastic tales from the Hexameron literature to the Byzantine romance, from the Exeter Book to a mysterious Byzantine icon, the chapters investigate a diverse range of literature and other sources, uncovering intricate ecosystems of relationships. The team of leading international experts behind the volume focuses on encounters between human and more-than-human beings. They pay attention to the entanglement of multiple agencies that cut through texts and other meshes. With insights from such theoretical traditions as ecocriticism, new materialism and environmental humanities, they re-expose ancient media to the elements. New Books in Late Antiquity is presented by Ancient Jew Review Laura Borghetti is a Doctoral Candidate in Byzantine Studies at Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Germany. Thomas Arentzen is a Reader in Church History at Lund University, Sweden, and Associate Professor at Sankt Ignatios College, Stockholm School of Theology, Sweden. Michael Motia teaches Classics and Religious Studies at UMass Boston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
How can we study the late ancient and Byzantine history from ecological perspectives? How might one grapple with the more-than-human in sources and media created by humans? Exploring the diverse ways in which pre-modern texts engaged with the broader natural world, Ecologizing Late Ancient and Byzantine Worlds (Bloomsbury, 2025) presents scholarly ventures into the terrains of the past. From the ancient treatises on dreams to monastic tales from the Hexameron literature to the Byzantine romance, from the Exeter Book to a mysterious Byzantine icon, the chapters investigate a diverse range of literature and other sources, uncovering intricate ecosystems of relationships. The team of leading international experts behind the volume focuses on encounters between human and more-than-human beings. They pay attention to the entanglement of multiple agencies that cut through texts and other meshes. With insights from such theoretical traditions as ecocriticism, new materialism and environmental humanities, they re-expose ancient media to the elements. New Books in Late Antiquity is presented by Ancient Jew Review Laura Borghetti is a Doctoral Candidate in Byzantine Studies at Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Germany. Thomas Arentzen is a Reader in Church History at Lund University, Sweden, and Associate Professor at Sankt Ignatios College, Stockholm School of Theology, Sweden. Michael Motia teaches Classics and Religious Studies at UMass Boston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history
I thought you might be interested in my latest book called The Inheritors of Rome which relates particularly well to the content in this podcast since it's about the period just before the Crusades and it also covers a lot of Byzantine history. Link to Amazon.Why did I write the book? I wanted to close my series on the fall of the Roman Empire with an examination of what happened after the fall.I look at a period often called the Dark Ages. And yes, I think they were dark for many people. But they were also the birthplace for not just modern Europe (and to some extent America as well) but also for Islam.I think it's difficult to understand the modern world without knowing what happened in the centuries after Rome fell.So, the book covers the period from around AD 700-1000. It examines the collapse of Roman civilization in Europe to the rise of Charlemagne's empire. From the explosive expansion of early Islam to the resilience of Byzantium. From the devastation of the Vikings to the birth of medieval Europe. It aims to paint a sweeping, interconnected portrait of a world in upheaval.I aim to shed new light on forgotten turning points, revealing how environmental pressures, religious conflict, economic dislocation and cultural reinvention laid the foundations for the rebirth of Europe after the fall of Rome.The link to Amazon is here - I'd love you to take a look, and if you do read it, I'd be thrilled to hear your thoughts. And of course, if you enjoy it, a review on Amazon would mean a great deal to me.Thank you again for your continued interest and support — it's what makes all of my work possible.Please take a look at my website nickholmesauthor.com where you can download a free copy of The Byzantine World War, my book that describes the origins of the First Crusade.
Mother Natalia is back and it's her first visit to the new set. She shares her vocation story as well as insights into Byzantine spirituality, sin, suffering, and intimacy with God. Ep. 582 - - -
(3) Finally, the pair shifts to Persian diplomacy and the "dispensation for deception." Germanicus explains how Iranuses strategic deceit to survive existential threats, specifically aiming to separate United States interests from Israel. They speculate that modern leaders may settle conflicts through informal "backdoor handshakes" or social media posts rather than traditional documents. Drawing on Byzantine history, they suggest appeasement and payoffs can be more effective than direct combat. The dialogue ends with the Spartan legend of a boy who allowed a hidden fox to disembowel him to avoid public shame.1716
Sam interviews Todd Brown and Isaac Brown of Brown Church Development Group. A growing number of church leaders, architects, and donors are reconsidering what sacred space should look like. In this episode, we explore the rise of the hyper-traditionalist movement in church architecture—a revival of classical, Gothic, Romanesque, Byzantine, and other historic styles that aim to communicate permanence, beauty, and theological depth. While this movement is still niche in North America, it is more than an aesthetic preference. It reflects a broader conviction that church buildings should feel unmistakably sacred rather than utilitarian or disposable. The post The Hyper-Traditionalist Movement in Church Architecture (Is Anyone Really Building Churches This Way?) appeared first on Church Answers.
I pick the 10 Worst Byzantine Emperors Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
The conclusion of the Viking Age is often associated with the pivotal year 1066, marked by the death of Harald Hardrada at the Battle of Stamford Bridge. Hardrada was a legendary King of Norway who had lived an extraordinary life, serving as an imperial bodyguard in the Byzantine capital of Constantinople where he was rewarded with gold or "embers of the hands." He sought to reclaim the English throne, which had previously been held by King Canute during the era of the North Sea Empire that united England, Denmark, and parts of Norway. While 1066 is a convenient historical bookmark, Barraclough argues it is an Anglo-centric view that ignores the persistence of Norse culture in other regions like Greenland or Russia. The era also featured figures like Harald Bluetooth, who famously claimed to have converted the Danes to Christianity and whose runic initials now serve as the symbol for modern Bluetooth technology. Another symbolic ending occurred much later in 1263 at the Battle of Largs, where King Haakonof Norway faced off against King Alexander III of Scotland. Although the battle was inconclusive, Haakon'ssubsequent death in Orkney led to the Western Isles being ceded to Scotland, marking the end of significant Norwegian political control in the region. 7/81630