World History Facts

Facts and artifacts from world history, pretty much every day. Check out my longer writing here. I'm on Mastodon, too. I would be forever grateful if you bought me a beverage.

[worldhistoryfacts]

Since there’s really no art portraying the Goths from the late antique period, when they were a powerful force in much of Europe, later artists just guessed at what they might have been like. Alaric, the Gothic leader who marched into Rome, was seen as a typical high medieval king in 1493:

And a louche classical figure in 1879:

Most depictions of the Goths, like this painting from 1890, show them as barbaric, destructive figures:

But who were the real Goths? Check out this week's post...

No, Not Those Goths

Who were the real Goths, anyway?

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Sometimes you come across a face from the ancient world and want to know more about it than you can.

This is an Etruscan cosmetics container in the shape of a female head. Who was she? Archaeologists speculate that she may have represented Turan, the Etruscan love goddess. Or maybe Lasa, a winged goddess who often accompanied Turan. Perhaps it’s meant to be a portrait of the woman who owned it. We’ll never know for sure.

More about the Etruscans and their modern reception here:

The Etruscans: Still Hard to Read

Can we appreciate them without comparing them?

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In the Greek sources, the Scythians are often out there on the fringes of civilization, elusive and unknowable. The Greeks liked to portray them as barbarian foils who revealed the essential nature of Greek civilization. But what can we really know about the Scythians and their way of life?

We can see the prevalence of horses in their art:

And, in fact, all sorts of animals:

We can see their interaction with the Greeks, too, in the goods that the two societies exchanged:

For much more on the Scythians as portrayed by others and themselves, read this week's newsletter:

The Scythians Are Still Elusive

Steppe nomads through the eyes of others

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If the Romans were trying to stamp out the memory of Carthage when they destroyed it, they failed. Stories about the African city — some true, some fictional — continued to circulate in Rome and then in later societies, too.

From Dido, the ultimate example of a woman scorned...

to Hannibal, the supposed greatest general in history...

Carthage remained a part of the popular imagination long after it was gone.

Carthage: Memory and Myth

How did the idea of Carthage live on after its defeat?

[worldhistoryfacts]

’m sure you learned about Carthage in school. And I’d bet that what you learned about it was that Hannibal took some elephants over the Alps, gave the Romans a bad scare, and served as a worthy foe against which the Romans could test their mettle. Then the Romans destroyed Carthage.

But Carthage was much more than a foil for the Romans. It was a fascinating civilization, but, thanks to the Roman destruction, we can only get glimpses of their gods:

Their writing:

And their culture:

Much more about what we know (and don't know) about Carthage here:

Glimpses of Carthage

What can we know about one of the great ancient civilizations?

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I know a lot of people who have invested heavily in expensive gear so that they can consume their morning coffee the “right” way. This isn’t a new phenomenon. For hundreds of years, people have gone to great lengths to enjoy their stimulants properly.

There were elaborate tea chests (lockable because the tea inside was so valuable):

Tea caddies:

Sugar tongs:

And snuffboxes:

Much more here:

The Right Way to Consume Your Stimulants

Early modern style

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My favorite artifact from this week’s post on the history of chocolate — a Mayan mug with the glyphs on a diagonal so that they’d be horizontal when the drinker tilted the cup.

Some pre-Columbian chocolate vessels were elaborate:

And others simpler:

How chocolate became a stimulant that made the modern world:

Chocolate: a Stimulant That Made the Modern World

"There is nothing comparable in the world"

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Before the 1400s, as far as we can tell, no one on earth had ever had a cup of coffee. Now, people drink nearly a trillion cups a year.

How did coffee become a global commodity? Why did some people think it was a "harmless and healing liquor" while others thought it was a "bitter invention of Satan?"

And why did Frederick the Great deploy a legion of “coffee sniffers?”

All this and more, in this week's newsletter!

Coffee: a Stimulant That Made the Modern World

"Harmless and healing liquor" or "bitter invention of Satan?"

[worldhistoryfacts]

Was tobacco a miracle drug capable of “marvellous workes” or a “filthie noveltie?” This intoxicant — and the way one ingested it by smoking rather than drinking — captivated Europeans.

They saw it and its association with Native American cultures as tantalizingly exotic.

The drug became an important engine of conviviality and contemplation.

This week — how tobacco changed the world:

Tobacco: a Stimulant That Made the Modern World

Tobacco is like love?

[worldhistoryfacts]

At first, in Europe, sugar was a rare delicacy and display of wealth. Rich people would display elaborate sugar sculptures on their tables.

Then, plantation slavery made sugar common and cheap. Sugar became an affordable stimulant, albeit one with very questionable ethics.

This week, a look at sugar's role as one of the stimulants that made the modern world.

Sugar: a Stimulant That Made the Modern World

Chasing that sugar high

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The energy that made the modern world didn’t come out of nowhere. A new global trade in stimulants gave workers the energy to toil in the factories and thinkers the fuel to invent a new world.

First in the series: tea, which sparked new ideas about mindfulness and civility...

As well as war and espionage:

Tea: a Stimulant That Made the Modern World

The best of herbs!

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The guillotine was supposed to be a symbol of the enlightened nature of the French Revolution. It was quick, efficient, and (supposedly) painless. A triumph of rationality!

But it also became a symbol of the limits of that rationality. The people who ran France had evolved beyond medieval-style torture in the name of humanism, but they didn’t think to discard the death penalty altogether.

The guillotine soon became a symbol not of reason but of chaos and disorder.

Yep, I wrote this week about the history of the guillotine in art and culture:

How a Machine Became a Metaphor

The guillotine in history and culture

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France's First Estate, the clergy that ran the Catholic Church, was an important, respected part of society until the Revolution cast them as oppressors:

Suddenly, the clergy was an enemy of the people; violence was encouraged against them:

The new government tried to replace them with a cult of reason:

Or vague faith in a Supreme Being:

What happened when the French Revolution attacked one of the central pillars of traditional society? Check it out:

What Is the First Estate?

How the French Revolution went to war with the Church

How France Tried to Replace God

What is the First Estate, part 2

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Who decided Napoleon was short? One candidate was James Gillray, who helped to pioneer the political cartoon and helped British people visualize the tumult that was happening across the channel.

His early enthusiasm for the French Revolution soured as the revolutionaries turned on the royal family and sowed chaos.

When Napoleon took over, Gillray didn’t like him either, considering the new Emperor to be a gauche pretender.

Gillray soon found a line of attack — Napoleon became “Little Boney,” a small, insecure, hyperactive little pest.

How Napoleon Became Short

James Gillray's vision of the French Revolution

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I didn’t write this week’s post with the McDonald’s CEO in mind, but I can’t help noting the similarities between him and Marie Antoinette.

The McDonald’s guy thought his burger eating video would be a nice little marketing move, and somehow ended up inviting the ridicule of a gleeful internet mob that wanted to shame him for biting into his burger with insufficient gusto.

Similarly, Marie Antoinette kept trying to appear in certain ways — motherly, fashionable, regal — to the French public, but could never get it right. Every step was a misstep, and she catastrophically lost control of her image. People saw her as a Gorgon, a pantheress, or worse.

This wasn't just a run-of-the-mill PR disaster; it had world-historical consequences:

How Marie Antoinette Lost Control of Her Image

A PR disaster with world-historical consequences

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Walking down the street in revolutionary France, you could signal your politics with a haircut or an accessory.

Your style might signal that you were an aristocrat cheekily flaunting your privilege:

Or that you were in favor of revolutionary values… within reason.

Clothes told the story of the late revolution, from the guillotine to Napoleon’s quarters.

The Fashion Counter-Revolution

The French Revolution in clothes, from the guillotine to Napoleon

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What you wear communicates something about who you are, and this was never truer than during the French Revolution.

Fashion choices like the one Marie Antoinette made in this portrait helped bring the monarchy down...

And during the revolution, hairstyles, dresses, jackets, pants, and hats all signaled not just what class you belonged to but what your political leanings might be.

Read all about the impact of fashion on the revolution -- and vice versa:

The Fashion Revolution

How clothing became political in revolutionary France