Persian Christianity - May 2025
Few Persians today know the period between Darius and the Islamic conquests well, about their region’s Christian past.
WIP Coupling Language and Geography - May 2025
Historical linguistics has a lot to teach us about API/DSL design. While a decades old codebase may be a crime scene, human languages have endured magnitudes more churn!
Notes on Persianate India - Mar 2025
In the 1820s, the East India Company replaced Persian with English
Touring Older Persian Grammars - Feb 2025
Two hundred years of scholars and adventurers learned and taught Persian to yet more adventurers and scholars
REVIEW: The Education of Cyrus, by Xenophon - Jan 2024 - John PSmith
Xenophon teaches us leadership.
On Vaclav Smil - Jan 2023
Interesting guy.
Old English and Old Norse - Feb 2019
Old English and Norse were mutually inteligible, but OE literary culture blossomed centuries earlier with Christianization.
Arabian National Bank of Hedjaz - Jun 2005 - Peter Symes
The bank of Hejaz printed, but never issued notes, which featured scenes from other countries.
Gulf Rupees - A History - Jun 2003 - Peter Symes
Gulf Arab countries used the Indian Rupee, until independent India issued them a new Gulf rupee.
Notes
On the Renaissance - Jul 2026
I admire the Italian Renaissance.
Jangal Movement - Jul 2025
A constitutionalist revolt in WWI Iran turned into a Soviet insurgency