What do you know about the Hippodrome of Constantinople? If you’re like most people, the only ancient sports stadium you’ve heard of is the Colosseum in Rome. I don’t blame you. It’s huge, it’s famous, tourists love it, and it hosted gladiator combats. Unless you’re still angry at the Romans for their barbaric willingness to […]
Tag: Colosseum
Reviewing Etched in Starlight, by Rosie Chapel
Etched in Starlight is a novel featuring the converging historical paths of two people of the first century CE. One is a Roman legionnaire, Maxentius, the other a Jewish physician named Hannah. Their fates collide in 66 CE when Jewish rebels attack the Roman fortress of Masada to challenge Rome’s occupation of Judea. Maxentius is […]
Byzantine Sports – A Number of Choices
Our last post about the Byzantines (click here to read it) described the importance of chariot racing in the Byzantine Empire. Today, we’ll finish this topic with what the races were like and then examine other Byzantine sports. Byzantine Sports – The Charioteers Men who were skilled at racing held the public esteem just as […]
The Spalding World Tour of 1888-1889
The late 1800s was an age of imperialism, and Albert Spalding knew it. Powerful European nations struggled across the globe to carve out colonies and extend their military, economic, and cultural influence to the ends of the earth. America’s industrial interests were doing the same and, in its own way, the game of baseball was, […]