Author: Retrospect Journal
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Hesiod’s Guide to Winter
Hesiod’s “Works and Days” serves as an instruction on how to be a good farmer, including when poor weather hits. Fiona MacRae looks to the ancient Greek poet for some advice on how we might brave the colder months – goat skin optional.
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Claudia Efemini set to publish debut novel A Letter Away From Asaba in Spring 2023
“A Letter Away From Asaba”, the debut novel of former Retrospect Columnist Claudia Efemini, follows the lives of two friends who confront the British press’ censorship of the 1967 Asaba massacre. Exploring their grief, trauma and resilience, Claudia’s novel, set for release in 2023, aims to bring awareness to a largely neglected event in Nigerian…
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The Galaxy’s Greatest Mystery: Dark Matter and its Development
Within the twentieth-century rise in theoretical cosmology, the study of dark matter gained traction as scientists worked to explain its existence. Kat Jivkova explores the collaborative studies which led to the development of dark matter theory and a means to perceive the invisible.
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Dead and Buried? Finding Edinburgh’s last hanged woman in oral history
Charged with a most heinous crime, Jessie King would come to sit in the annals of Scottish history as the last woman hanged in Edinburgh. Chloe Bramwell explores the story of a woman who may have been as much a victim of circumstance as a villain for commercial tours to exploit.
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Project Greek Island: Duck and Uncovered
In the 1950s, during the height of the Cold War, nuclear panic led to the creation of underground fallout shelters around the world–sometimes in unexpected places. Sam Marks tells the story of the creation of a classified nuclear bunker for members of the US government underneath an unassuming hotel.
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Empress Matilda: What Happened to England’s First Female Heir?
In 1135, with the death of Henry I, England was plunged into civil war over a succession crisis, at the heart of which lie the question: should a woman be able to sit on the throne? Megan Crutchley explores the life and legacy of Empress Matilda, the woman who almost became the first ruling Queen…
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Decline, Fall and Reuse: Greek Nationalist Uses of Byzantine Archaeology since 1830
Following the collapse of the Byzantine Empire to the Ottomans in 1453, it found new provenance in shaping Greek identity during its struggle for independence. Verity Limond explores the place of Byzantine archaeology alongside glorification of the classical past.
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Beth Shean Sarcophagi: Why are these finds significant?
A collection of clay coffins excavated in Beth Shean dating to the New Kingdom of Egypt have led to a number of competing theories regarding their provenance. Eleonora Soteriou discusses the significance of this find and what it might reveal about identity and acculturation during a time of Egyptian expansionism.
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