Premodernist

January videos

Happy new year! My Patreon videos are going to be a little later this time, probably around the middle of the month. I hope that's okay.

The parallel lives of Ancient Rome and Ancient China

Rome and Han-dynasty China were at their most powerful during the same period, the first two centuries AD/CE. Some historians have drawn parallels between the two empires, noting apparent similarities between the stages of their history. In this video I review the stages as laid out by the historian Walter Scheidel and give my thoughts.

Why did medieval people believe in astrology?

Here's the patron-only video for November. Astrology was used almost universally during the Middle Ages. It was a standard subject taught at universities. Everyone with a university education was expected to be familiar with it, and it was an integral part of medical practice. Rulers consulted astrologers when making important decisions.

So these are the questions I address here: What was...

Why learn about history?

Here's my first patrons-only video. I talk about my three reasons for thinking that history is worth studying, and also a couple things I don't think history is useful for.

Since at time of posting there aren't any patrons yet, I picked the topic. Eventually, if folks pledge at the middle tier or higher, they'll get to vote on topics.

If you use captions let me know how the experien...