One of the protagonists of the last World Cup in Russia has been the VAR (Video Assistant Referee , video assistant referee), which consists of a set of cameras distributed throughout the field that retransmits the signal to a room where video assistants can review the goals, cards, penalties and th
Before 2300 BC, the plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers was divided into city-states. As is often the case when such a circumstance occurs, these cities warred with each other from time to time, usually to seize resources. Sumerian cities did not have standing armies, but relied on the for
Although all the constructions of Antiquity that are still standing today, regardless of their size, would deserve the prefix of mega Just for the fact that they are still standing, today I will talk about two of them, one civil and the other military, not very well known and that deserve the descri
It is possible that one of the oldest professions of humanity is that of a banker. Curiously, we have no news that it was practiced in hunting societies, possibly due to the ease with which a mortgage could be repaid by means of 15 cm of sharpened flint. But when they appeared, in cultures with agri
The War of the Allies (91-88 BC) was a conflict between Rome and most of its Italic neighbors to achieve Roman citizenship, which meant equalizing one and the other in the face of a historical imbalance resulting from the overwhelming superiority of the Republic. The most novel thing is that it was
This corruption thing must be innate to the human condition, because throughout history and anywhere in the world we find multiple business opportunities for the followers of the saying “I dont ask you to give me, just put me where beech ”. To prosecute this type of crime and tackle this social scou
When we talk about omnivorous animals, such as humans or pigs, we mean animals that eat all kinds of organic substances. The big difference is that in the case of the pig the prefix omni – (everything) refers to “everything” literally:plants, worms, insects, tree bark, dead animals, garbage, excreme
I guess for those of you who have seen the movie Quo Vadis? (1953) you will be familiar with the scene in which Nero contemplates how Christians are devoured by wild beasts in the Colosseum. Otherwise, a brief synopsis of the film:the Roman general Marco Vinicio returns victorious from the battlefro
Let us take into account a fundamental nuance when delving into the sexuality of those times:our current modesty and congenital blush for some topics, such as sex, is imbued in our minds by the Judeo-Christian education that we have received since childhood and that some of our elders still profess.
The harangues of the champions before going into battle to inflame the spirits of the combatants are typical and, above all, very cinematographic. In this case, the confrontation occurred in the year 61 between Boudica , the queen of the Iceni, and Caius Suetonius Paulo , Roman governor of Britain.
They say that the oldest profession in humanity is that of a prostitute, although I have my doubts. If we take a look at the culture of the blackheads, it could be true, since they attached great importance to this occupation, but there is another activity that appears from the first cuneiform table
A battle as a stage in the middle of Antiquity. Hannibal and his Hispanic troops face thousands of Roman warriors eager to fight. And in the first line of battle on the side of the Carthaginian general, a large group of Balearic slingers, who threw stones with their slings with which “they surpassed
The Sumerian economy was based mainly on barter, and to prevent the markets from becoming a battlefield or the rogues from doing their thing, the rulers annually issued tables of product equivalencies. Thus, any buyer could know that a kilo of wool -which weighs the same as a kilo of iron- was equiv
And I am not referring to the test in which the woman poured her urine on wheat seeds and if the seeds germinated it was indicative that she was pregnant. No, I am referring to pregnancy tests with exactly the same technology as todays, based on nanotechnology... and we are talking about the 4th cen
As the Latin saying goes De gustibus non est disputandum ” (“there is no dispute about tastes” or its equivalent “there is nothing written about tastes”), it is difficult and risky to qualify a product as the best, and even more so when the product we are talking about is wine… Antiquity. So, in the
Golf, as we understand it today, seems to have been an invention of the Scots at the beginning of the 15th century. The tough Highland Scots pounded the stones with sticks to put them into the holes made by the rabbits. The first written mention that refers to golf appears in the Act of the Scottish
I dont know if he will be the worst, but surely one of the worst trades in history... Groom of the Stool , which could be translated as the feces waiter (the cleaner). His work consisted of cleaning the private parts of the monarch after defecating and, although it may seem strange, the fact that
Although we generally associate the expression going on a diet with the drastic reduction of food to recover the lost figure, dont be fooled, because you can only recover what you once had . The term diet derives from the Latin diaeta which could be translated as a balanced lifestyle. So, if the Rom
If we measure the importance of the pharaohs of Egypt by the size of their tombs, which does not seem a bad criterion, Tutankhamun It would be one of the bunch. The thing changes if when they discover your tomb, back in 1922, it is intact and becomes a source of fundamental information that allows e
Just like he did with Gangs of New York (2002), Martin Scorsese could also have dared with Gangs of Mesopotamia . It takes place at a time when Mesopotamia was going through great convulsions with the III Dynasty of Ur disappeared and the world of the Sumerians almost already forgotten. The cities
During the year 1719, relations between France and Spain were not looking good. Philip V, grandson of the Sun King, reigns over the people of Madrid jointly with his second wife Elisabeth Farnese. Philippe dOrleans , Regent of France, governs for the young Louis XV. Bourbon and Orléans, one family!
The arsenal of the Mycenaean warrior was completed by the heavy breastplate. The elite warriors initially carried very heavy breastplates, of the Dendra type – from the location where it was discovered in a Mycenaean tomb, in Dendra of the Argolis. Tree-type armor provided excellent protection to th
A few years ago I received a notification informing me that for two years I was going to be part of the list of candidates for the jury... What a joy! (pure irony). Two years passed and, in the end, I didnt have to go through that drink. Although according to article 125 of the 1978 Constitution and
These days the Paralympic Games are being held in Rio de Janeiro. In the blog we have dedicated several entries to significant events of the Olympic Games that stood out at the time for historical, sporting or humanitarian reasons. In the case of the Paralympic Games, each participant has behind a p