This weekend, I was lucky enough to visit a few of the Ring of Kerry historical sites with my archaeology class, checking out a few Early Medieval sites on the Dingle coast. We started off our day visiting the two ring-forts of the local king, and could see out onto the island where the Vikings…
Luther’s Act by Christopher Shanley
This Halloween marks the 499th anniversary of Martin Luther’s posting of the 95 Theses on the church door in Wittenberg castle. Luther’s theses were against the act of indulgences which were certificates one could buy from the church to skip part of the penitential process. An extremely pious man, Luther was deeply troubled by his…
DĂşn Aonghasa: An Ancient Irish Hill Fort by Colin McGarry
While romping around Ireland’s historical landmarks for the semester pretending to be a serious student, I was lucky enough to see the large, ancient hillfort of DĂşn Aonghasa, a massive three-tiered defensive fortress on the Aran Islands. The fort itself is made from three dry stone walls, roughly D-shaped, that go to the steep cliffs…
The Renaissance Festival: A Home for All by Ashley Vassar
On September 5th 2016, I attended my 13th Renaissance Festival and 9th Ohio Renaissance Festival. The Ohio Renaissance Festival is located in Waynesville, Ohio and this year, it ran from September 3rd to October 23rd. Since my friends and I dress up, we usually wait until October when the weather has cooled to attend. This…
On the Work of Petronius by Merritt Ver Steeg
Petronius Arbiter was a Roman who lived during the reign of Nero, and—according to most historians—the author of The Satyricon. We don’t know much about Petronius’life, but according to Tacitus,“His days he passed in sleep, and his nights in the business and pleasures of life. . . Indolence had raised him to fame, as energy…
A Quick Run-Through of More Sites: The Defensive and Natural Landscape of Ireland by Colin McGarry
Late last week, I moved into a new apartment closer to the city centre, which has had Internet problems, making getting onto the blog a little more difficult to anticipate. Â However, now that things seem to have cleared up, I think I’ll be able to post a bit more about my adventures in Ireland (although…
Flying In and Forts in Caherdaniel by Colin McGarry
Last week I flew into Cork, where I’ll be spending the semester studying at UCC. Classes start up tomorrow, so naturally I decided to spend the past week wandering around the city to get familiar and go visit some ancient ruins 140 kilometers away in Co. Kerry, near the small town of Caherdaniel. Staigue Stone…
Who Runs the World? Shakespeare’s Girls by Hannah Simpson
“It’s always fun to talk about Shakespeare,” quipped Caroline Bicks at the start of her lecture, “Incited Minds, Rethinking Shakespeare’s Girls.” I couldn’t agree more. Much like the title of her lecture indicates, Bicks’ talk centered on stereotypes that surround adolescent girls and how the strong-Willed (pun intended) females of Shakespeare’s plays defy them. After…
LaRP Or MARRCA? by Josephine DiNovo
Have you ever seen people on the grassy hill in front of Hayes wielding swords or quarterstaffs? Do you stop to snicker at the “LARPers” whenever you spy them? Have you ever really thought about what this group does? This group—often mistaken for role-players unafraid of the public—is MARRCA. MARRCA stands for Medieval and Renaissance…
What Have the Vikings Ever Done For Us? Organized Warfare in Goidelic Ireland By Colin McGarry
Many scholars believe that during the Viking Age the Scandinavian raiders and settlers brought into Ireland a new style of warfare, introducing concepts like total war and formation fighting into Ireland, which previously fought in small raids as its form of waging war. However, this theory disregards the large amount of evidence that the Goidels…