I’m obsessed with the sassiness of the Spanish army. The guy leading the second group is living his best life!

🧙‍♀️🪄For those interested in #Mesopotamian #magic: The final volume of the Corpus of Mesopotamian Anti-Witchcraft Rituals came out in 2020. Now Daniel Schwemer has published the first two instalments of new fragments and texts in KASKAL 19, 2022: unive.it/pag/36606/

this photo - the header for articles on the guardian, vox, abc and cnn - is maybe the best picture i've seen in a story about a heat wave vox.com/climate/2023/4…

A hill I'll die on is that barring the invention of light speed travel (which is a physically impossible science fiction storytelling device) humans will not explore space. A few intrepid astronauts may venture to Mars but everyone chronically underestimates how big space is.

You see: this isn't Istanbul, it's northern Afghanistan. A place where the Ottoman Empire never even got close to reaching. I'll explain how it got here in my research paper.

Eid Mubarak, if you saw the moon last night! 🌙 If Eid al-Fitr has come to visit you, may it find a warm reception and blessings. May you enjoy it and many more in the unceasing strength of long days. —Muḥammad ibn Ḥimyar al-Hamdānī (Yemen, d. 1253)

Here is the Nizam of Hyderabad bowing in front of King George V & Queen Mary at Delhi Durbar in 1911. Though the Hyderabad state was much larger than England, but the status & position was determined by superiority in arms & army, then as now.

A woman experiencing postpartum psychosis may show signs of mania, depression, or both. She may have aural hallucinations, paranoia, or delusions. She may, for stretches of time, appear to be perfectly normal. Diagnoses are rare; treatment is rarer still. nyer.cm/HfndcV3

Judaism itself.

Muting the word “blue” 🤦🏽‍♂️

Theophilus of Edessa (d. 785) was a famous Maronite astronomer, historian, and courtier under the caliph al-Mahdī. Of note, he is said to have translated "two books of Homer about the city of Ilion (Troy) from Greek into Syriac," these being the Iliad and the Odyssey 1/

Yesterday in my Qur'an class University of Notre Dame we read Ayesha Hidayatullah's fascinating reflection on how far one can advance a feminist reading of the Qur'an only by criticizing the exegetical tradition w/o critically examining the text.

Eid Mubarak, friends.

Aziz Mian >>>>> NFAK

Who here remembers 123greeting cards and a whole set of other similar websites? It’s been interesting to live through the evolution of greeting cards, from young Salman Khan’s photo prints to websites to WhatsApp gifs.

My vote goes to Tiglath-Pileser III. He introduced many reforms that were later adopted by Persian & Greek armies. Alexander had a terrific core of seasoned advisors. Cyrus was lucky to gain ascendancy at a time when Mesopotamia was weak & local priests handed Mesopotamia to him.