Scottish historian & art historian; @EmpirePodUK podcaster & Jaipur Lit Fest co-director. 2024 Visiting Fellow at All Souls, Oxford. Writes the occasional book.
3000 years ago, an Egyptian pharaoh did something no ruler in history had done before. He abolished the entire pantheon, declared one god supreme, and built a new city in the desert dedicated to his worship alone. His name was Akhenaten. His revolution lasted 17 years — and then his successors tried to erase him from history entirely. But did the idea survive?
300 years ago, a Egyptian pharaoh did something no ruler in history had done before. He abolished the entire pantheon, declared one god supreme, and built a new city in the desert dedicated to his worship alone. His name was Akhenaten. His revolution lasted 17 years — and then his successors tried to erase him from history entirely. But did the idea survive?
Long before Coca Cola advertising gave him a nice red and white hat, Father Christmas was actually a real Byzantine saint- St Nicholas, Bishop of Myra or ‘Santa Claus’ in Dutch. He was renowned for his generosity and gift giving. 
Part One-
How did neighbouring Arab nations respond to the displacement of Palestinians in 1948? Why was the future Egyptian prime minister, General Nasser, stationed in Gaza in 1948? Did Jordanian Arab Legion collude with Ben Gurion?
The story of Gaza during the Ottoman period is one of the most controversial eras of its history. The early Zionists maintained that Palestine was an almost empty desert, a lost paradise ripe to be saved from the nomads & 'savages' who had wrecked it, "a land without a people for a people without a land."
This largely forgotten World War One campaign that did far more than Lawrence of Arabia to defeat the Ottoman army on Palestine... but the promise of freedom for the Arabs was shortlived... 
Gaza is one of the oldest urban centres on Earth, and in this series we are exploring its long history. It was first referred to by Pharaoh Thutmose III in the 15th century BC when it was known as Ghazzati.... 
Part One: Jinnah, Ruttie & the Idea of Pakistan
They recorded the vast stores of incense and spices which the merchants of Gaza had brought overland by camel caravan from southern Arabia. 
The Manshiya quarter of Jaffa was destroyed in a series of bombardments led by the Irgun during the 1948 Nakba in order to drive out its Palestinians inhabitants 
The Church of St. Porphyrius, which was first built in 425 AD, is the last survivor from this world. It still, just, survives though the Israelis shelled its outbuildings last year. 450 Palestinians, mainly Palestinian Christians, were sheltering there. Eighteen were killed. 
bylinetimes.com/2025/06/16/the…
2. The Eternal Shiva- Sadashiva
Ireland is the only country in Western Europe that has experienced being colonised in the modern era. It was used by England as a laboratory for imperialism, and was the site of bloody colonial wars for centuries, yet many people in the neighbouring United Kingdom have little understanding of Ireland’s history.
Avi Shlaim: "My mother regarded Zionism as an Ashkenazi thing. She thought it was nothing to do with us. Most of us were very happy in Baghdad." 
The Emperor Jahangir was a true connoisseur of beauty. His reign witnessed a flourishing of art, particularly through his patronage of workshops of brilliant artists who between them created a series of extraordinary masterpieces. 