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Hippokleides Profile picture
Hippokleides
@Hippokleides
"A shiftless person, roving and magotie-headed" Λάθε βιώσας.
@maraf@ Profile picture Ursolin Waxoh Profile picture Pierre Profile picture 4 subscribed
Jun 30, 2023 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
A fun thread on Byzantine beauties.

While Arabs got hot and bothered about the women, the attractive and dignified appearance of the Palaiologoi emperors, the final Byzantine dynasty, is often remarked on by contemporary westerners. https://t.co/uA0wy56jNu
John VIII Palaiologos attracted the attention of Renaissance artists during his prolonged stay in Italy. Above, as Balthasar in the Magi Chapel in the Palazzo Medici in Florence. Below, on the portrait medal by Pisanello.
Jan 17, 2023 • 28 tweets • 10 min read
In 1025, at the death of the victorious Basil II, the Empire of the Romans was at its medieval peak of power and wealth. Its rivals had been smashed and the emperor even had to build new treasuries to store his plunder. Yet it would soon experience a dramatic collapse. /1 Image By 1081, most territories were lost or in revolt, the currency had halved in value, and the Empire's very existence was in question. Armies had disintegrated, treasuries were empty. How had such a devastating transformation come about in such a short time? /2 ImageImage
Dec 11, 2022 • 16 tweets • 4 min read
Labour's new policy document (authored under Gordon Brown's supervision) is full of this "let's put policy preferences in the constitution" stuff. There are two ways of looking at it. The first is to assume that Brown is basically well-meaning but a bit dim.

This is because a constitution is supposed to be fundamental law detailing how the state is composed (i.e. 'constituted', hence the name) and operates.
Oct 12, 2022 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
A thread of my threads. AIMA: The Blood of the Komnenoi

A tale from Byzantine history of prophecy, ambition and blood.

Oct 12, 2022 • 29 tweets • 22 min read
THE COURSE OF EMPIRE: A pictorial essay

In the desert, there lay a pyramid. Image Beside its timeless stones, a great Sphinx crouched. A vigorous man travelled from overseas, his mind filled by the ancient dream of imperium. But in his heart he desired to know: what would be the fate of America's empire?

The Sphinx replied, as it always did, with a riddle. Image
Jun 20, 2022 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
The situation you are describing is caused by increasing state incompetence that leads to progressive withdrawal of its services, such as external and internal security (its right to tax will be the very last thing it surrenders). This is usually a product of economic collapse./1 Classic examples of this are both halves of the Roman empire: continual territorial losses and high fixed costs of government resulted in inability to stem further losses, eventually resulting in total conquest. However, the state's legitimacy largely remained intact. /2
Jun 17, 2022 • 7 tweets • 3 min read
Interesting interview with a Ukrainian defence minister and their logistics commander, which tells us a lot about this war in general. I'll post a few extracts.

nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2022/… The scale of conflict is huge. As I've said before, in Europe proper, only Russia and Ukraine could even wage war on this scale. That he says they need the world's "entire military industrial complex" to oppose Russia indicates the scale of its military resources.
Mar 1, 2022 • 10 tweets • 4 min read
In a few short days, we've moved from pundits mournfully intoning platitudes about the terrible return of war to Europe (completely ignoring the 90s, of course) to shrieking for a great power war and explaining nukes aren't that big a deal anyway.

This is political psychosis. Actual psychopath in the wild here.
Feb 16, 2022 • 34 tweets • 13 min read
In the summer of 416 BC, an Athenian fleet of 38 ships carrying over 3,000 soldiers dropped anchor off the small Greek island of Melos, located south of Athens and east of the Peloponnese.

The inhabitants, the Melians, were the descendants of colonists originally from Sparta.🧵 Image Sparta and Athens were enemies and we call their gruelling conflict the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC).

Athens would eventually lose. But in 416, this was still far from obvious; Athens held naval supremacy in Greek waters. /2 Image
Jan 13, 2022 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
This is a sane explainer worth reading if you're interested in the recent "National Divorce" chatter.

A National Divorce absolutely will not happen in the sense currently discussed. The US will only split as a result of extended, terminal decay in central power, or war. The US is an imperial state supported by a massive military establishment, arms industry, intelligence agencies and foreign policy blob. Its divison would directly threaten the existence of these institutions and many careers. They will not sit back and let the US split up.
Jan 9, 2022 • 22 tweets • 8 min read
I promised the good Herbalist @paracelsus1092 a thread on Byzantine prophecy to mark my recent milestone of 1,000 followers. Since true promises, like true prophecies, must be fulfilled, here is a 12th-century tale of astrology, imperial folly, and blood. /1 All societies seek to peer into the future. The medieval Roman Empire - Byzantium - was deeply Christian. Those living lives of exemplary holiness, often monks, could sometimes be permitted glimpses of the future in dreams or visions by God who, in His omniscience, knew all. /2