Garvan Hill News Today

By Mark Hamilton. So What Imprint, Dublin, 2021. The world before Christ was a savage place. Ancient civilisations were cruel and unforgiving. In this world, despite the benign and wise voices of people like Akhenaten, Zoroaster, Socrates, Cicero and others, Egypt, Persia, Greece and Rome placed very little value on human life. Tom Holland’s Dominion and Professor Mary Beard’s S.P.Q.R. – to name but two relatively recent depictions of that world – illustrate the great divide between t...

The Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II As I watched the progress of Pope Francis in Iraq last month and his wonderful rapport with the Muslim leaders of that country, I could not but help see a parallel between his peace-making efforts and the peace brokered between the crusader Emperor Frederick II and the sultan of Egypt, Al Kamil, recounted in Ernst Kantorovicz’s recently republished biography of Frederick Hohenstaufen. It’s ironic that Frederick can now be seen in parallel with a modern po...