Author Archives: Mark Rossiter

the monument that moved

Posted on October 17, 2013 by Mark Rossiter

Out of Luxor airport: bougainvillea erupting, vegetation waving, lush crooked palm trees growing by giant irrigation ditches. Rough roads, studded with speed bumps and military checkpoints every few kilometres; a land locked down tight.  My driver chortles and guffaws at … Continue reading →

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A Short History of Ethics

Posted on September 28, 2013 by Mark Rossiter

A couple of years ago I stuck “History of Ethics” into Amazon and it came back with a two-volume tome by Vernon J. Bourke. I bought it and read it, to the end, on the principle that, once you’ve started, … Continue reading →

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The First Philosophers

Posted on September 20, 2013 by Mark Rossiter

This anthology, edited by the Greek scholar Robin Waterfield, consists of a series of extracts, with commentary, from the work of a number of Greek thinkers who lived in the couple of centuries before the first megastar of western philosophy, … Continue reading →

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The Epic of Gilgamesh

Posted on September 2, 2013 by Mark Rossiter

This is pretty much the oldest book in the world, which makes the idea of a review seem somewhat superfluous; still. Somebody gave it to me; I sighed at the prospect of wading through it. But it is short – … Continue reading →

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inventing God

Posted on January 18, 2013 by Mark Rossiter

Kyria said: Daddy, where did the world come from? To let her make up her own mind, I told her the two main western accounts: created in a week (say Christians and Muslims) and evolution. Hmm, she said, I’m not … Continue reading →

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Byzantium: The Decline and Fall

Posted on January 3, 2013 by Mark Rossiter

The last in the series is an ever-more dizzying whirligig of passing characters and incidents, few of them with enough purchase for this to be more than a shallow parade. Maybe that is the nature of the subject matter, given … Continue reading →

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Byzantium: The Apogee

Posted on December 15, 2012 by Mark Rossiter

Second volume: more of the same, equally entertaining and well-written, with the same caveats. Most monstrous character: Basil the Macedonian, who maneuvered himself from stable boy to imperial confidant to Michael III, murdered the emperor’s uncle (who had effectively been … Continue reading →

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Byzantium: The Early Centuries

Posted on December 9, 2012 by Mark Rossiter

John Julius Norwich, author of this history of the Eastern Roman Empire from the founding of Constantinople in 330 until the coronation in 800 in Rome by the Pope of Charlemagne as rival Emperor of the West, is a jolly … Continue reading →

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happy days are here again…

Posted on December 6, 2012 by Mark Rossiter

Tuesday night I drove from Sharjah University City to Latifa Hospital in Dubai and back again. One way it takes about 20 minutes when the roads are clear. This time, including a 20-minute stop at the hospital, it was a … Continue reading →

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Istanbul: The Imperial City

Posted on November 15, 2012 by Mark Rossiter

This book about Byzantium/Constantinople/Istanbul, by the American teacher John Freely, is a curious read. It purports to be a chronological history of the city, yet is in fact mostly a string of anecdotes about the doings of its sometime rulers … Continue reading →

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