Archeology of Portus

I recently joined the FutureLearn history course centered on the archaeological dig of Portus, the marine port of Rome which functioned about 500 years from mid-I century CE. 

The course is presented by Dr. Graeme Earl from the University of Southampton. It includes video mini-lectures and interviews, virtual tour of the site, scientific articles, and much more. The division of participants into study groups enables to review the remarks of other members, check new links, and read the instructors' comments.

Week 1 shows the reason for digging an artificial marine port by the emperor Claudian: the needs of the burgeoning population of Rome in foodstuffs, building materials, and luxury items. We take a glimpse of foreign trade across the Mediterranean and enjoy the terrific look of old buidings reconstructed by computer graphics.

The map of the imperial Portus http://www.archaeology.org/issues/168-1503/features/2971-rome-portus-rise-of-empire

John of Plano Carpini

The last unit of my manuscript is called "The eyewitness in the Den".

It focuses on travel narratives of European guests who happened to visit the Orient or stayed there for a while.

My first hero is John of Plano Carpini, a Franciscan friar sent by the Pope Innocent IV on a fact-finding mission. I read both his travel account and the revised version of his History of the Mongols.

Next week, I will look through my notes and write initial extracts. However, I can't go straightforward as fast as I can because there is so much subsidiary material referring to the previous chapters. I can't deny the pleasure of correcting other parts of my research.

John of Plano Carpini, head of the first Catholic mission to the Great Khan.

The image borrowed from http://window2thepast.blogspot.co.il/2012/08/carpini-there-interesting-account-of.html 

Welcome Page

Welcome to my blog!

I'm an amateur historian who is building an alternative career of a non-fiction writer.

I wrote a history book "Dawn and Sunset" about the emergence, bloom, and demise of the early Mesopotamian civilization (IV-III millennia BCE). You can view it on my websibe http://www.michaelbaizerman.com/ 

I am currently writing a second manuscript with the working title "The Enchanting Encounter with the East" which focuses on the contacts between West and East throughout the Middle Ages, especially the Late Middle Ages, xiii-xiv centuries.