Maladict

The guy who wrote that Forbes article is hilarious, thanks for posting

I remember this being a problem in one of the subfora, I think Humanitas. Probably one of the child fora isn't inheriting posting rights properly from their parent. Shouldn't be too hard for a moderator to fix.

I don't think anyone is claiming it didn't exist before the 15th century. Just out of curiosity, what work are you translating?

Hunting birds?

Really? I was always taught it was simply because the term began to be used in the fifties. Boils down to the same thing, I suppose.

Sure, that must be why no one is doing it and they're diving to the ocean floor instead.

If you read the article it actually explains why. Lead ore gets contaminated by radiation in the atmosphere before we can make lead out of it. All metals made after 1945 are contaminated this way. This is why the ingots are so valuable, all metal submerged before 1945 is. High grade steel from pre-1945 warship wrecks is also much wanted for scientific experiments. I believe it's also a required element in geiger counters.

I think you've found the clue yourself here. Superficial parallels like these can (though not necessarily) be purposely based on an earlier archetype. But the thing that's borrowed is just the stylistic or literary device, not the content. The parallel of mistaken identity you mentioned somewhere may appear in both works, but this device features in countless other works and goes back all the way to Homer. There's nothing more to it unless you have other evidence. When I read the Aeneid I find lots of things similar to Homer's works. Were they put there by design? Yes. Did Virgil invent the Homeric epics? No. This is of course excluding the possibility that both events actually happened the way they were described and there's no link whatsoever.

The Colosseum was invented by the Flavians (sorry, couldn't resist). But yes, in fact the area where it stands used to be part of Nero's palace complex. And incidentally, I don't believe there's any evidence for Christians being killed in the Colosseum. Except maybe the one who was set upon by the crowd for wanting to stop the games.

Odd. The book is Monemvasia: A Byzantine City State by Haris A. Kalligas. I've attached a screenshot.

Can't remember where I found it. But another quick google turns up this: edit - link doesn't work

The pope formally took possession in February 1461, before the fall of Trebizond. Not that there was any empire left by then.

I don't mind reading all the drivel (I mostly don't anyway). Just a little sad that the trolls have taken over the forum, it didn't deserve to go out like that.

Yes.