bout de papier, Volume 24, Issue No. 2, 2009
bout de papier, Volume 19, Issue No. 3, 2002-2003
bout de papier, Volume 20, Issue No. 3, 2004
bout de papier, Volume 13, Issue No. 3, 1996
bout de papier, Volume 14, Issue No. 3, 1997
Dark Age of Diplomacy
One does not expect a barbarian warlord — especially one who secured his control over Italy by bisecting his rival with a sword during a state dinner — to maintain an active foreign policy of constructive engagement, through skillful diplomacy with his…
Venice & Constantinople
here are few historical analogies to the Anglo-American “special relationship” where a Tee colony eventually overshadows the mother country. Some Greek colonies in Italy,
Peter and the Persians
From 540 to 565, Peter the Patrician (what a name for a diplomat!) was Constantinople’s Magister Officorum (Master of Offices). The Magister was a sort of “Minister of Everything.” His responsibilities included: the Imperial Guard; the Agentes in Rebus (a cross between…
Peter and the Goths
Justinian (927-65) was arguably the last great emperor of the period we now call “late Antiquity” (the period between Constantine and Charlemagne, formerly known as the “dark ages”). His enduring monuments include architecturally innovative churches — in particular Hagia Sophia in Constantinople…
The Ambassadors: From Ancient Egypt to Renaissance Europe, the Men Who Introduced the World to Itself
Some say mercenaries are the second oldest profession; I would argue that, in fact, it’s diplomats. In the Stone Age, when two wandering bands of hunter-gatherers encountered one another, they had three options: attack, run away, or send out an emissary to…
