Scott McDonough
@sjmcdonough.bsky.social
1K followers 340 following 890 posts
Historian of the late ancient world: Sasanian Iran, the Caucasus, and the Eastern Roman Empire. Professor at William Paterson University. I like cats, photography, and sweet cabbage pierogi.
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Reposted by Scott McDonough
petertarras.bsky.social
Mind-numbing how many layers of history there can be to a single manuscript page: Syriac upper text (10th c.), Armenian undertext (pre-10th c.), Arabic material used for binding (11-12th c.?), Coptic foliation in the margin (date?), modern foliation at the bottom. Image: Leiden UL Or. 14236, link ⬇️
Opened palimpsest codex (Leiden UL Or. 14236) with Syriac upper text and Armenian undertext. The upper text is written in black and red ink and decorated braided band patterns. There's also a fragment with Arabic on it between the two pages of the opened codex.
sjmcdonough.bsky.social
I was really stoked to see this bust of the King of Sugd, Dēwāštīč, on the Syr Darya in Khujand back in August.
#Sogdians
Bronze bust of Dēwāštīč, King of Sugd in the 8th century, in a memorial overlooking the Syr Darya river in Khujand. Sunset and cable car lines overhead.
sjmcdonough.bsky.social
I'm going to jump on the bucket bandwagon:
bsky.app/profile/sjmc...
sjmcdonough.bsky.social
Two adjacent posts in my feed have featured late ancient/early medieval buckets, so I'm going to jump on this bandwagon with a super fancy bucket found in Zerzevan Kalesi, a Byzantine fortress ruin between Diyarbakır and Mardin. Now in the
Diyarbakır Museum. #humpdaybucket #Byzantine
sjmcdonough.bsky.social
I'm going to jump on this bucket bandwagon:
bsky.app/profile/sjmc...
sjmcdonough.bsky.social
Two adjacent posts in my feed have featured late ancient/early medieval buckets, so I'm going to jump on this bandwagon with a super fancy bucket found in Zerzevan Kalesi, a Byzantine fortress ruin between Diyarbakır and Mardin. Now in the
Diyarbakır Museum. #humpdaybucket #Byzantine
sjmcdonough.bsky.social
Two adjacent posts in my feed have featured late ancient/early medieval buckets, so I'm going to jump on this bandwagon with a super fancy bucket found in Zerzevan Kalesi, a Byzantine fortress ruin between Diyarbakır and Mardin. Now in the
Diyarbakır Museum. #humpdaybucket #Byzantine
sjmcdonough.bsky.social
Krum the Fearsome (Крум Страшни) was always a favorite of mine. Turning a Byzantine Emperor's skull into a drinking cup *chef's kiss.* Plus, the name sounds like a character out of Conan.
Khan Krum receives his drinking-skull of Nikephoros I.
sjmcdonough.bsky.social
The ʿAbbāsids also disposed of Abū Muslim, the prime architect of their revolution. For helping Al-Manṣūr secure his place as the second ʿAbbāsid Caliph, Abū Muslim was rewarded with a summons to al-Madāʾin, where the Caliph accused him of heresy, executed him, and cast his body into the Tigris. 4/
sjmcdonough.bsky.social
A grim postscript to this is the story that the ʿAbbāsids kept a secret room in which they hid the slain descendants of ʿAlī, "there was a big, long chamber in which there was a collection of corpses of the Ṭālibids, and in their ears were pieces of paper on which were written their genealogies." 3/
sjmcdonough.bsky.social
Then, when it looked like one of the rebel commanders was going to acclaim an ʿAlīd as Caliph, Abū al-ʿAbbās ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Saffāḥ was rushed off to Kufah and unveiled as Caliph. There's a real Charlie Brown and the football quality to the ʿAlīds' attempts to secure the Caliphate. 2/
sjmcdonough.bsky.social
I appreciate the bait-and-switch the ʿAbbāsids supposedly pulled in their call to revolt, claiming that they would bring forth “a member of the House of the Prophet who shall be pleasing to everyone,” while not actually naming the Caliph-in-Waiting until the revolution was almost done. 1/
Abū al-ʿAbbās ʿAbd Allāh ibn Muḥammad al-Saffāḥ receives the oath of allegiance. From a 14th century manuscript of Bal'ami's Tārīkhnāma-yi Bozorg.
sjmcdonough.bsky.social
I missed that! Will teach me to read more carefully. Thanks. Hopefully there will be a more comprehensive publication soon.
sjmcdonough.bsky.social
I wonder how they arrived at the 7–8th century date? Destruction layer associated with Sasanian or Arab-Muslim invasions? C14? Paleography?
sjmcdonough.bsky.social
Does anyone know more about how they dated these carbonized loaves of bread to the 7–8th century? Was the bread carbonized as a one-off fire and dated by C14, or was the site burned in the Sasanian or Arab-Muslim invasions (and the dating is based on that)? Or is the dating paleographic?
#Byzantine
1,300-Year-Old Byzantine Bread With Greek Inscription Unearthed in Turkey - GreekReporter.com
Archaeologists in Turkey uncovered Byzantine-era bread with a Greek inscription and image of Christ, revealing deep Hellenic-Christian roots.
greekreporter.com
sjmcdonough.bsky.social
Come on, all religions and philosophical movements need a bit of gamification in the AI Era!
Jains, you can get through those 8,400,000 cycles of rebirth a lot quicker with Co-Incarnate!
What better way to understand the ineffable will of God than through our app The Suffering of Job™️!
sjmcdonough.bsky.social
If this is a Para, sometimes the number under the Tughra is the specific denomination, sometimes it is the regnal year. I think this might be an Egyptian coin with ry. 33 of Abdülhamid II. Like the one below, also from ry. 33. Same flower too...
Egypt Bronze Coin 1907 AD 1293/Yr33 AH 1/40 Qirsh Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II
sjmcdonough.bsky.social
Thanks entirely to my wife, I saw the Local Honeys tonight at Cafe Wha? They were fantastic!
I also appreciate concerts that end at 8PM, I’m old!
#LocalHoneys
Band photo from side. Linda Jean Stokley on piano accordion?
sjmcdonough.bsky.social
Hey, I'm one follower away from 1000. Let's see if I can get over the top if I post another prominent numismatic honker.

Judging from his silver penny, Edward The Martyr of England (r. 975–8) was just a beak and an eyeball.

#Numismatics
#OneThousand
#CloutChasing
Silver Penny of Edward the Martyr featuring very abstract left-facing bust with huge eye and prominent nose.
sjmcdonough.bsky.social
Show OFF some Sasanian coins.
sjmcdonough.bsky.social
I gave a talk today on my campus, since my Dean generously gave me funding to visit Central Asia this past summer. I enjoyed myself and I got a lot of good questions from those in attendance. Plus, I got to show of some Sasanian coins.
Cover slide for "'The Abundance of His Mercy and the Magnitude of His Affection': Christian Views of the Sasanian King and Court" Featuring image of "Cup of Chosroes" at the BnF. Slide for "'The Abundance of His Mercy and the Magnitude of His Affection': Christian Views of the Sasanian King and Court," titled "Why Study the Sasanian Royal Court." With Image of Alexander enthroned from Šāhnamē from the Louvre. Slide for "'The Abundance of His Mercy and the Magnitude of His Affection': Christian Views of the Sasanian King and Court" showing "Martyrologies and Saints' Lives." Slide with translation of praise for the Sasanian King in the Acts of the Synod of Mar Ishoyahb.
sjmcdonough.bsky.social
Karl XII of Sweden (r. 1697–1718 CE), check out the snout.
Gold ducat of Karl XII minted in 1714 with tousled hair and vastly out-of-proportion snoot.
sjmcdonough.bsky.social
Francis I of France, "François du Grand Nez" (r. 1515–1547 CE), sporting a glorious ski-slope.
Silver teston du Dauphiné of Francis I, skinny little head adorned with huge beak.
sjmcdonough.bsky.social
Carlos III of Spain (r. 1759–88 CE) had quite the snout on him.
Silver coin of Carlos III dated 1777, with oddly aerodynamic forehead sloping to beak.
sjmcdonough.bsky.social
Who had the largest nose in numismatic history?
I'm particularly impressed by the schnoz on the Parthian king Mihrdāt/Mithradates II (r. 124–91 BCE), but there must be bigger.
#Numismatics
#Proboscis
#Parthia
Drachm of Mithradates II featuring bust of king facing left with fantasy dwarf beard and magnificent honker, wearing jeweled cap with ear flaps.
Reposted by Scott McDonough
wafflecut.bsky.social
Stravinsky saw Charlie Parker play at Birdland
club of all time by performing for Igor Stravinsky at Birdland. Alfred Appel tells it definitively in his book Jazz Modernism: From Ellington and Armstrong to Matisse and Joyce:
The house was almost full, even before the opening set - Billy Taylor's piano trio - except for the conspicuous empty table to my right, which bore a RESERVED sign, unusual for Birdland.
After the pianist finished his forty-five-minute set, a party of four men and a woman settled in at the table, rather clamorously, three waiters swooping in quickly to take their orders as a ripple of whispers and exclamations ran through Birdland at the sight of one of the men, Igor Stravinsky. He was a celebrity, and an icon to jazz fans because he sanctified modern jazz by composing Ebony Concerto for Woody Herman and his Orchestra (1946) - a Covarrubias
"Impossible Interview" come true.
As Parker's quintet walked onto the bandstand, trumpeter Red Rodney recognized Stravinsky, front and almost center. Rodney leaned over and told Parker, who did not look at Stravinsky.
Parker immediately called the first number for his band, and, forgoing the customary greeting to the crowd, was off like a shot. At the sound of the opening notes, played in unison by trumpet and alto, a chill went up and down the back of my neck.
They were playing "Koko, which, because of its epochal breakneck tempo
- over three hundred beats per minute on the metronome - Parker never assayed before his second set, when he was sufficiently warmed up. Parker's phrases were flying as fluently as ever on this particular daunting "Koko." At the beginning of his second chorus he interpolated the opening of Stravinsky's Firebird Suite as though it had always been there, a perfect fit, and then sailed on with the rest of the number. Stravinsky roared with delight, pounding his glass on the table, the upward arc of the glass sending its liquor and ice cubes onto the people behind him, who threw up their hands or ducked.
Parker didn't just happen to…