Of Things Ancient and Medieval
at Memorabilia Antonina. Send your nominations of the best in ancient and medieval history blogging since, oh, 27 November to keentony*at*hotmail*dot*com or use the form.I'm eighteen months late to this story, but that's nothing to ancient historians. A few weeks ago, I saw an odd comment on Paul Halsall's English Eclectic:"I moved, and have been trying out as a mortgag[e] broker." If you don't know who Paul Halsall is or why that struck me as so unusual, you should. He is the creator of the remarkable Internet History Sourcebooks Project. It includes primary source documents in Ancient, Medieval, and Modern History, as well as African, East Asian, Global, Indian, Islamic, Jewish, and Women's History, texts in the history of science and a guide to gay, lesbian, and transgender history.
After completing his doctorate at Fordham in 1999, Halsall took a tenure track position as Assistant Professor of History at the University of North Florida. There, he was out as a gay activist and, in May 2005, complained on local television about a police raid on local gay bars. Within an hour of his public complaint, Halsall was arrested by the police for selling cocaine to an undercover agent. He was first suspended and, then, his resignation demanded by University officials. In court, Halsall pled nolo contendere, but the damage was done. For more information, see David Meadows's Rogue Classicism; the comments, including Halsall's own, at N. S. Gill's Ancient/Classical History and Scott Carson's An Examined Life; and this site for Halsall's defense.