The dramatic “Fall of Rome” narrative remains the most appealing story about the end Western Roman Empire, even though scholars have often insisted that it oversimplifies the events of the fifth century, as well as its consequences in the sixth and seventh centuries. The complexity of scholarly accounts leaves the ordinary observer bewildered and eager […]

Head to the Williamson Gallery for our first event of the season! Join us for food, drinks, and a final opportunity to view Evolving Ideas: The Ceramics of Ruenell Foy Temps.   Ruenell Foy Temps (1940–2020) left an indelible mark on California ceramics. She participated in more than thirty solo and invitational exhibitions (including the Scripps […]

The Caspian Sea, the world’s largest inland lake, was an important point for commercial and strategic reasons. Much of the historiography on the Caspian locates the emergence of this region as a site of competitive tension in the eighteenth century. But a map of the Caspian brought back to Europe by the Dutchman Nicolaas Witsen […]