The Burning Archive

Could computer games be the last best hope of culture vultures and history buffs? Should we turn to the dragon-slayers of Skyrim to save the treasures of the past from the dragon fire of the Burning Archive? Can we find solace in literature by reading the magical tomes of the floating city of Dalaran as it is imagined in that great total art work (Gesamtkunstwerk) of our times, World of Warcraft? In this playful episode of the Burning Archive, special guest and recent Monash University graduate, Isaac Rich poses six questions about history drawn from his scholarship of gaming. The question is - will the Burning Archive be prepared?

With thanks to all the game developers, artists and crafts who made these worlds, this Burning Archive is for all the players. Full credits for the material used in the show are at www.theburningarchive.com

Can all the stories of the world be summarised as just seven basic plots, or even just the four narrative forms first defined by Aristotle? There is a long history of trying to make sense of the common patterns of stories, myths and legends. This episode of The Burning Archive examines tragedy and comedy, the story of the story of stories, the seven basic plots, and how even historians write their histories with these plots. But can the inventiveness of great storytellers really be limited to seven basic plots. Will Scheherazade outwit, outlast and outplay the critics?

More details at www.theburningarchive.com

Simon Sebag Montefiore writes: “Jerusalem, so loveable in many ways, so hate-filled in others, always bristling with the hallowed and the brash, the preposterously vulgar and the aesthetically exquisite, seems to live more intensely than anywhere else; everything stays the same yet nothing stays still. At dawn each day, the three shrines of the three faiths come to life in their own way.” But why - one Burning Archive listener, Josh, asks - do these three faiths all lay claim to the one Holy Land and the State of Israel?

Full references and credits at www.theburningarchive.com

The Crusades featured a star-studded cast of characters - Holy Roman & Byzantine Emperors, Kings and Queens of France, Richard the Lionheart and Saladin, Peter the Hermit and Melisende of Jerusalem. But who was the most influential Crusader of them all?

Full references and credits are at www.theburningarchive.com.

In 1095 Pope Urban II - whose real name was Odo of Chatillon - gave a rousing speech at Clermont in France. He promised forgiveness and pardon for all of the past sins of those who would fight to reclaim the holy land from Muslims and free the eastern churches. So began the crusades - the wars between Christendom and Islam for the Holy Lands in the Levant and by Western Christians against pagan and Orthodox communities in  North and Eastern Europe for several centuries from 1096. What were the crusades and how did they give brith to modern European nations? What made the crusaders and their opponents believe faith justified violence, that they fought a just war, a holy war, a jihad?

Details of all references used in the show are at www.theburningarchive.com

Credits: The Crusader song, Palästinalied

How did the Byzantine Empire acquire the secrets of silk production from China, and what does it tell us about the history of silk, the diffusion of silk trade across the world, and the Silk Roads of Eurasia?

Full details of material referred to in the episode are at www.theburningarchive.com.

In October 1731 there was a fire in the Ashburnham House residence of the Keeper of the King’s libraries in Westminster, London. The fire threatened the one and only manuscript of the Old English poem, Beowulf. It was rescued by the librarian and others leaping from the window, clasping manuscripts. Singed but intact, Beowulf was literally saved from a Burning Archive. 200 years later in 1936 an English scholar of Beowulf sought to recover the poem and artistry of Beowulf from the dead hand of arid historical scholarship. That scholar was JRR Tolkien. One year later he began to write Lord of the Rings. Would we have had the Lord of the Rings if we did not first have Beowulf?

Full credits and reference at www.theburningarchive.com.

Did the fall of Rome give birth to Europe, Christendom and Western civilisation? In episode 24 of The Burning Archive Jeff Rich discussed - What was the Roman Empire? What was it like before it fell? Why was it significant and still matters to us today. In this second part of the discussion of the Fall of Rome (episode 25) Jeff Rich discusses explanations of the fall of Rome, how historians cast the story of the fall of Rome, and the enduring legacy of Rome, including in the discipline of history, even in the image of the Burning Archive itself.

Full references to the material in the show are provided at www.theburningarchive.com.

Did the fall of Rome lead to the birth of Europe, Christendom and Western civilisation? This episode of The Burning Archive answers - What was the Roman Empire? What was it like before it fell? Why was it significant and still matters to us today. In Part I Jeff Rich sets out the story arc of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, and sets the scene for a more detailed discussion of why it fell and its legacy in Part II.

Full references to the material in the show are provided at www.theburningarchive.com.

How did the eight hour working day come into being, and is it still relevant to us today? In this episode the Burning Archive begins responding to the questions posed by Freya Rich in episode 22 A Canon of One's Own. In a mini-series of seven episodes Jeff Rich will talk about the topics Freya identified about history that she would like to know more about or feel we ought to know more about. This episode covers

Credit: Nina Simone, "Work Song"