by Helen Kain | Jul 20, 2026 | Act V - Civilization Compounds, Fascinating People, FP Act V — Civilization Compounds, Victorians (1837–1901)
Walk into almost any English cathedral and there is a good chance George Gilbert Scott has already been there. York, Lichfield, Ely, Chichester, Peterborough, Rochester, St Albans, Hereford, Exeter, Durham, Salisbury—the list seems almost endless. By the time of his...
by Helen Kain | Jul 19, 2026 | Act V - Civilization Compounds, Fascinating People, FP Act V — Civilization Compounds, Victorians (1837–1901)
Walk into almost any Victorian church in England and, if the sun is shining, there is a good chance Edward Burne-Jones will introduce himself before anyone mentions his name. Light pours through one of his stained-glass windows, filling the stone with deep blues,...
by Helen Kain | Jul 19, 2026 | Act V - Civilization Compounds, Fascinating People, FP Act V — Civilization Compounds, Victorians (1837–1901)
Why do some buildings move us while others leave us completely unmoved? It is a deceptively simple question, yet one that occupied John Ruskin for much of his life. He wrote about paintings, cathedrals and architecture, but he was never really writing about art...
by Helen Kain | Jul 18, 2026 | Act I - Inheritance, Fascinating People, FP Act I — Inheritance
The ancient Greeks loved a good origin story, and Herodotus gives Cyrus one of the best. According to the historian, Cyrus survived an order for his execution as an infant, was secretly raised by a shepherd, and first revealed his true nature while playing...
by Helen Kain | Jul 18, 2026 | Act I - Inheritance, Fascinating People, FP Act I — Inheritance
Some people change history by conquering kingdoms. Others change it by deciding what is worth preserving. Ptolemy I Soter managed to do both. Most people first meet him as one of Alexander the Great’s generals, standing somewhere in the background while...
by Helen Kain | Jul 18, 2026 | Act I - Inheritance, Fascinating People, FP Act I — Inheritance
Alexander the Great never seemed content to stand still. Before he reached the age of thirty, he had marched farther than any king before him, defeated the greatest empire of his day, founded cities across three continents, and begun imagining a world unlike anything...
