Arma Orientalis
@armaorientalis.bsky.social
Welcome to my history-focused account, where I will share tons of cool stuff on historical subjects from across the world and from various cultures and civilizations. I used to operate a Twitter account under the same name but BlueSky is a superior choice!
Pinned
Shen Kuo - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
I'll be sharing bios on my favorite historical people once a day, so stay tuned! Shen Kuo is easily one of my all time favorites: a completely underrated early scientific thinker and amazing polymath from Northern Song dynasty China during the 11th century. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shen_Kuo
Thomas-Alexandre Dumas (1762-1806) was an officer of Haitian origin during the French Revolution, the first person of African descent to achieve the rank of general-in-chief of a French Army under Consul Napoleon Bonaparte (later the Emperor of the French).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas-...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas-...
Thomas-Alexandre Dumas - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
August 21, 2025 at 1:06 AM
Thomas-Alexandre Dumas (1762-1806) was an officer of Haitian origin during the French Revolution, the first person of African descent to achieve the rank of general-in-chief of a French Army under Consul Napoleon Bonaparte (later the Emperor of the French).
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas-...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas-...
Reposted by Arma Orientalis
Reposted by Arma Orientalis
While we’re still figuring out life on Earth, Voyager 1 is 15 billion miles away, cruising on 69KB, an 8-track, and 1977s Fortran like it’s nothing.
August 10, 2025 at 5:44 PM
While we’re still figuring out life on Earth, Voyager 1 is 15 billion miles away, cruising on 69KB, an 8-track, and 1977s Fortran like it’s nothing.
Reposted by Arma Orientalis
Reposted by Arma Orientalis
The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.
June 30, 2025 at 6:15 PM
The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of starstuff.
Reposted by Arma Orientalis
The first known use of 'scorcher' was in 1733.
June 26, 2025 at 3:55 PM
The first known use of 'scorcher' was in 1733.
Reposted by Arma Orientalis
This was one of my most popular pieces of goofy fanart on Twitter, and it seems to be making the rounds on Tumblr again for some reason. It is, of course, inspired by this very real Marvel tie-in comic from 1984
June 24, 2025 at 9:36 PM
This was one of my most popular pieces of goofy fanart on Twitter, and it seems to be making the rounds on Tumblr again for some reason. It is, of course, inspired by this very real Marvel tie-in comic from 1984
Reposted by Arma Orientalis
Kongming seeks aid in the middle of this brutal heatwave
June 24, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Kongming seeks aid in the middle of this brutal heatwave
Fun history fact: the Edicts of Ashoka, erected on pillars during his reign (268-232 BC) over the Mauryan Empire in the Indian subcontinent, provide the earliest tangible evidence for the religion of Buddhism. They were written in the Prakrit language. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edicts_...
Edicts of Ashoka - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
June 7, 2025 at 7:49 PM
Fun history fact: the Edicts of Ashoka, erected on pillars during his reign (268-232 BC) over the Mauryan Empire in the Indian subcontinent, provide the earliest tangible evidence for the religion of Buddhism. They were written in the Prakrit language. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edicts_...
Reposted by Arma Orientalis
The Family Guy creator got a trove of previously unheard arrangements written for Frank Sinatra and has released a first album of some of the songs.
Seth MacFarlane of 'Family Guy' uncovers Sinatra songs in new album
The Family Guy creator got a trove of previously unheard arrangements written for Frank Sinatra and has released a first album of some of the songs.
n.pr
June 7, 2025 at 7:20 PM
The Family Guy creator got a trove of previously unheard arrangements written for Frank Sinatra and has released a first album of some of the songs.
Fun history fact: did you know that roughly half of all surviving tessellated Greek mosaics from the Hellenistic period come from the Aegean island of Delos? They're marvelous looking, too! Wikipedia "Featured" article offers a great sample of them and explanation.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosaics...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosaics...
Mosaics of Delos - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
June 7, 2025 at 7:31 PM
Fun history fact: did you know that roughly half of all surviving tessellated Greek mosaics from the Hellenistic period come from the Aegean island of Delos? They're marvelous looking, too! Wikipedia "Featured" article offers a great sample of them and explanation.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosaics...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosaics...
Although she needs no introduction, the famous Ptolemaic Queen of Egypt Cleopatra VII Philopator was also a potential author of works on medicine and cosmetics, in addition to being an effective policymaker despite civil wars & subservience to Rome as a client ruler. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleopatra
Cleopatra - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
January 15, 2025 at 1:24 AM
Although she needs no introduction, the famous Ptolemaic Queen of Egypt Cleopatra VII Philopator was also a potential author of works on medicine and cosmetics, in addition to being an effective policymaker despite civil wars & subservience to Rome as a client ruler. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleopatra
Continuing my series of historical profiles, I'd like to focus on the Flemish scientist Anselmus de Boodt (1550-1632), a fascinating man of many talents including painting, taxonomy, and botanical gardening, but he is perhaps best known as the father of Gemology. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anselmu...
Anselmus de Boodt - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
December 28, 2024 at 10:44 PM
Continuing my series of historical profiles, I'd like to focus on the Flemish scientist Anselmus de Boodt (1550-1632), a fascinating man of many talents including painting, taxonomy, and botanical gardening, but he is perhaps best known as the father of Gemology. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anselmu...
Zhang Heng was a Han dynasty era Chinese official of the late 1st and early 2nd centuries AD who significantly impacted the timeline of Chinese science, mathematics, and astronomy, and invented a device that could detect the direction of distant earthquakes.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_H...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_H...
Zhang Heng - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
December 13, 2024 at 6:40 PM
Zhang Heng was a Han dynasty era Chinese official of the late 1st and early 2nd centuries AD who significantly impacted the timeline of Chinese science, mathematics, and astronomy, and invented a device that could detect the direction of distant earthquakes.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_H...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhang_H...
Continuing my daily series on historical figures, I would like to bring attention to Choe Bu, a 15th century Korean of the Joseon period who became shipwrecked in Ming China. He provides a pivotal primary source on life along China's Grand Canal in that time period.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choe_Bu
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choe_Bu
Choe Bu - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
December 2, 2024 at 9:57 PM
Continuing my daily series on historical figures, I would like to bring attention to Choe Bu, a 15th century Korean of the Joseon period who became shipwrecked in Ming China. He provides a pivotal primary source on life along China's Grand Canal in that time period.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choe_Bu
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choe_Bu
Today I'd like to highlight the life of Jorge Alvarez, the Portuguese explorer who (after Marco Polo and others traveled there overland) was the first known European to sail to China, though there is evidence earlier ancient Romans did the same via the Indian Ocean. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge_%...
Jorge Álvares - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
December 1, 2024 at 4:27 PM
Today I'd like to highlight the life of Jorge Alvarez, the Portuguese explorer who (after Marco Polo and others traveled there overland) was the first known European to sail to China, though there is evidence earlier ancient Romans did the same via the Indian Ocean. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorge_%...
The US Thanksgiving holiday has delayed my series on historical bios, but I return now to highlight Manetho, Egypt's first native historian to write a narrative history in the style of the Greek Herodotus. He relied on older chronicles and king lists of the Bronze Age. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manetho
Manetho - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
November 30, 2024 at 11:37 PM
The US Thanksgiving holiday has delayed my series on historical bios, but I return now to highlight Manetho, Egypt's first native historian to write a narrative history in the style of the Greek Herodotus. He relied on older chronicles and king lists of the Bronze Age. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manetho
Today's history bio will be a shoutout to a forward thinker for his time, Pope Sylvester II. He advocated for the Hindu-Arabic numeral system and reintroduced the abacus, armillary sphere, and water organ to Western Europe after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Sy...
Pope Sylvester II - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
November 26, 2024 at 11:51 PM
Today's history bio will be a shoutout to a forward thinker for his time, Pope Sylvester II. He advocated for the Hindu-Arabic numeral system and reintroduced the abacus, armillary sphere, and water organ to Western Europe after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Sy...
Reposted by Arma Orientalis
saddened to report that my Buying Too Many Books disease is progressing rapidly
November 25, 2024 at 4:23 AM
saddened to report that my Buying Too Many Books disease is progressing rapidly
Reposted by Arma Orientalis
Continuing my daily series of biographies on favorite historical figures (with Shen Kuo mentioned yesterday), today I would love to highlight Nabonidus, the last native king of Babylon, but also arguably the world's first archaeologist who excavated Akkadian temples. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabonidus
Nabonidus - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
November 25, 2024 at 1:09 PM
Continuing my daily series of biographies on favorite historical figures (with Shen Kuo mentioned yesterday), today I would love to highlight Nabonidus, the last native king of Babylon, but also arguably the world's first archaeologist who excavated Akkadian temples. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabonidus
I'll be sharing bios on my favorite historical people once a day, so stay tuned! Shen Kuo is easily one of my all time favorites: a completely underrated early scientific thinker and amazing polymath from Northern Song dynasty China during the 11th century. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shen_Kuo
Shen Kuo - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
November 24, 2024 at 7:50 PM
I'll be sharing bios on my favorite historical people once a day, so stay tuned! Shen Kuo is easily one of my all time favorites: a completely underrated early scientific thinker and amazing polymath from Northern Song dynasty China during the 11th century. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shen_Kuo
Hello! For my first post here on BlueSky, I'll try to kick things off to a good start by sharing an awesome National Library of Medicine page about the history of ancient Greek medicine and its legacy in antiquity, the medieval era, and modern times. www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/topics/g...
Greek Medicine
HMD Greek Medicine Exhibition
www.nlm.nih.gov
November 24, 2024 at 7:43 PM
Hello! For my first post here on BlueSky, I'll try to kick things off to a good start by sharing an awesome National Library of Medicine page about the history of ancient Greek medicine and its legacy in antiquity, the medieval era, and modern times. www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/topics/g...