Author: Dr. Zar

Dr. Zar

Dr. Matthew Zar graduated with a B.A. in French and history, a Master’s in History, and a Ph.D. in History. He currently teaches history in Ohio.

A Brief History We have some arguably serious questions today! Digging Deeper Did you know that on April 1st, 1906, the Chicago Tribune, a major American newspaper, reported that prehistoric monsters, also known as dinosaurs, allegedly invaded Chicago, wreaking havoc and destruction upon the city? Were you aware that an illustrated magazine called Het Leven published a photograph on April 1st, 1932 depicting a woman milking a cow with an elephant’s head? Finally, have you seen the photograph of a woman in California on April 1st, 2012, harvesting spaghetti from a tree? Well, I am here to tell you that,…

Read More

A Brief History Coming-of-age romantic comedy fans, here is your chance to be among the first in Cleveland, Ohio to see a free, virtual screening of Música on Wednesday, April 3, 2024 at 7:00PM Eastern.  Please log on to https://amazonscreenings.com/MUSICAhistory for your chance to watch a virtual screening of this film. Digging Deeper Based on writer, director, and star Rudy Mancuso, Música is a coming-of-age love story that follows an aspiring creator with synesthesia, who must come to terms with an uncertain future, while navigating the pressures of love, family and his Brazilian culture in Newark, New Jersey. Rudy Mancuso,…

Read More

A Brief History Sometime in September 282, Roman Emperor Probus was murdered by his soldiers for unclear reasons due to different accounts in different sources. Digging Deeper Near the end of the biography of Probus’s predecessor, Tacitus, in the Historia Augusta, an ancient text possibly dating to the 4th century, the biographer speculates that had Probus “lived longer the world would contain no barbarians.”  To dig deeper, I encourage you to read the full biographies of both Tacitus and Probus in this primary work and to also read at least one biography of Probus of a more modern nature that…

Read More

A Brief History On an unknown day c. November 275, Roman Emperor Aurelian was murdered by members of the Praetorian Guard, only to be subsequently deified by the Roman Senate. Digging Deeper Written some unknown time later, towards the end of the biography of Aurelian in the Historia Augusta, the ancient biographer lists Aurelian among the twelve best Roman emperors as a contrast to the more numerous number of “evil” emperors.  The biographer then ponders the following: “The question, indeed, is often asked what it is that makes emperors evil; first of all, my friend, it is freedom from restraint,…

Read More

A Brief History On an unknown date in 267, Odaenathus, King of Palmyra, was assassinated along with his son and co-king. Digging Deeper Odaenathus’s biographer in the Historia Augusta laments the king’s assassination in the following passage: “Some god, I believe, was angry with the commonwealth, who, after Valerian’s death, was unwilling to preserve Odaenathus alive.  For of a surety he, with his wife Zenobia, would have restored not only the East, which he had already brought back to its ancient condition, but also all parts of the whole world everywhere, since he was fierce in warfare and, as most writers…

Read More