Isidore-of-Seville and Metrum and Elbruz
May 15, 2008 9:45 AM   Subscribe

3 interesting sites: Isidore-of-Seville and Metrum and Elbruz
posted by Taksi Putra (12 comments total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
Hmmm. Pretty cryptic there, bucko. For the lazy: Isidore-of-Seville is a pretty interesting site about several classical (ancient) or Byzantine subjects, such as Procopius' Secret History. The Library page is a much better entry point though.

Metrum.org has a handful of obscure ancient subjects ("Gyges and Homer") and surveys of numbering systems (histories of measurements, architecture, Greek money.) Elbruz, I have no friggin' idea. Something Dutch.
posted by msalt at 10:07 AM on May 15, 2008


Maybe interesting, but MeFi is not a link dump.
posted by splice at 10:32 AM on May 15, 2008


Scratches head.

Elbruz seems to be a random collection of geographical information and tools. For example, a sun calculator that tells you time of sunrise or sunset wherever you may find yourself. As long as you know your exact latitude and longitude. Elbruz appears to support "explorations and research projects adding to knowledge of earth, sea and sports." Sports?

The best part is the "Largest island in a lake on an island in a lake on an island." (Scroll all the way down.) They say it's Vulcan point in Crater Lake on Vulcano Island in Lake Taal on Luzon, and who's going to argue with them?
posted by beagle at 10:35 AM on May 15, 2008


I thought that was on Manitoulin, beagle?
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 10:47 AM on May 15, 2008


I thought that was on Manitoulin, beagle?

You're thinking of the Largest island in a lake on an island in a lake, which is an unnamed island in Mindemoya Lake on Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron. (same page)
posted by beagle at 10:54 AM on May 15, 2008


Luke Luck likes lakes.
posted by yhbc at 11:08 AM on May 15, 2008


Luke's duck likes lakes too, y'know.
posted by Mister_A at 11:12 AM on May 15, 2008


Luke lacked slick-lipped, luck-lapped slack chaps. Thirsty? Blake's state's slate lake slakes late spates of snakes and skates.
posted by msalt at 12:03 PM on May 15, 2008


island in a lake in a metafilter
posted by Rumple at 12:26 PM on May 15, 2008


Isidore-of-Seville is much bigger and more varied than the Small Subjects classically-oriented subsite. "Home of the most comprehensive highly-focused web directories on the web" seems like a fair self-description. He's got everything from Ancient Library to the Battle of the Bulge. Tim Spalding is prolific on the web with 48 sites.

Elbruz (motto: "There is so much pleasure to be gained from useless knowledge" - B Russell) has a bunch of conversion calculators and odd pieces of demographic data like Interesting Lakes (related to Rumple's link) and Some foreign homonyms for Dutch places.

Metrum is dedicated to Livio Catullo Stecchini who "was a historian of science, a scholar of ancient weights and measures, (the science of metrology), and of the history of cartography in antiquity" (Wiki-quote). Here we find eight major areas of inquiry from The Key to Ancient Architecture (see The Archaic Didymaion by Jan Sammer) to The Deluge as Metaphor and The Gospel According to Seneca by Livio C. Stecchini & Jan Sammer.

All three of these sites are larger and richer than they seem, especially Isidore (weblinks) and Metrum (original material). I appreciate the post, but rich sites like these need a better introduction to avoid either snark or lack of interest.
posted by psyche7 at 6:13 PM on May 15, 2008


Tim Spaulding is a great boon to folks interested in the ancient world and history in general. Intelligent, collaborative, and accurate, he's the sort of guy who makes the web great. I ran one ancient studies collection site, and after 10 years, I was completely burned out and couldn't keep up with both it and sleep. It amazes me that he continually produces such high quality work over a long period of time. He really does deserve a stellar front-page post because of the quality of what he produces - not only about the ancient world, but about everything he's interested in - Alexander Hamilton, Hammerhead Sharks, whatever.

Efforts like Wiki Classics Dictionary (a collaborative encyclopaedia dedicated to the ancient world) and Library Thing (a tool to catalog your library using the LoC (!) or Amazon or hundreds of other things; it's subscription and community based, but it's worth it if you need/want to catalog your home/office library right.) as well as the dozens of obscure but useful out-of-print books he's ushered into the public domain... He's been one of my web heros for a long time.

Someone should at least tag this post with more than Periplus. Ancient History, Ancient Studies, Classics....
posted by julen at 8:38 PM on May 15, 2008


"KKK Airport code for KALAKAKET CREEK - ALASKA - USA" That is useless, but interesting.
posted by BrotherCaine at 4:45 AM on May 16, 2008


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