One year of Studying History: A dream coming true

From a personal therapy session to a thriving community. Thank you for being here (plus an anniversary gift).

So, here we are.

One year of Studying History. One year of documenting my belated academic journey. One year of capturing my love for history, archaeology, and culture. What started as a personal therapy session meant to be read by a few Facebook friends, has ended up being read by over 24,000 subscribers! And right when I started my studies in my 40’s as a hobby, paths I couldn’t have even imagined a year ago are suddenly opening up.

Over the past year, I tried to explain—first and foremost to myself—what pushes a man in his 40s to return to the classroom, using the quote of the ancient Greek lawmaker Solon, “I grow old always learning,” in a stack that was destined to become the “About the author” under every new stack of mine.

Driven by a dialogue I frequently have with my children, I also explored the reasons why one should study history. That stack eventually got pinned to the homepage of my Substack. It might be simply put, yet I feel it captures my essence completely.

The stories I didn’t have time to turn into a separate stack, became hundreds (literally!) of Notes, where many times an interesting discussion takes place in the comments below, fueling new Notes and new stacks. Thus, we dealt with everything from Mycenaean swords and the evolution of ancient sculpture, to Baroque and modern art, classic literature and the visit of the Pope and the Patriarch of Constantinople to Nicaea, Turkey, or the origins of the true Santa Claus. Αt the same time, we have created a community in the subscriber chat room where we’re able to exchange thoughts in real-time, share our news and interesting finds, and dive deeper into the topics we love.

Out of the dozens of stacks I’ve written, my absolute favorites are the ones that use poetry to comment on current events, bring history to life, or simply describe how I feel—some of these are available exclusively to paid subscribers. Not only do your subscriptions and donations help me to keep my passion alive—uncovering the past and bringing history’s hidden gems to life, but they have one very practical impact: two months ago, I started my Master’s degree in Humanities and Teaching, building on the foundation of my first degree. With your support, you are literally helping me fund it, while I try to balance work, family, studies, and my love for writing.

To celebrate our 1-year anniversary and thank you for being on this journey with me, I am offering a 24% discount on annual subscriptions for the next few days. If you enjoy my work and want to support my academic journey, this is the best time to upgrade!

Meanwhile, I got certified a few months ago in teaching Greek as a foreign language, and I’m dipping my toes into my next steps in the professional arena.

A lot of exciting things are in the works, starting with a series of articles on Ottoman Athens, as part of my academic research during the past six months on the subject. We’ll explore how a city with the heavy legacy of Athens lived under Ottoman rule for 400 years, only to become the capital of the newly founded Greek state. A history full of Ottoman Sultans, Byzantine aristocrats, Frankish and Italian lords, and even “feminists” who were canonized as saints.

One year later, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. With so many staggering events happening in the world lately, it seems Thucydides, the Father of (scientific) History, was right: history does repeat itself, and human nature remains the same throughout the ages. Ultimately, those who do study history are doomed to stand by helplessly while everyone else repeats it.

Stay tuned!

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