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Caleb Strom

Caleb Strom is currently a graduate student studying planetary science. He considers himself a writer, scientist, and all-around story teller. His interests include planetary geology, astrobiology, paleontology, archaeology, history, space archaeology, and SETI.

History

Member for: 7 years 5 months

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Posts

‘Arrival of Burke, Wills and King at the deserted camp at Cooper's Creek, Sunday evening, 21st April 1861’ (1907) by John Longstaff.

16 January, 2019 - 14:04 Caleb Strom

Exploration and Misfortune—The Tragic Tale of the Burke and Wills Expedition

Going out into the unknown comes with a cost. This was learned the hard way by the Burke and Wills expedition of 1860-1861, the first European expedition across Australia from Melbourne, Victoria in...

Portrait of the great Moroccan explorer Ibn Battuta.

15 January, 2019 - 17:23 Caleb Strom

Ibn Battuta—The Marco Polo of Dar-al-Islam

Before the invention of transportation such as trains, airplanes, and efficient, cheap travel over open ocean, people did not usually travel farther than perhaps 20 miles from their hometown. An...

3 January, 2019 - 22:49 Caleb Strom

The Penteli Cave Enigma – A Place of Unexplained Phenomena Since Ancient Times

Mount Pentelicus, a mountain near Athens, Greece, has been an important area for thousands of years. It is the location of the ancient quarry from which marble was cut to build the Parthenon and...

God the Father’ (1510-1520) by Ludovico Mazzolino.

2 January, 2019 - 23:02 Caleb Strom

Dyeus Pater—The Original All-Father of the Gods

The ancestors of the Indo-European peoples looked up into the sky and saw a father, a cosmic patriarch with authority over the realm of daylight. Many Indo-European pantheons contain gods associated...

30 December, 2018 - 23:02 Caleb Strom

The Maori: A Rich and Cherished Culture at the World’s Edge

New Zealand was one of the last landmasses to be colonized by humans. When Pleistocene megafauna had gone extinct elsewhere in the world, New Zealand was still inhabited by the moas, giant flightless...

A fight between a Roman and a Germanic warrior.

28 December, 2018 - 18:49 Caleb Strom

Raiders of Hispania: Unravelling the Secrets of the Suebi

In the 5th century AD, the reign of the Roman Empire in the west came crashing down with a series of barbarian invasions. Visigoths, Franks , and other groups laid waste to the villas and cities of...

26 December, 2018 - 13:59 Caleb Strom

Khopesh—The Egyptian Sword that Forged an Empire

Ancient Egypt has been very important in shaping modern Western civilization. For centuries, Egypt has occupied a place in the Western imagination as a mysterious land full of ancient wisdom, hidden...

24 December, 2018 - 23:08 Caleb Strom

Medusa, The Lake That Turns Flesh Into Stone

In a remote part of northern Tanzania in Africa there is a mysterious lake. The water is so caustic that it can burn the skin and eyes of unprepared creatures. Its shores are littered with the...

Roman Painting - Villa dei Misteri, Pompeii, Italy. Miltos was used for yellow and sometimes red in many Greco-Roman paintings

16 December, 2018 - 22:50 Caleb Strom

Miltos, The Wonder Dust of the Ancient World

What pigment could be used for ship maintenance, art, agriculture, medicine, and cosmetics? In the Greco-Roman world, the multi-use ocher pigment called Miltos filled all these roles. The powerful...

Inside the alchemy laboratory of the Speculum Alchemiae museum.

9 December, 2018 - 18:44 Caleb Strom

Speculum Alchemiae: Secret Underground Alchemy Lab Discovered in Prague During Flood

The city of Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, is known for many things. But one aspect of its history is often overlooked – it was a major center of the occult and the dark arts in the 16th...

A man in Liqian, China. There is debate whether his village was inhabited by Roman soldiers from the lost legion of Carrhae.

19 November, 2018 - 18:55 Caleb Strom

The Lost Legion of Carrhae: Did a Roman Legion End Up in China?

Rome and China are two major civilizations that shaped the cultures within their sphere of influence. They are also cultures that appear to have been mostly isolated from each other. For this reason...

Top of Statue of Saints Cyril and Methodius

3 November, 2018 - 13:15 Caleb Strom

Cyril and Methodius - Spiritual Fathers of Slavic Civilization

In many ways, Eastern Europe owes its cultural and religious shape to the two missionary brothers, Saint Cyril (827-869 AD) and Saint Methodius (826-884 AD). These two brothers were sent as...

27 October, 2018 - 18:52 Caleb Strom

Ninurta: God of War and Agriculture

Ninurta was a Mesopotamian deity associated with war, agriculture, and the scribal arts. He could be thought of as a defender of civilization against chaos. Ninurta was originally revered in southern...

‘The Nine Muses - Terpsichore (Dance) (1782) by Johann Heinrich Tischbein.

23 October, 2018 - 01:56 Caleb Strom

Terpsichore: The Muse of Dance Who Moved in Time with the Rhythm of the Cosmos

In ancient Greece, nine goddesses were believed to rule over all the major literary and artistic spheres. They were called the Muses. The Muse ruling dance and choral music was Terpsichore. In...

Artistic representation by Heinrich Harder of humans hunting glyptodon, a megafauna that lived during the Pleistocene period.

19 October, 2018 - 23:02 Caleb Strom

Pleistocene Epoch: Humans, Welcome to Earth

The Pleistocene epoch is a geologic epoch which began around 2.6 Mya (Million years ago) and came to an end around 11,700 BP (Before Present). It is characterized by lower sea levels than the present...

Stained glass representation of the Prophet Isaiah by Valentin Bousch.

5 October, 2018 - 18:57 Caleb Strom

What is the Legacy of Isaiah the Prophet?

Isaiah the prophet is known for having urged Israel to rely on Yahweh, their national god, instead of on the political power, and the gods of nations like Egypt or Assyria for protection and...