Temple of Artemis

Debate is easy, and yelling is easier. How often, however, do people examine their most basic knowledge? Right now, the proposed construction of an Islamic worship center in relative proximity to “Ground Zero” in Manhattan is a nexus of conflict and emotion. The missing ingredient is definition. Let’s examine basic terms, starting with mosque. All the variants of “mosque” in European languages go back to the …

Batman lurks like a bat in the shadows. Spider-Man slings webs like a radioactive spider. Superman is a literal translation of Friedrich Nietszche’s term ubermensch. And Wonder Woman is…well, what does Wonder Woman’s name tell us about her? A lot, it turns out. When William Moulton Marston created Wonder Woman in the early 1940s, he made her not just Diana, an Amazon princess, but also …