History, the way I was taught it at school, is horizontal.
This king came after that king, this battle was fought after that battle – everything exists on an x-axis. Then, when I came to live in Edinburgh, I realised that, outside the classroom, history is actually vertical. John Knox preached on this very spot, where the Enlightenment philosophers also debated and the Scottish Parliament opening procession passed by in 1999 – everything exists on a y-axis too.
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