Today begins the Chinese New Year for 2021, when many rituals and celebrations welcome in the future in hopes that it will bring happiness, health, and prosperity. One of the traditions is shown in the image here: the drinking of a sort of wine called “Tusu.” Of course, it was specially important for the Emperor
Chinese New Year and Drinking “Tusu” Read More »
Chinese folklore has many accounts of female ghosts — the one featured here is the Nü gui, a terrifying vengeful spirit of a woman who committed suicide because of a crime against her, often rape. Such spirits might appear as beautiful ladies who sexually seduce their male prey and drain their “Yang” life-force essence.This type
Chinese Folklore the Nu Gui Ghost Read More »
In the late 1980’s, the country of South Africa was perched on the edge of civil war. The white Afrikaner minority population had enforced a brutal range of policies under its apartheid system. Whites were to live in the wealthy areas, blacks were legally sequestered to the poor lands. Only the pro-apartheid National Party was
de Klerk and Mandela Avoid a Civil War Read More »
Beauty standards across time vary enormously, as does the degree to which they emphasize qualities that never appear in nature. For instance, in recent decades in American culture, having perfectly straight and dazzling white teeth have signified health and high social status. In much of Japan’s history, it was the exact opposite.Here you see an
Beauty Standards in Ancient Japanese History Read More »
Folks, step right up and cast your eyes on the oldest known monastic site to be excavated. Located in the Bahariya Oasis in Egypt West of the Nile (see second image), the most recent dig happened in 2020 as the COVID pandemic wore on.It is simply incredible that such rich discoveries are still being made.
Egypt’s Oldest Excavated Monastic Site Read More »
Here you see an image from around 1800 of one Chloe Russell, the purported author of _The Complete Fortune Teller and Dream Book_. Only a handful of copies exist today, but they provide a tantalizing glimpse into the tastes of some Americans for the occult, and an association of black Americans having access to magical
Purported Author Chloe Russell Read More »
The column pictured here is a Sati Stone from the 18th century, now housed in the British Museum. To us, it is a hideous and grim memorial, but it was envisioned to be a sacred monument and tribute commemorating a woman who had performed Sati (also Suttee) — self-immolation upon her deceased husband’s funeral pyre.The
18th Century Sati Stone Read More »
Behold the Bayon Temple, one of several built under King Jayavarman VII (d. 1219) of the Khmer Empire of Medieval Camodian fame.Many consider Jayavarman VII the most important ruler of Medieval Cambodia — the sheer amount of building projects he undertook illustrates why this is so. Unifying his Empire and defending its borders, Jayavarman built
Bayon Temple in Medieval Cambodia Read More »
These Chinese tiny stick drawings contain precious information — very few could understand it in the second century BCE when they were inscribed in silk and placed in the famous Mawangdui tomb, but modern astronomers have studied such markings to learn about the history of celestial objects of the distant past.These are renderings of different
Chinese Stick Drawings of Comets Read More »
I have a good story for this Mother’s Day in the U.S.. It comes from a Hindu myth found in a sacred text called _The Bhagavata Purana_ (8th-10th c), which tells the story of the maternal love of Yasoda for her foster son, the God Krishna.Yasoda had no idea that she was raising a divine
Yasoda and Her Foster Son God Krishna Read More »
It might look like this is a Medieval European painting at first glance, but it isn’t — check out the writing, the orange and blue dominant tones, the clothing of the small figures, and the directional patterns of the lines. This is an Ethiopian mural from the 1600s.And what it depicts is suggestive regarding a
Ethiopian Artwork and the Black Plague Read More »
This is ink drawing by the Medieval Japanese master artist Sesson Shūkei dates from around 1570 and represents my favorite elements of this type of art. Called “Gibbons in a Landscape,” it shows the animals trying to take hold of the moon’s reflection in the water. You can see a closeup in the second slide
Japanese Ink Drawing “Gibbons in a Landscape” Read More »
The first foreign-born Japanese samurai was the warrior Yasuke, represented here in a 2019 sculpture by South African artist Nicola Roos. We don’t have any images from the years around 1579, when he arrived in Japan alongside a Portuguese Jesuit missionary. However, Japanese sources from Yasuke’s contemporaries speak of the power that Yasuke held from
The First Foreign-Born Japanese Samurai Read More »
“The Great City of Benin,” at one time called Edo, is a place I wish I could time-travel back to. It was completely destroyed by Bristish armies in the late 19th century, but in pre-colonial times it was one of the largest Medieval cities in the world, the capital of the Benin Empire.The walls of
The Great City of Benin Read More »
This is a divination tray, or “opon ifá”, dating from the early twentieth century. Used for hundreds of years by the Yoruba peoples of west Africa, the opon ifá belonged to a diviner-priest called a “babalawo” who would consult the Gods and ancestors in order to help someone make an important decision or find a
Divination Trays of 20th Century West Africa Read More »
The 14th-century BCE Pharaoh Tutankhamun’ s burial is the most famous in Egyptian history. Although the tomb was discovered in the early 20th century, it was only in 2016 that a team of scientists demonstrated that the object shown here was made of a substance more valued than gold: it is a dagger with an
The northeast part of Africa fascinates me: the history is so rich, but many places I’d like to go aren’t accessible. Take the Kassala region of eastern Sudan, for instance — the first and second images show breathtaking mountains overlooking an off-planet like desert scene. These images also get at the ancient past of the
Beja Nomadic Peoples Burials Read More »
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, almost the entire continent of Africa was taken over by various European states and business entrepreneurs. Among this area was the eastern state of Tanganyika, modern Tanzania. The two men featured here in chains are reflective of many who rose up against the German colonialist government in
Maji Maji Uprising of Tanganyika Read More »
Here is the banner from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, one of the two major powers that engaged in China’s civil war between 1851 to 1864. While accurate records of casualties are impossible to tally, the Taiping Rebellion resulted in the worst civil war in terms of deaths: upwards of 20 million people — as many
Banner of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom Read More »
Lots of animals love to play — many of us mammals will forgo food and sleep just to take part in exploratory fun. Humans have excelled at a specific type of play that comes in the form of games.Games are more formal than most types of play. They involve rules and have uncertain outcomes .
Ancient Chinese Board Game “Go” Read More »
