This object, now in a musuem in Harare, Zumabwe, dates from 1300. Purely indigenous drum? Replica of the Ark of the Covenant? The ways we attach meaning to ancient objects tells us far more about the present than about the past.
Ark of the Covenant Read More »
This is a 15th century aquamanile (pouring water vessel) representing the humiliation of Aristotle by Phyllis: a sort of “world-turned upside down” motif that actually reinforced ideas that men’s real place is above women. Picture taken at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC.
15th Century Aquamanile Read More »
This is Plympton 322, and this mathematical tablet written in cuneiform has been studied a lot to work out how much the Babylonians understood trigonometry. I love how much we still can learn and study about the history of math!
These are shoes from Roman Britain. Not a lot of support in the soles, eh? (Even considering the decay over centuries.)
Roman Britain Shoes Read More »
This is the Ishtar Gate to the entrance of the city of Babylon, dating to the 6th century. The lion was important to the Goddess Ishtar, who was worshipped as one of the main deities of Mesopotamia.
Ishtar Gate Entrance Read More »
Sumerian is the first written language and linguists think of it as a “language isolate”; it isn’t related to any other known languages. This tablet is from the 26th century BCE.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s writeup of this 12th-c painting of a camel found on the walls of the monastery Church of San Baudelio de Berlanga in Spain somewhat charitably declares that the painter “could have been inspired by an actual camel”. After all, there is the single hump of the dromedary camel, and this
Camels in the Bible Read More »
This is a tablet from Ancient Mesopotamia dating to 1800 BCE. It is a hymn to Ninsaki, the goddess of beer. It is also a beer recipe. Some scholars think that beer might have been invented even before bread – whether this is true or not, beer was super important (calories, socialization, nutrients, safer than
Hymn to Ninsaki Tablet Read More »
General Flavius Aetius, considered by many to have been the last capable Roman leader in the Western Empire, defended Rome from the invasions of the Huns. He was assassinated by a weak Roman Emperor who allegedly boasted how well he had done by the act. Supposedly, one of the emperor’s courtiers responded: “whether you have
General Flavius Aetius Read More »
This wild grass was of the first plants humans intentionally harvested. Einkorn’s seeds scatter more easily than modern wheat, and they are smaller as well. This plant flourished in modern northern Syria and northern Iraq.
“Thunder, Perfect Wisdom” is a super trippy text from around the second century, probably Egypt. Although it’s not Daoist, it has a lot of similarities. I also like it because it’s told through the voice of a woman.
“Thunder, Perfect Wisdom” Text Read More »
I really enjoyed the Freer Gallery of Art’s small permanent collection dealing with the history of the southwestern part of the Arabian peninsula, or modern Yemen. The area has suffered from horrific warfare since 2014, which has endangered much of its historical heritage. This is tragic, because although the area never boasted the wealth of
Ancient Egypt lasted thousands of years, but across the millennia a few pharaohs stand out, and Ramesses II (c 1303-1213 BCE) was one of them. His 66-yesr reign witnessed great successes economically, he won military conflicts that made Egypt a world power, and he promoted his accomplishments in art that still today remain as some
The Legacy of Ramesses II Read More »
This painting, “The Soldier of Marathon”, by Luc-Olivier Merson (1869), shows a nude runner reporting a victory of the Ancient Athenians against the Persians. The information was of extreme military importance, as the autonomy of Ancient Athens was partially dependent on it, and so the runner traversed an arduous distance of 40 kilometers or 26.2
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This is the best illustration I could find of a “Pyrrhic Victory”: and if you are familiar with this phrase, you will understand why. The first-century historian Plutarch tells of battles the Greeks waged against the Romans over three hundred years before his lifetime. At Heraclea (280 BCE) and Asculum (279 BCE), the armies of
This scene of Jesus’ condemnation by the Roman governor of Judea, painted by Antonio Ciseri, is one that millions of Christians contemplate each Easter. In it, Pilate asks his audience whether they want to have Jesus released, and that he had “found no case against him.” In reply, they shouted that they wanted Jesus dead.
The Condemnation of Jesus Read More »
One of the most pleasurable parts of mythology is that the stories get written anew with succeeding generations. You can see that here with two illustrations of the Ancient Greek Goddess Nyx: the first is by William-Adolphe Bouguereau in 1884 (_La Nuit_) and the second is by J.H. Williams III, illustration of Mother Night for
Nyx in Historical and Modern Art Read More »
Fans of Indiana Jones may remember the film about the Holy Grail, and the part where Indy needs to figure out which of the many ancient cups in front of him was the one Jesus drank from at the Last Supper. Of course, the answer was a drab and utterly innocuous vessel — to match
Nanteos Cup: Contender for the Holy Grail Read More »
The Persian Empires that preceded the Arab invasions of the seventh century developed amazing methods of shaping silver. Usually mixed with an alloy of copper to strengthen the piece, Persian metalsmiths used multiple ways of engraving, stamping, and layering silver. The craftsmanship produced silver objects of all sorts,l. Of course, only elites or royalty could
This baddie not only flourished in 14th and 15th century Eurasia. It also killed millions in the 6th cenuury, and struck again in 19th century China. Scientists are now thinking it might have caused a bottleneck in the population of Europeans in the Neolithic era too!
