“Greek Fire,” the famous naval weapon of the Byzantine Empire, was a liquid projectile that burst into flames after spewing out of pressurized nozzles, and kept burning as it floated on water. This is a twelfth-century illustration of Greek Fire in action. The eleventh-century historian Anna Komnene has a great description of the theatrics involved
Greek Fire by the Byzantine Empire Read More »
A 17th-century wooden sculpture of Vishnu beginning the world. Symbolic features include the snake that Vishnu sleeps upon, the multi-headed Ananta, who has existed throughout the cycles of birth and destruction that permeate the universe. Also featured are seven sages so enlightened that they have transcended the episodic cycles of birth and decay, and nine
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This painting from 1494 is possibly a depiction of the famed Lucrezia Borgia appearing as Saint Catherine of Alexandria. The oxymoronic nature of such a depiction is obvious if we have heard of the many legends (incest, poisonings, etc) of this _femme fatale_. Of course, many of the tales are completely unproven, and probably can
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When the artist Larry Harvey first set fire to a 9-foot wooden effigy of a man and began a ceremony now celebrated annually at Black Rock City, Nevada, he had never heard of the famous 1973 cult horror film, “The Wicker Man,” which took its cue from an alleged Celtic practice of human sacrifice. In
Human Sacrifice in Ancient Celtic British Life Read More »
One of the earliest Medieval European depictions of an elephant as rendered by Matthew Paris in his Chronica Maiora II, 1235-1259. Parker Library, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, MS 16 f. 151v.
Medieval European Elephant Depictions Read More »
Kite flying was first recorded in Ancient China. Among the earliest accounts includes a story of the famed general Han Xin (d. 196 BCE), one of the most important leaders to establish China’s influential and long-lasting Han Dynasty. Desiring to tunnel under a city wall he was trying to conquer, Han Xin figured out the
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Throughout history, we humans have wanted to feel special, and often this has meant felling specialer than others. The Ancient Greek philosophers engaged in lively debates about which sorts of beings were more important: were they men? Fellow philosophers? Fellow (male) philosophers who agreed with each other? Diogenes the Cynic (d. 323 BCE) made fun
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Medieval people had such a different mindset from us that understanding their thoughts and perspectives can feel like trying to hold a conversation with someone who’s standing across a river bank. The illuminated manuscript shown here shows a bald man separated by a wide stream from a young person in white. It is the only
Middle English Poem “The Pearl” Read More »
Western History has no corner in the market for crazy leaders, as the example of Gao Yang (aka the Emperor Wenxuan) shows. Ruling for only nine years (r. 550-559 CE) in the tumultuous and short-spanned Northern Qi Dynasty, Gao Yang would have given Nero a run for his money. Known for his narcissistic, unpredidictable, and
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The writings of the Medieval theologian Peter Damian (d. 1072) reinforce the idea that the Middle Ages were an era with such religious devotion that all other sensibilities were eclipsed. In learning about the disdain for which Peter seemed to hold nearly everything unconnected to Christian doctrine, we can imagine that even his contemporaries would
Peter Damian’s Medieval Theological Writings Read More »
Tomorrow, July 20, 2019, will mark the 50th anniversary of the landing of Apollo 11 on the moon: the module of the spacecraft called _Eagle_ settled on the _Sea of Tranquility_, a relatively smooth, basalt area of its surface. The poetic name Mare Tranquilitatis was coined by two astonomers: the first was the 17th-century scientist
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The concentration of human-created beauty might be no greater than in Florence, where works by the greatest artists of the Italian Renaissance overflow. Across the centuries, travelers have made their way to immerse themselves in the visual spectacle that abounds. So overpowering was the sense of beauty to the French author Marie-Henri Beyle (d. 1842),
Marie-Henri Beyle and the Human-Created Beauty of Florence Read More »
Sheet music written by Franz Schubert in 1826, called the “Rondo Brilliant.” It was designed to showcase the vituosity of a specific violinist Schubert worked with, and was the only piece he wrote for violin and piano published in the artist’s lifetime. Schubert, who had many loves but suffered from bouts of depression throughout his
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Five thousand years ago, ancient Middle Eastern Mesopotamian civilizations developed the written word, and this invention galvanized other areas of culture such as literature and the visual arts. And so we see seals — such as the one here made of shell from the Akkadian period (2334-2154 BCE) — which often showcased religious and political
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Original printing of _Leviathan_, published in 1651 and written by the English political philosopher Thomas Hobbes (d. 1679). This classic pronouncement of human nature as basically selfish, competitive, and violent emerged during a period of civil war and corresponding endemic violence in Hobbes’ homeland. For him, humanity was doomed to a life that was “nasty,
Printing and Representation of The Leviathan Read More »
The Musee Horta (1898) embodies the style of Art Nouveau of the late 19th century. Known for its attention to beauty and incorporation of nature, Victor Horta designed this building in Brussels originally as his home. You can see the pronounced use of glass and steel – typical elements of his construction. The fluctuating movement
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Across the millennia, one of our common traits is the desire to feel special: this has been played out in terms of aristocratic status, patriarchal markers, race, and middle-school politics. Finding a solid boundary between “human” and “non-human” is yet another instance of seeking specialness. However, both scientists and historians are making this boundary increasingly
The Human Desire to Feel Special Read More »
Medieval maps did not share modern objectives with cartography: the _mappae mundi_ (“maps of the world”) were not designed to find one’s way with landmass shown to scale, but rather to convey a schematic idea of the major parts of creation. The map here (Bartholomeus Anglicus, _De propriatatibus rerum_, Ahun 1480 (BnF@gallicabnf, Francis 9140, fol
Medieval T-O Maps – “De Propriatatibus Rerum” Read More »
The interpretation of art highly depends on context. This figurine from the late Classical Maya world (600-900CE), for instance, might appear to modern viewers as a seated woman with a pained expression: indeed, the figure has a hunched back. The statue might even evoke pity in us — but these impressions and sentiments were probably
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The odd-shaped object you are looking at is none other than the Liver of Piacenza. This slightly three-dimensional object d’arte was fashioned by Etruscans living in the second century BCE. The main disk represents a sheep’s liver, with the three protrusions standing for the gall bladder and two other parts of a liver (called the
The Liver of Piacenza and Haruspicy Read More »
