History isn't always boring

Historians are like deaf people who go on answering questions that no one has asked them. ― Leo Tolstoy

[theparisreview]

The public domain is teeming with hoary, scary fare for Halloween. Time was, you couldn’t throw a rock without hitting something spooky.

I present to you, then, a few morbid selections from George Wither’s A Collection of Emblemes, Ancient and Moderne: Quickened with Metrical Illustrations, both Moral and Divine; and disposed into Lotteries, that Instruction and Good Counsel, may be furthered by an Honest and Pleasant Recreation, from 1635.

Read on here.

[thegetty]

The Art of Alchemy in Medieval Manuscripts

The manufacture of colored pigments and inks was part of the science of alchemy, the forerunner of modern chemistry. Concerned with the transformation of matter, alchemy was closely tied to artistic practice.

A new exhibition at the Getty Center explores alchemy in manuscripts. The Alchemy of Color is open through January 1, 2017!

[archaeologicalnews]

Mussolini Message Found Under Rome Obelisk

A message from the Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini lies underneath a giant obelisk in Rome, a new archival research has discovered.

Written on parchment in Latin, the 1,200-word essay was carefully placed in a metal box with a few gold coins. It was then buried beneath the base of a 300-ton obelisk bearing the Latin inscription MVSSOLINI DVX, meaning Mussolini Duce (Mussolini the Leader).

Still standing in the Foro Italico sports complex in Rome, the 120-foot-high white marble monolith was unveiled to cheering crowds in 1932 as a monument to the power of fascism.

At that time, Mussolini (1883–1945) had already turned the Italian government into a dictatorship.

Titled “Codex Fori Mussolini,” the text was supposed to remain an unreachable secret for contemporaries. Read more.

[historicaltimes]

Ethnic map of Europe pre-WW1.

[historicaltimes]

Spacedogs Veterok and Ugoljok, ca.1966

via reddit

Keep reading

[archaeologicalnews]

Polish archaeologists discover a medieval hermitage in Egypt

Polish archaeologists in Egypt have discovered a medieval hermitage, and in the full set of artefacts that illustrate the daily life of Egyptian monk more than 1,300 years ago - a pair of sandals, fragments of pottery, textiles, wine amphorae, and even… a letter.

“The objects we discovered during excavations allow to reconstruct the hermit’s daily life” - told PAP Prof. Włodzimierz Godlewski from the Institute of Archaeology at the University of Warsaw.

The finds include a pair of leather sandals with multi-layered soles, a full set of ceramic vessels, necessary for everyday life, including large storage vessels and amphorae for wine. There are also pieces of fabric, perhaps the hermit’s clothes, leather goods, braids and broken glassware. Read more.

[todayinhistory]

May 24th 1956: First Eurovision

On this day in 1956, the first Eurovision Song Contest (then known as the Eurovision Grand Prix) was held in Lugano, Switzerland. The idea for the event came about in a 1955 meeting of the European Broadcasting Union in Monaco, after they were inspired by the Sanremo Music Festival in Italy. The first ever Eurovision broadcast lasted for one almost two-hour show on May 24th, primarily broadcast over radio. The event saw seven European countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland) submit two songs each. The winner was picked by a jury panel made up of representatives from the participating countries, who voted for their favourite song in secret. In 1956, the prize went to Switzerland’s own Lys Assia with the song ‘Refrain’. The tradition of the Eurovision song contest continues annually to this day, though the format is very different to how it was in 1956 - most notably the increased number of participant countries (42 took part this year), the fact that each country only enter one song each, and the points system.

60 years ago today

[greek-museums]

Archaeological Museum of Heraklion:

Bronze sword with gold-covered rivers for securing the hilt. The inner sheathing of the sword pommel is decorated with a repousse acrobat performing a full backward sommersault. His depiction on the sword may indicate that the acrobat was performing this leap over a sword set upright, at the risk of his life. References to such “leaps of death” by both male and female acrobats are found in later ancient sources. Palace of Malia. 1800-1600 B.C 

[todayinhistory]

April 22nd 1970: First Earth Day

On this day in 1970, the first Earth Day was celebrated, marking what many consider the beginning of the modern environmental movement. The environmental movement capitalised on increased activist fervour which gripped the United States during the Vietnam War. Attention had increasingly been turned to the problems plaguing the natural landscape, especially after Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring in 1962. The idea for Earth Day came from Senator Gaylord Nelson (D - WI) after an oil spill in Santa Barbara, CA. Nelson teamed with activist Denis Hayes, who led the national promotion of the day. Earth Day proved a popular idea, garnering support from Republicans and Democrats and people from all walks of life; it also encouraged the Nixon administration to create the Environmental Protection Agency and led Congress to pass several environmental measures. In 1990, Earth Day was again commemorated, and this time on an international scale, reaching 141 countries and involving 200 million people. The celebration only grew from there, and continues as an annual event around the world. However, Earth Day now faces a formidable challenge from climate change deniers and powerful lobbying groups.

[archaeologicalnews]

Minoan-Era Kouros Found in Heraklion Valued at 1.3 Million

Greek police announced on Wednesday that an ancient bronze figurine dated back to the Middle Minoan Period was found in the possession of four men, who were arrested on charges of illicit antiquities trading on May 29, 2015 in Sitia, Greece.

The figurine, which depicts a young man and is 30 cm tall, is valued at 1.3 million euros. A commission set up by the ministry to carry out the evaluation, arrived at this price estimate based on the figurine’s age, material and structural features but mostly on its unusual size, noting that it was the largest of its kind ever found.

The four men were arrested for violation of laws concerning antiquities and cultural heritage protection. According to the police, the four suspects had put the figurine up for sale. (source)

[archaeologicalnews]

Archaeologist Claims to Have Unlocked Phaistos Disk Mystery

The goddess of love, the Minoan Astarte, is the key figure that unlocks the mystery of the Phaistos Disk, according to linguist, archaeologist and coordinator of the program Erasmus of Crete Technological Institute; Gareth Owens.

Speaking to the ANA – MPA news agency, Owens said that after new data found in his research, his theory has changed slightly compared to the position he had expressed about a year ago. The focus is no longer the “pregnant mother”, as originally estimated, but a “pregnant goddess” that takes shape in the face of Astarte, the goddess of love.

“There is no doubt that we are talking about a religious text. This is clear from a comparison made with other religious words from other inscriptions from the holy mountains of Crete. We have words that are exactly the same,” Owens said and added, “I suspect that the Phaistos Disc is a hymn before Astarte, the goddess of love. Read more.

[archaeologicalnews]

New Lower Palaeolithic elephant butchering site has been discovered in Greece

A new Lower Palaeolithic elephant butchering site, Marathousa 1, has been discovered in Megalopolis, Greece, by a joint team of researchers from the Ephorate of Palaeoanthropology and Speleology (Greek Ministry of Culture) and the Paleoanthropology group, University of Tübingen.

Marathousa 1 is located in an open-cast coal mine, on what was once the shore of a shallow lake. It has yielded stratified stone artefacts in association with a nearly complete skeleton of Elephas antiquus, as well as the exceptionally well-preserved remains of fauna (rodents, birds, amphibians, reptiles, mollusks and insects) and plants (wood, seeds, fruit). The association of lithic artefacts with the elephant remains, as well as the discovery of cutmarks on elephant bones, indicate that Marathousa 1 is an elephant butchering site. Read more.

[mymodernmet]

800-Year-Old Ancient Extinct Squash Uncovered during Archeological Dig on Menominee Indian Reservation

[berghahnbooksonline]

Many years of political unrest came to a head in November 1973, as students at Athens Polytechnic held a three-day political demonstration against Greece’s reigning military dictatorship. This “Polytechnic Uprising,” which drew to a close on the 17th of November, helped to shape popular political culture in Greece in subsequent decades.

Read Children of the Dictatorship: Student Resistance, Cultural Politics and the ‘Long 1960s’ in Greece, by Kostis Kornetis.

[peashooter85]

The Peasant’s Crusade

In the early Middle Ages, Muslim forces had conquered most of the Middle East, overruning the Holy Land, at the time territory of the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire). By the end of the 11th century the Seljuk Turks had conquered Anatolia (Turkey), threatening the heart of the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantine Emperor Alexios Komnenos sent to the West for help hoping that the Pope would send an army of Western Europe’s best to drive back the invaders.  Instead what he got was a mob.

In response to Komnenos' plea, on November 27th, 1095, Pope Urban II gave a speech calling on the nobility of Europe to combine their military forces and march against the Muslims in a great Crusade to reconquer the Holy Land.  As an incentive for the Crusade, Urban offered an absolution of all sins and guaranteed place in Heavan for thosel who answered his call.  In response, Urban raised a 35,000 man international army composed of knights and professional soldiers as intended. What he didn’t expect were the thousands of peasants and commoners who would likewise heed his call.  In 1096 a man named Peter the Hermit began preaching the Crusades to the common people, raising a massive army of over 40,000 people.  These were not knights or professional soldiers, but peasants and commoners including women and children.  Supposedly Peter the Hermit was a priest or monk from Amiens, but there is no evidence that he actually took up Holy Orders. Obviously a charismatic man, he claimed to be in direct communication with God, even carrying a letter written by Jesus Christ himself giving him the authority to organize and lead a Crusade. He was also helped by a meteor shower, a lunar eclipse, the appearance of a comet, and a possible outbreak of ergot poisoning which drove many Crusaders to believe that the apocalypse was nigh.

In April of 1096 the Crusade set out for the Holy Land and promptly became a scourge to all but the Turks and Muslims.  A large band of ill disciplined peasants, the army was more like an unruly mob than a proper army.  As they passed through Central Europe, despite strong condemnation from the Catholic Church, they attacked and murdered thousands of German Jews, committing some of the worst pogroms in history up until the Holocaust. Other victims included people accused of witchcraft, and any other non-christians and non-believers. Often lacking food and supplies, the peasant Crusaders often plundered and raided the lands they traveled through as they made their way to Holy Land.  The worst hit was modern day Serbia.  In late May, the peasant Crusaders arrived in Belgrade.  When a dispute occured over the price of shoes, a riot ensued which led to the pillaging and burning of the city. The Crusaders then clashed with Byzantine forces outside of Nis.

The peasant Crusaders arrived in Constantinople in August of 1096, and Emperor Alexios Komnenos was shocked to find an army not of professional knights and soldiers, but a mob of poorly armed and equipped peasants driven to religious zealotry.  After recieving word of the destruction wrought by the Crusaders on their journey to Constantinople, Comnenos refused to allow them in the city and ordered that they be sent on their way as quickly as possible. He ordered the Crusaders shipped across the Bosphorus to Turkey, most likely knowing that he was sending them off to their doom. The “army” marched to Nicea, the provincial capital of the region, plundering and pillaging the local towns and villages on the way. By then the army was reduced to half its size, with 20,000 peasant Crusaders dying of disease, hunger, and from the many clashes on their journey so far. On the way to Nicea, they were ambushed by the Turks near a town called Dracon.  Against the well trained and heavily armed Turkish soldiers, the peasant Crusaders didn’t stand a chance, and after a single volley of Turkish arrows the army was disbursed in a panicked rout.  Most of the Crusaders were cut down by Tukish cavalry as they fled in terror.  Three thousand were able to take refuge in an abandoned castle where they remained under siege until they were rescued by a Byzantine Army.  Of the 40,000 peasant Crusaders who set off from Europe, only around 2,000 survived.

[digg]

8,400 High-Res Images From The Apollo Moon Missions Were Just Put Online — Here Are The Best

47 years after the first Apollo mission, archivist and space enthusiast Kipp Teague has released more than 8,000 photos of NASA’s earliest missions to the moon. These pictures are extremely high resolution and unprocessed, and provide an unparalleled look at some of man’s first journeys to the stars.

[theacadominique-deactivated2024]

ANCIENT MYCENAEAN PALACE UNEARTHED IN GREECE NEAR SPARTA

An ancient palace believed to date back to the Mycenaean civilization has been unearthed in southern Greece.

The 10-room Aghios Vassileios complex is thought to have been built between the 17th and 16th centuries BC and was discovered near the ancient village of Xirokambi, close to where the warrior society of Sparta existed, the country’s Culture Ministry announced.

It is believed the palace was destroyed in a fire in the late 14th or early 15th century BC, UPI writes. Religious icons and items of worship which survived the blaze have been found on the site.

More at HuffingtonPost.co.uk