Electrum Magazine – Why The Ancient World Matters Today

Art
The Homes of Henry David Thoreau

4 weeks ago

“I have learned that even the smallest house can be a home.” Henry David Thoreau Written and Illustrated by John Roman Henry David Thoreau’s cabin at Walden Pond is his most famous residence, yet historians and scholars also credit several other sites in Massachusetts that served as “home” to this […]
Architectural History
Trigonometry and Math – Egyptian Style

3 months ago

A section of the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, ca. 1550 BCE. It consists of reference tables, arithmetic, algebraic and geometric problems including volumes, and fractions (Courtesy of British Museum. London) By Susanne L. Houfek – The ancient Egyptians may not have taken trigonometry in school for entry level to a good university […]
Food History
Albert Seltz Wines in Mittelbergheim, Alsace

3 months ago

By Patrick Hunt – One of the oldest and respected domaines in Alsace, already known for some of the oldest continuing wineries in the world, is Domaine Albert Seltz in Mittelbergheim from 1576, with fourteen generations of wine production for highly sought-after wines. The current patriarch Albert took over from […]
Philosophy
Heraclitus meets Shakespeare: Character is Destiny and The Past is Prologue

4 months ago

By Walter A Borden, M.D. – “Character is destiny”, simple, enigmatic, written by the Pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus in the 6th to 5th century BCE. It is a powerful message for all peoples, a message for then—and now. The ancient Greek word for character was Ethos, meaning ideals, but derived from and related […]
Art
Guillaume de Machaut: Medieval Polymath

5 months ago

By Susanne Houfek – Unless you’re a medievalist you may not know Guillaume de Machaut was an important 14th century French poet and composer. Living from 1300-1377, he was prolific, innovative and influential, creating over 400 poems, 235 ballades, 76 rondeaux, 39 virelais and more, both secular and religious, in […]