By Douglas McElwain Antikythera Mechanism The Antikythera Mechanism was discovered in a shipwreck off the Greek island of Antikythera (just south of the Peloponnesus) between 1900-02. Over a century of study by researchers has determined that it is the remains of a two thousand year old astronomical computer. It is […]
By Andrea M. Gáldy – Two concurrent complementary exhibitions in Florence in 2015 have been dazzling and hugely aesthetically rewarding: Power and Pathos. Bronze Sculpture of the Hellenistic World (Palazzo Strozzi, 14 March to 21 June 2015) and Small Great Bronzes. Greek, Roman and Etruscan Masterpieces (Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Firenze, […]
By Jack Martinez -Â War! What is it Good For? Conflict and the Progress of Civilization from Primates to Robots Ian Morris Farrar, Straus and Giroux (April 15, 2014) 512 pages In his recent book, War! What is it Good For?, Ian Morris writes, “War has made the planet peaceful […]
By Catherine Clover - By its definition, the Beaux Arts movement in architecture combined the classical proportions of the Greco–Roman period with the Neo-Classical decorative elements popularized in the Renaissance and Baroque periods. Of the many buildings that fall into this category of architecture, two prominent international opera houses come […]
By Douglas McElwain – Inca measurements are systematic as they apply to architecture and quipu knot structures. This article suggests a relationship between three seemingly disparate elements of Inca culture; stone walls, distance units of measure, and quipu (surviving string knot artifacts). Walls The Inca of Peruvian South America lived […]
By Patrick Hunt -Â While this is not in any way comprehensive, some of my favorite word plays from Hebrew literature show a deliberate use of language for suggesting multiple ambiguities, sometimes even steganographic – hiding things in plain sight – and often paronomasic – having connections in both sound […]
 Orestes Going After His Mother Clytemnestra to Kill Her, 5th c. BCE Red-Figure vase, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston By Walter Borden, M.D. Clytemnestra: “But blood of man once spilled, Once at his feet shed forth, and darkening the plain, Nor chant nor charm can call it back again. So Zeus […]
By Catherine Clover – “Remember gentlemen, it’s not just France we are fighting for, it’s champagne!†_Winston Churchill, WWII As the year 2014 comes to a close, it is a most fitting time to reflect upon the year in review and prepare resolutions for the year ahead. After meeting […]
By Patrick Hunt -Â The Atrahasis Flood Tablet I first saw in Irving Finkel’s office at the British Museum a few years ago before this book was published seemed much like many others in the museum galleries, a cuneiform clay tablet one could easily hold in a hand. But this […]
By  Andrea M. Gáldy - Das Konstanzer Konzil. Weltereignis des Mittelalters 1414-1418. Grosse Landesausstellung 2014 im Konzilgebäude Konstanz (27. April – 21. September 2014), organised by the Badisches Landesmuseum Karlsruhe. www.konstanzerkonzil2014.de Karl-Heinz Braun, Mathias Herweg, Hans W. Hubert, Joachim Schneider und Thomas Zotz, eds. Das Konstanzer Konzil. Catalogue and volume […]