By Andrea M. Gáldy – Southern Germany offers more than skiing holidays and the Oktoberfest, nice though they are. Traces of ancient Celtic and Roman settlements in the former Province of Raetia can still be admired, while during the mediaeval and early modern period the imperial free cities, bishoprics and […]
By Patrick Hunt – Fernand Cormon’s giant 1880 painting almost fills an entire gallery wall at the Musee d’Orsay, Paris, not just because it is almost 23 feet long (7 meters) but also because its dramatic starkness directly strikes the viewer in the often-darkened room. The biblical background of Genesis […]
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 – 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 […]
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 – 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 […]