Eagle and Snake, Imperial Palace Mosaic Museum, Istanbul, circa 6th c. (image in common domain) By Patrick Hunt – Courtesy of the Nikia and Hippodrome revolts of 532 that destroyed part of the Imperial Palace of Constantine in Constantinople, subsequent rebuilding by Justinian (reigning 527-65) and possibly added to by […]
A. Van Dyck, Charles I (triple portrait) Royal Collection ca. 1635 By Andrea M. Gáldy – Charles I, the second Stuart king of England, is for most of us the unlucky monarch who lost his head and his throne on […]
How Conservative Britain saw the New America in 1776: “Rebellious Slut” By P. F. Sommerfeldt – Morality is often such a morass of competing and even conflicting values that few scientists wade into its murky waters. Thus despite reluctance to define morality and teach values and whatever might be defined […]
Bison painting, Chauvet Cave, Ardeche France, ca 32,000 BP (Image public domain) By Patrick Hunt – How much human behavior can be quantitatively attributed to instinct is largely arguable and untested, especially since we are usually inclined to believe we are rationally able to rise above any such deeper-than-cognitive triggers […]
Hermitage – Winter Palace, St. Petersburg (photo P. Hunt 2017) By P. F. Sommerfeldt – It has been variously said that even if you stood in front of each Hermitage Museum object a few seconds less than a minute you’d need a total of eleven continuous years, day and night, […]
Image Courtesy of Jean-Pascal Jospin, Laura Dalaine Hannibal et les Alpes: une traversee in mythe, 2011 By Patrick Hunt – Anyone with some imagination about Hannibal often thinks first of his intrepid army march over the Alps with elephants. I’m often asked more about the elephants than the multicultural army […]
Detail of Bronzino, Deposition (Besançon, 1543) By Andrea M. Gáldy – While many people still consider the Renaissance to have been a movement created largely in Florence and Rome, in recent decades this understanding has been changing. The Renaissance has become more international and its chronology has become wider, one […]
Lausanne Cathedral Stained Glass Zodiac: Capricorn (Photo P. Hunt, 2016) By Alice Devine Wilson – “Of fowls after their kind and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping things of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come….” (Genesis, 6:19-20) Had Noah’s Ark perched atop the […]
St. Basil’s Church, Red Square, Moscow (photo P. Hunt, 2017) By P. F. Sommerfeldt – Moscow’s Red Square is one of the most recognizable places in the world, and dominating its southern end is the landmark St. Basil’s Cathedral, the 16th century monastic structure that millions can easily identify […]
By Patrick Hunt – Readers used to courtly fanfare in larger than life Tudor and Jacobean characters – Henry VIII, Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots and even James I – largely assume a life with only a few cornets pealing around Charles I, however peevish and absolutist his history […]