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TheCollector
10 Must-See Ancient Monuments Around the World Ancient times refer to the period spanning from the early development of human civilizations to the...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
Ancient times refer to the period spanning from the early development of human civilizations to the end of classical antiquity, roughly 3000 BCE to 500 CE. This era saw the rise of powerful empires, complex societies, and remarkable advancements in art, architecture, and...
Classical Wisdom
Weekly Wisdom Quiz Anger and Alexander
5 months ago
A Collection of...
Collections: What Do Historians Do? For this week, I want to take a step back (we’ll be back to our series on Rings of Power next week!)...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
For this week, I want to take a step back (we’ll be back to our series on Rings of Power next week!) and talk about the craft of history: we’ve talked about “How Your History Gets Made” from the perspective of the different people who do it – research historians, public...
Classical Wisdom
Weekly Wisdom Quiz Ancient Egypt, Diogenes, and more!
2 months ago
TheCollector
12 Unexpected Facts About Samuel Johnson There are many basic but essential facts to be learned about Samuel Johnson. For example, he was...
4 months ago
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4 months ago
There are many basic but essential facts to be learned about Samuel Johnson. For example, he was born in 1709 and died in 1784. His life spanned the reign of four British Monarchs: Queen Anne (1702-1714), King George I (1714-1727), King George II (1727-1760), and King George III...
TheCollector
Centuries-Old Buddhist Temple Destroyed by Wildfires Wildfires tearing through the southern regions of South Korea have killed at least 28 people and...
4 months ago
28
4 months ago
Wildfires tearing through the southern regions of South Korea have killed at least 28 people and destroyed or threatened hundreds of historical sites. As of Thursday, the wildfires have burned at least 88,980 acres of land, according to the South Korean government’s disaster...
TheCollector
The Mythology Behind Avatar and the Sacred Planet Trope In 2009, James Cameron’s Avatar was released in theaters around the world and garnered critical...
a week ago
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a week ago
In 2009, James Cameron’s Avatar was released in theaters around the world and garnered critical acclaim as one of the most successful movies of all time. It introduced us to the world of Pandora, a mystical and sacred place, and a symbol of life itself. The visual spectacle was...
TheCollector
Second Servile War: The Soothsayer’s Slave Rebellion That Shook Rome Even though the revolt of the would-be slave-king Eunus ended in bloodshed and defeat for the slaves...
3 months ago
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3 months ago
Even though the revolt of the would-be slave-king Eunus ended in bloodshed and defeat for the slaves of Sicily, the dreams and possibilities of breaking the shackles the Romans bound them in remained. Very little changed in terms of material conditions on Sicily between the end...
TheCollector
Psychology of Color: Why Are We Attracted to Gold? Gold is among the most coveted colors in jewelry, fashion, decor, artifacts, and designs....
4 months ago
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4 months ago
Gold is among the most coveted colors in jewelry, fashion, decor, artifacts, and designs. Historically, it has been cherished across all cultures and generations. What is the secret behind our timeless love of gold? Does it merely represent luxury and status for us, or does its...
Classical Wisdom
Can Any Good Come From War? The Tragedy of the Trenches
a year ago
Flashbak
That Time Kenneth Anger Wanted to Make a Film about Cricket – Exclusive St. Patrick’s Day, 2003, Kenneth Anger wrote a letter asking me if I wanted to line-produce his next...
a year ago
19
a year ago
St. Patrick’s Day, 2003, Kenneth Anger wrote a letter asking me if I wanted to line-produce his next film Arrangement in White on Green. It was to be a film about cricket. A sports film was the last thing I ever imagined the director of Lucifer Rising would make. I was intrigued....
The Universe of...
David McShane's mural with 18 Franks, revealed Yesterday I offered Gentle Readers a chance to identify the 18 famous Franks in David McShane's...
9 months ago
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9 months ago
Yesterday I offered Gentle Readers a chance to identify the 18 famous Franks in David McShane's mural. Benjamin Franklin Frankie Avalon Detail of ornament from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts building, designed by architect Frank Furness A frankfurter Aretha...
TheCollector
Everything You Need to Know About Orthodox Christian Art Orthodox Christian art has almost nothing in common with its Catholic and Protestant counterparts...
2 months ago
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2 months ago
Orthodox Christian art has almost nothing in common with its Catholic and Protestant counterparts despite the shared foundation found in the Holy Scripture. It was initially based on the Byzantine tradition of painting and mosaic-making. Highly stylized, dark, and strict toward...
TheCollector
How to Decode Goryeo Buddhist Paintings in Korean Art Among Korea’s rarest and most beautiful religious artifacts, the Goryeo Period Buddhist paintings...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
Among Korea’s rarest and most beautiful religious artifacts, the Goryeo Period Buddhist paintings were largely lost due to colonization and war. Retrieved from Japanese temples, their imagery is now interpreted to represent stories of the afterlife. Alongside their religious...
TheCollector
Understanding Beethoven in 5 Compositions Ludwig van Beethoven is labeled as an innovator and a rebel in the world of music. To paraphrase Bob...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
Ludwig van Beethoven is labeled as an innovator and a rebel in the world of music. To paraphrase Bob Marley’s song, No Woman No Cry, “No Beethoven, no modern music.” Despite his growing and eventual deafness, he composed some of the world’s most memorable music. His association...
TheCollector
Magic and Sorcery in Colonial Latin America Witchcraft has existed in almost every culture throughout time. Due to the great mixing of customs...
yesterday
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yesterday
Witchcraft has existed in almost every culture throughout time. Due to the great mixing of customs in Latin America during the colonial period, a new form of witchcraft, or brujería, was born, blending the traditions of European, Native American, and African cultures. Accusations...
TheCollector
10 Must-See Historic Sites in Maine Maine’s history is a rich blend of Indigenous heritage, colonial conflict, maritime industry, and...
3 months ago
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3 months ago
Maine’s history is a rich blend of Indigenous heritage, colonial conflict, maritime industry, and cultural resilience. Once part of Massachusetts, Maine played a pivotal role in early American warfare, from French and Indian battles to Revolutionary outposts like Fort Western and...
TheCollector
What Is the Book of Ezekiel About? From the first chapter, the Book of Ezekiel is packed with vivid imagery and colorful descriptions...
2 weeks ago
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2 weeks ago
From the first chapter, the Book of Ezekiel is packed with vivid imagery and colorful descriptions of God’s warnings to his people about the impending destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple. Like Jeremiah, Ezekiel pivots later to messages of hope and restoration, calling on the...
CrimethInc.
“They Can’t Beat All of Us” : A Reportback from the Florida Abolitionist Gathering The banner at the Civic Media Center welcoming participants to the 2025 Florida Abolitionist...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
The banner at the Civic Media Center welcoming participants to the 2025 Florida Abolitionist Gathering. From February 28 to March 2, hundreds of abolitionists and anarchists from across the country converged in Gainesville for the first Florida Abolitionist Gathering...
TheCollector
Yoko Ono’s Tate Modern Retrospective Heads to US After a sell-out stint at London’s Tate Modern, a major Yoko Ono retrospective is hopping across the...
4 months ago
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4 months ago
After a sell-out stint at London’s Tate Modern, a major Yoko Ono retrospective is hopping across the pond. The Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago announced it will be the only American institution to host Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind. The exhibition will open on October 18, 2025,...
Trying to Understand...
Such Times. And the banalisation of Evil.
2 months ago
TheCollector
Great Wall of China Is Centuries Older Than Previously Thought Dating back millennia and once spanning over 13,000 miles, the Great Wall of China is one of the...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
Dating back millennia and once spanning over 13,000 miles, the Great Wall of China is one of the most ambitious construction projects ever undertaken by humans. Recent excavations at the ancient monument suggest that its oldest sections were built 300 years earlier than...
TheCollector
Medes, the Ancient People Who Took Down the Assyrian Empire The ancient Medes are one of the least understood and most often overlooked people of the ancient...
3 days ago
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3 days ago
The ancient Medes are one of the least understood and most often overlooked people of the ancient Near East. In the 7th century BCE, the Medes helped conquer the Assyrian Empire on their way to establishing a powerful kingdom in ancient Iran and played a major role in the...
TheCollector
The Hidden Killer That Destroyed Napoleon’s Grand Army in 1812 What really doomed Napoleon’s Grand Army in Russia? For over 200 years, the story has been told as a...
a week ago
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a week ago
What really doomed Napoleon’s Grand Army in Russia? For over 200 years, the story has been told as a tale of “General Winter” freezing Europe’s mightiest army into defeat.   In June 1812, Napoleon’s Grand Army, numbering between 450,000 and 600,000 troops, poured across the Neman...
TheCollector
What’s the Best Time of Year to Visit Argentina? Argentina is a land of incredible diversity. From the rugged peaks of the Andes in the south to the...
3 months ago
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3 months ago
Argentina is a land of incredible diversity. From the rugged peaks of the Andes in the south to the high Puna desert in the north and sprawling pampas in the west, the eighth-largest country on earth leaves nothing to be desired. When planning a trip to Argentina, a little...
Classical Wisdom
Essential Greeks LIVE Webinar Times Join this year's course for a strong foundation in the Classics
a year ago
weird medieval guys
The coolest medieval woman you've never heard of Christine de Pizan on Circe, Medusa, and other virtuous ladies
over a year ago
TheCollector
7 Medieval Weapons & Armor The Medieval Period, which roughly stretched from 500 to 1500 CE, was a turbulent time of...
a month ago
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a month ago
The Medieval Period, which roughly stretched from 500 to 1500 CE, was a turbulent time of near-constant conflict. In order to gain an edge on the battlefield, armorers and weapons makers developed an astonishing variety of weapons to deal out damage and armor to keep a warrior...
Flashbak
Alice Austen : The New York Photojournalist For Ladies Who Bicycle And Other City Types Alice Austen (March 17, 1866–June 9, 1952) lived in Clear Comfort, a Victorian Gothic waterfront...
2 months ago
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2 months ago
Alice Austen (March 17, 1866–June 9, 1952) lived in Clear Comfort, a Victorian Gothic waterfront property on the Staten Island shoreline by the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, with her her life partner Gertrude Tate. This unique vantage point gave the photographer a view of the...
Trying to Understand...
Ukraine In NATO Would Be A Disaster ... But not necessarily for the reasons you think.
over a year ago
Open Culture
How Keith Jarrett Played on a Broken Piano & Turned a Potentially Disastrous Concert Into the... Nearly fifty years ago, the celebrated young pianist Keith Jarrett arrived in the West German city...
8 months ago
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8 months ago
Nearly fifty years ago, the celebrated young pianist Keith Jarrett arrived in the West German city of Köln (better known in English as Cologne). Having just come off a 500-mile-long road trip from Switzerland, where he’d played a concert the previous day, he was left with barely...
Classical Wisdom
Why are MYTHS Important? Podcast with Stephen Fry
a year ago
Flashbak
Dear Dead Heads: Vintage Skull Postcards Ever since we happened upon L’amour de Pierrot (above), an anonymous artwork made in 1905, we’ve...
a year ago
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a year ago
Ever since we happened upon L’amour de Pierrot (above), an anonymous artwork made in 1905, we’ve been on the look out for more of these type of memento mori optical illusions. And now we’ve an entire set of skull postcards – many of which are available as postcards in the shop.  ...
Classical Wisdom
How Should We Look at History? Hold it up? Seal it off? Or Break it Down?
a year ago
African History...
State and society in southern Ethiopia: the Oromo kingdom of Jimma (ca. 1830-1932) Modern Ethiopia is a diverse country comprised of many communities and languages, each with its...
a year ago
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a year ago
Modern Ethiopia is a diverse country comprised of many communities and languages, each with its history and contribution to the country's cultural heritage. While Ethiopian historiography is often focused on the historical developments in the northern regions of the country, some...
Flashbak
Cute and Sickly Sweet – 24 Vintage Snapshots That Invite a Reaction The girl presenting her pet lizard toad at the Children’s Pets show held on Venice Beach,...
a year ago
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a year ago
The girl presenting her pet lizard toad at the Children’s Pets show held on Venice Beach, California, in the mid 1930s makes for a cute photograph. Walter Chandoha’s 1955 picture of his daughter Paula with a kitten in 1955 is also cute. Angie Cook’s school photo from 1978 when...
Open Culture
Carl Jung’s Hand-Drawn, Rarely-Seen Manuscript The Red Book Despite his one-time friend and mentor Sigmund Freud’s enormous impact on Western...
5 months ago
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5 months ago
Despite his one-time friend and mentor Sigmund Freud’s enormous impact on Western self-understanding, I would argue it is Carl Jung who is still most with us in our communal practices: from his focus on introversion and extroversion to his view of syncretic, intuitive forms of...
TheCollector
Tiresias, the Blind Prophet of Greek Mythology Tiresias, the blind prophet from Thebes, is one of the most renowned seers in Greek mythology. After...
4 weeks ago
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4 weeks ago
Tiresias, the blind prophet from Thebes, is one of the most renowned seers in Greek mythology. After being struck blind by one of the gods, Tiresias was granted the gifts of prophecy and longevity. As a prophet, Tiresias played a vital role in the mythology of Thebes. However,...
Flashbak
1980s NYC and the Intuition of Richard Sandler “Street photography is very difficult. The number of really good pictures that you get is very small...
a year ago
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a year ago
“Street photography is very difficult. The number of really good pictures that you get is very small in comparison to the number of pictures taken. You’re better off, I think, letting your intuition completely run wild…” – Richard Sandler on his photographs of NYC    Richard...
Classical Wisdom
How important are dreams? Should we pay attention to them?
a year ago
Classical Wisdom
Weekend Roundup The Early Years of Jesus
a year ago
Flashbak
The Sweet Flypaper of Life by Roy DeCarava and Langston Hughes “We’ve had so many books about how bad life is, maybe it’s time to have one showing how good it is”...
9 months ago
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9 months ago
“We’ve had so many books about how bad life is, maybe it’s time to have one showing how good it is” – Langston Hughes, The Sweet Flypaper of Life   The Sweet Flypaper of Life (1955), a collaboration between photographer Roy DeCarava and poet Langston Hughes (February 1, 1902 –...
TheCollector
Skara Brae: The Mysterious Neolithic Village of Scotland Nestled in the Orkney Islands of Scotland, Skara Brae is a prehistoric village that has intrigued...
4 months ago
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4 months ago
Nestled in the Orkney Islands of Scotland, Skara Brae is a prehistoric village that has intrigued archaeologists and historians for generations. Built over 5,000 years ago, it predates even the Egyptian pyramids. The village, perfectly preserved under layers of sand for...
Overcoming Bias
No Meta Status Orgs In health and medicine, we have many government agencies, and private philanthropies, devoted to...
9 months ago
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9 months ago
In health and medicine, we have many government agencies, and private philanthropies, devoted to many specific medical conditions, and also to studying and reforming medicine in general, at a meta level.
Patterns in Humanity
Racial Homicide Disparities Since 1910 Drawing from uniform crime reports since 1933 and vital statistics since 1910, I document the...
over a year ago
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over a year ago
Drawing from uniform crime reports since 1933 and vital statistics since 1910, I document the evolution of black-white homicide disparities in the United States since the early 20th century.
TheCollector
Patrick Henry’s “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” Two-and-a-half centuries after it was first delivered, Patrick Henry’s famous quote, “give me...
3 months ago
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3 months ago
Two-and-a-half centuries after it was first delivered, Patrick Henry’s famous quote, “give me liberty or give me death,” lives on in American culture as a symbol of defiance against British colonial authorities intent on oppressing the 13 colonies. From a speech at the Virginia...
African History...
A history of the Loango kingdom (ca.1500-1883) : Power, Ivory and Art in west-central Africa. Africa's past carved in ivory
over a year ago
Flashbak
The Evolution of 178th St at Vyse Ave, South Bronx, NYC – 1980-2022 “I feel that a people’s past, including their accomplishments, aspirations and failures, are...
15 hours ago
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15 hours ago
“I feel that a people’s past, including their accomplishments, aspirations and failures, are reflected less in the faces of those who live in these neighborhoods than in the material, built environment in which they move and modify over time. ” – Camilo José Vergara   Since 1980,...
Overcoming Bias
Status Marker Polls In an attempt to learn more about status, I asked some polls comparing status markers.
4 months ago
History Today Feed
‘Language and Social Relations in Early Modern England’ by Hillary Taylor review ‘Language and Social Relations in Early Modern England’ by Hillary Taylor review JamesHoare Mon,...
a month ago