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TheCollector
How Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Vitruvian Man’ Defined Renaissance Genius At first glance, it seems like a simple sketch: a nude male figure within a circle and a square. But...
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At first glance, it seems like a simple sketch: a nude male figure within a circle and a square. But Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man is anything but ordinary. Those familiar lines form a fascinating blueprint of Renaissance ideals, revealing layers of artistic and scientific...
Flashbak
Wisconsin Death Trip, 1973 – Small Town America In The Grip of Madness For more than 60 years, Charles Van Schaick (1852-1946) worked as a photographer in the town of...
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For more than 60 years, Charles Van Schaick (1852-1946) worked as a photographer in the town of Black River Falls, Wisconsin. Opened in 1879, he took around 8,000 of glass plate negatives, of which approximately 5,700 are studio portraits. The Charles Van Schaick collection, now...
TheCollector
How Henry VII Took the English Throne & Founded the Tudors Henry VII often slips through the cracks of history, being sandwiched between the controversial...
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Henry VII often slips through the cracks of history, being sandwiched between the controversial Richard III, a Renaissance Machiavellian prince, and Henry VIII, an impossibly charismatic and epoch-shaping monarch. But without Henry VII, there would be no Henry VIII. It was Henry...
Trying to Understand...
An Apology And A Few Suggestions. More next week.
2 months ago
Flashbak
On My Stoop In Brooklyn Over Four Decades: Anthony’s Story We’re hanging out on the stoop of Anthony Catalano’s home in Boro Park, Brooklyn, New York City....
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We’re hanging out on the stoop of Anthony Catalano’s home in Boro Park, Brooklyn, New York City. These pictures are of the “two main stoops on my block throughout the five decades on my life in Broro Park, Brooklyn NYC,” says Anthony. We’ve featured Anthony’s superb pictures of...
TheCollector
Where Was the Battle of Camlann? King Arthur’s Legendary Final Battle According to the Arthurian legends, King Arthur was mortally wounded at the infamous Battle of...
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According to the Arthurian legends, King Arthur was mortally wounded at the infamous Battle of Camlann. This was the culmination of a civil war between Arthur and his nephew, Mordred. The historicity of this legendary account is seriously questioned by modern scholars....
Patterns in Humanity
The rise of life expectancy Illustrated and explained
2 months ago
TheCollector
What Is the “Gospel of Luke” All About? Luke, a physician, played a significant role in the early church but was not an eyewitness to the...
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Luke, a physician, played a significant role in the early church but was not an eyewitness to the life and ministry of Jesus. He nevertheless compiled his account of the gospel after careful research to produce a reliable, orderly account of what Jesus had said and done during...
Classical Wisdom
Ancient Statism Classical Wisdom Litterae: Government
2 months ago
History Today Feed
The Death of the Great Barnato The Death of the Great Barnato JamesHoare Wed, 07/02/2025 - 08:00
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TheCollector
Did Rome “Abduct” Mithras, the Persian Sun God? The establishment of Roman Mithraism in the West (1st to 4th century CE) mirrored the military and...
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The establishment of Roman Mithraism in the West (1st to 4th century CE) mirrored the military and cultural challenge to Roman hegemony that emerged in the East from the Parthian Empire.   Successor to a Persian legacy, Parthia was the true patron of Mithraism’s deeply antiquated...
Flashbak
From Dusk Til Dawn: 29 Found Photos Taken In Changing Light We grow accustomed to the Dark — When Light is put away — As when the Neighbor holds the Lamp To...
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We grow accustomed to the Dark — When Light is put away — As when the Neighbor holds the Lamp To witness her Good bye — Emily Dickinson  They say that the glow of the sky you see at night isn’t starlight but leftover light from the Big Bang. Light is ancient and magical. Away …...
TheCollector
Everything You Need to Know About the Ten Commandments The lists of commandments in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 are almost identical to each other,...
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The lists of commandments in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5 are almost identical to each other, diverging significantly only in the reasons they each give for keeping the Sabbath day. This list—often called the Decalogue—is what is popularly known as the Ten Commandments. However,...
Classical Wisdom
Volcanoes in the Ancient World Cataclysm and Change
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TheCollector
The Raphael Rooms in Vatican City Revealed Entering the Raphael Rooms is like stepping through a portal to the heart of the Italian...
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Entering the Raphael Rooms is like stepping through a portal to the heart of the Italian Renaissance. In the early 16th century, at the peak of the storied art movement, Raphael and his workshop painted a spectacular suite of papal apartments in the Vatican.   The resulting...
Flashbak
Hannah Arendt on Jews, Refugees And Suicide, 1943 “The comity of European peoples went to pieces when, and because, it allowed its weakest member to...
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“The comity of European peoples went to pieces when, and because, it allowed its weakest member to be excluded and persecuted.” – Hannah Arendt, We Refugees, 1943     Hannah Arendt (October 14, 1906–December 4, 1975) was a German Jew who escaped the Holocaust, became an American...
TheCollector
How Did Leon Battista Alberti’s “On Painting” Shaped the Renaissance? In his seminal book of art theory entitled On Painting, Leon Battista Alberti staked a claim for...
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In his seminal book of art theory entitled On Painting, Leon Battista Alberti staked a claim for painting as a liberal art for the first time. Split into three sections dealing with geometry, art theory and method, and the ethical constitution of great painters, this brief...
History Today Feed
‘The Big Hop’ by David Rooney review ‘The Big Hop’ by David Rooney review JamesHoare Mon, 06/30/2025 - 08:00
2 months ago
TheCollector
Why Does the Assyrian King Sennacherib Appear in the Bible? Sennacherib was an Assyrian king who reigned from 705 to 681 BCE. He was known for consolidating and...
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Sennacherib was an Assyrian king who reigned from 705 to 681 BCE. He was known for consolidating and expanding the Neo-Assyrian Empire. In the biblical narrative, he invaded Judah during the reign of King Hezekiah in 701 BCE, capturing many fortified cities and eventually laying...
Flashbak
People of Telegraph Ave, Berkeley 1969-1973 One picture changed everything. In the 1960s, Nacio Jan Brown was a photographer for the San...
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One picture changed everything. In the 1960s, Nacio Jan Brown was a photographer for the San Francisco Express Times, an underground weekly newspaper. Typically, he would sit in Caffe Mediterraneum on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley and wait for something to happen. One day, nothing...
TheCollector
What Makes the Nag Hammadi Library So Significant? Not long after the founding of Christianity, the Christian faith spread throughout the Roman Empire....
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Not long after the founding of Christianity, the Christian faith spread throughout the Roman Empire. As Christianity developed, the 27 books of the New Testament were recopied and distributed, along with other books, written later, which claimed false apostolic authorship. Many...
Dreams of Space -...
My Weekly Reader April 30, 1962 Here is your My Weekly Reader for April 30, 1962. This is stuffed full of cool articles so let's get...
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Here is your My Weekly Reader for April 30, 1962. This is stuffed full of cool articles so let's get started! Do you understand the mysteries of the Moho? Does the Moho exist? People want to know!
TheCollector
How the Seljuks Rose from Steppe Nomads to Rulers of a Vast Empire In the 10th century, a group of nomadic Turks called the Seljuks began a migration through Central...
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In the 10th century, a group of nomadic Turks called the Seljuks began a migration through Central Asia, searching for pasture for their herds. By 1071, this tribe had formed a mighty empire that encouraged the Turkic migration and settlement of Anatolia. This would ultimately...
A Collection of...
Fireside Friday, June 27, 2025 (On the Limits of Realism) Fireside this week! Originally, I was thinking I’d talk about the ‘future of classics’ question in...
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Fireside this week! Originally, I was thinking I’d talk about the ‘future of classics’ question in this space, but I think that deserves a full post (in connection with this week’s book recommendation and the next fireside’s book recommendation), so instead this week I want to...
TheCollector
The 6 Foundational Shinto Myths Shinto, “the way of the Gods,” has been the folk religion of Japan for thousands of years, even...
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Shinto, “the way of the Gods,” has been the folk religion of Japan for thousands of years, even after being partially subsumed into Buddhism. It resembles Taoism in many ways, with a focus on harmony with nature and ancestor veneration. Another key part of Shinto is the worship...
Flashbak
Snapshots of Kids Bike Jumping in the 1970s Back in the 1970s (and before), parents didn’t stress about our health and safety as much as they do...
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Back in the 1970s (and before), parents didn’t stress about our health and safety as much as they do today. It’s not that they cared less – they just didn’t worry obsessively about it. It’s a far guess to say that some of the kids seen bike jumping and being bike jumped (which is...
TheCollector
The Story of Kösem Sultan Who Ruled the Ottoman Empire With an Iron Fist Kösem Sultan, initially a concubine, then the wife of the Ottoman Sultan Ahmed I, was a...
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Kösem Sultan, initially a concubine, then the wife of the Ottoman Sultan Ahmed I, was a controversial figure even in her own time. She not only exercised power through three different sultans but influenced court politics in her own right. She had her son Ibrahim deposed from...
Flashbak
Hubert Hilscher’s Trippy Circus Posters It seemed to me that a person who goes to the circus to see a trained lion will also want to see it...
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It seemed to me that a person who goes to the circus to see a trained lion will also want to see it on the poster: a lion that is real but different from the one that can be seen in the zoo.” – Hubert Hilscher   Hubert Hilscher (25 October 1924 – 19 September … Continue reading...
TheCollector
Discover the Land of the Moche in Northern Peru Most people traveling through Peru head south, enticed by big-ticket highlights like Machu Picchu,...
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Most people traveling through Peru head south, enticed by big-ticket highlights like Machu Picchu, Cusco, the Sacred Valley, or the Amazon. But in the north, hidden treasures abound. This dry, coastal region was once home to the Moche, a powerful pre-Inca culture known for its...
Flashbak
Vintage Posters for The Royal Court Theatre Founded by the English Stage Company (ESC in 1956, London’s Royal Court Theatre focuses on...
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Founded by the English Stage Company (ESC in 1956, London’s Royal Court Theatre focuses on contemporary theatre. The building on Sloane Square has put on plays since its completion in 1888. The venue truly arrived when on 8 May 1956, John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger opened – a...
TheCollector
The First Punic War: A Clash of Cultures The story of the Punic Wars is usually told from the perspective of the victors, the Romans, for...
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The story of the Punic Wars is usually told from the perspective of the victors, the Romans, for whom it was the first step towards dominating the Mediterranean. For the Carthaginians, the conflict with Rome initially seemed like a third-party dispute that would be resolved...
Trying to Understand...
Digging Deeper. Because the alternative is worse.
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TheCollector
8 Important Norse Symbols From the Viking World While many stories survive about Norse mythology and legendary Viking warriors, these mostly come...
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While many stories survive about Norse mythology and legendary Viking warriors, these mostly come from later Christian accounts, as the pagan Vikings wrote very little about themselves. But symbols were powerful in the Viking world. They could be used as shorthand for important...
Flashbak
The Lives of Stray Cats In Gay Talese’s New York: A Serendipiter’s Journey, 1961 “When street traffic dwindles and most people are sleeping, some New York neighborhoods begin to...
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“When street traffic dwindles and most people are sleeping, some New York neighborhoods begin to crawl with cats.” – Gay Talese, Serendipiter’s Journey   Written in 1961 when he was 29 and working for Esquire magazine, Gay Talese’s New York: A Serendipiter’s Journey.is an...
TheCollector
How Frida Kahlo Transformed Pain Into a Timeless Artistic Legacy Characterized by deep symbolism and vibrant color palettes, the works of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo...
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Characterized by deep symbolism and vibrant color palettes, the works of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo have been described as introspective and deeply personal. Best known for her powerful self-portraits, Kahlo’s works reflect lifelong health struggles, including her chronic pain...
History Today Feed
‘The Writer’s Lot’ by Robert Darnton review ‘The Writer’s Lot’ by Robert Darnton review JamesHoare Tue, 06/24/2025 - 08:09
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TheCollector
The Life & Death of John (Son of Zebedee) of the Twelve Disciples John was the youngest among the Twelve Disciples. Throughout church history, Bible scholars have...
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John was the youngest among the Twelve Disciples. Throughout church history, Bible scholars have known him as John the Beloved, John the Evangelist, John of Patmos, John the Elder, and the Beloved Apostle. He seems to have been a two-sided character, on the one hand “a son of...
History Today Feed
Marcus Garvey Meets the KKK Marcus Garvey Meets the KKK JamesHoare Mon, 06/23/2025 - 08:06
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TheCollector
Was Camelot Inspired by a Real Location? In the legends of King Arthur, the famous capital city of the king is Camelot. Yet despite the fact...
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In the legends of King Arthur, the famous capital city of the king is Camelot. Yet despite the fact that the Arthurian legends are based in a historical setting, Camelot itself is widely regarded as fictional. It is considered to have been an invention of the French writers who...
Patterns in Humanity
Africa's Poor Numbers How much do we really know about African state of affairs?
2 months ago
TheCollector
9 Myths About Hermes From Greek Mythology Hermes was the messenger of the gods and one of the twelve Olympian deities the ancient Greeks...
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Hermes was the messenger of the gods and one of the twelve Olympian deities the ancient Greeks believed ruled over the cosmos. He was a patron of merchants and thieves, and a protector of travelers. Identifiable by his herald’s wand and winged sandals, Hermes’ main role in...
Classical Wisdom
Weekly Wisdom Quiz The REAL Islands of the Odyssey
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TheCollector
How the Byzantines Retook Crete From the Arabs in the Siege of Chandax In the 820s CE, Byzantium was embroiled in a destructive civil war. Taking advantage of the...
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In the 820s CE, Byzantium was embroiled in a destructive civil war. Taking advantage of the Byzantines being occupied with killing one another, a group of exiled Andalusian Arabs landed on the island of Crete and conquered it. From their new island home, they launched devastating...
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...
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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...
TheCollector
Why Did René Descartes Say “I Think, Therefore I Am”? “Cogito, ergo sum”, Latin for “I think, therefore I am”, is René Descartes’ most celebrated and...
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“Cogito, ergo sum”, Latin for “I think, therefore I am”, is René Descartes’ most celebrated and influential contribution to humanity. The statement was the prized conclusion of his famous journey of radical skepticism, one that served as the solid foundation of his philosophy. In...
Flashbak
The Teds – Photographs of The Second Coming of Britain’s First Youth Tribe, 1979 “In early 1954, on a late train from Southend, someone pulled the communication cord. The train...
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“In early 1954, on a late train from Southend, someone pulled the communication cord. The train ground to a halt. Light bulbs were smashed. Police arrested a gang dressed in Edwardian suits. In April, two gangs, also dressed Edwardian-style, met after a dance. They were ready for...
TheCollector
Rome vs. the Alamanni at the Battle of Strasbourg (357 CE) In the mid-4th century CE, the Roman Empire found itself in a precarious position. While the emperor...
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In the mid-4th century CE, the Roman Empire found itself in a precarious position. While the emperor Constantius II had been entrenched in a protracted war against the Sassanids in the East, the other Augustus, Constans, was murdered by the Germanic usurper, Magnentius. The power...
Dreams of Space -...
My Weekly Reader April 23, 1962 I am having fun sending out an issue of My Weekly Reader every week to you. This week is the April...
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I am having fun sending out an issue of My Weekly Reader every week to you. This week is the April 23, 1962 issue and "Flying wings." Just for fun, here is your "silent reading quiz." Try not to make any noise while you read and see how you do.
A Collection of...
Collections: Nitpicking Gladiator’s Iconic Opening Battle, Part III This week at long last we come to the clash of men and horses as we finish our three-part (I, II,...
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This week at long last we come to the clash of men and horses as we finish our three-part (I, II, III) look at the iconic opening battle scene from the film Gladiator (2000). Last time, we brought the sequence up through the infantry advance, observing that the tactics of the...
Flashbak
Marcia Resnick: Re-Visions, 1978 “In 1975, while driving my car in Manhattan, I was in an accident and my entire life flashed before...
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“In 1975, while driving my car in Manhattan, I was in an accident and my entire life flashed before me. When I awoke in the hospital, I began to think about all of the events which led to my being there.” – Marcia Resnick on who she was inspired to create Re-Visions   In 1975, …...