By Maite Gomez-Rejón / 02.12.2015 Food and sex are the most basic human drives. It’s no wonder that aphrodisiacs—food and drink with a reputation for making sex more attainable or pleasurable—are named after the Greek goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite. (She was known as Venus to the Romans—Latin for love or sexual desire.) The femme fatale[…]
Edited by Matthew A. McIntosh / 02.23.2018 Historian Brewminate Editor-in-Chief 1 – The Mythical Period 1.1 – Introduction 1.1.1 – Overview Early prehistoric China is called the “Mythical Period.” It encompassed the legends of Pangu, and the rule of the Three Sovereigns, and the Five Emperors. The period ended when the last Emperor, Shun, left[…]
1 – Introduction to Ancient Egyptian Art 1.1 – Overview Ancient Egyptian art includes the painting, sculpture, architecture, and other arts produced by the civilization in the lower Nile Valley from 5000 BCE to 300 CE. Ancient Egyptian art reached considerable sophistication in painting and sculpture, and was both highly stylized and symbolic. Much of[…]
Image via Wikimedia Commons Edited by Matthew A. McIntosh / 02.16.2018 Historian Brewminate Editor-in-Chief 1 – Introduction to Ancient Egypt 1.1 – The Rise of Egyptian Civilization In prehistoric times (pre-3200 BCE), many different cultures lived in Egypt along the Nile River, and became progressively more sedentary and reliant on agriculture. By the time of[…]
A floor mosaic from Pompeii depicting a guard dog. (1st century CE) / Wikimedia Commons Dogs have been a part of the history of human beings since before the written word. By Dr. Joshua J. Mark / 01.15.2018 Professor of Philosophy Marist College Dogs in the Ancient World Introduction Dogs have been a part of the history of human[…]
Gate of the Lions entrance to Hattusa, the capital of the Hittite Empire in the late Bronze Age, Boğazkale, Turkey / Photo by Carole Raddato, Wikimedia Commons Edited by Matthew A. McIntosh / 02.14.2018 Historian Brewminate Editor-in-Chief 1 – Ancient Societies on the Mediterranean 1.1 – The Hittites The Hittites were an ancient Anatolian people[…]
Peirene: General view of the spring facade, with Acrocorinth (the acropolis of ancient Corinth) in the background. Histories of Peirene, Robinson (2011), Figure 3 Do you picture archaeological sites as dry, dusty piles of stones? Meet Peirene, an ancient Greek ruin so tantalizing that archaeologists have literally died for it. Dry and dusty this place is[…]
Voting with psephoi (pebbles) in a scene from the Wine Cup with the Suicide of Ajax (detail), about 490 B.C., attributed to the Brygos Painter. Red-figured kylix made in Athens. Terracotta, 4 7/16 in. high x 12 3/8 in. diam. The J. Paul Getty Museum, 86.AE.286 One of the earliest artistic depictions of voting, from 490 BCE[…]
Bay of Palermo, Sicily, 1963, Samuel J. Magnolia. Mural painting, about 8 1/2 x 15 ft. Photo courtesy of Rosemarie Anne Keene A cultural crossroads since ancient times, Sicily took on a truly international character in the Middle Ages. By Dr. Bryan C. Keene / 05.30.2014 Adjunct Professor of Art History Pepperdine University My interest in art[…]
Keystone in the Shape of a Foliate Face, about 1225–36, made in Stymphalia, Greece. Stone, probably sandstone, 14 9/16 x 20 1/16 x 17 11/16 in., 176.368 lb. Image courtesy of the Chloumoutsi (Clermont) Castle Museum, Ilia An unusual carved stone from Greece reveals the changing political landscape of the Byzantine world in the thirteenth[…]