The Āmeri House is a historic house in Kashan, in Isfahan Province, in Iran / Photo by Mastafameraji, Wikimedia Commons Examining the status of ornamental practices in contemporary Iranian architecture. By (left-to-right) Dr. Fatemeh Ahani, Dr. Iraj Etessam, and Dr. Seyed Gholamreza Islami / 12.28.2017 Ahani: Department of Art and Architecture, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University Etessam: Department[…]
Illustrations with highly symbolic meanings are used to determine the fate of people born on a particular day. Phrommachāt, 19th century. / British Library, Public Domain In traditional Thai culture, horoscopes and divination were used to establish the fate and future of people. By Jana Igunma Curation and Cataloguing Thai, Lao, and Cambodian Collections British[…]
Scientific investigation was a central part of eighteenth century philosophical inquiry. By George Goodwin / 12.18.2017 Eccles Centre Makin Fellow, British Library Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Royal Society of Arts Scientific investigation was a central part of eighteenth century philosophical enquiry. A desire to understand the detailed workings of the natural world[…]
Eruption of Mount Vesuvius. 1794. (British Library: Maps K.Top.83.61.i) That the American Declaration of Independence was based on ‘natural law’, rather than divine sanction, stemmed from preceding century’s increasing reluctance to define natural phenomena as purely ‘Acts of God’. By George Goodwin / 10.05.2017 Eccles Centre Makin Fellow, British Library Fellow of the Royal Historical Society and the Royal Society of Arts[…]
This mosaic pavement dates to the first or second century ad and depicts a group of soldiers in either an historical or mythical scene. Their uniforms are highly romanticized. The evidence for the colour of Roman soldiers’ tunics is inconclusive, but suggests that in most periods these were white, or off-white as shown here. / Creative[…]
The Death of Patroclus – Illustration from page 265 of ‘The Iliad of Homer. Translated by Mr Pope. / Wikimedia Commons More than one thousand years before the beginning of the Christian era, a Greek expeditionary force laid seige to the city of Troy in Asia Minor. Homer’s epic account of this gives a graphic,[…]