Maybe it’s the odor, more than anything else, that identifies the experience of the circus. Maybe it’s the odor, more than anything else, that identifies the experience of the circus—the strangely distinctive scent, the smell of it all: an aromatic assault that seems to plunge down the throat and seize the tonsils. It’s a complex[…]
They were born to Aleksandr and Alina Ivanovna Nikitin, who were serfs attached to one of the vast lands belonging to the Crown. By Dominique JandoCircus Consultant Introduction In nineteenth-century Russia, circus was extremely popular among the aristocracy and the people alike, but the Russian circus was being developed mostly by foreigners whose names—Ciniselli, Truzzi, or Salamonsky—became[…]
Anna Darrow could set a broken leg with some string and a flatiron. By Amy Lifson A doctor practicing in the Everglades in the early twentieth century would have to “know how to change tires quickly at 4 a.m. and in the freezing rain; set a fractured femur with a piece of string and a[…]
Sforza was an early scientist who experimented with chemistry and medicine. By Amy Lifson Caterina Sforza, the infamous fifteenth-century Italian regent of Forlì and Imola, was also an early scientist who experimented with chemistry and medicine. On the cover of Meredith K. Ray’s NEH-supported Daughters of Alchemy, a portrait of her, reproduced and seen above,[…]
By the British Museum / 02.28.2017 Bronze head from a statue of the Emperor Hadrian, 2nd century C.E., bronze, 43 cm high, Roman Britain © Trustees of the British Museum Fixing the Empire’s borders When Hadrian inherited the Roman Empire, his predecessor, Trajan’s military campaigns had over-stretched it. Rebellions against Roman rule raged in several provinces and[…]
Aule Metele (Arringatore), from Cortona, Italy, early 1st century B.C.E., bronze, 67 inches high (Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Florence), (image (shadow eliminated): corneliagraco, CC BY 2.0) By Dr. Jeffrey A. Becker / 12.09.2015 Professor of Classical and Near Eastern Studies Binghamton University The image, status, and stature of the magistrate in the course of performing the duties of his[…]