The future Queen Elizabeth, age 19, writes to her half-brother King Edward VI shortly before his death in 1553. The power struggle following the death of the 15-year-old King would lead to the 9-day reign of Lady Jane Grey and her eventual beheading.
Houghton Library, Harvard University
Hephaestion: babe come over
Alexander: i can’t illyria is in revolt
Hephaestion: i’m wearing my patroclus outfit ;)
Alexander:
Ancient Greece in history class: Democracy, Plato, the Olympic Games, happy shiny people, the Gods, togas, the Parthenon, fancy pottery
Actual ancient Greece: War, tyranny, war, war, pottery with scenes you admittedly might not want to show a classroom of teenagers, murder, wine, trash-talking, coup d’états, war WAR WAR
THAT’S RIGHT SHITWEASELS. TODAY IS YOUR LUCKY DAY. MAYBE. PROBABLY.
ANYWAY. WE HAVE ANOTHER FUCKING BOOK. FEATURING MYTHS, MYTHS AND MORE MYTHS. ALSO SOME REALLY FUCKING EXCLUSIVE GOSSIP ABOUT THE AUTHOR. THAT’S US. WE’RE AN AUTHOR.
HOW CAN YOU GET YOUR EVIL LITTLE SAUSAGE HANDS ON THIS SHIT? MONEY. THAT’S HOW. OR SHEER FUCKING LUCK.
YES, MOTHERFUCKERS. THIS IS A FUCKING MYTHICAL GIVEAWAY POST. REBLOG THE SHIT OUT OF THIS POST FOR A CHANCE TO WIN A SIGNED COPY OF ‘HOLY FUCKING SHIT MORE MYTHS’. WE’LL ANNOUNCE ONE VICTORIOUS MOTHERFUCKER ON 10/10/15. WE CAN SHIP IT AS FAR AS WE CAN THROW, WHICH IS PRETTY FUCKING FAR.
IF YOU DON’T LIKE GAMES OF CHANCE BUT YOU DO LIKE CAPITALISM, JUST BUY THE FUCKING BOOK WITH MONEY. BUY EVERYONE A COPY. BUY EVERYONE TWO COPIES. JUST FUCKING DO IT, YOU CAPITALIST PIECE OF SHIT.
ALSO.
OUR PREVIOUS ESTEEMED VOLUME, ‘MYTHS ARE FUCKING GREAT’, IS NOW ON SALE FOR 30% OFF FOR AN UNSPECIFIED BUT SHORT PERIOD OF TIME BECAUSE WE LOVE YOU DELICIOUS MOTHERFUCKERS. BUY IT HERE. DO IT.
i’m gonna be honest, whenever i’m feeling kinda meh, one thing that will always cheer me up is imagining ancient romans speaking with ridiculous southern united states accents
please imagine cicero addressing the senate with “well howwwwwwdy, y’all”
instead of catullus 16 beginning with “pedicabo ego vos et irrumabo” it starts off with “bless your hearts, furius and aurelius”
augustus reads ovid’s poetry and exiles him on the grounds that “it ain’t right”
and honestly i would love to hear “y’all’d’ve” come out of any of the ancients’ mouths
A kit created by one of London’s most prominent bookbinders to demonstrate the various stages of the binding process, from loose folded sheets to finished gilt leather binding. The sheet on the back in the final image provides a template for the gold tooling.
Bookbinding: a practical demonstration by Sangorski and Sutcliffe, in six stages, 1927.
Houghton Library, Harvard University
Armenian Gospels (1504)
This manuscript Gospel book in Armenian is one of the most amazing and beautiful pieces in our collection. It includes three Evangelist portraits (Mark pictured above) and is full of gorgeous decorations. In particular, note the initials formed of long-necked birds.
Archaeology, University of Pennsylvania
"Aeneas makes some questionable decisions and wanders around the Mediterranean like a drunk person." -- Vergil and also my Roman Archaeology professor
it’s so accurate
honestly i wish that the ancients had smartphones because i would’ve loved to see their ridiculous selfies…like “just crossed the rubicon! @pompeiusmagnus see you soon #aleaiactaestbitches #hopemyhairlooksokay #nofilter”
maecenas would take so many and i would like to see each one. also he probably spends like 3 hours a day on instagram.
petronius also would take a lot but like half of them would have nero on his public instagram account. he has a private account (if thats possible) where hes like lmao do u all??? see this???? are u seeing this the man has grown out his neckbeard somehow WORSE i think u all need 2 come here n hold me.
meanwhile varius makes one for him and all his friends but its mostly just him n marsus (i just Know he would be for this) n propertius whenever he wants to Impress Girls or st.
My friends and I were discussing this in the car over the weekend, actually, since one of the people I know does an Ancients On Social Media assignment for her Latin class.
Someone suggested Antony’s Tinder profile as a possible interpretation of the assignment, to which I replied “‘scuse u, you mean his Ashley Madison profile” and that is pretty much it, that is pretty much the story.
I know exactly how I would be suspended if I was a high school student in my friend’s class, now.
Art Nouveau - Hotel Hannon - Bruxelles - Serre ‘Jardin d'hiver’
“Athéna”
Art by Erté. (1892-1990).
