One time Henry VIII had a book when he was little and he wrote in really massive writing on the first page “this boke is myne” and I just find it so funny because that’s such a child Henry VIII thing to do
i had to look this up and
“Thys Boke is Myne Prynce Henry”
Sir Joseph Noel Paton - The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania, 1849
Our 1st place contest winner requested a Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep comic as their prize.
I took a class about Ancient Egypt last semester and we had a whole lecture dedicated to talking about how gay Niankhkhnum and Khnumhotep were. Their tomb walls were decorated with scenes of them ignoring their wives in favor of embracing each other. In one scene, the couple is seated at a banquet table that is usually reserved for a husband and wife. There’s an entire motif of Khnumhotep holding lotus flowers which in ancient Egyptian tradition symbolizes femininity. Khnumhotep offers the lotus flower to Niankhkhnum, something that only wives were ever depicted as doing for their husbands. In fact, Khnumhotep is repeatedly depicted as uniquely feminine, being shown smaller and shorter than his partner Niankhkhnum and being placed in the role of a woman. Size is a big deal in Egyptian art, husbands are almost always shown as being larger and taller than their wives. So for two men of equal status to be shown in once again, a marital fashion, is pretty telling. Not to mention they were literally buried together which is the strongest bond two people could share in ancient Egypt, as it would mean sharing the journey to the afterlife together. And yet 90% of the academic text about these two talks about these clues in vague terms and analyze the great “brotherhood” they shared, and the enigma of Khnumhotep being depicted as feminine. Apparently it’s too hard for archaeologists to accept homosexuality in the ancient world, as well as the possibility of trans individuals.
On the last note, I was walking around the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and there is a mummy on exhibit. It caught my attention because the panel that was describing it was talking about how it was a woman’s body in a male coffin and wow, the Egyptian working that day really screwed that up. My summary, not actual words, sorry I can’t remember verbatim but it basically said that someone screwed up.
They claimed that the Egyptians screwed up a burial.
The Egyptians. Screwed up. A burial.
Now I’m not an expert in Ancient Egypt but from what I know, and what the exhibit was telling me, burials and the afterlife and all that jazz DEFINED the Egyptian religion and culture. They don’t just ‘screw up’. So instead of thinking outside the box for two seconds and wonder why else a genetically female body was in a male coffin, the ‘researchers’ blatantly disregard the rest of their research and decided to call it a screw up. Instead of, you know, admitting that maybe this mummy presented as male during his life and was therefore honorably buried as he was identified. But it would be too much of a stretch to admit that a transgender person could have existed back then.
(Sorry I can’t find any sources online and it’s been like 2 years but it stuck in my mind)
Parchment holes in manuscript repaired using embroidery circa 1417, currently in University Library Uppsala, Sweden
oym ah WAT
Another Finkelstein workup! Love this blue color but this kind Or reminds me of “the dress” where everyone was debating the color.
True happiness exists and it is a piglet eating ice cream at a mini picnic table under a mini umbrella.
I just fell in love
Alina Cojocaru and Friedemann Vogel in rehearsal for Romeo and Juliet (x)
Flowers: only effective as a I’m-sorry-I-pretended-to-be-a-peasant-and-two-timed-you-and-made-you-go-into-a-cray-cray-DDR-dance-spasm present if your girlfriend is actually alive.
Jumps, Jumps, Jumps!
Terracotta psykter (vase for cooling wine), hoplites riding on dolphins
Attributed to Oltos, Greek, Attic, ca. 520–510 B.C.
For those who are in or starting college:
Take “Cultural Anthropology” and “World Religion” courses for electives. It will shatter your little glass bubble and make you think before you comment on other cultures or groups.
Most of the intolerance and poor decisions made by a group toward another group is done out of ignorance. Understanding our neighbors in the world could help prevent so much tragedy and misunderstandings, and make the world a more peaceful place.
Knowing is half the battle; educate yourself with legitimate sources and open your mind.
Before Going Anywhere 🕰
literally me
