NB! · Mores · Humour
Alexandr Radayev
Books · Moscow · Observations · Society
Grishin’s memoirs “From Khrushchev to Gorbachev” compared with possible memoirs by Sobyanin
And you know, I simply cannot imagine Sobyanin ever writing anything like Grishin's memoirs, "From Khrushchev to Gorbachev". They are simply men of a different stamp
Archive · Moscow · Society
Viktor Grishin's 1975 visit to the play “Fasten Your Seat Belts!” at the Taganka Theatre
The story of Viktor Grishin, for many years the master of Moscow, visiting the Taganka Theatre in 1975 has long since been overgrown with conjecture and turned into legend. The play itself, “Fasten Your Seat Belts!”, which openly mocked the failings of the Soviet system, stayed in the theatre'
Aristocracy · The East · Observations · Ethnography
The author has launched a new Telegram channel on the history and society of medieval Asia
Well, don't laugh, but I have started another channel. This time it is about the history of medieval Asia. I shall be writing about what, regrettably, was missing from my textbooks: the aristocracy of the East, the origins of the customs of rank and estate, the reverse side
NB! · Art · Observations · Humour
Though, you know, looking at this Ganymede, for instance, only one thought comes to mind: he did go and find himself some adventures to sit on
NB! · Art · Museums · Observations · Saint Petersburg · Humour
Relief in the Hermitage showing Ganymede feeding the eagle, the form Zeus took
Zeus stole the beautiful Ganymede by turning himself into an eagle. I do not know whether the youth is feeding the bird on this bas-relief from the Hermitage before the abduction or after it, but I think you will have understood what a vile, lecherous beast this Zeus was
NB! · Aristocracy · Archive · Art · Saint Petersburg · Humour
The Bengal Lion and Tiger and the Petersburg Lion and Tiger
The Bengal Lion and Tiger and the Petersburg Lion and Tiger. A caricature, presumably of the 1840s, from the album of Prince Pyotr Urusov. In the guise of the Petersburg lion is Arkady Pavlovich Golenishchev-Kutuzov (above)
Mores · Ethnography · Humour
English rhyme on what cutting nails on each day of the week foretells
An old English nursery rhyme warns that cutting your nails on a Friday will bring grief and misfortune! Better make it Saturday: a Saturday manicure promises a journey. As for Sunday's nails, they will be dedicated to evil and will deliver you into the devil's power
Mores · Society · People
Timoclea of Thebes and the killing of a Thracian commander, acquitted by Alexander the Great
Timoclea, a noblewoman of Thebes raped after the city's capture, is said to have lured the commander of the Thracians into her garden with a promise to show him treasure in a well. And show him she did, pushing her assailant in and heaping stones upon him. Alexander
NB! · Art · People
Timoclea of Thebes in a 1659 painting by the Bolognese artist Elisabetta Sirani
Timoclea of Thebes throws her rapist into a well. Elisabetta Sirani, 1659. The Bolognese painter produced a whole series of pictures on historical and mythological subjects devoted to avenging women and women of strength
Faith · Observations · Society
Lines from the Psalms of King David on injustice and lawlessness, applied to the state
The collected psalms of the Judaean king David say: "...he travaileth with iniquity, and hath conceived mischief, and brought forth falsehood". This is about our state
NB! · Archive · Science · Mores
Gout remedies advertised in the 19th century were almost useless, as the causes were unknown
Interestingly, the gout remedies so widely advertised in the 19th century were almost useless, since the causes of the disease had not yet been established. And the advertising mostly described the shape of the little bottles