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Archaeology · Mores · Rome
Roman pugilists fought naked in cestus gloves fitted with metal strips
Roman pugilists fought absolutely naked, wearing only a kind of glove known as the caestus on their hands, studded with metal strips or balls, which often made the bouts end in death. Gladiators' gloves also had iron spikes. This part of the fighting culture came from Ancient Greece
Cinema · Paris · Pop Culture
Robert Altman's “Prêt-à-Porter” of 1994, the seventeenth film of Loren and Mastroianni
Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni in Robert Altman's 1994 film Prêt-à-Porter, or Ready to Wear, about the backstage world of fashion shows, featuring the leading celebrities of the day and a great many witty cameos. This is the 17th joint film for the legendary duo of
NB! · Art · Museums · People
Portrait of Peter I in the Uffizi Gallery, painted by Ivan Nikitin (1680-1742), who studied in Venice and Florence
NB! · The East · Observations · Heritage
A Reminder of a More Substantial Suspect than Napoleon in the Case of the Damaged Great Sphinx
Archaeology · The East · Monarchies · Museums · Heritage
The Great Sphinx lost its nose long before Napoleon, not to a cannon shot
The second great myth about Napoleon, after his short stature, is the story that on Napoleon's orders the Great Sphinx was shot in the face with a cannon and had its nose knocked off. The legend is easily refuted by images of the Sphinx made before Bonaparte was
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Excellent poster
NB! · Aristocracy · Architecture · Observations · Mores
What do you make of this sumptuous eighteenth-century bedchamber in the Genoese Palazzo Rosso?
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Unexpected Finds
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Building with two domes and a tall chimney against hills
Architecture · Education · People
Rudolf Steiner's 1914 boiler house in Dornach with a flame-shaped chimney
Boiler house with a chimney in the form of a rising flame in Dornach, Switzerland, built in 1914 by the Austrian scientist, naturalist, philosopher, educator and artist Rudolf Steiner. One of the outstanding figures of his time, Steiner left his mark on many fields of knowledge and culture: as the
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