Faith · Science
The Christian theologian of the 2nd and 3rd centuries Tertullian, known as one of the progenitors of the doctrine of the Trinity, advanced a rather original idea: that all entities are endowed with a peculiar body as their form of existence, the soul included, being "a body of a
Observations · Society · Humour
In the fourth century the government of Rome commanded 30,000 officials. In the empire's heyday, in the first and second centuries, there was one official to every 5,000 subjects, which is to say some 10,000 to 12,000 officials in all. At the same time
Books · Observations · Science · Humour
There was a German historian named Otto Günzicker, who wrote, among other things, about the military reform of Diocletian. It is amusing that in his works he writes in some sort of Third Reich language and applies to the Romans such expressions as "fell in on the Platz"
NB! · Faith · Art · Observations · Humour
Van Joos, 1540. Jesus embraces his second cousin, John the Baptist. I do not recall anything of the kind from the Bible. Some sort of magic, it seems, must have transported John to Egypt to make the acquaintance of the Holy Family
Coming Up · Cinema · Moscow · Observations
In the film "Tender Age", the protagonist Kir Lopukhov, on the day before leaving for the front, says: "How can it be? A true Muscovite, and I have never once been to the planetarium." And on his last day in his native home he leaves his
NB! · Art · Observations · Mores · Humour
Dubois Grans and his wife. Note the breeches with the camel toe. No, the eighteenth century does not excuse this hideous spectacle, this positively criminal clinging about the loins! Gentlemen, one simply cannot do this
NB! · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour
"Don't be so vehement, you filthy scoundrel! I am a woman of fashion!" - a pity one hears nothing of the kind from fashionistas in our day
NB! · Art · Museums · Paris
Armchairs of this type were at the height of Parisian fashion in 1675-85. This very one belonged to Ralph Montagu, who had been English ambassador to France since 1666 and assembled a large collection of luxury objects
Archive · Observations · Mores · Education · Saint Petersburg
Fyodor Tyutchev's eldest daughter thought Smolny an unsuitable place for her sisters: "I was struck by the shortcomings of the upbringing given to children in this institution. The education received there was altogether very weak, but the moral upbringing was especially badly arranged." Anna Fyodorovna herself
NB! · Art
NB! · Archive · Mores · Ethnography
1880. Costumes of spring, the little sun and the witch. The sun has a golden fringe over the groin area, the witch a skirt of snakes and bats. Accordingly, the little girl in flowers is spring.
NB! · Archive · Faith · Art · Monarchies
A hairy knight from a fourteenth-century Bible made for Wenceslaus, King of Germany and Bohemia. In his hands the knight holds a gules shield with a silver lion, the ancient coat of arms of Bohemia