NB! · Archaeology · Faith · The East · Art
There is a theory that the Mithraic tauroctony was borrowed from the eschatological slaying of the bull in Zoroastrianism. In the bas-relief, a scorpion bites off the slain bull's penis
NB! · Faith · Museums · Rome
A depiction of Mithras in the Baths of Diocletian, with a torch in one hand, a sword in the other and a Phrygian cap on his head. Among the Hellenes this cap was a symbol of freedom, as it was, incidentally, during the French Revolution.
Archaeology · Faith · The East
A god named Mithra belonged to the Iranians, the Indo-Aryans and the Hellenes. Historians have reached no consensus on whether this is one deity or several. The Roman Mithras was seen at the beginning of our era as a serious rival to Jesus, with the worship of whom Mithraism
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The East · Books · Observations · Pop Culture
Not only is "Aida" a family drama, but it is set in Ancient Egypt, and its scenario, however modest at just 4 pages, was written by the Egyptologist Mariette Bey. Verdi had to labour over it, because there was little material to begin with: Mariette simply read the
NB! · Archive · Monarchies · Humour
Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna with their eldest daughter Olga Nikolaevna, and her grandmother Queen Victoria with the heir, Prince Albert. Well, and who here is the most stylish?
NB! · Faith · Observations · Ethnography · Humour
I read somewhere that if St Raoul's Day is sunny, the harvest will soon be ready for gathering. St Raoul's Day (the feast of the English martyr Ralph Milner) was yesterday, and it seems we are still a very long way from any harvest
NB! · Archive · Art · Moscow · Museums · Heritage
The Tretyakov Gallery has preserved a Chagall autograph. In the photograph he is seen with Furtseva and, in all likelihood, her daughter Svetlana Petrovna
Art · Moscow · Museums · People
In 1973, the 86-year-old Marc Chagall visited the Soviet Union for the first time. The visit was arranged by the Minister of Culture, Yekaterina Furtseva, who had been introduced to the artist in Paris. At the Tretyakov Gallery there opened what contemporaries described as a modest exhibition of
NB! · Archive · Art · People
Today is the birthday of Marc Chagall. In the photograph he is with his wife, Valentina Georgievna Brodskaya, at his home in the south of France, in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, where he would die in 1985 at the age of 97. On the wall: Red Roofs
NB! · Faith · People
Pope John Paul II venerated the body of Saint Maria Goretti in one of the first days after his election. Her shrine stands in its own chapel in the town of Nettuno, in the sanctuary of Our Lady
Faith · Observations · People
One of the favourite saints of my school syllabus was Maria Goretti. Children always regard her with great reverence and love, which is understandable: she is one of the few who belong specifically to a children's pantheon. A saintly girl who, we may be certain, really existed, and