Aristocracy · In the Press · Monarchies · Mores · People

Duke of Orléans, younger brother of Louis XIV, and the court's view of his homosexuality

Remember Louis XIV's irritating younger brother, the gay Philippe d'Orléans? The so-called spare heir succumbed to the temptations of sodomy very early. In his early youth the Duke of Orléans was raped by Philippe Mancini, Duke of Nevers, a nephew of Cardinal Mazarin. From that

NB! · Museums · Science · People · Humour

Laocoön and His Sons: a composition by the Austrian anatomist Josef Hyrtl, who spent his whole life assembling an osteological collection and, as you can see, rather succeeded in it

Black-and-white photograph of the sculpture of Laocoön and his two sons entwined by snakes.

NB! · Archaeology · Art · Museums · Rome

The sculpture of Laocoön and his sons, found in Rome in 1506, is kept in the Vatican

The sculpture of Laocoön and his sons being killed by serpents was found in Rome in 1506. The work of the renowned Rhodian masters Athenodoros, Polydorus and Hagesandros is now kept in the Pio-Clementino Museum in the Vatican

Art · Books

Causes of the death of Laocoön's sons in Virgil and Sophocles

According to Virgil, for warning the Trojans not to bring the gigantic horse into the city, the gods sent two serpents to strangle the prophet Laocoön and his sons. Sophocles' version ties the punishment to the breaking of a prohibition on marriage and the desecration of the temple of

NB! · Archive · The East · Society · People

The Mongolian Stalin, Khorloogiin Choibalsan (1895–1952), took a matronymic because he was the illegitimate son of a shepherdess named Khorloo

The Mongolian Stalin, Khorloogiin Choibalsan (1895-1952), took a matronymic because he was the illegitimate son of a shepherdess named Khorloo. In the photograph from the parade marking the 26th anniversary of the October Revolution he stands at the microphone

Aristocracy · Monarchies · Mores

Matronyms instead of patronyms among the nobility of Rus and Europe

History knows cases in which children were given a matronymic instead of a patronymic, that is, a name derived from the mother's line, both in Rus' and in Europe. For example, when the mother was of nobler stock, or when the child was illegitimate. So it was

In the Press · The East · Mores · Ethnography

Vessels of Grief in Ancient Rome and Tear Bottles in the Victorian Era

In Ancient Rome, the tears of hired mourners were collected in vessels of grief, and the filled vessels were carried to the tomb as a kind of tribute to the deceased. The Victorian era, too, had its fashion for gathering tears: grieving women used special tear bottles, small flasks that

NB! · Art · Observations · Humour

Frans van der Mijn

Frans van der Mijn. Allegory of Touch. Couldn't have put it better

NB! · Archaeology · Art · Science

The upper tier of the pectoral with the so-called scenes of Scythian life suggests that it may depict the legend of two brothers who set off in search of the golden fleece

Close-up of a gold pectoral showing two winged griffins attacking a horse, with twisted gold bands above and below.

NB! · Archaeology · Art · Museums

Griffins attacking a horse on a gold pectoral in a Ukrainian museum

The lower tier of the gold pectoral (weight 1.1 kg) shows animal scenes, in one of which griffins kill a horse. The necklace is an exhibit of the Ukrainian Museum of Historical Treasures