One of my absolute favourites…if you haven’t stood in the Botticelli room in the Uffizi, you’re missing out, imho.
But fuck me dead…$92m…
Where’s that inequality thread???
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That’s a pair of CB 
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Looking forward to this!!!
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Yeah, Cahokia is pretty impressive. Not sure I heard about it not having a market place before though.
Ken Feder is an archeologist I like reading who has written about a number of sites across the US.
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Posted this in th US politics thread, but maybe more fitting here. Well worth a read, especially in light of recent (and future) events…
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Ok, I’m going to end up posting it in the unreliable rumours thread at this rate
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No archaeology thread, so I am placing the article here.
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Dunno why I just thought of this, but I did…a quote from Machiavelli’s letter to Francesco Vettori.
This is in 1513, after the Florentine state he had devoted his life to decided to arrest and torture him. For those so inclined, they bound his hands behind his back and then hung him from his wrists. His reward after that was exile, forever removed from the affairs of state he loved.
He also in this letter refers to a little book he had written, De Principatibus…I wonder if anything ever came of it??
When evening has come, I return to my house and go into my study. At the door I take off my clothes of the day, covered with mud and mire, and I put on my regal and courtly garments; and decently reclothed, I enter the ancient courts of ancient men, where, received by them lovingly, I feed on the food that alone is mine and that I was born for. There I am not ashamed to speak with them and to ask them the reason for their actions; and they in their humanity reply to me. And for the space of four hours I feel no boredom, I forget every pain, I do not fear poverty, death does not frighten me. I deliver myself entirely to them.
Pretty touching stuff, in my humble opinion.
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Ah…so he did do something with it then…good.
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I loaded that picture too quickly. A book like that shouldn’t be so easily to hand…
O well…your clients can sleep easy at night…there’s not much you won’t be prepared to do.
Ends and means and all that…
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I know la Cappella Sistina was a huge player in one of @cynicaloldgit’s poll threads…
Anyways, I was reminiscing the other day about my former life as a postgrad and dug out this old gem.
What Professor William Wallace doesn’t know about Michelangelo’s contribution to the Sistine Chapel isn’t worth knowing. I’m always in awe when someone gives a paper/lecture off the top of their head.
I was at this lecture, one of the best I’ve ever been to, the gentleman who gave the intro was my PhD supervisor. If you have an hour I would highly recommend it. Apologies in advance, the video did not pick up his slides.
(And if you’re ever in Florence you could do much worse than head 20km up the road to Prato for a mooch around)
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Apparently, the appeals process takes a long time in Scotland. But here’s a really scary sentence from the article.
“Despite the United Nations last year passing a resolution calling for an end to witch trials, they are continuing in some parts of the world, from Nigeria and Tanzania, to India and Papua New Guinea.”
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We’re not allowed to question such practices, because it’s their ‘culture’.
Bee in your bonnet about something?
Been reading this over the past couple of weeks. Fascinating stuff:
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If you’re interested in ancient history, you could do a lot worse than check out Meet the Romans with Mary Beard.
She is a giant in the field, she is charismatic, but it’s the social history that gets me with this one. So many docos are about the emperors, the rich guys, the generals…Beard has done them herself…
This series is a about the common people and is bloody great.
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