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Apr. 3rd, 2011 02:23 pmCatacomb of secret tunnels packed with mummified remains of EIGHT MILLION dogs is excavated in Egypt
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More missing Egyptian museum stolen artefacts found
Today, with the help of Egypt’s armed forces and the tourism and antiquities police, five artefactes from 42 objects missing from the Egyptian Museum were recovered.
The five items include four bronze objects depicting different ancient Egyptian deities, such as Osiris, the cat goddess Bastet, Abis Bull and Neith. All the returned objects are in good condition except the Abis Bull, which was broken into several pieces. With restoration, archaeologists hope, it can be restored to its original form.
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Zahi Hawass to return as Egyptian antiquities minister
Egypt's chief Egyptian archeologist Zahi Hawass has been named the Egyptian minister of antiquities, the official MENA news agency reported Wednesday.
Hawass had previously served as head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities and as minister of state under the deposed president Hosni Mubarak.
France 24 news reported that Hawass's appointment is likely to anger anti-government factions, who have opposed the appointment of any of the old guard under Mubarak to new positions in the government.
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The Cult Wine of 121 B.C.
If you were a god, emperor or one of ancient Rome’s nouveau riche, you’d be drinking Falernian—or maybe a fake
Our image of ancient Roman drinking—bloated patricians, slurry sophists and jezebels washing down coarse wine from jars—is only part of the story. Ample evidence exists that ancient Rome had a fine wine culture much like today’s, with prestige regions, cult wines and a love of bold, rich styles meant to be aged for decades. Within this rarefied wine community, one wine stood above the rest, the toast of poets and senators alike.
The origins of Falernian wine are the stuff of legend. The story goes that an old Roman farmer (that would be Falernus) eked a humble existence from the soil of Mt. Massico, about 30 miles north of Naples, when one day he was visited by Bacchus in disguise. Falernus prepared him a simple meal, and in gratitude for the hospitality, the god of wine caused the cups at the table to fill. When a hungover Falernus awoke the next day, Bacchus was gone, and the whole mountain was blanketed with healthy vines.
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Greek ruins of Cyrene draw goats, cows, few tourists
Tourism at the ancient Greek city in eastern Libya has suffered decades of neglect
SHAHAAT -- A toga-clad statue that would be a prize museum piece elsewhere lies half buried among cow dung at the ancient Greek city of Cyrene in eastern Libya, where tourism has suffered decades of neglect.
Goats and cows graze among the towering Greek and Roman columns of the ruined city, a UNESCO world heritage site perched on a mountainside with stunning views over verdant plains and the Mediterranean Sea beyond.
Founded in the 4th century BC by ancient Greeks and later ruled by Rome, the site lacks the protective barriers, souvenir kiosks and restaurants usually found at such places. Instead, it is surrounded by the dilapidated, ugly village of Shahaat.
The region is now largely held by anti-Gadhafi rebels after mass protests and bloody fighting in the past month, much of it around the key oil exporting towns of Ras Lanuf and Brega.
”I hope to God we concentrate on tourism after the troubles. Oil runs out, but tourism will remain,” Hamed added.
At the ruins, bags of rubbish litter the 2nd century AD Arch of Marcus Aurelius, and an amphitheater likely used for performances of Greek tragedies is now apparently being used as a sheep pen judging by the hoof prints and droppings.
A school of Greek philosophy is said to have been started at Cyrene, but the only ruminating there now is done by cows.
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Textiles Reveal Women's Unheralded Role in Armenian Church (slide show)
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When in Rome: New Street View imagery of historic sites in Italy and France
We’ve been busy pedaling the Street View trike around the nooks and crannies of storied sites in Europe, including palaces, monuments and castles, so you can explore them in Google Maps with Street View.
Starting today, you can view some of the most historic and architecturally significant landmarks in Italy and France, including UNESCO sites in Rome, the center of Florence and stunning chateaux in the French countryside.
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The 8 Greatest Pranks in Art History
one example...
Among the greatest art pranks of the 20th century was the once infamous but now forgotten incident of Jackson Pollock's "Woman" painting. In the early fifties, spurred on by their respective critical champions, Clement Greenberg and Harold Rosenberg, Pollock and Willem de Kooning became embroiled in a legendary, acrimonious rivalry. There were drunken insults at the Cedar Tavern and near fights on the beach in East Hampton. The enmity reached its apex in 1952, shortly after de Kooning began showing his seminal "Woman" paintings. At the time, Pollock was the reigning Abstract Expressionist (or action painter, depending on whose camp you were in), but the "Woman" series catapulted de Kooning to the forefront of avant-garde art. Although not remembered for his sense of humor, Pollock set out to puncture the Dutchman's ego.
Visitors to a fall group show at the Sydney Janis Gallery were surprised to find included a remarkable painting called "Woman V (My Mama)." The work was attributed to de Kooning — but which had been in fact been cooked up by a drunk Pollock the night before. The canvas depicted, in de Kooning's typically brutal style, a gap-toothed hag with long, pendulous breasts, strawlike hair, a black eye, and a hideous deformity of the genitals.
( Full article behind cut )
- - -
More missing Egyptian museum stolen artefacts found
Today, with the help of Egypt’s armed forces and the tourism and antiquities police, five artefactes from 42 objects missing from the Egyptian Museum were recovered.
The five items include four bronze objects depicting different ancient Egyptian deities, such as Osiris, the cat goddess Bastet, Abis Bull and Neith. All the returned objects are in good condition except the Abis Bull, which was broken into several pieces. With restoration, archaeologists hope, it can be restored to its original form.
- - -
Zahi Hawass to return as Egyptian antiquities minister
Egypt's chief Egyptian archeologist Zahi Hawass has been named the Egyptian minister of antiquities, the official MENA news agency reported Wednesday.
Hawass had previously served as head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities and as minister of state under the deposed president Hosni Mubarak.
France 24 news reported that Hawass's appointment is likely to anger anti-government factions, who have opposed the appointment of any of the old guard under Mubarak to new positions in the government.
- - -
The Cult Wine of 121 B.C.
If you were a god, emperor or one of ancient Rome’s nouveau riche, you’d be drinking Falernian—or maybe a fake
Our image of ancient Roman drinking—bloated patricians, slurry sophists and jezebels washing down coarse wine from jars—is only part of the story. Ample evidence exists that ancient Rome had a fine wine culture much like today’s, with prestige regions, cult wines and a love of bold, rich styles meant to be aged for decades. Within this rarefied wine community, one wine stood above the rest, the toast of poets and senators alike.
The origins of Falernian wine are the stuff of legend. The story goes that an old Roman farmer (that would be Falernus) eked a humble existence from the soil of Mt. Massico, about 30 miles north of Naples, when one day he was visited by Bacchus in disguise. Falernus prepared him a simple meal, and in gratitude for the hospitality, the god of wine caused the cups at the table to fill. When a hungover Falernus awoke the next day, Bacchus was gone, and the whole mountain was blanketed with healthy vines.
- - -
Greek ruins of Cyrene draw goats, cows, few tourists
Tourism at the ancient Greek city in eastern Libya has suffered decades of neglect
SHAHAAT -- A toga-clad statue that would be a prize museum piece elsewhere lies half buried among cow dung at the ancient Greek city of Cyrene in eastern Libya, where tourism has suffered decades of neglect.
Goats and cows graze among the towering Greek and Roman columns of the ruined city, a UNESCO world heritage site perched on a mountainside with stunning views over verdant plains and the Mediterranean Sea beyond.
Founded in the 4th century BC by ancient Greeks and later ruled by Rome, the site lacks the protective barriers, souvenir kiosks and restaurants usually found at such places. Instead, it is surrounded by the dilapidated, ugly village of Shahaat.
The region is now largely held by anti-Gadhafi rebels after mass protests and bloody fighting in the past month, much of it around the key oil exporting towns of Ras Lanuf and Brega.
”I hope to God we concentrate on tourism after the troubles. Oil runs out, but tourism will remain,” Hamed added.
At the ruins, bags of rubbish litter the 2nd century AD Arch of Marcus Aurelius, and an amphitheater likely used for performances of Greek tragedies is now apparently being used as a sheep pen judging by the hoof prints and droppings.
A school of Greek philosophy is said to have been started at Cyrene, but the only ruminating there now is done by cows.
- - -
Textiles Reveal Women's Unheralded Role in Armenian Church (slide show)
- - -
When in Rome: New Street View imagery of historic sites in Italy and France
We’ve been busy pedaling the Street View trike around the nooks and crannies of storied sites in Europe, including palaces, monuments and castles, so you can explore them in Google Maps with Street View.
Starting today, you can view some of the most historic and architecturally significant landmarks in Italy and France, including UNESCO sites in Rome, the center of Florence and stunning chateaux in the French countryside.
- - -
The 8 Greatest Pranks in Art History
one example...
Among the greatest art pranks of the 20th century was the once infamous but now forgotten incident of Jackson Pollock's "Woman" painting. In the early fifties, spurred on by their respective critical champions, Clement Greenberg and Harold Rosenberg, Pollock and Willem de Kooning became embroiled in a legendary, acrimonious rivalry. There were drunken insults at the Cedar Tavern and near fights on the beach in East Hampton. The enmity reached its apex in 1952, shortly after de Kooning began showing his seminal "Woman" paintings. At the time, Pollock was the reigning Abstract Expressionist (or action painter, depending on whose camp you were in), but the "Woman" series catapulted de Kooning to the forefront of avant-garde art. Although not remembered for his sense of humor, Pollock set out to puncture the Dutchman's ego.
Visitors to a fall group show at the Sydney Janis Gallery were surprised to find included a remarkable painting called "Woman V (My Mama)." The work was attributed to de Kooning — but which had been in fact been cooked up by a drunk Pollock the night before. The canvas depicted, in de Kooning's typically brutal style, a gap-toothed hag with long, pendulous breasts, strawlike hair, a black eye, and a hideous deformity of the genitals.
( Full article behind cut )
