England and the Father of the Modern Olympics

Photo of bust of Baron Pierre de Coubertin at the Museum Colet in Barcelona, Spain courtesy 123rf.com

Baron Pierre de Coubertin (1863-937) was a French aristocrat, who chose as his occupation the life of an intellectual, became an educator and historian, and wrote on many topics including education, history, literature, and sociology.  He was profoundly impressed by the physical education opportunities in England, and helped to promote and expand them there, but was not successful in convincing France to do the same.  He romanticized Ancient Greece, and also had strong views about physical education and its effect on society.  All these interests, his theories about physical education, and his idealism caused him to want to revive the Olympic Games, to found the International Olympic Committee, and to take an active part in the administration of the beginning of the modern Olympic games.

The Pierre de Coubertin Medal, also known as The True Spirit of Sportsmanship Medal, is considered the highest award given at the modern Olympics, even higher than any gold medal.

There is a statue of him at the Gateway of Dreams in the Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta.  There is also a statue of him where he was buried in Lausanne, the seat of the foundation of the modern Olympics; but as he desired, his heart was buried in a monument near the Olympia ruins, the site of the Ancient Greek Olympics.

For more information click here. and click here.  What did you learn today?

Multiple Prizes for the Victors of the Ancient Greek Olympics

Photo of the starting line at the first Olympic stadium courtesy 123rf.com

No mere medal was awarded to the winners of the Ancient Greek Olympics.  The prizes were as follows:

1.  500 drachmai, which was a fortune at the time.

2.  A wreath made of olive sprigs, which was the favored plant of the patron god of the games, and was highly prized by the victors as it was believed to carry mystical powers.

3.  A free meal in the City Hall every day for the rest of their lives.

4.  A statue of themselves erected at Olympia's holy sanctuary for the gods that included their name, the names of their family members, and the city where they lived, which would insure their fame and guarantee their heroic status for eternity.

5.  A poem written by a famous poet of the day, which would spread their fame and insure their eternal heroic status.

For more information click here.  What did you learn today?

Women Chariot Racers In The Ancient Olympics

Photo of the Louvre's engraving of "Helena's Return in a quadriga" courtesy 123rf.com

In the Ancient Greek Olympics, rich unmarried women participated in the Chariot Races, which was under the category of Equestrian Events.  There were two-horse and four-horse chariot races.  Since only the rich could afford to participate in these particular events, the prizes were not given to the winners, but were given to the horses instead.  In 396 and 392 B.C. a Spartan princess, Cynisca, won the Chariot Races.  For more information click here.  What did you learn today?

The Whitest Marble in the World

Photo of the Lincoln Memorial courtesy 123rf.com

The marble used in the beautiful Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, and the Supreme Court Building in Washington, D. C. comes from my home state, Alabama.  Alabama marble is the state stone, and is mentioned in the state song (yes, states have representative stones like they have state flowers, state birds, etc.).  This marble is used in banks and other buildings throughout the United States and the world.  It has been called the whitest marble in the world, and rivals the wonderful Italian marble.  For more information click here1 and click here2 and click here3.  What did you learn today?

Gorillas With Guns!

Photo of Six-Gun Gorilla courtesy simongurr.wordpress.com

Today's topic was requested by Mark Feldthusen from Copenhagen, Denmark, @feldthusen on Twitter.

In the 1930's there was a comic book character called Six-Gun Gorilla.  According to The Encyclopedia of Golden Age Superheroes, this silverback gorilla escaped from a circus-train wreck, strapped on guns, and traversed the Old West seeking vengeance.  This character was featured in a British paper of that time, and has been a contemporary subject for artists who update or reinvent fictional characters in a British forum called Whitechapel.  For more information click here.

Thanks Mark Feldthusen from Copenhagen, @feldthusen on Twitter for today's topic!  What did you learn today?

How The Heart Got Its Shape

The shape of the heart symbol, which symbolizes love, bears little resemblance to the human heart, so I wondered about the origin.  There are several different ideas about the origin of this symbol going back to anywhere from the 7th century BC up to the 17th century. 

One idea is the heart shape of the now-extenct silphium plant from North Africa was used for birth control in the 7th century BC, and so became associated with sex and then eventually love.

Another idea proposes that the heart-shaped ivy leaf used to decorate early Christian burial sites eventually evolved to represent human life, which was believed to be driven entirely by the heart.  The human heart was rarely seen due primarily to religious bans on autopsies and the fact that surgery as is known today did not exist.  The heart was believed to be not only the seat of life but also the seat of emotion, so the heart-shaped ivy leaf eventually became associated with the emotions of love.  Blood is red, so the monks who painted illuminations in manuscripts eventually painted the heart symbol red.

Yet another idea proposed is that 17th century Saint Mary Margaret saw the sacred heart in this shape in a dream or vision.

For more information click here and click here.  What did you learn today?

Mona Lisa's Shadows

Photo of people taking photos of the Mona Lisa courtesy 123rf.com

Leonardo da Vinci used 30 layers of paint, about 40 micrometers each, on the Mona Lisa in order to execute a technique called Sfumato, which makes shadows look realistic.  For more information click here.  What did you learn today?

Sandwich Glass...And You Can Eat Off It, Too!

Photo courtesy Sandwich Glass Museum; click here to see this Sandwich Glass Reproduction for sale

I'm an admirer of artisan glass, and have seen it made in Seattle, Washington; Williamsburg, Virginia; and on the island of Murano in Venice, Italy.  I've admired Sandwich glass, but didn't know it was a product of the town of Sandwich, Massachusetts here in the U.S.A.  For more information click here.

What did you learn today?

WHO Helped Fund the American Revolution ?!?!

Photo of oil painting of French author Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (1732-1799) by French artist Jean-Marc Nattier (1685-1766) courtesy Giraudon/Art Resource, New York, via EncyclopediaBritannica.com

I like Mozart's (1756-1791) operas, and think Beaumarchais's plays (from which the libretti for some of Mozart's operas are taken) are fabulous.  What I didn't know is that Beaumarchais "coordinated the initially secret French program to supply the nascent U.S. of A. with money and arms early in the Revolutionary War".  For more information click here.

What operas do you like?  (You may leave comments below.)

Toulouse-Lautrec's Drink: The Earthquake!

Photo of "A Corner in a Dance Hall" painting by Toulouse-Lautrec courtesy AllPaintings.org

One of my favorite artists is Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901).  I especially like his crowd scenes.  Whenever I visit the Art Institute of Chicago, the first thing I always do is go to the Impressionists/Post-Impressionists section to see At the Moulin Rouge.  What I didn't know is that Toulouse-Lautrec is credited with creating a drink that became very popular at the time, called Tremblement de Terre or Earthquake, which is half absinthe & half cognac.  In the early 19th century absinthe was believed to cure digestive disorders, and so some thought the drink he created was almost wholesome!  In time, however, some brewers began using lethal solvents in the production of absinthe, which led to the eventual outlawing of absinthe in most of Europe and the United States.

Who is your favorite artist?

Boston Tea Party Fascinating Facts

Photo of painting courtesy AOC.gov

December 16 is the anniversary of the 1773 Boston Tea Party, so I've been following the blog, Boston 1775, more closely than usual for the past week.  Today's entry is a poem about the Boston Tea Party published in 1916, and written that year by a man who was in his 40th year of serving a sentence for a murder he had committed when he was 14. 

There is also a fascinating document posted in the blog that lists the types of tea that were on the ship, how many cases of tea there were, and how much the tea was worth. 

Boston, Massachusetts is filled with preserved sites important to American history.  If you've been there, what was your experience in visiting any of these sites?

My Favorite Beethoven

Public domain photo of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) painted by Willibrord Joseph Mähler (1778-1860) in 1815, two years after the premier of his 7th Symphony.

My favorite of all Beethoven's music is the second movement of his 7th symphony.  198 years ago today, December 8, 1813, this symphony premiered in Vienna at a charity concert benefiting wounded soldiers.   Beethoven began writing Symphony No. 7 in A, Op. 92 in 1811, 200 years ago, and completed it in 1812.  What I didn't know is that the second movement was encored at the first performance, and was so popular that it was often performed separately from the other movements.

Which is your favorite of Beethoven's compositions, and why?

Council of Trent and Music

Photo courtesy FreeImagesLive

On this day in 1563, 448 years ago, the deliberations of the Council of Trent ended.  A result of the Counter-Reformation, the Council of Trent had a heavy impact on all art forms, in particular music, which became less polyphonic and more rhythmically simple. 

I won't go into all the implications the Council of Trent had on music, nor the supposed and actual interactions the composer Palestrina had with the Council of Trent, because I am familiar with all of this.  I will share, however, one of my favorite pieces of Counter-Reformation music, which is the Kyrie that Palestrina composed for his own funeral mass, Missa pro defunctis.  The most beautiful recording of this Kyrie I've ever heard is by Chanticleer, but I can't find one of their performances of this Kyrie on the internet.  Instead, click here for a performance by Capella Victoria Jakarta.

What is your favorite piece of music from this era, and why?

New Seven Wonders

Photo of Iguazu Falls courtesy New7Wonders.com

The New Seven Wonders Corporation began tallying popular votes on July 7, 2007 (07-07-07) for a list of  New Seven Wonders of Nature and New Seven Wonders of the World, which will be finalized and released in early 2012.  The New Seven Wonders series are based on the ancient Seven Wonders of the World lists by the ancient historians and scholars Herodotus and Antipator of Sidon.

The Most Peaceful Era in the History of the World

Photo of one of Edward Hicks' "The Peaceful Kingdom" paintings courtesy AllPaintings.org

According to the historical research by Steven Pinker, New College of the Humanities in London visiting professor and Harvard University experimental psychologist, we are now living in the least violent and most peaceful era in the history of the world.

For more information, see information on his book, The Better Angels of Our Nature, and his website, StevenPinker.com.

History of Scrabble

Photo courtesy FreeImagesLive.co.uk

The board game, Scrabble, was invented by New York architect and artist Alfred Mosher Butts (1899-1993) in 1938.  To date, one hundred fifty million games have been sold worldwide, and between one and two million sets are sold annually in the United States alone.

Butts initially named the game Criss Cross Words, but when entrepreneur James Brunot (1902-1984)bought the rights to the game in 1948 he changed the name to Scrabble, a word meaning "to grope frantically", from the Dutch "Schrabben," to scrape or scratch.  Brunot converted an abandoned school-house into the Scrabble factory.

For more information in addition to the above links, including information about Scrabble associations and tournaments, see the websites of IdeaFinder.com, North American Scrabble Players Association, Anagrammer.com, and, of course, the official Scrabble website.

Folklore and Nandina

Photo courtesy FreeImageFinder.com

I've always liked nandina bushes and have always had them in my yard, however not because I planted them there but because they were already there when I moved into the house.  What I didn't know was the folklore about nandinas.  In the Japanese language nandina is homonymic for "difficulties" and "changing", so the nandina is believed to have the power to make bad fortune disappear.  In the western world nandina branches are used in New Year's arrangements, coats of arms, art, and textile design where it symbolizes longevity,

For more information, see the websites NandinaBushes.com and CherryBlossom.co.nz.

Golden Section & Stradivarius Violins

Photo courtesy FreeImageFinder.com

The golden section (also known as the golden mean, the golden ratio, and divine proportion), is a mathematical calculation that produces what is considered to be the most aesthetically pleasing proportion.  What I didn't know is that Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737), the greatest violin maker in history, was aware of the golden section and used it to place the f-holes (pictured above) in his famous violins. 

I also didn't know that there has been quite a bit of research to find the golden section intentionally and unintentionally used in classical music compositions.

For more information, see the links above and the website on Fibonacci Numbers and the Golden Section in Art, Architecture, and Music.

Bark Cloth

Photo courtesy National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka

For centuries cloth has been made out of tree bark by people in parts of Africa, India, Polynesia, Hawaii, Fiji, Malay Peninsula, Samoa, and Central America.  The outer tree bark is stripped away, then the inner bark is cut or stripped from trees such as fig, paper mulberry, and breadfruit.  The soft inner-bark of these trees is flexible to begin with, then it is soaked and beaten until it's very flexible, then decorated and used as clothing, house decoration, and in religious ceremonies.

For more information see the article on Questia.com.