Niketas
@dyingempires
“Let no one be so mad as to believe that there is anything more pleasurable than history.” — Niketas Choniates
The Battle of Ennakosia In summer 1337 the first recorded incursion into Europe by the Ottoman Turks occurred. Flush from recent successes conquering Byzantine Anatolia, they believed the Empire of the Romans was now virtually defenceless. They were about to discover otherwise.
Possibly the oldest known photograph of the Pantheon, taken sometime between 1848-1852 by Eugène Constant (notice the bell towers). εὔθυμον με ποιεῖς οὕτως οἰκοδομῶν, ὡς ἀιδίου τῆς Ῥώμης ἐσομένης. - You make me cheerful by building as if Rome is to be eternal. Augustus
Should make a meme like this summarizing @Peter_Turchin : Hard times create pro-social elites; pro-social elites create good times; good times create selfish elites; selfish elites create elite overproduction; elite overproduction creates hard times. Less funny but more accurate.
The first kamikaze pilot of the Pacific War was British.
England’s Patron Saint at Farleigh Castle. Mock-up suggestion of medieval art and a reminder of a time when church interiors were covered in paintings. #FarleighCastle
Yeah that's... yeah. Palaeolithic was likely quite a bit more interesting than just "eat berries & hunt deer," but the basic point that sustained civilizational development didn't take off until the Holocene is just straight up true. Doesn't matter if that sits weird with you lol
Anatomically modern humans for ~300,000 years Yet we were all just gathering berries and hunting deer for ~290,000 makes perfect sense
“The homeland, Byzantium, had been taken by the Italians, and we migrated to Bithynia.” This is what the scholar Nikephoros Blemmydes says regarding the fall of Constantinople to the Crusaders in 1204. Blemmydes was only 7 years old when he was forced to flee his birthplace. 🖼️…
Sardonyx chalice on gilt-silver mount with gemstone and enamel decoration. 10th/11th century Constantinople. The enamelled inscription reads: 'Drink all of this; this is my blood, of the New Testament'
The orthogonals don't point *into* the imaginary, illusional, depth of a past event. I usually say, Imagine putting a marble on the desk; it would roll towards you, bounce out of the frame so you could catch it. So, what are they pointing at? They're pointing AT YOU.
A thread that will give you a different... perspective on Byzantine painting.
I wondered a moment why these beautiful paintings of afternoon tea "felt" iconographic. To start with, the objects are slightly stylised as *symbols* of this important cultural ritual. But also I was subconsciously noticing they follow Byzantine "reverse" perspective... 👉🧵👇
Yet another overview of Ancient Greek prepositions.