vini, vidi, vici (12. 461)

Authorities in Tokat have confiscated an illegally excavated mosaic unearthed in the Zile district of the north-central city in Türkiye, the motifs suggesting it dates to the Roman Imperial era, embodying a pivotal historical moment when Julius Caesar, fresh from his siege of Alexandria and heady with success, built on that momentum and defeated in the Battle of Zela (Ζῆλα, as it was known in Antiquity) the forces of the Anatolian kingdom of Pontus under the ruler Pharnaces II with such swiftness that the victor proclaimed the title phrase, the words inscribed on a cylindrical column of the city’s castle. The female figure depicted on this decorative fragment is captioned ΤΡΥΦΗ (Tryphé) as the personification of indulgence and debauchery as a symbol of conspicuous consumption—which did not carry positive conotations necessarily among Roman philosophers and the general populace, a bit of a signifier for BRAT for the hedonistic aspect. Much more and more archaeological discoveries from the History Blog at the link up top.

helle and phrixus (12. 447)

A recently excavated domus of an elite family in Pompeii (previously)—so named above for a fresco in one room depicting a part of the myth of the Golden Fleece—recounts one family’s rather heart-rending attempt to escape from the pyroclastic eruption by barricading themselves in the main hall of the richly appointed residence, events reconstructed from the voids the long since decomposed wooden barrier of a bed litter or the dining sofas of the triclinium, an arrangement for three to eat supper semi-reclined with the fourth space left open for the servants to present various courses—an aristocratic dining format that continued into the Middle Ages, in the volcanic ash and debris.As with an estimated sixteen thousand inhabitants who perished by this disaster, the residents of the so-named Ella and Frisso home did not make it. 

The narrative shown recounts the brother and sister targeted by their wicked stepmother, Ino, daughter of Cadmus, founder of Thebes, who came on the scene thanks to Athamas’—founder of Thessaly—philandering ways that drove away his first wife, a nymph—one of three-thousand daughters of Oceanus and Tethys—called Nephele, cursing the land with a drought as she left. Ino tried to convince Athamas that sacrificing his son was the only way to restore the rains. Intervening, as with the story of Abraham, Nephele presented a winged ram with fleece of gold—sired by Poseidon and her sister Theophane, whom transformed all the other inhabitants into animals during their ovine congress. The siblings escaped over the seas but Helle accidentally fell off over the strait of the Dardanelles, the Hellespont named in her honour whilst her brother was safely conveyed to Colchis (ეგრისი), where Phrixus dutifully sacrificed the ram to the gods, set in the stars as Poseidon’s avatar, as the constellation of Aries. Phrixus hung the pelt in a sacred grove, guarded by a dragon (a detail which always seemed to me like an welcome crossover), which Jason and the Argonauts eventually pilfered, symbolising native knowledge and techniques, sort of like Prometheus giving away secret and sacred intelligence with the gift of fire. The family who commissioned the tragic moment in this allegory could not have known how it would be unearthed two millennia later, surviving one of the best documented and studied tragedies to befall humankind—thus far.

tabella defixionis (12. 386)

Popular and widely employed during Greco-Roman times well into the Christian era, curse tablets (κατάδεσμος—a binding spell) were often discretely or surreptitiously buried with the dead to settle a grudge with surviving competitors over business and romantic affairs and even among rival sports teams as a way to petition the chthonic gods or place spirits to compel malediction for the after life. Like the cache of twenty-two curses recently discovered in an ancient cemetery near Orleans, the most common media was thin lead scrolls as due to their malleability could be easily inscribed and were also an element associated with the underworld deities. What makes this particular discover unique is that one grave contained a curse written in Gaulish, the vulgar language of the region in common parlance (though really preserved in written form) for centuries after the Roman conquest. Because of the paucity of documentation for Gallo-Roman translating is a challenge but there is a another class of curse tablets called Voces mysticae (vox magica) which do not seem to be rendered in any known language and are a secret invocation that only demons can decipher—with scholars teasing out palindromes (previously here and here) and boustrophedon. Much more at The History Blog at the link above.

8x8 (12. 331)

fork in the road: AI misapprehension of a machine translated simple yes/no survey from Spanish rendered ‘i griega’ (upsilon) as a y-junction and all affirmative responses as the utensil   

hunter-gatherer: the handbag theory of human advancement—via Strange Company   

signature authority: after declaring his predecessor’s pardons invalid over the use of autopen, Trump faces scrutiny over unsigned deportation orders 

certificato di buona salute: pope discharged from hospital and sent home after five dicey weeks   

spring issue: the fourth instalment of the achingly beautiful HTML Review—see previously—is out, via MetaFilter   

vexatious lawsuits: mob boss Trump partially reverses executive order rescinding law firm’s contracts and security clearances for millions in pro bono services, prompting mass resignations 

schlachthof: ancient butchery for mammoths discovered in Austria   

cousin german: a comparison between English and Lower Saxon

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting, Cityspeak in Bladerunner plus The Grateful Dead’s Wall of Sound

seven years ago: the Ecosia web browser, an ancient passing red dwarf plus Cambridge Analytica

eight years ago: Trumpland, Trump’s triumphs, recreating the bedroom from 2001 plus more on concrete poetry

nine years ago: the christening of Boaty McBoatface, humorist Richard Littler plus a tubular tree house

ten years ago: God Bless You Mr Rosewater plus the crusades and the reconquista

life’s good (12. 282)

The abstract corporate logo of the South Korea multinational conglomerate LG (formerly known as Lucky-Goldstar) we learn was inspired (see also) by an ancient roof-end tile with a human face and nicknamed for it’s era (roughly spanning the first millennium) as the Silla Smile (신라의 미소). Iconic and considered a national treasure, the artefact was first discovered in an antique shop in 1934. Much more from Amusing Planet at the link up top.

synchronoptica

one year ago: a music video from GMUNK (with synchronoptica), assorted links worth revisiting plus Sol Invictus

seven years ago: moving day 

eight years ago: invasive pat-downs, a tree with its own postal code plus a self-driving concept car

nine years ago: metro lines mapped as Super Mario levels 

ten years ago: cultural norms, ISIL’s destruction of heritage sites plus overzealous zoning

paydirt (12. 236)

The foundations of the first Roman basilica in London (Londinium) have been unearthed beneath the basement level of an office building scheduled for demolition and redevelopment on Gracechurch street. Much expanded as the conquest of Britain continued through the first century AD, this structure before an open public courtyard would have been the civic centre of the settlement and seat of the administration and judicial and commerce, the public-facing edifice for festivals and announcements. After a series of exploratory excavations, a plan has been developed to create a sublevel access for the archaeological site (see previously), preserving the remains under the high street.

aplicó (12. 208)

The amazing mastery of Andean weaving and dyeing that surpassed the craft as known to Europeans at the time of contact is showcased in the vivid patchwork tunics of the Wari (Hurari) tribe, centred in what is now the western province of Ayacucho in Peru, which were well-preserved in desert burials. Surviving textiles also including hats and tapestries as grave goods, featured abstract motifs—possibly coded and too make through geometric distortions to make the wearer appear larger and more imposing befitting of their rank. These garments, whose requisite skills and traditions predate the Conquista by hundreds of years (circa the sixth to the tenth century) and have been transmitted and appropriated to an extent by successor cultures, both pre-Columbian and settlers, imparted as tribute along with treasure, but none can compete with this ancient that involved the multidisciplinary practise that involved exotic pigment-sourcing and precise llama husbandry for the ideal substrate, revealing social stratification and hierarchy. View a whole gallery at Public Domain Review at the link above.

synchronoptica

one year ago: assorted links worth revisiting (with synchronoptica) plus Saint Mél

seven years ago: women’s suffrage in Britain (1918), MLK, Jr on capitalism, more links to enjoy plus a vocabulary lesson

eight years ago: amoeboid robots

nine years ago: the evolution of corporate logos, high-definition rewatches plus threatening dust bunnies

ten years ago: vaccine scepticism plus even more links

12x12 (12. 196)

happy to be hard core: a sampling of the genre produced on Amiga computers—via Web Curios 

biodiesel: grassroots efforts opposing plans to transform Hungary into an EV battery manufacturing hub—see previously 

pc gamer: vintage scans of computer and arcade hobbyists’ magazines  

eureka moment: the account of the rediscovery of one of Archimedes’ lost manuscripts—see previously  

signature block: as part of Trump’s attempt to redefine gender as a sexual binary and “defend women,” US federal workers are directed to remove preferred pronouns from their emails  

the cruel kids’ table: a look at the resurgent fratocracy of Americans under thirty, as witnessed at Trump’s inaugural parties 

hexaflexagons: fun with paper models—via MetFilter 

m23: Rwandan-backed rebel forces take provincial capital of Goma in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, possibly with designs on annexing the eastern region  

hold the line: the new legal council of the US Office of Personnel Management (previously and under new management) is a soi-disant “raging mysogynist” 

clu clu land: the Video Game History Foundation opens its archives to the public—via Ars Technica  

doggerland: archeological exploration of the submerged North Sea region 

mixolydian mode: compose chords and compare output in a range of dozens of scales—see previously—via ibīdem

synchronoptica

one year ago:  a film by Rosa von Praunheim (with synchronoptica), assorted links to revisit plus another banger from ABBA

seven years ago: telepresence, more links to enjoy, credit for the discovery of x-rays plus an executive order from the desk of Richard Nixon

eight years ago: film-strip leader ladies

nine years ago: even more links plus perspectives in price-lists 

ten years ago: chance decision-making, the mad monk plus electromagnetic moats

13x13 (12. 185)

embossed: turn of the century tactile teaching aids for the visually impaired for lessons on nature and geography  

lab-leak theory: US Central Intelligence Agency embraces controversial vector for COVID-19 pandemic, discounting zoonosis factors 

ghostwatch: the supernatural horror BBC mockumentary broadcast on Halloween (see also) 1992 and never shown again due to the panic it elicited  

sb593: Oklahoma legislature introduces bill to “restore moral sanity” and criminalise production, distribution and possession of adult material—see previously 

minimoog: a fully-functional analogue synthesiser in LEGO  

haptics and macros: an idea to add gait gestures to one’s smart phone—we can hardly do the right kind of fake kick to open the rear hatch on our car 

mox nix: language borrowings from German propagated by US and UK soldiers stationed there post WWII  

electric garden: a run-down lodge transformed into a living museum mapchat: interact with AI shopkeepers for local businesses—results may vary 

wassergöttin: prehistoric figurine from the Hallstadt culture found in 2022 in Lower Franconia goes on display at the Bavarian State Archaeological Museum in München  

walk without rhythm and you won’t attract the worm: graboids—see also—the other in-jokes that Tremors leans into  

underrepresentation: as part of order to eliminate DEI programmes, US Food and Drug Administration curbs clinical trials aimed at diverse populations for cancer research 

 switchmen: the sign language of railroad workers

10x10 (12. 183)

compliments of the season: Poseidon’s Underworld reviews 1973 British anthology series Orson Welles’ Great Mysteries 

hagiography: breathtaking hidden murals in the Cathedral of Angers depicting the life of local saint called Maurille, who fled due to embarrassment for failure to perform a miracle, unveiled for the first time 

wmw: a list of endangered historic and cultural sites for 2025, around the world and beyond 

infinite nonsense honeypot: a lure for AI scrapers  

there is a plot—what would be the point of just a bunch of things: legendary director David Lynch dies, aged 78—see previously

run the bricks: a mother in New Zealand completes a hundred metre sprint barefoot over a track of Legos—setting a Guinness Record—via Metafilter 

but is it like the old playboy magazine—do you have essays there by the modern day equivalent of gore vidal and william f buckley jr: US supreme court justice Samuel Alito asks if people visit PornHub (previously) for the articles—via Super Punch 

cozy rewatch recommendation: the 2003 New Wave film The Dreamers (Innocents) that follows the exploits and adventures of an American university student in Paris during the 1968 riots—via Messy Nessy Chic  

𒀸𒋩𒆕𒀀: a paranoid ruler’s illiteracy and a torched library behind a glimpse of everyday life in the Assyrian Empire 

celebrity is a broad church: BBC1’s 1985 entertainment magazine Friday People

synchronoptica

one year ago: artist Monica Sjöö (with synchronoptica), generational perceptions, an ethnographic study of bathroom graffiti, another banger from ABBA plus words for lighthouse

seven years ago: laser-cut note pads, Madrid reinstates direct rule on Catalonia plus free-floating exoplanets

eight years ago: theatres protest the inauguration of Trump 

nine years ago: a slipper-shaped wedding chapel

ten years ago: misattributed quotations plus McDonald’s new slogan

8x8 (12. 176)

cryptobiosis: a nematode was reanimated when pulled out of the Siberia permafrost after forty-six thousand years 

fresh air, town square: Mastodon is becoming a non-profit organisation—via Waxy  

wrack and ruin: a superlative gallery of abandoned places  

a sprained ankle on a country walk is allowable but you must not go very far beyond this: in praise of Jane Austin 

hollywood hills: architects reckon with the scale of destruction from the Los Angles fires—more here 

luthersadt eisleben: a horde of coins found hidden in a statue’s leg in the reformer’s home church 

the joe rogan experience: Elizabeth Lopatto summarises the three-hour interview with Zuckerberg 

 ™: Sweden’s attempt to copyright Sweden thwarted plus other assorted legal stupidity

hohe schule (12. 166)

Taking advantage of a brief period of sunshine, H and I took the dog on a hike up to the summit of the Hohe Schule—previously, the tallest plateau in the eastern foothills of the Rhön mountain range, to inspect more of the recently restored Wanderweg. 

 Formerly known as the Aalhauck—“eel hill,” now called “high school” for unknown reasons—German toponymy can be deceiving, as with Schweinfurt, not where the pigs can ford the river. 

The flat top hosts the ruins of a fortification from the Hallstatt period, presumably built to monitor trade through the Ellenbach valley and reoccupied in the Middle Ages with a newer rampart and collapsed walls, hardly recognisable and reclaimed by the forest but fenced in as several Bronze Age artefacts were discovered there during an emergency survey conducted in the 1980s, including prehistoric millstones, primitive glass vials and a brooch, but further excavations are still pending and archeologists want to preserve the site, and affords some spectacular views on the valley and village below and mountain peaks beyond.

𓆫𓂋𓁐 (12. 163)

A rather spectacular tomb (mastaba) was recently excavated in the necropolis of Saqqara in the Giza campus, a burial grounds for the royalty of the ancient capital of Memphis dating to the Sixth Dynasty (circa mid 2200 BC) of one multi-hyphenate called Teti Neb Fu, via Strange Company. Richly decorated with relief depictions of everyday life as well as a catalog of offerings and grave-goods (the body and the originals were looted ages ago) and tools of the trade, the individual was not only physician to the pharaoh and chief doctor of the court, inscriptions also bestow the titles great dentist, director of pharmabotany and priest and magician of the goddess Selket (the scorpion deity who governed venom and its antidotes), providing insight into the intersectionality of religious ritual and medicine of the Old Kingdom. The Swiss-led archaeological dig has uncovered other sites in the area in recent years including one of the vizier Uni with an extensive autobiographical record of his administrative and political achievements, greatly augmenting the knowledge and chronology of the time. More from The History Blog at the link above.

9x9 (12. 139)

eixample: Barcelona’s nineteenth century urban revival and characteristic octagonal blocks  

🚦: adding fourth colour to traffic lights for safer sharing of roads with human drivers and autonomous vehicles  

willkommen zu hause: a somewhat older documentary on club culture and techno in former East Germany with a connection to H has made it to Youtube  

ha-ha woman, it’s a crying shame but you ain’t got nobody else to blame: equal rights and urban justice in medieval times  

2-step authenication: secure passwords should require a performance like Liza Minelli tries to turn off a lamp—will a Fosse neck do it? 

the monkey chew tobacco on the street car line: the Meters’ Hand Clapping Song 

lycurgus cup: the fuzzy and fluorescent vases of Maxwell Mustardo evoke Roman amphorae—see previously  

stairwell of the quarter: twelve months of superlative flights and storeys 

beaded curtain: a look at the fragmented nature of the border wall on the US southern frontier—via Super Punch

10x10 (12. 135)

year of the snek: designer Japanese greeting cards for 2025—see previously from Spoon & Tamago

world record for tiny window inchoateness: Kate Wagner’s McMansion Hell takes on Neuschwanstein  

cloisonné garnet: an elaborate seventh century brooch discovered near Rostock 

dropped: the 2025 edition of Lake Superior State University’s banished words list, including cringe and skibidi 

back to basics: scientific research confirms that exercise is the most potent medical intervention—for one’s New Year’s resolutions  

dumpster fire: an ominous start for 2025  

classical conditioning: the unscientific and unethical Little Albert Experiment that led to stricter standards in psychological testing 

choicest swears: excellence in strong language and two other New Year’s traditions  

monuments men: Italy’s cultural heritage protection squad saves artefacts from a clandestine dig in Naples

new year, new neighbourhood: the transformation of New York City’s Times Square

8x8 (12. 103)

beige and confused: with the democratisation and de-fetishisation of graphic design, Elizabeth Goodspeed questions the role of Colour of the Year  

diamond in the rough: researchers perfect nuclear-powered battery that lasts ten-thousand years—see previously  

heroön: monumental ancient shire discovered in western Greece 

now go away or he will taunt you a second time: former Homeland Security advisor is not retracting her criticism of FBI director nominee Kash Patel—see previously  

naughty, brutish and short: philosophers on Santa’s good and bad lists

continuing resolution: the stop-gap spending bill to fund the US government through March hints at a revolt by Republican congressional members, refusing to entertain provisions to eliminate the debt ceiling (which Trump needs to enact his agenda) and postpones the budget battle to a time when the GOP has a even narrower majority  

demonstration project: MIT-linked charter company plans world-first grid-scale fusion reactor 

party city holdco inc: with every report on a company going bankrupt, there are at least four paragraphs citing inflation, consumer sentiment and competition before mentioning it was private equitied to death

9x9 (12. 082)

blame on the whiskey: DJ Earworm’s 2024 wrapped  

nhtsa: Trump transition team recommends scrapping crash reporting regulations with Tesla among the biggest offender for car-related fatalities—via the New Shelton wet/dry  

swaddling clothes: removal of a keffiyeh from a creche at the Vatican demonstrates how Nativity Scenes are never neutral  

flashpoint: charting possible frontlines on the continent if Russia pushes further on the NATO alliance  

as above, so below: the ensemble of pyramids of the Giza complex have eight sides, visible only during the equinoxes 

theatre of thought: Werner Herzog contemplates the nature of the mind in his latest documentary  

big band: Glenn Miller’s 1944 disappearance without a trace is an enduring aviation mystery, second to Amelia Earhart’s  

ka$h patel: FBI director’s resignation may hinder Trump loyalist’s succession as head of the bureau 

there ain’t no us in the private trust: a folk protest song about the state of American healthcare

in media res (12. 069)

Having recently learned about the origin stories of some of the characters of the Illiad and how these narratives would have been known to ancient audiences though known canonically as prequels and supplement material, we quite enjoyed reading about this incredible archeological find in Durocortorum (Reims) in the form of a luxurious Roman-Gallo villa recently excavated, no expense spared to showcase the residents’ affection for culture and refinement, including the likeness of Achilles dressed as handmaid (a rare example from Zeugma pictured). Prior to enlistment to fight with the Achaean armies against Troy, in this post-Homeric episode, well-known to imperial attendees, Achilles’ mother, the sea nymph Thetis, despite her efforts to help him knew her son’s fate and Achilles’ heel and so had him hidden away at the court of Lycomedes, king of Skyros, disguised as a young woman, on the premise that her daughter was raised with an Amazon upbringing and now needed to learn more feminine ways from young women her own age—called Pyrrha (Red)—and while sitting out the draft, had a relationship with princess Deidamia, siring two boys by her—originally opposed to his mother’s plan, the hero relented once meeting his inmates. Odysseus tricked Achilles into revealing himself, dragging his compatriot off to the front. Other exquisite artefacts found at the site also attest to the owners Romanophilia and education.

the seal of solomon (12. 014)

Regarded as a patron of the army and surely with significance to the Roman calvary garrisoned, an amulet bearing the figure of the prophetic king Solomon horseback and spearing a demon has been uncovered by an archaeological team excavating the site of Hadrianopolis (Edirne) on the Black Sea. The fifth century pendant bears the inscription “Our Lord has overcome evil,” with the obverse listing the archangels Azrael, Michael, Gabriel and Israfil. Though no artefact of this type has been previously discovered in Anatolia, the motiff was a popular one, eventually replaced by St George and the dragon in the Middle Ages, where as the former eventually meets his down fall by the devils he enslaved.

10x10 (11. 988)

the moral arc of the universe is buffering: an update on where we stand 

intermission: Cardhouse’s 2024 mixtape  

chimera: archaeologists re-examine ancient Roman burial and realise skeleton is composed of bones from eight different individuals that died thousands of years apart from one another  

inactivity reboot: Apple quietly introduced a security patch in its latest OS update that makes it harder to police to break into confiscated iPhones—via Super Punch  

plutocracy: the Elites have finally been defeated by the Billionaires 

text-to-brainrot: convert any PDF into an engaging TikTok-style audio summarisation overlaid with video-game footage—see previously—via Web Curios  

ye olde cheshire cheese: a gallery of the pubs of Old London  

changing narratives: new genetic evidence of Pompeii victims suggest that they were strangers comforting each other during the world-ending calamity   

the sounds of ramallah: techno Insomnia Fest in Tromsø rallies for Palestine and Lebanon  

venture alchemists: Wall Street and the broader economy brace for Trump tax-cuts, tariffs and retribution

 synchronoptica

one year ago: paper lanterns for St Martin’s Day (with synchronoptica), Republican primary debates, a banger from Frankie Goes to Hollywood plus assorted links to enjoy

seven years ago: illusion of confidence

eight years ago: snail matchmaking, a national nightmare plus Europe’s Alt-Right

nine years ago: carbon foil that mimics muscles

ten years ago: an art exhibition for octopi plus an abandoned nuclear test site just outside of Paris