Comets, Holloween and the Day of the Dead The end of October and early November have always been dense with symbolical significance in quite a surprising number of traditions inherited from former times. We in the modern western world have seen a revival in the observance and celebration of Halloween, originating from a Celtic festival […]
The Orgin of Ancient Locks From the dawn of modern civilization, our ancestors developed a need to keep their belongings to themselves by using mechanical devices known as locks. Initially, those locks were only simple knots made from rope or other materials (they were used only to detect if someone tried to open them), but […]
Aesop the Legendary Greek Writer Aesop, the supposed author of a collection of Greek fables, almost certainly a legendary figure. Various attempts were made in ancient times to establish him as an actual personage. Herodotusin the 5th century BC said that he had lived in the 6th century and that he was a slave, and […]
A man leaves his great house because he’s bored With life at home, and suddenly returns, Finding himself no happier abroad. He rushes off to his villa driving like mad, You’ld think he’s going to a house on fire, And yawns before he’s put his foot inside, Or falls asleep and seeks oblivion, Or even […]
Ancient Mesopotamia Mesopotamia (from the Greek, meaning ‘between two rivers’) was an ancient region located in the eastern Mediterranean bounded in the northeast by the Zagros Mountains and in the southeast by the Arabian Plateau, corresponding to today’s Iraq, mostly, but also parts of modern-day Iran, Syriaand Turkey. The ‘two rivers’ of the name referred […]
According to Napoleonic legend, the future emperor of France emerged from Egypt’s Great Pyramid pale and shaken, having spent hours alone in the King’s Chamber. He never revealed what had rattled him, but supposedly the episode changed his life. Whether or not the story is true, it certainly attests to the power of the Great […]
