âExtremely rareâ books, including enslaved woman s poems, to be sold at auction
The work of Phillis Wheatley, the first African American woman to be published, and an illustrated encyclopedia, will be up for grabs in Cheltenham
00:00, 25 MAY 2021
A book of Phillis Wheatley s poems is one of two rare books due to be sold at auction in Cheltenham (Image: Submitted)
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Five centuries of German and Austrian graphics on view at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
View of the exhibition GRAFIK! Five Centuries of German and Austrian Graphics. Photo MMFA, Denis Farley.
MONTREAL
.- For the first time, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is focusing an exhibition on the sweep of stylistic and cultural developments articulated in printmaking in Germany and Austria from the early history of the medium in the mid-15th century to modern times. GRAFIK! Five Centuries of German and Austrian Graphics presents about 90 works, including several remarkable works on paper, that embrace over 550 years of Germanic creativity. Several of these works on paper have never previously been exhibited, while others have not been shown for some years. Highly important recent Museum acquisitions from all periods are also included.
If Pope Joan the infamous female pope of the 9th century – didn’t exist, you can see why someone would have had to invent her.
For the Catholic Church, she became a story of why women should not be allowed to hold power; for the Protestants, she was a helpful argument against falsehoods embedded in the papacy.
A woman who inveigled her way onto St Peter’s throne, some said the “Popess” was English; others German. A popular medieval version of her tale has her gender “discovered” during a papal procession because she gives birth while trying to mount her horse.
At that time, the Roman Empire was being invaded by Goths.
At the same time, the Plague of Cyprian, probably smallpox, broke out killing at its height 5,000 people a day.
So many died that the Roman army was depleted of soldiers.
Roman Emperor Claudius II needed more soldiers to fight the invading Goths.
He believed that men fought better if they were not married, so he banned traditional marriage in the military.
Rome was also torn from internal rivalries which continued since the assassination of the previous Emperor, Gallienus.
Emperor Claudius II quelled these tensions by requesting the Roman Senate deify Emperor Gallienus, so as to be worshiped along with the other Roman gods.
Library of Congress Celebrates Valentine’s Day on Sunday Published: Sunday, 14 February 2021 06:08
February 14, 2021 - On February 14, Americans celebrate love and friendship by exchanging cards, flowers, and candy. Although the origins of Valentine’s Day are murky, ancient Romans celebrated the feast of Lupercalia, a spring festival, on the fifteenth of February. Like so many holidays, a Christian gloss was added to the pagan fete when the holiday moved to the fourteenth of February the saint day associated with several early Christian martyrs named Valentine.
The romance we associate with Valentine’s Day may spring from the medieval belief that birds select their mates on February 14. During the Middle Ages, lovers recited verse or prose to one another in honor of the day. The Nuremberg Chronicle (published in 1493) is believed to contain the first in-print mention of Saint Valentine, though his role as patron saint of lovers was not mentioned.1