#museum myths

[marzipanandminutiae]

I once went to a fashion museum, which had a temporary exhibition on corsets. I, having recently started watching historical fashion youtubers, was really excited to read more about historical corsetry, and happy that slightly fewer people would fall for the corset-myths.

Can you guess what I found?

Correct! The entire fucking exhibition was about tightlacing! Not once did it mention working class women and their relationship to corsetry and work, no mention of stays or any corset that is not made for tightlacing, nor any practical use of corsets or any non-vanity-related reasons for wearing corsets. They didn't even mention the people who are, today, recommended corsets for medical reasons.

Oh god.

It really is like that sometimes, though! Early (mostly male) dress historians like Cecil Willett Cunnington FULLY took those semi-pornographic tightlacing magazine letters from the 1800s as gospel, or satirical images as valid primary sources. It seems from my reading like Doris Langley Moore- writing in the mid-20th century when female dress historians were rare, natch -was the first to literally include a drawing of a 17"-circumference circle in her book and say "Guys. There's NO WAY this was widespread based on the overwhelming majority of extant garments."

And even now, while it's not a corset myth, I had a young curator I consulted with last year say "Well, of course these dresses WERE unhealthy to wear," with full confidence and no further elaboration.

We're not getting out of the dress history myths alive, friends.

[mineirando]

"Tristan an Isolde" (1912), by John Duncan.

[fallbabylon]

Pictures from this year's Black Shuck Festival- Black Shuck

In English folklore, Black Shuck, Old Shuck, Old Shock, or simply Shuck is the name given to a ghostly black dog that is said to roam the coastline and countryside of East Anglia- Bungay, UK

[paganimagevault]

Ai Khanoum 3rd C. BCE - 2nd C. CE. More images on my blog, link at bottom.

"These wise sayings of men of old, The words of famous men, are consecrated At holy Delphi, where Klearchos copied them from carefully To set them up, shining from afar, in the sanctuary of Kineas.

As a child, be well behaved; As a young man, self-controlled; In middle age, be just; As an elder, be of good counsel; And when you come to the end, be without grief.

—trans. of Ai Khanoum stele by Shane Wallace and Rachel Mairs.

Ai-Khanoum (/aɪ ˈhɑːnjuːm/, meaning Lady Moon; Uzbek Latin: Oyxonim) is the archaeological site of a Hellenistic city in Takhar Province, Afghanistan. The city, whose original name is unknown, was likely founded by an early ruler of the Seleucid Empire and served as a military and economic centre for the rulers of the Greco-Bactrian Kingdom until its destruction c. 145 BC. Rediscovered in 1961, the ruins of the city were excavated by a French team of archaeologists until the outbreak of conflict in Afghanistan in the late 1970s.

The city was probably founded between 300 and 285 BC by an official acting on the orders of Seleucus I Nicator or his son Antiochus I Soter, the first two rulers of the Seleucid dynasty. There is a possibility that the site was known to the earlier Achaemenid Empire, who established a small fort nearby. Ai-Khanoum was originally thought to have been a foundation of Alexander the Great, perhaps as Alexandria Oxiana, but this theory is now considered unlikely. Located at the confluence of the Amu Darya (a.k.a. Oxus) and Kokcha rivers, surrounded by well-irrigated farmland, the city itself was divided between a lower town and a 60-metre-high (200 ft) acropolis. Although not situated on a major trade route, Ai-Khanoum controlled access to both mining in the Hindu Kush and strategically important choke points. Extensive fortifications, which were continually maintained and improved, surrounded the city.

Many of the present ruins date from the time of Eucratides I, who substantially redeveloped the city and who may have renamed it Eucratideia, after himself. Soon after his death c. 145 BC, the Greco-Bactrian kingdom collapsed—Ai-Khanoum was captured by Saka invaders and was generally abandoned, although parts of the city were sporadically occupied until the 2nd century AD. Hellenistic culture in the region would persist longer only in the Indo-Greek kingdoms.

It is likely that Ai-Khanoum was already under attack by nomadic tribes when Eucratides was assassinated in around 144 BC. This invasion was probably carried out by Saka tribes driven south by the Yuezhi peoples, who in turn formed a second wave of invaders, in around 130 BC. The treasury complex shows signs of having been plundered in two assaults, fifteen years apart.

Although the first assault led to the end of Hellenistic rule in the city, Ai-Khanoum continued to be inhabited; it remains unknown whether this reoccupation was effected by Greco-Bactrian survivors or nomadic invaders. During this time, public buildings such as the palace and sanctuary were repurposed as residential dwellings and the city maintained some semblance of normality: some sort of authority, possibly cultish in origin, encouraged the inhabitants to reuse the raw building materials now freely available in the city for their own ends, whether for construction or trade. A silver ingot engraved with runic letters and buried in a treasury room provides support for the theory that the Saka occupied the city, with tombs containing typical nomadic grave goods also being dug into the acropolis and the gymnasium. The reoccupation of the city was soon terminated by a huge fire. It is unknown when the final occupants of Ai-Khanoum abandoned the city. The final signs of any habitation date from the 2nd century AD; by this time, more than 2.5 metres (8.2 ft) of earth had accumulated in the palace.

While on a hunting trip in 1961, the King of Afghanistan, Mohammed Zahir Shah, rediscovered the city. An archaeological delegation, led by Paul Bernard, unearthed the remains of a huge palace in the lower town, along with a large gymnasium, a theatre capable of holding 6,000 spectators, an arsenal, and two sanctuaries. Several inscriptions were found, along with coins, artefacts, and ceramics. The onset of the Soviet-Afghan War in the late 1970s halted scholarly progress and during the following conflicts in Afghanistan, the site was extensively looted."

-taken from Wikipedia

...

"The silver ingot engraved with runic characters found during the excavations of the Treasury could suggest they were Sakā/Sai. This inscription comprises 21 characters of a script and a language that are unknown and both attributed to nomadic people of Sakā origin, by comparison with a dozen similar inscriptions coming from an area extending from Ghazni in Afghanistan to Almaty in Kazakhstan, and dated between the 5th century BC and the 8th century AD."

-taken from Ai Khanoum after 145 BC: The Post-Palatial Occupation by Laurianne Martinez-Sève, University of Lille, 2018

[mask131]

The Dionysos gallery (1)

I wanted to conclude my long series of Dionysos posts with a collection of Dionysos and Bacchus paintings that were carefully collected by the website of the French Museum of Wine! (Only in France can you have a museum of wine be a normal thing)

First we have an entire section about Dionysos himself. The page is here if you are interested.

I/ Dionysos as a child and a teenager

Giulio Romano's The Birth of Bacchus

Laurence de la Hyre's Mercury entrusting Bacchus to the Nymphs

Giovanni Bellini's Child Bacchus

William-Adolphe Bouguereau's The Youth of Bacchus

Caravagio's Bacchus

Caesar van Everdingen's Nymphs offering wine, fruits and flowers to the young Bacchus

II) Bacchus as a god

Titien's Bacchus and Ariadne

Guido Reni's Bacchus and Ariadne

Brothers Le Nain's Bacchus discovering Ariadne at Naxos

Alessandro Turchi's Bacchus and Ariadne

Caesar van Everdingen's Bacchus with two nymphs and Cupid

Charles de la Fosse's Bacchus and Ariadne

Jean-François de Troy's Bacchus and Ariadne

Sebastiano Ricci's Bacchus and Ariadne

Jacopo Amigoni's Bacchus and Ariadne

Bartolomeo Manfredi's Bacchus and a drinker

Nicolas Poussin's Midas and Bacchus

Bartholomaus Spranger's "Sine cerere et baccho friget venus", also known as Bacchus and Ceres

Louis de Caullery's Venus, Bacchus and Ceres dancing with mortals in a garden of love

Hans von Aachen's Bacchus, Ceres and Cupid

Bon Boullogne's Venus, Bacchus and Ceres

Sebastiano Ricci's Bacchus and Ceres

Maurice Dennis' Bacchus and Ariadne

[blantheia]

Junon à Nauplie (1889) Hector Le Roux. France.

"In Nauplia [in Argolis] . . . is a spring called Kanathos. Here, say the Argives, Hera bathes every year and recovers her maidenhood. This is one of the sayings told as a holy secret at the Mysteries which they celebrate in honor of Hera." 

 Pausanias, Description of Greece 2. 38. 2

[mythical-art]

Adonis, a white stallion by James Ward

Private Collection

[kustavglimt]

Victor Florence Pollet: Endymion and Selene (mid 19th century)

[createurdambiance]

Athena

[pagansheowl]

A pic I took in a park's fountain. Do you know where it's from ? ~

[marzipanandminutiae]

While not a lie specifically I had a museum guide extoll the virtues of physical punishment in the classroom while showing us around the old schoolhouse. Explaining how the students were often hit or put in the "dunce corner".

I was viscerally uncomfortable the entire tour.

Yikes.

I mean, yeah, that happened. You also had 16-year-old teachers over classes of children barely younger than them sometimes. The 19th century (I'm guessing?) wasn't really a golden age of education.

But a lot of literature from the time- or about the time, written by people who lived it -looks down on teachers who keep order primarily through hitting or humiliating their students. Little Women, Little House on the Prairie, Jane Eyre, and Anne of Green Gables come to mind. It was seen as commonplace and on principle acceptable, but still Not Great, it seems.

[mineirando]

"Circe" (1885), by John Maler Collier.

[fallbabylon]

In Tarascon Art & History Museum the Tarasque takes centre stage of folkloric importance. 

[rhianna]

Hermes and Athena (?) MET DP800040.jpg

Hermes and Athena (?)DescriptionPrint; PrintsDatebetween 1750 and 1850MediumEngravingCollectionMetropolitan Museum of ArtCurrent location

Drawings and PrintsAccession number

2008.626.2Credit linePurchase, Alain and Marie-Christine van den Broek d'Obrenan Gift, 2008Source/Photographer

This file was donated to Wikimedia Commons as part of a project by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. See the Image and Data Resources Open Access Policy

[nireis]

today i’m thinking about the caryatids mourning the loss of their sister

[paganimagevault]

Probable Yuezhi soldier in red jacket and trousers, from Xinjiang. Embroidered in Hellenistic style, with motif of a centaur, 2nd C. BCE - 2nd C. CE. Sampul, Ürümqi Xinjiang Region Museum. I tried to find as high-res a version of this as I could. It would appear both his eyes and hair are based on a similar blue threading, yet his eyebrows seem to be based on a reddish thread.

"The Great Yuezhi are located about seven thousand li [2,910 km] north of India. Their land is at a high altitude; the climate is dry; the region is remote. The king of the state calls himself "son of heaven". There are so many riding horses in that country that the number often reaches several hundred thousand. City layouts and palaces are quite similar to those of Daqin [the Roman Empire]. The skin of the people there is reddish white. People are skillful at horse archery. Local products, rarities, treasures, clothing, and upholstery are very good, and even India cannot compare with it."

— Wan Zhen, The Yiwu Zhi (3rd century CE)