Curious Ming Dynasty Hairpins in the shape of two shrimps. Found on a gilt silver hair cover excavated in a tomb in Shanghai. Exhibited at the Shanghai Museum of Art.
Hay murciélagos viviendo en la perciana de mi habitación.
No me dejan dormir con sus chillidos.
KAKSJSJ me encanta
One of my favorite historical tidbits is that Arab traders, for centuries, fooled Europeans into thinking cinnamon came from a rare, vicious and fearsome cinnamon bird.
The belief was so prevalent, in fact, that the mythical cinnamon bird shows up in the writings of Herodotus and Aristotle, all the way into medieval European manuscripts where it’s illustrated in all its fierce, cinnamony glory:
Pliny the Elder expressed skepticism of the bird in his writings, rightly assuming that it was a tale invented to keep control on the trade and prices by reducing competition, but the belief was already so widespread that it persisted in many areas into the early 1300’s.
Un mosquito me está regalando una hermosa serenata al oído, el romanticismo está más vivo que nunca!! 💋🦟
Bob Ross & Hoot on The Joy of Painting: ‘Mountain Mirage Wood Shape’ S15, E4 (1988)
I feel like 90% of "ancient curses" are probably adequately explained by the fact that the self-proclaimed adventurers who ostensibly fell victim to them were, as a class, a bunch of dipshits who engaged in frequent international travel in an era before antibiotics and vaccines. Like, the list of novel pathogens these guys were risking exposure to on a regular basis was effectively "all of them". That's gotta leave a mark.