varietas:

First glimpse at a royal pair statue, January 19, 1910
“In the evening, just before work stopped, a small boy … appeared suddenly at my side and said, ‘Come,’ ” George Reisner wrote in his diary. “In the lower part of this hole the head, female, of a statue (life size) of bluish slate had just come into view in the sand… . Immediately afterwards, a block of dirt fell away and showed a male head on the right—a pair statue of king and queen. A photograph was taken in fading light, and an armed guard of twenty men put on for the night.” This was the first appearance of the imposing statue of Menkaure and a Queen./ via

shelbyshepard:

gazingthroughthefog:

I forget that old cameras don’t always have to take formal pictures

I love things like this. Brings us closer to the humanity of these long gone people.

museumofmisandry:

Fuck You: from the Liz Taylor Series (Cleopatra). Acrylic, composition leaf on canvas. 72 × 48 inches, 1984.

allinye:

FIGURES OF NORSE MYTHOLOGY: NORNS

The Norns are female beings who control the destinies of gods and mortals. The most important of these beings are Urd (Fate), Skuld (Being), and Verdandi (Necessity). They guard the well Urðarbrunnr, located beneath Yggdrasil in Asgard, keeping the World Tree healthy by pouring water and mud from the well on its roots. In other myths, there is a Norn present at every birth, and she has control over how the newborn’s life with unfold.

kweiss01:

Earth, Water, Air and Fire: The Alchemical Sisters. Illustration from Johann Daniel Mylius, Philosophia reformata (1622), emblem 10.

fuckyeahpreraphaelites:

Gone, but not Forgotten
John William Waterhouse
1873

ancientpeoples:

A Valentines Day Special! 

Ancient Love Poetry

Since it’s Valentines Day we thought we’d show our appreciation of your support by showing you some examples of ancient love poetry! While Valentines Day was not celebrated by the Ancients, the noble art of love expressed through poetry was alive and well. 

Ancient Egypt

My one, the sister without peer,

The handsomest of all!

She looks like the rising morning star

At the start of a happy year.

Shining bright, fair of skin,

Lovely the look of her eyes,

Sweet the speech of her lips,

She has not a word too much.

Upright neck, shining breast,

Hair true lapis lazuli;

Arms surpassing gold,

Fingers like lotus buds.

Heavy thighs, narrow waist,

Her legs parade her beauty;

With graceful step she treads the ground,

Captures my heart by her movements.

She causes all men’s necks

To turn about to see her;

Joy has he whom she embraces,

He is like the first of men!

When she steps outside she seems

Like that the Sun!

From Papyrus Chester Beatty I

Ancient Rome

Lovers all are soldiers, and Cupid has his campaigns: 
I tell you, Atticus, lovers all are soldiers.
Youth is fit for war, and also fit for Venus.
Imagine an aged soldier, an elderly lover! 
A general looks for spirit in his brave soldiery; 
a pretty girl wants spirit in her companion.
Both stay up all night long, and each sleeps on the ground; 
one guards his mistress’s doorway, one his general’s.
The soldier’s lot requires far journeys; send his girl, 
the zealous lover will follow her anywhere.
He’ll cross the glowering mountains, the rivers swollen with storm; 
he’ll tread a pathway through the heaped-up snows; 
and never whine of raging Eurus when he sets sail
or wait for stars propitious for his voyage.
Who but lovers and soldiers endure the chill of night, 
and blizzards interspersed with driving rain? 
The soldier reconnoitres among the dangerous foe; the lover spies to learn his rival’s plans.

Excerpt from Ovid “Love and War” (AD 17-43)

Ancient Greece

Some there are who say that the fairest thing seen

on the black earth is an array of horsemen

some, men marching; some would say ships: but I say
She whom one loves best is the loveliest.

Light were the work to make this plain to all,
since she, who surpassed in beauty all mortality,
Helen, once forsaking her lordly husband,

fled away to Troy-land across the water.
Not the thought of child or beloved parents
was remembered, after the Queen of Cyprus
won her at first sight.

Since young brides have hearts that can be persuaded
easily, light things, palpitate to passion
as am I, remembering Anaktoria
who has gone from me

and whose lovely walk and the shining pallor
of her face I would rather see before my
eyes that Lydis’s chariots in all their glory
armoured for battle.

Written by Sappho of Lesbos

Ancient China

Married couples who love each other tell each other a thousand things without talking.

Ancient Chinese Proverb

Ancient Sumer

“My dearest, my dearest, my dearest, my darling,

My darling, my honey of her own mother,

My sappy vine, my honey-sweet,

My honey-mouthed of her mother!

“The gazing of your eyes is pleasant to me;

Come my beloved sister.

The speaking of your mouth is pleasant to me,

My honey-mouthed of her mother.

The kissing of your lips is pleasant to me;

Come my beloved sister.

“My sister, the beer of your barley is good,

My honey-mouthed of her mother.

The sale of your beer-bread is good;

Come my beloved sister.

“My desirable one, my desirable one,

Your charms are lovely,

My desirable apple garden,

Your charms are lovely.

My fruitful garden of mes trees,

Your charms are lovely,

My one who is in himself Dumuzid-abzu,

Your charms are lovely.

My holy statuette, my holy statuette,

Your charms are lovely.

My alabaster statuette adorned with a lapis-lazuli jewel,

Your charms are lovely.”

Extract from the “Song of Songs”

jaybeelovesyou:

<3