heavy is the head that wears the crown
{for reluctant rulers, those who were unwillingly chosen}
01.heavy cross-gossip 02.your body is a machine-the good natured 03.damned if she do-the kills 04.easy way out-gotye 05.who am i living for-katy perry 06.lights-ellie goulding 07.twenty seven-ms mr 08.sorrow-the national 09.my creator-wye oak 10.roslyn-bon iver & st. vincent
Off, off, off with your head
Dance, dance, dance til you’re deadLadies of Disney → The Queen of Hearts
history meme: one of two natural disasters | the extinction of dinosaurs (theory)
The Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event, or the K-T event, is the name given to the die-off of the dinosaurs and other species that took place some 65.5 million years ago. For many years, paleontologists believed this event was caused by climate and geological changes that interrupted the dinosaurs’ food supply. However, in the 1980s, father-and-son scientists Luis (1911-88) and Walter Alvarez (1940-) discovered in the geological record a distinct layer of iridium—an element found in abundance only in space—that corresponds to the precise time the dinosaurs died. This suggests that a comet, asteroid or meteor impact event may have caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. In the 1990s, scientists located the massive Chicxulub Crater at the tip of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula, which dates to the period in question. {more}
history meme. eight objects: lock of lucrezia borgia’s hair.
This famed lock of hair, found among the correspondence of Pietro Bembo, has long been associated with Lucrezia Borgia. The strands were kept among the letters between Lucrezia and Pietro, where they were seen by Lord Byron in 1816 during his visit to Milan. He described it as “the prettiest and fairest [hair] imaginable”. In 1859, it was confirmed that the celebrated golden lock was indeed a Renaissance-era object. An elaborate stand was crafted in 1928, and it is currently kept at the Pinacoteca Ambrosiana.
history meme | ten moments; the fall of the berlin wall (november 9, 1989)“This is a historic day. East Germany has announced that, starting immediately, its borders are open to everyone. The GDR is opening its borders … the gates in the Berlin Wall stand open.” After hearing this radio broadcast, East Germans began gathering at the wall and at the six checkpoints between East and West, demanding that border guards immediately open the gates. The surprised and overwhelmed guards made many hectic telephone calls to their superiors about the problem. It soon became clear that no one among the East German authorities would take personal responsibility for issuing orders to use lethal force, so the vastly outnumbered soldiers had no way to hold back the huge crowd of East German citizens. Finally, at 10:45 pm, the guards yielded, opening the checkpoints and allowing people through with little or no identity checking. As the Ossis swarmed through, they were greeted by Wessis waiting with flowers and champagne amid wild rejoicing. Soon afterward, a crowd of West Berliners jumped on top of the wall, and were joined by East German youth. They danced together to celebrate their new freedom. {X}
history meme. six women: valeria messalina.
Valeria Messalina (c. 17/20 – 48 AD) was the wife of emperor Claudius, notorious for her promiscuity. Messalina once had a competition with a prostitute whereby the winner was the one who copulated with the most men. The competition lasted for 24 hours and Messalina won with a score of 25 partners. Roman sources even claim that she ran a brothel under an assumed name.
To improve her own security and ensure the future of her children, Messalina sought to eliminate anyone who was a potential threat. Due to Claudius’ devotion to her, Messalina was able to manipulate him into ordering the exile or execution of many of her enemies. Messalina’s influence is indicated by her appearance on the obverse of coins of Claudius’ reign, where one would expect the head of the emperor.
In 47 AD, Messalina fell in love with senator Gaius Silius. They became lovers and plotted the murder of Claudius, after which Silius would be the new emperor with Messalina as his empress. Upon discovery of the plot Messalina was offered the choice of suicide instead of execution, but she could not bring herself to end her own life.
J. Scott Campbell has once again OUT DONE himself with the coolest Disney Art I have seen!
history meme: 03/08 objects or places | the Silk Road
The Silk Road is a historical network of interlinking trade routes across the Afro-Eurasian landmass that connected East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean and European world, as well as parts of North and East Africa. The road, a series of caravan routes with trading posts and oases, extended almost 7000 miles from Rome and Syria to the Yellow River, in China, and lasted from about the Han Dynasty in the 2nd century B.C. to the 15th A.D.
Traders exchanged such items as silk, which was especially important to the Romans, ceramics, glass, precious metals, ivory, gems, medical herbs, exotic animals, and livestock on the Silk Road. Inadvertently, the Silk Road transmitted language, disease, and genes. Alliances were forged to fight against common enemies. Buddhism made use of the Silk Road in its spread to Central Asia and China. Manichaeism and Islam also spread along the routes.
Free exchange along the Silk Road persisted well through the 15th century, when the rise of Islamic empires began to constrict trade. Foreign relations breakdowns also compromised the security of the route, as nations began to vie for supremacy in regions like the Middle East, making it difficult to transport goods along the Silk Road. The development of alternative trading routes by sea became a pressing concern, leading to the discovery of the Americas and extensive shipping routes along the way. [more]
history meme | three/ten moments | the trial and execution of jeanne d’arc
joan of arc, nicknamed “the maid of orléans”, is a folk heroine of france and a roman catholic saint. she was born a peasant girl in what is now eastern france. claiming divine guidance, she led the french army to several important victories during the hundred years’ war, which paved the way for the coronation of charles vii of france. she was captured by the burgundians, transferred to the english in exchange for money, put on trial by the pro-english bishop of beauvais pierre cauchon for charges of “insubordination and heterodoxy”, and was burned at the stake for heresy when she was 19 years old. [read more]
Cassandra and the Fall of Troy
Cassandra cried, and curs’d th’ unhappy hour;
Foretold our fate; but, by the god’s decree,
All heard, and none believ’d the prophecy.- Aeneid
