Tag: Vintage
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New York
Precedingly named New Amsterdam, the city of New York was settled by Dutch traders in 1624 before being ceded to the English in 1667. After the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825, it surpassed Boston as America’s business capital. By 1870, soaring real estate values in lower Manhattan pushed buildings up into the air,…
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Venice
Along the coast of northeastern Italy, where the rivers Brenta, Adige, and Po meet the Adriatic sea, lies Lido, a long sand-bank that forms a bulwark to protect the Lagoon of Venice from fierce storms sweeping often over this turbulent sea. Over thousands of years, sediment brought down from the Alps by these rivers built…
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Vienna
Inhabited since prehistoric times, the city of Vienna is much older than one may anticipate. Among the oldest known relics found near Willendorf, the Venus of Willendorf indicates this area to be occupied since at least 30,000 years ago. Since Roman times, Vienna has become a gateway between Western and Eastern Europe. For 600 years, the…
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Jupiter
In 1307, the Italian poet Dante Alighieri wrote The Convivio, a sort of encyclopedia of general knowledge of his time. In its second volume he paid tribute to his lifelong muse Beatrice Portinari, who lived “in heaven with the angels and on earth with [his] soul.” Proceeding to discuss the heavens, Dante allegorized them to…
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Mars
The planet Mars, also known as the Red Planet, is named after the Roman god of war. The association between Mars and war goes back to the Babylonian civilization, in which the planet was known as Nergal, the deity of death, fire, and destruction. Anthropologists disagree upon whether warfare was common throughout human history, but…
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Mercury
Across cultures since ancient times, mercury has been a substance of fascination and immense utility. Being liquid and shiny, it was commonly known as quicksilver and was associated with the fastest planet, which was named after the Roman god Mercury. In Greek mythology, Mercury is equivalent to the god Hermes, who was the “soul guide,”…
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Jade
The Tang Dynasty, which ruled China until the 10th century, marked a high point in Chinese civilization, entering China into a golden age of cosmopolitan culture, new technologies, and a flourishing economy. Their territory reached far and wide, with the southern border reaching past An Nam territory, now Việt Nam. Under the Tang, An Nam…
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Amber
“And I looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a fire infolding itself, and a brightness was about it, and out of the midst thereof as the colour of amber, out of the midst of the fire.” – Ezekiel 1:4 Traded between the continents as early as 12,500…
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The Cat
Ever since the Stone Age the cat has adopted man for companionship. In an excavated grave in Shillourokambos, Cyprus were found skeletons of a cat next to a child’s, dated 9500 years ago. That Cyprus has remained separated from the mainland since its formation suggests humans brought cats along with them to the island. Unlike…
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The Jungle Book
“Now this is the Law of the Jungle — as old and as true as the sky; And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the Wolf that shall break it must die. As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk the Law runneth forward and back — For the strength of the Pack…
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