Of the 102 voyagers on the Mayflower, only 53 survived the first year to celebrate the “original Thanksgiving” in Nov 1621. Of the 18 adult women who made the voyage, 14 died in the first year. The Pilgrim Hall Museum in Plymouth has a really interesting graphic illustrating the decimation of the early settlers. (See colonist before and after the first year).
Original parties on the Mayflower. (Photo: Jim Steinhart)
Mayflower passengers who survived to the first Thanksgiving (Photo: Jim Steinhart)
If you can recognize shapes, then you can help researchers transcribe 500,000 papyri fragments as part of the Ancient Lives Project. In 1897, two British researchers began excavating the remnants of a Greco-Roman city in Egypt known as Oxrhynchus or ‘City of the Sharp-Nosed Fish’. What resulted from the dig was a treasury of texts which have yet to be completely translated.
To expedite the process, the papyri have been scanned and are presented on-line so that the greater internet world can help transcribe the pieces. Through an easy user interface, you are presented a fragment and need to identify letters with the help of an ancient alphabet at the bottom of the screen. The Ancient Lives project is sponsored by several organizations: Oxford Papyrologists and Researchers, The Imaging Papyri Project, The Oxyrhynchus Papyri Project, the Egypt Exploration Society, Citizen Science Alliance, the University of Oxford and the Arts & Humanities Research Council.
I’ve done about a dozen fragments myself which was pretty cool. How often does 5-10minutes of down time turn into an archaeological project? Enjoy!
On the University of Chicago campus last month, I stumbled across Arnaldo Pomodoro’s Grande Disco. It is a looming, industrial and futuristic disk that seems to be splitting open along several seams. When examining the details up-close, you half expect the thing to open further and start talking. (That’s how a science fiction movie involving modern outdoor art would begin.)
Grande Disco (1968) by Arnaldo Pomodoro, University of Chicago
I was drawn to the sculpture for its design but also because I recognized it. I thought I saw this in Milan, what was it doing next to a Medical School building on the University of Chicago campus? Turns out there are five other “Grande Discos” throughout the world each made within the same general time frame and varying slightly in design. Located in urban, commercial and green spaces, the pieces are enhanced by the environments they have been placed into. See what you think of these outdoor installations. Personally, I think the Grande Disco does the best in the two extreme environments: the rolling green sculpture park and in the shadow of North Carolina skyscrapers.
It’s been a while since I worked on my UNESCO World Heritage Site series so let’s get back to it with an easily recognizable site – The Acropolis in Athens.
View of the Acropolis (Photo: Wikipedia)
Entering Athens, you are walled in by buildings and can easily lose your orientation but before long you turn a corner and there on an imposing plateau is the Acropolis. The complex of temples including the Parthenon atop the rocky hill was originally filled with great art, commanding architecture and human activity in Classical Greece. I could write long posts about each of the site’s elements but I’ll try to give an overview here.
Reconstruction of the Acropolis (Photo: Roy George)
While there had been religious buildings and fortification on the rock for centuries already, the greatest construction effort was completed under the rule of Pericles during the height of the Greek empire (460-430 BC). Visitors would have entered the site through a grand gateway known as the Propylaea. Once inside, along the right toward the Parthenon would have been the Brauroneion, a temple dedicated to Artemis protector of pregnant women and childbirth, and the Chalcotheke which is believed to be the Parthenon treasury. Left from the entrance was a complex religious building called the Erechtheion which honored Athena as Protectress of Athens, Poseidon as rival for Athens and several ancient heroes. Today the building is most recognizable for a porch of columns shaped like maidens known as Caryatids. The small Temple of Nike could be found to the right of the Propylaea before entering the site and is largely restored today. A Greek and a Roman amphitheater were carved into the South side of the Acropolis rock.
Temple of Nike at the gates of the Acropolis
The Parthenon was dedicated to Athena, the Patron Goddess of Athens, and was believed to house a 40 foot tall ivory and gold statue of her. The outer structure of Doric columns is 228.0 x 101.4 feet in size and has several “optical refinements” such as bulging columns and a bowed base so that the structure’s geometry looks perfect to viewers. The triangular pediment facing the Propylaea depicted Athena winning over the city of Athens with her gift of an olive tree while the opposite pediment described her birth from Zeus’ head. Square panels, or metopes, depicting mythical battles adorned the exterior of the Parthenon. The interior cella was decorated with a continuous carved frieze of riders, priests, and pilgrims completing the annual Panathenaic procession from the cemetery through the market and on to the Acropolis.
East face of the Parthenon
The Parthenon has been attacked, repurposed and robbed several times. The video below from the Hellenic Ministry of Culture does a good job chronicling the destruction.
You’ll also note that the video above spends a significant amount of time highlighting the removal of art collectively known as the Elgin marbles. There is strong movement in Greece to return these sculptures from the British Museum to Athens. The recently opened Acropolis Museum in Athens displays copies of all the Parthenon sculptures for context but I assume would prefer to have the originals. If you can’t see them in either museum, there is a great virtual exhibit available online that lets you tour the Parthenon frieze.
Virtual Parthenon Frieze project sponsored by the EU
While virtual recreations and artistic reconstructions are helpful, I still find it difficult to imagine the Acropolis during the Golden Age of Athens. As fantastic as I picture it, the Acropolis was probably more colorful, more cluttered with statues and more imposing.
The new Crystal Bridge Museum of American Art, assembled and funded by Walmart heiress Alice Walton, opens today in Bentonville, Arkansas. NPR Weekend Edition covered some of the controversy (or in my opinion, non-controversy) regarding the acquisition of art pieces from non-museum public and private institutions like universities and libraries. While listening, I went browsing through the collection on-line. I immediately recognized something on the main page of the 19th Century gallery:
That little girl with her dog was sold at Skinners Inc in Boston at the March 7, 2010 American Furniture & Decorative Arts auction! With an auction estimate of $8-12,000, she sold for $41,475 (despite her pouty scowl).
News coverage of the museum’s opening has noted the supposed difficulty of finding quality American art pieces with which to create a new museum. I think the above example clearly illustrates that there are beautiful pieces still in family or private collections that have not made it into museums. I can only imagine that there was an army of art historians and curators sweeping the country looking for these undervalued pieces in American museums, commercial galleries and auctions. Likewise, university, library or hospital collections may not attract the visitor the art deserves and so I see no problem with works being sold so that the funds can go toward the primary missions of the institutions.
I’m not sure when I’ll be in Arkansas but at least the highlights are online.
Of the 102 voyagers on the Mayflower, only 53 survived the first year to celebrate the “original Thanksgiving” in Nov 1621. Of the 18 adult women who made the voyage, 14 died in the first year. The Pilgrim Hall Museum in Plymouth has a really interesting graphic illustrating the decimation of the early settlers. (See colonist before and after the first year).
Daydream Tourist 
