Un Cuore nella Pietà di Michelangelo

Il Cristo e la Madonna, un Cuore unico nella Pietà di Michelangelo.

Immagine ottenuta con lo scan in 3D

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pietà_vaticana#/media/File:Scan_the_World_-_Pietà_(Michelangelo).stl

La Mappa dei Ferrero

Che Ferrero sia un cognome molto diffuso in Piemonte forse non sorprende, ma potete averne conferma visiva con la Mappa dei Cognomi. https://www.cognomix.it/mappe-dei-cognomi-italiani/FERRERO

La Mappa è una cortesia del sito Cognomix.it, Map tiles by Stamen Design, under CC BY 3.0. 

Il rasoio Villanoviano

"Il rasoio in bronzo è uno strumento da toletta di uso esclusivamente maschile, frequentemente deposto nei corredi funebri. Il rinvenimento, pur raro, in ripostigli ed in aree di abitato ne esclude tuttavia un uso esclusivamente rituale e funerario. ... L'uso di questo strumento nella cura della barba e della capigliatura maschili, ipotizzato già dai primi scavatori nell''800 sulla base di confronti etnografici, ha trovato conferma nel rinvenimento di almeno un esemplare che conservava, aderenti al taglio, alcuni peli di barba. La deposizione costante del rasoio all'interno delle sepolture maschili permette comunque di attribuire a questo oggetto, aldilà dell'uso pratico, un valore simbolico, forse legato al raggiungimento dell'età adulta. Questo esemplare si distingue per la decorazione incisa sulla lama, che ci restituisce l'immagine di un'ascia immanicata, suggerendo forse il possesso di questo oggetto di prestigio da parte del defunto." Provenienza: Bologna. Necropoli San Vitale, tomba 280

Datazione: 775 - 725 a.C, Materiale: Bronzo
Da http://www.museibologna.it/archeologico/percorsi/47680/id/47843/oggetto/47979/

Edgar Allan Poe e gli Italiani

He had a weak point -- this Fortunato -- although in other regards he was a man to be respected and even feared. He prided himself on his connoisseurship in wine. Few Italians have the true virtuoso spirit. For the most part their enthusiasm is adopted to suit the time and opportunity, to practise imposture upon the British and Austrian millionaires. In painting and gemmary, Fortunato, like his countrymen, was a quack, but in the matter of old wines he was sincere. 

https://www.poemuseum.org/the-cask-of-amontillado

Aveva un lato debole, quel Fortunato, benché fosse sotto ogni rispetto un uomo da rispettare, ed anche da temere. Si vantava d’essere un gran conoscitore di vini. Son pochi gli italiani veramente conoscitori; il loro entusiasmo il più delle volte è preso a prestito, accomodato al tempo e all’occasione; è una ciarlataneria per far bene coi milionari inglesi e americani. In fatto di pitture e di pietre preziose, Fortunato, come i suoi compatrioti, era un ciarlatano; ma, davvero, in materia di vecchi vini era sincero.

https://edgarallanpoe.it/il-barile-damontillado/

Caesar's Propaganda? XenophonTheAthenian's answer

Did Caesar write Commentarii de Bello Gallico as propaganda?

This is a question I found in

https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2o39m1/did_caesar_write_commentarii_de_bello_gallico_as/ User superflossman asks this, because "Many of my teachers and professors over the years have said that it was in fact propaganda, but a cursory search on something like Jstor points me toward many scholarly articles that say that it was not. Was it propaganda? Is there a way to truly know? Is there one unified scholarly opinion held by the majority?"

The discussion, as we can see, is pivoting about the fact that the De Bello Gallico has to be considered, in a proper manner, as a self-serving text and not propaganda.

In answering the question, user XenophonTheAthenian first observes that "propaganda" really exists in a world that can utilize modern communication. Then notes the following.

 "First of all you [superflossman] seem to be unclear on what exactly Caesar's commentaries are. You seem to be under the impression that these were originally intended as literary works to be disseminated throughout the city, the way a novel would today. This is untrue. While Caesar's work was later collected and published as a real book, this was not its original purpose at all. The very title of the work is a clear indicator of this - "commentarii" are not "commentaries" at all, the correct translation of the term in the context in which it is being used by Caesar is "dispatches." Roman governors were expected to send dispatches back to the senate (Cicero's "litteras" which he famously claims Piso did not send during his proconsular command in Macedonia), although technically they did not have to. Much of the content and style of the work is directly influenced by this. For example, Caesar's consistent use of the third-person is because the dispatches were intended to be read aloud in the senate, much the same way that dispatches from an American general are often read aloud in the Capitol. Additionally, the (sometimes quite extreme) inconsistencies in style clearly reflect that Caesar was not the only author. ...  it's quite clear that Caesar drew heavily on the dispatches of his subordinates for certain things, although of course he edited them and the overwhelming majority of the work is entirely his own. ... Like I said, that's what the word "commentarii," when used in a legal sense, means. ...

Anyway, I digress. That's really not that important. What is important is Caesar's style. Caesar is not writing so that "the average cives on the street" can read his work. The average citizen probably had very little direct exposure to Caesar's works, as publication in Republican Rome was not the streamlined ...  affair of Augustus' day, books were almost prohibitively expensive, and we know of no public readings of Caesar's works, which were probably published and spread in a manner similar to Cicero's essays, which were essentially sent to his friends and anyone who requested them. Besides the necessity of straightforwardness in military dispatches (Caesar's were probably more ornate than most - Cicero makes fun of Piso for introducing rhetorical style into his military accounting) Caesar's style is also a result of his own rhetorical school. Caesar was a member of the Direct, or Plain Style. This is the style of Homer, the style of Plato, Herodotus, even of Thucydides - of pretty much everyone before Demosthenes really got the Periodic Style perfected. The Plain Style avoids complex subordination (although Caesar's personal form of it used a lot of indirect speech) and whereas the Periodic Style listed clauses in order of logical progression the Plain Style listed them in chronological order. That this is in no way unique to this particular work is quite clear when we note that it is present in de Bello Civili (which had an even narrower audience and which, mind you, is vastly more self-serving, and is quite openly too, than de Bello Gallico - I have always been puzzled why de Bello Gallico is held up in the popular imagination as propaganda but de Bello Civili somehow escapes it) and is present in Sallust's transcript of Caesar's speech against Cicero's decision to execute the Catilinarians. Unless we suppose that Caesar's speech against Cicero was intended to be read by the "average cives," when it was never even published, it's rather silly to suppose that Caesar crafted his style with a populist purpose in mind. Besides, simple as it appears Caesar's style is extremely highly-developed, as ancient commentators noted, and hardly the sort of thing that everyone read - de Bello Civili in particular stands out as a real masterwork of literary craft in the Plain Style.

.... Finally  ... [a] statement [like this] here: "Julius Caesar was accumulating too many fans in the capital and was sent off to the god-forsaken border of Gaul to hold the damn line and stay out of the way, festering in obscurity" is totally and indefensibly untrue. Caesar was awarded as his proconsular command Illyricum and Cisalpine Gaul, to which Transalpine Gaul was later added. These were not "god-forsaken," out-of-the-way provinces whose governors were expected to sit there and simply preserve the status quo. These were not provinces in which one "fester[ed] in obscurity." Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum were, along with Macedonia and Syria, the singlemost important provinces of the late Republic. Cisalpine Gaul in particular is of more importance to us, since Caesar didn't do much in Illyricum. Cisalpine Gaul was where generals became triumphators, where spent fortunes were restored in only a few years, and was one of the key provinces to which every magistrate up for provincial assignments looked. That the province was almost exclusively awarded to proconsular governors, and almost never to propraetors, testifies to its importance, as does the fact that the province was under arms pretty much 100% of the time, even when the governor was being replaced and he was supposed to disband his army. The danger to the Cisalpine frontier was well-known to the state - where had the Teutones come down from, within living memory, after all? Revolts were commonplace, and the constantly shifting Gallic tribes constantly attacked Roman allies along the Transalpine coast, necessitating offensives - the exact reason Caesar uses to justify his attack (whether it really was justified is another story). The immense plunder that could be exacted by even the shortest campaign into Transalpine Gaul was unimaginable, easily comparable to the plunder of the east, and the boost to a politician's dignitas was even greater still, probably greater than out east. Cicero was awarded Cisalpine Gaul at the end of his consulship, as a reward for his service to the state. Cicero ended up resigning his governorship ... and handing it over to his colleague Antony in addition to Antony's province of Macedonia. Cicero makes a big deal that Antony was in control of Macedonia and Cisalpine Gaul, saying that he allowed a monster  [Antony] ... to take the two most important provinces to maintain the peace and stability of the state. And you miss the fact that the senate did not award Caesar his province - the entire reason that Cato claimed Caesar's proconsulship was illegal was not because of anything he did in Gaul, but because Pompey used his influence to stall the senate and allowed Caesar to get a tribune to propose a law (which, like all laws, was voted on in the comitia, not the senate) granting him dual governorship (instead of proconsular command over the trees of Italy, as the senate proposed). Caesar's enemies didn't send him to Gaul - he and Pompey made the decision.

Anyway, enough of that. You [superflossman] are essentially right in that the de Bello Gallico is intended as a self-serving piece. It's initial purpose was to persuade the senate that his command was proceeding legitimately (which Cato contested repeatedly). Now, you're also right in saying that it served as a vehicle to increase his popularity, despite what I say above. The purpose of the publication of Caesar's dispatches was to spread news of his proconsulship beyond the floor of the senate, although the outreach of the work was certainly not as wide as you seem to imply.

... Caesar's works, widely read though they were, certainly did not have to social scope of modern propaganda, nor were they as omnipresent and forceful. True propaganda is increasingly being shown as an element of modern society and in particular modern communications. We should think of Caesar's works less like propaganda and more like political pamphlets. I suggest consulting the relevant sections of Gelzer's biography of Caesar, of which there is an English translation available. Gelzer gives an excellent overview of the initial delivery, collection, editing, and publication of the work (as well as trying to solve some disputes about exactly how they were published, a question that we don't really know) and really not much has progressed since his time."

Thanks to XenophonTheAthenian's discussion, any reasoning about De Bello Gallico is easier. Chapeau! XenophonTheAthenian, Chapeau!

Earnshaw's theorem

Earnshaw's theorem states that a collection of point charges cannot be maintained in a stable stationary equilibrium configuration solely by the electrostatic interaction of the charges. This was first proven by British mathematician Samuel Earnshaw in 1842. It is usually referenced to magnetic fields, but was first applied to electrostatic fields. Earnshaw's theorem applies to classical inverse-square law forces (electric and gravitational).
It means that it is linked to the Gauss Law. And here a proof.

Amato Billour | Teachers Who Rescued Jews During the Holocaust | "Their Fate Will Be My Fate Too..." | Yad Vashem

Amato Billour | Teachers Who Rescued Jews During the Holocaust | "Their Fate Will Be My Fate Too..." | Yad Vashem

A Firenze visse Amato Billour, insegnante di Inglese. Con la moglie Letizia tenne con se il figlio di Hulda Campagnano.
"Reuven  stayed with the teacher and his wife for almost a year, from December 1943 until August 1944. The Billours were very kind and sensitive to all his needs, and he soon began calling them “father” and “mother”. Contact was kept with his mother, and from time to time meetings were arranged in public places so that Hulda could meet her son, who was now called “Emilio”. When Florence was liberated in August 1944, Reuven was returned to his mother, but he never forgot the Billours and their love for him."

Benjamin Blankenstein | Teachers Who Rescued Jews During the Holocaust | "Their Fate Will Be My Fate Too..." | Yad Vashem

Benjamin Blankenstein | Teachers Who Rescued Jews During the Holocaust | "Their Fate Will Be My Fate Too..." | Yad Vashem


Benjamin was a teacher at a local Christian elementary school  of Soestdijk, in the Netherlands. He and his wife Maria had a baby daughter, born in 1940. When Benjamin Blankenstein heard that the Bernstein family had been betrayed at an earlier hiding place, he proposed to hide them in his home. Maria, who had just given birth to their second daughter, agreed. Henry, Martha and their son Rolf  found a home under the Blankenstein’s roof.  But the police broke into the Blankenstein home on June 5, 1944, while Benjamin was at school. The police arrested the Bernsteins and, about half an hour later, Benjamin was arrested at the school. He perished in Bergen-Belsen on February 24, 1945. The Bernsteins were deported. Henry and Rolf were murdered in Auschwitz. Martha survived the war. "Upon her return from the camp, ill and alone, she was again welcomed by Maria Blankenstein."

Costantino e la Battaglia di Torino - 312 AD

"La battaglia di Torino fu combattuta nel 312 nei pressi di Augusta Taurinorum tra le forze di Costantino I e quelle del suo rivale per il titolo di imperatore romano, Massenzio. Costantino vinse, muovendosi poi verso Mediolanum e verso Verona e, infine, presso Roma, dove avrebbe sconfitto in maniera decisiva Massenzio nell'ottobre dello stesso anno, nella battaglia di Ponte Milvio."

Da Wikipedia:

"Alla morte dell'augusto, Costanzo Cloro, avvenuta ad Eburacum (York) il 25 luglio del 306,  Costantino fu proclamato egli stesso augusto dall'esercito di Britannia. ... Quasi contemporaneamente anche il figlio di Massimiano Erculio, Massenzio, forte del potere dei pretoriani a Roma, fu acclamato augusto (28 ottobre). ...  Era l'inizio di una nuova guerra civile tra numerosi pretendenti.

Costantino, ormai sospettoso nei confronti di Massenzio, riunito un grande esercito formato anche da barbari catturati in guerra, oltre a Germani, popolazioni celtiche e provenienti dalla Britannia, mosse alla volta dell'Italia attraverso le Alpi (presso il Moncenisio), forte di 90.000 fanti e 8.000 cavalieri.

Costantino era diretto su Roma, dove Massenzio aveva una forza stimata in 100.000 uomini. Le truppe di Massenzio si opposero a Costantino a Segusia (Susa, in Piemonte). La città venne presa e bruciata ma, per non inimicarsi le popolazioni locali, Costantino ordinò che l'incendio venisse spento.

Costantino si diresse allora su Augusta Taurinorum, dove impegnò un esercito inviatogli contro da Massenzio, dotato di un forte contingente di cavalleria (clibanari e catafratti): Costantino, che notò che i cavalieri di Massenzio avanzavano in formazione a cuneo, ordinò al proprio centro di arretrare, allargando il più possibile il fronte del proprio schieramento, in modo che i fianchi si chiudessero sul nemico, il quale, avendo un equipaggiamento pesante, non era in grado di manovrare con rapidità. Al contrario Costantino disponeva di una cavalleria armata "leggera", e quindi maggiormente mobile. Inoltre Costantino aveva dotato i suoi uomini di mazze chiodate che, essendo contundenti, rendevano meno efficace la corazzatura pesante dei cavalieri avversari. Successivamente Costantino ordinò ai suoi soldati di fanteria di avanzare contro quella di Massenzio per tagliarne la via di fuga. La vittoria giunse, di conseguenza, in modo assai facile."

Secondo quanto riportato da Odahl, Charles Matson, in Constantine and the Christian Empire. New York: Routledge, 2004, gli abitanti di Augusta Taurinorum si rifiutarono di dare asilo alle truppe in ritirata di Massenzio, chiudendo loro le porte di accesso alla città. Al contrario applaudirono le truppe di Costantino. Queste finirono i soldati di Massenzio intrappolati contro le mura della città. Come detto da Odahl, "Paneg IX (XII). 5–6; and Paneg X (IV). 21–24 provided the only detailed ancient written accounts of the campaign and battles in northwestern Italy."  Si riferisce ai Panegirici Latini,  scritti per esaltare pregi o meriti, spesso intenzionalmente esagerati, degli Imperatori.

"Dopo la battaglia, Costantino entrò in città per essere acclamato dai suoi abitanti. Altre città della pianura italiana, riconoscendo il genio militare di Costantino e come aveva trattato la popolazione civile, gli inviarono ambascerie per congratularsi della sua vittoria. La vittoria di Torino permise a Costantino la conquista dell'Italia: dopo essere entrato trionfalmente a Mediolanum (Milano), mise in fuga un esercito nemico accampato nei pressi di Brescia, vincendo poi la successiva battaglia nei pressi di Verona, importante in quanto nel corso di essa venne ucciso il miglior generale di Massenzio, Ruricio Pompeiano, il che, unito all'aver sconfitto le forze di Massenzio nel nord Italia, permise a Costantino di dirigersi verso Roma, dove in ottobre sconfisse definitivamente Massenzio nella battaglia di Ponte Milvio, in cui il suo rivale per il trono d'Occidente trovò la morte."

Lucifer

Illustration of Lucifer in the first fully illustrated print edition of Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. Woodcut for Inferno, canto 33. Pietro di Piasi, Venice, 1491. This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author's life plus 100 years or less. (Image Courtesy Chiswick Chap, for Wikipedia). 

Lucifer has in his mouth, Ivda, Bruto and Casio, two that betrayed Caesar.
Note the artist rendered the fact that Dante and Virgil have passed Lucifer, at the centre of the Earth and see him upside down.

In Dante's Divina Commedia, the Hell is a conical cavity reaching to the centre of the Earth. At the apex of the cone, there is Lucifer. After Dante and his guide Virgil have passed Lucifer at the bottom of the Hell, and are continuing their journey, Dante looks back and sees Lucifer upside down. And Virgil explains that they have passed the center of the Earth, which is pulling the weights (a clear statement on gravitation):

... tu passasti 'l punto
al qual si traggon d'ogne parte i pesi.
E se' or sotto l'emisperio giunto
ch'e` contraposto a quel che la gran secca
coverchia, e sotto 'l cui colmo consunto
fu l'uom che nacque e visse sanza pecca:
tu hai i piedi in su picciola spera
che l'altra faccia fa de la Giudecca.

…thou then didst pass the point to which
 all gravities from every part are drawn.
And now thou art arrived beneath the hemisphere
opposed to that which canopies the great dry land
and underneath whose summit was consumed the
Man, who without sin was born and lived; thou
hast thy feet upon a little sphere, which forms the
other face of the Judecca.
[The Inferno, Edited by Israel Gollancz, 1903]

Dante and Virgil commenced their ascent to the other side of the Earth, toward the Antipodes, where they find the Purgatory, a conical hill, rising out of the ocean at a point diametrically opposite to Jerusalem. 

More at From Rome to the Antipodes: The Medieval Form of the World, International Journal of Literature and Arts, 2013, 1(2), 16-25.