Kailashnath Temple, also Kailash Temple or Kailasanath Temple is a famous temple dug…in the wall of a high basalt cliff in the complex located at Ellora, Maharashtra, India. It is a megalith carved out of one single rock. It was built in the 8th century by the Rashtrakuta king Krishna I.
The Kailash Temple is notable for its vertical excavation—carvers started at the top of the original rock, and excavated downward.
It is estimated that about 400,000 tons of rocks was scooped out over hundreds of years to construct this monolithic structure.
INDIAN HISTORY LITERALLY NEVER MANAGES TO BE BORING OR EVEN TBQH SHORT OF BREATH-TAKING
(Source: atavus)
Oldest Pharaoh Carvings Discovered in Egypt
The oldest-known representations of a pharaoh are carved on rocks near the Nile River in southern Egypt, researchers report.
Look closely — standing on the top of this boat is a crowned figure who may represent Narmer, the first pharaoh to rule unified Egypt. Oarsmen propel the boat along. Credit: Stan Hendrickx, John Coleman Darnell & Maria Carmela Gatto
The carvings were first observed and recorded in the 1890s, but only rediscovered in 2008. In them, a white-crowned figure travels in ceremonial processions and on sickle-shaped boats, perhaps representing an early tax-collecting tour of Egypt.
The scenes place the age of the carvings between 3200 B.C. and 3100 B.C., researchers report in the December issue of the journal Antiquity. During that time, Egypt was transitioning into the dynastic rule of the pharaohs.
“It’s really the end of prehistory and the beginning of history,” in Egypt, study researcher Maria Gatto told LiveScience.
Scenes of a ruler
Gatto, a Yale University researcher, led the archaeologists who rediscovered the site in 2008. Archaeologist Archibald Sayce first sketched the carvings, found at the village Nag el-Hamdulab, in the 1890s, but the only record of Sayce’s discovery was a partial illustration published in a book.
The site was then forgotten until the 1960s, when Egyptian archaeologist Labib Habachi took photographs of the carvings, which he never published. It wasn’t until one of these photos resurfaced in 2008 that Gatto and her team started searching for the site, which many people assumed had been destroyed in the interim.
Some of the carvings have indeed been vandalized since the 1960s, but Gatto and her team found the etched rocks in a natural amphitheater west of Nag el-Hamdulab. They then compared the carvings to Habachi’s 1960s photographs.
There are seven carvings scattered throughout the area, and many are tableaus of boats flanked by prisoners. One of the most extensive carvings shows five boats, one of which houses the white-crowned pharaoh, his fan-bearer and two standard-bearers. Falcon and bull insignia on the pharaoh’s boat symbolize royalty, further emphasized by the four men with ropes standing alongside that boat, likely towing it along the Nile.
A hieroglyph labels this scene a “nautical following,” a likely reference to the following of Horus, Gatto said. In this periodic royal jaunt across Egypt, the pharaoh cemented power and collected taxes. Thus, not only do the carvings represent the oldest known vision of a pharaoh, they may also show the oldest Egyptian tax campaign.
Other carvings include a scene of people and dogs herding cattle and a cluster of animals, two of them apparently some mythical part-lion beasts. The other animals are familiar native African species, including two ostriches, an ibex and a bull. Another scene shows the brewing and drinking of beer, perhaps a reference to a festival.
The Sword of Tutankhamen
- Created: 1333 BC - 1323 BC
- Culture: Pharaonic
- Technique: Metal Techniques
- Cast Style: New Kingdom
- Medium: Bronze
Tribute post: November 26th, 1922 archaeologist Howard Carter opened Tutankhamen’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings, Egypt - thus I’m going to feature a special weapon today, the sword of Tutankhamen.
“King Tut” or Tutankhamen (alternately spelled with Tutenkh-, -amen, -amon), lived approx. 1341 BC – 1323 BC, was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty (ruled ca. 1332 BC – 1323 BC in the conventional chronology), during the period of Egyptian history known as the New Kingdom. His original name, Tutankhaten, means “Living Image of Aten”, while Tutankhamen means “Living Image of Amun”.
The sword of King Tutankhamen was an Egyptian Khopesh, the common sword used in Ancient Egypt times and was made by a single piece of bronze divided into three parts. The first part is the hilt, which is black. The second and third parts form the blade.
The second part is straight, on the same level as the handle, and is engraved with the figure of a lotus flower with a long stem. The third part is bent to form a curve, and is engraved with a long stripe.
The shape of this sword is the same as the sword held by the figure of the king, depicted on the perforated and gilded wood votive shield that was found in the tomb, and is considered to be ceremonial in purpose.
Sources: Wikipedia | Eternal Egypt
Obit of the Day: Astronaut Sally Ride
Sally Ride, who became the first American woman in space in 1983*, has died of cancer at the age of 61 years old. She decided to join the space program, in 1978, after answering an ad in the newspaper.
Dr. Ride had spent over 340 hours in space on two separate missions, both on the Challenger in 1983 and 1984. When the Challenger exploded in January 1986 she was training for her third mission, instead she found herself on the panel investigating the disaster. Prior to the tragedy she was one of the only individuals to support Roger Boisjoly’s warnings of an imminent disaster. (Boisjoly died in February 2012.)
Sally Ride left the space program in 1987 and worked at her alma mater, Stanford University as well as UC-San Diego. In 2003, following the destruction of the shuttle Columbia, she was invited, once again, to help investigate the accident. (She was the only person to serve on both investigative panels.)
Dr. Ride was inducted into both the Women’s Hall of Fame as well as the Astronaut Hall of Fame. And she was an English major.
Sources: npr.org, wikipedia.org, and biography.com
(Image of Dr. Ride while aboard the Challengeris courtesy of wired.com)
* Prior to Dr. Ride’s launch in June 1983, the Soviets had sent up cosmonauts Valentina Tereshkova (1963) and Svetlana Savitskaya (1983).
The Ghosts of World War II by Sergey Larenkov
Taking old World War II photos, Russian photographer Sergey Larenkov carefully photoshops them over more recent shots to make the past come alive. Not only do we get to experience places like Berlin, Prague, and Vienna in ways we could have never imagined, more importantly, we are able to appreciate our shared history in a whole new and unbelievably meaningful way.
May 08, 1945 — Two million people gathered in Times Square to celebrate the end of World War II.
Admirable Women in History → Amelia Earhart
(July 24, 1987 - July 2, 1937)
…now and then women should do for themselves what men have already done - occasionally what men have not done—thereby establishing themselves as persons, and perhaps encouraging other women toward greater independence of thought and action. Some such consideration was a contributing reason for my wanting to do what I so much wanted to do.
(Source: urukhai)
Ruins of the medieval Catholic church of Arač (Aracs) near Novi Bečej, 13th century
One of the Met’s two Babylonian lions from the walls of the magnificent Ishtar Gate of Babylon. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, NY.
Photo by Babylon Chronicle
The underwater royal quarters of Cleopatra, discovered off the shores of Alexandria, 35 BC
The Sword of Tutankhamun
To celebrate 138 years since the birth of Howard Carter, the one who discovered pharaoh’s Tutankhamun’s grave, I’m gonna present a special weapon today, the sword of Tutankhamun.
“King Tut” or Tutankhamun (alternately spelled with Tutenkh-, -amen, -amon), lived approx. 1341 BC – 1323 BC, was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty (ruled ca. 1332 BC – 1323 BC in the conventional chronology), during the period of Egyptian history known as the New Kingdom. His original name, Tutankhaten, means “Living Image of Aten”, while Tutankhamun means “Living Image of Amun”.
The sword of King Tutankhamun was an Egyptian Khopesh, the common sword used in Ancient Egypt times and was made by a single piece of bronze divided into three parts. The first part is the hilt, which is black. The second and third parts form the blade.
The second part is straight, on the same level as the handle, and is engraved with the figure of a lotus flower with a long stem. The third part is bent to form a curve, and is engraved with a long stripe.
The shape of this sword is the same as the sword held by the figure of the king, depicted on the perforated and gilded wood votive shield that was found in the tomb, and is considered to be ceremonial in purpose.
- Culture: Pharaonic
- Technique: Metal Techniques
- Cast Style: New Kingdom
- Materials: Bronze
- Created: 1333 BC - 1323 BC
Sources: Wikipedia | Eternal Egypt
The original Ferris Wheel at the World’s Columbian Exposition c. 1893. Photographer unknown.
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Queen Nefertari being led by Isis
Egypt, 1279-1213 BC
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Hagia Sophia is a former Orthodox patriarchal basilica, later a mosque, and now a museum in Istanbul, Turkey. From the date of its dedication in 360 until 1453, it served as the Greek Patriarchal cathedral of Constantinople, except between 1204 and 1261, when it was converted to a Roman Catholic cathedral under the Latin Patriarch of Constantinople of the Western Crusader established Latin Empire. The building was a mosque from 29 May 1453 until 1931, when it was secularized. It was opened as a museum on 1 February 1935.
