Art History: Medieval Visions of Heaven and Hell

We found that studying the medieval paintings of Hieronymous Bosch and etchings of Durer were a perfect complement to our reading of Dante's Divine Comedy.

There is something striking about Dante's punishments fitting their crimes, and the organization of hell makes more sense when one realizes that Dante's hierarchy of evil places a greater burden on those who oppose the will of God than those who commit crimes against their fellow men.

Medieval paintings were very important for helping the illiterate Christians gain the basic truths of the Bible. Pope Gregory the Great (540-604) said, "Painting can do for the illiterate what writing does for those who can read."

WebMuseum: Bosch, Hieronymus
University of NC Lesson Plan: The Nightmares of Hieronymous Bosch
Early Medieval Painting at Beyond Books
Powerpoint of Albrect Durer's Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
Spark Notes: Themes, Motifs, and Symbolism in Dante's Inferno
Art of the Book in the Middle Ages

Classics Physics Alive: New Acoustic Discoveries in Ancient Greek Theatres

In a recent article from Nature, researchers at Georgia Tech figured out the science behind the magnificent theatre of Epidaurus. For more detailed, info, click here. it turns out the answer is not from simply an optimal amplification of human frequency pitches, but also careful positioning of the stepped rows of seats to reduce low frequency background noise. Very cool

Excerpt: "They calculate that this structure is perfectly shaped to act as an acoustic filter, suppressing low-frequency sound — the major component of background noise — while passing on the high frequencies of performers' voices...In the first century BC the Roman authority on architecture, Vitruvius, implied that his predecessors knew very well how to design a theatre to emphasize the human voice. "By the rules of mathematics and the method of music," he wrote, "they sought to make the voices from the stage rise more clearly and sweetly to the spectators' ears... by the arrangement of theatres in accordance with the science of harmony, the ancients increased the power of the voice."


ARLT :: Why the Greeks could hear plays from the back row
Structure of the Greek Theatre
The Architecture of Acoustic Control (Modern)
Wired: Scientists Study Sacred Sounds / Church Acoustics

Resources for Dante's The Divine Comedy

We're just reading excerpts from the Divine Comedy (Inferno) on our current journey through the Middle Ages, but we found some of these sites helpful for visualizing the structure of Dante's Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso.

We found this Flash Dante's Inferno site from Eastern Kentucky helpful:

In addition, the Dante Study Guide has helpful listing of symbols, allusions, and discussion points, and different versions of The Divine Comedy in translation are available at Digital Dante

Ancient Greeks: Thales - Scientist, mathematician, philosopher, businessman

Thales of Miletus is often referred to as the father of science, the father of philosophy, and the father of geometry. He was a very clever man, and sought to understand the world through a study of its patterns, rejecting explanations from mythology.

We just discovered Julie Diggins' String, Straight-Edge, and Shadow, and here you can read its Thales Chapter. Among Thales' apparent accomplishments: predicting an eclipse in 585 B.C., successfully predicting a bountiful harvest of olives after several bad seasons (he was certain, he also cornered the market on olive presses beforehand, and made a great deal of money), measuring the height of Egyptian pyramids by "shadow reckoning", a strategy for measuring the distance of a ship at sea, five propositions (with proofs) of plane geometry, a theory of earthquakes (movement of land because it floated on water).













Of course, Thales was also wrong about many things (for instance, he thought all things were composed of water and that magnets (lodestones) had souls), but he inspired many generations of scientists, mathematicians, and philosophers to look for the patterns, rules, and relationships that existed in the natural world.

References:
Math Story / Lesson: On Thales
Wikipedia: Thales
Thales at the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
The Life and Accomplishments of Thales of Miletus
Ancient Greeks

Animated Bayeux Tapestry

Check out this beautiful animated Bayeux Tapestry at YouTube.com



History of Britain's Bayeux Tapestry

Want to make your own tapestry? Here's a great (and free)Bayeux Tapestry Game Online

Thanks, TAGMAX for the HT.

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