Browsing: Politics

A Brief History On March 18, 1974, a concrete sculpture of a nude female called Güzel İstanbul in Karaköy Square, Istanbul, Turkey, was attacked by persons unknown and toppled after much public criticism for its allegedly “obscene” nature.  The 4.8 meter tall sculpture was subsequently moved to Yıldız Park and re-erected, although the damage to the sculpture has not been fixed. Digging Deeper It seems people just cannot agree on what is art and what is offensive, and other such instances include: The “Vietnam Veterans Memorial” by Maya Lin, built in 1982, received severe criticism when unveiled, largely for the…

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A Brief History Sometime in September 282, Roman Emperor Probus was murdered by his soldiers for unclear reasons due to different accounts in different sources. Digging Deeper Near the end of the biography of Probus’s predecessor, Tacitus, in the Historia Augusta, an ancient text possibly dating to the 4th century, the biographer speculates that had Probus “lived longer the world would contain no barbarians.”  To dig deeper, I encourage you to read the full biographies of both Tacitus and Probus in this primary work and to also read at least one biography of Probus of a more modern nature that…

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A Brief History On an unknown day c. November 275, Roman Emperor Aurelian was murdered by members of the Praetorian Guard, only to be subsequently deified by the Roman Senate. Digging Deeper Written some unknown time later, towards the end of the biography of Aurelian in the Historia Augusta, the ancient biographer lists Aurelian among the twelve best Roman emperors as a contrast to the more numerous number of “evil” emperors.  The biographer then ponders the following: “The question, indeed, is often asked what it is that makes emperors evil; first of all, my friend, it is freedom from restraint,…

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A Brief History On an unknown date in 267, Odaenathus, King of Palmyra, was assassinated along with his son and co-king. Digging Deeper Odaenathus’s biographer in the Historia Augusta laments the king’s assassination in the following passage: “Some god, I believe, was angry with the commonwealth, who, after Valerian’s death, was unwilling to preserve Odaenathus alive.  For of a surety he, with his wife Zenobia, would have restored not only the East, which he had already brought back to its ancient condition, but also all parts of the whole world everywhere, since he was fierce in warfare and, as most writers…

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A Brief History On March 14, 1964, Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby was convicted of killing the alleged assassin of President John F. Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald.  Ruby was sentenced to death for the murder, which had been broadcast live on national TV, but on appeal a new trial was ordered that did not happen when Ruby died of a pulmonary embolism in 1967. Digging Deeper Born Jacob Leon Rubenstein in Chicago to parents of Polish/Jewish heritage, Ruby got in trouble as a juvenile but later served in the US Army during World War II.  Moving to Dallas, Ruby was…

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