A Little History and Travel Never Hurts

(Source: iampinkshirt)

this is gold. pure, solid gold. 

I had to share.

harpy:

Asenath by Edmund Dulac

collective-history:

In Greek mythology, Echo was an Oread (a mountain nymph) who loved her own voice. Zeus loved consorting with beautiful nymphs and visited them on Earth often. Eventually, Zeus’s wife, Hera, became suspicious, and came from Mt. Olympus in an attempt to catch Zeus with the nymphs.

Sometimes the young and beautiful nymph Echo would distract and amuse Zeus’ wife, Hera, with long and entertaining stories while Zeus took advantage of the moment to ravish the other mountain nymphs. When Hera discovered the trickery, she was so annoyed she punished the talkative Echo by taking away her voice, except in foolish repetition of another’s shouted words. Thus, all Echo could do was repeat the voice of another.

In the most popular telling of this story Echo falls in love with a man named Narcissus. One day he came upon a pool and became enamored with his reflection. In some versions he withers away looking at himself, in others he falls in the pool and drowns trying to embrace himself, and in another he stabs himself to end is life after realizing that he is in love with his own reflection. In all these stories he is honored by having the narcissus flower named after him (springs from his blood, he withers into one). Echo, upon his death, basically loses all will to live and likewise withers away until all that is left is her voice.

fyeah-history:

An Arabic manuscript, dated 1200 CE, titled Anatomy of the Eye, authored by al-Mutadibih

kriegskitten:

fyeah-history:

The Māori Battalion, a full Māori army unit and also the most decorated New Zealand battalion during WWII, performing a haka (traditional Māori war dance) in North Africa, 1941

I believe one of my relatives married a Māori girl

collective-history:

Greek fire, first used by the Byzantine Navy during the Byzantine-Arab Wars.