Features
Our Enduring Fascination With Ancient Roman Baths
From a mosaic of flip-flops in Sicily to Cicero's possible sauna, new discoveries prove that bathing has always been about more than getting clean.
History
Book Review
The Brief and Illustrious Life of the Telegraph
Time Machines reveals entanglements between the largely forgotten optical telegraph and artistic movements in 19th-century France.
Art
The Revisionist History of the Nazi Salute
Elon Musk’s defenders were quick to claim that his hand motion was actually an ancient “Roman salute” — but that gesture never existed.
Books
A Brief History of Underwear in Art
Author Nina Edwards weaves a seamless tale of the social, visual, and economic dimensions of the hidden garments that literally underpin our lives.
Art
The Battle Between Halloween and Reformation Day
Launched on October 31, 1517, the Protestant Reformation broke not just with the Catholic Church but with all that’s dark and demonic, wanton and witchy.
Art
The Six Wives of Henry VIII Get Their Due
Six Lives seeks to fill in the queens’ backstories and present them as individuals rather than supporting players to the King.
Books
How Michelangelo’s Dome Survived Through the Centuries
A new book resurrects the oft-overlooked story of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, whose dome was saved from collapse by a team of mathematicians and the Pope.
Books
The Enslaved People Who Wrote Down the New Testament
Art history has long concealed the scribes who put swaths of the Bible and early Christian writings on paper.
Books
The Lost Art of Handwriting
A new book provides a glimpse into how some of the most resoundingly famous writers actually, you know, wrote.
Art
An Artist Contends With Brooklyn's History of Enslavement
Adama Delphine Fawundu’s installation at the Lefferts Historic House in Prospect Park honors the 25 individuals who were once enslaved there.
News
New Research Questions the Existence of Early Christian “House Churches”
A new study challenges long-held beliefs about the physical spaces of Christian worship, proving that the emerging religion’s story is not immutable.
Art
The Ephemeral Geography of the Eternal City
How Romans altered the very geography of their city throughout the centuries.