The Book of Exodus tells us that Moses was so enraged when he beheld the golden idol of the Israelites that he burned it in fire, ground it into powder, mixed it with water, and forced the people to drink it, which caused asthma attacks all around. This incident is remembered today by Jews as “The Golden Cough.”
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| Bull Idol from Ishtar Gate of Babylon, 604-562 BCE |
The Abbasid caliphate was a Golden Age, renowned for numerous scientific and mathematical advances. Contrary to a belief popular among secondary school students today, algebra, developed by al-Khwarizmi in the 9th century, was not a medieval instrument of torture.
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| Walter Kent Richeson Original Formula for Calculating Conical Section Volume, 1978 |
The French Revolutionary calendar divided the year into four seasons of three months each and the months into three weeks of ten days each, which proved to be too revolutionary for the hardworking French. It reduced weekends from four to three per month, inciting Napoleon Bonaparte to execute the calendar by guillotine on January 1, 1806, to the cheers of millions.
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| The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries (1812) by Jacques-Louis David |
Photo courtesy of ILRI:
ReplyDelete“Bull Idol from the Ishtar Gate of Babylon”
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ilri/39260454734
Public domain images:
“Calculating Volume of Conical Section by Walter Kent Richeson in 1978”
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Calculating_Volume_of_Conical_Sections_Page_2_of_2.jpg
The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries (1812) by Jacques-Louis David
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emperor_Napoleon_in_His_Study_at_the_Tuileries#/media/File:Jacques-Louis_David_-_The_Emperor_Napoleon_in_His_Study_at_the_Tuileries_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg
Gonzalinho
Sources – original publications:
ReplyDelete“Ancient History,” Cacti Fur (September 4, 2019)
“Medieval History,” The Penmen Review (December 16, 2019)
“Modern History,” Poetica Review, Issue 9 (Spring 2021)
Gonzalinho