Innholdsfortegnelse for January - February 2017 i National Geographic History

History is full of stories that are not easy to tell or easy to hear. But they must be told in order to understand more fully the human experience. When U.S. president Barack Obama spoke at the opening of the African American History Museum in 2016, he addressed this very issue: “The best history helps us recognize the mistakes that we’ve made and the dark corners of the human spirit that we need to guard against. And, yes, a clear-eyed view of history can make us uncomfortable, and shake us out of familiar narratives. But it is precisely because of that discomfort that we learn and grow and harness our collective power to make this nation more perfect . . . It is in this embrace of truth, as best…

“La Traviata last night, fiasco. Is it my fault or the fault of the singers? Time will tell.”—Verdi, 1853 A writer named Gianrinaldo Carli told a story that became famous in Italy in the 1760s: A stranger walks into a cafe in Milan, and the patrons ask if he is a foreigner.No, he replies. Then you must be Milanese, they say, and once again he replies in the negative. Scratching their heads, they tell him that if he is not Milanese, he must be foreign, to which he replies, “I am Italian . . . and an Italian in Italy can never be foreign.” In the 18th century, the Italian peninsula was fractured into parts controlled by different nations. A century later, the notion of a united Italy had evolved…

LIKE ANY GOOD ARTIST, Verdi knew the importance of suspense and surprise, so much so that he even kept his performers in the dark. During the rehearsals for Rigoletto, the tenor realized that his part was missing from the score; he kept reminding the composer, who always replied, airily: “Oh, I will give it to you in time.” In fact, the tenor was only given the score the night before the premiere and was told to practice in secret. Why? Because the piece would be his most famous aria: “La donna è mobile” (“The Woman is Fickle”) which Verdi had sensed—rightly—would become a smash hit.…

Giving Birth Throughout a pregnancy, the midwife would regularly examine the health of the mother-to-be and the fetus. During labor, medicinal plants were given to aid dilation and reduce pain. Naming After the birth, the father consulted a priest to help determine a newborn’s name. Based on his astrological sign—in this case, the Rabbit—the child would be given a suitable moniker. Celebrating Relatives gathered together to eat, drink, and give thanks for a healthy child, considered a gift from the gods. Other mothers often gave a first-timer advice on rearing the child.…

circa 2550 B.C. KHUFU, second king of Egypt’s 4th dynasty, begins work on his pyramid. When complete, the massive tomb will measure 481 feet high, the biggest pyramid ever. circa 2530 B.C. REDJEDEF, Khufu’s son, holds power for only a few years. He commissions a pyramid north of Giza at Abu Ruwaysh, but the structure is never finished. circa 2520 B.C. KHAFRE, another son of Khufu, commissions the second pyramid at Giza. Although it is slightly smaller than Khufu’s, it sits on higher ground, making it look taller. circa 2490 B.C. MENKAURE, after succeeding his father, places his pyramid next to Khafre’s and his grandfather’s. The contents of all three tombs will be looted.…

HE ORDERED the building of one of the biggest monuments in the world, one which bears his name 4,500 years after he ruled. His name appears on documents and on the few reliefs that remain on the entrance path to his funerary complex. Yet until a few years ago, there was only one tiny representation of Khufu, the man who built the Great Pyramid of Giza: an ivory carving just three inches high (right), an artifact considered—in a supremely ironic twist—as the smallest piece of Egyptian royal sculpture ever discovered. Recently, however, some specialists have suggested that a pair of limestone and granite stone heads from the Old Kingdom might be portraits of Khufu—a theory contested by other historians. Yet another hypothesis may give Khufu the biggest boost of all:…

1 Ishtar Gate The city’s main entrance was decorated with blue brick and creatures called mushussu, an Akkadian dragon with a body made out of other animals. 2 Processional Way This road led from the palaces to the temples. A statue of Marduk was paraded along it during the Babylonian New Year. 3 Etemenanki Completed by Nebuchadrezzar II, this ziggurat was consecrated to Marduk. A temple topped its six terraces. 4 Esagila Babylon’s principal deity Marduk, his wife Zarpanitu, and his son Nabu were all worshipped together at this temple complex.…

All through her life, Lucrezia’s bearing inspired those who met her, most enduringly the painter Bernardino di Betto—better known as Il Pinturicchio—who used Lucrezia, then 12 years old, as a model for his depiction of Saint Catherine (above, and following pages) in the frescoes he painted for the Borgia Apartments in the Vatican in 1492. In the section “St. Catherine’s Disputation,” Lucrezia embodies the fourth-century saint, deep in discussion with the Emperor Maximus and 50 pagan philosophers. She stands at the center of the scene, golden hair framing her clear, white complexion, with a bearing both solemn and courtly. The story goes that Saint Catherine defended her arguments with wisdom and eloquence against the pagans who surrounded her. Perhaps Lucrezia drew on the saint’s guidance when, in December 1497, when…

The arrival of Lucrezia in Ferrara in 1502 as the new wife of Alfonso d’Este caused a stir. Several observers wrote of the impact she made on them, and eulogized her grace and beauty. The Marquis of Crotone said that “had the bride made her entrance by torchlight she would have outshone them all.” The chronicler Bernardino Zambotto was deeply impressed by her “adorable eyes, full of life and joy.” He wrote glowingly of her refinement: “She has great tact, is prudent, very intelligent, lively, and most pleasant.” Nicolo Cagnolo of Parma wrote that “her whole being radiates good humor and joy beyond words.” Lucrezia was surrounded by poets and artists in Ferrara. Of these, the most notable was Ludovico Ariosto, the poet who coined the term “humanism,” and whose…

Sept. 9, 1739 In South Carolina, an enslaved African named Jemmy leads the Stono Rebellion, the largest uprising in the British mainland colonies. This revolt leads to the 1740 Negro Act, which prohibits slaves from growing their own food, congregating, and learning to read. Aug. 30-31, 1800 In Henrico County, Virginia, an enslaved blacksmith, Gabriel Prosser, plots to attack Richmond, but his plans are discovered. Of the 72 rebels who face trial, 26, including Gabriel, are found guilty and hanged. Jan. 8-9, 1811 In Louisiana, along the east bank of the Mississippi, Charles Deslondes leads the largest slave revolt in U.S. history: nearly 500 people armed with guns, pikes, hoes, and axes. They are defeated, and 95 rebels will be executed. June-July 1822 Denmark Vesey, a free black man from…

When William Bates, an elder of the Baakantji people of New South Wales, found a skeleton by a river in 2014,he identified it as an Aboriginal male. The mouth was wide open.“To me, he was crying for help,” Bates recalls,“so I said, I’ll help you.” The bones bore obvious signs of violence. In most murder mysteries, establishing the time of death is one of the first things detectives do, and in the course of an initial study, researchers assumed he had been killed during the bloodshed between British colonizers and Australia’s indigenous peoples in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. But these early assumptions would be challenged when the body, now named Kaakutja, meaning “older brother,” was examined by Dr. Michael Westaway, a paleoanthropologist at Griffith University in Queensland.…

1838-1840 Despite professional successes, Giuseppe Verdi endures personal tragedies, losing his wife and two children over three years. 1841 To overcome his grief, Verdi throws himself into a new opera, Nabucco, which will debut in 1842 and begin a comeback for the composer. 1851-1853 Years of brilliance: Verdi debuts Rigoletto, Il Trovatore, and La Traviata. All three rank among his best loved and lasting works. 1871 Commissioned for the opening of the royal opera house, Aida debuts in Egypt and will become one of the world’s most popular operas. 1901 Verdi dies in Milan. At his funeral, the great Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini leads an orchestra through Verdi’s greatest pieces.…

IMHOTEP, THE BUILDER GOD Imhotep was one of the leading minds of the 3rd dynasty, not only because he was the architect of the first pyramid to be built, the Saqqarastep pyramid, but because he held senior positions in all areas of Egyptian society: religious, political, economic, and artistic. He also built the pyramid of Djoser’s successor, Sekhemkhet.He was later deified as the god of medicine throughout Egypt in the Late Period. HEMIUNU, THE PORTLY ARCHITECT It is not known who designed the Great Pyramid, but the man responsible for supervising its complex construction wasHemiunu, Khufu’s nephew, a senior civil servant who acted as the pharaoh’s vizier. Despite the mystery surrounding Giza, Hemiunu himself was a flesh-and-blood man, as shown by his decidedly lifelike—and fleshy—statue, found in his tomb in…

Mesopotamia—“ the land between two rivers”— gave birth to many of the world’s first great cities. The splendid city of Babylon, located between the waters of the Euphrates and the Tigris some 60 miles south of Baghdad, was one of them. Unlike the many towns that fell and disappeared, Babylon was resilient, rising from its own ashes time and again, even as new conquerors invaded and took over. The pleasure its occupiers enjoyed came at a price, however, since the highly desired Babylon would always be seen as a prize for the taking. Babylon has resonated in Judeo-Christian culture for centuries. The books of the Old Testament recount the exile of the Jews to Babylon following the sack of Jerusalem,by whose waters they “sat down and wept.” By the time…

Everybody may know the name “Attila the Hun,” but nobody knows where he’s buried. Finding him would be quite the prize, since historic accounts of his funeral are impressive: Attila’s body was reportedly entombed in a gold coffin, which was then placed in a silver coffin, which was in turn placed in an outer coffin of iron, a fitting burial for the most feared man of the fifth century. Much of Attila’s infamy comes from his relentless campaign westward into Europe where he pillaged the riches of the Roman Empire. But he was stopped by a confederation of Roman soldiers and Germanic tribes. Defeating the great Attila might seem to be a sign of Rome’s strength, but many historians believe this moment reveals Rome’s true weakness, brought on by centuries…

On a spring day in 1480, Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia ordered various astrologers to his home in Rome to tell him the future of a newborn child. Named Lucrezia, the baby girl was the daughter of Vannozza Cattanei, a Roman woman noted for her beauty. Nobody believed for one moment, however, that the child’s father was Vannozza’s husband, as Vannozza had been Borgia’s favorite mistress for many years. To the cardinal’s delight, the astrologers foretold a remarkable future for his illegitimate daughter. If their exact predictions came true,the world does not know,but Lucrezia did grow up to become one of the most infamous members of the powerful Borgia clan. Throughout her short life,Lucrezia Borgia was considered beautiful. In her early 20s, a courtier described her as “of middle height and graceful…

WOMAN AMONG CARDINALS The presence of Lucrezia in the Vatican scandalized the clergy and the many enemies of Pope Alexander VI. One chronicler of the period vented his indignation that Lucrezia and her ladies-in-waiting were allowed into Saint Peter’s Basilica. It was said that when the pope went away he left his daughter in charge of official duties. Others went further, claiming that she attended wild parties and even orgies. MAN-EATER Lucrezia’s history of relationships with men was indisputably colorful, beginning with the Spanish suitors who bid for her hand when she was barely a teenager. Her three marriages—and the violence and intrigue associated with the first two—stoked the myth of Lucrezia as a lust-crazed murderess. In reality, she was more of a passive pawn in the hands of her…

In order to leave their plantation, enslaved people had to obtain a written pass from their owner or overseer. Sometimes these passes were unavailable, and slaves were told to run errands without the security of a formal pass. Their word was all they had. Slave patrols policed the landscape to monitor their movements, which oftentimes ended in brutality against the enslaved. One account says that Nat fell victim to this violence as a child when he was caught without a pass and beaten severely. Even as a young man he showed courage and leadership, as he organized a revenge scheme against the patrollers who had beaten him just days before. He convinced several young enslaved men to help him set a trap in the woods, along the same road the…

TWENTY of his 30 operatic works are still regularly performed in the great opera houses across the world, proving Verdi is as adored now as he was by the Italians who marked his death in 1901 with a national outburst of grief. Although historians argue that the link between his music and nationalism may have formed more gradually than is often claimed, his work resonated deeply with the people. In 1855, an Italian writer noted: “With what marvelous avidity the populace of our Italian cities was seized by these broad and clear melodies singing as they went ... confronting the grave reality of the present with aspirations for the future.”…

WHEN ACQUIRED in 1947 for the collection at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C., this statue of a goddess giving birth (left) was widely believed to be a pre-Columbian artifact representing Tlazolteotl, a complex Aztec goddess. An Earth deity, she also ruled over the areas of love, fertility, and lust. She displayed a cruel streak, causing madness among some mortals. But in her role as a childbirth deity, known as “the great woman in labor,” she showed a kinder aspect. Today some scholars believe this statue is a fake and more likely dates to the 19th century. Whatever the provenance, this figure did secure a place in history: Hollywood history. It was used as the model for the golden idol, which Dr. Henry “Indiana” Jones retrieves in the opening sequence of…

1 PECILE The portico was designed as an after-dinner route to aid digestion. The pool, “Euripus,” was named for the sea strait at Chalcis in Greece. 2 SMALL PUBLIC BATHS Built near the emperor’s own private baths, this facility—paved with marble and featuring an octagonal hall—was reserved for the nobility. 3 GREAT PUBLIC BATHS Available to army officers and other non-noble Romans, these baths were paved in simple materials, comfortable rather than opulent. 4 CANOPUS AND SERAPEUM At one end of the Canopus pool, the temple of Serapis featured a network of rooms and tunnels. It was thought to be a place of nighttime worship. 5 GRAND TRAPEZE A warren of service tunnels was recently found under these gardens. They allowed food and fuel to be carried to all corners…

19th-16th centuries B.C. The Amorites, including King Hammurabi, reign. The Hittites later conquer the city. 16th-11th centuries B.C. The Kassites conquer Babylon. Later, Chaldeans and Aramaeans struggle to control the city. 11th-7th centuries B.C. A period of Assyrian rule is ended by the Chaldeans, who will flourish under Nebuchadrezzar II. 7th-6th centuries B.C. Babylon’s golden age under Chaldean rule is ended by the Persian king Cyrus the Great in 539 B.C. To the 7th century A.D. Macedonians, Seleucids, and Sasanians control Babylon until the arrival of Islam.…

9TH CENTURY B.C. In the Iliad, Homer describes the sumptuous banquets held by the Greek rulers. A century later the symposium becomes established as an aristocratic institution throughout Greece. 7TH CENTURY B.C. A cup from this period is found on the island of Pithecusae (modern-day Ischia, Italy). Known as Nestor’s cup, the inscription it bears promises that whoever drinks from it will be possessed by desire. CIRCA 450 B.C. As revealed by the androns found in houses in Athens and Piraeus, the symposium ceases to be the exclusive custom of the aristocracy and is adopted by lower-ranking rich men. 336 B.C. The father of Alexander the Great, King Philip II of Macedon is buried in a tomb in the necropolis at Vergina, which is laid out with many features of…

A.D. 395 Emperor Theodosius I dies. The Roman Empire is divided into two parts: the Eastern Empire, governed by his son Arcadius, and the Western Empire, by his son Honorius. Until 450 Barbarian peoples—Swabians, Vandals, Alans, Visigoths, Franks, and Burgundians—cross the border into the Western Roman Empire to settle. At times they put themselves at the service of Rome. 451 Attila, king of the Huns from 445, invades Gaul. At the head of a Roman-Germanic coalition, Aetius defeats Attila at the Battle of the Catalaunian Plains, after which Attila retreats with his loot. 452 The Huns sack northern Italy but leave the Italian peninsula without attacking Rome itself. The following year, Attila dies. After his death, the Hun Empire quickly disintegrates. 476 Odoacer, a German warrior possibly of Sciri origins,…

The soldier on the right of this marble diptych from the treasury of Monza Cathedral in northern Italy is traditionally believed to be Stilicho, a general of Vandal origin in the service of Valentinian III’s predecessor, Honorius. Some historians, however, suggest it is, in fact, Flavius Aetius, the heroic general of the Catalaunian Plains. The figures on the panel on the left represent the man’s wife and son. If the general depicted here really is Aetius, then the busts depicted on the medal of the shield would be the Emperor Valentinian himself—who later kills Aetius with his own hands—and the emperor’s mother, Galla Placidia.…

1480 Lucrezia Borgia is born near Rome, the illegitimate daughter of Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia—the future Pope Alexander VI—and his lover, Vannozza Cattanei. 1493 The marriage of Lucrezia to Giovanni Sforza, nephew of Ludovico, Duke of Milan, provides the Borgias with a powerful ally in northern Italy. 1494 France’s Charles VIII allies with the Duke of Milan against the Borgias, who then plot to kill Lucrezia’s husband. Three years later, their marriage is annulled. 1498 After years of being cloistered in a convent, Lucrezia marries Alfonso of Aragon, son of the king of Naples, briefly an ally of the Borgias. 1500 Alfonso is attacked. Lucrezia cares for him, but one month later he is found strangled, on the orders—it is rumored—of Lucrezia’s brother, Cesare. 1501 A new marriage is arranged between…

Although the Borgias were no saints, the majority of the lurid tales told about them were invented by their many enemies. Later in her life, at the court of Ferrara, Lucrezia was regarded as the model of good breeding. It was only later that she took a role in the increasingly fantastical set of myths about the Borgias, many centering on her use of poison and other fanciful execution methods to murder her husbands and other rivals. Lucrezia resorted to such brutality, the rumors went, to maintain her crazed grip on power—a ludicrous notion, unsupported by any evidence, but which has proved enduring. Victor Hugo, author of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, did much to popularize this image with his 1833 play Lucrezia Borgia, in which the pope’s daughter ponders the…

During Nat Turner’s lifetime, the domestic slave trade greatly intensified after the closing of the transatlantic slave trade in 1808, which cut the external supply of enslaved Africans coming to the United States. The economy of the Deep South was booming and needed more laborers to sustain it, so slaveholders who lived farther north provided the workforce. Virginia plantation owners could make money by selling their slaves to the sugar and cotton plantations of the Deep South. This “second middle passage” not only destroyed families but also served as a psychological scare tactic to keep people in line and break up resistance. Thousands of slaves were sold out of Southampton County during the early 19th century. Living with the knowledge that his family could be taken away at any moment…

Nat Turner is known for being a Christian preacher, but he was undoubtedly shaped by the spiritual beliefs of his ancestors. His foremothers came from West Africa and retained much of their rich cultural knowledge. Upon giving birth to Nat, it is rumored that his mother, Nancy, attempted to kill him, a practice not too uncommon among enslaved women who tried to spare their children the brutality of a life in slavery. Many West Africans believed that the line between death and life was fluid, and the choice to kill a person could be a way to save him or her from the physical pain of the living world. It is this same belief that undoubtedly informed and influenced Turner to risk his life and rebel. In West African cosmology,…

In October 2016, the alleged skull of Nat Turner (left) was returned to his relatives after years of being held in private collections. The skull, undergoing DNA analysis to verify its identity, has been confirmed as that of an African-American male of the appropriate age. The skull also shows a deformity on the brow line and near the temple area. In life, the man’s skin could have shown a differentiation in that spot, a feature matched by descriptions from his grandmother. Nat Turner’s adult appearance was not recorded until after he became a fugitive in 1831. Virginia Governor John Floyd described him as: “. . . between 30 & 35 years old, 5 feet 6 or 8 inches high, weighs between 150 and 160 lbs, rather bright complexion, but not…

Iron and bronze helmet Of Scandinavian design, its crest takes the form of a dragon. It includes eyebrows, a nose protector, and even a moustache. Shoulder clasps Among numerous objects for personal use were these shoulder clasps made of gold, garnet, and glass cloisonné. Bronze pot This was perhaps used for hand washing after a feast. It has hooks for hanging it up, and is decorated with glass and enamel. Gold belt buckle The hole in the center perhaps held an amulet or relic. The interlaced design depicts serpents intertwined with a fabulous animal.…