Ovid (43 BCE-17 CE), a masterful Roman poet, wrote verses about romance, love, eroticism, and all manner of topics related to women—including fashion trends—in...
According to folklore set in 10th-century Iceland, a man named Thrain Sigfusson was invited to attend the wedding feast of his prominent nephew, Gunnar...
Njal’s Saga (written anonymously in the 13th century)
"It's not breaking a settlement...if a man deals lawfully with another—with law our land shall rise, but...
This illustration, vaguely labeled “Charlemagne” or “Charlemagne: Emperor of West and King of France,” was created by the French artist Jean Marie Mixelle (c....
Dante Alighieri (c. 1265-1321)
"Just as a swimmer, who with his last breath
flounders ashore from perilous seas, might turn
to memorize the wide water of his...
Mark Twain (c. 1835-1910)
"No sound and legitimate business can be established on a basis of speculation."
From chapter 19 of Mark Twain’s A Connecticut...
This rather abstract painting, by the Finnish artist Magnus Enckell (c. 1870-1925), was inspired by the ancient Greco-Roman myth of Endymion. His tale is...
In the first decade of the 11th century, several Nordic adventurers were said to have led expeditions to North America, with Leif Eiriksson (featured...
This intriguing painting, created by the American artist Susan MacDowell Eakins (c. 1851-1938), was inspired by the Fates (or Moirai) of Greek mythology. Named...
Sun Tzu (recorded between the 6th and 3rd century BCE)
"Ultimate excellence lies
Not in winning
Every battle
But in defeating the enemy
Without ever fighting."
From Sun Tzu's...
This tapestry, titled Caesar Defeats The Troops Of Pompey, was designed by Justus van Egmont (1601–1674) and woven by the workshop of Gerard Peemans...
Lucan (c. 39-65)
"Virtue and absolute power do not mix."
From Lucan’s Civil War (Book 8, approximately between lines 600-610), translated by Matthew Fox (Penguin...
Sir Winston Churchill (c. 1874-1965)
"How else are we going to marshal adequate and if possible overwhelming forces against brazen, unprovoked aggression, except by a...
William Shakespeare (c. 1564 – 1616)
"Lovers and madmen have such seething brains,
Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend
More than cool reason ever comprehends.
The lunatic, the...
This painting, by Karl Pavlovitš Brjullov (c. 1799-1852), was inspired by the destruction of Pompeii after the catastrophic volcanic eruption of Vesuvius in the...
Pliny the Younger (c. 61/62-113)—a wealthy Roman lawyer, administrative official and statesman—once visited the region of Campania, where his friend, Pontius Allifanus, held considerable...
This tapestry, titled Caesar Defeats The Troops Of Pompey, was designed by Justus van Egmont (1601–1674) and woven by the workshop of Gerard Peemans...
Euripides (c. 485-406 BCE), in his play, Helen, proposed a curious theological/spiritual theory that suggested when a person died, their individual soul dispersed and...
These side profiles, painted by the Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens (c. 1577 - 1640), depict the ancient Roman tragic couple, Agrippina and Germanicus....
