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Classical Aegis Profile picture
Classical Aegis
@ClassicalAegis
Exploring & Teaching First Principles through the lens of the Classical Arts 🗽🎨🏛️🎻📚
27 subscribers
Jun 2 • 17 tweets • 6 min read
This is Hephaestus.

Discarded by his mother at birth.

And abandoned by the Gods.

It would turn into the greatest revenge story of all time ...🧵 Image Hephaestus was the god of fire and craftsmanship.

But he had a rough start in life.

Born with a physical deformity, he was cast off Mount Olympus by his own mother, Hera, who was horrified by his appearance.

It would be a mistake that she would soon come to regret... Image
Jun 1 • 11 tweets • 4 min read
Before they were stolen, burned, and forgotten — Raphael’s tapestries were one of the Vatican’s greatest treasures.

Let’s check out the story of the tapestries that once outshone the Sistine Chapel Ceiling.

(A thread)🧵 Image In 1515, Pope Leo X commissioned Raphael to create designs for tapestries to adorn the walls of the Sistine Chapel.

- aiming to complement Michelangelo's ceiling frescoes... Image
May 29 • 13 tweets • 5 min read
Everyone knows Michelangelo as one of the greatest artists of all time.

When he passed away, he had an estate worth 50,000 florins (roughly $50,000,000 today!)

How you ask?

Turns out our boy Michelangelo was quite the savvy businessman…🧵 Portrait of Michelangelo After Michelangelo's death, an inventory was taken, and during their search, a locked chest containing 66 pounds of gold was found.

His net worth made him one of the wealthiest artists of his time, putting him heads and shoulders ahead of Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Titian (combined)Image
May 28 • 17 tweets • 6 min read
Everything you think you know about ancient sculpture is wrong.

And this one shouldn’t even be possible.

A harmony of optics, math, and chemistry modern archaeology still can’t solve.

Let’s go down the rabbit hole of Khafre Enthroned … 🧵 Image Khafre Enthroned is carved from anorthosite gneiss.

-a rare and extremely hard stone.

This material choice wasn't just for aesthetics.

The Egyptians purposely chose it, but why? Image
May 26 • 17 tweets • 6 min read
Not everything sacred is religious.

Some of it is mathematical.

And one divine number appears everywhere-

From human DNA to spiral galaxies.

What's it trying to tell us?:🧵 (thread) Image What is the Golden Ratio?

It is a geometric and mathematical relationship which balances the parts of the whole together with the whole, thus establishing unity within a division.

Now let's start small.

Real small...
May 22 • 15 tweets • 5 min read
1,900 years ago, Nicomachus of Gerasa wrote two manuscripts that merged math and music into cosmic wisdom.

Introduction to Arithmetic and Manual of Harmonics aren’t just ancient texts.

They might be the most mesmerizing works of philosophy ever written.

Here’s why: 🧵 Image Nicomachus lived in Gerasa (modern-day Jerash, Jordan), a part of the Roman Empire.

We actually don't know much about his personal life.

What we do is is that he adored numbers.

Maybe to the point of even worshiping them... Image
May 21 • 14 tweets • 5 min read
This is Osaka Castle.

Its history is as captivating as its imposing silhouette.

Here's the whole story: 🧵 Image The castle's origins date back to 1583 when the powerful warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi began its construction.

Hideyoshi, having unified Japan, wanted a castle that would serve as the center of his new empire...
May 19 • 16 tweets • 6 min read
Water Russell is the most important man you have probably never hear of.

Born today, in 1871:

He was called The Leonardo of his time.

• Acquaintance of Nikola Tesla
• Original discover of 5 chemical elements
• quite school at 9 years old

Here's the whole story... 🧵 (thread)Image Born in Boston Walter Russell was a:

• mystic
• scientist
• philosopher
• artist
• and polymath

His genius was evident very early in life... Image
May 18 • 12 tweets • 5 min read
Everyone has heard of the Platonic Solids.

But have you heard of the Archimedean Solids?

These 13 mesmerizing forms have fascinated mathematicians, artists, and scientists for over 2,000 years.

Here's why: 🧵 Image created by Classical Aegis First, what are Archimedean solids?

They are essentially complex polyhedra (poly: many hedra: seat or face) with identical vertices and faces.

They are comprised of basic shapes, squares, triangles, hexagons, etc.

Here is a fun fact... The Archimedean Solids
May 17 • 15 tweets • 5 min read
This is The Constitution of the United States of America

Let's check out the facts, figures and forgotten stories of the greatest political document of all time: 🧵 Image created by Classical Aegis Did you know that the U.S. Constitution is the oldest and shortest written constitution of any major government in the world?

It contains just 4,400 words... Image
May 15 • 16 tweets • 5 min read
This is the Colosseum, the beating heart of Rome.

Let's check out the science, engineering and artistry that make this masterpiece truly immortal... 🧵 photo by pioandreaperi While often described as elliptical, the Colosseum's true shape is actually an ovoid

- a slight variation on a perfect ellipse.

This subtle difference has sparked debates among experts for centuries...
May 14 • 21 tweets • 6 min read
Leonardo da Vinci once said:

"Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art."

Here are some of the most astonishing details ever captured in sculpture: 🧵 (thread)

1. Veiled Truth by Antonio Corradini Image 2. The Pieta by Michelangelo Image
May 13 • 18 tweets • 6 min read
Protagoras dared challenge the gods.

But the Athenians made him pay the price.

Here's the story of one of the greatest minds of ancient Greece: 🧵 (thread) Image Protagoras' journey into philosophy began with a stroke of luck.

As a young man he worked as a porter carrying loads of wood.

One day, his carefully arranged bundle caught the eye of the philosopher Democritus.

This would be his one-way ticket to immortality... Image
May 12 • 22 tweets • 7 min read
Raphael's The School of Athens is a gathering of the greatest minds in history.

But can you name them all?

Let’s step inside the painting and take a closer look at the minds that shaped the Western world: 🧵 (thread) Painted in 1509 it resides in The Apostolic Palace, Vatican Museums, Vatican City The painting enshrines 58 figures.

- representing great philosophers, scientists, and mathematicians from classical antiquity

The first character, sitting on the steps cloaked in blue, you probably have heard of...
May 11 • 14 tweets • 5 min read
Picture this.

It's the 5th century BC in Ancient Greece.

Two of the greatest sculptors of all time are about to go head to head.

Their task?

Sculpt a masterpiece worthy of Temple of Artemis at Ephesus.

What happened next would change art forever... Here's the story: 🧵 Image created by Classical Aegis Enter our protagonists: Polykleitos and Pheidias

- two of the most renowned sculptors of classical antiquity

These two artistic titans are about to clash in a contest that will echo for centuries to come... Image
May 8 • 15 tweets • 5 min read
Powerful truths have simple solutions.

Pythagoras proved this 2,500 years ago.

One day, during a walk, he uncovered a universal secret.

And it would reshape the world as we know it: 🧵 Image Pythagoras was a mystic.

You probably know him for-

• The Pythagorean Theorem
• Coining the term 'philosophy'
• Founding a secretive cult

But he was about to make the most important discovery of his life:
May 7 • 12 tweets • 4 min read
Before Miyamoto Musashi was a legend, he was a lone swordsman wandering Japan.

He was undefeated in over 60 duels.

Here is the wisdom of the greatest samurai who ever lived: 🧵 Image 1. "All men are the same except for their belief in their own selves, regardless of what others may think of them."
The Book of Earth Image
May 6 • 19 tweets • 7 min read
This is Sigmund Freud.

He was born today, May 6th in 1856.

A Freudian slip is just your id hitting ‘send’ before your ego can proofread.
-Classical Aegis

Let's check out the enigmatic life of the father of psychoanalysis: 🧵 (thread) Image Sigmund Freud was the founder of psychoanalysis and was born in 1856 with a rare birth anomaly- a caul ( a membrane covering his head and face.)

In folklore, this was seen as a sign of greatness, and his mother believed he was destined for extraordinary things... Image
May 5 • 16 tweets • 6 min read
Before Newton or Einstein, Plato gave us a theory of everything.

In Timaeus, he would map the cosmos with music, math, and myth.

Here’s how it works, and why it still matters: 🧵 thread Image In Timaeus, Plato imagines the cosmos as the work of a Demiurge.

- A divine craftsman.

This being doesn’t create ex nihilo (out of nothing) but organizes chaos using eternal, unchanging Forms as blueprints.

The result?

A universe brimming with order and beauty...
May 4 • 11 tweets • 4 min read
Raphael was an engineer of Beauty.

His process wasn’t mystical, it was perfectly :

- Thought out
- Planned
- and Executed

Here’s how one of the greatest artists in history actually worked:🧵 (thread) Image
Image Raphael, like most masters, would begin with a preparatory drawing, called a cartoon.

Cartoons were meticulously planned, sometimes taking months.

Below is the cartoon for The School of Athens by Raphael and measures 9.1 feet high × 26.2 feet wide... Image
May 1 • 11 tweets • 4 min read
Michelangelo was a sculptor, painter and architect.

But few know he also wrote over 300 poems, filled with longing, faith, and rage.

Let's check out some of his best ones: 🧵 thread Image Michelangelo wrote hundreds of poems and letters-over 300 poems survive-and was known for his sharp wit and sense of humor Image