Before Newton bent light and before Da Vinci mapped the eye, Euclid's Optics asked a deceptively simple question:

What does it mean to see?

His answer would shape science and art for over 2,000 years.🧵 Euclid's Optics, written around 300 BC, was one of the first texts on geometrical optics.

It introduced key concepts like visual rays and the visual cone, which would later become crucial for Renaissance artists...

The Iliad, Aeneid and Metamorphoses are some of the most famous poems EVER.

But Homer, Virgil and Ovid used an ancient secret weapon to make their poetry truly Epic.

Here's how...🧵 Dactylic hexameter is often called the "heroic meter" due to its association with epic tales of legendary heroes.

It's the poetic equivalent of a cinematic soundtrack, adding majesty and drama to the narrative.

The Renaissance was a Mindset.

How did a mystical ancient philosophy plant the seed of one of the greatest transformations in history?

Here's the whole story: 🧵 Hermeticism is a mystical tradition rooted in the teachings attributed to Hermes Trismegistus.

His texts, known as the Hermetica, were rediscovered in the 15th century.

It would spark the greatest revolution of thought in history...

This is Pythagoras.

He was initiated into the Egyptian Mystery Schools.

And would go on to change Western philosophy forever.

Here's how: 🧵 Pythagoras embarked on a journey from Samos to Egypt.

- seeking knowledge from the renowned Egyptian priests.

His quest for wisdom would lead him on an extraordinary path of initiation...

500 years ago, Leonardo da Vinci drew human anatomy with such precision that modern doctors are still amazed.

Leonardo da Vinci didn’t just draw the human body — he unlocked it.

Here's how: 🧵 Leonardo da Vinci once said:

“A beautiful body perishes, but a work of art dies not.”

His anatomical drawings are a symbol of his genius.

- combining art and science in ways that were centuries ahead of his time.

Let's dive in...

This is Hermes Trismegistus.

Three unknown initiates would encode his teachings into The Kybalion.

Let's go down the rabbit hole of one of the most famous texts you probably haven't read...🧵 The Kybalion, published in 1908, distills Hermes' wisdom from the Emerald Tablets into 7 core principles.

These principles offer a framework for understanding the universe and our place in it.

The rabbit hole:

Imagine pitching this:

“Let’s carve out a mountain - and make it into you.”

Dinocrates wanted to do just that.

Alexander the Great had a surprising answer...

Let's check out the full story of Alexander's personal architect: 🧵 Dinocrates' most famous idea was to carve Mount Athos into a colossal statue of Alexander.

The statue would hold an entire city in one hand and pour a river into the sea from the other...

But Alexander's reaction was surprising...

In 1950, archaeologists uncovered a broken clay tablet in Syria.

It turned out to be the first written music in human history.

The Hurrian Hymn to Nikkal

Here’s the full story, and what it sounds like: 🧵 (thread) In the 1950s, archaeologists digging in Ugarit (modern-day Ras Shamra, Syria) uncovered something astonishing.

A set of 36 cuneiform tablets.

One of them contained something humanity had never seen before:

- music from 1400 BC

He claimed stars shaped the Soul.

As Above, So Below.

His Astronomia Magna blended alchemy, astronomy, and medicine and dared to defy the entire scientific world.

Here's the story of the forgotten genius who challenged how we heal: 🧵 Paracelsus was a rebel.

He burned the medical textbooks of Galen and Avicenna in public.

- arguing that true knowledge came from Nature.

- not ancient authorities...

In Egypt there lies a structure so ancient and enigmatic, it defies explanation.

Built below ground.

With stones exceeding 100 tons.

Along with a sacred symbol etched into its walls.

This is the story of The Osirion at Abydos: 🧵 The Osirion isn’t your average Egyptian temple.

It's a subterranean megalithic complex.

- filled with engineering puzzles, astronomical precision…

…and a mysterious carving known today as the Flower of Life...

This is Apollonius of Tyana.

Some call him “Greek Jesus.”

He was a sage, a prophet, and miracle-worker.

And his story is stranger than fiction: 🧵 Apollonius came from a wealthy Greek family.

He was born in Tyana, Cappadocia (modern Turkey)

From a young age, he was drawn to philosophy and mysticism.

- especially the teachings of Pythagoras...

This sculpture of Pharaoh Ramesses II’s isn’t just art-

It's a fusion of chemistry, art and science.

And it shouldn't even exist...

Here's why: 🧵 (thread) The statue was allegedly carved at the beginning of Ramesses II's reign (1279–1213 BC.)

It stands at an impressive 1.96 meters tall and is It's a symbol of the skill of ancient Egyptian craftsmen.

But what makes this statue truly unique is the material that fathered it...

The original cancel culture didn’t dox you.

It burned you.

Stoned you.

Or worse...

Let’s check out history's first thought criminals: 🧵 While the term feels modern, the concept is ancient.

Societies have always found ways to silence, exile, or banish those who challenged norms, threatened authority, or simply made people uncomfortable...

Leonardo da Vinci’s most ambitious project wasn’t a painting.

It was a horse.

So big it defied the limits of Renaissance engineering.

But fate had other plans...

Here’s the story of the rise, fall, and resurrection of the Sforza Horse: 🧵 In 1482, Milan’s Duke Ludovico Sforza commissioned Leonardo to create the world’s largest equestrian statue.

- a monument to his father, Francesco Sforza.

The vision?

A bronze horse so massive it would dwarf anything seen before...

This is the Shield of Achilles.

Forged by a God but wielded by a mortal, it is said that it contains the mysteries of the universe.

Let's uncover its secrets: 🧵 First, some context:

The original armor was taken by Hector after he killed Patroclus.

Achilles' mother, the sea nymph Thetis, asked Hephaestus, the god of craftsmanship, to forge new armor for her son...

Dreams aren’t random.

They are the engines of creation.

Thread🧵

1. Dmitri Mendeleev-

Mendeleev dreamt of a table where all the elements fell into place according to their properties.

Upon waking, he quickly wrote down what would become the Periodic Table. Friedrich August Kekulé-

The structure of benzene eluded chemists until Kekulé dreamt of a snake biting its own tail

- a symbol that inspired the ring structure of benzene

It was a major leap forward in organic chemistry.

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 ...🧵 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...

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)🧵 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...

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…🧵 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)

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 … 🧵 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?

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) 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...