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Classical Aegis Profile picture
Classical Aegis
@ClassicalAegis
Your guide down the 🐇 hole of First Principles via the lens of the Classical Arts 🗽🎨🏛️🎻📚
27 subscribers
Jun 25 • 17 tweets • 6 min read
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: 🧵 Picture edited by Classical Aegis 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... Image
Jun 24 • 13 tweets • 5 min read
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) Image 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
Jun 22 • 19 tweets • 7 min read
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: 🧵 Picture created by Classical Aegis-- classicalaegis.com 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... Image
Jun 17 • 17 tweets • 6 min read
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: 🧵 Image 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... Image
Jun 16 • 17 tweets • 6 min read
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: 🧵 Image 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... Image
Jun 15 • 15 tweets • 6 min read
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) Image 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... Image
Jun 13 • 15 tweets • 5 min read
The original cancel culture didn’t dox you.

It burned you.

Stoned you.

Or worse...

Let’s check out history's first thought criminals: 🧵 The Death of Socrates by Jacques-Louis David 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... Image
Jun 11 • 21 tweets • 7 min read
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: 🧵 Image 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... Image
Jun 9 • 17 tweets • 6 min read
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: 🧵 Image 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... Image
Jun 3 • 12 tweets • 4 min read
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. Image 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. Image
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...