12 Days of Medieval Illuminations. 'Tis the season. Today, 12 medieval zodiac signs.

Similar to today, people believed that the movements of celestial bodies influenced their personalities, health, and ideal times to do certain activities.

Last week to watch @fourlarks "Homeric Hymns: Visual Album." Enjoy the visual album that is part of the Getty Villa Museum's Theater Lab:
gty.art/3QR5v2O @fourlarks fuses ancient poetry with harmonies and rhythms inspired by the devotional folk music from America and the global diaspora.

Getty Villa's "LIZASTRATA" sold out almost immediately, but here's your chance to see what the critics raved about.

"LIZASTRATA ONLINE!" brings @thetroubies to you. In this hilarious musical retelling of one of history's greatest theatrical offerings, Lizastrata takes on the establishment, storms the Acropolis, and holds the treasury hostage until the long-warring men of Athens and Sparta commit to declaring peace.

Planning a visit? Or just need an art boost? Take a look at our free events this month. [THREAD]

getty.edu/visit/cal/talk… Calling all college students! Getty Villa College Week is just around the corner.

Escape to the past and explore true crime in antiquity during a free weeklong online experience, November 2–6: getty.edu/visit/cal/even…

We’re exploring themes from the current Getty Villa exhibition “Mesopotamia: Civilization Begins,” and today’s theme is lawmaking!

One of the responsibilities of the king was to bring order to society through the creation of laws. The earliest invocation of the concept of social justice by a king dates to the third millennium B.C.

This large clay cone bears a cuneiform inscription that wraps around its body and gives an account of the legal reforms instituted by King Urukagina of the city-state of Lagash.

Happy birthday, Artemisia Gentileschi!

Gentileschi lived in 16th- and 17th-century Italy and was the most famous female artist of the Baroque era. Artemisia got her artistic start through her father, Orazio Gentileschi, who was also a well-known painter. However, her name became more recognized after she was rediscovered and recontextualized in the 20th century.

Do you know what the iconic “shells” of the Sydney Opera House are made of? The iconic Sydney Opera House shells are made of precast concrete and ceramic tiles. The building is a prime example of how Modernist architects used innovative materials.

We challenge you to recreate a work of art with objects (and people) in your home.

🥇 Choose your favorite artwork
🥈 Find three things lying around your house⠀
🥉 Recreate the artwork with those items

And share with us. To find artworks, search keywords in our online collection: getty.edu/art/collection

Some inspo, from Getty staff 👇

A thread rating every classical building emoji 🏛 1. Apple:

A serious take on a traditional temple plan. Attempt at triglyphs and metopes; and even has an architrave above the elegant Doric columns. Shame the pediment design appears to have fallen off. 9/10

A thread rating every amphora emoji 🏺 1. Apple

Panathenaic amphora (500s BC) with geometric decoration (800s BC).

Lovely rich colors, overall nice shape, but why is the meander so big. Meander is canonical Greek design, but is normally a border element. White meander at the neck is odd. 7/10

.@wmarybeard speaks tonight at the Getty Center on Roman emperors in art since the Renaissance—join along as we live tweet.

Beard begins with her favorite painting in the Getty collection—“The Age of Augustus, the Birth of Christ” by Jean-Léon Gérôme gty.art/2kRt5SF @wmarybeard The painting contrasts Roman imperial pomp and power in the background with a nativity scene (described as "gothic" by some critics) in the foreground, says #MaryBeard.

The emperor here? Augustus, leader of Rome at the time of Jesus's birth.

As part of a consortium led by @fordfoundation, the Getty is acquiring the archives of Ebony and Jet magazines—more than 4 million prints and negatives cataloguing African American life in the 20th century. In addition to the Ford and the Getty, the consortium acquiring the archive also includes the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (@macfound) and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation (@MellonFdn).