The Last Diadoch

THANK YOU

You can read any implied text you see in this thing, even the book, that’s how detailed it is. Look at the painting on those letters!

jesus christ you’re just showing off now, Hans!

HANS OH MY GOD

Belgian infantry helmet with visor, 1916, World War I

A 30-year-old Roman man who was crushed by a stone block during the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, in Pompeii (79 AD)

The discovery of the Statue of Antinous (emperor Hadrian’s lover) at Delphi in 1894.

A colossal bull’s head from Persepolis during the reign of Xerxes (486-465 BCE). The head weighs 10 tons and is two meters high. Persepolis was founded as a capitol city by the Achaemenid family, which unified the Persian empire in 519 BCE.

The Rape of Proserpina is a large

Baroque marble sculptural group by Italian artist Gian

Lorenzo Bernini, executed between 1621 and 1622.

Bernini was only 23 years old at its completion. Now

on display at the Galleria Borghese in Rome

The Swedish warship Vasa. It sank

in 1628 less than a mile into its maiden voyage and

was recovered from the sea floor after 333 years

almost completely intact. Now housed at the Vasa

Museum in Stockholm, is the world's best preserved

17th century ship

Ivory carving for interior ornaments, or okimono, developed from the tradition of meticulous ivory carving for netsuke that flourished in particular around the mid-19th century, at the end of the Edo period.

The skull of Roman soldier who died during Gallic Wars. 1st century BC

Partisan Carried by the Bodyguard of Louis XIV (1638–1715, reigned from 1643)

Dated: circa 1678–1709

Sword cutler: inscription probably refers to Bonaventure Ravoisie (French, Paris, recorded 1678–1709)

Culture: French, Paris

Medium: steel, gold, wood, textile

Measurements: overall length 94 1/8 inches (239 cm); length of head 22 9/16 inches (57.3 cm); width of head 6 ½ inches (16.5 cm)

Inscription: decoration on this partisan features a sunburst surmounted by Louis XIV’s motto, NEC PLURIBUS IMPAR (Not equaled by many); inscribed along the curved lower edge on both sides of the blade: RAVOISIE FOVRBISSEVR DV ROY A PARIS

Provenance: Ex coll.: de Dino

This partisan, along with two like it also in the Metropolitan Museum’s collection (acc. nos. 14.25.454, 04.3.64), are thought to have been carried by the Gardes de la Manche (literally, “guards of the sleeve,” indicating their close proximity to the king), an elite unit of the bodyguard of Louis XIV.

This example (along with 04.3.64) bears the king’ motto and sunburst above the crowned arms of France and Navarre, which are encircled by the collars of the royal orders of the Holy Spirit and Saint Michael. It is inscribed RAVOISIE FOVRBISSEVR DV ROY A PARIS, probably referring to Bonaventure Ravoisie, a royal cutler recorded between 1678 and 1709.

The other partisan (14.25.454) is from a small group designed by Jean Bérain the Elder (1637–1711) for the marriage of Louis’s niece Marie-Louise d'rléans to Carlos II of Spain in 1679. The decoration features a sunburst surmounted by the king’s motto, ‘NEC PLURIBUS IMPAR’ (’not equalled by many’). Beneath, the sun god Apollo is being crowned with laurel by the winged figure of Fame. The sunburst and Apollo were favourite symbols of Louis XIV, the self-styled Sun King.

Vishnu on Adisesha, 11th–12th century, Metropolitan Museum of Art: Asian Art

Rogers Fund, 1974 Size: H. 1 ¾ in. (4.4 cm); W. 2 in. (5.1 cm) Medium: Bronze