historyofeurope:

A map of British Isles (802).

(via bluetardisblues)

darlingworld:

Glencoe, Scotland.

The mountains of Glencoe are built from some of the oldest sedimentary and volcanic strata in the world. They were subsequently moulded, sheared and repositioned by a geological event known as a ‘cauldron subsidence’ which took place 380 million years ago. 

 The effects of glaciation, and millions of years and many cycles of erosion have subsequently carved and worn the rocks away into the formation we know today.Glencoe is bounded on its northern side by the famous Aonach Eagach or ‘notched ridge’ - a pinnacled ridge linking three peaks over 3000 feet which stretches for over three miles.

Interesting Fact: Filming for the third Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, took place on location in Glencoe in May and June 2003. Regular visitors to Clachaig Inn and Glencoe will spot a familiar looking backdrop in the film, and in subsequent Harry Potter films. Visitors to Clachaig during the early summer were quite taken aback to find Hagrid’s Hut, complete with pumpkin patch and smoking chimney, the sundial and the turreted gatehouse, and the Bridge to Nowhere sat neatly on the hillside above Clachaig.

www.glencoescotland.com

(Source: justplacesnotfaces, via bluetardisblues)

fuckyeaarthistory:

Adoration of the Magi, fresco, circa 3rd century CE.

In the Catacombs of Priscilla, Rome

(via myaloysius)

One of the greatest exponents of operatic realism, Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, born this day in 1858, imbued each of his works with a distinctive ambiance, including the classics La Bohème, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly

metaconscious:

8000 year-old Sun temple found in Bulgaria

The oldest temple of the Sun has been discovered in northwest Bulgaria, near the town of Vratsa, aged at more then 8000 years, the Bulgarian National Television (BNT) reported on December 15 2010.

The Bulgarian ‘Stonehenge’ is hence about 3000 years older than its illustrious English counterpart. But unlike its more renowned English cousin, the Bulgarian sun temple was not on the surface, rather it was dug out from under tons of earth and is shaped in the form of a horse shoe, the report said.

The temple was found near the village of Ohoden. According to archaeologists, the prehistoric people used the celestial facility to calculate the seasons and to determine the best times for sowing and harvest. The site was also used for rituals, offering gifts to the Sun for fertility as BNT reported.

This area of Bulgaria was previously made famous because remnants of the oldest people who lived in this part of Europe were found.

Archaeologists also found dozens of clay and stone disks in the area of the temple.

“The semantics of the disks symbolise the disk of the Sun itself, which means that this is the earliest ever temple dedicated to the worship of the Sun God, discovered on our lands,” archaeologist Georgi Ganetsovski told the BNT

 — via The Sofia Echo

(via whisperingwillow-deactivated201)

myideasofbeauty:

Epitelous!

allthingseurope:

Athens, Greece

via

antepenult:

Originally the name Giuli signified a 60 day tide beginning at the lunar midwinter of the late Scandinavian Norse and Germanic tribes. The arrival of Juletid thus came to refer to the midwinter celebrations. By the late Viking Age, the Yule celebrations came to specify a great solstitial Midwinter festival that amalgamated the traditions of various midwinter celebrations across Europe, like Mitwinternacht, Modrasnach, Midvinterblot, and the Teutonic solstice celebration, Feast of the Dead. A documented example of this is in 960, when King Håkon of Norway signed into law that Jul was to be celebrated on the night leading into December 25, to align it with the Christian celebrations. For some Norse sects, Yule logs were lit to honor Thor, the god of thunder. Feasting would continue until the log burned out, three or as many as twelve days. The indigenous lore of the Icelandic Jól continued beyond the Middle Ages, but was condemned when the Reformation arrived. The celebration continues today throughout Northern Europe and elsewhere in name and traditions, for Christians as representative of the nativity of Jesus on the night of December 24, and for others as a cultural winter celebration on the 24th or for some, the date of the solstice.

(via fuckyeahnorsemen)

(Source: you-need-satan)

This text is in Italian. If you wish you can translate it in your own language via GoogleTranslate, unless you wish to ask me! ;-)