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Last Notes

2023-02-27 12:13:24

If you enjoyed this then you may like my free, weekly newsletter.
Last week it included the music of Tchaikovsky, the art of Gustav Klimt, Japanese temple architecture, and the etymology of the word love.
Subscribe here to join 70k+ other readers:
https://culturaltutor.com/areopagus (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1630176812578795520)

2023-02-27 00:33:02

Those societies no longer exist and their gods are no longer worshipped, yet they and their gods remain alive in the days of the week.
And that's the story of history - one long chain of influences and reactions which link us all the way back to the start of human civilisation. (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1630001045802827785)

2023-02-27 00:33:02

Things were different in northern Europe, where Germanic pagans adapted the names of the Roman week days to their own equivalent gods or words.
And so Germanic languages - such as English, German, and Dutch - use modern descendants of these names instead. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1630001036424364032/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1630001036424364032)

2023-02-27 00:33:02

This seven day week spread and eventually reached the city of Alexandria, a centre of astronomical study.
There they named the days after the "Seven Celestial Bodies", the seven astronomical objects in the sky (other than stars) which can be observed by the human eye: https://t.co/IgL0rhtuET (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1630001023384207361)

2023-02-27 00:33:02

The Romans gradually adopted the seven day week after Julius Caesar's calendar reform in 46 BC, when he consulted astronomers from Alexandria.
But the names of the days were changed from the Greek gods to their Roman equivalents. https://t.co/bxwkAqlgfz (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1630001030128697345)

2023-02-27 00:33:02

A year is how long it takes for the earth to orbit the sun, or for the sun to return to the same position in the sky.
And a month is how long it takes for the moon to complete one phase.
But what about the week? https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1630001011556339714/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1630001011556339714)

2023-02-27 00:33:02

And that's where the names of the days of the week come from.
A story which begins in Ancient Mesopotamia and involves Alexandrian astronomers, Roman calendar reform, various pantheons of gods, and Germanic/Norse mythology, plus several centuries of linguistic evolution. (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1630001043277742080)

2023-02-27 00:33:02

You can see how these original Roman names are reflected in the Romance languages - like Spanish - which are directly descended from Latin.
Apart from Sunday, which was based on the Latin for Lord's Day - Dies Dominicus - and Saturday, whose name derives from the Hebrew Sabbath. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1630001033693757440/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1630001033693757440)

2023-02-27 00:33:02

It has no real basis in the natural world, hence why the week has had so many different lengths.
In the Ancient Egyptian and Ancient Chinese calendars it was 10 days. The Romans originally had an 8 day week, for the Celts it was 9 days, and the Aztecs had a 5 day week. (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1630001017474412546)

2023-02-27 00:33:02

Where do the names of the days of the week come from? https://t.co/wax8U8DwqA (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1630001006468628483)

2023-02-27 00:33:02

Saturday, however, still harks back to the original Roman name for that day, Dies Saturni.
Nobody is quite sure why; perhaps there was no equivalent Germanic god. And, strangely, the Old Norse name for the day was Laugardagr, which means bathing day...
A lasting mystery. (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1630001040450887681)

2023-02-27 00:33:02

Alexandria was a Hellenistic city and so the days were given the Greek names for the Seven Celestial Bodies, which were based on their gods. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1630001026773270528/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1630001026773270528)

2023-02-27 00:33:02

The seven day week was invented by the ancient Mesopotamians about four thousand years ago, but we're not sure why they chose seven.
Perhaps it was a sacred number, or perhaps because seven is exactly one quarter of 28 - the length of a month - and therefore quite practical. (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1630001019970105344)

2023-02-25 17:26:30

6. Antithesis
The use (and contrast) of two opposing ideas in a single sentence. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629530983669047296/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629530983669047296)

2023-02-25 17:26:30

1. Polyptoton
The repeated use of words with the same root, like destroy, destroyer, and destroyed. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629530969307860996/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629530969307860996)

2023-02-25 17:26:30

This line is so memorable for a reason.
It's a perfect use of "antimetabole" - the repetition of a phrase with its word order reversed.
Here are 8 more memorable rhetorical devices: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629530966778585089/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629530966778585089)

2023-02-25 17:26:30

5. Epanalepsis
The repetition of a word at the start and end of a sentence. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629530980464697351/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629530980464697351)

2023-02-25 17:26:30

8. Anastrophe
The inversion of normal word order. https://t.co/7ZUBKEOJL3 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629530990220570625)

2023-02-25 17:26:30

7. Asyndeton
Removing conjunctions (e.g. and, or) from a series of related clauses. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629530986777116673/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629530986777116673)

2023-02-25 17:26:30

2. Anadiplosis
The repetition of the last word of a clause at the beginning of the next. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629530971484704770/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629530971484704770)

2023-02-25 17:26:30

4. Epizeuxis
The immediate repetition of a word or phrase. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629530977318961159/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629530977318961159)

2023-02-25 17:26:30

3. Anaphora
The use of the same word or phrase at the start of successive clauses or sentences. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629530973883834370/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629530973883834370)

2023-02-24 08:51:30

Cat Dressed as a Woman by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1847) https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629038990543273984/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629038990543273984)

2023-02-24 08:51:30

Portrait of Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton by John de Critz (1603) https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629039012244488194/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629039012244488194)

2023-02-24 08:51:30

Untitled painting from an album by Shibata Zeshin (1891) https://t.co/mx0TY3OLWh (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629039021409067008)

2023-02-24 08:51:30

Thread of cats in art - the good, the bad, and the bizarre:
Rocket Cat by Franz Helm of Cologne (1530) https://t.co/raqtmGfk2g (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629038987305271297)

2023-02-24 08:51:30

Two Children Teasing a Cat by Annibale Carracci (1590) https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629039030598770688/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629039030598770688)

2023-02-24 08:51:30

From the Tamra Maew (Cat-Book Poems) by an anonymous Thai artist (19th century) https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629039039494991873/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629039039494991873)

2023-02-24 08:51:30

Cat in a Cage by Gottfried Mind (1790) https://t.co/X24aDfD57n (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629038999951007744)

2023-02-24 08:51:30

The Unfortunate Cat by Charles Verlat (1869) https://t.co/68FHvQWR5R (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629039024470999041)

2023-02-24 08:51:30

A scene from the Northumberland Bestiary (1250) https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629039027339857921/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629039027339857921)

2023-02-24 08:51:30

Cat Catching a Frog by Kawanabe Kyōsai (1887) https://t.co/C50uTw1XLP (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629039008767434752)

2023-02-24 08:51:30

Myojakdo by Byeon Sang-byeok (1730) https://t.co/r8tCThb2dF (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629039033933234177)

2023-02-24 08:51:30

Divine Cat by Yamaguchi Soki (1725) https://t.co/3utBpcr1C9 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629039015209975811)

2023-02-24 08:51:30

Checkmate by Agnes Augusta Talboys (1900) https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629039036575760386/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629039036575760386)

2023-02-24 08:51:30

The Large Cat by Cornelis Visscher (1657) https://t.co/qUyzgldsy2 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629039018301169664)

2023-02-24 08:51:30

Cats in Human Dress Playing Games by Kunimasa IV (1870s) https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629039005332389889/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629039005332389889)

2023-02-24 08:51:30

My Wife's Lovers by Carl Kahler (1891) https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629039044163141634/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629039044163141634)

2023-02-24 08:51:30

The Widow by Frederick Dielman (1880) https://t.co/uNLEc1ckB2 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1629038993852579842)

2023-02-23 19:56:54

This is the sort of thing I write about in my free Friday newsletter.
To join 70k+ other readers and make your week a little more interesting, useful, and beautiful, consider subscribing here:
https://culturaltutor.com/areopagus (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628844550826459136)

2023-02-23 09:36:31

Leonardo was precise and Michelangelo was mighty, but neither was romantic.
Unlike Botticelli, whose paintings portrayed a form of romance inherited from the Medieval notion of courtly love. https://t.co/zHyePCJDrB (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628689479656505345)

2023-02-23 09:36:31

He was forgotten for centuries, overshadowed by the giants of the High Renaissance.
But his delightful visions of romance and myth give us something they never could.
And it was this realisation of what had been lost that, finally, brought Botticelli his deserved fame. https://t.co/BSVdKZHdEc (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628689486539268098)

2023-02-23 09:36:31

Botticelli also became renowned for his many paintings of Mary and the infant Jesus.
These Madonnas, with their elegant gowns and carefully arranged locks of blonde hair, show his love for pastel tones, sumptuous fabrics, and flowers. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628689430440550400/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628689430440550400)

2023-02-23 09:36:31

A group of English artists known as the Pre-Raphaelites saw in Botticelli something which was lacking in Raphael, Leonardo, and Michelangelo.
While those three had brought an unforetold realism, grace, and power to art, their "cleaner" style had come at a cost. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628689460798935040/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628689460798935040)

2023-02-23 09:36:31

Soon enough he started to find his own style and in 1470 announced himself in the competitive world of Florentine art with this painting, called Fortitude.
Thereafter he was never short of commissions, whether for churches or wealthy patrons, such as the Medici family. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628689419078172677/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628689419078172677)

2023-02-23 09:36:31

Such fancifulness came from Gothic art like that of the Limbourg Brothers.
It was this spirit Botticelli channelled, even when depicting scenes from classical mythology and using Renaissance techniques.
What's remarkable is that he harmonised those three different worlds. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628689475961233408/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628689475961233408)

2023-02-23 09:36:31

In 1481 Pope Sixtus IV commissioned Botticelli, along with several other leading artists, to decorate his newly completed Sistine Chapel in Rome, which says much about Botticelli's growing reputation.
His work there, like his master Lippi, was full of rich colours and details. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628689422513328131/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628689422513328131)

2023-02-23 09:36:31

Take Botticelli's La Primavera, filled with Medieval decoration and detail, all flowers and fruits and elegant robes and translucent silks, floating and dream-like.
There's something here we do not find in Raphael, Leonardo, or Michelangelo - delightfulness & enigma. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628689468382117888/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628689468382117888)

2023-02-23 09:36:31

The Birth of Venus, painted by Sandro Botticelli in 1485, is one of the world's most famous and beloved paintings.
But it was completely forgotten for nearly four hundred years because nobody thought it was any good.
So... what changed? https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628689409523458054/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628689409523458054)

2023-02-23 09:36:31

We can see what the Pre-Raphaelites meant when we look at Raphael's painting of a scene from classical mythology, The Triumph of Galatea.
Its anatomical realism makes it looks rather unpleasant and overly serious when compared with Botticelli's free and fanciful Birth of Venus. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628689472303861762/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628689472303861762)

2023-02-23 09:36:31

By the end of the 1800s Botticelli had become the famous and much-loved artist he is today.
Which is where the Birth of Venus comes in, a full statement of Botticelli's style, blending the Classical, Medieval, and Renaissance into a unique world of beauty and mystery. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628689456768196608/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628689456768196608)

2023-02-23 09:36:31

And how could they not?
We need only compare Botticelli's paintings in the Sistine Chapel to those done by Michelangelo in the same place thirty years later.
Early Renaissance art looks stiff and lifeless by comparison, inelegant and crowded with needless detail. https://t.co/nkAsdb7f3N (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628689447712702466)

2023-02-23 09:36:31

But Botticelli didn't just paint Christian religious scenes - he was fascinated by the classical world of Greece and Rome, whether historical or mythological.
Such as the Judgment of Paris, a mythical prelude to the Trojan War of Greek legend. https://t.co/xrYJxvZ3Jc (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628689426485223426)

2023-02-23 09:36:31

But Sandro preferred painting, and so his father sent him to work with Fra Filippo Lippi, one of the foremost painters in Florence at that time.
The style of Filippo Lippi, as in the painting below, had a huge influence on young Botticelli. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628689415919861760/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628689415919861760)

2023-02-23 09:36:31

Why? Because of three men: Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael.
This titanic triumvirate loom not only over the Renaissance but over all western art; their greatness overshadowed all those who had come before. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628689444034297857/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628689444034297857)

2023-02-23 09:36:31

Raphael sought visual clarity, naturalism, and humanist grace.
But those high artistic ideals and a pursuit of realism became a prison which didn't allow for the delightful details, allegory, flowing hair, floating figures, and enchanting mysteries of Botticelli. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628689482965819392/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628689482965819392)

2023-02-23 09:36:31

Alessandro Filipepi was born in Florence in 1445, just as the Italian Renaissance was bursting into life.
From a young age he showed natural artistic talent and was apprenticed to a goldsmith called Botticelli.
That's where Sandro got the surname he is known by. https://t.co/Wo0eUPW7g1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628689412350418944)

2023-02-23 09:36:31

In his own time Botticelli ran a large workshop and amassed enough fame and respect to be written about several decades later by the biographer and historian Giorgio Vasari.
But after that Botticelli faded from history, consigned to the obscurity of so many artists... (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628689442025222144)

2023-02-23 09:36:31

And Botticelli's portraits tell us much the same. He stands out among other Renaissance artists as being chiefly interested in loveliness.
Quite unlike the intellectual zeal of his contemporaries, Botticelli prized pearls, curly hair, and delicacy. https://t.co/JVYrvd3aXc (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628689433766551552)

2023-02-23 09:36:31

Of the three it was Raphael who was considered the greatest, and that consensus lasted for several hundred years.
But in the 19th century things were changing, and an unknown artist called Sandro Botticelli started drawing the attention of visitors to Florence... (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628689453454598144)

2023-02-23 09:36:31

Botticelli was still touched by that Medieval spirit, not so interested in the maths of perspective and shading, human anatomy, or visual clarity as a love for colour, natural beauty, and a sort of fantastical symbolism where his meaning was never obvious. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628689464741568512/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628689464741568512)

2023-02-23 09:36:31

His style changed in the 1490s, growing darker and more austere as Florence itself went through turbulent times.
He started painting less, too, and spent his time making drawings of Dante's Inferno, apparently disillusioned and reclusive; he died in 1510. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628689437356859392/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628689437356859392)

2023-02-22 07:26:01

A moment of profound symbolic importance came in 2011.
Barcelona were the last of Europe's biggest clubs not to have a shirt sponsor, but after five years supporting UNICEF they signed a deal with the Qatar Foundation.
The zenith of football's commercialisation. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628294041862299650/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628294041862299650)

2023-02-22 07:26:01

And so by the 1930s most of the elements of the football kit had been assembled: shinpads, shorts, numbers, boots, and team colours.
Still, there was a long way to go. With their stiff leather boots and heavy cotton shirts these footballers were from a different era entirely. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628294000103792641/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628294000103792641)

2023-02-22 07:26:01

The kits of this era are some of the most beautiful ever produced, combining an uncommercialised purity with genuine sporting greatness and a wonderful simplicity of design.
Some of football's most enduring iconography. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628294006244270080/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628294006244270080)

2023-02-22 07:26:01

Many of the world's most famous clubs were founded in the late 1800s or early 1900s.
Back then kits were simply a way to distinguish one team from another; neither fashion nor sports science were major considerations.
And yet the colours they chose have endured. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628293989236367360/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628293989236367360)

2023-02-22 07:26:01

But as the decades rolled on football became an established sport, not only in Britain but in many other countries, more formal club uniforms were created.
They usually took the colours of the schools or organisations with which they were associated. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628293984098344961/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628293984098344961)

2023-02-22 07:26:01

And football kits have now, definitively, entered the world of fashion, influencers, models, and celebrities.
Epitomised by PSG's kit deal with Jordan and by Italian second division side Venezia FC, famous entirely for their stylish kits rather than their sporting merit. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628294049302994945/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628294049302994945)

2023-02-22 07:26:01

Along with the invention of replica kits, another of the most important moments in modern footballing history took place in 1973.
German club Eintracht Braunschweig entered into a shirt sponsorship deal with Jaegermeister - the first such arrangement in footballing history. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628294021465403392/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628294021465403392)

2023-02-22 07:26:01

1970 turned out to be an important year, as the World Cup was broadcast around the globe in colour for the first time.
Brazil's famous yellow, green, and blue kit lit up the world and achieved mythological status, bringing home the potential power a jersey could have. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628294009566244864/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628294009566244864)

2023-02-22 07:26:01

A Short History of Football Kits: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628293972845101057/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628293972845101057)

2023-02-22 07:26:01

Everything changed again in the 1990s. One of the biggest developments - for kits, at least - was the decision of the breakaway Premier League to print players' names on their shirts.
A change also adopted by FIFA at the 1994 World Cup. https://t.co/MZfZfhyDsq (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628294032139878403)

2023-02-22 07:26:01

But as the 2000s wore on and the Digital Age rolled in, design in general became much more minimal.
Football kits reflected this shift, moving away from the garishness of the 90s and towards a sleek, clean, modern design philosophy.
One which has, broadly, endured. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628294038276214784/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628294038276214784)

2023-02-22 07:26:01

Rules were always changing in the early days, and teams were always trying new things.
Shinpads and boots with studs were important early innovations, along with the switch from trousers to shorts.
Through to the 1920s football was in a state of constant evolution. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628293993078435840/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628293993078435840)

2023-02-22 07:26:01

The 1970s were the dawn of football's commercial age, as clubs and companies realised the financial possibilities of this globally popular game.
Puma paid Pelé $120,000 to tie his boots at the beginning of the 1970 World Cup Final, and in 1974 they sponsored Johan Cruyff. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628294018500108291/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628294018500108291)

2023-02-22 07:26:01

Where will the football kit go next?
They've always been a sign of the times, whether influenced by structural and commercial changes to the sport or by broader aesthetic and cultural movements.
Well, safe to say, it's come a long way since the 19th century... https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628294053644103680/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628294053644103680)

2023-02-22 07:26:01

Things changed after the Second World War, as new lightweight materials - even synthetic fabrics - were introduced.
Throughout the 1950s and into the 1960s those once baggy football uniforms were slowly replaced by tighter shirts and ever shorter shorts. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628294003060867078/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628294003060867078)

2023-02-22 07:26:01

Somehow a corporate sponsor and its logo could become just as much a part of the kit's aesthetic appeal as its crest, colours, and overall design.
As with Fiorentina's famous 1998 Nintendo jersey, to give but one of many examples. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628294028297895937/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628294028297895937)

2023-02-22 07:26:01

In recent years the "clean" kit design trend has seen some challenges.
Not least through a renewed interest in "retro" kits, part of a broder cultural nostalgia for the 80s and 90s, and the flurry of new kits inspired by the wild designs of yore. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628294045427503106/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628294045427503106)

2023-02-22 07:26:01

With the 1990s there also came some strange and rather short-lived trends.
Football kits became incredibly baggy again, almost as they had been six decades earlier, and there was a total embrace of eccentric, abstract, marvellously colourful shirt design. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628294035180863488/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628294035180863488)

2023-02-22 07:26:01

England's FA required clubs to have a spare white kit in case of a colour clash, in which case it was the home team who had to change.
In 1921 that flipped and the "away kit" was born. Squad numbers were also introduced in the 1920s, along with separate kits for goalkeepers. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628293996945543173/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628293996945543173)

2023-02-22 07:26:01

When the first set of football rules was agreed on in an English pub in 1863 it was a very different sport to the one played around the world today.
It was entirely amateur and there were still no referees - players wore whatever clothes they could get their hands on. https://t.co/nLmnQojcM3 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628293979350482945)

2023-02-22 07:26:01

For most of football history fans at games were wearing suits, overcoats, and hats - or whatever happened to be the dominant clothing style of the day.
Now most of them wear club memorabilia, whether replica kits or otherwise; a change which can be traced back to 1973. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628294015442423809/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628294015442423809)

2023-02-22 07:26:01

Since their inception football kits had been, ultimately, functional - they distinguished different teams.
That all changed in the 1970s.
Specifically, it was in 1973 that Leeds' new kit manufacturer, Admiral, had the idea of creating replica kits to be sold to the fans. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628294012808429573/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628294012808429573)

2023-02-22 07:26:01

They got in trouble at first, but Braunschweig's sponsorship marked the beginning of a process which has revolutionised the game - and its kits.
It created a huge revenue stream, of course, but it also introduced a whole new aesthetic feature. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628294025039036417/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628294025039036417)

2023-02-21 21:12:05

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https://culturaltutor.com/areopagus (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1628139619064680471)

2023-02-21 11:09:19

And it's huge - far bigger than most people realise.
At fifty metres tall it was the largest such monument in the world until the Monumento a la Revolución was built in Mexico City in 1938.
There's even a museum inside. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1627985834178711553/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1627985834178711553)

2023-02-21 11:09:19

The Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile is its full name - the Triumphal Arch of the Star.
That comes from its location, formerly called the Place de l'Étoile and now the Place Charles de Gaulle, at the junction and heart of twelve different avenues. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1627985825605509121/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1627985825605509121)

2023-02-21 11:09:19

The Arc de Triomphe was broadly modelled on the Arch of Titus, which was built in 81 AD by the Emperor Domitian in memory of his brother and their victories in Judea. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1627985840302350336/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1627985840302350336)

2023-02-21 11:09:19

And another one of the main sculptures, called the Peace of 1815, memorialises Napoleon's abdication.
Unlike those Roman triumphal arches, this one tells the full story of the man it remembers, including his eventual defeat and downfall. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1627985877535277057/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1627985877535277057)

2023-02-21 11:09:19

And he built more than one.
There's also the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, more similar in style to the Arch of Septimus Severus, which was started in 1806 and finished two years later. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1627985862062403586/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1627985862062403586)

2023-02-21 11:09:19

But it wasn't all about him. The internal walls of the Arc de Triomphe were also inscribed with the names of generals who had served the French Empire. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1627985874762797056/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1627985874762797056)

2023-02-21 11:09:19

And so Napoleon's Arc de Triomphe was a clear allusion to the Roman Empire.
Which isn't surprising; Napoleon made no secret of his desire to imitate Rome. He adopted their civil and military iconography and made his soldiers carry golden eagles, just like the Roman legions. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1627985850024751104/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1627985850024751104)

2023-02-21 11:09:19

He was a master of image; our current view of Napoleon was partly shaped by the man's own propaganda.
Just compare a portrait of him from 1796 with one made only five years later - from a fairly unremarkable military portrait to a pristine image of heroism. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1627985853694836743/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1627985853694836743)

2023-02-21 11:09:19

This portrait was made in the same year Napoleon commissioned the Arc de Triomphe.
Wearing a laurel wreath like Julius Caesar and bearing the Scepter of Charlemagne, here was a man with megalomaniacal ambition.
A triumphal arch was only the next logical step... https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1627985859348766723/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1627985859348766723)

2023-02-21 11:09:19

But Napoleon was defeated and exiled before his grand Arc de Triomphe could be finished.
And so, rather than being solely about the Battle of Austerlitz, it became a broader testament to Napoleon and his French Empire, and to the Republic that had preceded it. (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1627985864700702720)

2023-02-21 11:09:19

Just like those Roman triumphal arches of ancient times, the Arc de Triomphe was decorated with sculptures and reliefs of Napoleon's victories, whether at Aboukir, Alexandria, or Arcole.
And, similarly, they portrayed heroic and patriotic soldiers pitted against barbarians. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1627985866609029121/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1627985866609029121)

2023-02-21 11:09:19

The names of battles where the French had been victorious were written on its pillars, alongside even more relief sculptures of those battles.
This was a monument in both words and art to the military conquests and glories of Napoleon and his country. https://t.co/eKuMmTB38a (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1627985871835209730)

2023-02-21 11:09:19

The Italian sculptor Antonio Canova even made a sculpture of him called Napoleon as Mars the Peacemaker. Here he was depicted, literally, as the god of war.
Canova also made a sculpture of his sister, Pauline Bonaparte, as the goddess Venus. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1627985856114958336/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1627985856114958336)

2023-02-21 11:09:19

It was commissioned in 1806 by Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor of the French, after his famous victory at the Battle of Austerlitz.
This was a large-scale project and it wasn't completed, amid several interruptions, until 1836. https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1627985831410401280/photo/1 (source: https://twitter.com/culturaltutor/status/1627985831410401280)