M.J. Rose

Hapless youngster or power-hungry murderess? Who was this Queen Ankhesenamun?

Let’s find out…

From Ancient Origins,

The Hunt for Ankhesenamun: How Did a Young Woman Stop an Ancient Dynasty from Imploding? Part I

“The names of Akhenaten, Nefertiti, and Tutankhamun—prominent players from the Eighteenth Dynasty of the New Kingdom period in ancient Egypt—have been in the spotlight for well over a century. Extensive research, documentaries, and publications have served to keep the mystique of the Amarna royals alive in our collective consciousness. However, a key figure from this family, Queen Ankhesenamun, is either ignored or given little prominence in most narratives.

Flower Child of Akhetaten

Ankhesenamun is portrayed in myriad ways; as a terrified and hapless youngster; a power-hungry murderess; or a loathsome vixen who will stop at nothing to achieve her devious ends. Very few characterizations concentrate on the real person, sans the hype. But then, with irrefutable facts hard to come by, any exotic soap opera can be built around an ancient individual! This once-powerful queen surely deserves a far better study of her personage; for she seems to have managed to prevent a dynasty from imploding—and that is her lasting legacy…”

For the rest, click here.

Her name was Mary Katharine Goddard and she was one of America’s first female publishers. Why don’t we all know more about this woman?

The Declaration of Independence printed with the names of the signers. Mary Katharine Goddard’s name is at the bottom. (Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division, Continental Congress & Constitutional Convention Broadsides Collection)

From The Washington Post,

This woman’s name appears on the Declaration of Independence. So why don’t we know her story?

by Petula Dvorak

“…look closely at one of those printed copies of the Declaration of Independence.

See it? The woman’s name at the bottom?

It’s right there. Mary Katharine Goddard.

If you’ve never noticed it or heard of her, you aren’t alone. She’s a Founding Mother, of sorts, yet few folks know about her. And some of America’s earliest bureaucrats did their best to shut her down. Same old, same old.

Goddard was fearless her entire career as one of America’s first female publishers, printing scoops from Revolutionary War battles from Concord to Bunker Hill and continuing to publish after her offices were twice raided and her life was repeatedly threatened by haters.

Yup, she faced down the Twitter trolls of 1776.

In her boldest move, Goddard put her full name at the bottom of all the copies of the Declaration that her printing presses churned out and distributed to the colonies…”

For the rest, click here.

Never mind the cathedral, look at the rose….

Painting by an anonymous artist from 1652 illustrating the founding legend of the cathedral; it is held by the Hildesheim Cathedral Museum.

From The Vintage News,

The Rose of Hildesheim: A thousand-year rose that’s believed to be the oldest living rose in the world

“The beautiful German city of Hildesheim is the home of the oldest living rose on the planet known as the rose of Hildesheim or the thousand-year rose.

She’s 69 feet tall and 30 feet wide and it’s believed that she was established by King Louis the Pious back in 815.

The rose climbs up the walls of a Catholic cathedral dedicated to the Assumption of Mary. The cathedral was hit by  Allied bombers during World War 2, and although the building was completely destroyed, the roots of the rosebush somehow survived and she blossomed among the ruins again.

The cathedral was rebuilt in the 1950s and 1960s in a simplified form and without its previous baroque elements that gave the building its Romanesque charm. After many years, on August 24, 2015, its renovation became a subject of the largest construction project in Germany in order to bring back the building’s old charm.

However, tourists visit the cathedral not only to see the building’s new look but also to admire the thousand-year rose that has become its most remarkable feature…”

For the rest, click here.