Tag: dragons
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Sanxingdui (‘Three Star Mound’)
Sanxingdui (Chinese: äžæć ; pinyin: SÄnxÄ«ngduÄ«; lit. ‘Three Star Mound‘) is an archaeological site and a major Bronze Age culture in modern Guanghan, Sichuan, China. Largely discovered in 1986, following a preliminary finding in 1927, archaeologists excavated artifacts that radiocarbon dating placed in the twelfthâeleventh centuries BC. The archaeological site is the type site for the Sanxingdui culture that produced these artifacts, archeologists have identified the locale with the ancient kingdom of Shu. The artifacts are displayed in the Sanxingdui Museum located…
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Tiresias was a blind prophet who was transformed into a woman for seven years
In Greek mythology, Tiresias was a blind prophet of Apollo in Thebes, famous for clairvoyance and for being transformed into a woman for seven years. He was the son of the shepherd Everes and the nymph Chariclo. Tiresias participated fully in seven generations in Thebes, beginning as advisor to Cadmus himself. Mythology Eighteen allusions to mythic Tiresias, noted by Luc Brisson, fall into three groups: the first recounts Tiresias’ sex-change episode and later his…
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Cassava (tapioca) chips have become a major source of ethanol production
In many countries, significant research has begun to evaluate the use of cassava as an ethanol biofuel feedstock. Under the Development Plan for Renewable Energy in the Eleventh Five-Year Plan in the People’s Republic of China, the target was to increase the production of ethanol fuel from nongrain feedstock to 2 million metric tons (2,000,000 long tons; 2,200,000 short tons), and…
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Mouth of the Lion
Denunciation (from Latin denuntiare, “to denounce”) is the act of publicly assigning to a person the blame for a perceived wrongdoing with the hope of bringing attention to it. Notably, centralized social control in authoritarian states requires some level of cooperation from the populace. Denunciation boxes, or bocche di leone (lionsâ mouths), were scattered throughout Venice, from the Dogeâs Palace to the Dorsoduro district.…
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Tongue stone
According to Renaissance accounts, large, triangular fossil teeth often found embedded in rocky formations were believed to be petrified tongues of dragons and snakes and so were referred to as “tongue stones” or “glossopetrae”. Glossopetrae were commonly thought to be a remedy or cure for various poisons and toxins; they were used in the treatment of snake bites. Due to this ingrained belief, many…
