A marble slab in storage turned out to be an ancient Greek yearbook

Researchers in the United Kingdom have found that an ancient Greek inscription on a 2,000-year-old marble tablet is actually something resembling a yearbook for a graduating class, according to a new translation. The inscription sat in the National Museums Scotland collection for over 130 years without being properly looked at until researchers discovered the document, according to Peter Liddel of the University of Manchester. "This is one of a small number of inscriptions in Scotland, one of three ancient Athenian inscriptions in the city of Edinburgh, so it's absolutely exciting," Liddel told NPR's All Things Considered. He referred to the inscription as a concise "class book," which lists the names of young men within a cohort who finished their year-long civic and military training in what was called the ephebate. Researchers listed 31 names. Some of them are nicknames, such as Theogas for Theogenes and Dionysas for Dionysodoros. Using their shortened names was unusual, the researchers said, and likely indicates the graduates had a sense of camaraderie. They believe the 31 names are a subset of the full class, which was probably about 100 men. The end of the inscription translates to "of Caesar," which refers to the emperor Claudius, the fourth ruler of the ancient Roman Empire from A.D. 41 to 54. The phrasing means the inscription was made during his reign.

A man in a wig was detained after throwing a piece of cake at the Mona Lisa

A man who seems to have been disguised as an old woman in a wheelchair threw a piece of cake at the Mona Lisa in Paris. Video posted on social media shows security guards at the Louvre Museum escorting the man away as he spoke in French about the planet. "Think of the Earth! There are people who are destroying the Earth! Think about it. Artists tell you: think of the Earth. That's why I did this," he says, according to The Associated Press. Another video showed someone clearing the cake off the glass protecting the Mona Lisa, as onlookers held up their phones to film the incident's aftermath. The 36-year-old man was detained and sent to a psychiatric unit. The original Mona Lisa was painted by Leonardo da Vinci between 1503 and 1519. The oil painting hangs in the Louvre's largest room, according to the museum's website. This isn't the first time the iconic painting has run into trouble. The protective glass was put up after it was damaged in an acid attack during the 1950s. In 1911, the Mona Lisa disappeared from the museum. For more than two years, there were no hints on where it could be, until someone tried to sell the painting to an Italian art dealer, who informed authorities.

RELATED POST

COMMENTS