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Why does the year start on January 1?

History

Janus 1, the new year and the consular year In ancient Rome, the Romans worshiped a god named Janus (Janus, Ianus). He was the god of doors, transitions, and endings. Janus had two faces: one looking forward and the other looking back, into the past. Emperor Julius Caesar thought it would be appropriate for January, the eponymous month of Janus, to be the gateway to a new year, and when he created the Julian calendar, he made January 1 the first day of the year. That meant that the consular year began on the same day. Thus, the new consuls also assumed office on January 1. The Julian calendar For Julius Caesar, the Julian calendar was a political tool and also a weapon. As the Roman armies conquered new lands, the Empire often gave its new subjects some freedom to retain certain religious and social customs. As we already saw…

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Diego Velázquez: the personal life of genius

We inquire about the painter Diego Velázquez and his personal life and his family The painter Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez, such was his full name, is considered worldwide as one of the most important artists in all of History. And with good reason. Velázquez remains a unique reference in the history of painting, a reference that continues to fascinate anyone who contemplates his paintings more than four hundred years after his death. However, very few people know data of this very interesting character beyond his trade as a…

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Eugène Français Vidocq: The history of the First Detective of History

Jean Valjean, the tormented protagonist of «The Miserable» by Victor Hugo, is one of the best-known characters in universal literature. He has been the protagonist of numerous adaptations over the years, the best known being those starring Gerard Depardieu and, more recently, Hugh Jackman (in a portentous performance that has earned him an Oscar nomination). His adaptations for film, theater and television have made the characters of «Les Miserables» and, especially, his protagonist, well known even by those who have not read the immortal work of Victor Hugo. Eugène Français…

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Boris Vian: books and literature. "I will spit on your grave"
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Boris Vian: books and literature. «I will spit on your grave»

Boris Vian wrote «I will spit on your grave» (J’irai cracher sur vos tombes) in 1947, and became a bestseller. Today it is still a hard and disturbing novel, perhaps not as much as it was at the time, although it was enough for the French Poster for Action Sociale et Morale (a French federation of local associations that works for the respect for what he considers «good moral», created in 1883 by Tommy Fallot, who supports the abolition of prostitution and opposes pornography, alcohol and gambling), and that he…

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History

Marco Polo: Facts about his life

When the father and the uncle undertook the first to travel through unknown lands, (as you can read in the biography of Marco Polo), who have not accompanied them, was a child of six years.  When they returned, he had turned fifteen, during those nine years, the mother died. It was because of war (conflict over the succession of the great Khan Mongke) as the father and uncle of Marco Polo were forced to vary the way back, where they had sold their jewelry in exchange for gold, until Venice home. …

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Marco Polo: The Great Traveler

Marco Polo, Venice, Italy 1254 – Venice, 1338 It has been more than 750 years of the birth of Marco Polo, the adventurer who discovered the East to Western eyes, and vice versa. Marco Polo, the great traveler who gave all that he observed a remarkable descriptive detail and during the many decades he spent away from his native Venice, in the lands where they had never seen anyone of a different race. «Marco Polo» is based on the explorer’s famed adventures in the court of Kublai Khan, a world…

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Hitler and Franco meeting in Hendaye, the Full Story

On October 23, 1940, Francisco Franco, at the time, his Excellency the Caudillo, and Adolf Hitler, the Führer, Chancellor of the Third Reich, are in Hendaye. The meeting has been arranged months ago, as we will see later, and the object of it would try to elucidate the entry or absence of Spain into World War II and the conditions of such participation in the event of the Axis victory. Much has been written about what happened in that meeting, although rarely all the facts have been thoroughly analyzed……

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Egyptian Hieroglyphics and the Rosseta stone

Egyptian Hieroglyphics The Old Egyptian Empire created codes that left embedded in the walls of their monuments. These symbols took them from reality and describe what they served to represent the object itself and the word that contained his name, although they mean different things. The Egyptians, with this symbolism, wrote names or ideas that they had no graphical representation for themselves. The dung beetle was to the Egyptians representing the sun god himself at mold beetle dung-ball, which then used to lay their eggs. It points out the fact…

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20 19th century inventions for children

They have been incorporated into our daily lives as part of it naturally. Maybe for that reason, because they have been with us for more than a century. They are the modern inventions of the 19th century. This is the case of the stapler, the electric toothbrush, the traffic light, the Dow Jones, the dishwasher, the traveller’s checks or the contact lenses or contact lenses, for some examples. They make our lives easier and, in some cases, they made it to our grandparents’ grandparents. We collect the most modern inventions…

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Isabel of France, the princess of Braveheart

For all moviegoers, Princess Isabel of France will always have the features of Sophie Marceau, the beautiful gala actress who played this role in the Mel Gibson Braveheart movie. The true story of Queen Elizabeth of France However, the historical reality of this character has little to do with the story the film tells. The princess, for example, could never meet William Wallace, because she did not arrive in England until 1308, when she was only twelve years old, three years after Wallace was executed, and she also did not…

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History

Freud said Leonardo Da Vinci was gay

Leonardo Da Vinci was gay? That is a question that is constantly repeated. There is much interest in knowing everything that has to do with the genius of Leonardo Da Vinci. As we will see, he was accused of it and, even, Sigmund Freud studied on the subject. Brief biography of Leonardo Da Vinci Leonardo da Vinci. Vinci, Italy 1452 – Amboise, France 1519 Da Vinci’s talent was forged around the artistic movement known as the Renaissance, perhaps contributing directly to the history of Art and knowledge advancing faster and…

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