Category: 60-Second History

  • Amara Andrew

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    Are the Parthenon Marbles FINALLY returning to Greece?!

    Apparently, the British Museum has been in talks with Greece to return the Elgin (Parthenon) marbles!

    Negotiations have finally been opened between the chairman of the British Museum and the Greek prime minister…but there’s a catch.

    Transcript

    Apparently, the British Museum is currently in talks with Greece to return the (Elgin) Parthenon Marbles.

    Greece has been asking for the Marbles back from the British Museum for a very, very long time.

    Negotiations between the British Museum Chairman and the Greek Prime Minister have been taking place since November 2021. An insider said that an agreement is 90% complete.

    This situation is complicated, though. Apparently, there is an act by the British Parliament that prohibits the museum from selling, giving away, or otherwise disposing of any items in the collection unless they’re duplicates or not needed for study.

    Surely, there can be some sort of concession or amendment, though, right?

    Read More: Are the Parthenon Marbles FINALLY returning to Greece?!

  • Amara Andrew

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    An ATM that publicly (& permanently) displays your bank balance! 😱

    Every year, there’s a showstopper piece from Art Basel Miami Beach. This year, it was ATM Leaderboard by MSCHF.

    No longer do we have to wonder how much someone makes, because this little ATM has all the answers. 👀

    Transcript

    At the Miami Beach Art Basel every year, there’s always that one show-stopper piece. This year, the show-stopping piece was ATM Leaderboard by MSCHF.

    No longer do we have to size each other up and wonder how much each other makes. This little ATM tells us.

    So, this is how the machine works: you walk up to it, insert your debit card, and input your pin. The machine, then, takes a photo of you to display next to your bank balance.

    When the machine isn’t in use, it’s continuously flashing through the “high scores.”

    This artwork was purchased by a Miami collector for $75,000. They intend to display the work in a way that the public can interact with it.

    I’d like to recommend that they put it somewhere in South Beach!

    Read More: An ATM that publicly (& permanently) displays your bank balance! 😱

  • Amara Andrew

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    What did ancient Romans eat at sporting events? 🤼‍♀️

    How about a trip back in time to ancient Rome? Archaeologists recently discovered the remains of 1900-year-old food in the sewers of the Colosseum. The snacks on offer were definitely far different than the snacks you’d find today! 👀

    Transcript

    Have you ever been to a sporting event? When you went to said sporting event, did you get something to eat? What was it, like chips, pretzels, hot dogs, cookies, etc.?

    Well, if you were in ancient Rome, you would’ve gotten something very different!

    Archaeologists found the remains of 1,900-year-old food in the drainage system of the Colosseum in Rome.

    The excavation work started in 2021 and archaeologists have since found traces of olives, nuts, meats, cherries, grapes, figs, blackberries, and peaches.

    So, if you were ever wondering what an ancient Roman ate, there you go!

    Read More: What did ancient Romans eat at sporting events? 🤼‍♀️

  • Amara Andrew

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    Marie Antoinette’s furniture up for AUCTION!

    Two pieces of furniture from Marie Antoinette sold for MAJOR prices! 👀💰

    Transcript

    Two pieces that were from Marie Antoinette’s personal collection were up for auction.

    These two pieces, also, have really special meaning to Marie Antoinette’s life.

    The first piece that was sold was a beautiful chest of drawers. This piece was created shortly after Marie Antoinette arrived in France, but before she wed Louis XVI.

    And this was estimated to sell for €800,000 – €1.2 million, but it actually sold for €942,000 (so, about $945,000).

    The other piece that was for sale was a beautiful, pale blue chair. So, this was actually used in the Queen’s small apartment at Versailles.

    What’s so special about this chair, though, was that it was one of the last orders the Queen placed before the French Revolution. It was delivered in 1788, a few years before she died. I wonder if she was able to even enjoy it….

    It was estimated to sell for €100,000 – €200,000. It actually sold for €906,000, which is around $935,000.

    Read More: Marie Antoinette’s furniture up for AUCTION!

  • Amara Andrew

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    483 ancient Celtic coins STOLEN! 🪙

    These are such an amazing piece of history! I really hope these ancient Celtic coins can be safely returned!

    Transcript

    Somehow, 483 Celtic coins were stolen from a German museum!

    These coins date back to 100 BCE and are worth almost $2 million.

    They were on display at the Celtic & Roman Museum in Manching, Germany. They were found in 1999 near Manching and are still considered the biggest cache of ancient Celtic gold discovered in the 20th century.

    Pretty frickin’ sweet!

    This heist took place on a Tuesday morning–so, if you wanna steal anything, I guess Tuesday morning is a great time.

    The thieves, first, dismantled a cable in the telecommunciations facility in Manching, which cut off more than 1,000 local connections including phone and internet. So, the entire town was basically out of contact with each other and the outside world!

    When this was discovered, police actually thought banks were gonna be targeted, so they sent all their forces there. So, all the patrol cars were at these banks instead of near the museum.

    The thieves, then, got access to the exhibition room where these coins were located. They, then, just broke open the display case, took everything, and then made off with them.

    The museum, rightly, has remained closed since this happened.

    Read More: 483 ancient Celtic coins STOLEN! 🪙

  • Amara Andrew

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    Fake dinosaur skeleton at auction! 🦖

    Christie’s was going to sell this T-Rex skeleton, but now they’re under fire after it was discovered that almost ¾ of the bones were copies of *another* T-Rex!

    Transcript

    Christie’s was slated to sell an entire T-Rex skeleton. The T-Rex, though, whose name is Shen, has now been removed from the catalog…why?

    A bunch of experts raised questions about the amount of replica bones and ambiguous language that was used in this catalog.

    What was funny about this, though, is that one expert noticed that Shen looked eerily similar to Stan. So, Stan was a T-Rex skeleton that had been excavated in 1992 and sold at Christie’s.

    These experts studied Shen and noticed that roughly ¾ of the bones in this skeleton resembled Stan’s.

    So, Christie’s removed this from their brochure and their website. They are, allegedly, in trouble for false marketing.

    Read More: Fake dinosaur skeleton at auction! 🦖

  • Amara Andrew

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    Banksy is pissed! Here’s why 👀

    So, a couple weeks ago, Banksy posted to Instagram accusing Guess of using his artwork without his permission. Guess, though, claims they have the rights to use his artwork because of their deal with Brandalised…but who’s right? 🤔

    Transcript

    Do not fuck with Banksy because they will fuck you back so hard.

    Banksy posted a photo to Instagram. It’s a photo of a GUESS store and it says: “Attention all shoplifters! Please go to GUESS on Regent Street. They’ve helped themselves to my artwork without asking. How can it be wrong for you to do the same with their clothes?”

    Mic drop!

    So, a little bit of backstory: GUESS has a licensing deal, apparently, with a company called Brandalised. They claim to have the licensing rights to the work of graffiti artists.

    Some copyright lawyers claim that it appears that GUESS properly sourced the rights from Brandalised.

    The story is still developing, so stay tuned!

    Read More: Banksy is pissed! Here’s why 👀

  • Amara Andrew

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    Largest U.S. conventions have banned AI art! 🦾 🖼️

    Two of the largest anime conventions in the U.S. have now completely banned AI-generated artwork from their artists’ alleys.

    How do you feel about AI-generated art being banned from Anime NYC and Animé LA? 🤔

    Transcript

    We’re, again, talking about AI-generated artwork and copyright!

    Apparently, two of the largest anime conventions in the U.S., Anime NYC and AniméLA, have completely banned AI-generated artwork from their artists’ alleys.

    Anime NYC hasn’t made a formal announcement yet, but AniméLA’s statement reads:

    “Based on the current nature of its implementation and lack of regard toward artists, we cannot in good faith let this kind of product exist in our space. We at AniméLA do not condone or accept any form of AI-generated art piece being used in our promotional materials, nor being sold in our exhibit hall or artists’ alley.”

    They even go so far to say that they’ll consider this a form of counterfeit and it will be required to be removed from the event.

    Read More: Largest U.S. conventions have banned AI art! 🦾 🖼️

  • Amara Andrew

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    6 ancient items returned to Turkey from the U.S.! 🥳

    FINALLY, a successful case of ancient items being returned home! A few weeks ago, 6 ancient artifacts were returned to Turkey from the United States! 🥳

    Transcript

    I finally have a repatriation story with a currently pleasant ending!

    On October 22, 2022, six ancient artifacts that had been stolen from Turkey were returned from the United States!

    It’s unclear when these items were actually stolen from Turkey, but the 6 items included:

    • A human-sized bronze statue of Roman emperor Lucius Verrus from the 1st or 2nd century CE,
    • sarcophagus fragments from the ancient city of Perge in Anatolia,
    • Attis and Apollo figurines from the early Roman and Hellenic periods,
    • a Kasura-type idol from the early Bronze period,
    • and a terracotta slab from the Phrygian period.

    While these items were returned as part of this joint effort, this initiative was actually started one lone woman. And this one lone woman was actually Turkey’s first female archaeologist, the late professor Jale Inan.

    Read More: 6 ancient items returned to Turkey from the U.S.! 🥳

  • Amara Andrew

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    Statues found preserved underwater in ANCIENT Bathhouse!

    These ancient statues were found underwater…but they were actually supposed to be there?! 😱

    Transcript

    We’re talking about 2 dozen bronze statues that were found underwater in Tuscany.

    These statues were found in the town called San Casciano di Bagni, which makes sense because these were found in the ruins of an ancient bathhouse.

    Archaeologists have been excavating in this area since 2019. They’ve also found a bunch of other things, including coins and other smaller statues.

    So, the statues that we’re talking about now, though, most of them depict ancient Greco-Roman gods and goddesses. It’s believed that these used to adorn a sanctuary before their ritual immersion in thermal waters.

    So, these statues were supposed to be underwater!

    I also can’t help but be curious what this water tastes or smells like….

    Read More: Statues found preserved underwater in ANCIENT Bathhouse!