Category: By Amara Podcast

Amara Andrew

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12.07.22

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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12.06.22

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!
Amara Andrew

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12.05.22

What happens when we’ve found all the ancient things?! 🧐

Happy Monday! Here’s something to ponder at the start of your week: do you think we’ll ever find *all* the ancient things? 🧐

Transcript

What happens once we’ve found all the ancient things? Can that actually happen? Will we ever run out of ancient things to find?

Is everything, then, in museums? Is it in the trash? This is just a random thought, but it was just something I was thinking about.

Especially when thinking about the fact that there are more people on the planet now than there have ever been. So, does this mean that the likelihood of us being able to dig up all the ancient things is higher?

After all, nothing lasts forever.

Read More: What happens when we’ve found all the ancient things?! 🧐
Amara Andrew

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11.30.22

Fake dinosaur skeleton / 483 ancient Celtic coins stolen / Marie Antoinette’s furniture at auction!

By Amara is a weekly art and history podcast hosted by Amara Andrew. Each week, we’ll take a quick look at the goings on in the art and history world.

This week, we’re looking at a fake dinosaur skeleton, 483 ancient Celtic coins stolen from a museum in Germany, and Marie Antoinette’s furniture sold at auction!

🎧 Subscribe on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts!

MY MINIMALIST PODCAST KIT

For links to all the tools I use to make my podcast happen, check out the post here!

Who is Amara Andrew?

Hi there! My name’s Amara and I’m a videographer, historian, illustrator, and creator living in Chicago.

Read More: Fake dinosaur skeleton / 483 ancient Celtic coins stolen / Marie Antoinette’s furniture at auction!
Amara Andrew

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11.30.22

These 5 paintings just sold for over $100 million…each! 😱 🖼️
Not only did each of these paintings sell for over $100 million each, but they were also part of an art collection that fetched almost $2 billion cumulatively!

Transcript

In Episode 3, I discussed the Paul G. Allen that was going up for auction at Christie’s in November.

There were 5 paintings in this auction that brought in over $100 million per piece. These paintings were:
- Paul Cezanne, La Montaigne Sainte-Victoire, $130,790,000
- Vincent van Gogh, Verger avec cyprés, $117,180,000
- Gustav Klimt, Birch Forest, $104,585,000
- Paul Gauguin, Maternité II, $105,730,000
- Georges Seurat, Les Poseuses ensemble (petite version), $149,000,000+
🎧 Listen to the full episode here.
Read More: These 5 paintings just sold for over $100 million…each! 😱 🖼️
Amara Andrew

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11.29.22

Mystery Ancient Tunnel FOUND under Temple!

This secret ancient tunnel was found 43 feet under the Earth…what was it for?! 🤔

Transcript

This secret tunnel was found under the Taposiris Magna, which was a temple dedicated to Osiris, the god of the dead.

So, the tunnel that was found underneath this temple is 13 meters (~43 feet) below the surface of the earth. It’s, supposedly, 1300 meters long, which is about a mile. It’s also supposed to measure 2 meters high or about seven feet.

The architectural style is similar to one in Greece called the Eupalinos tunnel. This tunnel actually served as an aqueduct, so this might provide context to this other tunnel that was just found.

Apparently, there were at least 23 different earthquakes that hit Egypt between 320CE and 1303 CE. So, because of this, the temple collapsed and then part of the aqueduct underneath flooded with the Mediterranean Sea.

What’s really cool about this tunnel is that a bunch of pottery was found along the tunnel route as well as a bunch of gold coins depicting Cleopatra VII and Alexander the Great.

🎧 Listen to the full episode here.

Read More: Mystery Ancient Tunnel FOUND under Temple!
Amara Andrew

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11.28.22

Ancient Egyptian Tattooed Mummies!

While not 100% confirmed, researchers believe they know the meaning behind the tattoos of two ancient Egyptian mummies!

Transcript

These two ancient Egyptian mummies were found in the ancient town called Deir el-Medina, located near the Nile in Egypt.

One had already been looted and unwrapped. While looking at the exposed skin, researchers found evidence of a tattoo. And they didn’t just find one, they found a whole set!

They found a purification ritual and a depiction of Bes, an ancient god who protected women and children, particularly during childbirth.

The second mummy, thankfully, was still wrapped, so researchers used infrared photography to see the body within the wrappings. And they found another tattoo!

Her tattoo was a wedjat and she also showed Bes. There was also a zigzag line beneath these figures which likely represented a marsh.

So, apparently, in parts of ancient Egypt, women would go give birth by the marsh because it was cooler.

Given these context clues, it’s believed these women got these tattoos to protect them during childbirth. We should bring that back!

🎧 Listen to the full episode here.

Read More: Ancient Egyptian Tattooed Mummies!
Amara Andrew

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11.26.22

Most EXPENSIVE private art collection ever sold!

This has been called the most expensive private art collection ever sold and for good reason 🤯

Transcript

In Episode 3, I discussed the Paul G. Allen collection that was going up for auction at Christie’s in November. The estimate was that everything that was sold would all fetch $1 billion cumulatively.

Well, the auction was split into two separate parts: November 9th and November 10th. On the 9th, it surpassed the $1 billion mark. The total total for the day was $1,506,386,000.

So, on the second and final day of the auction, the total from that day was $115,863,500.

For both parts of the auction, all sales totaled $1,622,249,500.

🎧 Listen to the full episode here.

Read More: Most EXPENSIVE private art collection ever sold!
Amara Andrew

•

11.23.22

Ancient underwater statues/Happy repatriation story/AI-generated art banned/How to piss off Banksy

By Amara is a weekly art and history podcast hosted by Amara Andrew. Each week, we’ll take a quick look at the goings on in the art and history world.

This week, we’re looking at ancient underwater statues, a repatriation story with a happy ending, AI-generated art is banned from largest anime conventions in the U.S., and how to piss off Banksy.

🎧 Subscribe on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts!

MY MINIMALIST PODCAST KIT

For links to all the tools I use to make my podcast happen, check out the post here!

Who is Amara Andrew?

Hi there! My name’s Amara and I’m a videographer, historian, illustrator, and creator living in Chicago.

Read More: Ancient underwater statues/Happy repatriation story/AI-generated art banned/How to piss off Banksy
Amara Andrew

•

11.21.22

Piet Mondrian Piece has been Upside Down for over 70 years! 🙃🖼️

Even though it’s been identified as being hung upside down, curators are hesitant to turn “New York City I” by Piet Mondrian right side up…but why? 🤔

And, is there *actually* a right and wrong way to hang this piece?

Transcript

A museum curator at Germany’s Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen K20 museum announced that the exhibition’s highlight piece, “New York City I,” has been displayed upside down since it was first seen in public in the 1940s.

There are actually two versions of “New York City I.” One of them is painted and it hangs in the Pompidou in Paris. That one, apparently, is proper side up.

The other one, though, was made of adhesive tape and is the one that’s seemingly upside down.

The curator saw a photo of the artists’ studio taken in 1944 that showed “New York City I” on an easel in the background with the tightly grouped yellow, blue, and black stripes at the top.

Now, knowing this, you’d think they’d turn it upright, right? It’s a little more complicated than that.

Turning it over to the correct side up could actually damage the artwork because it’s made of adhesive tape. Turning it upside down, the gravity would, essentially, just pull it apart.

🎧 Listen to the full episode here.

Read More: Piet Mondrian Piece has been Upside Down for over 70 years! 🙃🖼️