Kanagawa

As in all the prints in the series, it depicts the area around Mount Fuji under particular conditions, and the mountain itself appears in the background.

Midas, who rid himself of the golden touch by bathing here

the paint tube

It allowed the artists to travel outdoors as the drying of paint was no longer an issue. The paint tube superseded pig bladders and glass syringes as the primary tool of paint transport. Paints could now be produced in bulk and sold in tin tubes with a cap. The cap could be screwed back on and the paints preserved for future use, providing flexibility and efficiency to painting outdoors.

voodoo

Vodouisants believe in a supreme being called Bondyè but because he is unreachable, they aim their prayers to lesser entities, the spirits known as loa.

the carnival (from carnelevare, to remove/raise meat)

It occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February. It is traditionally held in areas with a large Catholic and, to a lesser extent, Eastern Orthodox makeup.

a champagne bottle!

Christening ships using champagne bottles is a tradition that goes back a long way.

camouflage

His most popular works are from his 'Hiding in the City' series where he stands in front of various places and tries to 'blend in' by painting his own body.

the rhino (Dürer's Rhinoceros)

The image was based on a written description and brief sketch by an unknown artist of an Indian rhinoceros that had arrived in Lisbon in 1515. Dürer never saw the actual rhinoceros, which was the first living example seen in Europe since Roman times.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%BCrer%27s_Rhinoceros)

wear it

The cheongsam is the traditional looking body-hugging one-piece Chinese dress for women; the male version is the changshan. In the 2008 Summer Olympics, cheongsams were the uniforms for the medal bearers.

the churning of the Ocean of Milk

It was done using a mountain and with a snake by the gods on one side and the demons on the other.

Sweden

Niobe

She boasted of her fourteen children to Leto who only had two children, the twins Apollo and Artemis. Don't mess with the gods.

death

Director being Ingmar Bergman and the movie is of course The Seventh Seal.

the French language

L'Académie française was established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution, it was restored in 1803 by Napoleon Bonaparte. Members are known as les immortels (the immortals) because of the motto, À l'immortalité ('To immortality'), that appears on the official seal.

vulnerability of a werewolf to a silver bullet

This idea does not appear in stories about werewolves before the 20th century (the claim that the Beast of Gévaudan, an 18th-century wolf or wolf-like creature, was shot by a silver bullet appears to have been introduced by novelists retelling the story from 1935 onward. The Beast of Gévaudan is a name given to man-eating wolf-like animals alleged to have terrorized parts of France from 1764 to 1767.

Ganymede

He is abducted by Zeus in the form of an eagle to serve in Olympus.

Bacchanal

From bacchanalia, the wild and mystic festivals of the Greco-Roman god Bacchus.

the Kumbh Mela

The Purna (complete) Kumbh takes place every twelve years, at four places Allahabad, Haridwar, Ujjain, and Nashik. The Ardh (half) Kumbh Mela is celebrated every six years at Haridwar and Allahabad. According to the Mela Administration's estimates, around 70 million people participated in the 45-day Ardh Kumbh Mela in Allahabad, in 2007.

the Milky Way was formed!

It is also described as the road to mount Olympus, and the path of ruin made by the chariot of the Sun god Helios.

talk to animals

Tiki

In the Māori language, the word 'tiki' was the name given to large wooden carvings in roughly human shape, and the carvings often serve to mark the boundaries of sacred or significant sites.

Cyclops

A cyclops, in Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, was a member of a primordial race of giants, each with a single eye in the middle of his forehead.

What?

the Jolly Roger

Jackson Pollock

Krasner and Pollock gave each other reassurance and support during a period when neither's work was well-appreciated.

the outlaw Dick Turpin (1705-1739)

He was an English highwayman whose exploits were romanticised following his execution for horse theft.

Golem

Depending on the version of the legend, the Jews in Prague were to be either expelled or killed under the rule of Rudolf II, the Holy Roman Emperor. To protect the Jewish community, the rabbi constructed the Golem out of clay from the banks of the Vltava river, and brought it to life through rituals and Hebrew incantations. As this golem grew, it became increasingly violent, killing gentiles and spreading fear. The Emperor begged Rabbi Loew to destroy the Golem, promising to stop the persecution of the Jews. To deactivate the Golem, the rabbi rubbed out the first letter of the word 'emet' (truth or reality) from the creature's forehead leaving the Hebrew word 'met', meaning dead. The Golem's body was stored in the attic genizah of the Old New Synagogue, where it would be restored to life again if needed.

puppetry/ shadow puppets

The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dalí

The main objects are of course melting clocks.

Scylla and Charybdis

Scylla and Charybdis were mythical sea monsters that were regarded as hazards located close enough to each other that they posed an inescapable threat to passing sailors; avoiding one meant passing too close to the other. The caricature illustrated how the PM tried to maintain a strict impartiality towards both combatants in the American Civil War.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scylla_and_Charybdis)

Cassandra

She was the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy. Her beauty caused Apollo to grant her the gift of prophecy but when she did not reciprocate his love, Apollo placed a curse on her so that her predictions would not be believed.

Oktoberfest

It is a 16-day festival held annually in Munich from late September to the first weekend in October. "O'zapft is" meaning "it is tapped" is usually the first statement at the inauguration.

a skull

Shintoism

Kojiki is the oldest extant chronicle in Japan, dating from the early 8th century (711-2) and composed by Ō no Yasumaro at the request of Empress Gemmei. It is a collection of myths concerning the origin of the four home islands of Japan, and the Kami. The Nihon Shoki, sometimes translated as The Chronicles of Japan, is the second oldest book of classical Japanese history. It is more elaborate and detailed than the Kojiki and has proven to be an important tool for historians and archaeologists as it includes the most complete extant historical record of ancient Japan.

the antimacassar

Macassar oil was commonly applied to the hair in the early 19th century. The fashion for oiled hair became so widespread that housewives began to cover the arms and backs of their chairs with washable cloths to preserve the fabric coverings from being soiled. Around 1850, these started to be known as antimacassars. Macassar oil was so named because it was reputed to have been manufactured from ingredients purchased in the port of Makassar in Indonesia.

an ecdysiast

the Minotaur

He dwelt at the center of the Cretan Labyrinth, which was designed by the Daedalus and his son Icarus. The Minotaur was eventually killed by the Athenian hero Theseus.

Mormonism

Seven Cities of Cíbola

(http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/117524/Seven-Cities-of-Cibola)

What anti-war work of art is this?

Guernica by Picasso

It was created in response to the bombing of Guernica, Basque Country, by German and Italian warplanes at the behest of the Spanish Nationalist forces, on 26 April 1937, during the Spanish Civil War.

M. C. Escher (1898-1972)

The staircase resembles the picture Relativity.

language

The idea was first clearly expressed by 19th century thinkers who saw language as the expression of the spirit of a nation.

they stood on pillars

They believed that the mortification of their bodies would help ensure the salvation of their souls. The word stylos means pillar in Greek.

The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh

The painting depicts the view outside his sanitorium room window at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence (located in southern France) at night, although it was painted from memory during the day.

the miniskirt

It was introduced in 1964 and was named after the Mini.

postage stamps

Treskilling Yellow holds the world's record auction sales price for a single postage stamp.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_notable_postage_stamps)

'to deep six'

A burial at sea (where the body is weighted to force it to the bottom) requires a minimum of six fathoms of water.

Rosetta Stone (the three scripts on it)

The most-visited object in the British Museum, it is inscribed with a decree issued at Memphis in 196 BCE on behalf of King Ptolemy V. Because it presents essentially the same text in all three scripts, it provided the key to the modern understanding of Egyptian hieroglyphs. The term has been used idiomatically to represent a crucial key to the process of decryption of encoded information, especially when a small but representative sample is recognized as the clue to understanding a larger whole.

jinns

The Qur'an mentions that Jinn are made of smokeless flame. They can be good, evil, or neutrally benevolent.

the Fisher King (or) the Wounded King

Versions of his story vary widely, but he is always wounded in the legs or groin, and incapable of moving on his own. When he is injured, his kingdom suffers as he does, his impotence affecting the fertility of the land and reducing it to a barren Wasteland. Little is left for him to do but fish in the river near his castle Corbenic. Knights travel from many lands to heal the Fisher King, but only the chosen can accomplish the feat.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisher_King)

yoga

The opinion of most scholars is that Patañjali was not the creator of Yoga but an expounder.

bone china

It is noted for its high levels of whiteness and translucency, and very high mechanical strength and chip resistance. From its initial development and up to the later part of the twentieth century, bone china was almost exclusively an English product, with production being effectively localised to Stoke-on-Trent. The raw materials for bone china are comparatively expensive, and the production is labour-intensive, which is why bone china maintains a luxury status.

that of Frida Kahlo

origami

Although Akira Yoshizawa pioneered many different origami techniques, wet-folding is one of his most significant contributions.

taoism

karma

It literally means 'deed' or 'act', and is the universal principle of cause and effect, action and reaction, which Hindus believe governs all consciousness. It is not fate, for we act with what can be described as a conditioned free will creating our own destinies.

on 29 February (in a leap year)

popes

It was mainly used to carry popes to and from ceremonies and was used for nearly one millennium. Pope John Paul I at first declined to use the sedia gestatoria but was eventually convinced by the Vatican staff that its use was necessary in order to allow crowds to see him. Pope John Paul II refused to use the sedia gestatoria completely.

Adam and Eve grieving over Abel

According to the biblical account, this was the first human death.

Venus de Milo

According to Wilde, the man apparently won the case! Although the statue is widely renowned for the missing arms, evidence suggests that it did have arms at the time of its creation.

a Panama hat

Like many other 19th and early 20th century South American goods, straw hats woven in Ecuador were shipped first to the Isthmus of Panama before sailing for their destinations. For some products, the name of their point of international sale rather than their place of domestic origin stuck, hence 'Panama hats'.

Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer

It is sometimes referred to as 'the Mona Lisa of the North' or 'the Dutch Mona Lisa'.

the Last Supper

Since at least the fourth century CE a structure identified as the Cenacle, the site of the Last Supper, has been a popular Christian pilgrimage site on Mount Sion in Jerusalem.

This is the origin of what cultural treasure?

Fabergé eggs

The most famous eggs produced by the House of Fabergé were the larger ones made for Alexander III and Nicholas II of Russia; these are often referred to as the 'Imperial' Fabergé eggs. Of the 50 made, 42 have survived.
(http://www.pbs.org/treasuresoftheworld/a_nav/faberge_nav/main_fabfrm.html)

Mayday (venez m'aider)

The callsign was originated in 1923 by Frederick Stanley Mockford (1897–1962). A senior radio officer at Croydon Airport in London, Mockford was asked to think of a word that would indicate distress and would easily be understood by all pilots and ground staff in an emergency. Since much of the traffic at the time was between Croydon and Le Bourget Airport in Paris, he proposed the word 'Mayday' from the French m’aider.

Picasso's Blue Period

In this period, he painted monochromatic paintings in shades of blue and blue-green, only occasionally warmed by other colors. These somber works are now some of his most popular works, although he had difficulty selling them at the time.

Who?

L. L. Zamenhof, the inventor of Esperanto

Noah

All are associated with the flood myth.

I and the Village by Marc Chagall

The significance of the painting lies in its seamless integration of various elements of Eastern European folktales and culture, both Russian and Yiddish.

Sawney Bean

While historians tend to believe that Sawney Bean never existed, his story has passed into legend and is part of the Edinburgh tourism industry.

Australian Aborigines

the blue pencil doctrine

Blue was used specifically because it will not show in some lithographic or photographic reproduction processes. With the introduction of electronic editing, blue pencils are seen more rarely, but still exist in metaphor. The term is also used to mean censorship.

bad art!

The Museum Of Bad Art (MOBA) was founded in 1994, after antique dealer Scott Wilson showed a painting he had recovered from the trash to some friends, who suggested starting a collection. To be included in MOBA's collection, works must be original and have serious intent, but they must also have significant flaws without being boring; curators are not interested in displaying deliberate kitsch.

icon painting

He is considered to be the greatest medieval Russian painter of Orthodox icons and frescoes and was also the subject of an acclaimed 1966 film by Andrei Tarkovsky.

Proteus

He could foretell the future but would change his shape to avoid having to; he will answer only to someone who is capable of capturing him. From this feature of Proteus comes the adjective protean, with the general meaning of 'versatile', 'mutable', or 'capable of assuming many forms'.

What was another term for the castrated ram?

a wether

This is the story behind the word bellwether.

comrade

The political usage of the term was inspired by the French Revolution. Upon abolishing the titles of nobility, and the terms monsieur and madame, the revolutionaries employed the term citoyen for men and citoyenne for women (both meaning 'citizen') to refer to each other. The deposed King Louis XVI, for instance, was referred to as Citoyen Louis Capet to emphasize his loss of privilege. When the socialist movement gained momentum in the mid-19th century, socialists chose 'comrade' as their preferred term of address.

the city of Troy

Papua New Guinea

Mount Hagen is also the third largest city in Papua New Guinea.

the Kaaba in Mecca

It is draped annually on the 9th day of the month of Dhu al-Hijjah, the day pilgrims leave for the plains of Mount Arafat during the Hajj. Every year the old Kiswa is removed, cut into small pieces and gifted to certain individuals. The Kiswa is wrapped around the Kaaba and fixed to the ground with copper rings.

What expression for insanity has this etymological origin?

mad as a hatter

This statement by which Spanish architect captures the essence of his work that is sometimes called Organic Architecture?

Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926)

His masterpiece, the Sagrada Família in Barcelona is one of the most visited monuments in Spain. Between 1984 and 2005 seven of his works were declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.

Acapulco

Acapulco cliff diving was regularly featured on weekend sports television programming in the United States during the 1960s and 1970s when the USA High Diving Team competed with the La Quebrada Cliff Divers annually during the Acapulco Christmas Festival. The 2002 Guinness Book of World Records lists this as 'the highest regularly performed headfirst dives' in the world.

What legend whose best known version appears in Golden Legend is thus summarized?

The Seven Sleepers or Seven Sleepers of Ephesus

Pagans: X, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar
Old Testament Jews: Joshua, David, Judas Maccabeus
Chivalric Christian Heroes: King Arthur, Charlemagne, Godfrey of Bouillon

Hector

Homer places Hector as the very noblest of all the heroes in the Iliad: he is both peace-loving and brave, thoughtful as well as bold, a good son, husband and father, and without darker motives.

Whirling Dervishes

Dervish is a common term for an initiate of the Sufi path; the whirling is part of the formal Sema ceremony which is meant to remember God.

an echelon formation

The name comes from the French for 'ladder'. Use of the formation dates back to ancient infantry and cavalry warfare when attempting to flank an enemy or to break one wing with overwhelming numbers.

Shamus (from Séamus)

"lounge suit"

What is the answer?

day and night

lobbying

"K Street" is a common often-derogatory metonym for Washington's lobbying industry.

Xanadu/Shàngdū

The city was located in what is now called Inner Mongolia, 275 kilometres (171 mi) north of Beijing and was the summer capital of Kublai Khan's Yuan Dynasty in China. At its zenith, over 100,000 people lived within its walls. In 1369 Shàngdū was occupied by the Ming army and put to the torch.

Kabbalah

The Sefirot are the ten emanations and attributes of God with which He continually sustains the universe in existence. The word "sefirah" literally means "counting", but early Kabbalists presented a number of other etymological possibilities.

Paul Gauguin (1848-1903)

Artist + Tahiti = Gauguin.

a round table

The idea stems from the Arthurian legend about the Knights of the Round Table in Camelot.

"women and children first"

The practice arose from the chivalrous actions of soldiers during sinking of HMS Birkenhead in 1852, though the phrase was not coined until 1860.

a memory hole

In Nineteen Eighty-Four, the memory hole is a small chute leading to a large incinerator used for censorship.

Fish, tortoise, boar, half man-half lion, dwarf, sage, king, king, renouncing prince, eternity/time.

the avatars of the Hindu god Vishnu

The concept of avatar within Hinduism is most often associated with Vishnu, the preserver or sustainer aspect of God. Vishnu's avatars typically descend for a very specific purpose.

Ned Ludd (from whom the Luddites took their name)

Although no actual proof of his existence has been found, it is believed that he came from the village of Anstey, just outside Leicester in England. The Luddites were a social movement of British textile artisans in the nineteenth century who protested – often by destroying mechanised looms – against the changes produced by the Industrial Revolution, which they felt were leaving them without work and changing their way of life. In modern usage, "Luddite" is a term describing those opposed to industrialisation, automation, computerisation or new technologies in general.

tango

The place of Gardel's birth is a matter of considerable controversy that still provokes passionate debate in Uruguay and Argentina.

the hunter's moon

It is the first full moon after the harvest moon (which is the full moon nearest the autumnal equinox). The name is also said to have been used by Native Americans as they tracked and killed their prey by autumn moonlight, stockpiling food for the winter ahead.

'bread and circuses' (panem et circenses)

Juvenal makes reference to the Roman practice of providing free wheat to Roman citizens as well as costly circus games and other forms of entertainment as a means of gaining political power through populism.

vaudeville

The term vaudeville, referring specifically to North American variety entertainment, came into common usage after 1871 with the formation of Sargent's Great Vaudeville Company of Louisville, Kentucky.

the burquini (or burkini)

The suit covers the entire body except the face, the hands and the feet. It was described as the perfect solution for Muslim women who want to swim but are uncomfortable about 'revealing' bathing suits. 'Burqini' is a portmanteau of burqa (body) and bikini, and is a registered trademark.

moksha

In Hinduism, self-realization is the key to obtaining moksha. The Hindu is one who practices one or more forms of Yoga - Bhakti, Karma, Jnana, Raja - knowing that God is unlimited and exists in many different forms, both personal and impersonal.

Pamplona ('chase' of course refers to the running of the bulls)

It is held 6 July to midnight 14 July. Its events were central to the plot of The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway, which brought it to the general attention of English-speaking people. It has become probably the most internationally renowned fiesta in Spain. Over 1,000,000 people come to watch this festival.

Bluenose

It is notable that she was no mere racing ship, but also a general fishing craft that was worked hard throughout her lifetime.

Tamagotchi

It was first sold by Bandai in 1996 in Japan. Over 70,000,000 Tamagotchis have been sold world-wide as of 2008. Most Tamagotchis are housed in a small egg-shaped computer with an interface usually consisting of three buttons, although the number of buttons may vary for different variations.

This eccentric make do was given the name of which cartoonist?

Heath Robinson

In the UK, the term 'Heath Robinson' has entered the language as a description of any unnecessarily complex and implausible contraption, similar to 'Rube Goldberg' in the US.

Achilles

a trickster

Examples of the type are Bugs Bunny and The Tramp (Charlie Chaplin) and Pippi Longstocking.

tawdry

Morton's Fork

His approach was that if the subject lived in luxury and had clearly spent a lot of money on himself, he obviously had sufficient income to spare for the king. Alternatively, if the subject lived frugally, and showed no sign of being wealthy, he must have substantial savings and could therefore afford to give it to the king. These arguments were the two prongs of the fork and regardless of whether the subject was rich or poor, he did not have a favorable choice.

a tiger shark!

It is considered the iconic work of British art in the 1990s, and the symbol of Britart worldwide. It was originally commissioned in 1991 by Charles Saatchi, who sold it in 2004, making Hirst at the time the second most expensive living artist after Jasper Johns.

kitsch

Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)

King John

Apart from entering popular legend as the enemy of Robin Hood, he is perhaps best-known for having acquiesced to seal Magna Carta, a document which limited kingly power in England and which is popularly thought of as an early step in the evolution of limited government.

Pomona

She is a uniquely Roman goddess, never identitified with any Greek counterpart, and was particularly associated with the blossoming of trees versus the harvest. In 19th century statues and building decorations she is usually shown carrying either a large platter of fruit or a cornucopia.

a cat

Her name is also spelled Bast, Ubasti and Baset.

the Lethe (from which we get the word lethargic)

King Arthur

He was a Knight of the Round Table of Arthurian legend. He saw himself as a courageous warrior and would present himself as such. Yet, in reality, he would flee at the slightest provocation. He often battered his own shield so that it appeared that he had been in a fight - telling all that he emerged victorious of course.

an apparatchik

Members of the "apparat" were frequently transferred between different areas of responsibility, usually with little or no actual training for their new areas of responsibility. Thus, the term apparatchik, or "agent of the apparatus" was usually the best possible description of the person's profession and occupation.

Swan Lake

It was composed by Tchaikovsky.

as 'Three Wise Monkeys' of 'see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil'

The three monkeys are Mizaru, covering his eyes, who sees no evil; Kikazaru, covering his ears, who hears no evil; and Iwazaru, covering his mouth, who speaks no evil. Sometimes there is a fourth monkey depicted with the three others; the last one, Shizaru, symbolizes the principle of "do no evil". He may be shown covering his abdomen or genital area, or crossing his arms.

Rembrandt

It is widely believed, because of the fourteen people in the boat, that Rembrandt painted himself in the boat. (twelve disciples, Rembrandt and Jesus).

a formal allowance of time off given by some employers

It can be stipulated formally in a contract of employment and is considered part of the remunerations package along with Holiday allowance. The term has also since become used by people to reference taking a day off work for no normally accepted reason (such as sick, grievance or holiday) even if they have no official "Duvet day" entitlement with their employer.

Pac-Man

a dacha

the Goliards

They were mainly clerical students at the universities of France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and England who protested the growing contradictions within the Church, such as the failure of the Crusades and financial abuses, expressing themselves through song, poetry and performance.

a printer's devil

The origin of printer's devil is not definitively known and there are several origin stories.

the cleaning of the Augean stables, Hercules' fifth labor

The fifth of the Twelve Labours set to Hercules was to clean the Augean stables in a single day. This assignment was intended to be both humiliating and impossible, since the livestock were divinely healthy and therefore produced an enormous quantity of dung. These stables had not been cleaned in over 30 years. However, Hercules succeeded by rerouting the rivers Alpheus and Peneus to wash out the filth.

the Legion of Honor, the highest decoration in France

It is a French order established by Napoleon in 1802.

the pope's

The blessing takes place at each Easter and Christmas celebration in Rome from the central loggia of St. Peter's Basilica.

Jesus Christ

They are the two thieves who were crucified along with Jesus. According to the Gospels, Gestas taunted Jesus about not saving himself, while Dismas asked for mercy. Dismas was saved, and Gestas was not. Gestas was on the cross to the the left of Jesus and Dismas was on the cross to the right of Jesus.

ormolu

Mercury gilding was outlawed from the 19th (in France) or 20th centuries because of its health risks, and electroplating is the most common modern techique. Ormolu techniques are essentially the same as those used on silver, to produce silver-gilt (also known as vermeil).

Groundhog Day

According to folklore, if a groundhog emerging from its burrow on this day fails to see its shadow, it will leave the burrow, signifying that winter will soon end. If on the other hand, the groundhog sees its shadow, the groundhog will supposedly retreat into its burrow, and winter will continue for six more weeks.

Isadora Duncan

Isadora Duncan is considered by many to be the mother of modern dance. Although popular in the United States only in New York later in her life, she performed to acclaim throughout Europe.

Marcel Duchamp

Sélavy emerged in 1921 in a series of photographs by Man Ray of Duchamp dressed as a woman.

the nosebleed section/nosebleed seats

The reference alludes to the propensity for nasal hemorrhage at high altitudes, usually owing to lower barometric pressure.

gentrification

Consequent to gentrification, the average income increases and average family size decreases in the community, which may result in the informal economic eviction of the lower-income residents, because of increased rents, house prices, and property taxes.

the Armory Show

Procrustes

Nobody ever fit the bed exactly because secretly Procrustes had two beds. Procrustes continued his reign of terror until he was captured by Theseus who "fitted" Procrustes to his own bed.

the freeing of slaves

the pound

The symbol derives from capital "L", standing for libra, the basic Roman unit of weight, which is in turn derived from the Latin word for scales or a balance.

limey

The term is believed to derive from lime juice, referring to the Royal Navy and Merchant Navy practice of supplying lime juice to British sailors to prevent scurvy. The benefits of citrus juice were well known at the time thanks to the acute observations of surgeon James Lind who studied the effects of citrus on scurvy in 1747.

Helios, the sun god

Phaeton seeks assurance that his mother, Clymene, is telling the truth that his father is the sun god Helios. When Phaeton obtains his father's promise to drive the sun chariot as proof, he fails to control it and the Earth is in danger of burning up when Phaeton is killed by a thunderbolt from Zeus to prevent further disaster.

the Kilkenny cats

The term Kilkenny cat now refers to anyone who is a tenacious fighter.

De Stijl

Proponents of De Stijl sought to express a new utopian ideal of spiritual harmony and order. They advocated pure abstraction and universality by a reduction to the essentials of form and colour; they simplified visual compositions to the vertical and horizontal directions, and used only primary colors along with black and white.

a person who faces his or her death in a Christ-like manner

Unlike martyrs, passion-bearers are not explicitly killed for their faith, though they hold to that faith with piety and true love of God. Famous passion bearers include the entire Imperial Family of Russia who were murdered by the Bolsheviks in 1918.

at a funeral procession

It follows the caisson carrying the casket in a funeral procession. The custom is believed to date back to the time of Genghis Khan, when a horse was sacrificed to serve the fallen warrior in the next world. The caparisoned horse later came to symbolize a warrior who would ride no more. In the United States, the caparisoned horse is part of the military honors given to an Army or Marine Corps officer who was a colonel or above; this includes the President, by virtue of having been the nation's military commander in chief and the Secretary of Defense, having overseen the armed forces.

premature burial

the Temple of Dendur

The temple was removed from its original site (modern name: Dendur, ancient name: Tuzis, about 80 kilometers south of the town of Aswan) in 1963 in order to save it from being submerged by the construction of the Aswan High Dam.

extra-sensory perception (ESP), most often clairvoyance

Perceptual psychologist Karl Zener designed the cards in the early 1930s for experiments conducted with his colleague, parapsychologist J. B. Rhine.

toby mugs

hands down

a baron

An English Peerage baron is entitled to a coronet bearing six silver balls (or pearls) around the rim. The actual coronet is mostly worn on certain ceremonial occasions, but a baron can bear his coronet of rank on his coat of arms above the shield.

Diego Rivera

Rockefeller asked Rivera to change the face of Lenin to that of an unknown laborer's face as was originally intended but the painter refused. The Rockefeller-Rivera dispute is covered in the films Cradle Will Rock and Frida.

felt

It predates weaving and knitting.

the White Nights Festival

the Tuareg

They are the principal inhabitants of the Saharan interior of North Africa.

On Carey Street

The court moved to Carey Street in the 1840s but the phrase didn't emerge as a synonym for bankrupt until much later.

Prester John (also Presbyter John)

Written accounts of this kingdom are variegated collections of medieval popular fantasy. Reportedly a descendant of one of the Three Magi, Prester John was said to be a generous ruler and a virtuous man, presiding over a realm full of riches and strange creatures, in which the Patriarch of the Saint Thomas Christians resided. His kingdom contained such marvels as the Gates of Alexander and the Fountain of Youth, and even bordered the Earthly Paradise. He was a symbol to European Christians of the Church's universality, transcending culture and geography to encompass all humanity, in a time when ethnic and interreligious tension made such a vision seem distant.

vellum

The manufacture is involved: animal skin is cleaned, stretched on a frame, and scraped with a curved knife. To create tension, scraping is alternated by wetting and drying.

she forgot to ask about eternal youth!

In later tellings of the myth he eventually turned into a cicada, eternally living, but begging for death to overcome him.

they are clogs or a type of shoe/sandal made out of wood

a mural

There are many different styles and techniques. The best-known is probably fresco, which uses water soluble paints with a damp lime wash. Murals of sorts, date to prehistoric times, such as the paintings on the Caves of Lascaux in southern France, but the term became famous with the Mexican "muralista" art movement (Diego Rivera, David Siqueiros, or José Orozco).

the Roma (Gypsy) people

Legend identifies her as the servant of one of the Three Marys, with whom she is supposed to have arrived in the Camargue. The day of the pilgrimage honouring Sarah is May 24; her statue is carried down to the sea on this day to re-enact her arrival in France. Roma participation in pilgrimage and their veneration of Saint Sarah has been recorded since the middle of the 19th century by travellers and parish priests.

furniture making

They were the "big three" English furniture makers of the 18th century.

How is this story immortalized in art?

as The Burghers of Calais, one of the most famous sculptures of Auguste Rodin

One of the wealthiest of the town leaders, Eustache de Saint Pierre, volunteered first and five other burghers soon followed suit and they stripped down to their breeches. Saint Pierre led this envoy of emaciated volunteers to the city gates and it is this moment and this poignant mix of defeat, heroic self-sacrifice and the facing of imminent death that Rodin captures in these figures, which are scaled somewhat larger than life. In history, though the burghers expected to be executed, their lives were spared by the intervention of England's Queen, Philippa of Hainault, who persuaded her husband by saying it would be a bad omen for her unborn child.

Indian giver

a mummy

The Four sons of Horus were a group of four gods in Egyptian religion, who were essentially the personifications of the four canopic jars, which accompanied mummified bodies. Since the heart was thought to embody the soul, it was left inside the body. The brain was thought only to be the origin of mucus, so it was reduced to liquid, syphoned off, and discarded. This left the stomach (and small intestines), liver, large intestines, and lungs, which were removed, embalmed and stored, each organ in its own jar. There were times when embalmers deviated from this scheme: during the 21st Dynasty they embalmed and wrapped the viscera and returned them to the body, while the Canopic jars remained empty symbols.

Finland

There are five million inhabitants and over two million saunas in Finland - an average of one per household. Saunas are an integral part of the way of life in Finland. They are found everywhere: on the shores of Finland's numerous lakes, in private apartments, corporate headquarters, and even from the depths of 1400m (Pyhäsalmi Mine) or the Parliament.

the Grand Guignol

From its opening in 1897 to its closing in 1962, specialized in naturalistic horror shows. The name is often used as a general term for graphic, amoral horror entertainment. The theater owed its name to Guignol, a traditional Lyonnaise puppet character, joining political commentary with the style of Punch and Judy.

This is the origin of the common name of what plant/flower whose scientific name is Myosotis?

a forget-me-not

Other stories exist, but are even less plausible. Nowadays the common Forget Me Not symbolizes true love, and is prized as a garden flower as well as a wildflower. Forget Me Not is the State Flower of Alaska.

Calypso

Athena asked Zeus to spare Odysseus of his torment on the island, as he wanted to go to his homeland. Zeus sent Hermes, the messenger of the Gods, to tell Calypso to release Odysseus. As Zeus was the Lord of the Gods, she was unable to refuse him, although she wished to. The island of Gozo, part of the Maltese archipelago, has a long tradition that links it with the mythical figure of Calypso.

Fauvism

The paintings of the Fauves were characterised by seemingly wild brush work and strident colours, while their subject matter had a high degree of simplification and abstraction.

Toulouse-Lautrec (1864-1901)

Toulouse-Lautrec is known, along with Cezanne, Van Gogh and Gaugin as one of the greatest painters of the Post-Impressionist period.
(Thanks to Sarah B for clarifying that Toulouse-Lautrec is not in the postmodern era. )

a long horizontal jump, starting from one leg and landing on the other

It is most often done forward and usually involves doing full leg splits in mid-air. The front leg brushes straight into the air, as opposed to performing a develope or "unfolding" motion.

Australian Aborigines

The Rainbow Serpent is seen as the inhabitant of permanent waterholes and is in control of life's most precious resource, water. Dreamtime stories tell of the great Spirits during creation, in animal and human form they molded the barren and featureless earth. The Rainbow Serpent came from beneath the ground and created huge ridges, mountains and gorges as it pushed upward.

Cubism

Analytic cubists "analyzed" natural forms and reduced the forms into basic geometric parts on the two-dimensional picture plane. Colour was almost non-existent except for the use of a monochromatic scheme that often included grey, blue and ochre. Synthetic Cubism was the second main branch of Cubism developed by Picasso, Braque, Juan Gris and others between 1912 and 1919. It was seen as the first time that collage had been made as a fine art work.

Australia

The name is believed to be derived from an Indigenous Australian word for head covering.

The Amber Room

It was looted during WWII by Nazi Germany and brought to Konigsberg. Knowledge of its whereabouts was lost in the chaos at the end of the war. Its fate remains a mystery, and the search continues. A reconstructed one was inaugurated in 2003 in the Catherine Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amber_room)

hell/underworld

the Westermarck effect

It was first formally described by anthropologist Edvard Westermarck. The Westermarck effect has since been observed in many places and cultures, including in the Israeli kibbutz system, and the Chinese Shim-pua marriage customs, as well as in biological-related families. Freud argued that as children, members of the same family naturally lust for one another, making it necessary for societies to create incest taboos, but Westermarck argued the reverse, that the taboos themselves arise naturally as products of innate attitudes.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imprinting_(psychology))

happy hour

"Happy hour" entered civilian use around 1960, especially after a Saturday Evening Post article in 1959. Happy hour has become a tradition for many workers, white and blue collar alike.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_hour)

Mrs Grundy

Curiously for so famous a character, Mrs Grundy never actually appears in the play which introduced her.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mrs_Grundy)

Pecos Bill

Pecos Bill was a late addition to the "big man" idea of characters like Paul Bunyan or Iron John. Pecos Bill made the leap to film in the 1948 Disney animated feature Melody Time. Like many tall tales, Pecos Bill stories involve combinations of superhuman feats of courage and prowess.

Mormonism/Latter Day Saint movement

He is an angel that Joseph Smith, Jr. said visited him on numerous occasions, beginning in 1823. The angel was the guardian of the golden plates, which Smith said were buried in a hill near his home in western New York, and which he said were the source material for the Book of Mormon.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_Moroni)

it is a term for those who have memorized the Quran

It literally means 'guardian'.

traditional method of ritual suicide for women

Jigai is the female equivalent of seppuku, the ritual stomach-cutting suicide practiced by Japanese men. Although the term literally means "self damage" and in principle can refer to suicide in general, in practice it normally refers to the ritual suicide of women by the cutting of the jugular vein with a tantō (15-30 cm (6-12 inch) knife) or kaiken (15 cm (6 inch) knife). Often, they would be hidden prior within the sash of their kimono.

the Romance languages

They have more than 700 million native speakers worldwide, mainly in the Americas, Europe, and Africa, as well as many smaller regions scattered throughout the world. The Romance language most widely spoken natively today is Spanish, followed by Portuguese, French, Italian and Romanian.

Constantin Brancusi (1876-1957)

craquelure

The precise pattern of craquelure depends upon where the picture was painted. There appear to be distinct French, Italian and Dutch "styles" of craquelure. Craquelure can furnish a record of the environmental conditions the painting has experienced during its lifetime, and also can reveal details about the painting's history of handling, transportation, and restoration.

Cockaigne

Specifically, in poems like 'The Land of Cockaigne', Cockaigne is a land of contraries, where all the restrictions of society are defied (abbots beaten by their monks), sexual liberty is open, and food is plentiful (skies that rain cheeses). It represented both wish fulfillment and resentment at the strictures of asceticism and dearth.

Our Lady of Guadalupe

It is a 16th century Roman Catholic icon depicting an apparition of the Virgin Mary. It is Mexico's most beloved religious and cultural image. Our Lady of Guadalupe is known in Mexico as "La Virgen Morena", which means "The brown-skinned Virgin". Our Lady of Guadalupe's feast day is celebrated on December 12, commemorating the account of her appearances to Juan Diego on the hill of Tepeyac near Mexico City from December 9 through December 12, 1531.

an incubus

The word is derived from the Latin preposition in, which in this case means on top of, and cubo, which is Latin for "I lie". The word incubo translates into "I lie on top".

Historically in China, Japan and Macedonia, the fishing skills of which bird have been put to good use this way?

the cormorant

In Japan, traditional forms of it can be seen on the Nagara River in the city of Gifu, Gifu Prefecture, where cormorant fishing has continued uninterrupted for 1300 years, or in the city of Inuyama, Aichi. In Guilin, China, cormorant birds are famous for fishing on the shallow Lijiang River. The method is not as common today, since more efficient methods of catching fish have been developed.

the Pierian spring

Pieria, where the sacred spring was situated, was a region of ancient Macedonia, also the location of Mount Olympus, and believed to be the home and the seat of worship of Orpheus and the Muses, the deities of the arts and sciences. The spring is believed to be a fountain of knowledge that inspires whoever drinks from it.

Copts

The Copts are by far the largest Christian community in North Africa and the Middle East. The word "Coptic" was originally used in Classical Arabic to refer to Egyptians in general, but it has undergone semantic shift over the centuries to mean more specifically Egyptian Christian after the bulk of the Egyptian population converted to Islam.

The Book of Kells

It contains the four gospels of the Bible in Latin, along with prefatory and explanatory matter decorated with numerous colourful illustrations and illuminations. Today it is on permanent display at the Trinity College Library in Dublin, Ireland.

the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole

Today, many Native Americans, especially those from other nations, find the "Five Civilized Tribes" label patronizing or racist. When the tribes are discussed together, sometimes the modified label "Five Tribes" is used to avoid the suggestion that other indigenous peoples were savages.

nepotism

The practise of creating cardinal-nephews originated in the Middle Ages, and reached its apex during the 16th and 17th centuries.

penjing

Penjing generally fall into one of three categories depending on what their subject matter is. These categories are Tree Penjing (essentially bonsai), Landscape Penjing, and Water and Land Penjing.

the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (also known as the Pre-Raphaelites)

They were a group of English painters, poets and critics, founded in 1848 by John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and William Holman Hunt whose intention was to reform art by rejecting what they considered to be the mechanistic approach adopted by the Mannerist artists who followed Raphael and Michelangelo. They believed that the Classical poses and elegant compositions of Raphael in particular had been a corrupting influence on academic teaching of art. Hence the name "Pre-Raphaelite". They have been considered the first avant-garde movement in art.

Laos

Archaeologists believe that the jars were used 1,500–2,000 years ago, by an ancient Mon-Khmer race whose culture is now totally unknown. Anthropologists and archeologists have theorized that the jars may have been used as funeral urns or perhaps storage for food. The Plain of Jars remains one of the most dangerous archaeological sites in the world. Unexploded bombs, the results of massive US bombardment during the Secret War (of the Vietnam War), still cause injuries every week.

King Arthur

As the surviving accounts of this battle are all generally little more than legend or myth, some historians doubt this battle even took place.

a gaucho

Like the North American word cowboy, Venezuelan or Colombian llanero, or Chilean huaso, or the Mexican vaquero, the term often connotes the 19th century more than the present day; then gauchos made up the majority of the rural pampas population, herding cattle and practicing agriculture as their main economic activities.

the form of a seal

The legend apparently originated on the Orkney Islands, where selch or selk(ie) is the Scots word for seal. Selkies are able to transform to human form by shedding their seal skins and can revert to seal form by putting their selkie skin back on. Stories concerning selkies are generally romantic tragedies. Sometimes the human will not know that their lover is a selkie, and wakes to find them gone. Other times the human will hide the selkie's skin, thus preventing them from returning to seal form.

it is the second most visited religious center in the world, following the Vatican

The town owes its existence to the sacred temple situated on the Tirumala Hills. Tirumala is the abode of Lord Venkateshwara, one of the incarnations of Lord Vishnu, located atop Seshachala hills often called as "Yaelu Malai" or "Yaedu Kondalu" (seven hills).

Zeus

For that, Zeus ordered him to be chained on top of the Caucasus. Every day an eagle would come and eat his liver, but since Prometheus was immortal, his liver always grew back, so he was left to bear the pain every day.

the Druids

The Druids were polytheists, but also revered elements of nature, such as the sun, the moon, and the stars, looking to them for "signs and seasons". They also venerated other natural elements, such as the oak, certain groves of trees, tops of hills, streams, lakes and even plants, especially mistletoe and holly. Fire was regarded as a symbol of several divinities and was associated with the sun and cleansing.

mermen

The most well-known merman was probably Triton, son of Poseidon and Amphitrite. Although Amphitrite gave birth to a merman, neither Poseidon nor Amphitrite were merfolk, although both were able to live under water as easily as on land. Triton was also known as the Trumpeter of the Sea for his usage of a conch shell.

Billingsgate

pitchforks

The commonly accepted etymology derives warlock from the Old English wǣrloga meaning deceiver, or "oathbreaker".

Anubis

Although the Greeks and Romans typically scorned Egypt's animal-headed gods as bizarre and primitive (they mockingly called Anubis the "Barker"), Anubis was sometimes associated with Sirius in heaven, and Cerberus in hell.

gold and silver

the Taj Mahal

American Gothic

It is one of the most familiar images in 20th century American art. Wood wanted to depict the traditional roles of men and women as the man is holding a pitchfork symbolizing hand labor. Wood referenced late 19th century photography and posed his sitters in a manner reminiscent of early American portraiture.

Who is this artist who went through a 'Blue Period' and a 'Rose Period'?

Pablo Picasso

The Last Supper by Da Vinci

Unlike many other valuable paintings, it has never been privately owned because it cannot be moved easily.

the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia

The vast Hermitage collections are displayed in six buildings, the main one being the Winter Palace which used to be the official residence of the Russian Tsars. International branches of The Hermitage Museum are located in Amsterdam, London, and Las Vegas.

Girl with a Pearl Earring

Popeye

However Popeye has pronounced muscles of the forearm, not of the biceps.

bishaa

If the person undergoing the ritual is found to have a scarred or burnt tongue, it is concluded that he was lying. It is the best-known of various trials by ordeal which are practiced by the Bedouin, which are now dying out.

as the Gemini twins

In Roman mythology they are the twin sons of Leda and the brothers of Helen of Troy and Clytemnestra. They are called the Dioscuri, meaning the "youths of Zeus".

totem poles

doing live performances to entertain people, usually to solicit donations

the number four

This is because the Chinese word for 4 sounds nearly the same as the word for death. Mobile telephone numbers with 4 in them sell for less and some buildings even skip level four, labeling it the 5th floor instead. One of the Japanese words for 4, shi, is also homonymous with the kanji in the word for death, shi of shinu. In Korea, number '4' is pronounced as sa and is homonymous with the word for death. Some, but not all, Korean buildings have the fourth floor written as 'F' floor.

Mr. Yuk

The Mr. Yuk symbol has been used as a replacement for the traditional skull-and-crossbones (a.k.a. Jolly Roger) warning label for poison. This is because some young children are thought to associate this symbol with pirates and therefore may misinterpret it as an invitation to ingest the poison.

"Turn on, tune in, drop out"

It is an excerpt from a prepared speech he delivered at the opening of a press conference in New York City on September 19, 1966. This phrase urged people to initiate cultural changes through the use of psychedelics and by detaching themselves from the existing conventions and hierarchies in society. A common misunderstanding of the phrase, by people not familiar with the context in which it was first said, is that 'turn on, tune in, drop out' refers to 'turn on to drugs, tune in to the counterculture, and drop out of job/society/school.

scrimshaw

It is most commonly made out of the bones and teeth of Sperm Whales, the baleen of other whales, and the tusks of walruses. It takes the form of elaborate carvings in the form of pictures and lettering on the surface of the bone or tooth, with the engravings highlighted using a pigment, or small sculptures made from the same material. The making of scrimshaw began on whaling ships between 1817 to 1824 on the Pacific Ocean, and survived until the ban on commercial whaling.

a qanat

The technology is known to have developed in ancient Persia, and then spread to other cultures, especially along the Silk Road as far east as China as well as by Arabic cultures as far west as Morocco and the Iberian Peninsula. Traditionally qanats are built by a group of skilled laborers, muqannîs, with hand labor. The profession historically paid well and was typically handed down from father to son.

Las Meninas

Luca Giordano, the influential Italian late Baroque painter, said of Las Meninas that it was, itself, the "theology of painting" and Thomas Lawrence, the English painter said that it incarnates the philosophy of art.

the keffiyeh

The keffiyeh is almost always of white cotton cloth, but many have a checkered pattern in red or black stitched into them. The plain, white keffiyeh is most popular in the Gulf states, almost excluding any other style in Kuwait and Bahrain. The keffiyeh also became a trademark symbol of Yasser Arafat, who was rarely seen without his peculiarly arranged black-and-white scarf.

the Golden Temple

the Wandering Jew

A variety of names have been given to the Wandering Jew, including Melmoth, Ahasuerus, Matathias, Buttadeus, Cartophilus, Isaac Laquedem, and Juan Espera a Dios and also Jerusalemin suutari ("Shoemaker of Jerusalem" in Finnish).

What expression for a costly burden originated from this incident?

a white elephant

The metaphor was popularized in the United States after New York Giants manager John McGraw told the press that Philadelphia businessman Benjamin Shibe had "bought himself a white elephant" by acquiring the Philadelphia Athletics baseball team in 1901. The Athletics manager Connie Mack subsequently selected the elephant as the team symbol and mascot. The team is occasionally referred to as the White Elephants.

an actor onstage speaking to the audience directly

The term originated from Bertolt Brecht's theory of "epic theatre" that he developed from (and in contrast to) Konstantin Stanislavski's drama theory. Most often, the fourth wall is broken through a character directly addressing the audience, although the same effect can be achieved by breaking character, through dialogue, or by the characters interacting with objects outside the context of the work (e.g. a character is handed a prop by a stage hand).

Liberty Leading the People

A woman personifying Liberty leads the people forward over the bodies of the fallen, holding the tricolore flag of the French Revolution in one hand and brandishing a bayonetted musket with the other.

the diarrhea suffered when travelling to foreign parts

Montezuma was Emperor of Mexico, 1502-20. The sickness, more formally called "traveller's diarrhea", is usually caused by drinking unsterilised water or eating spicy food that visitors aren't accustomed to. It is a bacteriological illness, always uncomfortable, and occasionally serious. Most cases are caused by E. coli. The revenge element of the phrase alludes to countries that were previously colonized by stronger countries and are now, in this small way, getting their own back.

the deerstalker

In Arthur Conan Doyle's stories Holmes is never actually described as wearing a deerstalker. The public perception of Holmes as a "deerstalker man" was derived from the original illustrations for the stories by Sidney Paget, Frederic Dorr Steele and others. The deerstalker is not the appropriate headgear for the properly-dressed urban gentleman and Paget and the other illustrators who portrayed Holmes in a deerstalker always placed him in the proper setting for such attire (i.e., operating in a rural outdoor setting).

the bikini from Bikini Atoll

The modern bikini was invented by French engineer Louis Réard and fashion designer Jacques Heim in Paris in 1946.

qat

Qat is so popular in Yemen that its cultivation consumes much of the country's agricultural resources. In 1980 the World Health Organization classified qat as a drug of abuse that can produce mild to moderate psychological dependence. The plant has been targeted by anti-drug organizations like the DEA.

jeans

The French phrase is bleu de Gênes, literally the blue of Genoa. Jeans fabric, or denim, originated independently in two places: the French town of Nîmes, from which 'denim' gets its name; and in India, where trousers made of denim material were worn by the sailors of Dhunga, which came to be known as dungarees.

Coco Chanel (1883-1971)

Her modernist philosophy, menswear-inspired fashions, and pursuit of expensive simplicity made her arguably the most important figure in the history of 20th-century fashion.

a matryoshka doll, also known as a Russian nesting doll or a babushka doll

The word "matryoshka" is derived from the Russian female first name "Matryona". The word "babushka" is the Russian word for grandmother.

Lady Godiva

The name "peeping Tom" for a voyeur comes from later versions of this legend in which a man named Tom watched her ride and was stricken blind.

bespoke

Hence a tailor who makes clothes individually, to one's specific personal requirements, is called "bespoke". This is unlike “made-to-measure”, which simply uses a basic, pre-existing template pattern. Bespoke has its roots in Savile Row, where a customer would speak for a measure of cloth. A bolt chosen by one customer was not available for anyone else until the entire suit had been cut out and assembled.

Roy Lichtenstein (1923–1997)

His work borrowed heavily from popular advertising and comic book styles, which he himself described as being "as artificial as possible".

What expression for a thrilling situation originates from this practice?

an E ticket ride

a caryatid

The Greek term karyatides literally means "maidens of Karyai", an ancient town of Peloponnese.

Borough English

The origin of the custom of Borough English has been much disputed.

Manneken Pis

There are several legends behind this statue, but the most famous is the one about Duke Godfried II of Brabant. In 1142, the troops of this two-year-old lord were battling against the troops of the Berthouts, the lords of Grimbergen, in Ransbeke. The troops put the infant lord in a basket and hung it in a tree, to encourage them. From there, he urinated on the troops of the Berthouts, who eventually lost the battle.

a strikebreaker

Blackleg Miner is a 19th Century English folk song and the lyrics depict the aggressive stance against strikebreakers adopted by collectivised strikers - the term blackleg being an older word for scab. The UK miners' strike (1984-1985) saw striking miners using the song to intimidate those who continued to work.

West End

West End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre in London, or sometimes more specifically for shows staged in the large theatres of London's "Theatreland". Seeing a West End show is a common tourist activity in London.

hackers

The original Jargon File was a collection of hacker slang from technical cultures such as the MIT AI Lab, the Stanford AI Lab (SAIL), and others of the old ARPANET communities.

a serpent or dragon swallowing its own tail and forming a circle

Transcendental Meditation or TM

During the 1960s and early 1970s the TM Movement became seen as part of the then current "counter-culture" phenomenon, at which time a number of celebrities learned TM. Celebrity students at that time included The Beatles and The Beach Boys.

it is the direction that should be faced when praying

The qibla is the direction of the Kaaba in Mecca.

nihilism

Nihilism is often associated with Friedrich Nietzsche, though Nietzsche explicitly repudiated it. Another prominent philosopher who has written on the subject is Martin Heidegger who argued that "[the term] nihilism has a very specific meaning. What remains unquestioned and forgotten in metaphysics is being; and hence, it is nihilistic."

the Thatcher effect or Thatcher illusion

It is named after British former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher on whose photograph the effect has been most famously demonstrated. This was originally created by Peter Thompson, who is a senior lecturer at the University of York, England. This is thought to be due to specific psychological processes involved in face perception which are tuned especially to upright faces.

a statement by a potential candidate that they will never run for election to an office

The term derives from the Sherman pledge, a remark made by American Civil War General William Tecumseh Sherman when he was being considered as a possible Republican candidate for the presidential election of 1884. He declined, saying "If drafted, I will not run; if nominated, I will not accept; if elected, I will not serve."

The Villa Savoye

The house was emblematic of Le Corbusier's work in that it addressed "The Five Points", his basic tenets of a new aesthetic of architecture constructed in reinforced concrete.

Tajitu

The term Taijitu itself refers to any of several schematic diagrams representing these principles.

Tin Pan Alley

Tin Pan Alley was originally a specific place, West 28th Street between Broadway and Sixth Avenue in Manhattan. The start of Tin Pan Alley is usually dated to about 1885, when a number of music publishers set up shop in the same district of Manhattan but its end is unclear.

pekingese

These dogs are also called Dogs of Foo (or Fu) by the Chinese and they were considered a guardian spirit as they resembled Chinese lions. Interestingly, the lion is not indigenous to China. When Buddhist travelers, probably out to trade, brought stories about lions to China, Chinese sculptors modeled statues of lions after the travelers' descriptions--and after native dogs, since no one in China had seen a lion with his or her own eyes. The mythic version of the animal was originally introduced to Han China as the Buddhist protector of dharma.

Dante in front of the gates of hell, pondering his great poem

More than any other Rodin sculpture, The Thinker moved into the popular imagination, as an immediately recognizable icon of intellectual activity; consequently it has been subject to endless satirical use.

a cenotaph

The word derives from the Greek words kenos, one meaning being "empty" and taphos, "tomb". Although the vast majority of cenotaphs are erected in honour of specific individuals, many of the best-known cenotaphs are instead dedicated to the memories of groups of individuals, such as the war dead of one specific country or empire. Probably the best-known cenotaph in the modern world is the one that stands in Whitehall, London.

a southpaw

The first use of the term is credited to Finley Peter Dunne. However, the Oxford English Dictionary lists a non-baseball citation for "south paw", meaning a punch with the left hand, as early as 1848, just three years after the first organized baseball game. In boxing, someone who boxes left-handed is frequently referred to as southpaw.

Sri Lanka

The relic has played an important role in the local politics since ancient times, it's believed that whoever holds the relic holds the governance of the country, which caused the ancient kings to protect it with great effort. Kandy was the capital of the Sinhalese Kings from 1592 to 1815, fortified by the terrain of the mountains and the difficult approach. The city is a world heritage site declared by UNESCO, in part due to the temple.

one who has bodily marks or sensations of pain in locations corresponding to the crucifixion wounds of Jesus

The causes of stigmata are the subject of considerable debate. Some contend that they are miraculous, while others argue they are hoaxes or can be explained medically. Stigmata are primarily associated with the Roman Catholic faith.

Vincent van Gogh

Theo was an art dealer who admired his elder brother Vincent and supported him throughout his life.

Asgard

It should not be confused with Valhalla, which is Odin's hall located in Asgard.

nails by which Christ was fastened to the cross

Gadzooks is usually said to be an alteration of God’s hooks. According to a BBC website, the word 'Gadzooks' can be traced to the literature of the late 17th Century.

Shambhala

It is mentioned in various ancient texts, including the Kalachakra Tantra and the ancient texts of the Zhang Zhung culture which pre-dated Tibetan Buddhism in western Tibet.

the devil's advocate

The Devil's advocate was opposed by God's advocate, whose job was to make the argument in favor of canonization. The office was established in 1587 during the reign of Pope Sixtus V and was abolished by Pope John Paul II in 1983. This abolition streamlined the canonization process considerably, helping John Paul II to usher in an unprecedented number of elevations: nearly 500 individuals were canonized and over 1,300 were beatified during his tenure as Pope as compared to only 98 canonizations by all his 20th-century predecessors.

pearl

amethyst

Amethyst is the purple variety of quartz, its chemical formula is SiO2 and it is the birthstone associated with February. The Greek word "amethystos" basically can be translated as "not drunken."

beatings on the soles of the feet

This torture is effective due to the clustering of nerve endings in the feet and the structure of the foot, with its numerous small bones and tendons.

the Styx

Legends state that Achilles was killed in battle by an arrow to the heel, and so an Achilles' heel has come to mean a person's only weakness.

Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510)

His work has been seen to represent the linear grace of Early Renaissance painting, and The Birth of Venus and Primavera rank now among the most familiar masterpieces of Florentine art.

the color titian from Titian

Recognized by his contemporaries as "the sun amidst small stars" (recalling the famous final line of Dante's Paradiso), Titian (1485-1576) was one of the most versatile of Italian painters, equally adept with portraits and landscapes (two genres that first brought him fame), mythological and religious subjects.

The Persistence of Memory

It is quite possibly the most famous painting by artist Salvador Dalí and it is currently displayed in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, where it has been since 1934.

Islam

It is the second-largest religion in the world today, with an estimated 1.4 billion adherents.

guerilla

It is a method of warfare in which small groups of combatants attempt to use mobile and surprise tactics (ambushes, raids, etc) to defeat a foe, often a larger, less mobile, army.

a sybarite from Sybaris

a walking stick

'Penang Lawyer' was made famous by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in his book 'The Hound of the Baskervilles'. It is made of a fine thick piece of wood, and is bulbous-headed and was just such a stick the old-fashioned family practitioner used to carry – exuding dignity, solidity and reassurance.

the Incas

the ibis

The Sacred Ibis was also an object of religious veneration in ancient Egypt, particularly associated with the god, Thoth.

Mardi Gras

It is the day before Ash Wednesday, and is also called "Shrove Tuesday" or "Pancake Day". It is the final day of Carnival and is a celebration that is held just before the beginning of the Christian liturgical season of Lent.

the centaurs

This half-human and half-animal composition has led many writers to treat them as liminal beings, caught between the two natures, embodied in contrasted myths, and as the embodiment of untamed nature.

Grandma Moses (1860-1961)

She is most often cited as an example of an individual successfully beginning a career in the arts at an advanced age.

beatnik

It has evolved into a media stereotype that borrowed the most superficial aspects of the Beat Generation literary movement of the 1950s to present a distorted, cartoon-like misrepresentation of the real-life people found in Jack Kerouac's autobiographical fiction.

shouting "Geronimo!" during jumps

Who was this unfortunate fellow?

Tantalus

It is from this story that the word 'tantalizing' comes.