"Such a strange medieval" or some very interesting facts about the art of the time. Part 2

Whatever era you did not learn, it will always be a lot of interesting and strange. But if disassemble the Middle Ages, it is perhaps the most bizarre milestone in the history of mankind in general. In the last part of the article we told you a few things about the art of the time, but if you thought that on this we stop the deeply mistaken.

The second part of this article, we decided to make you happy has some interesting moments from the world of art of the Middle Ages.

"And you had planted on his spear my snail?"

One of the strangest things that the monks liked to draw on the fields in the books, it's fierce battles between knights and snails. Between the 13th and 14th centuries illustrate and complete the picture, which depicted the knights in full uniform, valiantly fought with snails have become very strange way, more and more spread. "You almost can always see such a very strange illustrations in the margins of Gothic manuscripts. And keep in mind that these images are everywhere. They are everywhere, gentlemen! "- said one scientist. No one fully understood why the monks painted such pictures, but, despite this, many scientists have tried to understand their meaning or secret meaning.

They have studied every idea that comes to mind. Some believe that the fight against snails - this is a kind of allegory of the social struggle, discrimination, or a desperate man's struggle with the inevitable death - and it all fits, but there is an easier explanation. Be a monk in the 14th century is incredibly boring. If you had to spend his time, and, to be more precise, a lot of time to copy the Bible by hand, you probably would have started to draw some pretty strange things.

"Who instructed Moses horns?"

For a long time people had the strange habit to paint a picture, which depicted Moses with horns growing out of his head. Despite the fact that it was too infernal trick too is the guy who led the Jews out of Egypt, through the years of Moses inexplicably portrayed exclusively with horns. So did even Michelangelo. And no, it was not done by the fact that people wanted to put Moses in a bad light or something like that. It's simple. They actually thought that the guy really had horns.

In most versions of the Bible says that when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments, his face was "shining". But the original Hebrew word for "Keren" can mean either "beam of light" or "horn". Thus, the Bible is actually could be said that Moses had horns. In the Middle Ages a copy of the Bible was published, which stated that Moses descended with horns on his head. It sounds crazy, but some people still think that this is the correct translation. So, who knows, maybe the old artists were right. Perhaps Moses really was a little horny.

Mary Magdalene and this ticklish problem of hair removal

When the Gothic artists painted Mary Magdalene, they made it look like a Bigfoot, only with attractive face. Maria on their drawings look as if the last few years every night taking a bath with shampoo for baldness. Yes, the whole body of a woman who loved Jesus, was covered with thick, silky curls. Again, it was not a strange medieval fetish for hairy women. They really thought that it all had to be in reality.

Finally, in the later works of the monks went so far that the whole magnificent breasts Mary was covered with beautiful thick silky goat hair. According to legend, Mary Magdalene completely renounced all earthly cares after Jesus' death. She stopped to bathe and change clothes, and, in the end, her clothes had become so shabby that it simply rotted away.

That she roamed the world naked, with Magdalene happened is a miracle, and her body began to grow hair. Rest of his life Mary wandered through the world, like a naked Georgian who drove the truck. And this image of Mary Magdalene, according to the Gothic artists were quite beautiful and exciting.

"Oh, kill me, I'll sing!"

Medieval art often was filled with violence. But, no matter how horrible someone's death, the victim looked very bored. There are paintings, which depicted the people slaughtered with a knife, whose skull is sticking a dagger, or which cut off a limb with an ax. However, each such picture the victim looks like she is struggling to hold back a yawn. The theory is that all this is connected with the medieval concept of "Ars moriendi" - the art of dying, which was associated with restraint. Death, in their opinion, was a moral test. If a person is crying, cursing or yelling, it meant that he would go to hell. But, if a man could spend his last moments smiling or frankly bored, it meant that he would go to heaven. A very strange concept, is not it? How can you smile when you kill?