Curio Cabinet

Et Tu Brutè? Brutus, one of the men who assassinated Julius Caesar, was briefly featured on Roman coins. Today, they remain some of the rarest finds in Roman archaeology, and one of them just sold for a staggering $2 million. The story of Marcus Junius Brutus was immortalized in Shakespeare’s play, Julius Caesar, in which the Roman politician conspired to kill the not-so-immortal Caesar. When Caesar speaks the line, “Et Tu Brutè?” (Latin for “You too, Brutus?” and thought by some to be his actual last words) in the play, he is expressing both shock and dismay at his former ally. But the real-life Brutus wasn’t merely an ally to Caesar. For years, Brutus was Caesar’s protégé, admiring him as a political and military leader. Yet, in the years leading up to 44 B.C.E., when Caesar was assassinated, Brutus became greatly disillusioned by the former’s growing political ambitions.
 
Brutus was descended from Lucius Junius Brutus, whom many credited for overthrowing the tyrannical kings who once ruled Rome, paving the way for the founding of the Roman Republic. To his shock, Brutus saw Caesar quickly fashioning himself into the next king of Rome, going against the principles of the Republic and the ideals that Brutus himself stood for. As a senator and politician, Brutus greatly opposed Caesar’s rise to power but could do little to prevent it. Eventually, he joined a growing contingent of Roman senators who were plotting Caesar’s assassination. When Caesar declared himself “dictator-for-life” after eliminating the last of the military opposition to his rule, the senators invited him to a senate meeting at the Theater of Pompey. There, Brutus stabbed Caesar and watched as other senators followed suit. Brutus fought against Mark Antony and Octavian in the ensuing civil war and, following a defeat at their hands in 42 B.C.E., he committed suicide, as was Roman custom. However, during a brief period between the assassination and his own death, Brutus minted gold and silver coins bearing his own image. Due to the short period in which they were issued, the coins were relatively scarce, and few surviving examples remain. The recently-sold example is made of gold and features the image of Brutus wreathed in a laurel on one side. On the other side are symbols of military victory. It seems those designs might have been a little optimistic and premature.

It’s really not as scary as it sounds. The Black Forest region of Germany is known for its picturesque landscape and traditional crafts. During the holiday season, German Christmas markets (or Christkindlmarkts) around the world are filled with hand-carved wooden toys and figurines from the region, and Black Forest ham is a beloved culinary delight throughout the year. However, there’s more to this historic, wooded area than just toys and food. The people living there have proudly retained distinct cultural practices that make the region unique.
 
Located in the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg, the Black Forest is called Schwarzwald in German, though it went by other names in the past. The ancient Romans once associated the area with Abnoba Mons, a mountain range named after a Celtic deity. The earliest written record of the Black Forest also comes from the Romans, in the form of the Tabula Peutingeriana, a medieval copy of a Roman map that detailed the empire’s public road system. In it, the Black Forest is called Silva Marciana, which means “border forest,” in reference to the Marcomanni ("border people") who lived near Roman settlements in the area. The Black Forest today consists of 2,320 square miles of heavily forested land that stretches around 100 miles long and up to 25 miles wide. It contains the sources of both the Danube and Neckar rivers, and the area was historically known for its rich pastureland. Of course, the true stars of the Black Forest are the trees that define the region. The forests of Schwarzwald are mainly known for their oak, beech, and fir trees, the latter of which gives the region its name. Unsurprisingly, lumber production was historically a large part of the Black Forest’s economy, along with mining.
 
The Black Forest’s history of woodworking and woodcraft goes back centuries. Arguably the most famous craft to come out of the forest is the cuckoo clock, which was invented some time in the 17th century. As their name implies, cuckoo clocks typically feature a small, carved bird that emerges from above the clock face to mark the arrival of each hour with a call or song. More elaborate clocks sometimes have a set of dancers that circle in and out of a balcony in time to the sound. Most cuckoo clocks are carved out of wood to resemble houses, cabins, beer halls, or other traditional structures, with a scene of domestic or village life around it. While many modern cuckoo clocks use an electronic movement to keep time, mechanical versions using weights and pendulums are still being made. The weights that power the movement are often made to resemble pine cones, and users need only pull down on them periodically to keep the clock ticking. There are a limitless variety of cuckoo clock designs, and there are still traditional craftsmen making them by hand. The Black Forest is also known for wood carved figurines and sculptures, many of which served as children’s toys. Wood carving as an industry first gained traction in the 19th century, when drought and famine forced locals to seek alternative sources of income, but it is now a cherished part of the region’s culture.
 
Today, the Black Forest is still home to many woodworkers. The region is also a popular destination for outdoor enthusiasts, thanks to its many hiking trails and immense natural beauty. Towns in and around the Black Forest feature traditional, pastoral architecture and growing art scenes, where artists take inspiration from local traditions and landscapes. All those clocks, and they still manage to stay timeless.

 
[Image description: A section of the northern Black Forest with thin pine trees. Credit & copyright: Leonhard Lenz, Wikimedia Commons. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.

There’s nothing worse than a hot lead on a cold case turning out to be a dud. Researchers conducting a deep-water search in the Pacific Ocean earlier this year discovered what they believed to be Amelia Earhart’s crashed airplane. However, their hopes were recently crushed. The search for Earhart’s plane was being conducted by Deep Sea Vision (DSV), a firm based out of South Carolina that uses sonar to scan the depths. Back in January, they announced the discovery of what appeared to be a plane-shaped object 16,400 feet below the surface at a site around 100 miles from Howland Island. Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan, were supposed to make a refueling stop on the island in 1937, but they never reached their destination. Instead, they vanished without a trace, and the pair was declared dead in 1939. The U.S. government concluded that they had crashed into the ocean after running out of fuel.
 
Not everyone has been satisfied with this explanation. The famed aviator’s disappearance has been the subject of much speculation and even conspiracy theories. Some believe that Earhart and Noonan might have made their way to an uninhabited island where they survived for some time, while more outlandish theories suggest that Earhart was actually a spy for the U.S. government and was captured by the Japanese. When DVS discovered an object so close to Howland Island shaped like Earhart’s famous Lockheed 10-E Electra aircraft, it seemed like a breakthrough in piecing together her ultimate fate. Unfortunately, further probing performed in November found the object to be nothing more than a pile of rocks that happened to be arranged in the shape of the plane’s distinct silhouette. As DSV’s CEO Tony Romeo told CNN, “Talk about the cruelest formation ever created by nature.” As Shakespeare once wrote, “Most detestable rocks, by thee beguiled. By cruel, cruel thee quite overthrown!”