Here is a scan of a 30 Pfennig postahge stamp of Germany depicting the image of Cleopatra VI, issued on 12 January 1984. The offset-printed issue had a circulation of 14.5 million stamps. The image used for the stamp was the photo of the marlbe head of Cleopatra VI, the last Pharao of Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt (30-40 BC), from the Altes Museum Berlin (Berliner Museumsinsel). The photo of the original marble figure is below:
Public Domain Image: Simson, an der Hochzeitstafel das Rätsel aufgebend (a 1638 painting depicting Samson's marriage feast in which he delivers the puzzle), oil on canvas painting by Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (1606-1669), dimensions 126.5 cm x 175.5 cm, located at the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden, Germany.
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When Samson (also spelled as Shimshon, Simson, Shamshoun or Sampson) grows up to adulthood, he leaves his hills people to see the cities of the Philistines, where he falls in love with a Philistine woman and he decides to marry her. On the way to her house to ask for the woman's hand in marriage, Samson is attacked by a lion but he easily grabs it and rips it apart as he is blessed with divine powers, and reaches the Philistine's house and wins her hand in marriage. On his way to the wedding, Samson notices that bees have nested in the carcass of the lion and have made honey. He drinks some honey and gives some to his parents. At the wedding feast, Samson offers the puzzle, "Out of the eater, something to eat; out of the strong, something sweet", to his thirty Philistine groomsmen, and promises them thirty pieces of fine linen and garments, if they can solve it. The puzzle relates to his eating honey, on his second encounter with the lion (carcass). Failed and infuriated, the 30 Philistines tell Samson's wife to discover the answer and tell them, and threatens to burn her and her father's household if she does not do so. On the tearful imploring of his bride, Samson tells her the solution, which she reveals to the thirty groomsmen.
PD Image: Scan of a postage stamp issued by the German postal department, ‘Deutschen Bundespost’ in 1988
PD Image: Trial of the Jews of Trent, manuscript (handwritten on paper) of 1478, from Trent, Germany. Repository: Yeshiva University Museum, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011, USA. Copy Rights Information: No known copyright restrictions; may be subject to third party rights.
‘Trial of the Jews of Trent’ was consequential to the disappearance of Simon, son of Andreas Unverdosben, a cobbler or tanner in Trent, Germany. According to reports, ‘the harmonious relations between the Christians and the Jews in Trent had excited the anger of the semi demented Franciscan friar Bernardinus of Feltre, who was a son of a notorious enemy of the Jews.’ In his sermons he predicted that at the next Jewish Passover a ritual murder would occur, and Simon, a twenty-eight months old child, disappeared on March 23, 1475.”
On the eve of Easter Monday, March 26, the body of a child was found in the river near the house of Samuel, the head of the community, who along with others hastened to notify the bishop. But Samuel and others were arrested. Rumors were spread by another person that the Jews use the blood of Christians for ritual purposes at the Passover.
On the story, historian Ronnie Po-chia Hsia wrote, "On Easter Sunday 1475, the dead body of a 2-year-old Christian boy named Simon was found in the cellar of a Jewish family's house in Trent, Italy. Town magistrates arrested 18 Jewish men and five Jewish women on the charge of ritual murder - the killing of a Christian child in order to use his blood in Jewish religious rites. In a series of interrogations that involved liberal use of judicial torture, the magistrates obtained the confessions of the Jewish men. Eight were executed in late June, and another committed suicide in jail".
Seventeen Jews were forced to confess under torture, and 15 including Samuel, were burned at the stake. Meanwhile, Simon became the focus of veneration for the local Catholic Church. Bishop, Hinderbach of Trent, tried to have Simon canonized. “Over one hundred miracles were directly attributed to Saint Simon within a year of his disappearance, and his cult spread across Italy, Austria and Germany.” The 'saint' Simon was eventually considered a martyr and a patron of kidnap and torture victims.
Photo: Hansel and Gretel in the Fairy Garden in Ludwigsburg, Germany, photo by Immanuel Giel, taken on 22 June 2006.
Hansel and Gretel is a fairy tale of German origin, the story of a young brother and sister duo who discover a house of candy and cake in the forest and a child-devouring witch. The story is of immense popular interest and often found in books, films, theater, arts, theme parks, etc. The story of Hansel and Gretel is often found in school text books too. Almost similar stories on characters reminiscent of Hansel and Gretel can be found in local folklore throughout the world.
Image: Tiger (1912), oil painting on canvas by German expressionist painter and printmaker Franz Marc (1880-1916), dimensions 109 cm x 99 cm, located at Sammlung Bernhard Koehler, Berlin, Germany.
Image: Pomona (1898), oil on canvas painting, dimensions 81 cm x 42 cm, located at Städtische Galerie im Prinz Max-Palais, Karlsruhe, Germany.
Image: Liegender weiblicher Akt (Reclining Female), 1872-73 oil on canvas painting by German realist painter Wilhelm Trübner (1851-1917), dimensions 61 cm x 72 cm, located at Galerie Neue Meister, Dresden, Germany.
Image: Im liebesgarten (In the love garden) 1899, source; http://www.archive.org/stream/diekunstmonatshe23mnuoft#page/228/mode/2up
Image: Stehender Rückenakt (Standing back act), 1898 oil on board painting, dimensions 101 cm x 40.8 cm, Mr. & Mrs. Trubner, Bellevue (Washington).
Photo: Corpse Flower (Amorphophallus titanum) in Wilhelma Botanical and Zoological Gardens Stuttgart, Germany - photo dated October 20, 2005 by Lothar Grünz.
The interesting news of thousands of residents of Tokyo queuing up to view a rare flower known as the Corpse Flower, also known as Titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum), came after such flowerings of the plants cultivated in botanical gardens in Berkeley and Houston, USA. The rare flower of the plant drew in thousands of visitors because it bloomed after about 20 years.
The Corpse Flower emits the stench of rotten dead bodies (and hence the name) but it is quite gorgeous to look at. It is the largest unbranched inflorescence in the world. The distinction of the largest single flower goes to Rafflesia arnoldii, and largest branched inflorescence in the plant kingdom belongs to the Talipot palm (Corypha umbraculifera).
Both Titan arum and Rafflesia arnoldii are natives of Indonesia, mainly found in the tropical rain forests of Sumatra, and both share the common name Corpse Flower (bunga bangkai in Indonesian - bunga means flower and bangkai means corpse or cadaver). Flowers of the category Carrion flowers or stinking flowers generally emit an odor that smells like rotting flesh to attract mostly scavenging flies and beetles as pollinators.
Many plants in the genus Amorphophallus are carrion flowers. Titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum) presents an inflorescence or compound flower composed of a spadix or stalk of small and anatomically reduced male and female flowers, surrounded by a spathe that resembles a single giant petal.
Photo: Sculpture of Leda and Swan (Leda und Schwan) in Baroque garden in Ludwigsburg, Germany, photo by Immanuel Giel taken on 22 June 2006.
Ludwigsburg Palace, located in the city of Ludwigsburg 12 kilometers (7.5 miles) north of Stuttgart's city center, is one of Germany's largest Baroque palaces featuring an enormous baroque garden. According to Venetian adventurer and author Giacomo Casanova (who is better known as a womanizer that his name remains synonymous with the art of seduction), the Palace was one of the most magnificent courts in Europe in the 18th century.
Photo: Venus and Amor (1640), ivory sculpture by Adam Lenckhardt (1610-1661), from the collection Kunstkammer Würth, Sammlung Würth (Inv. 3680), photographed by Andreas Praefcke at the Bode-Museum Berlin in 2007.
Photo: Schlosspark Statue (Germany): Adam and Eve, photo taken on 25 October 2009.
The Botanical Garden in Berlin (Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum Berlin-Dahlem) with an area of 43 hectares, home to around 22,000 different species of exotic plants brought in from erstwhile German colonies is one of the most important gardens in the world. Located in Dahlem neighborhood of the borough of Steglitz-Zehlendorf, it was constructed between 1897 and 1910 under the supervision of architect Adolf Engler.
Now, being a part of the Free University of Berlin, the Botanical Museum complex, with a large herbarium and a large scientific library, consists of several buildings and glasshouses, such as the Cactus Pavilion and the Pavilion Victoria, and its arboretum is spread over 14 hectares. The Great Pavilion, the largest glasshouse in the world, is a 25-meter tall steel structure covered by glass with floor area of width 30 meters and length 60 meters, with a constant temperature level at 30 °C and high air humidity.
The Young Girl (Junges Mädchen), a bronze sculpture by German sculptor Fritz Klimsch (1870-1960) located at the Botanical Garden in Berlin (Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum Berlin-Dahlem), which is one of the most important gardens in the world, spread over an area of 43 hectares with around 22,000 different plant species (photo taken on 2 September 2006). Permission to reuse this photo: This is NOT a public domain photo, but Axel Mauruszat, © the copyright holder allows anyone to use it for any purpose, provided the copyright holder is properly attributed. Redistribution, derivative work, commercial use, and all other uses are permitted.
Bronze sculpture, ‘Young Girl’ (Junges Mädchen) by German sculptor Fritz Klimsch (1870-1960) at the Botanical Garden in Berlin (Botanischer Garten und Botanisches Museum Berlin-Dahlem), which is considered one of the most important gardens in the world, with an area of 43 hectares and around 22,000 different plant species. The photo was taken on 2 September 2006 by Axel Mauruszat. Permission to reuse this photo: This is NOT a public domain photo, but Axel Mauruszat, © ‘the copyright holder of this file allows anyone to use it for any purpose, provided that the copyright holder is properly attributed. Redistribution, derivative work, commercial use, and all other uses are permitted’.
Scan of painting: ‘Moorish Woman Leaving the Bath in the Seraglio’ (1854) painting by French painter Theodore Chasseriau, oil on canvas, 67 cm x 54 cm, located in Musée des Beaux-Arts, Strasbourg, Germany.
Image: Sarah presenting Hagar to Abraham (1699) by Dutch painter Adriaen van der Werff (1659-1722), oil on canvas, size 76.3 cm x 61 cm, located at Staatsgalerie, Schleissheim, Germany.
Verteidigung einer Sabinerin (1886), inspired by the legend of Romulus and Remus, is a larger than life bronze statue in the neo-baroque style created by the Berlin sculptor Joseph Uphues. It was commissioned by Philipp Schoeller for his garden. Now the statue is located in Stadtpark, Düren, Germany.
Romulus and Remus are the twin founders of Rome, according to the traditional myth. They are fathered by Mars or the demigod Hercules on a royal Vestal Virgin, Rhea Silvia, whose uncle leaves them to die in the wild. The twins are found by a she-wolf who suckles and takes care of them and eventually they attract many followers and decide to found a new city.
Romulus wishes to build the new city on the Palatine Hill, but Remus prefers the Aventine Hill. They agree to determine the site through augury. Romulus seems to receive more favorable signs but each of the twins claims the results in his favor and in the dispute, Romulus kills Remus. Romulus builds and names the new city Rome, after his name.
Photo: Psyche, sculpture by Danish/Icelandic sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770-1844) in Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany
Image: The Gypsy Girl, Summer (1868), by French painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), oil painting, 85 cm x 59 cm, currently in Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Germany. This is another Renoir painting for which Lise Tréhot, mistress of Renoir, modeled.
