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Bible

A damaged portrait of Mary Magdalene by Artemisia Gentileschi (left) and a similar version of the same scene (right) housed at the Pitti Palace in Florence, Italy

Rolled Up in a Cellar for Decades, This Artemisia Gentileschi Painting Is Now Up for Auction. Why Is Mary Magdalene’s Face Missing From the Portrait?

Found in Berlin, the artwork was probably damaged in the chaotic aftermath of World War II. Despite the gaping hole in the canvas, it could sell for upwards of $180,000 later this month

A 1631 copy of the Bible that includes the text "Thou shalt commit adultery."

Typos Have Plagued Us for Centuries. Just Ask the Publishers Who Printed the Seventh Commandment as ‘Thou Shalt Commit Adultery’ in 1631

A new exhibition at Yale Library explores the history of typos across five centuries. Visitors will see corrections that were listed inside copies of works by James Joyce, Upton Sinclair and Nicolaus Copernicus

When the portrait of the man is flipped upside down, a woman's face is visible in his beard.

Could This Portrait of an Elderly Man With a Young Woman’s Face Hidden in His Beard Be a Long-Lost Study by Peter Paul Rubens?

When a dealer saw the unsigned painting at auction, he wondered if it might be an original piece by the renowned 17th-century Flemish artist. Experts are divided on the work’s attribution

Elihu Vedder's 19th-century painting "Star of Bethlehem"

The Bible’s Star of Bethlehem May Have Been a Comet, Analysis of Ancient Records Suggests

An odd star brightened for more than 70 days in 5 B.C.E., according to a Chinese text. The object may have been a comet that looked like it rose, then stood still over Bethlehem

The text contains illustrations of plants, animals and biblical scenes.

See the ‘Mona Lisa of Illuminated Manuscripts,’ a 600-Year-Old Bible Covered in Intricate Illustrations

Created between 1455 and 1461, the Borso D’Este Bible is currently on view in the Italian Senate in Rome

The North Wing features two William Hogarth murals, The Pool of Bethesda and The Good Samaritan.

For the First Time Ever, You Can See Stunning, Centuries-Old Murals at England’s Oldest Hospital

The biblical scenes by William Hogarth are a highlight of the North Wing at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital in London, which is now open for public tours

The Stolen Kiss, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, 1787

These Salacious Artworks Chronicle the History of Adultery, From Biblical Punishments to Royal Mistresses

Artists such as Rembrandt, the Pre-Raphaelites and Georgian caricaturists used their craft to examine the morality and ramifications of adulterous affairs

Aerial view of Tel Shiqmona, an ancient coastal site near modern-day Haifa, Israel, where dye-making reached an industrial scale

Cool Finds

Archaeologists Unearth Rare Traces of the First Ancient Factory Dedicated to Purple Dye Production

Located at Tel Shiqmona in coastal Israel, the facility turned sea snails into purple dye at an industrial scale

Stephen Tabor with the Huntington Library's copy of the Gutenberg Bible

Gutenberg Bible Reunited With Rare 15th-Century Devotional Print Once Tucked Inside Its Pages

Two centuries after they were separated, the print and the Bible are on display together at the Huntington Library in California

Gertrud Eysoldt as Salome in a Berlin production of Oscar Wilde's notorious play, circa 1902

Why Oscar Wilde’s Play About a Biblical Temptress Was Banned From the British Stage for Decades

“Salome,” a one-act tragedy by the Irish playwright, terrified the Victorian public with its provocative depiction of a teenage girl whose lust for a man quickly morphs into bloodlust

Zora Neale Hurston wanted to tell the world about the "real ... historical Herod, instead of the deliberately folklore Herod."

Why Was Zora Neale Hurston So Obsessed With the Biblical Villain Herod the Great?

The Harlem Renaissance author spent her last years writing about the ancient king. Six decades after her death, her unfinished novel has finally been published for the first time

The amulet contains an image of King Solomon and a Greek inscription that reads, "Our Lord defeated evil."

Cool Finds

Rare 1,600-Year-Old Pendant Discovered in Turkey Depicts King Solomon Defeating the Devil

The fifth-century artifact was found in the ruins of a structure that may have been connected to the military. Historians think it was used as a protective amulet

This marble tablet weighs 115 pounds and measures two feet tall.

An Ancient Tablet Inscribed With Nine of the Ten Commandments From the Book of Exodus Is for Sale

The marble slab, which dates to between 300 and 500 C.E., is the oldest-known stone tablet inscribed with the Commandments. Nobody recognized its significance until decades after its discovery

Tintagel Castle, a dramatic 13th century fortress on the rocky coast of Cornwall, England, has been associated with King Arthur.

Nine Mythical Places Archaeologists Think May Have Actually Existed

Historical evidence is helping to pinpoint the exact locations of fabled sites, from King Arthur’s castle to Solomon’s Temple

The 700-year-old text is in “exceptionally fine condition,” according to Sotheby’s.

Hebrew Bible From Medieval Spain Could Sell for $7 Million

After years of painstaking work, Rabbi Shem Tov Ibn Gaon finished the illustrated manuscript in 1312

The cathedral's collection of Mays paintings includes Aubin Vouet's Le Centurion Corneille aux pieds de Saint Pierre, completed in 1639.

Oil Paintings Rescued From Notre-Dame Cathedral Fire Go on Display

Known as the “Mays,” the artworks were created for an annual competition in the 17th century

The Crosby-Schøyen Codex is part of the Schøyen collection, one of the largest private manuscript collections in the world.

One of the World’s Oldest Surviving Books Is for Sale

The rare early Christian text was written in a monastery in Egypt between 250 and 350 C.E.

Charlotte Brontë’s attraction to the strange and horrific was an early vehicle for her love of storytelling.

An Early Charlotte Brontë Story Speaks to the Author’s Lifelong Fascination With the Supernatural

The 1830 account details an eerie encounter with a stranger who predicted the death of the writer’s father

Another supposedly unlucky thing: black cats.

Why Are We So Scared of Friday the 13th?

From the Knights Templar to Norse mythology, here’s how fear of the spooky date crept into popular culture

“Had it not been for the testament given [to] him by Mr. Foster, which received a second bullet, I doubt if you would have ever seen him again,” wrote journalist Benjamin Perley Poore in a letter to Merrill's father.

Untold Stories of American History

The Bible That Stopped a Bullet

In 1863, a New Testament tucked in the pocket of Union soldier Charles W. Merrill prevented a musket ball from mortally wounding him

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