Word: circa
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...have the right to be self-righteous when it comes to camera phones (or anything, for that matter—this is my rant, suckers). My cell phone was manufactured circa 1887. It weighs 18 pounds and runs on Diesel fuel, not unlike a late-model Peugeot. It is utilitarian to the extreme and does its job quite well, thank...
Warren House is unknown to all but a small handful of Harvard students who’ve endeavored to do something crazy like learn a Celtic language (see the Welsh dictionary against the back wall: Volume III is M through Rhywyr). But that doesn’t mean the circa 1833 piece of architecture must remain obscure. Stroll right in, as FM did—just don’t try to use the antique toilet...
...Nativity. When they get there, some are surprised to be led not to a stable but to one of a series of basement grottoes where they are informed Christ was born. The Nativity Church may not be the best possible guide, since it was built well after the fact, circa 324, by Helena, mother of Constantine, the first Roman Emperor to become a Christian. Nonetheless, she was heeding strong oral traditions that seem to have prevailed in the region for many years, and the idea of a cave is not so exotic as it might seem. Then, as now, many...
...Aztecs' harsh nature pervades the show, for which the Guggenheim has swathed the walls of its famous spiral ramp in black felt as a somber background. Early on, one encounters the splendid and somewhat hair-raising clay sculpture known as the Eagle Warrior, circa 1440-69, staring down from a shelf 6 ft. off the floor, as if on a ledge to surprise his enemies. Not far behind him looms the grisly god of the underworld, Mictlantecuhtli, circa 1480, his rib cage exposed and his liver hanging out. The pair encapsulates some of the dualities that created a dynamic tension...
...those two were not unsettling enough, later there is the figure of the fertility god Xipe Totec, circa 1500. Known to the Aztecs as "our flayed lord," he wears a pebbly garment that represents flayed human skin with pustules of fat clinging to it. The idea behind this image was actually positive. Priests who personified Xipe Totec in fertility rituals wore the skins of sacrificial victims for several days. Then, as the skins dried and came apart, the priests' healthy bodies emerged, symbolizing the fundamental Aztec notion of life growing out of death. But still...