April 8, 2021 • 9 mins
On this day in 1820, the now-famous sculpture known as the Venus de Milo was uncovered on the Aegean island of Melos. / On this day in 1905, anti-apartheid activist Helen Joseph was born.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, y'all, Eve's here. Today's episode contains not just one,
but two nuggets of history. Consider it a double feature.
Enjoy the show. Welcome to this day in History class,
where history waits for no one. The day was April.
(00:24):
A farmer named your Ghost Controdas was digging through the
ruins of an ancient city on the Aegean island of Milos,
which was then known as Melos. As he was removing
the stones from a wall, he began and covering a
sculpture an insign in the French navy name Olivier. Boutier
(00:45):
was on the island looking for antiquities when he saw
the farmer. The farmer was looking for stones for a
structure he was building, so he took no interest in
the statue. He just covered it with dirt. But Boutier,
on the hunt for relics, paid the farmer to dig
up the statue. First, the farmer uncovered the top half
of the sculpture, the new torso and head of a woman.
(01:09):
After more digging, he unearthed the lower half of the statue,
then a middle section that was missing. Piece together, it
was a woman standing with her weight shifted into one
hip cloth draped around her hips and legs slightly larger
than life size. The farmer also found a hand holding
an apple, a piece of an arm, and two herms,
(01:29):
which are sculptures with a pillar on the bottom and
a bust or head and torso of a person on top.
Mutier drew the pieces of the statue the farmer had found.
He tried to get a French vice consul and his
captain to buy the statue, but to no avail. That's
the story that's generally thought to be true, although there
are some conflicting accounts of the sculpture's discovery. Author and
(01:53):
editor Paul Carris claimed a peasant named Yourgos Botonis and
his son Antonio found the statue in two pieces and
several other marble fragments in February of eighteen twenty. But
eventually French and Greek authorities reached an agreement where in
the French food pay one thousand francs for the statue.
The Marquis de Riviere, the French ambassador to the Ottoman Turks,
(02:17):
approved the purchase. After traveling around the Mediterranean see the
statute got to Paris in February of one and in
March it was presented to King Louis the eighteenth, who
soon donated it to the Louver. At first, the French
believed the sculpture to be from the Classical period of
Greek art from the fifth and fourth centuries BC, and
(02:38):
the classical work was exactly what the Loup wanted, But
a base found near the statue attributed the sculpture to
Alexandro's son of Mendis, citizen of Antioch. Of Mander, the
Greek city of Antioch wasn't found until after the Classical age,
meaning the statue had to be from the Hellenistic period,
(02:59):
an artistic age that wasn't looked upon as favorably as
the Classical, So the director of the Loups said the
base was not part of the sculpture. He convinced a
scholar to write a paper in eighteen twenty one saying
that the sculpture came out of the school of Praxidils,
a renowned Greek sculptor from the fourth century BC. That
(03:20):
was the official assertion for more than a century. During
that century, Venus was presented as a classical marble, and
generally people soaked that up. Stay for some critics who
dismissed the sculpture's value. French scholars went up against German
scholars who said that the statue was Hellenistic and that
it was rightfully Germany's because it was found on land
(03:42):
owned by Crown Prince Ludwig the First of Bavaria. But
in nineteen fifty one the Lubs conservator of Greek Enroman
antiquities acknowledged the Hellenistic dating of Venus de Milo. It's
now believed that Alexandros of Antioch created Venus de Milo
between one even one b C. What actually happened to
(04:03):
the base in question, whether it was destroyed or hidden,
is a mystery. Today, the Grecian statue we mistakenly call
Venus de Milo, Venus's Greek name is Aphrodite, still lives
in the Lube in Paris, and Hellenistic art is now
viewed positively. The well known marble sculpture is now considered
(04:24):
a masterpiece in the art world, but it went through
a pretty long journey to get there. I'm Eve Jeff Coo,
and hopefully you know a little more about history today
than you did yesterday. A couple of notes here about
the Venus de Milo. Some people think she might actually
be the sea Goddess and for tried e and also
the fact that her arms are missing has led many
(04:46):
people to speculate on what she was doing with her
arms when she had them. If there's something that I
missed in an episode, you can share it with everybody
else on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook at t d i
HC podcast. Thank you so much for listening, and we'll
see you again tomorrow. Hey y'all, I'm Eves and you're
(05:17):
listening to This Day in History Class, a podcast for
people interested in the big and small moments in history.
The day was April eighth, nineteen o five. Anti apartheid
activist Helen Joseph was born. Helen was born Helen Beatrice
(05:39):
May Finnel in Sussex, England. She grew up in London,
where she began attending King's College of the University of London.
She majored in English and got her bachelor's degree in
nine Helen then moved to India to teach at a
school for girls and Hydera bod She taught there for
a few years before she moved to Durban, South Africa
(06:00):
in ninety one. There she met and married a dentist
named Billy Joseph, who was seventeen years older than her.
Helen lived the life of a socialite, mixing with the
white upper middle class, but by the time World War
Two started in nineteen thirty nine, the couple had grown apart.
During World War Two, Helen served as an information and
(06:23):
welfare officer and the Women's Auxiliary Air Force. Through her work,
she became more aware of social and political issues in
South Africa. She saw that black people were being dispossessed
and how they were being discriminated against in areas like
housing and education. After the war, Helen began directing community
health centers in Johannesburg and Cape Town. She helped found
(06:46):
the Congress of Democrats, which was the white wing of
the African National Congress. In nineteen fifty one, she took
a job as secretary director of the Medical Aid Fund
of the Garment Workers Union and the Transpaal Province. At
the time, Sally Sachs was the head of the Garment
Workers Union. Sachs had a big influence on Helen. Helen
(07:08):
became more opposed to apartheid and exposed to left wing politics.
In nineteen fifty four, she helped organize a Conference for
the Federation of South African Women, which she later became
secretary of. In nineteen fifty five, she was one of
the people who read out clauses of the Freedom Charter
at the Congress of the People held at Clipfontine. The
(07:29):
Freedom Charter was a statement that laid out a vision
for a united and democratic South Africa. The next year,
Helen helped lead a march to the Union Buildings in
Pretoria to protest past laws, which were laws that required
non white people to carry documents that authorized their presence
and restricted areas. Helen's opposition did lead to her persecution,
(07:52):
as she was arrested for high treason in nineteen fifty
six and later banned. She was acquitted years later, but
in nineteen sixty two she was still prohibited from getting
visitors on weekends or nights, or socializing with more than
one person at once. Helen was put under house arrest
and she faced assassination attempts over the years. Meanwhile, the
(08:14):
apartheid government was still squashing other opponents. It banned the
Congress of Democrats, and it passed the Sabotage Act, which
broadened the definition of sabotage anti apartheid leader Nelson Mandela
was arrested and imprisoned, but anti apartheid activity continued, and
Helen continued to be a part of that resistance. She
(08:35):
became a sponsor of the United Democratic Front, which served
as the legal internal wing of the banned African National Congress.
In the last years of Helen's life, some reforms had
begun to take place. Mandela was released from prison in
nineteen ninety, racial restrictions in public places were lifted. Helen
(08:55):
died in Johannesburg in December of nineteen She wrote three books,
If This Be Treason, about the treason trial. She was
a part of Tomorrow's Sun and an autobiography called Side
by Side. I'm Eve Chef Coote and hopefully you know
a little more about history today than you did yesterday.
And if you haven't gotten your fill of history, you
(09:17):
can check us out on social media on Facebook, Twitter,
or Instagram at t d I h C podcast. You
can also send us an email if you have anything
you want to tell us at this day at I
heart media dot com. Thanks again for listening to the
podcast and we'll see you tomorrow. For more podcasts from
(09:51):
My Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Hey, y'all, Eve's here. Today's episode contains not just one,
but two nuggets of history. Consider it a double feature.
Enjoy the show. Welcome to this day in History class,
where history waits for no one. The day was April.
(00:24):
A farmer named your Ghost Controdas was digging through the
ruins of an ancient city on the Aegean island of Milos,
which was then known as Melos. As he was removing
the stones from a wall, he began and covering a
sculpture an insign in the French navy name Olivier. Boutier
(00:45):
was on the island looking for antiquities when he saw
the farmer. The farmer was looking for stones for a
structure he was building, so he took no interest in
the statue. He just covered it with dirt. But Boutier,
on the hunt for relics, paid the farmer to dig
up the statue. First, the farmer uncovered the top half
of the sculpture, the new torso and head of a woman.
(01:09):
After more digging, he unearthed the lower half of the statue,
then a middle section that was missing. Piece together, it
was a woman standing with her weight shifted into one
hip cloth draped around her hips and legs slightly larger
than life size. The farmer also found a hand holding
an apple, a piece of an arm, and two herms,
(01:29):
which are sculptures with a pillar on the bottom and
a bust or head and torso of a person on top.
Mutier drew the pieces of the statue the farmer had found.
He tried to get a French vice consul and his
captain to buy the statue, but to no avail. That's
the story that's generally thought to be true, although there
are some conflicting accounts of the sculpture's discovery. Author and
(01:53):
editor Paul Carris claimed a peasant named Yourgos Botonis and
his son Antonio found the statue in two pieces and
several other marble fragments in February of eighteen twenty. But
eventually French and Greek authorities reached an agreement where in
the French food pay one thousand francs for the statue.
The Marquis de Riviere, the French ambassador to the Ottoman Turks,
(02:17):
approved the purchase. After traveling around the Mediterranean see the
statute got to Paris in February of one and in
March it was presented to King Louis the eighteenth, who
soon donated it to the Louver. At first, the French
believed the sculpture to be from the Classical period of
Greek art from the fifth and fourth centuries BC, and
(02:38):
the classical work was exactly what the Loup wanted, But
a base found near the statue attributed the sculpture to
Alexandro's son of Mendis, citizen of Antioch. Of Mander, the
Greek city of Antioch wasn't found until after the Classical age,
meaning the statue had to be from the Hellenistic period,
(02:59):
an artistic age that wasn't looked upon as favorably as
the Classical, So the director of the Loups said the
base was not part of the sculpture. He convinced a
scholar to write a paper in eighteen twenty one saying
that the sculpture came out of the school of Praxidils,
a renowned Greek sculptor from the fourth century BC. That
(03:20):
was the official assertion for more than a century. During
that century, Venus was presented as a classical marble, and
generally people soaked that up. Stay for some critics who
dismissed the sculpture's value. French scholars went up against German
scholars who said that the statue was Hellenistic and that
it was rightfully Germany's because it was found on land
(03:42):
owned by Crown Prince Ludwig the First of Bavaria. But
in nineteen fifty one the Lubs conservator of Greek Enroman
antiquities acknowledged the Hellenistic dating of Venus de Milo. It's
now believed that Alexandros of Antioch created Venus de Milo
between one even one b C. What actually happened to
(04:03):
the base in question, whether it was destroyed or hidden,
is a mystery. Today, the Grecian statue we mistakenly call
Venus de Milo, Venus's Greek name is Aphrodite, still lives
in the Lube in Paris, and Hellenistic art is now
viewed positively. The well known marble sculpture is now considered
(04:24):
a masterpiece in the art world, but it went through
a pretty long journey to get there. I'm Eve Jeff Coo,
and hopefully you know a little more about history today
than you did yesterday. A couple of notes here about
the Venus de Milo. Some people think she might actually
be the sea Goddess and for tried e and also
the fact that her arms are missing has led many
(04:46):
people to speculate on what she was doing with her
arms when she had them. If there's something that I
missed in an episode, you can share it with everybody
else on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook at t d i
HC podcast. Thank you so much for listening, and we'll
see you again tomorrow. Hey y'all, I'm Eves and you're
(05:17):
listening to This Day in History Class, a podcast for
people interested in the big and small moments in history.
The day was April eighth, nineteen o five. Anti apartheid
activist Helen Joseph was born. Helen was born Helen Beatrice
(05:39):
May Finnel in Sussex, England. She grew up in London,
where she began attending King's College of the University of London.
She majored in English and got her bachelor's degree in
nine Helen then moved to India to teach at a
school for girls and Hydera bod She taught there for
a few years before she moved to Durban, South Africa
(06:00):
in ninety one. There she met and married a dentist
named Billy Joseph, who was seventeen years older than her.
Helen lived the life of a socialite, mixing with the
white upper middle class, but by the time World War
Two started in nineteen thirty nine, the couple had grown apart.
During World War Two, Helen served as an information and
(06:23):
welfare officer and the Women's Auxiliary Air Force. Through her work,
she became more aware of social and political issues in
South Africa. She saw that black people were being dispossessed
and how they were being discriminated against in areas like
housing and education. After the war, Helen began directing community
health centers in Johannesburg and Cape Town. She helped found
(06:46):
the Congress of Democrats, which was the white wing of
the African National Congress. In nineteen fifty one, she took
a job as secretary director of the Medical Aid Fund
of the Garment Workers Union and the Transpaal Province. At
the time, Sally Sachs was the head of the Garment
Workers Union. Sachs had a big influence on Helen. Helen
(07:08):
became more opposed to apartheid and exposed to left wing politics.
In nineteen fifty four, she helped organize a Conference for
the Federation of South African Women, which she later became
secretary of. In nineteen fifty five, she was one of
the people who read out clauses of the Freedom Charter
at the Congress of the People held at Clipfontine. The
(07:29):
Freedom Charter was a statement that laid out a vision
for a united and democratic South Africa. The next year,
Helen helped lead a march to the Union Buildings in
Pretoria to protest past laws, which were laws that required
non white people to carry documents that authorized their presence
and restricted areas. Helen's opposition did lead to her persecution,
(07:52):
as she was arrested for high treason in nineteen fifty
six and later banned. She was acquitted years later, but
in nineteen sixty two she was still prohibited from getting
visitors on weekends or nights, or socializing with more than
one person at once. Helen was put under house arrest
and she faced assassination attempts over the years. Meanwhile, the
(08:14):
apartheid government was still squashing other opponents. It banned the
Congress of Democrats, and it passed the Sabotage Act, which
broadened the definition of sabotage anti apartheid leader Nelson Mandela
was arrested and imprisoned, but anti apartheid activity continued, and
Helen continued to be a part of that resistance. She
(08:35):
became a sponsor of the United Democratic Front, which served
as the legal internal wing of the banned African National Congress.
In the last years of Helen's life, some reforms had
begun to take place. Mandela was released from prison in
nineteen ninety, racial restrictions in public places were lifted. Helen
(08:55):
died in Johannesburg in December of nineteen She wrote three books,
If This Be Treason, about the treason trial. She was
a part of Tomorrow's Sun and an autobiography called Side
by Side. I'm Eve Chef Coote and hopefully you know
a little more about history today than you did yesterday.
And if you haven't gotten your fill of history, you
(09:17):
can check us out on social media on Facebook, Twitter,
or Instagram at t d I h C podcast. You
can also send us an email if you have anything
you want to tell us at this day at I
heart media dot com. Thanks again for listening to the
podcast and we'll see you tomorrow. For more podcasts from
(09:51):
My Heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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