A Greek merchant ship called Odysseus discovered more than a mile under the surface of the Black Sea has been radiocarbon dated, and it has been confirmed that it is from approximately 400 BC, making it the world’s oldest known intact shipwreck.
The vessel was located by the Black Sea Maritime Archaeology Project as they surveyed the seafloor some 50 miles off the coast of Bulgaria with a remote deep-sea camera system.
The 75-foot / 23m long wooden ship remains remarkably well preserved because the Black Sea’s depths are oxygen-free.
Gluck was a 20th century Jewish British painter. Born in London, Gluck moved to Lamorna, Cornwall with a fellow painter who similarly went by a single name, their surname Craig. Gluck would later speak of how the pair ran away together. In Lamorna, Gluck was part of an artistic community and there began to defy contemporary gender norms and adopt a masculine style of dress. They rejected the use of any first name or title, writing on the back of publicity prints of their paintings, “Please return in good condition to Gluck, no prefix, suffix or quotes.”
Gluck was known for their portraits and paintings of flowers. Their best known painting is Medallion (1937), a portrait of them and their lover, Nesta Obermer, who they began a relationship with in 1936. The painting was inspired by an experience of going to the opera with Nesta to see Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Gluck’s biographer Diana Souhami writes, “They sat together in the third row and felt the intensity of the music fused them both into one person and matched their love.”
[Image descriptions: Medallion (1937) depicts Gluck and Nesta in profile, both facing to the left. Gluck has short, dark hair and is looking straight ahead, while Nesta has slightly longer, blonde hair and is looking upward. Gluck (1942) is a self-portrait depicting Gluck in three-quarter profile looking at a the viewer with a serious expression.]