2024 is, the UN has proclaimed, the international year of the camelid. That may seem odd to Americans, whose, if having encountered them at all, most common close encounter with a camel was likely paying a few dollars to ride on one at a country fair. Still, camels have a fascinating history, even some here in the United States, and are still vitally important in many parts of the world.
One of the great questions of antiquity is what ancient knowledge might have been lost with the destruction of the famed Great Library of Alexandria. We can only guess at the answer, but the question itself reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of the library- what it was, where it was, why its was, and what happened to it.
In the US alone souvenir shops sold more than 21 billion dollars of merchandise in 2022. It is human nature to try and preserve memories, and one of the many ways we do that is to purchase keepsakes, mementos, or souvenirs - that remind us of where we’ve been. And evidence of that human instinct goes way back, well before anyone “exited through the gift shop”.