1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,480 Speaker 1: Welcome to Aaron Menke's Cabinet of Curiosities, a production of 2 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:14,480 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild. Our world is full of 3 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:18,440 Speaker 1: the unexplainable, and if history is an open book, all 4 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:22,639 Speaker 1: of these amazing tales right there on display, just waiting 5 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:28,880 Speaker 1: for us to explore. Welcome to the Cabinet of Curiosities. 6 00:00:36,760 --> 00:00:40,000 Speaker 1: Some things aren't a hit right away. For example, when 7 00:00:40,040 --> 00:00:42,040 Speaker 1: it first came out, The Wizard of Oz was a 8 00:00:42,120 --> 00:00:45,800 Speaker 1: box office flop. It's a Wonderful Life wasn't a Christmas 9 00:00:45,840 --> 00:00:49,440 Speaker 1: classic until twenty years after its premiere, And the same 10 00:00:49,520 --> 00:00:52,600 Speaker 1: is true in the world of classical music today. Russian 11 00:00:52,640 --> 00:00:56,960 Speaker 1: composer Igor Stravinsky's ballet The Right of Spring is considered 12 00:00:57,000 --> 00:00:59,800 Speaker 1: a groundbreaking work. It's so famous it was chosen for 13 00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:03,280 Speaker 1: the Disney film Fantasia. If your favorite sequence in that 14 00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:06,920 Speaker 1: movie is the one with volcanoes exploding and dinosaurs fighting, 15 00:01:07,200 --> 00:01:09,959 Speaker 1: then you're a Right of Spring fan. But the very 16 00:01:09,959 --> 00:01:14,320 Speaker 1: first time people heard it, the music had a riotous reception. Literally, 17 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:17,720 Speaker 1: on May twenty ninth of nineteen thirteen, the well healed 18 00:01:17,800 --> 00:01:20,560 Speaker 1: music lovers of Paris filed into the theater for what 19 00:01:20,680 --> 00:01:23,160 Speaker 1: was supposed to be an exciting evening of new art. 20 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:27,720 Speaker 1: Igor Stravinsky had written a new ballet. You see, Stravinsky 21 00:01:27,800 --> 00:01:30,200 Speaker 1: was on a hot streak. In nineteen ten, the young 22 00:01:30,240 --> 00:01:32,959 Speaker 1: Russian composer had leapt onto the international scene with a 23 00:01:32,959 --> 00:01:36,200 Speaker 1: ballet called The Firebird. In nineteen twelve, he wild ballet 24 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:39,959 Speaker 1: fans in Paris with another bonafide hit called Patrushka. And 25 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:43,120 Speaker 1: so that night in nineteen thirteen, the theater was buzzing 26 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:46,200 Speaker 1: not only about Stravinsky's new music, which was rumored to 27 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:49,160 Speaker 1: be unlike anything they had ever heard before, but about 28 00:01:49,200 --> 00:01:53,080 Speaker 1: the dancing. You see, Stravinsky had partnered with vos Loov Nazinsky, 29 00:01:53,200 --> 00:01:57,240 Speaker 1: a provocative choreographer with new modern ideas about what ballet 30 00:01:57,320 --> 00:02:00,640 Speaker 1: could be. As the lights dimmed and the orchestra warmed up, 31 00:02:00,840 --> 00:02:04,680 Speaker 1: the Parisians settled in for a night of culture. This time, 32 00:02:04,760 --> 00:02:08,359 Speaker 1: Stravinsky was trying something new. He knew France viewed his 33 00:02:08,480 --> 00:02:11,959 Speaker 1: native Russia as a backwards, primitive place. He also knew 34 00:02:11,960 --> 00:02:15,120 Speaker 1: that he could capitalize on that, So he and Nazinsky 35 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:18,160 Speaker 1: had come up with a ballet set in pagan Russia, 36 00:02:18,360 --> 00:02:22,160 Speaker 1: where peasants did folk dances and sacrificed virgins. To the gods. 37 00:02:22,480 --> 00:02:26,280 Speaker 1: It would play right into Parisian stereotypes about Russia, which 38 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:29,440 Speaker 1: would send Stravinsky laughing all the way to the bank. 39 00:02:29,919 --> 00:02:32,880 Speaker 1: What the audience didn't know was the chaos happening behind 40 00:02:32,919 --> 00:02:35,519 Speaker 1: the scenes. The first sign that something was amiss was 41 00:02:35,560 --> 00:02:38,200 Speaker 1: when Stravinsky played his new score for the head of 42 00:02:38,240 --> 00:02:41,359 Speaker 1: the ballet company. After just a few measures, the man 43 00:02:41,440 --> 00:02:44,720 Speaker 1: stopped Stravinsky to ask, will it last a very long time? 44 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:48,160 Speaker 1: This way? During the first run through, the musicians kept 45 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:50,840 Speaker 1: stopping to tell Stravinsky that they must have made a 46 00:02:50,880 --> 00:02:53,680 Speaker 1: mistake in their score. He assured them that no, everything 47 00:02:53,760 --> 00:02:56,119 Speaker 1: was written just as it was supposed to be. At 48 00:02:56,120 --> 00:03:01,079 Speaker 1: this the musicians exchanged glances. Stravinsky the genius had gone stark, 49 00:03:01,160 --> 00:03:04,320 Speaker 1: raving mad, and the audience seemed to share that opinion. 50 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:06,960 Speaker 1: From the very first notes of the performance, Right of 51 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:11,280 Speaker 1: Spring begins with a strange, strangled bassoon solo. Soon after that, 52 00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:14,120 Speaker 1: the rest of the orchestra began playing a harsh, driving 53 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:18,200 Speaker 1: rhythm with no real melody. The beats felt irregular and 54 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:20,800 Speaker 1: off kilter, and at times different parts of the orchestra 55 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:24,239 Speaker 1: were playing in completely different keys. The effect was a 56 00:03:24,320 --> 00:03:28,880 Speaker 1: jolting cacophony much different than the pretty melodies and sophisticated 57 00:03:28,919 --> 00:03:32,480 Speaker 1: harmonies that the audience had been expecting, and the dancing 58 00:03:32,800 --> 00:03:37,640 Speaker 1: didn't help. Nazinski's choreography subverted every expectation the audience had 59 00:03:37,680 --> 00:03:41,000 Speaker 1: for a ballet. Instead of long lines and turned out feet, 60 00:03:41,240 --> 00:03:44,080 Speaker 1: the dancers kept their elbows and knees at sharp angles. 61 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:47,520 Speaker 1: Rather than leaping across the stage, they hopped in place, 62 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:51,080 Speaker 1: and instead of tutuos and tights, they wore long, shapeless 63 00:03:51,160 --> 00:03:55,120 Speaker 1: dresses and cloaks. The show barely started before the audience 64 00:03:55,160 --> 00:03:58,880 Speaker 1: started yelling. First, the rich patrons in the boxes began 65 00:03:59,040 --> 00:04:02,560 Speaker 1: booing the dancer, then the bohemians on the floor seats 66 00:04:02,680 --> 00:04:06,480 Speaker 1: tried to shout them down, wanting to defend Stravinsky's modern art. 67 00:04:07,040 --> 00:04:10,720 Speaker 1: Chaos quickly took over. The ballet company founder flicked the 68 00:04:10,760 --> 00:04:13,520 Speaker 1: house lights off and on to calm the audience down 69 00:04:13,880 --> 00:04:16,800 Speaker 1: and backstage, Nazinsky stamped out the rhythm of the music, 70 00:04:17,000 --> 00:04:19,880 Speaker 1: since his dancers could no longer hear the orchestra over 71 00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:22,480 Speaker 1: the roar of the crowd. By the time the curtain fell, 72 00:04:22,839 --> 00:04:26,360 Speaker 1: multiple fights had broken out, Nearly forty people had been arrested, 73 00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:29,479 Speaker 1: and at least two noblemen had agreed to a duel. 74 00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:33,599 Speaker 1: Despite its initial reception, the Right of Spring is recognized 75 00:04:33,640 --> 00:04:37,559 Speaker 1: today as a groundbreaking work. It revolutionized what people thought 76 00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:41,120 Speaker 1: classical music could be, and its emphasis on rhythm over 77 00:04:41,160 --> 00:04:45,719 Speaker 1: melody ended up influencing things like jazz, rock and modern music. 78 00:04:46,440 --> 00:04:48,800 Speaker 1: Stravinsky didn't even have to wait long to see his 79 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:52,200 Speaker 1: work recognized. Less than a year after that riotous premiere, 80 00:04:52,360 --> 00:04:55,400 Speaker 1: he staged the Rights again in Paris to rave reviews. 81 00:04:55,800 --> 00:04:59,039 Speaker 1: The difference he cut the dancers, performing the work as 82 00:04:59,080 --> 00:05:03,200 Speaker 1: a standalone music piece. As the last notes played, the 83 00:05:03,279 --> 00:05:22,280 Speaker 1: crowd went wild, although thankfully this time not literally. If 84 00:05:22,279 --> 00:05:25,240 Speaker 1: you are from pretty much any big city, but especially 85 00:05:25,360 --> 00:05:29,320 Speaker 1: New York, you probably have heard legends about alligators in sewers. 86 00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:32,719 Speaker 1: Locals will be quick to explain that the reptiles started 87 00:05:32,760 --> 00:05:35,360 Speaker 1: off as baby pets that were flushed down toilets when 88 00:05:35,360 --> 00:05:37,880 Speaker 1: they got too big. Don't worry, though, we can confirm 89 00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:41,159 Speaker 1: it's just an urban legend unless you're in Florida, in 90 00:05:41,200 --> 00:05:44,320 Speaker 1: which case all bets are off. As it turns out, 91 00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:47,880 Speaker 1: myths about sewer dwelling creatures have been around for centuries, 92 00:05:48,040 --> 00:05:50,640 Speaker 1: even if they've changed shape and location along the way. 93 00:05:51,120 --> 00:05:54,479 Speaker 1: In Victorian England, for example, people told haunting tales of 94 00:05:54,560 --> 00:05:58,360 Speaker 1: the Black Swine of Hampstead. According to legend, the monstrous 95 00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:02,440 Speaker 1: feral swine survives on rats and the corpses of plague victims, 96 00:06:02,560 --> 00:06:06,040 Speaker 1: leading it to develop a taste for human flesh. These 97 00:06:06,120 --> 00:06:07,960 Speaker 1: kinds of folk tales can tell us a lot about 98 00:06:07,960 --> 00:06:13,840 Speaker 1: the way that we view sewers. They're mysterious, subterranean spaces, dark, dangerous, 99 00:06:13,880 --> 00:06:17,599 Speaker 1: and of course filthy, a place for discarded refuse and 100 00:06:17,760 --> 00:06:21,000 Speaker 1: nightmarish monsters. But that's not the only way to look 101 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:22,919 Speaker 1: at them. And if we go back a bit further, 102 00:06:23,200 --> 00:06:25,599 Speaker 1: we'll find the mother of all sewer myths is not 103 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:30,119 Speaker 1: a monster, but a goddess. Her name was Closina, which 104 00:06:30,200 --> 00:06:34,480 Speaker 1: roughly translates to the purifier or the cleanser. At the start, 105 00:06:34,600 --> 00:06:37,880 Speaker 1: she was most likely a minor Eutruscan goddess, the deity 106 00:06:38,000 --> 00:06:41,520 Speaker 1: of a single brook or stream in swampy western Italy. 107 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:44,239 Speaker 1: When the early Romans arrived and took over the area, 108 00:06:44,279 --> 00:06:47,279 Speaker 1: they dredged her stream and laid down stones, turning it 109 00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:50,920 Speaker 1: into a drainage canal. This open ditch carried storm water 110 00:06:50,960 --> 00:06:53,560 Speaker 1: to the nearby Tiber River, and it allowed Romans to 111 00:06:53,600 --> 00:06:58,039 Speaker 1: transform an uninhabitable marsh into useful land. After that, the 112 00:06:58,080 --> 00:07:01,039 Speaker 1: city of Rome began to grow asen As Canal was 113 00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:04,839 Speaker 1: expanded and covered with roads. It eventually became the central 114 00:07:04,920 --> 00:07:08,080 Speaker 1: runoff for the city's many latrines and public baths, which 115 00:07:08,200 --> 00:07:12,120 Speaker 1: drew water from an expansive system of aqueducts. Everything had 116 00:07:12,160 --> 00:07:14,640 Speaker 1: to flow through the main sewer, which was named the 117 00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:19,480 Speaker 1: Kloaca Maxima, or Great Drain, in honor of Closina. In 118 00:07:19,520 --> 00:07:22,120 Speaker 1: a sense, the river goddess had become a sewer goddess, 119 00:07:22,480 --> 00:07:25,840 Speaker 1: arguably a humiliating turn of events, but before you laughed 120 00:07:25,880 --> 00:07:29,520 Speaker 1: too much at her fate, this particular sewer deserves some respect. 121 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:34,840 Speaker 1: The Kloaca Maxima is a massive, interconnected waterway of vaulted tunnels, 122 00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:38,360 Speaker 1: large enough for boats to pass through. Think more underground 123 00:07:38,480 --> 00:07:41,559 Speaker 1: river than sewer. For centuries, it helped keep the city 124 00:07:41,600 --> 00:07:45,320 Speaker 1: clean and free of waste, preventing disease and malaria from spreading. 125 00:07:45,480 --> 00:07:49,320 Speaker 1: It was also remarkably sturdy, with standing floods, storms, and 126 00:07:49,400 --> 00:07:52,440 Speaker 1: even fires. It was one of many architectural feats that 127 00:07:52,480 --> 00:07:55,680 Speaker 1: allowed Rome to become such a powerful city and eventually 128 00:07:55,960 --> 00:07:59,240 Speaker 1: an empire, and somewhere in that long journey, the Romans 129 00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:02,480 Speaker 1: started to see cla as an aspect of the goddess Venus. 130 00:08:02,840 --> 00:08:05,440 Speaker 1: Now this isn't uncommon with lesser deities, but in this 131 00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:08,840 Speaker 1: case it is interesting because Venus isn't generally associated with 132 00:08:08,920 --> 00:08:12,720 Speaker 1: water or rivers. She is, however, the goddess of beauty, desire, 133 00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:17,360 Speaker 1: and fertility, not things typically associated with sewers. So why 134 00:08:17,360 --> 00:08:21,040 Speaker 1: did Closina become connected with Venus, of all deities. Well, 135 00:08:21,040 --> 00:08:23,480 Speaker 1: there's no way to know for sure, but one possible 136 00:08:23,480 --> 00:08:26,120 Speaker 1: explanation is that Venus was the mother of the hero 137 00:08:26,400 --> 00:08:30,280 Speaker 1: and Eneus, the legendary founder of Rome. By merging the 138 00:08:30,320 --> 00:08:34,200 Speaker 1: two goddesses, the Romans symbolically embraced Closina as the mother 139 00:08:34,280 --> 00:08:37,280 Speaker 1: of Rome itself. They also revealed just how much they 140 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:41,000 Speaker 1: valued their great sewer. So if you're ever in Rome, 141 00:08:41,240 --> 00:08:44,839 Speaker 1: consider paying a visit to the Kloeca Maxima. Not only 142 00:08:44,920 --> 00:08:47,199 Speaker 1: is it one of the world's earliest sewers, it's one 143 00:08:47,200 --> 00:08:50,520 Speaker 1: of the oldest monuments in the Roman Forum, and incredibly, 144 00:08:50,679 --> 00:08:54,720 Speaker 1: it's still operational today. Fortunately, it's no longer connected to 145 00:08:54,760 --> 00:08:58,560 Speaker 1: any active sewers, so the odor is hopefully improved. You 146 00:08:58,600 --> 00:09:02,160 Speaker 1: can also Visitas Shrine, or what's left of it. At least, 147 00:09:02,360 --> 00:09:05,320 Speaker 1: it's just a circle of stones now about eight feet across, 148 00:09:05,480 --> 00:09:08,360 Speaker 1: standing over the spot where two branches of the sewer meet, 149 00:09:08,679 --> 00:09:11,000 Speaker 1: and who knows, if you stand there long enough, you 150 00:09:11,080 --> 00:09:14,079 Speaker 1: might feel the purifier's presence. At the very least, it's 151 00:09:14,080 --> 00:09:19,600 Speaker 1: a good reminder that cleanliness is always next to godliness. 152 00:09:22,040 --> 00:09:24,720 Speaker 1: I hope you've enjoyed today's guided tour of the Cabinet 153 00:09:24,760 --> 00:09:28,640 Speaker 1: of Curiosities. Subscribe for free on Apple Podcasts, or learn 154 00:09:28,679 --> 00:09:33,040 Speaker 1: more about the show by visiting Curiosities podcast dot com. 155 00:09:33,280 --> 00:09:36,840 Speaker 1: The show was created by me Aaron Mankey in partnership 156 00:09:36,880 --> 00:09:40,199 Speaker 1: with how Stuff Works. I make another award winning show 157 00:09:40,280 --> 00:09:44,360 Speaker 1: called Lore, which is a podcast, book series, and television show, 158 00:09:44,600 --> 00:09:46,439 Speaker 1: and you can learn all about it over at the 159 00:09:46,679 --> 00:09:53,920 Speaker 1: Worldolore dot com. And until next time, stay curious.