Nero Didn't Fiddle

The violin (fiddle) was invented a thousand years after the Great Fire of Rome. It belongs to a family of stringed instruments, which includes the cello and viola. Among these three, it is the highest-pitched and smallest.

Renowned violin maker Andrea Amati constructed the very first violin sometime in 1555. Before that, there was a violin-like instrument called violetta, which only had three strings instead of the usual four strings that are found in modern-day violins.

Many archive documents relate that from about 1585 Brescia, Italy was the cradle of a magnificent school of string players and makers, all called with the title of 'maestro' of all the different sort of multi-string instruments of the Renaissance: viola da gamba, violone, lyra, lyrone, violetta, and viola da brazzo.

A Persian geographer, Ibn Khurradadhbih of the 9th century was the first to cite the bowed Byzantine lira, which is held upright as a typical instrument of the Byzantines and equivalent to the rabāb used in the Islamic Empires of that time. The Byzantine lira spread through Europe westward and in the 11th and 12th centuries European writers use the terms fiddle and lira interchangeably when referring to bowed instruments.

The rabāb was introduced to the Western Europe and both bowed instruments spread widely throughout Europe giving birth to various European bowed instruments.

Ice Cream

Soon it will be time to sit around the pool and bring out the ice cream. The origins of ice cream can be traced back to at least the 4th century B.C. Early references include the Roman emperor Nero, A.D. 37-68,, who ordered ice to be brought from the mountains and combined with fruit toppings, and King Tang, A.D. 618-97, of Shang, China who had a method of creating ice and milk concoctions. Over time, recipes for ices, sherbets, and milk ices evolved and served in the fashionable Italian and French royal courts.

After the dessert was imported to the United States, it was served by several famous Americans, including George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. The first ice cream parlor in America opened in New York City in 1776.

American colonists were the first to use the term "ice cream". The name came from the phrase "iced cream". The edible ice cream cone made its American debut at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.