#1st half of the 1st century ad

[ltwilliammowett]

Tombstone of the boatsman Blussus, reverse, 1st half of the 1st century AD, from Mainz-Weisenau, Museum of Ancient Seafaring Mainz von HEN-Magonza

On the front of the tombstone the persons mentioned in the inscription are depicted. In front sit Blussus and Menimane, in the background stands the slave Satto or the son Primus. The couple is wearing a Celtic costume, also the names are not Roman. Blussus is described here as a skipper who transported goods by ship on inland waters to supply towns and fortresses. The elaborate gravestone speaks for the economic success of the transport entrepreneur, the basis of which he had depicted on the reverse. The ship with the relatively low mast could indicate that the ship was pulled across the river from the land.

[thatshowthingstarted]

A Roman gold-band glass mosaic bottle,

Circa first half of 1st century AD.

2 1⁄8 in. (5.4 cm.) high.

Courtesy: Christie's

[uncleclaudius]

Gemma Augustea, an extensive cameo created at the beginning of the 1st century AD.

While the exact interpretation of the figures varies, the seated man in the upper half is most certainly Augustus. The man exiting a chariot on the left is most likely Tiberius, his chosen successor, and the officer in the cuirass might be Germanicus.

[obsessivevoidkitten]

I don't bring up politics and world events up on here very much, that isn't what this blog is about. This blog is for escapism from reality, but those who are not willing to speak out against brutality are complicit. And this is my largest platform.

Don't continue reading if you don't want to read about war and violence.

Regarding Israel and Palestine I have seen many inaccurate assumptions and outright lies.

1ST CLAIM: One claim I hear ad nauseum is that Gaza elected Hamas and therefore they deserve punishment.

Let's break this down.

A. Hamas was elected around 2006. 17 years ago. They have not allowed elections since.

B. Roughly half of the Gazan population are under 18. This means half the population wasn't born during the last election. This means that of the Gazans who were alive many were too young to vote.

C. Hamas won by a 45 percent plurality, not a majority. This means that less than half of the Gazan who did vote did so for Hamas.

So taking these facts together we can conclude that only a fraction of a fraction of Gazans alive today elected Hamas.

In fact Netanyahu was happy to fund and prop up Hamas because doing so meant dividing Palestinians between the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza. So Netanyahu is more to blame for Hamas than Palestinians are.

2ND CLAIM: Another thing I hear a lot is that this conflict and all of the casualties are the fault of Hamas. Let me be clear, I do not support Hamas or the October 7th attack that ended up with a civilian casualty rate of around 50 percent, but that one attack doesn't exist alone or without context and nuance as many on the pro-Israel side would have people believe.

No, that attack was one incident in a line of many. Starting with the brutal apartheid, displacement, and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by Israel.

A slow motion genocide taking place over the course of many decades.

Let's look at some events leading up to and then following Oct. 7th.

It starts with the beginning of Israel. Even the often recited phrase "a land without people for a people without land" erases the existence of native people who had lived there for centuries.

In 1948 you have The Nakba. A mass displacement of Palestinians as Israel took their land. This flew in the face of the UN partition plan, after The Nakba Israel controlled 78 percent of the land, 25 percent more than the UN plan.

This trend of land theft has only continued.

Let's fast forward to more recent events.

2018-2019 The Great March of Return: For over a year there were peaceful marches protesting the Gaza border, this resulted in Israeli forces killing over 220 peaceful Palestinian protesters.

In 2019 Netanyahu admitted support for Hamas to prevent a 2 state solution.

In 2022 journalist Shireen Abu Akleh was targeted and killed by Israeli forces. Israeli forces also attacked her funeral.

Note that during this entire time Palestinians are arrested, even children, and kept in indefinite detention without trial.

In 2023 we then have the October 7th attack. But as you are now aware this isn't where the conflict started.

And clearly not where it has ended.

3RD CLAIM: And that brings us to the 3rd and most blatantly bullshit lie you will here on repeat. The notion that Israel only targets Hamas.

More UN workers have been killed in a 2 month period than have died in any other war since the UN's formation. Over 130.

If they were targeting Hamas then why have so many UN buildings, refugee camps, and hospitals been bombed?

If there goal wasn't civilians then why do civilians make up the majority of the casualities?

Why the medieval style siege/blockade that has caused hospitals to lose fuel and medicine and civilians to go hungry and thirsty?

Why parade civilians around in their underwear? Why laugh and cheer as a UN school is exploded?

Why leave babies in the NICU and force the hospital staff to leave with the promise an ambulance would be provided for the babies only for people to return once the IDF left and find the baby corpses rotting because the ambulance was never provided?

We can even leave Gaza to prove this is not about Hamas. Hamas does not lead the West Bank. And yet Palestinians there are being murdered and arrested at increased rates, their homes stolen by illegal settlers.

Israel officials have called this the Gaza Nakba, they have claimed they will make Gaza inhospitable, they have claimed there are no civilians in Gaza.

Netanyahu has said to remember Amalek.

What is Amalek? Amalek refers to Israels enemy in the bible. This phrase specifically, "Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys"

Israel wants to steal the little land the Palestinians have left. Even now they are herded and concentrated into ever smaller camps with no resources.

Idk what we can do about the situation. This post seems silly for all the good it will do. But maybe it will open the eyes of a couple people. I think that would make it worth it.

[gemsofgreece]

Folklore ask! Any stories on how the Greek mermaids got to be named after gorgons instead of any other countless sea or water spirits in myth? Does it have to do with princess Thessalonike?

I think this is actually a very complex story involving literature, oral tradition, the perception of creatures, women, historical figures and the meaning we apply to symbols according to our circumstances. This is a long story so there is going to be a Read More cut below.

First of all, Modern Greek has two words for the mermaid; γοργόνα (ghorghóna) and σειρήνα (sirína), so as you see both gorgons and sirens were conflated with the image of the mermaids at some point. In fact, the sirens did that first. I write "ghorghóna" in Latin characters to stress the change of the pronunciation of γ to a voiced velar fricative ever since late antiquity but otherwise the word is the exact same.)

Ancient Greek Mythology did not have a mermaid creature in the way we imagine it since the Middle Ages but the Ancient Greeks were aware of an ancient Assyrian deity who was imagined like that. This was goddess Atargatis who was known in Greek as Derceto. Greeks identified Atargatis / Derceto as the same with a mermaid goddess worshipped in Askhelon, somewhere in the north of modern-day Syria, according to Diodorus (1st century BC) but also Ctesias (5th century BC). The Roman Lucian confirmed this perception in the 2nd century AD. It is believed that to some degree this worship was known to Greece, especially during and after the Hellenistic period. For example, there has been a scripture found in Pella, Macedonia (<- coincidence?) dating to 206 AD in which the veneration of an Assyrian water deity is described.

The early Sirens of the Greek mythology (since 7th century BC) were depicted as creatures with the bodies of birds and the faces of women, who would seduce sailors with their beautiful music and singing. However, from the Classic period onwards there is scarce art depicting them with a fish body instead, maybe due to an Assyrian influence or maybe because the Sirens were creatures associated with the water mostly. They lived at the shore waiting for ships to pass and they were children either of River God Achelous or the Titan Oceanus or of Phorcys, son of Pontus (Sea).

A critical moment for the establishment of the siren as a mermaid in European minds might have been the book Physiologicus, written in Greek around the 2nd century in Alexandria. The book was a predecessor of bestiaries and was connecting various beasts (mostly actual animals but also a few mythological creatures) with the Christian doctrine by associating them with some trademark moral qualities they supposedly had. Physiologicus became very impactful and was translated to Latin, Armenian, Ethiopic, Syriac and later to Slavic, Old German and other European languages. I wasn't able to find what exactly was said about the Siren in the original Physiologicus, however the 10th century German copy Bern Physiologicus described the siren as half-woman, half-fish. Also, from the 7th century onwards western European books assert that the sirens are "sea girls" and are described as "having scaly fish tails". I did find a tiny image of a Greek manuscript of the Physiologicus and it has this drawing of the sirens, who indeed look a lot more like merpeople than half-birds:

Again, Physiologicus was very influential and the rest of the Early Christian tradition also explored the theme of the sirens extensively through the lens of morality. Early Christian documents discourage people to believe in the literal existence of sirens (fair enough) but they also shape their meaning into an allegory for prostitutes or any vile lustful women who are a danger for the moral male. In this context, the fish form gains more and more ground as well as alternative imaginings of the sirens as half-snakes or half-dragons. It should be noted that there are even imaginings in which the Siren has simultaneously fish and bird traits. The scaly look though, the picture of the siren ascending from the dark abyss instead of a feathery flying singer was more effective for the description of a destructive, dangerous feminine being. It is in the Byzantine period and respectively in the Middle Ages in West Europe when mermaids really become popular. In spite of all that, the bird version was not obsolete. The 10th century Byzantine encyclopedia Suda describes the sirens as half-birds.

Pages from Suda.

Let's go to the Gorgons now. The Gorgons were daughters of Phorcys, son of Pontus (Sea), much like the Sirens according to one version of their myth. They are too part of the general sea mythological sphere. They lived either beyond the edges or in Oceanus, in a hardly accessible rocky island. Their bodies were imagined as centaurs or wasps as early as in the 8th - 7th centuries BC but after that point they were imagined as humanoid, however sometimes they have snakes in their waist too or a scaly appearance or even wings, like we see happening with Sirens. All original accounts agree to a terrible old-looking repuslive face crowned with snakes. So does their name; Γοργώ (Gorgó) means "terrible looking, fearsome, terrifying". Despite that and before Ovid's popularisation of the Roman version of a victimized Medusa, the Greek Pindar already described Medusa as an incredibly beautiful woman in the 5th century BC. Pindar's take was influential and after this point ancient Greek art depicts a fairer Medusa. One can argue that Medusa typically looks scary but beautiful in pop culture ever since. In other words, as time passed there was some convergence in the way Gorgons and Sirens were imagined; the duality of being beautiful yet terrible and vile, sea creatures, feminine attributes, eventually a scaly look.

Let's make a pause now to talk a bit about Thessalonike and her tragic story. Thessalonike was Alexander the Great's half-sister, so named by her father Philip after an (undefined) victory against the Thessalians. Her mother Nicesipolis died when she was a baby and Philip died when she was a child so she was raised by Olympias. I would like to stress that there was a signficant age gap between Thessalonike and Alexander and there should not have been a lot of interaction between them. After Alexander's death, Olympias had still not married Thessalonike to anyone, favouring her own daughter first. Cassander, one of the diadochi, killed Olympias and Alexander's son and successor and married Thessalonike probably forcefully in order to get a better claim for becoming the King of Macedon. Cassander then named a new city he founded on the site of Ancient Therma after his wife. Thessalonike seemed to have influence over her three sons, especially after Cassander died, however when the first born Philip died, the second son Antipater murdered his mother, most likely because she favoured her third son Alexander to at least share the throne with Antipater while she was also serving as regent. I mostly wrote all this to make a point that the last person who was impactful in Thessalonike's life was Alexander the Great.

Around 338 AD there was an Alexander Romance attributed to Pseudo-Callisthenes. This book was supposedly recounting the life and adventures of Alexander the Great, however it was highly fantastical and inaccurate and became what you would call a liberal historical novel of sorts. This is where the origins of the legend of Thessalonike were. (What if there is some connection to the surviving veneration of the Assyrian mermaid goddess in Macedonia, just a century earlier?) Alexander Romance was a huge success getting translating into 25 languages in pre-modern times and reaching as far as Malaysia and Mali. This is certainly what greatly assisted Alexander to become a legend and hero even amongst foreign nations, gaining even their own local national traits. The original Greek version was so loved amongst the Byzantine Greeks that it got multiple revised editions, including some in which it was recasted in poetic Medieval Greek vernacular. It was one of these copies that the Latin diplomat Leo the Archpriest found in Constantinople in the 10th century and translated it into Latin, which made the Romance very popular in the west too.

Okay, we talked about the duality that the sirens and the gorgons had attained at this point as well as the survival of the interest around them due to the Christian theology. In Byzantine Greek the meaning of the word gorgo (terrible, fearsome) was still fully understood. In fact, in Byzantine Greek there was the word γοργόνη (ghorghóni) which addressed a horrible woman. It is also reported in the local dialect of Amorgos island. It is thus most likely that the shift of Thessalonike as "a gorgon therefore a mermaid" happened at that time and perhaps especially in the copies in the Medieval Greek vernacular and it was due to all this mix of influences.

You see, Thessalonike is not described as just any mermaid or even just like a plain man-eating siren. She appears to have two forms or two personalities in her. She swims in the seas waiting to find a ship and ask the sailors whether Alexander is still alive. In this state she is beautiful and calm and pleasant in her manners, which resembles the romantic view of a mermaid or the initial seductive state of a siren. If the sailors confirm that Alexander lives and rules and conquers the world, she remains this way and sends good winds to help the ship travel to its destination quickly and safely. But when the unsuspecting sailors say "But, Lady, Alexander died long ago!" then she changes and becomes what the Byzantine Greeks would call "ghorghóni". Her power is way more immense than to just grab a dude and eat him. She becomes huge and terrible and with the power of her tail she causes enormous storm waves which break and sink the ship and kill all the sailors. For this reason she was probably engraved in people's perception as a terrible Gorgon.

Here's the thing though: γοργώ (ghorghó) sounds an awful lot like another Greek word, γρήγορος (ghríghoros) which means "quick, fast". Those two are both ancient but etymologically unrelated. The fall of the Byzantine Empire and the annexation of the Greek lands by the Ottomans led to significant changes for the worse in the number of Greek people who had easy access to education and particularly education in relation to their heritage beyond this of the religion. Only select few that kept their riches or Greeks who then fled to the west had easy access to these things. In short, with more limited access to older forms of Greek or old Greek literature eventually γοργός (ghorghós) changed into a variant of γρήγορος (ghríghoros) = fast and its actual meaning of fearsome, terrible was forgotten. In these circumstances, the word γοργόνα (ghorghóna) which was used to address Thessalonike was now perhaps perceived as meaning something in the likes of "swift, agile and lithe" and it became associated with the positive mermaid form of hers. Eventually, the word γοργόνα was established as a generic term for the mermaid just like σειρήνα.

This happened because the legend of Thessalonike as a mermaid as well as the entirety of the Alexander Romance remained popular in the Ottoman period. The Byzantine copies were still circulating in the Greek population and in 1680 a Modern Greek version was printed with the name Φυλλάδα του Μεγαλέξανδρου (loosely translated to "Papers about Alexander the Great"). The book was written in the colloquial Demotic vernacular and it could be read by everyone (who knew how to read). This is how these stories spread and became oral tradition and folk tales. The romantisation of Alexander's character and by extension Alexander himself became a point of reference for their historical origins for both the Byzantine and the Modern Greeks.

The modern book from 1680 (yeah that's modern)

The true reason Thessalonike's legend remained so popular was not due to Thessalonike herself. Thessalonike was a minor historical figure for the most part and her interaction with Alexander was minimal. Some historians believe it was her son Alexander she was grieving for in the original legend but then he was confused with his much more famous uncle. I downright disagree. I believe the reason Pseudo-Callisthenes or the unknown authors and / or all these revisions imagined Thessalonike as the one grieving and wreaking havoc for Alexander was because of her being the name-giver to the city of Thessaloniki which by the ending of the Roman period and the beginning of the Byzantine period became very prosperous and gained a lot of power. Thessaloniki was so loved by Byzantine Greeks that it was considered as the Συμβασιλεύουσα (symvasilévusa) = co-ruler city of Constantinople. Thessaloniki remains the most loved city for the Modern Greeks too. After the unification of Macedonia and its largest city Thessaloniki to the already independent from the Ottomans south and central Greece, Thessaloniki became the "Συμπρωτεύουσα" (symprotévusa), the co-capital to Athens. It is also called Capital or Nymph / Bride of the North. Greeks damn sure love that city. This was a folk legend which connected the ever loved Greek city to a distant past.

Furthermore, the legend explores a theme that resonates deeply in the hearts of the Greeks across millenias. The allure and the danger of being a sailor, of travelling in the seas. The Greeks have always been seafarers. Losing loved ones to seas far away is a very common theme of Greek folk songs. The folk felt represented in this legend with the ghorghona representing the unpredictability of the sea. But this is also how Greeks developed an understanding for this dual creature, beautiful yet ruthless, yet also melancholic and temperamental. The ghorghona became a familiar concept, representing their loved sea and their loved city and their loved symbol of old glories (Alexander). Inevitably, she was "forgiven" of her fearsome qualities and the ghorghona became the beautiful mermaid of the Greek seas that you have to know how to talk to and earn her favor.

The ghorghona became a loved symbol of Greek folklore and she is featured in numerous modern Greek poems, artworks, short stories etc

Modern art by the prolific cartoonist and painter Bost (Chrysanthos Mentis Bostantzoglou, 1918 - 1995). All the national symbols are here: the Ghorghona as the beautiful mermaid, the sea, Alexander, the White Tower of Thessaloniki and the flags.

"The ghorghóna as the captains of old told her story." Modern Greek folk artwork. Look how she eventually becomes a postive emblem of Greece.

Due to the tight connection of the sense of ethnic identity with the Greek Orthodox Christianity for Byzantine and Modern - frequently occupied - Greeks, the popularisation of the ghorghona the mermaid was reflected in the Greek Orthodoxy as well .

Detail from a wooden templum in the Church of Saint Dionysius in Zakynthos (Zante) island.

Detail from the Chruch of the Great Archangels, Tsagarada, Mount Pelion. This templum was probably completed in 1749.

And because this was not enough of a "how to make an Evangelical mad" I guess, you know how saints in Orthodoxy are venerated and they are often imagined as patrons of certain groups of people or certain qualities??? Well...

may I introduce you to Virgin Mary the Ghorghona?

...who also became a novel?

Clearly, this is Mary imagined as Patron Saint of the sailors and those who travel in the seas.

In conclusion, there is not an exact moment in history that suddenly turned the gorgons into mermaids, however I tried to explain how in the long course of time there were many linguistic, cultural and religious points which ever so slowly contributed into changing the perception of the gorgon from an ancient, murderous, fearsome creature to a positive, beautiful (yet at times very dangerous) symbol of ethnic identity.

Sources:

Mermaid - Wikipedia

Atargatis - Wikipedia

Siren (mythology) - Wikipedia

The siren: a medieval identity crisis – Mittelalter

Physiologus - Wikipedia

Gorgons - Wikipedia

Thessalonike of Macedon - Wikipedia

Alexander Romance - Wikipedia

Η Γοργόνα Θεσσαλονίκη | Parallaxi Magazine

Φυλλάδα του Μεγαλέξανδρου - Βικιπαίδεια

Ο συμβολισμός της γοργόνας στη λαϊκή παράδοση της Ελλάδας μέσα ��πό τη ποίηση και το τραγούδι

«Ζει ο βασιλιάς Αλέξανδρος;» Η γοργόνα και ο Μέγας Αλέξανδρος – ΧΩΡΑ ΤΟΥ ΑΧΩΡΗΤΟΥ

Ζει ο βασιλιάς Αλέξανδρος;

[ancientcharm]

Roman Painted Goblet (3rd Century AD) found in 1991 in Cologne, Germany.

Photography: Carole Raddato

1st half of the 3rd c.AD Achilles goblet made of colourless glass with polychrome painting. Achilles on Skyros cup, H.24.5 cm. Romano-Germanic Museum, Cologne.

[azzandra]

This is such a petty gripe to have with capitalism, I know, I know, but what infuriates me is how watching ads is such an inherently stupid activity.

I know you can make any behavior sound incredibly fucking stupid by describing it with enough derision, but my god, the sheer notion of having to sit there and watch a skit performed by people with eerily white teeth acting in a stylized facsimile of human behavior meant to convey the characteristics of a product like some kind of torturous americanized kabuki is just stupid all on its own if you give it one half second of thought. Why are we forced into this activity at every turn?

I know! I know! All eras of human history have their own absurdities! But good fucking grief, I'd rather be transported through time to the 1st century AD and get peer-pressured into watching Christians get mauled by lions in the Coliseum at this point.

[jisforjudi2]

THE FAITHFUL SECRETARY

Chicago Tribune

UPDATED: August 10, 2021 at 12:23 a.m.

Before the women’s movement, back when Father knew best and network TV made room for Daddy, when Mary Tyler Moore was Laura Petrie, not Mary Richards, actress Barbara Hale was playing a single working woman on TV.

Hale, now 71, remembers what appealed to her about the role of Della Street, secretary to lawyer Perry Mason on the series that was based on the mysteries by Erle Stanley Gardner.

“When we started (in 1956), it was the beginning of women not working at home. I liked that she was not married. My husband didn’t have to see me every week married to another man, and our children didn’t have to see me mothering other children.

“When (my son) Billy was in the 1st grade, we went to school for the first parent meeting, and on his desk were little projects he’d made-pictures of Daddy and Mommy and his sister and his animals. And underneath my picture-I wish I had it now, but the teacher kept it-he’d written in inch-high block letters, `This is my mom. I love her. She is a secretary.��‘

On Friday, the latest Perry Mason two-hour movie, “The Case of the Telltale Talk Show Host,” will air on NBC, one of seven productions that will carry the courtroom stalwart and his unflappable Girl Friday into 1994.

“I guess I was just meant to be a secretary who doesn’t take shorthand,” she quips. “My assistant wants you to know I’m a lousy typist too-33 words a minute!”

The Emmy award-winning actress is a Hollywood survivor-going into her second half-century in a profession she never dreamed of pursuing. A veteran of the old studio system and of television’s infancy, her co-stars in those early years were household names-Sinatra and Cagney and Stewart and Mitchum-when she was the ingenue.

RKO Studios was her “paid education,” as she puts it, her training ground. She met her husband, actor Bill Williams (who died several months ago), over coffee at the studio commissary.

Today, she still offers ample evidence of the effervescent beauty she was in the ’40s and ’50s-and even earlier, in Rockford High School, when her buddies entered her in a May Queen contest and she won. “I still know them, dear, and we 15 get together every three years. It takes three years to get over the three days we spend together!”

Her career seems to have evolved from being on the right Chicago street corner at the right time.

The daughter of a Rockford horticulturist and a homemaker, Hale (born in DeKalb) was studying at the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, living at the Harriet M. McCormick branch of the YWCA and planning a career as a commercial illustrator and portraitist.

One day, as school let out for the summer, she was standing at the corner near the Drake Hotel with a girlfriend who’d come to town for a couple of weeks to look for modeling work. While they were waiting for the bus taking them to the North Side, a car drove up and someone tossed a card at them. It referred them to a modeling agency.

“A couple of weeks later, I went to see my buddies, and I told one of them the story about the card,” she recalls.

“She said, `Barb, you’re kidding! I was sitting in the little coffee shop at work this morning, and a lady came in and sat next to me, because it was the only seat left. She was pouting. I asked if she had a problem, and she said, “Yes, darn it. I have a model agency and I saw this kid on a corner, in a red coat, and can’t track her down. She’s exactly what one of our ad agencies is looking for.” Barb, what coat did you have on that day?

“I said, `My red coat-it’s the only coat I have.’ And she said, `Barb, I think that card was meant for you.”‘

It was. Hale went in to the Seaman Agency, and stopped Connie Seaman in her tracks. “She said, `Oh, my God-honey, don’t move! Al, get over here quick!’ Al came in and said, `It is her! Let’s see-we’ll shape her eyebrows, put on a little more lipstick, pull her hair back … ‘ and I said, `Just a minute, sir-what are we talking about?”‘

Hale was “a green 19” when she began fashion modeling, and after about a year and a half, RKO offered her a six-month tryout. The day after she arrived in Los Angeles, she visited the studio and its casting director, Dick Stockton.

“As I was shaking hands with him, the phone rang. He took the call, and as he listened, he started looking at me. `Yeah, yeah, yeah, just a minute.’ He turned to me and asked, `Honey, can you say a line?’ I said, `I don’t know.’ He said into the phone, `There’s a kid in the office right now. I think she’ll work. I’ll send her right over.’ He told his assistant, `Take her to wardrobe, take her to makeup, take her to Stage 6. One of the kids is sick. We’ve got to have a girl there immediately.’

“It hit every paper the next day. Cinderella story. First day on the lot, she gets-of course they said a starring part. I had one line, but you know about those things.”

Apart from that walk-on, in “Gildersleeve’s Bad Day,” she made her debut in 1944 in “Higher and Higher,” opposite Frank Sinatra.

Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, Ginger Rogers and Jane Russell were all at RKO then. So was Burr-who would be her TV series co-star about a dozen years later.

Hale studied dancing and singing at the studio. She began to appear on screen regularly-four movies in 1944, two in 1945-and eventually won leads in such movies as “The Boy With Green Hair,” “The Window,” “Jolson Sings Again” and “The Jackpot,” performing even while pregnant.

“I told Billy (her son, actor William Katt, who starred in the television series “The Greatest American Hero”) he should put on his resume that he was in `The Jackpot’ and `Lorna Doone,’ and he said, `Mother, I wasn’t,’ and I told him, `Oh, yes, you were!”‘

She continued her movie career and was a mainstay of television dramas until 1956, when a producer offered her the Della Street part in the pilot of what turned out to be a 9 1/2-year run. Hale went on to win an Emmy for best dramatic actress for the role in 1959.

“We did 36 shows that first year,” she says. “And we’re still doing it!”

She says that Della “was-and still is, to a great degree-a woman who knew what everybody was thinking. She was informed, and very observant of everything that went on. That was my challenge as an actress-to be a necessary part of the office without being too aggressive. Della was quietly overpowering: She knew when to speak and when to keep her mouth closed.”

Hale sees Della as having remained constant, to an extent. Her task is basically the same. But there have been some subtle emotional changes.

“I think she’s a little more at home, relaxed, showing her knowledge not only of the case, but also of her boss. In the early days, it was all business. Today there’s more of a camaraderie between them, a little more humor and more sensitivity to each other, which comes with years of being side by side.

“She’s trying to see that he stays healthy,” she says. “She’s taking him off coffee.

After nearly 300 episodes, “Perry Mason” folded in 1966.

In the mid-1970s, the show returned briefly with other actors and faded quickly. During the ’70s and early ’80s, Hale worked sporadically. She was in the original “Airport” in 1970, and appeared opposite her son in a 1978 surfing movie, “Big Wednesday.”

In 1985, producer Dean Hargrove asked her what she thought of the idea of a “Perry Mason” reunion show. She told him, “it would be divine, but we are 25 or 30 years older than we were then.” He said the intention was to use them as they were and to bring in a few new young actors to replace cast members William Talman, Ray Collins and William Hopper, who had died.

“Dean said, `There’s a young blond kid in town. I want to talk to him, not his agent. He’s done a series-“The Greatest American Hero.” But I can’t reach him.’

“I said, `Oh, well, that young man is in Kansas City doing “The Music Man” right now, and I can get you in touch with him if you want.’ And Dean asked, `You know him?’ I said, `Dean, I changed that boy’s diapers!’ Billy played in the first nine (Perry Mason) movies, then went on to another series of his own.”

“Perry Mason Returns” in 1985 was a Nielsen triumph, and with Perry stepping down from a judgeship to defend Della against murder charges in the first episode. From then on, the Mason bunch have visited America’s living rooms every few months.

After nearly four decades, Hale says the role of Della still offers unexpected moments.

“This week, at the end of the show, very quietly and very surprisingly, Perry plants one on Della,” Hale says. “It’s a first!”

Originally Published: May 16, 1993 at 1:00 a.m.

www.chicagotribune.com/1993/05/16/the-faithful-secretary/

[nanshe-of-nina]

Women’s History Meme || Women from Ancient History (or legends) (5/5) ↬ Musa, Queen of Parthia (fl. 1st century CE)

If indeed Phraates IV is rightly to be identified with the Arsaces of the second Avroman parchment, and its date 291 to be referred to the Seleucid era, in 21/20 BC notwithstanding the harem tragedy recorded by Isidore, four of the Arsacid's queens were living, Olenieire, Cleopatra, Baseirta and Bistheibanaps. This fact did not deter Augustus from pursuing his Parthian policy by the gentler method of bestowing upon Phraates an Italian slave-girl of unusual accomplishments, known as Thea Musa. Whether the gesture was explicitly by way of compensation for the Arsacid's previous losses is a matter for conjecture, but Musa quickly became the favourite of the fierce old king, and before long gave birth to a son known as Phraataces (the diminutive form of the king's own name), or by other authorities designated as Phraates (V). The infant prince was soon regarded as a candidate for the succession, and Musa, who now as acknowledged queen achieved a position of great influence at the court, persuaded the king to send his older children to Rome, and thus leave the way clear for her son. As Phraates may well have perceived, the arrangement was advantageous also from another viewpoint. For if Phraataces with the help of his mother was to inherit the throne, his half-brothers would be safer if they resided outside his jurisdiction. In 2 B.C., when the aged Phraates IV was no doubt already ailing, Musa is reported to have had him taken off by poison, thus smoothing the succession of her son Phraataces. Subsequently Josephus reports that the mother became the consort of the son, an event which some authorities regard the coin of AD 2 (bearing the two portraits) as confirming. It is not clear whether this alliance, if such it was, should be regarded as an early instance of Zoroastrian kin-marriage; but the assumption is contradicted by the fact that the historian ascribed the subsequent Parthian rebellion against the new king partly to their detestation of such incest. The new king was driven from the throne in AD 4, and himself fled to Roman Syria, where he did not long survive. — The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 3, Part 1: The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanid Periods edited by Ehsan Yarshater

[artthatgivesmefeelings]

Marble bust of Claudius Caesar (10 BC-54 AD), 4th Roman emperor, ca. 41-54 AD Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples, Campania The Roman conquest of Britain was the Roman Empire's conquest of most of the island of Britain, which was inhabited by the Celtic Britons. It began in earnest in AD 43 under Emperor Claudius, and was largely completed in the southern half of Britain by AD 87, when the Stanegate was established. - Slavery was an accepted part of everyday society in the Mediterranean world at the time when Rome made contact with Britain. As the Roman Empire expanded, many slaves were acquired as prisoners of war. Rome's initial contact with Britain, followed by the conquest, continued to supply British slaves onto the Roman Slave Market. This brutal way of life is reflected in the writings of Strabo (1st century BC - 1st century AD). He referred to slaves among the list of commodities exported from Late Iron Age Britain. Generally a slave's life expectancy was short. Their usefulness declined as they got older, often beyond the age of 30. Archaeological finds reflect the shocking trade across Britain and East Anglia. Slave shackles and other objects have been found in Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk. -Norwich Castle Museum, Slaves in Roman Britain.

[fleur-de-paris]

Achilles goblet made of colourless glass with polychrome painting. Height 24.5 cm. 1st half of the 3rd century AD, was found at Richard-Wagner-Strasse 47, in 1991 in Cologne, Germany The color of the brilliant paint was as fresh as if it had just been applied. The scene painted on glass depicts the "unveiling" of Achilles on Skyros Island. Odysseus managed to find and expose Achilles, who was hidden among daughters of King Lycomedes on Skyros Island. He then took him to the war against Troy, where Achilles was no longer expected to have a peaceful marriage with Déidameia.

[blueiscoool]

Legio XIII Gemina bricks Discovered in Vienna

The fourth oldest school in Vienna, the Kindermanngasse Elementary School, is being completely renovated. As part of the renovation of the School, archaeological excavations have been taking place in the inner courtyard of the area for several weeks, providing new insights into the historical development of this urban area.

Vienna, like many other cities in Continental Europe, traces its roots back to ancient Rome. In the first century AD, the Romans established Vindobona, a military camp that was one of many similar facilities along the Limes frontier. The camp was located in what is now the heart of the city.

The location reflected its strategic value; the Danube marked the border between the Roman Empire and the German tribes. Vindobona also protected important trade routes.

At its peak, the military fort here with associated military and civil settlements had a population of around 30,000; the Roman presence lasted roughly 350 years from the early 1st century.

The excavations revealed complex findings, including remains of buildings from the oldest part of the Roman legionary brickworks as well as settlement findings from the High or Late Middle Ages (around 1050 to 1250).

The excavation team from Vienna City Archeology discovered several beam graves and post settings that belong to a wooden building from the first half of the 2nd century. Initial studies of the floor plan suggest a functional interpretation of the building as part of the legion’s brickworks. One pit contained numerous stamped bricks from the Legio XIII Gemina (98–101 AD), which were used to build pillars for underfloor heating.

An earth cellar with a preserved staircase and step-like wall installations dates from the High or Late Middle Ages. The room was probably used to store supplies.

The archaeological investigations in the courtyard of the Kindermanngasse Elementary School, 1170 Vienna, are scheduled to be completed at the beginning of February.

By Leman Altuntaş.

[their-dearest]

This tag has been rlly dry recent, so I'd like to contribute to our beloved sparkly man.

Super random Headcanons (sfw & nsfw) below (warning: might be OOC):

SFW:

His love language? Definitely quality time (giving & receiving) & physical touch

Just imagine reading a book with him, or his teaching you some spells <33 (can't u tell I'm a whore for quality time?).

Braiding & doing his hairstyle <33 Aaravos loves it when his S/O touches him, it makes him feel relax and forget his problems, even if it's just a short while

(I just wanna run my hands to his hair )

I feel like he's pretty good at drawing, to specific, water coloring. Like, have u seen the way he moves his hands? He has the precision for it!

Nickames he'd give to his partner/s: star, starlight, love, my dear (i feel like I'm missing a few more)

He also has the biggest bisexual energy in the show (asides from Harrow lmaoo)

NSFW UNDER THE CUT! MINORS PLS SCROLL AWAY.

NSFW Oness:

He's def a switch, although he leans on the dom side of things

I have no idea how elves genitalia works/look like, but he does have big 🍆 energy

His tongue isn't just for telling half truths 😏 (I'll let you fill in the gaps)

Grab his horns or hair while he's doing it and he would let out the prettiest moan ever.

Like one of those gaspy moans that sends shivers down your spine.

If he's subby, i feel like he's a brat sub (like he's such a tease fr fr. Weirdly enough, it reminds me of that time where the viewers & Viren 1st see him.)

Anyways that's all, thank you for reading my (partially down bad) headcanons of him! I hope you stay hydrated & drink your meds (if u have 1)!

(EDIT: OMG TYSM FOR THE 50+ LIKES, I ADDED EXTRA HCS FOR PURPLE GLITTER MAN <33)

NSFW:

It may not be obvious at first, but he enjoys a little bit of pain (if yk yk~)

Just not too much or it'll ruin his mood

Also on the topic of kinks, i feel like he doesn't like being restrained or blindfolded

Although it would be a pretty sight

Like he's probably left in that same spot in the mirror for centuries,

It makes him feel helpless, and he hates it.

A weirdly specific one is that If you're someone who's fem, or AFAB, I feel like he has a fantasy of being pegged. (Although he has yet to bring this up since he knows that pegging isn't for everyone.)

SFW:

Remember the watercolor hc before?

Yea let's elaborate that.

So imagine him teaching u how to paint with watercolor!

Or or!

Even better, if you know different medium, you could paint each other's portraits<33

(kicking & twirling my hair rnn)

I feel like Aaravos also wear a little bit of make up, to be more specific, eye makeup

He'd definitely ace a perfect wing.

This isn't rlly a headcannon, but what shade of lipstick do u think will fit him? (If not lipstick, other lip makeup)

Extra head cannons!

Study dates! Study dates with him!! (*Shakes you like a bag of fries*)

He has a lot of good study tips for uuu

Like he's been studying spells and learning the 6 primal sources for most of his life (probably)

But also he would be observant of your limits

Like homeboy would know your about to have a breakdown before you will.

A wee bit on the angst side of things:

On the topic of arguments

I feel like he would be stubborn on his side of the fight

Like he would be sooo eager to prove that his right

That he might blatantly ignore your side

Although after the argument peaked and both of you decided to give each other space

That's the time where the argument plays in his mind

And where the pieces internally click

Regarding apologizing, of he's the one who's in the wrong, I feel like he'd apologize first.

But if he's the one on the right, he'll probably wait for you to heal up and apologize 1st.

Okai, back to normal hcs!!

Imagine doing each others make-up!

Him doing your eyeliner

You doing his lips make up

(Try not to kiss Aaravos challenge: Impossible)

Random topic about kids (idk, angsty ig?)

I feel like he'd be on the fence about having kids

While yes, he loves you with all of his dark heart

I think he'd have second thoughts about having them, since, yk

He's THE archmage Aaravos

He def has a lot of enemies up his arse

And this is just a specific hc

But I feel like he's afraid that he'll be betrayed by his own kin

Glitter man definitely has some trust issues

It took him a while to warm up to you as a person, and even a longer time as a lover

So perhaps give him some time about the matter,

He might change his mind...

... But only time will tell.

[uncleclaudius]

An exquisite Roman glass skyphos (two-handled cup) with a cameo of charioteers, dated to the first half of the 1st century AD.

[akkar2]

Equestrian statue with portrait of an Iulian-Claudian prince, 1st half, 1st century AD British Museum, London

[salantami]

Urn Tomb, Petra, Jordan

The Urn Tomb is one of the most popular spots in the Petra Archeological Park. Like the other Royal Tombs right next to it, the Urn Tomb holds ancient Nabatean nobility, whose exact identity is still a matter of academic argument; most scientists think this one belongs to King Malchus II or King Aretas IV. What makes this tomb special? 

History of the Urn Tomb in Petra

The Urn Tomb was carved into the rock around 70 AD, long after the Nabateans were influenced by Hellenistic culture. Most of this site's archeology is from the second half of the 1st century, including the most famous piece - The Treasury of Petra (Al-Khazneh). 

This tomb is a good example of the combination of local and Greek designs: The tomb has an impressive 26 by 16.49-meter facade, and you'll have to climb a flight of stairs to reach the entrance. Inside you'll find a row of columns and a square, leading to the primary chamber

This square is known by the bedouins as Al-Mahkamah - the courtyard - and it is believed the place was used for trials in ancient times. The name Urn Tomb comes from a Jar crowning its pediment. The court's rear wall exposes another page in the tomb's history: an inscription etched in stone around 447 AD declares the place as a Byzantine church. During these times, the Urn Tombs were expanded with round niches.