#7th-century

[postcard-from-the-past]

7th-century church of Saléchan, Gascony region of France

French vintage postcard

[theancientwayoflife]

~ Eccentric Flint in the Form of a Scorpion.

Place of origin: Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, or Mexico (Mesoamerica)

Culture: Maya

Date: A.D. 600–900

Medium: Stone, Chert

[ltwilliammowett]

A replica of the 7th-century Sutton Hoo ship which was discovered in 1939 at an Anglo-Saxon burial site, Sutton Hoo, Suffolk

[musubiki]

danmarch 🐉💎

[mapsontheweb]

The Anglo-Saxon occupation of England

[romegreeceart]

Rhodian jug

* 7th / 6th century BCE

* British Museum

London, July 2022

[daouoffroads]

Phi likes it.

[theactualsunshinechild]

My partner has planted the idea that Sampo could turn out to be an emanator of the Elation into my head and now I have latched on to the concept and keep finding little reasons to believe in it.

It got brought up mostly because of the rating gun ratings. March, Jing Yuan, Luocha, and Sampo all cannot be rated by the gun. Finding a link between them is hard, but with Acheron, a known emanator upcoming, and folks saying that she is also unrateable...

And I know, I know, Herta is already an emanator, yes, but we only have 4 star Herta available to us, AKA a mere puppet version of her.

Anyway, if we suppose that the unrated characters are some brand of Emanator, or maybe just Have Emanator potential? Consider:

March 7th, based on some of the tidbits we experienced playing Fu Xuan's story quest, has potential to have been, or maybe to become, an emanator of the Remembrance. Her inherent tie to the values of memories and wanting to gather more of them and recover what she can is very in theme.

Luocha, I think it is very safe to assume that he is very very likely to be an Emanator of the Abundance, if the Luofu arc and Jingliu's story quests are anything to go off of. Dude is SUS as FUCK and very VERY disturbingly good at abundance things to the point of being able to heal someone in an artificial body. And that's him hiding stuff.

Jing Yuan at the moment is giving us the energy of a guy with a lot of latent power in him that hasn't fully been brought to light. With the way he's given us a promise to come to our aid immediately when called, and his threat to Phantylia that the Hunt would pursue the Destruction could be foreshadowing his eventually becoming an emanator of the Hunt? This is pushing it of course, but I'm just spitballing possibilities here working off the assumption that the rating pistol can't rate Emanators successfully.

As for Sampo??? There would be nothing funnier than the dude we found cowering in a snowdrift who Dan Heng shanked with a spear turning out to be a wholeass Emanator. The guy runs on Looney Toons logic half the time, and breaks the 4th wall just like Aha. Comedy relief character as he is, but what if he embodied the divine will of the aeon of fucking around and finding out? Like, tell me, how did this Masked Fool manage to quit the fool stuff and fuck off to a planet no one has visited in centuries, within the last 10 years or so? Sparkle KNOWS him. He has Stories about him among the fools. She knew him before he retired to Belabog. How did he Get there??? An Emanator of an Aeon like Aha could probably pull something like that off....

Listen I don't know if it all makes sense, but it would at the very least be hilarious and for that alone i want it to be true

[queenfredegund]

Women in History Month (insp) | Week 1: Leading Women

[the-good-spartan]

Lakonian kylix featuring Prometheos and his friend, the Eagle.

The hair - facial and head - is so quintessentially Spartan, it’s not funny. And he has his braids in a braid, right? That’s what’s going on back there? Like a super-braid.

Saw this called a Spartan king somewhere along the way. Think that might be a bit of a push, but I do like the idea that some perioikic craftsman was like - ‘Y’know, if I could depict anyone having their liver pecked out on the daily, you know who I���d choose��’

Anyway - This is 7th Century Lakonianware (from before the great cultural shift).

[postcard-from-the-past]

Interior of the 7th-century Hagios Demetrios Church in Salonica, modern-day Thessaloniki, Greece

French vintage postcard, mailed in 1917

[theancientwayoflife]

~ Bird ornament.

Date: A.D. 600–800

Place of origin: Guatemala or Mexico, Mesoamerica

Culture: Maya

Medium: Shell

[ltwilliammowett]

The Sutton Hoo ship an Anglo-Saxon boat burial from the 7th century - Excavation Photos from 1938

[city-of-ladies]

Japan's third empress regnant, Empress Jitō (645-703) was a powerful and effective ruler. Shrewd, bold and clever, she walked in the footsteps of empresses Suiko and Saimei and prevailed against all odds.

A troubled youth 

Jitō was the daughter of Prince Naka no Ōe, the son of empress regnant Saimei. The year she was born, her father killed a minister in front of his mother, leading to her abdication.

Jitō’s maternal grandfather committed suicide three years later, having been wrongly accused of plotting against Prince Naka no Ōe. Jitō’s mother, Ochi, died of grief. Jitō was thus placed in her grandmother's care and raised by the former empress.

At age 12, she was married to her paternal uncle, Prince Ōama, who was 27. Jitō was a reserved person with a brilliant intelligence and much liked by the court. She was curious, open-minded and studied Chinese literature. The death of her grandmother in 661 pained her greatly. In 662, Jitō gave birth to her only child: prince Kusakabe. Her father then ascended took the throne as Emperor Tenji in 667.

Succession struggle

The question of Emperor Tenji’s succession soon arose. The sovereign favored Jitō’s half-brother, Prince Ōtomo, but Prince Ōama had his own ambitions. He and Jitō left the court, waiting for an opportunity to strike. 

Ōtomo indeed succeeded Tenji, but Ōama revolted against him soon after with Jitō's support. When they arrived at Ise province, she dressed in male clothes and personally addressed the troops. She also worked on tactical plans. As Ōama left to leave an offensive in Ōmi province, Jitō took command of the troops stationed at Ise. She had indeed volunteered to defend the shrine dedicated to the sun Goddess, Amaterasu.

Their joint efforts led to their success. Ōama ascended the throne in 673 as emperor Tenmu, with Jitō becoming his co-ruler.

The radiant empress

Jitō was very influential in court matters. This was reflected in the choice of Tenmu's heir. He could have chosen his son by another woman, Prince Ōtsu, as his heir, but chose Jitō’s son, Prince Kusakabe, instead.

As Tenmu died in 686, Jitō took the matter in hand. She declared Ōtsu guilty of treason and forced him to commit suicide. She then organized grandiose funerals for her husband and wrote poems expressing her grief. 

Oh, the autumn foliage

Of the hill of Kamioka!

My good Lord and Sovereign

Would see it in the evening

And ask of it in the morning.

On that very hill from afar

I gaze, wondering

If he sees it to-day,

Or asks of it to-morrow.

Sadness I feel at eve,

And heart-rending grief at morn—

The sleeves of my coarse-cloth robe

Are never for a moment dry. 

Her son died in 689. Since her grandson was too young to rule, Jitō became empress regnant. 

She reformed the country, establishing a strong central power and surrounded herself with capable ministers. In 689, she enacted a mandatory code for all local governors. In 690, she launched a population census.

She reformed the army, improving the recruitment conditions and the troops' training. A protector of the arts, she also actively participated in the propagation of Buddhism. Poetry became more refined during her reign. One of her poems was later included in the popular Hyakunin Isshu anthology:

The spring has passed

And the summer come again

For the silk-white robes

So they say, are spread to dry

On Mount Kaguyama 

Jitō made her predecessors' objective of replacing the tribal system with a strong central power a reality. Her rule was synonymous with a degree of stability that neither her father nor husband were able to reach. She can be regarded as one of the true founders of Japan’s imperial monarchy. The empress was also fond of travels. In 692, she undertook a trip symbolic trip to Ise province, strengthening her authority and gaining the support of the local people.

The empress indeed took advantage of the Shinto rituals and the image of the sun Goddess to reinforce her legitimacy and used the links between the deity and the imperial family. Such was her prestige that Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, one of the greatest poets of his time, compared her to a goddess.

The retired empress

Jitō’s grandson, Monmu (r. 697-707) was ready to take the throne. She stepped back as Dajō Tennō (or “retired emperor”), becoming the first sovereign in Japanese history to assume this title. The power was in reality still in her hands. The Taihō Code was promulgated in 701, reforming governmental administration as well as administrative and penal law. This was only made possible by the reforms enacted during her reign.

In 702, she went through another tour of inspection of the eastern provinces and bestowed gifts and court ranks on the local officials and leading farmers. Jitō died in the first month 703 and her ashes were interred in her husband's tomb.

Here's is the link to my Ko-Fi if you like what I do! Your support would be greatly appreciated.

Further reading: 

Aoki Michiko Y., "Jitō Tennō, the female sovereign",in: Mulhern Chieko Irie (ed.), Heroic with grace legendary women of Japan

Souyri Pierre-François, Nouvelle histoire du japon

[mapsontheweb]

Odysseus' journey.

by LegendesCarto

[romegreeceart]

Vase detail

* Rhodes

* 7th / 6th century BCE

* British Museum

London, July 2022