#Justinian dynasty

[blueiscoool]

Archaeologists Unearth a Byzantine Mosaic in Turkey

Archaeologists have unearthed a detailed mosaic while excavating a Byzantine monastery church dedicated to Saint Constantine and Saint Helena in Ordu province, Turkey.

The monastery church was first uncovered in 2023 in the Kurtulus district of Ordu, which during antiquity would have served pilgrims and worshipers from the Diocese of Polemonion (present day Fatsa).

The church is dedicated to the Roman Emperor Constantine I (also known as Constantine the Great), and Saint Helena (also known as Helena of Constantinople), an Augusta of the Roman Empire and mother of Emperor Constantine I.

Constantine I was the first Roman Emperor to convert to Christianity and played a crucial role in advancing the religion. He ended the persecution of Christians and decriminalised Christian practice, a significant change in the religious sphere known as the Constantinian shift.

According to a press statement by Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, Minister of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Turkey, the mosaic was discovered by archaeologists from the Ordu Museum Directorate and is the first in-situ floor mosaic found in Ordu province.

Based on the style and form, the archaeologists suggest that the mosaic dates from between the 5th and 6th centuries AD, a period when the Byzantine Empire underwent a golden age under the Justinian dynasty, and then a series of cataclysmic events under the Heraclian dynasty.

The mosaic has geometric designs and plant motifs showing curly acanthus, in addition to fruit depictions, and what appears to be four large double-headed war axes.

Byzantine mosaics originate from earlier Hellenistic and Roman techniques and styles, but artisans in the Byzantine Empire introduced significant technical innovations.

They transformed mosaic art into a distinctive and influential medium for personal and religious expression, leaving a lasting impact on Islamic art, particularly in the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates, as well as the Ottoman Empire.

[dreamconsumer]

Empress Theodora (490-548).

She is a saint in the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Oriental Orthodox Church, commemorated on 28 June.

[venicepearl]

"Rare copper follis from Cherson depicting Maurice, Constantina and their eldest son, Theodosius"

Constantina (Greek: Κωνσταντίνα; c. 560 – c. 605) was the empress consort of Maurice of the Byzantine Empire. She was a daughter of Tiberius II Constantine and Ino Anastasia. Her parentage was recorded in the chronicles of Theophylact Simocatta, Paul the Deacon, and John of Biclaro.

The Georgian Chronicle identifies Constantina as a daughter of Khosrau II. However the Chronicle was compiled in the 13th century and so the contradictory parentage is considered a mistake. Other later accounts make Constantina his mother-in-law through her – most likely fictional – daughter Miriam/Maria.

[duct-taping-zhenguo]

what's the cover

just found another Theodora Novel on the Kindle app. it does not look promising. I must read it immediately

[whencyclopedia]

Justinian II

Justinian II “the Slit-nosed” ruled as emperor of the Byzantine Empire in two spells: from 685 to 695 CE and then again from 705 to 711 CE. It was after his first reign and prior to his exile that his nose was cut off by the usurper Leontios and so Justinian acquired his nickname. Unpopular with his people, whom he incessantly overtaxed, and suffering from a justified reputation for cruelty and disproportionate vengeance on those whom he perceived had wronged him, Justinian also struggled on the battlefield. He might have been one of the very few emperors to regain his throne but the fact that he was kicked off it twice by rebellious usurpers with no imperial connections is significant. Seemingly attacking cities at random, butchering anyone remotely regarded as a threat, and even laughing when he lost his own fleet in a storm, Justinian had descended into madness, and his second reign is now remembered as one of the most brutal and terrifying in Byzantine history.

Succession

Justinian was born in 668 CE, into the Herakleios dynasty, the son of Constantine IV (r. 668-685 CE) and Anastasia. When Constantine died of dysentery in 685 CE, his son and chosen heir, now Justinian II, inherited a troubled empire. The one positive was that Constantine had somehow seen off the siege of Constantinople by the Umayyad Caliphate between 674 and 678 CE. The Arabs, under the leadership of Caliph Muawiya (r. 661-680 CE), had made significant gains in Asia Minor and the Aegean, but when their fleet was torched by Greek Fire in 678 CE, the caliph was forced to sign a 30-year truce with Byzantium. It was the first major defeat the Arabs had suffered since the rise of Islam. In 679 CE Muawiya was obliged to give up the Aegean islands he had conquered and pay a hefty annual tribute.

Elsewhere, though, the Byzantines had been less successful, and the Arabs in North Africa and the Bulgars and Slavs in the Balkans had been making inroads into the empire. Treaties with the Avars and Lombards, as well as some gains in Cilicia, and the establishment of a protectorate over most of Armenia at least meant the Byzantines were shoring up the holes and slowly turning around the steady decline that had beset them for half a century. There was still much work to do, though.

The young emperor seemed determined to live up to his famous namesake Justinian I (r. 527-565 CE), one of Byzantium's greatest rulers, but, as the historian J. J. Norwich here describes, he was not quite of the same calibre:

Intelligent and energetic, he showed all the makings of a capable ruler. Unfortunately, he had inherited that streak of insanity that had clouded the last years of Heraclius and was again apparent in the ageing Constans. Constantine IV had died before it could become manifest; in his son Justinian, however, it rapidly gained hold, transforming him into a monster whose only attributes were a pathological suspicion of all around him and an insatiable lust for blood. (102)

The new emperor was only 16 when he took his place on the Byzantine throne, but, nevertheless, he enjoyed some early military successes in Armenia, Georgia, the Balkans, and Syria. Then, as the Arab armies ignored the agreed truce and pressed further into Byzantine territory in Asia Minor, Justinian was obliged to withdraw his own armies from elsewhere to meet this new threat. Consequently, the gains in the north were gradually lost. Both his spells as emperor would be ones of military weakness, but for the moment, there were more pressing matters to deal with within the empire itself.

Continue reading...

[tsunflowers]

the first thing I want to say about "the emperor and the endless palace" by justinian huang is that it's an extremely horny book (this is the one I was talking about earlier with the eunuch razor blade blowjob). the second is I think people who read a lot of danmei webnovels and/or fanfiction will like it. not bc it's amateurish or anything but bc it's a fantasy story with a lot of gay sex in it

it's about lovers reincarnated across time, with alternating pov chapters from three guys' perspectives. one is a horny and ambitious palace clerk in the Han dynasty. one is a troubled innkeeper in the 1700s. and one is a pre-med student in modern day LA. all three are gay Chinese men and all three are unknowingly woven together by shared fates involving fox spirits and sinister magicians. to give an example of the vibe they all share a peach with another man early on in their stories bc that's famous symbolism except the modern guy shares an ecstasy pill stamped with a peach emoji

I also have two content notes and one formatting note. there is a lot of drug use and sex while under the influence. there are also a couple of scenes with sexual assault. then when it comes to the format, I find it odd that mr huang made the choice to have all English dialogue in standard quotation marks but all Mandarin dialogue in italics. this works great for modern day scenes where characters mostly speak English but it means that the dialogue in 2/3 of the book is rendered in italics. not really a problem but something that was strange to me

[gemsofgreece]

Because unfortunately the internet doesn't have any lists of famous couples in Greek history aside of course... Greek mythology.. i know of Pericles- Aspasia/ Theodora- Justinian but i am very sure there are many more.

Can you make a list of famous couples in Greek history starting from ancient times until 20th century?

I am not perfectly sure how to approach this though. Are we talking about couples both members of which contributed to history? Or just a famous couple we know existed? Also, is this only about history or does it include famous couples culture-wise? Do they both have to necessarily be Greeks by descent? There are many questions I have but I will give it a try.

Periclés & Aspasia (5th century BC)

Aspasia was the sister-in-law of Alcibiades who brought her too with him in Athens from her hometown Miletus in Asia Minor. Aspasia worked as a high-class courtesan, a hetaera. She is perceived in two different ways by Ancient Greeks: either as a vulgar promiscuous woman or as a philosopher and an intellectual. Maybe the truth was somewhere in between. She had a son with Pericles, the most prominent politician of Classical Athens. It is suggested that Perciles heard her council and took her opinions regarding politics into account.

Socrátes & Xanthippe (5th-4th century BC)

Not exactly a role model of a pairing but a famous one nonetheless. For one, the most famous Greek philosopher, Socrates, must have been a LOT older and his marriage to Xanthippe might have not even be his only one. On the other hand, many sources seem to agree that Xanthippe was a notoriously temperamental person and she would mistreat Socrates, who viewed this as an opportunity to practice the values of patience and forbearance.

Crates & Hipparcheía (4th century BC)

Crates of Thebes was a cynical philosopher, whom Hipparcheia of Maroneia met and fell madly in love with. She insisted that (the unattractive) Crates would be the only one she would be having, leading her wealthy parents to despair. The parents asked Crates to talk her out of it himself and Crates complied! He removed his clothes and showed himself to Hipparcheia, telling her: "That's all you'll be getting in a life with me". He did not phase Hipparcheia one bit and eventually the parents ceded and allowed Crates to marry her. They are notorious for a little too much PDA (they were having sex publicly) which scandalised Ancient Greeks a great deal. Their relationship was one of mutual love and respect and living on equal terms together. Hipparcheia not only embraced but started practicing philosophy and totally immersed herself in the respective lifestyle of cynicism as well.

[???] Cleopatra & Antonius (1st century BC)

I don't know if they count since Antonius AKA Mark Antony was not Greek, however Cleopatra was a member of the Macedonian Ptolemaic dynasty of Egypt and their story essentially sealed the Greek future. Mark Antony was a Roman general who opposed to Julius Caesar´s assassins and allied with the latter´s relative Octavian. Later, however, their relationship was strained leading to a form of civil war in the Roman Empire. The reason was that Mark Antony had a long affair with the Queen of Egypt Cleopatra, even had three kids with her, and now favoured promoting Caesarion (Cleopatra´s son from her past affair with Caesar) to the Roman throne instead of Octavian. Mark Antony was defeated by Octavian in the Battle of Actium in Greek territory and then again in the Battle of Alexandria. Knowing there was no hope for them at this point, Cleopatra and Antonius committed suicide together and this generally is viewed as the "official" end of any form of Hellenistic hegemony in the now completely Roman empire.

[???] Justinian & Theodora (5th - 6th century AD)

The question marks are because Theodora was of Greek descent but Justinian was not. Justinian was one of the most successful emperors of the East Roman / Byzantine Empire, making it reach its widest borders, including "reconquests" of the fast dissolving Western Roman Empire. He also achieved or rather imposed the peace in the internal affairs of the empire, sometimes with the use of a lot of violence. It is believed that he was very influenced by his wife Empress Theodora, who was hardened by her very humble origins (she was likely a prostitute). Theodora was extremely strong-minded and contributed a lot to the strong image built around her husband. Furthermore, she contributed to the making of laws for the improvement of the position of women in the society. Most sources agree Justinian was crazy for her, while it is uncertain whether Theodora was loyal to him.

Surviving mosaics of Justinian and Theodora in a Byzantine Church in Italy.

Kassianí and Theóphilos (9th century AD)

These two have become a romance in legends more than they might have actually been in their real life. Still, their affair or lack thereof, technically, has a significant enough impact on Greek and Greek Orthodox culture so they should be mentioned. The Byzantine Emperor Theophilos invited all the prettiest maidens of the empire to his court in order to pick a wife. Amongst them, Kassiani was the one who stood out both in looks and intellect. The emperor stood before her and offered her a golden apple, token of his affection and proposal. It is totally unclear what was happening in Theophilos' brain at the moment but of all things he could say to impress her, he chose to tell her something very sexist. Kassiani ended him on the spot with her response and did not take the apple. The emperor, humiliated in front of all his court, gave the apple to Theodora (another one!), another fine lady standing next to Kassiani. For all we know, this could be the end of it. But Kassiani's choice to never marry and isolate herself in a monastery instead has created legends and speculations that it was due to her heartbreak. In any case, Kassiani proceeded to become the most (or only) significant female psalm composer and poetess in the history of the empire and her psalms and hymns are used in the Service of the Orthodox Church during the Holy Week of Easter. Meanwhile, Theophilos fell ill early in his life and died young. It is said / speculated that when he felt death was near, Theophilos visited Kassiani in her monastery to see her one last time. Kassiani saw his carriage approach and hid herself in a closet to avoid the temptation. Theophilos entered her cell and saw nothing but the psalm she was composing at the time on a table. He read it and added the last line himself. He understood she was hiding from him, respected this and left. Kassiani got out, read the hymn and kept Theophilos' addition. Since then, the last verse of this hymn is attributed to Theophilos. For more about Kassiani and what exactly were the notorious exchanges they had that separated them as well as how the content of this hymn is essentially what led to these speculations, read this older post I had made.

Mantó Mavroyénus & Demétrios Ypsilantis (19th century)

A romance that flourished amidst the years of the Greek Independence War. Demetrios led many of the battles against the Ottoman army, however he is a little overshadowed by the more tragic story of his brother, Alexander Ypsilantis, who was the overall leader of the Friendly Society (the secret organisation which plotted and spread the fervor for the Greek Revolution). Meanwhile, Manto was the daughter of a wealthy aristocratic Greek expat in Italy, who was also a member of the Friendly Society. When the war broke out, Manto first tried to raise awareness about the Greek cause in France. Soon, she departed for Mykonos island, the place of her descent, with a large part of her fortune. She bought ships and created her own fleet, sending them and her men to many battles in the islands. She later participated in several battles in mainland Greece as well. There she met Demetrios and they got engaged. She became renowned in all of Europe at the time for her beauty and activity. The couple was in love and they were adored by the Greeks, who really liked that union of brave noble Greek role models. A prominent and very corrupted politician, Ioannis Koletis, did not share the sentiment. Fearing that the couple was gaining too much power and influence over the public, that could eventually turn political, he started a relentless defamation of Manto to her fiancé. He spread his lies so that Manto's reputation was ruined. Ashamed, Demetrios broke up with her. Manto returned to her home island heartbroken and penniless as she had given all her fortune for causes of the war. After the official indepedence of the Greek state, the enlightened governor Ioannis Kapodistrias restored her reputation and gave her the honorary title of Lieutenant general. Around the same time, Demetrios passed away young as he had always frail health.

Penelópe Delta & Ion Dragumis (19th - 20th century)

A famous love story rather than a couple. Ion Dragumis was a prominent young politician and the biggest adversary of the famous Greek politician Eleftherios Venizelos. He was very sophisticated, seductive and a smooth womanizer. He drew the attention of the slightly older author Penelope Delta, who at the time was already a mother of three. Delta fell so madly in love that she had the guts to reveal the truth to her husband and ask for a divorce. Her husband refused, trying to protect both his and her reputation. However, Delta's passion for Dragumis was so fierce that neither the husband nor her father could fight it. They eventually gave her an ultimatum that she had to choose either her children or leave the children to the father and go away with Dragumis. Delta chose to stay with her children but her desire was such that she attempted suicide multiple times. Meanwhile, Dragumis went on with his life and started an open affair with the famous actress Marika Kotopuli, without any intent to marry, which was very scandalous for the time. When Delta heard of this affair she started dressing in black, as if in grief, and kept doing it until the end of her days. At some point, there was an attempt at an assasination of Venizelos in Paris. Fanatic supporters of his in Athens, believing mistakenly that his big adversary Dragumis was behind it, trapped him and shot him in the middle of a street. Delta dedicated some of her later activity to sort out and copy a lot of Dragumis' drafts full of thoughts and ideas, that his brother had entrusted with her. Apart from this, Delta kept writing novels that made her the most prominent female writer of her time in Greece. She had reached her sixties when, in 1941, the Nazi Germans invaded Athens. On that day, she finally committed suicide by drinking poison. For more details, read this older post about Ion Dragumis' love life.

Kostas Karyotakis & Maria Polyduri (20th century)

Two young people, brought apart by their very different personalities and brought together by the fact that they both happened to be poets. The young couple fell madly in love. Karyotakis was a very timid and bashful man, full of insecurities and suicidal thoughts. On the other hand, Polyduri was a raging emancipated extrovert, which caused judgement at the time. Although they were very much in love and dreamed to elope together, Karyotakis was afraid of the bold lifestyle of Polyduri and the judgement it caused. When the girl even took the initiative to propose to him, the young man was so taken aback and panicked that he lied to her that it was no use, because he suffered from syphilis and therefore they should not consumate the marriage. Polyduri did not believe him but she was very heartbroken by his rejection. She departed for Paris where she continued her bohemian lifestyle, maybe taking it too far, until they found her unconscious in a narrow alley. She was diagnosed with tuberculosis and was taken to the sanatorium in Athens. As she was fighting for her life, she learnt that in her absence her past lover had finally committed suicide. His suicide note is very famous, as he describes how he initially tried to kill himself by drowning in the sea but failed because he was a skilled swimmer. He resorted to a pistol. The tragic news had very adverse effects on Polyduri's fragile health. A friend of hers, maybe taking pity on her, handed her injections of morphine, with which she ended her life as well. She has left a suicidal poem, which confirms that grief was the reason she took her life.

Maria Callas & Aristotle Onassis (20th century)

A very dark couple but the lovers were two of the most internationally well known Greeks of the century. Maria Callas was a Greek American who distinguished herself for being the most famous soprano in the history of Opera. She was born in the USA to Greek parents but soon they were divorced and little Maria followed her mother and sister in Greece where she received her operatic training. Later, she spent most of her time in Italy and France for her career where she enjoyed huge success and glory. She became a symbol of music and finesse. Despite all this, Callas was a tortured soul because she constantly felt unloved and exploited, both by her family and her Italian husband at the time. She suffered from great insecurities and was often deeply melancholic. Meanwhile, Aristotle Onassis was a Greek from Smyrna (now Izmir, Turkey) whose family experienced the atrocities of the Great Fire of Smyrna (in Greek known as Asia Minor Catastrophe). He emigrated to the Americas and started building a colossal business and fortune. He became one of the globally most well known tycoons by accumulating the largest privately owned shipping fleet. His power was immense. He was insanely ambitious and wanted to taste and own all the finest things in the world. He was impressed by Callas and courted her, although he was still married to his first wife. Callas succumbed and broke up with her husband. It was certainly a status affair, however Callas saw something in him, maybe his intelligence, his ambition, that made her fall in love with him deeply. She was pushing for marriage, as she ultimately dreamt to have kids and a conventional love life but Onassis was giving her the hot and cold treatment. One day, Maria Callas famously turned on the TV in her apartment, only to see in the news that Onassis had married the widow of American president John Kennedy. I can only imagine the impact learning such a thing from the news had for the sensitive psyche of Callas. Onassis went mad with the sense of status it gave him to marry the wife of the American president. However, he never loved Jackie and they barely even interacted in their marriage. Onassis would often pay visits to Callas which did no good to her but she found it very hard to resist him even though he made her sadder and sadder still. Despite all his cleverness and strategies, Onassis became miserable with tragedies that struck his family, so much that there is a talk of the "Onassis curse", generally insinuating that he was paying for his wrongdoings. Onassis could not suffer the untimely death of his son and his health deteriorated fast. Callas visited him in his deathbed and there were sources claiming he expressed his regret to her. Callas too had a very fragile health for many years. His death is believed to have contributed to her own premature death from a heart attack two years later.

King Constantine II of Greece & Queen Anne-Marie of Greece (20th - 21st century)

Because the majority of Greeks have no positive views about the constitutional monarchy, this may seem like an odd choice, however the truth is that before the graceless fall and exile of the king, the young royal couple was adored by the Greek public because it was viewed as the quintessential romantic image of a royal fairytale. He was young and super handsome, she was super beautiful and graceful, he was the Greek king, she was the Danish princess. Their marriage may have been one of the most grande events that took place in Athens in the 20th century. The media were delirious, one magazine declaring how "we" had the most beautiful royal couple in the world and, you know, as bold a statement as it may seem, it was perhaps not far from the truth. The image of the king was forever ruined after his catastrophic choices to tolerate the Greek dictatorship and then organize a childish coup against it. The fallen royal family lived in exile for the following decades - and we can accept that they sincerely resented this - until the ex-king was allowed back in Greece in the 00s. Regardless of anything else, the two of them were a rare example of marital success and mutual devotion in the royal circles. Despite all the drama and resentment against Constantine and the institution of monarchy, the Greeks retain respect for former Queen Anne Marie, who remained graceful all this time, viewed as a perfect role model of a wife and respectable royal. Constantine passed away a year ago.

They were literally Disney.

Aliki Vouyouklaki & Dimitris Papamichaél (20th century)

I thought of ending this with a celebrity couple, certainly the most famous Greek celebrity couple. Much like it happens in such cases, the image was so very bright but the truth was darker. Despite all the toxicity, it is generally believed Vouyouklaki and Papamichael were each other's love of their life. Vouyouklaki and Papamichael were the most promising and charismatic actors of their generation. They were in the same theatrical school and developed a love-hate relationship with constant bickering. When they rose to stardom, they simply tranferred this energy to the movies they starred in together, which led to great success and immense adoration from the Greek public. Aliki Vouyouklaki retains the title of the "national star". When the two got married, their fans were losing their minds. The marital life was not peaceful as their youthful bickering had now transformed into the much darker career competition. Papamichael was a very conservative man and he was poisoned of feelings of injustice and envy when Vouyouklaki attracted more attention and acknowledgement than he did, because he thought of himself a better actor than she was. Now, that was generally true, Papamichael was a great actor with a big range for comedy and drama. Vouyouklaki has posthumously been accused of bad acting, however this is not entirely fair. She was indeed bad in drama but she was exceptional in comedy. A problem that could negatively affect her performances was that she refused to spoil her looks for a role, no matter how essential it was for the plot. Anyway, the marriage was often violent and neither of the two ceded to the other, as Vouyouklaki was extremely sharp and refused to sacrifice anything from her image, her career and her decency. Eventually, they broke up in a bad way as well. Both went on with their lives but Papamichael found it harder to cope without her. In later years, they reached a sort of mutual understanding and formed a platonic friendship of sorts. Aliki Vouyouklaki was prematurely diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. In her deathbed, Papamichael would visit her and lament, and implore her to rise and go away together. After her death, which shocked and deeply grievened all of Greece, Papamichael would regularly visit her grave for the rest of his life.

And one from when they were far less glamourous but finally healthily loving / respectful to each other, with their son, because I want to end this on a good note.

Is this an early Valentine post? lol idk it takes some serious left turns

[that-starlight-prince]

Hm but are you a Justinianic catboy or a Macedonian catboy or even maybe a Komnenian catboy

Byzantium lasted so long

No one ever expects an Isaurian catboy...

That's a good question anon, but don't forget that a catboy has nine lives, and can live through many dynasties!

(I do wonder what a catboy would think of icons. I'm generally fond of looking at images, but on the other hand knocking icons off of shelves sounds amusing. Hmmm)

[deadpresidents]

Latest books you have been reading?

Apparently I haven't shared the books I've been recently reading since the beginning of November. Usually someone reminds me to share my reading list every few weeks, so I think someone should be fired for dereliction of duty.

•Life After Power: Seven Presidents and Their Search for Purpose Beyond the White House (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) by Jared Cohen -- Just released on February 13th, this is the follow-up to Cohen's excellent 2019 book, Accidental Presidents: Eight Men Who Changed America (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO).

•Borgata: Rise of Empire: A History of the American Mafia (BOOK | KINDLE) by Louis Ferrante.

•Soldier of Destiny: Slavery, Secession, and the Redemption of Ulysses S. Grant (BOOK | KINDLE) by John Reeves.

•The Border: A Journey Around Russia Through North Korea, China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Norway, and the Northeast Passage (BOOK | KINDLE) by Erika Fatland -- A couple of months ago, I mentioned how much I enjoyed reading Erika Fatland's Sovietistan, and I was equally pleased with The Border, which has a subtitle nearly as long as the Russian border that she wrote about traveling around.

•Unruly: The Ridiculous History of England's Kings and Queens (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) by David Mitchell.

•The Fall of Eagles: The Death of the Great European Dynasties by C.L. Sulzberger.

•George V: Never a Dull Moment (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) by Jane Ridley.

•Adams and Calhoun: From Shared Vision to Irreconcilable Conflict (BOOK | KINDLE) by William F. Hartford.

•God Save Benedict Arnold: The True Story of America's Most Hated Man (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) by Jack Kelly.

•Justinian: Emperor, Soldier, Saint (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) by Peter Sarris.

•Magic: The Life of Earvin "Magic" Johnson (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) by Roland Lazenby.

•Oracle of Lost Causes: John Newman Edwards and His Never-Ending Civil War (BOOK | KINDLE) by Matthew Christopher Hulbert.

•Mirrors of Greatness: Churchill and the Leaders Who Shaped Him (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) by David Reynolds.

•Mansfield and Dirksen: Bipartisan Giants of the Senate (BOOK | KINDLE) by Marc C. Johnson.

•The World That Wasn't: Henry Wallace and the Fate of the American Century (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO) by Benn Steil.

•Wide Awake: The Forgotten Force That Elected Lincoln and Spurred the Civil War (BOOK | KINDLE) by Jon Grinspan -- Available for pre-order now and will be published on May 14th.

[haljathefangirlcat]

As promised a while back to @fate-magical-girls, a (handmade, and therefore a little rough) translation of a small excerpt from the book Il Carme di Ildebrando: Un padre, un figlio, un duello ("The Song of Hildebrand: A father, a son, a duel") by Alessandro Zironi:

"4.1.1 Theodoric

Around the year 375, the Huns, moving from the Asian steppes, venture into the west and overwhelm the Ostrogoths, who are staying in the southern Russian plains. From that moment, until the death of king Attila (453) they'll be part of that congeries of peoples that goes, indeed, by the name Huns. Attila dies suddenly; his unexpected passing triggers centrifugal forces: the Ostrogoths, now, make themselves autonomous, led by three brothers. Just one year after the death of Attila, in 454, a son, Theodoric, is born to Theodemir. Our Theodoric. At the age of eight, he is sent as a hostage to Constantinople to seal a deal with the emperor: he stays there for a decade; soon after his return, after the death of his father and uncle, he becomes king. The years of his rule spent at the side of the Eastern Roman Empire, are quite troubled, a long period that concludes fifteen years later (489), when Theoderic with his people enters Italy, sent by emperor Zeno to conquer the peninsula from Odoacher, he who in 476 deposed Romulus Augustus, last emperor of the Western Roman Empire. Theoderic's Italian campaign starts off on the the right foot, as testified by his military victories on the Isonzo and, especially, in Verona. After these first assaults, though, the final victory is long-awaited: only in 493, after a three-year siege, he'll set foot in Ravenna capital of the Italic kingdom, thanks to the mediation of the city's bishop, who convinces the two contenders to rule jointly. Immediately after, however, Theoderic, by his own hand, kills Odoacher,, remaining the only sovereign, and he'll rule until his death, in 526, at the age of seventy-two.

Following this, the fate of the Goths in Italy swiftly goes downhill: nine yeas after, emperor Justinian will unleash a war for the conquest of Italy, that will conclude, with the Byzantine victory of 553, after eighteen years of devastation and the destruction of the peninsula. Theoderic is nonetheless esteemed, even by the Byzantine enemies, so much that the reinstatement of all property rights in Italy is traced back to his time. Soon enough, however, a hostile opinion on the sovereign forms, too, of which we already find traces in historical sources very close to his death, but is affirmed especially thanks to the words of Gregory the Great, who paints him as a persecutor of the Roman patricians, particularly Symmachus and Boethius, whom the Goth had sentenced to death for high treason. It's the same disparaging tradition found in the Anglo-Saxon world, surely not among the Longobards, who as we were saying were in close contact with the Goths, and whose sovereigns are related to the Amal dynasty.

Right away, the Theodorician biography starts cloaking itself in with episodes that have more to do with legendary transmission than with historical reality. But the tale, quickly become an integral part of the narrations focused on the king, is tied to the end of the Ostrogothic kingdom in Italy and to the political vicissitude of Theodoric, the only ruler we have memory of, the most prestigious. He is the Gothic king par excellence and so it is to him that the loss of the kingdom is connected. Such a defeat is not tied back to military events such as a long war but rather to an usurpation, which the Hildebrandslied attributes to Odoacher. The narrative mechanism, then, is that of a legitimate sovereign, in this case Theoderic, who loses his kingdom due to a fraudolent dethroning, on which are grafted subsequent attempts at a recapture.

At first sight, this upturning of historical reality appears curious, since it's Theoderic who forces out Odoacher, but there is a reasonable explanation. The historical vicissitude, according to some sources, see the Goth reach Italy after pressure from and deals made with the emperor of Constantinople to conquer the peninsula and reinstate the legality compromised by the usurper Odoacher. This justifiable diplomatic reading of the facts, once far from the intrigue in the palaces of Constantinople, finds, in later narrations, simpler motivations, according to which Theoderic would sit on a legitimate throne that belonged to other Goths before him; Odoacher is, then, labelled an usurper, but he dethrones Theoderic instead of the Westerner emperor. Theoderic is then forced into exile, and following that tries to recapture his own kingdom.

The loss of Italy, the exile and the attempts to recapture the royal seat are, in nuce, the fundamental themes that characterize all heroic-legendary narrations about Theoderic che the critique has grouped under the label "historical Theoderician epic", transcribed and composed, in the German area, starting from the XIII century. Still to the theme of Theoderic's exile is also tied his presence in Attila's court in the Nibelungic-Volsungic cycle, represented, in the German area, by the Nibelungenlied, and in the Nordic area by some heroic poems preserved through the Eddic collection. Therefore Germanic tradition in the German area frames the Gothic ruler in a context of tragedy and sorrow due to the loss of the kingdom and his companions (a trait, this one, that predominates in the Nibelungic-Volsungic narrations) and sees him as guest among Attila's Hunnish court. It is easy then to comprehend how history turned into legend: as Theoderic is the quintessential king of the Goths, so Attila is the only Hunnic sovereign heroic tradition remembers. So, when Theoderic loses his kingdom, it is among that people that he finds refuge and hospitality and from there he'll go on to recapture Italy.

There is then another, incredibly wide narrative tradition tied to the figure of Theoderic of an adventurous and fairy-tale-like tradition, mostly set in Italy, in the king's younger years, who dedicates himself to clashes and fights against giants and dwarves. Finally we must mention the Þiðrekssaga af Bern: it's a complex text, in many aspects epigonal, which gathers in one narration the most important cycles of continental Germanic tradition with at its core (but not exclusively focused on) the vicissitude of Theoderic and the Nibelungs. Among the numerous episodes, of particular relevance, for the relationships with the Hildebrandlied, is Theoderic's undercover entry in Italy with Hildebrand.

4.1.2 Odoacher

He's born two decades before Theoderic, around the year 433. Odoacher is mentioned by historiographical sources coeval to after the death of Attila. He accompanies powerful rulers who move on the chessboard of the by now dying, fragmented Western Roman Empire, both in Gaul and in Italy. His political and military ascent becomes more and more important, enough to reach the highest levels of the Roman warrio hierarcy. In 476 he deposes Romolus Augustus, becoming the only, undisputed ruler of the peninsula. His control over Italy is, in those tempsetuous times, rather long, 17 years, reaching 493, when Theoderic enters Ravenna. The sources remembers in various ways his murder; some suggest vengeful motives, others reasons of safeguard against plots, a last one hold Odoacher to be the victim of a betrayal. Theoderic's ruthlesness towards the enemy's kin is also remembered: his wife Sunigilda, for example, his made to starve.

Odoacher's figure, even if symbolically relevant from a historical point of view, having deposed the last Western emperor, did not find gret fortune in the Germanic literary tradition. He appears in the Hildebrandslied, where he's referred to as the cause of Theoderic and Hildebrand's exile, and is mentioned in a very late text, one of the printed versions (known as Ecken Auszfahrt, The death of Ecke, 1559) of the Eckenlied (Song of Ecke) which is part of the group of fairy-tale-like Theoderician narrations. At the end that poem is remembered how Odoacher deposes Romolus Augustus and takes control of the kingdom of Italy, until Theoderic defeats him.

Thus Odoacher knows no tradition outside of the vicissitude of Theoderic, to whom he's closely tied. His name will be lost quickly enough in the literary narrations, but we can follow his progressive oblivion. He's rapidly replaced, in his function as Theoderic's antagonist and the usurper of his kingdom, by Ermanaric, an Ostrogothic king who lived in the IV century, of whom on the other hand, legendary tales preserve a wide memory. Ermanic, it must be remembered, is in the Theoderician heroic tales Theoderic's uncle: the political conflict between king and usurper, a strong theme in the Hildebrandslied, is move to a more understandable family rivalry between uncle and nephew; after all, Germanic tales paint Ermanaric as an evil ruler even in narrative contexts not connected to the Theoderician cycle. The Annals of Quedlinburg still mention Odoacher, but he's not Theoderic's direct rival anymore: there, he's Ermanaric's evil advisor, who recommends exiling his nephew to the king. As the literary transmission goes on, Odoacher disappear, leaving the role of evil counselor to Sibeche. Finally in Kaiserchronik (Chronicle of the Emperors), a Middle High German work in verses with historiographical aspirations but actually with a good filling of heroic traditions, it is remembering that, on entering Northern Italy, he was defeated by Theoderic when he came back from his exile in the court of emperor Zeno. After that, nothing more, until the 1559 print of the Song of Ecke, but there the information is much more likely to come from historical sources rather than from a legendary tradition."

[mikaharuka]

Your Writing Education - Tag Game

So... @mrsmungus tagged me to answer this question:

What are some of the things your writing has inspired you to learn (more) about?

There are quite a few, and this list is definitely not exhaustive at all:

Airports, flights, roads/highways around West Washington State

Recipes and other info for various desserts and drinks

Fashion aesthetics - especially Bohemian and Victorian Goth

Medical stuff related to concussions and hospital procedures

Metaphysical/occult shop wares, Google search functionality

Geography within Seattle - notably Magnolia/Discovery Park

Architecture and gardening stuff, also colors in general

Sanskrit and Latin languages (only at the start of this)

Plants - wildlife, medical, floral, within Ayurvedic stuff...

Vampire/supernatural lore from across the world (especially Quileute lore, since that was quite grossly butchered in canon!)

World History... sooooo much history in general. In fact, I think this deserves its own separate list of topics, so... continue down! Also I'm only listing stuff I've started looking into - by no means am I anywhere close to done with this stuff, nor is this list exhaustive. I'm only at the overview stage for most of this stuff.

Washington State - time as a territory, treaties and agreements, statehood process, international diaspora through today, Seattle-specific history, Quileute history (like with the lore, a lot was overlooked if not outright incorrectly portrayed in canon)

Civil War - timelines, notable/relevant battles, status of major cities

1600s in America, Middle Ages + Renaissance

Medical History - Black Plague, Plague of the Justinian, medical advances and education in general

Ancient World - Mesopotamia, Greece, Han Dynasty (China), India, Egypt, Roman Republic, early Roman Empire, Conquest of Dacia

...so yeah. As you can see, this is quite a lot and I'm only scratching the surface right now!. I didn't plan for things to go this deep when I started, but I wouldn't change anything and found it rewarding.

Tagging to play (no pressure, of course): @axolotlsupremacyowo, @kayedium-writes, @udaberriwrites, @alpaca-clouds, @sliebman10, and the open tag for anyone else who is interested!

[antiquatedabsurdity]

Tonsured Toddlers

One of the most interesting problems facing may historical figures is how exactly one consolidated their rule of a kingdom/empire, particularly after seizing power. After all, when there are people with far better claims to the throne than you around, you always have to be afraid that one of these days, one of the old ruler's kids is going to come back and give you the boot.

Now the simplest answer to this problem is just murder, and this is also probably the most common solution for much of history, but there are a few rather more creative ideas. In Byzantium, for example, the tradition of rhinotomy was common for a while, where deposed emperors would have their noses chopped off, supposedly on the grounds that the emperor, as both the supreme secular power and an agent of God's will on earth, must be physically perfect.

This rather unpleasant method was proven ineffective by Justinian II, managed to reclaim the throne after losing it, along with his nose, to an imperial usurper. It seems that, when one is backed by a massive army, people stop caring that much about your nose.

After that, the preferred method in the Byzantine Empire and much of the west became forcing the deposed ruler, along with whatever relatives one could get their hands on, to become monks and nuns. Once they'd been strongarmed into taking their holy vows, the ex-monarch could no longer have children to continue the royal line (a fact sometimes assured by the monarch being forcibly castrated before entering the monastery).

Possibly no story illustrates the ridiculousness of this more than that of Dagobert II. A king of the Merovingian Dynasty, he lived at a time when the Franks were really ruled by the mayors of the palace, one of whom, Grimoald, had royal ambitions. To ensure that his [Grimoald's] son would inherit the throne of the Franks, Grimoald decided that 6 years old is an absolutely perfect time for one to become a monk and so takes this tiny child, tonsures him (for reference, tonsuring is when someone has the top of their head shaved to become a monk— not the greatest look), and ship him off to Ireland to spend the rest of his life as a monk. Grimoald will eventually be deposed and Dagobert brought back from Ireland, but it's hard not to laugh at the image of an Irish monastery trying to figure out what to do after receiving a tonsured 6 year old on their doorstep.

[venicepearl]

Ino (Greek: Ἰνώ), renamed Aelia Anastasia (died 593) was the Empress consort of Tiberius II Constantine (r. 578–582) of the Byzantine Empire, and Augusta from 578 until her death.

[dapurinthos]

rug wrested into 75% submission. how many times did i turn it around because i wanted to see specific squares of it in specific spaces because it's a hand-made rug and thus each square configuration is different in colour?

too many times.

it's only 75% submission because i cannot lift my television stand high enough to get that corner of the rug beneath it without taking everything off of it so it can a) be lifted high enough, b) not have everything slide to one side and then off.

also her name is theodora (the website named her, not me), but i'm deciding which theodora the name shall be evoking, and i'm leaning toward theodora of emesa:

one of the last students of the athenian platonic school (thanks for closing it justinian 'the great' you dick)

also studied at the alexandrian school with her younger sisters (we love to see the traditions of hypatia continuing)

possibly descended from the emesene dynasty

is the dedicant of damascius's life of isidore (aka the primary source on hypatia, perserved in the suda).

said to have performed pagan rites along with theurgy (i see you looking, hermetic order of the golden dawn)

was described, along with her family, three centuries after her death, as 'first prize winners in idolatrous impropriety' by photius (which i can only see as a compliment, because he excommunicated the roman pope, made-up a theory of people having two souls just to make his opponent look stupid by arguing against it seriously and then said he was just kidding, caused a schism, and is responsible for saving some of the lost fragments of diodorus siculus's bibliotheca historica)

in conclusion: one of the best theodoras. theodorae?

[jackhkeynes]

Second Tetrarchy

The Second Tetrarchy, in older works also called the Medieval Imperia, refers to the period of roughly two centuries at the dawn of second-millennium Europe when a good deal of the land was (at least nominally) under the jurisdiction of four empires: the First Drengot Empire, the German Empire, the Second Roman Empire, and the Single Caliphate.

The name "Second Tetrarchy" was first used in the eighteenth century by the writings of Vascon historian David Bensaíd, in reference to the Roman Tetrarchy of the early fourth century, although the two political regimes had little else in common.

The First Drengot Empire began with the Kernovan Conjuring of 1028, when Normandy conquered Kent with the support of Greater Devon. Over the next years House Drengot went on to consolidate lands from the Middlesea to Edinburgh.

This unity endured until the Emergency at Dijon in 1170, when the Kingdom of Burgundy ceased to be a Drengot vassal; the empire was formally dissolved in 1191 and divided among the heirs and allies of Daniel IV.

The German Empire descended from the eastern half of the expansive Kingdom of the Franks after its scission in the ninth century, combining the Eastern Franks with Willemy. In its first centuries it expanded east and south; the kingdoms of Saxony and Bavarn became the empire's preeminent vassals, with their Andex and Houghbrocken dynasties ruling in turn.

By the end of the twelfth century, the northern cities were developing into the mercantile Stadbund and away from imperial authority. The slow erosion of the German Empire accelerated rapidly during the German Secession of the thirteenth century, and by the end of that century the fiction of a surviving German Empire was laid to rest with the corpse of the first Kingdom of Saxony.

The Second Roman Empire had existed since the (short-lived) reconquest of Rome from the Eastern Goths by Justinian I in 536; it would persist in some form for over a millennium. The eleventh and twelfth centuries did see the empire reach a territorial maximum, controlling territory from Corsica in the west to Derban on the Hazaran Sea in the east.

It was only in the late seventeenth century that the Second Roman Empire ceased to exist in any meaningful sense (despite several periods of only nominal continuity), due to a succession crisis and a series of dramatic civil wars.

The Single Caliphate stretched from Spain to Persia, and was the product of several centralisation reforms from Cairo consolidating authority over the various successor states to the Abbasid Caliphate (although the further territories such as Cordova or the Turkish lands were never as closely-ruled).

[rh35211]

The empire in 555 under Justinian the Great, at its greatest extent since the fall of the Western Roman Empire (its vassals in pink)

The territorial evolution of the Eastern Roman Empire under each imperial dynasty until its fall in 1453.

Byzantine Empire