#One of the other foreign dynasties that ruled Egypt that we know about

[rahabs]

Lots of people complaining about The Mummy vs the new Cleopatra documentary but therein lies the issue: Cleopatra is claiming to be a historically accurate documentary, it is claiming to tell the “real” truth and even put out a statement on how Cleopatra’s ethnicity has been long debated (which, among scholars, no it really hasn’t, y’all just keep ignoring us when we say Cleopatra wasn’t black), but now they’re here to tell the real story that Cleopatra was really black and so was everyone in Egypt, especially the ruling class, at a time where they definitely were not as they were being ruled over by the Ptolemaic Greeks, while The Mummy was not claiming any historical accuracy or to be a documentary of real events, and that’s where a lot of the backlash is coming from.

[divaofmads]

King Baldwin IV | Childhood Love

Part I

~Inspired by history

WARNING: I am an amateur for all these and apologize for any mistakes I made as English is not my native language.

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It was the year 1171. Manuel I was trying to return the Byzantine Empire to its former glory. For this, he had to organize expeditions and be the leader of the emperors mentioned in the Eastern Roman Empire. However, it was difficult to act alone. He had suffered many losses during his invasions. Although the future he envisioned in his mind and the steps taken towards this future were working perfectly in his imagination, the foreign policy he followed should have been much more active and ambitious.

Moreover, the Muslims were getting stronger and getting closer to the Eastern Roman Empire. If this continued, it was only a matter of time before they would capture the Holy Land. The king of Jerusalem, Amalric, was able to protect his lands with the strategic planning he followed, but what about his heir?

All these ideas led Manuel to set his sights on Egypt. By uniting with the Kingdom of Jerusalem, they could lead a joint invasion of Fatimid Egypt, or at least weaken their power. Thus, Manuel took the first step towards political rapprochement by sending an envoy to Amalric, the King of Jerusalem at the time.

The Latin King was happy with his alliances. Although he knew that Manuel was not qualified to rule, he wanted to make the Holy Land impassable by adding Byzantine soldiers to his army. This required more than a political alliance.

Amalric knew that the Byzantine King had a daughter who had just turned nine, only a year younger than his son Baldwin, and that their union would be the most logical step towards continuing the Byzantine and Latin lineage.

Even though she was a little girl, Maria was more than just that. She was the princess who carried the blood of the Komnenos Dynasty. The responsibilities that were hidden like a sneaky snake behind her luxurious, rich and fairytale-like life had already begun to inject their poison into the little princess's childish soul to celebrate the arrival of the right time. While the sons of noble lineage were trained to ascend to the throne and rule their country, the most ruthless duty fell to the girls. To ensure peace between enemies or alliances, to act as a bridge. Noble girls did not have the innate right to marry the man they loved.

Empress Bertha had also been forced into one of these marriages. Although she had a good marriage with Manuel, she was afraid that her lack of choice would affect her, that she would suffer the effects of the golden collar that her noble lineage had put on her. This was the reason for her tension at dinner. Maria could not understand her mother's sudden reprimands: You don't hold your fork properly, you don't chew your food twenty times, don't get your clothes dirty, why isn't your hair in a braid?

It was obvious to everyone that the queen was not only projecting her anger onto her daughter, but also onto the servants.

The aristocratic families, lords and leading merchants of Constantinople were at the table. Emperor Manuel had asked them to come to his table to give him the good news. After dessert, he stood up and made a toast.

"My dear friends. You did not leave us alone in this beautiful night, I raise my glass to you first," he said and after he raised the glass to his lips, the other people at the table took a sip of their wine. When the Emperor spoke again, Maria was watching her father in surprise.

"As you know, the alliance we have established with the Kingdom of Jerusalem has been going on for years. However, we must protect our lands from the Muslims, prevent their advancement, and strengthen our ties with King Amalric against possible future Turkish threats. When the political strategies of the Latins and the wealth of our empire come together, we will have no obstacles to achieve our goals." The Emperor raised his glass to his daughter and showed how much he trusted her with his gaze, placing an unbearable burden on the little princess' shoulders.

"My dear daughter, the engagement of Princess Maria and the Latin prince Baldwin IV will establish insurmountable bonds between the two Empires and will finally be officially crowned."

Just this morning, the princess who had just left needlepoint class and was playing with her dolls was going to be engaged to Baldwin IV as the future Queen of Jerusalem. It sounded far away. The little girl looked at her mother. Two drops of tears flowed from her eyes and followed their paths down her cheeks and dropped onto the plate in front of her. Promise, engagement, marriage... Bertha was talking about all of them to her daughter. She had promised herself that she would marry the man she loved when the time was right. Even though she was young, Maria realized her mother's shame at not keeping her promise to her. The intensive training she had received since she had reached the age of awareness had turned her into an intelligent princess. She was much smarter than her peers and had a great ability to interpret events. She was also aware that no one would oppose the engagement. This was her fate. The ultimate end of princesses. She had no choice but to appear happy to her mother. She did not want to see her disappointed. She gripped Bertha's hand on the table tightly. The Empress looked at her daughter to understand what she had done and saw the happy expression in her eyes.

"I will be the queen of the Holy Land, won't I, mother?"

Emperor Manuel proudly answered your question that you asked with happiness.

"You will go down in history as the most talked about Empress of Rome and the Latin people." He raised his glass one last time and raised his voice. "Long live our princess!"

Constantinople was the Jerusalem of Eastern Europe. The Hagia Sophia church was the Masjid al-Aqsa of Christianity; the temple where Jesus would come to worship after being resurrected. The dress of the Virgin Mary from the Notre Dame Cathedral, the cross and nails on which Jesus was crucified, presented by the King of Jerusalem during the reign of Justinian, were reminders of his sanctity to the entire Christian world. Therefore, the Hagia Sophia church was deemed appropriate for the engagement ceremony. Of course, when the time came, the place where the relations between the two empires would be formalized was the land of Jerusalem.

That's why an invitation was sent to the land of Jerusalem as soon as possible with various gifts. A treasure chest with fabrics decorated with roses, jewelry, wines that were at least two centuries old...

Maria had begun to see changes in her life after the night her father had given her the news that he was getting married. She had never felt the benefits of her age anyway. However, now the number of lessons had increased, she had to attend banquets, and every evening she had to work on the next day's to-do list.

Maria became increasingly afraid of this marriage. When all her toys were distributed to the poor, her rag doll, which she could hide in a crack in the wall, was now her friend. Whenever she was alone in her room, she would talk to her and play games in her mind.

When her nanny knocked on the door, she would run to the crack and hide it behind the dusty stones of the wall. That's why the baby's white dress soon turned gray. Her dreams about the prince darkened as she saw the color of the dress. In her dreams, the man she would marry turned into a bloodthirsty monster. A monument of arrogance, the whites of his eyes painted red. Now she would wake up crying from her sleep at night. Her nanny would wait by her side, trying to comfort her.

The night she had another of these nightmares, she leaned her head on her nanny's chest and squeezed her arms in fear.

"Nanny, nanny; do I really have to marry the prince? I don't even know him."

"Oh, Maria! You must put this childishness aside at once. Lord Alexios' daughter took her child in her arms at the age of sixteen. Lord Romanos' daughter had just become a young girl on her first night of marriage; she was fifteen. Now you too must prepare for womanhood; stop behaving like a little child."

"They're coming tomorrow, aren't they?" she asked, wiping the tears from her eyes.

The nurse stroked the princess's hair. "They will be here tomorrow. Now rest," she said, and getting up, she laid Maria on the bed and covered her.

There was a normal bustle in the palace. The servants were running, the chefs were preparing the meals from scratch, and Lady Bertha was personally taking care of the palace decorations.

The person who was really affected by this bustle was Maria. While the servants were washing her in a tub full of water with rose petals in it, her nanny and a few seamstresses were trying to decide on her outfit.

While she was getting cleaned up nicely and putting on her clothes, there were noises coming from outside. It was too late. Little Maria was not ready. While they were putting a white silk scarf that was big enough to cover half of her hair on top of the bun they had made from braids, the nanny went to the window, pulling on the skirts of her dress.

"Jesus! Lady Bertha will ruin me."

She looked around then. Then he stopped in front of the maid who was holding the pillow with the crown in her hand and shouted.

"You are not here to be fools! God knows if I had the chance I would have chased you out of the palace long ago!" She took the crown in her hand and looked at it hopelessly. Still, the fire in her eyes did not fade. "I said the crown with the emerald stone."

Maria's awareness of the necessity made her surrender herself completely to what was to come, but she did not want to wear a crown, nor did she want to go down and curtsey to the prince she did not want to marry.

The welcoming ceremony was already over when the princess was ready. Bertha immediately went into her room and scolded first the servants, then the nurse.

"A bunch of idiots who don't take their jobs seriously!" She stormed out of the room and turned to look at her daughter. "Don't come downstairs now. I told them she was feeling a little unwell. She'll come down when it's time for the feast. If you can manage it, that is!"

The banquet table had everything the King of Jerusalem would love. Fresh venison was cooked over a wood fire, mixed with special sauces. Deer farming was not common in Constantinople, so it was brought from far away and placed in the middle on three sides of the U-shaped tables. The fish of the city famous for its sea were not forgotten, of course, they were caught in various ways and flavored with rich recipes. The wines were brought from the palace cellar, selected and served according to the King's taste.

Emperor Manuel watched Amalric's pleasure, so he didn't say much. Bertha was bothered by the queen's attitude towards Baldwin. She acted as if the prince didn't exist, and when Bertha brought up the subject, Queen Maria was quite insincere. She implied, though not directly, that her own children would make much better rulers.

"Baldwin is a very emotional boy. The Latin Kingdom did not survive on emotionalism. Amalric never gave the Muslims and Jews of Jerusalem a chance. He gave them what they deserved, not when it was necessary, but ruthlessly before it was necessary." He looked at his stepson with disdain and smiled falsely. "When Amalric leaves the holy land to Baldwin, it will be a matter of time for the Arabics to win."

Empress Bertha was so irritated by the woman's ambition that for a moment she did not know how to respond. She looked at Baldwin sadly. She could hear the conversation between his and his half-siblings, and the boy's mature demeanor for his age contradicted Queen Maria's.

"I have no doubt that he will make my daughter Maria happy. He is a clever boy and will be a king loyal to the Latin Kingdom," she said.

Meanwhile, Amalric asked about the princess. It had been a long time since she arrived and the future Latin Queen had still not arrived. Of course, he knew that the disrespect was unintentional, but he was not happy with the situation.

The emperor became angry. If he had no concern for strengthening the bond between them, his reaction to her threatening words would have been severe. However, now he saw fit to show his anger to his wife. He shouted and showed his authority. He ordered the princess to come immediately. At this moment, the door of the hall opened and the servant entered and introduced Maria.

Baldwin was suddenly distracted by a conversation with his siblings. Although he was only ten years old, he already had many criteria in mind for his future wife.

When Maria entered with her nanny, Baldwin couldn't believe his eyes. Her cherry lips shining on her skin as white as snow, her cheeks as warm as the land she was born in, her golden hair that the goddess Freya would envy when she saw it... The first thing that came to his mind was, "Is this a fairy?"

When Maria glanced around the room, looking for her future husband, she saw the boy staring at her intently. It had to be Baldwin. What should she think? He was a beautiful boy, she couldn't deny that, but would they get along?

The only couple who didn’t speak during the feast as the conversation deepened was the prince and the princess. Although they didn’t seem to like each other, they were both just shy. Maria followed Baldwin’s movements as he plucked a grape from the table in front of him and put it in his mouth, and when the little prince’s gaze turned to her, she turned her head in displeasure. A lady shouldn’t appear interested in marriage. That would symbolize her simplicity. But the Empress was not pleased with this coldness, and she knew exactly what would attract attention.

“I hope his majesty likes jousting,” she said, raising her voice.

"Of course," the king replied and continued. "The jousting in this city is done on horses, much more brutal. It's exciting."

"I hope one day my daughter and your son will duel each other. I'm sure it will be much more exciting," he said and sipped his wine.

The king could not hide his surprise. He frowned, thinking he had misunderstood.

"Is what I heard true? Does this naive princess know how to use a spear?"

Manuel looked at his daughter with pride. "She is still in the training phase, but she is quite talented. If she is going to be a queen who will make a name for herself in the future, she must be good at everything."

Queen Maria looked at him with a look of disdain. Yet she did not lose her hypocritical smile. "I suppose you take the Turks and Norse as an example."

"Of course. You will take the good aspects of your enemies as an example, so that they will have less leverage against you."

That day, the two betrothed hardly spoke because of the princess's secretive attitude. The prince began to think that he was not loved by his future wife. Until he started playing in the garden. While Baldwin and his brothers were playing in the garden, Maria preferred to stay with the two queens. While they were sitting in the palace garden overlooking the Bosphorus and having an evening tea, the voices of the children reached her ears. She heard how cruel the real children of Queen Maria, whom she deemed worthy of the kingdom, were. When she turned her head and looked at them, they would unknowingly use violence on Baldwin, and then call him a spoilsport so that the little boy would not complain. Even though Baldwin knew how bad they were, he had to get along well. Because Amalric adored his wife and therefore her children.

Maria could not stand it any longer and took the first step to defend her husband. She called out to her nanny, leaned in to her ear and said that she wanted to play with the children. Although her outfit was not suitable for playing with wooden swords, she allowed it in order to escape the princess's insistence.

"Okay, but I'll keep an eye on you, my lady. If you take the slightest hit, I'll bring you to me." The princess raised her eyebrows in a knowing manner. She looked proud. "Agreed," she said and got up from the chair and walked towards the children. In the meantime, the three brothers were arguing with each other. They were claiming that Baldwin cheated, even though he had won the sword race again and again.

Maria suddenly spoke up. "Why don't we do this duel as a group. Two on two."

Theo spoke up without waiting for his siblings. "You're a girl. Why don't you go have dessert and chat with our mothers like a lady?"

Maria replied with a smug air, her tone unmoved. "Is that another way of saying you're scared?"

Theo remained silent. He had nothing to say to Maria, for every word would be returned as a positive answer to the question he had asked.

Maria addressed Baldwin's tutor. William of Tyre was Baldwin's tutor and was always by his side; like a nanny.

"I want a wooden sword!" Then she looked at the three brothers and said, "William will be the referee and swear that the race will be fair."

Of course, her partner was Baldwin. Theo and Niko had taken their places, waiting for William's signal to start. Niko was looking at the princess with hostility. But he didn't know how good the princess was at observation. He had noticed every evil she did while fighting Baldwin.

When the duel began, Maria was swinging her sword with calm but rapid movements. Only when Niko would treat her badly would she defend herself harshly and quickly, taking the little devil by surprise. William of Tyre was one of those who did not like the queen's children, of course. It was a great pleasure to see Maria defeat him. The little brat had started to whine because of the wood that had hit his arm.

Baldwin laughed. "Niko, will you stop that? It doesn't suit you at all."

The moment Maria returned Baldwin's smile, they got closer.

Meanwhile, the two ladies watching them did not agree. Bertha was saying proud sentences about her daughter, and was constantly defending that she was the right wife for Baldwin. But the one who was not happy with this situation was the queen. The fact that her child was defeated by a little girl had stimulated her ambitious side, causing her to finish her glass of wine in one go.

The prince seemed to be inspired by Maria to defeat Theo. Now he had someone else besides William who loved and supported him. Your presence gave him confidence.

The defeat of her second son drove Queen Maria mad and she did not forget to scold William while shouting at the children to go to bed.

The prince and the princess had just found the perfect time to get to know each other, but it was not possible again. But the Empress called Maria and Baldwin to her side as if to oppose the cruel lady of the Latin Kingdom.

"Theo and Niko should listen to their mother, but you have much to talk about. Why don't you take a walk in the garden?"

The queen was angry, but necessity pressed her not to show her true face. She spoke through clenched teeth. The smile on her face was so forced that her facial muscles trembled.

"I almost thought you were against me, Lady Bertha."

"Of course not. It would be impertinent of me to interfere with your own children, but when I consider the blood relationship and the engagement ceremony of the two children, I conclude that my say in Baldwin's case is superior. I am sure you will understand."

The queen smiled and nodded with her uncomprehending personality. Her soul was too filled with arrogance to respond to the empress. Yet if you could hear the voice inside you, you would hear the shrill, mad woman's voice screaming.

Baldwin nodded to his mother-in-law. “Thank you, your majesty. I would like to inform you that your daughter is safe with me.”

Bertha smiled and returned the prince's respectful gesture with a slight bow of her head.

"What doubt is there?"

Baldwin pulled his fiancé by the hand. The two children began to run. They ran and ran until they were out of sight... Finally they came out onto a stone path surrounded by stunted trees. The path ended at the seaside, and it seemed they would have enough time to get to know each other on the path that stretched that far.

The princess avoided being the first to speak. In fact, she followed the rules in this period when neither palace etiquette nor men were given priority. But she was no longer sure of her feelings. Every question she would ask the prince was a step towards getting to know the man she loved. But would the prince be attached to her with the same feelings, she was not sure.

Things were not going so normally for Baldwin either. The reason for his silence could be that the princess did not like him or that he could not speak out of respect. Still, as a man, he had to have the first say.

"Tell me, princess? Are you afraid?"

Maria paused. "I think you can call your fiancé by her name."

The boy stuttered excitedly. "Of course I am, I'm just respectfully..."

Maria cut him off. She seemed pleased that Baldwin was excited around her. She smiled and continued walking. "No, I'm not afraid." She continued walking ahead. Baldwin increased his speed as he got closer to her so that she wouldn't see him smile.

"So when I think of Theo and Niko, you're different from them. That's good."

Baldwin got used to Maria as he was alone with her. He was no longer timid to keep up with her steps. He stopped the princess suddenly by grabbing her arm.

"You know, I was very scared. The first meeting of a couple is very important and determines how they will spend the rest of their lives. My fear was the moment I first saw you..."

Maria was about to hear things from the prince that a nine-year-old child would be ashamed to hear. So she interrupted him with a mocking look. "In which book did you read these words?"

Baldwin could not hide his surprise. He answered, avoiding her eyes. "Actually, it is not a quote from the book, William warned me when I came here."

Maria grinned happily this time. "I guess William likes to talk complicated with you."

While the prince looked at his fiancée with pride, Maria seemed lost in his proud gaze. No matter how quickly the harsh lessons he had been exposed to in his noble life had made him grow up, at the end of the day, she was still a nine-year-old child. Although her mind was well-developed for fancy speech, it would take her a long time to learn how to hide her emotions.

Maria sighed as she looked at the child's glowing skin. "You are so beautiful."

Baldwin was surprised to be the recipient of one of those compliments given to girls. Shouldn't he have thought of it?

"I don't understand, my lady."

Maria, confident, forgetting that she was breaking God's prohibitions, approached Baldwin and put her hand on his cheek and caressed it. Then her hair. As if she were playing with a rag doll.

"I've never seen a boy as beautiful as you. You really do remind me of the Greek gods I've seen in books."

Baldwin took a step back, away from his fiancée. He lowered his gaze and frowned.

"No, my lady. You deserve the compliment. Forgive me for not telling you in time."

Maria was as open and honest as ever.

"I don't care if you compliment me or not. I know you like me but what I said about you is true. You are beautiful."

Baldwin wasn’t sure if he was embarrassed or uncomfortable with the reversal of their roles. Still, he was flattered to be admired so much by his fiancée. The eyes that had looked at him with such admiration had last been his mother’s, and now his future wife’s. How could he ever forget the passion hidden in those eyes that had managed to fit every lake and forest in the world?

“Forgive me for interrupting, my prince, but we must return to the palace now.”

The two betrothed were embracing each other when William suddenly appeared behind them. He was happy that the prince had met such innocent love. That was why their childhood love was sacred to him.

The two children separated but did not let go of their hands as they turned to William. Baldwin held his princess's hand tightly. The night was long and they did not want to spend hours apart from each other.

Baldwin began. "The Empress has given us permission to be alone, Will."

"I understand, your majesty, but that was an hour ago." Then he looked meaningfully at Maria. "It is by your mother, Lady Bertha's order."

The little girl bowed her head helplessly and approved. Baldwin did not let go of his fiancée's hand. "Don't worry, my princess, when we get married, we will never be apart." Baldwin held Maria's hand tightly neither when he went to the queen nor when he entered the palace. But when the time came for them to leave and they went to their rooms, neither of the two children knew that it would be their first and last happy moment.

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Maria stood in the middle of the apse with her fiancé Baldwin, listening to the priest's words from the Bible. Everything was perfect, and miraculous. Their people looked at them with envy. After all, even if they were not heirs, they were upper class people and had to marry men or women they did not want in order to make a deal or have better conditions. Everyone Maria and Baldwin had chanced to see in church was unhappy in some way or had cheated on their spouses, but the prince had held his future wife's hand tightly and promised to be by her side before presenting her with the priestly decorations brought personally from the Pantagrator monastery.

Maria knew how upset the Empress was. She was against political unions. She wanted to believe that her daughter truly loved the prince, but her logic believed that the happiness in Maria's eyes was just a mask she had developed for what she had to do. Yet her only daughter had acquired the most sacred feeling God had ever created at such a young age; what a great honor and a proud opportunity!

The princess raised her head towards the Empress's lodge and looked at her mother. She was aware of the embarrassment she was trying to hide behind her despotic gaze, and she was mature enough to smile confidently so that she would not feel guilty. Although Bertha did not respond to her daughter, she was pleased with her happiness.

At that very moment, little Maria noticed movement on the ceiling and turned her eyes to the seraph fresco. She was looking directly into the princess’s eyes from between her wings; the expressionless face she remembered had been replaced by sadness, and she could have sworn to swear by the two tears that were flowing from her eyes. Of course, it was impossible to hide her surprise at the sight she saw. Moreover, the princess’s reaction had attracted everyone’s attention, and a few curious people had fixed their eyes on the ceiling. They wondered what had affected the princess so much. Or would the sacred temple that Justinian had given to Jesus collapse again?

The priest had to nudge the princess with his words: the dynasty rings would be worn.

The priest presented them with the rings placed on the purple pillow. Baldwin reached for the ring first. The emerald stones, which were the companions on both sides of the diamond, were placed on the gold ring. The details were carved with Nordic shapes. However, when Baldwin put the ring on the beautiful princess, the drops of blood that hit the stones splashed and stained her finger red. The princess first pulled her hand away harshly and then looked back up at the frescoes on the cathedral ceiling. Everyone was surprised, unlike the priest. Because he had also witnessed what the princess saw when she looked at the ceiling. The ceiling was cracking insidiously, blood was gushing out from between the cracks, staining the temple. However, the guests were not aware of what was happening. Even Baldwin, despite being face to face with the princess, did not see or notice anything. He was only saying her name.

"MARIA, are you okay? Maria?"

The half dome almost collapsed on their heads. As the cracks widened, the blood flowing increased in intensity. The blood branching from the stained glass windows prevented sunlight from entering the church. The priest grabbed Maria by the arm and started pulling her away. It was as if red rain was falling on the cathedral. The nobles' expensively woven dresses, their bearskin furs, their crowns decorated with jewels could not be seen because of the blood. Despite this, everyone was calm, continuing to look at the apse. As if they were enchanted, as if everyone had entered a vegetative state.

While Maria was screaming and trying to run towards Baldwin to get him out of this pool of blood, the priest had already taken her to the second narthex. The little princess was struggling and begging the priest to let her go. The priest said that he could not do this, otherwise she would be one of those who drowned in blood.

The priest had finally managed to get out of Jesus' house with the princess. Now they were watching the nobles drowning in blood from afar. The two Houses were dying in agony along with their other nobles. There was not a single drop of blood leaking out. You were wondering what was going on inside, and you were crying out the prince’s name.

The priest tried to calm you down, but as the level of the red liquid seen through the windows increased, your ravings turned into pleas. The priest was begging you to be quiet. It was too late now. For the entire kingdom, for Baldwin.

“Maria! Maria! Maria!”

When she looked up at the sky, she could swear that the sun was practically calling her. Was it a divine call?

"Maria, please wake up, your majesty!"

When she opened her eyes, her heart was beating rapidly. It was hard to breathe as her chest rose and fell violently. She looked around with astonished eyes, straightened up, took the glass her nanny had handed her and drank a few sips of water. One of the maids was trying to clean the drops of sweat running down the girl's neck with a wet cloth.

The nurse asked, "What were you seeing, princess? I called out to you for minutes, but your moans did not stop."

Maria was still in the grip of what she had seen and was having difficulty regulating her breathing. The candles burning in the room, the high ceiling; none of them relieved the feeling of being trapped in a tiny box.

"I must speak to the father."

The nurse stammered. "For a nightmare? That doesn't make much sense. We must not occupy His Holiness unnecessarily."

The little princess stared at the woman and repeated her words harshly. The nanny, not knowing what to do, snatched the glass from the girl's hand and bowed respectfully to her, saying that they could go to the palace priest tomorrow morning after breakfast.

"Not the palace priest! We will go to Hagia Sophia. I am telling you this is important, are you really that stupid!"

This was the first time the nanny had seen the princess behave so disrespectfully. But this did not calm her anger. She clenched her teeth. How dare she criticize her intelligence? What she really wanted was to grab the princess by the arm, shake her, demand an explanation, and then beat her; unless she wanted to die in the dungeons with her skin flayed by the Pope right after doing so. Now all she did was to bow her head, holding the glass in her hand in front of her, and assure her that she would fulfill her request.

In the morning, the Latin Kingdom and the Byzantine Empire took their places at the breakfast table. The food did not only include products grown on the Empire's lands. Sugared almonds, cherries and citrons brought from overseas were another way of showing the guests how rich the table was.

The emperor and the king could not help but talk about their strategies even at the breakfast table. There were political implications and metaphors behind every word they used to describe how happy the entire Empire was about their children's engagements.

The two women, overwhelmed by their husbands' passion for work, had turned the conversation completely to the day they would officially become a family. The Empress turned to her daughter at one point and expressed her displeasure that the food on her plate had still not been eaten. Of course, Baldwin, who was standing right in front of her, could see that Maria was behaving differently.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to go to church after breakfast."

Bertha looked at her daughter.

"what's this all about?"

Maria didn't want to talk about the dream she had. When she glanced at her father, she knew that he seemed to be interested in state affairs. She knew very well how obsessed the emperor was with dreams. He would definitely jump on her and make things worse.

"I just want to do a prayer of gratitude for my engagement."

"No way, you have a geography lesson after breakfast. After that, you will personally announce your engagement as the future king and queen. When you return to the palace, you must attend the banquet."

Maria pressed her lips together. She had no answer to say. The to-do list her mother had given her was endless. Besides, that day was her laziest day. No one but Baldwin had noticed her discomfort at not being able to go to church. She would use her intelligence to save her only love from the situation.

"I thought God's word ruled in Byzantine lands, your majesty."

Manuel stopped talking suddenly and looked at the little boy with a frown. He caught the attention of everyone at the table by banging the rings he wore on his five fingers, each set with a precious stone, on the arm of the chair. Baldwin's accusation was very bold. The tension between the two kingdoms was at its peak now. When Amalric tried to silence his son, the emperor interlaced his fingers at chest level without taking his elbows off the arm of the chair.

He looked very calm. This was an attitude that would never suit the emperor. Everyone knew very well how ruthless he could be.

"Tell me Baldwin, why did you say that?"

Baldwin, unlike the others at the table, was very relaxed.

"I apologize if I was misunderstood, your majesty, I just wanted to express that worshipping the god is much more important than lessons. She is trying to raise the princess in the best way possible, to make her like you, but this should not be a reason to delay her worshipping in Hagia Sophia. I am sure you think the same way I do.

The Latin king was still nervous. Queen Maria was pleased with Baldwin's impudent attitude. She could trick her beloved husband and get him the worst punishment. A good start to discredit his son in his father's eyes.

But the emperor answered the prince with a faint smile on his lips.

"Your apology is a part of your humility, a symbol of your lion-heartedness in defending what you know to be right. Very good Baldwin."

Then he glared at his wife.

"And my dear wife, I do not want to believe the idea that I have not attained the reason of a ten-year-old child."

Then he turned to his daughter.

"What is it that makes you want to go to church so badly?"

The princess lowered her eyes in embarrassment.

"Your Majesty, all I want is to go to church and give thanks. If you will allow me."

"Get ready after breakfast," the emperor ordered.

Maria looked at Baldwin from below and smiled coquettishly in thanks. Baldwin, however, continued to focus on the plate in front of him, without losing his haughty gaze.

When the princess and her servant arrived at the church, the priest was surprised. He had never been here before except on special occasions. Although he was sitting in his office working on state matters, he left his work unfinished. He went down the stairs and approached the princess standing in front of the apse. He was aware of the strangeness in her attitude. Maria was looking at the stained glass windows, the windows where she had witnessed blood choking people. She continued to look until the priest spoke.

"My princess, welcome."

When the princess turned to the priest, she felt uneasy as if her nightmare had come true.

"What brought you here?"

Maria swallowed. "I had a dream, Father Antonio. I wouldn't have come if I didn't think it was a dream worth listening to, but I think it's worth it."

The priest was aware of the fear and despair on the girl's face. He put his hand on her back and guided her to the pews in the nave.

"Come, my child, let's sit down and talk."

In fact, the priest was prejudiced against the girl at first. A little child could have been affected by a terrible dream. What she was going to listen to now could be complete nonsense. But at the end of the day, she was the princess and she had to listen.

Although the priest's face was so gentle when Maria started telling her dream, what she heard later in the dream frightened her. While blood was bad in itself, the fact that there were people drowning in it, and moreover, inside Hagia Sophia...

The priest asked, trying to control his excitement. "Were you among those who drowned in the palace?"

Maria answered, "No," and was about to continue her dream when the priest stopped her.

"No, my child, you don't need to continue because what you saw is just your fears." Even though he didn't want to lie, it wasn't right to tell a little girl what had happened. He had to talk to the emperor directly.

He continued, stuttering as if he knew he was lying. "Now return to your palace, my child. It's normal for you to be worried about the future because of your engagement ceremony, but there's nothing to fear."

Antonio accompanied Maria to the first narthex. No matter how comfortable she seemed, she now knew that the two kingdoms had heavy penances to pay. Moreover, this was much closer to home for the Latin Kingdom. Very soon, problems would arise in the holy lands, and she would be dragged into an impossible path.

Thank God, all these negativities would strengthen the little princess, and her suffering would grow her.

But what really frightened her was the fact that the third Crusade could resurrect.

[rottenfox]

Genshin Theory from a noob: Language

Alright, well I'm in the middle of a 24 hour sleep reset so sorry if this makes no sense, but I've just got into Genshin and have recently caught up with the archon quests. One thing that I really enjoyed have been how each nation built their culture and government around the ideals of their nation. I'm sure those who are interested in this already know this but I'm still going to type it out for my sleep addled mind.

Mondstadt: Freedom- loose theocracy/police state w/ nomadic-like cells; based off the old Gemadic + Latin middle ages?

Liyue: Contracts- rigid capitalist structure w/ formal religious roots; based off China (though what dynasty, I don't know)

Inazuma: Eternity- rigid clan power w/ smaller clans controlling their own islands mush closer; Based off shogunat Japan

Sumaru: Wisdom- academic body w/ nomadic? Natives? Based off India and the middle east (mostly Egypt)

Fontaine: Justice- Judicial system w/ an oligarcical prison system?? (Idk how you would describe the fortress) Based off France.

Shneznia: ???- possibly also a theocracy w/ the God herself ruling; based of Russia.

I would put the Pyro nation but like I said, I'm new to Genshin and too tired to research properly. MOVING ON

We know these nations were built by the Archons to nurse their ideals but something that is only brought up a few times is the language barrier -or the lack of it. We know there are other languages, since is brought of a few times when something it written in "common" but it's surprising that EVERYONE can speak it. Despite the name, common as a language type, wouldn't make much sence. Which that got me thinking about how the languages would form and mix together.

Remember that language is never linear and alway mixes with the other languages around it. And for one language to be considered "Common" in the vast world known as Teyvat. So before we can ask what is Common, we have to analyze the other languages and see how they formed.

THE GOD LANGUAGE

And before we even start with the nation's, we have to start.... with their gods! Now, the gods of Teyvat grew their followers and mirrored their cultures to enhance their faith and spread their power. This also means that before the birth of Common there had to have been another universal language only the gods and immortal spirits spoke to communicate with each other. Personally, I like to think that it sounded like old Latin since the Lesser Key of Solomon was written in that language.

We can substantiate this with the fact that Morax had to make Mora instead of their being a currency that his people already used. The creation of currency is a sign of outward growth since it means foreigners can now enter the economy with only the minted coin and not, say, a herd of goats or bails of wheat.

As to what that language sounded like would entirely depend on how gods/ spirits are formed. I imagine it would be innate to them upon birth or manifestation since both seem to naturally come from the earth. Hell, each God might sound completely different but because their language is built off universal concepts and the elements, they just naturally understand eachother.

This would also mean that their people would most likely have a language that their respective god created, if Liyue and Sumaru/the desert dwellers have mean anything. As to what and how they formed I do have an... unfounded theory. I still have not finished all the story quests so forgive me if I get things wrong. I will also be using each nation's cultural stand-in as their language; ie German for Mondstadt, Manderin for Liyue, ect.

MONDSTADT

Starting with Mondstadt we have the King Decarabian, the small wind spirit Barbatos, and the minor gods/ elemental dragon of Mondstadt with would become the four winds. Since we don't know how long King Decarabian ruled and there is no mention of him having rivals, we can assume the majority of the humans in the area were his to rule. Especially since he didn't even regard the wolf god as a threat during the Archon war and the fact that the people made Venti as their god without him having to kill other gods to keep it. We can assume the rest of Four Winds didn't have humans to look after either during that time, being uninterested in them.

This would mean German is one of two of the most purest... base language. The indefinite isolation the Tyrant put them through meant that they most likely never spoke to foreigners before the rebellion, but with the freedom Barbatos gave them, they were quick to leave and explore past their nation. This would explain why the Adventure's Guild Headquarters is in Mondstadt instead of each nation having their own.

As for what it sounds like I think it would still have the harshness of German thanks to the origins with the God of Storms but has also gained a softer, rounder note with Barbatos's ascension. They also have a penchant for borrowing words from other languages as the people spread out through Teyvat. Tying that with their friendliness with foreigners and you quickly find yourself with the beginning of a mutt language, something we will bring up later. For now let's move on too...

LIYUE

Liyue is by far the most complicated when it comes to their language history, since it seems like the majority of old gods vyed for power and land there as well as the dozens of Adepti that roamed the land. It's to assume that it was more of a conglomerate of villages that spoke their own version of Common rather than each god exclusively influencing their followers language. Think how the Nordic languages interact with each other, that was basically how Liyue's former languages.

Soon, with Morax coming into power, that common language became Manderin and was probably about as complex as well. I imagine dialects are still very big their though, along with unique naming conventions based on region. I think that their would be a good amount of Teyvat's version of Latin in it because of the fact that gods and adepti were so close to humans.

Manderin would probably be one of the strongest languages in Teyvat, passing German and just behind Sumaru's language. Though there is an argument for it having the strongest influence with it's proximity to Teyvat's economy. As to what it sounds like, I think it would vary by region but would gave the bounciness of Manderin but with the rolling undercurrent of Latin- if that makes sense. It would also have quite a few loan words from Sumaru in particular and would be one of the wordiest language thanks to needing to state the parameters of a contract extensively. And while there is an honorific system, it's more modern and our next nation...

INAZUMA

I will start this section by saying, I really didn't read/ pay attention much to Inazuma. So this may all be wrong.

Inazuma being a collection of islands so far from the mainland gives it a lot of uniqueness compared to the other languages and cultures. Logically...it should be the most unique of the other nations... unfortunately, this is still a gacha game and so there has to be a Japantm. So I'm probably going to say that the original Baal separated the islands from the main land... or that the God of Vortex pushed them even farther away from Liyue.

Either way, I imagine they would actually have Two "languages": the common Japanese borm form the natural progression of being separated from Liyue we see mirrored in real life, and a more ancient language used exclusively in religious work and meetings with gods and spirits.

Compared to Liyue, Inazuma is even more devout to their gods, building so many shrines and interacting with spirits even more than those in Liyue thanks to the smaller amout of space. So while they had a similar situation as Liyue, the humans were at higher beings mercy even more. I imagine that the humans at that time kept an even stricter honorific language. With the politest version using so much Latin syntaxes a form of respect.

With the raise of Baal and Eternity taking power, I imagine that polite speech coming to a halt while the rest of the language evolved until they became two separate languages. If you thought Liyue's combination was weird then think of Japanese and Latin mixed together. It would probably be the most complex language with the honorific system being to strong there in particular.

SUMARU

Sumaru interested me the most, since it is thee nation of Wisdom, and I love the fact the modern Sumaru is based heavily on India! That being said, language-wise... I'm a bit at a loss. Because they have the Desert-dwellers (which I will now be calling Arabics because I hate that usage), they had a full blown language before the Dendro Archon. But it's very obvious that there was a major shift after King Desheret death.

It could be because of the Akademiya's push to worship Buer that they completely morphed the language, creating something of a class language where only the learned and elite can speak. It would be interesting, especially since I don't think such a thing has happened in the real world. It would help that the Arabics stayed in the desert, keeping not only their language, but their features as well while the academics became pale and evolved their language to reflect that of Buer. (Which you could say because they stayed inside all day studying but idk. Still wish they made them dark.)

Egyptian Arabic would probably be the oldest mortal language still spoken in Teyvat and may have moved far from any Latin tie before Buer came to power. I can also see modern Arabics wanting to separate their language from the academics because of rising tensions, as it to say "They are not us."

The academics on the other hand would probably be just as wordy as Liyue since they research. Though I think the Akademiya's disdain for lesser languages might lead to them never officially borrowing words. This, of course would lead to a casual speech that would use loan words and a formal speech that is used in papers and events would be 100% Hindi. Hindi would also be a major language since it would be the language of science/ alchemy with also being the only place of formal education in Teyvat. This Hindi probably has major roots in Latin in an effort to be like their god. But they aren't the most Latin. That would be...

FONTAINE

So Fontaine is fun because it is the only nation we know so far that IS a Latin based language irl and we can make several connections with the God Language being Latin with this.

So with the Nation of Justice being so tied with the idea of truth as well, it's pretty ironic that it was built on a falsity, with Fontainians being Oceanids. Specifically, they were the familiars of the Hydro Archon...

I hope you know where I'm going with this.

When the Oceanidss became human, the Latin they spoke had to be reformed, after all the "True Latin" can only spoken and understood between gods and spirits, so their now mortal use of Latin had to be tweaked. And slowly but surely, it became the Latin language we see their today: French!

It would be the youngest of the languages with soooooo many borrowed words; most of them from Liyue and Sumaru so it's more of a mutt than how our France likes to portray it's language.

There isn't much else to say (that won't insult the Franks) so let's skip the Nation of War and move on to what little we know about...

SNEZHNAYA... AND KHAENRI'AH

So, like I said, I'm new to the game and have not played through all of the story quests. So this is pure speculation though I did read just a bit wiki in my state to know about Khaenri'ah and the Abyss's tie to Latin. You would think that means my theory of Latin being the language of the divine but not really. In fact if "True Latin" was the language spoken by the gods and spirits, it would make sense that it would be the language of Alchemy, astrology and magic. And with Khaenri'ah being so old it would definitely have Latin-like text.... which brings me to my theory...

Khaenri'ah is Italian. HEAR ME OUT!

I always found it strange that the fatui harbingers had Italian titles despite their nation being Russian. But then I learned the the Fatui was started by a Khaenrian who have everyone their titles. And with Italian being so close to Latin it would make sense why so much of their text still reads Latin. Especially if they saw Latin as the script of the world. If anything Khaenrian's insistence on using Latin script could be seen as an insult to the gods, as if saything they were equals. The Abyss also speaks Latin most likely since it's another ancient force in Teyvat though I imagine it... gives off a feeling of dread for all who listens... unless they're already insane.

As for Snezhnaya. I still want to wait before giving a full analysis.

COMMON

alright I've spent 4 hours on this and I'm crashing so it's gonna be short. The basis of Teyvat's common language is mostly going to be German since Mondstadt were most likely the first to travel and interact with the other nations. It would then be mixed with Manderin as Liyue's financial power grew and their language formalized. Hindi probably had a bit of influence as well but since Sumaru is very elitist only a few borrowed words slipped in. I can see the same happening with the rise of technology in Fontaine though it will probably be on a much smaller scale.

I'm not editing this. Feel free to add your opinions and theories in the comments. I'm gonna suffer for 5 more hours now.

[darylelockhart]

Never mind Cleopatra – what about the forgotten queens of ancient Nubia?

by Yasmin Moll, University of Michigan

Jada Pinkett Smith’s new Netflix documentary series on Cleopatra aims to spotlight powerful African queens. “We don’t often get to see or hear stories about Black queens, and that was really important for me, as well as for my daughter, and just for my community to be able to know those stories because there are tons of them,” the Hollywood star and producer told a Netflix interviewer.

The show casts a biracial Black British actress as the famed queen, whose race has stirred debate for decades. Cleopatra descended from an ancient Greek-Macedonian ruling dynasty known as the Ptolemies, but some speculate that her mother may have been an Indigenous Egyptian. In the trailer, Black classics scholar Shelley Haley recalls her grandmother telling her, “I don’t care what they tell you in school, Cleopatra was Black.”

These ideas provoked commentary and even outrage in Egypt, Cleopatra’s birthplace. Some of the reactions have been unabashedly racist, mocking the actress’s curly hair and skin color.

Egyptian archaeologists like Monica Hanna have criticized this racism. Yet they also caution that projecting modern American racial categories onto Egypt’s ancient past is inaccurate. At worst, critics argue, U.S. discussions about Cleopatra’s identity overlook Egyptians entirely.

In Western media, she is commonly depicted as white – most famously, perhaps, by screen icon Elizabeth Taylor. Yet claims by American Afrocentrists that current-day Egyptians are descendants of “Arab invaders” also ignore the complicated histories that characterize this diverse part of the world. A relief depicting the Nubian Kandake Amanitore in the Egyptian Museum in Berlin. Sven-Steffen Arndt/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

Some U.S. scholars counter that ultimately what matters is to “recognize Cleopatra as culturally Black,” representing a long history of oppressing Black women. Portraying Cleopatra with a Black actress was a “political act,” as the show’s director put it.

Ironically, however, the show misses an opportunity to educate both American and Egyptian audiences about the unambiguously Black queens of ancient Nubia, a civilization whose history is intertwined with Egypt’s. As an anthropologist of Egypt who has Nubian heritage, I research how the stories of these queens continue to inspire Nubians, who creatively retell them for new generations today.

The one-eyed queen

Nubians in modern Egypt once lived mainly along the Nile but lost their villages when the Aswan High Dam was built in the 1960s. Today, members of the minority group live alongside other Egyptians all over the country, as well as in a resettlement district near the southern city of Aswan.

Growing up in Cairo’s Nubian community, we children didn’t hear about Cleopatra, but about Amanirenas: a warrior queen who ruled the Kingdom of Kush during the first century B.C.E. Queens in that ancient kingdom, encompassing what is now southern Egypt and northern Sudan, were referred to as “kandake” – the root of the English name “Candace.” A comic inspired by the story of Amanirenas. Chris Walker, Creative Director, Lymari Media/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

Like Cleopatra, Amanirenas knew Roman generals up close. But while Cleopatra romanced them – strategically – Amanirenas fought them. She led an army up the Nile about 25 B.C.E. to wage battle against Roman conquerors encroaching on her kingdom.

My own favorite part of this story of Indigenous struggle against foreign imperialism involves what can only be characterized as a power move. After beating back the invading Romans, Queen Amanirenas brought back the bronze head of a statue of the emperor Augustus and had it buried under a temple doorway. Each time they entered the temple, her people could literally walk over a symbol of Roman power.

That colorful tidbit illustrates those queens’ determination to defend their autonomy and territory. Amanirenas personally engaged in combat and earned the moniker “the one-eyed queen,” according to an ancient chronicler of the Roman Empire named Strabo. The kandakes were also spiritual leaders and patrons of the arts, and they supported the construction of grand monuments and temples, including pyramids. A pyramid of Kandake Amanitore amid the Nubian pyramids of Meroe. mtcurado/iStock via Getty Images Plus

Interwoven cultures and histories

When people today say “Nubia,” they are often referring to the Kingdom of Kush, one of several empires that emerged in ancient Nubia. Archaeologists have recently started to bring Kush to broader public attention, arguing that its achievements deserve as much attention as ancient Egypt’s.

Indeed, those two civilizations are entwined. Kushite royals adapted many Egyptian cultural and religious practices to their own ends. What’s more, a Kushite dynasty ruled Egypt itself for close to a century.

Contemporary Nubian heritage reflects that historical complexity and richness. While their traditions and languages remain distinctive, Nubians have been intermarrying with other communities in Egypt for generations. Nubians like my mother are proudly Egyptian, yet hurtful stereotypes persist. Hafsa Amberkab, right, and Fatma Addar, Nubian Egyptian women who compiled a dictionary, show off a Nubian lexical chart near Aswan in upper Egypt. Khaled Desouki/AFP via Getty Images

Today, some Black Americans embrace Cleopatra as a powerful symbol of Black pride. But the idea of ancient Nubia as a powerful African civilization also plays a symbolic role in contemporary Black culture, inspiring images in everything from cosmetics to comics.

Egyptian voices

Researchers do argue about Cleopatra’s heritage. U.S. conversations about her, however, sometimes reveal more about Western racial politics than about Egyptian history.

In the 19th century, for example, Western interest in ancient Egypt took off amid colonization – a fascination called “Egyptomania.” Americans’ fixation with the ancient civilization reflected their own culture’s anxieties about race in the decades after slavery was abolished, as scholar Scott Trafton has argued.

A century later, a 1990s advertisement for a pale-colored doll of queen Nefertiti sparked debate in the U.S. about how to represent her race.

Nefertiti’s bust – one of the most famous artifacts from ancient Egypt – is on display at a German museum. Egypt has called for the artifact’s return for close to a hundred years, to no avail. Even Hitler took a personal interest in the bust, declaring that he “will not renounce the queen’s head,” according to archaeologist Joyce Tyldesley. The famed and fought-over bust of Queen Nefertiti. Francis G. Mayer/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images

Even today, contemporary Egyptian perspectives are almost absent in Western depictions of ancient Egypt. Only one Egyptian scholar is interviewed in the new Netflix series’ four episodes, as he himself notes, and he is employed not by an Egyptian university, but by a British one.

For many Egyptians, this lack of representation rehashes troubling colonial dynamics about who is considered an “expert” about their past. The Netflix series “was made and produced without the involvement of the owners of this history,” argues the Egyptian journalist Sara Khorshed in a review of the series.

To be sure, there is anti-Black bias in Egyptian culture, and some of the social media reaction has been slur-filled and racist. Educating people about the stories of Nubian queens like Amarinenas might be a way to encourage a more inclusive understanding of who is Egyptian.

Yet I believe Egyptians’ frustrations about portrayals of Cleopatra also reflect long-standing concerns that their own understandings of their past are not taken seriously.

That includes Black Egyptians, like my mother. When I asked her if she planned to see the Cleopatra series, she shrugged. She already knows that queen’s story well from its many portrayals on screen, whether in Hollywood films or Egyptian ones.

“I will wait for the series on Amanirenas,” she said.

Yasmin Moll, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of Michigan

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

[katharkness]

*vibrates wildly*

Oh boy do I have resources for you!

There’s these guys called Creation Ministries International who take a very academically rigorous approach to Biblical studies, and they have done some excellent articles about Egyptian history and the Bible. I’ll link the articles below, but allow me to present some of their conclusions:

You’re quite correct to reject Ramses as the Pharaoh of Exodus; as you said, the timeline just doesn’t match up.

You’ve picked the same dynasty as them, but a few generations later. They reckon it was Amenhotep II, because they fixed a date of about 1446 BC, and then checked that against the history.

Amenhotep II succeeded Thutmose III, who by this reckoning was the Pharaoh who tried to have Moses killed so much that he fled to Midian. Given Moses was forty years in Midian before God recalled him, it could be assumed that the Pharaoh hunting Moses was reigning virtually all that time. Thutmose III was one of only two Pharaohs in that period to reign more than forty years (the other being Ramses II), albeit co-ruling with Hatshepsut for some of it. Hatshepsut may even have been the princess who adopted Moses. Given the tensions between Thutmose III and Hatshepsut at the time Moses fled, Thutmose III would have had political as well as judicial reasons to seek to have Moses (a potential rival) killed.

The Pharaoh of the Exodus and his successor were neither firstborn. The Pharaoh survived the plague on the firstborn, his son did not, so his successor was a subsequent son. Neither Amenhotep II nor his successor Thutmose IV were firstborn - Thutmose IV confirms in the Dream Stele that he was not the natural heir, which he would have been if he were the firstborn.

There was a change in foreign policy under Amenhotep II. Thutmose III had conducted some 17 raids into foreign territory and brought back just over 2000 slaves. Amenhotep II only conducted two or three campaigns, but brought back over 100,000 slaves - which would fit if he’d managed to lose his entire slave labour force and needed to replenish it. This would also have weakened the Canaanite kingdoms in the years before Joshua’s conquest.

You’re probably aware that Thutmose IV was rather short-reigning, succeeded by Amenhotep III, who it seems was actually the one to start the worship of the Aten - his son Akhenaten switched out religions entirely, but apparently Amenhotep III started it. There are messages discovered in Akhenaten’s city to him and his father from their Canaanite vassals asking for protection from a new group of marauders - messages that were ignored, but match up with the approximate timing of Joshua’s conquest.

You’re suggesting that Akhenaten was the Pharaoh of the Exodus because of his particularly prideful pseudomonotheism and his rather dramatic downfall. I agree that Akhenaten may well have received divine punishment for his hubris, but that doesn’t require said punishment to be the Ten Plagues. CMI speculates that Akhenaten’s monotheism might have been inspired by his forefather’s smackdown by the God of a monotheistic religion.

This isn’t from the CMI resources, but a documentary I saw years ago about Tutankhamun’s cause of death. They concluded that Tutankhamun died from a fall after an epileptic seizure brought on by a genetic condition magnified by generations of sibling-marriage. If it was a genetic disorder, perhaps that was God’s judgement on the dynasty? Although of course we cannot claim to know God’s mind.

Here are the articles I promised. The first two are all about the specifics of fitting Exodus into history, and the third is a highly detailed piece that I have yet to fully dig through myself yet.

https://creation.com/short-sojourn-part-1

I have SO many crazy theories on ancient lands.

[a-d-nox]

Hello, could you tell us about the asteroid Cleopatra? I have this asteroid conjunct Venus and is in the 1st house. Thanks.

cleopatra, queen of kings (asteroid 216)

back by popular request - egyptian asteroids - history and myth (@safieblue this is for you too (i didn’t forget you ;) just a little behind in the ask department!)).

cleopatra :)

Cleopatra was a notable Queen of Egypt and historical woman. She was known for her logistical skills, cunning, power, and charisma. Many say that she had an irresistible personality. It was Julius Caesar that had her statue erected in the temple of Venus - this was because she herself was thought to be a goddess or goddess reincarnated (many believed she was Isis - who is most similar to Venus/Aphrodite (hence the temple selected)). Cleopatra had great strategic skills because she had knowledge on how to speak around eight languages - this allowed for more trade and diplomacy amongst those countries around Egypt. She was a very intelligent woman who was known to have studied philosophy, writing, politics, etc. It is likely that she gained all this knowledge based on living in Alexandria, which was a cultural hub and had a renowned library. Her reputation was what made two well known Roman generals fall in love with her: Julius Caesar and Marc Antony. Most references on her have been distorted with time - most at large being her looks. Many say that she was gorgeous like Venus herself but others say she was average (most trustworthy may be the statues and coins made in her image - you can debate her beauty amongst yourself, i for one say we are all pretty hot lol). Back to her story though - Cleopatra was made to marry her brother after her father died. Her brother had her exiled after learning that he could have all the fame and glory instead of sharing it. Rome’s involvement is due to Cleopatra's father, who had a large amount of debt incurred from Rome, as well as Cleopatra's connection to the Ptolemaic dynasty (Macedonian in origin - Greek). After a civil war in Greece, the general Pompey fled to Egypt knowing that there were people who most likely had to take him in - he was wrong, Cleopatra's brother killed him. When Caesar found out about what had occurred, he demanded that Egypt pay for this terrible deed. Cleopatra was able to settle this peacefully and sweet talk Caesar into placing her back on the throne. Caesar was inspired by Cleopatra and brought ideas back to his homeland after staying in Egypt for many months - sadly, Caesar was assassinated shortly after his homecoming. Octavian and Marc Antony came to Cleopatra asking for her help in avenging Caesar. Cleopatra quickly agreed for the sake of her and Caesar's son. Marc Antony and Cleopatra quickly became involved romantically - their honeymoon phase offended Octavian into annexing Egypt and claiming emperorship of Rome. He convinced Rome that Cleopatra was trying to ruin their traditions and corrupt their leaders which caused a fleet to attack Marc Antony and Egypt. The rest is a bit blurred due to popular culture having mostly Roman history available to work with - which is a bit biased as to what happened with Cleopatra or her reign in general. So I will end it on this note: at the age of seventeen she began ruling and it is said that the twenty plus years following that were prosperity and peaceful in the eyes of Egyptians'. IN MY OPINION Kleopatra in a chart represents a) how good you are at strategic thinking, b) how others see your beauty, c) how you are remembered, d) diplomacy and how well you interact with foreigners, e) love affairs, and/or f) your power of persuasion.

i encourage you to look into the aspects of kleopatra along with the sign, degree, and house placement. for the more advanced astrologers, take a look at the persona chart of kleopatra AND/OR add the other characters involved to see how they support or impede kleopatra!

OTHER RELATED ASTEROIDS/PLANETS: aphrodite (1388), VENUS, isis (42), and caesar (18458)!

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[esther-dot]

I dont even ship Jonsa, but it so funny to me that dany stans will try to relate it to targaryen incest. As if two cousins marrying in a feudal setting is the same as years and years of brother sister incest which has led to persistent madness, stillbirths and deformities

I read/watch way too much entertainment set before the 21st Century to be bothered by cousin-cest. Marrying cousins is a thing people did in America, even into the 1900s (it's still legal in like half the states although uncommon), so the freak out is funny. And in Westeros it's even more normal for cousin marriages to occur, so it isn't even noteworthy whereas Targcest is a whole thing. A thing that has connections to the fall of real world dynasties. I forget who has talked about this before, but I know others have mentioned The Royal House of Habsburg and there's some interesting stuff there:

Beginning in the early 12th century they quickly expanded their realm through a series of strategically executed marriages, from the mountains of Switzerland to a territory that included swaths of Austria, Hungary, Italy, France and Spain. The Spanish branch of the Habsburg dynasty helped create an empire that reached its apex in the 16th and 17th centuries, controlling land from the Phillippines to the Americas.

Yet the Habsburgs are known not only for controlling huge tracts of Europe, but also for maintaining control by rarely marrying outside the dynasty.

By the end of the 17th century, the results of their marital practices had become apparent in the form of a distinctive protruding lip, a high rate of infant mortality and a host of other health problems.

Could the same marital practices that helped bring the Habsburg dynasty to power also have led to its demise?

In the April 15 issue of PLoS One, scientists from Spain’s University of Santiago de Compostela argue that inbreeding so incapacitated the Habsburgs over the centuries that by the death of King Charles II of Spain in 1700, they were virtually unable to reproduce. (link)

and obviously, the Targ version is most closely aligned with the Ptolemaic Dynasty:

Incestuous relationships were so common in the Ptolemaic dynasty that Ptolemy II is often given the nickname “Philadelphus,” a word used to describe his marriage to his sister Arsinoe II. Almost every pharaoh of the dynasty thereafter was married to his or her brother or sister; Ptolemy II’s heir, Ptolemy III, along with his other children, was from a previous marriage and did not marry a sister, but he did marry his half-cousin Berenice II. It wasn’t until the next generation that we see another marriage between a full brother and sister: Ptolemy IV and Arsinoe III. Ptolemy V was the first offspring of a Ptolemaic sibling marriage. The trend continued within the family up to the birth of the famous Cleopatra VII. Her father was Ptolemy XII and her mother was her father’s sister, Cleopatra V.

Marrying within the royal family meant never having to dilute their Macedonian blood with that of the native Egyptians. It also meant that foreign powers couldn’t infiltrate Egypt. It seems as if the Ptolemys would have then produced a number of offspring with genetic disorders, but none appear to have significantly suffered from inbreeding. Nevertheless, inbreeding worked in their favor and helped keep the rule of Egypt in the hands of the Ptolemys for almost 300 years. (link)

The fact that they ignore the purpose of Targcest, and act like two people who are cousins falling in love is the same, uh, no. And attempting to compare the "incest" of Jonsa to generations of extreme inbreeding....I mean, there are reasons to not like Jonsa, but that's just a weird angle to attack from.

[evanescentjasmine]

Writing Egypt and Egyptian Characters: Rusty Quill Gaming Edition

I’ve finally caught up with the Cairo arc of Rusty Quill Gaming, which I was anticipating and dreading both. Fiction set in my country usually reduces it to a caricature of itself, especially when it takes place in the Victorian era, but considering everything they’ve said in their metacasts I was hoping Rusty Quill Gaming was the exception.

It wasn’t. 

I’m aware the game world plays fast and loose with history and setting, but the problems in this case are more than just inaccuracies. However, because I want to help fic writers and artists be able to portray Hamid and his family well, this resource will be split into two parts. The first part will tackle details I’ve been asked about with regard to the setting; it may touch on things RQG went wrong, but I’m writing it primarily as a resource for artists and writers. The second part will be my criticism of RQG, and why I found the Cairo arc actively harmful. This includes discussions of Orientalism and some racist text.

I should also preface this by saying I’m not a historian. Everything I say in this resource is a combination of what I grew up with and what I remember from school, supplemented by Google and guesswork. I’ll be explaining my thought process throughout, which can help you see what’s actual history and what’s my extrapolation.

Part One: On Egypt

Historical Context:

Figuring out the history of Egypt in RQG terms is a bit complicated, so bear with me because this will take a while. 

In real-world history, Egypt was a Roman then Byzantine province from 30 BC to around the mid 600s AD, at which point the Arab conquest swept through and Egypt became Muslim. 

What this means is that when the Meritocrats took down Rome and took over the world, Egypt was still a Roman province. That gives us a several hundred year gap before the Arabs that may have maintained the same culture? Or morphed a little back to some pre-Ptolemaic Ancient Egyptian, given their Meritocrat, Apophis, is named after a great Pharaonic serpent?

Either way, given Hamid’s name and the fact they live in Cairo, the city built by the Arabs, we can assume the Arab conquest still happened somehow, despite having a Meritocrat in Egypt. Maybe a Meritocrat out there is Arab and settled in Egypt for a bit with or before Apophis? Maybe it took a couple-hundred years for the Meritocrats to get all the previous Roman areas under control? Maybe there was a whole war and the Arabs won and settled and eventually they got to a truce or got absorbed into Meritocratic lands?

Many Muslim dynasties ruled throughout the period from the mid 600s to the 1500s. Given the lack of Islam in this world, probably the Arabs were unified by some Pre-Islamic deity/deities and brought them over as well, because I refuse to just sweep everything under the broad Greek God rug. 

In the 1500s, another Muslim dynasty took over--this time, from outside of the country, which is why it’s considered separate from all the rest. At this point, Egypt became part of the Ottoman Empire until the 1800s, which is when the Mohammed Ali dynasty started to try and secede and rule independently. And there was a brief blip of the French occupation for two years around then as well.

And, of course, we can’t forget about British colonisation, which started in the late 1800s with a veiled protectorate.

Presumably, since France and Britain are also Meritocratic and it seems like Apophis is currently ruling, we can disregard everything from the Ottomans onward. This changes, or should change, a ton, because Ottoman rule informed a lot of things from fashion to slang to nobility and so on. 

What we’re left with is most likely a Cairo that is still Arab but with much more Pharaonic influence, as Apophis is in charge, as well as continuing Greek influence due to the Gods. I am not a Coptic Christian, so I cannot speak to how these changes in history and religions would affect the Coptic language and culture, but no doubt it would still be around.

There would also be a bigger, more long-standing connection to other Meritocratic countries. This explains why Hamid was British-educated and so many people speak such good English without a British occupation to create the power disparity that would make that necessary to rise in Egypt and such a mark of status. 

However, this presents several confusing and contradictory aspects of the world building:

Why doesn’t this go both ways? Why aren’t there people in England and France who know Arabic or are influenced by Egypt? All we get is that the Tahan family are big. That’s it. If these countries are equals, it sure doesn’t look like it.

If Apophis is pharaonic and Ancient Egyptian culture and knowledge are so ubiquitous...why would they hollow out a pyramid to put a bank inside? It’s a tomb. It’s made to bury dead kings in a way that follows possibly still-existing cultural and religious beliefs. It’s the equivalent of someone building a bank inside a mausoleum. It’s bizarre.

Relatedly, if Ancient Egyptian culture and knowledge are so ubiquitous, why is Carter mentioning the Rosetta Stone? Why would the knowledge necessary to translate hieroglyphics have been lost? 

I mention these questions so fic writers can keep them in mind while writing and, of course, it’s entirely possible to create a workaround. For example, maybe the Rosetta Stone is supposed to be translating something else, like an ancient hidden magic?

Describing Cairo:

I want to make one thing very clear: Cairo is not, despite Alex’s description, like Vegas. While we do certainly have hotels and casinos, to reduce the city to only that is very harmful for reasons I’ll go into at the end of this resource.

Cairo is a very old city with a mix of architectural styles and is very heavily Muslim in real life. In Arabic, its tagline is often “city of a thousand minarets,” so clearly RQG Cairo will be fairly different. Given Apophis’ influence, Ancient Egyptian styles might be more prevalent in Cairo, but very likely not in the form of pyramids unless those pyramids were for the dead. In real life, some buildings do incorporate Ancient Egyptian flavour, usually just in the form of lotus columns or hieroglyphs. These would only be found in public institutions, however,  or, frankly, tourist-bait. 

Residential buildings tend to be clustered very close together and, since it’s an old city, streets are crowded and winding as the city keeps building on itself and spilling out of its previous bounds. Estates do, of course, exist, but I’d suggest against using Bryn’s example of Alhambra as a setting for the Tahan home. Alhambra is a palace fortress in Spain and, although it’s Andalusian and therefore influenced by Muslim architecture, it’s very different than anything in Egypt. It’s as absurd as saying a posh British character lives in a house that’s basically Versailles and leaving it there. I’ve included images of some Egyptian residential estates below, all from the 1800s to early 1900s.

And here are some photos of Cairo in the 1800s:

As you can see, not quite Vegas.

A fic set in Cairo can certainly still have the Cairo strip with all the casinos, since that’s an aspect of canon, but a place like that would probably be geared more to tourists and foreigners than locals. So long you’re aware of this while writing, and that Cairo would exist beyond it, you should be fine. It might also be worth having characters explore the actual city.

Weather:

The stereotype is that Egypt is just hot and sand year-round. It isn’t. The further south you go, the hotter it will get, so that Upper Egypt (which is in the south, yeah), is hotter than Lower Egypt, which is where Cairo and Alexandria are. Alexandria, by virtue of being on the Mediterranean, has fairly cold (for us) and rainy winters and mild, humid summers. Cairo gets very occasional rain and has harsher summers but is also dryer.

And, of course, a thing to remember is that even in the depths of the desert, the morning might be quite warm but the night will be quite cold as well.

Sandstorm season (called khamaseen) takes place from April - May but in the middle of Cairo it’s more of an annoyance than anything else.

Language:

Since they speak Arabic, it’s important to note that spoken Egyptian Arabic is very different from written Classical Arabic. Egyptian is a mishmash of Arabic, Coptic, a bit of Greek, and a bit of French (and, in the real world, some Turkish too) all smashed together. Accents differ from city to city, and Cairene Arabic is best known for the fact we pronounce the letter jeem as geem (so all soft Gs are turned into hard Gs) and tend to replace the letter qaf with a glottal stop.

This means that a Cairene wouldn’t be called Jamal, they’d be Gamal. A Cairene would pronounce burqa as bur’a.

Since religion plays a big part in language, RQG Egyptian Arabic may be a bit different. For instance, the greeting most people associate with Arabic is “Assalam alaykum” but that’s very specifically Muslim or at least associated with Islam, and might not have been as wide-spread given...y’know, that Islam doesn’t exist. I’m not saying it’s incorrect to use, just explaining the context.

Alternatives could include “Sabah/masa’ el-kheir” which means “Good morning/evening,” and “Naharak/Naharik saeed” which is, “May you have a good day.”

Fashion:

Although this didn’t really feature in RQG, I’ve received a lot of questions about the period’s fashion and honestly it’s my favourite thing ever so I probably would have touched on it anyway. I’ll only go into broad strokes, as there are plenty of regional variations and, again, I’m no expert 

Women

Egyptian women covered their heads and sometimes their faces not out of religiosity but out of a cultural expectation of modesty. This may well have come about as a result of the Arab/Muslim cultural majority, as to my knowledge this wasn’t the case in the Greek and Roman periods, but women of all religions covered their heads so that would likely still be the case in RQG’s Arab Egypt.

This isn’t with the hijab we know today. It may have been a cloth or kerchief tied over their heads and then the melaya laf (which is larger cloth, almost a sheet) that they wrap around themselves and over their head, as follows: 

The black face-covering was called a burqa or bur’a (not the same as a Muslim burqa, which serves similar modesty functions but is a separate thing) or a yashmak and may have been opaque black, white, or netted, such as in this picture:

Underneath the melaya they would be wearing a long, loose, patterned dress:

Upper class Egyptian women tended to wear Western dresses with a white yashmak that covered their faces and heads. A yashmak is Turkish, however, and without Ottoman influence this style and name might not have caught on in Egypt.

Men

While the melaya laf and yashmak have disappeared from Egypt, the traditional men’s gallabeya and ammama, or turban, are still seen widely today. The gallabeya (or jellabiya, outside of Cairene Arabic) is a long, loose garment with wide sleeves and no collar. It’s in muted, neutral colours, usually lighter ones like white or beige in the summer and navy blue or grey in the winter. You’ll have seen examples of it in the pictures of Cairo above, and here’s another one: 

Middle to upper class men and civil servants, however, tended to wear English suits with a tarboosh, or fez. Since fezzes were also a result of Ottoman rule, RQG Egyptians might not wear them.

And yes, impressive moustaches were also very much the fashion.

Names:

The running joke is that Hamid’s name is unnecessarily long, but my name is longer, and I don’t think that’s particularly unusual. We don’t usually go around introducing ourselves with all of them, admittedly, and I’m not sure whether Hamid does this as a way to indicate he’s overly fancy or because Bryn doesn’t realise it, but four names is not long. My ID boasts five, and I know of at least one more.

Arabic naming conventions use patronymics for all children, regardless of gender. What this means is that my name and my brother’s name is identical except for our first. 

Mine is Jasmine + Dad’s name + his dad’s name + his dad’s name + his dad’s name

And my brother is also First name + Dad’s name + his dad’s name + his dad’s name + his dad’s name.

Egyptians do not typically have last names, but an important family may all choose to identify under a name and use that as their last, such as the Tahans. In my case, I use my fifth name as my last name and introduce myself in everyday life as Jasmine Fifth Name. Notably, my brother does not, and goes by First name + Dad’s name instead. This isn’t unusual. On paperwork, however, we still have the same name.

Additionally, Egyptian women do not take their husbands’ last names in marriage, nor do children take any of her names. 

I’m not sure why, according to the wiki, Hamid’s sisters seem to have taken their mother’s name. Following Arabic naming conventions, they would all be First Name Saleh Haroun al Tahan, and their father would be Saleh Haroun al Tahan. A possible workaround might be that halflings have their own naming conventions that mean daughters have matronymics and sons patronymics. 

A note to podficcers: please google name pronunciations beforehand because Alex and Bryn’s are actually often wrong. Ishak, for instance, is not pronounced Ee-shak. It’s Iss-haaq or Iss-haa’, because of quirks of the Egyptian accent I mentioned earlier.

Part Two: Criticism

I understand it can be difficult to portray a country different from yours with accuracy. I understand the RQG crew will not have had the perspective on Egypt and Cairo that I do by virtue of living here. I do also acknowledge that I’m sure none of this was actively malicious or on purpose.

But it doesn’t have to be on purpose to hurt, frankly, and given how often the RQG crew have talked about their responsibility with a game that’s intended for an audience, I expected better. Bryn has spoken about not wanting to fall into stereotypes for Hamid and, to be fair, by being a non-religious fancyboy Hamid does neatly avoid the religious zealot and the noble (or ignoble) savage routes. Unfortunately, he falls into another, which was hammered home by the portrayal of Cairo and the Tahans as a whole.

Our first glimpse of Cairo, after the sandstorm clears, describes it as “basically Vegas,” with hotels and garish casinos catering to the rich all along the “Cairo strip.” From then on, our only other images of Cairo are vast estates and a pyramid in the desert. 

The only named Egyptians we meet are the Tahan family, who are introduced through an absurdly lavish estate compared to the palace fortress of Alhambra, a gambling problem that apparently runs in the family, murder, and corruption, as the head of the family who has already covered up a crime for one son then turns himself in to protect the other.

Then, to top it all off, Hamid is apparently utterly incapable of understanding why letting his brother get away with murder is an issue until the paladins point it out.

Do you see the pattern, here?

I understand this was aiming to be a criticism of the rich and powerful, but the fact remains that the Tahans are the only representation of Egyptians we get. While this may not be harems and hand-chopping levels of Orientalism, the image presented is of Cairo as a den of excessive wealth and vice, and Egyptians as corrupt and immoral.

This isn’t new.

The Middle East and North Africa (as well as India and China and everywhere else considered “the Orient”) has often been tied to images of wealth and overt splendour, usually hand-in-hand with the Oriental despot and corruption. This view went beyond just fiction and influenced the policies with which we were ruled. 

Cromer, Consul-General of Egypt, wrote books called Modern Egypt. He had this to say about us:

“The mind of the Oriental, on the other hand, like his picturesque streets, is eminently wanting in symmetry. His reasoning is of the most slipshod description. . . . They are often incapable of drawing the most obvious conclusions from any simple premises of which they may admit the truth.”

In his opinion, our inability to follow logical reason led to us being inherently untruthful and, therefore, immoral. Similarly, British statesman Balfour was of the belief that:

 “Lord Cromer’s services during the past quarter of a century have raised Egypt from the lowest pitch of social and economic degradation until it now stands among Oriental nations, I believe, absolutely alone in its prosperity, financial and moral.”

Egypt was under British colonial rule from 1882 - 1952.

You can see, I hope, why a storyline focused on an Egyptian family’s corruption in an Egypt characterised almost entirely by its casinos and one lavish mansion was very uncomfortable. The fact Azu was one of the people trying to explain morality to Hamid keeps it from sliding into a clear East vs West dichotomy, but the fact remains this is a British show featuring British players and this is the story they chose to tell. 

The rest was just salt in the wound, really. 

I expect mispronounced names and pyramids and jokes about camels in most media, but rarely do the makers of said media then go on to pat themselves on the back for doing their “due diligence” on a metacast about sensitivity.

I see weird naming conventions and mispronounced names and “basically Vegas” and “crocodile steak” and “camel’s milk froyo” and I do not see due diligence.  

I see a setting that barely looked past Cleopatra and I do not see due diligence.

I see a storyline that shows only excess and immorality and corruption and I do not see due diligence.

I see a disregard for me and mine, and I do not appreciate it. 

Literature I’ve referred to in writing this criticism:

Orientalism (1978), by Edward W. Said

Orientalism in the Victorian Era (2017), a paper by Valerie Kennedy

Orientalism in American Cinema: Providing an Historical and Geographical Context for PostColonial Theory (2010), a thesis by Samuel Scurry 

Popular Culture, Orientalism, and Edward Said (2012), an article by Robert Irwin

[yamayuandadu]

Rider of Clouds

A a loose adaptation of the Ugaritic Baal cycle of myths, with some changes and the holes patched up with other myths and historical trivia. It will probably go on and on as some sort of silly “myth crossover” thing. Mount Saphon, the spiritual center of a large but poorly defined area spanning from the Mediterranean Sea to the Euphrates and the residence of many gods, needs a new king. While the former king of the gods, El, favors his distant relative Yam, this decision is not popular with the other deities and would be a disaster for their human followers; however, few dare to question El decisions in public. The exception is Baal, the heir(ess) of El's popular but not very ambitious rival Dagan, determined to take Mount Saphon to the bright future of the late bronze age.

Protagonists

Baal (Hebat) – the eponymous Rider of Clouds (a real title used in myths and cult texts), a young weather deity born to Dagan and Shalash (not pictured), semi-retired agricultural gods who settled in Tuttul on the Euphrates shortly before Baal's birth. Dagan hails from Mesopotamia proper, while Shalash is Hurrian. While the mythical  Baal Hadad is male, my version is a woman – the idea started as a joke about conflating Baal from the Baal cycle with Baalat Gebal, a female figure associated with another levantine bronze age city (BG's actual identity is an object of much scholarly debate) being more valid than conflating him with much later Baal Hammon from Carthage (or rather with Roman hot takes about this deity), which happens a lot online, but I got attached to it o now here we are.   She nonetheless uses a male title inherited from her father, much like a few historical female rulers did. In my version “Hadad” is only a title (or rather a me, eg. divine attribute), and her real name is actually Hebat. Irl Hebat was, among other things, the name of a goddess mentioned in one inscription as Dagan's daughter, and thus a featureles sister of Baal. As the levantine/syrian Hebat lacks a defined character in real mythology (”another” Hebat was regarded as the Hurrian storm god's wife but was at times replaced in this role by the more interesting sun goddess of Arinna and that's about it; I'm not going to use that one in my story) it should be fine to conflate her with Dagan's best attested divine child, I think? Baal is impulsive and follows a moral code which, depending on the point of view, might be either naive or heroic, which means she's not exactly the optimal person to get involved in n-dimensional divine politics (the ideal person to be the protagonist of an Ugaritic epic poem, as evidenced by history), but that's not enough to stop her from trying; the popularity with humans helps, too. The story documents her rise to the position of the head god of the pantheon residing on Mount Saphon, ruling over Ugarit and other surrounding areas.

Astarte (it should be Ashtart for maximal accuracy but everyone knows the later form of the name better so...) – a goddess of humble origin and no particularly well defined attributes, who attaches herself to Baal initially in hopes of advancing own career, though the two eventually develop a more genuine relationship. She patterns herself after the much more famous Mesopotamian Inanna, seeing her as an ideal to strive for. While Baal has the name recognition and disposition fitting for a major deity, Astarte is the part of the duo actually capable of navigating politics, and takes the title of Face of Baal, negotiating support for Baal's bid with other gods. The image of Baal she projects differs slightly from reality, though not enough for most onlookers to notice. Astarte is also a connoisseur of foreign clothing (as pictured above) and art.

Anat (art courtesy of my girlfriend who sadly isn’t on tumblr but who helped a lot with figuring out a lot about this story) – the younger daughter of the ruling couple of Mount Saphon. Her philosophy differs greatly from her parents' and as a result she isn't really seriously considered for succession. Her hobbies include bladed weapons, gambling and heroic epics; in the past she attempted writing her own self insert one. Her temperament means she was never considered for succession, which she doesn't particularly mind. She's deeply invested in Baal's ascendance, and is probably the god Astarte wants to recruit for their cause the most.

Gupan and Ugar – two minor gods who might be some of the only allies Baal recruited herself rather than with Astarte's help. They play a minor role in the story as her messengers and heralds (just like in the real myth!). They're also a couple. The cuneiform on their coats says “Baal.”

Kothar-wa-Khasis – a craftsman god who, by own admission, only works part time in Ugarit and travels the world for the rest of it. He's kind and dependable and his wares are both affordable and of great quality, but his real motives are hard to ascertain. His real identity is likewise a subject of much speculation among other gods – while his preferred manner of clothing hints at an egyptian origin, nothing is known for sure. His true name is that of the god Ptah of Memphis; he spends most time outside it and incognito because he thinks smaller pantheons on the periphery of Egypt's influence offer more artistic freedom. He speaks in a very poetic pointlessly complex way (basically... imitating the style of ancient poem translations). While an architect first and foremost he a reneissance man - architect, sculptor, engineer, armorer, musician. He isn't very fond of Yam due to the latter's lack of aptitude for art and cost cutting suggestions.

There are actually two gods hiding behind the title “Kothar-wa-Khasis,” with the second one hailing from Caphtor (Crete) from where  Kothar arrives when commissioned to build Baal's palace in the real myth. She's shy and refuses to reveal her real name and hides behind the title “Mistress of the Labyrinth” and the labrys symbol. Her arrival is generally a sign of the duo taking a project particularly seriously.

Shapash – El's firstborn daughter, serving as “the torch of the gods”, a royal herald and solar deity. She also handles her parents' “foreign policy” on their behalf, which in practice means figuring out how to placate neighbors whose decisions aren't guided by the need to avoid angering various reviled figures.

Antagonists

Yam (right)  – a sea monster more than a god, presiding over the nearby section of the sea and all that dwells in it, including the commercially significant sea slugs. He's also the son of the formerly influential Anatolian god Kumarbi, banished to the underworld by the current head god Teshub due to his many past misdeeds. As a result of his father's past influence over the world (and current influence over the ruling couple), Yam gained El's support and received many titles, which de facto makes him the most likely to succeed El as the king of local pantheon.  He's capricious and inconsiderate, but maintains a larger than life public image meant to make him palatable to potential backers. The exact circumstances of his arrival in Ugarit are shrouded in mystery, and may or may not be responsible for his unusually strong hatred of Baal. Mot (left) – profoundly unpleasant and unsociable being kept around by Anat's parents for unclear reasons. He resides in the great offering pit in the abandoned city of Urkesh, formerly the center of Kumarbi's sphere of influence, reduced to a ghost town.   While his equivalents in neighboring areas generally view themselves as impartial or as a necessary evil, Mot gets his kicks from posing as a personification of death itself, and is notoriously corrupt. El and Athirat – the ruling couple of Mount Saphon and parents of Anat and Shapash, currently pondering retirement, which stirs many contenders to the throne into action. El is a lifelong opportunist changing views and allegiances as he sees fit, though he pretty consistently favors his distant relative Yam as his main underling ever since the latter arrived in the area.

El was originally Amurru, a courtier of the sky god Anu, overthrown by the nefarious Kumarbi. For unclear reasons Kumarbi made Amurru his vassal and bestowed the name Elkunirsa, or El for short, upon him.

Athirat is largely responsible for El maintaining his title for so long, and is a much craftier politician than he is. She comes from an influential dynasty of sea gods, but lacks dominion over the sea herself.

She and Yam are related, as seen here.

Abduyam – an attempt at developing an obscure figure from the original myth, Yam's nameless and seemingly rather rude and infuriating messenger, into a full blown character. The theophoric name he uses (there are real theophoric names invoking Yam, surprisingly) is just a pseudonym, and his real identity is a mystery. He interned under a variety of famous mythical villains in order to gain a greater understanding of their ways, and currently serves as Yam's messenger, adviser, doorkeeper and punching bag.

Ashtar – a feeble opportunist who sides with Yam, hoping to receive a share in the gains he's making thanks to El's blessings. He's pretty content with playing the role of a toady though his aspirations might be different, as Baal and Astarte suspect due to his love of gaudy imported textiles. Megalomania doesn't necessarily equal malevolence, though. He also loves sea slugs.

Foreign dignitaries

(ignore the ?, it’s just Baal) Marduk (right) – the tutelary deity of Babylon, a prominent and internationally renowned god. While technically the area encompassing Mount Saphon, where the events of the story take place, isn't directly under the control of the Babylonian pantheon, as one of the oldest in the world and the source of the writing it nonetheless has a tremendous impact on smaller neighbors. Formally Marduk is merely a representative of his father Enki and the assembly of the gods in Nippur, but as the old gods are not very mobile, he's the de facto acting head of the pantheon in foreign relations. He doesn't have a unified mythical narrative about himself yet at this point in time, despite his position, which is a source of insecurity for him. During travels, he's assisted by his personal aide and biographer, Nabu (not pictured), and his pet mushussu, Tishpak. Seth (left) – in real life, ancient Egyptians equated many gods of their neighbors with Seth; therefore in Rider of Clouds Seth serves as an ambassador of the Egyptian pantheon, usually residing in Gebal near Mount Saphon – a city whose gods (and human rulers) take pride in trying to be more Egyptian than the Egyptians themselves, and regard Seth as their spiritual liege (under the title “Lord of Lebanon”). While ultimately Marduk's judgment matters the most, Seth gets the right to veto his decisions when it comes to validating claims to local thrones. On good terms with Kothar-wa-Khasis, which is a subject of much gossip among other gods. Teshub (center) – the head of the Hurrian pantheon, technically capable of projecting the most power in Mount Saphon politics due to the Hurrian influence on huge number of other local pantheons, including that of the Hittites, thanks to his marriage to the Hittite sun goddess of Arinna; however, as the local gods for the most part share closer affinity with Mesopotamia than Hatti, he competes with Marduk for political influence. As he and Baal are a very similar type of god, he's the most outspoken supporter of Baal's ascension to the throne out of all 3 foreign dignitaries. El’s support for his nemesis is probably a factor, too.

Kubaba – the head goddess of Carchemish; much like the king of Carchemish served as a Hittite viceroy taking care of affairs of the vassals irl, she acts as Teshub's ambassador in the southeast, mediating between the Anatolian and Syrian gods. She hopes that Baal's rise will normalize foreign relations to the benefit of her human followers – El's erratic behavior and sympathy for a number of widely detested figures made that rather difficult. While she's not much older than Baal, she poses as an ancient deity and dresses like someone twice her age. She also seeks opportunities to insert herself into suitably ancient narratives. In another time and place she'll be known as Cybele, and eventually as the Roman Magna Mater, but this is not the story about it.

Plot-relevant but not present in the story physically

Inanna – the celebrity superstar of every pantheon from Hatti to Elam. After being elevated to one of the foremost positions among the gods she started a profitable franchising business, offering help with setting up own cult system and the right to use the title of “Ishtar” and the eight pointed star emblem in exchange for a share in potential profit and a spot in the franchisee' home pantheon. As her fame is unique even among the greatest of the gods, this isn't that bad of a deal. Other benefits of the franchising program include free tickets to the annual Ishtar meetup in Uruk and a 24/7 tech support line ran by her sukkal Ninshubur. Asides from Astarte, prominent members of the franchising program include the Hurrian Shaushka, the Elamite Pinikir, and the night goddess of Kizzuwatna.

Kumarbi: an agricultural god of the Hurrians who seized the kingship of their pantheon violently before being overthrown himself by Teshub and his allies. Now he resides in the underworld and plots, aided by a network of allies – some opportunistic, some stupid, some simply malevolent. His will is usually carried out by an unspecified number of identical fate goddesses, possible to differentiate only by the numerals on their veils. At the core he and Baal's father Dagan are very similar gods in function, but not in temperament.

[antiquitiesandlabyrinths]

Akhenaten

The name Akhenaten is rather well known as a Pharaoh of Egypt. Like Ramesses II, Hatshepsut, Cleopatra, and Tutankhamun, Akhenaten won the popularity contest of modern society through defining himself as far different from most other Pharaohs. With Akhenaten, however, he’s not even like the special Pharaohs.

Let’s look a little at his life and the history of the time period he ruled over. He was in the 18th Dynasty of the New Kingdom, from 1353-1336 BC. Like most Pharaohs there are a few different pronunciations of his name, including Akhenaton, Ikhnaton, Khuenaten, all meaning of great use to Aten, which leads into his conversion into the cult of Aten. Before the conversion his name was Amenhotep IV, son of Amenhotep III. His mother was named Tiye. Later on in life he married Queen Nefertiti, fathering two children, one from his wife Nefertiti and one from his lesser wife, Lady Kiya, having Ahnksenamun and Tutankhamun to each wife respectively.

Before we get into the whole mess of his religion and the ‘revamping’ he did of ancient Egypt, let’s recognize the other things he did for or to the country.

You’ll recognize the vastly different art style between Akhenaten’s rule and the history of most of Egypt. In art that depicts Akhenaten, he was shown as long and spindly, a style that carried into his family. Some people believe that this was because he and his family suffered from Marfan’s syndrome, a disease that caused the elongation of bones and skinniness. A more likely explanation stems from the Pharaoh’s religious beliefs, which as you know, was vastly different from other Pharaohs. This theory is a little more likely because there was no reason for the queen Nefertiti to have the same condition as her husband. Instead, it was probably because their status was far different from the other Pharaohs, as they were moved into a genuinely god-like status for their worship of Aten.

The part of Akhenaten and his rule that interests me the most is the way the royal family was presented in art, despite the style. Like many parts of Akhenaten, it’s entirely different from other Pharaohs (though, whether that’s good or bad is up to you).

Now, most Pharaohs presented themselves highly in art. They could do that, so why not? If I had the guts and the money I probably would too, but my point is that essentially all Pharaohs depicted themselves alone on stelas, engaging in hunting or other activities that strengthened the image of themselves that they wanted to show the world. Usually they were masculine tasks that could be done only by those with great strength and great riches. Akhenaten went in an entirely different direction; he depicted himself with his family. In the stele of Akhenaten, he is shown in a private way, the scene being him with his family, enjoying themselves together.

While we can’t say the definitive reason for him presenting himself as this, the most logical conclusion has to do with, again, his religious beliefs. In his mind, the Aten was held above all else, even the Pharaoh. With Aten as the highest consideration, the Pharaoh and his family enjoyed their lives under the influence of the Aten’s love and grace.

Now that we have a little insight, let’s get into the whole mess of his religion that died immediately after he did.

Akhenaten originally reigned as Amenhotep IV, a reign that lasted around five years before he switched religions. Changing his name, he converted to a cult that worshipped Amun to that of Aten, abolishing the ancient rites of those before him, and instituting what is believed as the first example of monotheism state religion in the world. His rule as Akhenaten lasted 12 years, during which he was labelled as the infamous ‘heretic king’, so that should give you some insight into how people felt about him. 

Before his rule, the cult of aten was a cult like all others in Egypt. It was a bit like choosing your favorite God – find the one you like most, and join that cult. For example if I were to join a cult, I would join the cult of my favorite God, Ma’at. I mention this because before the change, the Aten was shown in inscriptions of Akhenaten (Amenhotep IV at that point), represented by the sun disk. It’s also important to note cult doesn’t carry the same meaning as it did then, and each cult shared the same goal: balance and eternal harmony.

At the time of Amenhotep IV’s rule the Amun cult (where the Aten is from) held incredible power. Their power had been growing for a long while, and by the time of his rule, they held nearly as much power and riches as the Pharaoh himself, and actually owned more land than Amenhotep IV. The fifth year of his reign he switched everything; this was when he abolished the practices of the previous religion of Egypt, and proclaimed himself the “living incarnation of a single all-powerful deity known as Aten,” (Joshua J Mark), and by the ninth year, he closed every single temple, prohibiting all the old practices and devotion to the many Gods the people of Egypt worshipped.

Around then was when he moved the royal seat of Egypt from the traditional house of Thebes to a city of his own creation, a city named Akhetaten, and with that he changed his name to Akhenaten. Here he earned the name the Heretic King, earning the ire of some historians and the admiration of others.

Despite the fact that Akhenaten’s influence completely destroyed worship of the Gods many Egyptians loved, one of the main problems with his rule was that the Old Gods of Egypt instilled harmony and order in the citizens, ultimately helping to create a country that lasted over 4,000 years. Without these Gods, things got a little wonky.

Religious tolerance was allowed with the many Gods, emphasizing peace to the point where religious intolerance wasn’t even an issue. Unfortunately, for monotheism to work, there has to be something inherently wrong with the other side, which made Akhenaten’s work a lot harder, and its’ effects much stronger. It led to the intolerance of other beliefs and some severe suppression, and if you look at the monotheistic religions of today, you can see the same sort of pattern. With intolerance comes hatred and war.

“Dating to this point in Akhenaten’s reign was a campaign to excise the name of gods other than the Aten, especially Amun, from the monuments of Egypt. This was done with violence: hieroglyphs were brutally hacked from the walls of temples and tombs. This was probably carried out, at least in part, by illiterate iconoclasts, presumably following the orders of their king. [Akhenaten] carried out a religious revolution the like of which had never been seen before in Egypt.” (Zahi Hawass, 42-43).

There were priests of Atum who attempted to hide religious artifacts, storing statuary and texts away from the soldiers ordered to destroy them. The priests, with nothing left to do, were forced to abandon their temples. In response Akhenaten either hired new priests or forced the other ones to obey him, proclaiming him and his wife once more as Gods on earth.

Now you can see how Akhenaten kind of sucks. Let’s talk about how he sucks even more.

His foreign policy.

With his ego inflated to the size of the sun, Akhenaten thought himself above interactions with foreign powers. He left his duties to spend more time on himself and his family, ultimately leading to a severe neglect.

You might be asking, “didn’t every Pharaoh have a super-inflated ego?” and yes, you’d be right, but no Pharaoh before Akhenaten had genuinely claimed themselves to be a God. As a self-proclaimed incarnated God, he must’ve thought such affairs beneath him.

Discovered through letters of the time, several (former) allies of Egypt had asked for their help several times with various affairs. At the time Egypt was wealthy, prosperous, and strong, a state that had been slowly growing before halting at Queen Hatshepsut’s reign. Hatshepsut and her successors employed a strategy of actually doing work, by working out when to approach with diplomacy, and when military action was required. Akhenaten on the other hand, ignored everything outside of his palace at Akhetaten. 

The uncertainty of Akhenaten’s rule, along with letters of correspondence between the city of Amarna, the Pharaoh, and foreign nations, led to this era being called the Amarna period. These very letters were proof of the Pharaoh’s negligence. However, the letters also show his keen eye in foreign diplomacy, if the situation interested him so. It was a whole thing with the Hittites, but since this is chiefly about Akhenaten, I’ll leave that topic for later. All you really need to know is that he only tended to issues that affected him directly, and through the Amarna letters, historians can see how poor of a King he was, as well as how deeply many of his subjects disliked or despised him. 

Essentially, the main reason this mess didn’t work out was because it brought about something new: exclusivity. And the Egyptians did not like that, believing that the world needed to have a balance in order to stay away from slipping into chaos. In the end monotheism didn’t last; hell, it was ended basically the second Akhenaten’s son took the throne. Tutankhamun, originally named Tutankhaten, changed his name to reflect the return to polytheism. His successors tore down the reminders of Akhenaten’s reign, removing him and his adoration for the Aten, eradicating his name from the record.

There’s no saying he didn’t affect the world – he did, a lot. Whether that affect was good or bad is up to the interpreter (personally I don’t like it all that much). By Freud’s thinking (hear me out, I know he sucks) Akhenaten’s rule inspired the ancient world, leading others to copy his ideas and theology, eventually snowballing into our modern world, where there are essentially no polytheistic religions. You have to give him credit – he was the first person of the ancient world to dream up monotheism, changing what had defined humanity for so long.

With his name stricken from the books, historians only discovered him upon finding his city Akhetaten. In the records, Horemheb is labelled as Amenhotep III’s successor, skipping over both Akhenaten and Tutankhamun’s rule. Later when Tutankhamun’s tomb was found as one of the very few graves still filled with treasure, interest spiked in Tutankhamun’s life, eventually leading back to his father Akhenaten. 

[bluekaddis]

Today is 11/11 which marks 101 years of Poland regaining independence and I thought it is a perfect time to publish a post that I’ve been working on for a while. 

Ferelden from Polish Perspective aka Why We Can Relate to Dog Lords So Much. 

This is a sort of compilation of my own thoughts I had while playing the games and various talks with my Polish friends. It is not supposed to force any ideas or teach others how to interpret the game. I just thought it could be entertaining for anyone interested in history and culture. I was trying not to elaborate too much on the subject here but it still ended up being A Very Long Post TM. To make this post a little neater to read, I divided this post into 4 sections:

1. History

2. Fashion and Food

3. Politics

4. Relationships with Other Countries

I will be very happy if you find a minute or two to read some of my points. If you have any additional questions or comments feel free to leave me a message :)

And once again - enormous thanks to @aeducanka​ for proofreading. I would be a poor mess without you. 

DISCLAIMERS

1. Yes, I know that Ferelden is based mostly on Anglo-Saxon England and I have no problem with that. True, I may be a little disappointed that the game includes references to so many European cultures and countries (France, Byzantine Empire, Venice, Roma culture etc.) and yet practically ignores Central and Eastern Europe completely, BUT this post is not meant to be a “Where is my representation?!” rant. If I wanted a game with Slavic culture vibes, I could always play the Witcher trilogy again. We are doing alright. 

2. I am in no way an academic specialist on culture or history, even these of my own country. I did some research, but most of facts and figures can be easily found on wikipedia. You can treat this as just some observations and headcanons of a 29 y/o Polish woman, who has grown up and lives in Poland. 

3. The main focus of this post is Poland in different moments of history. However, when talking about fashion and political system I will mostly refer to Polish culture between the 16th and 18th century. During that time Poland and Lithuania formed a dual state known as The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. So, whenever I refer to this particular period, I will use the term “Commonwealth” instead of “Poland”. 

PART 1 – HISTORY

The country’s name origin

Ferelden means „fertile valley” in Alamarri tongue [WoT vol. 1], Poland most probably comes from the Slavic word „pole” meaning „field”. They both refer to land that can be cultivated.

History of unification

Ferelden lands were divided between many tribes until they were unified by Calenhad Theirin. He fought and defeated other Alamarri tribes’ leaders, proclaimed Andrastianism as the new official religion of his kingdom and started the Theirin dynasty.  

A similar story can be told about Mieszko I of Poland – the leader of the Polans tribe (one of many Slavic tribes of that time) who, by means of war and diplomacy, united many Slavic tribes and created the Polish country in 965. In the same year he was baptised, abandoning native paganism in favour of Christianity. Mieszko started the Piast dynasty which ruled Poland for over 400 years. He never officially became a king, though – his son, Bolesław, was crowned king in 1025.

Also, Ferelden is a relatively young country compared to countries like Orlais or Tevinter. Even if Poland has over 1000 years of history as a country, it has to be noted that some Western European countries have a longer history (eg. the Carolingian Empire or the Visigothic Kingdom). Polish lands have also never been a part of the Roman Empire. 

Fun fact – the half-legendary sword of the first king of Poland, Szczerbiec, was stolen by Prussian troops during their invasion on Poland in 1795. Calenhad’s sword, Nemetos,was lost during the Orlesian invasion on Ferelden [WoT vol. 1].

Ostagar

Now, I will tell you a story. It is about a young king (in his twenties), a little reckless, wanting to be the leader who stood against the great invading threat to his country, a little blinded by the perspective of glorious victory. Just before the battle one of his allied forces betrayed him and did not provide the promised aid. The enemy army was too strong, too large. The king’s army was defeated, the king was killed in battle and his body was taken by the enemy. The king did not have children and his younger brother had succeeded him.

No, I’m not talking about Cailan, this is the story of Władysław III of Poland.

PART 2 – FASHION AND FOOD

Fashion

All cultures in Thedas have their own style and fashion. Ferelden is supposed to be this “We like fur and warm fabrics” culture, opposite to the extravagant Orlesian style. However, I have few problems with how Fereldan fashion is shown in the game.

1. It is too early-medieval looking. I know, it is a fantasy, you can mix ancient Egypt with steampunk and nobody should care. But we see, from cultural and technological perspective, that Thedas in Dragon Age is more renaissance/baroque than your typical medieval. Heck, some elements, like the infamous Formal Attire, look like clothes from 18th or even 19th century! In comparison, outfits like Arms of Mac Tir or Robes of the Pretender (though good looking) look like something from the Vikings era.

2.  We do not see many good looking Fereldan outfits in the games. I like Alistair’s royal outfit and some of Fereldan armors and clothes from DA:2 but remember this?

Or this?

Yeah, Dog Lords can do better :/

And that’s why I like to headcanon Fereldan fashion as something more resembling the Commonwealth fashion between the 16th and 18th century. It was an interesting mix of European and Asian influences and I think it would work perfectly with canon Ferelden because:

1. People LOVED fur elements in their clothing. Fur lining on coats, fur caps decorated with feathers, pelts of wild carnivores (lions, wolves, bears, etc.) on armour  - fur was everywhere.

2. It is simple but regal. The quality of materials and patterns were more important than volume and the number of layers. A typical male noble outfit consisted of a long garment (żupan), a long, ornate sash, one of two types of cloak (delia or kontusz) and a fur cap decorated with feathers and jewels. If you compare it with the baroque fashion from France it is less extravagant and more practical. No wigs, no flounces, no man tights. 

Compare these two dudes – the older one is dressed Commonwealth style, the younger – in French style. 

The Deluge, 1974

Of course some wealthy noblemen who spent a lot of time in France or other Western countries tended to adapt their style, but from what I know it was not that common. Women, on the other hand, tended to dress more similar to their Western counterparts (especially when they wanted to look fashionable) but their everyday dresses were not that much elaborate. They also wore kontusz (though the female version was shorter) and fur caps when outside. 

Below I post some more costumes to better illustrate my point. They all come from Polish movie adaptations of H. Sienkiewicz’s novels (I looove both the books and the movies).

With Fire and Sword, 1999

The Deluge, 1974

Fire in the Steppe, 1968

And I could not NOT to mention the wonderful interpretation of Fereldan armor and clothing for my OCs drawn by @ankalime​ - I still can’t get over how beautiful they look :3

Food

From what we know, Fereldan food is very similar to traditional English cuisine (lamb and pea anyone?), HOWEVER, I can totally see some traditional Polish dishes on Fereldan tables. Let us look at this part of Alistair’s banter with Leliana:

“Now here in Ferelden, we do things right. We take our ingredients, throw them into the largest pot we can find, and cook them for as long as possible until everything is a uniform grey color. As soon as it looks completely bland and unappetizing, that's when I know it's done.”

Dishes like bigos, flaki or goulash (mostly associated with Hungary but also present in various forms in Slavic countries) totally fit this description. Tasty and hearty but I know some foreigners see them as totally unappetizing :P

Poland is also culturally more into beer than wine  (high five, British Isles!), so Fereldan ale fits this image, too.

PART 3. POLITICS

When I first played DA:O and heard about choosing the new queen/king on Landsmeet I was like “omg, they have wolna elekcja!”

The canon Ferelden is a feudal country, however, there seems to be less focus on the king's absolute power – instead, the nobles can choose the king they like, the hierarchy inside this particular social class is also less striking than one can expect. 

And this brings me to the concept of Golden Liberty. (I will quote Wikipedia here, I am not that smart to explain this well in English on my own).

The Golden Liberty was a unique political system of the Commonwealth – a mixture of monarchy, oligarchy and democracy. The most distinctive elements of that systems were:

- All nobles regardless of rank or economic status, were considered to have equal legal rights (and you did not have to own a town or two to be considered a noble – a large part of the nobility owned nothing more than a farm, often little different from a peasant's dwelling, and some did not even have that much). The rights were, for example:

-  Neminem captivabimus ("We shall not arrest anyone without a court verdict").  

- right to vote – every nobleman, whether rich or poor, could vote. Of course if someone was rich, they could bribe others to gain more political influence, but it is the same as today. 

- religious freedom – unlike many other European countries of the time, people in Commonwealth were legally free to follow any religion. The Commonwealth became a common refuge for people who were persecuted for religion in their homelands. The religious freedom was not restricted to nobility but to all social classes. 

- rokosz - the right to form a legal rebellion against a king who violated nobility freedoms.

- the monarchy was elective, not hereditary, and the king was elected by the nobility. That “democracy” was not, of course, perfect, as only male noblemen had the right to vote and elect the king. However, it was still between 10-15% of the population who could vote. In comparison, “in 1831 in France only about 1% of the population had the right to vote”

The Landsmeet in DA:O is basically the free election (well, maybe minus the duel :D) and I would say the Fereldan nobility does not feel obliged to be obedient 100% of the time. 

PART 4. RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER COUNTRIES

Orlesian occupation

We know from the game that Orlais invaded Ferelden in 8:24 Blessed and occupied it for decades. The Fereldan forces were rebelling against the occupant and finally, under the command of Maric Theirin, they won their freedom.

Again, it is a huge topic, so to summarize: Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth suffered a similar fate in 1795 as it was conquered and divided between Habsburg Austria, the Kingdom of Prussia and the Russian Empire. For 123 years Poles have been trying to regain their country, have started several uprisings and lost many lives in their fight for independence. Finally, at the end of WW1, independent Poland reappeared on the map of the world. Then came the WW2, probably the most tragic event in Polish history – the cities were razed to the ground, a vast part of national heritage destroyed or stolen, and over 6 million people (1/5 of the pre-war population) were killed.

So yeah, a country invaded and occupied for decades by its neighbour sounds way too familiar to be ignored. 

Ferelden in the eyes of Orlesians

The Fereldans are a puzzle. As a people, they are one bad day away from reverting to barbarism. (...) They are the coarse, wilful, dirty, disorganized people [DA:O Codex Entry: Culture of Ferelden].

Yeah... this, unfortunately, sounds familiar. I fear that the stereotype of a drunk, stupid, poor, thieving Poles (and other Slavic nations), which originated from WW2 propaganda, is somehow still alive in the West. I will not dive deeper in this subject because I want to believe my followers have their own brain cells and I do not need to explain how hurtful and offensive those stereotypes are.

My point is – I could identify easily with a fantasy country that is located east from the “centre of culture and civilisation” and is unfairly believed to be more barbaric.

So – for all two of you who bothered to read the whole thing - thanks for coming to my TED talk.I really appreciate the time you spent here :)

[rudjedet]

Hey! I'm not sure how to phrase this, but could you please indicate some trustworthy sources on the relationship between Kush and Ancient Egypt for a layperson? Like, how did the two countries saw each other (if you need a specific time, I'm thinking around the time Kush conquered Egypt)? Is there even any way to know that? Thank you very much.

We do have ways of knowing that, yes, generally through writings left from the period, and of course the study of cultural interaction. Since we’re dealing with a relatively long time frame, we have to keep in mind that the attitudes towards each other could and did shift. Before the 25th (Kushite) Dynasty, the first attested mention of the Kingdom of Kush is the 11th Dynasty under Mentuhotep II. In both the Middle and New Kingdoms, Egypt was stronger than Kush and eventually conquered this neighbour of theirs under Thutmose I. Eventually the tables turned, specifically when Egypt had already been under foreign rule for a while. The Kushites, however, were able to restore Egyptian power to almost-New Kingdom levels. There’s unfortunately not yet been made much of a study of Kush separately, but there are a number of Egyptologists who have specialised in this period and written some good works on it.

The attitudes towards each other weren’t much different from other attitudes between rival kingdoms. Either one was conquered by the other at some point, they engaged in warfare intermittently, but there was also trade and cultural exchange. Despite the latter, I don’t believe there was ever really a true equilibrium between the two where both had equal power to each other, and it wasn’t until other foreign invaders took over Egypt that Kush became more powerful than its erstwhile coloniser. 

I can’t attest to their value for a lay person because I don’t think there are many coffee table books about Kush (at least, I don’t know of any that I can unequivocally claim to be good), but there are a few books I can otherwise recommend:

Ikram, S., et al. (eds): Ancient Nubia: African Kingdoms on the Nile (2012) Shaw, I. (ed): The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt (2000/2002) Török, L.: The Kingdom of Kush: Handbook of the Napatan-Meriotic Civilization (1998)  Török, L.: The Kingdom of Kush: History and Civilization (1997) 

[discountalien-pancake]

Re: Cleopatra. I am an archaeologist and it's true that she was a ruler from a Ptolemaic dynasty (a Macedonian one.) It is also true that we don't know much about her mother or her physical appearance, really. Hey, we don't know much about how people of Ancient Greece would be seen today in terms of race; the Mediterranean are was connected, with influx of people from all sides, etc. Very connected to what we today know as Middle East and Africa (this is getting long; I am sending part 2).

(Part 2 about Cleopatra): All in all, it is NOT historically accurate (even if Hollywood would care about that for once) to assume that Cleopatra was white. (Although we do know that she's had some European ancestry, unlike most of the other Egyptian rulers in the past.) This could be a great role for a WOC. The only thing I feel conflicted about is the fact that Ptolemaic rulers were foreigners; their rule a result of a conquest of Egypt. I would like to see this dynamic explored.

Hi anon! Thank you for the info. I think the general consensus of the people I’ve talked to about Cleopatra is that she was definitely not white, but the other details are hard to know for certain because there just isn’t enough information about her ancestry and the role of race in the Mediterranean at the time. I would also love to see an exploration of the tensions between the Ptolemies and the people.

[urfavmurtad]

What is your opinion on arguments that claim the islamic golden age proves islam isn't anti-science or "problematic"?

I read this article a year ago and I’m glad I bookmarked it bc it says pretty much my exact thoughts on this topic. First lemme just get this part out of the way:

Like many other concepts that shape our understanding of medieval history, the idea of a “Muslim Golden Age” is a historiographical construct. It promotes the notion that, until at least the early thirteenth century, the Muslim world experienced an era of unprecedented stability, prosperity, and cultural production. … Putting aside the fact that it imposes an anachronistic framework on medieval Muslim history, its main argument that the period between the eighth century and the thirteenth century can be characterized mainly by tolerance, cultural efflorescence, political unity, and religious harmony is contrary to many of the facts that one encounters upon reading the history of the various civilizations which are subsumed under the category of “Islamic civilization,” a phrase which conceals the linguistic, cultural, intellectual, theological, and political diversity of the lands in which Muslims resided during the medieval and early modern periods. This is to say nothing of the fact that the narratives promoted by these “Golden Age” perspectives are usually a reworking of official histories that do not take into account the realities of marginalized groups during the same period. The “Golden Age” perspective is also problematic because it is in many ways reactionary and a response to the many political, religious, and intellectual challenges faced by the Muslim world in the modern period. History, or rather particular historical narratives about a “Golden Age,” therefore becomes an important repository for the “greatness of Islamic civilization” and a refuge in which Muslims can seek solace in order to refute the idea–promoted mainly by those hostile to Islam–that Muslim civilization was, is, and always will be characterized by death, destruction and chaos.…

In other words, the nuances of Muslim history and civilization are completely obscured in the face of broad, sweeping statements geared towards emphasizing not only the uprightness, but even the absolute supremacy of Muslim civilization, as it was believed to have manifested between the ninth century and the eighteenth century. It is at this point where history ceases to be a critical intellectual endeavor and instead becomes polemic and apologetics.  

The “Golden Age” is one of those abstract things that exists more as an idea than as a reality, like all other “ages” (“Dark Ages” etc). It’s important to point out that this is an Orientalist idea that was created to give the impression that Muslims in the distant past were productive and peaceful, versus “modern Muslims” (in the 1800s) who suck and must be brought back to their ancestors’ values by Ye Olde Hwhite People. It was not a term used by Muslims or Arabs themselves until the permanent inferiority/superiority complex (we r the Sasuke Uchihas of the world tbh) kicked in last century and people started using it.

No one can agree on when the “Golden Age” exactly took place. In the earliest usages of the term, it was just meant to refer to some vague past period of glory, to differentiate the past from the present squalor. The people using it did not have a damn clue about Arab history. In its modern-day usage, there is an enormous range from like… 700 AD to 1300 AD. Or even longer. That time period involved multiple civil wars, plagues that destroyed a huge portion of the population, genocides, invasions, ethnic cleansings, famines, breakdowns of society–as is expected of such a huge time period, of course. There were plenty of periods of stability and progress within that time period in some regions, interspersed by various issues… so where exactly is the line drawn? Was there really one “Golden Age”, or did Muslim lands, like literally every other civilization on earth, just go through periodic growth and collapse eras, up until the present?

No one can agree on where the “Golden Age” took place, either. Every single place where Islam was practiced? The lands of the Abbasid Caliphate, in general? The remains of the Umayyads in Spain? Fatimid Cairo?  Khorasan? Mughal India? Ottoman Anatolia? What? By the 1000s AD, Muslim lands were ruled by dozens of different empires. They had different laws, different populations, different levels of development and urbanization. Some were more built-up and wealthier than others, again like every other civilization on earth. Some areas were largely rural and illiterate, others were urbanized and better-educated. Some empires attacked others and absorbed them; dynasties rose and fell all the damn time. Throughout the “Golden Age”, non-Muslim lands were invaded and absorbed into larger empires, growing the area governed by Muslims even larger. Parts of the Middle East/North Africa/Andalus/India remained poor and isolated, other parts of it became wealthy and connected to trade routes. I mean… of course?

Like… I don’t think ppl realize what a large area of land we’re talking about here. Are people under the impression that every inch of land conquered by some Muslim dynasty was not only urbanized, well-developed, wealthy, and tolerant, but also homogeneous? Not all of these places had the same conditions!! Not all were even majority-Muslim throughout this period! Many had virtually nothing in common beyond the fact that their rulers were all Muslims of various sects–and many of those rulers were only nominally religious, again just like every other civilization in the world. There were different ethnicities being ruled over by different ethnicities–I mean by the 1000s the Turks were already running amok. This whole Orientalist idea that the Abbasids were in complete control of their peaceful happy lands until the Mongols destroyed them or whatever is nonsense.

It’s all a bit like saying that Europe had a “golden age” after the Italians took over Constantinople while rural French villagers had finally realized how to wipe their asses. Hell, it’s like saying that Europe already had a “golden age” during Byzantium’s peak centuries earlier while the western half of the continent was enjoying a Germanic Rave Party. You can’t assign one label to hundreds of years of history encompassing thousands of different tribes and dozens of empires on different continents.

No one can even say what they mean by “Golden Age”. Usually it’s referred to as some combination of scientific development and “tolerance”. It goes without saying that when you’re talking about like 600 years spread over parts of Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia, the idea that all of these areas were happy, peaceful, and productive places for that time span is insane. Not to mention that there were plenty of eras outside the “Golden Age” that had just as much development. Why exactly are the Ottomans or Safavids or Mughals not considered part of this age? What measure of goldenness are we using rn, is there a table I can consult to see how many gold units are necessary to become Golden or some shit? What does “tolerance” mean when we’re talking about eras in which religious minorities were almost universally discriminated against, even in the best-case scenarios? Are we supposed to just ignore those laws, the mass slavery, conquests, etc? Is “golden age” code for when we were the ones oppressing the people of foreign lands?

But typically, when people (this includes not just Muslims btw) talk about the “Golden Age”, I think they are picturing one of three vague areas, in different continents and eras. One is al-Andalus in what is now Spain/Portugal. Plenty of people have heard of Cordoba and its “tolerance”. The second is the Syria-Iraq-Iran region (as though they’re all one place???) and especially Baghdad at some point before the Mongol invasion of the city, like 800s-1100s or something. Again, even when people know very little about Islamic history, they often know of the completely-misrepresented “House of Wisdom”. (In my experience, the focus is almost always on the Arab parts of that area, while places like modern-day Iran are basically ignored, despite the fact that this is where many Muslim literary traditions, architecture, and research kicked off. I think it’s because the “Golden Age” is usually billed as an era of peaceful coexistence, and there weren’t many happy religious minorities in Iran. There’s also doubtlessly some Arab-centrism thrown in there.) The third and imo less well-known one is Fatimid Egypt. Fewer people have heard of the Fatimids themselves, but many institutions and ideas associated with Arab science and learning are from their time.

These are… uhh different dynasties on three different continents in different eras. But let’s roll with it for the sake of argument. The article I linked to sums up my thoughts on al-Andalus (side note: I know someone who calls Spain “occupied al-Andalus” in 100% seriousness and it makes me laugh every time. “No wait only WE’RE allowed to be imperialists!!!” - ancient Islamic proverb):

Another myth that Islamic Golden Age writers like to promote is the idea of medieval Islamic Spain (al-Andalus) as a haven of tolerance and coexistence. Although it is certainly true that there was a large degree of coexistence of faiths in medieval Spain and some important examples of toleration, there was also a great deal of intolerance. In fact, some of the most brutal episodes in Islamic history occurred in al-Andalus. In 1066 a Muslim mob murdered nearly 4000 Jews in Granada (the first major pogrom to occur in Europe), while in the twelfth century the Almohad dynasty forced all Jews and Christians in al-Andalus and North Africa to convert to Islam (or choose exile); among the most important of these exiles was the Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides (d. 1204). The works of various Muslim philosophers and theologians, including both al-Ghazali (d. 1111) and Ibn Rushd (d. 1198), were publicly burned in the courtyard of the Great Mosque of Cordoba. Other episodes, such as the Martyrs of Cordoba (851-859) and destruction of Santiago de Compostela (999), also show that al-Andalus cannot simply be reduced to a paradise of tolerance. The existence of oppressive institutions, such as slavery and the social stratification of Andalusi society also underscores this point. However, just as we should not claim that al-Andalus was a haven of tolerance based on several examples and anecdotes, we should also not reduce Andalusi history to a sequence of ravages and massacres, as some anti-Islamic thinkers have done.

Al-Andalus was, for its early history, ruled by a remainder of the Umayyads, who had been overtaken by the Abbasids almost everywhere else. By necessity, they had to negotiate with their (mostly Christian) population to avoid unrest that would make them weak to enemies coming north from Morocco. While non-Muslims were discriminated against on a level that would cause Nazi accusations if it were implemented against Muslims in the West today, there were in fact plenty of decades in which development thrived and both Muslim and non-Muslim scientists and researchers made important progress, and there were times in which people lived in peace, even if it wasn’t an equal peace. After the collapse of the Umayyads, there was a period of unrest, followed by domination by the Almoravids and then the Almohads, the latter of whom were one of the nastiest Muslim dynasties to get into Europe prior to the Ottomans. People reacted somewhat negatively to the convert-or-die order and the “Reconquista” restarted not long after. The history of the territory is more complicated than “science and peace then iron maidens and Catholics :(((”.

The Fatimids were an Arab Ismaili dynasty that ruled parts of the ME and NA from Egypt for a couple hundred years starting in the 900s AD. During the first century of Fatimid rule it is absolutely true that Egypt, and especially Cairo, developed a sophisticated and wealthy culture that gave rise to all sorts of authors and scholars. But like every other long-lasting empire on earth, in terms of tolerance and peace, it was a mixed bag, and some leaders were better than others. Some Fatimid caliphs were out of their god damned minds, the most notable of whom was al-Hakim, who facilitated both an increase in scholarship and learning and a campaign of terrible religious persecution, against both Sunnis and Christians and Jews at different points of his lifetime. He was like the Arab Louis XIV or something. Nonetheless, many educational institutions did flourish in this era. Al-Azhar, which today puts out fatwas about how Shia people are devils, was in fact founded by the Shia Fatimids…

The Syria-Iraq-Iran trio, by which I mostly mean Baghdad bc 99% of the time that’s what people focus on, was one of the Muslim world’s most urbanized and educated cities for quite a while. The Mutazilites are usually credited as the ones to kickstart this, and this was a school of early Islamic theology that incorporated a lot of Greek/Hellenized Christian ideas into their works, to the chagrin of most other Muslims at the time. The Mutazilites shouldn’t be seen as hippies or harmless–they did often persecute other Muslims (and non-Muslims) and attacked non-Muslim lands in order to subjugate them. Eventually they went too far and triggered a backlash. But they saw themselves as “rationalists” I guess the word would be, and that is what drew them to the creation of learning institutions. These are some of the first places that commissioned the translations of Indian texts after the first Arab conquests of parts of India, and those texts included many important mathematical concepts that were expanded upon by (or sometimes wrongly attributed to) Arabs. Even as this school began to fade, it left an imprint on what is now Iraq, and huge numbers of scholars from the surrounding area did visit its large cities to further their education at various points. Again–world history is really long!! Starting in the 900s AD, it was ruled by all sorts of Iranian empires, then the Turks came to town, then the Mongols came in and wrecked shit. Periods of progress existed before, during, and after that era, interspersed by periods in which progress stalled. Tolerance went from ehh to really bad depending on the particular ruler and dynasty in charge of the area, which is completely expected.

To sum it up: there was no one “Islamic Golden Age”. There were many different eras of relative progress/tolerance interspersed with less-happy eras all throughout the Muslim areas of Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia from Islam’s creation to the modern day. And of course there were! This was a huge area and a huge time span. How much of that is due to Islam itself is, uh, debatable, to put it gently–certainly the enormous wealth that came from conquest and domination of trade and slave routes didn’t hurt, and not all major figures of this “age” were even religious. I don’t think many people would call the 1500s-1800s the “Christian Golden Age”. But whatever factors you want to attribute it to, it is at least true that multiple Muslim empires, at various points in time, did contribute a lot to the development of science and medicine. Granted, it wasn’t even close to every area ruled by Muslims in every time period from 700 to 1300, and to say that these areas were tolerant or progressive by modern standards is lunacy, but still.

The idea that there was one singular chunk of time in which “Islam” as a whole was tolerant, peaceful, progressive, wealthy, and scientifically knowledgeable–after which something (Mongols, imperialism, ??? we just don’t know) happened to reverse all of that–is a modern idea mostly promoted by Orientalists, and it’s been adopted as a magical Lost Age by Muslims who feel bad about the admittedly shitty situations that many currently find themselves in. But past Muslims dealt with war, poverty, dictators, destruction, and intolerance too. Sometimes people in the “Golden Age” were ruled by horrible leaders and influenced by terrible, intolerant, anti-science movements; other eras saw a backlash to that and facilitated better conditions and people rebuilt. Then there would be some disaster that set people back again, on and on. Just like today. And just like every other part of the world, including Europe. Things move in waves, man. timeisaflatcircle.gif

(Also if I see that “Muslims invented MATH. There was NO MATH before goddamn 610 AD” post with like 5000000 notes one more time imma cry tbh)

[nova0000scotia]

BRILLIANT... Keys to Understanding Violence in the Old TestamentPosted on July 22, 2013 by Lawson Stone It’s hard to imagine anyone today who is familiar with the Bible not being concerned about the violence in the Old Testament. It’s a fashionable bomb tossed by the so-called new atheists, and the easiest way for critics of Christianity to dismiss the Bible. To hear them talk, on every page of the Old Testament cities are burned to the ground, whole populations annihilated. Yahweh, the God of Israel, is in turn portrayed as a wrathful tribal deity constantly calling his people to commit atrocities in his name.The problem of violence in the Old Testament centers mainly around the stories of Israel’s struggle to settle the land of Canaan. These stories center on the books of Joshua and Judges. So establish some starting points by looking in a general way at the question of violence and war in the Old Testament. Then in the installments to follow, we’ll turn specifically to Joshua and Judges.All these presentations will share one important conviction: central to getting the Bible right is hearing it in its own cultural and historical setting. This is not just good scholarship; it’s good listening. That’s why I’m excited to be sharing with you from a place called Bedhat es-Sha’ab, a little-known and infrequently visited site just west of the Jordan river that is possibly one of the earliest places where Israelites assembled and worshiped as they settled in the land of Canaan. Being an outsider in this barren, desolate place reminds me that the biblical characters didn’t live in a world of civilian police, ambulance and 9-1-1 service. Nor did they have 2000 years of reflection on the whole Bible. The Old Testament characters need to be seen and heard in their own time, not dismissed from the perspective of our time.With that in mind, here are seven facts to to help focus the question of violence in the Old Testament:FACT ONE:Jesus and the NT writers never complain about the violence in the Old Testament. That should flash at least a yellow, caution-light on our hasty dismissal of the Old Testament. Are WE more morally sensitive than Jesus and the New Testament writers? Did they see something in the Old Testament that we miss?FACT TWOSecular historians and the Bible itself tell us that the land of Canaan at the time of the Israelite settlement was not inhabited by a uniform, indigenous population. Canaan was a crossroads and a diverse culture of many different groups: You know, all the “-ites”-Canaanites, Amorites, Perizites, stalactites, stalagmites… If you’d asked a random inhabitant of Canaan “Whose land is this?” You’d have gotten different answers. It was a no-mans-land.FACT THREEGenesis 12-50 tells us the Israelites’ ancestors had actually lived in Canaan for centuries before their sojourn in Egypt. They were not outsiders trying to take a land from its original owners. In fact, the Pharaohs of Egypt would have seen no real difference between Canaanites and Israelites. They came from the same place, spoke the same language, had the same physical anthropology, i.e. they looked alike. So there is no parallel between the book of Joshua and, say, the European settlers in North America displacing the earlier inhabitants.FACT FOURThis a biggee. By Joshua’s day, Canaan had long suffered under a harsh political system. Canaan in the time of Moses and Joshua had been ruled for centuries by Egypt. Egypt had been ruled by foreign kings known as the Hyksos, who possibly came from Syria-Palestine. A native Egyptian dynasty expelled these foreign kings, pursuing them into Canaan. To insure they never came back, Egypt annexed Canaan and ruled it with two aims: first, never-ever would Canaan be a corridor for anyone attacking Egypt!Second, Pharaoh exploited Canaan economically. He administered Canaan by appointing rulers in the top 30 or so towns. They managed the country like a giant agricultural plantation, a kind of “factory farm.” They focused on producing a small number of crops valued by the Egyptian upper classes, mainly olives and a type of grape that thrived only in Canaan.This reality had serious consequences.The focus on massive production of a few crops not only risked depleting the land, it also destroyed the locally integrated, self-sustaining economies of small villages and towns throughout the hill country. These  communities needed mix of farming and herding just to survive. The Egyptians also yanked the best of the work force out of these towns and villages to toil as forced labor, emptying the rural hill country of Canaan. Many people from Canaan, not just future Israelites, wound up slaves in Egypt. Settlement patterns in Canaan about 1300 B.C., just before the exodus and conquest, show the central hill country of Canaan was largely emptied out.Under this kind of regime, Canaan was unstable and violent. The city rulers fought each other, hired mercenaries, sometimes cruelly treated the local populace. Bandits terrorized the highways. Men stripped of their land and living gathered around warlords, some of whom were good men, others just thugs or gangsters.So, by the time Joshua led the Israelites into Canaan, the place was dark and bloody ground. It’s just possible that, far from being seen as invaders, Joshua and the Israelites represented the arrival of order, justice, and even peace.FACT FIVEThe Old Testament shows us that, even in the conquest stories, the Israelites were not a militarized nation. While other nations boasted of their weapons and crack troops, the Israelites were not a professional army.  Likewise, the Israelites were not a huge group. The idea found in some textbooks that there were at least 2.5 million Israelites comes from a  misunderstanding of the Hebrew terminology for numbers. Archaeologists tell us that likely weren’t 2.5 million people living in all of Canaan and Syria combined!The books of Deuteronomy, Joshua & Judges stress that, from a military perspective, the Israelites were out-numbered, out-maneuvered and out-gunned. After Joshua, they had no central authority. They were only a coalition of tribes, often divided, often untrue to their own religion. The Bible says they needed miraculous divine intervention just to survive. Hardly the profile of a nation of bloodthirsty, imperialists!FACT SIXWarlike nations, and all of Israel’s ancient neighbors, gloried in their superior weapons and firepower. Images of Pharaoh portray him holding his hapless enemies by the hair and smiting them with a mace or battle axe. Or, we see Pharaoh thundering along in his war chariot, horses’ reins tied around his waist, unleashing arrows at cringing, fleeing foes. The Old Testament, in contrast,  stresses that the Israelites were poorly armed, confronting fortified cities or huge chariot forces on foot. The Old Testament also emphasizes Israel’s lack of metal workers. Again, not exactly a warrior nation.FACT SEVENFinally, the world of Moses, Joshua, Gideon and David was a world of unspeakable violence perpetrated by massive, well-armed professional armies. The kings of Egypt, Asia Minor and Mesopotamia gloried in their brutality and savagery. In countless inscriptions throughout the history of the ancient Near East, the great kings boasted of  boring through their enemies’ bodies, ripping their entrails out, galloping their horses and chariots through the gore of enemy bodies, splashing through enemy blood as if crossing a river, impaling thousands of “rebels” on stakes around conquered cities, flaying the skin off of their defeated enemies in full view of their families, and hideously mutilating the dead. And you know, almost nobody in the ancient Near East found this shocking. Rather, most thought it glorious proof that the gods had favored the king. Compared to the graphic detail, intensity, and sheer mass of these ancient descriptions, the Old Testament looks rather tame, even modest.Whatever problems we might have with the violence in the Old Testament, it was One who claimed to be the fulfillment of the entire Old Testament, Jesus, whose Hebrew name was Joshua, who appealed constantly to the OT witness. Schooled in the Old Testament, Jesus called his people to love their enemies and to be peacemakers, not in spite of his Old Testament heritage, but because of it.That’s something to think about.

[dfroza]

”Even though our inner thoughts may condemn us with storms

of guilt and constant reminders of our failures, we can know in our hearts that in His presence God Himself is greater than any accusation. He knows all things.”

A line from Today’s reading in the Letter of First John

and the whole chapter:

Consider the kind of extravagant love the Father has lavished on us—He calls us children of God! It’s true; we are His beloved children. And in the same way the world didn’t recognize Him, the world does not recognize us either.

My loved ones, we have been adopted into God’s family; and we are officially His children now. The full picture of our destiny is not yet clear, but we know this much: when Jesus appears, we will be like Him because we will see Him just as He is. All those who focus their hopes on Him and His coming seek to purify themselves just as He is pure.

Everyone who lives a life of habitual sin is living in moral anarchy. That’s what sin is. You realize that He came to eradicate sins, that there is not the slightest bit of sin in Him. The ones who live in an intimate relationship with Him do not persist in sin, but anyone who persists in sin has not seen and does not know the real Jesus.

Children, don’t let anyone pull one over on you. The one doing the right thing is just imitating Jesus, the Righteous One.

The one persisting in sin belongs to the diabolical one, who has been all about sin from the beginning. That is why the Son of God came into our world: to destroy the plague of destruction inflicted on the world by the diabolical one.

Everyone who has been born into God’s family avoids sin as a lifestyle because the genes of God’s children come from God Himself. Therefore, a child of God can’t live a life of persistent sin. So it is not hard to figure out who are the children of God and who are the children of the diabolical one: those who lack right standing and those who don’t show love for one another do not belong to God.

The central truth—the one you have heard since the beginning of your faith—is that we must love one another. Please do not act like Cain, who was of the evil one. He brutally murdered his own brother. Why would he do something so despicable? Because his life was devoted to evil and selfishness, and his brother chose to do what is right.

Brothers and sisters, don’t be shocked if the corrupt world despises you. We know that we have crossed over from death to real life because we are devoted to true love for our brothers and sisters. Anyone who does not love lives among corpses.

Everyone who hates other members of God’s family is a murderer. Does a murderer possess the beautiful life that never ends? No. We know what true love looks like because of Jesus. He gave His life for us, and He calls us to give our lives for our brothers and sisters.

If a person owns the kinds of things we need to make it in the world but refuses to share with those in need, is it even possible that God’s love lives in him? My little children, don’t just talk about love as an idea or a theory. Make it your true way of life, and live in the pattern of gracious love.

There is a sure way for us to know that we belong to the truth. Even though our inner thoughts may condemn us with storms of guilt and constant reminders of our failures, we can know in our hearts that in His presence God Himself is greater than any accusation. He knows all things. My loved ones, if our hearts cannot condemn us, then we can stand with confidence before God. Whatever we may ask, we receive it from Him because we follow His commands and take the path that pleases Him. His command is clear: believe in the name of His Son, Jesus the Anointed, and love one another as He commanded. The one who follows His teaching and walks this path lives in an intimate relationship with God. How do we know that He lives in us? By the gift of His Spirit.

The Letter of 1st John, Chapter 3 (The Voice)

Today’s paired chapter of the Testaments is the 6th chapter of 2nd Chronicles when King Solomon dedicated the Temple in Jerusalem:

[Solomon’s Dedication and Prayer]

Then Solomon said,

God said he would dwell in a cloud,

But I’ve built a temple most splendid,

A place for you to live in forever.

The king then turned to face the congregation that had come together and blessed them:

“Blessed be God, the God of Israel, who spoke personally to my father David. Now he has done what he promised when he said, ‘From the day I brought my people Israel up from Egypt, I haven’t set apart one city among the tribes of Israel in which to build a temple to honor my Name, or chosen one person to be the leader. But now I have chosen both a city and a person: Jerusalem for honoring my Name and David to lead my people Israel.’

“My father David very much wanted to build a temple honoring the Name of God, the God of Israel, but God told him, ‘It was good that you wanted to build a temple in my honor—most commendable! But you are not the one to do it. Your son, who will carry on your dynasty, will build it for my Name.’

“And now you see the promise completed. God has done what he said he would do; I have succeeded David my father and now rule Israel; and I have built a temple to honor God, the God of Israel, and have secured a place for the Chest that holds the Covenant of God, the covenant he made with the people of Israel.”

Before the entire congregation of Israel, Solomon took his position at the Altar of God and stretched out his hands. Solomon had made a bronze dais seven and a half feet square and four and a half feet high and placed it inside the court; that’s where he now stood. Then he knelt in full view of the whole congregation, stretched his hands to heaven, and prayed:

God, O God of Israel, there is no God like you in the skies above or on the earth below, who unswervingly keeps covenant with his servants and unfailingly loves them while they sincerely live in obedience to your way. You kept your word to David my father, your promise. You did exactly what you promised—every detail. The proof is before us today!

Keep it up, God, O God of Israel! Continue to keep the promises you made to David my father when you said, “You’ll always have a descendant to represent my rule on Israel’s throne, on the one condition that your sons are as careful to live obediently in my presence as you have.”

O God, God of Israel, let this all happen—

confirm and establish it!

Can it be that God will actually move into our neighborhood? Why, the cosmos itself isn’t large enough to give you breathing room, let alone this Temple I’ve built. Even so, I’m bold to ask: Pay attention to these my prayers, both intercessory and personal, O God, my God. Listen to my prayers, energetic and devout, that I’m setting before you right now. Keep your eyes open to this Temple day and night, this place you promised to dignify with your Name. And listen to the prayers that I pray in this place. And listen to your people Israel when they pray at this place.

Listen from your home in heaven

and when you hear, forgive.

When someone hurts a neighbor and promises to make things right, and then comes and repeats the promise before your Altar in this Temple,

Listen from heaven and act;

judge your servants, making the offender pay for the offense

And set the offended free,

dismissing all charges.

When your people Israel are beaten by an enemy because they’ve sinned against you, but then turn to you and acknowledge your rule in prayers desperate and devout in this Temple,

Listen from your home in heaven;

forgive the sin of your people Israel,

return them to the land you gave to them and their ancestors.

When the skies shrivel up and there is no rain because your people have sinned against you, but then they pray at this place, acknowledging your rule and quit their sins because you have scourged them,

Listen from your home in heaven,

forgive the sins of your servants, your people Israel.

Then start over with them;

train them to live right and well;

Send rain on the land

you gave as inheritance to your people.

When disasters strike, famine or catastrophe, crop failure or disease, locust or beetle, or when an enemy attacks their defenses—calamity of any sort—any prayer that’s prayed from anyone at all among your people Israel, their hearts penetrated by disaster, hands and arms thrown out for help to this Temple,

Listen from your home in heaven, forgive and reward us:

reward each life and circumstance,

For you know each life from the inside,

(you’re the only one with such inside knowledge!),

So they’ll live before you in lifelong reverence and believing

obedience on this land you gave our ancestors.

And don’t forget the foreigner who is not a member of your people Israel but has come from a far country because of your reputation—people are going to be attracted here by your great reputation, your wonderworking power—and who come to pray to this Temple.

Listen from your home in heaven

and honor the prayers of the foreigner,

So that people all over the world

will know who you are and what you’re like,

And live in reverent obedience before you,

just as your own people Israel do,

So they’ll know that you personally

make this Temple that I’ve built what it is.

When your people go to war against their enemies at the time and place you send them and they pray to God toward the city you chose and The Temple I’ve built to honor your Name,

Listen from heaven to what they pray and ask for

and do what is right for them.

When they sin against you—and they certainly will; there’s no one without sin!—and in anger you turn them over to the enemy and they are taken captive to the enemy’s land, whether far or near, but repent in the country of their captivity and pray with changed hearts in their exile, “We’ve sinned; we’ve done wrong; we’ve been most wicked,” and turn back to you heart and soul in the land of the enemy who conquered them, and pray to you toward their homeland, the land you gave their ancestors, toward the city you chose, and this Temple I have built to the honor of your Name,

Listen from your home in heaven

to their prayers desperate and devout;

Do what is best for them.

Forgive your people who have sinned against you.

And now, dear God, be alert and attentive to prayer, all prayer, offered in this place.

Up, God, enjoy your new place of quiet repose,

you and your mighty covenant Chest;

Dress your priests up in salvation clothes,

let your holy people celebrate goodness.

And don’t, God, back out on your anointed ones,

keep in mind the love promised to David your servant.

The Book of 2nd Chronicles, Chapter 6 (The Message)

my personal reading of the Scriptures for Wednesday, february 3 of 2021 with a paired chapter from each Testament of the Bible, along with Today’s Psalms and Proverbs

A post by John Parsons about trusting:

Do you sometimes have trouble trusting God? Do you wrestle with fear, anxiety, or worry? Does an inexplicable dread or sense of hopelessness sometimes oppress you? Do you secretly wonder what's wrong with you - and whether you are truly saved, after all? Please hang on. Doubting and questioning are often a part of the journey of faith, and we don't have to be afraid of our questions, concerns, and difficulties... Being full of "certainty" is not the same as being full of faith, after all, since many sincere people are sincerely self-deceived, while many others experience fear, loneliness, and trouble as a result of their faith. There is so much we simply do not know, and it is dishonest to pretend otherwise. God knows your heart and its struggles; he knows all your secret fears. Thankfully, there is a special prayer included in the holy Scriptures for those times when we feel especially unsteady or insecure: "Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief..." (Mark 9:24) Here we may bring our (lack of) faith to God for healing....

We should not be scandalized that we sometimes struggle with our faith. After all, Yeshua constantly questioned his disciples: “Do you now believe?” (John 16:31). And that’s why we are commanded to "put off" the old nature and to "put on" the new nature -- because God knows we are fickle admixtures, contradictions, carnal-yet-spiritual, inwardly divided souls that need to learn to trust in the miracle of God with all our hearts....

Of course it's easy to believe when things are going well, when faith “makes sense” or provides you with a sense of community, etc., but when things are difficult, when there are disappointments, pain, grief, losses, etc., then you need to trust in the unseen good, the "hidden hand" of God's love, despite the trouble of your present circumstances. This is part of faith’s journey: leaning on God's care, despite the “valley of the shadow of death,” despite the tests... The way may sometimes be difficult, but "the tested genuineness of your faith -- more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire -- will be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Yeshua the Messiah" (1 Pet. 1:7). [Hebrew for Christians]

https://hebrew4christians.com/

2.2.21 • Facebook

Today’s message from the Institute for Creation Research

February 3, 2021

The Awesome Word

“Princes have persecuted me without a cause: but my heart standeth in awe of thy word.” (Psalm 119:161)

This stanza of Psalm 119 is rich in descriptions of the way God’s Word envelops the believer in awe and wonder. This initial focus is of the heart rather than the mind. Our minds are key to growth and maturity in Christ (Romans 12:1-2), but the heart must be engaged in our relationship with our heavenly Father (Luke 10:27).

The psalmist rejoiced in the Word of God “as one that findeth great spoil” (Psalm 119:162). Peter taught that the Word “liveth and abideth for ever” (1 Peter 1:23). It is far more than written text; it is the very God-breathed words by which the Lord Jesus will ultimately judge the world (John 12:48).

Love for the Word of God can cause the godly to “hate and abhor lying” (Psalm 119:163) and begin to recognize the way that God exercises His “righteous judgments” (v. 164) on those who dare to flaunt their wickedness. Nothing, the psalmist noted, “shall offend them” (v. 165). That mature perception brings praise “seven times a day” (v. 164). It also brings “great peace” (v. 165), the “peace of God, which passeth all understanding” (Philippians 4:7).

Reveling in the wonder and awe of the Scriptures brings a stable “[hope] for [our] salvation” (Psalm 119:166), which in turn produces an open obedience to the commandments of God and a “soul” commitment to guard the Word (v. 167). This godly lifestyle is assured by those who understand that “all [our] ways are before thee” (v. 168). “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). HMM II