#by the end you were born a rich citizen of Rome

[van-goghs-smoking-skull]

its not about kink you fucking moron

So you honestly believe someone is going to give his slave [someone made to work against their will and considered to be the slave-owner's personal property, which is a horrible thing and should ALWAYS be illegal as a violation of basic human rights] an engraved golden collar worth more than any other Roman citizen, even the richest ones, could hope to add to their own wealth in a year? And that they would never possibly give such a valuable piece of jewelry, essentially, to their Slave [willing participant in certain adult activities, which is the business of consenting adults in their own private places and sometimes parties or shows for that sort of thing and should not ever be illegal, as the government should not be in the business of dictating anyone's consent in those activities]?

Let me guess, kink hadn't been invented yet back then, which I'm sure somehow explains some of the rather kinky historical art from that time. Have you considered that there may be cultural differences between, say, plantation owners using slaves to pick cotton in the US/POC arrested and imprisoned under some absolutely clown-ass laws and worked for free under the US prison system vs. the system in ancient Rome in which entertainment in the arena were frequently done by slaves, in fact MOSTLY by slaves, who had signed up for that work? See, it simply meant someone who wasn't getting paid directly in coin, however, training and fame were payment options. Back under that system, if you wanted to gain fame and other perks in the arena, you could sign up as a slave to one of the richer citizens of Rome in exchange for training under other famous Gladiators. And it was even common enough for the highest earning Gladiators who had won enough fights to be presented with a wooden sword by their master, symbolizing freedom, and they could choose to retire or keep fighting as a free man, either as a trainer for their former master, for another slave-owner, or on their own if they could afford the villa, equipment, food, services and entry as an owner of Gladiators. Generally, you wouldn't call gym membership, training, and a chance to become a world-famous wrestler slavery today, but it's much the same thing now, minus the guaranteed food, shelter, medical care, and other perks they used to get as slaves.

The Greeks were popular slaves back then, too, as they were considered to be very highly educated and quite good at accounting, speech writing, and excellent at political science. As slaves, they were given rooms in the family home, food, fine clothing, and other perks, including the ability to discuss politics with their master, if perhaps their master happened to be in the Senate, similar to unpaid interns and activists in Washington, DC, only now they don't live with politicians or get gifts for their work (instead the politicians get gifts, usually referred to as bribes by people outside of politics). Imagine the looks you'd get if you claimed Obama started off as a slave on his path to becoming President, and yet he was an activist at one time, and as an activist, worked for others, sometime voluntarily (unpaid).

Sex work was also done by slaves, and if a rich guy who could afford it found a woman or man particularly interesting and they were willing, he could very well buy their contract out and add them to the household. Slavery meant different things in different cultures and has changed in meaning over time.

Maybe go study World History using credible sources and stop getting all your information from booktok.

[herbeloved82]

Filius Romae

“What was it like?” Daniel asked, catching Marius totally unprepared. 

It was a quiet evening in Rio and the two of them were enjoying each other's company in the large veranda of the villa Marius owned there. A secluded and protected place where Daniel was free to explore and learn without the pressure of too many others around. 

He was still anxious when vampires he didn’t know came visiting and Marius tended to cut those visits short for his sake but the truth was, since they arrived Marius realized he too needed a break from others. 

He needed time to learn his new place in the world now that the Divine Parents were no more and with them his role as a guardian was gone. 

“What?” He asked at the end, when Daniel didn’t clarify his own question. 

“To be a Roman.” 

For the first time since they came back from hunting, Daniel raised his eyes from the model he was working on and looked at Marius, locking their gaze, unafraid to sustain eye contact. That was one of the many little things Daniel learned to do again since he was taken in by Marius. 

Marius stayed silent for a long time, thinking about the question and a time that was long gone. 

“It was everything.” 

It wasn’t even an exaggeration. Back then to be a Roman had meant so many things, not just for him, but for every man, woman and child born inside such a rich and powerful culture. 

“It was a love that consumed you like fire. Rome was a jealous and demanding lover when she wanted to be.” 

The Urbe had demanded blood and sweat and tears from every single citizen. She had demanded loyalty on the battlefield, where soldiers and leaders both died for her glory and to make her strong and splendid and Eternal. 

Every Senator had known to die for her. Every soldier who dreamed of glory and wealth had known she would be the only one who could grant those wishes. Every general had dreamed to gain honor in her name. 

Every citizen knew their place into the embrace of a strict and yet nurturing mother. Women and men gave children to her power, to grow her numbers and expand her borders beyond what anyone could have imagined possible. Rome had defied all the odds and changed the face of the world forever. Nothing was impossible if you were born as one of her beloved children. 

“But she was also a mother who loved and cherished her children like it had never happened before.” 

Everyone had found a place with her. It didn’t matter what Gens one belonged to, she gave everyone a chance to thrive and grow as long as loyalty to her was put in the first place, always. 

Many had tried to gain power over her, to steal the command and bend her to their wishes and she always made them pay. So much blood had been spilled for her, in her name but also against her, contributing to her fall. 

“Roma caput mundi.” Marius whispered, knowing that Daniel would hear him. 

“She had been the ruler of the world that we knew. Her influence lasted for centuries even after she had lost her leadership under the attack of Barbarians and enemies she had once defeated. It had been because of the weakness of men that she fell, and yet she still shines as an example of power.” 

Daniel listened to him, enraptured. He looked at Marius with love shining in his eyes and drank in every word he said as though he would have died without such knowledge. 

“When you talk about Rome it’s like - you sound like a man in love.” 

“Because I am, young one.” Marius admitted with a secretive smile on his mouth as he gently petted Daniel’s hair. 

The younger vampire scooted closer to him and laid his head in his lap, silently asking for more cuddles. 

“Rome was my first love. She taught me the love of a mother when I never knew mine, and the love a man shares with another when she presented me with her passion and the fire that ignited my blood when I was younger. She gave me the weapons of knowledge and allowed me to serve her as a soldier and a Senator, as a historian and a traveler. It is because of her that I am the man you can see before you.”   

Daniel smiled, and for the first time his smile reached his expressive eyes. He was at peace and happy, which filled Marius with a sense of joy he rarely had felt in his life. 

“So, how would you finish this sentence?” He asked Marius, waiting to see if he had his full attention. 

It was one of the games Daniel liked to play when he was inclined to speak. He would start a sentence and let Marius finish it. Then he would start all over again until Marius took him to their coffin because Daniel forgot again that sun could be lethal for him. 

“Which one?” Marius knew the rule by now and waited for Daniel to keep going at his own pace. At the beginning he made the mistake to rush him, and that had pushed Daniel back into mutism that lasted for months. 

“I am…?” 

Marius smiled. This was an easy one. 

“Filius Romae.” 

End 

[weatherman667]

What was It Really Like to Be a Slave in Ancient Rome?

What did Rome do differently with slaves?

They recorded it.

The big difference is the size and diversity of the empire, which lead to a diversity of slaves.

When Rome was founded, they knew they were the new kid on the block.  They purposefully went out of their way to find the BEST of everything.  So, you would have educated free Greeks selling themselves into slavery, often brought in as teachers and intelligencia.  This means that slaves could, in theory, adopt pretty much station in society, at least a step below their master.

So, de juré, there was no difference between Roman and non-Roman slaves, (other than a later prohibition on castration).  But the difference is that if you proved yourself worthy to your masters, you could be given the equivalent of a promotion, of good education.  And this all comes down to money.  The way a slave could prove their worth to their master was bringing more coin than they cost.  If you do that, simple self-interest will stop most masters from mistreating you.

But, we also have records of the opposite.  Aside from Servile Rebellions, there was the power to work to rule.

The simple fact, morale is important.

Morale is your motivation to do your job.  Not happiness, as most people assume.  While beating can certainly motivate, rewards can motivate even more.  Nobles also liked to compete in status, and having skillful servants was a great sign of status.  If you could take some poor German who didn’t even speak Latin, and turn him into a lawyer, then that means you are a fantastic slave master.

Legally, Roman slaves could be killed or tortured at any time.  But, they could also work themself to becoming a freeman.  You can marry wealthy.  Your sons will be born citizens.

Oh, yeah, and since the children of a slave woman were slaves themselves, (Mater semper certa est), simple prudence would often cause masters to allow slaves to enter pseudo-marriages.

You might get sent to the mines, which was considered a death sentence.  You might engage in farm labour, which would put them at equivalent value to a medieval serf.  You might end up working for a lower class family, doing all the things they don’t want to do around the house.  You might end up being bought by someone rich enough to educate you and become a high-priced professional, buy your freedom, marry rich, and have free sons.

Note:  Masters can have sex with their slaves, though dedicated sex-slaves were reserved for brothels and the obscenely wealthy.

Runtime:  15:34

[nevermindirah]

I've been drafting and redrafting this meta post for weeks now. It's about to be 5781 and my country that was founded on settler colonial genocide and slavery and a deeply flawed but fierce attachment to democracy might go full dictatorship in about 6 weeks and it's time for me to post this thing.

All our immortals are warriors, all have been traumatized by war. But only three of them died their first deaths as soldiers in imperial armies. This fandom has already produced gallons of meta on Nicky dealing with his shit, because Joe would not fuck with an unapologetic Crusader. But there's very rich stuff in Booker and Nile's experiences and the parallels and distinctions between them.

Nile was 11 when her dad was killed in action - that was 2005, meaning she and her dad both died in the same war that George W Bush started in very tenuous response to 9/11. Sure, Nile's dad could have died in either Iraq or Afghanistan, or in a training accident or in an off-the-books mission we won't know about for a hundred more years, but he died in the War on Terror all the same. I had to look it up to be sure because Obama "drew down" the Afghanistan war in his second term, but nope, we're still in this fucking thing that never should've happened in the first place. The US war in Afghanistan just turned 19 years old. A lot of real-life Americans have experiences like the Freemans, parents and children both dying in the same war we shouldn't be in.

I know a lot of people like Nile who join the US military not just because it's the only realistic way for them to pay for college or afford decent healthcare, but also because they have a family history of military service that's a genuine source of pride. Military service has been a way for Americans of color to be accepted by white Americans as "true Americans" - from today's Dreamers who Obama promised would earn protection from deportation by enlisting, to Filipino veterans of WW2 earning US citizenship that Congress then denied them for several decades, to slaves "earning" their freedom through service in the Union Army and in the Continental Army before it. As if freedom is a thing one should have to earn. Lots of Black Americans have the last name Freeman for lots of different escaping-slavery reasons, but it's possible that this specific reason is how Nile got her last name.

Dying in a war you know your country chose to instigate unnecessarily and that maybe you believe it shouldn't be waging is a very particular kind of trauma. It is a much deeper trauma when your military service, and your father's, and maybe generations of your ancestors', is a source of pride and access to resources for you but your sacrifice is nearly meaningless to the white supremacist system that deploys you. That kind of cognitive dissonance encourages a person to ignore their own feelings just so they can function. How do you wake up in the morning, how do you risk your life every day, how do you *kill other people* in a war that shouldn't be happening and that you shouldn't have to serve in just so that your country sees you as human?

We see Nile do her best to be a kind and well-mannered invader. Depending on your experience with US imperialism, Nile giving candy to kids and reminding her squad to be respectful is either heartwarming or very disturbing propaganda. We also see Nile clutching her cross necklace and praying. From the second Christianity arrived on this land it's been a tool of white supremacist assimilation and control, but like military service, it's a fucked-up but genuine source of pride and access to resources for many Americans whose pre-Columbian ancestors were not Christian, and it's a powerful source of comfort and resilience. This Jew who's had a lot of Spanish Inquisition nightmares would like to say for the record that it's not Jesus's fault that his big name fans are such shitty people.

Nile is a good person trying to do her best in a fucked-up world. "Her best" just radically changed. Her access to information on just how fucked up the world is has also just radically changed, because everything's so fucked up a person needs a lot of time to learn about it all and not only does she have centuries but she won't have to spend that time worrying about rent and healthcare and taxes, and because she now has Joe and Nicky and Andy's stories, and because she now has Copley's inside scoop on just what the fuck the CIA has been up to. Like, I want a fic where Copley tells Nile what was really behind the brass's decisions that led to her experiences on the ground in Afghanistan, that led to her father's death, but also I Do Not Want That.

Nile was 19 when Alicia Garza posted on Facebook that Black Lives Matter. She grew up in Chicago well before white people on Twitter were saying maybe police violence against Black people is a problem. She knows this is a deeply fucked up country, and she put on her Marine uniform and deployed with her team of mostly fellow women of color, and maybe she and Dizzy and Jay marched in the streets between deployments, maybe they texted each other when a white manarchist at a protest sneered at one of them for being a Marine. Nile's been busy surviving, and she knows some shit and she's seen some shit but she hasn't had much time to think about what it all means. Now she's got time. And Joe, Nicky, and Andy are willing to listen. (Is Copley willing to listen? I could see that going either way.)

Booker might also be willing to listen. The brilliant idea of cleaning up the rat Frenchman so that Nile can have millennia of emotional support and orgasms sent me down a Wikipedia rabbit hole, and holy shit do Booker and Nile have a lot of shared life experience as pawns of imperial wars. Obviously Booker is white and a man and that makes a very big difference. (Though G-d help me, Booker could be Jewish and France was knocking its Jews around like ping-pong balls in the 18th-19th centuries. Jewish Booker wouldn't make him any less white but it does add a shit ton of depth of common experience: military service as a way for your country to see you as a full member of society who matters, because who you are means that's not guaranteed.)

Booker was hanged for desertion from the army Napoleon sent to invade Russia as part of his quest to control all of Europe. We learn in the comics / this YouTube video that Booker was on his way to prison for forgery when he was offered military service instead of jail time. While we don't know how he felt about the choice beyond that he did choose soldier over inmate, it's unlikely he thought invading Russia was a great idea, given he tried to desert because Napoleon like a true imperialist dumbass didn't plan for how he was going to feed his army or keep them from freezing to death in fucking Russian winter.

I find it very interesting that the French Empire was at its largest right before invading Russia and fell apart completely within a few years. My country has been falling the fuck apart for a while now - see aforementioned War on Terror, growing extremes of economic stratification in the richest country in the world, abject refusal to meaningfully deal with climate change that US-based corporations hold the lion's share of blame for - but between Trump's abject refusal to meaningfully deal with the coronavirus and strong likelihood that he'll refuse to leave office even if a certain pathetic moderate I will hold my nose and vote for does manage to earn a majority of votes, ~y~i~k~e~s.

Our only immortals who have never known a world before modernity and nationalism happen to have been born of wars that were the beginning of the end for the imperialist democracies that raised them, and I think in the centuries to come that's going to give them some very interesting shit to talk about.

Nile's a Young Millennial, a digital native born in the United States after the collapse of the USSR left her country as the world's only superpower. She's used to a pace of technological change that human brains are not evolved to handle.

Napoleon trying to make all of Europe into the French Empire was a leading cause of the growth of European nationalism and the establishment of liberal democracies both in Europe and in many places that Europeans had colonized. Booker's first war produced the only geopolitical world order Nile has ever known and I just have so many feelings ok. Nile the art history nerd is probably not aware of this, and why would she be? This humble meta author is, like Nile, a product of US public schools, and all they taught me about world history was Ancient Greece/Rome/Egypt/Mesopotamia and then World War 2. Being raised in The World's Only Superpower is WEIRD.

Nile the Young Millennial is used to the devastating volume of bad news the internet makes possible. But she has absolutely no concept of a world where the United States of America is not The World's Only Superpower. In order to get up in the morning and put on her gear and point guns at civilians in Afghanistan, she can only let herself think so much about whether that American exceptionalism thing is a good idea.

She's about to spend many, many years where the only people who she can truly trust are people who are older than not only her country but the IDEA of countries.

She's got time, and she's got a lot of new information at her disposal. But there comes a point where my obsession with her friendship and eventual very hot sex life with Booker just isn't about sex at all. Nile needs someone to talk to about the United States who Gets It. Booker the rat Frenchman coerced into Napoleon's army, and Copley the Black dual citizen of the US and UK who's retired from a CIA career that he half understands as deeply problematic but half still believes in hence his mind-bogglingly stupid partnership with Merrick, are the only people on the planet Nile can talk to honestly about, and really be understood in, all the thoughts and feelings and fears and hopes of her experience as a US Marine.

And one more thing before I go get ready for Rosh Hashanah: Orientalism was a defining element of the Crusades and that legacy is painfully clear in current US-led Western military activity in Afghanistan, Syria, Israel/Palestine, you name it. Turns out memoirs by French veterans of the Napoleonic Wars are full of Orientalist language about Russia as well. I am maybe/definitely writing a fic where Booker spends his exile reading critical race theory and decolonial feminism and trauma studies monographs because he can't be honest with a therapist but maybe he can heal this way and become the team therapist his own damn self. I just really need him to read Edward Said and Gloria Anzaldúa and then go down on Nile, ok?

[jeannereames]

What did Alexander’s soldiers think of him and the campaigns, towards the end? How do you think they felt about his death?

I think it varied a lot. There are several factors, depending on WHO, and when they joined the campaign.

By the time of his death, Alexander’s army consisted of veterans from his father’s army, younger soldiers who’d signed up when he left or joined as reinforcement at various points during his campaigns, Greek mercenaries hired at various points, as well as non-Macedonian/non-Greek soldiers from Asia, especially Persian contingents such as the 30,000 Epigoni, who stirred up such resentment among Macedonians. (Also, keep in mind that about half the Macedonian army remained in Macedonia to support Antipatros as regent, so they were not “Alexander’s men” to nearly the same degree.)

Alexander’s Persianizing presented a problem for traditional Macedonians (and Greeks). Whether he adopted some Persian court customs out of necessity, or ideology (or both), that didn’t sit well with many of his non-Asian followers.

We can’t forget that traditional Macedonians viewed themselves as superior, not only to the Persians and other “Asiatics,” but even to the Greeks, who they viewed as weak and divided. They were under the impression that they’d go over there, beat the crap out of the Persians, loot everything, and come home rich. They were nativists, and if there had been “Make Macedonia Great Again” red hats for them to wear, as Alexander increasingly added Persian-esque elements to the court, they’d have been marching around in them. Those who want to bitch about Alexander ignoring the wishes of his soldiers need to remember that. The wishes of his soldiers was either to take all the wealth and go home, or to rule Persia with an iron fist and milk everything they could, ala the Assyrians. Look how that ended for the Sargonids.

We’re told that on his deathbed, Alexander had a hole knocked in one wall so men could parade past, allowing him to say goodbye. (They came in through the door and out through the hole in the wall, it seems.) And the men came. He greeted and nodded to them, recognizing them. These were apparently the Macedonian troops who’d been with him for years. If they had mixed feelings about the Persianizing, they came to see him. Similarly, one reason not to call the Indian incident or Opis a “mutiny” is that mutinies end with the leader dead. They wanted him to turn around; they didn’t want to get rid of him. Beth Carney’s “indiscipline” is a better term. (I’ve also seen “insurrection” used, but like “mutiny,” I think it too strong.)

After his death, factions immediately developed and a lot of the Persian aspects of Alexander’s reign were jettisoned, including the Persian wives, with a couple notable exceptiosn: Seleukos and Peukestis, who kept them for obvious reasons (they were ruling over areas with large Persian populations). Most of the rulers in Asia Minor, Egypt, and Greece/Macedonia/Thrace returned to Greek/Macedonian wives, and their methods of rule were, at most, “Asian tinged,” rather than heavily influenced.

My sense is that most of his soldiers liked Alexander’s victories, and their new enormous wealth, but they didn’t like the Persians or Persianizing.

This is not especially surprising in the ancient world. Again, remember the VERY STRONG “anti-mixing” sentiment among Greeks.

Plato (et al.) argued the Athenians were MOST pure not only for being autochthonous (native to Attica/always there), but by not mixing with other Greeks due to Perikles’ citizenship law (had to have BOTH parents Athenian to be a citizen). That’s “double-purity,” ha. They didn’t have “barbarian blood,” and they weren’t immigrants to Attica, either! That gave them a leg up over even the Spartans, who could argue no-mixing, but were still immigrants, however far back.

(Whether ANY of that is true is completely irrelevant to what they believed. The Dorian invasion may be a myth, but it was one they accepted, just like they believed in the autochthonous origin of the Athenians.)

That demonstrates how concerned Greeks were with “mixing.” Even immigrants (metics, in Athens) were suspect; couldn’t be trusted to defend the homeland like a native-born son. A lot of those attitudes have transferred down through time (via Rome, then the Enlightenment) to fuel modern anti-immigrant and Purity ideologies.

And it’s not just Greeks. The Persians were the same. A glass ceiling existed in Persia. The king might marry women from everywhere…but only a pure Persian could be mother to the heir. Satraps might be concessions to keep the local peace, but only Persians could occupy the highest offices at court, including regional governors, etc. And don’t get me started on Egyptians, especially in the Bronze Age. Or the Romans later. LOL.

Ethnocentrism was simply How We See the World.

If we can’t make Alexander into Tarn’s “One World” advocate, he did stand against the Platonic-Aristotelian ideas that “mixing” was bad. In his case, it was driven by practicality—he had to rule a mixed empire and avoid constant rebellion (like the Assyrians had experienced with their hard-line Assyrianizing of provinces)—but also a little based on his experiences, which called into question the philosophical ideas of Plato, Aristotle, and Isokrates. I’m reminded of Caesar’s ideas about the Gauls, which diverged from the ideological philosophic notions of Seneca. Caesar avoided geographical determinism, preferring notions of diet and custom instead. Like Alexander, Caesar had pragmatic, boots-on-the-ground experience with the people he was writing about, not second- and third-hand ethnographic accounts that were more about stereotypes and literary topoi than actual reports.

Anyway, a lot of Alexander’s soldiers liked “the winning” (to sound Trumpesque), but not his attitudes towards “them furriners.” They were happy to jettison the more radical changes he’d made after his death.

[folklorewhispers]

( bae suzy, cisfemale, she/her )╰ ✧ ˔ ⭒ magic is in the air ! oh wait - that’s just my old friend, MOON “SUN” CHIN-SUN, the TWENTY-FOUR year old LIBRARIAN / ASPIRING POET. they’ve lived in rome pines for ages, so everyone knows that they’re IMAGINATIVE and ECCENTRIC, just like BELLE from BEAUTY & THE BEAST they may not have any magic in them, but the neighborhood sure knows them from their WHITE GLOVES & CLASSIC ROMANCE NOVELS. apparently, they are THRILLED about meeting these magical citizens from pastoral city, so let’s just hope they will get along with their new neighbors…⭒˔ ╮

hi everyone ! my name is victoria, but you’re free to call me vic or vega, or however you want ! i’m super excited to be here & i’m looking forward to getting to know all of you and write with each and every one of you ! you already know how this goes: like this post & i’ll be in your dms asap for plots and interactions ! here are a few bullet points about odette. some wanted connections will be added at the end of this post on the next couple of days, so make sure to keep an eye out for them !

BACKGROUND DETAILS:

moon chin-sun, also known as sun or sunny, was born in rome pines twenty four years ago in a loving family. she was the highlight of their life and her parents promised to do everything they can so that their daughter will forever be happy. but fate had something else in store for the moon family. not long after sun celebrated her first birthday, her mother fell sick and she lost the fight with her illness, leaving this world a little too soon. since her mother’s tragic death, sun’s father did his best to keep the promise he and his wife made. he believed that one day, he will develop a crazy invention that will make their family rich and this way, he could provide his daughter everything she wanted.

but sun wasn’t interested in materialistic things at all. she had always been quite fond of books and she spent most of her time indoors, reading and dreaming of breathtaking castles and outstanding adventures, of princes and princesses and of eternal love. she started writing poems from a young age, most of them dedicated to the mother she never got the chance to meet. the others were either inspired by what happened in her life, or they were simply the result of her flowing imagination and creativity.

the citizens of rome pines started to believe her father was a mad scientist, as he always talked about how close he was to revolutionize science and come up with some great invention that is going to change this world for the better. however, all of his attempts have been nothing but failures so far and that turned him into the butt of the joke. but sun loved him nonetheless and she always believed in his dreams. she knew that one day, her father was going to succeed and his name will be written down in history books.

NAME MEANING & PERSONALITY:

chin-sun means truth and goodness in korean. persons who were named like this are often optimistic souls who have a genuine enthusiasm about life and the living of it. however, in english, her nickname, sun, is opposed to her given surname, moon, which symbolizes depth and being complete by itself. it is also a reference to sun’s duality: she comes off as shy, reserved and private, but she can be compassionate and adventurous and she dreams of a life that’s worth writing about. moon is the korean version of wén, which is a chinese character meaning literature, culture and writing.

personality wise, sun is not exactly the most sociable person you could meet, but that’s because of her slightly wary nature. she has been treated as an outcast since she was little, because of growing up with just one parent, because everybody found her father strange, because she preferred reading books rather than socializing, because of her strange name choice that symbolizes the moon and the sun. so she grew used to being alone and after a while, it didn’t even bother her that much anymore. but even so, she still feels lonely sometimes. she built up high walls around her heart, she has always been afraid of being hurt again by people, but if you manage to somehow break through these walls, you’ll find that she is a sweet and loving girl, who spends all of her time daydreaming about a wondrous life and fantastic adventures. she hates it when people think she is just a pretty face and she tends to stay away from narcissists and materialistic people.

LIFE IN ROME PINES:

sun works at the local library. she’s there almost every day, either working her own shifts or just filling up for her workmates. she loves being surrounded by books. sometimes, you may even find her writing something in her sparkly notebook. she writes poems and she hopes that one day, she will be able to share her works with the entire world. she attempted to write children stories and fairytales too, but she focuses on poetry.

she was thrilled to find out magical citizens from pastoral city will move here. she still is concerned about the fire that forced them to relocate to rome pines and she is sad about the disaster that occurred, but she is looking forward to welcome the magic users in her town. maybe that’s exactly what she needed in her life: a little spark of magic.

[awed-frog]

in which caesar doesn’t do anything much and all the women are named julia

[Hi, this is me stanning Adrian Goldsworthy’s biography of Caesar. I studied Classics, but not this period, so all I can contribute here are squeals of delight, a few mistakes and the occasional witty comment. If you’d like to know more, please buy the book - it’s really good and a fun read.]

PART 2

The thing is - there’s a lot of boring relevant political stuff going on in this chapter, but I’m mostly fascinated by the glimpses we get into the world of Roman women. 

As I said, this is not really my area, so I know random, unconnected facts about how life was like for them; also it doesn’t make much sense to talk about ‘Roman women’, because, as a reminder, ‘Rome’ stretches from the 14th century BC to the 14th century AD, came to include dozens of very different regions, and obviously was home to an incredibly diverse population. And if we’re talking about the late Republican / imperial aristocracy, there’s a sharp divide anyway: on the one hand, the ‘ideal woman’ is the same old model we’re all used to and heard about (silent, obedient, virtuous, chaste, a perfect mother and so on), but on the other, Roman noblewomen had a lot more freedom than, say, their Greek counterparts, so there was usually some political scheming going on - something that in Greece was reserved to a handful of very well-placed courtesans. 

(In this sense, think about the contrast between Lucretia, the mythological wife of Collatinus, whose fridging created the Republic, and Agrippina, mother of Nero, empress and all-round badass bitch.)

Anyway, this chapter made me think about women because it starts with Caesar being born and getting his name - it’s sort of an urban legend, btw, that every single Roman had three names: that was just for the Moste Noblest - and how Goldsworthy casually mentions that, unlike men, women of noble birth would just take their family surname as first name. In Caesar’s family, for instance, all the women were named Julia.

(As a reminder: his given name was Caius, then ‘Julius’ identified the tribe, and finally ‘Caesar’ was a nickname that was possibly given to his grandfather for something elephant-related. 

People whose grandfathers did not do elephant-related stuff generally never enjoyed the prestige of a funny nickname passed down through the generations.)

So it’s bad enough that twins might be named ‘Peter and Not-Peter’ or ‘Peter and Twin’, but imagine going to the park with your buggy and meeting your old friend Oldest She-Jones (daughter of Ferdinand Jones), now married to George David Taylor, and her five kids - Louis David Taylor, She-Taylor, She-Taylor the Second, She-Taylor the Third and She-Taylor Born on Christmas. So damn cute, and also the reason why the Romans never developed smartphones or social media - how the hell are you supposed to find someone on Vultocodex when every single cousin and aunt has the exact same name?

Poor management, that is.

But anyway - as I said, there’s a dissonance here because women being treated like garbage (like, not given normal names and married off at fourteen) also led to the very peculiar phenomenon: generations of (male) politicians and VIPs being raised by very forceful, strong, and ambitious (widowed) mothers. Because if you count old age, wars, trampolining injuries (let’s be honest, men have always been obsessed with attempting dangerous stunts just for the fun of it) and the general risks of Roman politics, it was very usual for a noble kid to not even remember his father at all.

(Nero is a good example of how weird and all-consuming this boy-mother relationship could become - there’s entire books about it, but I’d point 16-and-over readers to Suetonius’ Life of Nero for details.

Keep in mind 95% of it is propaganda because Suetonius hated Nero, but still. HBO-worthy stuff in there.)

All this to say - we know that Caesar had a very close relationship with his mom (named ‘Aurelia’ because - you guessed it - she came from the Aurelii family), who was a near perfect figure of virtue, intelligence, beauty and common sense. Very powerful in her own right, Aurelia raised Caesar basically on her own, because her (much older) husband was either away at war or dead for most of their marriage.

Aside from drinking in Aurelia’s wisdom, Caesar’s education also included the normal lessons noble Roman boys were required to learn: self-worth, narcissism, delusional manias, rhetoric, martial arts, horse-riding, and writing really bad fanfiction based on Greek myths.

And now for the MEANWHILE part.

(I have no idea why this gif was tagged ‘meanwhile’, but I’m not enough of an idiot to let it go to waste, so.)

Meanwhile, all sort of messes were going on.

As I’m sure you remember, at some point the consul was Marius - Caesar’s uncle and a military genius, but not much of a politician. His negotiation tactic of choice was secretly inviting groups of unconnected people to his house on the same night, serving them dinner in two separate rooms so they wouldn’t see one another and try to work out some kind of agreement between them. Whenever a new point came up, Marius would say he had diarrhoea, pretend to run to the bathroom and instead sit down with the second group and see what they thought about the first group’s proposal.

(Isn’t ancient Rome magnificent?)

A big problem Marius had to deal with was how to grant citizenship to the allied tribes in Italy without pissing off current citizens. Basically no one wanted these other guys to be given new rights, but since they supplied more than half the soldiers of the Roman army and got nothing in return, their patience was running a bit thin. At some point, Roman bureaucrats started to erase foreign-born citizens from their lists claiming they were not actual citizens (something so openly dishonest NO OTHER GOVERNMENT would EVER attempt it again), and next yet another tribune working on a citizenship reform was stabbed to death in the street. 

So the allies went to war. 

(This war, confusingly, is known as the Social War, because ‘socius’ means ‘ally’ in Latin.)

As you can imagine, it was a disaster. Most of the allied communities had been part of the Roman republic for I don’t want to check but let’s say decades, they lived side by side with Roman families and fought in the same wars, so it was more of a civil war than anything else. Some tribes chose to remain faithful to Rome, others didn’t. Lots of people died.

Caesar was too young to be a soldier, but this was Cicero’s first taste of war (bet you never thought of that weaselly weasel as a soldier, uh? appearances can be deceiving, folks!). Marius was also involved, but since he was old as shit and had famously weak and leaky guts (hahahhaha), he mostly stayed out of active combat, which wasn’t all that normal for a Roman general. In the end, the whole of Italy, down to defeated tribes, cows, dogs and random patches of mossy rocks, was granted citizenship and everyone went home. Their votes, however, were inserted in the system in such a way that they didn’t count much. 

On the whole, the one winner of this war was Lucius Cornelius Sulla, one of the military commanders, who became a consul soon after.

Another war, because this is Rome and Romans were dicks, but! this one was in the East, which means every single soldier would get super rich and also! wars in the East were considered easy because *insert racist trope here* and! Sulla had been promised that, as the big winner of the Social War, he could go there with his legions and basically enjoy this Disneyland of golden cups and ultraviolence but! at the last moment, Marius, who never liked Sulla much, managed to snatch the commandership from him, which! was completely legal but also *insert outraged emoji* and wait for it! instead of going gentle into the good night, Sulla made a fiery speech to his soldiers all like GUESS WHAT FOLKS WE’RE STUCK HERE SCRATCHING OUR TESTICULI AND THOSE IDIOTS FROM THE 25TH ARE TAKING YOUR GOLD AND YOUR UNWILLING WOMEN and! Sulla’s entire army marched! on! the! city! of! Rome!

It was the first time a Roman army had ever invaded Rome. Nobody was expecting it, and people panicked. Sulla’s men won easily, burned down some buildings, killed some people, generally had a great time; and then Sulla announced a bounty for anyone who’d disembowel his political enemies (including Marius) because he didn’t have time to go to Braavos and learn how to do it himself (remember, he still had his war waiting for him in the East).

(This turned out to be a success, btw. One guy was even killed by his slave - Sulla gave him the promised reward, then shoved him off a mountain because duh, slave and “When I said ‘anyone’, I meant people, not IKEA furniture” and “Honestly”.)

As nobody could have imagined and/or predicted, as soon as Sulla left for Greece Weak Guts Marius came back with an army and took back the city, beheading his way to the Senate and leaving a trail of blood wherever he passed. As soon as he got there, however, he dropped dead - heart attack, trampolining, diarrhoea, who can tell - and the city was taken over by his second-in-command, Lucius Cornelius Cinna.

(Man, what a ride.)

Unfortunately, it’s impossible to know what Caesar was doing during this time.

Personally, I like to imagine him in Rome - a well-dressed, grey-eyed 15-year-old, freshly orphaned, horrified and exhilarated by the violence exploding all around him - I see him running down the streets, stopping to watch the corpses float in the dark waters of the Tiber, daring his friends to go and touch the severed heads nailed to the doors of the Senate; recognizing many of those heads as friends and colleagues of his father and uncle (passing a hesitant finger on the cold flesh, remembering how they’d once laughed and frowned and spoken about boring matters from the dais). 

The truth is, Caesar was just a kid. He was supposed to learn about the Republic, and his own role in making it great, by watching his elders. 

God knows what he actually learned, and what he thought, as he was passing through Rome’s paved streets, now shimmering with blood. 

PREVIOUS — NEXT

[howthingsendhistory]

The Beginning of the End -- Roman Republic

I’d like to start by asking you to imagine a country — one that started as a relatively unimportant, small place of not much economic or military power, a place that had gained its independence from another empire and set up a system of representative government that lasted for hundreds of years. I suppose that this description could apply to the united States, but in this case, I’m referring to the Roman Republic. After gaining its independence in the 6th century BC, Rome tried to build a government that would take the best of the Athenian system — a direct democracy where all citizens (that is, male citizens who weren’t slaves… maybe 12% of the population) — while eliminating some of the unpredictability and chaos of that system, specifically the tendency of Athenian government to get hijacked by slick orators who could impress the uneducated crowds. The Romans did this by creating a very complex system of checks and balances, all designed to keep one man from becoming too powerful. You might scoff at this, given where we all know the story is going to end, but it did work fairly well for centuries — much longer than the current American form has lasted.

(http://pages.uoregon.edu/klio/maps)

The Roman form of government was also designed to reflect the social divisions in Roman society. One of the most important of these divisions was that between the Patricians — the original nobility of Rome, a status that you could only attain by being born into a Patrician family — and the Plebeians, who constituted all other free people in Rome. As you might imagine, the nobles who controlled Rome at its independence constructed the government to favor them, reserving offices for themselves and rigging majorities in the assemblies — something akin to the way the electoral college functions today. The plebeians fought back against this over time, using their numbers against the patricians’ wealth and power, and carved out concessions in the system of government. One of the most important of these was the office of tribune. These officials — eventually there were ten of them — had to come from the plebeian class, and were supposed to protect the interests of ordinary Romans. They were given the power of the veto — in Latin, “I forbid” — over many of the actions of officials in Rome.

As this struggle between the patricians and the plebeians was taking place, Rome was becoming more and more powerful and wealthy. First conquering its neighbors in Italy one by one, then taking on their main rival to Mediterranean supremacy, the Carthaginian empire, then taking over the ancient and wealthy cities of Greece, Rome, over a couple of hundred years, went from being just another city state in Italy to one of the two or three most powerful political entities in the world at the time. This, of course, not only made the Roman Republic very powerful, but also very rich. And of course the wealth — in gold, silver, land, and slaves — was not distributed evenly among the Roman people. Some people — mostly patricians — with political connections or the ability to get appointed to military command were able to take control of massive plantations called latifundia in the newly conquered provinces. These plantations were worked by some of the multitude of slaves that poured into the empire, captured as prisoners of war. Those latifundia that were owned by senators did not have to pay taxes. Ordinary farmers couldn’t really compete with these huge entities, and many smaller farms were bought over the years, only increasing the economies of scale that these latifundia enjoyed. Those who had been chased off their small family farms often ended up in the growing cities of Rome, trying to scrape together a living.

A Roman Latifundium (http://users.rowan.edu/~mcinneshin/101/week07.htm)

If you’re like me, the broad outlines of this story sound pretty similar to some of the phenomena happening in our own (American) society. This economic inequality became more and more frustrating to the citizens of Rome. All around them, there was evidence of the wealth and power of their empire, but they seemed trapped on the outside.  Meanwhile, people with the wealth and connections to profit from Roman success were growing wealthier and wealthier. Moreover, the Roman republic was almost constantly at war, conquering new territory or putting down a revolt somewhere. More and more ordinary people served in the military, either through conscription or by signing up to volunteer for service in the hopes that they could take part in Rome’s plunder economy.  

All of these issues were still managed by a system of government that had been formed when Rome was just a small city state in western Italy, a form of government that had been explicitly constructed to favor the hereditary upper class of the Patricians. Something had to give, and it would. Next time, we will examine what happened when reformers started to work inside and outside of the system to change some of the mounting problems in the Roman Republic.

{HTE}

[comp6841]

Separation of Powers

Our System (Australia)

Our constitution defines the rules by which our country run and describes three main bodies responsible for governance:

Parliament - Composed of the Queen (represented by Governor-General), Senate and House of Representatives.

Role: Produces and amends laws

Executive - Made up of the Queen (represented by Governor-General), Prime Minister and ministers.

Role: Puts the laws into action

Judiciary - Composed of the High Court and other federal courts.

Role: Makes judgements about the law

The system doesn’t have complete separation of power as we have overlap in the roles of the Queen, ministers and responsibilities of appointments regarding judges. However, there is an expectation that the executive are held to account as they are required to maintain support of their parties within parliament to remain in government. Every few years these members of parliament change with elections, where the people are “given a say” as to who they wish to represent them.

The Romans

The Roman Republic had a rather complex constitution which consisted of a number of controls to ensure the separation of powers. Initially it was heavily influenced by the aristocrats (of nobility) but over time many of the laws which cemented their control were repealed, giving more power back to the plebians. During their massive expansion and conquest of much of Europe, this system was replaced with an Empire - this is credited as occurring just after the assassination of Julius Caesar and the Senate’s grant of power to August which essentially made him the first emperor.

The Senate

The Senate derived it’s authority from the prestige of the members within it; it was responsible for passing decrees which gave official direction to magistrates. It also provided management advice on foreign policy and military direction. You had to be born of nobility, held public office and had a sizeable amount of land (100,000 denarii) worth to be eligible to enter the Senate, and had to be accepted by the existing senators.

Legislative Assembly

There were two types of assemblies made up from the People of Rome:

Committees (comitia) - group of citizens

Councils (concilia) - assemblies of specific citizens

These groups were responsible for enacting laws, managing alliances and war, capital punishments and election of magistrates.

Magistrates

These people were chosen by the People of Rome and held a number of constitutional powers. Depending on their level this may include:

Imperium (consuls, praetors) - authority to command a military force

Coercion - maintain public order; able to freely punish out of Rome however inside Rome citizens had protection (to appeal) via Provocatio

Auspicia  - power and duty to look for omens which could be used to obstruct political opponents (i.e. ending meet or vetoing colleague)

They had checks and balances in place over a magistrates power such as:

Collegiality - every magisterial office held by at least 2 people

Provocatio - citizen’s could appeal powers used by magistrate against them to a tribune

Limited terms - they needed to wait 10 years before serving in same office again after expiry

There were a number of different levels within the magistrates:

Consul - highest ranking with supreme power over military and civil matters; they would lead armies abroad and could be the authority in the Senate and assemblies

Praetor - lead smaller armies and involved in civil law

Censors - 2 elected every five years to conduct a census; during this time they could add or remove from the senate

Aediles - responsible for running games and shows in Rome

Quaestors - often responsible for finances, assisting either the consuls or governors

Tribunes - some involved in commanding portions of the Roman army, some as checks on authority for the Senate and other magistrates

Dictator - appointed officials for periods of six months during military emergency (dissolving the government during this time) and had absolute power of the state

The Greeks

They were actually responsible for the first known democracy in the world - referred to as “Athenian democracy” it controlled the balance of power in the city of Athens and surrounding regions. It revolved around a system of legislation and bills, with participation in the systems limited to adult men of at least 20 years of age. I feel that the power was much more in the people’s hands than in the Roman system - the diagram below (courtesy of Wikipedia) easily sums it up better than I could in a page of words.

Defying Term Limits

China used to have a two-term limit on their presidents since the 1990s, however this restriction was removed fairly recently in 2018. The constitutional changes were passed by the parliament with 2959/2964 votes (described as a “rubber-stamping exercise”); president Xi also used his power to write his name and political ideology into his party’s constitution. Interestingly, the president’s political philosophy being enshrined into the constitution will mean that school children and staff will also be forced to study it.

Some Personal Thoughts

I still feel that most these Ancient political systems are designed in such a way to give the illusion of distribution of power - they still seem to have distinct hierarchies in society. The main ideas behind these systems is the fair assumption that for the most part people will act in their own self-interest; the point being that you could use external bodies to keep everybody on check circularly. However this tended to backfire with those involves in politics essentially forming a separate social class and looking after each other.

The Roman Senate was pretty much full of rich people and while magistrates were voted on, you could only do it within the city of Rome (which was costly travel). The assemblies were divided into voting sections by wealth which meant that the top 1-2% by wealth had approximately 50% of the votes. All the officials within the system were also extremely susceptible to bribery and corruption; no-one really had a vested interest to keep them in check.

I think we still face many of these issues today - people in political power are still looking out for themselves and we rely on transparency in government for the people to be able to keep them in check. I would argue we don’t really have the level of transparency we should have; there are still many methods to provide “political donation” in a sense, without a need for disclosure. We have a growing concentration of wealth in a number of individuals which are able to control the media and thus control the imagery that the people see. This makes it almost political suicide to act against their interests.

[pamphletstoinspire]

Novena to Saint Pancratius

Recited from: May 3rd through May 11th Feast Day: May 12th

it name from the Latin word “novem”

meaning “nine.” A novena can be either a private or public devotion in the Catholic Church to obtain special graces.

NOVENA TO SAINT PANCRATIUS

The Benefits of praying this Novena are: 1. good health and productive work; 2. success in work; and 3. being free from adversities and ill-intentioned persons.

Novena Prayer (Said daily before beginning novena prayers)

Act of Contrition:

Jesus, my God, how often have I offended Thee and, despite my firm promise never to sin again, how many times have I left Thy sweet company to follow the path of sin! Dearest Lord, I am sorry for my past negligence's. I regret this weakness of mine. I would be ashamed to promise again that I will not sin were it not for the confidence I have in Thy love and Thy mercy. I kneel in Thy presence, hopeful that despite so many past violations of Thy commandments, notwithstanding so many failures to correspond with Thy grace, I can still repent. I know that there is time to make a new beginning. With Thy aid I will strive to be faithful to Thee, with Thy assistance I will do my utmost to serve Thee faithfully - and always. Do Thou, dear Jesus, help me. Amen.

First Day

Our hearts have been created to love. It is God Whom you have to love most, more than all beings, more than all riches of the world, and in this way you will avoid many disappointments. St. Pancratius did it so and by it he obtained many favors from God. Ask him fervently for this grace, you will live peacefully and will obtain his protection in all your needs.

Prayer for each day to the Blessed Trinity, to whom St. Pancratius was greatly devoted.

1. Prayer to the Eternal Father:

I believe, Heavenly Father, all that Faith teaches, and in that faith I wish to live and die; through the intercession of St. Pancratius grant us good health to fulfill our duties.

Our Father... [Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name; thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread; and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.]

Hail Mary... [Hail Mary, Full of Grace, The Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now, and at the hour of our death. Amen.]

Glory be... [Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.]

2. Prayer to God the Son:

O good Jesus, grant me the virtue of Hope in your promises in the same measure that St. Pancratius always trusted in your Providence, so that I may, through his intercession, obtain work and success in all my undertakings.

Our Father... Hail Mary... Glory be...

3. Prayer to the Holy Spirit:

Grant me the virtue of Charity that I may love God above all things and my neighbor for the love of God, as St. Pancratius did. Through his intercession I hope to obtain this grace and that of being free from adversities and from ill-intentioned persons.

Our Father... Hail Mary... Glory be...

4. Concluding Prayer:

O glorious St. Pancratius, I beg thee to obtain for me all the graces that I need, but especially health and work, so that I may appear before thee to thank God for the favors I received through your powerful intercession. Amen

Second Day

(Novena Prayer above)

It is the law of God to love our neighbor, but only in as much as this love does not hinder us from loving God. St. Pancratius gave us the examples, thus leading many souls in the right path to heaven. Let us ask him from the depth of our hearts to give us the grace to love our neighbors as ourselves in order to love God better; in this way we shall obtain many graces from the glorious St. Pancratius.

(Prayer to the Blessed Trinity as on First Day above)

Third Day

(Novena Prayer above)

St. Pancratius possessed such a kind heart that he always sympathized with the poor and the unfortunate; for this reason he obtained so many graces from heaven. You too, should imitate this virtue and thereby obtain, through his intercession, many favors from God.

(Prayer to the Blessed Trinity as on First Day above)

Fourth Day

(Novena Prayer above)

The glorious St. Pancratius not only tried to be good himself but also strived to lead other souls to heaven, and for this reason God bestowed on him such a great power in behalf of those devoted to him. You too, should try to spread this devotion and to lead others to heaven. In this way you will gain many graces, especially those that you like to receive in this novena.

(Prayer to the Blessed Trinity as on First Day above)

Fifth Day

(Novena Prayer above)

There are many persons in the world who due to human respect, fail to serve God wholeheartedly. Be not one of them, but rather imitate St. Pancratius in defending always the truth and the good, for the sake of God. In this way, you will obtain all that you need through the intercession of St. Pancratius who is always ready to hear your prayer.

(Prayer to the Blessed Trinity as on First Day above)

Sixth Day

(Novena Prayer above)

One of the hardest things for the heart is to forgive those who have injured us. Ask St. Pancratius to obtain for you this grace when someone has offended you, since he forgave even those who martyred him. Be sure you will then be more at peace and will obtain for yourself and for your family graces that grow more than you can hope for.

(Prayer to the Blessed Trinity as on First Day above)

Seventh Day

(Novena Prayer above)

In this world, great patience is needed for everything, for more obstacles always come in our way than we expect. Imitate St. Pancratius who always conforms his will to the Holy Will of God, and thus succeeded in living happily and becoming a great saint amidst difficulties. Ask him fervently to help you, and he will grant you this grace and many others.

(Prayer to the Blessed Trinity as on First Day above)

Eighth Day

(Novena Prayer above)

Just as you treasure the picture of your parents and other dear persons, so also should you treasure the image of St. Pancratius, assured that from heaven above he sees you as you kneel before his altar. The greater the fervor with which you do it the more he will intercede for you before God that he may grant you the graces you want to obtain in this novena, for you as well as for your family.

(Prayer to the Blessed Trinity as above)

Ninth Day

(Novena Prayer above)

Now that you are ending this novena, you are encouraged and you feel a greater desire to love St. Pancratius and by it to make yourself worthy of attaining heaven where you will keep his company. Be sure that he waits for you there, and you will fulfill your duties faithfully, leading the life of a good Christian; and thus obtain his protection for yourself and for your family.

(Prayer to the Blessed Trinity as on First Day above)

Short Biography about Saint Pancratius

Saint Pancras was a Roman citizen who converted to Christianity, and was beheaded for his faith at the age of just 14 around the year 304. His name is Greek and literally means "the one that holds everything". From an early stage, Saint Pancras was venerated together with Saints Nereus and Achilleus in a shared feast day and Mass formula on 12 May. In 1595, 25 years after Pope Pius V promulgated the Tridentine Missal, Saint Domitilla was added also.

Since 1969 Saint Pancras is venerated separately, still on 12 May. He is, traditionally, the second of the Ice Saints.

The Ice Saints is a name given to St. Mamertus, St. Pancras, and St. Servatius in Flemish, French, Dutch, Hungarian, German, Austrian, Poli sh, Swiss and Croatian folklore. They are so named because their feast days fall on the days of May 11, May 12, and May 13 respectively. In Flanders St. Boniface of Tarsus is counted amongst the Ice Saints as well; St. Boniface's feast day falling on May 14. The period from May 12 to May 15 was noted to bring a brief spell of colder weather in many years, including the last nightly frosts of the spring, in the Northern Hemisphere under the Julian Calendar. The introduction of the Gregorian Calendar in 1582 involved skipping 10 days in the calendar, so that the equivalent days from the climatic point of view became May 22–25.

In Poland and the Czech Republic, the Ice Saints are St. Pancras, Saint Servatus and St. Boniface of Tarsus (i.e., May 12 to May 14). To the Poles, the trio are known collectively as zimni ogrodnicy (cold gardeners), and are followed by zimna Zośka (cold Sophias) on the feast day of St.Sophia which falls on May 15. In Czech, the three saints are collectively referred to as "ledoví muži" (ice-men or icy men), and Sophia is known as "Žofie, ledová žena" (Sophia, the ice-woman).

In Sweden, the German legend of the ice saints has resulted in the belief that there are special "iron nights," especially in the middle of June, which are susceptible to frost. The term "iron nights" (järnnätter) has probably arisen through a mistranslation of German sources, where the term "Eismänner" (ice men) was read as "Eisenmänner" (iron men) and their nights then termed "iron nights," which then became shifted from May to June.

Because he was said to have been martyred at the age of fourteen during the persecution under Diocletian, Pancras would have been born around 289, at a place designated as near Synnada, a city of Phrygia Salutaris, to parents of Roman citizenship. His mother Cyriada died during childbirth, while his father Cleonius died when Pancras was eight years old. Pancras was entrusted to his uncle Dionysius’ care. They both moved to Rome to live in a villa on the Caelian Hill. They converted to Christianity, and Pancras became a zealous adherent of the religion.

During the persecution of Christians by Diocletian, around 303 AD, he was brought before the authorities and asked to perform a sacrifice to the Roman gods. Diocletian, impressed with the boy's determination to resist, promised him wealth and power, but Pancras refused, and finally the emperor ordered him to be decapitated on the Via Aurelia, on May 12, 303 AD; this traditional year of his martyrdom cannot be squared with the saint's defiance of Diocletian in Rome, which the emperor had not visited since 286, nor with the mention of Cornelius (251-253) as bishop of Rome at the time of the martyrdom, as the most recent monograph on Pancras's texts and cult has pointed out.

A Roman matron named Ottavilla recovered Pancras's body, covered it with balsam, wrapped it in precious linens, and buried it in a newly built sepulchre dug in the Catacombs of Rome. Pancras’ head was placed in the reliquary that still exists today in the Basilica of San Pancrazio.

Devotion to Pancras definitely existed from the fifth century onwards, for the basilica of San Pancrazio was built by Pope Symmachus (498-514), on the place where the body of the young martyr had been buried; his earliest passio seems to have been written during this time. Gregory the Great gave impetus to the cult of Pancras, sending Augustine to England carrying relics of that saint and including his legend in Liber in gloria martyrum. In medieval iconography, Pancras was depicted as a young soldier, due to his association with the paired soldier saints Nereus and Achilleus. By the mid-nineteenth century, pious embroidery set Pancras's martyrdom in the arena among wild beasts, where the panther refrains from attacking and killing him until the martyr gives the beast permission.

The basilica of San Pancrazio fuori le Mura was built by Pope Symmachus (498-514), over the Catacombe di Ottavilla, where the body of the young martyr had been buried. In the 17th century, it was given to the Carmelites.

In Spain St. Pancras is referred to as San Pancracio. He is popularly venerated as the patron saint of jobs and health. He is offered parsley.[5] His image in statue form can be found in many bars, restaurants and other businesses.

Some of his relics found their way to England, which is why many of the nation's churches are dedicated to him; St Pancras Old Church is believed to be one of the oldest sites of Christian worship in England.

Pancras is normally invoked against cramps, false witness, headache, and perjury. He is a patron saint of children.

Another Account of the Life of Saint Pancratius

Martyr; one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. According to tradition he was born in Phrygia, brought to Rome, and, professing his Faith, was beheaded on the Via Aurelia, when only fourteen, but in what persecution is doubtful. He is the avenger of per jurors. Numerous monuments to him exist throughout Europe, among them the church built by Pope Symmachus, c. 500, over his tomb. The first church built at Canterbury by Saint Augustine was named in honor of Saint Pancras as were many ancient churches all over England. The London borough of Saint Pancras gives its name to a railroad terminal in London. Relics in his own church at Rome, destroyed in 1798, head in the Lateran Basilica. Feast, Roman Calendar, 12 May.

Click below for:

Novena Pamphlet to Saint Pancratius

https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/a84285_de1a989ed82f44ee9a93270b234168df.pdf

All Novena Pamphlets:

www.pamphletstoinspire.com/novenas

[pope-francis-quotes]

25th December >> (@zenitenglish)  #PopeFrancis #Pope Francis #Pope’s ‘Urbi et Orbi’ Blessing (Full Text) ‘May the little Child whom we contemplate today in the manger, in the cold of the night, watch over all the children of the world, and every frail, vulnerable and discarded person’.

Pope Francis’ ‘Urbi et Orbi’ Blessing

‘May the little Child whom we contemplate today in the manger, in the cold of the night, watch over all the children of the world, and every frail, vulnerable and discarded person. May all of us receive peace and consolation from the birth of the Savior and, in the knowledge that we are loved by the one heavenly Father, realize anew that we are brothers and sisters and come to live as such!’

At noon today from the central loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis addressed the following Christmas Message to the faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

—

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Happy Christmas!

To you, the faithful of Rome, to you, the pilgrims, and to all who are linked to us from every part of the world, I renew the joyous proclamation of Bethlehem: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those whom he favours” (Lk 2:14).

Like the shepherds who first went with haste to the stable, let us halt in wonder before the sign that God has given us: “A baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger” (Lk 2:12). In silence, let us fall to our knees and worship.

What does that Child, born for us of the Virgin Mary, have to tell us? What is the universal message of Christmas? It is that God is a good Father and we are all brothers and sisters.

This truth is the basis of the Christian vision of humanity. Without the fraternity that Jesus Christ has bestowed on us, our efforts for a more just world fall short, and even our best plans and projects risk being soulless and empty.

For this reason, my wish for a happy Christmas is a wish for fraternity.

Fraternity among individuals of every nation and culture.

Fraternity among people with different ideas, yet capable of respecting and listening to one another.

Fraternity among persons of different religions. Jesus came to reveal the face of God to all those who seek him.

The face of God has been revealed in a human face. It did not appear in an angel, but in one man, born in a specific time and place. By his incarnation, the Son of God tells us that salvation comes through love, acceptance, respect for this poor humanity of ours, which we all share in a great variety of races, languages, and cultures. Yet all of us are brothers and sisters in humanity!

Our differences, then, are not a detriment or a danger; they are a source of richness. As when an artist is about to make a mosaic: it is better to have tiles of many colours available, rather than just a few!

The experience of families teaches us this: as brothers and sisters, we are all different from each other. We do not always agree, but there is an unbreakable bond uniting us, and the love of our parents helps us to love one another. The same is true for the larger human family, but here, God is our “parent”, the foundation and strength of our fraternity.

May this Christmas help us to rediscover the bonds of fraternity linking us together as individuals and joining all peoples. May it enable Israelis and Palestinians to resume dialogue and undertake a journey of peace that can put an end to a conflict that for over seventy years has rent the land chosen by the Lord to show his face of love.

May the Child Jesus allow the beloved and beleaguered country of Syria once again to find fraternity after these long years of war. May the international community work decisively for a political solution that can put aside divisions and partisan interests, so that the Syrian people, especially all those who were forced to leave their own lands and seek refuge elsewhere, can return to live in peace in their own country.

My thoughts turn to Yemen, in the hope that the truce brokered by the international community may finally bring relief to all those children and people exhausted by war and famine.

I think too of Africa, where millions of persons are refugees or displaced and in need of humanitarian assistance and food security. May the Holy Child, the King of Peace, silence the clash of arms and allow a new dawn of fraternity to rise over the entire continent, blessing the efforts of all those who work to promote paths of reconciliation in political and social life.

May Christmas consolidate the bonds of fraternity uniting the Korean peninsula and help the path of rapprochement recently undertaken to continue and to reach agreed solutions capable of ensuring the development and well-being of all.

May this blessed season allow Venezuela once more to recover social harmony and enable all the members of society to work fraternally for the country’s development and to aid the most vulnerable sectors of the population.

May the Newborn Lord bring relief to the beloved land of Ukraine, yearning to regain a lasting peace that is slow to come. Only with a peace respectful of the rights of every nation can the country recover from the sufferings it has endured and restore dignified living conditions for its citizens. I am close to the Christian communities of the region, and I pray that they may develop relationships of fraternity and friendship.

Before the Child Jesus, may the inhabitants of beloved Nicaragua see themselves once more as brothers and sisters, so that divisions and discord will not prevail, but all may work to promote reconciliation and to build together the future of the country.

I want to mention, too, all those peoples that experience ideological, cultural and economic forms of colonization and see their freedom and identity compromised, as well as those suffering from hunger and the lack of educational and health care services.

A particular thought goes to our brothers and sisters who celebrate the Birth of the Lord in difficult, if not hostile situations, especially where the Christian community is a minority, often vulnerable or not taken into account. May the Lord grant that they, and all minorities, may live in peace and see their rights recognized, especially the right to religious freedom.

May the little Child whom we contemplate today in the manger, in the cold of the night, watch over all the children of the world, and every frail, vulnerable and discarded person. May all of us receive peace and consolation from the birth of the Savior and, in the knowledge that we are loved by the one heavenly Father, realize anew that we are brothers and sisters and come to live as such!

[Vatican-provided text]DECEMBER 25, 2018 12:35

PAPAL TEXTS

[filii-tevinter]

Okay, so while we're at it, let's all take a more in-depth look at the Tevene cast-system. Because it's actually pretty darn complex, considering how one-dimensional it has been depicted in canon, so far.

In fact, you can easily reference real existing ancient Empires, that clearly were used as reference for the Tevinter Empire. But in order to even realize that, you have to actually go and meticulously analyze the various codex-entries and canon-mentions of the empire, as well, as every Tevene character, we meet in-game. Because Bioware was doing their usual half-assing, after creating the world-state and simplified the whole thing to: "Humans rich. Elves slaves. Also bloodmagic. Durrhurr!"

As I mentioned before, it is politically impossible for an Empire as formerly huge and actually ancient (it is the oldest still standing country in Thedas, after all) to have such a simple political basis. If one race is forever doomed to be enslaved in a political system, then said race will be more likely focusing on forming a powerful opposition, which inevitably leads to revolution. Such a system would not survive, as long, as the Tevinter Empire has. Ferelden's rebellion against Orlais is a shining example to that and there it wasn't even a specific race, that was being oppressed, but simply everyone of a certain nationality. And that alone was enough to kick Orlais' butt.

Now as we know Tevinter has been inspired by ancient Empires. The Roman and the Ottoman Empire, are the ones that spring to my mind immediately, when I think of Tevinter. The resemblances are rather striking. Since I'm sick and my brain is 60% snot, right now. I will not attempt to point them all out, because I would probably just end up getting things mixed up. You can do your own research folks. You should. Trust me. It's fun. History is fun.

Instead, I want to focus this meta-post on the specific cast-system Bioware has created for the Tevinter Empire. Because unlike what we get told in the game, it is not just elves are slaves, mages are nobility, everyone else are normal citizens. It is far more complex and it's complexity is actually the key to how it managed to survive for so long, without any major political reformation.

Let's start with slaves in general. First off, it is nowhere said, that you get born into the class of slaves, but only that you can be sold into slavery. Now this is indeed important.

Because in ancient Rome for example, you had two ways, how one could become a slave. Either they were sold into slavery, due to a debt for example. In that case, their children were still technically free, although, they would likely end up being sold into slavery too, to further pay of the debt. But the point is, in this case slavery is not being inherited. The other case is, when you are the child of war-prisoners. War-prisoners were brought to the Empire as slaves already and all their off-springs would inherit that trait, unless one of them gets freed.

SO back to Tevinter. Now, I'm not saying slavery cannot be inherited in Tevinter, all I'm saying is, we don't have any canon-evidence, that it is an inheritable trait. Another point, that supports that case is actually Krem's fate. Krem's father sold himself and his wife into slavery, but according to lore slaves are not allowed to join the military, yet Krem did. Krem only kept his assigned gender a secret, not his family. Therefore it is to be considered canon, that Krem never was a slave, even as his father was.

Now slaves can be freed again, either before a judge in presence of their master, or through their master's last will. But then, they still are not considered common citizens. They are Liberati, which is a sort of slave sub-category. They have more rights, can own land and property, but are not allowed to join the military, or any form of governance.

With one exception: If they possess magical talents. Liberati are allowed to join the Circle of Magi, or even become someone's apprentice. Now here it becomes mushy and we have to switch back to real life Empires, because Bioware left this part rather vague and probably, purposefully ambiguous.

Technically Liberati even as apprentices, or in a Circle of Magi cannot join any form of governance, but it is also canon, that the Circle of Magi is a sort of political platform for everyone in Tevinter. Those with magical talent will use the Circle of Magi to form political connections, and also to assert oneself among others. Now if a Liberati has enough magical talent to be outstanding amongst others, as well as enough political cunning to not get pushed to the political sidelines in the Circle, they can actually rise past that class. All they need, is to attract the interest of another higher-ranking mage and become their protege, or - better even - their fiancée.

And this is just one possible scenario about how a Liberati could raise beyond the ranks of slavery. It really all comes down to their skill both in politics and magic. And this is actually a very clever move by the Tevene government. Because as long, as there's a chance to make it out of slavery and up into the higher ranks, slaves will more likely focus on seizing that chance, than on forming revolutionary groups and trying to overthrow the system. By sowing jealousy and ambition amongst the lowest of the low, the upperclass assures that everybody will be too busy to think about revolution.

Now let's climb the ladder a little and look at the Tevene middle class, the people, who are not slaves, yet not nobility: The Soporati. This class consists mainly (not exclusively though) of humans and every common citizen, who's not a mage, is considered Soporati, unless born into a mage-family. Soporati are under great pressure, throughout their lives. Because the risk of falling into slavery is high and the chance of rising up, pretty low. The only way a Soporati-family can rise up, is by having a mage-baby born to them. (Now let's think back on the Liberati, who would gain citizenship, simply by marrying into a Soporati-family already. So how many marriages do you think, happen between a Soporati and a Liberati from a Circle of Magi?) There's not much more of interest to say on the Soporati. They are not allowed entrance in any form of governance and can only rise to the clerical rank of father or mother.

After the Soporati come the Laetans. A Soporati family, that had the luck to get a mage-baby is allowed entrance into this class simply by default of there being magic in their family. Laetans can actually rise politically and Archon Tidarion was in fact the first Laetan to become Archon. (That instance caused a civil war lasting 7 years, but that's besides the point right now.) One third of all Archon's came from the rank of Laetans. Laetans could be considered "lesser nobility" or "upstart nobility". They are either Soporati-families, who had recently magic discovered in their family, or mage-families with no ties to the higher class nobility. Aside from that, Laetans have three seats in the Magisterium.

The last class, are the Altus. (-Gasp- not the Magister?!) Note, that Magister is not a class, but a political profession. Just like congressman is not a social class either. A magister can be either Laetan, or Altus, although the majority of them is Altus. Altus are the "old nobility". They are believed to be descendant of the dreamers, who could speak to the Old Gods in the Fade. When you're born into one of those families, you are already upper-class, even if you are born without magic. On the flip-side an Altus-family with a depleting number of mage-babies is in some political trouble, since a talent for magic is a requirement for entrance into any political governance, including the magisterium. Which makes it quite likely, that many altus-families occasionally let promising Laetan-mages marry into their clan to replenish the influx of magic into their bloodline.

As you can see, if you actually bothered reading through this monster, of a meta-post, it is not as simple, as the game make it be. And there is many reasons, for why there must be a possibility for slaves, even elven slaves to rise up, in order to maintain the political order and prevent any successful uprising. I would have written more on the influence of the Roman and Ottoman Empire into the construction of this complex political system, but as I said: I'm sick and my brain is mush. So this must do for now. Thanks for reading. 8D

[davidkaplanrussianbusinessman]

Travels by David Kaplan

Opening new horizons is a way of life for millions of people who do not wait for free time, do not take a rain check indefinitely, but simply plan and go. Traveling is an investment that makes a person happier and more prosperous.

David Kaplan knows how to travel with pleasure. The list of his trips is rich: he explored almost all the world's cities, having visited 65 countries. He knows where it is best in the fall, winter, spring, or summer. Where to go with a big company, and where it is better to relax on your own. He knows what cities are a must in your bucket list, what cities deserve only 1-day stop, and where you should not go. In each beloved town, he has at least five favorite restaurants.

The world is the home of cosmopolitan.

For many, the homeland is the place where they were born, went to school, were free and happy. David Kaplan was born in 1963 in European Jerusalem - the Lithuanian city of Vilnius - in a traditional Jewish family with fidelity to the Jewish spiritual traditions and values ​​. The Kaplan family lived for many years in Lithuania. After graduating from the Faculty of Applied Mathematics of Vilnius State University, David remained in Vilnius for some time, later he moved to his historical homeland Israel. He worked in Russia for many years. He is a true citizen of the world. But no matter how much a person travels, he can be happy and free only at home, surrounded by his people. For David Kaplan, the homeland is Israel. Today he lives and works in Jerusalem. The travel experience of this cosmopolitan of Jewish origin can be trusted. Travel around the world with David Kaplan!

✓ David Kaplan recommends planning all your trips.

You prepare everything in a pleasant expectation, then you enjoy it, and after all, you have something to remember. I advise you always to prepare for the trip. When traveling, the place where you can have some rest is essential. Also, it's crucial to find right people to travel with. Think about who you want to spend time with and where. Then make a list of places where to go and with whom you want to go. And after that, be sure to coordinate your plan with friends and relatives. Also, the rest must somehow be interfaced with business or with a hobby. The more hobbies a person has, the more reasons he has to travel.

✓ David Kaplan recommends traveling with a company.

My advice is to travel as often as possible with a large, friendly and fun company minimum of 4-6 people: family, friends, acquaintances, etc. But some places are definitely created for privacy. There, a person gets charged with a unique energy. Such secluded trips most often occur in the fall. Not late nostalgic, but early autumn, filling spiritually.

✓ David Kaplan offers criteria for choosing a place of travel.

In choosing a city for travel, there is no concept of winter or summer. David Kaplan recommends going where you have not been. Age also matters: at different ages, you can see London and New York in different ways, as well as museums and attractions. It is important to consider financial capabilities. No one will go to the most expensive city in the world if he has a limited budget. Thus, the choice is divided into two groups: according to interests and opportunities. At the same time, there are places that, on the recommendation of David Kaplan, should be visited by every self-respecting person. Cities: Baden-Baden, Vancouver, San Francisco, New York, London, Paris, Rome. Islands: Bermuda, Caribbean, Maldives, Seychelles. You can go to Belgium only for the best food. If you would like to travel with children, Turkey would be an option!

✓ David Kaplan advises returning to where it felt good.

The desire to return to a particular city is not related to geographical location. Someone returns to their favorite museum or an annual event, someone to their favorite restaurant or a club. I want to go back to where there is something specific that you enjoyed. You come back for impressions to once again catch these emotions.

The second factor that brings people back to the city is owning real estate there. The third factor is the residence of relatives or friends. Therefore, each has its personal "return."

✓ David Kaplan teaches you how to travel through photographs.

I believe that there is nothing to go to New Zealand and Egypt. You do not graze goats, but you can see the pyramids by photos or films. Here is my recommendation for choosing a place to travel: to buy BBC and Discovery documentaries. If you see something that touches you, you should fly there.

✓ David Kaplan recommends going on a trip at least once

A single trip is enough for all of Southeast Asia. If we talk about a tourist trip to Japan, I advise you to opt for the city of Kyoto, especially in spring, during the cherry blossoms season. At the same time, stay there for at least two weeks to fully feel the place. Visually, this is an entirely different world. You must carefully prepare for such ambiguous trips: sit down with books, read everything in detail, discover the history - then this great country will open its doors for you. Without preparation, the trip will be nothing but a waste of time. Once you can go to Morocco, the island of Fiji and the city of Cancun with its sea, stars, and discos.

✓ David Kaplan recommends traveling all year round.

In fall. When summer has already ended, but autumn has not yet arrived, when it is still not cold, but not hot, I recommend going to Lake Como in Italy, to Baikal or Altai in Russia. These are some of my favorite places. When summer goes turns into autumn, these places are utterly enchanting. Pastel colors, peaceful calm atmosphere – you can sit in silence and look at the water. Altai is a place of extraordinary power. Having traveled to 65 countries, it was in Altai that I saw nature from all countries accumulated in one region. That beauty is unreal.

In fall, David Kaplan recommends a six-hour road trip from Montreal to New York. Fantastic views await you along the way. You pass Niagara Falls, then you see a maple forest, beautiful, green, yellow, white, blue mountains, rocks. You can go crazy with pleasure. Nature lovers must visit the magical Waterloo Forest in Belgium.

In winter. I recommend Courchevel. A paradise for those who love skiing. In terms of service, there are many better places. But it is in Courchevel where the best ski logistics in the world is, and this is the best place for the beginners.

In spring. The annual spectacular sight in late March-early April is the cherry blossoms. First, go to Tokyo, and in 5-7 days, I advise you to get to Kyoto. Also, in spring, it's an option to spend some time on the tropical island of St. Barth. It is called the island of millionaires. There are the best villas, hotels, and yachts in the Caribbean. I also recommend St. Thomas with its unique island exotic framed by dense tropical greenery and stunning bays with snow-white sand.

The summertime destination should be Italy. Especially Sicily with its many islands: Panarea, Taormina. I recommend going on a date with active volcanoes on the islands of Stromboli and Vulcano. I also advise you to visit the Greek paradise: the snow-white romantic island of Santorini and one of the most mysterious legendary places - Mount Athos.

In June-July it is good to travel to Asia. David Kaplan recommends visiting the abode of the world - the fabulous country of Brunei. It's known to be one of the wealthiest countries in the world. You'll find luxurious palaces and mosques, mountains, rainforests, waterfalls, white beaches, and the gentle sea there. Devote one of the summer vacations to the mysterious Buddhist kingdom of Tibet: lakes, majestic Kailash, distinctive culture, and religion. After Tibet, you start looking at the world differently. It is unforgivable to be in China and not visit the legendary Shaolin Monastery in the Songshan Mountains.

There are a lot of options for summer travel. Behind the atmosphere of quiet luxury, David Kaplan advises you to go to Tahiti or Bora Bora with their picturesque bays and the best snorkeling in the world.

In August, visit the most beloved Scottish Queen Mary Stuart. The famous castle and the picturesque lake with the same name of Linlithgow. In this country, you can master archery and try yourself in the ancient and aristocratic sport - falconry with Harris hawks. A unique activity for me is golf. Scotland is the birthplace of it. There are more than 500 golf courses throughout the country, some of which are among the best in the world. Golf is enchanting.

From August to the end of September, David Kaplan recommends going to Norway for fantastic sunsets and real performance of dancing lights turning into the northern lights. Another main attraction of this country is the stunning beauty of the fjords.

The North Pole is a pearl of your summer vacation. The Arctic summer does not last long, only two to three weeks. As a rule, a trip to the realm of ice and snow can only be carried out on an icebreaker, and you can only fly to some rocky shores by helicopter. Such a trip is incomparable. The North Pole is the top of the world. Only there you can take a breeze of fresh polar air, see drifting perennial ice floes, arctic flowers, and the rarest polar animals such as whales, belugas, seals and, of course, polar bears.

After such a trip, you will undoubtedly want to go to the South Pole in December and January and make a circle around the globe. Visit Antarctica and see with your own eyes a colony of emperor penguins.

I wish you unforgettable travels!

[we-speak-english]

Monumentalism

This is the Albert Memorial. It was built by Queen Victoria after her husband Albert’s death in 1861. According to Wikipedia, it is 176 feet tall, took over ten years to complete, and cost £120,000 to build (~10 million pounds in 2010).

In other words, it was neither a small endeavour, nor a cheap one.

I could talk about a lot of different things in relation to this monument—the beautiful architecture, for example, or the dubious sculptural personifications of the continents, but instead I’m going to focus on the sheer fact that it exists.

On the day I visited the memorial, it was not on my initial schedule. In conjunction with my main visit to some of the major museums in the area, I wanted to see the Royal Albert Hall, home of the Proms. I was consulting Google Maps to see what else was in the area, and my eye was caught by the Albert Memorial. Google Maps showed the memorial as directly across from the Royal Albert Hall, on the edge of Hyde Park / Kensington Gardens, and depicted it with a small square and a picture of a camera.

In short, I had no idea what the monument looked like. So as I walked along the edge of the park, I peered between the trees and bushes, scanning the undergrowth for any sign of the memorial, in case I missed it.

Suffice it to say, it is hard to miss. I saw an immensely tall, slender shape looming in front of me, breaking through the patchwork of the trees’ leaves against the sky, and I realised that Google Maps hadn’t been misleading when it had told me I should bring my camera.

Though the structure itself is relatively small—and exceptionally tall for its width—it is surrounded by a square plaza and set up on a broad podium, so that any visitor must crane his or her head back to see the monument.

My photographs do not do it justice—the interior ceiling of the structure is painted a dazzling blue, and the gold shines even on a sunless day, gleaming with richness.

Of course, the saddest thing about this is when you turn and, following the gaze of the golden Albert, see the Royal Albert Hall. And then you shift your gaze a little further, and though you can’t see it, only a few minutes’ walk away is the V&A—the Victoria and Albert Museum. And you realize that she must have really loved him.

One would think this was obvious—Victoria very famously wore nothing but black for the decades after her husband’s death, setting the trend for women’s fashions for nearly half a century and even going so far as to order all the colourful, metal railings along Whitehall painted black.

But what is it about grief (fundamentally a loss, a negative) that makes it appropriate to build a monument (a new physical object, a positive)? Why do we build monuments in the first place?

There seem to be two types of monuments: those that glorify the living, and those that glorify the dead. Of course, many monuments succeed in doing both, but the general distinction is there.

Consider a statue of the Roman emperor Hadrian, commissioned by himself, to be placed in a place of power and influence in Rome. It is there to glorify Hadrian, and to demonstrate his power. Next, consider one of the thousands of statues of Antinous, Hadrian’s lover, that he commissioned and had placed all over the Empire after Antinous’ untimely death. Hadrian even founded a city and named it after him: Antinoöpolis. Arguably these things glorified Hadrian through Antinous, but I propose that that was not their prime purpose. Hadrian could have easily named Antinoöpolis after himself instead, as he could have easily spent all the time, effort, and money having statues of his own likeness sent all over the empire, but he didn’t. Hadrian didn’t memorialize Antinous because it was politically convenient to, or because it was a means to an end; he did it because Antinous was beloved, and Hadrian wanted everyone to know that.

Humanity has always felt a need to monumentalize the dead. Elaborate tombs that take years to construct—the pyramids spring to mind—are testament to this. But I argue that there’s a difference between a tomb / grave marker and a monument built in a different location than the site of a burial. A grave marker is there to show respect to the physical body, and is seen almost as a right of the body, but a second monument in a separate location is more of a monument to the idea of the person than the literal person (ie. the body) themself.

Examples: Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar Square does not mark the place of Nelson’s burial, but instead highlights his sacrifice and bravery, and the idea of the brave defense of England as a commendable thing. In a similar vein, the Women’s War Memorial on Whitehall doesn’t mark the grave of any individual, but memorializes the contributions of many absent people, and the idea of those contributions as being worthy of memorialization.

But both of those monuments were, in a sense, erected for the benefit of the people of London. It is, in a sense, their monument, regardless of who paid for it. It a public memorial. Both of the monuments symbolize the idea of defending and helping England (and, by extension, her people, the public) in her time of crises. They are memorials from the people of London to those citizens of Britain who defend her.

The Albert Memorial, however, is more of Victoria’s monument than anything else. It is not the people of London who wish to memorialize Albert; it is the Queen. It is still a wholly public monument in the sense that it is in a public space, but it was born from a very private loss. It is personal grief on display, not the public grief of a nation over the loss of a national hero like Nelson. 

In fact, following Albert’s death, many ideas for monuments were submitted, including such ephemera as a scholarship in his name, but Victoria made it clear that she wanted a physical memorial.

And I think that’s the key—a physical memorial.

When the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C. was being designed, there was a pushback against the selected design. The memorial is set into the earth, and appears as a “scar” on the landscape. Many found this offensive, seeing that the names of the deceased veterans, each of which is engraved on the surface of the monument, were to be hidden in the ground instead of raised to the sky. They wanted a physical, aboveground memorial, something solid and present, just as Victoria wanted a physical memorial to memorialize Albert.

There is the symbolism of raising a monument to the sky (Heavenward, lightward, etc), but I think it has as much to do with sheer labour involved. Rolling a few small stones into a pile (as with hastily-marked graves) is as easy as digging a shallow trench in the ground (as with perceptions of the Vietnam Memorial); building a tall or very large monument (such as the pyramids) is hard. It’s time-consuming and physically exhaustive. The labour-intensive building of such a monument takes a bit of the builder’s life (both in terms of time and energy) and gives it, however temporarily, back to the dead. This is labour dedicated to the deceased, and their memory.

And, once such a monument is completed, a physical object has been created. If it is well-made and left untouched, it will last as long as nature allows it to. It will likely surpass the lifetime of its creator, as the Albert Memorial surpassed the life of Victoria.

By building a personal monument, the builder is essentially ensuring that that person’s memory is remembered. The time and labour put into the building of the monument (the “life” given by the living in memory of the dead) renders the dead “alive” for the life of the monument. It is, in a sense, a new vessel for the deceased and their memory to reside within, a vessel made of something sturdier than flesh and blood. To build in stone is to immortalize, and the only people who are ever carved in stone (in a posthumous memorial) are those that are beloved. Regardless of whether or not we personally find said person worthy of love, it remains that no one’s going to go through the effort of making a great monument to someone they didn’t like.

Hadrian had all those statues of Antinous carved because he wanted him to live forever, and live forever he has. After two thousand years, there’s not a self-respecting history museum anywhere the Roman Empire touched that doesn’t have a statue of him.

Queen Victoria wanted a physical memorial to Albert, and that’s what she got; a tall, beautiful memorial that will render his memory alive for as long as it stands, due entirely to the time and effort put forth by its craftsmen. It has a physical presence that can only be destroyed by the deliberate intent of man or the extreme fury of nature; the loss has been turned into a gain, and that which was mortal has been rendered immortal.

tl;dr : I have essay-worthy thoughts on memorials, and argue that monuments built posthumously to honour the dead—particularly those built not as part of a gravesite—are done so because their subjects were beloved. The labour put into building a physical monument gives it new life, as stone is immortal.

[folklorewhispers]

( ariana grande, cisfemale, she/her )╰ ✧ ˔ ⭒ magic is in the air ! oh wait - that’s just our newest neighbor, ODETTE DI CIGNATTI, the TWENTY-FIVE year old BALLERINA. they’ve been relocated from pastoral city, and so far the locals claim that they’re ANGELIC and WARY, just like ODETTE from SWAN PRINCESS. if you ask me, they seem like the type to enjoy BALLET SHOES & ROSY LIP GLOSS. apparently, they are CONCERNED about entering rome pines, and i don’t think their power of UNINTENTIONAL SHAPESHIFTING will help them this time. let’s just hope they can adjust to the new neighborhood…⭒˔ 

hi everyone ! my name is victoria, but you’re free to call me vic or vega, or however you want ! i’m super excited to be here & i’m looking forward to getting to know all of you and write with each and every one of you ! you already know how this goes: like this post & i’ll be in your dms asap for plots and interactions ! here are a few bullet points about odette. some wanted connections will be added at the end of this post on the next couple of days, so make sure to keep an eye out for them ! 

BACKGROUND DETAILS:

odette is the daughter of two wealthy and influential wizards who lived in pastoral city. she grew up surrounded by magic, but there was something strange about the youngest di cignatti. she didn’t show any signs of magical abilities until the day she turned eighteen years old. she was one of the very rare citizens of pastoral city who didn’t seem to possess magic. but there had to be something she could do, she was born out of not one, but two very magical parents.

the girl discovered her passion for human arts, particularly dancing. she felt so good every time she danced, she felt like this was what she was born to do. so for many years, odette trained hard to become very skilled in dance. she was surely not helpful to any of the citizens of pastoral city because of her lack of magic, but she tried her very best to at least bring a smile to their faces by dancing for them. she eventually became a ballerina.

on her 18th birthday, however, odette was about to get ready to celebrate with her beloved friends and family, but when she stepped inside the bathroom and her skin was touched by the warm water, feathers started to grow on her and she suddenly sinked in size. she turned into a swan. the experience was horrifying to the girl, so she ran down the stairs, still in her bird form, and tried to explain what happened to her parents, but she was unable to speak any human tongue. eventually, the girl dried up and her feathers slowly started to fade away, and she was finally back to normal.

it was clear to her ( and to everyone else, for that matter ) that water was the reason why she turned into a huge bird. for years, she prayed that she will one day be able to do something magical, just like her parents, so that maybe she could make her ballet performances even more outstanding, and what she got in return was that she lost her human form when she came in contact with water. disappointing, to say the least. for many years, odette has believed her ability to be in fact a curse. and even today, she avoids getting near wet places.

NAME MEANING & PERSONALITY:

odette means wealthy and is a name from french origin, while di cignatti should mean child of the swan ( although it probably doesn’t ).

personality wise, odette is hardworking, noble, elegant, angelic, sophisticated, dreamy, patient and romantic. even though she was born into a rich family, the girl never took anything for granted and she learned that to achieve your dreams, you must work hard and you must never lose your set of values. she romanticized magic a lot, but that was before she turned eighteen. before she was literally turned into a swan. she probably dated a few magic users before she was forced to relocate to rome pines. but after she discovered her unique ability, she started to become a little more wary of magic, she believed it to be unpredictable and even dangerous sometimes. odette feels vulnerable when she’s in her swan form, so she doesn’t let people see her like this often.

LIFE IN ROME PINES:

to her, living life as an ordinary citizen of rome pines is not going to be difficult at all, since it took eighteen for her magical abilities to show. the tough part is, however, keeping them secret. there’s absolutely no way odette could go out on a rainy day, or go anywhere near the ocean or any other source of water. or wetness, for that matter. sleepovers were not exactly going to be easy either, because if the girl spent the night at a non-magical person’s apartment, she couldn’t go anywhere near the bathroom. pool parties were completely out of the question.

she continued her career as a ballerina, which brought joy to her. she was extremely worried about this relocation, given that she was going to be surrounded by people who were absolutely clueless about magic and she was turning into a bird sometimes, but knowing that she could continue doing what she loves the most was a relief to her.

sometimes, when odette feels really lonely, she sneaks out of her place and goes to the nearby swan lake and swims with her kind, but she’s very careful not to be followed by anyone. she tries to keep her abilities secret and even though it’s been a few years since the first time this happened to her, odette still has no control over her shapeshifting.

[woodworkingpastor]

Resurrected to Love Matthew 28:1-10 Easter Sunday, April 21, 2019

Call to Worship

Alleluia! Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Worthy is Christ, the Lamb who was slain! Alleluia!

He gives us new life and hope through his resurrection! Alleluia!

Rejoice then, even in your distress.

We shall be counted worthy when Christ appears.

God has claimed us as his own.

God has called us from our darkness into the light of his day.

Alleluia! Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Prayer of Invocation

May this declaration of our faith resound not only in these walls but also touch the lives of all we meet and forever be the truth of which we speak. Your love, once sown in a garden, tended for your own people, neglected and rejected, now spreads its sweet perfume in this place and wherever it is shown.  Amen.

Easter is one of those times of the year when we expect to find familiar traditions and predictable pieces.  Some of these are serious, others, much less so.

If you read the comic strip Sally Forth, you know of the annual Easter storyline of Hilary’s determination to hide her chocolate Easter bunny from her mother, Sally, who always finds it and bites the ears off.

Families are a great source of Easter traditions.  Some of you are here today because celebrating Easter with your family is of great importance; a few of our church family are not here today for the very same reason. Most of us will likely enjoy a family dinner at some point today.

Our faith tradition is another significant source for the familiarity of this day.  I’m fairly certain that I’ve only sung the hymn Christ the Lord is risen today on Easter Sunday, and I don’t believe I’ve ever planned an Easter service without that hymn. We make Maundy Thursday and Good Friday such a priority because those two holy days define our faith practice in the Church of the Brethren in fundamental ways. We really aren’t Brethren without the meaning of those two events in our lives.

But a closer look at the Resurrection texts reveals that beneath a veneer of familiarity these texts are fundamentally disruptive. What life looks like after Jesus’ resurrection is very different than what life looked like prior to the resurrection.  We ought to feel the tension that exists when we come seeking our most treasured traditions and patterns and instead find something that upsets every established pattern of living. The way we interact with God and the way we interact with one another has been turned upside down.

Can we hear the disruption that resurrection creates?  How would we have reacted if we had been Mary Magdalene, or the other Mary, or one of the disciples?  Would we have figured it out?

Matthew 28 has a very inauspicious beginning.  Mary Magalene and the other Mary are doing something that nearly all of us have done—they are honoring a dead friend. Even in death they are concerned for Jesus’ body.  But I want you to consider a question: have you really thought about the details in the text?  We read the Scripture together a moment ago:

What were you thinking when it got to the part about the earthquake, and the angel, and the guards becoming like dead men?  Are these just fanciful details like we’d expect in a fairy tale or science fiction story?  

Whether you’re sitting in the seat you occupy each Sunday, or you’re here today because it is Easter, what are you thinking when you hear these words? Do you believe they actually happened?  

What explains the fact that after the women met Jesus and took word back to the disciples, a movement began that continues in unbroken line right up to this day?  

We are here because of these verses!  But what are you thinking?

It’s an important question, because we often slip into theological error when we think about God.  As with many errors, we do so with the best of intentions.  But well-intended errors remain errors nonetheless.  We have a habit of thinking that God is somewhat distant, is mostly removed from being an active consideration in our life and in our choices until we’re in trouble, and who wants us to be happy. This understanding of God allows us to do things like read this passage about Jesus’ resurrection and be largely unmoved.  But the resurrection of Jesus is not a “traditional” or “spiritually comforting” event; it is the biggest and final and most disruptive of acts from a God who specializes in disruptive acts. Throughout the pages of the Bible God is constantly creating something out of nothing and bringing life out of death.

In the creation texts of Genesis 1 and 2, the first detail we learn in both creation accounts is that when God began to work, there was nothing. The universe is not made from scraps left over from projects, it is created ex nihilo, out of nothing.  Life came that teemed with abundance and was good. Humans came along and were declared very good.

Later, God announced that there would be an entire nation of people to be God’s special people.  So where does God go—to one of the nations of the earth? No. God appears to Abraham and Sarah, senior citizens who were beyond childbearing years. To this couple who could not longer have children, a child came, 10 years after the promise. Talk about disruptive!

As this story continues, the Hebrew people became slaves in Egypt.  But God brought them out of slavery, leading this ragtag group of people out from the soul-crushing oppression of the most powerful empire of the day.

And if you’re more interested in something a bit less “miraculous,” when the people were in exile in Babylon, God sent word that not all was lost. God’s Spirit accompanied them to Babylon; faithful living would be found in the routines of life—building homes, getting married, having babies. The “disruption” of life would be encountered through doing all the things people of faith do, just in a new place, giving testimony to their allegiance to a different king.

What these Easter verses represent is that the old ways of understanding and relating to the world around us have not just changed, they have been transformed. What follows the earthquake and the angel and the relocated stone and the passed-out guards will be unlike what has come before.

Amidst the familiarity of faith and family, can we hear that?

The women did.  Mary Magdalene and the other Mary didn’t know much that morning, but that is no great discredit to them; no one knew much of anything yet.  I doubt in these first barely-dawn moments of the day that they could have done anything more than give a report of what they saw. But that was enough.  It turns out that their instincts were correct.  You know those situations where nearly every indication is that circumstances are pointing in one way, but it doesn’t quite add up to you.  That’s the women on resurrection morning.  

In their rush to tell the disciples what they’ve seen, they encounter Jesus and they stop to worship him.  This is not a resuscitated Jesus who had been revived from the flogging and the torture of crucifixion; this is not a hallucination of Jesus who “appears” to them in their distraught state; this is not a story about Jesus that some concoct years after the fact for who-knows-what purpose. The Biblical account—and the unbroken line of followers all the way down to our day—gives witness to the bodily resurrection of Jesus.

Based on what they see, they worship Jesus. Their first act after encountering the risen Lord is to declare their allegiance. Jesus has been shown to be worthy over every aspect of their lives, they fall at his feet and declare that they will follow him, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary are the first to pledge their lives to the Jesus way.

Earlier in the Gospel of Matthew, we were told what the Jesus way would look like.  It’s in the Lord’s Prayer: “your kingdom come, your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” Now Jesus shows us a piece of what that looks like: he tells the women, “go and tell my brothers…”  The disciples who have misunderstood Jesus, argued with Jesus, and in the end denied and abandoned Jesus are still brothers. God doesn’t only bring new life out of nothingness; he does more than enable babies to be born from barren wombs and create entire nations out of slave populations.  Jesus does more than give a “spiritual experience” designed to make us feel better about ourselves or give us strength to get through a difficult time. Jesus brings life from death. Out of the brokenness of our lives and relationships, a new way of living and being and interacting is born.  Jesus died for our sins according to the Scriptures and asks us to lay down our lives to follow Him.  

And all of this is done in plain sight, in the face of the powers of the day.  The Jewish authorities wanted Jesus killed because the kingdom of God was too disruptive for the delicate power-sharing arrangement they had negotiated with Rome. The Romans carried out the execution and then believed the lie that was told to cover up what had actually happened. Faith is not something to be sequestered away in a portion of our lives, designed to help us get through the rough patches and take us to heaven when we die; resurrection faith in Jesus is the alternative life that is offered to us, in place of a system where the rich, the powerful, the unscrupulous, the abusers, and the manipulators, and the liars have sway. In this community we can tell others that Jesus is alive because we’ve encountered the details and believed the testimony and fallen at the feet of Jesus.

So when you hear this text this morning, what are you thinking?  Is this just a fanciful story akin to a fairy tale or science fiction thriller?  Is it more disruptive than you were hoping for—does it push you beyond the place where you are comfortable?  Or are you ready to let Jesus’ story become your story and open your life to the divine disruption that Jesus brings?