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13
Nov

The Imperial Cult in the Latin East and West

   Posted by: Charlotte Tags: 29 B.C., ancient egypt, ancient greece, Ancient Rome Store, Cleopatra, Emperor Augustus, Gladiator Arena Helmet III (Brass), Gladiator Thracian Helmet I, Gladiator Thraex Helmet, Hellenic Greece, Hellenistic Greece, Hoplomarchus Gladiator Helmet, imperial cult in ancient rome, Roman Empire

Shrine of the Imperial cult. Caserma dei Vigili, Ostia Antica, Latium, Italy. Photo by Marie-Lan NguyenThe East was well used to ruler worship and the deification of living people long before the involvement of the Roman Empire in their government. Greece, particularly, was practiced in the art of ruler worship as it had, for several centuries, a series of rulers of different dynasties in quick succession. It was common practice as a legitimate way of showing gratitude and devotion towards a living benefactor to worship them as a god. The Roman inhabitants of Hellenistic Greece were quite used to being worshipped in this manner by their provincials however, their Roman ideals still rejected anyone who tried to put themselves forward. The urge to worship, to show their gratitude, to Augustus seems to have been the strongest ever shown towards a Roman official. It is understandable however, for he brought with him peace after several centuries of war throughout the Empire.

Augustus of Prima Porta, statue of the emperor Augustus in Museo Chiaramonti, Vatican, Rome - Photo by Andreas WahraIn Asia, a fellowship of Greek cities existed which were responsible for business such as sending ambassadors to the Roman Republic Senate. However, early in the reign of Augustus, this fellowship was strongly linked with the imperial cult for in 29 B.C. they requested permission from Augustus to build a temple in his honour. Nevertheless, either because he wished to avoid resentment, or because he genuine disliked the un-Roman practice, Augustus was very cautious in accepting these divine honors. When the Roman population of two provinces made the same request, Augustus refused them, telling them instead to worship Rome. This did not stop the spread of the imperial cult however, and soon the worship of Augustus was widely diffused in East.

In Egypt, another eastern province, the imperial cult was expressed in slightly different terms. After the death of Cleopatra, Augustus was declared the Pharaoh and therefore he was ex officio a god. By taking this title Augustus was giving his permission for the Egyptians to worship him as was their tradition. His position of Roman Emperor would have been acknowledged within Egypt however, there his first and most recognised title was that of Pharaoh, and it was this title above all others, that gave him his link to the heavens.

Roman soldiers 70 a.C. with centurio, aquilifer, signifer, cornicen - photo by Matthias KabelOn the other hand, the establishment of the imperial cult in the West was pushed more by Augustus than it was by the native people of the provinces. Perhaps Augustus came to see the value of the imperial cult in stimulating loyalty to Rome and himself, for he promoted emperor worship in the western provinces where there had been no previous tradition. To promote his worship and divine right to rule, Augustus and his advisers developed a set of images that were capable of conveying the ideals of the renewed Roman Empire to the Western population. These images often showed his connection to the Roman gods through garlands, wreaths and sacrifices. In 12 B.C the sixty Western tribes of the Celtic gathered at Rhone and elected their first high priests of the imperial cult within their area. Gaius Julius Vercundaris Dubius was elected and eventually rewarded, by Augustus, with Roman citizenship. This was the highest honour a provincial elite could hold. The famous Roman poet Ovid wrote, “under the leadership of Augustus both east and west are Roman soil”.

Despite that, Augustus was not the only Roman trying to promote Emperor worship in the West. Many of the elites living in Africa would have wanted to assert their statues as Romans on the native population. This was done through the introduction of temples and the worship of Roma and the Emperor Augustus. Not only were these monuments erected around the city, but also in private homes. Many families were given Roman citizenship as a reward for their loyalty to the Roman empire.

For further reading see “The Imperial Cult in the Latin West” four volumes by D. Fishwick.
About the Author
Charlotte Gardner, a guest blog writer, is currently studying archaeology at the Australian National University. In her spare time she likes to read and write about eccentric historical moments. Her love of old buildings and older stories was sparked when she visited Italy. One of Charlotte’s greatest wishes is that in a few thousand years her skeleton will be dug up by an archaeological investigation team and put on display in a national museum. You may contact Charlotte via email at: charlotteg86@gmail.com.


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11
Nov

The Mysteries of the Medicine Wheel

   Posted by: Hunter Tags: 1200 A.D., Aldebaran, ancient astronomical observatories, ancient rituals, Big Horn Wheel, ceremonial centers, Crow Indians, Fomalhaut, great pyramids of giza, History DVDs, medicine mountain, medicine wheels, Native Americans, Old West Store, pre-Columbian Native American tribes, replica guns, Replica Swords, Rigel, sacred architecture, Saskatchewan’s Moose Mountain Medicine Wheel, scale model kits, Sirius, stonehenge, summer solstice, wyoming

Medicine Wheel, a Native American sacred site and National Historic Landmark in WyomingLike innumerable peoples before them, pre-Columbian Native American tribes practiced a form of sacred architecture for ritualistic purposes. Unlike the Pyramids of Giza or Stonehenge, these monuments didn’t require herculean feats of strength to construct. They were, however, enormously complex.

Across the Great Plains of Canada and North America, there are more than fifty surviving examples of these ancient Americans’ giant stone circles – today known as “medicine wheels” for their supposed healing properties. Due to their nomadic nature, tribes would construct the peculiar rings next to their camps, and then abandon them after a few seasons. Different builders employed different techniques and, consequently, medicine wheels range in size from only a few feet to 60 yards across.

The most impressive example such a circle lies some 10,000 feet above sea level at the summit of Medicine Mountain in Wyoming. Though it has always been presumed the wheels were used for some sort of spiritual purpose, the 28-spoked Big Horn Medicine Wheel is one of the few that also bears an astronomical alignment. Not only did the 25-yard circle mark the ascent of the four brightest summer stars – Sirius, Fomalhaut, Aldebaran, and Rigel – but the beginning of the summer solstice as well and possibly even served a daily calendar. (Unfortunately for its builders, the Big Horn Wheel was unable to do the same in the winter, as it would have been buried under snow.) Originally built by the Crow people, it is currently supposed that the site was in use from at least 1200 AD onwards.

Description by Edward S. Curtis: A well-known Navaho medicine-man. While in the Cañon de Chelly the writer witnessed a very interesting four days' ceremony given by the Wind Doctor. Nesjaja Hatali was also assistant medicine-man in two nine days' ceremonies studied - one in Cañon del Muerto and the other in this portfolio (No. 39) is reproduced from one made and used by this priest-doctor in the Mountain ChantDue their loose construction and centuries of exposure to the elements, only a handful of medicine wheels can definitively classified as astronomical observatories today (though the distinct possibility that some may have acted solely as ceremonial centers remains.) Saskatchewan’s Moose Mountain Medicine Wheel is one of those select few, and displays solstice alignments every bit as striking as those at Big Horn. Moreover, radiocarbon dating indicates that it is at least 2400 years old — evidence that early North Americans may have been more technologically sophisticated that previously thought.

Though their true origins have lost (one tribe holds that they were built by “people who had no iron”), medicine wheels continue to be constructed by Native Americans today to demarcate sacred sites, such ceremonial teepees and sweat lodges. The old sites too are still held in reverence by an array of tribal peoples and can often be found adorned prayer offerings to this day.


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9
Nov

Found Fossils, Dinosaurs and the History of Extinction

   Posted by: Hunter Tags: 1676, 16th century, 1796, 1841, 19th century, age of reptiles, Aristotle, Authentic - Very Large Knightia Fossil Fish from the Green River Formation, Biblical lore, catastrophe theory, Charles Darwin, colossal man myth, creationism, Dinosauria, dinosaurs, dug up, fauna, first dinosaur categorization, flora, Fossils, French naturalist Georges Cuvier, giant saurians, history of extinction, Leonardo da Vinci, megalosaurus, mosasaur, natural science, Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum, prehistoric lizards, Prehistory Store, pterodactyl, Richard Plot, Robert Plot, Saber Tooth Cat Skull Replica, theology, Trilobite Fossil Replica, Tyrannosaurus Rex (T-Rex) Skull 2 Replica

Aeger elegans - fossil. The exhibit from the Museum of Natural History in Berlin (Museum für Naturkunde) - photo by MasurThough the term “fossil” – a derivation of the Latin word for “dug up” — was first used in 16th century France, the petrified impressions of centuries old flora and fauna — including some of what later come to be known as dinosaurs — have been known to man, though wholly misunderstood, since the dawn of civilization.

For thousands of years in China, the gigantic remains of prehistoric lizards and mammals were used as the principle justification for the existence of dragons and even prescribed as a folk medicine. Meanwhile, in the West, scholars from Aristotle to Leonardo da Vinci concluded that fossils were indeed proof of ancient life, while less sound conclusions — such as that fossils were evidence of a long extinct race of giants and the Biblical flood — were propagated by thinkers seeking to reconcile natural science with theology.

fémur of a mégalosaurus, Gray Natural History Museum - photo by Jeff DelongeOne such theorist was the first curator Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum, Robert Plot, who in 1676 sketched what he thought to be the thighbone of a colossal man. Though his initial supposition was incorrect, Plot’s discovery would eventually lead to the classification of the first dinosaur genus ever to be categorized by man: megalosaurus.

Over the next century, the number of accidentally discovered fossils from around the world soared upwards, until it became clear that the hugely proportioned remains could not belong to any extant species. In 1796, French naturalist Georges Cuvier was the first to put forward that such animals had been “destroyed by some kind of catastrophe” and were something heretofore unknown to the human race: extinct. Not did his work fly in the face of creationism and a supposed Great Chain of Being dictated by God alone, but also laid the foundations for the theory of evolution that would soon be popularized by Charles Darwin in the second half of the 19th century.

Tyranosaurus Rex Model - photo by selbst gemacht --Peng 6 July 2005Cuvier spent the rest of his career cataloguing as many of the bygone creatures as he could locate, including the first pterodactyl and mosasaur, as well as Robert Plot’s aforementioned megalosaurus. While he did speculate that there had indeed been an “age of reptiles” before man when giant saurians roamed the Earth, it wasn’t until 1841 that British scientist Richard Plot, drawing Culvier’s conclusion, realized that some fossils were so different that they deserved a distinct name. He subsequently dubbed this kingdom of extinct reptiles “Dinosauria” – meaning “terrible lizards” – and cemented the credibility of a new scientific field — paleontology – in the minds of the general public.


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4
Nov

Mummy Powder and the Household Use of the Egyptian Dead

   Posted by: Hunter Tags: 12th century, 16th century europe, 17th century, 1800s, 1869, 19th century, 20th Century, Ancient Egypt Store, anthropophagic cure-all, Arab physicians, brown artist pigment and mummies, egyptian cadavers, Egyptian dead, Egyptian tombs, folk medicine, folk remedies, Large Anubis coffin with mummy inside, Large coffin of King Tutankhamun with small King Tut inside, mark twain, Mask of King Tutankhamun (Life size), medieval medicine, mummy brown, mummy powder, Napoleon in Egypt, Napoleon's conquest of Egypt, North African railroads, Small Anubis coffin with mummy inside, unwrapping parties

Close-up of the Ancient Egyptian mumy Antjau on display at the Royal Ontario Museum. Photo by - Keith Schengili-RobertsBeginning in the 12th century, Arab physicians began to prescribe their patients a most unorthodox remedy: the ground remains of mummies procured from Egyptian tombs.

As Islamic Arabs of the day did not regard the ancient Egyptians as ancestors, the practice was widely accepted and so-called mummy powder was in sold in a variety of strengths. Powder procured from the crudely preserved bodies peasant folk buried in sand pits was said to be only good for relieving minor stomach aches, while the meticulously embalmed and bitumen-rich bodies of the Egyptian aristocracy were a highly valued commodity and supposedly capable of healing life-threatening wounds.

Pascal Sebah (1823-1886) - Gizah Museum in Cairo - Ca. 1880s.Mummy powder proved so profitable that soon after its introduction, Egyptian tombs were ransacked not only for the riches they might contain, but also for bodies that might be processed into the expensive folk medicine. It wasn’t long before the practice of applying mummy powder was incorporated into medieval Europe’s catalog of dubious medical practices. By the 16th century, the product had become so commonplace in both Europe and the Middle East that the once seemingly endless supply of authentic, mummified Egyptian cadavers quite literally dried up.

In order to keep their niche market going, some mummy powder salesmen began to stealthily acquire the bodies of executed criminals and the unburied poor, which they would then hastily dry out and grind into “authentic” doses of the anthropophagic cure-all.

Brown artist's pigmentMummy powder, however, was not the only everyday use of the Egyptian dead that arose before the dawn of modern archaeological preservation. In the 16th and 17th centuries, pulverized mummy was the key ingredient in a popular shade of brown artist’s pigment, and preserved human and animal remains of Egyptian origin were used in the production of this “mummy brown” paint until the early 20th century.

As the first railroads were constructed in North Africa during the 19th century, mummies with a high content of petroleum-based bitumen were also supposedly sometimes substituted for coal in engines of the then-new locomotives. Mark Twain claimed to witnessed the practice firsthand in his 1869 travelogue, The Innocents Abroad, writing, “[The] fuel they use…is composed of mummies three thousand years old, purchased by the ton or by the graveyard for that purpose.”

Modern Antiques, an 1806 caricature by Thomas Rowlandson which satirizes the British enthusiasm for things ancient-Egyptian in the years after Napoleon's military expedition against Egypt.Whether this statement was merely jest on the part of the American literary icon, well known for his sense of humor, has been the subject of debate ever since it was published. What is known, however, is that the supply of authentic Egyptian corpses by the beginning of the 1800s was so small only that upper crust Europeans could afford to purchase one whole. In the wake of Napoleon’s conquest of Egypt, it became vogue amongst the aristocracy to hold “unwrapping parties,” where carefully preserved corpses would be haphazardly stripped of their bandages, so that revelers could gaze upon the millennia-old face concealed beneath them. Small burial ornaments concealed in the linens would then be dispensed to partygoers as souvenirs, while exposure to air caused the delicate bodies to crumble into dust, never to be seen again.


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28
Oct

The Holy Zohar and the Influence of the Kabbalah

   Posted by: Hunter Tags: 1492, anti-Semitism, Aramaic, Book of Splendor, Catholic Church, European alchemists, Gnostics, History DVDs, History Store, holy zohar, Inquisition, Jewish diaspora, Judaic mysticism, Judaism, kabbalah, Kabbalic study, Moses de Leon, Old Testament, replica guns, Replica Swords, Roman Empire, scale model kits, Sefer Hazohar, Shimon bar Yochai, Spain, Spanish Jews, Talmud, Torah

The Holy Zohar and the Influence of the KabbalahOf the dozens of texts held sacred by the school of Judaic mysticism known as Kabbalah, perhaps the most important is the Sefer Hazohar, (literally the Book of Splendor. Indeed, students of this collection of several lengthy Kabbalistic commentaries on the Torah — most commonly known in the West as the Holy Zohar – often assign it the same stature as Judaism’s two most holy books, the Torah and the Talmud.

Written in an arcane form of Aramaic, the Zohar purports to have been authored by second century rabbi and prominent critic of the Roman government in years following the destruction of the Second Temple, Shimon bar Yochai. Yochai claimed to have received the text from God himself, though most modern day scholars, however, attribute the work to Moses de Leon — a Spanish Kabbalist who lived some eleven hundred years later. Historians do concede, however, that, much like the books of the Bible, the disparate pieces of the Zohar were not all set down at one time. Rather, de Leon merely was the first to recorded several different tracts of the Oral Torah that passed been down from father to son, teacher to student over the course of many generations and that Yochai could have been an initial contributor.

The Kabbalah’s own inborn tradition details its spread. As the Jewish Diaspora spread throughout Europe and Eurasia after the fall of the Temple and, later, the crumbling of the Roman Empire, adepts of the “secret chain of mysteries” that is the Kabbalah brought the sacred knowledge with them, but shared it only with a select few. It would have been in this fashion that the original text of the Zohar was secreted out of the Holy Land and into one of Spain’s many Jewish communities.

The Holy Zohar and the Influence of the KabbalahAnd there was good reason for Jewish scholars to keep to the Zohar away from public scrutiny. The book maintains that the Torah and, by extension, all of reality exists on two distinct levels: the exoteric and the esoteric. It further posits that there is no one true interpretation of the Old Testament and that every soul is given – and, more importantly, encouraged — to make its own unique reading of scripture.

This statement alone – which happens to share a fair amount of philosophical overlap with the similarly persecuted Gnostics — would have been viewed as heresy by the religions by Spain’s then Judeo-friendly Catholic Church and citizens.

Consider then the anti-Semitism that swelled throughout the country in the years after Leon’s death. In 1492, all Spanish Jews were forcibly expelled; those that chose to convert in order to remain found themselves facing integration the hands of the Inquisition. And so, formal Kabbalic study was largely eradicated from the Iberian Peninsula – but not before the Zohar had managed become a key text of yet another secretive, albeit quasi-secular, sect: the European alchemists.


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