Little Ice Ages

The 500-year-long Little Ice Age prevailed from about 1350 to 1880, throughout the entire Earth, with temperatures averaging 1° lower than today’s. The Baltic Sea could be traversed by sleigh from Poland to Sweden, staying overnight in taverns built on the ice! The paintings by Pieter Breughel and Hendrick Avercamp illustrate the period. Here, Breughel’s “The Hunters.”



At the end of the 19th Century, the amount of CO2 discharged into the atmosphere by world industry was 13 times smaller than now. But the climate at that time had warmed up, as a result of natural causes, emerging from the 500-yearlong Little Ice Age, which prevailed approximately from 1350 to 1880. This was not a regional European phenomenon, but extended throughout the whole Earth19, 20 During this epoch, the average global temperature was 1°C lower than now. Festivals were organized on the frozen Thames River, and people travelled from Poland to Sweden, crossing the Baltic Sea on sleighs and staying overnight in a tavern build on ice.



This epoch is well illustrated by the paintings by Pieter Breughel and Hendrick Avercamp. In the mountains of Scotland, the snowline stretched down 300 to 400 meters lower than today. In the vicinity of Iceland and Greenland, the sea ice was so extensive that the access to a Greenland Viking colony, established in 985, was completely cut off; the colony was finally smashed by the Little Ice Age.



All this was preceded by the Middle Ages Warming, which lasted for more than 300 years (900 to 1100), and during which the temperature reached its maximum (1.5°C more than today) around the year 990. Both the Little Ice Age and the Middle Ages Warming, were not regional phenomena as implied by Mann and his co-authors, but were global and were observed around the North Atlantic Ocean, in Europe, Asia, South America, Australia, and Antarctica. During the Medieval Warming, the forest boundary in Canada reached 130 kilometers farther north than today, and in Poland, England, and Scotland vineyards for altar wine production flourished—only to be destroyed by the Little Ice Age. Still earlier, 3,500 to 6,000 years ago, a long-lasting Holocene Warming took place, when the average air temperature exceeded the current one by 2°C (Figure 5).

The Little Ice Age is not yet completely behind us. Stenothermal (warm-loving) diatom species, which reigned in the Baltic Sea during the Medieval Warming, have not yet returned.35 Diatom assemblages obtained from sediment core from the seabed of the north Icelandic shelf indicate that during the past 4,600 years the warmest summer sea-surface temperatures, about 8.1°C, occurred at 4,400 years before the present. Thereafter the climate cooled, with a warmer interlude of about 1°C near 850 years before the present. This was followed again by a cold span of the Little Ice Age, which brought mean summer sea-surface temperatures down by about 2.2°C. Today’s temperature of only 6.3°C still has not reached the Holocene warming level of 8.1°C.



The fastest temperature growth occurred in the early 20th Century, and the maximum was reached around 1940. It was then that the mountain and Arctic glaciers were shrinking violently, but their retreat from the record sizes (during the coldest part of Little Ice Age) had started 200 years earlier, around 1750, when no one even dreamed of industrial CO2 emissions. An illustration of this process is a map of glacier front changes between 1750 and 1961, at what is probably the best studied Storbreen Glacier in Norway, in which the first measurements of CO2 in ice were performed in 1956 (Figure 6). The attack of glaciers on Swiss villages in the 17th and 18th centuries—sometimes the velocity of ice movement reached 20 meters annually, destroying homes and fields—was perceived as a calamity. Yet, the withdrawal of glaciers in the 20th Century has been deemed, somewhat foolishly, to be a disaster.

Since the exceptionally hot 1940s, until 1975, the Earth’s climate cooled down by about 0.3°C, despite a more than three-fold increase of annual industrial CO2 emission during this period. After 1975, meteorological station measurements indicated that the average global temperature started to rise again, despite the decline in “human” CO2 emissions. However, it turns out that it was probably a measuring artifact, brought about by the growth of the cities and resulting “urban heat island” effect. Meteorological stations, which used to be sited outside of urban centers, have been absorbed by the cities, where the temperature is higher than in the countryside.


LINK 


Disclaimer: Global Warming position of this blog is undecided.

Grail story?!

The fact that no consistent ‘Grail story’ emerges from the romances is frustrating, and has undoubtedly contributed to the number of speculative theories about its origin. However a basic story outline would be something like the following:

A mysterious vessel or object which sustains life and/or provides sustenance is guarded in a castle which is difficult to find. The owner of the castle is either lame or sick and often (but not always) the surrounding land is barren. The owner can be restored only if a knight finds the castle and, after witnessing a mysterious procession, asks a certain question. If he fails in this task, everything will remain as before and the search must begin again. After wanderings and adventures (many of which relate to events which the young hero failed to understand the first time), the knight returns to the castle and asks the question which cures the king and restores the land. The hero knight succeeds the wounded king (usually called the Fisher King) as guardian of the castle and its contents.

Five knights search for the Grail. Perceval (also called Peredur and Perlesvaus) begins as a gauche boy unaware of his connections with the guardians of the Grail. He fails to ask whom the Grail serves when he first observes the Grail procession. He is reproached for this failing by a loathly damsel figure, and sets out again in despair. After many adventures he meets a hermit and finally accepts his knightly role. He returns to the castle of the wounded king, asks the proper question and takes over the role of Grail king. The suave sophistication of Gawain is a perfect foil for Perceval, but his character is also refined by the Grail search. The two present a contrast between more earthly (Gawain) and more spiritual (Perceval) aspects of chivalry, and many romances alternate descriptions of their adventures. Both visit the Grail castle and fail to ask the correct question and both have a chance to make amends. Sir Bors accompanies Perceval and Gawain on their journey and is the third knight to see the Holy Grail. He is also the one who returns to Arthur’s court to recount the events of the Grail adventure. As the best of Arthur’s knights, it should really be Lancelot who finds the Grail, but as the Grail quest became more spiritual, Lancelot’s adultery with the queen became a problem. Lancelot achieves only a partial vision of the Grail, although it does cure him of madness. Later romance tradition introduced the perfect Grail knight, Galahad, the son of Lancelot and the Grail maiden, daughter of the Fisher King. Galahad is the perfect knight. He occupies the Siege Perilous, the seat at the Round Table intended for the man who will achieve the Grail quest, and his experience of the Grail transforms him completely.

Cosmo-mythologies 2

Mesopotamian cosmology was essentially a mythological tale, and the tale has some similarities with that told in Egypt. The universe was ruled by three gods, each with their separate domain. Heaven was ruled by Anu, the Earth and the waters around and below it were the domain of Ea, and Enlil was the ruler of the air in between (the names here are those used by the Babylonians; the earlier Sumerian names were different). Although Anu was thought of as a kind of father god, he only ruled the universe as part of a triumvirate, together with Ea and Enlil. Not unlike the Egyptian cosmology, the gods were descended from a primeval chaos of waters, in this case a mingling of salt water and sweet, associated with the goddess Tiamat and the god Apsu, respectively. Again in conformity with the Egyptian myths, what came to be the domains of Anu and Ea were originally tied together and only became separated after Enlil moved heaven away from the Earth. The Mesopotamian universe also included an underworld, ruled by a god or a goddess.

 It is well known that the Mesopotamian civilizations came to include a sophisticated scientific astronomy, more highly developed than that of the Egyptians. In view of this, it is remarkable that the world picture of the Babylonians remained mythological and that their mathematical astronomy had almost no impact at all on their cosmology. The clay tablets do not discuss the shape of the Earth, but it was evidently thought to be a flat disc. There are only a few glimpses of astronomical knowledge in the creation myth known as Enuma Elish, the earliest known version of which was composed around the middle of the second millennium BC but is based on material going further back in time. One of these glimpses relates to the Moon as a timekeeping device. The Moon is portrayed as a god wearing a crown which changes in shape through the month, corresponding to the lunar phases. The young warrior god Marduk, city god of Babylon, not only organized the calendar, but also ‘bade the Moon come forth; entrusted night to her.’He ‘made her a creature of the dark, to measure time; and every month, unfailingly, adorned her with a crown. “At the beginning of the month, when rising over land, thy shining horns six days shall measure; on the seventh day let half [thy] crown [appear]. At full Moon thou shalt face the Sun. . . .[But] when the Sun starts gaining on thee in the depth of heaven, decrease thy radiance, reverse its growth.”

Cosmo-mythologies 1

A section of the Egyptian Book of the Dead written on papyrus showing the Weighing of the Heart in Duat where Anubis can be seen on the far right, the scales are shown with the feather balance, and Ammit awaits hearts that she must devour - the presence of Osiris at the gateway to the paradise of Aaru dates the papyrus to a late tradition of the myth.

The ancient Egyptians thought of the world as consisting of three parts. The flat Earth, situated in the middle, was divided by the Nile and surrounded by a great ocean; above the Earth, where the atmosphere ended, the sky was held in its position by four supports, sometimes represented by poles or mountains. Beneath the Earth was the underworld, called Duat. This dark region contained all things which were absent from the visible world, whether deceased people, stars extinguished at dawn, or the Sun after having sunk below the horizon. During the night, the Sun was thought to travel through the underground region, to reappear in the east next morning.

Although the universe of the Egyptians was static and essentially timeless, apparently they imagined that the world had not always existed in the form in which they knew it. Theirs was a created world, the creation being described in cosmogonies, of which there existed at least three different versions. Common to them is that they start with a state of primeval waters, a boundless, dark, and infinite mass of water which had existed since the beginning of time and which would continue to exist in all of the future. Although the gods, the Earth, and its myriads of inhabitants were all products of the primeval waters, these waters were still around, enveloping the world on every side, above the sky, and beneath the underworld.

To the Egyptians, the universe and all its components were living entities, some of them represented as persons. The original watery state of chaos was personified as the god Nun, who, in one of the cosmogonies associated with Heliopolis (‘the city of the sun’), gave rise to Atum; according to other versions, Atum emerged out of the primeval waters, as a hill or standing upon a hill. Atum was the true creator-god, and he created out of himself—by masturbation, according to one source—two new gods, one personified as Shu, god of the air, and the other as Tefenet, goddess of rain and moisture. A passage from the Book of the Dead expresses the first creation as follows: ‘I am Atum when I was alone in Nun; I am Re in his [first] appearances when he began to rule that which he had made,. . .[meaning that] Re began to appear as a king, as one who existed before Shu had lifted [heaven from Earth], when he [Re] was on the primeval hillock which was in Hermopolis.’The Earth and the sky came next, represented by the deities Geb and Nut, respectively. However, the Earth and the sky had not yet been created as separate parts, for initially they were locked closely together in a unity. It was only when Shu raised the body of Nut high above himself that the heavens came into existence; at the same time Geb became free and formed the Earth. The creation story continues with the emergence of a variety of new gods, but what has been said is enough to give an impression of the nature of the Egyptian cosmo-myths.

Another text, dating from the old kingdom in Memphis (about 2700–2200 BC), likewise includes Nun as the original god of the waters, but it differs from the other cosmogonies by speaking of an even more original god or spirit, Ptah, who is described more abstractly as a cosmic eternal mind, the maker of everything. Ptah was the one god, a cosmic intelligence and creator who was responsible for all order in the universe, physical as well as moral. Atum and the other gods were said to emerge from Ptah, or be contained in him, Atum being the heart and tongue of Ptah. According to the text, ‘Creation took place through the heart and tongue as an image of Atum. But greatest is Ptah, who supplied all gods and their faculties with [life] through his heart and tongue—the heart and tongue through which Horus and Thoth took origin as Ptah.’

La Milpa and Environs

Different parts of the Maya world reached their heights of power and glory at different times. Great city-states such as El Mirador and Tikal emerged in the central region as early as 500 BCE. In particular, El Mirador became the dominant power in the geopolitics of the southern lowlands. Other cities, including Palenque in the west and Copán in the east, thrived during what is known as the Classic period, from around 250 to 900 CE.

The ancient city of LaMilpa is located in the Three Rivers region toward the eastern edge of the Petén Karst Plateau in what is today northwestern Belize. Like many Maya cities in the Petén, La Milpa is situated in proximity to several upland bajos, large karst depressions that today contain seasonal swamp forests and agriculturally problematic Vertisol soils. Over the past several years, geo-environmental archaeological investigations have revealed that as late as the Protoclassic period some of these bajos contained perennial wetlands and shallow lakes (Dunning et al. 2002), habitats similar to those known to have been highly attractive to early Maya settlers (Pohl et al. 1996). Over the course of several centuries, erosion on surrounding uplands choked the bajos with huge quantities of clayey sediment, hydrologically transforming the minto seasonal swamps (Dunning et al. 1999).While similar environmental degradation may have contributed to the demise of the large Preclassic urban centers of Nakbe and El Mirador ( Jacob 1995), at La Milpa and many other southern lowland centers, the Maya successfully adapted to their changing environment. One adaptation was the construction of centralized reservoirs within the urban area (Scarborough et al. 1995). This development probably contributed to growing social and economic inequalities in Maya society by vesting symbolic and, to a limited degree, actual control over a vital resource (water) as well as by increasingly skewing land values in favor of the site center and elite landholders (Dunning 1995). Nevertheless, smaller-scale water management features and more soiland water-conserving forms of agriculture came to characterize the cultivated areas of the La Milpa urban area (Hammond et al. 1998) as well as rural farmsteads throughout the region (Hughbanks 1998; Lohse, this volume; Lohse and Findlay 2000), particularly as population growth accelerated in the Late Classic.

Notably, many of the areas of highest rural population concentration in the Three Rivers region were along ecotonal boundaries such as escarpment edges and bajo margins (Dunning et al. 2003). For example, the Barba Group, an apparent corporate group settlement (mapped, excavated, and identified as a lineage compound by Hageman 1999a), is situated along the Río Bravo Escarpment, potentially giving residents access to the water and land resources of both the Río Bravo floodplain and the lands of the flanking karst uplands, as well as terrace systems on the escarpment itself (Figure 5.2). This rural settlement pattern is one that might best be predicted on the basis of risk management: a strategy of resource diversification that minimized risk (in the event of the failure of one resource) and maximized group resource control (see Levi 1996). In the settlement areas around the major site of Dos Hombres, Jon C. Lohse (2001, this volume) identifies two distinct types of settlement patterns: (1) hierarchically structured corporate groups, and (2) densely settled, structurally more homogeneous ‘‘micro-communities.’’ Notably, both types of settlement organization are viewed as specific adaptations to environmental circumstances and the requirements of local agriculture.

Tuscans 'not descended from Etruscans'

The current population of Tuscany is not descended from the Etruscans, the people that lived in the region during the Bronze Age, a new Italian study has shown.

Researchers at the universities of Florence, Ferrara, Pisa, Venice and Parma discovered the genealogical discontinuity by testing samples of mitochondrial DNA from remains of Etruscans and people who lived in the Middle Ages (between the 10th and 15th centuries) as well as from people living in the region today.

While there was a clear genetic link between Medieval Tuscans and the current population, the relationship between modern Tuscans and their Bronze Age ancestors could not be proven, the study showed.

''Some people have hypothesised that the most ancient DNA sequences, those from the Etruscan era, could contain errors or have been contaminated but tests conducted with new methods exclude this,'' said David Caramelli of Florence University and Guido Barbujani of Ferrara University.

''The most simple explanation is that the structure of the Tuscan population underwent important demographic changes in the first millennium before Christ,'' they said.

''Immigration and forced migration have diluted the Etruscan genetic inheritance so much as to make it difficult to recognise''.

The scientific data does not necessarily mean that the Etruscans died out, the researchers said.

Teams from Florence and Ferrara universities are working to identify whether traces of the Etruscans' genetic inheritance may still exist in people living in isolated locations in the region.

The new study is published online by the scientific journal Molecular Biology and Evolution.

The Etruscans lived mainly between the rivers Tiber and Arno in modern-day Umbria, Lazio and Tuscany, in the first millennium BC.

By the sixth century BC they had become the dominant force in central Italy, but repeated attacks from Gauls and Syracusans later forced them into an alliance with the embryonic Roman state, which gradually absorbed Etruscan civilization.

Most of what is known about the Etruscans derives from archaeology as the few accounts passed down by Roman historians tend to be hostile, portraying them as gluttonous and lecherous. This problem is compounded by the fact that Etruscan cities were built almost entirely of wood and so vanished quickly, leaving little for archaeologists to investigate

Elamite Jar Burial Transferred to Haft-Tappeh Museum

LONDON, (CAIS) -- Iran’s most intact jar burial, which dates back to the Elamite era, was transferred to the Haft-Tappeh Museum last week.

Containing a skeleton in fetal position, the jar was discovered during the latest excavation carried out several months ago at Haft-Tappeh, a major Elamite site near Susa in Khuzestan Province, the Persian service of CHN reported on Tuesday.

“This is the first time such an intact jar burial has been unearthed,” director of the Restoration Department of the Haft-Tappeh and Chogha Zanbil Center Kazem Borhani said.

“Urgent actions were taken to preserve the artefact in situ in order to safely transfer it to the centre for restoration,” he stated.

A piece of the jar has been removed to enable visitors to see the skeleton inside it, Borhani explained.

An anthropologist has begun a series of studies to determine the gender of the skeleton, which is believed to date back to the Middle Elamite period (c. 1500-1100 BCE).

Iran’s most intact jar burial, which dates back to the Elamite era, was transferred to the Haft-Tappeh Museum last week.

Containing a skeleton in fetal position, the jar was discovered during the latest excavation carried out several months ago at Haft-Tappeh, a major Elamite site near Susa in Khuzestan Province, the Persian service of CHN reported on Tuesday.

“This is the first time such an intact jar burial has been unearthed,” director of the Restoration Department of the Haft-Tappeh and Chogha Zanbil Center Kazem Borhani said.

“Urgent actions were taken to preserve the artefact in situ in order to safely transfer it to the centre for restoration,” he stated.

A piece of the jar has been removed to enable visitors to see the skeleton inside it, Borhani explained.

An anthropologist has begun a series of studies to determine the gender of the skeleton, which is believed to date back to the Middle Elamite period (c. 1500-1100 BCE). 

Mysterious Book: Codex Gigas

A huge mysterious medieval book, penned by a Benedictine monk on animal skin with bizarre devilish illustration and incantation. But who has the missing pages, and why?

Codex Gigas – literally translated means “Giant Book”, photograph below, with a box of matches resting on it, gives an idea of the scale of the almost metre long text, it takes two people to lift it, which makes it the largest medieval manuscript in the world.

The book can be found in the National library in Stockholm – it has 600 pages – all made from animal (donkey) skin, the front and back page have been constructed from leather bound wood, adorned with carved metal.

In terms of intrinsic value, when the book was last moved, it was insured for over £ 15 million.

Author of the Codex Gigas

The book was thought to have been in the early 13th century in the Bohemian Benedictine monastery near Chrudim – in the Czech Republic.  The identity of the author remains a mystery.  Handwriting tests however, reveal that the entire book has a consistency of lettering and illustration which confirm that one single author – showing no signs of fatigue or even mood change (which is unusual) wrote/drew the entire main body of text.

Contents of the Codex Gigas


The book is written in Latin and contains a full version of both the Old and New Testaments (Excluding the Book of Acts and Revelation).

Along-side the bible, is a transcript of Isodore of Seville’e encyclopaedia “Etymologiae”– a summary of universal knowledge which contained some ground-breaking (but not widely accepted) information – including his idea that the world was a round, rather than a flat disc.



The book also contains a copy of the “Antiquities of the Jews” and “The Jewish Wars” – originally written by Flavius Josephus in around 93AD – and is a slightly amended version of the Hebrew Bible Books.
There is a copy of the “Chronicle of Bohemia” written by the Cosmas of Prague, who was a Bohemian Priest who lived between 1045BC and 1125BC




Along with these texts were lists of people and dates, a calendar and inserts by various owners of the book.
Mystery and Legend

The legend surrounding the Codex is that one of the monks from the Bohemian Benedictine Monastery had committed a terrible sin and was facing the ultimate punishment from the monastery...... to be walled up alive in is cell. To redeem himself from a terrible slow death, the monk offered a deal to the monastery leaders.....if he were to write the biggest book that the world had ever seen, in one single night, then he should be allowed to live.

The deal was agreed and the monk set to work, at about midnight, the monk realised that he could not achieve his goal, and in desperation, he summoned the devil to assist him, the devil agreed and the monk included an illustration of the devil within the codex in appreciation.

The largest book the world had ever seen was completed in one night and the monk was allowed to live, however, the legend reveals that the monks life thereafter was plagued with misfortune and unhappiness.
It is also worthy of note that seven (or eight according to some sources) of the pages of the book are missing, removed to retain an ancient secret.

Many texts reveal that the Codex Gigas is reputed to be cursed and bring death or great misfortune to those who own it (let us hope that the National library in Stockholm carries a good insurance policy).

Depictions of Heaven and Hell: "The Devil's Bible"

 

It is mainly because of the illustration, pictured above, that Codex Gigas was given the name – “The Devils Bible”.  Preceding the image of the beast is a “conjuration” – a spell which when uttered can enable the speaker to command spirits, demonic entities.

The horned beast is shown crouching in a void between two towers, two serpents (forked tongue) emerging from his mouth, wearing a loincloth of ermine – a fabric traditionally worn by royalty.....he is therefore referred to as...“the Prince of Darkness”

Like most people, when I hear/see “two towers”, the tragic, evil event of the demolition of the world trade centre twin towers springs to mind – the famous photograph above is of one of the many evil, devilish faces which appeared and were photographed in smoke billowing from the burning buildings prior to the collapse......perhaps a supernatural apparition summoned by an evil act...hell on earth.




On the opposite page to the devil is a depiction of heaven, the heavenly city – not an image of clouds and angels, but is shown as two towers, with ten tiers in-between, indicative of levels of spiritual ascent leading up to heaven.

This image is reminiscent of that found on the unusual carvings on a set of seven ancient megaliths found in Axum, Ethiopia – erected approximately 2000 years ago.  I wrote about these in an article - Five Mysterious Ancient Megalithswhere their appearance was described as that of a modern tiered tower-block, (which seemed odd and unlikely) however, a tiered heavenly city, akin to the illustration in the Codex Gigas (both depicting ten tiers) would be a far more logical explanation of the rational for these ancient monuments – but one that I could not find in any text regarding the Axum site.

The “Jacobs ladder ” imagery is derived from the Old Testament – Genesis 28:11-19

“Jacob left Beersheba, and went toward Haran. He came to the place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it!”



The concept of a tower reaching towards heaven could also have relevance in respect of the Old Testament story of the Tower of Babel - the tower being a metaphor for an unknown method of raising the individual to a heavenly plane.
Genesis 11:4

“And they said, Go to, let us build a city and a tower, whose top may reach into heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole Earth”

The Codex Gigas is certainly an interesting and intriguing book but the title – “The Devils Bible” conjures up ideas of an occult, unholy book - this seems very unfair based purely upon the odd illustration and incantations (after all, many modern priests are involved in exorcisms) – when in fact the illustrations could have deep spiritual significance.

There are many ways to view the illustrations....If you view the void between the two towers as the human mind or soul, when it is empty and devoid of any attempt of spiritual attainment, evil may reside, however, with spiritual achievement, and positive human experience, the soul can be raised up to a heavenly plane.
Equally, the tiers may represent human society, rather than the individual, and the ascent could represent the advancement of human knowledge, technology, collective spirituality or even physiological and cognitive evolution – eventually achieving a heavenly plane on earth. Unfortunately, if this is the case, perhaps the photograph of the demon in the smoke of the twin towers more accurately reflects where our society is headed (being led).

Rome and Egypt

One of the most powerful of the ancient states, Rome emerged from a small, rural community in Italy to conquer most of the Mediterranean world and to bring to an end the long pharaonic history of Egypt in 30 B.C.E.

The first significant involvement of Rome in the affairs of Egypt occurred in 170 B.C.E. when the strife between Egypt and Syria (under King ANTIOCHUS IV) ended with both sides appealing to the Romans to decide who should be the rightful claimant to the throne. The two candidates were PTOLEMY VIII EUERGETES II (the favorite of the Egyptians) and PTOLEMY VI PHILOMETOR (the nephew and favorite of Antiochus IV). The Roman Senate decided to split the rule of the country, so that Philometor reigned in MEMPHIS and Euergetes controlled ALEXANDRIA. This state of affairs proved unsatisfactory to the Egyptians, who wasted no time upon Antiochus’s departure back to Syria to rise up against Philometor. Antiochus responded by marching on Egypt with an army. The Egyptians appealed once more to Rome.

The Roman Senate dispatched a three-man commission to Egypt, and in 168 there occurred the famous encounter between Antiochus IV and Papillius Laenas at Eleusis just outside of Alexandria. Laenas gave Antiochus the terms of the Senate: the Syrians must depart Egypt or there would be war. Laenas then used a stick to draw a circle in the sand around Antiochus’s feet and demanded an answer before he set foot out of the ring. The Syrian agreed to the Senate’s demands, and Ptolemy VI was installed as ruler of all Egypt; Ptolemy VIII was made king of Cyrenaica.

Rome now stood as the supreme arbiter of Egyptian affairs. Thus, when PTOLEMY XII NEOS DIONYSIUS was driven from Egypt in 58 B.C.E. he fled to Rome. After paying extensive bribes and cultivating the political favor of Julius CAESAR, Ptolemy XII returned to Egypt and was reinstated with the assistance of three Roman legions. The remainder of his reign was as a virtual client of Rome, and Ptolemy left provision in his will for the Romans to have oversight over the transition of power to his children, CLEOPATRA VII and PTOLEMY XIII.

The bitter political struggle between Cleopatra and her brother went largely unnoticed by the Romans owing to their own civil war. In 48 B.C.E., however, following the defeat of POMPEY the Great by Julius Caesar at  the battle of Pharsalus, Pompey fled to Egypt and what he hoped would be the sanctuary of the court of Ptolemy. The Roman general was immediately assassinated by a cabal of Egyptian courtiers, and his head was given as a gift to Caesar upon the dictator’s arrival in Alexandria.

Caesar decided the dispute between Ptolemy and Cleopatra in favor of the queen, and Ptolemy died in the fighting that followed. In a famous romance, Caesar and Cleopatra became lovers and produced PTOLEMY XV CAESARION. Following Caesar’s assassination in 44 B.C.E., Cleopatra established a relationship with Marc ANTONY. Their political and personal alliance culminated in the war with Caesar’s nephew, Octavian  (the future AUGUSTUS) and the battle of ACTIUM in 31 B.C.E. The defeat of the Egyptian fleet and army opened the door for the Roman conquest of Egypt. Cleopatra committed suicide in famed fashion by stinging herself with an asp, and Marc Antony died on his own sword. Octavian, the future Augustus, entered Alexandria on August 1, 30 B.C.E. Henceforth, until the Arab conquest in 641 C.E., Egypt remained a territory of the Roman Empire and then the Byzantine Empire.

The Exodus

Was Ramses the Great pharaoh of the Exodus? The biblical Exodus of the Jews from Egypt is generally thought to date from the reign of Ramses II, though no such episode appears in Egyptian records or is linked to the expulsion of the Hyksos by Ahmose.

The Exodus was the great deliverance extended to the Israelites “ . . . on the very day the Lord brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts,” Exodus 12:51.

“There is no surviving Egyptian source that described the Exodus. This is not surprising,” commented Nicolas Grimal, “given that the Egyptians had no reason to attach any importance to the Hebrews.”

Documents place the people known as Apiru in Egyptian records at the time of Tuthmose III. During Ramses’ reign, the Apiru were employed in the transportation of stone listed in Leiden Papyrus 348; they were further mentioned in Papyrus Harris I. As brick makers they were mentioned in the neighborhood of the royal harem at Medinet el-  Ghurob in the Fayum. In the reign of Ramses IV, about 800 worked in the quarries of Wadi Hammamat.

“One document that could provide evidence of a newly formed kingdom of Israel is a stele, dated to the fifth year of Merneptah’s reign,” as told in New Unger’s Bible Dictionary. “Here the name Israel appears (KRI IV, 12–19). There are two further historical records: the journey of the Chosen People in the desert, which lasted forty years, and the capture of Jericho, which occurred after the death of Moses. The fall of Jericho sets the day of 1250 b.c. So the Exodus may have taken place in the early part of the thirteenth century b.c.”

Various scholars have placed Moses in close relationship with Pharaoh Ramses II and as the son of Queen Hatshepsut, who later assumed the Egyptian throne. Moses received his Egyptian education (Acts 7:22) to represent his community in the government. His education at the court (Exodus 2:10– 11) may be interpreted as he benefited from the education provided to future Egyptian state employees. Thus, he would have been with his own people during the reign of Sethos I, the time fortifications were built in the eastern delta and foundations were built for the future city of Piramses (Exodus 1:11). “Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens; and they built for Pharaoh store-  cities, Pithom and Raam’ses.”

“It is often speculated that Jewish captives worked on the construction of Piramses,” wrote Bernadette Menu. Was this biblical spelling meant to be Piramses? Moses’s murder of the guard, his flight to the land of Midian, his marriage, his acceptance of God’s revelation, the encounter with the Burning Bush, and his return to Egypt take the dates to the first years of Ramses II’s reign. The book of Exodus has lengthy descriptive dialogue between Moses and a pharaoh. If one is to set aside the Old Testament’s chronological dates, the Exodus could be placed around 1290 b.c. rather than 1441 b.c. This would suggest the pharaoh of the Exodus was Ramses II.

Forbidden City

The Ming dynasty, who overthrew the Yuan, chose Nanjing as their first capital, and the controversial move to Beijing required a great deal of rebuilding to take place. The Yongle Emperor who made the decision was quite convinced about the city’s location, deeming it to be ‘strong and secure. The mountains and rivers protect it well, and ten thousand nations lie on its four sides. It is a place favoured for sound reasons, by the mind of heaven and by exact divination.’

At the heart of the Yongle Emperor’s vision lay the vast palace complex known to all as the Forbidden City, connected by an avenue to a majestic complex gate structure at the south called Zhengyangmen (the gate that faces directly to the sun) or Qianmen. During the 16th century an outer wall was added, and when the Qing dynasty took over Beijing, with no destruction of its architecture, this subdivision of the city provided the basis for a concentration of Manchu people within the inner city, known to European visitors as the ‘Tartar city’, and the banishment of Han Chinese to the ‘Chinese city’ outside.

From AD 1533 onwards a visitor approaching Beijing from the south would first encounter the Yongdingmen in the southern wall of the Outer City. Passing through he would head north along an avenue that separated the walled Temple of Heaven in the east from the Temple of Mountains and Rivers to the west. After crossing the Tianqiao (Heavenly Bridge) the road narrowed as it approached the complex fortified structure of the Zhengyangmen. Nowadays it presents the appearance of two unconnected towers, but once a semicircular wall like a barbican, through which were three passages, joined the two together. The central entrance was used only by the emperor, and it was from Zhengyangmen that the Ghongzhen Emperor bade farewell to Li Jiantai, the Secretary of the Grand Council who set out with an army to quell the uprising of the rebel leader Li Zicheng. Two months later Li Zicheng conquered Beijing and overthrew the Ming dynasty, and thus unintentionally left the way open for the Manchu conquest.

Today’s tourist then passes through the Qianmen complex and walks round the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall into the vast and bleak Tian’anmen Square. Until quite recently in history this was a more restricted area crossed by the imperial way as it passed north to the Tian’anmen (gate of heavenly peace) which originally dates from AD 1420 and towers 33.7m above the entrance to the Forbidden City. But there are still two gates to cross, the Duanmen and the Wumen, before the Forbidden City is reached.

Aberdour Castle

Aberdour Castle is located in the village of Easter Aberdour, Fife, Scotland. Parts of the castle date from around 1200, making Aberdour one of the two oldest datable standing castles in Scotland, along with Castle Sween in Argyll, which was built at around the same time.

The earliest part of the castle comprised a modest hall house, on a site overlooking the Dour Burn. Over the next 400 years, the castle was successively expanded according to contemporary architectural ideas. The hall house became a tower house in the 15th century, and was extended twice in the 16th century. The final addition was made around 1635, with refined Renaissance details, and the whole was complemented by a walled garden to the east and terraced gardens to the south. The terraces, dating from the mid-16th century, form one of the oldest gardens in Scotland, and offer extensive views across the Firth of Forth to Edinburgh.

The castle is largely the creation of the Douglas Earls of Morton, who held Aberdour from the 14th century. The earls used Aberdour as a second home until 1642, when their primary residence, Dalkeith House, was sold. A fire in the late 17th century was followed by some repairs, but in 1725 the family purchased nearby Aberdour House, and the medieval castle was allowed to fall into decay. Today, only the 17th-century wing remains roofed, while the tower has mostly collapsed. Aberdour Castle is now in the care of Historic Scotland, and is open to the public all year.

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The barony of Aberdour was acquired in 1126, by Sir Alan de Mortimer, on his marriage to Anicea, daughter of Sir John de Vipont.  Sir Alan built St Fillan's Church, which still stands, next to the castle, in around 1140, and his family probably built the original hall house in around 1200, or possibly even earlier. In 1216, another Alan de Mortimer is recorded granting land to the monks of Inchcolm Abbey. There is no record of what happened to the de Mortimers, but in the early 14th century, King Robert the Bruce granted Aberdour to his kinsman, Thomas Randolph, Earl of Moray (d. 1332). Moray's grandson granted the barony in turn to Sir William Douglas of Liddesdale (c. 1300-1353), in 1342.

In 1351, Sir William Douglas gave the lands of Aberdour to his nephew, Sir James Douglas of Dalkeith, although he retained the castle for himself until his death two years later. The grant was confirmed by King David II in 1361. In 1386 Aberdour and Dalkeith were combined to form a single barony, with the principal seat at Dalkeith, near Edinburgh, and Aberdour as a secondary residence. James, fourth Lord Dalkeith, succeeded to the joint barony in 1456, and was created Earl of Morton in 1458, prior to his marriage to Joanna, the deaf and dumb daughter of James I. The newly-created earl expanded the existing hall house, heightening and rebuilding the structure to suit his elevated status. The second earl carried out extensions to Aberdour Castle around 1500, building a new stair tower and south block.