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Feelin’ Extra Jade industriously working on a few unfinished Artist Trading Cards I had laying around!
James doesn’t know what to think of her work ethic, not like me at all unless there is a deadline!!
A woman of purpose pursues her dreams with a relentless focus, an unbreakable work ethic and the determination to turn every obstacle into an opportunity. She is bold, she is fearless and she is unstoppable.
unknown
Oasis has been a fixture in my community since 1952, when husband and wife team Elgin and Helen Arnold started out with a bucket, a hose and a strong work ethic. Helen also owned Helen’s Children’s Wear (closed in 2006), whose neon sign, complete with a little girl riding a swing, is now considered a heritage landmark.
For We're Here - Indoor/Outdoor Atomic Aged Beauty
Put some zing into your 365! Join We're Here!
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Copyright © 2015 Wei Kiat.
All rights reserved.
Drop me a email (kiatography@gmail.com) if you wish to purchase my images.
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Copyright © 2015 Wei Kiat.
All rights reserved.
Drop me a email (kiatography@gmail.com) if you wish to purchase my images.
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Haywood St. United Methodist Church, Asheville, NC
Abundant Grace
Jesus reveals his ethic through story: a shepherd abandons the flock to rescue one lost lamb; a Good Samaritan pays the bill for an enemy’s care; a father throws a party for his rebellious son. Grace is always surprising, a refusal to reward the deserving, a gesture of love that’s unconditional, an attempt to overwhelm with more than just enough. Translating his stories into service, Haywood Street wants to be wasteful in ministry, surpassing basic needs with the practice of plenty.
Sacred mysteries are the areas of supernatural phenomena associated with a divinity or a religious ideology. Sacred mysteries may be either:
Religious beliefs, rituals or practices which are kept secret from non-believers, or lower levels of believers, who have not had an initiation into the higher levels of belief (the concealed knowledge may be called esoteric).
Beliefs of the religion which are public knowledge but cannot be easily explained by normal rational or scientific means.
Although the term "mystery" is not often used in anthropology, access by initiation or rite of passage to otherwise secret beliefs is an extremely common feature of indigenous religions all over the world.
A mystagogue or hierophant is a holder and teacher of secret knowledge in the former sense above. Whereas, mysticism may be defined as an area of philosophical or religious thought which focuses on mysteries in the latter sense above.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacred_mysteries
A. E. Waite wrote that the Hierophant:
...symbolizes also all things that are righteous and sacred on the manifest side. As such, he is the channel of grace belonging to the world of institution as distinct from that of Nature, and he is the leader of salvation for the human race at large. He is the order and the head of the recognized hierarchy, which is the reflection of another and greater hierarchic order; but it may so happen that the pontiff forgets the significance of his symbolic state and acts as if he contained within his proper measures all that his sign signifies or his symbol seeks to shew [sp] forth. He is not, as it has been thought, philosophy—except on the theological side; he is not inspiration; and his is not religion, although he is a mode of its expression.[3]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hierophant#Rider_Waite_tarot
A mystagogue (from Greek: μυσταγωγός, mystagogos, "person who initiates into mysteries") is a person who initiates others into mystic beliefs, and an educator or person who has knowledge of the sacred mysteries of a belief system. Another word for mystagogue is hierophant.
Contents
1Origins
2Typologies
3See also
4References
Origins
In ancient mystery religions, a mystagogue would be responsible for leading an initiate into the secret teachings and rituals of a cultus. The initiate would often be blindfolded, and the mystagogue would literally "guide" him into the sacred space.
In the early Christian church, this same concept was used to describe role of the bishop, who was responsible for seeing to it that the catechumens were properly prepared for baptism. Mystagogical homilies, or homilies that dealt with the Church's sacraments, were given to those in the last stages of preparation for full Church membership. Sometimes these mystagogical instructions were not given until after the catechumen had been baptized. The most famous of these mystagogical works are the "Mystagogical Homilies" of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, and the work, "On the Mysteries" by St. Ambrose of Milan.
Typologies
In various organizations, it is the role of the mystagogue to "mystify" pledges. The term is sometimes used to refer to a person who guides people through religious sites, such as churches, and explains the various artifacts. This branch of theology is at times called mystagogy.
In the United States versions of mystagogical legends predate European contact. Early Native American tribes around the Great Lakes region, taught that the mystagogue was a spiritual leader, and upon death would transform into a beast with many heads. The mystagogue would reappear in his beastly form and feed on those who strayed from the tribe if it was not in keeping with their religious customs.[1]
The historical tradition of the mystagogue has carried on today in one way through the fraternity system in American universities, that have historically held a position for a mystagogue at either the chapter or the national level.[2] The mystagogue is a person of great respect, and his knowledge concerning both the physical and spiritual matters of the organization is not questioned. In a way similar to that of some Native American traditions, the mystagogue in the fraternity system has the power to shut down parts of the fraternity which are not in keeping with customs or tradition.
Max Weber, considered to be one of the founders of the modern study of sociology, described the mystagogue as part magician and part prophet, and as one who dispensed "magical actions that contain the boons of salvation."[3]
According to Roy Wallis: "The primary criterion that Weber had in mind in distinguishing the prophet from the mystagogue was that the latter offers a largely magical means of salvation rather than proclaiming a radical religious ethic or an example to be followed."[4]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystagogue
Phaethon (/ˈfeɪ.əθən/; Ancient Greek: Φαέθων, romanized: Phaéthōn, pronounced [pʰa.é.tʰɔːn]), also spelled as Phaëthon, was the son of the Oceanid Clymene and the sun god Helios in Greek mythology. His name was also used by the Ancient Greeks as an alternative name for the planet Jupiter,[1] the motions and cycles of which were personified in poetry and myth.
Contents
1Mythology
1.1Plato's Timaeus
1.2Ovid's version
1.3Clement of Alexandria
1.4Suetonius
1.5Other ancient writers
2Post-classical works
3Shared name
4See also
5Notes
6References
7External links
Mythology
Phaethon was said to be the son of the Oceanid Clymene and the sun god Helios.[2][3] Alternatively, less common genealogies make him a son of Clymenus by Oceanid Merope,[4] of Helios and Rhodos (thus a full brother of the Heliadae)[5] or of Helios and Prote.[6]
Phaethon, challenged by Epaphus and his playmates, sought assurance from his mother that his father was the sun god Helios. She gave him the requested assurance and told him to turn to his father for confirmation. He asked his father for some proof that would demonstrate his relationship with the sun. When the god promised to grant him whatever he wanted, he insisted on being allowed to drive the sun chariot for a day.[7][8] According to some accounts Helios tried to dissuade Phaethon, telling him that even Zeus was not strong enough to steer these horses, but reluctantly kept his promise.[9] Placed in charge of the chariot, Phaethon was unable to control the horses. In some versions, the Earth first froze when the horses climbed too high, but when the chariot then scorched the Earth by swinging too near, Zeus decided to prevent disaster by striking it down with a thunderbolt.[10] Phaethon fell to earth and was killed in the process.[11]
Phaethon was the good friend or lover of Cycnus of Liguria, who profoundly mourned his death and was turned into a swan.[12] Phaethon's seven sisters, the Heliades, also mourned his loss, keeping vigil where Phaethon fell to Earth until the gods turned the sisters into poplar trees, and their tears into amber.[13]
Plato's Timaeus
In Plato's Timaeus, Critias tells the story of Atlantis as recounted to Solon by an Egyptian priest, who prefaced the story by saying:
"There have been, and will be again, many destructions of mankind arising out of many causes; the greatest have been brought about by the agencies of fire and water, and other lesser ones by innumerable other causes. There is a story that even you [Greeks] have preserved, that once upon a time, Phaethon, the son of Helios, having yoked the steeds in his father's chariot, because he was not able to drive them in the path of his father, burnt up all that was upon the earth, and was himself destroyed by a thunderbolt. Now, this has the form of a myth, but really signifies a declination of the bodies moving in the heavens around the earth, and a great conflagration of things upon the earth, which recurs after long intervals."[14]
The Fall of Phaëthon on a Roman sarcophagus (Hermitage Museum)
Ovid's version
In the version of the myth told by Ovid in the Metamorphoses, Phaethon ascends into heaven, the home of his suspected father. His mother Clymene had boasted that his father was the Sun-God or Phoebus. Phaethon went to his father who swore by the river Styx to give Phaethon anything he would ask for in order to prove his divine sonship. Phaethon wanted to drive the chariot of the sun for a day. Phoebus tried to talk him out of it by telling him that not even Jupiter (the king of the gods) would dare to drive it, as the chariot was fiery hot and the horses breathed out flames. He said:
"The first part of the track is steep, and one that my fresh horses at dawn can hardly climb. In mid-heaven it is highest, where to look down on earth and sea often alarms even me and makes my heart tremble with awesome fear. The last part of the track is downwards and needs sure control. Then even Tethys herself, who receives me in her submissive waves, is accustomed to fear that I might dive headlong. Moreover, the rushing sky is constantly turning, and drags along the remote stars, and whirls them in rapid orbits. I move the opposite way, and its momentum does not overcome me as it does all other things, and I ride contrary to its swift rotation. Suppose you are given the chariot. What will you do? Will you be able to counter the turning poles so that the swiftness of the skies does not carry you away? Perhaps you conceive in imagination that there are groves there and cities of the gods and temples with rich gifts. The way runs through the ambush, and apparitions of wild beasts! Even if you keep your course, and do not steer awry, you must still avoid the horns of Taurus the Bull, Sagittarius the Haemonian Archer, raging Leo and Lion's jaw, Scorpio's cruel pincers sweeping out to encircle you from one side, and Cancer's crab-claws reaching out from the other. You will not easily rule those proud horses, breathing out through mouth and nostrils the fires burning in their chests. They scarcely tolerate my control when their fierce spirits are hot, and their necks resist the reins. Beware, my boy, that I am not the source of a gift fatal to you, while something can still be done to set right your request!"[15]
The fall of Phaethon by Adolphe Pierre Sunaert
Phaethon was adamant. When the day came, the fierce horses that drew the chariot felt that it was empty because of the lack of the sun-god's weight and went out of control. Terrified, Phaethon dropped the reins. The horses veered from their course, scorching the earth, burning the vegetation, bringing the blood of the Ethiopians to the surface of their skin and so turning it black, changing much of Africa into a desert, drying up rivers and lakes and shrinking the sea. Earth cried out to Jupiter who was forced to intervene by striking Phaethon with a lightning bolt. Like a falling star, Phaethon plunged blazing into the river Eridanos.
The epitaph on his tomb was:
Here Phaethon lies who in the sun-god's chariot fared. And though greatly he failed, more greatly he dared.[16]
Phoebus, stricken with grief at his son's death, at first refused to resume his work of driving his chariot, but at the appeal of the other gods, including Jupiter, returned to his task.
Clement of Alexandria
According to Clement of Alexandria in his Stromata, "...in the time of Crotopus occurred the burning of Phaethon, and the deluges of Deucalion.[17]
Suetonius
In The Twelve Caesars, Suetonius attributes to the emperor Tiberius the following repeated remark about the future emperor Gaius Caligula: "That to allow Gaius to live would prove the ruin of himself and of all men, and that he was raising a viper for the Roman people and a Phaethon for the world".[18]
Other ancient writers
Phaethon, by Gustave Moreau
Fragments of Euripides' tragedy on this subject suggest that, in his account, Phaethon survives. In reconstructing the lost play and discussing the fragments, James Diggle has discussed the treatment of the Phaethon myth (Diggle 2004).
In the True History by the satirical Greek writer Lucian, Phaëthon is the king of the sun and is at war with the moon.
Post-classical works
Dante refers to the episode in the Inferno, in "Purgatorio" Canto IV and Paradiso Canto XVII of his Divine Comedy.
William Shakespeare uses the story of Phaethon in four places, most famously as an allegory in his play Richard II. He also makes Juliet wish "Phaëthon would whip [Apollo's horses] to the west" as she waits for Romeo in Romeo and Juliet 3.2.3.[19] It also appears briefly in The Two Gentlemen of Verona 3.1.154, and twice in Henry VI, Part 3 (1.4.33 and 2.6.12)[20]
John Marston includes reference to Phaeton in The Malcontent whereby Mendoza's monologue describes the '...sparkling glances (of women), ardent as those flames that singed the world by heedless Phaeton!' - Act 1, Scene 5
Jean-Baptiste Lully wrote a musical tragedy, Phaëton, in which he referred indirectly to the fate of Nicolas Fouquet, whose ambitions to imitate Louis XIV—The Sun King—brought about his downfall. This opera is also used in the second version of Paul Hindemith’s opera Cardillac (1952).
Camille Saint-Saëns wrote a symphonic poem entitled Phaéton in 1873.
Niccolò Jommelli wrote an opera Fetonte to an Italian-language libretto by Mattia Verazi using various sources, principally Ovid, for the myth of Phaeton. It was first performed at the Ducal Theatre, Ludwigsburg in February, 1768, where Duke Karl-Eugen of Württemberg maintained an opera troupe.
Wilhelm Waiblinger’s epistolary novel Phaëthon amalgamates the Phaethon myth with Goethe’s Werther as well as Hölderlin’s Hyperion.
Johann Wolfgang Goethe published a poetic reconstruction of Euripides’ fragmented tragedy in Kunst und Altertum (1823), which served as a basis for various full-scale dramatic adaptations such as Marie Wernicke’s Phaethons Sturz (1893), Karl Wilhelm Geißler’s Phaëthon (1889) and Arnold Beer’s Phaeton (1875).
Gerhart Hauptmann’s long poem Helios und Phaethon (1936) omits the cosmic disaster in order to focus on the relationship between godly father and mortal son.
In Otakar Theer's symbolist tragedy Faëthón (1916), the hero epitomizes man's revolt against the world order ("the gods") and against human destiny. The tragedy was adapted in 1962 into a celebrated eponymous radio play by Miloslav Jareš (director) and Jaromír Ptáček (dramaturge).[21]
Paul Goodman’s early Phaëthon, Myth (1934) juxtaposes the Phaethon myth with a grotesque version of a Christological narrative.
Benjamin Britten’s Six Metamorphoses after Ovid for oboe, first performed at the Aldeburgh Festival on 14 June 1951, include the short piece Phaeton, which as a solo piece seems to focus on the individual lost in space rather than the furious effects emphasised by earlier instrumental renditions of the myth.
In Ayn Rand's 1957 novel Atlas Shrugged, an in-universe opera is composed by the character of Richard Halley where Phaeton succeeds in his attempt to control the chariot of the sun, as an allegory for the power of mankind and individualism.
Donald Cotton wrote a comedy radio play 'The Tragedy of Phaethon' broadcast on BBC Network 3 on 10 February 1965.[22]
Angus Wilson’s novel Setting the World on Fire (1980) opens with the description of a Phaethon painting which proves pivotal to the protagonist’s emerging self-conception, leading up to his production of Lully’s Phaëton.
John C. Wright's The Golden Oecumene Trilogy (2002) features a protagonist named Phaethon, whose father's name is Helion. Mythical references abound.[23]
In 2002, Volkswagen introduced the VW Phaeton.
In 2012, former Disco Inferno frontman Ian Crause adapted the story of Phaethon as The Song of Phaethon for his first musical release in over a decade. Crause used the story as an analogy for Britain's entry into the Second Gulf War.[24]
in 2016 Taffety Punk Theatre premiered Michael Milligan's play "Phaeton" in Washington, DC.[25]
Shared name
The name "Phaethon", which means "Shining One",[26] was given also to Phaethon of Syria, to one of the horses of Eos (the Dawn), the Sun, the constellation Auriga, and the planet Jupiter, while as an adjective it was used to describe the sun and the moon.[27] In some accounts the planet referred to by this name is not Jupiter but Saturn.[28]
When 1 Ceres and 2 Pallas–the first asteroids–were discovered, astronomer Heinrich Olbers suggested that they were fragments of a much larger planet which was later named for Phaethon. However, the Phaeton hypothesis has been superseded by the accretion model, in which the asteroid belt represented the remainder of the protoplanetary disk that never formed a planet due to the gravity of Jupiter. However, fringe theorists still consider the Phaeton hypothesis likely.
In modern times, an asteroid whose orbit brings it close to the sun has been named "3200 Phaethon" after the mythological Phaethon.
The French form of the name "Phaethon" is "Phaéton". This form of the word is applied to a kind of carriage and automobile.[29][30]
An order, family, and genus of birds bear the name Phaethon in their taxonomic nomenclature, the tropicbirds.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaethon
Mithraism, also known as the Mithraic mysteries, was a Roman mystery religion centered on the god Mithras. Although inspired by Iranian worship of the Zoroastrian divinity (yazata) Mithra, the Roman Mithras is linked to a new and distinctive imagery, with the level of continuity between Persian and Greco-Roman practice debated.[a] The mysteries were popular among the Imperial Roman army from about the 1st to the 4th century ce.[2]
Worshippers of Mithras had a complex system of seven grades of initiation and communal ritual meals. Initiates called themselves syndexioi, those "united by the handshake".[b] They met in underground temples, now called mithraea (singular mithraeum), which survive in large numbers. The cult appears to have had its centre in Rome,[3] and was popular throughout the western half of the empire, as far south as Roman Africa and Numidia, as far north as Roman Britain,[4](pp 26–27) and to a lesser extent in Roman Syria in the east.[3]
Mithraism is viewed as a rival of early Christianity.[5](p 147) In the 4th century, Mithraists faced persecution from Christians and the religion was subsequently suppressed and eliminated in the Roman empire by the end of the century.[6]
Numerous archaeological finds, including meeting places, monuments and artifacts, have contributed to modern knowledge about Mithraism throughout the Roman Empire.[7] The iconic scenes of Mithras show him being born from a rock, slaughtering a bull, and sharing a banquet with the god Sol (the Sun). About 420 sites have yielded materials related to the cult. Among the items found are about 1000 inscriptions, 700 examples of the bull-killing scene (tauroctony), and about 400 other monuments.[4](p xxi) It has been estimated that there would have been at least 680 mithraea in the city of Rome.[8][full citation needed] No written narratives or theology from the religion survive; limited information can be derived from the inscriptions and brief or passing references in Greek and Latin literature. Interpretation of the physical evidence remains problematic and contested.[c]
Contents
1Name
1.1Etymology of Mithras
2Iconography
2.1Bull-slaying scene
2.2Banquet
2.3Birth from a rock
2.4Lion-headed figure
3Rituals and worship
3.1Mithraeum
3.2Degrees of initiation
3.3Ritual re-enactments
3.4Membership
3.5Ethics
4History and development
4.1Mithras before the Roman Mysteries
4.2Beginnings of Roman Mithraism
4.2.1Earliest archaeology
4.2.2Earliest cult locations
4.3Classical literature about Mithras and the Mysteries
4.3.1Statius
4.3.2Justin Martyr
4.3.3Plutarch
4.3.4Dio Cassius
4.3.5Porphyry
4.3.6Mithras Liturgy
4.4Modern debate about origins
4.4.1Cumont's hypothesis: from Persian state religion
4.4.2Criticisms and reassessments of Cumont
4.4.3Modern theories
4.5Later history
4.6Persecution and Christianization
5Interpretations of the bull-slaying scene
6Mithras and other gods
6.1Mithraism and Christianity
7See also
8Notes
9References
10Further reading
11External links
Name
The term "Mithraism" is a modern convention. Writers of the Roman era referred to it by phrases such as "Mithraic mysteries", "mysteries of Mithras" or "mysteries of the Persians".[1][10] Modern sources sometimes refer to the Greco-Roman religion as Roman Mithraism or Western Mithraism to distinguish it from Persian worship of Mithra.[1][11][12]
Etymology of Mithras
Main article: Mithras (name)
Bas-relief of the tauroctony of the mysteries, Metz, France.
The name Mithras (Latin, equivalent to Greek "Μίθρας"[13]) is a form of Mithra, the name of an old, pre-Zoroastrian, and, later on, Zoroastrian, god[d][14] — a relationship understood by Mithraic scholars since the days of Franz Cumont.[e] An early example of the Greek form of the name is in a 4th century bce work by Xenophon, the Cyropaedia, which is a biography of the Persian king Cyrus the Great.[15]
The exact form of a Latin or classical Greek word varies due to the grammatical process of declension. There is archaeological evidence that in Latin worshippers wrote the nominative form of the god's name as "Mithras". However, in Porphyry's Greek text De Abstinentia (Περὶ ἀποχῆς ἐμψύχων), there is a reference to the now-lost histories of the Mithraic mysteries by Euboulus and Pallas, the wording of which suggests that these authors treated the name "Mithra" as an indeclinable foreign word.[16]
Related deity-names in other languages include
Vedic Sanskrit Mitra, the name of a god praised in the Rigveda.[17][18][19] In Sanskrit, mitra means "friend" or "friendship".[20]
the form mi-it-ra-, found in an inscribed peace treaty between the Hittites and the kingdom of Mitanni, from about 1400 bce.[20][21]
Iranian Mithra and Sanskrit Mitra are believed to come from an Indo-Iranian word wikt:Reconstruction:Proto-Indo-Iranian/mitrás:mitrás, meaning "contract, agreement, covenant".[22]
Modern historians have different conceptions about whether these names refer to the same god or not. John R. Hinnells has written of Mitra / Mithra / Mithras as a single deity worshipped in several different religions.[23] On the other hand, David Ulansey considers the bull-slaying Mithras to be a new god who began to be worshipped in the 1st century bce, and to whom an old name was applied.[f]
Mary Boyce, a researcher of ancient Iranian religions, writes that even though Roman Mithraism seems to have had less Iranian content than historians used to think, nonetheless "as the name Mithras alone shows, this content was of some importance".[24]
Iconography
Relief of Mithras as bull-slayer from Neuenheim near Heidelberg, framed by scenes from Mithras' life.
Much about the cult of Mithras is only known from reliefs and sculptures. There have been many attempts to interpret this material.
Mithras-worship in the Roman Empire was characterized by images of the god slaughtering a bull. Other images of Mithras are found in the Roman temples, for instance Mithras banqueting with Sol, and depictions of the birth of Mithras from a rock. But the image of bull-slaying (tauroctony) is always in the central niche.[9](p 6) Textual sources for a reconstruction of the theology behind this iconography are very rare.[25] (See section Interpretations of the bull-slaying scene below.)
The practice of depicting the god slaying a bull seems to be specific to Roman Mithraism. According to David Ulansey, this is "perhaps the most important example" of evident difference between Iranian and Roman traditions: "... there is no evidence that the Iranian god Mithra ever had anything to do with killing a bull."[9](p 8)
Bull-slaying scene
See also: Tauroctony
In every mithraeum the centrepiece was a representation of Mithras killing a sacred bull, an act called the tauroctony.[g][h] The image may be a relief, or free-standing, and side details may be present or omitted. The centre-piece is Mithras clothed in Anatolian costume and wearing a Phrygian cap; who is kneeling on the exhausted bull, holding it by the nostrils[4](p 77) with his left hand, and stabbing it with his right. As he does so, he looks over his shoulder towards the figure of Sol. A dog and a snake reach up towards the blood. A scorpion seizes the bull's genitals. A raven is flying around or is sitting on the bull. One or three ears of wheat are seen coming out from the bull’s tail, sometimes from the wound. The bull was often white. The god is sitting on the bull in an unnatural way with his right leg constraining the bull's hoof and the left leg is bent and resting on the bull's back or flank.[i] The two torch-bearers are on either side are dressed like Mithras: Cautes with his torch pointing up, and Cautopates with his torch pointing down.[4](p 98–99) An image search for tauroctony will show many examples of the variations.[27] Sometimes Cautes and Cautopates carry shepherds' crooks instead of torches.[28]
A Roman tauroctony relief from Aquileia (c. 175 CE; Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna)
The event takes place in a cavern, into which Mithras has carried the bull, after having hunted it, ridden it and overwhelmed its strength.[4](p 74) Sometimes the cavern is surrounded by a circle, on which the twelve signs of the zodiac appear. Outside the cavern, top left, is Sol the sun, with his flaming crown, often driving a quadriga. A ray of light often reaches down to touch Mithras. At the top right is Luna, with her crescent moon, who may be depicted driving a biga.[29]
In some depictions, the central tauroctony is framed by a series of subsidiary scenes to the left, top and right, illustrating events in the Mithras narrative; Mithras being born from the rock, the water miracle, the hunting and riding of the bull, meeting Sol who kneels to him, shaking hands with Sol and sharing a meal of bull-parts with him, and ascending to the heavens in a chariot.[29] In some instances, as is the case in the stucco icon at Santa Prisca Mithraeum in Rome, the god is shown heroically nude.[j] Some of these reliefs were constructed so that they could be turned on an axis. On the back side was another, more elaborate feasting scene. This indicates that the bull killing scene was used in the first part of the celebration, then the relief was turned, and the second scene was used in the second part of the celebration.[31] Besides the main cult icon, a number of mithraea had several secondary tauroctonies, and some small portable versions, probably meant for private devotion, have also been found.[32]
Banquet
The second most important scene after the tauroctony in Mithraic art is the so-called banquet scene.[33] The banquet scene features Mithras and Sol Invictus banqueting on the hide of the slaughtered bull.[33] On the specific banquet scene on the Fiano Romano relief, one of the torchbearers points a caduceus towards the base of an altar, where flames appear to spring up. Robert Turcan has argued that since the caduceus is an attribute of Mercury, and in mythology Mercury is depicted as a psychopomp, the eliciting of flames in this scene is referring to the dispatch of human souls and expressing the Mithraic doctrine on this matter.[34] Turcan also connects this event to the tauroctony: The blood of the slain bull has soaked the ground at the base of the altar, and from the blood the souls are elicited in flames by the caduceus.[34]
Birth from a rock
Mithras rising from the rock (National Museum of Romanian History)
Mithras born from the rock (c. 186 CE; Baths of Diocletian)
Mithras is depicted as being born from a rock. He is shown as emerging from a rock, already in his youth, with a dagger in one hand and a torch in the other. He is nude, standing with his legs together, and is wearing a Phrygian cap.[35]
However, there are variations. Sometimes he is shown as coming out of the rock as a child, and in one instance he has a globe in one hand; sometimes a thunderbolt is seen. There are also depictions in which flames are shooting from the rock and also from Mithras' cap. One statue had its base perforated so that it could serve as a fountain, and the base of another has the mask of the water god. Sometimes Mithras also has other weapons such as bows and arrows, and there are also animals such as dogs, serpents, dolphins, eagles, other birds, lions, crocodiles, lobsters and snails around. On some reliefs, there is a bearded figure identified as Oceanus, the water god, and on some there are the gods of the four winds. In these reliefs, the four elements could be invoked together. Sometimes Victoria, Luna, Sol, and Saturn also seem to play a role. Saturn in particular is often seen handing over the dagger or short sword to Mithras, used later in the tauroctony.[35]
In some depictions, Cautes and Cautopates are also present; sometimes they are depicted as shepherds.[36]
On some occasions, an amphora is seen, and a few instances show variations like an egg birth or a tree birth. Some interpretations show that the birth of Mithras was celebrated by lighting torches or candles.[35][37]
Lion-headed figure
Main article: Arimanius
Drawing of the leontocephaline found at a mithraeum in Ostia Antica, Italy (190 CE; CIMRM 312)
Lion-headed figure from the Sidon Mithraeum (500 CE; CIMRM 78 & 79; Louvre)
One of the most characteristic and poorly-understood features of the Mysteries is the naked lion-headed figure often found in Mithraic temples, named by the modern scholars with descriptive terms such as leontocephaline (lion-headed) or leontocephalus (lion-head).
His body is a naked man's, entwined by a serpent (or two serpents, like a caduceus), with the snake's head often resting on the lion's head. The lion's mouth is often open. He is usually represented as having four wings, two keys (sometimes a single key), and a sceptre in his hand. Sometimes the figure is standing on a globe inscribed with a diagonal cross. On the figure from the Ostia Antica Mithraeum (left, CIMRM 312), the four wings carry the symbols of the four seasons, and a thunderbolt is engraved on his chest. At the base of the statue are the hammer and tongs of Vulcan and Mercury's cock and wand (caduceus). A rare variation of the same figure is also found with a human head and a lion's head emerging from its chest.[38][39]
Although animal-headed figures are prevalent in contemporary Egyptian and Gnostic mythological representations, no exact parallel to the Mithraic leontocephaline figure has been found.[38]
Based on dedicatory inscriptions for altars,[k] the name of the figure is conjectured to be Arimanius, a Latinized form of the name Ahriman – a demonic figure in the Zoroastrian pantheon. Arimanius is known from inscriptions to have been a god in the Mithraic cult as seen, for example, in images from the Corpus Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mithriacae (CIMRM) such as CIMRM 222 from Ostia, CIMRM 369 from Rome, and CIMRM 1773 and 1775 from Pannonia.[40]
Some scholars identify the lion-man as Aion, or Zurvan, or Cronus, or Chronos, while others assert that it is a version of the Zoroastrian Ahriman or Vedic Aryaman.[41] Although the exact identity of the lion-headed figure is debated by scholars, it is largely agreed that the god is associated with time and seasonal change.[42]
Rituals and worship
According to M.J. Vermaseren and C.C. van Essen, the Mithraic New Year and the birthday of Mithras was on December 25.[l][m] However, Beck disagrees strongly.[45] Clauss states:
"the Mithraic Mysteries had no public ceremonies of its own. The festival of Natalis Invicti, held on 25 December, was a general festival of the Sun, and by no means specific to the Mysteries of Mithras."[46]
Mithraic initiates were required to swear an oath of secrecy and dedication,[47] and some grade rituals involved the recital of a catechism, wherein the initiate was asked a series of questions pertaining to the initiation symbolism and had to reply with specific answers. An example of such a catechism, apparently pertaining to the Leo grade, was discovered in a fragmentary Egyptian papyrus (Papyrus Berolinensis 21196),[47][48] and reads:
Verso
[…] He will say: 'Where […]?'
'[…] is he at a loss there?' Say: '[…]'
[…] Say: 'Night'. He will say: 'Where […]?'
[…] Say: 'All things […]'
'[…] are you called?' Say: 'Because of the summery […]'
[…] having become […] he/it has the fiery ones
'[…] did you receive?' Say: 'In a pit'. He will say: 'Where is your […]?'
'[…] [in the] Leonteion.' He will say: 'Will you gird […]?'
'[…] death'. He will say: 'Why, having girded yourself, […]?'
[…] this [has?] four tassels.
Recto
Very sharp and […]
[…] much. He will say: '[…]?'
'[…] of the hot and cold'. He will say: '[…]?'
'[…] red […] linen'. He will say: 'Why?' Say:
[…] red border; the linen, however, […]
'[…] has been wrapped?' Say: 'The savior's […]'
He will say: 'Who is the father?' Say: 'The one who [begets] everything […]'
[He will say: 'How] did you become a Leo?' Say: 'By the […] of the father […]'
Say: 'Drink and food'. He will say: '[…]?'
[…] in the seven-[…]
Mithraic relief with original colors (reconstitution), c. 140 ce–160 ce; from Argentoratum. Strasbourg Archaeological Museum.
Almost no Mithraic scripture or first-hand account of its highly secret rituals survives;[25] with the exception of the aforementioned oath and catechism, and the document known as the Mithras Liturgy, from 4th century Egypt, whose status as a Mithraist text has been questioned by scholars including Franz Cumont.[n][49] The walls of mithraea were commonly whitewashed, and where this survives it tends to carry extensive repositories of graffiti; and these, together with inscriptions on Mithraic monuments, form the main source for Mithraic texts.[50]
Nevertheless, it is clear from the archaeology of numerous mithraea that most rituals were associated with feasting – as eating utensils and food residues are almost invariably found. These tend to include both animal bones and also very large quantities of fruit residues.[4](p 115) The presence of large amounts of cherry-stones in particular would tend to confirm mid-summer (late June, early July) as a season especially associated with Mithraic festivities. The Virunum album, in the form of an inscribed bronze plaque, records a Mithraic festival of commemoration as taking place on 26 June 184. Beck argues that religious celebrations on this date are indicative of special significance being given to the summer solstice; but this time of the year coincides with ancient recognition of the solar maximum at midsummer, whilst iconographically identical holidays such as Litha, Saint John's Eve, and Jāņi are observed also.
For their feasts, Mithraic initiates reclined on stone benches arranged along the longer sides of the mithraeum – typically there might be room for 15 to 30 diners, but very rarely many more than 40 men.[4](p 43) Counterpart dining rooms, or triclinia, were to be found above ground in the precincts of almost any temple or religious sanctuary in the Roman empire, and such rooms were commonly used for their regular feasts by Roman 'clubs', or collegia. Mithraic feasts probably performed a very similar function for Mithraists as the collegia did for those entitled to join them; indeed, since qualification for Roman collegia tended to be restricted to particular families, localities or traditional trades, Mithraism may have functioned in part as providing clubs for the unclubbed.[51] However, the size of the mithraeum is not necessarily an indication of the size of the congregation.[30](pp 12, 36)
Each mithraeum had several altars at the further end, underneath the representation of the tauroctony, and also commonly contained considerable numbers of subsidiary altars, both in the main mithraeum chamber and in the ante-chamber or narthex.[4](p 49) These altars, which are of the standard Roman pattern, each carry a named dedicatory inscription from a particular initiate, who dedicated the altar to Mithras "in fulfillment of his vow", in gratitude for favours received. Burned residues of animal entrails are commonly found on the main altars indicating regular sacrificial use. However, mithraea do not commonly appear to have been provided with facilities for ritual slaughter of sacrificial animals (a highly specialised function in Roman religion), and it may be presumed that a mithraeum would have made arrangements for this service to be provided for them in co-operation with the professional victimarius[52] of the civic cult. Prayers were addressed to the Sun three times a day, and Sunday was especially sacred.[53]
It is doubtful whether Mithraism had a monolithic and internally consistent doctrine.[54] It may have varied from location to location.[55] However, the iconography is relatively coherent.[29] It had no predominant sanctuary or cultic centre; and, although each mithraeum had its own officers and functionaries, there was no central supervisory authority. In some mithraea, such as that at Dura Europos, wall paintings depict prophets carrying scrolls,[56] but no named Mithraic sages are known, nor does any reference give the title of any Mithraic scripture or teaching. It is known that initiates could transfer with their grades from one Mithraeum to another.[4](p 139)
Mithraeum
See also: Mithraeum
A mithraeum found in the ruins of Ostia Antica, Italy.
Temples of Mithras are sunk below ground, windowless, and very distinctive. In cities, the basement of an apartment block might be converted; elsewhere they might be excavated and vaulted over, or converted from a natural cave. Mithraic temples are common in the empire; although unevenly distributed, with considerable numbers found in Rome, Ostia, Numidia, Dalmatia, Britain and along the Rhine/Danube frontier, while being somewhat less common in Greece, Egypt, and Syria.[4](pp 26–27) According to Walter Burkert, the secret character of Mithraic rituals meant that Mithraism could only be practiced within a Mithraeum.[57] Some new finds at Tienen show evidence of large-scale feasting and suggest that the mystery religion may not have been as secretive as was generally believed.[o]
For the most part, mithraea tend to be small, externally undistinguished, and cheaply constructed; the cult generally preferring to create a new centre rather than expand an existing one. The mithraeum represented the cave to which Mithras carried and then killed the bull; and where stone vaulting could not be afforded, the effect would be imitated with lath and plaster. They are commonly located close to springs or streams; fresh water appears to have been required for some Mithraic rituals, and a basin is often incorporated into the structure.[4](p 73) There is usually a narthex or ante-chamber at the entrance, and often other ancillary rooms for storage and the preparation of food. The extant mithraea present us with actual physical remains of the architectural structures of the sacred spaces of the Mithraic cult. Mithraeum is a modern coinage and mithraists referred to their sacred structures as speleum or antrum (cave), crypta (underground hallway or corridor), fanum (sacred or holy place), or even templum (a temple or a sacred space).[p]
In their basic form, mithraea were entirely different from the temples and shrines of other cults. In the standard pattern of Roman religious precincts, the temple building functioned as a house for the god, who was intended to be able to view, through the opened doors and columnar portico, sacrificial worship being offered on an altar set in an open courtyard—potentially accessible not only to initiates of the cult, but also to colitores or non-initiated worshippers.[58] Mithraea were the antithesis of this.[59]
Degrees of initiation
In the Suda under the entry Mithras, it states that “No one was permitted to be initiated into them (the mysteries of Mithras), until he should show himself holy and steadfast by undergoing several graduated tests.”[60] Gregory Nazianzen refers to the “tests in the mysteries of Mithras”.[61]
There were seven grades of initiation into Mithraism, which are listed by St. Jerome.[62] Manfred Clauss states that the number of grades, seven, must be connected to the planets. A mosaic in the Mithraeum of Felicissimus, Ostia Antica depicts these grades, with symbolic emblems that are connected either to the grades or are symbols of the planets. The grades also have an inscription beside them commending each grade into the protection of the different planetary gods.[4](pp 132–133) In ascending order of importance, the initiatory grades were:[4](pp 133–138)
GradeNameSymbolsPlanet or
tutelary
deity
1st
Corax, Corux, or Corvex
(raven or crow)Beaker, caduceusMercury
2nd
Nymphus, Nymphobus
(bridegroom)Lamp, hand bell, veil, circlet or diademVenus
3rd
Miles
(soldier)Pouch, helmet, lance, drum, belt, breastplateMars
4th
Leo
(lion)Batillum, sistrum, laurel wreath, thunderboltsJupiter
5th
Perses
(Persian)Hooked sword, Phrygian cap, sickle,
crescent moon, stars, sling, pouchLuna
6th
Heliodromus
(sun-runner)Torch, images of Helios, whip, robesSol
7th
Pater
(father)Patera, mitre, shepherd's staff, garnet or
ruby ring, chasuble or cape, elaborate jewel-
encrusted robes, with metallic threadsSaturn
Spade, sistrum, lightning bolt
Sword, crescent moon, star, sickle
Torch, crown, whip
Patera, rod, Phrygian cap, sickle
Elsewhere, as at Dura-Europos, Mithraic graffiti survive giving membership lists, in which initiates of a mithraeum are named with their Mithraic grades. At Virunum, the membership list or album sacratorum was maintained as an inscribed plaque, updated year by year as new members were initiated. By cross-referencing these lists it is possible to track some initiates from one mithraeum to another; and also speculatively to identify Mithraic initiates with persons on other contemporary lists such as military service rolls and lists of devotees of non-Mithraic religious sanctuaries. Names of initiates are also found in the dedication inscriptions of altars and other cult objects. Clauss noted in 1990 that overall, only about 14% of Mithraic names inscribed before 250 ce identify the initiate's grade – and hence questioned the traditional view that all initiates belonged to one of the seven grades.[63] Clauss argues that the grades represented a distinct class of priests, sacerdotes. Gordon maintains the former theory of Merkelbach and others, especially noting such examples as Dura where all names are associated with a Mithraic grade. Some scholars maintain that practice may have differed over time, or from one Mithraeum to another.
The highest grade, pater, is by far the most common one found on dedications and inscriptions – and it would appear not to have been unusual for a mithraeum to have several men with this grade. The form pater patrum (father of fathers) is often found, which appears to indicate the pater with primary status. There are several examples of persons, commonly those of higher social status, joining a mithraeum with the status pater – especially in Rome during the 'pagan revival' of the 4th century. It has been suggested that some mithraea may have awarded honorary pater status to sympathetic dignitaries.[64]
The initiate into each grade appears to have been required to undertake a specific ordeal or test,[4](p 103) involving exposure to heat, cold or threatened peril. An 'ordeal pit', dating to the early 3rd century, has been identified in the mithraeum at Carrawburgh. Accounts of the cruelty of the emperor Commodus describes his amusing himself by enacting Mithraic initiation ordeals in homicidal form. By the later 3rd century, the enacted trials appear to have been abated in rigor, as 'ordeal pits' were floored over.
Admission into the community was completed with a handshake with the pater, just as Mithras and Sol shook hands. The initiates were thus referred to as syndexioi (those united by the handshake). The term is used in an inscription by Proficentius[b] and derided by Firmicus Maternus in De errore profanarum religionum,[65] a 4th century Christian work attacking paganism.[66] In ancient Iran, taking the right hand was the traditional way of concluding a treaty or signifying some solemn understanding between two parties.[67]
Ritual re-enactments
Reconstruction of a mithraeum with a mosaic depicting the grades of initiation
Activities of the most prominent deities in Mithraic scenes, Sol and Mithras, were imitated in rituals by the two most senior officers in the cult's hierarchy, the Pater and the Heliodromus.[68] The initiates held a sacramental banquet, replicating the feast of Mithras and Sol.[68]
Reliefs on a cup found in Mainz[69][70] appear to depict a Mithraic initiation. On the cup, the initiate is depicted as being led into a location where a Pater would be seated in the guise of Mithras with a drawn bow. Accompanying the initiate is a mystagogue, who explains the symbolism and theology to the initiate. The Rite is thought to re-enact what has come to be called the ‘Water Miracle’, in which Mithras fires a bolt into a rock, and from the rock now spouts water.
Roger Beck has hypothesized a third processional Mithraic ritual, based on the Mainz cup and Porphyrys. This scene, called ‘Procession of the Sun-Runner’, shows the Heliodromus escorted by two figures representing Cautes and Cautopates (see below) and preceded by an initiate of the grade Miles leading a ritual enactment of the solar journey around the mithraeum, which was intended to represent the cosmos.[71]
Consequently, it has been argued that most Mithraic rituals involved a re-enactment by the initiates of episodes in the Mithras narrative,[4](pp 62–101) a narrative whose main elements were: birth from the rock, striking water from stone with an arrow shot, the killing of the bull, Sol's submission to Mithras, Mithras and Sol feasting on the bull, the ascent of Mithras to heaven in a chariot. A noticeable feature of this narrative (and of its regular depiction in surviving sets of relief carvings) is the absence of female personages (the sole exception being Luna watching the tauroctony in the upper corner opposite Helios).[4](p 33)
Membership
Another dedication to Mithras by legionaries of Legio II Herculia has been excavated at Sitifis (modern Setif in Algeria), so the unit or a subunit must have been transferred at least once.
Only male names appear in surviving inscribed membership lists. Historians including Cumont and Richard Gordon have concluded that the cult was for men only.[72][73]
The ancient scholar Porphyry refers to female initiates in Mithraic rites.[2] However, the early 20th-century historian A. S. Geden writes that this may be due to a misunderstanding.[2] According to Geden, while the participation of women in the ritual was not unknown in the Eastern cults, the predominant military influence in Mithraism makes it unlikely in this instance.[2] It has recently been suggested by David Jonathan that "Women were involved with Mithraic groups in at least some locations of the empire."[74]
Soldiers were strongly represented amongst Mithraists, and also merchants, customs officials and minor bureaucrats. Few, if any, initiates came from leading aristocratic or senatorial families until the 'pagan revival' of the mid-4th century; but there were always considerable numbers of freedmen and slaves.[4](p 39)
Ethics
Clauss suggests that a statement by Porphyry, that people initiated into the Lion grade must keep their hands pure from everything that brings pain and harm and is impure, means that moral demands were made upon members of congregations.[75] A passage in the Caesares of Julian the Apostate refers to "commandments of Mithras".[76] Tertullian, in his treatise "On the Military Crown" records that Mithraists in the army were officially excused from wearing celebratory coronets on the basis of the Mithraic initiation ritual that included refusing a proffered crown, because "their only crown was Mithras".[77]
History and development
Mithras before the Roman Mysteries
Mithras-Helios, with solar rays and in Iranian dress,[78] with Antiochus I of Commagene. (Mt. Nemrut, 1st Century bce)
According to the archaeologist Maarten Vermaseren, 1st century bce evidence from Commagene demonstrates the "reverence paid to Mithras" but does not refer to "the mysteries".[q] In the colossal statuary erected by King Antiochus I (69–34 BCE) at Mount Nemrut, Mithras is shown beardless, wearing a Phrygian cap[3][80] (or the similar headdress, Persian tiara), in Iranian (Parthian) clothing,[78] and was originally seated on a throne alongside other deities and the king himself.[81] On the back of the thrones there is an inscription in Greek, which includes the name Apollo Mithras Helios in the genitive case (Ἀπόλλωνος Μίθρου Ἡλίου).[82] Vermaseren also reports about a Mithras cult in 3rd century bce. Fayum.[83] R.D. Barnett has argued that the royal seal of King Saussatar of Mitanni from c. 1450 bce. depicts a tauroctonous Mithras.[84]
Beginnings of Roman Mithraism
The origins and spread of the Mysteries have been intensely debated among scholars and there are radically differing views on these issues.[85] According to Clauss, mysteries of Mithras were not practiced until the 1st century ce.[4] According to Ulansey, the earliest evidence for the Mithraic mysteries places their appearance in the middle of the 1st century bce: The historian Plutarch says that in 67 bce the pirates of Cilicia (a province on the southeastern coast of Asia Minor) were practicing "secret rites" of Mithras.[86] However, according to Daniels, whether any of this relates to the origins of the mysteries is unclear.[r] The unique underground temples or mithraea appear suddenly in the archaeology in the last quarter of the 1st century ce.[88]
Earliest archaeology
Inscriptions and monuments related to the Mithraic Mysteries are catalogued in a two volume work by Maarten J. Vermaseren, the Corpus Inscriptionum et Monumentorum Religionis Mithriacae (or CIMRM).[89] The earliest monument showing Mithras slaying the bull is thought to be CIMRM 593, found in Rome. There is no date, but the inscription tells us that it was dedicated by a certain Alcimus, steward of T. Claudius Livianus. Vermaseren and Gordon believe that this Livianus is a certain Livianus who was commander of the Praetorian guard in 101 ce, which would give an earliest date of 98–99 ce.[90]
Votive altar from Alba Iulia in present-day Romania, dedicated to Invicto Mythrae in fulfillment of a vow (votum)
Five small terracotta plaques of a figure holding a knife over a bull have been excavated near Kerch in the Crimea, dated by Beskow and Clauss to the second half of the 1st century bce,[91] and by Beck to 50 bce–50 ce. These may be the earliest tauroctonies, if they are accepted to be a depiction of Mithras.[s] The bull-slaying figure wears a Phrygian cap, but is described by Beck and Beskow as otherwise unlike standard depictions of the tauroctony. Another reason for not connecting these artifacts with the Mithraic Mysteries is that the first of these plaques was found in a woman's tomb.[t]
An altar or block from near SS. Pietro e Marcellino on the Esquiline in Rome was inscribed with a bilingual inscription by an Imperial freedman named T. Flavius Hyginus, probably between 80–100 ce. It is dedicated to Sol Invictus Mithras.[u]
CIMRM 2268 is a broken base or altar from Novae/Steklen in Moesia Inferior, dated 100 ce, showing Cautes and Cautopates.
Other early archaeology includes the Greek inscription from Venosia by Sagaris actor probably from 100–150 ce; the Sidon cippus dedicated by Theodotus priest of Mithras to Asclepius, 140–141 ce; and the earliest military inscription, by C. Sacidius Barbarus, centurion of XV Apollinaris, from the bank of the Danube at Carnuntum, probably before 114 ce.[95]
According to C.M.Daniels, the Carnuntum inscription is the earliest Mithraic dedication from the Danube region, which along with Italy is one of the two regions where Mithraism first struck root.[v] The earliest dateable mithraeum outside Rome dates from 148 ce.[w] The Mithraeum at Caesarea Maritima is the only one in Palestine and the date is inferred.[x]
Earliest cult locations
According to Roger Beck, the attested locations of the Roman cult in the earliest phase (c. 80-120 ce) are as follows:[99]
Mithraea datable from pottery
Nida/Heddemheim III (Germania Sup.)
Mogontiacum (Germania Sup.)
Pons Aeni (Noricum)
Caesarea Maritima (Judaea)
Datable dedications
Nida/Heddernheim I (Germania Sup.) (CIMRM 1091/2, 1098)
Carnuntum III (Pannonia Sup.) (CIMRM 1718)
Novae (Moesia Inf.) (CIMRM 2268/9)
Oescus (Moesia Inf.)(CIMRM 2250)
Rome(CIMRM 362, 593/4)
Classical literature about Mithras and the Mysteries
Mithras and the Bull: This fresco from the mithraeum at Marino, Italy (third century) shows the tauroctony and the celestial lining of Mithras' cape.
According to Boyce, the earliest literary references to the mysteries are by the Latin poet Statius, about 80 ce, and Plutarch (c. 100 CE).[100]
Statius
The Thebaid (c. 80 ce[9](p 29) ) an epic poem by Statius, pictures Mithras in a cave, wrestling with something that has horns.[101] The context is a prayer to the god Phoebus.[102] The cave is described as persei, which in this context is usually translated Persian; however, according to the translator J. H. Mozley it literally means Persean, referring to Perses, the son of Perseus and Andromeda,[9](p 29) this Perses being the ancestor of the Persians according to Greek legend.[9](pp 27–29)
Justin Martyr
Writing in approximately 145 ce, the early Christian apologist Justin Martyr charges the cult of Mithras with imitating the Christian communion,
Which the wicked devils have imitated in the mysteries of Mithras, commanding the same things to be done. For, that bread and a cup of water are placed, with certain incantations, in the mystic rites of one who is being initiated, you either know or can learn.[103]
Plutarch
The Greek biographer Plutarch (46–127 ce) says that "secret mysteries ... of Mithras" were practiced by the pirates of Cilicia, the coastal province in the southeast of Anatolia, who were active in the 1st century bce: "They likewise offered strange sacrifices; those of Olympus I mean; and they celebrated certain secret mysteries, among which those of Mithras continue to this day, being originally instituted by them."[104] He mentions that the pirates were especially active during the Mithridatic wars (between the Roman Republic and King Mithridates VI of Pontus) in which they supported the king.[104] The association between Mithridates and the pirates is also mentioned by the ancient historian Appian.[105] The 4th century commentary on Vergil by Servius says that Pompey settled some of these pirates in Calabria in southern Italy.[106]
Dio Cassius
The historian Dio Cassius (2nd to 3rd century ce) tells how the name of Mithras was spoken during the state visit to Rome of Tiridates I of Armenia, during the reign of Nero. (Tiridates was the son of Vonones II of Parthia, and his coronation by Nero in 66 ce confirmed the end of a war between Parthia and Rome.) Dio Cassius writes that Tiridates, as he was about to receive his crown, told the Roman emperor that he revered him "as Mithras".[107] Roger Beck thinks it possible that this episode contributed to the emergence of Mithraism as a popular religion in Rome.[108]
Porphyry
Mosaic (1st century ce) depicting Mithras emerging from his cave and flanked by Cautes and Cautopates (Walters Art Museum)
The philosopher Porphyry (3rd–4th century ce) gives an account of the origins of the Mysteries in his work De antro nympharum (The Cave of the Nymphs).[109] Citing Eubulus as his source, Porphyry writes that the original temple of Mithras was a natural cave, containing fountains, which Zoroaster found in the mountains of Persia. To Zoroaster, this cave was an image of the whole world, so he consecrated it to Mithras, the creator of the world. Later in the same work, Porphyry links Mithras and the bull with planets and star-signs: Mithras himself is associated with the sign of Aries and the planet Mars, while the bull is associated with Venus.[110]
Porphyry is writing close to the demise of the cult, and Robert Turcan has challenged the idea that Porphyry's statements about Mithraism are accurate. His case is that far from representing what Mithraists believed, they are merely representations by the Neoplatonists of what it suited them in the late 4th century to read into the mysteries.[111] However, Merkelbach and Beck believe that Porphyry’s work "is in fact thoroughly coloured with the doctrines of the Mysteries".[112] Beck holds that classical scholars have neglected Porphyry’s evidence and have taken an unnecessarily skeptical view of Porphyry.[113] According to Beck, Porphyry's De antro is the only clear text from antiquity which tells us about the intent of the Mithraic Mysteries and how that intent was realized.[114] David Ulansey finds it important that Porphyry "confirms ... that astral conceptions played an important role in Mithraism."[9](p 18)
Mithras Liturgy
In later antiquity, the Greek name of Mithras (Μίθρας ) occurs in the text known as the "Mithras Liturgy", a part of the Paris Greek Magical Papyrus (Paris Bibliothèque Nationale Suppl. gr. 574); here Mithras is given the epithet "the great god", and is identified with the sun god Helios.[115][116] There have been different views among scholars as to whether this text is an expression of Mithraism as such. Franz Cumont argued that it isn’t;[117] Marvin Meyer thinks it is;[118] while Hans Dieter Betz sees it as a synthesis of Greek, Egyptian, and Mithraic traditions.[119][120]
Modern debate about origins
Cumont's hypothesis: from Persian state religion
Augustan-era intaglio depicting a tauroctony (Walters Art Museum)
4th-century relief of the investiture of the Sasanian king Ardashir II. Mithra stands on a lotus flower on the left holding a barsom.[78]
Scholarship on Mithras begins with Franz Cumont, who published a two volume collection of source texts and images of monuments in French in 1894-1900, Textes et monuments figurés relatifs aux mystères de Mithra [French: Texts and Illustrated Monuments Relating to the Mysteries of Mithra].[121] An English translation of part of this work was published in 1903, with the title The Mysteries of Mithra.[122] Cumont’s hypothesis, as the author summarizes it in the first 32 pages of his book, was that the Roman religion was "the Roman form of Mazdaism",[123] the Persian state religion, disseminated from the East. He identified the ancient Aryan deity who appears in Persian literature as Mithras with the Hindu god Mitra of the Vedic hymns.[124] According to Cumont, the god Mithra came to Rome "accompanied by a large representation of the Mazdean Pantheon".[125] Cumont considers that while the tradition "underwent some modification in the Occident ... the alterations that it suffered were largely superficial".[126]
Criticisms and reassessments of Cumont
Cumont's theories came in for severe criticism from John R. Hinnells and R.L. Gordon at the First International Congress of Mithraic Studies held in 1971.[y] John Hinnells was unwilling to reject entirely the idea of Iranian origin,[127] but wrote: "we must now conclude that his reconstruction simply will not stand. It receives no support from the Iranian material and is in fact in conflict with the ideas of that tradition as they are represented in the extant texts. Above all, it is a theoretical reconstruction which does not accord with the actual Roman iconography."[z] He discussed Cumont’s reconstruction of the bull-slaying scene and stated "that the portrayal of Mithras given by Cumont is not merely unsupported by Iranian texts but is actually in serious conflict with known Iranian theology."[aa] Another paper by R.L. Gordon argued that Cumont severely distorted the available evidence by forcing the material to conform to his predetermined model of Zoroastrian origins. Gordon suggested that the theory of Persian origins was completely invalid and that the Mithraic mysteries in the West were an entirely new creation.[129]
A similar view has been expressed by Luther H. Martin: "Apart from the name of the god himself, in other words, Mithraism seems to have developed largely in and is, therefore, best understood from the context of Roman culture."[130](p xiv)
However, according to Hopfe, "All theories of the origin of Mithraism acknowledge a connection, however vague, to the Mithra/Mitra figure of ancient Aryan religion."[19] Reporting on the Second International Congress of Mithraic Studies, 1975, Ugo Bianchi says that although he welcomes "the tendency to question in historical terms the relations between Eastern and Western Mithraism", it "should not mean obliterating what was clear to the Romans themselves, that Mithras was a 'Persian' (in wider perspective: an Indo-Iranian) god."[131]
Boyce states that "no satisfactory evidence has yet been adduced to show that, before Zoroaster, the concept of a supreme god existed among the Iranians, or that among them Mithra – or any other divinity – ever enjoyed a separate cult of his or her own outside either their ancient or their Zoroastrian pantheons."[132] However, she also says that although recent studies have minimized the Iranizing aspects of the self-consciously Persian religion "at least in the form which it attained under the Roman Empire", the name Mithras is enough to show "that this aspect is of some importance". She also says that "the Persian affiliation of the Mysteries is acknowledged in the earliest literary references to them."[24]
Beck tells us that since the 1970s scholars have generally rejected Cumont, but adds that recent theories about how Zoroastrianism was during the period bce now make some new form of Cumont's east-west transfer possible.[133] He says that
... an indubitable residuum of things Persian in the Mysteries and a better knowledge of what constituted actual Mazdaism have allowed modern scholars to postulate for Roman Mithraism a continuing Iranian theology. This indeed is the main line of Mithraic scholarship, the Cumontian model which subsequent scholars accept, modify, or reject. For the transmission of Iranian doctrine from East to West, Cumont postulated a plausible, if hypothetical, intermediary: the Magusaeans of the Iranian diaspora in Anatolia. More problematic – and never properly addressed by Cumont or his successors – is how real-life Roman Mithraists subsequently maintained a quite complex and sophisticated Iranian theology behind an occidental facade. Other than the images at Dura of the two 'magi' with scrolls, there is no direct and explicit evidence for the carriers of such doctrines. ... Up to a point, Cumont’s Iranian paradigm, especially in Turcan’s modified form, is certainly plausible.[134][135][136]
He also says that "the old Cumontian model of formation in, and diffusion from, Anatolia ... is by no means dead – nor should it be."[137]
Chassis n° 4607
Les Grandes Marques du Monde au Grand Palais 2020
Bonhams
Parijs - Paris
Frankrijk - France
February 2020
Estimated : € 1.050.000 - 1.400.000
Sold for € 870.000
All the sophistication of Ettore Bugatti's famously thoughtful design ethic is embodied within this wonderfully well-presented ex-works racing Bugatti Type 39, as manufactured at the charismatic Molsheim factory in 1925...
Mr Bugatti built his reputation upon creating rapid and reliable motor cars endowed with competitively powerful engines in light, compact, and nimble chassis. Above all he clearly grasped the over-riding importance of a high power-to-weight ratio in contrast to some other quality car constructors to whom overall weight seemed irrelevant compared to achieving the highest possible power not necessarily out there on the open road, nor race circuit, but in the engine test-house...
While combining in so many of his sporting models high power, minimal mass and a good-handling, driveable chassis, Ettore Bugatti also manufactured most of them in sufficient numbers to attract, and to satisfy, broad demand from a moneyed and dashingly competition-minded market.
In 1924 Mr Bugatti had launched his 2-litre Type 35 design, and by 1925 the Type 39 followed to comply with maximum 1500cc Voiturette racing regulations – effectively the Formula 2 of the time. Use of a short-stroke crankshaft in the straight-8 cylinder engine provided bore and stroke measurements of 60mm x 66mm, displacing 1493cc. Possibly Mr Bugatti was anticipating the overall Grand Prix capacity limit rule change for 1926-27 which would cut maximum permitted engine capacity from 2-litres to 1½.
The Type 39s made their debut in the Grand Prix de Tourisme at Montlhéry south of Paris, France, in June 1925. The four new works team cars promptly finished 1-2-3-4 in their class, and in 3rd place was '4607' now offered here, driven by Giulio Foresti.
Of course the pinnacle of road racing competition during the 1920s was the Grand Prix arena, and when the1925 Italian Grand Prix at Monza Autodrome was run concurrently with the 1500cc Gran Premio delle Vetturette the Bugatti company contested it with a full team of five Type 39s.
The race was run over 80 laps of the Milanese Autodrome's 10km combined road and high-speed track. Bugatti's team captain was Bartolomeo 'Meo' Costantini, teamed to drive with Jules Goux, Pierre de Vizcaya, Count Carlo Masetti and Count Aymo Maggi, who was replacing Ferdinand de Vizcaya, the Spanish banker – and backer of the Bugatti company - who arrived late from Barcelona. And when Count Masetti had to stand down due to a leg injury, it was Giulio Foresti who took his place to drive '4607' in the long race...
As the Gran Premio developed, the Bugattis not only dominated the Voiturette category but also climbed the leader board amongst the full 2-litre Grand Prix cars. Finally – after 5hrs 44mins 40.91secs to be precise (the Italian lap-scorers immensely proud of their then-new hundredth-second timing equipment) the Gran Premio delle Vetturette was decided with Costantini's Bugatti Type 39 winning from the sister cars of Ferdinand de Vizcaya and Giulio Foresti, respectively 2nd and 3rd. Pierre de Vizcaya's Type 39 placed fourth while Jules Goux's engine had failed after 64 of the 80 laps. Overall, the Bugatti Type 39s had proved so fast and reliable that Costantini finished the Grand Prix 3rd overall, Ferdinand de Vizcaya 6th and Foresti in '4607' now offered here, 7th.
A record survives of this car and its sister '4604' both being sold soon after to the British importer, Colonel Sorel in London, and it is thought that Giulio Foresti – an accomplished 'wheeler-dealer' in his own right – then found an eager buyer for the pair – one A.V.Turner - in Australia, although alternative reference suggests that '4607' was imported there by prominent Vauxhall driver Boyd Edkins.
On June 19, 1926, the car certainly appeared upon Sydney's high-banked Maroubra Speedway driven by a friend and colleague of Edkins, Dick Clarke. While the Type 39s – or 'Monzas' as they became known in Australia – became particularly noted for their wonderfully high-pitched exhaust note, they were not well-suited to Maroubra, since they were over-geared for the tight Speedway. Clarke was still able to win a heat there on September 4, 1926, and '4607' lapped the speedbowl at 86mph. At Penrith Clarke won a heat and a semi-final before taking 2nd and 3rd places in two further events. Then back at Maroubra for the January, 1927 meeting Clarke won two heats and took 2nd in a final.
The car later passed to 20-year-old Sid Cox, son of a wealthy building magnate. The young man also had a Bugatti Type 40 which he used as a tender when he took '4607' to Philip Island, Melbourne, Victoria, to race in the 1928 Australian Grand Prix. With friend Ken McKinney alongside him Sid Cox practised for the great race only for bronze filings to be found in the oil filter, a sign that the power unit's bronze roller-bearing cages were failing. On race day, sure enough, '4607's engine broke a connecting rod.
A new crankcase and sump were bought for the car, but the old sump was used in the rebuild, mated to the new crankcase. Cox then sold '4607' to poster-artist Reg St John who became noted for maintaining the Bugatti in utterly pristine, highly polished and well-cherished condition. He reportedly used it to parade up and down Swanston Street, Melbourne, admiring his reflection in the shop windows. And why not?
However, Australian racer Carl Junker then acquired the car and – with Reg Nutt as his riding mechanic – he entered it in the 1931 Australian GP again at Philip Island. They were running second behind Hope Bartlett's Bugatti Type 37A on the penultimate lap when its engine failed, Junker and Nutt joyously inheriting outright Grand Prix victory for '4607'. Ernie Nutt had tuned the car and he would recall that Junker used 7,000rpm through the gears, '4607' achieving 55mph in 1st, 72mph in 2nd and 103mph in 3rd.
Racing again in the 1932 Australian GP, Junker improved his lap times but fell victim to spark-plug trouble which meant he could finish only 5th. Completing the long race ahead of him that day was Merton Wreford in his Brescia Bugatti, and he later bought '4607' from Junker, reputedly after it had suffered another engine failure.
Mert Wreford fixed the problem and then entered the Type 39 in the 1933 Australian GP in which he found himself confronted by Carl Junker in the sister 1925 Bugatti 'Monza' – chassis '4604'. These two Type 39s proved to be the class of that Grand Prix field and after Junker's engine blew-up, Wreford moved into the lead, only for '4607's engine to fail on the third-last lap. Evidently the two broken 'Monzas' were left parked together at trackside – but Mert Wreford had recorded the race's fastest lap.
A new owner was then found for '4607' in specialist Jack Day of the Ajax Pump Works who fitted '4607' with his own 'Day' supercharger, driven from the crankshaft nose. He made his debut with the supercharged car in the August, 1933, Frankston hill-climb. But when the forced-induction experiment disappointed, Jack Day removed the Bugatti engine and fitted instead a Ford V8. This Type 39 thus became the first Australian special to be powered by a 'black iron' American Ford V8. The resultant Day Special proved very successful through 1936, setting new hill-climb records at Mitcham and Rob Roy. Reg Nutt raced the car in monoposto form at Phillip Island, 1937, and in the South Australian GP in 1938.
After World War 2, Bondi Beach surf life-saver, water-skier and amateur wrestler 'Gelignite' Jack Murray bought '4607' in its Day Special form from Jack Day, the price £1,100.
'Gelignite Jack' would earn his nickname from blowing up rural dunnies with sticks of gelignite during the RedeX Round Australia Trials. Every man needs a hobby....
The car "was given the full Murray red paint and chrome treatment" and in it he set fastest time and finished 5th on handicap in the 1946 New South Wales GP at Bathurst. Returning there n 1947 he was tipped to win, but failed to finish. The car was clocked at 106mph. At the 1948 Bathurst 100 the Day Special was recorded at 117mph and placed 3rd on handicap in the over 1500cc class. Overheating often afflicted the car in its Ford V8-engined form, but 'Gelignite Jack' continued to campaign the ageing special into 1954 when he was an amazing 4th fastest and 7th on handicap at the Bathurst Easter Meeting.
Subsequently the car survived in storage at Murray's Bondi garage, until he sold it – accompanied by a mass of related Bugatti components – to marque enthusiast Ted Lobb. While the original Type 39 chassis survived within the Day Special, Ted Lobb also had its original engine 'No 7' – which was fitted in his sister car '4604' – so now he also owned the blown-up engine 'No 6' – originally in '4604' – from Jack Day. Around 1974, Ted Lobb sold the Day Special and engine 'No 6' plus numerous other related Bugatti parts to Bob King, who later decided to rebuild '4607' to its 1925 Italian Grand Prix 'Monza' form.
He would later write: "The monumental rebuild was completed in the early 1980s, using a Type 39 crankshaft which came from Lance Dixon's Type 51A '4847'. The crankshaft – numbered '27' – was in perfect ex-factory condition, all parts carrying matching factory numbers. A gearbox casing was obtained in England from Ian Preston. The differential is Type 38, suitably altered, from the Nuttbug (BC4)". He concluded "'4607' was sold to Art Valdez of California in 1986...".
This restored Bugatti Type 39 was then shipped to Bangkok, Thailand, in time for new owner Art Valdez to drive it in the December 5, 1987, Prince 'Bira' commemorative Bangkok Grand Prix meeting. Anton Perera reported in 'The Nation' newspaper: "There in the parade was the oldest car of them all, a Bugatti Type 39 – all of 62 years with a 1493cc engine. And didn't the smooth engine purr with noise, indicating that it could be a danger on the 2.5km Pattaya Circuit next week...Yes, the 1931 Australian Grand Prix winner looked in perfectly good trim and ready to turn on the speed..."
John Fitzpatrick of the Australian Bugatti Register later reported how at Pattaya, where the Vintage race "ended an absolutely magical fortnight...Art Valdez was euphoric after his first race in a GP Bugatti...as Neil Corner wrote recently '...To have your GP Bugatti motoring well is to live with the gods...'".
The car was preserved within Mr Valdez's Californian ownership until in April 1993 he telephoned former owner Bob King to declare his intention to sell it. However, it was not until 2017 that the car subsequently passed from Art Valdez into the ownership of the present vendor.
Today '4607' presents very well indeed, having recently benefited from a mechanical inspection, strip-down and rebuilt by Tony Ditheridge's renowned Hawker Racing concern in Milden, Suffolk, England. This work included thorough cleaning and re-commissioning - even to the extent of fitting new valve springs. This ex-works Bugatti warhorse was then unleashed successor on the open road. Now, subject to the usual inspections and personal set-up adjustments, '4607' is poised for an active 2020 motoring season.
The car is accompanied by a comprehensive historical overview and inspection report compiled by the highly respected British Bugatti specialists David Sewell and Mark Morris.
In summary they confirm that "Type 39 chassis '4607' presents itself today as a recognised and well recorded example of the 8-cylinder GP Bugatti". They continue: "One key factor that must be recorded is that the major components are of Molsheim manufacture". The chassis frame is No 61 – while they report that the Molsheim lower (engine) crankcase is '7' ex-'4604' – the Molsheim upper (engine) crankcase is '114' – the Molsheim cambox 'No 7' – the Molsheim gearbox 'No 113' – the Molsheim gearbox lid No '856' – while the Molsheim rear axle centre casing has been modified from that of a touring car, ratio 12x54, 'No 284'.
So here BONHAMS is delighted to commend to the market this Bugatti Type 39 – the eminently useable (and potentially so enjoyable – and so raceable) winner of the 1931 Australian Grand Prix – and previously works driver Giulio Foresti's works team car, with third place in the 1925 Grand Prix de Tourism –third place in the 1925 Italian Gran Premio delle Vetturette at Monza – and 7th in the overall Italian Grand Prix, all so prominent within its history.
Just one decisive bid, and this fine example of Le Pur Sang – which such a jam-packed history on both road and track - could be yours...
Planet Stories / Magazin-Reihe
- William Morrison / Task of Kayin
- Gordon R. Dickson / The Man the Worlds Rejected
- Hayden Howard / The Ethic of the Assassin
- W. Bradford Martin / Spoilers of the Spaceways
- H. F. Cente / Sales Talk
- James McKimmey, Jr. / Where the Gods Decide
- Stanley Mullen / Gama Is Thee!
cover: Kelly Freas
Editor: Jack O'Sullivan
Love Romances Publishing / USA 1953
Reprint: Comic-Club NK 2010
ex libris MTP
An architect without aesthetic is an architect without ethic.
---
Massimiliano and Doriana Fuksas directed the Biennale of Venice 2000 with the title “Less Aesthetics, More Ethics”.
The urban transformation occurred in the last thirty years has no equal both in terms of dimension of the phenomenon and the size of the areas involved.
The first idea was to use the 2000 Biennial as a workshop for analyzing and trying to give an intelligible shape to the new planetary dimension of urban behaviours and transformations. The considerations, investigations and intuitions over the evolution of the cities took shape as a need for “something else”. “Something else” from architecture – whose troubled life we try to prolong every day – which we share our entire life with, and “something else” from successful architecture schemes: it was about recovering the awareness according to which the quality of architects and works was no longer enough. At such point, the 2000 Biennial edition had a main theme.
“CITIES: LESS AESTHETICS, MORE ETHICS”, the theme of the seventh Biennial of Architecture tries to communicate the deep unease of fast-transforming societies, where the data and reference points of an architect have utterly changed.
The exhibition, set at “Le Corderie”, draws the visitor’s attention to the “big” 280 X 5 metre screen whose images posit questions about megalopolis, areas contaminated by contradictions, conflicts, pollution, refugees’ dramatic condition, about new social aggregation centres like stations, airports and shopping centres, as well as a series of interviews with fifty architects.
For the first time, the Venice Biennial of Architecture uses simultaneously l’Arsenale, that is le Corderie, le Artiglierie and le Gaggiandre, in addition to i Giardini, the exhibition’s traditional location.
"All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence." ~Martin Luther King, Jr.
I first ran into Christa on the Deer Book Trail. She was working with the Youth Conservation Corps filling in some tread with crushed rock and gravel just above a newly built wooden staircase. It seemed, though, that wherever I turned in the park, I would run into her. …and in each place we crossed paths, she’d smile, quickly say hello, and quietly continue with her project.
I noted that Christa was an important teacher with the Youth Corps and ultimately with all of my questions. She’d bring one to a given spot to show firsthand example to accompany her explanation and also encourage getting hands dirty and ultimate comprehension through trial. Brilliant! …and while my overall understanding remains basic, I have a better grasp of trail building and maintenance thanks to Chirsta (and all the crew at Acadia).
When talking about Christa with the Trails Crew Superintendent he said, “Christa is usually the “quiet type” but don’t be fooled by that. She’s excellent asset to the team who shows independence, great work ethic and diligence.” I know Christa would be a bit embarrassed by this praise, but representing the crew member archetype, I think it’s important to highlight. The decency of hard work is evident through Christa. …and when leveraged through similar group effort, special things happen. Go, Christa, go!
Hasselblad 500C medium format SLR camera + Zeiss 80mm f/2.8 lens+ Kodak Professional Tri-X 400 black and white film
~Dan Grenier
2015 Artist in Residence
Schoodic Institute at Acadia National Park
As the solar megaprojects stake claim to pieces of our public land and develop them into parking lots of mirrors, another piece of our wilderness ethic is eroded.
The crusty, dry creosote shrublands dissappear. The diminuitive annuals that carpet the desert floor are memories. The lizards, tortoises, eagles are now homeless.
Please consider investing in distributed generation. Solar that utilizes existing infrastructure will be many times more efficient and green than any factory of mirrors we place in the desert.
Sonoran Desert
Spring 2010
Kyrgyz children near Karakul Lake on the Karakoram Highway between Tashkurgan and Kashgar.
Picture taken in August 2001.
"I like Cinderella, I really do. She has a good work ethic. I appreciate a good, hard-working gal. And she likes shoes. The fairy tale is all about the shoe at the end, and I'm a big shoe girl." (Amy Adams)
What can I say? I love shoe shots! Heaven knows I have enough of them on my stream! Kudos to all these wonderful photographers for their inspiring and creative work! Thank you for sharing your images with us. i love the whimsy in these shots!
1. Then Goldilocks said, "And this chair is too small!", 2. HBM!, 3. Bench Monday :::: Frilly Little Girl Style, 4. 346/365, 5. 233 of 365, 6. Southern Sounds, 7. Down in the woods, 8. Demi-Pointe 45/365, 9. My sisters Chucks, 10. Sisters Side by side by side, 11. Silver shoes edition, 12. Which shoe?!, 13. cello exam
Probably 100 years ago a homesteader found a use for all the fieldstones that he was clearing from his fields, he used them as a foundation for a home. Time and the elements have left this as a testimony to perseverance, and a work ethic...
Well... I guess it's my time to write 16 things about be:
1) I'm a totally obcessed Blythe doll collector
2) I love cats
3) I'm vegetarian (for ethic reasons)
4) My favorite colors are pink, white and green
5) I don't like sports (they are boring to me)
6) I like to think about things
7) I prefer to shop online
8) I don't drink alchool or smoke cigars (I hate smoke)
9) I love cakes (and sweets in general)
10) My favorite fruits are kiwis and strawberries (and figs and grapes, but I cannot eat these much)
11) Sometimes I spend one week without leaving home (I work at home)
12) I always remember my dreams
13) I'm a pacifist
14) I don't have a religion but I like to keep an open mind
15) I don't wear skirts
16) My favorite Blythe is Bambi, my Aztec Arrival
(Now that I've said 16 things, I'm tagging the next 16 victims)
By the way, the wonderful girl in the photo is a customized Roxy that I've adopted this year from my dear friend Annabella.
PS: I was tagged by HanaToYume! Hugs!
I thought of this artpiece when I stayed with my mom earlier this year and she was reading the Dalai Lama's book (in collaboration with Franz Alt) :
“An Appeal to the World: The Way to Peace in a Time of Division.”
***************
"When the president of the United States says “America first,” he is making his voters happy. I can understand that. But from a global perspective, this statement isn’t relevant. Everything is interconnected today.
The new reality is that everyone is interdependent with everyone else. The United States is a leading nation of the free world. For this reason, I call on its president to think more about global-level issues. There are no national boundaries for climate protection or the global economy. No religious boundaries, either. The time has come to understand that we are the same human beings on this planet. Whether we want to or not, we must coexist.
History tells us that when people pursue only their own national interests, there is strife and war. This is shortsighted and narrow-minded. It is also unrealistic and outdated. Living together as brothers and sisters is the only way to peace, compassion, mindfulness and more justice.
The time has come to understand that we are the same human beings on this planet. Whether we want to or not, we must coexist.
Religion can to a certain degree help to overcome division. But religion alone will not be enough. Global secular ethics are now more important than the classical religions. We need a global ethic that can accept both believers and nonbelievers, including atheists.
My wish is that, one day, formal education will pay attention to the education of the heart, teaching love, compassion, justice, forgiveness, mindfulness, tolerance and peace. This education is necessary, from kindergarten to secondary schools and universities. I mean social, emotional and ethical learning. We need a worldwide initiative for educating heart and mind in this modern age.
At present our educational systems are oriented mainly toward material values and training one’s understanding. But reality teaches us that we do not come to reason through understanding alone. We should place greater emphasis on inner values.
Intolerance leads to hatred and division. Our children should grow up with the idea that dialogue, not violence, is the best and most practical way to solve conflicts. The young generations have a great responsibility to ensure that the world becomes a more peaceful place for all. But this can become reality only if we educate, not just the brain, but also the heart. The educational systems of the future should place greater emphasis on strengthening human abilities, such as warm-heartedness, a sense of oneness, humanity and love.
I see with ever greater clarity that our spiritual well-being depends not on religion, but on our innate human nature — our natural affinity for goodness, compassion and caring for others. Regardless of whether we belong to a religion, we all have a fundamental and profoundly human wellspring of ethics within ourselves. We need to nurture that shared ethical basis.
Ethics, as opposed to religion, are grounded in human nature. Through ethics, we can work on preserving creation. Empathy is the basis of human coexistence. It is my belief that human development relies on cooperation, not competition. Science tells us this.
We must learn that humanity is one big family. We are all brothers and sisters: physically, mentally and emotionally. But we are still focusing far too much on our differences instead of our commonalities. After all, every one of us is born the same way and dies the same way."
- The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso
Chassis n° 4607
Les Grandes Marques du Monde au Grand Palais 2020
Bonhams
Parijs - Paris
Frankrijk - France
February 2020
Estimated : € 1.050.000 - 1.400.000
Sold for € 870.000
All the sophistication of Ettore Bugatti's famously thoughtful design ethic is embodied within this wonderfully well-presented ex-works racing Bugatti Type 39, as manufactured at the charismatic Molsheim factory in 1925...
Mr Bugatti built his reputation upon creating rapid and reliable motor cars endowed with competitively powerful engines in light, compact, and nimble chassis. Above all he clearly grasped the over-riding importance of a high power-to-weight ratio in contrast to some other quality car constructors to whom overall weight seemed irrelevant compared to achieving the highest possible power not necessarily out there on the open road, nor race circuit, but in the engine test-house...
While combining in so many of his sporting models high power, minimal mass and a good-handling, driveable chassis, Ettore Bugatti also manufactured most of them in sufficient numbers to attract, and to satisfy, broad demand from a moneyed and dashingly competition-minded market.
In 1924 Mr Bugatti had launched his 2-litre Type 35 design, and by 1925 the Type 39 followed to comply with maximum 1500cc Voiturette racing regulations – effectively the Formula 2 of the time. Use of a short-stroke crankshaft in the straight-8 cylinder engine provided bore and stroke measurements of 60mm x 66mm, displacing 1493cc. Possibly Mr Bugatti was anticipating the overall Grand Prix capacity limit rule change for 1926-27 which would cut maximum permitted engine capacity from 2-litres to 1½.
The Type 39s made their debut in the Grand Prix de Tourisme at Montlhéry south of Paris, France, in June 1925. The four new works team cars promptly finished 1-2-3-4 in their class, and in 3rd place was '4607' now offered here, driven by Giulio Foresti.
Of course the pinnacle of road racing competition during the 1920s was the Grand Prix arena, and when the1925 Italian Grand Prix at Monza Autodrome was run concurrently with the 1500cc Gran Premio delle Vetturette the Bugatti company contested it with a full team of five Type 39s.
The race was run over 80 laps of the Milanese Autodrome's 10km combined road and high-speed track. Bugatti's team captain was Bartolomeo 'Meo' Costantini, teamed to drive with Jules Goux, Pierre de Vizcaya, Count Carlo Masetti and Count Aymo Maggi, who was replacing Ferdinand de Vizcaya, the Spanish banker – and backer of the Bugatti company - who arrived late from Barcelona. And when Count Masetti had to stand down due to a leg injury, it was Giulio Foresti who took his place to drive '4607' in the long race...
As the Gran Premio developed, the Bugattis not only dominated the Voiturette category but also climbed the leader board amongst the full 2-litre Grand Prix cars. Finally – after 5hrs 44mins 40.91secs to be precise (the Italian lap-scorers immensely proud of their then-new hundredth-second timing equipment) the Gran Premio delle Vetturette was decided with Costantini's Bugatti Type 39 winning from the sister cars of Ferdinand de Vizcaya and Giulio Foresti, respectively 2nd and 3rd. Pierre de Vizcaya's Type 39 placed fourth while Jules Goux's engine had failed after 64 of the 80 laps. Overall, the Bugatti Type 39s had proved so fast and reliable that Costantini finished the Grand Prix 3rd overall, Ferdinand de Vizcaya 6th and Foresti in '4607' now offered here, 7th.
A record survives of this car and its sister '4604' both being sold soon after to the British importer, Colonel Sorel in London, and it is thought that Giulio Foresti – an accomplished 'wheeler-dealer' in his own right – then found an eager buyer for the pair – one A.V.Turner - in Australia, although alternative reference suggests that '4607' was imported there by prominent Vauxhall driver Boyd Edkins.
On June 19, 1926, the car certainly appeared upon Sydney's high-banked Maroubra Speedway driven by a friend and colleague of Edkins, Dick Clarke. While the Type 39s – or 'Monzas' as they became known in Australia – became particularly noted for their wonderfully high-pitched exhaust note, they were not well-suited to Maroubra, since they were over-geared for the tight Speedway. Clarke was still able to win a heat there on September 4, 1926, and '4607' lapped the speedbowl at 86mph. At Penrith Clarke won a heat and a semi-final before taking 2nd and 3rd places in two further events. Then back at Maroubra for the January, 1927 meeting Clarke won two heats and took 2nd in a final.
The car later passed to 20-year-old Sid Cox, son of a wealthy building magnate. The young man also had a Bugatti Type 40 which he used as a tender when he took '4607' to Philip Island, Melbourne, Victoria, to race in the 1928 Australian Grand Prix. With friend Ken McKinney alongside him Sid Cox practised for the great race only for bronze filings to be found in the oil filter, a sign that the power unit's bronze roller-bearing cages were failing. On race day, sure enough, '4607's engine broke a connecting rod.
A new crankcase and sump were bought for the car, but the old sump was used in the rebuild, mated to the new crankcase. Cox then sold '4607' to poster-artist Reg St John who became noted for maintaining the Bugatti in utterly pristine, highly polished and well-cherished condition. He reportedly used it to parade up and down Swanston Street, Melbourne, admiring his reflection in the shop windows. And why not?
However, Australian racer Carl Junker then acquired the car and – with Reg Nutt as his riding mechanic – he entered it in the 1931 Australian GP again at Philip Island. They were running second behind Hope Bartlett's Bugatti Type 37A on the penultimate lap when its engine failed, Junker and Nutt joyously inheriting outright Grand Prix victory for '4607'. Ernie Nutt had tuned the car and he would recall that Junker used 7,000rpm through the gears, '4607' achieving 55mph in 1st, 72mph in 2nd and 103mph in 3rd.
Racing again in the 1932 Australian GP, Junker improved his lap times but fell victim to spark-plug trouble which meant he could finish only 5th. Completing the long race ahead of him that day was Merton Wreford in his Brescia Bugatti, and he later bought '4607' from Junker, reputedly after it had suffered another engine failure.
Mert Wreford fixed the problem and then entered the Type 39 in the 1933 Australian GP in which he found himself confronted by Carl Junker in the sister 1925 Bugatti 'Monza' – chassis '4604'. These two Type 39s proved to be the class of that Grand Prix field and after Junker's engine blew-up, Wreford moved into the lead, only for '4607's engine to fail on the third-last lap. Evidently the two broken 'Monzas' were left parked together at trackside – but Mert Wreford had recorded the race's fastest lap.
A new owner was then found for '4607' in specialist Jack Day of the Ajax Pump Works who fitted '4607' with his own 'Day' supercharger, driven from the crankshaft nose. He made his debut with the supercharged car in the August, 1933, Frankston hill-climb. But when the forced-induction experiment disappointed, Jack Day removed the Bugatti engine and fitted instead a Ford V8. This Type 39 thus became the first Australian special to be powered by a 'black iron' American Ford V8. The resultant Day Special proved very successful through 1936, setting new hill-climb records at Mitcham and Rob Roy. Reg Nutt raced the car in monoposto form at Phillip Island, 1937, and in the South Australian GP in 1938.
After World War 2, Bondi Beach surf life-saver, water-skier and amateur wrestler 'Gelignite' Jack Murray bought '4607' in its Day Special form from Jack Day, the price £1,100.
'Gelignite Jack' would earn his nickname from blowing up rural dunnies with sticks of gelignite during the RedeX Round Australia Trials. Every man needs a hobby....
The car "was given the full Murray red paint and chrome treatment" and in it he set fastest time and finished 5th on handicap in the 1946 New South Wales GP at Bathurst. Returning there n 1947 he was tipped to win, but failed to finish. The car was clocked at 106mph. At the 1948 Bathurst 100 the Day Special was recorded at 117mph and placed 3rd on handicap in the over 1500cc class. Overheating often afflicted the car in its Ford V8-engined form, but 'Gelignite Jack' continued to campaign the ageing special into 1954 when he was an amazing 4th fastest and 7th on handicap at the Bathurst Easter Meeting.
Subsequently the car survived in storage at Murray's Bondi garage, until he sold it – accompanied by a mass of related Bugatti components – to marque enthusiast Ted Lobb. While the original Type 39 chassis survived within the Day Special, Ted Lobb also had its original engine 'No 7' – which was fitted in his sister car '4604' – so now he also owned the blown-up engine 'No 6' – originally in '4604' – from Jack Day. Around 1974, Ted Lobb sold the Day Special and engine 'No 6' plus numerous other related Bugatti parts to Bob King, who later decided to rebuild '4607' to its 1925 Italian Grand Prix 'Monza' form.
He would later write: "The monumental rebuild was completed in the early 1980s, using a Type 39 crankshaft which came from Lance Dixon's Type 51A '4847'. The crankshaft – numbered '27' – was in perfect ex-factory condition, all parts carrying matching factory numbers. A gearbox casing was obtained in England from Ian Preston. The differential is Type 38, suitably altered, from the Nuttbug (BC4)". He concluded "'4607' was sold to Art Valdez of California in 1986...".
This restored Bugatti Type 39 was then shipped to Bangkok, Thailand, in time for new owner Art Valdez to drive it in the December 5, 1987, Prince 'Bira' commemorative Bangkok Grand Prix meeting. Anton Perera reported in 'The Nation' newspaper: "There in the parade was the oldest car of them all, a Bugatti Type 39 – all of 62 years with a 1493cc engine. And didn't the smooth engine purr with noise, indicating that it could be a danger on the 2.5km Pattaya Circuit next week...Yes, the 1931 Australian Grand Prix winner looked in perfectly good trim and ready to turn on the speed..."
John Fitzpatrick of the Australian Bugatti Register later reported how at Pattaya, where the Vintage race "ended an absolutely magical fortnight...Art Valdez was euphoric after his first race in a GP Bugatti...as Neil Corner wrote recently '...To have your GP Bugatti motoring well is to live with the gods...'".
The car was preserved within Mr Valdez's Californian ownership until in April 1993 he telephoned former owner Bob King to declare his intention to sell it. However, it was not until 2017 that the car subsequently passed from Art Valdez into the ownership of the present vendor.
Today '4607' presents very well indeed, having recently benefited from a mechanical inspection, strip-down and rebuilt by Tony Ditheridge's renowned Hawker Racing concern in Milden, Suffolk, England. This work included thorough cleaning and re-commissioning - even to the extent of fitting new valve springs. This ex-works Bugatti warhorse was then unleashed successor on the open road. Now, subject to the usual inspections and personal set-up adjustments, '4607' is poised for an active 2020 motoring season.
The car is accompanied by a comprehensive historical overview and inspection report compiled by the highly respected British Bugatti specialists David Sewell and Mark Morris.
In summary they confirm that "Type 39 chassis '4607' presents itself today as a recognised and well recorded example of the 8-cylinder GP Bugatti". They continue: "One key factor that must be recorded is that the major components are of Molsheim manufacture". The chassis frame is No 61 – while they report that the Molsheim lower (engine) crankcase is '7' ex-'4604' – the Molsheim upper (engine) crankcase is '114' – the Molsheim cambox 'No 7' – the Molsheim gearbox 'No 113' – the Molsheim gearbox lid No '856' – while the Molsheim rear axle centre casing has been modified from that of a touring car, ratio 12x54, 'No 284'.
So here BONHAMS is delighted to commend to the market this Bugatti Type 39 – the eminently useable (and potentially so enjoyable – and so raceable) winner of the 1931 Australian Grand Prix – and previously works driver Giulio Foresti's works team car, with third place in the 1925 Grand Prix de Tourism –third place in the 1925 Italian Gran Premio delle Vetturette at Monza – and 7th in the overall Italian Grand Prix, all so prominent within its history.
Just one decisive bid, and this fine example of Le Pur Sang – which such a jam-packed history on both road and track - could be yours...
She made lunch for us today . . . macaroni and cheese, with a cucumber, celery and radish salad. While she waited for the water to boil, she made a to-do list.
Her work ethic puts mine to shame.
quick freestyle scrap killer to finish off my tins b4 I left, shouts to Sabz, Porn and Ethic for the spot
This sheet was hand stitched by my grandmother a lifetime ago. The fact that women worked so diligently to create a beautiful edge to linens just astounds me. Their talent and work ethic are amazing. ODC: edge
ARTIST BIO: JACK BARNOSKY
Interview by Rachel Hammel, 9/21/11
Artist Jack Barnosky, whose photographs are dark and compelling, evasive and full of history, talks about his vision, his career as an art professor, his favorite city and his loving wife—the “enlightened zen master without a saphron robe.”
Describe yourself.
I’ve been told repeatedly that I’m a somewhat swarthier and more mature version of Johnny Depp. I’m a left wing secular humanist Democrat who has never voted for a Republican. Why? Because I work for a living.
When and how did you realize your artistic talent?
I still question the very notion of “talent.” What talent is required to make art? Did Jackson Pollack have talent when making his drip paintings? I really don’t have talent. I guess I just have a real blue collar work ethic. I was raised with no sense of entitlement. If I wanted something I had to work for it. That is still true today. Not trying to be self-deprecating, just truthful.
What is your preferred medium for creating art?
Uh, lemme see. Oh yeah. Photography.
Your photographs—why black and white?
Nothing—nothing—is more beautiful than a well made B&W photograph. Originally I just wanted to make beautiful photographs with the whole darkroom process. This ended about 12 years ago when film and paper makers began changing their emulsion formulas. All of a sudden, and I mean literally overnight, the whole process no longer worked. It was the day the darkroom died. I tried every alternative process you can name but could not get, on paper, the image that was in my head. It was quite frustrating. Three years ago I began digitizing my negatives and slowly the digital photography world began to show itself to me. Now I am virtually all digital. It’s like having to learn to read all over again. And guess what? There really is color out there and I’m using it.
What is your favorite city in the world and why?
Paris, followed by NYC, with Florence bringing up the rear. There is nothing like Paris. It is alive and still, after 5 visits, a bit exotic to me. Obviously the scenery is magnificent. Food and wine are great (I don’t like wine but I drink it in Italy and France), and the people are actually quite nice and, I might add, beautiful. Hard to turn a corner in Paris and not see something I want to photograph.
You said once that you spent a day walking around Florence “just making photographs.” Why “making” and not “taking”?
Interesting question. I do say “make” as opposed to “take” or “shoot.” I’m always thinking ahead. I see the scene in the viewfinder but I know it’s not done. I have to make something of the negative—now digital file. It is never finished when in the camera. Never.
When did you decide to teach?
I attended Brooks Institute from ‘71 - ‘74. This was an intensely hostile place for any talk of art or aesthetics. The moment I got there I knew I was in the wrong place, but I was already 24 years old and had to graduate from somewhere. So I plowed through it and did graduate. Towards the end of this time I realized that I did not want to be a part of the daily grind of making commercial photographs. I began sending out my cute little one-page resume to colleges. Can you say NAÏVE?
Actually, I got 2 interviews, but no jobs . So my wife and I (she was not yet the enlightened zen master without a saphron robe), thoroughly heavy with child, headed back to Philadelphia. I managed to get that dream job. For a year I made bricks during the day and did custom color printing at night. I don’t remember sleeping.
When the foreman handed me my pink slip, I was relieved, but my first thought was, “O.K., now how do I buy baby food?” In ’79 I began sending resumes again and by an amazing set of coincidences found myself teaching in what then passed for the Community College system in Indiana. Got an M.F.A at IU and spent 12 years there. This is the time I really learned photography. A Bachelor’s degree and an M.F.A and I still had to teach myself. Then on to Sam Houston State University in Texas, and now in my 20th year there.
What music genre do you enjoy most? Are there any artists or albums you’re really into right now?
I have about 20 CDs. No more. They range from 50’s doo wop to Florence and the Machine. Dylan, Stones, Aaron Copland, Beatles—pretty eclectic. In class, someone asked me what the last song I downloaded was. When I said, “The Dog Days are Over” by Florence and the Machine, there was a dead silence in the room.
And I only listen to music in the car. Never anywhere else. We are weird. There are NO music listening to devices in our house. Even I think that is strange. My wife (the enlightened zen master without a saffron robe) listens to books all day.
What do you do when you’re not doing art?
I usually am making art. This new digital world is huge and challenging and I’m a slow learner. I do read—science fiction, long historical novels, biographies—again, pretty eclectic. I’m a sports fan and during football season on Saturday the television is mine. Do not touch the remote!
What do you order at Starbucks?
Double cappuccino with a shot of sugar-free raspberry. “That will be $14.00, sir, and have a nice day.”
If you could collaborate with anyone, dead or alive, who would it be?
I would love to have collaborate with the artist Richard Powers. He was my first and strongest visual influence. In a sense, I am collaborating with him today—I’m seeing a touch of him in many of my photographs.
Then there is: “How about it, Mr. Vonnegut? You write a book and I’ll make photographs to accompany your words.” Now that would be really COOL.
Tattoos~ 13 Piercings~ 9 Logo artist at one of the largest check printing companies. Support Tattoos + Piercings at Work visit: www.stapaw.com
One of the great things about Riverdale, my Toronto neighborhood, is that it’s like a village in the middle of a major city. It has plenty of restaurants, pubs, small independent businesses, and coffee shops. I was visiting a new coffee shop called The Shmooz (www.theshmooz.ca) today with a friend and I immediately liked the friendly atmosphere and good coffee. They also serve home-made, wholesome food. The owners clearly have a strong ecology ethic as everything discarded seems to go to compost or recycling. As we were drinking our coffee, this friendly woman came by, fussing with the tables and asking us if we were new customers. I was, my friend had been here once before. “Welcome” she said. Meet Tzabia who, with her partner Barry, owns The Schmooz. They live just a couple of blocks from the shop and truly love the neighborhood.
As we chatted, we learned some of the history of the place. Tzabia and her partner Barry have long wanted to open up a community-based coffee shop in Riverdale but it was only recently that the right combination of circumstances presented itself, including the availability of a corner spot on Pape Ave. which used to be a hairdressing salon. Tzabia and Barry set about creating this warm, inviting place, bringing to bear their backgrounds – hers as a Clinical Nutritionist and Life Coach, Barry’s in the coffee and baking industries. (You can read about Tzabia’s nutritionist activities at www.thefoodcoach.ca). With the help of a friend who is an Industrial Designer, they created a space that is in Tzabia’s words “beautiful, warm and welcoming for all, a place where you feel nourished on every level. We also wanted to honour the circle surrounding us that is our community.” Central to the inviting décor is a mural depicting the neighborhood (and slightly beyond) which was created to their specifications to reflect the community. The artist is a South African and the design was created in South Africa and the scan was used to create a vinyl copy here in Toronto which once applied to the entire wall of the shop, gives every appearance of being painted directly to the wall. It was truly an international endeavor. (www.theshmooz.ca/the-mural.html)
When I explained my Human Family photography project, Tzabia was supportive of the concept and willing to participate, but was clearly a bit ambivalent. “I’m a photographer myself and believe me, I’m far more comfortable behind the camera than in front of it. How about if we do it another time?” At the risk of being pushy, I explained that next time she won’t be a stranger and that is an important part of this project which involves informal portraits in the natural setting. I promised to be quick and Tzabia’s generous nature prevailed. We took a few photos the colorful, whimsical mural in the background and a couple with the coffee-making area in the background. We concluded with Tzabia telling me the her photography background is in the pre-digital age (so is mine). I’m sure we can both vividly remember the smell of developer and fixer. She told me of an intergenerational concept she has for a future photography project which sounded very interesting.
Thanks a lot, Tzabia, for a great cup of coffee, for explaining about The Shmooz (which is Yiddish for conversing, mingling, networking) and for stepping outside your comfort zone to participate in my Human Family photography project. I was glad to hear that your shop is getting such good community support and I’m sure when summer arrives it will become a “must visit” spot, just a block from Withrow Park.
This is my 167th submission to The Human Family Group on Flickr.
You can view more street portraits and stories by visiting The Human Family.
INTERESTING from Wikipedia:
"When first published, Don Quixote
was usually interpreted as a comic novel.
After the French Revolution, it was popular for its central ethic
that individuals can be right while society is quite wrong
and seen as disenchanting.
In the 19th century, it was seen as a social commentary,
but no one could easily tell "whose side Cervantes was on".
Many critics came to view the work as a tragedy in which
Don Quixote's idealism and nobility
are viewed by the post-chivalric world as insane,
and are defeated and rendered useless by common reality.
By the 20th century, the novel had come to occupy a canonical space as one of the foundations of modern literature."
ALSO from Wikipedia:
"Edith Grossman,
who wrote and published a highly acclaimed
English translation of the novel in 2003,
says that the book is mostly meant to move people into emotion using a systematic change of course,
on the verge of both tragedy and comedy at the same time.
The question is that Quixote has multiple interpretations
and how do I deal with that in my translation.
I'm going to answer your question by avoiding it, so when I first started reading the Quixote I thought it was the most tragic book in the world, and I would read it and weep.
As I grew older my skin grew thicker and so when I was working on the translation I was actually sitting at my computer and laughing out loud.
This is done as Cervantes did it by never letting the reader rest.
You are never certain that you truly got it. Because as soon as you think you understand something, Cervantes introduces something that contradicts your premise."
hmmmmm....what do you think!?!
Sounds like Cervanates and that guy in the White House
might have something in common!!!!!!!!!
The seemingly tireless efforts of bumblebees or honey bees for the good of their colony is a pleasure to witness.
I could say that its a shame this isn't the same work ethic of some humans you come across in your travels certainly in this country anyway ............ oh dear ........ seems I just did.
.................................................................................................................................... on the mirror
............................................................................................................................. The war of silent
"Our deep respect for the land and its harvest is the legacy of generations of farmers who put food on our tables, preserved our landscape, and inspired us with a powerful work ethic."
James H. Douglas, Jr.
Kobe's work ethic is incredibly inspiring - I was really saddened to see him get hurt last night. Had to paint this.
gouache on paper
The pear tree is blooming now!
American Maid, known for her work ethic, did not want to be seen relaxing but we spotted her through the white flowers!
Now that the flowers are here, the pears can't be far behind. 😊
💐🌷A🌸Z💮A🌹L🌺E🌻A🌼💕AMORE💘💖
A year of the shows and performers of the Bijou Planks Theater.
The Tick
Series 2
American Maid
1995, Bandai
Our friends Dave and Del are Prairie Isle Glass, we represent them at the gallery. Their works and work ethic are extraordinary.
training session of the national ballet, Phnom Penh Cambodia.After 4 hours of dances, even if the gestures are slow, everybody's very tired!
© Eric Lafforgue
This is the story of three generations spanning two centuries, with one common family trait - dogged determination and a tireless work ethic in pursuit of their dreams. It is the story of sauterne for breakfast and castles built of prune boxes. It is a larger than life story ... and much of it is true.
From Riches to Rags to Ranching
The story begins in 1896 England, where Barker Ledson - a scion of means for whom means meant nothing - yearned for the New World and all the adventure that it promised. At age 16, he and his two similarly spirited brothers Tom and Stanley, left behind royal bloodlines, country estates and a sure future - not to mention the family fortune - to set sail for America. Their first stop was Iowa where their aunt owned a ranch. The boys worked the ranch for essentially room and board until Barker was lured away by a much greater adventure. Surveyors were needed by the railroad to map the vast and unforgiving Mojave Desert. It was thankless work, but not without benefits. Part and parcel of working in "no mans land" was the lack of spending opportunities. Barker was able to pocket almost all the money he made during his grueling 5 year stint.
Barker's railroad earnings were enough for him to purchase a 600 acre ranch in Yosemite, near the town of Cathay. At age 22, Barker Ledson was an American landowner. Brothers Tom and Stanley came out from Iowa to run the ranch with Barker. And, while Barker enjoyed nothing more than working the land and working with family, he longed for new opportunity and San Francisco seemed just the place for someone with Barker's ambition.
The Ice Man Commeth
Jobs were not plentiful, a fact that might have dissuaded a lesser man. But Barker Ledson was not to be denied. His employer of choice was the City Ice Company and the fact that they were not hiring seemed of little significance. Barker pointed to the potholes in the driveway and the dirt on the floors and said that he would clean and repair the facilities at no charge. City Ice was happy to have a volunteer employee and it wasn't long before all the ice truck drivers were so fond of the hard-working Barker that they convinced management to bring him on as a full-time employee -- a move that proved to be a defining point in young Barker's life.
He rapidly worked his way up the ranks at City Ice, eventually becoming General Manager. City Ice merged with National Ice and San Francisco Ice to form San Francisco National Ice Company. Barker needed to fill key positions and called upon his brother Tom to run the new Oakland office - making him the first of over a dozen family members employed by Barker. Stanley continued to run the Yosemite ranch, and by this time Barker's two other brothers had moved to America from England; George to Tennessee where he became editor of the Shelbyville Times and Joseph, the only brother to claim some of the family fortune, to Canada where he became known as an innovator in farming and breeding race horses.
A Match Made in the Wine Country
With his business life a success, it was time for bachelor Barker to find a wife to share in his great accomplishments. Barker Ledson met Edna Cunningham in 1910, when he invited his regular and growing group of prominent San Francisco cronies (a couple of those people were the Chief Police Officer and the Mayor of San Francisco) to go dove hunting at the Cunningham Ranch in Windsor. Edna was helping to serve lunch to the men when she caught Barker's eye. Within three years they were married.
Edna's father, William, was immediately taken with Barker as they were cut from the same over - achiever cloth. William's father Zyde, a gold miner who also emigrated from England, had previously owned and operated a blacksmith shop on the site that is today the Palace Hotel in San Francisco. In 1862 he moved his family to the 160-acre ranch in Windsor. As William came of age, he took over management of the Cunningham ranch. He planted 35 acres of Zinfandel and Alicante vineyards, built elaborate ranch and winery facilities and was known throughout the county for his flamboyance. He was very active in the community and held a seat as Sonoma County Supervisor from 1917-1925 and board member for Exchange Bank. William was a prominent and influential early member of the Wine Syndicate grower co-op and produced and bottled 8,000 gallons of commercially available wine. After Zyde's death in 1901 William and his wife Hannah continued to operate Cunningham ranch.
The union of the Ledson and Cunningham families marked the beginning of a farming legacy that continues today. William sold the Cunningham Ranch in 1919 to buy an 105-acre ranch in Kenwood. Shortly thereafter, Barker and Edna, who had been living in San Francisco moved with their three young sons, Noble, Whitby and Winslow to a 1600 acre ranch adjacent to William's property on what is today part of Oakmont and Annandale State Park. The two families worked the ranches cooperatively. While William and Hannah grew prunes, grapes and hay on their property, Barker spent the weekdays in San Francisco running the San Francisco Ice Company and Edna - an extremely sturdy, hard working woman, with a penchant for detail that included daily sweeping of dirt pathways and color coordinating gardening tools - raised cattle and harvested Eucalyptus on their ranch. Edna and her sons loaded their Eucalyptus on trains bound for the City Ice Company, where Barker used his ice trucks to deliver the Eucalyptus for firewood in the afternoons, essentially creating an entirely new business using existing delivery routes.
The End of an Era
For years the two ranches prospered, until in 1937 Barker Ledson at age 57 died of a heart attack while weekending at the family ranch. This was a terrible blow to a family who had come to depend upon him as the patriarch. Many of the family members who had relied on Barker for jobs or support over the years went their separate ways. The large extended family unit that Barker cherished could not be sustained in his absence. Fortunately, his 1/3rd ownership of the San Francisco Ice Company provided Edna and the boys with the means to carry on. Barker's brother Tom had preceded Barker in death and so Edna was left to manage the ranch, relying on her boys and the support of her sister Viola and her husband Penn Rich who had years earlier taken over William and Hannah's ranch after their deaths.
Sonoma Valley's "Ledson Boys"
The "Ledson boys" as everyone in the valley knew them - Noble, Whitby and Winslow - had inherited their parent's love of farming and ranching. Throughout high school each was active in FFA, with Noble and Winslow winning coveted national livestock competitions. And like their father before them the entrepreneurial bug bit early on when they observed the need of many of their rural neighbors for home delivery of basic essentials. They pooled their resources to purchase a run-down, old truck which they re-built and used to deliver packages after school and on weekends. Their little company, General Parcel Delivery, thrived until it was time to go off to college - a promise they had made to their mother. Secure in the knowledge that farming was their future, all three went on to study agriculture at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. It was 1942, all three of the boys had graduated college and were anxious to begin the next chapter of their lives when World War II was declared and they, like others their age, were called into service. Winslow entered officer training school, while Noble and Whitby both became airplane mechanics in the Army Air Corps. Fortunately the end of the war found all three safe and sound and ready to get back home and get on with things.
Noble
By the time Noble returned home to Kenwood, Edna had sold the family ranch to a steamship builder named Joe Coney who re-named the ranch Annandale and eventually donated it to the California Parks Department. To this day, markers in the Annandale Park -- Ledson Marsh, Steve's Trail -- reflect the Ledson's legacy. Edna moved to Spring Street in Santa Rosa and kept busy as a nurse at Memorial Hospital until her death at age 81 in 1973.
Noble's wish was to continue the Ledson family tradition of farming. He founded his own dairy farm, Meadowlark Farms Dairy, on Warm Springs Road in 1944. It was a complete operation; he owned and milked the cows, he bottled the milk and he delivered all over Sonoma Valley. So successful was his dairy and so valuable his route that in 1954, shortly after his brother Winslow became General Manager, Clover Dairy purchased Meadowlark Farms Dairy and contracted Noble to distribute Clover milk in Sonoma Valley. Freed of the time-consuming milking and bottling operations, Noble built his distribution territory to include both Sonoma and Napa Valleys - and still had time left for other ventures given his penchant for 16 hour workdays. The farmer in him was not to be denied. He purchased or leased property all over Sonoma County where he raised cattle and grew prunes, hay, walnuts and of course wine grapes. Like his brothers, Noble was naturally gregarious and engaging, and because of their many ventures the Ledson boys knew and were known by just about everybody in the Valley- amassing endless friendships and contacts that would serve them and their children well in years to come. They were, like the Kundes, Rossis and Stornettas one of the most prominent farming families in Sonoma County.
The Son Also Rises
While his various businesses were growing, so was Noble's family. In 1948, he married Virginia Martinson, an Iowa transplant who had met and captured Noble's heart when he was home on leave during the war. Together they had two children: Nancy Ledson born in 1955 and Steven Noble Ledson, born in 1952. From the start it was clear that Steve had the drive, the farming instincts - and the bullheadedness of the Ledson and Cunningham clans combined.
Early on Noble instilled in Steve the importance of hard work and a good breakfast. Believing that Sauterne increased appetite and convinced that a full day's work required a full stomach, Noble and Steve started each day with a small glass of Sauterne, drawn from the two-gallon jug they re-filled monthly at Pagani (now Kenwood) Winery. Whether it was the Sauterne or the expectations of a no-nonsense father, by age six, Steve was a full-time farmer in training; he could drive a tractor - albeit with the help of a grown up who could reach the pedals - tell the difference between a prune tree and grapevine, tinker with farm equipment and bid on beef cattle.
School of Hard Knocks
Keeping pace with Noble was no small task, especially for a small boy, but Steve was remarkably hard-headed for his age - a fact that served him well on one ill-fated father and son outing. While hiking along Bear Creek in Adobe Canyon, Steve took a fall 30 feet into the creek, where he preceded to float downstream a quarter of a mile before being yanked to safety by Noble. Bleeding and pretty woozy, Steve was coaxed by his dad to "be a man" and walk home, which he did before passing out and being rushed to the hospital, where he remained for thirty days! Fortunately near-death experiences are lost to children of seven and after a short period of recuperation, life returned to normal for Steve.
Always tinkering, always keeping busy, Steve's first foray into architectural design took place when he was helping Noble pack prunes for one of their bigger clients, Del Monte. Steve gathered empty prune boxes and over the course of the entire day, created a nine-foot tall, multi level "castle", complete with doors, windows and balconies. It was his pride and joy, but it was lacking a critical real-estate component, which in later years would become a cornerstone of Steve's success - Location, Location, Location. Unfortunately the prune palace was erected right in front of the loading bay, and by the next morning, Steve's dream house had been leveled to make way for the delivery trucks.
Making Hay While the Sun Shines
Steve continued to work at his father's side throughout his school years, and although Noble didn't believe in paying his son, he did give Steve the tools to earn his own money. Noble taught Steve how to bid on cattle, which started a decades long business of purchasing spring calves, fattening them up and re-selling them for profit. Noble also provided Steve with his first baling equipment, which Steve, together with cousins Mike and Marz used to create their own after-school, hay baling business. By the time he was in high school Steve had earned enough money from his various before and after school farming ventures to buy a 1965 Corvette Stingray. As he neared graduation, it was clear that he was different than most kids his age; he already knew what it was to have his own business and make his own money, he knew he didn't want to go to college and most importantly he knew he wanted to make a future with his high school sweetheart Michele Slinger.
Concerned that farming was being phased out in Sonoma County in favor of rapid development, Noble encouraged his newly married son to pursue a career in construction. Steve respected his father's advice, and while he was not prepared to give up his various farming endeavors, he did agree to pursue a "day job" in the building industry. After two years apprenticing with Frontier Electric he took a job taping drywall for Associated Specialties. Like his grandfather Barker, Steve's big break came when he seized an opportunity to impress his employers with his initiative. The year was 1973; Steve was assisting a drywall journeyman named Denny Roper, who had convinced their boss that the relatively inexperienced Steve could cover his work load while he went on vacation. On the first day of Denny's vacation, Steve was presented with a job list double Denny's usual output. Never one to back away from a challenge, Steve worked day and night and, of course, finished all the houses - flawlessly. Needless to say, he'd made an impression. Unfortunately the result of his zeal was an offer to take over Denny's position. Only 21 years old and already the father of two-year-old Mike and one-year-old Tonja, Steve was tempted by the promotion and raise - but not at the expense of his friend Denny.
No Guts, No Glory
Steve and Denny left Associated Specialties to start their own business, Northwestern Drywall, using Denny's state license. Within two years Steve had 100 employees and had opened a second non-union branch to handle public works and government contracts. Steve hired his sister Nancy's husband John Salerno to run the new operation, which was named Northeastern Drywall, in recognition of John's east coast roots. In addition, Steve maintained his daily involvement in the ranches he worked with Noble, rising at 4 am each day to log a couple of hours before heading off to the job site.
In 1975 a local contractor named Wayne Elzey came to Steve with an offer that would catapult Ledson from contractor to developer. Elzey had pre-sold a number of homes, but did not have the capital to build them. Between his ongoing cattle, hay, and contracting businesses, Steve had the money to invest and together they became Elzey and Ledson Construction. Those initial houses led to subdivisions and before long the two had projects scattered from the Bay Area to the Oregon border.
All in the Family
By the late 1980's Steve Ledson was financially secure, professionally respected and surrounded by family, including newest member, daughter Kristina, born in 1987. Only in his thirties he had achieved more than most, but not as much as he wanted. Although he had never given up his various agrarian pursuits, over the years, working the land had taken a back seat to building houses. It was time to change focus, to follow his passion and re-invigorate the family's farming business. In particular Steve wanted to grow grapes, something his great grandfather, his father and his uncle before him had done since 1862. And as usual the opportunity presented itself at just the right time.
A Wine Family Returns to its Roots
In late 1989 Ledson Construction was about to break ground on a spec house and vineyard property in the heart of the Sonoma Valley wine country, when a partner in the project pulled out. Michele convinced Steve that the 21-acre property - with views of the corner of Annandale Park that was once Steve's grandparent's home - was the perfect spot for their dream house and vineyard. Steve agreed and immediately set about planting 17 acres to Merlot and designing the ultimate architectural showpiece. Son Mike worked side-by-side with his father just as Steve had with Noble. By the time of their first harvest in 1993, the 15,000 square foot Gothic, French-Normandy structure replete with a custom-colored brick edifice, slate tile, turrets, balconies and fountains had begun to take shape and stop traffic. Michele and Steve realized that the "castle", as locals had come to call it, was long on looky-loos and short on privacy. Based upon the public interest and the quality of their first harvest, Steve decided to transform the house into a winery and tasting room and to build their home elsewhere. A quick change of plans was followed by four painfully long years acquiring commercial permits and two more years of re- construction before the winery's eventual completion.
Years of farming had endowed Steve with an instinct for making things grow and grow well- and before long his grapes were very much in demand. Ledson had been selling grapes to neighboring wineries including Benziger, St. Francis and Sebastiani for years. In fact it was St. Francis winemaker Tom Mackey who, knowing that Steve wanted to make ultra premium wine, urged him to produce his own estate wine. In 1997, Ledson Winery released its inaugural vintage, the 1994 Ledson Estate Merlot. Since then, Ledson wines have garnered excellent reviews from the elite wine press including a 93 point rating from Wine Spectator Magazine for their 1997 Reserve Carneros Chardonnay. Ledson Winery offers a broad spectrum of varietal wines including: Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Sangiovese, Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Zinfandel, Syrah, Petite Sirah, Mourvedre, Primitivo, Barbera, Malbec, Grenache, Meritage, Rosé, Johannisberg Riesling and Madera Port - all available at the Winery, at the Ledson Harmony Club restaurant and at selected fine restaurants throughout the country.
In addition to the 17-acre estate vineyard, Ledson Winery owns 21 acres on Denmark Road in Sonoma, which is currently planted to 100+-year Old Vine Zinfandel and 5,500 acres in Anderson Valley, Mendocino County, that may lend itself to a future Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc or Merlot planting. Ledson's dreams are to replant thirty-five acres of the 105 acre Kenwood Ranch originally cultivated by his great grandfather, William Cunningham in 1919.
On August 27th, 2003 Steve Ledson opened his luxury two-story Hotel & Harmony Club restaurant, situated on the historic Sonoma Plaza. The hotel features six individually decorated rooms on the upper floor, while the Harmony Club wine bar and restaurant covers the entire ground floor. Meticulously designed and built by Steve, the hotel represents a step back in time to a grander era.
A Family Affair
Michele Ledson drew on years of interior design experience to create the look and feel of the winery's visitor centers. In addition to designing and outfitting the winery's exquisite wine accessories and gift emporium, Michele has acted as the winery's chief emissary, overseeing the very busy hospitality team and welcoming everyone from the casual tourist to the VIP trade visitor with signature Ledson charm.
Son Mike - a life-long farmer like his dad and grandfather and also a journeyman carpenter with his own contractor's license - oversaw most of the interior finishing during construction, doing much of the intricate wood work himself. As it turned out, his tireless energy ultimately made him invaluable to the sales side of the business, and so he splits his time between sales and construction business.
Steve's father Noble Ledson deserves a story all to himself. Until his death, on February 8th, 2004 at age 88, Noble was a force of nature. A gregarious raconteur with an endless repertoire of old Sonoma Valley stories, he routinely consulted on the grape growing and wine making at Ledson Winery, drawing on his life long valley friendships to unearth prime, new vineyard sites. When not holding court at the winery, Noble was either farming his beloved walnut orchard or hitting the road in his tricked-out RV with bride and fellow adventurer Meg. No matter where Noble was, at home or on the road, not a day went by that he didn't start each morning with a phone call to his son, Steve. Sometimes it was to check in, sometimes to offer up encouragement or advice and every so often to give a swift, telephonic kick in the butt. His voice at the end of the phone line is gone. His spirit, though, remains forever.
The winery suffered another loss when Steve's cousin Leonard passed away in 2001. A life-long Sonman who for years managed the vineyards of Kunde Ranch, Leonard oversaw all of the winery's vineyard holdings. The void left by Leonard's passing is large, both for the family and for the winery.
Ledson Winery, however, continues to be a hub for the Ledson clan, with many taking an active role. Over the years, cousins, nephews, nieces and more have taken part in the winery's apprentice program and Steve's own daughters Tonja and Kristina, as well as his sister Nancy regularly pitch in during busy weekends and special events.Beyond his immediate family, Steve has come to rely upon his "extended family" of valued employees who have worked tirelessly for the winery's success with zeal equal to any family member.
Most important to Steve is the potential his new winery presents for bringing even more family members together. As homage to his grandfather, Barker, Steve has devoted the past several years to tracing the Ledson family tree, contacting and re-uniting long lost relatives from all over the globe. Will there soon be Ledson wines in Canada, Australia and England? Absolutely, if Steve has his way, wherever there's Ledson family there'll be Ledson wines.
The More Things Change, The More They Stay the Same
Over 130 years since great-grandfather William Cunningham farmed his family vineyard and made his own wine, the Ledson Winery stands today as a dream realized for the Ledson family. It is a family business; built on a heritage of Sonoma Valley farming that provides a work and social center to over 20 family members.
Every detail of the wines and the winery belies generations of experience and commitment to quality. The winery itself is an architectural showpiece. It emerges like a gothic blast from the past out of acres of rolling vineyard and pastoral calm. The "Gone with the Wind" staircase, sculpted rose gardens, sprawling outdoor patios and impeccable grounds make the "castle" the perfect backdrop for an afternoon picnic, corporate getaway or fairytale wedding. Boasting three beautifully appointed tasting bars, a fully stocked gourmet marketplace and elegant clothing and gift boutique, the Ledson Winery is as much a landmark destination as it is a premium winery.
As proud as Barker would be of the Ledson Winery & Vineyards, the family agrees that his greatest pleasure would have been the site of son Noble, grandson Steve and great grandson Mike side-by-side in the vineyard at the crack of dawn, tending the vines, tasting the grapes- striving for quality together as a family. It's what Barker wished for and what the Ledson Winery stands for. You can feel it at the family winery and taste it in every bottle of Ledson Wine.
Epilogue - The Ledson Hotel
You didn't think the story ended there, did you? Not one to rest on his laurels, Steve Ledson started to look at the way in which tourists visited the Sonoma Valley. In particular, the relationship between the very popular Sonoma town plaza and the wineries, like Ledson, that were located up valley. He found, after two years of interviewing plaza visitors, that many were unaware of the full complement of wineries in northern Sonoma Valley, opting instead to tour the more familiar destinations in Napa Valley.
Steve had two goals in mind. He wanted to promote travel from the Sonoma Plaza up valley to his and other wineries, and he wanted to do something to re-create the hospitality and conviviality that he grew up with at the huge feasts prepared by his mother for the many workers, friends and family during harvest.
The idea that had first taken hold in 1997 became a reality in August of 2003 with the grand opening of the Ledson Hotel, Wine Bar and Restaurant. Fronting Sonoma's historic town plaza, the boutique hotel and small plate eaterie was painstakingly designed to evoke Sonoma's rich history while providing all the luxury of the world's tiniest hotels. Old-world charm and modern amenities merge lavishly in each of the six, family-named rooms which grace the second floor. The ground floor wine bar and restaurant spill out onto the sidewalk with bistro style seating and a small plate menu by chefs Mark Sandovol and Darren Robey designed to showcase Sonoma's bounty of local artisan foods and wine. Music lovers are also in for a real treat. Three nights a week the hotel showcases the best of the Bay Area's jazz and blues scene. Within months of opening, the hotel and restaurant had made Condè Nast Traveler's 2004 Hot List as one of the top two hotels in California and one of the top 18 hotels in the US. And yes, with Michele now managing the hotel and restaurant and Steve often on hand to greet, meet and seat, this too is a family affair.
Commentary from the artist:
Azzara was created in the likeness of a kind young man that I met last year. The human Azzara left quite an impression on me. He possessed an ethic beauty, confidence, and displayed a rare kindness. I knew in the moment that I had to attempt to create him in doll form. When I asked the human Azzara if I could use his name and image as inspiration for one of my art dolls, his response was, "I am flattered, and yes, you may make a doll in my image and name him after me, BUT under one condition- the art doll Azzara MUST HAVE DREADLOCKS and be brown like me!" Well, I was delighted to have obtained Azzara's permission, but the stipulation of dreadlocks, though the proper thing to do, caused a delay in bringing my work into fruition.Not only does it take hours for me just to make a couple kinky twisted locks- I use a wool blend as my medium. I AM ALLERGIC TO WOOL! So, the work is long and tedious when I deliberately expose myself to wool, but it had to be done!
I hear a lot these days about people not wanting to return to work. Well...I don't want to either. However, that's another story. This recent sighting in Hanson, Kentucky showed me that America's work ethic is alive and well. Here's someone willing to come out and remove your pet waste. A task I suspect some folks would not even consider for job choice. Hats off for the Scoop Pros.