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My neighbor's beautiful grass lawn nearly achieves the homogeneous ideal. Our lawn, on the other hand is a diverse mix of grasses, clover, and many invasive weeds.
Sri Yantra Hindu Sacred Symbols: www.sriyantras.com
Many texts, myths and rituals concerning goddess subsume them all under one great female being, named generally as Mahadevi or Devi. Earliest Hindu tradition as reflected in the Vedas speak of discrete goddesses like Lakshmi and Parvati. Later, there emerged a tendency to relate all goddesses to one ultimate goddess, the best example of such texts being the Devi Mahatamaya. Another important feature of Mahadevi mythology and theology is the insistence that assumes both benign and terrible aspects of Mahadevi
In Hindu pantheon, Durga is one of the most popular goddesses, and her creation takes place in the context of a cosmic crisis. The asuras were on the ascent, and they had become a threat to cosmic stability. The male gods were unable to contain and subdue them. A number of male gods having failed to subdue the demons led by Mahishasura, assembled into a conclave and emitted their energies upon Uma/Parvati, the wife of Shiva, who became the warrior goddess, Durga, that is, the invincible.
Sri Yantra Hindu Sacred Symbols: www.sriyantras.com
Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), sometimes known as cutting (FGC), is an extremely harmful practice that involves the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons.
FGM results in severe pain, serious problems in childbirth, physical disability and psychological damage. In the worst cases, it can result in death.
We believe girls and women have the right to have control over their own bodies and live a life free of the fear of violence. Britain is working to support efforts to end FGM through a new programme to reduce the practice by 30% in at least 10 countries in the next 5 years.
Find out more about FGM and our work to end the practice here: bit.ly/1dmijqk
Or sign up to our End FGM e-bulletin and become part in the global drive for change: bit.ly/1m00teX
Infographic: DFID
Read that this could only be done on the solstice, and being from Kansas where everyone is a skeptic, and not a little stubborn, I decided to try it on January 31st. Another myth busted!
Moon Moods | Myth Busting, Rolling and Lunistice
Topics Covered:
a) Moon Size near Horizon, b) Moon Size vs Orbital Distance, c) Moon Rolling and iv) Major Lunar Standstill.
Popular belief suggests that, when near the horizon, the rising (and setting) moon appear to be larger compare to same at higher elevations in the sky. Here, I am about to show that this perception is not borne out by facts, but also counter-intuitively demonstrate that the moon can instead appear smaller as it rises above the horizon.
Case in point, are pictures taken with a fix magnification 500 mm prime lens during the evening of 16 October, 2024, the day before the official harvest (full) moon shown in composite image of Figure 1. The just risen moon had a horizontal diameter identical to that of the moon at near its maximum elevation (49° vs max of 53°). However, the moon near the horizon appeared flattened on its vertical axis; its projection compressed by conditions such as atmospheric refraction and temperature inversion. The degree of the optical phenomenon quickly diminished and eventually vanished as the moon rose up in the sky. In spite of the unbiased camera sensor showing the illuminated face of the moon appearing somewhat smaller near the horizon, most observers would perceive the moon as being bigger as a result of human’s brain misinterpreting the relative proportions of the moon when the field of view includes foreground land features. Notwithstanding atmospheric distortions, the apparent moon size is not magnified by the passage of its light through the atmosphere just above the horizon. Myth Busted!
FIGURE 2 shows that the size of the moon in our sky does change as it travels on its 28-day elliptical orbit around earth. For example, on 16 October, earth natural satellite was a super moon, so called because it approached its nearest point to earth (Peregee) and appeared 14% larger than the Waxing Gibbous moon near its outer limit (Apogee) on 24 March. But this change in moon size does not take place overnight and was not the cause of the full moon perceived (but not measured) as being larger near the horizon on 16 October.
The moon is tidally locked with earth in that it is on a synchronous orbit (i.e. one moon rotation per period around earth), hence why we always see the same face of the moon notwithstanding some minor wobbling throughout its monthly orbit around earth. Nonetheless, as shown in FIGURE 3, the moon rolled clockwise by 21.3° while traveling for 4.75 hour through the night sky on 16 October. Indeed, data from www.timeanddate.com showed that between its rise and set time spanning 13.5 h, the moon rolled 92° (i.e., by a quarter). By comparison, on 16-17 October, the city of Quito located on the equator in South America, saw the moon rolled 180° in the 12 hours between moonrise and moonset. Given that Kingston is located at 44°N latitude, a simple back of the envelop calculation [ 180*((90-44)/90)=92 ] indicates that the degree of moon roll is associated to the observer’s latitude location on earth’s surface. In fact, however, the moon does not roll at all. The phenomenon is strictly related to the observer’s (including camera) perspective changing relative to the moon as the earth turns. I wish there was a term used to describe this specific optical illusion, but I found none.
Last but not least, we have entered a Major Lunar Standstill (aka, Lunistice) which occurs every 18.6 years in the lunar cycle, each two years in duration, with this particular one lasting through the end of 2025. During this time, and for each 28-day lunar cycle, the moon rises (and sets) at its most extreme northerly and southerly positions on the horizon and anywhere in between. In the case of Kingston, Ontario, FIGURE 4, one standing on the western end on the Waaban bridge may see the moon, full or otherwise, rise up from the horizon anywhere from 48°NE to 132°SE (i.e., ± 42° from due East). So, saying that the moon rises from the east is very imprecise at this time. The overhead view of Kingston in FIGURE 5, shows that if standing on the west shore of the Inner Harbour between Molly Brant Point and Doug Fluhrer Park, one may expect to see the moon rise from a wide range of directions covering the entire 84° range shown. A more typical range would be around 54° (± 27° from due East). Simply put, the wider range of moonrise directions arising from this Major Lunar Standstill offers an equally wider range of opportunities to observe and photograph our natural satellite with land-based natural or man-made features that necessarily would not be available for more normal moon cycles.
Adolf Hitler: From the poorhouse to the luxury hotel
After Austria's "Anschluss" to the German Reich in March 1938, Hitler "Aryanized" the Hotel Imperial and declared it to be his residence in Vienna.
When he was last in Vienna, he lived in the men's home in Meldemann street. When Hitler returned a quarter of a century later, he stayed at the Hotel Imperial. A rise from homeless shelters to the city's first address.
Adolf Hitler already dreamed of such splendor as a failed painter, as he already enthused in the concoction My Fight, that "the whole Ring Road seems to me like a magic of the Thousand and One Nights". Now, the dream came true, the "Führer" shows up just two days after the "Anschluss" on the balcony of the Ringstrasse Hotel and can be acclaimed by a large crowd in front of the Imperial.
Celebrity guests
The Imperial has long been a myth, a mysterious piece of Vienna - even though few inhabitants of the city know it from the inside. The huge building was not built for state guests, but for a single couple, the Duke of Württemberg and his wife Maria Theresia, a native of Habsburg. When the two lost their interest in the palace when it was completed in 1866, banker Horace von Landau converted it into a luxury hotel that attracted monarchs, business people, wealthy tourists and artists like Sarah Bernhardt, Richard Wagner and later Charlie Chaplin. And then comes March 14, 1938. Hitler moves into Vienna, declares the Imperial to be his residence, and puts up along with propaganda minister Goebbels and other Nazi figures at the Kärntner Ring. The Neue Wiener Tagblatt praised: "Just as the Führer made the Kaiserhof Hotel in Berlin his headquarters, he now raised a company of the same rank and reputation as the Kaiserhof to the Vienna headquarters."
Hotel "Aryanization"
Parallel to his entry, the preparations for the "Aryanization" of the house are under way. Samuel Schallinger, the main shareholder of the Imperial, is arrested and later deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp, where he is murdered in 1942. "Hitler did not live in the Regency rooms, he them only used for business," writes his traveling secretary Christa Schroeder in her memoirs. "He himself lived in a small apartment with fabulously beautiful floral arrangements ... It was overwhelming." And the trivialization continues: "By thousands," reports the still fascinated by Hitler in 1949, Mrs. Schroeder, "the Viennese stood in front of the hotel and grew not tired to call for him (Hitler)." In the evening he speaks from the balcony of the Imperial to the population, which remained on the Ring Road: "My German Volksgenossen (ethnic compatriots)," he roars into the microphone, "it's a big turn, that was given to our German people. What we experience here is experienced by the entire German people ... I am moved and touched by this historic change. Whatever comes, the German Reich, as it stands today, nobody will break anymore and no one more tear!"
Effort for Hitler
The effort that was spent on Hitler was gigantic. The Gestapo had checked the dates of all hotel staff before his arrival and "normal guests" moved to the hotel Bristol so that the "leader" could be undisturbed. And the red-white-red flags on an imperial picture from 1931 were painted over with swastikas. Among the guests Hitler receives at the Imperial is his sister Paula, who is seven years his junior. Discretion is the order of the day as the "leader" hides the members of his family arising from quite humble beginnings. Since her brother is Chancellor, Paula Hitler lives under the name of Wolf in a poor attic in Vienna. She enters for the first time in her life a luxury hotel and is intimidated by the Hitler cult and the "Heil Hitler" calls made in the Imperial can be heard in every corner. The siblings have not seen each other for a long time. The atmosphere is warm, exuberant by the sister. After half an hour of talking, she leaves the Imperial - with a money envelope in her pocket. Adolf and Paula Hitler have hardly any contact after this meeting - although she were close to the regime. After being briefly detained by the US occupation after the war, Ms. Hitler claimed that her brother "had nothing to do with, and knew nothing about, the crimes of the Nazi era." She died in 1960 at the age of 64.
A bunker for Hitler
Since Hitler selected the Imperial for headquarters - which he visited only once - an underground bunker was built to protect him. At the side entrance of the hotel, a five-meter-deep shaft was dug and broadened as an air-raid shelter. Hitler never entered it, but during the Allied attacks several Philharmonic musicians, who ran over from the nearby Musikverein, found refuge.
The Queen at the Imperial
During the occupation, the hotel served as the seat of the Soviet High Commissioner, before it became a noble hostel for state guests of the Republic in 1958. The most eye-catching visit was probably that of Queen Elizabeth in May 1969, other prominent guests were Shah Reza Pahlevi, Spain's King Juan Carlos, world stars such as Liz Taylor and Richard Burton, Yul Brynner and Sophia Loren.
While heads of state stay at the Imperial as guests of the republic, ordinary millionaires today pay up to $ 5,000 per night in the princely suite. Without breakfast.
Adolf Hitler: Vom Armenhaus ins Luxushotel
Nach Österreichs "Anschluss" an das Deutsche Reich im März 1938 ließ Hitler das Hotel Imperial "arisieren" und erklärte es zu seiner Wiener Residenz.
Als er zuletzt in Wien war, bewohnte er das Männerheim in der Meldemannstraße. Als Hitler ein Vierteljahrhundert später wiederkam, stieg er im Hotel Imperial ab. Ein Aufstieg vom Obdachlosenasyl zur ersten Adresse der Stadt.
Geträumt hat Adolf Hitler von derlei Prunk bereits als gescheiterter Kunstmaler, schwärmte er doch schon in dem Machwerk Mein Kampf, dass "die ganze Ringstraße auf mich wie ein Zauber aus Tausend und einer Nacht wirkt". Nun ging der Traum in Erfüllung, der "Führer" zeigt sich nur zwei Tage nach dem "Anschluss" auf dem Balkon des Ringstraßenhotels und lässt sich von einer großen Menschenmenge vor dem Imperial bejubeln.
Prominente Gäste
Längst ist das Imperial ein Mythos, ein geheimnisvolles Stück Wien – auch wenn es nur wenige Bewohner der Stadt von innen kennen. Dabei wurde das riesige Gebäude gar nicht für Staatsgäste gebaut, sondern für ein einzelnes Ehepaar, den Herzog von Württemberg und seine Frau Maria Theresia, eine gebürtige Habsburg. Als die beiden nach seiner Fertigstellung 1866 das Interesse an dem Palast verloren, baute ihn der Bankier Horace von Landau in ein Luxushotel um, das Monarchen, Geschäftsleute, betuchte Touristen und Künstler wie Sarah Bernhardt, Richard Wagner und später Charlie Chaplin anlockte.Und dann kommt der 14. März 1938. Hitler zieht in Wien ein, erklärt das Imperial zu seiner Residenz und steigt samt Propagandaminister Goebbels und anderen Nazi-Größen am Kärntner Ring ab. Das Neue Wiener Tagblatt rühmte: "Wie der Führer das Hotel Kaiserhof in Berlin zu seinem Hauptquartier machte, erhob er jetzt ein in Ruf und Rang dem Kaiserhof ebenbürtiges Unternehmen zum Wiener Hauptquartier."
Hotel-"Arisierung"
Parallel zu seinem Einzug laufen die Vorbereitungen zur "Arisierung" des Hauses. Samuel Schallinger, Hauptaktionär des Imperial, wird verhaftet und später ins KZ Theresienstadt deportiert, wo er 1942 ermordet wird."Hitler wohnte nicht in den Fürstenzimmern, die benutzte er nur dienstlich", schreibt seine mitgereiste Sekretärin Christa Schroeder in ihren Lebenserinnerungen. "Er selbst bewohnte ein kleines Appartement mit märchenhaft schönen Blumenarrangements... Es war überwältigend."Und die Verharmlosung geht weiter: "Zu Tausenden", berichtet die im Jahr 1949 von Hitler immer noch faszinierte Frau Schroeder, "hatten die Wiener vor dem Hotel gestanden und wurden nicht müde, nach Hitler zu rufen."Am Abend spricht er vom Balkon des Imperial zur Bevölkerung, die auf der Ringstraße ausharrte: "Meine deutschen Volksgenossen", brüllt er ins Mikrofon, "es ist eine große Wende, die unserem deutschen Volk zuteil wurde. Was wir hier erleben, erlebt das ganze deutsche Volk... Ich bin ergriffen und bewegt von dieser geschichtlichen Wende. Was immer auch kommen mag, das Deutsche Reich, so wie es heute steht, wird niemand mehr zerbrechen und niemand mehr zerreißen!"
Aufwand um Hitler
Der Aufwand, der um Hitler betrieben wurde, war gigantisch. Die Gestapo hatte noch vor seiner Ankunft die Daten aller Hotel-Mitarbeiter überprüft und "normale Gäste" ins Hotel Bristol übersiedelt, damit der "Führer" ungestört sein konnte. Und die rot-weiß-roten Fahnen auf einem Imperial-Bild von 1931 wurden mit Hakenkreuzen übermalt.Zu den Gästen, die Hitler im Imperial empfängt, zählt seine um sieben Jahre jüngere Schwester Paula. Diskretion ist angesagt, denn der "Führer" versteckt die Mitglieder seiner aus kleinen Verhältnissen stammenden Familie. Seit ihr Bruder Reichskanzler ist, wohnt Paula Hitler unter dem Namen Wolf in einer ärmlichen Dachkammer in Wien.Sie betritt zum ersten Mal in ihrem Leben ein Nobelhotel und ist eingeschüchtert ob des Hitler-Kults und der "Heil Hitler"-Rufe, die im Imperial an allen Ecken zu hören sind.Die Geschwister haben einander lange nicht gesehen. Die Atmosphäre ist herzlich, vonseiten der Schwester überschwänglich. Nach einer halbstündigen Plauderei verlässt sie das Imperial – mit einem Geldkuvert in der Tasche.Adolf und Paula Hitler haben nach diesem Treffen – obwohl sie dem Regime nahe stand – kaum noch Kontakt. Nach dem Krieg von der US-Besatzung kurz in Gewahrsam genommen, behauptete Frau Hitler, dass ihr Bruder "mit den Verbrechen der NS-Zeit nichts zu tun und von diesen auch nichts gewusst" habe. Sie stirbt 1960 mit 64 Jahren.
Ein Bunker für Hitler
Da Hitler das Imperial zum Hauptquartier auserkor – das er nur ein Mal besuchte – wurde ein unterirdischer Bunker gebaut, der ihm Schutz bieten sollte. Am Seiteneingang des Hotels wurde ein fünf Meter tiefer Schacht gegraben und als Luftschutzkeller ausgebaut. Hitler hat ihn nie betreten, dafür fanden während der alliierten Angriffe mehrere Philharmoniker, die vom nahen Musikverein herüber liefen, Unterschlupf.
Die Queen im Imperial
In der Besatzungszeit diente das Hotel als Sitz des sowjetischen Hochkommissars, ehe es 1958 zur Nobelherberge für Staatsgäste der Republik wurde. Der Aufsehen erregendste Besuch war wohl der von Queen Elizabeth im Mai 1969, weitere prominente Gäste waren Schah Reza Pahlevi, Spaniens König Juan Carlos, Weltstars wie Liz Taylor und Richard Burton, Yul Brynner und Sophia Loren.
Während Staatsoberhäupter im Imperial als Gäste der Republik verweilen, zahlen ganz normale Millionäre heute pro Nacht in der Fürstensuite bis zu 5000 Euro. Ohne Frühstück.
kurier.at/chronik/weltchronik/adolf-hitler-vom-armenhaus-...
Mythor / Heft-Reihe
Das Dämonentor
Fantasyroman
Pabel Verlag
(Rastatt/Deutschland; 1980-1986)
ex libris MTP
While visiting Oakland's Middle Harbor Park I saw what appeared to be an episode of Myth Busters being taped at Alameda Point. After a second near miss this unidentified man takes his bazooka to lock it up before taking a break.
Note: Please read the comment from creeserock below. It explains the real story of what's happening in this picture and includes some helpful links. I wasn't entirely wrong though, since this is a production associated with Jamie Hyneman, one of the Myth Busters hosts.
A project for the Pikeville High School library. Took me forever to complete. I was assigned to create a painting that would allow library vistors to determine what books were in the section. My section involved unexplained mysteries, the supernatural, the superstitious, religion, culture, philosophy, and computers. Quite the combination, and I think I pulled them together quite nicely if I do say so myself.
Marble, AD 66-8
Celebrating Nero's success over the Parthians, the breastplate of this statue depicts the emperor as the Sun riding in his chariot. The same image decorated the awning of the Theatre of Pompey in Rome during Tiridates's coronation. Below, two mythological figures symbolise the Parthian submission to Rome. The statue originall carried a portrait of Nero like the one displayed above, stressing his martial qualities.
[British Museum]
Nero: the Man Behind the Myth
(May - Oct 2021)
Nero is known as one of Rome's most infamous rulers, notorious for his cruelty, debauchery and madness.
The last male descendant of the emperor Augustus, Nero succeeded to the throne in AD 54 aged just 16 and died a violent death at 30. His turbulent rule saw momentous events including the Great Fire of Rome, Boudicca's rebellion in Britain, the execution of his own mother and first wife, grand projects and extravagant excesses.
Drawing on the latest research, this major exhibition questions the traditional narrative of the ruthless tyrant and eccentric performer, revealing a different Nero, a populist leader at a time of great change in Roman society.
Through some 200 spectacular objects, from the imperial palace in Rome to the streets of Pompeii, follow the young emperor’s rise and fall and make up your own mind about Nero. Was he a young, inexperienced ruler trying his best in a divided society, or the merciless, matricidal megalomaniac history has painted him to be?
Nero was the 5th emperor of Rome and the last of Rome’s first dynasty, the Julio-Claudians, founded by Augustus (the adopted son of Julius Caesar). Nero is known as one of Rome’s most infamous rulers, notorious for his cruelty and debauchery. He ascended to power in AD 54 aged just 16 and died at 30. He ruled at a time of great social and political change, overseeing momentous events such as the Great Fire of Rome and Boudica’s rebellion in Britain. He allegedly killed his mother and two of his wives, only cared about his art and had very little interest in ruling the empire.
Most of what we know about Nero comes from the surviving works of three historians – Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio. All written decades after Nero’s death, their accounts have long shaped our understanding of this emperor’s rule. However, far from being impartial narrators presenting objective accounts of past events, these authors and their sources wrote with a very clear agenda in mind. Nero’s demise brought forward a period of chaos and civil war – one that ended only when a new dynasty seized power, the Flavians. Authors writing under the Flavians all had an interest in legitimising the new ruling family by portraying the last of the Julio-Claudians in the worst possible light, turning history into propaganda. These accounts became the ‘historical’ sources used by later historians, therefore perpetuating a fabricated image of Nero, which has survived all the way to the present.
Nero was born Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus on 15 December AD 37.
He was the son of Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Agrippina the Younger. Both Gnaeus and Agrippina were the grandchildren of Augustus, making Nero Augustus’ great, great grandson with a strong claim to power.
Nero was only two years old when his mother was exiled and three when his father died. His inheritance was taken from him and he was sent to live with his aunt. However, Nero’s fate changed again when Claudius became emperor, restoring the boy’s property and recalling his mother Agrippina from exile.
In AD 49 the emperor Claudius married Agrippina, and adopted Nero the following year. It is at this point that Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus changed his name to Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus. In Roman times it was normal to change your name when adopted, abandoning your family name in favour of your adoptive father’s. Nero was a common name among members of the Claudian family, especially in Claudius’ branch.
Nero and Agrippina offered Claudius a politically useful link back to Augustus, strengthening his position.
Claudius appeared to favour Nero over his natural son, Britannicus, marking Nero as the designated heir.
When Claudius died in AD 54, Nero became emperor just two months before turning 17.
As he was supported by both the army and the senate, his rise to power was smooth. His mother Agrippina exerted a significant influence, especially at the beginning of his rule.
The Roman historians Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio all claim that Nero, fed up with Agrippina’s interference, decided to kill her.
Given the lack of eyewitnesses, there is no way of knowing if or how this happened. However, this did not stop historians from fabricating dramatic stories of Agrippina’s murder, asserting that Nero tried (and failed) to kill her with a boat engineered to sink, before sending his men to do the job.
Agrippina allegedly told them to stab her in the womb that bore Nero, her last words clearly borrowed from stage plays.
It is entirely possible, as claimed by Nero himself, that Agrippina chose (or was more likely forced) to take her own life after her plot against her son was discovered.
Early in his rule, Nero had to contend with a rebellion in the newly conquered province of Britain.
In AD 60–61, Queen Boudica of the Iceni tribe led a revolt against the Romans, attacking and laying waste to important Roman settlements. The possible causes of the rebellion were numerous – the greed of the Romans exploiting the newly conquered territories, the recalling of loans made to local leaders, ongoing conflict in Wales and, above all, violence against the family of Prasutagus, Boudica’s husband and king of the Iceni.
Boudica and the rebels destroyed Colchester, London and St Albans before being heavily defeated by Roman troops. After the uprising, the governor of Britain Suetonius Paulinus introduced harsher laws against the Britons, until Nero replaced him with the more conciliatory governor Publius Petronius Turpilianus.
The marriage between Nero and Octavia, aged 15 and 13/14 at the time, was arranged by their parents in order to further legitimise Nero’s claim to the throne. Octavia was the daughter of the emperor Claudius from a previous marriage, so when Claudius married Agrippina and adopted her son Nero, Nero and Octavia became brother and sister. In order to arrange their marriage, Octavia had to be adopted into another family.
Their marriage was not a happy one. According to ancient writers, Nero had various affairs until his lover Poppaea Sabina convinced him to divorce his wife. Octavia was first exiled then executed in AD 62 on adultery charges. According to ancient writers, her banishment and death caused great unrest among the public, who sympathised with the dutiful Octavia.
No further motives were offered for Octavia’s death other than Nero’s passion for Poppaea, and we will probably never know what transpired at court. The fact that Octavia couldn’t produce an heir while Poppaea was pregnant with Nero’s daughter likely played an important role in deciding Octavia’s fate.
On 19 July AD 64, a fire started close to the Circus Maximus. The flames soon encompassed the entire city of Rome and the fire raged for nine days. Only four of the 14 districts of the capital were spared, while three were completely destroyed.
Rome had already been razed by flames – and would be again in its long history – but this event was so severe it came to be known as the Great Fire of Rome.
Later historians blamed Nero for the event, claiming that he set the capital ablaze in order to clear land for the construction of a vast new palace. According to Suetonius and Cassius Dio, Nero took in the view of the burning city from the imperial residence while playing the lyre and singing about the fall of Troy. This story, however, is fictional.
Tacitus, the only historian who was actually alive at the time of the Great Fire of Rome (although only 8 years old), wrote that Nero was not even in Rome when the fire started, but returned to the capital and led the relief efforts.
Tacitus, Suetonius and Cassius Dio all describe Nero as being blinded by passion for his wife Poppaea, yet they accuse him of killing her, allegedly by kicking her in an outburst of rage while she was pregnant.
Interestingly, pregnant women being kicked to death by enraged husbands is a recurring theme in ancient literature, used to explore the (self) destructive tendencies of autocrats. The Greek writer Herodotus tells the story of how the Persian king Cambyses kicked his pregnant wife in the stomach, causing her death. A similar episode is told of Periander, tyrant of Corinth. Nero is just one of many allegedly ‘mad’ tyrants for which this literary convention was used.
Poppaea probably died from complications connected with her pregnancy and not at Nero’s hands. She was given a lavish funeral and was deified.
Centred on greater Iran, the Parthian empire was a major political and cultural power and a long-standing enemy of Rome. The two powers had long been contending for control over the buffer state of Armenia and open conflict sparked again during Nero’s rule. The Parthian War started in AD 58 and, after initial victories and following set-backs, ended in AD 63 when a diplomatic solution was reached between Nero and the Parthian king Vologases I.
According to this settlement Tiridates, brother of the Parthian king, would rule over Armenia, but only after having travelled all the way to Rome to be crowned by Nero.
The journey lasted 9 months, Tiridates’ retinue included 3,000 Parthian horsemen and many Roman soldiers. The coronation ceremony took place in the summer of AD 66 and the day was celebrated with much pomp: all the people of Rome saw the new king of Armenia kneeling in front of Nero. This was the Golden Day of Nero’s rule
In AD 68, Vindex, the governor of Gaul (France), rebelled against Nero and declared his support for Galba, the governor of Spain. Vindex was defeated in battle by troops loyal to Nero, yet Galba started gaining more military support.
It was at this point that Nero lost the support of Rome’s people due to a grain shortage, caused by a rebellious commander who cut the crucial food supply from Egypt to the capital. Abandoned by the people and declared an enemy of the state by the senate, Nero tried to flee Rome and eventually committed suicide.
Following his death, Nero’s memory was condemned (a practice called damnatio memoriae) and the images of the emperor were destroyed, removed or reworked. However, Nero was still given an expensive funeral and for a long time people decorated his tomb with flowers, some even believing he was still alive.
After Nero’s death, civil war ensued. At the end of the so-called ‘Year of the Four Emperors’ (AD 69), Vespasian became emperor and started a new dynasty: the Flavians.
[Francesca Bologna, curator, for British Museum]
Taken in the British Museum
On the 17th September 2018 I drove to the Haynes International Motor Museum at Sparkford near Yeovil in Somerset, it contains over 400 cars and motorcycles and a collection of other Automobilia. The museum, which was established in 1985, is an Educational Charitable Trust chaired by John Haynes OBE. The museum is divided into fifteen exhibitions:
The Dawn of Motoring includes exhibits dating from 1886 including a replica 1886 Benz Patent Motorwagen.
Veteran and Vintage includes 1903 Darracq Type L and a 1922 Rover Bhp.
Wheels around the World includes a 1975 Bricklin SVI and a 1967 Citroen DS.
Minis and Micros includes a 1964 Trojan 200 and a 1965 Morris Mini MK2.
Great British Marques contains a 1965 Jaguar E Type and a 1977 Lotus Elite Type 75.
Custom and Bespoke includes a 1941 Chevrolet 1/2 ton Custom Pick Up and a 1958 split screen Morris Minor van (ex-Post Office)
The American Dream includes in pride of place a 1931 Duesenberg J Derham bodied Tourster, one of only eight built. You really should see this immaculate car, my favourite all time car.
Motorcycle Mezzanine is in two parts: Part 1 - British and World Motorcycles, containing a 1914 BSA Flat Tank and a 1965 Honda CB72 and Part 2 - The Forshaw Speedway Collection.
Supercar Century includes a 1960 Ferrari 250 GT Convertible and a 1995 Jaguar XJ220.
Hall of Motorsport depicting varied disciplines of motor sport including a 1996 Ferrari Formula 1 Type F310 (DC) and 1950 Healey Silverstone.
The Morris Story includes 1917 Morris Cowley and a 1955 Morris Minor Convertible.
Memory Lane contains a 1965 Ford Cortina Mk 1 and a 1950 Rover 75.
Travelling in Style:Luxury Cars includes a 2007 Bentley Continental GT and a 1957 Bentley Series 1.
Ferrari: The Man, The Machine, The Myth containing a 2000 Ferrari 360 F1 and a 1980 Ferrari 512 Berlinetta Boxer.
The Red Room, contains red sports cars from around the world including a 1966 Ford Mustang Convertible and a 1959 Austin Healey Sprite.
In April 2014 the Museum completed an extensive £6 Million redevelopment and now boasts: an entrance foyer and reception area; a large museum shop selling auto related gifts including specialist memorabilia; Café 750 which serves home cooked food; state of the art conference and hospitality facilities for 10 to 400 guests and Haynes Workshop Services. The Museum regularly hosts conferences for organisations outside the motor industry.
They are located in Sparkford near Yeovil, just off the A303 and 30 minutes from junction 25 of the M5. High profile brown tourist signs from all major trunk roads provide easy to follow directions to the Museum.The main line station at Castle Cary is 5 miles from the Museum, with its high speed link between Paddington and Penzance. The line also serves a regular daily route between Bristol and Weymouth with regular stops at Yeovil. There are regular bus services to Sparkford Village from Castle Cary and Yeovil. Further information can be obtained from www.travelinesw.com or by calling 0870 608 2608.
The Museum and Café 750 are open all day, every day ( except 24th, 25th & 26th December and 1st January ). The cafe serves hot food but the standard is the one thing that let this place down. The first trip there I had a sausage roll it was black inside and the underneath same, yes I did get a refund. The second trip, I had a Cornish Pasty and the base of that was going the same way along with the taste not being quite right. All the staff were ok but the food needs some attention. Having been a chef I know getting food right can be difficult sometimes.
“A Wonder Book and Tanglewood Tales” by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Illustrated by Frederick Richardson. Copyrighted by the John C. Winston Company in 1930.
Hawthorne’s own children were eight and ten years old when he came up with the idea of translating Greek myths into children’s language, and “A Wonder Book” was born. It was so successful that “Tanglewood Tales” followed about a year and a half later. They were first published in 1852 and 1853. Frederick Richardson illustrated the combined volume published by the Winston company in 1930.
“A Wonder Book and Tanglewood Tales” by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Illustrated by Frederick Richardson. Copyrighted by the John C. Winston Company in 1930.
Hawthorne’s own children were eight and ten years old when he came up with the idea of translating Greek myths into children’s language, and “A Wonder Book” was born. It was so successful that “Tanglewood Tales” followed about a year and a half later. They were first published in 1852 and 1853. Frederick Richardson illustrated the combined volume published by the Winston company in 1930.
Awan (spirit) figures, from the East Sepik district of Papua New Guinea, prior to 1916, part of the exhibition Myth + Magic at the National Gallery of Australia. Water-soluble graphite.
Scotland-based clothing company, Biscuits Clothing
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feat. Front alt girl, Tammy Cole