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Merry Christmas to all - Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, and other believers and non-believers. Happy holidays to all who wish for a world big enough, healthy enough and compassionate enough to sustain our wildest and most vulnerable creatures. May we find peace and hope in a world that makes room for wild creatures great and small. May we find time for play and joy. And stand tall for the young who need our compassion and care. May we cherish diversity and support a world able to sustain our planet's young and vulnerable. May we stand confidently before the challenges life brings us. And care for one another. May we dance and keep safe those who dance in far away places. May we see the tenderness in all creatures. And protect the most vulnerable. Including those smaller than a feather. May our young be nourished. And, live full and wild even in the shadow of great cities. May our families flourish along the paths they follow. And in their homes, safe and secure. May we run with joy and exuberance. And enjoy the quiet and softening light of day's end. May we sleep the sleep of young lions. And, always keep some wiggle in our walk. Happy holidays from the Venture Moola photo blog. _____
All photos and text are copyright Clinton Richardson. The images are from the author's Safari Collection at Trekpic.com. If you like these posts, please tell your friends about the Venture Moola blog at Readjanus.com. Want to plan your own safari? If so, feel free to check out the outfitter we used at Porini.com. And, feel free to share this blog. The more readers the better. Click here if you would like to get a weekly email that notifies you when we release new entries. Or, click in the side column to follow us on Facebook or Twitter. Ancient money's silent witness to history and how it influences our lives today is the subject of today's post. The image displayed above is from a coin was issued by a Roman Senator in 71 BC. In that year, Rome’s legions finally and violently quashed a massive slave rebellion on the Italian peninsula. The coin, as you can see, portrays a legionnaire holding a prostrate and defeated slave. The coin was a comfort to Rome’s citizens and a warning to its many slaves. You may have heard about the rebellion. Bestselling author Howard Fast wrote about it in the 1950s and actor Kirk Douglas turned Fast’s book into a blockbuster movie in 1960. As the story goes, a Thracian mercenary named Spartacus is enslaved and sent to the gladiatorial school of Lentulus Batiatus in Capua in the year 73 BC. Plans were to include him in gladiatorial bouts hosted throughout Rome’s empire after his training. Instead, he masterminds an escape and defeats all challenges thrown at him, dispatching Roman legion after Roman legion and accumulating over a two year period nearly 100,000 followers. His slave nation made camp on Mount Vesuvius near modern day Naples and earned international notoriety for its resilience. Knowing Rome must crush them to survive, Spartacus and his army of former slaves made arrangements to escape from the peninsula. But they failed. While trying to depart, the legions of Marcus Crassus and Magnus Pompey converge on them and defeat Spartacus and his armies in a crushing battle. After the defeat, Crassus crucifies 6,000 captives from the battle, all former slaves, while marching the rest of them 350 miles from the battle site to Rome. The number equates to about 17 crucifixions per mile, spreading them apart far enough so that the screams of each crucified slave could not be heard by the other slaves as they marched under the watchful eyes of Crassius’ legions. What you probably don’t know is that Howard Fast had to self-publish his book about Spartacus because his name appeared on Senator McCarthy’s black list of communist sympathizers. The Committee thought Fast and the story were too sympathetic to communist ideals. Even with the impediment of self-publishing, however, Spartacus quickly became a number one bestseller on the New York Times Bestseller List. And then the story of Spartacus’ struggle took on new meaning and managed to impact modern America in a surprising way. Kirk Douglas, annoyed at losing the lead role in Ben Hur to Charleston Heston, bought the film rights to Fast’s book and hired the incomparable Dalton Trumbo to write the screen play for his movie. Trumbo had been imprisoned for refusing to testify to the McCarthy’s Un-American Affairs Committee and was blacklisted by the motion picture industry. When it came time to release the film, Douglas made another bold move and put Trumbo’s name in the movie credits. Hedda Hopper and other influential media people panned Douglas and the move as un-American. Protesters appeared at the opening. But the movie nonetheless became an instant popular success marking a defeat for McCarthyism. When President Kennedy attended a showing and commented positively on the film, an important victory for American freedom was sealed. Spartacus lost his own battle for freedom in 71 BC but centuries later his story helped free Dalton Trumbo and Americans everywhere from a tyranny of their own. The past matters. Ancient coins like the one above can remind us of important past events that can and do still impact our modern world.
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ Next week we start our Kenyan Safari series. What is it like to spend two weeks in the African wild? What do you experience and see when you are there? Check out our Safari 1: The Hunt next Thursday. The coins pictured are from the Ancient Selfie collection and featured in Ancient Selfies - History Revealed Through the World's First Social Media. All coin photos and text are copyright Clinton Richardson. See more coin images at TrekPick.com on the Coins page. If you like these posts, please tell your friends about the Venture Moola blog at Readjanus.com. For more pictures of the cormorant or the great blue herons whose territory he is invading, see the Jurassic Cove Gallery at TrekPic.com under the heading New. Feel free to share this blog. The more readers the better. Click here to subscribe to a weekly email that tells you when we issue new entries. Or, click in the column to the left to follow us on Facebook or Twitter. You would be angry too if someone left you out in the woods for 50 years. Thousands of years ago, Odysseus was cursed to wander the seas for just ten years and he arrived home fit to be tied. I can imagine him feeling like this ancient Oldsmobile looks. Tired and worn and ready for a fight. The Odyssey depicts him as such as he sneaks back into town to assess the situation at his home. The coin, issued in 82 BC by a Roman senator serving a one year commission as moneyer, shows Odysseus being recognized by his old dog Argus as he finally returns to his home. The fact that this classic Greek scene appears on a Roman coin attests to the power this classic Greek story had in Roman times. Eighty-two BC was an unsettled time in Rome. Sulla had just defeated the Marians to take control of Rome but the empire was largely ruled by the Greek Mithradates, who had taken advantage of Rome's civil unrest to recapture much of Greece. Consequently, the Greeks were very much on Roman minds. I am not sure how the Roman god Mercury (who graces the front of the coin) fit in the Roman mind with the Greek hero Odysseus. Perhaps it was a way to claim Roman connection with the heroic traits of Odysseus or those of the more modern Greek hero Mithradates. Or perhaps, Limentanus, the issuer, traced his family to Mercury. Many Roman families included Roman or Greek gods in their family trees. Julius Caesar's family claimed affiliation with the Greek goddess Venus. She appears on many coins issued in his name. (His associates also claimed he ascended to the heavens when a comet appeared in the skies shortly after his death.) Our modern society does something similar, like using the likeness of Mercury on an American automobile. You would expect this car to be swift if it is named for Mercury. Or, co-opting a Greek goddess like Nike to sell shoes. Of course, in Nike's case the association is more abstract. They use a swish as their logo instead of the goddess' image. Interestingly, Nike personified victory to the ancient Greeks and Romans, not speed. Odysseus wandered far and wide on his arduous ten year journey home, suffering imprisonment, ship wrecks and losing his entire crew. He faced great temptations. He even visited hell, the Greeks called it Hades, where he saw the tortured remains of fallen heros. A junk yard can show you remains of fallen automobiles adorned with godly symbols and wearing the ravages of time. I guess you can find the old Greeks most anywhere if you look hard enough. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Next week's post is about Why Spartacus Matters. Kirk Douglas, Joe McCarthy, Dalton Trumbo, a Roman slave and how they all interconnect to make a big impact on 20th century America. All photos and text are copyright Clinton Richardson. The images are from the author's Auto Afterlife and Ancient Selfies Galleries at the Trekpic.com. You can access them from the New and Coins pages. Next week we talk about Prepping for Kenya. If you like these posts, please tell your friends about the Venture Moola blog at Readjanus.com. For more pictures of the cormorant or the great blue herons whose territory he is invading, see the Jurassic Cove Gallery at TrekPic.com under the heading New. And, feel free to share this blog. The more readers the better. Click here to subscribe to a weekly email that tells you when we issue new entries. Or, click in the column to the left to follow us on Facebook or Twitter. As with many ancient coins, there is some debate about who is represented on the face of this coin issued in a part of Greece controlled by Marc Antony in the mid-30s BC during the Second Triumverate. Some believe the image of Aphrodite on the front is in the image of Cleopatra, Antony's lover, mother of his children and co-leader of his combined Roman and Egyptian armies and navies at the fateful battle of Actium.
The coin coin depicts the Greek goddess of love, beauty and procreation. It is believed to have been issued by Marc Antony and Cleopatra to pay their legions. The choice of Aphrodite for the coin would have been appropriate for a queen whose rise to power within a Roman man's world began while she was in exile fighting for her survival in Cyprus. This same island that launched Cleopatra onto the world stage also housed one of the two principal cult sites dedicated to Aphrodite and was believed by the Greeks to have been the birth site of the goddess. It is not hard to believe that the image was intended to honor the great queen who was worshiped as a goddess within her native Egypt. Most often she was portrayed as the Egyptian goddess Isis, who was worshiped as the ideal mother and wife, and goddess of children. A remarkable woman by any account, Cleopatra was the last of the Greek Ptolemy dynasty that ruled Egypt for 300 years. She ruled the wealthiest empire in the Western world with the most advanced arts, the most impressive cities, and the most luxurious lifestyles for its ruling class. She was also among the best educated rulers of her time, benefiting from being raised in a culture where women had more access to education than did their Roman counterparts. She could speak fluently in many languages and was the first Ptolemy able to speak to her Egyptian subjects in their native tongue. Cleopatra was at the height of her power when this coin was issued. With Marc Antony at her side, she had been proclaimed Queen of Kings and Queen of Egypt, an empire that included Egypt and much of the Levant and Greece. Her son Caesarion had been proclaimed by Antony to be the legitimate son and rightful heir of Julius Caesar. Would you like Marc Antony to send you a picture of Cleopatra, his co-ruler, lover and mother to his children? You can get this selfie and selfies from other ancient rulers by purchasing Ancient Selfies - History Revealed Through the World's First Social Media: Ancient Coins. Get the book in eBook or paper at Amazon.com or check out the book web site at at http://www.ancientselfies.com/. Details: Achaea, Patrae. Mid-30s BC. Silver hemidrachm. Obverse: Head of Aphrodite right wearing stephane, resembling Cleopatra? Reverse DA/MACIAC and monogram within wreath. 16 mm. 2.32 grams. References: BCD 525; SNG Copenhagen 154. Image and content copyright Clinton Richardson. Get Ancient Selfies in eBook or paper at Amazon.com or check out the Ancient Selfies web site at at http://www.ancientselfies.com/. If you like these posts, please tell your friends about the Venture Moola blog at Readjanus.com. And, feel free to share this blog. The more readers the better. Click here to subscribe to a weekly email that tells you when we issue new entries. Or, click in the column to the left to follow us on Facebook or Twitter. How would you like to receive a selfie from Julius Caesar or Cleopatra or Alexander the Great? Imagine how much more interesting the Romans and ancient Greeks would be if you could interact with them on social media. Imagine what you could experience and learn from seeing the selfies of leaders of the ancient world. Impossible you say? Romans did not have cell phones or the Internet. Heck, they did not even have soap. Social media is a modern phenomenon, right? Think again. The ancients invented the first social media and left their selfies for everyone to see. And these are not just ordinary selfies. They are engraved on the coins the ancients invented and used to distribute their images wherever their commerce took them. You can see them in Ancient Selfies, the 2017 International Book Awards Finalist in History that takes you back to ancient Greece, Persia and Rome in a new way - through the images commissioned by their rulers for their coins. For populations that were largely illiterate, these hand stamped coins made from hand engraved dies delivered images of their ancient rulers and the things that were happening in their lives. Their rulers understood the power coins had to communicate and used them to convey messages and shape impressions.
Thousands of years later, these very personal images enable us to travel back through the ages to get a unique glimpse into our past. The remarkably beautiful images on these coins, together with their stories, provide a unique and tangible way for us to connect directly with our past. For more about Ancient Selfies - History Revealed Through the World's First Social Media: Ancient Coins check out the Ancient Selfies web site at www.ancientselfies.com. Or, start with the readjanus.com/ancient-selfies.html page. Above image copyright Clinton Richardson is from the coin issued by Julius Caesar just days before his assassination. See the coin and read about Caesar in Chapter 4 of Ancient Selfies, available in color eBook and B&W print at Amazon.com. A version of this entry also appeared in the Ancient Selfies blog at ancientselfies.com/blog. If you like these posts, please tell your friends about the Venture Moola blog at Readjanus.com. And, feel free to share this blog. The more readers the better. Click here to subscribe to a weekly email that tells you when we issue new entries. Or, click in the column to the left to follow us on Facebook or Twitter. A FRIEND RECOMMENDED an audio book series from The Great Courses series over lunch the other day. The lecture series is called The World Was Never the Same: Events That Changed History. by J. Rufus Fears at the University of Oklahoma. As my friend described it, the course reviews history through events, like the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus, that dramatically changed the course of human events. The most recent event treated was 911 and all the changes it has brought about in lives around the world. Most would agree that 911 changed the world as we knew it. I think, my friend continued, that the line in the sand President Obama drew in 2012 and failed to back up may become the next event that changed history when people look back on our time. Since then, he noted, the war in Syria has become unconventionally brutal with chemical weapons, bombing of civilians and health care facilities with the resulting destruction of a nation state that has sent unprecedented numbers of immigrants fleeing into Europe. If you watch the news, you know much of the rest. Turmoil in the Middle East, ISIS exporting terror throughout Europe and beyond, budget strains and humanitarian crisis throughout Europe followed by rising nationalism that fueled BREXIT and the rise of an electorally significant right wing party in Germany for the first time since World War II. Unsettling stuff, to be sure. But what is a line in the sand? And, where did the phrase come from? First, to set the record straight, there was no Obama "line in the sand" in 2012. He drew a red line instead. In a press conference on August 20,2012 President Obama stated: "We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. That would change my calculus. That would change my equation. . . . We have communicated in no uncertain terms with every player in the region that that’s a red line for us and that there would be enormous consequences if we start seeing movement on the chemical weapons front or the use of chemical weapons. That would change my calculations significantly." This was followed by the use of chemical weapons in Syria without an American response calling into question America's resolve and, some believe, accelerating the escalation in the horrible violence and war crimes that have engulfed Syria and the Middle East.
So, where did the line in the sand originate? One candidate, the recipient in this case, is identified on the coin above. Antiochus IV was the Seleucid Emperor who ruled a vast empire to the east of Rome that included Syria. In 168 BC, he launched a campaign to annex Alexandria to his conquest of Egypt. He had successfully subdued the remaining part of Egypt in a preemptive strike in 170 BC. This second campaign, however, was thwarted before it could reach the city. Roman Senator Gaius Popillius Laenas confronted Antiochus and demanded he withdraw or face war with Rome. While Antiochus was stalling for time, Laenas drew a circle around him in the sand and demanded a decision before Antiochus left the circle. The Seleucid Emperor conceded and the phrase "line in the sand" came into being. Wikipedia describes both the red line and the line in the sand as figurative points of no return or as limits beyond which safety can no longer be assured. A poker player might call it a bluff, at least when it is not backed up with action. And, of course, that's always the question when someone draws a line. Is it really a bluff? Was Laenas' line in the sand a bluff? We will never know. The Syrian he was facing did not challenge his threat, choosing instead to retreat and leave Alexandria alone. Image courtesy of the Ancient Selfies Collection. Coin front of Antiochus IV, Seleucid Emperor, 175 to 164 BC. More about Antiochus and other ancient rulers in Ancient Selfies: History Revealed Through The World's First Social Media to be published later this year. THIS SYRIAN BORN NIECE of Roman Emperor Septimius Severus became the first woman to openly and officially rule the Roman Empire. On her coin, Julia Mamaea appears with heavily curled hair and wearing a crown.
She first came to power with her mother when her son, Severus Alexander, ascended to the throne at the age of 14. He was thrust into the position when hIs predecessor Elagabalus was murdered by the Praetorian Guard. The two women, both named Julia, were named co-regents for Alexander because of his youth. The two openly administered affairs of State for the under aged Alexander. Julia ruled ably at first, reversing scandalous policies of her predecessor, appointing 16 distinguished senators as her advisors, and making the distinguished lawyer Ulpian her chief advisor and head of the Praetorian Guard. When Alexander reached adulthood after the death of Julia's mother, Alexander conferred on Julia the title of consors imperii . The position, which meant partner in rule, had been previously offered to co-emperor Lucius Verus by Marcus Aurelius. The appointment of a women to the position was unprecedented at the time. Romans, however, were not unaccustomed to the idea of being governed by a woman. Julia's aunt Julia Domna had been remarkably visible in administering governmental functions for her husband Emperor Septimius Severus and her son Emperor Caracalla. During Julia's reign, Julia received the title of Mater Castorum (mother of the camps) and Mater Senatus (mother of the Senate) and largely avoided scandals. Her contemporaries described her as virtuous. She consulted with the Christian theologian Origen about Christian doctrine. Even so, Julia could ruthless when her interests called for it however. When her son married Barbia Orbiana in 225 and her father was made co-emperor, Julia had Barbia removed from the palace and ordered the murder of her father (and co-emperor). You might think it would be hard to find any common ground between a Roman Empress and a Presidential candidate what with times being so different. You might try foreign policy however. Some think that is a shortcoming of Hillary and international affairs were certainly not Julia's strong suit. As consul imperii she accompanied her son on military missions with the Legions.. And with him she tried to settle a major dispute with the Alammani. She got a 'deal' with the Alammani but the terms were so unpopular with members of Rome's 22nd Legion that they lynched both her and her son, raising their own Maximinius to the throne. HUNDRED OF YEARS after his demise medals with his image stamped onto them were awarded to athletes at the Olympics Games. So he was remembered in ancient times differently, perhaps, than he is now.
As Rome's emperor he was the most powerful man of his time. He wielded power confidently and sometimes ruthlessly. But he also loved poetry and music and frequently performed his compositions in public. One reported private performance earned him infamy. He was wild about chariot races and games. So much so, that he even drove a ten horse chariot in the Olympic Games much to the dismay of his advisors. He was so enthusiastic about charioteers, in fact, that he styled his hair in their unique fashion combing it up and forward as shown of his coin. While his hairstyle disturbed his advisors it also contributed to his popularity with the masses. It was important to him to be popular with the masses. While most historians question whether he ordered the burning of Rome in 64 AD, others believe the massive fire that consumed much of Rome during his reign and killed many was a deliberate act of an emperor who wanted to make Rome great again by clearing the way for his own public building projects. He was said to have sung the "Sack of Illium" in stage costume and possibly played the lyre while the city burned. Whether he was the architect of Rome's destruction or not, he did make Christians the scapegoat for the fire and ordered the systematic persecution of its members as punishment. Tradition holds that Christ's disciple Peter was among the many crucified during this persecution. In Peter's case, the belief is that he was crucified upside. He acted with confidence driven, you might say, by an inner compass that justified almost any action that secured his power or advanced his agenda. He ordered the murder of his mother and first wife. And some believe he personally killed his second wife by kicking her at a public function while she was near full term in her pregnancy. In the end, Rome's legions revolted against him and the taxes imposed to fund his massive building projects. To avoid capture, he ordered his personal secretary to take his life, saying "What an artist dies in me" while contemplating his 'suicide.' His death was followed by a year of civil war during which four different individuals claimed the crown of Rome's emperor. Of course, we cannot know the full picture of Nero's life with any certainty. The records are too old and incomplete. But the coin does give us a glimpse of his hairstyle and we know his reign was eventually 'trumped' by the leaders of his legions. Which raises the all important question? Is there a reason the Donald wears his hair the same way? And, will Americans be Trumped this election cycle? Come back next week for 'Hillary'd". IT DEPENDS ON who you ask and what you mean by invented.
Was the selfie invented by Robert Cornelius in 1839 when he produced a daguerreotype image of himself? Cameras were so primitive then he had to remove the lens cover, run to position, stand for a minute and then run back and put the lens cap back on. He claimed invention when he marked the back of the finished photo "The first light Picture ever taken." Or was it the developer of the Brownie Kodak camera in 1900 that made self-portraits more widespread? If you think the selfie is tied to front facing cell phone cameras maybe you give the nod to the Sony Ericsson company for the Z1010 mobile phone they released in late 2003. Some say the first use of the word selfie appeared in an Internet forum in 2002. But if you think that the essence of the selfie is a self-portrait that can be widely distributed then you need to look much further back in time. My candidate? I nominate Cyrus the Great. He was the first to distribute his image using a relatively new and widespread media – coins - sometime between 550 and 539 BC. Leader of the largest empire the world had seen, his territory stretched from the Mediterranean Sea into the Indus Valley including all of the ancient Near East, Southwest Asia and parts of Central Asia and the Caucasus. Cyrus used the coin medium perfected by the great Lydian leader Croesus when he defeated Croesus’ army and annexed his territory. While coins existed earlier, Croesus had standardized the weights and purity of his coins in a way that made them into international medium of exchange. With such wide distribution, ancient coins became a perfect way to communicate with a large and mostly illiterate population. But Croesus never put his own image on his coins. It was left to Cyrus to make that innovation when he had an image of himself kneeling and drawing a bow placed on the coinage he adopted from Croesus. The image (shown above) may be crude by modern standards but so was the technology. The dies used to hand stamp the images onto his coins were engraved by hand. Above, from the Ancient Selfies™ collection, front side of a coin issued by Cyrus the Great. CAN WE STOP CALLING THEM LONE WOLVES?
If you enter the phrase “lone wolf attack” in your Internet browser you will find page after page of links to articles about terrorists who act alone but are inspired by foreign terrorist organizations. The headlines for the top three in my browser state “Orlando Shooting: Lone-Wolf Attack Illustrates Islamic State’s Far Reach,” “Hillary Clinton Declares Stopping ‘Lone Wolf’ Attackers is National Priority,” and “Orlando Attack: ‘I am the lone wolf that terrorizes the infidels.” Wikipedia even has a definition. A lone wolf is “is someone who commits violent acts in support of some group, movement, or ideology, but who does so alone, outside of any command structure and without material assistance from any group.” It goes on to say that “the lone wolf prepares and acts alone. . . [and] may be influenced or motivated by the ideology and beliefs of an external group.” The phrase has become ingrained into our lexicon. It is used by law enforcement when they name groups to track and target these solo slaughterers. It is used by media and political candidates. You may think it’s no big deal. It’s only a phrase after all. But language matters. Language is what people use to communicate. It’s what authors toil over to reach just the right phrase to convey meaning and emotion. And we all know from experience that the right phrase can provoke action or defuse a situation. And, phrases like 'lone wolf' are what terror groups use to recruit and what their recruits use to justify their deadly attacks on innocent people. According to the Christian Science Monitor (the last article identified above) “IS supporters were quick to promote the Orlando attack on social media, posting a flurry of images of wolves with the hashtag #OrlandoExplosion in Arabic, promising further IS-inspired terror.” A wolf is certainly a predator. But the similarity to people who kill and justify their unjustifiable behavior with religion ends there. A wolf is a beautiful wild animal, created by God or genetics or both depending on your world view, that kills only to feed itself and its group. Wolves don’t slaughter just to slaughter. And, of course, they don’t use bombs or machine guns to accomplish their ends. You might be interested to know where the phrase comes from. I was surprised to learn that the phrase is attributed to white supremacists from the 1990s. Leaders of the White Aryan Resistance, which the Southern Poverty Law Center designated as a hate group, advocated underground activity with individuals they called “lone wolves” who were charged with attacking government and other targets in anonymous acts. The term was picked up by the media and law enforcement and spread through our language. So what we have done as a society is let the agents of terror define our terminology. And, not surprisingly, they are using it to their advantage. Using the romantic image of the majestic wolf, ISIS and other terror organizations are posting pictures of wolves on the Internet to recruit cold blooded killers. Which begs the question: Why can’t we use a different and more descriptive phrase to describe these anti-social killers? When extremists started strapping bombs to recruits we called them suicide bombers. The expression is simple and accurate. And it doesn’t paint a romantic image of the perpetrator or his associates. Why can’t we stop using the phrase ‘lone wolves’ and call these killers what they really are? We may not be able to stop terrorists from using the phrase but do we have to use it ourselves? Public domain image of a stone age cave painting of a wolf from Font-de-Gaume, France. Courtesy of Wikipedia. |
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