43 posts tagged “history”

As I already mentioned before, magic as part of ancient history became one of most popular object of study and multiple researches for many scientists and enthusiasts, especially, in the last two decades. Magic is generally seen as a ritual or supernatural practice to influence the world, but distinct from religion or science.

In the ancient world of the Greeks and Romans, the public and private rituals associated with religion are accepted by historians and archaeologists to have been a part of everyday life. Ready examples of this phenomenon are found in the various state and ancient cult temples, Jewish synagogues and in the early Christian cathedrals and churches. These were important hubs for the ancient peoples of the Greco-Roman world that were representative of a connection between the heavenly realms and the earthly planes.

I was always interested in the ancient belief in magic from the perspective of history. It was always amazing to learn how different cultures tried to attach to natural phenomenon supernatural powers. After all, magic, sometimes also known as sorcery, was formed as the whole conceptual system that asserted human ability to control the natural world, including events, objects, people, and physical phenomena, through mystical, paranormal or supernatural means. The term can also refer to the practices employed by a person asserting this influence, and to beliefs that explain various events and phenomena in such terms. Even today, as well as in the past, in many cultures, magic is under pressure from, and in competition with, scientific and religious conceptual systems. As a web analyst I had to go through so many Internet documents to understand how ancients view magic. I learned many things about magic when I was doing a new salvo of researches for my funeral home directory.

So, let's start with the land of magic, India. All in all, it has been often stated that India is a land of magic, both supernatural and mundane. Hinduism is one of the few religions that has sacred texts like the Vedas that discuss both white and black magic. There are Vedas  that deals with mantras that can be used for both good and bad. The word mantrik in India literally means "magician" since the mantrik usually knows mantras, spells, and curses which can be used for or against forms of magic. Many ascetics after long periods of penance and meditation are alleged to attain a state where they may utilize supernatural powers. However, many say that they choose not to use them and instead focus on transcending beyond physical power into the realm of spirituality. Many wizards, called siddhars are said to have performed miracles that would ordinarily be impossible to perform.

As I already mentioned, I am engaged in a lot of researches based on history and culture of various nations. I have to travel a lot because my assignments and research differ. For example, recently, my employer - funeral home directory asked me to find out more about Sikh funeral traditions. Here is what I found in brief.

In Sikhism death is considered to be a natural process. An event that only happens as a direct result of God’s will. To a Sikh, birth and death are closely associated, because they are both part of the cycle of human life which is seen as transient stage towards Liberation, complete unity with God. Sikhs also believe in reincarnation. The soul itself is not subject to the cycle of birth and death. Death is only the progression of the soul on its journey from God, through the created universe and back to God again.

The public display of grief at the funeral, such as wailing or crying out loud is discouraged and should be kept to a minimum. Cremation is the preferred funeral method of, although if this is not possible any other methods such as burial at sea are acceptable. Worship of the dead with gravestones, etc. is discouraged, because the body is considered to be only the shell and the person’s soul is their real essence.

On the day of the cremation, the body is taken to the home where hymns, the Sikh Scriptures are recited by the congregation, which induce feeling of consolation and courage. The relatives of the deceased recite sitting near the coffin. At the conclusion of the service, the coffin is taken to the cremation site. The ashes are later collected and spread in the nearest river. Sikhs do not erect monuments over the remains of the dead.

Tortuga is one of the first islands that Columbus discovered during his very first voyage into the New World. The island got its name in 1493 from Columbus’ sailors because its shape reminded them of a turtle. Spanish colony was set up there and thrived for over a hundred years until it became a part of a dispute between France, England and Spain. Tortuga was changing hands for a while until the island was divided between French and English settlers in 1630. It still did not prevent Spaniards to reconquer the island a couple of times during 17th century, but there were pushed out by settlers in 1638.

This is exactly the time when English, French and Dutch pirates moved in to this island. The situation soon spiraled out of control. One can only imagine what was going there. A decade later a French governor of Tortuga made the situation even worse when he brought on the island almost two thousand prostitutes hoping to bring some harmony there. Boy, he was wrong!

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If you like books and movies about pirates and their adventures you probably heard the name Tortuga many times. In the last movie trilogy Pirates of the Caribbean island of Tortuga was showed to us as a haven for pirates. In famous writer Sabatini’s  book series about Captain Blood and the movies based on it, Tortuga is also mentioned as the main base of pirates operations. So what exactly is Tortuga? What is its history and where this island is located?

Nowadays it is a quiet island that belongs to Haiti. A little bit over 20 thousand people live on its small territory which is about 180 square kilometers. It is very mountainous and full of rocks. Yet, it is hugely dense of lofty trees that grow upon the hardest of those rocks. Basically, in translation into English it means a Turtle Island. And it has a very wild history, as it was a major center of Caribbean piracy in the seventeenth century.

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So they did the unthinkable, which does not have the precedent in the ancient or modern history.  In 309 A.D. they crowned the unborn child who was still in uterus! The coronation of the unborn king was also the strangest one - the crown was put on mother’s belly. Therefore, the boy, who was given a name Shapur became a king even before he was born.  In the end Persian nobles miscalculated.

Although, Shapur II was completely controlled by nobles and his mother, as soon as he came of age he quickly assumed the power and became the absolute and very effective ruler.  He was a king for full seventy years till his death in 379. And this is considered the First Golden Era of Sassanid Empire.

In the beginning of the 4th century AD Persian Sassanid Kingdom was in bad shape. There was a chain of weak rulers that were losing big parts of the kingdom to Roman emperors.  Last one Hormizd II could not even control his nobles and was killed by Arab Bedouins  while hunting in 309.

The the situation got completely out of control. While Arabs continued to plunder Sassanid kingdom, Persian nobles killed the eldest son of Hormizd II. They did not stop there and blinded the second son and imprisoned the third son who managed to escape to Romans after years of imprisonment.  They wanted somebody that would completely control in future, so they stopped their choice on the unborn child!   One of Hormizd’s   wives was pregnant and she did not pose any threat to the nobles.

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When we think of the crossbow we imagine all those great medieval battles and sieges of castles. But, in fact, crossbow was invented at least a thousand years before the arrival of Middle Ages. The mystery of its origins still remains, but most historians believe that crossbow first appeared in China or cultures neighboring it.

Earliest Chinese manuscripts describe the giant crossbow catapult used in military campaigns around sixth century BC. Other manuscripts state that crossbow was not just used as a military weapon but also as a toy and for setting up traps for hunting purposes.

A century later Chinese manuscripts already describe a crossbow as a hand held military weapon used for ambush. And in the third century BC, Chinese crossbow was already well developed and used quite widely all over the empire.

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Soon Spartans accused Themistocles of treasonable intrigues with Persia. Subsequently he was proclaimed a traitor in Athens and all his property was confiscated.

As a bitter irony, Themistocles could only find shelter at his enemy whom he fought for so many years. Artaxerxes I, successor of Xerxes I, offered him asylum and took Themistocles under his protection. Artaxerxes even made Themistocles a governor of the province of Magnesia in Asia Minor. He probably was well received in Magnesia and showed his talents there too, because Magnesians worshiped Themistocles as a god.

From what we know, Themistocles died of illness in Magnesia, when he was sixty five. He was probably a broken-hearted man, because there were persistent rumors that his death was not of natural causes but that he committed suicide by taking poison.

If you watched a movie about 300 brave Spartans, you know that king Leonidas was one of the most important figures in Greco-Persian wars. But there was also another equally or even more important statesman whose name is is rarely mentioned due to certain reasons that need to be explained.

I am talking about famous Themistocles from Athens. It was him who persuaded Athenians to build a powerful fleet and it is thanks to him that Greek ships defeated the much larger Persian navy and forced king Xerxes I of Persia to retreat. The naval battle of Salamis took place in 480 BC and was the turning point of the campaign, leading to eventual Persian defeat.

After the war Themistocles showed himself as a brilliant statesman again and again by making his native Athens the finest trade place in Greece. But then his life took a really tragic turn. He was accused by his fellowmen of arrogance and taking bribes. That led to the exile of Themistocles from Athens to Argos. Yet, his troubles did not end there.

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