TRAVEL TUESDAY 383 - THE COLOSSEUM, ROME, ITALY

“Rome has so grown since its humble beginnings, that it is now overwhelmed by its own greatness.” - Livy or Titus Livius (59 BC – 17 AD)

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel.
There is only one simple rule: Link your own creative work about some aspect of travel and share it with the rest of us. Please use this meme for your creative endeavours only.
Do not use this meme to advertise your products or services as any links or comments by advertisers will be removed immediately.

The Colosseum (Italian: Colosseo) is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum. It is the largest ancient amphitheatre ever built, and is still the largest standing amphitheatre in the world, despite its age. Construction began under the emperor Vespasian (r. 69–79 AD) in 72  and was completed in 80 AD under his successor and heir, Titus (r. 79–81). Further modifications were made during the reign of Domitian (r. 81–96). The three emperors who were patrons of the work are known as the Flavian dynasty, and the amphitheatre was named the Flavian Amphitheatre (Latin: Amphitheatrum Flavium; Italian: Anfiteatro Flavio) by later classicists and archaeologists for its association with their family name (Flavius).

The Colosseum is built of travertine limestone, tuff (volcanic rock), and brick-faced concrete. It could hold an estimated 50,000 to 80,000 spectators at various points in its history, having an average audience of some 65,000; it was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles including animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Roman mythology, and briefly mock sea battles. The building ceased to be used for entertainment in the early medieval era. It was later reused for such purposes as housing, workshops, quarters for a religious order, a fortress, a quarry, and a Christian shrine.

Although substantially ruined by earthquakes and stone robbers taking spolia, the Colosseum is still an iconic symbol of Imperial Rome and was listed as one of the New 7 Wonders of the World.  It is one of Rome's most popular tourist attractions and also has links to the Roman Catholic Church, as each Good Friday the Pope leads a torchlit "Way of the Cross" procession that starts in the area around the Colosseum. The Colosseum is depicted on the Italian version of the five-cent euro coin.

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FOOD FRIDAY - APICIUS' DATES

“If you’re not the one cooking, stay out of the way and compliment the chef.” - Michael Strahan 

Apicius is a collection of Roman cookery recipes, usually thought to have been compiled in the late 4th or early 5th century AD and written in a language that is in many ways closer to Vulgar than to Classical Latin; later recipes using Vulgar Latin (such as ficatum, bullire) were added to earlier recipes using Classical Latin (such as iecur, fervere).

The name “Apicius” had long been associated with excessively refined love of food, from the habits of an early bearer of the name, Marcus Gavius Apicius, a Roman gourmet and lover of refined luxury, who lived sometime in the 1st century AD during the reign of Tiberius. He is sometimes erroneously asserted to be the author of the book that is pseudepigraphically attributed to him.

Apicius is a text to be used in the kitchen. In the earliest printed editions, it was usually called De Re Coquinaria (On the Subject of Cooking), and attributed to an otherwise unknown Caelius Apicius, an invention based on the fact that one of the two manuscripts is headed with the words “API CAE” or rather because there are a few recipes attributed to Apicius in the text: Patinam Apicianam sic facies (IV, 14) Ofellas Apicianas (VII, 2). This ancient cookbook is also known as De Re Culinaria. This can be found in its entirety in an English translation here.

Here is a sweetmeat recipe from Apicius, given a modern interpretation. Apicius qualifies these as Dulcia Domestica, or “home-made sweets” to distinguish them from the sweetmeats one bought from the numerous confectioners that could be found easily in any ancient Roman city. 

Home-Made Sweets
Ingredients
30 large, sweet dates, pitted
35 g walnuts
35 g pine nuts
freshly ground pepper
a little fine salt
6 tbsp honey
Mascarpone cheese
Ground pistachio for garnishing 

Method
Crush finely the nuts separately, and mix the walnuts with a little ground pepper, while lightly salting the pine nuts. Slit the dates to form a pocket and fill half of them with pine nuts, and the other half with walnuts. Tie the dates securely with kitchen string so that the stuffing does not fall out.
Heat the honey in a pan, add the dates, and cook gently for a few minutes until the honey has saturated the dates and they are heated right through. Allow to cool. Carefully remove the string from the dates, pipe with softened mascarpone cheese and sprinkle with some crushed pistachio nuts for garnishing.

TRAVEL TUESDAY #71 - MAISON CARÉE, FRANCE

“Unless we place our religion and our treasure in the same thing, religion will always be sacrificed.” - Epictetus 

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel.

There is only one simple rule: Link your own creative work about some aspect of travel and share it with the rest of us.

Please use this meme for your creative endeavours only. Do not use this meme to advertise your products or services as any links or comments by advertisers will be removed immediately.

The Maison Carrée (French for “square house”) is an ancient building in Nîmes, southern France; it is one of the best preserved Roman temple façades to be found in the territory of the former Roman Empire.

In about 4-7 AD, the Maison Carrée was dedicated or rededicated to Gaius Caesar and Lucius Caesar, grandsons and adopted heirs of Augustus who both died young. The inscription dedicating the temple to Gaius and Lucius was removed in medieval times. However, a local scholar, Jean-François Séguier, was able to reconstruct the inscription in 1758 from the order and number of the holes on the front frieze and architrave, to which the bronze letters had been affixed by projecting tines. According to Séguier's reconstruction, the text of the dedication read (in translation): “To Gaius Caesar, son of Augustus, Consul; to Lucius Caesar, son of Augustus, Consul designate; to the princes of youth.” During the 19th century the temple slowly began to recover its original splendour, due to the efforts of Victor Grangent.

The Maison Carrée is an example of Vitruvian architecture. Raised on a 2.85 m high podium, the temple dominated the forum of the Roman city, forming a rectangle almost twice as long as it is wide, measuring 26.42 m by 13.54 m. The façade is dominated by a deep portico or pronaos almost a third of the building’s length. It is a hexastyle design with six Corinthian columns under the pediment at either end, and pseudoperipteral in that twenty engaged columns are embedded along the walls of the cella.

Above the columns, the architrave is divided by two recessed rows of petrified water drips into three levels with ratios of 1:2:3. Egg-and-dart decoration divides the architrave from the frieze. On three sides the frieze is decorated with fine ornamental relief carvings of rosettes and acanthus leaves beneath a row of very fine dentils. A large door (6.87 m high by 3.27 m wide) leads to the surprisingly small and windowless interior, where the shrine was originally housed. This is now used to house a tourist oriented film on the Roman history of Nîmes. No ancient decoration remains inside the cella.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme. 

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TRAVEL TUESDAY #18

“Rome - the city of visible history, where the past of a whole hemisphere seems moving in funeral procession with strange ancestral images and trophies gathered from afar.” - George Eliot

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel!

There is only one simple rule: Link your own creative work about some aspect of travel and share it with the rest of us!

Please use this meme for your creative endeavours only. Do not use this meme to advertise your products or services as any links or comments by advertisers will be removed immediately.

The Colosseum or Coliseum, also known as the Flavian Amphitheatre (Latin: Amphitheatrum Flavium), is an oval amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy. Built of concrete and sand, it is the largest amphitheatre ever built. The Colosseum is situated just east of the Roman Forum. Construction began under the emperor Vespasian in 72 AD, and was completed in 80 AD under his successor and heir Titus. Further modifications were made during the reign of Domitian (81–96). These three emperors are known as the Flavian dynasty, and the amphitheatre was named in Latin for its association with their family name (Flavius).

The Colosseum could hold, it is estimated, between 50,000 and 80,000 spectators, having an average audience of some 65,000 it was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles such as mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Classical mythology. The building ceased to be used for entertainment in the early medieval era. It was later reused for such purposes as housing, workshops, quarters for a religious order, a fortress, a quarry, and a Christian shrine.

Although partially ruined because of damage caused by earthquakes and stone-robbers, the Colosseum is still an iconic symbol of Imperial Rome. It is one of Rome’s most popular tourist attractions and has also links to the Roman Catholic Church, as each Good Friday the Pope leads a torchlit “Way of the Cross” procession that starts in the area around the Colosseum. The Colosseum is also depicted on the Italian version of the five-cent euro coin.

In antiquity, Romans may have referred to the Colosseum by the unofficial name Amphitheatrum Caesareum (with Caesareum an adjective pertaining to the title Caesar), but this name may have been strictly poetic as it was not exclusive to the Colosseum; Vespasian and Titus, builders of the Colosseum, also constructed an amphitheater of the same name in Puteoli (modern Pozzuoli).

The name Colosseum has long been believed to be derived from a colossal statue of Nero nearby (the statue of Nero was named after the Colossus of Rhodes). This statue was later remodelled by Nero’s successors into the likeness of Helios (Sol) or Apollo, the sun god, by adding the appropriate solar crown. Nero’s head was also replaced several times with the heads of succeeding emperors. Despite its pagan links, the statue remained standing well into the medieval era and was credited with magical powers. It came to be seen as an iconic symbol of the permanence of Rome.

In the 8th century, a famous epigram attributed to the Venerable Bede celebrated the symbolic significance of the statue in a prophecy that is variously quoted: Quamdiu stat Colisæus, stat et Roma; quando cadet colisæus, cadet et Roma; quando cadet Roma, cadet et mundus (“as long as the Colossus stands, so shall Rome; when the Colossus falls, Rome shall fall; when Rome falls, so falls the world”). This is often mistranslated to refer to the Colosseum rather than the Colossus (as in, for instance, Byron’s poem Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage). However, at the time that the Pseudo-Bede wrote, the masculine noun colisaeus was applied to the statue rather than to what was still known as the Flavian amphitheatre.

The Colossus did eventually fall, possibly being pulled down to reuse its bronze. By the year 1000 the name “Colosseum” had been coined to refer to the amphitheatre. The statue itself was largely forgotten and only its base survives, situated between the Colosseum and the nearby Temple of Venus and Roma.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,
and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

CHARITES & HORAE

“A myth is an image in terms of which we try to make sense of the world.” - Alan Watts

The Charites (Gratiae) were according to Graecoroman mythology the Graces. They were three lovely sisters, Euphrosyne, Aglaia, and Thalia, the daughters of Zeus and Eurynome. They are represented as beautiful, slender maidens in the full bloom of youth, with hands and arms lovingly intertwined. They portray every gentle emotion of the heart, which vents itself in friendship and kindness, and were believed to preside over those qualities which constitute grace, modesty, unconscious beauty, gentleness, kindliness, innocent joy, purity of mind and body, and eternal youth.

They not only possessed the most perfect beauty themselves, but also conferred this gift upon others. All the enjoyments of life were enhanced by their presence, and were deemed incomplete without them; and wherever joy or pleasure, grace and gaiety reigned, there they were supposed to be present. Temples and altars were everywhere erected in their honour, and people of all ages and of every rank in life entreated their favour. Incense was burnt daily upon their altars, and at every banquet they were invoked, and a libation poured out to them, as they not only heightened all enjoyment, but also by their refining influence moderated the exciting effects of wine.

Music, eloquence, poetry, and art, though the direct work of the Muses, received at the hands of the Graces an additional touch of refinement and beauty; for which reason they are always regarded as the friends of the Muses, with whom they lived on Mount Olympus. Their special function was to act, in conjunction with the Seasons, as attendants upon Aphrodite, whom they adorned with wreaths of flowers, and she emerges from their hands like the Queen of Spring, perfumed with the odour of roses and violets, and all sweet-scented blossoms. The Graces are frequently seen in attendance on other divinities; thus they carry music for Apollo, myrtles for Aphrodite, &c., and frequently accompany the Muses, Eros, or Dionysus.

Closely allied to the Graces were the Horæ, or Seasons, who were also represented as three beautiful maidens, daughters of Zeus and Themis. Their names were Eunomia, Dice, and Irene. It may appear strange that these divinities, presiding over the seasons, should be but three in number, but this is quite in accordance with the notions of the ancient Greeks, who only recognised spring, summer, and autumn as seasons; nature being supposed to be wrapt in death or slumber, during that cheerless and unproductive portion of the year which we call winter.

In some parts of Greece there were but two Horæ, Thallo, goddess of the bloom, and Carpo, of the corn and fruit-bearing season. The Horæ are always regarded as friendly towards mankind, and totally devoid of guile or subtlety; they are represented as joyous, but gentle maidens, crowned with flowers, and holding each other by the hand in a round dance. When they are depicted separately as personifications of the different seasons, the Hora representing spring appears laden with flowers, that of summer bears a sheaf of corn, whilst the personification of autumn has her hands filled with clusters of grapes and other fruits.

They also appear in company with the Graces in the train of Aphrodite, and are seen with Apollo and the Muses. They are inseparably connected with all that is good and beautiful in nature, and as the regular alternation of the seasons, like all her other operations, demands the most perfect order and regularity, the Horæ, being the daughters of Themis, came to be regarded as the representatives of order, and the just administration of human affairs in civilised communities.

Each of these graceful maidens took upon herself a separate function: Eunomia presided more especially over state life, Dice guarded the interests of individuals, whilst Irene, the gayest and brightest of the three sisters, was the light-hearted companion of Dionysus. The Horæ were also the deities of the fast-fleeting hours, and thus presided over the smaller, as well as the larger divisions of time. In this capacity they assist every morning in yoking the celestial horses to the glorious chariot of the sun, which they again help to unyoke when he sinks to rest. In their original conception they were personifications of the clouds, and are described as opening and closing the gates of heaven, and causing fruits and flowers to spring forth, when they pour down upon them their refreshing and life-giving streams.

The illustration is Sandro Botticelli's "Primavera". The three Graces can seen on the left of painting, between Hermes and Aphrodite.

THESAURUS THURSDAY - CORNUCOPIA

“If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink.” Proverbs 25:21 – King James Bible

On my way home after work yesterday, I stopped by the supermarket to get some groceries. While there, I saw a couple of employees getting rid of items from the shelves. I was curious as it appeared that they were trashing them. I stopped and asked, and sure enough, the items were being thrown out as they had reached their ‘use-by’ date. I enquired whether the food was going to be taken to the tip or whether it would be given to be used somewhere – I don’t know where, but it seemed an awful waste to throw it out. They did not know for certain, but one of them thought the food would be taken to the tip.

I looked this up on the web and found a useful Government site from which I quote: 
“Manufacturers err on the side of caution: Manufacturers usually choose a ‘best before’ date well before the time when the food would be expected to deteriorate and spoil. A conservative ‘best before’ date is designed to encourage you to eat the product while it is fresh and at its best, so you should consider ‘best before’ dates as a guide only. Frozen and canned products, in particular, tend to keep their quality for some time after the ‘best before’ date has expired. Within reason, provided the food looks and smells as you would expect, it should be safe to eat, even if the ‘best before’ date has passed.”

Hence my thoughts about the food being donated to charity and used immediately, being a good idea. I presume it is cheaper for the supermarket to dispose of the food rather than organise pick-ups or deliveries, etc. There is always the threatening spectre of costly law-suits, also, I guess. It just seems a terrible waste, especially when people are going hungry every night.

This experience inspired the word of Thesaurus Thursday, which is cornucopia, seemingly apt for the excess and variety of goods available in our supermarkets this day and age…

cornucopia |ˌkôrn(y)əˈkōpēə| noun

a symbol of plenty consisting of a goat's horn overflowing with flowers, fruit, and corn.

• an ornamental container shaped like such a horn.

• an abundant supply of good things of a specified kind: The festival offers a cornucopia of pleasures.
DERIVATIVES

cornucopian |ˈkɔrn(j)əˌkoʊpiən| adjective
ORIGIN early 16th cent: From late Latin, from Latin cornu copiae ‘horn of plenty’ (a mythical horn able to provide whatever is desired).

The Cornucopia, which symbolises abundance, is usually seen as a curved goat’s horn, filled to overflowing with fruit and grain, but which could be filled with whatever the owner wished. Often nowadays the horn has been replaced by a horn-shaped basket, especially in ornamental table pieces or decorative tableaux.  The Cornucopia has always been associated with Thanksgiving in the United States, though it was a symbol long before this holiday existed. Man has always been thankful for the abundance provided by Nature.

The Cornucopia originally came from ancient Greek mythology (Κέρας της Αμάλθειας – Amalthea’s horn) and the term is carried on today with a similar meaning. The oldest account of the origin of the Cornucopia tells that Zeus was committed by his mother Rhea to the care of the daughters of Melisseus, a Cretan king. Amalthea, one of the nurses, hung Zeus in a cradle from a tree, so that he could be found neither in heaven, nor on earth, nor in the sea. They fed the infant deity with the milk of a goat. While the infant Zeus was playing with the goat, he broke off one of the horns of the goat and gave it to his nurses, endowing it with the wonderful power of becoming filled with whatever the possessor might wish.

So the ‘Horn of Amalthea’ became the symbol of plenty, and whoever had it in his or her possession would never starve. The horn of plenty was regarded as the symbol of inexhaustible riches and plenty and became the attribute of several immortals. Another story tells about the fifth labour of Hercules. Hercules fought the river-god Achelous, who could take the form of either a snake or bull. Achelous failed to defeat Hercules as a snake and changed into a bull. Hercules ripped his horn off and diverted the river. This land became very fertile, and is a reference to the horn of plenty. Then the Naiads took the horn, consecrated it, and filled it with fragrant flowers. In the Roman version it was the Goddess Abundantia (Abundance) who adopted the horn and called it “Cornucopia”.

Some useful links regarding donating food to charity:
Australia:
Make Poverty History

http://makepovertyhistory.com.au

Salvation Army

https://salvos.org.au/

Youth off the Streets

http://www.youthoffthestreets.com.au/

USA:

America’s Second Harvest

http://www.secondharvest.org/

Children’s Hunger Fund

http://www.childrenshungerfund.org/

International:

Hunger Site

http://www.thehungersite.com/

LITERARY TUESDAY - THE DREAM OF SCIPIO

“Do not applaud me. It is not I who speaks to you, but history which speaks through my mouth.” - Fustel de Coulanges

Do you ever feel as though the whole world is crumbling around you? Do you see the news on TV and wonder how long this current situation can last before we all perish? That we are at point in history where something momentous and disastrous is waiting to happen? A crisis, a turning point where the slightest ill-considered action of our leaders will bring upon us a doom worse than that experienced before by our forebears? If so, you are not alone, there are others around the world who are watching the current state of the world and feel the same way.

What must have been the thoughts of the last civilised Romans as the hordes of the Barbarians were clamouring outside the gates of Rome? How did the Florentines feel when the plague was upon their city and decimated their friends and relatives? The images in the mind of the soldier in the trenches of WWI as the flashes of the bombs and deafening sounds crashed around him, and the first whiff of poison gas was smelt? The emotions of the beautiful dark-eyed woman as she was shuffled on the train bound for Mauthausen? Can they have been so different from the thoughts of the terrified people of Baghdad as the bombs exploded around them daily? The businessman who is travelling on the London underground as the special operations squad men barge in looking for suspicious packages on the train? The woman in the US hearing the report on the radio of gunmen having opened fire in a school – her own children’s school?

“Things have never been more like they are today in history.” - Dwight D. Eisenhower said and he was restating the old dictum “History repeats itself” rather prettily. I read a novel lately that takes as its premise this endless spiral of history repeating itself as it corkscrews through time. The novel is “The Dream of Scipio” (2002) by Iain Pears. It is a historical novel, but it is set in three different time periods. Periods of crisis and doom and the stories the author weaves share a common theme, and are all set in Avignon in France. There are three protagonists: A Roman nobleman, Manlius, owner of a villa in the Gaulish provinces of the Roman Empire as the barbarians are about to descend upon it; Olivier de Noyes, a poet, in the fourteenth century plague; and Julien Barneuve, a historian, under the Vichy government and the German occupation of France in the WWII. The title of the novel “The Dream of Scipio” is taken from a Neoplatonic philosophical work by Manlius (based on that by Cicero), which is read by the other two heroes later in time.

The author tells three interwoven stories that any reader knows from the start cannot have a “happy end”. All three of Pears’ heroes are doomed – they know it, we know it. That is the tragedy of their existence and as we continue to read, we come to dread our own future, as Lamartine says: “History teaches everything including the future.” The novel has as one of its major themes that of intolerance, more specifically, anti-Semitism. In all three cases, the heroes’ abstract interest in maintaining the culture around them is counterpointed by a personal desire to protect a Jewish woman close to their hearts.

“Culture and civilisation,” Pears says, “is equivalent to breadth of knowledge, tolerance and understanding of others, dissimilar to oneself.” This is a novel that despite its obvious literary merit, historical allusions, philosophical questioning about what is culture and how we maintain our civilised state in the midst of adversity, is also one that is easy to read and enjoyable as a work of fiction should be. It is a novel of ideas, philosophical ponderings, a treatise on history but also a moving love story that repeats itself three times in the span of the 1500 years that the novel encompasses.

“Are you civilised if you read the right books,” Manlius asks himself, “yet stand by while your neighbours are massacred?”  This sentence in the book touched me greatly – as I felt it was addressed to me personally. It is not enough to think rightly, be well read and be civilised by reading the “right” books. One’s moral obligation is to also align oneself on the side of right as dictated by ethical benchmarks drawn by one’s ideas and ideals, and make a stand, act – whatever the price may be… A fascinating book that makes one think and feel, a book of great poignancy and an extended deliberation of how one resolves ethical conflicts, emotional commitments, and the quest for the true meaning of human life. A complex but lucid book by a highly civilised and literate author.

MOVIE MONDAY - POMPEII

“Sometimes it takes a natural disaster to reveal a social disaster.” - Jim Wallis

When I was quite young, 9 or 10 years old, I read a Greek translation of “The Last Days of Pompeii”, a novel written by the baron Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1834. The novel was inspired by the painting “The Last Day of Pompeii” by the Russian painter Karl Briullov (see above), which Bulwer-Lytton had seen in Milan. The painting is now in The State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia and is quite a spectacular work, oil on canvas a huge 4.6 x 6.5 metres. One can see why the author was struck by it and inspired to write his novel. The novel impressed itself on my mind and fuelled my imagination and pre-existing interest in things ancient.

This was once a very widely read book but unfortunately, it is now relatively neglected. The plot culminates in the cataclysmic destruction of the city of Pompeii by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. The novel uses its characters to contrast the decadent culture of 1st-century Rome with both older cultures and coming trends. The protagonist, Glaucus, represents the Greeks who have been subordinated by Rome, and his nemesis Arbaces the still older culture of Egypt. Olinthus is the chief representative of the nascent Christian religion, which is presented favourably but not uncritically.

At the weekend we watched the 2014 Paul W.S. Anderson film “Pompeii” starring Kit Harington, Emily Browning, Kiefer Sutherland. I must confess that the only reason I wanted to see the film was the novel I had read in my youth and my continuing interest in things ancient. Alas! The screenplay was pure hogwash manufactured by the trio of Janet Scott Batchler, Lee Batchler and Michael Robert Johnson. It had nothing to do with Bulwer-Lytton’s novel and the story simply had to accommodate as many special effects as possible in order to make the film as spectacular and as worthy of 3D treatment as possible.

The plot begins in Roman England, where a Celtic tribe of horsemen is slaughtered by a Roman army commanded by General Corvus (Kiefer Sutherland) and his right-hand man Proculus (Sasha Roiz). The boy Milo is the only Celt survivor of the tribe, and is captured lto be sold as a slave. Seventeen years later, the slave Milo (Kit Harington) turns into an invincible gladiator in Londinium and is brought to Pompeii to participate in the games of this resort city’s arena.

While travelling to Pompeii, the noble Cassia (Emily Browning) and her chaperone Ariadne (Jessica Lucas) cross paths with the marching gladiators and Cassia is fascinated by Milo, who kills her injured horse bare-handed so that it does not suffer. In the gladiators’ quarters in Pompeii, Milo shares the cell of Atticus (Adewale Akinnuoye- Agbaje), who is near to get his freedom provided he wins his last fight.

Meanwhile Cassia meets her parents Severus (Jared Harris) and Aurelia (Carrie-Anne Moss) and learns that she has been betrothed to the corrupt Corvus, now Senator and close to emperor Titus. During the games, Mount Vesuvius erupts allowing Milo and Atticus to escape from the amphitheatre. However, Milo learns that Cassia has been confined in her villa by Corvus and he decides to rescue her in the midst of the catastrophic events…

The movie is full of historical and physical inaccuracies, but one expects that of Hollywood. One may forgive such lapses if the story is good. However, the story is thin, too full of clichés while the acting is rather wooden and the movie becomes a shallow disaster flick. Historical accuracy should not be sacrificed unless it fulfils a purpose in the movie. This movie got it wrong, making it confused, illogical and a poor film. The bad script began it all, the poor direction helped it all along, and finally the immense pressure by the producers to make it as “epic” as possible with special effects thrown in left, right and centre, as well as lots of violence and fight scenes.

After watching this movie, I’ve discovered that there is a 1984 television mini-series broadcast on ABC-TV, adapting the novel by Edward Bulwer-Lytton. It was the second English-language adaptation of the book for film or television (previously adapted mainly in Italian; the 1935 RKO film was unrelated to the novel and the 1900 adaptation by Walter R. Booth, the first adaptation to the cinema in English language, was a short film). It is available on YouTube and I’ve bookmarked it to see it. A casual glance revealed rather cheap costumes and sets, but the acting is good (Laurence Olivier plays in it) and the plot is much better! It is also available on DVD if you can get your hands on it.

ART SUNDAY - REMBRANDT

“Tragedy in life normally comes with betrayal and compromise, and trading on your integrity and not having dignity in life. That's really where failure comes.” - Tom Cochrane

Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, originally spelled Rembrant (born July 15, 1606, Leiden, Netherlands—died October 4, 1669, Amsterdam), was a Dutch painter and printmaker, one of the greatest storytellers in the history of art, possessing an exceptional ability to render people in their various moods and dramatic guises. Rembrandt is also known as a painter of light and shade and as an artist who favoured an uncompromising realism that would lead some critics to claim that he preferred ugliness to beauty.

Rembrandt was the son of a miller. Despite the fact that he came from a family of relatively modest means, his parents took great care with his education. Rembrandt began his studies at the Latin School, and at the age of 14 he was enrolled at the University of Leiden. The program did not interest him, and he soon left to study art - first with a local master, Jacob van Swanenburch, and then, in Amsterdam, with Pieter Lastman, known for his historical paintings. After six months, having mastered everything he had been taught, Rembrandt returned to Leiden, where he was soon so highly regarded that although barely 22 years old, he took his first pupils. One of Rembrandt’s students was the famous artist Gerrit Dou.

Rembrandt moved to Amsterdam in 1631; his marriage in 1634 to Saskia van Uylenburgh, the cousin of a successful art dealer, enhanced his career, bringing him in contact with wealthy patrons who eagerly commissioned portraits. An exceptionally fine example from this period is the “Portrait of Nicolaes Ruts” (1631, Frick Collection, New York City). In addition, Rembrandt’s mythological and religious works were much in demand, and he painted numerous dramatic masterpieces such as “The Blinding of Samson” (1636, Städelsches Kunstinstitut, Frankfurt). Because of his renown as a teacher, his studio was filled with pupils, some of whom (such as Carel Fabritius) were already trained artists. In the 20th century, scholars have reattributed a number of his paintings to his associates; attributing and identifying Rembrandt’s works is an active area of art scholarship.

Rembrandt produced many of his works in this fashionable town house in Amsterdam. Purchased by the artist in 1639, when he was 33, it proved to be the scene of personal tragedy: His wife and three of his children died here. The house became a financial burden, and in 1660 Rembrandt was forced to move. A new owner added the upper story and roof, giving it the appearance it still bears. In 1911 the Dutch movement made it a Rembrandt museum -preserving it both as a shrine of a revered national artist and as an imposing example of 17th Century Dutch architecture.

In contrast to his successful public career, however, Rembrandt’s family life was marked by misfortune. Between 1635 and 1641 Saskia gave birth to four children, but only the last, Titus, survived; her own death came in 1642- at the age of 30. Hendrickje Stoffels, engaged as his housekeeper about 1649, eventually became his common-law wife and was the model for many of his pictures. Despite Rembrandt’s financial success as an artist, teacher, and art dealer, his penchant for ostentatious living forced him to declare bankruptcy in 1656. An inventory of his collection of art and antiquities, taken before an auction to pay his debts, showed the breadth of Rembrandt’s interests: Ancient sculpture, Flemish and Italian Renaissance paintings, Far Eastern art, contemporary Dutch works, weapons, and armour. Unfortunately, the results of the auction - including the sale of his house - were disappointing.

These problems in no way affected Rembrandt’s work; if anything, his artistry increased. Some of the great paintings from this period are “The Jewish Bride” (1665), “The Syndics of the Cloth Guild” (1661, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam), “Bathsheba” (1654, Louvre, Paris), “Jacob Blessing the Sons of Joseph” (1656, Staatliche Gemäldegalerie, Kassel, Germany), and a self-portrait (1658, Frick Collection). His personal life, however, continued to be marred by sorrow. His beloved Hendrickje died in 1663, and his son, Titus, in 1668 - only 27 years of age. Eleven months later, on October 4, 1669, Rembrandt died in Amsterdam.

The painting above, in the Prado Museum, Madrid, is “Artemisia” painted in 1634 and shows Rembrandt’s style of chiaroscuro (light-and-dark), masterly use of colour, composition and form, as well as his image of a perfect female figure. The full title is “Artemisia Receiving Mausolus’ Ashes” but it is also known as “Sophonisba Receiving the Poisoned Cup”. The subject of the picture is still unclear. It portrays a young woman, variously identified as Sophonisba or Artemisia, or a generic queen due to her jewels and rich garments, receiving a cup from a maiden. The cup could contain the ashes of Artemisia’s husband, King Mausolus, or, in the case of Sophonisba, the poison, which killed her. For the woman, Rembrandt probably used his wife Saskia as model.

Queen Artemisia (died 350 BC) is renowned in history for her extraordinary grief at the death of her husband (and brother) Mausolus. She is said to have mixed his ashes in her daily drink, and to have gradually pined away during the two years that she survived him. She induced the most eminent Greek rhetoricians to proclaim his praise in their oratory; and to perpetuate his memory she built at Halicarnassus the Mausoleum, a celebrated majestic monument, listed by Antipater of Sidon as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World and whose name subsequently became the generic term for any splendid sepulchral monument (mausoleum, Greek: μαυσωλεῖον).

Sophonisba (fl. 203 BC) was a Carthaginian noblewoman who lived during the Second Punic War, and the daughter of Hasdrubal Gisco Gisgonis (son of Gisco). In an act that became legendary, Sophonisba poisoned herself rather than be humiliated in a Roman triumph.

MAY DAY 2014

“May you live as long as you wish and love as long as you live.” - Robert A. Heinlein

On this day, young people used to rise well before sunrise and go out in the countryside to gather May.  May is any kind of blossom and greenery, but especially hawthorn blossom (May-blossom), birch or rowan. Sloe or blackthorn are avoided as they are ill-omened.  To leave a branch of May-blossom on a friend’s door is compliment and will bring them luck.  
Good morning, Mistress and Master,
I wish you a happy day;
Please to smell my garland
‘Cause it is the First of May.
A branch of may I have brought you,
And at your door I stand;
It is but a sprout, but it’s well sprouted out,
The work of our Lord’s hand.

However, other gifts can be insulting!
Nut for a slut; plum for the glum;
Bramble if she ramble; gorse for the whore.

In Greece, May is symbolised by a bunch of wild Spring flowers gathered in the morning and brought home. A May wreath is then made and it adorns the front door of the house.  The wreath is left to dry on the door, not to be taken down until Midsummer’s Day when it is ritually burnt in St John’s Fires.

The Roman festival, the Floralia held in the honour of the Spring goddess Flora was held between the 28th of April and the 3rd of May every year.  Flora was the goddess of all flowering plants and a fertility figure. Her festival in ancient Rome was one of government-sanctioned licentiousness and promiscuity. It began on with a play figuring naked actresses who acted out fertility rites with obscene dances and gestures. Games followed with the capturing of fertile animals such as goats and hares with ribald songs and dances in the streets. As the festival developed, young men erected poles and trees outside the house of their favoured women. These were the precursor of the Maypoles, evident phallic symbols. May Day festivities that are still celebrated today are a vestige of the Roman Floralia.

The Maypole is a tradition in many countries and is a relic of a fertility ritual where the Maypole has phallic associations.  It is a tall pole adorned with greenery and all kinds of flowers. Ribbons are fixed to the top and hang down to the ground.  Men and women each take hold of a ribbon and proceed to dance around the pole to the strains of joyful music.

Here is Thomas Morley’s “Now is the Month of Maying” with the Cambridge Singers conducted by John Rutter.  Thomas Morley (1557 or 1558 -- October 1602) was an English composer, theorist, editor and organist of the Renaissance, and the foremost member of the English Madrigal School. He was also involved in music publishing, holding a printing patent in the period up to his death. Based in London, where he was organist at St Paul’s Cathedral, he was the most famous composer of secular music in Elizabethan England. He and Robert Johnson are the composers of the only surviving contemporary settings of verse by Shakespeare.

VALENTINE'S EVE 2014

"I'll love you, dear, I'll love you till China and Africa meet and the river jumps over the mountain and the salmon sing in the street." - W. H. Auden
 

On Valentine’s Eve, lots were drawn for Valentines in Northern England and Southern Scotland.  Equal numbers of maids and bachelors assembled together and each wrote their name on a slip of paper. The girls names were put into one bag, the boys in another. Each boy then draws from the girls’ bag and each girl from the boys’ bag. At the end of this, there is a choice between two Valentines; generally one prefers the name one draws to the one that has drawn them.  However, if the same names are drawn by a couple, then surely they will marry.
 

Alternative means of prognosticating a potential mate is to write each candidate’s name on a slip of paper and roll each slip of paper in a little ball of clay.  Put the clay balls in a basin and pour water on them.  The first to rise to the surface will contain the name of your Valentine.
 

The ancient Romans began to celebrate the week-long Parentalia Festival on this day. This was a commemoration of one’s dead ancestors, especially one’s parents. Temples were closed, marriages were forbidden and people spent the day visiting tombs of ancestors. They hoped to placate restless ghost and spirits hovering around the graves by leaving offerings of milk, wine and flowers. Unless these remembrances were adhered to the ghosts of the dead would haunt the living.

LEMURES, LEMURS & LEMURIA

“Science is the great antidote to the poison of enthusiasm and superstition.” - Adam Smith
 
The ancient Romans believed that on May 9^th, 11^th and 13^th the gates between Earth and Hell opened allowing the Lemures (restless spirits) to come into this world. The term larvae was sometimes used synonymously with term Lemures. The male head of each household had to get up at midnight on each of these nights of May and exorcise the Lemures with a special ritual. He washed his hands three times, strode through the house, spitting and tossing black beans behind him that the ghosts were tempted to gather up and consume. Black was the appropriate colour for offerings to chthonic deities. This was repeated nine times. He would wash his hands anew and strike a brass gong, calling out nine times: “Shades of my fathers, depart!”  Because of this and other reasons, May was considered an unlucky month to celebrate marriages in.
 
Lemures represented the wandering and vengeful spirits of those not afforded proper burial, funeral rites or affectionate cult by the living. Ovid considers the Lemures as vagrant, unsatiated and potentially vengeful ancestral gods or spirits of the underworld. To him, the rites of their cult suggest an incomprehensibly archaic, quasi-magical and probably very ancient rural tradition. Four centuries later, St. Augustine describes both the Lemures and the larvae as evil and restless manes that torment and terrify the living: Lares, on the other hand, are good manes.
 
Lemures were formless and liminal, associated with darkness and its dread. William Warde Fowler interprets the gift of beans as an offer of life, and points out that they were a ritual pollution for priests of Jupiter. The Lemures themselves were both fearsome and fearful: Any malevolent shades dissatisfied with the offering of the paterfamilias could be startled into flight by the loud banging of bronze pots.
 
The Lemures inspired Linnaeus’ Modern Latin backformation of “Lemur”. According to Linnaeus’ own explanation, the name was selected because of the nocturnal activity and slow movements of these slender monkeys. Lemurs are a clade of primates endemic to the island of Madagascar. Although lemurs often are confused with ancestral primates, the anthropoid primates (monkeys, apes, and humans) did not evolve from them; instead, lemurs merely share morphological and behavioural traits with basal primates.
 
Lemurs arrived in Madagascar around 62 to 65 million years ago by rafting on mats of vegetation at a time when ocean currents favoured oceanic dispersal to the island. Since that time, lemurs have evolved to cope with an extremely seasonal environment and their adaptations give them a level of diversity that rivals that of all other primate groups. Until shortly after humans arrived on the island around 2,000 years ago, there were lemurs as large as a male gorilla. Today, there are nearly 100 species of lemurs, and most of those species have been discovered or promoted to full species status since the 1990s; however, lemur taxonomic classification is controversial and depends on which species concept is used. Even the higher-level taxonomy is disputed.
 
Lemuria is the name of a hypothetical “lost land” variously located in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The concept arising in the 19th century, is an attempt to account for discontinuities in biogeography; however, the concept of Lemuria has been rendered obsolete by modern theories of plate tectonics. Philip Sclater wrote an article on “The Mammals of Madagascar” in The Quarterly Journal of Science. Using a classification he referred to as lemurs but which included related primate groups, and puzzled by the presence of their fossils in both Madagascar and India but not in Africa or the Middle East, Sclater proposed that Madagascar and India had once been part of a larger continent. He wrote:
 
“The anomalies of the Mammal fauna of Madagascar can best be explained by supposing that ... a large continent occupied parts of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans ... that this continent was broken up into islands, of which some have become amalgamated with ... Africa, some ... with what is now Asia; and that in Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands we have existing relics of this great continent, for which ... I should propose the name Lemuria!”
 
Although sunken continents do exist – like Zealandia in the Pacific as well as Mauritia and the Kerguelen Plateau in the Indian Ocean, there is no known geological formation under the Indian or Pacific Oceans that corresponds to the hypothetical Lemuria. Though Lemuria is no longer considered a valid scientific hypothesis, it has been adopted by writers involved in the occult, as well as some Tamil writers of India. Accounts of Lemuria differ, but all share a common belief that a continent existed in ancient times and sank beneath the ocean as a result of a geological, often cataclysmic, change, such as pole shift.

MOVIE MONDAY - THE EAGLE

“A soldier will fight long and hard for a bit of coloured ribbon.” Napoleon Bonaparte
 

We watched Kevin Macdonald’s 2011 movie “The Eagle” at the weekend, starring Channing Tatum, Jamie Bell and Donald Sutherland. This was a sword and sandal typical dick flick, made all the more obvious by its lack of a female lead. This was a UK/USA co-production filmed in the UK, appropriate as the north of the British Jamie were specifically written for adults, of which “The Eagle of the Ninth” is an example. Not having read this novel of hers specifically, I cannot advise how faithfully the film has been to it. However, Jeremy Brock’s screenplay provides material for an interesting film of two distinct halves, the first concentrating on some character development and establishment of the basis of the plot. This first half also provides opportunity for some battle scenes with gory violence (more of that later, so not a film for the squeamish). The second half of the movie is a study in developing friendship, respect and interdependence between two men of different backgrounds, but who share more than they realise at the beginning.
 

Channing Tatum plays Marcus Flavius Aquila, a Roman soldier and son of a disgraced commander who disappeared along with the entire Ninth Legion and its honoured golden eagle standard in the north of Britain in 120 AD. Twenty years after the loss the legion, Marcus Flavius chooses to be posted in Britain in the hope of gaining back his father’s and Rome’s honour by discovering the fate of the lost legion and recovering the eagle standard. When Marcus is injured in a battle where he valiantly defended his garrison outpost, he recovers under the care of his uncle (Donald Sutherland) in the civilised Roman South of England and he rescues Esca (Jamie Bell), a Celt from death in the arena. Esca now his slave, swears his loyalty to him, even though he despises the Romans as they have killed his family and clan. The film then follows the adventures of the two men, Marcus and Esca, as they travel North of Hadrian’s Wall to find the lost Eagle Standard.
 

The film is a “bromance” type and this is made more pointed by the absence of a female lead. Adding a female character who contributes nothing to the plot and is just there for token value could spoil a movie. This movie didn’t need that and sexuality was not a theme. There’s is companionship, respect and developing affection between Marcus and Esca, and that is one of the “bromance” type of drivers of the plot. The actors perform well enough although the jarring various accents of the English-speaking Romans contrast with the Scottish Gaelic spoken by the natives. The Gaelic was a distraction for us, although one can understand its inclusion as gesture towards Celtic nationalism and perhaps it was to highlight the “barbarity” of the native population, which is constantly contrasted against that of the Romans (and the “Romanised” Esca, who is bilingual and acts as Marcus’ interpreter).
 

The movie showed a clash of cultures, but it also highlighted how some features were shared by the two groups. Allegiance to one’s fellow soldiers, one’s people, the idea of honour and the idea of loyalty was well-demonstrated by the movie. The Romans were shown in a rather sympathetic way, while the Seal People were show to be little more than savages.
 

We enjoyed the film to a certain extent, although I have spoken before of its violent scenes (and one stomach-turning one involving an unsavoury meal…). The film is also quite long, at 114 minutes. The cinematography is quite stunning with the British countryside shown in all of its wild beauty, augmented by the misty, atmospheric weather. The music score by Atli Örvarsson was appropriate and understated, while the costumes and make-up were mostly fine. The Seal People of the north of Britain reminded me a little of American Indians with their mohawks and blue bedaubed faces and bodies. Another distraction, but once again underlined the “barbarity” of the natives.

PARENTALIA, FERALIA, CARISTIA

“The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living.” - Marcus Tullius

The Parentalia, was a Roman religious festival held in honour of the dead. The festival, which began at noon on February 13 and culminated on February 21, was a private celebration of the rites of deceased family members. It was gradually extended, however, to incorporate the dead in general. During the days of the festival, all temples were closed and no weddings could be performed. On the last day a public ceremony, the Feralia, was held, during which visits to the tombs of dead relatives occurred.

On the Feralia, ancient Romans travelled to the tombs of their ancestors (called “Manes”), taking with them offerings of wreaths, grain, salt, and bread soaked in wine, which would be left in the tomb. Violets would be scattered around and in the tombs. The wealthy families of Rome would prepare lavish public feasts at the tombs in honour of their ancestors and a means of appeasing the gods of the Underworld. The Feralia was considered a time for mourning. Marriages were banned during this time and public worship of the gods was suspended. No incense was burned on the altars and hearth fires were often left unlit.

The Feralia is a likely contender as one of the forerunners of Halloween. At midnight on the day of Feralia the heads of the Roman families would address the less pleasant ancestors and evil spirits. The Feralia rituals were intended to control these malevolent entities and force them to return to the spirit world for another year. Failure to properly observe the rites of Feralia could lead to the spirits remaining on the earth where they would appear as ghosts and bring misfortune throughout the coming year.

One ancient story tells of a time when the Feralia was ignored during wartime, causing spirits to rise from their graves and haunt the streets of Rome until proper tribute as dictated by ritual was made, which confined the spirits in their tombs once again. Once the “exorcism” of the Feralia was complete Romans could enjoy the happy family feast of Caristia on the next day, February 22nd. The similarity between Feralia-Caristia and Halloween-All Saints’ Day is striking.

The Caristia, also known as the Cara Cognatio, was an official but privately observed holiday that celebrated love of family with banqueting and gifts. Families gathered to dine together and offer food and incense to the Lares (household gods). It was a day of reconciliation when disagreements were to be set aside, but the poet Ovid observes satirically that this could be achieved only by excluding family members who caused trouble…

The Cara Cognatio remained on the calendar long after the Roman Empire had come under Christian rule. It appeared in the Chronography of 354, and the calendar of Polemius Silvius (449 AD) juxtaposed the old holiday with a feast day commemorating the burial of St. Peter and St. Paul. As a “love feast”,  the Caristia was not incompatible with Christian attitudes and some scholars have detected an influence of the Parentalia and Caristia on the Christian Agape feast, with the consumption of bread and wine at the ancestral tomb replaced by the Eucharist. In the 5th century, some Christian priests even encouraged participation in funerary meals.

ST VALENTINE & HIS DAY

“Who loves not forever, is not a lover.” – Euripides

The history of St Valentine, the patron saint of lovers, is shrouded in mystery. February has long been celebrated as a month of romance, and that St Valentine’s Day, as we know it today, contains vestiges of both Christian and ancient Roman tradition. Saint Valentine became associated with ancient fertility rites at the period of christianisation of Italy and the syncretisation of pagan and Christian beliefs.

The Catholic Church recognises at least three different saints named Valentinus, all of whom were martyred. One legend contends that Valentine was a priest who served during the third century in Rome. When Emperor Claudius II decided that single men made better soldiers than those with wives and families, he outlawed marriage for young men. Valentine, realising the injustice of the decree, defied Claudius and continued to perform marriages for young lovers in secret. When Valentine’s actions were discovered, Claudius ordered that he be put to death.

Other stories suggest that Valentine may have been killed for attempting to help Christians escape harsh Roman prisons, where they were often beaten and tortured. According to one legend, an imprisoned Valentine actually sent the first “valentine” greeting himself after he fell in love with a young girl, possibly his jailer’s daughter, who visited him during his confinement. Before his death, it is alleged that he wrote her a letter signed: “From your Valentine”, an expression still in use today.

Although the truth behind the Valentine legends is obscure, the stories all emphasise his appeal as a sympathetic, heroic and romantic figure. By the Middle Ages, perhaps thanks to this reputation, Valentine would become one of the most popular saints in England and France.

While some believe that Valentine’s Day is celebrated in the middle of February to commemorate the anniversary of Valentine’s death or burial (probably occurred around A.D. 270) others claim that the Christian church may have decided to place St Valentine’s feast day in the middle of February in an effort to “Christianise” the pagan celebration of Lupercalia. Celebrated at the ides of February, or February 15.

Lupercalia was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus. To begin the festival, members of the Luperci, an order of Roman priests, would gather at a sacred cave where the infants Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were believed to have been cared for by a she-wolf or “lupa”. The priests would sacrifice a goat, for fertility, and a dog, for purification. They would then strip the goat's hide into strips, dip them into the sacrificial blood and take to the streets, gently slapping both women and crop fields with the goat hide.

Far from being fearful, Roman women welcomed the touch of the hides because it was believed to make them more fertile in the coming year. Later in the day, according to legend, all the young women in the city would place their names in a big urn. The city’s bachelors would each choose a name and become paired for the year with his chosen woman. These matches often ended in marriage.

Lupercalia survived the initial rise of Christianity and but was outlawed, as it was deemed “un-Christian”, at the end of the 5th century, when Pope Gelasius declared February 14 St Valentine’s Day. It was not until much later, however, that the day became definitively associated with love. During the Middle Ages, it was commonly believed in France and England that February 14 was the beginning of birds’ mating season, which added to the idea that the middle of Valentine’s Day should be a day for romance.

In addition to the United States, Valentine’s Day is celebrated in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France and Australia. In Great Britain, Valentine’s Day began to be popularly celebrated around the 17th century. By the middle of the 18th, it was common for friends and lovers of all social classes to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes, and by 1900 printed cards began to replace written letters due to improvements in printing technology. Ready-made cards were an easy way for people to express their emotions in a time when direct expression of one’s feelings was discouraged. Cheaper postage rates also contributed to an increase in the popularity of sending Valentine’s Day greetings.

CHRISTMAS 2012

“At Christmas play and make good cheer, for Christmas comes but once a year.” - Thomas Tusser

The birthday flower for today is the Christmas rose, Helleborus niger, which is symbolic of the Nativity of Christ.  In the language of flowers, the hellebore means calumny and scandal. The flower is also dedicated to St Agnes who is the patron saint of young virgins.

Light Christmas, light wheatsheaf,
Dark Christmas, heavy wheatsheaf.

The day on which Christmas fell prognosticates the weather and the year ahead:

If Christmas falls on a Sunday, that year shall be a warm Winter,
The Summer hot and dry, peace and quiet amongst the married folk.
If on Monday, a misty Winter, the Summer windy and stormy;
Many women will mourn their husbands.
If on a Tuesday, a cold Winter and much snow, the Summer wet,
But good peace amongst the Princes and the Kings.
If on Wednesday, the Winter naughty and hard, the Summer good,
Young people and many cattle will die sore.
If on a Thursday, the Winter mild and the Summer very good and abundant,
But many great men shall perish.
If on a Friday, the Winter neither bad nor good, the Summer harvest indifferent,
Much conflict in the neighbourhoods, treachery and deception.
If on a Saturday, Winter will snow, blow hard winds and bitterly cold,
The Summer good with a harvest full and bounteous,
But war shall rack many lands.

The Dies Natalis Invicti Solis was an ancient Roman festival more of a religious nature and thus important to priests predominantly. It was the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun and marked an important date on the calendar of the Mithras cult. The Mithraic cult was one of the chief pagan competitors to Christianity. Mithras was a sun god and his birthday fell close to the winter solstice, when the days began to lengthen and the sun once again appeared unconquered. The Christian tradition absorbed this festival and also that of the Saturnalia, thus attracting many pagans but re-interpreting their mythology according to more appropriate Christian symbolology.

Another winter solstice festival that became absorbed into Christmas was that of Yule or Jol, celebrated especially in the North, wherever the Norse pantheon held sway. Jolnir was another name for Odin, the chief god, the Norse equivalent of Zeus or Jupiter. Odin was the god of ecstasy and intoxicating drink, but also the god of death. The sacrificial beer of Odin became the blessed Christmas beer of the middle ages and also survives in the wassail cup of lamb’s wool (see December 29th).  The feasting that occurred during Yuletide also included providing food and drink for the ghosts that roamed the earth around this time (see the Finnish Christmas Eve tradition).  Bonfires were lit and this tradition has survived in the form of the yule log (see December 24th).  The Christmas tree tradition is essentially a Germanic one that may hail back to the Norse legend of Yggdrasil, the great tree on whose branches rested the universe.

The ivie and holly berries are seen,
And Yule Log and Wassaile come round agen.
At Christmas play, and make good cheer
For Christmas comes but once a year.
               Thomas Tusser (ca 1520-1580).