Ugarit, an ancient kingdom

Ugarit is now known for the ruins of ancient capital city of the Kingdom that is located in modern days’ northern Syria. Henceforth the accidental discovery of these ruins in 1928, it is said that Ugarit has been yielding valuable information for historians, archaeologists and anyone concerns to Biblical studies, especially from linguistic interests.

According to The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, the origin of human occupation in this city can be traced back to the Neolithic period. It says that by the fourth millennium, ‘Ugarit had reached a high stage of development and was part of the general civilization of ancient Syria.’ (http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Ugarit.aspx#1) Although Ugarit suffered ethnic migrations and invasions of Amorites and Semitic Canaanites, from the north and east, and these forced Ugarit to make an alliance with Egypt in the early second millennium BC, the height of its prosperity came in the 15th and 14th century BC. In these period, Ugarit enjoyed its development in trading, expansion of the city size and abundance in the field of art as well.

The factors that brought decline to Ugarit are explained as foreign invasions and economic change. However what happened, by the end of the 12th century BC, it says that although Ugarit ‘was not completely abandoned, it had ceased to exist as an important town.’ (ibid)

The discovery and excavations of the ruins of Ugarit brought various important facts into the light. Especially, the most significant findings would be the script written on tablets from the 14th century BC because it ‘has been identified as a Semitic language, related to classical Hebrew.’ (ibid)

Reference:

“Ugarit” The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 15 Nov. 2010 (accessed 15/11/2010)

http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Ugarit.aspx#1

Who’s who? – Pavel V. Annenkov

Pavel Vasil’evich Annenkov is officially known as a Russian literary critic, who lived in   the nineteenth century. Moreover, he is known for having had personal relationships with some important historical figures, not only within the literature circle including Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev, but also with political thinkers such as Karl Marx and Michael Bakunin. Unfortunately, unlike his personal friends or acquaintances, today it became quite difficult to find information directly focused on Annenkov himself. Following quote is taken from The Free Dictionary web site and currently this may be the sole information easily found on internet. In addition, the web site warns viewers that the article ‘might be outdated or ideologically biased’ (http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/P.+V.+Annenkov) since it has been taken from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia published in 1979.

‘Annenkov, Pavel Vasil’evich

Born June 19 (July 1), 1813 (according to other information, June 18 [30], 1812), in Moscow; died Mar. 8 (20), 1887, in Dresden. Russian literary critic and memoirist.

In the 1840’s Annenkov was close to V. G. Belinskii, N. V. Gogol, and A. I. Herzen, and later, to I. S. Tur-genev. He was a liberal westernizer in his political convictions. He knew K. Marx personally and corresponded with him during 1846–47. In his literary criticism, he asserted the necessity for literature to exert a moral influence on society; however, he took the position of aesthetic criticism in his struggle against N. G. Chernyshevskii’s circle. His memoirs are a valuable source for the study of the social movement of the 1830’s and 1840’s.

WORKS

Vospominaniia i kriticheskie ocherki, vols. 1–3. St. Petersburg, 1877–81.
Literaturnye vospominaniia. Foreword by N. K. Piksanov. Leningrad, 1928.
Literaturnye vospominaniia. Introductory article by V. P. Dorofeev. [Moscow,] 1960.’ (ibid)

Reference:

Farlex Inc (2010), Pavel Annenkov, The Free Dictionary (accessed 10/11/2010)

http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/P.+V.+Annenkov

Preface by Basil Hallward

A copy of Japanese translation of The Picture of Dorian Gray, a novel by Oscar Wilde, features a following preface. Unfortunately, the translator does not refer to any exact information on what edition he worked on. However, the authorship of the preface is attributed to a painter called Basil Hallward:

 

The Artist’s Preface.

During the Spring of 1884 Oscar Wilde was often in the studio.  One of my sitters was a young gentleman of such peculiar beauty that his friends had nicknamed him ‘The Radiant Youth’.  Each afternoon Wilde watched the work advance, enchanting us, meanwhile, with brilliant talk, until, at last, the portrait was finished and its original had gone his ways – rejoicing, without doubt, to be at liberty.

Now, the beauty of ‘Dorian’ was of that kind which depends on color and expression for its charm.  His hair was bright and wavy; the ruddiness of health suffused his cheeks; his eyes sparkled with wholesome fun, good humor, and high thoughts.  He was the sort of boy who makes the world seem jolly even when the east wind blows.  Goodness and merriment radiated from him visibly; the darkest room appeared to glow and brighten when he entered it.

‘What a pity such a glorious creature should ever grow old,’ sighed Wilde.

‘Yes, it is indeed,’ said I.  ‘How delightful it would be if “Dorian” could remain exactly as he is, while the portrait aged and withered in his stead.  I wish it might be so!’

And that was all.  I occupied myself with the picture for perhaps a quarter of an hour, during which Wilde smoked reflectively, but uttered not one word.  He arose, presently, and sauntered to the door, merely nodding as he left the room.

Family affairs called me, by-and-bye, from London.  I saw no more of either Wilde or ‘Gray’.

One day, years afterwards this book fell into my hands.  I cannot remember where or how, although it startled me to find the germ, sown carelessly in idle talk, expanded by the writer’s art into ‘The Picture of Dorian Gray’.  Wilde must have brooded long upon the theme.  ‘The Radiant Youth’ was, to be sure, the very opposite of Wilde’s bad hero; but such was the author’s love of paradox that this antithesis of character was just the thing to fascinate the poet’s mind, from which the following pages grew.

Basil Hallward.

(http://www.oscholars.com/TO/Appendix/Library/Vivian_Grey_and_Dorian_Gray.htm)

 

According to the website, from which the above preface was quoted, it looks like this preface was first appeared in an American piracy edition published by the Charterhouse Press in 1904. Obviously, the preface contains American spellings such as ‘color’ and ‘humor’. In addition, it is also mentioned in the web site that the preface was introduced by the publisher being linked with a dodgy ‘original portrait’ of Dorian Gray with a ‘great pleasure.’ (ibid).

 

Finally, as for Wilde’s biography, he already began his career in literature since he has first published his ‘volume of poetry’ (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/wilde_oscar.shtml)

in 1881 before 1884, the year mentioned in the preface. Moreover, in his biography, 1884 is best known as the year he married Constance Lloyd, who later died in 1898.

 

Reference:

l        Books

Fukuda, Tuneari (tra.) (1994), The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. 47th ed., Shincho-sha Plc, Tokyo

 

l        Internet

BBC (2010), Oscar Wilde (1854 – 1900), History – Historic Figures (accessed 01/11/2010)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/wilde_oscar.shtml

 

Nickerson, Charles C. (2009), Vivian Gray and Dorian Gray, The Oscholars Library (accessed 01/11/2010)

http://www.oscholars.com/TO/Appendix/Library/Vivian_Grey_and_Dorian_Gray.htm

 

Monastery (or Abbey) of Melk

Umberto Eco refers to a mysterious book in the very beginning of his famous fiction The Name of the Roses. According to his description, the book ‘claimed to reproduce faithfully a fourteenth-century manuscript that, in its turn, had been found in the monastery of Melk by the great eighteenth-century man of learning, to whom we owe so much information about the history of the Benedictine order.’ (Weaver, 1998, p. 1). Being given a location and two different times, how far the above quote could gain its authenticity in regard with the real history? That is the question of this entry.

 

From the history of the specific location, the monastery (or Abbey) of Melk, following information might be helpful for comparing it with the quoted descriptions:

 

The first monastery or convent of Melk ‘was founded way back in 1089. In the twelfth century, a school was established, and the abbey began to earn recognition for its manuscript collection.’ (http://www.destination360.com/europe/austria/melk-abbey)

 

Matching the information above and the descriptions of the book in Eco’s fiction, it can be said that when the original manuscript was allegedly written in the fourteenth century, the monastery must have enjoyed its reputation from its over three hundred years of history, its educational function and its formidable collection of manuscripts. In other words, it is quite conceivable that one of such manuscripts could be lost and found in absolutely different place and time, by taking the monastery’s huge amount of collection into the consideration.

 

Subsequently, how about the monastery in the eighteenth century? According to the same website, ‘The golden, red-roofed, Baroque Melk Monastery that so impresses visitors was built between the years 1702 and 1736. The architect was Jakob Prandtauer, who was a native Austrian son.’ (ibid)

 

The fiction refers to ‘the great eighteenth-century man of learning’, who found the original manuscript. It is also plausible to think that the man of learning must have enough opportunity for such discovery since the building of today’s monastery that lasted for more than thirty years could generously provide him facing to the reorganisation of vast amount of the manuscript collection.

 

Finally, is there any relationship between the Benedictine order, to which the man of learning is depicted as an authority, and the monastery of Melk? The answer is quite simple by looking at the origin of the monastery. Its original building was a palace of Leopold II of Babenberg, who presented this palace to Benedictine monks in the eleventh century.

In addition, for writing The Name of the Roses, it is said that Eco ‘researched his novel in the abbey’s library.’  (http://www.sacred-destinations.com/austria/melk-abbey)

Reference:

l        Book

Weaver, William (tran.) (1998), Umberto Eco – The Name of the Rose

Vintage, the Random House Group Limited, London

 

l        Internet

Destination360 (2010), Melk Austria, Destinations – Europe – Austria (accessed 25/10/2010)

http://www.destination360.com/europe/austria/melk-abbey

 

Hayes, Holly (2010), Melk Abbey – History. Sacred Destinations (last updated 19/01/2010, accessed 25/10/2010)

http://www.sacred-destinations.com/austria/melk-abbey

 

Christian Rosencreutz

The Chemical Wedding of Christian Rosencreutz: Anno 1459 could be counted as one of seven wonders in the world of literature. This book was first published in 1616 in Strasbourg, and was attributed its authorship to Johann Valentin Andreae, a student of Tubingen University who was only seventeen years old at that time. Apart from its mystical contents, what could it mean the year 1459 to a young student author in the early seventeenth century? According to Karl Heyer, in his Lecture Course on the Historical Impulse of Rosicrucianism, it is described that ‘the year 1459 in the title indicates the year in which… the new Rosicrucian Movement was founded in the West.’ (http://www.zebratta.com/cwcr.htm) In addition, the following quotes from the same website could be helpful, at least as a clue, to explain the question above.

‘Rudolf Steiner speaks of Rosicrucianism as ‘a Mystery School having as its aim the cultivation of an understanding of the Christ Mystery in a way sited to the new era’ (Lecture: European Mysteries and their Initiates). It is a continuation of The Order of the Grail and The Order of the Templars; its contents are couched in different terms in succeeding centuries to meet changes in human consciousness and changing human needs.

When The Chymical Wedding was first written down, it was still possible to convey spiritual revelations as they are here conveyed, in pictorial Imaginations. Later, such Imaginations dried out into abstract, purely conceptual thinking

… Who was, who is Christian Rosenkreutz? … Rudolf Steiner has told us that in the middle of the thirteenth century a child was born who had a very special destiny. He came into the care of the twelve wisest men of that age, who by world destiny were gathered in a certain spot in Europe. The child was very carefully trained by them, and taught their twelve-fold wishdom. As a young man, he became very ill; he took no nourishment; his body became almost transparent; and finally he lay in a trance for some days. When he returned to consciousness it seemed as if the twelve streams of wisdom had been woven by him into an all-embracing wisdom. Soon after this he died, having in this incarnation been kept withdrawn from outer earthly activity. He was reborn in 1378… In 1406, when he was twenty-eight years of age, he began a seven-year journey to many Centre of Mystery Wisdom, returning in 1413, when he was thirty-five years of age… He had gathered from these centres the essence of their teaching and now grasped intellectually the radiant wisdom that had suffused his feeling-life in the previous century. He was just eighty years of age when the experience came to him which is recounted in The Chymical Wedding; at the age of 106 he died.’ (http://www.zebratta.com/cwcr.htm)

The Commentary on the website further refers to the Comte de St. Germain, a real historical figure in the time of the French Revolution, as the reappearance of the same individual, who gave the watchwords to the worlds ‘Liberty, Equality and Fraternity’ only to be misunderstood by the Revolutionists and the later world.

Reference:

Threshold Publishing Company (2004), A Commentary on The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz: Anno 1459 – Foreword, Zebratta.com – Hermetic (accessed 18/10/2010)

http://www.zebratta.com/cwcr.htm

Thomas Henry Huxley

Aldous Huxley, a famous writer for his fiction work Brave New World, was born on 26 July 1894, in Surrey, England. From the moment when he was born, he was not a mere boy child born to an ordinary family but a child who was expected much of him because of his family background. One of his prominent ancestors was his grandfather, Thomas Henry Huxley, who ‘had earned notoriety as ‘Darwin’s bulldog’ and fame as a populariser of science’ (Bradshaw, 2005, p. v). So, how had he earned such notoriety and fame in the course of his life? Following is a summary of his biography that is available at the BBC website.

‘Thomas Henry Huxley was born in London on 4 May 1825, the son of a maths teacher. When he was 10, Huxley’s family moved to Coventry and three years later he was apprenticed to his uncle, a surgeon at the local hospital. He later moved to London where he continued his medical studies. At 21, Huxley signed on as assistant surgeon on HMS Rattlesnake, a Royal Navy ship assigned to chart the seas around Australia and New Guinea. During the voyage, he collected and studied marine invertebrates, sending his papers back to London. When he returned he found that the papers had been read and admired and in 1851 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society.

In 1854, Huxley was appointed professor at the School of Mines in London. He met Charles Darwin in around 1856 and was won over by his theory of evolution by natural selection. Darwin’s ‘The Origin of Species‘ was published in 1859. It provoked a storm of controversy because it challenged the Christian belief that God created life on Earth. Huxley’s repeated and passionate defence of the book earned him the nickname of ‘Darwin’s Bulldog’. In June 1860 in Oxford, Huxley took part in a famous public debate on evolution with Samuel Wilberforce, Bishop of Oxford…

In 1863, he published his own book on evolution, ‘Evidence as to Man’s Place in Nature‘. Unlike Darwin’s Origin, this book focused on man’s ancestry and was short and populist in style…From 1881 to 1885 he was president of the Royal Society and in 1892 was appointed to the privy council. He died on 29 June 1895.’ (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/huxley_thomas_henry.shtml)

Reference:

l        Book

Bradshaw, David (2005), The Devils of Loudun by Aldous Huxley

Published by Vintage, London

l        Internet

BBC (year unstated), Thomas Henry Huxley (1825 – 1895), History – Historic Figures (accessed 11/10/2010)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/huxley_thomas_henry.shtml

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The Perizzites

Along with the Canaanite, the Perizzite is depicted in the Old Testament as an enemy tribe for the Israelite especially in the period of their occupation of the Canaan area led by Joshua. It is pointed out that the word Perizzite originally meant ‘a villager’ in Hebrew and the same word is occasionally translated to ‘unwalled towns’ and ‘country villages’ in the King James Version.

 

According to a document well researched on this topic, which can be easily found at the Google Docs, the Perizzite seems to have been ‘an actual, specific people who lived… in the hills of Judah and Ephraim.’ (http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:e6uJBvI_5EoJ:kukis.org/Doctrines/Perizzites.pdf+perizzites&hl=en&gl=jp&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgaRZf6kjROgApl5ngTjwN74o9UnKVctaCFs4EfZsGPPWpcit5bXzcTE0zGmpGbXXMiS7QtfDQOBN9ZTpXlL-pEaM-Q_10ADJjYrGdm-l-zhLgiEInntQY4WijIJYT53rSeoLRf&sig=AHIEtbQ73IDT-yiqwdwoonCBeC3iwXxtfg) The document also says that they lived in this area ‘from the time of Abram even to the time of Ezra and Nehemiah’ (ibid), nevertheless, it is concluded that ‘their racial background and origins are unknown.’ (ibid)

 

Reference:

Google Docs (year unstated), The Doctrine of the Perizzite (accessed 27/09/2010)

http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:e6uJBvI_5EoJ:kukis.org/Doctrines/Perizzites.pdf+perizzites&hl=en&gl=jp&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESgaRZf6kjROgApl5ngTjwN74o9UnKVctaCFs4EfZsGPPWpcit5bXzcTE0zGmpGbXXMiS7QtfDQOBN9ZTpXlL-pEaM-Q_10ADJjYrGdm-l-zhLgiEInntQY4WijIJYT53rSeoLRf&sig=AHIEtbQ73IDT-yiqwdwoonCBeC3iwXxtfg

 

Sayce, A. H. (2010), Perizzite, International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (accessed 27/09/2010)

http://bibleencyclopedia.com/perizzite.htm

Wodan, an ancient god in the German mythology

Wodan (also known as Woden or Wotan to the Saxons and Odin to the Norse) is one of important gods in the ancient Germanic mythology. It is said that Wodan was quite popular among the noble class as the chief sky god and war god, in which this god was associated with its role for deciding the victory in battle by pointing ‘his spear in favour of one army over the other.’ (http://www.timelessmyths.com/norse/teutonic.html#Wodan)

Wodan was also connected to some doomed notions such as death and hanging and it is said that blood sacrifice was carried out for this god as a rite.

 

As for its representation, it looks that Wodan was depicted as a wanderer or traveller-like figure. It is argued that ‘Popular tradition pictures Wodan as riding a dapple-gray horse, with a broad-brimmed hat and a wide cloak.’ (http://www.woden.org/wodan.html)

Wodan was identified with Mercury by the Romans but its name gave the etymology of a day in the week, Wednesday.

 

Reference:

Joe, Jimmy (2006), Teutonic Deities – Wodan (Woden), Timeless Myths (Norse Mythology) (last modified 24/06/2006, accessed 20/09/2010)

http://www.timelessmyths.com/norse/teutonic.html#Wodan

 

Vos, Bert J. (tran) (year unstated), The Religion of the Teutons, by P.D. Chantepie De La Saussaye, Welcom to Woden World – Woden (accessed 20/09/2010)

http://www.woden.org/wodan.html

Dostoevsky’s St Petersburg

Fyodor Dostoevsky starts one of his most famous novels Crime and Punishment as following:

 

On an exceptionally hot evening early in July a young man came out of the garret in which he lodged in S. Place and walked slowly, as though in hesitation, towards K. bridge. (http://www.enotes.com/crime-and-punishment-text/part-i-chapter-i)

 

Before being told of the main character’s name – Raskalnikov, instead he is merely described as a young man, the readers are to face with two almost anonymous names in the city, where is soon to be revealed as St. Petersburg – S. Place and K. bridge.

 

By searching for further information on internet, it would not be so difficult to come across with a different translation of the same sequence with full indication of the names of two places. It says:

 

At the beginning of July, during a spell of exceptionally hot weather, towards evening, a certain young man came down the street from a little room he rented from some tenants in Stolyarny Lane and slowly, almost hesitantly, set off towards Kokushkin Bridge. (http://gregs.tcias.co.uk/2000/11/03/crime-and-punishment/)

 

By typing these names, Stolyarny Lane and Kokushkin Bridge, into the Google Maps, it can be revealed that these two names actually exist in a walking distance in modern St Petersburg (http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUK354&q=kokushkin+bridge&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=w). Therefore, provisionally it would be beneficial to accept the idea from the latter translation although its authenticity is not endorsed yet.

 

Reference:

 

eNotes.com (2010), Crime and Punishment | Chapter I, Literature – Crime and Punishment Text (accessed 13/09/2010)

http://www.enotes.com/crime-and-punishment-text/part-i-chapter-i

 

Google Maps (2010) (accessed 13/09/2010)

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUK354&q=kokushkin+bridge&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl

 

gregs (2000), Wither Russia? The image of Russia in the fiction of the nineteenth and twentieth century (accessed 13/09/2010)

http://gregs.tcias.co.uk/2000/11/03/crime-and-punishment/