[Steppes] Period Week in Review 10-01-2006 through 10-07-2006

[Mike]

Heilsa,

Hope the reader will enjoy this look at History
within Period - both from the past and the present
as it affects the history that is known today.

Week in Review 10-01 through 10-07:

October 1st:
Modern Day
Greece
A villa, dating back to late-Roman era, has been unearthed in the
ancient city of Laodiceia, located near Eskihisar village of Aegean city
of Denizli, announced Associate Professor Celal Simsek, heading the
excavations in this ancient city. Predicting that the villa, situated in 
the
Lycus Valley, might have belonged to a rich farmer, Simsek said that
glass pieces were also found in the villa. "This means that a part of
this building might have been used as a glassware workshop,"
he added.
    Laodicea is situated in a location on the south of the Lycus River,
6 km north of Denizli. The city was called "Laodikeia on the side of
the Lycus" in ancient sources. According to other sources, the city
was founded by Antiochos II in 263-261 B.C. and named after
Antiochos' wife. Laodicea was the most famous and important city in
the 1st century B.C. The remains of the city are dated from this era.
Coins were minted in Laodicea during the reign of Caracalla. Many
monumental buildings were also constructed in this ancient city
through donations of the local inhabitants. One of the famous seven
churches mentioned in Revelation was located in Laodicea, which
shows that Christianity was widespread here. Unfortunately the city
was completely destroyed by an earthquake. Big theater, small
theater, stadium and gymnasium, monumental Nypheum, Council
building, Zeus Temple, and the big church are among the ruins in
Laodicea.


October 2nd:
Modern Day
Poland  New Museum Explores Legend of Amber
Elektron, anbar, bernstein, Baltic gold -- by any name, amber has been
 treasured since ancient times. The Polish city of Gdansk, a world
center for amber crafting, recently acquired a new museum devoted to
studying the world's most prized sap. The Amber Museum has its
home in a 14th century brick building that was originally part of the
city wall. Some of its treasures include the world's second-largest
single piece of amber and a drop of amber that encapsulates a pair
of mating flies.
    In ancient Greek myth it was when Phaeton, the son of the god
Helios decided to drive his father's horse-drawn sun chariot across
the heavens that amber was first created. When the joyride spun out
of control, Phaeton perished. In their sorrow, his sisters turned into
poplar trees and their tears became drops of amber.
    The ancient Greeks first called amber Elektron, or "that which
comes from the sun," while for the Syrians it was Kahrba or "a thief
of straws." For the ancient Prussians it was Gentar, Jantar for the
Slavs and Rav for the Danes. In the Germanic languages it is still
known as Bernstein or "stone that burns" and Bursztyn in Polish.
The modern English term for amber is thought to have its linguistic
roots in the Arabic Anbar, which oddly enough, means "sperm whale."
    Throughout history, humans have mistaken amber to be the faeces
of mythical beasts, a wax produced by giant ants, the fossilised
spawn of huge fish or even elephant semen. But to know the true
origin of amber, particularly of deposits found in and around the Baltic
Sea, one must turn back the clock an aeon or two. Baltic amber has
its origins in thick prehistoric coniferous forests which covered a land
mass in the region of modern-day Scandinavia and parts of what is
now the Baltic Sea a very distant 40 million years ago. Today we
admire resins which oozed from the trunks of these massive
prehistoric trees as amber. Geologists believe an ancient river,
which has been termed the Eridan, transported dead tree trunks
caked in sticky resin to a sea which was a smaller precursor of the
modern Baltic, which itself was formed only 10,000 years ago. Rich
deposits of fossilised tree resin or succinite, better known as Baltic
amber, accumulated in the sea along what is now the Baltic coast
between the Polish village of Chlapowo and the Sambian peninsula
of the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. They are among the world's
most plentiful, with deposits in Poland alone estimated to be some
650,000 tons. Other large amber caches around the globe are found
in Canada, Columbia, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Lebanon,
Myanmar, Siberia, Borneo, Australia and Japan.
    In Poland, it is known as "Baltic gold" and is regularly washed up
on beaches in the Gdansk area by storms. With the first traces of
amber crafting in Gdansk dating from the 10th Century, it is little
wonder the city has become the world capital for amber work. It is
home to hundreds of workshops producing jewellery as well as the
annual Amberif amber fair, the largest event of its kind in the world.
To honour the epic history of amber in the region, Gdansk recently
opened the Museum of Amber encapsulating 40 million years of
history on five floors of a 14th century red brick tower in the heart of
the city's picturesque old town. Originally built as part of the city's
ramparts, it was long used as a prison complete with torture chambers.
    Museum director Joanna Grazawska beams with pride when she
speaks of the jewel crowning the museum's rich collection of amber
pieces. A tiny white lizard frozen in a golden globule of amber
roughly two centimetres in length and one centimetre in width is an
unique time capsule of life from 40 million years ago. It was found in
1997 locally in Gdansk by amber craftswoman Gabriela Gerlowska
and is perfectly preserved. Indeed, the museum is home to an
impressive collection of so-called amber inclusions of prehistoric
vegetation and insect life and is more than likely the only place on
earth where visitors can see two flies caught "inflagrante" aeons
ago in a blob of resin, now turned into amber. Other pieces
showcase the aesthetic charm of this organic treasure. Some
resemble swirling mixtures of transparent golden honey and
translucent rich, creamy butter that look good enough to eat. Others
look like dark blobs of thick blackish-brown molasses with haunting
ghost-like misty white smudges. Yet other specimens are the colour
of champagne or pale beer which sparkle with tiny air-bubbles.
    Information on the alleged healing qualities of amber is also
available. The ancient resin is thought to ease respiratory problems
when powdered and combined with alcohol and taken as a tonic.
Gdansk's Amber Museum is also home to the world's second
largest piece of amber weighing in at 5.9kg. The biggest single
piece of amber ever found weighs some 9.75kg and is on display
at Berlin's Humboldt University Museum of Natural History. While the
lower floors showcase amber's prehistoric origins, the Gdansk
museum's top floors bring the ancient resin up to date, showing how
local craftsmen and women skilfully transform it into glittering
jewellery making an ultra-modern fashion statement.


October 3rd:
Modern Day
Lebanon   Time Period  Roman Empire and Medieval Tower
Monuments in two of the world's most important heritage sites are in
need of 'urgent repair' as a result of the recent conflict in Lebanon, a
United Nations mission to the region has discovered. A Roman tomb
in Tyre and a medieval tower in Byblos have been significantly
damaged by the war, the official leading a survey of Lebanese
archaeological sites told The Observer late last week. Unesco, the
educational, scientific and cultural arm of the United Nations, is set to
announce the results of its damage assessment mission tomorrow.
The survey was launched after the international archaeological
community, including the director of the British Museum, Neil
MacGregor, urged the organisation to investigate the effects of
bombing on one of the planet's most heritage-rich countries.
    At Tyre some of 'the finest examples of imperial Roman
architecture in the world' had suffered direct damage, including the
collapse of a fresco on a tomb only a few metres from the site's core.
The official said that he intended to propose the commencement of
urgent repair work in the area.
    At Byblos the effects of an oil spill - which occurred after the 
Israeli
government bombed a depot in Jiyeh, 15 miles south of Beirut - are
more obvious. Bouchenaki said some of the archaeological remains
from the Venetian period near the city's harbour were dramatically
stained and would be difficult to clean. He said that a 'medieval tower'
from the time of the Crusades had also been affected. A strike by
Israeli warplanes caused the oil spill at Jiyeh, where millions of gallons
of oil gushed into the sea. Not since Saddam Hussein deliberately
pumped crude oil into the Persian Gulf in 1991 has an act of war
caused so devastating a maritime environmental crisis. The Temple
of Bacchus in the city of Baalbek, another world heritage site, is also
suffering from widening cracks in its structure. Bouchenaki added that
further investigation would be needed to ascertain whether these had
been exacerbated by the war. Two other historical sites, at Bint Jbeil
and Chamaa, while not on the world heritage register, have also
been 'extensively damaged'. At Bint Jbeil a medieval wall has been
seriously hit.
    The damage assessment mission to the Middle East was
announced earlier this month by Unesco's director general, Koichiro
Matsuura, who expressed the organisation's intention to visit the
world heritage sites of Tyre, Baalbek and Byblos. Byblos, located
north of Beirut, bears testimony to the earliest stages of the
Phoenician civilisation and early 'urban organisation' in the
Mediterranean world. The Phoenicians first settled in Lebanon
five thousand years ago.


October 4th:
England  1501 - 1600
On October 4th, 1537   The first complete English-language Bible
(the Matthew Bible) is printed, with translations by William Tyndale
and Miles Coverdale. The Matthew Bible was the combined work of
three individuals, working from numerous sources in at least five
different languages. The Pentateuch, the Books of Joshua,
Judges, Ruth, First and Second Samuel, First and Second Kings,
and First and Second Chronicles--as well as the entire New
Testament first published in 1526 and later revised--were the
work of William Tyndale. Tyndale worked directly from the Hebrew
and Greek, occasionally consulting the Vulgate and Erasmus's
Latin version, and referencing Luther's Bible for the prefaces and
marginal notes. The remaining books of the Old Testament and
the Apocrypha were the work of Myles Coverdale. Coverdale
translated primarily from German and Latin sources.
    The Prayer of Manasses was the work of John Rogers. Rogers
translated from a French Bible printed two years earlier (in 1535).
Rogers compiled the completed work and added the preface,
some marginal notes, a calendar and almanac.
    The Matthew Bible was probably published by Jacobus van
Meteren, who had published Coverdale's Old Testament in 1536.
In the same year Tyndale entrusted his completed translations to
Rogers. Van Meteren was then able to provide Rogers with
Coverdale's translations of the missing portions.
    Of the three translators, two were burned at the stake.
Tyndale was burned on 6 October 1536 in Vilvoorde, Belgium
at the instigation of agents of Henry VIII and the Anglican Church.
John Rogers was "tested by fire" on 4 February 1554/55 at
Smithfield, near Warwick, Nottinghamshire, England; the first to
meet this fate under Mary I of England. Myles Coverdale was
employed by Cromwell to work on the Great Bible of 1538/1539,
 the first officially authorized English translation of the Bible.
Time and extensive scholastic scrutiny have judged Tyndale the
most gifted of the three translators. Dr Westcott in his History of
the English Bible states that "The history of our English Bible
begins with the work of Tyndale and not with that of Wycliffe."
His translations are directly from the Hebrew and Greek, rather
than translations of previous translations from those languages.
The quality of his translations have also stood the test of time,
coming relatively intact even into modern versions of the Bible.


October 5th:
Italy  1501 -1600
On October 5th, 1582   Due to the implementation of the Gregorian
calendar this day does not exist in this year in Italy, Poland, Portugal
and Spain. The Gregorian calendar is the calendar that is used nearly
everywhere in the world. A modification of the Julian calendar, it was
first proposed by the Calabrian doctor Aloysius Lilius, and was
decreed by Pope Gregory XIII, for whom it was named, on 24
February 1582 via the papal bull Inter gravissimas. Its years are
numbered based on the traditional birth year of Jesus Christ,
which is labeled the "anno Domini" era. The Gregorian Calendar
was devised both because the mean year in the Julian Calendar
was slightly too long, causing the vernal equinox to slowly drift
backwards in the calendar year, and because the lunar calendar
used to compute the date of Easter had grown conspicuously in
error as well. The Gregorian calendar system dealt with these
problems by dropping a certain number of days to bring the calendar
back into synchronization with the seasons, and then slightly
shortening the average number of days in a calendar year, by
omitting three Julian leap-days every 400 years.
    The motivation of the Catholic Church in adjusting the calendar was
to have Easter celebrated at the time that they thought had been
agreed to at the First Council of Nicaea in 325. Although a canon of
the council implies that all churches used the same Easter, they did
not. The Church of Alexandria celebrated Easter on the Sunday after
the 14th day of the Moon that falls on or after the vernal equinox,
which they placed on 21 March. However, the Church of Rome still
regarded 25 March as the equinox and used a different day of the
moon. By the tenth century all churches (except for some on the
eastern border of the Byzantine Empire) had adopted the
Alexandrian Easter, which still placed the vernal equinox on 21
March, although Bede had already noted its drift in 725--it had
drifted even further by the sixteenth century. Worse, the reckoned
Moon that was used to compute Easter was fixed to the Julian year
by a 19 year cycle. However, that approximation built up an error of
one day every 310 years, so by the sixteenth century the lunar
calendar was out of phase with the real Moon by four days.
    The fix was to come in two stages. First, it was necessary to
approximate the correct length of a solar year. The value chosen
was 365.2425 days in decimal notation. This is 365;14,33 days
in sexagesimal notation--the length of the tropical year, rounded
to two sexagesimal positions; this was the value used in the major
astronomical tables of the day. Although close to the mean tropical
year of 365.24219 days, it is even closer to the vernal equinox year
of 365.2424 days; this fact made the choice of approximation
particularly appropriate as the purpose of creating the calendar was
to ensure that the vernal equinox would be near a specific date
(21 March).
    The second stage was to devise a model based on the
approximation which would provide an accurate yet simple,
rule-based calendar. The formula designed by Aloysius Lilius
was ultimately successful. It proposed a 10-day correction to revert
the drift since Nicaea, and the imposition of a leap day in only
97 years in 400 rather than in 1 year in 4. To implement the model,
it was provided that years divisible by 100 would be leap years only if
they were divisible by 400 as well. So, in the last millennium, 1600
and 2000 were leap years, but 1700, 1800 and 1900 were not. In this
millennium, 2100, 2200, 2300 and 2500 will not be leap years, but
2400 will be. This theory was expanded upon by Christopher Clavius
in a closely argued, 800 page volume. He would later defend his
and Lilius's work against detractors.
    Only Spain and her territories, Portugal, the Polish-Lithuanian
Commonwealth, and most of Italy implemented the new calendar
on 15 October 1582, although France and the Protestant Dutch
provinces of Holland and Zeeland adopted it in December of that
year. Most non-Catholic countries initially objected to adopting a
Catholic invention. England, Scotland and thereby the rest of the
British Empire (including the eastern part of what is now the United
States) did not adopt the Gregorian calendar until 1752; by which
time it was necessary to correct by eleven days (2 September 1752
being followed by 14 September 1752) to account for 29 February
1700 (Julian). A few years later, when the son of the Earl of
Macclesfield (who had been influential in passing the calendar law)
ran for a seat in Parliament in Oxfordshire as a Whig in 1754,
dissatisfaction with the calendar reforms was one of a number of
issues raised by his Tory opponents. In 1755, William Hogarth
made a painting (and an engraved print from the painting) loosely
based on these elections, in which the campaign slogan "Give us
our Eleven Days" appears (on floor at lower right); this was later
misunderstood, giving rise to apocryphal stories of widespread
riots at the change-over.


October 6th:
England  1501 - 1600
On October 6th, 1536   William Tyndale, Bible translator and
Protestant scholar, was executed for heresy. He was condemned
to burn at the stake, but was mercifully strangled first and his body
burned after death. Tyndale, like later Protestants including the
English Puritans, believed that Scripture was the ultimate authority
to be consulted in determining God's intentions. He engaged in
published religious debate with Sir Thomas More and was
condemned to death by Cardinal Wolsey. Tyndale's translation of
the New Testament was consulted by the authors of the King
James Version of the Bible.  Time and extensive scholastic
scrutiny have judged Tyndale the most gifted of the three
translators. Dr Westcott in his History of the English Bible
states that "The history of our English Bible begins with the
work of Tyndale and not with that of Wycliffe." His translations
are directly from the Hebrew and Greek, rather than translations
of previous translations from those languages. The quality of
his translations have also stood the test of time, coming
relatively intact even into modern versions of the Bible.


October 7th:
Modern Day
Italy  Time period  1200 - 1300
Cimabue and Early Italian Devotional Painting
Now through December 31, 2006
The most celebrated Florentine artist of his generation, Cimabue
(c. 1240 - 1302) won acclaim for his achievements in naturalistic
representation and emotional expression in monumental
altarpieces, frescoes, and mosaics. In 1950 The Frick Collection
acquired an extremely rare small-scale painting attributed to
Cimabue, The Flagellation of Christ. Scholars immediately
recognized the work's beauty and importance but debated
whether it was in fact a work by Cimabue or by his Sienese
counterpart, Duccio di Buoninsegna (c. 1255-1319). The Frick
and National Gallery paintings are reunited here for the first time
in the United States and presented along with other examples
of devotional art from early Renaissance Italy. A triptych painted
by the anonymous Florentine artist known as the Magdalen Master,
a contemporary of Cimabue's, and a diptych by Pacino di
Bonaguida, a contemporary of Giotto's (traditionally considered
Cimabue's pupil), represent two typical forms of multipanel
ensembles created by early Italian artists.


YIS,
 Lord Michael Kettering
  Combat Archer for the Condottieri
  King's Archer
  Steppes Deputy Knight Marshal
  Steppes Deputy Hospitaler