[Steppes] Period Week in Review 10-08-2006 through 10-14-2006

[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 10-08 through 10-14:

October 8th:
Modern Day
8th Century Moravian Parchment Discovered
Researchers working in a Benedictine monastery in Rajhrad, Czech
Republic, have made an accidental - and priceless - discovery: a
fragment of an 8th century CE document, one of the oldest in
Moravia. The small fragment of parchment contains part of a text
called the Pseudoisidorian Decretals, an 8th century document
written to help uphold the supremacy of the pope. The parchment,
one of the oldest Moravian cultural documents yet discovered, was
found by accident in the binding an 18th century book. The tiny
parchment fragment with Latin writing is believed to be part of the
so-called "Pseudoisidorian Decretals", actually a forgery written in
the 8th century and containing texts posing as letters and decrees
of bishops from the 2nd and 3rd centuries. The decretals were
falsified in order to uphold the pope's supremacy over the emperor.
The priceless parchment was discovered by accident on the binding
of an 18th century book in the Benedictine library in Rajhrad.
Historian Jindra Pavelkova made the discovery.
    "We discovered it by accident. We were looking for a different
book and there was some problem with the shelf mark. So we
were looking down the shelf and there it was in the second row.
Because this fragment is part of the binding of the book, it was
quite visible."
    It was common practice in the past to use old manuscripts to make
bindings as parchment was expensive. That's why fragments of old
documents are often found in more recent books, strengthening the
binding from the inside or outside, like in the case of the Rajhrad
fragment. Jindra Pavelkova explains how the age of such documents
can be assessed.
    "The age of a manuscript can be determined using two factors:
one is the content of the document and the other is the form of the
writing - letters changed over the centuries and from the way the
scribe wrote or drew the letters we can tell the age because each
letter had a different form in different periods."
    The parchment is in a good condition and will not be removed
from the 18th century book as it is now its historic part. In
cooperation with historians from Masaryk University in Brno the
librarians in Rajhrad will examine other books coming from the
same source for possible other fragments. The precious finding will
be displayed at the Benedictine monastery in Rajhrad in December.

October 9th:
South Korea  1401 - 1500
On October 9th, 1446   Hangul Day -- also called Hangul Proclamation
Day or Korean Alphabet Day -- is a Korean national commemorative
day marking the invention and the proclamation of Hangul, the native
alphabet of the Korean language, by King Sejong the Great. It is
observed on October 9 in South Korea and on January 15 in North
Korea. According to the Chronicle of King Sejong, King Sejong
proclaimed publication of Hunmin Jeongeum, the document
introducing the newly-created alphabet which was also originally
called by the same name, in the ninth month of the lunar calendar in
1446. In 1926, Hangul Society celebrated the octo-sexagesimal
(480th) anniversary of the declaration of Hangul on the last day of the
ninth month of lunar calendar, which is on November 4 of the
Gregorian calendar. Members of the Society declared it the first
observance of "Gagyanal". The name came from "Gagyageul", an
early colloquial name for Hangul, based on a mnemonic recitation
beginning "gagya geogyeo". The name of the commemorative day
was changed to "Hangullal" in 1928, soon after the term "Hangul"
coined originally in 1913 by Ju Si-gyeong became widely accepted
as the new name for the alphabet. The day was then celebrated
according to the lunar calendar. The discovery in 1940 of an original
copy of the Hunmin Jeongeum Haerye, a volume of commentary to
the Hunmin Jeongeum that appeared not long after the document it
commented upon, revealed that the Hunmin Jeongeum was
announced during the first ten days (sangsun) of the ninth month. The
tenth day of the ninth month of 1446 of the lunar calendar in 1446 was
equivalent to October 9 of the Julian calendar. After the South Korean
government was established in 1945, Hangul Day was declared as a
legal holiday to be marked on October 9, on which governmental
workers are excused from work. Its legal status as a holiday was
removed in 1991 due to pressure from major employers to increase
the number of working days, along with the introduction of the Korean
United Nations Day. However, Hangul Day still retains a legal status
as a national commemoration day. The Hangul Society has
campaigned to restore the holiday's former status, but with little impact.


October 10th:
Modern Day
England   What the Romans Did To Us
Our interest in ancient Rome shows no sign of abating, as a major
new programme starring Michael Sheen as the Emperor Nero begins
tonight. Here Duncan Higgitt looks back at the Romans' influence in
Wales - and how this country played a large part in bringing their wrath
down upon the Britons.
    IT was 42AD and a tribesman who would soon become a Welsh
hero was sitting uncomfortably in the thoughts of the Roman emperor.
Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, better known just as
Claudius, was stuttering and spluttering his way through his indignation,
the disabled administrator - whom many had underestimated to their
cost - apoplectic with rage, an anger directed at the head of relatively
unremarkable Essex tribe dwellers known as the Catuvellaunis. Their
chieftain, Caratacus, whom some have since said most closely
resembles legendary Welsh warrior Caradog in history, had set his
face against Roman rule. His campaigning in southern England had
forced the Roman vassal Verica to flee to Rome, and had thrown the
British Isles into anarchy. To Claudius, who was succeeded by his
adoptive son Nero, there was only one answer to this upstart: invasion.
He dispatched four battle-hardened legions - II Augusta, IX Hispana,
XIV Gemina and XX Valeria Victrix - totalling some 20,000 men, to
bring the rebellious isle back under boot.
    The legions, who included commanders such as future emperor
Vespasian, landed in 43AD, probably in Kent, and won a memorable
victory near Rochester, pursuing the remnants of the British army to the
Thames and the Essex marches, where it was destroyed. Claudius
subsequently took the surrender of 11 British tribal chiefs. Vespasian
pushed west into England, and the task of capturing Caratacus and
subduing Wales was handed to the new governor of Britain, Ostorius
Scapula, who began his campaign in 47AD. Despite the relative ease
with which successive invaders have pushed into Wales, owing to the
direction in which rivers flow, with the exception of the Severn, the
Romans found stiff opposition in the Marches. At the time, there were
five tribal groupings in Wales, all of them speaking Brythonic, which
would later develop into Welsh. There were the Ordovices in the
north-west, the Demetians in the south-west, the Silurians in the
south-east, the Cornovii in the central borderlands, and the Deceangli
in the north-east. It was the Deceangli that would meet them first. In a
successful attempt to divide the mountains of Wales from the
highlands of England, the first Roman set foot in Wales after crossing
the River Dee. It did not take the legionnaires long to win the
submission of the Deceangli.
    The following year, they attempted the same in the south, dividing
the Silurians, whom Caratacus had joined with, from tribes in south
western England, by establishing a major fortress in Gloucester. But it
wasn't plain sailing. The South Walians' hit-and-run tactics caused
immense problems for the Romans and led to the defeat of a legion
in 52AD. It was already all over for Caratacus. In AD50, at a place
near the Severn which historians now believe is the Iron Age fort of
British Camp, at Herefordshire Beacon in the Malvern Hills, he was
defeated handing all of southern Britain to the invaders. Caratacus
fled to the Brigantes in the Pennines. Their queen, Cartimandua,
already had a truce with the Romans and handed him over in chains
(this action would later lead to a revolt against her rule by her own
tribesmen). Caratacus was sent to Rome, with plans that he would
be executed. However, he was allowed to address the Roman senate.
Senators were so impressed that they pardoned him.
    Ostorius died in 52AD, and his successor Aulus Gallus eventually
subdued the Welsh borders. He made no further move into Wales
because, it is thought, the country was not considered to be a prize
worthy of the effort of taking it. However, that all changed in AD54
when Nero succeeded Claudius. He appointed Quintus Veranius,
a man with experience in subjugating the warlike hill tribes of Asia
Minor. He was dead within a year, but both he and his successor
Gaius Suetonius Paulinus mounted a new campaign against the
Silurians and their Welsh allies, using, it is claimed, up to 30,000
troops. Legionnaires infamously destroyed the renowned druidic
centre at Mona on Anglesey. But they were unable to conquer the
Silurians until 76AD, more than 30 years after landing on British soil.
This is partly because the legions were called away to deal with
Boudica and her rebellion.

October 11th:
Modern Day
Norway  Time Period  1200 - 1300
Oslo Garbage Dump Yields Middle Ages Treasure
Archaeologists in Oslo, Norway, have found what they believe to be a
garbage dump from the 1200s or 1300s. The excavators said the
items imply the residents of the area 800 years ago were skilled
crafts workers, Aftenposten reported Monday.
    "We've found, among other things, around 1,000 shoes, several
wooden bowls, one of which had runic script on the bottom, parts of
swords and knives," said archaeologist Lise Marie Bye Johansen.
    Johansen said some of the items indicated different fashion trends
of the time. Other items found included a leather purse decorated
with French lilies, leather mittens and a comb. Johansen said the
items were probably thrown into the Alna River and preserved by the
muddy bottom of the Oslo Fjord.


October 12th:
Modern Day
Scotland  Time Period  1201 - 1300
The National Library of Scotland has posted an online version of the
Murthly Hours, a richly decorated manuscript written in Paris in the
13th century. According to the website, the book "is one of Scotland's
great medieval treasures. Written and illuminated in Paris in the
1280s, it also contains full-page miniatures by English artists of the
same period, and was one of the most richly decorated manuscripts
in medieval Scotland. Medieval additions include probably the
second oldest example of Gaelic written in Scotland."
   Web address: 
http://www.nls.uk/digitallibrary/murthly/index.htm

October 13th:
Japan  1201 - 1300
On October 13th, 1282 - Nichiren Daishonin, founder of the Nichiren
School of Buddhism, dies at age 59. His ashes are interred at
Taisekiji Temple.Nichiren was an extremely controversial figure in
his own time, and many of the schools stemming from his teachings
continue to inspire controversy today. One common source of such
controversy is the perception that Nichiren Buddhists insist that only
the school they follow is the correct form of Buddhism, a conviction
that started with Nichiren himself. Some groups today characterize
Nichiren's efforts as an attempt to reform contemporary Buddhism;
Nichiren, however, was not trying to reform other sects. Rather, his
intent was to have government patronage for them ceased and to
dissuade people from practicing them because he was convinced
that that the other schools were leading people down the wrong path,
away from the "truth of the Lotus Sutra," away from their potential
enlightenment, and towards more suffering.
    Nichiren spent his final years writing, inscribing Gohonzon for his
disciples and believers, and delivering sermons. But his health began
to fail, and several people encouraged him to travel to hot springs for
their medicinal benefits. He left Minobu in the company of several
disciples on September 8, 1282. Upon arrival ten days later at the
residence of Ikegami Munenaka, a lay believer who lived in what is
now Ikegami, Tokyo, Nichiren sensed that his end was near and he
began to make preparations. At the hour of the dragon
(around 8:00AM), Nichiren "passed into nirvana" in the presence of
many disciples and lay believers. His funeral and cremation took
place the following day. His disciple Nikko- left Ikegami with
Nichiren's ashes on October 21, reaching Minobu on October 25.
Nichiren's original tomb is sited, as per his request, at Kuonji; at
least some of his ashes are also kept at Taisekiji.


October 14th:
Modern Day
Greek and Roman  Before 601.  Nano-Grecian Formula
After re-creating a hair dye used during the Roman Empire, scientists
have reported that the technique early Greeks and Romans used to
color their hair had some things in common with modern
nanotechnology. The authors of a study in the current issue of the
journal Nano Lettersnot only found that ancient hair dyes actually
work, but that they are comparable to products, such as Grecian
Formula, available today.
    Since nanocrystals form within hair during the blackening, the
findings also suggest quantum physicists could use hair, or hair-like
fibers, to grow quantum dots -- tiny controlled atoms -- for use in
high-tech lasers, sensors, computers and other devices. This bridging
of past and future technology began when Philippe Walter, a senior
research scientist at the Research and Restoration Center of French
Museums, collaborated with L'Oreal Research to study the history of
cosmetic science. While researching the subject, Walter and his
colleagues came across an old hair dye recipe.
    "During the 2nd century A.D., Claudius Galen, the most famous
doctor in the Roman Empire, precisely described the use of a mixture
of lead oxide and slaked lime to dye hair black," Walter told Discovery
News.
    The researchers mixed these ingredients with water to form a
paste. They then dyed blonde human hair with the paste mixture for
three days. Each day they X-rayed the hair and magnified it using
electron microscopy to see what was going on at the molecular level.
They discovered that the ingredients reacted with the protein building
blocks in the hair to form sulfur, allowing the lead to penetrate hair
shafts. Analyzing the center of each strand of hair, the researchers
observed the formation of tiny lead sulfide crystals, which lined up
at just .00000003937 of an inch across. Since these crystals act
somewhat like melanin, the natural substance that gives hair color,
more crystals meant darker hair. Walter explained that chemical
engineering of such tiny structures to form quantum dots is "a current
challenge in nanotechnology," and that the reaction of this ancient
lead dye with hair exemplifies the sort of process that researchers
are trying to develop.
    In a separate study, scientists Bo Yang and Vinod Tewary at the
National Institute of Standards and Technology came to similar
conclusions about how self-assembling quantum dots line up, only
their focus was on assemblages in semiconductor materials rather
than hair. Previously, Walter and his team studied 4,000-year-old
Egyptian eye makeup housed at the Louvre Museum. They again
found that lead was an important ingredient. In this case, lead
chlorides and other compounds thought to confer medicinal
properties, such as clearing up infections, were added to a lead
sulfide base. The Egyptians, it seems, believed a heavy application
of eye makeup served double duty as both a beauty enhancer and
medicine. The 2,000-year-old Greek and Roman hair dye, however,
probably was for looks only. In addition to black dye, many
individuals dyed their hair red with henna and sprinkled it with gold
powder and often a fresh flower or two. Hairdressing and
barbershops were located in most populated regions of the
ancient world.


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