Comments on: Caesar’s Troubling Dream (Part Two) http://100falcons.wordpress.com/2008/03/27/caesars-troubling-dream-part-two/ Tue, 13 May 2008 19:51:56 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=MU By: apostatepakistanigirl http://100falcons.wordpress.com/2008/03/27/caesars-troubling-dream-part-two/#comment-180 apostatepakistanigirl Fri, 28 Mar 2008 19:02:38 +0000 http://100falcons.wordpress.com/?p=112#comment-180 hi, thanks for such a nice reply. I think Collier was the last gasp of 19th century romantacism, before it all turned bad and we got Wagner transmuted into Hitler? Now you mentioned the vapors, do you know that they have identified the vapors, which still flow today, and left trace elements in the rocks. The Pythia were according to science sniffing ethylene and the effects of that, over time, are akin to being a heroin addict. It's fascinating, cases of the Pythia going practically insane are to do with ethylene overdose, which, induces total psychosis and then nerve failure. Is that why they were on occassion extremely violent? There is another case of a priestess dying inside the oracular chamber, she was forced in their to give an oracle against her will, apparently, cos there is no real proof- but she knew the concentrations of ethylene were too intense, and as she had not eaten, she overdosed in record time of spasmodic convulsions. Down and dirty then with the crystal meth tweakers of their day. One last thing, and it's surely no coincidence, Delphi is built in a place that guaranteed access to the vapors- a geological fault line runs right through it, in fact, right under the inner sanctum. The implication is that an eathquake in late antiquity sealed up the fault, and it is that, within the context of the rise of Christianity, that finally quietened the oracle forever. Sorry, if just felt compelled to share this with you for some reason! bye bye, apostatepakistanigirl. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ <em>Thanks for this comment and for the lead on Collier. As you see by my latest post, I'm more skeptical than you, pakistaniapostategirl. But that doesn't mean there weren't weird things going on at Delphi.</em> hi, thanks for such a nice reply. I think Collier was the last gasp of 19th century romantacism, before it all turned bad and we got Wagner transmuted into Hitler?
Now you mentioned the vapors, do you know that they have identified the vapors, which still flow today, and left trace elements in the rocks. The Pythia were according to science sniffing ethylene and the effects of that, over time, are akin to being a heroin addict. It’s fascinating, cases of the Pythia going practically insane are to do with ethylene overdose, which, induces total psychosis and then nerve failure. Is that why they were on occassion extremely violent? There is another case of a priestess dying inside the oracular chamber, she was forced in their to give an oracle against her will, apparently, cos there is no real proof- but she knew the concentrations of ethylene were too intense, and as she had not eaten, she overdosed in record time of spasmodic convulsions. Down and dirty then with the crystal meth tweakers of their day. One last thing, and it’s surely no coincidence, Delphi is built in a place that guaranteed access to the vapors- a geological fault line runs right through it, in fact, right under the inner sanctum. The implication is that an eathquake in late antiquity sealed up the fault, and it is that, within the context of the rise of Christianity, that finally quietened the oracle forever.
Sorry, if just felt compelled to share this with you for some reason! bye bye, apostatepakistanigirl.

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Thanks for this comment and for the lead on Collier. As you see by my latest post, I’m more skeptical than you, pakistaniapostategirl. But that doesn’t mean there weren’t weird things going on at Delphi.

]]> By: erikatakacs http://100falcons.wordpress.com/2008/03/27/caesars-troubling-dream-part-two/#comment-179 erikatakacs Fri, 28 Mar 2008 14:06:56 +0000 http://100falcons.wordpress.com/?p=112#comment-179 Where's part 3, Swallows? So much buildup, so much suspense, you make me impatient. :) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- <em>Tomorrow when you get up, Erika. I hope you make it through the night.</em> Where’s part 3, Swallows? So much buildup, so much suspense, you make me impatient. :)
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Tomorrow when you get up, Erika. I hope you make it through the night.

]]> By: apostatepakistanigirl http://100falcons.wordpress.com/2008/03/27/caesars-troubling-dream-part-two/#comment-174 apostatepakistanigirl Thu, 27 Mar 2008 12:00:12 +0000 http://100falcons.wordpress.com/?p=112#comment-174 I like this approach because I have a theory about Rome, I think it was really more like Ancient India, rather than Cecil.B. Demille's Nuremburgesque approach. This means Rome, in literature, ought to be bloody, violent, full of scheming, and yet, somehow 'veiled'-full of inner spiritual mystery that vies with the Roman soul. I think it's here in this piece, I think they were very practical, but I believe that is somewhat overstated. When the mystical element is denuded, what we have is something like Simon Scarrow- excellent stuff and highly entertaining, but less appealing to a woman, especially a Pakistani (even if I do do historical fiction), and probably missing the essence of what it what to be Roman. I read voraciously, but Scarrow's Rome sounds more to me how I would imagine British soldiers in Helmand province in Afghanistan sound. Dreams apart, my favorite piece of art is Collier's "Oracle of Delphi," and once again, it is somehow Asiatic to my mind.Those links between classical western civilizations and Hindustan fire my somewhat feverish imagination. apostatepakistanigirl.wordpress.com\ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- <em>I'm glad you told me about Sir John Collier's work and his Delphic Oracle. I can't say it is my favorite picture but it set me dreaming. Of course right away I checked to see if the painter got the facts right, such as the tripod she sits on and the crack in the ground from which the vapors ascend. I like to daydream over some of those late nineteenth-century historical paintings. Somehow those pictures dated fast. It isn't only the sentimental distortion. The beautiful girls in the paintings mostly don't stop looking like studio models, though they are no more “copied” than models from other times. I don't know what it is. The settings always looked contrived, phony, like stage settings, opera settings. I didn't know your Scarrows. I will look him up. I am not a great reader of historical fiction, nor even, lately, of novels; but I can well imagine what you say about his Romans soldiers. My “piece” was more about Caesar than “the Romans”. Caesar was unique. I suppose a book about his spirituality would be very very thin. Other Romans probably had the mess in their heads that many of our contemporaries do. But there is a problem if you conclude the guy was so modern as to believe nothing. Why was he worried about a dream? Why did he go to the Herakleion and ask an oracle for the “meaning”? Strange.</em> I like this approach because I have a theory about Rome, I think it was really more like Ancient India, rather than Cecil.B. Demille’s Nuremburgesque approach. This means Rome, in literature, ought to be bloody, violent, full of scheming, and yet, somehow ‘veiled’-full of inner spiritual mystery that vies with the Roman soul. I think it’s here in this piece, I think they were very practical, but I believe that is somewhat overstated. When the mystical element is denuded, what we have is something like Simon Scarrow- excellent stuff and highly entertaining, but less appealing to a woman, especially a Pakistani (even if I do do historical fiction), and probably missing the essence of what it what to be Roman. I read voraciously, but Scarrow’s Rome sounds more to me how I would imagine British soldiers in Helmand province in Afghanistan sound.
Dreams apart, my favorite piece of art is Collier’s “Oracle of Delphi,” and once again, it is somehow Asiatic to my mind.Those links between classical western civilizations and Hindustan fire my somewhat feverish imagination.
apostatepakistanigirl.wordpress.com\
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I’m glad you told me about Sir John Collier’s work and his Delphic Oracle. I can’t say it is my favorite picture but it set me dreaming. Of course right away I checked to see if the painter got the facts right, such as the tripod she sits on and the crack in the ground from which the vapors ascend. I like to daydream over some of those late nineteenth-century historical paintings. Somehow those pictures dated fast. It isn’t only the sentimental distortion. The beautiful girls in the paintings mostly don’t stop looking like studio models, though they are no more “copied” than models from other times. I don’t know what it is. The settings always looked contrived, phony, like stage settings, opera settings.
I didn’t know your Scarrows. I will look him up. I am not a great reader of historical fiction, nor even, lately, of novels; but I can well imagine what you say about his Romans soldiers.
My “piece” was more about Caesar than “the Romans”. Caesar was unique. I suppose a book about his spirituality would be very very thin. Other Romans probably had the mess in their heads that many of our contemporaries do. But there is a problem if you conclude the guy was so modern as to believe nothing. Why was he worried about a dream? Why did he go to the Herakleion and ask an oracle for the “meaning”? Strange.

]]> By: Caesar’s Troubling Dream (Part One) « Great Names in History http://100falcons.wordpress.com/2008/03/27/caesars-troubling-dream-part-two/#comment-173 Caesar’s Troubling Dream (Part One) « Great Names in History Thu, 27 Mar 2008 10:19:01 +0000 http://100falcons.wordpress.com/?p=112#comment-173 [...] « A Man in a Toga Caesar’s Troubling Dream (Part Two) [...] [...] « A Man in a Toga Caesar’s Troubling Dream (Part Two) [...]

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