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New Pages!

If you look at the top of the page, you will find three new links.  The first link will return you to the home page (newest blog post).  The next two links are for my most popular blog entries to date.  Hundreds of people have read both post, and in order to make these blogs more easily available I have added direct links to both.  Enjoy!

Cleopatra VII: Female Pharoh

March is Women's History Month. Rather than bore you with tales of women's suffrage and Rosie the Riveter as other sites are sure to do, Ihave decided to focus my attention upon famous female rulers. The first in this series will be Cleopatra VII, Queen of Egypt.

In 69 B.C.E. an Egyptian woman gave birth to a beautiful baby, a baby who would grow up to be a notorious and powerful woman. This infant's name was Cleopatra, and she was daughter of Ptolmey XII, King of Egypt. The woman who brought this child into the world has been long forgotten. History does not know her name. The name of her daughter, however, has not been forgotten.

Cleopatra VII led a remarkable life. In 51 B.C.E. her father died, bequeathing his kingdom to Cleopatra and her younger brother Ptolmey XIV. Under Egyptian law a woman could not rule the kingdom without a male consort who was either her brother or her own son. Thus an eighteen year old Cleopatra married her twelve year old brother (something not unheard of in ancient Egypt) and gained the Egyptian throne.

Cleopatra quickly made it clear that she was in charge, omitting her brother's name from all legal documents and replacing it with her own. She also placed her portrait on all administrative and legal records, further establishing her claim to the kingdom. She ruled uncontested for three years.

When her brother was 15 years old his advisers helped him stage a coup. Cleopatra lost the throne and was thrust into exile along the Syrian border. She would not go quietly. Cleopatra amassed an army and set about allying herself with the Roman Emperor, Julius Caesar.

As the story goes, Cleopatra concealed herself inside a rolled rug that she then had delivered as a gift to Caesar. When the rug was unrolled, Cleopatra was revealed. She seduced the married emperor and he returned her to her throne.

Once restored as Pharoh, Cleopatra again follwed Egyptian custom and married her youngest brother, another Ptolmey. At some point during this period Cleopatra gave birth to a son. Her son was Ptolmey XV, also known as Caesarion, or "Little Caesar." In 44 B.C.E. Julius Caesar was stabbed to death inside the Roman senate. Egypt was once again insecure.

Cleopatra, however, knew what to do. Two short years later she met and seduced Mark Antony. By all accounts, Mark Antony and Cleopatra were madly in love. Mark Antony began spending every winter in Egypt with Cleopatra. The Roman senate became enraged by Antony's behavior and declared war on Egypt.

The Egyptian forces were no match for the might of the Roman army. Egypt fell to Rome some time around 30 B.C.E. Mark Antony fell upon his own sword, ending his life. Upon hearing of her lover's demise, Cleopatra famously killed herself by allowing a poisonous asp to bite her. She was dead at the age of 39. Cleopatra was Egypt's last Pharoh.

History of Thanksgiving

Today many of us in the United States and Canada will be gathering with friends and family to consume copious amounts of turkey and "give thanks" for those things in life we are grateful for. A vast majority of Thanksgiving Day participants probably know very little about the history of this holiday. Allow me to enlighten you!

In 1620 a group of English Separatists, now commonly referred to as "pilgrims," arrived at what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts. The original pilgrims were mostly upper class folks who did not know much about farming or life outside of Mother England.

The winter of 1620 was harsh and it devastated the new colony, wiping out about half of their meager population. Following the death of most of their loved ones, the pilgrims decided that they needed some help. So they established a tenuous relationship with the neighboring Wampanoag tribe.

The Wampanoags spent much of the next year teaching the pilgrims how to survive Massachusetts' harsh winters. They taught the newcomers how to hunt, fish, and farm for food. By the autumn of 1621 the pilgrims had learned a great deal, and the colony had harvested enough food to last them through the winter. As a thank you to the native americans who had helped them with this monumental task, the settlers invited the Wampanoag to a three day feast to celebrate their harvest. Though the original participants certainly did not do so, this feast is now commonly referred to as "The first Thanksgiving."

Shortly after this feast relations with the neighboring Wampanoag began to unravel, and many bloody attacks resulted from the pilgrims' attempt to push their colony outward. By the time the 1700s rolled around the Puritans had settled much of the Northeast and unsurprisingly they held feasts of "Thanksgiving to the Lord" throughout the year. These feasts celebrated everything from a good harvest to a battle won against neighboring "indians." These feasts were religious in nature, in large part due to Puritan society itself in which the sacred and the secular were mixed and melded so that each seemed inextricably connected to the other.

In the fall of 1789, following the rousing defeat of the British at Saratoga, George Washington decreed that Thursday November 26th would be "A day of publick thanksgiving and prayer" to commemorate this particular victory. The nation celebrated the battle that year, but the holiday of Thanksgiving did not become an annual event until much later.

In the mid-nineteenth century America was on the brink of Civil War. A young woman named Sarah Hale became convinced that setting aside a national day to give thanks would help unite the country. She began a campaign of letter writing, contacting politicians all over the United States.

By 1863 Hale's idea had reached Abraham Lincoln. Following the Battle of Gettysberg in the same year, Lincoln instituted that a "Day of Thanksgiving" should be set aside and that this day would occur annually on the last Thursday of November. Lincoln believed that Thanksgiving would serve to unite our country and bring a stop to the Civil War.

It didn't. Yet this holiday is still celebrated annually. In 1924 Macy's threw their first Thanksgiving Day parade, and the tradition has continued ever since. So Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Hello 19th Amendment!

Right: Photo of suffragists at the Seneca Falls Convention in Seneca Falls, NY. Photo courtesy of University of Nebraska Omaha archives.

Eighty-nine years ago today the 19th amendment was formally adopted into the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing women their right to vote. By 1920 more than 70 years had passed since the beginnings of the women's suffrage movement. Women had famously rallied in Seneca Falls, NY in 1848. In 1850 the first ever national women's rights conference was held, and this conference was repeated annually ever after. Women wanted equal rights in employment, finances, and politics. They wanted their voices to be heard, and in 1869 led by Susan B. Anthony, women founded the National Women's Suffrage Association. By 1890 only one state, Wyoming, had changed its laws in order to allow women to vote.

In 1916 women suffragist had been fighting long and hard to no avail (only 4 states in total allowed women to vote: Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and Idaho), so they changed their tactics. Women picketed the White House and staged acts of civil disobedience across the U.S.

Finally on August 26, 1920 Congress heard these women's cries and instituted a law that would allow them to vote. Many of the early suffragist leaders had by this time passed away, but their work was carried on without them and their dreams were finally a reality. In the 2009 presidential election more women voted than men. A woman even ran in the presidential primary.

As women we have a long line of suffragist, some like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton whose names we know, some whose names we will never know, to thank for our right to be heard in a political election. Unfortunately, there are still places in this world where women either lack the right to vote or possess only partial suffrage. Women in the United States certainly owe a debt of gratitude to the suffragettes who came before us, and it is the purpose of this blog to remember those women with thanks.

Available online source for more information can be found here.

2,700 Year Old Tablets Found

(Photo by J. Jackson)

A University of Toronto led excavation in Tall Tayinate, the capital city of a Neo-Hittite kingdom in ancient Palastine, located in modern Turkey, has turned up a cache of 2,700 year old cuneiform tablets. The tablets were located in a recently discovered temple, inside the temple's cella, or a room called the holy of holies. The writings appear to be part of some kind of archive and are remarkably intact. The tablets date to the Iron Age and may provide insight into Assryian religious and political life. The team also unearthed libation vessels, ornamented ritual objects, and implements made of gold, bronze, and iron.

Timothy Harrison, professor of Near Eastern Archeology and director of the University of Toronto's Tall Tayinate Archaeological Project, was quoted by Science Daily as saying, "The tablets, and the information they contain, may possibly highlight the imperial ambitions of one of the great powers of the ancient world, and its lasting influence on the political culture of the middle east."

Tayinate was once destroyed by the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III, and was thereafter converted into an Assyrian provincial capital. Dr. Harrison says that Tayinate was, "equipped with its own governor and imperial administration." It was a very important city in the ancient Near East. This discovery may even hint at Biblical proportions.

Dr. Harrison informed reporters, "Scholars have long speculated that the reference to Calneh in Isaiah's oracle against Assyria alludes to Tiglath-pileser's devastation of Kunulua--i.e. Tayinate. The destruction of the Luwian monuments and conversion of the sacred precinct into an Assyrian religious complex may represent the physical manifestation of this historical event."

In any case, the artifacts were well preserved and tablets should reveal interesting data soon.

Titanic Goes Down: April 14, 1912

Sometime prior to midnight on April 14, 1912 the RMS Titanic struck an iceberg. Five of the ship's sixteen compartments were ruptured and the ocean liner began to fill with water. A few short hours later (sometime around 2:30 a.m) the Titanic sank to the bottom of the icy Atlantic.

Due to a shortage of life boats most of the passengers and crew drowned. 1,500 people lost their lives as the world's first "unsinkable ship" sank.

Many passengers displayed unfaltering bravery as they forsook their own lives in order to save others. The captain, as captain's should, "went down with his ship". The band bravely played until they too drowned. Mr. and Mrs. Earnest Courtenay Carter famously refused to board lifeboats saying, "let the others go first," and the childless couple bravely died together. Miss Edith Corse Evans let another woman, Mrs. John Murray Brown, take the last remaining spot aboard lifeboat D, saying, "You go first, you have children waiting at home." Miss Evans never found space aboard another lifeboat and drowned when the Titanic sank. Many of the 700 survivors were "given" their seats aboard lifeboats by brave individuals who opted to stay aboard and help others to safety.

Then of course there is the famous "Unsinkable Molly Brown" who forced her lifeboat to turn around and help pull other survivors from the icy Atlantic. Miss Brown is credited with saving several lives and with keeping spirits up when all else failed.

These remarkable stories of heroism and bravery resonate with us today and keep the memory of the Titanic alive.