Posted by Jerry on August 18th, 2004 — Posted in History, Journal, Writing
Plutarch, when not writing his Lives in the first century AD was sometime manager of a nice little earner called the Delphic Oracle. I heard a fascinating piece on the radio this morning about what was special about the oracle. It seems that there was indeed a culture among the priestesses that involved learning to compose a kind of free-form poetry – perhaps an ancient Greek form of rap. What is particularly interesting is that at Delphi the oracle temple was built on an active fault line (not surprising really, as much of Greece is in a very seismically active area).
But active faults generate enormous heat in localised areas, and this can release vapourised hydrocarbons, which bubbled up through the spring water. in this case the gas turned out to be a mix of methane, ethane and the real trump card – ethylene – an effective anaesthetic (by depriving the brain of oxygen) which also in low doses apparently causes mild euphoria, hallucinations, excitation and amnesia. Of course if you over did it death would be a rather unfortunate side effect. In low doses it made people babble in not overly coherent ways – and given that the priestesses were usually young women, the image of stoned teenage girls influencing world events while off their faces on antifreeze is perhaps an uncomfortable way to view this sacred site.
As Washington Post writer Guy Gugliotta points out, there were suspicions, even in ancient times that this was exactly what was going on. Plutarch described how the priestess would deliver oracles from a tripod in a small below-ground chamber bathed in gases carried up by underground springs.
No doubt the vapours would have added mystique to the process, and the recipient listening to the words would probably also get a little light headed, contributing to the sense that something sacred was in the air.
And all this has been confirmed by geologists a couple of years ago, who identified that the oracle temple site was located right over criss-crossing active faults. And the gases have been deposited over the centuries, trapped in the limestone travertine that lay under the temple.
Ethylene is used today for rapid ripening of fruit and as an anaesthetic until recent times. “It was a great gas,” said toxicologist Henry Spiller, director of the Kentucky Regional Poison Center in Louisville and another member of the Delphi team. “It produces a very rapid onset of effects, and leaves the heart alone.” Unfortunately, “it is also explosive [and] dangerous for the surgeon,” Spiller added, which is why modern medicine eventually abandoned it.
A fascinating insight into an amazing cultural and historical phenomenon!
Cheers
Jerry
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Posted by Jerry on August 17th, 2004 — Posted in Journal, Travel, Writing
Now here’s a debate that has been raging all over the net – when you order more than one pint of Guinness (as one often does!) there is always that slight awkward pause – especially for a linguist like myself – as to the correct word to use. My first inclination, and the version I use probably more often than not is to refer to multiple Guinnaeii. This usually gets a reaction varying between a laugh and a raised eyebrow, preparatory to someone about to … er… offering an alternative form of the noun.
And as I think it through I would have to ask myself about the derivation of the word – clearly, if it had a Latin derivation then I might be quite close to the mark with Guinnaeii. This might even work with a Greek derivation (not sure about that). But we are not actually talking about a class of drink, which may have latin or greek roots in the phonemes. Instead, we are dealing with a brand name, a proper noun. For this reason I would probably avoid the ‘sheep’ example which would make it multiple Guinness. As a proper noun I suspect it would be like the plural of Jones – making it Joneses – and in this case I would suggest that the plural form Guinnesses would in fact be the most ‘correct’ for traditional grammarians. I suspect this one would also win on the basis of usage, although I have not taken a survey on this. Of course you can always avoid any confusion by referring to ‘pints of Guinness’.
So there you have it – and while you’re there perhaps you can make it a couple of Guinnesses for me too!
And if you are in Ireland you would naturally avoid the English language as much as possible, so you would order thusly: “Piont (leath-phiont) Guinness led’ thoil”
Cheers
Jerry
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Posted by Jerry on August 16th, 2004 — Posted in History, Journal, Travel
After a wonderful Sunday afternoon at Tidbinbilla, I headed into Canberra city centre and visited the National Museum of Australia – and there was a delightful exhibition of ceramics, bronze artifacts and textiles related to a recent archeological find off the coast of Brunei: The Sunken Treasures of Brunei Darussalam. The sunken vessel went down around 1600 providing a great snapshot of life and trade of that time in that area.
They say the South China Sea was the Mediterranean of the East, and this is ample demonstrated by the treasures that emerged from this wreck. It was a trading vessel – at least twice the size of anything operated by any of the European countries, showing that the Asians had sophisticated sea going vessels far superior to the Europeans. It also illustrated the kind of volume of trade between the countries of the region. There were at least three different styles of ceramic pots from different regions, and in a range of styles suggesting a wide variety of cultural contacts.
The exhibition is on now and runs until 4 October, when it will move to the Western Australian Maritime Museum – so if you are in the west, catch it there! It is well worth a look, the exhibition is well laid out and includes interactive displays, some 500 pots and several ornately cast cannon on loan from Brunei and some exquisite textile pieces. There is also a beautifully illustrated catalogue to go with it. This is definitely one of the better exhibitions to come to the NMA.
Cheers
Jerry
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Posted by Jerry on August 15th, 2004 — Posted in Journal, Travel, Writing
Consider shoes – the interface of the body with the ground. We wear/abraid the shoes from the inside while the ground wears away the sole. Shoes mark our travels (and travails) as we mark the ground with our slight footprints.
How well do we care for those neglected extremities – our feet? Yet they are the focus of our connectedness with the ground and our primary means to take us to new experiences.
And our shoes shield us from the roughest and sharpest surfaces, and insulate us from stones and cold and summer heat.
So our shoes at once connect us and insulate us whether humble thongs (flip-flops) or the highest technology running shoes or shoes of highest fashion through which we express our personality. What a wonderful invention is the shoe!
Cheers
Jerry
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Posted by Jerry on August 14th, 2004 — Posted in Technology, Travel, Writing
I was recently reading a book on Ancient Egypt by Lorna Oakes and Lucia Gahlin. It is richly illustrated and covers a lot of cultural and belief system issues not covered in such breadth elsewhere. One of the cultural issues referenced in passing is the production of textiles – ancient Egypt was big in cotton and linen production.
About 60km south-west of Cairo lies a large depression in the Libyan desert – a fertile area around a large lake, called the Faiyum. It seems that in Phaironic times, the kings used to time out visiting the Faiyum area for a spot of fishing. Interestingly, in the reign of Ramses II (1279-1213BC some of the ladies of the harem were employed in the production of textiles there. There are references to Maathorneferura, the daughter of the Hittite king Hattusilis being one of these women. She lived in a palace at nearby Miwer, which appears to have been a textile production centre.
Several sources state that large estates and palaces in Ancient Egypt usually contained various workshops, including spinning and weaving studios, to provide the household with necessary items. The evidence would suggest that within such studios, tens of people, usually women, were involved in the production of cloth.
In royal palaces, these women were often the numerous wives of the pharaoh. Along with their children and servants, they were housed in harem palaces in remote areas, such as that at Abu Ghurab.
The linen from the towns of Tennis, Damietta, and Shata in the Northern Delta and in Faiyum and El Bahnasa in Middle Egypt, were particularly famous. Tennis, one of the most famous linen manufacturing centers, was known for a fabric called Al-Qasab Al-Molawwan, or the Brocade of Tennis. Historical sources state that Tennis had around 5,000 weaving workshops with 10,000 weavers and that there was no house in the world that did not have Tennis fabrics or clothes.
Linen, woven from the flax plant that grew prolifically in Egypt’s fertile delta region was first spun and then woven. There is a bit more information abut the actual spinning and weaving processes here.
Anyhow, Oakes and Gahlin’s book Ancient Egypt: An illustrated reference to the myths, religions, pyramids and temples of the land of the Pharaohs is a great read, lavishly illustrated and well worth buying!
Cheers
Jerry
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