Monday, 15 April 2013

This Day in History - April 14

In honour of someone special's birthday, I wanted to do a random bit of history for April 14th.


1611 - First time the word "telescope" was used.

1814 - Napoleon abdicated and was banished to Elba.


Napoleon Crossing the Alps by Jacques-Louis David

1818 - Webster's American Dictionary of the English Language is printed. Webster's dictionary was one of the first to have distinctly American words and introduced more than 10,000 "Americanisms" (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/websters-american-dictionary-of-the-english-language-is-printed). It took Webster nearly two decades to complete his dictionary.

1859 - "A Tale of Two Cities" by Charles Dickens was first published.

1860 - The first Pony Express rider arrives in San Francisco with mail originating in St. Joseph, MO.


Poster for the Pony Express

1865 - President Abraham Lincoln is shot by John Wilkes Booth while watching "Our American Cousin" at Ford's Theater.

1894 - The first public showing of Thomas Edison's kinetoscope.


An Edison Kinetoscope

1902 - James Cash Penny (JC Penny) opens his first store called "The Golden Rule Store" in Kemmerer, WY.

1912 - RMS Titanic hits an iceberg. Just after 2:00 am on April 15th, the Titanic sinks to the ocean floor.

1923 - Golfer Roberto De Vicenzo was born. He is famous for winning over 230 Tournaments worldwide, including 8 on the PGA tour. His most famous victory was the 1967 Open Championship.


Roberto De Vicenzo - BBC Mundo

1935 - Country Superstar Loretta Lynn is born in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky. With a career spanning two decades, her first big break came at the age of 27 when she had her first Top 10 country hit "Success".

1936 - Golfer Bobby Nichols was born. He is best known for winning the 1964 PGA Championship. He began his PGA tour in 1960 and had 12 PGA Tour victories. Waverly Park in Louisville has a 9-hole course named Bobby Nichols Golf Course in his honour.

1939 - "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck was published for the first time.

1956 - Ampex Corporation demonstrate the first commercial magnetic tape recorder for sound and picture.


Ampex VRX-1000

1960 - Montreal Canadiens win their 5th consecutive Stanley Cup sweeping the series and defeating the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-0 in the final game. They are the only team in NHL history to win 5 consecutive Stanley Cup victories.


Montreal Canadiens Logo

1969 - Katharine Hepburn and Barbra Streisand tie for the Best Actress Oscar. Katharine Hepburn was nominated for her role as Eleanor of Aquitaine in "The Lion in Winter" and Barbra Streisand for her role as Fanny Brice in "Funny Girl". This was the first exact tie in Oscar history.

1969 - The Montreal Expos host the first Major League Baseball game to be played in Canada. The Expos were named after Expo '67 World's Fair that took place in Montreal. After the 1976 Montreal Olympics, the team moved to Olympic Stadium for their games. In 2004 the Expos played their final game as the Montreal Expos. The team was moved to Washington in 2005 and became the Washington Nationals.


Montreal Expos Logo

1981 - The space shuttle Columbia returns to Earth after a 3 day test flight, orbiting the Earth nearly 36 times. This was the first space shuttle completed by NASA.

1984 - The Texas Board of Education issues a ruling that all public school textbooks describe evolution as a theory rather than a proven fact.

1992 - A US court throws out Apple's lawsuit against Microsoft.

1996 - Detroit Red Wings defeat the Dallas Stars 5-1 and become the team with the most victories in NHL history with 62 victories. The Montreal Canadiens had the former record with 60 victories in the 1976-1977 season.

2010 - Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland explodes resulting in an ash plume in the atmosphere over most of northern and central Europe. This creates havoc on air travel with planes being grounded for several days.


Eyjafjallajokull Exploding - Photo by Sigurdur Hrafn Stefnisson

Enjoy!

Thursday, 11 April 2013

The Roman Crowd - The Real Power of Ancient Rome?


The Colosseum of Rome

The Mob of Ancient Rome: was it a very powerful group of classes that could influence the Emperor?

Crowds in Ancient Rome could be very boisterous and brazen. This was were the Plebians could have their say. The Mob of Rome comprised all the social classes under the Patrician class, the Plebians and the slaves. These were the common people of Rome. Although the Emperor had all the power, he did fear the Mob, and for good reason. An angry Mob was a powerful force that if motivated could and would kill the Emperor and put Rome in a state of disorder. A bored Mob could spell disaster. Hence the Latin term panem et circenses, translated to "bread and circuses" or "bread and games". This is basically a metaphor for the appeasement of the Mob. Give the Mob bread and circuses and everyone will be happy. The number of slaves and lower classes outweighed the Patrician class by almost double. By ensuring the Mob, ie: Plebians, were happy, that meant an orderly and prosperous Rome. Without trouble at home, Rome could expand her boarders and worry about external troubles.


Pollice Verso by Jean-Leon Gerome, 1872

We can see the power of the Roman crowd especially well in the Munera or Gladiatorial contests of Rome. These events were usually marked a special occasion, such as a funeral. Munera translates to mean "duty" or "service" and the original munera were duties or services paid to dead ancestors. Later Gladiatorial games lost this connection with funerals and ancestors, but kept the name Munera. In Imperial Rome, Gladiatorial games were used as political tools by the Emperor and high ranking Senators and Politicians as a means of persuasion. There was always much pomp and publicity for these events, with some Gladiatorial contests lasting upwards of 100 days.

To view any of the gladiatorial contests in the Roman Empire, you would go to the local amphitheater, or if you were in Rome, the Colosseum. Women were permitted to the munera, but were required to sit in the uppermost sections of the Colosseum and other amphitheaters with the common poor and certain classes of slaves. As with most things in Ancient Rome, social structure dictated where your place was. The closer you were to the action, the higher your social standing. Two elevated special boxes were reserved at either end of the Colosseum for the Emperor and the Vestal Virgins. These were the positions of honour and were the best seats. On the same level was the Podium where the Senatorial class would sit. The next level was reserved entirely for the equites, the non-senatorial noble class. Levels after these were divided up into various sections for the various social groups of Plebians, ie: boys and their tutors, scribes, priests, soldiers on leave.



Photo by Jean-Pol Grandmont, Interior of Colosseum

By keeping the Plebeian class happy, the Roman Emperors ensured that their power would be untested, for the most part at least. There were and will always be a struggle of the orders, but in the Colosseum, the Plebeians had the power. The Munera were merely publicity tools used by later Roman Emperors to keep their subjects happy and occupied, to keep them wanting the Emperor in power. It was also used to show them what the Emperor had done for the People of Rome by bringing in exotic animals and people.


In the end, the Mob had the power. Although I hate quoting movies, the writers of Gladiator did a decent job. When speaking with one of the Senators about the new Emperor, Graccus states: "Rome is the Mob, conjure magic for them and they will be distracted. Take away their freedom and still they’ll roar. The beating heart of Rome is not the marble of the Senate it’s the sand of the Colosseum. [Commodus] will bring them death and they will love him for it.”

Friday, 8 March 2013

Lost to the Ravages of Time

Ruins and Abandoned: What do these words mean?

They may sound different and have different meanings, but ruins and abandoned are in fact quite similar.


In my anthropology class tutorial, we had a discussion about what archaeologists of the future would think if we were to leave our classroom exactly as it was. What would they think of the iPods, cell phones, computers? Would they wonder how these tools were used, what they were used for, how they worked? If our classroom was frozen in time, if we just left everything the way it was that second, what would happen?


According to the Oxford English Dictionary the word "ruin" has two distinct meanings: "the physical destruction or disintegration of something or the state of disintegrating or being destroyed"; and "reduce (a building or place) to a state of decay, collapse, or disintegration".

When we think of ruins, we like to envision an old castle, a fortress, an old church, something that has been ravaged by time. We see a place that used to be a part of daily life, but is now a remnant of a time long forgotten. Take for example one of the most photographed ruins, the Flavian Amphitheater of Rome (more commonly known as the Colosseum). It has been partially destroyed by the hands of humans and also through time.

Photo by Brandon Voight

A historian and archaeologist will look at ruins to determine how people used to live, interact, build, think. A writer will see a story unfolding from the past. A tourist will see a historical monument to admire and take pictures of. We all see ruins from a different perspective. I like to see ruins as something to treasure and explore, something that gives light to the past.

"Abandon" can mean many different things, especially if you look at the adjectives and synonyms connected with it. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, "abandon" can mean: "cease to support or look after; desert". In this case, we are looking for the definition of the adjective "abandoned", which means "having been deserted or left".

Abandoned places and buildings are very intriguing; a snapshot in history of a place in time. Many abandoned places and buildings have stories to add to the mystery. When buildings are abandoned, many items are left behind. These can create an atmosphere of decay and death.

Disasters like Chernobyl highlight the idea of a snapshot of a place in time. The city was abandoned over 25 years ago after the nuclear reactor exploded. The city was abandoned in a short amount of time in the wake of the disaster. Non-essential items were left where they sat, providing an excellent view of life at the time of the disaster. The town still remains abandoned to this day.


Photo by Gerd Ludwig

There are many different varieties of abandoned buildings and places. Factories are one of the most common type of abandoned buildings in Europe, especially in the old Eastern Block countries. Factories were built with the boom of the Communist machine, but even before the fall of the USSR factories began to close. Many of these factories have yet to be demolished, which provides excellent examples of what is left behind after a building is abandoned.

Photo by Henk van Rensberge on www.abandoned-places.com

The most interesting abandoned places are the variety of abandoned amusement parks in Japan. It is interesting to see how these parks are just left for nature to reclaim. Where once families were laughing, now weeds and rust are first in line. After only a few years, it can look like the park has been abandoned for many years. The most interesting aspect of abandoned amusement parks is how they are left to rot. In most cases, it is cheaper to let nature take over than pay to have the park demolished.

Creator of Photo Unknown (www.artificialowl.net/2008/07/abandoned-amusement-park-takakanonuma.html)

There are many sites devoted to urban exploration, ie: exploring abandoned buildings. The best one I have found is by Henk van Rensberge. His website, www.abandoned-places.com, is full of amazing pictures of abandoned places throughout Europe.


Ruins and abandoned places have a special relationship with history. They provide a fascinating escape into our imaginations. They are part of our past and also our future. Please respect them and enjoy the mystery that surrounds these ruins and abandoned places. Also remember that these places are dangerous and in most cases have security. They may appear in ruins or abandoned, but beware.


Please note that I do not take credit for any of the images. Please click on the photo credit to be taken to the website the image is from.

Wednesday, 6 February 2013

Mary Leakey and her Doodle

Have you ever looked at an old painting, picture, or letter and wondered where it came from? History always fascinates and gives us a sense of where we came from. We ask questions about how people lived, how they worked or played. We question how buildings were made and how royalty came to power. My goal is to provide readers with random bits of history to make you think about our past and where it is leading our future.

To start off my wonderfully informative blog about random historical facts, I'll use Google's Doodle on Feb. 6, 2013 as a starting point. In honour of Mary Leakey's 100th Birthday today, Google has created a Doodle celebrating her life and archaeological finds. Known as the "Grand Dame of Archaeology", Mary Leakey was a famous British Anthropologist who is considered one of the creators of modern archaeological practices. One of her most famous discoveries is finding the first fossilized Proconsul skull, the Proconsul being an extinct ape that is believed to be an ancestor of modern humans. Another famous find are the Laetoli footprints. Found in 1978 south of the Olduvai Gorge, the Laetoli footprints are the first known example of bipedalism in Pliocene hominids.

One of the first archaeologists I remember studying in university was Mary Leakey and her discovery at Laetoli. More of a fossil hunter than a true historical archaeologist, she brought light to the world of ancient hominids and their ancestors. One of the first anthropologists to set forth and find evidence of an African diaspora of humans, she would explore and dig around the Olduvai Gorge with her husband finding evidence to prove their theories.

Thank you to the Turkana Basin Institute for having a wonderful web page about the Leakey family.

Please visit their website: "A Century of the Leakey Family in East Africa"

Enjoy the information! New blogs to come weekly.
All information is from my own personal notes and from my studies. If there is any information that I have taken from another source, I will ensure that the source is cited properly.