Lady of Galera was found near Granada, Spain in a place called Tutugi. This alabaster statue of a "goddess" of a Phonetician type may have been made in Syria. It may be a representation of aAstatarte or Anat.
Showing posts with label Spain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Spain. Show all posts
Saturday, January 5, 2013
Dama de Galera
The
Lady of Galera was found near Granada, Spain in a place called Tutugi. This alabaster statue of a "goddess" of a Phonetician type may have been made in Syria. It may be a representation of a
Astatarte or Anat.
Lady of Galera was found near Granada, Spain in a place called Tutugi. This alabaster statue of a "goddess" of a Phonetician type may have been made in Syria. It may be a representation of aAstatarte or Anat.
Friday, August 12, 2011
You May Not Love Diego
I haven't loved an Indian for awhile; however, in general I find Indians highly respectable. If you are an Indian, a Native American Indian, you may think of Diego de Landa, Bishop of Yucatan, as you may think of Christopher Columbus, Admiral of the Ocean Sea. Yes, I know that their are some Indians who lack respect for certain Admirals and Bishops. But then, I am old enough to have met a Indian who was proud to have learned to tie a bow in his shoe-lace before he was forty. Then again he was also proud to own a plane and a license to fly it by that time.
Landa didn't have a casino. Do you know who he had for cultural neighbors? On one side he had Henry the VIII of England an on the other he had Ivan the Terrible of Russia. Just because these guys had good jobs did not make them sweethearts.
This is supposed to be a history so it seems only right to give you a few dates:
Chris lived from around 1451 to about 1506,
Henry lived from 1491 to 1547,
Diego lived from around 1524 to 1579,
Nik lived from around 1505 to 1542.
Ah, you don't know who Nik is. Nik was, Nikolaus Federmann, a German 'conquistador' of Colombia and Venezuela. He was supposed to be looking for land for German colonists, but went looking for Indian gold. I've read implications that he had ways of making then speak of their gold.
I'm trying to provide some interesting information about Diego de Landa. Not knowing what you already know of him or what parts of his life you might find useful or interesting has me stumbling around a bit.
I imagine that you know that he was a Spaniard and that Spain was probably the richest most powerful state in Europe at the time. Spain was also probably the seat of learning in Europe. They were also the most powerful Christian nation on earth. Christian faith was very strong in Spain, yet Church leaders and others felt the faith to be threatened. Perhaps it was; even in Europe.
The Inquisition was begun. The Spanish Inquisition may have bee a lot like an Inquisition on steroids. You might find it instructive and even fascinating to review what your World History book has to say about it.
In Morelia, the fine Capital of the Mexican State of Michoacan I visited more than once, a small audiological museum displaying some 'implaments' of the Inquisition which had recently been found will digging in the local office of the Inquisition. As I remember that museum is in that very office.
To help orient you let me mention some other men whose activities effected the world during Bishop de Landa's life:
~ Niccolo Machiavelli was born in 1469 and by 1532 was publishing his most famous work, The Prince.
~ In 1531 Pizarro marched on the Inca.
~ In 1534 the Anabaptists formed a communist state under John of Leiden, but then they were Protestants.
I think that Landa, by living to the age of 55, lived longer than any of the men I've mentioned so far.
You are probably used to a lot of dates in your history so here a a few more to keep you comfortable:
~ In 1478 the Inquisition was established in Spain. The started by saying no Muslims allowed; then by saying no Muslims or Jews, and they meant it. After that it got worse. Protestants were from Hell. In the beginning they had no idea that they had a world of Indians to save. The Inquisitors may have had more instruments of torture than certain contractors for the CIA. The Inquisition was active in Spain until 1834. That is over 350 years!
~ Most Jews were expelled from Spain and Portugal in the few years between 1492 and 1496. Spanish was the first language of the expelled Jews and perhaps their only language. Some Jewish families had been in Spain for a thousand years and helped to create the language. Were did the expelled people go? Many places. Some ended up in New Mexico. Others went to Turkey. They talked turkey their, but kept their Spanish for hundreds of years. A lot of this activity was a sort of practice to get ready to deal with the Indians of the New world.
~ From 1492 to 1506 Christopher Columbus voyaged and found those Indians.
~ In 1503 'Columbus discovered' the Cayman Islands and named them Las Tortugas. Cayman is kind of an alligator and Las Tortugas means the turtles. Now there were some people living on these islands when Chris got there. OMG! Indians! Some of those Indian guys tried to tell Chris and his sailors and soldiers that their islands were not called Alligator or Turtle. Someone must know what they called their land. When Columbus sailed away he took an Indian girl with him, sweet Mary Ann. She was taken, it has been said, to be a translator. She, surely must have told the Spaniards the the true name of her land.
Well, I've kind of gotten away from Diego de Landa. But, then, you never claimed any interest in that Bishop of Yucatan.
Landa didn't have a casino. Do you know who he had for cultural neighbors? On one side he had Henry the VIII of England an on the other he had Ivan the Terrible of Russia. Just because these guys had good jobs did not make them sweethearts.
This is supposed to be a history so it seems only right to give you a few dates:
Chris lived from around 1451 to about 1506,
Henry lived from 1491 to 1547,
Diego lived from around 1524 to 1579,
Nik lived from around 1505 to 1542.
Ah, you don't know who Nik is. Nik was, Nikolaus Federmann, a German 'conquistador' of Colombia and Venezuela. He was supposed to be looking for land for German colonists, but went looking for Indian gold. I've read implications that he had ways of making then speak of their gold.
I'm trying to provide some interesting information about Diego de Landa. Not knowing what you already know of him or what parts of his life you might find useful or interesting has me stumbling around a bit.
I imagine that you know that he was a Spaniard and that Spain was probably the richest most powerful state in Europe at the time. Spain was also probably the seat of learning in Europe. They were also the most powerful Christian nation on earth. Christian faith was very strong in Spain, yet Church leaders and others felt the faith to be threatened. Perhaps it was; even in Europe.
The Inquisition was begun. The Spanish Inquisition may have bee a lot like an Inquisition on steroids. You might find it instructive and even fascinating to review what your World History book has to say about it.
In Morelia, the fine Capital of the Mexican State of Michoacan I visited more than once, a small audiological museum displaying some 'implaments' of the Inquisition which had recently been found will digging in the local office of the Inquisition. As I remember that museum is in that very office.
To help orient you let me mention some other men whose activities effected the world during Bishop de Landa's life:
~ Niccolo Machiavelli was born in 1469 and by 1532 was publishing his most famous work, The Prince.
~ In 1531 Pizarro marched on the Inca.
~ In 1534 the Anabaptists formed a communist state under John of Leiden, but then they were Protestants.
I think that Landa, by living to the age of 55, lived longer than any of the men I've mentioned so far.
You are probably used to a lot of dates in your history so here a a few more to keep you comfortable:
~ In 1478 the Inquisition was established in Spain. The started by saying no Muslims allowed; then by saying no Muslims or Jews, and they meant it. After that it got worse. Protestants were from Hell. In the beginning they had no idea that they had a world of Indians to save. The Inquisitors may have had more instruments of torture than certain contractors for the CIA. The Inquisition was active in Spain until 1834. That is over 350 years!
~ Most Jews were expelled from Spain and Portugal in the few years between 1492 and 1496. Spanish was the first language of the expelled Jews and perhaps their only language. Some Jewish families had been in Spain for a thousand years and helped to create the language. Were did the expelled people go? Many places. Some ended up in New Mexico. Others went to Turkey. They talked turkey their, but kept their Spanish for hundreds of years. A lot of this activity was a sort of practice to get ready to deal with the Indians of the New world.
~ From 1492 to 1506 Christopher Columbus voyaged and found those Indians.
~ In 1503 'Columbus discovered' the Cayman Islands and named them Las Tortugas. Cayman is kind of an alligator and Las Tortugas means the turtles. Now there were some people living on these islands when Chris got there. OMG! Indians! Some of those Indian guys tried to tell Chris and his sailors and soldiers that their islands were not called Alligator or Turtle. Someone must know what they called their land. When Columbus sailed away he took an Indian girl with him, sweet Mary Ann. She was taken, it has been said, to be a translator. She, surely must have told the Spaniards the the true name of her land.
Well, I've kind of gotten away from Diego de Landa. But, then, you never claimed any interest in that Bishop of Yucatan.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Mago Notes Two
In April of this year I published a post entitled "Mago Notes One."
It related loosely to my paternal great-grandfather Mago William Sheehan. I was motivated to do so by a comment from my cousin Kevin O'Carroll. The facts I have about Mago come from the learned and skilled genealogical work of my sister, Gerry Hook. Still I found that which to me seemed worth saying then, and have more to say now.
This post relates to "Mago Notes One" in that it relates almost entirely to the name, title, or word 'mago:' rather than directly to my paternal great grandfather. I find Mago particularly curiosity arousing as a title or as a given name. I have followed my curiosity in a manner that may seem a pathless wander, but that is my way. I have tended to discover data or implications of marvelous and wonderful happenings and then to forget them. Some I recall years later, others I do not.
Here I intend to record some such implications which I remember just now.
Mago Notes:
There was a book in Hibernia written by Menandro Mago. The book may have been of Gnostic tradition. It may date from the earliest Christian times
"Mahon" and "Magon" may be forms of Mago. There is, or was, a Mahon county in Cork.
""Mane" may be a diminutive of Mago: Mago, the father; Mane, the son.
In Spain you might hear that mago is the singular magi, or that it means wizard. Or that it refers to one of the three wise men bearing gifts to a certain baby.
Perhaps Spain is also the source of a name closely related to Mago, Magon. In my Spanish magon would mean big mago or great mago. Magon is also a Spanish surname. There is a Richard Flores Magon remembered in Mexico as James Connolly is remembered in Ireland.
I have imagined other Magos. For example, Magos who came up from the Persian Gulf into the Mediterranean to greatly disturb ancient Egyptians as the Sea People.
Those Magos certainly were sea people. They became guardians of the Gate of Atlas, what we now know as the Pillars of Hercules. I believe that among them Mago was a title. rather than a name, but among a very similar people it was also a name. It may have referred to a respected or learned man at one time, but among these sea people of the Mediterranean it came to mean judge, governor commodore.
Elsewhere you may learn that it refers to a member of a hereditary priestly class among the ancient Medes and Persians.
Barca was an influential family who knew Magos and was known by them. Barca is the source of our Presidents first name and for the name of the Spanish city Barcelona.
There is a lot to learn about Mago. They may have been the great tin merchants of the Mediterranean Bronze Age.
It was Mago I who established a political dynasty of Ancient Carthage whose people wee called Magonids. The Magonid dynasty of Carthage lasted from 550 BC to 340 BC. During that time it was probably the main Phoenician colony. By the way, there was also a Mago II and a Mago III
Hasdrubal was a son of Mago and a long time ruler among the Phoenicians. The name was spoken in Rome.
A fragment of and Old Irish manuscript reads, "I took kingdom here, as a successor of my mother for she was Mara of Murese, daughter of Mago. And what better wife could I have then the daughter of a High King of Ireland.
It related loosely to my paternal great-grandfather Mago William Sheehan. I was motivated to do so by a comment from my cousin Kevin O'Carroll. The facts I have about Mago come from the learned and skilled genealogical work of my sister, Gerry Hook. Still I found that which to me seemed worth saying then, and have more to say now.
This post relates to "Mago Notes One" in that it relates almost entirely to the name, title, or word 'mago:' rather than directly to my paternal great grandfather. I find Mago particularly curiosity arousing as a title or as a given name. I have followed my curiosity in a manner that may seem a pathless wander, but that is my way. I have tended to discover data or implications of marvelous and wonderful happenings and then to forget them. Some I recall years later, others I do not.
Here I intend to record some such implications which I remember just now.
Mago Notes:
There was a book in Hibernia written by Menandro Mago. The book may have been of Gnostic tradition. It may date from the earliest Christian times
"Mahon" and "Magon" may be forms of Mago. There is, or was, a Mahon county in Cork.
""Mane" may be a diminutive of Mago: Mago, the father; Mane, the son.
In Spain you might hear that mago is the singular magi, or that it means wizard. Or that it refers to one of the three wise men bearing gifts to a certain baby.
Perhaps Spain is also the source of a name closely related to Mago, Magon. In my Spanish magon would mean big mago or great mago. Magon is also a Spanish surname. There is a Richard Flores Magon remembered in Mexico as James Connolly is remembered in Ireland.
I have imagined other Magos. For example, Magos who came up from the Persian Gulf into the Mediterranean to greatly disturb ancient Egyptians as the Sea People.
Those Magos certainly were sea people. They became guardians of the Gate of Atlas, what we now know as the Pillars of Hercules. I believe that among them Mago was a title. rather than a name, but among a very similar people it was also a name. It may have referred to a respected or learned man at one time, but among these sea people of the Mediterranean it came to mean judge, governor commodore.
Elsewhere you may learn that it refers to a member of a hereditary priestly class among the ancient Medes and Persians.
Barca was an influential family who knew Magos and was known by them. Barca is the source of our Presidents first name and for the name of the Spanish city Barcelona.
There is a lot to learn about Mago. They may have been the great tin merchants of the Mediterranean Bronze Age.
It was Mago I who established a political dynasty of Ancient Carthage whose people wee called Magonids. The Magonid dynasty of Carthage lasted from 550 BC to 340 BC. During that time it was probably the main Phoenician colony. By the way, there was also a Mago II and a Mago III
Hasdrubal was a son of Mago and a long time ruler among the Phoenicians. The name was spoken in Rome.
A fragment of and Old Irish manuscript reads, "I took kingdom here, as a successor of my mother for she was Mara of Murese, daughter of Mago. And what better wife could I have then the daughter of a High King of Ireland.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Gerard of Cremona
Cremona was, and is, a commune by the Po river in the middle of the Po plain in northern Italy. I believe that its capital has been called Crema, but what do I know. Cremona has seen many invaders. Among them were Romans, Byzantines, and Lombards. A strong written record of 'invaders' goes back to about 400 BC, when a Celtic people moved into the plain of Po. However, the name Cremona probably dates back to curious settlers of much earlier times. I've heard of Ligures, or Ligurians, who once held that plain of the river Po. I've heard that they were such great seamen that the Mediterranean, or a large part of it, was once called my their name.
Cremona was Rome's first military outpost and later was a Byzantine stronghold. It became a free-state in 1039. By the mid-1100s I believe that there was a sort of civil war between Crema and Cremona. Sounds a bit like the early U.S.
Cremona has been a center of musical culture for the last 500 years. The many notables who have called it home include theologians philosophers, mathematicians, composers, painters, and architects.
Among those notables was the pop singer known as Mina. She was popular throughout the 1960s and well into the '70s. She was admired for her three-octave range and her powerful voice.
Another notable of Cremona is Gerard (1117 - 1187). He was a scholar. He read and wrote Latin and Greek and probably Hebrew from an early age. Later he became expert at reading and translating Arabic.
Gerard traveled to Spain. He wanted to explore and research Arabic libraries there, especially that of Toledo. He was particularly interested in Ptolemy's Almagest, which Arabic scholars had studied, translated, and preserved from about 200 AD. In the great library of Toledo he found much more than a fine translation of the Almagest, he found his life's work. For hundreds of years the Arab scholars had been adding their own knowledge, wisdom, and science to that which they had learned from the Greeks, Jews, Persians, Egyptians, etc. Much of the best of astronomy, medicine, history, and the wisdom of the ancients was there.
Translation of those works into Latin and the vernacular by Gerard and others began the illumination of Europeans which brought them out of the Dark Ages.
Cremona was Rome's first military outpost and later was a Byzantine stronghold. It became a free-state in 1039. By the mid-1100s I believe that there was a sort of civil war between Crema and Cremona. Sounds a bit like the early U.S.
Cremona has been a center of musical culture for the last 500 years. The many notables who have called it home include theologians philosophers, mathematicians, composers, painters, and architects.
Among those notables was the pop singer known as Mina. She was popular throughout the 1960s and well into the '70s. She was admired for her three-octave range and her powerful voice.
Another notable of Cremona is Gerard (1117 - 1187). He was a scholar. He read and wrote Latin and Greek and probably Hebrew from an early age. Later he became expert at reading and translating Arabic.
Gerard traveled to Spain. He wanted to explore and research Arabic libraries there, especially that of Toledo. He was particularly interested in Ptolemy's Almagest, which Arabic scholars had studied, translated, and preserved from about 200 AD. In the great library of Toledo he found much more than a fine translation of the Almagest, he found his life's work. For hundreds of years the Arab scholars had been adding their own knowledge, wisdom, and science to that which they had learned from the Greeks, Jews, Persians, Egyptians, etc. Much of the best of astronomy, medicine, history, and the wisdom of the ancients was there.
Translation of those works into Latin and the vernacular by Gerard and others began the illumination of Europeans which brought them out of the Dark Ages.
Gerard Cremonensis
Free Ebooks by Gerard Cremonensis
Arabic scholarship understood the teachings of Greeks, Persians, Jews, Egyptians and others. Much of that scholarship was collected at their libraries in Toledo and other parts of Spain.
Translations of their works opened doors of enlightenment all over Europe. Much of the best translation of those scientific works was done by Gerard of Cremona.
Friday, April 8, 2011
A Few Spanish Memories of the Maya
A short time-line:
1523 - 25 Pedro de Alvarado 'subdued' the Maya of Guatemala.
1526 Francisco de Montejo received a royal 'permit' to conquer the "Island of Campeche and Yucatan" along with the title of Adelantado.
1527 Monejo's party landed at Cabo Catoche and made the first unsuccessful attempt at conquest.
1531 Montejo founded the town of Campeche and colonization began.
1534 Fry Jacobo Testera, a Franciscan missionary, arrived in Campeche establishing monasteries there and in Champoton. Other Franciscans followed, proving more successful than armies in consolidating the conquest.
1542 Francisco de Montejo, son of the Adelntado, founded the city of Merida on the site of T'Ho.
1543 Valladolid founded on te site of Zaci.
1546 Last hold-out groups in the eastern portions of the peninsula were subdued.
1697 Island kingdom of Tayasal in Lake Peen Itza forced to submit to Spanish rule.
1523 - 25 Pedro de Alvarado 'subdued' the Maya of Guatemala.
1526 Francisco de Montejo received a royal 'permit' to conquer the "Island of Campeche and Yucatan" along with the title of Adelantado.
1527 Monejo's party landed at Cabo Catoche and made the first unsuccessful attempt at conquest.
1531 Montejo founded the town of Campeche and colonization began.
1534 Fry Jacobo Testera, a Franciscan missionary, arrived in Campeche establishing monasteries there and in Champoton. Other Franciscans followed, proving more successful than armies in consolidating the conquest.
1542 Francisco de Montejo, son of the Adelntado, founded the city of Merida on the site of T'Ho.
1543 Valladolid founded on te site of Zaci.
1546 Last hold-out groups in the eastern portions of the peninsula were subdued.
1697 Island kingdom of Tayasal in Lake Peen Itza forced to submit to Spanish rule.
Thursday, December 16, 2010
The Bright Side of Life
I've planned to be more positive in these posts, but it seems that I have not begun just yet.
Someone mentioned 'flu season.' That got me to thinking about being lucky about not having been touched by the flu for years even though I had resisted inoculation. Thinking of luck got me to thinking of 'luck' 13. One thing led to another and I got to thinking of the 1300s.
The 1300s were not a particularly luck times for Europeans. Not that it was all bad then; Universities were being founded France, Italy, and Czechoslovakia: in Spain it was the height of Arabic civilization and Yusuf the first was Caliph of Granada; scholarship was flourishing I Catholic monasteries; St. Catherine was born in Siena. Chaucer was born around 1340, In 1321 Dante Finished The Divine Comedy
Still I imagine that the Poles did not feel lucky when the Teutonic Knights blocked their access to the Baltic Sea; nor did the Jews being persecuted in Germany. The French and the English were beginning the Hundred Year War. The citizens of the Crimean city of Koffa, I imagine, did not feel lucky as they watched warriors of a Mongol army catapult the bodies of warriors dead of the bubonic plague over their walls.
Plague.
The People of Europe and most of the world had see plague before and They would see it again. However, this one in the 1300s has been particularly memorable. It was called the Black Death and was thought to have begun in China or India between 1330 and 1333. By 1347 it had reached Cyprus. By bout 1350 it had killed about 50,000,000 Asians and 24,000,000 Europeans. People in India and China probably feel lucky either. The 25 million individuals who died in Europe between about 1347 and 1351,when the Black Death Swept Russia, may not seem dramatic by our standards, but it was half of them.
Then, early in the 1360s, it came back. It appeared in England in 1361.
The ruled classes acted disturbed by this. In 1358 they revolted in France; in 1381 in England.
Home work: Why did the describe it as the Black Death? Do you really want to know? Did you know that today wild rodents living near people are infected with the bubonic plague? Why do we call it bubonic? Is the Black Death waiting? Are you feeling lucky.
I plan to make an effort to reflect more of the bright side of life in my posts.
Someone mentioned 'flu season.' That got me to thinking about being lucky about not having been touched by the flu for years even though I had resisted inoculation. Thinking of luck got me to thinking of 'luck' 13. One thing led to another and I got to thinking of the 1300s.
The 1300s were not a particularly luck times for Europeans. Not that it was all bad then; Universities were being founded France, Italy, and Czechoslovakia: in Spain it was the height of Arabic civilization and Yusuf the first was Caliph of Granada; scholarship was flourishing I Catholic monasteries; St. Catherine was born in Siena. Chaucer was born around 1340, In 1321 Dante Finished The Divine Comedy
Still I imagine that the Poles did not feel lucky when the Teutonic Knights blocked their access to the Baltic Sea; nor did the Jews being persecuted in Germany. The French and the English were beginning the Hundred Year War. The citizens of the Crimean city of Koffa, I imagine, did not feel lucky as they watched warriors of a Mongol army catapult the bodies of warriors dead of the bubonic plague over their walls.
Plague.
The People of Europe and most of the world had see plague before and They would see it again. However, this one in the 1300s has been particularly memorable. It was called the Black Death and was thought to have begun in China or India between 1330 and 1333. By 1347 it had reached Cyprus. By bout 1350 it had killed about 50,000,000 Asians and 24,000,000 Europeans. People in India and China probably feel lucky either. The 25 million individuals who died in Europe between about 1347 and 1351,when the Black Death Swept Russia, may not seem dramatic by our standards, but it was half of them.
Then, early in the 1360s, it came back. It appeared in England in 1361.
The ruled classes acted disturbed by this. In 1358 they revolted in France; in 1381 in England.
Home work: Why did the describe it as the Black Death? Do you really want to know? Did you know that today wild rodents living near people are infected with the bubonic plague? Why do we call it bubonic? Is the Black Death waiting? Are you feeling lucky.
I plan to make an effort to reflect more of the bright side of life in my posts.
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