Stag Terms

Background texture from newartcolorz.

I learned today that in medieval hunting terms, a stag had six different names depending on age! I found that pretty fascinating. From Wikipedia, "a stag in its first year was called a "calf" or "calfe", in its second a "brocket", in its third a "spayed", "spade", or "spayard", in its fourth a "staggerd" or "staggard", and in its fifth a "stag", or a "great stag". To be a "hart" was its fully mature state". How interesting!

Anatolia Story - History

In my last blog post I introduced you to the historical fantasy manga Anatolia Story, explaining that after revisiting that manga (for the umpteenth time) I started reading up on the actual history behind the manga series. The mangaka (artist) really did an amazing job with it - the history is, for the most part, accurate, with only small modifications involving the Japanese protagonist. I highly recommend the series for an engaging glimpse into Hittite customs, clothing, religion and history!

The protagonist of Anatolia Story was most likely based on, or at least inspired by, the Hittite queen Puduhepa. A priestess of Ishtar (the goddess of love, war, fertility and sexuality), she married the king Hattusili III and is considered one of the most influential women known from the Ancient Near East. She was portrayed as reigning hand in hand with her husband and featured prominently at his side as he made his rulings and decisions, playing an important role in the Hittite court and international diplomacy of the period. Her husband Hattusili III was the fourth son of Mursili II, the love interest of the manga's protagonist Yuri Suzuki.

In actual history, the king Mursili II married a woman named Gassulawiya and had four children by her, also marrying and having (unrecorded) children with a second wife named Tanuhepa. He ruled from ca. 1321-1295 BC, succeeding his brother Arnuwanda II and being succeeded by his son Muwatalli II. Muwatalli II was succeded by his own son, but Mursili III only reigned for approx. 5 years before his uncle Hattusili III defeated and exiled him during the course of a civil war.

Confusing? Here's the order:
Suppiluliuma I (father) --> Arnuwanda II (brother) --> Mursili II --> Muwatalli II (son) --> Mursili III (grandson) --> Hattusili III (son)

The storyline of the manga series takes place during the time of Mursuli II, with Yuri arriving in Anatolia during the reign of Suppiluliuma I, living through the very short reign of Arnuwanda II, and marrying Mursili II not long after he assumes the throne. In the series both Suppiluliuma I and Arnuwanda II are killed through plots of Suppiluliuma's wife to place her only son (the youngest of the princes) on the throne; in actual history, both regents succumb to a plague brought to the Hittite Empire by Egyptian captives.

While Mursili II is portrayed as a born ruler in the manga, in Hittite records Mursili is stated to be relatively young and inexperienced upon his unexpected accession to the thone. His prosperous reign however shows that the fiction may not be far from the fact.

Battles and political complications portrayed in the manga are also generally accurate, though the final battle and peace treaty between Egypt and the Hittite Empire did not take place under the reign of Mursili II. The Battle of Kadesh was during the reign of Muwatalli II and was probably the largest chariot battle ever fought, involving some 5,000-6,000 chariots. Dating to 1274 BC, it is also the earliest battle in recorded history for which details of tactics and formations are known. The peace treaty concluded at Kadesh to end the conflict between the two empires is the earliest known peace treaty in world history and was decided between pharaoh Ramses II and king Hattusili III. (Fun fact: Ramses II was a redhead!) The Hittite king's wife, Puduhepa, played an important part in the discussions surrounding the treaty.
(Click the images to see them bigger, and don't forget to read right to left!)

However, during this time the Assyrians were gaining power, and Hattusili's son was the last strong Hittite king able to keep the Assyrians out of the Hittite heartland, though he lost territory to them. Soon after that the Hittite Empire met its end, with the capital city, Hattusa, being destroyed by the Phrygians and Aramaeans as part of the Bronze Age collapse. Suppiluliuma II was the last known king of the Hittite Empire, ruling c. 1207-1178 BC.

To put it into perspective: The New Kingdom of the Hittite Empire had its peak under King Suppiluliuma I, and met its end during the reign of the king's great-great-grandson (Suppiluliuma I --> Mursili II --> Hattusili III --> Tudhaliya IV --> Suppiluliuma II). Egypt was just entering its Twentieth Dynasty and the end of its own New Kingdom, marking the end of Egypt's most prosperous and powerful time. The two great powers of the time either disappeared completely or were conquered and ruled by foreigners.


It's really a fascinating time in history, and I highly recommend perusing the entries on Wikipedia a little! The History of the Hittites and the History of Egypt are fascinating - the latter being a lot longer and more complete than the former. (Fun fact: Most scholars believe that the Anatolian languages split from the rest of Proto-Indo-European much earlier than the other divisions of the proto-language! (Other "old" Indo-European languages are Sanskrit, Latin and Ancient Greek, among other languages. Hittite doesn't have the Indo-European gender system masculine-femenine, but rather a noun-class system with an animate-inanimate opposition. Neat!))

There really are so many interesting things about this time frame, and I hope this was a good introduction! What a fascinating topic.

Anatolia Story

Also known as "Heaven is Beside the Red River", Anatolia Story is a manga by Shinohara Chie. A historical fantasy shojo manga, it's set in the Hittite Empire between the approximate years of 1324 and 1319 BC.

The story begins with our 15-year-old protagonist, a Japanese girl named Yuri Suzuki, and her normal life in Japan. The fantasy element of the series in introduced nearly straightaway with water forming arms in an attempt to grab the girl, and before long the arms succeed, dragging Yuri far into the past - to the Hittite Empire during the reign of King Suppiluliuma I.
From there on our spirited protagonist is involved in political intrigues that threaten not only her life, but the lives of the Hittite princes and the empire as a whole. Wars are fought and both allies and enemies introduced in the detailed drawings of Shinohara Chie, the far-away past coming to life in the series.

Their chins are rather sharp, but you get used to it.

One of the main antagonists is Ramses, a man from a noble military family who succeeded Horemheb as pharaoh - and as you can see from the two pages above, his grandson is still considered Egypt's most powerful monarch.

I learned a great deal from this manga, and highly recommend it! I've spent most of today reading up on Anatolia, Hattusa, Mursili II, and other figures, places and countries featured prominently in the series, and don't even know where to begin when it comes to writing a blog post about it all. This seemed like a worthy beginning.

Whose Line Is It Anyway

Best show on the internet. That's right; the points don't matter!

Sapphic Stanza

Yesterday I came across the Greek poet Sappho and was fascinated not only by her poetry (most of which has been lost to time), but also by her life and reputation. I was particularly intrigued by the below quote by the 3rd-century philosopher Maximus of Tyre, which led to a very interesting journey along the pages of Wikipedia concerning Socrates and the other names mentioned in the quote.

"What else could one call the love of the Lesbian [note: from Lesbos] woman than the Socratic art of love? For they seem to me to have practised love after their own fashion, she the love of women, he of boys. For they said they loved many, and were captivated by all things beautiful. What Alcibiades and Charmides and Phaedrus were to him, Gyrinna and Atthis and Anactoria were to her ..."

Sappho wasn't a philosopher, but refreshing my memory on Socratic values and reading Plato's dialogue Phaedrus was just as interesting as learning about the Sapphic stanza, a meter Sappho may or may not have originated. It's an Aeolic verse form (Aeolic Greek being a dialect of Ancient Greek spoken on the Aegean island of Lesbos, where Sappho came from) that spans four lines.

With "-" for a long syllable, "u" for a short one and "x" for an anceps (or free syllable), the metric is thus:

- u -  x  - u u -   u - -
- u -  x  - u u -   u - -
- u -  x  - u u -   u - -
- u u - u

Sappho's poems are, of course, in Ancient Greek (a language I unfortunately don't understand), but there is an excellent page here with a large number of her poems both in their original forms and their translations. There are, however, some rather humorous attempts by more contemporary poets to use the metric with English words. From Wikipedia, my favorites have to be this one by the Australian poet John Tranter:

Writing Sapphics well is a tricky business.

Lines begin and end with a pair of trochees;

in between them dozes a dactyl, rhythm

rising and falling,

like a drunk asleep at a party. Ancient

Greek — the language seemed to be made for Sapphics,

not a worry; anyone used to English

finds it a bastard.

and this one by Oxford classicist Armand D'Angour:

Independent metre is overrated:

What's the point if nobody knows the dance-form?

Wisely, Sappho chose to create a stately

regular stanza.

I made my own attempt, and after failing terribly in English I tried in in German. It worked out slightly better, but I believe my metric is flawed in more than one place. So tricky! But, to end this post, here's my attempt.

            Auch auf Deutsch ist's schwieriger als man denken
            würde; aber hey, einen Versuch ist's doch
            wert, nicht wahr? Da kommt man doch in's Probieren,
                      strengt das Gehirn an.

Turtles All the Way Down

Turtle from previous WIP!

After a lecture on cosmology and the structure of the solar system, William James was accosted by a little old lady.
"Your theory that the sun is the centre of the solar system, and the earth is a ball which rotates around it has a very convincing ring to it, Mr. James, but it's wrong. I've got a better theory," said the little old lady.
"And what is that, madam?" Inquired James politely.
"That we live on a crust of earth which is on the back of a giant turtle,"
Not wishing to demolish this absurd little theory by bringing to bear the masses of scientific evidence he had at his command, James decided to gently dissuade his opponent by making her see some of the inadequacies of her position.
"If your theory is correct, madam," he asked, "what does this turtle stand on?"
"You're a very clever man, Mr. James, and that's a very good question," replied the little old lady, "but I have an answer to it. And it is this: The first turtle stands on the back of a second, far larger, turtle, who stands directly under him."
"But what does this second turtle stand on?" persisted James patiently.
To this the little old lady crowed triumphantly. "It's no use, Mr. James – it's turtles all the way down."

—J. R. Ross, Constraints on Variables in Syntax 1967

The phrase 'turtles all the way down' seems to have originated in the form 'rocks all the way down', for which a similar story to the one above was printed in an unsigned anecdote about a schoolboy and an old woman living in the woods. (Unwritten Philosophy, 1838)

          In my school-boy days, when I loved better to rob birds'-nests and plunder orchards than acquire knowledge, I have often deserted the school-room and pursued the above-mentioned avocations in the forest, in my usual quiet manner. I recollect once, when having been lost in the intricacies of the wood, I stumbled upon a little hut. Being extremely thirsty, and rightly concluding that a spring would be found in its vicinity, I wended my way thither. I found it occupied by an old woman, of whom I requested a draught of water. It was soon furnished; and when I had despatched it, I was overwhelmed with questions.
          "Ar'n't you one of the 'cademy boys?" inquired she.
          "Yes, marm," was the reply.
          "Well, I declare!" ejaculated the old woman; "they say you learn queer things down there. Why, they say the world is round!"
          "The world, marm," said I, anxious to display my acquired knowledge, "is not exactly round, but resembles in shape a flattened orange; and it turns on its axis once in twenty-four hours."
          "Well, I don't know anything about its axes," replied she, "but I know it don't turn round, for if it did we'd be all tumbled off; and as to its being round, any one can see it's a square piece of ground, standing on a rock!"
          "Standing on a rock! but upon what does that stand?"
          "Why, on another, to be sure!"
          "But what supports the last?"
          "Lud! child, how stupid you are! There's rocks all the way down!"

The concept of the earth resting on turtles may have come from Hindu mythology, where the World Serpent, Shesha, is said to hold all the planets of the universe on his multitude of heads. The idea of several World Elephants holding up the Earth, they in turn standing on the back of a large turtle, may have come from confusion over the Sanskrit noun Nāga, which has the dual meaning of "serpent" and "elephant" (named for its snake-like trunk).

According to Bertrand Russell: "It is exactly of the same nature as the Hindu's view, that the world rested upon an elephant and the elephant rested upon a tortoise; and when they said, 'How about the tortoise?' the Indian said, 'Suppose we change the subject.'"

Abandoned Warehouse Photoshoot

Taking advantage of the Schoch Areal in Stuttgart Feuerbach while it remains standing, my friend Criss and I did a quick photoshoot for which I put together several articles of clothing. I'm so happy with the way it all turned out - outfits, setting, and photos, it all looks wonderful! Criss got some really beautiful shots of me, too, which is always appreciated. Here's a sneak peek - check out the full photos on my Behance!

Convertible Shoes

If I had roughly $2,000 to blow, I'd be tempted by these:

Found at tanyaheathcanada.com, these shoes have removable heels and a large selection of styles and colors to choose from - my favorite of each style being these below.

Christophe, the 4 1/2 cm trotter heel

Denis, the 8 1/2 cm "boot maker's" heel

Francois, the 8 1/2 stiletto heel

and Stephane, the 6 cm kitten heel.

There aren't quite as many styles of shoes to choose from as there are for the heels, but the option of having heels of different heights and styles with the same, (hopefully) comfortable shoes is very appealing. Buying both shoes shown above and the four chosen heels would come to exactly $1,785 - rather more than I'm willing to spend on shoes! But it is very nice to see this idea elaborated in such an elegant way. Other interesting shoes are these by Daniela Bekerman, German brand Nat-2, and Llynda More Boots, each below.

Ze o ze ("this or that") by Daniela Bekerman

Sandal sneakers by Nat-2

Interchangeable tops for sneakers by Nat-2

Versatile tops for boots by Llynda More Boots

As you can see, there are already interesting options out there! I love the concept of easy changes to shoes - it's the reason why I've always found spats so interesting. Fun stuff!

Balthasar Gracian - Aphorism #198

Aphorism #198: Know how to transplant Yourself

     There are nations with whom one must cross their borders to make one's value felt, especially in great
     posts. Their native land is always a stepmother to great talents: envy flourishes there on its native soil,
     and they remember one's small beginnings rather than the greatness one has reached. A needle is
     appreciated that comes from one end of the world to the other, and a piece of painted glass might outvie
     the diamond in value if it comes from afar. Everything foreign is respected, partly because it comes from
     afar, partly because It is ready made and perfect. We have seen persons once the laughing-stock of their
     village and now the wonder of the whole world, honoured by their fellow-countrymen and by the
     foreigners [among whom they dwell]; by the latter because theycome from afar, by the former because
     they are seen from afar. The statue on the altar is never reverenced by him who knew it as a trunk in the
     garden.

Jackie Chaves

aka Bon AppetEats, creates tiny realistic foods and animals out of polymer clay and resin. I saw her "mini ponds" on facebook today and had to share!

The animals and objects are created in polymer clay, while the "water" is resin.

I showed this to Anastasia and she thought it was real! I would love to own one of these - isn't it beautiful?

Then there's the mini food she makes...

...and the chocolates...

...*mouth waters*

All the above images are in the scale 1:12. Crazy! There are actually quite a number of people who create this kind of polymer art, but the koi was something I'd never seen before. I believe these are mostly intended for doll houses - neat, no? It's so cool what some people can do.

Atelier Feuerroth

The image above is not a photograph. It's a digitally created image.

...Stunning. The above image was created by Atelier Feuerroth and nominated for Best Still 2013 at the Animago Conference, and subsequent work by the group is just as breathtaking. It's hard to believe these scenes were greated digitally, with wireframes and rendered digital textures.

Wireframe...

...and rendered image.

Can you believe that isn't real bread?

Check out also the 52 best visualizations of 2013 according to Ronen Bekerman - the Feuerroth Ouverture was included in that lineup! Amazing work.