Minerva ante portas! A Roman Scientific Revolution

[ComradeHuxley]

The Discovery of Electricity

Herophilos the Medical Pioneer

"When health is absent, wisdom cannot reveal itself, art cannot manifest, strength cannot fight, wealth becomes useless, and intelligence cannot be applied."
Herophilus

Herophilos was born in Chalcedon in Asia Minor, 335 BC (1). Not much is known about his early life other than that he had moved to Alexandria at a fairly young age to begin his schooling. His formal medical education began under Praxagoras of Cos, who had added to Aristotelian anatomy by differentiating arteries from veins and who first measured the pulse, using a water clock (clepsydra), thus pioneering objective measurements in medicine.

As an adult Herophilos was a teacher, and an author of at least nine texts ranging from his book titled, On Pulses, which explored the flow of blood from the heart through the arteries, to his book titled Midwifery. Herophilos was the first scientist to systematically perform scientific dissections of human cadavers.

Corpses were generally considered sources of both physical and God-inflicted pollution (stoutly denied by Hippocrates), hence the traditional Greek taboo that banned human dissection. However, for a period of 40 years, Ptolemaic royal patronage permitted dissection of condemned criminals probably to expand understanding of disease and hence the repute of Alexandria as the foremost site of scholarship. After Alcmaeon (6th century BC), Herophilus was probably the first person to dissect human cadavers, numbering about 600. He believed the primary parts of the human body should be perceptible to the senses, following the principles of the Hippocratic school On the Nature of Man, probably the work of Polybus, Hippocrates' son-in-law.

Conventional medicine of the time revolved around the theory of the four humors in which an imbalance between bile, black bile, phlegm, and blood led to sickness or disease. Veins were believed to be filled with blood and a mixture of air and water. Through dissections, Herophilos was able to deduce that veins only carried blood. After studying the flow of blood, he was able to differentiate between arteries and veins. He noticed that as blood flowed through arteries, they pulsed or rhythmically throbbed. He worked out standards for measuring a pulse and could use these standards to aid him in diagnosing sicknesses or diseases.

Praxagoras, his teacher, from the school of Cos was renowned for his studies of the pulse. Herophilus supported him, maintaining that pulsation was involuntary and the result of the contraction and dilatation of the arteries caused by contraction and dilatation of the heart . But, based on his own observation, he opposed Praxagoras's opinion of the ‘cardiocentric' dictates of Aristotle. Herophilus stated that the brain not the heart was the seat of the soul. As his friend Erasistratus, "he places the dominant principle of the soul in the ventricles of the brain".

His work on blood and its movements led him to study and analyse the brain. He proposed that the brain housed the intellect rather than the heart, a return to the "encephalaocentrism". He was the first person to differentiate between the cerebrum and the cerebellum and to place individual importance on each portion. He looked more in depth into the network of nerves located in the cranium. He described the optic nerve and the oculomotor nerve for sight and eye movement. Atlhough here again Alcmaeon of Croton had done a lot of groundwork(2).

Through his dissection of the eye, he discovered the different sections and layers of the eye: the cornea, the retina, the iris, and the choroid also known as the choroid coat. Further study of the cranium led him to describe the calamus scriptorius which he believed was the seat of the human soul. Analysis of the nerves in the cranium allowed him to differentiate between nerves and blood vessels and to discover the differences between motor and sensory nerves. He believed that the sensory and motor nerves shot out from the brain and that the neural transmissions occurred by means of pneuma.

Part of his belief system regarding the human body involved the pneuma, which he believed was a substance that flowed through the arteries along with the blood. Playing off of medical beliefs at the time, Herophilos stated that diseases occurred when an excess of one of the four humors impeded the pneuma from reaching the brain.

Thales and Socrates’s Thought on Magnetism

Herophilos' discovery of electricity was inspired by two other famous Greek thinker, Thales of Miletus and Socrates of Athen.

Aristotle, the major source for Thales's philosophy and science, identified Thales as the first person to investigate the basic principles, the question of the originating substances of matter and, therefore, as the founder of the school of natural philosophy. Thales was interested in almost everything, investigating almost all areas of knowledge, philosophy, history, science, mathematics, engineering, geography, and politics. He proposed theories to explain many of the events of nature, the primary substance, the support of the earth, and the cause of change.

Magnetic iron ore could be found near “Magnesia on the Maeander” in Asia Minor. Thales himself collected such rocks. “ho magnetes lithos” or lodestone. However none of his original manuscripts detailing his observations survived to the present day. The best source we have are the writings of Aristotle:

“And Thales, according to what is related of him, seems to have regarded the soul as something endowed with the power of motion, if indeed he said that the loadstone has a soul because it moves iron. [De Anima, by Aristotle]

This was certainly an important inspiration for Herophilos and his musings about the nature of the pneuma. However even more important was the following observation Socrates made. "that stone not only attracts iron rings, but imparts to them a similar power of attracting other rings; and sometimes you may see many pieces of iron and rings suspended from one another to form quite a long chain; and all of them derive their power of suspension from the original stone"

Somehow it seemed that pneuma, magnetism or however one wanted to call this invisible force could be transported trough metal, like blood that flows trough the body.


Notes and Sources

(1) I try to keep dates, and technical terms mostly as they are used in our timeline. Evertything else would probably be too confusing in the long term. The only exception are “text” passages cited from sources written in this timeline. One example would be me quoting Herophilos.

(2) Alcmaeon of Croton experimented with live animals by cutting the nerve behind the eye to study vision. He also contributed to the study of medicine by establishing the connection between the brain and the sense organs, and outlined the paths of the optic nerves as well as stating that the brain is the organ of the mind. However, his theories were not without mistakes. He said that sleep occurs when blood vessels in the brain are filled and that waking is caused by the emptying of these vessels. He also stated that the eye contains both fire and water.

Wikipedia: Herophilos, Thales, Alcmaeon
http://www.iep.utm.edu/thales/
http://blogs.bu.edu/ggarber/archive/bua-py-25/magnetism/
http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/ElectroMagnet.htm
The Neuroanatomy of Herophilus by Pearce J.M.S.

People

Herophilos of Chalcedon (335 BCE – 280 BCE)
Thales of Miletus (624 BCE – 546 BCE)
Socrates of Athen (470 BCE – 399 BCE)

 

[ComradeHuxley]

The Discovery of Electricity II


Herophilos and the Study of Electric Fish

The electrogenic properties of electric rays have been known since antiquity. Painful and paralysing shocks from the catch meant that illiterate Near Eastern fishermen were the first to observe physical sequelae (numbness, pain relief) after accidental contact with either the Nile catfish malapterurus electricus, or the marine Mediterranean rayfish torpedo mamorata. The rayfish got its name from from torpere, "to be stiff or numb, to be torpid."

Indeed, Meno, in speaking to Socrates in the dialogue of the same name, says "And if I may venture to make a jest upon you, you seem to me both in your appearance and in your power over others to be very like the flat torpedo fish, who torpifies those who come near him and touch him, as you have now torpified me, I think. For my soul and my tongue are really torpid, and I do not know how to answer you. [Meno by Socrates]."

As to the torpedo ray, itself, Oppian (1) calls it the cramp-fish, saying in his book Halieutica that "in its loins it hath a piece of craft, its strength in weakness: even two rays planted in its sides, one on either hand. If one approach and touch these, straight way it quenches the strength of his body and his blood is frozen within him and his limbs can no longer carry him but he quietly pines away and his strength is drained by stupid torpor" .
Later, Oppian relates how, if caught, the shock runs through the line and rod to the hand of the fisherman, causing him to drop the tackle. "Such icy numbness straight way settles in his hand".

After hearing about just such an incident occuring Herophilos curiosity spiked. Apparently, just like in magnets, the “topere pneuma” of these fish could be transported through other inorganic substances. In this case it were these fisher’s fishing tools. He reasoned correctly that using an indirect connection, such as a wire, would allow him to target specific human body parts, certain nerves, he had already identified. Surely it would be worth the effort to study how exactly they would react to precisely controlled electric stimuli.

Herophilos, was able to cause all kinds of involuntary twitching and other muscle movements, even in test subjects/patients who’s limps were otherwise permanently paralysed. He also figured out that not all material were equivocally conductive, again just like magnets.

However his most important discovery happened when he began working with frogs, or more importantly dead frogs as test animal. Encouraged by the positive results in paralysed humans, he tried the next step, of temporary revive recently killed frogs. He was convinced that the raw power of the "pneuma topere” might breath some life back into such small animals. What made them especially enticing as research subjects was how visible and easy to reach their organs and nerves were. The fish’s electricity not only allowed dead frogs to move but it could apparently even bring to life severed limps separated from the rest of the frog’s body.

He also began studying and dissecting catfish and rays themselves:

“The cramp fish has not this stupefying quality in all parts of his whole, body but only in one particular part, and this determined or particular part is those two hooked muscles…..which unless they are immediately touched with the bare flesh, produce no effect at all; besides in touching those parts, it is necessary that the fibres of those said muscles be contracted, to produce the effect of the naked part of those who touch them. (2)” was his description of the rayfish.

While all of this was interesting, the newly gained knowledge mostly contributed to medical theory and treatment. I was another rather serendipitous discovery that would provide the initial spark for the scientific revolution or how the Roman poet and philosopher called it"the atomic age".


Dancing Frog Legs and the Foundation of Modernity

“After I had assessed the effects of the pneuma topere, I was extremely eager also to investigate possible improvements for my medical tools. Different shapes and types of metal were compiled. Frogs were prepared by fastening brass hooks in their spinal cord. A convient row of them hand outisde the pond, harboring several electric fish.

I then connected the frogs to iron wire that was supposed to conduct pneuma topere to a freshly caught ray. However I made a most peculiar observation. Behold! The same contractions and movements in the frogs occurred, as if animated by foreign animal pneuma topere. I immediately repeated the experiment in different pieces with different metals and at different hours of the day. The results were the same except that the contractions varied with the metals used; that is, they were more violent with some and weaker with others.

Then it occurred to me to experiment with other substances that were either non-conductors or very poor conductors of pneuma topere like glass, gum, resin, stones, and dry wood. Nothing of the kind happened and no muscular contractions or movements were evident. These results surprised me greatly and led me to suspect that there are some hidden residual pneuma topere inherent in the animal itself that somehow got released.

After making these observations I asked Erasistratus, a fellow Alexandrian scholar and valued colleague, - I asked him, I repeat, to offer a helping band in this experiment just as be had very kindly done in other experiments. I suggested that be hold the frog as I myself bad done before, not only for the sake of convenience, bur also that I might alter the method of experiment a little, while I struck the box again. Contrary to expectation, however, the contractions were absent. When I carried out the experiment alone as before, the contractions were produced once more.

This result led me to hold the animal in one hand, as I had done before, and Erasistratus hand in the other and to ask him either to touch or strike the box with his free hand so as to form a kind of electrical chain. To our joy and surprise, contractions immediately took place, only to disappear if we separated our hands. They reappeared if we joined our hands once again.

Although, in fact, these results seemed sufficient to indicate pneuma flowing-out, as it were, of the nerve fluid through the human chain, nonetheless we wished absolutely to confirm so significant and novel a discovery.

Thus Erasistratus and I formed a chain, not by holding bands, bur through some intermediate body, now through a glass rod (a non-conductor, and again through a metal rod (a conductor). In this experiment, we discovered to our pleasure that contractions were produced when the metal rod was used, but completely disappeared with the glass rod, and that to no purpose was the box either touched or struck even with heavy blows from a conducting body when the latter was used. For this reason we thought we had established the fact that electricity of this kind stimulates contractions, in whatever way it could bring this about.

These observations led me to the assumption that the contractions, which (as I said), were produced in frogs connecting to different metals. A fortunate chance observation, if my judgement is correct, clearly confirmed this opinion of mine. If a frog is so held in the fingers by one leg that the book fastened in the spinal cord touches a silver plate and if the other leg fails down freely on the same plate, the muscles are immediately contracted at the instant that this leg makes contact.

There-upon the leg is raised, but soon, however, it becomes relaxed of its own accord and again falls down on the plate. As soon as contact is made, the leg is again lifted for the same reason and thus it continues alternately to be raised and lowered so that to the great astonishment and pleasure of the observer, the legs seemed to dance in a joyous if a bit macabar fashion.

One can clearly see how conveniently and neatly this phenomenon can be repeated with a plate that functions as a kind of a link, producing the aforementioned pneuma topere chainwhen the free leg falls against the plate but being unable to effect this when the leg is raised from its surface. This evidence that a metal plate functions as a pneumatic toperic chain is neither obscure nor open to doubt.

One is unable to describe, however, by what means this plate excites muscular contractions and through what innate capacity (for indeed is capacity), frequent, vigorous, and even prolonged contractions are produced. These occur not only if the hook, fastened to the spinal cord, is pressed against or rubbed over the metal plate, but even simultaneously with the hook's merely touching the surface, and also if, once the hook has touched the plate, its contacts with it are somewhat altered-as when someone lightly strikes either the surface on which the animal lies, or the supports on which it rests. But so much for the kind of chain,……….” [De Pneuma Topere In Motu Muscolari Commentarius by Herophilos]


Notes

(1) This is part of Oppian of Anazarbus poem on fishing, the Halieutica. The poem is about 3500 lines and bears a dedication to Marcus Aurelius and his son Commodus in our timeline. Here things are a bit less clear, but in order to keep this timeline grounded I want to keep “real” contemporary voices wherever possible.

(2) A description by Stefano Lorenzi of the torpedo fish, written in 1666.


People

Herophilos of Chalcedon (335 BCE – 280 BCE)
Erasistratus of Ioulis (304 BCE –250 BCE)
Oppian of Anazarbus (2nd Century)
Socrates of Athen (470 BCE – 399 BCE)

Sources

Wikipedia: Herophilos, Thales
http://www.iep.utm.edu/thales/
http://blogs.bu.edu/ggarber/archive/bua-py-25/magnetism/
http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/ElectroMagnet.htm
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/aconite/largus.html
Luigi Galvandie (1792/1953): Viribus electricitatis in motu muscolari.
Commentarius/Commentary on the effects of electricity on muscolar motion
Rosalind Park M.A., B.Sc.(2010): Catfish Remedy for Gout in Ancient Egypt
Stanley Finger: Minds Behind the Brain: A History of the Pioneers and Their Discoveries

 

[ComradeHuxley]

The Discovery of Electricity III


Bacchius and the Unified Theory of Pneuma (Electromagnetism)

Bacchius was very proud to call himself a member of Herophilos House (oikia) and a follower of Herophilos newly established medical school (hairesis). And while the pupil didn’t exactly surpass his master, he certainly measured up to him. As soon as he witnessed the, albeit temporary, “resurrection” of a frog thanks to the power of transferable pneuma he got himself (strictly metaphorically speaking) hooked. In fact he made it his life’s mission to study and master the art of pneuma transfer.

His obsession, his genius, his success and his failures captured the imagination of his contemporaries as well as those who would follow in his footsteps.

One of the most artful, if very critical tributes was made by the Roman poet and playwright Ennius: “Hateful day when I received life!' I exclaimed in agony. 'Accursed creator! Why did you form a monster so hideous that even you turned from me in disgust? Prometheus, out of clay, made man beautiful and alluring, after his own image; but my form is a filthy type of yours, more horrid even from the very resemblance. Even Eurynomos has the Empusae to admire and comfort him; but I am solitary in my abhorrence. [Et Fulmines (The Thunderbolt) by Quintus Ennius]." (1).

Indeed as soon as he began his work in earnest Bacchius encountered resistance by other doctors and natural philosophers. After all Aristotle had proclaimed that "When the soul departs [from the body], what is left is no longer an animal, and that none of the parts remain what they were before, excepting in mere configuration [De Partibus Animalium by Aristotle]."

However now Bacchius set out to fill an empty soulless vessel in its entierty entirely with foreign pneuma. Bacchius wasn’t particularly impressed with this line of reasoning pointing to Herophilos discovery of residual pneuma as well as the importance of the calamus scriptorius were in his medical oppionion the pneuma psyche, the pattern of the soul still resides.

Unimpressed and undeterred by his critics he began to systematically study all known occurrences of pneuma activity.

A Brief Summary of Bacchius Work

The first, and best documented phenomenon was obviously the pneuma topere of electric fish. Indeed he didn’t add anything much to his mentors body of work. A bit more interesting was the list of inorganic pneuma sources. First there were the aforementioned lodestone. But Thales also described an interesting property of amber. Around 585 BC, he discovered that if he rubbed amber (ilektron) with a piece of fur, that amber could attract lightweight objects (like feathers) to itself. Then there was Theophrastus who in his book De Lapidibus noted that the mineral tourmaline becomes charged when heated.

Last but not least came the unexpected addition of another source of the weather. Being a diligent worker not even an upcoming storm, prevented him from preparing his newest experiment. As it seems Fortuna smiles on the sedulous. "Whenever lightning flashed, all the [prepared frogs’s] muscles simultaneously fell into numerous violent contractions. These contractions preceded and as it were gave warning of the thunder to follow, just as the flash and illumination of lightning is won’t to do. [De Peuma Topere Artificialis by Bacchius]"

Once again, Bacchius increased the number of tests while varying their parameters. He noted in particular that a threatening sky, even without the presence of a lightning storm, sometimes led to the same effect. He concluded that as Thales "think(s) that the soul pervades the whole universe, whence perhaps came (his) view that everything is full of gods' [De Anima by Aristotle]” The universe it seemed to Bacchius was indeed saturated in pneuma.

As for the other sources of observable pneuma torpere, all of them could be shown to work on prepared frogs, with the annoying exception of magnets. To his great disappointment it proved impossible to excite lodestones in order to release their pneuma in a useful form. The only and very weak satisfaction he got, was that the magnets seemed to “yearn for the potent, freely flowing pneuma topere” of electric fish. Or to put it in less poetic words, a magnetic needle always orients itself in the direction of a nearby electric current.

His magnum opus however would be his invention of the Bacchius pile (Volta pile). Having exhausted all possible combination of frogs, and other animals he began to investigate the properties of different plants. He soon found that lemons made for the best non-animal source of pneuma (electricity). The device to harvest it functioned basically on the same principal as a frog’s pneumatic chain (electrical circuit).

This discovery together with the observation of atmospheric pneuma motivated Bacchius to a bold, new move. He began to question the need of biomass in the process of generating pneuma topere. Instead he speculated that this phenomenon was caused by two different metals joined together by a moist intermediary.

Just in accordance with Thales who declared all water as the basic building block of all matter, it seemed also be a great reservoir for “inorganic” water based pneuma topere was sufficient. Although if one follows Thales idea’s consequently all organic matter is merely a temporary arrangement of water and heat.

"Most of the first philosophers thought that principles in the form of matter were the only principles of all things; for the original source of all existing things, that from which a thing first comes-into-being and into which it is finally destroyed, the substance persisting but changing in its qualities, this they declare is the element and first principle of existing things, and for this reason they consider that there is no absolute coming-to-be or passing away, on the ground that such a nature is always preserved... for there must be some natural substance, either one or more than one, from which the other things come-into-being, while it is preserved.

Over the number, however, and the form of this kind of principle they do not all agree; but Thales, the founder of this type of philosophy, says that it is water (and therefore declared that the earth is on water), perhaps taking this supposition from seeing the nature of all things to be moist, and the warm itself coming-to-be from this and living by this (that from which they come-to-be being the principle of all things) -- taking the supposition both from this and from the seeds of all things having a moist nature, water being the natural principle of moist things [Metaphysics by Aristotle].

Thus by constructing his titular Bacchius pile, not only revolutionized the medical world but also the philosophical thought.

Notes

(1) In our timeline he wrote at least one works, the Euhemerus, about the philosophy of Euhemerus of Messene. The philosophical doctrine named after him euhemerism, holds that many mythological tales can be attributed to historical persons and events, the accounts of which have become altered and exaggerated over time. The gods of Olympus were not supernatural powers still actively intervening in the affairs of men, but great generals, statesmen and inventors of olden times commemorated after death in extraordinary ways. With his play he envisions how such a fate could befall the recently deceased Bacchius.

People

Herophilos of Chalcedon (335 BCE –280 BCE)
Bacchius of Tanagra (275 BCE –199 BCE) in OTL (275 BCE –??? BCE)
Theophrastus of Eresos (371 BCE – 287 BCE)
Quintus Ennius (239 BCE – 169 BCE)
Theophrastos von Eresos (371 BCE – 287 BCE)

Sources

http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/ElectroMagnet.htm
wikipedia (several)
Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus by Mary Shelly
On the Parts of Animals/ De Partibus Animalium by Aristotle
On the Soul/ De Anima by Aristotle

 

[ComradeHuxley]

Well, I am no longer sure I chose the best possible title for this timeline. Yes, at the end of the timeline we are going to see an industrialized Roman empire, however the focus will be on the path getting there. The basic premise behind this timeline is to explore a possible "technology tree" very different looking from OTL. This doesn't mean that important building blocks such as the printing press will be skipped, but some will happen much later then people will expect. I might have better gone with something like an alternate industrialization in ancient Greek/Rome, as the title but anything I could come up with was way to long, or clunky to be used. I am open to suggestion, if somebody has a good, catchy idea. If any of you read one of my other timelines you will know what to expect. In short, this is basically a best of weird anachronistic technologies ComradeHuxley can come up with plus some occasional political/social/economic stuff in between.

Edit: Additional Chapter was inserted here for a better flow. ;-)


The Discovery of Electricity IV


The Bacchius Pile

Bacchius invented the first true battery, which came to be known as the Bacchius pile. The Bacchius pile consisted of pairs of copper and zinc discs piled on top of each other, separated by a layer of cloth or cardboard soaked in brine (i.e., the electrolyte). The pile produced a continuous electricity and stable current, and lost little charge over time when not in use. He experimented with various metals and found that zinc and silver gave the best results. Bacchius believed the current was the result of two different materials simply touching each other and not the result of chemical reactions. As a consequence, he regarded the corrosion of the zinc plates as an unrelated flaw that could perhaps be fixed by changing the materials somehow. However, he never succeeded in preventing this corrosion. But even if his understanding of his own creation was a bit flawed Bacchius achieved some amazing feats. Now with his pile it was possible to generate pneuma topere at will, making it as visible and useful to the medical profession. Obviously his first instinct was to use this new tool to stimulate the seat of cognition, of the soul soul, in animals and criminals, alive or dead.

The Soul, Cognition and Body Movement

But Bacchius first objective was to settle and old argument among physicians and philosopher alike, the nature of the soul. As mentioned earlier his teacher Herophilus rejected cardiocentrism, introduced by his teacher Praxagoras into the medical school of Cos, and returned to Hippocratic encephalocentrism. The goal was to find a way to to make the activity of the soul visible. As Polybus, the son of Hippocrates already proclaimed:

"Whoever has been accustomed to listening to speakers who discuss the nature of man beyond the scope, which pertains to medicine, is not suitable for listening to my present lecture. For I do not insist at all that a human being is air or fire or water or earth, or anything else that does not appear to the senses to be existing in the human being."

In this passage, Polybus criticizes philosophical theories ascribed to those who hold that a single one of the four elements (i.e. fire, air, water and earth) is the essential constituent of the human being. According to the physician, their anthropology is obviously beyond the scope of medical discussion, because, he claims, each one of these elements is not confirmed by the senses to be existent in the human body. While he still couldn’t see pneuma topere the battery allowed him to stimulate parts of the body, including the brain without needing to rely on any type of electric fish (1).

Ptolemy III Euergetes

The invention of the battery happened during the reign of Ptolemy III Euergetes, the "Benefactor". True to his name, he was willing and capable to finance Bacchius experiments. After all under his reign Ptolemaic Egypt had arguably reached its zenith. A prosperous, military successful and internally stable country, with liberated attitude towards the native religion.

All this meant that that Ptolemy III Euergetes was willing and capable living up to his name in regards to Bacchius. After having demonstrated the potential of his battery and also eloquently explained the limits of his current research he was granted the means necessary to construct the Pharaonic Pile, consisting of 5000 copper and zinc discs, a true masterpiece of art and science (2).

Et Fulminis – The First Work of Science Fiction

Quintus Ennius was a writer during the period of the Roman Republic, and is often considered the father of Roman poetry. He was an Oscan, a linguistic group of peoples who lived in parts of central and southern Italy. Ennius was born at Rudiae, a predominantly Oscan town historically founded by the Messapians. Here Oscan, Greek, and Latin languages were in contact with one another. Thus Ennius referred to this heritage by saying he had "three hearts," Greek, Oscan and Latin (Quintus Ennius tria corda habere sese dicebat, quod loqui Graece et Osce et Latine sciret). Ennius was well, read and interested in cosmology, Gods but also in the recent discoveries made in Alexandria. Specifically he mused about their theological implications of Bacchius’ findings. The story has two inspirations the mythological story of Asclepius and the work and ultimate “failure” of Bacchius.

The Myth of Asclepius

He was a hero and god of medicine in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Asclepius represents the healing aspect of the medical arts. He was the son of Apollo and, according to the earliest accounts, a mortal woman named Coronis. His mother was killed for being unfaithful to Apollo and was laid out on a funeral pyre to be consumed, but the unborn child was rescued from her womb. Apollo carried the baby to the centaur Chiron who raised Asclepius and instructed him in the art of medicine. It is said that in return for some kindness rendered by Asclepius, a snake licked Asclepius’ ears clean and taught him secret knowledge. Snakes were and are after all beings of wisdom, healing, and resurrection. Asclepius became so proficient as a healer that he surpassed both Chiron and his father, Apollo. Asclepius was therefore able to evade death and to bring others back to life from the brink of death and beyond. Hades thought that no more dead spirits would come to the underworld, so he asked his brother Zeus to stop him. Thus Zeus killed Asclepius with a thunderbolt Asclepius was later resurrected as a god by Zeus to prevent any further feuds with Apollo. But Asclepius was instructed by Zeus to never revive the dead without his approval again.

The Story of Bacchius

The Pharaonic Pile was a powerful tool in the hand of Bacchius. His dream, that he and Ptolemy III shared was, of a pile sufficiently powerful to reanimate the dead. While this is evidently known to be impossible to us, things looked different at the time. Not only could he make severed frog legs dance, he demonstrated that when for example applied to executed criminal, “the jaws of the deceased criminal began to quiver, and the adjoining muscles were horribly contorted, and one eye was actually opened. In the subsequent part of the process the right hand was raised and clenched, and the legs and thighs were set in motion. (3)”
But despite throwing himself whole heartily into these experiments in the end he never managed to resurrecting the dead. From Ptolemy III standpoint his faith in Bacchius was still rewarded, although in an unexpected way. During his experiments with the Pharanoic pile he managed to create an electric arc, or as he himself described it an artificial lightning bolt.

As for the reason it didn’t work. Bacchius consulted his late teacher on the question. Herophilus differentiated between the faculties of the soul (psyche) and the ones attributed to the nature (physis). According to his anatomical physiology of the human being, faculties responsible for sense perceptions and for voluntary motions of the body were classified as the ones peculiar to the soul, while those which produce involuntary movements of the body, such as the pulse and respiration, were classified as “natural” faculties.

From his own investigation into these matters Bacchius came to a similar dualistic but more complex conclusion. The psyche did rest in the brain and generated its own pneuma topere to control the physis of the body. He pointed to an analogy to bring his point across. The psyche was the leader of the body, sending out its messengers.

Without a proper leader the messenger, the pneuma topere could bring movement into the body but not purpose. All that more refinement of the method might accomplish was to build an abdominal flesh automaton but nothing more.

Et Fulminis by Ennius

Somebody who took Bacchius up on that idea was Ennius. The hideoas description of the hideous creature such a hypothetical flesh automaton would be really wormed its way into his highly prolific mind. The story depicts Caeso Vipstanus Paetus who young roman patrician who travels abroad to Alexandria to study at the great University and to overcome his grief about the death of his first love and fiancee Verecundia Olennia. Instead of finding piece and getting over he begins to obsess over her death even more. After learning about Bacchius resurrection attempts, he begins experiments of his own. Several times he gets warnings, by his friends, even by the gods themselves, but he continues. In the end he manages to revive a condemned criminal, but the man is merely a flesh automaton kept alive by a battery implanted in his body. After going completely mad, hallucinating and having a “dialogue” with creature, the mindless beast rips his head of and consumes his brain in the vain search for direction, for a working psyche. Without ever realizing it, Ennius wrote the first archetypical science fiction story.

Notes

The actual cardiocentrism versus encephalocentrism debate is too big for this part of the story. But there will be and addendum chapter, explaining the intricacies of the controversy.

(1) Scribonius Largo, physician of the Roman emperor Claudius, in his text “Compositiones medicamentorum” (46 AD) suggested the application of electric ray (Torpedo torpedo and Torpedo nobiliana) on the cranial surface as a remedy for the headache. So at least some crude version was suggested even in our timeline.

(2) Description of Aldini's most famous public demonstration of the electro-stimulation technique of deceased limbs was performed on the executed criminal George forster at Newgate in London 1803.

(3) This is based on the real discoveries done in 1802 by Vasily Vladimirovich Petrov. He worked with a the most powerful Voltaic pile at the time, which consisted of around 4,200 copper and zinc discs. In “News of Galvanic-Voltaic Experiments,” 1803 (Russian: Izvestie o galvani-voltovskikh opytakh), Petrov described experiments performed using the pile.

People
Herophilos of Chalcedon (335 BCE –280 BCE)
Bacchius of Tanagra (275 BCE –199 BCE) in OTL (275 BCE –??? BCE)
Quintus Ennius (239 BCE – 169 BCE)
Ptolemy III Euergetes (246–222 BCE)

Sources

The History and Future of Deep Brain Stimulation -Jason M. Schwalb and Clement Hamani
wikipedia - Giovanni Aldini
The Electric Arc by von Hertha Ayrton

 

[ComradeHuxley]

One big difference between this and Ex Oriente Lux: Song China had high incomes for a preindustrial society; Ancient Rome did not, and was hamstrung by a social structure that made sure it would never have any incentive to invest in labor-saving technology.

Thats acutally why I am looking at technoloy that can't be simply substituted by slave labour, but requires machine/electrical power to work.

Why not sticking to Latin, so that the final result is guaranteed not to be too long or too clunky? My humble proposal is Video meliora ac sequor, "I see the better way and follow it", a slight ateration of Ovid's well-known maxim which instead ended with him preferring to follow the worse way. But after years of reading your TL's, that's not how it usually ends up in your works, right Comrade?

Pretty nice motto. If I can come up with a fitting poster design I'll might consider it as an alternative title. Also thanks for your continued support

Edit: Additional chapters inserted here.


The Discovery of Electricity V

“The first generation builds the business, the second makes it a success, and the third wrecks it ”This old piece of wisdom can be applied to businessmen as well as kingdoms. In the case of Egypt it has to be adjusted a bit. All first three generation did not only well but good. Ptolemy I Soter, Ptolemy II Philadelphus,Ptolemy III Euergetes. In this final chapter we don’t concern ourselves a less with the discovery of electricity, but more how its knowledge was almost completely erased from Egypt.

The Long Decline

The first began to show under Ptolemy IV Philopator (221–204 BCE), under his reign the fortunes of the Ptolemaic dynasty began to decline. Ptolemy IV's reign was inaugurated by the murder of his mother, and he was always under the dominion of favorites, male and female, who indulged his vices and conducted the government as they pleased.

Self-interest led his ministers to make serious preparations to meet the attacks of Antiochus III the Great on Coele-Syria including Judea, and Ptolemy himself was present at the great Egyptian victory of Raphia (217 BCE) which secured the northern borders of the kingdom for the remainder of his reign. The arming of Egyptians in this campaign had a disturbing effect upon the native population of Egypt, leading to the secession of Upper Egypt under pharaohs Harmachis and Ankmachis, thus creating a kingdom that occupied much of the country and lasted nearly twenty years. Philopator was devoted to orgiastic forms of religion and literary dilettantism. He built a temple to Homer and composed a tragedy, to which his favorite Agathocles added a commentary.

Ptolemy Epiphanes (204–181 BCE) was only a small boy when his father, Ptolemy Philopator, died. Philopator's two leading favorites, Agathocles and Sosibius, fearing that Arsinoe would secure the regency, had her murdered before she heard of her husband's death, thereby securing the regency for themselves. However, in 202 BCE, Tlepolemus, the general in charge of Pelusium, put himself at the head of a revolt. Once Epiphanes was in the hands of Tlepolemus he was persuaded to give a sign that his mother's killers should be killed. The child king gave his consent, it is thought more from fear than anything else, and Agathocles along with several of his supporters were killed by the Alexandrian mob Great cruelty and treachery were displayed in the suppression of the native rebellions, and some accounts represent Epiphanes as personally tyrannical. In 183 BCE/184 BCE, the rebels in Lower Egypt surrendered on the basis of terms that Epiphanes had personally promised to honor. However, showing himself treacherous and vindictive, he had them put to death in a cruel manner.

Ptolemy VI Philometor (ca. 186–145 BC) reigned from 180 to 145 BCE, starting at the age of 6. In 170 BC Antiochus IV Epiphanes of the Seleucid Empire invaded and captured King Ptolemy VI Philometor and all of Egypt, with the exception of the city of Alexandria. Antiochus allowed Ptolemy VI to continue as a puppet monarch. Meanwhile, the people of Alexandria chose Ptolemy VIII Euergetes (182 BCE – June 26, 116 BCE), his younger brother, as king. Euergetes was popularly known as "Physkōn", Latinized as Physcon, meaning sausage, potbelly or bladder, due to his obesity.

After Antiochus withdrew from the area in 168 BC due to threats from Rome, Physcon agreed to jointly rule Egypt in a triumvirate with Philometor and Cleopatra II (Philometor's wife and their sister). This arrangement led to continuous intrigues, lasting until October 164 BCE, when Philometor traveled to Rome to appear before the Senate, who were somewhat agreeable with the arrangement. However, areas under Physcon's sole rule were not satisfied with the arrangement, and in May 163 BCE the two brothers agreed to an altering of the original partition. This left Physcon in charge of Cyrenaica. Although the arrangement lasted until Philometor's death in 145 BCE, it did not end the power struggles.

The Purge of Alexandria

When Philometor died on a campaign in 145 BCE, Cleopatra II (Philometer’s wife) quickly had her son proclaimed King Ptolemy VII. Physcon, however, returned from battle and proposed joint rule and marriage with Cleopatra II, both of which she accepted. He had the younger Ptolemy assassinated during the wedding feast and claimed the throne himself, as "Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II" (a name deliberately recalling his ancestor Ptolemy III Euergetes), and had himself proclaimed pharaoh in 144 BCE. But he could be further from his ancestor.

In 145 BCE, Physcon took his revenge on the intellectuals of Alexandria who had opposed him, including Aristarchus of Samothrace and Apollodorus of Athens. He engaged in mass purges and expulsions, leaving Alexandria a changed city [Menecles of Barca]

Most of them escaped with their lives. However it were Bacchius disciple that faced the brunt of his ire. Believing their experiments were responsible for the hubris, of the intellectual class, he had all his followers rounded up and killed, their works destroyed (1)

Physcon seduced and married Cleopatra III (his wife's daughter) without divorcing Cleopatra II, who became infuriated. Many speculate that Physcon only married Cleopatra II because he was plotting to marry Cleopatra III when she became of marrying age. By 132 or 131 BCE, the people of Alexandria had rioted and set fire to the royal palace. Physcon, Cleopatra III, and their children escaped to Cyprus; while Cleopatra II had their twelve-year-old son, Ptolemy Memphitis, acclaimed as king. Physcon was able to get hold of the boy, killed him, and sent the dismembered pieces back to Cleopatra. The ensuing civil war pitted Cleopatra's city of Alexandria against the rest of the country, who supported Physcon. But the damage was already done.

A Renaissance ?

While the political turmoils ebbed and flowed, after Ptolemy VIII Physcon death theMusaeum of Alexandria slowly but steadily recovered. But it seemed that some of the suspicion against the art of pneuma topere generation still lingered in the minds of Egypt’s rulers. Nevertheless the great Abdaraxus Didaskalos overcame these obsticles and returned Alexandria to its scientific glory.

Notes

(1) He did expel many scholars in OTL but in this timeline he goes a bit further adopting a similar but even more drastic policy of "Burning books and burying of scholars" than Qin Shi Huang (246–210 BCE), the first Emperor of China.

People

Ptolemy I Soter (303–282 BCE)
Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285–246 BCE)
Ptolemy III Euergetes (246–221 BCE)
Ptolemy IV Philopator(221–203 BCE)
Ptolemy V Epiphanes (203–181 BCE)
Ptolemy VI Philometor (181–164 BCE, 163–145 BCE)
Ptolemy VIII Physcon (170–163 BCE, 145–116 BCE)
Abdaraxus Didaskalos (127 BCE – 58 BCE)

Sources

Wikipedia

 

[ComradeHuxley]

Cleopatra – The Queen of Enlightenment
(Introduction)

“And now think of the different and diverse perils of the night. See what a height it is to that towering roof from which a pot comes crack upon my head every time that some broken or leaky vessel is pitched out of the window! See with what a smash it strikes and dints the pavement! There’s death in every open window as you pass along at night; you may well be deemed a fool, improvident of sudden accident, if you go out to dinner without having made your will… Yet however reckless the fellow may be, however hot with wine and young blood, he gives a wide berth to one whose scarlet cloak and long retinue of attendants, with torches and brass lamps in their hands, bid him keep his distance. But to me, who am wont to be escorted home by the moon, or by the scant light of a candle he pays no respect.” (Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis).

Juvenal himself was actually pretty rich. All Roman poets were relatively well heeled (the leisure you needed for writing poetry required money, even if you pretended to be poor). His self-presentation as a ‘man of the people’ was a bit of a journalistic façade. But how accurate was his nightmare vision of Rome at night? Was it really a place where chamber pots crashed on your head, the rich and powerful stamped all over you, and where (as Juvenal observes elsewhere) you risked being mugged and robbed by any group of thugs that came along?

Probably yes.

Outside the splendid civic centre, Rome was a place of narrow alleyways, a labyrinth of lanes and passageways. There was no street lighting, nowhere to throw your excrement and no police force. After dark, ancient Rome must have been a threatening place. Most rich people, I’m sure, didn’t go out – at least, not without their private security team of slaves or their “long retinue of attendants”. (1)

Thus it should not wonder us that the policy of lux romana is mentioned in the same breath as the pax romana when it comes to the great benefits of being part of the Imperium Romanum.


Octavian and the City of Light

Thus it should not come at a surprise that when the future princeps civitatis Octavian first spotted Alexandria or Urbem Luminum as it was later praised, it instantly enchanted him. Gaius Octavius into an old and wealthy equestrian branch of the plebeian Octavii family. His maternal great-uncle Julius Caesar was assassinated in 44 BC, and Octavius was named in Caesar's will as his adopted son and heir. He, Mark Antony, and Marcus Lepidus formed the Second Triumvirate to defeat the assassins of Caesar.

Following their victory at Philippi, the Triumvirate divided the Roman Republic among themselves and ruled as military dictators. The Triumvirate was eventually torn apart under the competing ambitions of its members. Lepidus was driven into exile and stripped of his position, and Antony committed suicide following his defeat in battle. What was left, was to sail to Alexandria and deal with Antony’s ally and lover Cleopatra VII, the last Pharao of Egypt.

The Lighthouse of Alexandria

The first thing greeting him was the magnificent lighthouse of Alexandria. The Pharos of Alexandria, shining with a brighter than any fire he had ever seen. Originally Pharos was a small island located on the western edge of the Nile Delta. In 332 BC Alexander the Great founded the city of Alexandria on an isthmus opposite to Pharos. Alexandria and Pharos were later connected by a mole. The lighthouse was constructed in the 3rd century BC. After Alexander the Great died of a fever at age 32, the first Ptolemy (Ptolemy I Soter) announced himself king in 305 BC, and commissioned its construction shortly thereafter. The building was finished during the reign of his son, the second Ptolemy (Ptolemy II Philadelphus). It took twelve years to complete, at a total cost of 800 talents, and served as a prototype for all later lighthouses in the world. The light was produced by a furnace at the top, and the tower was said to have been built mostly with solid blocks of limestone.

It architect Sostratus left the following entry in the tower bases:

ΣΟΣΤΡΑΤΟΣ ΔΕΞΙΦΑΝΟΥ ΚΝΙΔΙΟΣ ΘΕΟΙΣ ΣΩΤΕΡΣΙΝ ΥΠΕΡ ΤΩΝ ΠΛΩΙΖΟΜΕΝΩΝ.

Sostratus of Cnidus, son of Dexiphanes, to the gods protecting those upon the sea

Once one climbed up the stairs of the 110 metres hight tower one was rewarded with a magnificent sight. Standing there in front of a bright flame fueled by wood and resin illuminating the night, sending a black smoking signal by the day. The beacon chamber, there could be seen a large mirror, made of polished bronze which projected a beam of light form the reflection of the towers fire. At the time Octavianus reached the city, one could also notice a curious new addition, a contraption recently installed by the will of Cleopatra VII to show the genius of people and the greatness of her rule. Although the actual surviving parts of the records by the commission in charge of its installation are a bit more sober and mundane.

Report of this Committee, a suggestion that the late Abdaraxus new lime-latern should be employed as a separate instrument in every lighthouse for occasional use, is considered and adopted. The new source of light was proposed to be used only in hazy weather, when other lights are either altogether obscured, or lose their characteristic appearances. The general system of illumination by wood and resin (….), in ordinary weather, to every want of the navigator; and nothing could be more irrational than to introduce the lime latern into the Pharos as a general mode of illumination — unless it could be done as cheaply (….) present improved system with oil or gas lights. (…) The lime latern holds out to us an admirable resource in seasons of occasional danger; but we cannot approve of the idea of making an unnecessary glare upon our coasts, with the inseparable accompaniments of unnecessary expense and unnecessary danger.The inadequacy of the ordinary lights or other than ordinary weather, i.e., for all occasions when their aid is most wanted, is here confessed.

On the other hand, that greater expense and danger are inseparable from the use of the lime latern is assumed, but is by no means certain. Had Abdaraxus been alive for a little longer to follow up the subject, it is not improbable that his ingenuity would have enabled him to overcome these objections, and that (...) now his light (…..) would have superseded every other for lighthouse purposes. The following recommendation of the Committee on the Pharos seems not to have been attended to(….).”

In the end Cleopatra VII strongly encouraged the engineers, who participated in the committee, to end their squabbles and instead find a way, not only to get a lime latern into the lighthouse but also to oversee the permanent illumination of Alexandria's temples as well as her own palaces. When Octavius left Alexandria not only did he cut off leave the last rearmaments the past republican age but he also returned to Rome with a bright shining vision for the future.

People

Sostratus of Cnidus (3rd century BC)
Abdaraxus Didaskalos (127 BCE – 58 BCE)
Cleopatra VII Philopator (69– 30 BC)
Ocativus (63 BC – 14 AD)
Decimus Iunius Iuvenalis (In our timeline 1st and early 2nd century AD, here he is a stand in for another fictional contemporary satirist)

Sources:

(1) http://www.historyextra.com/article/romans/dangerous-streets-ancient-rome

Drummond's Inventions: Drummond Light and Lighthouse Experiments In Memoir of Thomas Drummond (1867)

http://todayinsci.com/D/Drummond_Thomas/DrummondLighthouse.htm

 

[ComradeHuxley]

Cleopatra – The Queen of Enlightenment (I)


Great Teacher Abdaraxus

"There was a lamp drunk on his own oil who boasted one evening to everyone present that he was brighter than Eosphoros (the Morning Star) and that his splendour shone more conspicuously than anything else in the world. A sudden puff of wind blew in the lamp's direction, and its breath extinguished his light. A man lit the lamp once again and said to him, `Shine, lamp, and be silent! The splendour of the stars is not ever extinguished.'" Aesop, Fables 211

The old man finished the story. As you see my kreousa (1) people may call me Abdaraxus,Phōsphóros (2) but in the end all my toys and all my wisdom, yes even myself are ephermal. The little girl in front of him was pouting a bit, but she couldn’t find a way to object. Cleopatra was once again a bit to smart for her own good. She really did admire her teacher Abdaraxus, she knew him to be the smartest man in the world. But she understood to well that his long white beard, was not only a sign of his wisdom but also a sign of his fragility and his advanced age. Suddenly she had an inspiration.... “Imhotep, that should work” she mubled to herself, quietly enough so that Abdaraxus couldn’t hear her.

The only thing the revered mechanist saw was that the girl had lightned up and smiled. For some reason of all the teacher, priests, and servants sourrounding her she had decided to come to him with her recent realization about the nature of death, mortality, her fears and many more things. While he certainly felt flattered, he also found himself woefully uprepared to answer little Cleo’s questions. He was a man of intricate contraption, a maker of toys pleasing dazziling his royal patrons but he wasn’t ever a particually religious man.

The only “spiritual” interests he had so far had been his study of the pneuma, but even those experiments had a less then pious motivations. “Now back to your lecture, kreusa. Can you recite what you’ve learned about Thales theory of the first principle?”

Cleo grinned, that was easy peasy she thought, any child could do it. Well, any child as smart as her at least. Some of her brothers actually seemed to struggle with such simple tasks. Merely parroting the wisdom of old philosophers couln’t be that difficult could it? The Gods have mercy if any of the really dumb ones ascended to fathers throne. Back to her happy place then, to her showin of her own knowledge.

Socratic Questioning

“Thales was chiefly concerned with the First Cause - that from which all else came - and declared it to be water. It is the nature, thearchê, the originating principle. For Thales, this nature was a single material substance, water. Thales chose to use his own thoughts and observations to explain the world around him, to fin the first cause instead of relying on the ancient wisdom of mythology.”

Abdaraxus nodded, a good choice of words. While he wanted to emphazise on Thales wisdom of original thought, one should not, at least publically, be to critical of the wisdom of the Gods. Lest if one was the daugther of the Pharao, a human God in his own right. Good to see, that Cleo had instinctivly picked up on that.

“....so Thales observed that the nurture of all creatures is moist, and that warmth itself is generated from moisture and lives by it; and that from which all things come to be is their first principle...”

She continued to list some of the observations that had been recorded underlay this point. Simple metallurgy had been practised long before Thales presented his hypotheses, so Thales knew that heat could return metals to a liquid state. Water exhibits sensible changes more obviously than any of the other so-called elements, and could readily be observed in the three states of liquid, vapour and ice. The understanding that water could generate and transform into earth was another basis building stone to Thales's watery thesis.

At Miletus it could readily be observed that water had the capacity to thicken into earth. Miletus stood on the Gulf of Lade through which the Maeander river emptied its waters. Within living memory, older Milesians had witnessed the island of Lade increasing in size within the Gulf, and the river banks encroaching into the river to such an extent that at Priene, across the gulf from Miletus the warehouses had to be rebuilt closer to the water's edge.

The ruins of the once prosperous city-port of Miletus are now ten kilometres distant from the coast and the Island of Lade now forms part of a rich agricultural plain. There would have been opportunity to observe other areas where earth generated from water, for example, the deltas of the Halys, the Ister, about which Hesiod wrote (Theogony, 341), now called the Danube, the Tigris-Euphrates, and almost certainly the Nile. This coming-into-being of land would have provided substantiation of Thales's doctrine. To Thales water held the potentialities for the nourishment and generation of the entire cosmos. Aetius attributed to Thales the concept that -even the very fire of the sun and the stars, and indeed the cosmos itself is nourished by evaporation of the waters- (Aetius, Placita Philosophorum, I.3).

After Cleo wash finished, Adbraxus once again praised his pupil. She migh have the burned with the feeble brain of a girl but her mind was sharper than many of his other students at the musaeum, maybe even sharper than some of the teacher, time would tell. If he had enough time left that is.

No time to waste then kreousa “Lets take a second look at Aetius description of Thales idea. Can you spot any flaw in his theory?”

Cleopatra took her time to think about the question. Usually, she would have suspected it to be trick of some kind, someone making fun of her but that wasn’t Abdaraxus style. Somehow he seemed to believe that a little girl could find a flaw in the work of one of the wise man who ever lived, the great Aetius of Antioch or the even greater Thales of Miletus. She had already spend ours with her “official” philosophy teacher learning Aetius quotes by heart. Even more so had she heard him endlessly venerate Thales. So how to do it….How to find a flaw?

Commen sense, that had to be the answer. If she surpassed her peers and masters in any area, it was commen sense.

“People have never seen water burn, vanishing, changing into earth, evaporate into air but never burn. I mean we actually use it to extinguish flames, don’t we? So how could he tell with confidence that water fuels the sun? Aside from just theorizing I mean.”

Exhausted, by her motor mouth antics and maybe a bit smug as well she looked at Abdaraxus awaiting his praise. The old man slowly, stroked his magnificent grey beard, knowing fully well how much such stalling tactics infuriated the little kreousa.

“Hmmmm, yes, yes, hmmm not quiet.”

That answer wiped away the smugness from her face.

“Oh, you aren’t wrong Cleopatra Philopator, you just jumped a bit to far ahead in you conclusions. You see, you are right when you said that Aetius never saw water turning into flammable air. However I very much did, and so will you, very soon in fact. But for today our lesson is over. Please, be on your way. Your riding instructor already complained that I keep you far too long all for myself.”

Cleopatra was ready to protest, but realized that she actually liked her riding lessons very much. Horses were awesome and cute, cutawsome! Still, witnessing burning air and listening to Abdaraxus stories was nothing to sneeze at either, far from it. She really couln’t await to visit his workshop again.Life was great, no need to keep brooding over death and all this heavy stuff so much. As Abdaraxus saw her darting away, to her beloved horses he renembered that for all her clever thoughts, for all her power Cleo was still a kid, a precious one at that. Sometimes Abdaraxus wondered if he wasn't teaching her too much too early, but then he renembered that innocence doesn’t protest protect form the ignorance, not even a little princess.

First Interlude

I fear perhaps thou deemest that we fare
An impious road to realms of thought profane;
But 'tis that same religion oftener far
Hath bred the foul impieties of men:
As once at Aulis, the elected chiefs,
Foremost of heroes, Danaan counsellors,
Defiled Diana's altar, virgin queen,
With Agamemnon's daughter, foully slain.
She felt the chaplet round her maiden locks
And fillets, fluttering down on either cheek,
And at the altar marked her grieving sire,
The priests beside him who concealed the knife,
And all the folk in tears at sight of her.

With a dumb terror and a sinking knee
She dropped; nor might avail her now that first
'Twas she who gave the king a father's name.
They raised her up, they bore the trembling girl
On to the altar- hither led not now
With solemn rites and hymeneal choir,
But sinless woman, sinfully foredone,
A parent felled her on her bridal day,
Making his child a sacrificial beast
To give the ships auspicious winds for Troy:
Such are the crimes to which Religion leads.


Notes

(1) Κρέουσα or Princess

(2) Phōsphóros as an adjective means that which brings light, light bearing or torch bearing often as an epithet of a god or priestess.

Sources

http://www.iep.utm.edu/thales/#H3

People

Aetius of Antioch (1st- or 2nd-century BCE)
Hesiod (750 BCE - 650 BCE)
Cleopatra VII Philopator (69 BCE– 30 BCE)
Abdaraxus Didaskalos (127 BCE – 58 BCE)
Thales of Miletus (624 BCE – 546 BCE)

 

[ComradeHuxley]

Cleopatra – The Queen of Enlightenment (II)



Cleo and the Wonderfactory (Alexandria, 58 BCE)

Ptolemy Neos Dionysos Theos Philopator Theos Philadelphos (New Dionysus, God Beloved of his Father, God Beloved of his Brother) was sitting on his throne, nursing his latest hangover, worthy of his divine namesake, as dignified as possible. Thus he was not happy when the merciful silence was disturbed, he was almost working himself up to throwing a fit, until he realized, the intruder was a little girl, his beloved Cleopatra.

“Did I interrupt your thought father?”, she always knew knew the right words, truly born with a golden tongue, he thought. “No, don’t worry, but tell me what do you need daughter?”

“I just wanted to visit Adbraxus, but the guards say there are some turmoils in the city….But he wanted to show me something really important, I need to go. And,…..well it seems he coughs a lot more than ever before.”

Ptolemy XII understood fully well, life how precious and short life could be, even for supposed God. And he had long time ago made up his mind to celebrate every last moment to its fullest. This in turn earned him the less flattering names "Auletes" (The Flutist) or "Nothos" (The Bastard).

“Now all at kings after the third Ptolemy, being corrupted by luxurious living, have administered the affairs of government badly, but worst of all the fourth, seventh, and the last, Auletes, who, apart from his general licentiousness, practiced the accompaniment of choruses with the flute, and upon this he prided himself so much that he would not hesitate to celebrate contests in the royal palace, and at these contests would come forward to vie with the opposing contestants (Strabo XVII, 1, 11).“

If he had one redeeming quality however it was his willingness to ensure his daughter education as well as his recognition of the fleetingness of life. Thus he readily agreed that enough soldiers would accompany her to make the journey safe.

After her safe arrive in Abdaraxus workshop he was warmly greeted by the old man. A bit too informal maybe, but at this point everybody who was in a position to criticize such conduct already accepted their de facto grandfather/granddaughter relationship. If she had the power Cleo sometimes thought she made it de jure. In fact she already was plotting out a much magnificent plan…..

But for now it was back to their equally familiar and comfortable teacher and pupil antics.

“Last time I promised you to show you how water turns into sun fire, are you sure you are ready for something so dangerous. It is not for the feint of heart. Ha.”

He was smiling and so was she “totally ready”. Besides he would never do anything that could actually hurt her. Not only because the was the Pharao’s daughter but because he genuinely loved his little Cleo.

The basic experiment was rather simple, yet also very impressive. In fact to this day the classic Knallgas (bang-gas) experiment remains the highlight of chemistry classes around the world.


Abdaraxus prepared his most powerful battery he had designed so far. He connected two wires to the battery’s two poles and their other ends were dipped into a bowl of water. Soon bubbles started to form around the wires ends.

“Now before we do anything else tell me what you see?”

Cleo concentrated on the picture before her. “Bubbles are forming at the wires ends. I don’t see anything else no matter how what I try.”

“Don’t worry, it took me a while to notice, I just wanted to see if you already surpass your’ teacher’s keen perception. Ha, ha. But what I found was that these bubbles are made of two different substances. One a bit faster and more than the other. Also I am not sure about all the details. So many discoveries and so little time, he sighed.”

Adbarxus handed over a little wooden stick to Cleo. Here, light it up on the fire torch. Cleo eagerly grabbed the piece of wood and kindled it. Playing with fire, in this case literally, was fun. However soon she began to frown. Holding the stick over the surface didn’t do much for one set of the bubbles (oxygen) and the others (hydrogen) only burned with little puffs of flame.

“Hardly sun fire is it.” Adbaraxus easily read Cleo’s disappointment in her face also she tried to hide it as best as she could.”

Lets see what we can do about that. He began adding soap to the mixture. They repeated the whole experiment once again but this time the soap bubbles unloaded their energy in a loud a violent bang that caught Cleo completely of guard.

“Its like thunder...” she remarked after she calmed down.

That was how he knew her. A world shattering experiment and she was grasping the wider more complex indication.

“A brilliant observation. I like where your thoughts are going. Indeed thanks to Bacchius experiments with frog legs we know that lightning are some kind of pneumatic phenomenon. Certainly worth investigating but not today, I fear. There is much I have yet to show you.”

His urgency was rather atypical for him she thought, although she wasn’t sure what exactly was going on.

“You see, as I mentioned the two forms of air, the bubbles when they combine at the right ratio, they not only burn but explode, lots of energy. In fact I am still, occasionally find splinter of the glass bottle I used to capture the gas. A most fascinating but also terribly dangerous experiments. I nearly lost my assistant to the explosion. Thankfully he recovered thou. Always remember there is a Deadalus as wells as an Icarus in all of us. My inner Icarus almost got me…. Only I captured the sun in a bottle instead of flying to it. Ha, ha. But seriously there is much I have to show you.”

And so he did. The next experiment concerned the invention of new type of blowpipe. “Its simple really, I wanted a way to control the burning of gas. How to do that? Follow in the footsteps of others. The glass blower use their lungs to blow air into a flame to make it hotter. So what happens if we blow these water gasses into a flame. So I caught gas into a sack, no more glass vessels any time soon, and use it as some kind of artificial lung. Simple, yet amazing...”

Do you want to do me the honor. Sure enough she began to press one of several sacks, prepared, filled with oxyhydrogen mixture. The blowpipe itself was mounted on the working bench and a fire torch was light beneath it.

“The flame does get defiantly hotter. It tried to see its effect on different materials and I believe there is much potential. But the most exciting thing happened when I tried to burn lime. And indeed the block of lime glowed much brighter than anything Cleo had every seen. It was almost brighter than the sun itself. Once again, the future queen of Egypt, who was on her way to learn seven languages to charm the entire world was simply speechless.

“That is….”

“Unfortunately it is time to leave kreousa.” Abdaraxusshared a conspiratory side glance with one of her guards.

“Oh, but….” in the end she didn’t try, there were very few things her teacher didn’t love to discuss with her, but safety and schedule organization were one of those.

“Until we see each other next time, read up anything you can about the Leucippus, Democritus, Epicurus and the philosophy of Atomism in general. You’ll see why. Don’t worry I’ll keep the limelight shining out of the window so you will always find your way here, ha, ha ha.”

After an unusually long hug, Cleo left the wondrous workshop, and in a sense, her childhood for the last time.

Second Interlude

Chiefly because our pauper-speech must find
Strange terms to fit the strangeness of the thing;
Yet worth of thine and the expected joy
Of thy sweet friendship do persuade me on
To bear all toil and wake the clear nights through,
Seeking with what of words and what of song

I may at last most gloriously uncloud
For thee the light beyond, wherewith to view
The core of being at the centre hid.
And for the rest, summon to judgments true,
Unbusied ears and singleness of mind
Withdrawn from cares; lest these my gifts, arranged
For thee with eager service, thou disdain
Before thou comprehendest: since for thee
I prove the supreme law of Gods and sky,
And the primordial germs of things unfold,

Whence Nature all creates, and multiplies
And fosters all, and whither she resolves
Each in the end when each is overthrown.
This ultimate stock we have devised to name
Procreant atoms, matter, seeds of things,
Or primal bodies, as primal to the world.

Notes and Sources

Water contains hydrogen and oxygen and electrical energy is causing water to split into these elements. The formula of water is H2O as Abdaraxus found out means one can can expect twice the volume of hydrogen to form as oxygen:

2H2O(l) → 2H2(g) + O2(g)

The explosion is caused by the energy released when the gases re-combine to form water.

Wikipedia: Cleopatra, Ptolemy XII, etc.

People

Cleopatra VII Philopator (69 BCE – 30 BCE)
Abdaraxus (unkown)
Ptolemy XII (117 BCE –51 BCE)
Bacchius of Tanagra (275–??? BCE)

 

[ComradeHuxley]

The Art of Rejuvenation


A Visit of the Asclepeion (Pergamon, 70 ACE)

It was hot even in the morning, hot enough that you could almost feel water evaporating with any breath. Most people he had met during his stroll so far, had done their best to cover themselves, with garment in the style of the local desert nomads, so called ccc. They were walking in a hurry to reach some more shadowy places, seeking their cold comfort. He however enjoyed the heat, it helped cleanse out the foul miasma plaguing his aging body, or so he hoped at least. There were many theories about disease and ailings floating around these days. Now he arrived at the Asclepeion a healing temple, decicated Asclepius, the greek god of medicine.

Starting around 350 BC, the cult of Asclepius became increasingly popular. Pilgrims flocked to his temples, the asclepieia to be healed. They slept overnight a process called "incubation" and reported their dreams to a priest the following day. The priests would then prescribe a cure, often a visit to the baths or the gymnasium.

Since snakes were sacred to Asclepius, they were often used in healing rituals. Non-venomous snakes were left to crawl on the floor in dormitories where the sick and injured slept. Asclepeia provided carefully controlled spaces conducive to healing and fulfilled several of the requirements of institutions created for healing. Hippocrates is said to have received his medical training at an asclepieion on the isle of Kos.

However it was not Kos, but the Asclepeion of Pergamon in cooperation with the Library of Pergamon that over time had earned its place among the triumvirate of the greatest scholarly institution in the Roman Empire. When people spoke of this instituition, the Asclepaeum it evoked the same awe as the Museaeum of Alexandria or the Minveraeum of Rome (1) and the a truly rare feat.

Finally the pilgrim arrived at the Asclepeion, or more precisely, he was standing right in front of the Fountain of Medea, which depicted the ancient mythological sorceress working here magic.

“Medea took her unsheaved knife and cut the old man’s throat, letting all of his old blood out of him. She filled his veins with a rich elixir, which he received through his lips and wound. His beard and hair, no longer white with age, turned quickly to their natural vigour, dark and lustrous; and his wasted form renewed, appeared in all the vigour of bright youth.”

He somehow felt the need to recited Ovid’s Metaphor as he had to do so many times in his youth under the watchful eyes of his teacher. To be young again, he thought.

Starting all over again, maybe this time he would make the right decisions or just different misktakes, who knew. But for now his attention was wholly consumed by the piece of craftsmanship in front of him. The fountain itself was quiet a piece of art, the blood, or water in this case pouring out of old Aeson's throat. He did his best to savor every moment, to catch every ray of the sun that got reflected in the gushing elixir of life. And he had to admit the cooling effect of flowing water, was welcome, heat purging miasma or not. “Salve Senex”

It seemed this moment wasn’t meant to last last. “I hope I didn’t interrupt you contemplations but would you tell me your name visitor.” a young novice of the Asclepeion greeted him sheepishly. The boy didn't knew much about the guest but those that could afford their modern treatments these days were men of high status and wealth.

“My name is ccc, I have an appointment with Athenaeus.”

“Of course. Standing in the heat of the morning sun, all alone. That can't be good for your health. I’ll immediately guide you to his office. As you will notice, the building is well cooled.”

Asclepius, was ready to make one of his infamous quips, that came with the trade of being a renown master of rhetoric, something in the lieu of still being hot blood by nature but the youth seemed a bit to inexperienced to take such jest the right way. Instead he took a last breath of fresh, clean air before the strong smell of bleach could overwhelmed him (2).

Athenaeus meanwhile was humming to himself while flushed his transfusion instrument with bleach water. There were many different theories how exactly disease spread contagion, microbes, miasma or and unbalanced diet. But the first three explanations at least all had in common that they could be fought by dousing everything in bleach. Thus the smell of chlorine had become a familiar not only to doctor like himself but anybody living in the more civilized, healthy parts of the imperium as they say “Pax, Purus, Lux Roma”.

Usually this was the work of novice, servants and slaves, but for those patients he treated personally he wasn’t willing to risk any failure by others if it could be avoided. The equipment in this case were two simple hollow silver needles connected by a tube made of Garamanten resin (3). This would allow for the easiest, safest way to replace blood of the old man with some fresh young blood. Blood typing might also be in order. The donors were exclusevily type zero. But a further diagnosis and the subsequent treatment plan would require more information.


Asclepiades And The Origins Of Blood Therapy (129 – 40 BC)

Asclepiades of Bithyniawas born at Prusa in Bithynia in Asia Minor and flourished at Rome, where he established Greek medicine near the end of the 2nd century BC. He attempted to build a new theory of disease, based on the flow of atoms through pores in the body. His treatments sought to restore harmony through the use of diet, exercise, and bathing.

It is not known when he died, except that it was at an advanced age. It was said that he laid a wager with Fortuna, that he would forfeit his character as a physician if he should ever suffer from any disease himself. Pliny the Elder, who tells the anecdote, adds that he won his wager, for he reached a great age and died at last from an accident. He received the names Philosophicus due to his knowledge of philosophy and Pharmacion for his knowledge of medicinal herbs. Antiochus of Ascalon said about Asclepiades, "second to none in the art of medicine and acquainted with philosophy too”.

Discarding the humoral doctrine of Hippocrates, he attempted to build a new theory of disease, and founded his medical practice on a modification of the atomic or corpuscular theory, according to which disease results from an irregular or inharmonious motion of the corpuscles of the body. His ideas were likely partly derived from the atomic theories of Democritus and Epicurus. All morbid action was reduced to the obstruction of pores and irregular distribution of atoms.

His remedies were, therefore, directed to the restoration of harmony. He trusted much to changes of diet, massages, bathing and exercise, though he also employed emetics and bleeding. A part of the great popularity which he enjoyed depended upon his prescribing the liberal use of wine to his patients, and upon his attending to their every need, and indulging their inclinations. He would treat all his patients fairly and not discriminate based upon gender or mental illness. He believed treating his patients kindly and amicably was a staple to being a good physician. Cito tuto jucunde meaning to treat his patients "swiftly, safely, and sweetly" was a motto that he followed.

Many physicians during his era had a tendency to be uncaring and have a lack of sympathy towards their patients. As many of his contemporary he saw the work of Herophilos and Bacchius as important to treat certain conditions. However he also recognized that charlatans,who used shock treatment and resurrection demonstration to dazzle their patrons had soured the medical instrument's reputation in serious scholarly circles.

He changed his opinion however when he learned on an ongoing discussion between Philodemus and Lucretian on a novel theory, that Baccius battery could produce pneuma topor powerful enough to split water into its atoms. Not only that but they could also be reform back into water again. Although he was not too fond of who sought to investigate the structure of the body, or to watch the phenomena of disease such as Hippocrates, he still succumbed to his own curiosity.



Notes

(1) Minveraeum of Rome, founded by Ceasar as a roman answer to the (reformed) Musaeum. The actual organization of the institution was done by Marcus Terentius Varro.

(2) The background story behind this development is mainly based on the life and work of Antoine Germain Labarraque (1777 – 1850) notable for formulating and finding important uses for "Eau de Labarraque" or "Labarraque's solution", a solution of sodium hypochlorite.

(3) The name of natural rubber in this timeline.
.
Sources

wikipedia: all people’s biography and places
http://www.novaroma.org/nr/Using_Roman_names#Usage_of_the_Roman_names
David Souza/F.M.D Hocking (1935): Changes in the coagulability of the blood produced by critic acid and some of its decomposition products.
The Big Lye (History of Sodium Hydroxide as We Know it Today)


People

Athenaeus of Attalia (1st century AD)
Asclepiades of Bithynia (129 – 40 BC)
Titus Lucretius Carus (99 BC– 55 BC in OTL) but (99 BC– c. 25 BC in this timeline)
Philodemus of Gadara (110 B.C - 35 BC)
Herophilos of Chalcedon (335–280 BC)
Bacchius of Tanagra (275–??? BC)

 

[ComradeHuxley]

Cleopatra – The Queen of Enlightenment (III)



Life Changing Books and Intermingling Interludes


“I am indebted to my father for living, but to my teacher for living well.”
Alexander the Great

It had only be a few days since their refugee party had arrived in Rome. Cleopatra, her father and a few trusted retainer. While she had heard tales about the mighty city of Rome, her first impression had been rather mixed. They were forced to sail the whole voyage incognito, not under the purple sails of royalty but in a rather inconspicuous ship, with white common sails. But the greatest humiliation came Cleopatra experienced was on a more personal level.

Mother of Rome, delight of Gods and men,
Dear Venus that beneath the gliding stars
Makest to teem the many-voyaged main
And fruitful lands- for all of living things
Through thee alone are evermore conceived,
Through thee are risen to visit the great sun-
Before thee, Goddess, and thy coming on,
Flee stormy wind and massy cloud away,

Although only just barely thirteen, she always saw herself as a well educated woman, but somehow it had escaped her notice that Rome, unlike Alexandria wasn’t a harbor town. Thus when their party arrived at the walled of seaport of Ostia, their doorway to Rome. She silently cursed herself for making such a stupid mistake. While she was told, and saw herself as a young beauty, Cleopatra Philopator she wasn’t quiet as vain as her accursed, treacherous sister. The last thing she had heard from her was a simple message. “Since you and your father cowardly abandoned Egypt to the rioting mobs” somehow omitting that he was her father as well, bitch “fleeing to your Roman benefactors the duty of ruling over our kingdom now falls on us. Should you and your father ever set food on our shores you will be immediate executed.” Okay, maybe she wasn’t recalling the message not entirely correct, it was a bit more flowery, more formal but she had thrown it away before even finishing it properly.

Properly didn’t write it anyway, she always relied on their priest, servants and the royal court staff for such things. If only her laziness would have prevented, her from her constant scheming and socializing, unfortunately she really loved that part of politics. Properly because the golden throne makes the perfect missing accessory for her royal bottom. She even had snorted a bit unprincesslike at that thought. But she quickly regained her composure and set her sight on her surroundings. The coast was littered with villas for the wealthy Roman patrician to escape the crowded and to enjoy a breath of fresh, sea cooled air. It reminded her a bit of the royal palace, although one would have to merge all the villas into one giant structure to even match it grandness. That restored a bit of the ride, that she lost, barfing it into the rough sea during their voyage.

For thee the daedal Earth bears scented flowers,
For thee waters of the unvexed deep
Smile, and the hollows of the serene sky
Glow with diffused radiance for thee!

The lighthouse, although a bit smaller then Alexandria’s still served its function well. It guided ships from all over the known world into the bay. The water was choppy with with so many oars churning back and forth, rocked by the river Tiber who finally found freedom in the open sea. A lovely exciting sight, even if the circumstanced behind their travel, their hazard escape were less then enjoyable. Both sides of the Tiber were crowded with docks. Cargo was were being unloaded from ships and transferred to wagon because the river was to shallow for sailing. And so, too, their “royal fleet” had to remain anchored at Ostia. Instead the crew moved their belongings to carts and donkeys. At first it was a pleasure to feel land again under once foot Cleo taught. Forrest, meadows, flowers all aligned along the way. An oasis in Egypt is as lovely but surrounded by desert, here thou all green everywhere.

For soon as comes the springtime face of day,
And procreant gales blow from the West unbarred,
First fowls of air, smit to the heart by thee,
Foretoken thy approach, O thou Divine,
And leap the wild herds round the happy fields
Or swim the bounding torrents. Thus amain,
Seized with the spell, all creatures follow thee
Whithersoever thou walkest forth to lead,
And thence through seas and mountains and swift streams,
Through leafy homes of birds and greening plains,
Kindling the lure of love in every breast,

There was however one major flaw in this little fantasy scenery of the wonderful, exotic foreign country, the great old river Tiber itself. At this time of the year it was perhaps only one meter deep flowing like brown oil, bringing from the city all types of disgusting things that float: bloody rags , onion, broken pieces of furniture and more. A stench permanent, omnipresent hovered in the air, a kind of smell she would never forget. The ugly filth, the Empire rather forget, yet is part of their very lifeblood as she would later write down. But there was a certain beauty to it, she thought as she watched a sewer stream flowing trough a meticulously crafted stone arch, pouring its dirty water into the river.

O'ermastered by the eternal wound of love-
And there, with eyes and full throat backward thrown,
Gazing, my Goddess, open-mouthed at thee,
Pastures on love his greedy sight, his breath
Hanging upon thy lips. Him thus reclined
Fill with thy holy body, round, above!
Pour from those lips soft syllables to win

Peace for the Romans, glorious Lady, peace!
For in a season troublous to the state
Neither may I attend this task of mine
With thought untroubled, nor mid such events
The illustrious scion of the Memmian house (1)

Fittingly on the bank directly above the sewer stood the Temple of Hercules Victor. Thus worshiper were forced to hold their noses while presenting their offerings.

Cloaca Maxima and the Temple of Hercules Victor


Whilst human kind throughout the lands lay miserably crushed
Before all eyes beneath Religion- who
Would show her head along the region skies,
Glowering on mortals with her hideous face-
A Greek it was who first opposing dared
Raise mortal eyes that terror to withstand,

Whom nor the fame of Gods nor lightning's stroke
Nor threatening thunder of the ominous sky
Abashed; but rather chafed to angry zest
His dauntless heart to be the first to rend
The crossbars at the gates of Nature old.
And thus his will and hardy wisdom won;
And forward thus he fared afar, beyond
The flaming ramparts of the world, until
He wandered the unmeasurable All.

Whence he to us, a conqueror, reports
What things can rise to being, what cannot,
And by what law to each its scope prescribed,
Its boundary stone that clings so deep in Time.
Wherefore Religion now is under foot,
And us his victory now exalts to heaven.
I know how hard it is in Latian verse
To tell the dark discoveries of the Greeks.


Sources

http://www.iep.utm.edu/lucretiu/#H1
Cleopatra VII: Daughter of the Nile, Egypt, 57 B.C. (The Royal Diaries)
by Kristiana Gregory
wikipedia (in general)

 

[ComradeHuxley]

The Fall of Aristotle and The Rise of the Minervaeum

"ipsa scientia potestas est/knowledge itself is power"
Julius Caesar (1)

A short history of the Minervaeum (I)

The first Roman libraries were private, and were constituted by the books that were seized by the glorious generals in the East campaigns, along with gold and jewels, sculptures and literate slaves. One knows that general Lucius Emilius Paulus, winner in the decisive battle of Pydna (168 b.C.), took as booty the books that constituted the library of the last Macedonian king, Perseus, soon to offer it to his sons, amongst whom was the famous Scipio the African. Sulla, on the other hand, seized in Athens the books of Aristotle acquired by Apelicon. Also Lucius Licinius Lucullus, during its conquests in Asia Minor, collected a great amount of books. The new owners of the libraries opened them with generosity to those who wished to consult them and Cicero, according to his own accounts, devoured the books of the library of Sulla.

Although already in the 2nd Century BC Latin books circulated, these first libraries consisted of Greek works, that spread through the Roman world enhancing the glory of Greece. It was Horace, talking about Polibius and the thousands of hostages who were carried to Rome after Pydna, wrote its famous sentence: 'Graecia capta ferum victorem cepit' ('overcome Greece, conquer a conqueror'). Also important were the conferences that Crates of Mallus, director of the library of Pergamum, held in Rome with remarkable success, to such an extent that the public libraries that were constructed later in Rome were following the example of the one in Pergamum.

Standing next to a temple the library consisted mainly of a large storage room for scrolls and a porch on which one might read, or from where one could take a walk in the gardens or from where works could be recited aloud to an audience. One of the most prominent and innovative speaker that could be heard in the park of the Mineravaeum was Marcus Vitruvius Pollio the author of De architectura (On Architecture).

19 BC, Minervaeum, Rome

“Architecture is a science arising out of many other sciences, and adorned with much and varied learning; by the help of which a judgment is formed of those works which are the result of other arts. Practice and theory are its parents. Practice is the frequent and continued contemplation of the mode of executing any given work, or of the mere operation of the hands, for the conversion of the material in the best and readiest way. Theory is the result of that reasoning which demonstrates and explains that the material wrought has been so converted as to answer the end proposed.

In architecture, as in other arts, two considerations must be constantly kept in view; namely, the intention, and the matter used to express that intention: but the intention is founded on a conviction that the matter wrought will fully suit the purpose; he, therefore, who is not familiar with both branches of the art, has no pretension to the title of the architect. An architect should be ingenious, and apt in the acquisition of knowledge. Deficient in either of these qualities, he cannot be a perfect master. He should be a good writer, a skilful draftsman, versed in geometry and optics, expert at figures, acquainted with history, informed on the principles of natural and moral philosophy, somewhat of a musician, not ignorant of the sciences both of law and physic,º nor of the motions, laws, and relations to each other, of the heavenly bodies.

By means of the first named acquirement, he is to commit to writing his observations and experience, in order to assist his memory. Drawing is employed in representing the forms of his designs. Geometry affords much aid to the architect: to it he owes the use of the right line and circle, the level and the square; whereby his delineations of buildings on plane surfaces are greatly facilitated. The science of optics enables him to introduce with judgment the requisite quantity of light, according to the aspect. Arithmetic estimates the cost, and aids in the measurement of the works; this, assisted by the laws of geometry, determines those abstruse questions, wherein the different proportions of some parts to others are involved. Unless acquainted with history, he will be unable to account for the use of many ornaments which he may have occasion to introduce…..” The audience was still waiting for him to continue, but Vitruvius had other. Plans, he asked one of the libraries domestic slaves to fetch him a bola (1).

A short history of the Minervaeum (II)

During his reign as dictator from 49-44 BC, Julius Caesar had a number of notable impacts on the city of Rome. Caesar wanted to enhance the city’s appearance after he realized how unimpressive Rome seemed in comparison to Alexandria, which was considered the greatest city of the Mediterranean. As a result, the Forum Julium was built to provide more space for lawcourts, and the Saepta Julia, situated on the Campus Martius, provided a large enclosure for voting. Caesar also ordered the construction of a new senate house after the previous one was used as Clodius’s funeral pyre in 52 BC. Additionally, he sought to divert the Tiber River away from Rome to prevent flooding and to add to the city’s area. He had also planned to build a grand temple of Mars, a theater that would rival Pompey’s, and a library that would rival Alexandria’s. The last project’s announcement speech actually provided the famous quote introducing the story.

Philosophical, historical and literary works were to be abounded in this new library, but so too would be other books, instructing the Romans to taking care of agriculture, the arts of war, the medicine or engineering and so on. The man to equip Rome with such great public library, a Minervaeum, dedicated to Rome’s great godess of wisdom and war was his friend Marcus Terentius Varro. Caesar never saw this project realized due to his premature death. Caesar’s impact on the city of Rome continued even after his death when, in his will, he stipulated that his villa, the gardens surrounding it, and his art gallery all be made the base for his great public library. He also distributed his wealth to cause, the enormous sum of. Even after his death his last will ensured that Rome became a cultural and educational center of the Mediterranean world by attracting intellectuals, doctors, and lawyers to the city.

Galileo / Vitruvius Thought Experiment illustrated

19 BC, Minervaeum, Rome

Vitruvius carefully balanced the barbarian weapon in his hands while at the same time carefully weighting his next words in his mind.

The Bola

“The bola is a throwing weapon used in many cultures, mostly by nomads and primtive tribal people. I first encountered it during my service for the late Ceasar. It consists of weights of various sizes connected together by cord. The weights are made of different materials held in pouches or tied to their cords directly. There are at least three such weights, but there are many different bola designs having as many as 6 or 8 weights. In some designs, the weights are of different sizes, others use weights of equal size, and there are variations in between. The same is true for the cords holding the weights. Sometimes the distance between each weight and the place where the cords come together is equal, other times not.

The bola is thrown by grasping one of the weights in some designs, while in others, the nexus where the cords come together is held. The whole assembly is often swung over the head in a horizontal plane and released. As they fly through the air, the weights will separate giving the bola a configuration something like a flattened and open net. On striking a target, usually the legs of an animal, the weights will cause the cords to wrap themselves about it tripping the animal. It is a weapon of perfect simplicity on the surface, but once have a closer look it offers quite a hidden depth.”

A Step to the Fall

With quite some satisfaction Vitruvius observed his audience reaction. It wasn’t always easy to get more their attention. But he was sure that he got at least most on them hooked. If necessary he could always pepper this lectures with some exploits in the military campaigns he participated in. Hot blooded young men mostly cared, about three things spilling their enemies blood, breaking maiden hearts and getting smashing drunk. Nevertheless, sometimes he managed to sneak a more complex thought in there: “Once I encountered this little thing I was certain that I could improve it easily. However once I found the time to do so I encountered a fascinating riddle. But let us start at the beginning. The principle behind the weapon is throwing a stone. We all have the almost innate ability to do so. To understand that things, after being thrown fall down. We further assume that heavy things like iron, or stone fall faster than lighter objects like feathers or wood. Nevertheless, I decided to consult Aristotle’s work, and what he knew about things falling. It was quite enlightening. Aristotle put forward his ideas on why objects fall to Earth, and also on motion in general, in works written around 330 BC in his book Physics.

To summarize Aristotle holds the view that there are two kinds of motion for inanimate matter, natural and unnatural. Unnatural (or “violent”) motion is when something is being pushed, and in this case the speed of motion is proportional to the force of the push. He probably deduced this from watching oxcarts and boats. However such unnatural motions are short lived (since continual application of force is required to maintain motion) and the "natural desire" of the stone to return to the Earth takes over and then natural motion returns the stone to Earth's center.

For the natural motion of heavy objects falling to earth, Aristotle asserted that the speed of fall was proportional to the weight, and inversely proportional to the density of the medium the body was falling through. He did also mention that there was some acceleration, as the body approached more closely its own element, its weight increased and it speeds up. However, these remarks in Aristotle work are very brief and vague, and certainly not quantitative.

Now, Artistotle was not the only one putting his thoughts into the question of gravity. One of his students Strato of Lampsacus, already lay the groundwork for our lesson today. He devoted himself especially to the study of natural science, and build upon the naturalistic elements in Aristotle's thought. In fact became renown as Strato Physicus. As I do now Strato emphasized the need for exact research. There is much to learn from him but we will now focus one of his observation of gravity.

In his book De Motus/On Movements he points out that – if someone lifts a heavy stone or other heavy body about a finger’s breadth from the ground and lets it go the impact with which it strikes the ground will hardly be noticeable, but if he lifts it a hundred feet or more before letting it go it will make a strong impact there is no other cause of the impact (except the stone’s velocity), for its weight does not increase, nor does the moving body grow larger…- Certainly something to keep in mind when designing, operating or commanding siege weapon.”

Once again Vitruvius mustered his audience. Both scenario’s were equally likely. Either you were very smart enough for a patron to send you here or you were a member of Rome’s elite already. Sadly not much of Ceasar’s idea of a public institution of learning had remained (3).

"But there is even more to discover about the relation between motion and weight. If quicksilver be placed in a vessel, and a stone of a hundred pounds weight be placed on it, it will swim at the top, and will, notwithstanding its weight, be incapable of pressing the liquid so as to break or separate it. If this be taken out, and only a single scruple of gold be put in, that will not swim, but immediately descend to the bottom. This is a proof that the gravity of a body does not depend on its weight, but on its nature. So if it isn’t simply the weight that decides the attraction of material to our earth there should be quiet some room for improvements.

And this is where I encountered the greatest riddle so far. Imagine a bola with two balls, one light and one heavier than the other one. Now they are, as is this specimen connected to each other by a string. Now throw such a bola from sufficient height or with sufficient force. If we assume heavier objects do indeed fall faster than lighter ones (and conversely, lighter objects fall slower), the string will soon pull taut as the lighter object retards the fall of the heavier object. But the system considered as a whole is heavier than the heavy object alone, and therefore should fall faster.

At some point our logic is fundamentally flawed. As you see even one of the greatest philosopher didn’t adhere to this important piece of advise. - Wherefore the mere practical architect nor the emperical philosopher is able to assign sufficient reasons for the forms and ideas he adopts, the theoretician fails grasping the shadow instead of the substance. Only if one pays respect to pure reason and practical experience one can build lasting beauty in stone as well as thought (4) -."

Source and Notes

(1) The sentence was actually first written by Francis Bacon in his book Meditationes Sacrae (1597).

(2) Vitruvius was a military engineer (praefectus fabrum), or a praefect architectus armamentarius of the apparitor status group (a branch of the Roman civil service). Likely born a free Roman citizen, by his own account, Vitruvius served the Roman army under Caesar. As an army engineer he specialized in the construction of ballista and scorpio artillery war machines for sieges. It is speculated that Vitruvius served with Caesar's chief engineer Lucius Cornelius Balbus. The locations where he served can be reconstructed from, for example, descriptions of the building methods of various "foreign tribes". Although he describes places throughout De Architectura, he does not say he was present. His service likely included north Africa, Hispania, Gaul (including Aquitaine) and Pontus. In this timeline it is a fact that he met some members of a foreign tribe that used bolas in one of these campaigns, the exact details will, for now, however remain in the air.

(3) In our timeline Ceasar wrote a fairly similarly civiv minded testament. Caesar left his gardens as a park to the city of Rome, and gave every inhabitant of the city a large amount of money.

(4) Everything Vitruvius says is taken from the actual works of the philosopher mentioned. The observation of the indepence of weight and gravity was documented by himself in his own book De Architectura. The only new additon is the "bola thought experiment". That one is taken from Galileo.

Caesar As Dictator: His Impact on the City of Rome by Steven Fiferticle
http://www.roman-empire.net/articles/article-005.html
http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/PrintHT/Gravitation.html
https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/v/vitruvius.html
wikipedia (several)
http://personal.lse.ac.uk/robert49/ebooks/PhilSciAdventures/lecture17.html
http://galileoandeinstein.physics.virginia.edu/lectures/gal_accn96.htm
http://www.moellerhaus.com/Roman Emperors/Caesar3.html#inheritance

People

Crates of Mallus (2nd century BC)
Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (79 BC, c. 11 BC) - In this timeline.
Marcus Terentius Varro (116 BC – 27 BC)
Gaius Octavius/Augustus (63 BC – 14 AD)
Gaius Julius Caesar (100 BC – 44 BC)
Strato of Lampsacus (335 BC – 269 AC)

 

[ComradeHuxley]

Cleopatra – The Queen of Enlightenment (IV)


When in Rome do as the….Greeks?

The rest of their travel to Rome, was thankfully rather uneventful. Now, finally they journey came to and end, for now at least. While Cleo was helping to adjusting his new roman garment a so called “toga” she for the first time she fully realized their situation. So far everything had been one long, exciting if not always pleasant adventure. But now they were in the lions den.

Her father had promised Egypt’s riches to a bunch of Roman moneylender in order to buy Rome “friendship”. Rome in that case was currently represented by the fearsome triumvirate of Pompey, Ceasar and Crassus.

Soon they would met the first of these man, Pompey. Apparently he was known as the “Bearded Executioner”. Just three month ago, he rid the Mediterranean of pirates – 846- who had been plundering the vessels on trade routes. She would have to remember to thank him for their safe voyage later. She almost caught herself blasphemously thinking that he had certainly done a better job than Neptune. Once again these frightening new thoughts were creeping up upon her mind, Questions her father, the gods , everything. She wondered if it was part of growing up, as one of her handmaids had kindly suggested, or Adbraxus constantly forcing her to reexamine the wisdom of the ancients.

For now she was however willing and able to suppress these dark thoughts and enjoy the hospitality of their host, Tullius Atticus. He was one of the moneylenders, a stout bald man and pleasant enough so far. He appeared a bit bloated, a victim of gluttony or more kindly spoken a devout worshiper of Dionysus. The tips of his fingers were stained purple from eating grapes, while he listened to a poet.

The reader had a deep, sonorous voice that was actually quite pleasant to listen to, although most of the actual tales were about superficial things. Cleo’s father was, quite unsurprisingly, becoming a good drinking buddy with him. For all the flaws she began recognizing in him, her father did have a knack for making friends with people,……... just not his own.
Atticus villa was near the stinking Tiber river, but aside from this drawback it was befitting of their social status. The rooms and the courtyard were lovely a lovely sight. Flowering fruit trees, fish ponds and fountains all well maintained. An atrium with an opening to the sky brought light into the entryway. A pool in the center of the courtyard was catching the rain which meant fresh water for cats, bird and puppies roaming around the building. The bath was similar to their old home, complete with hot water heated by an underground fire.

Before all eyes beneath Religion- who
Would show her head along the region skies,
Glowering on mortals with her hideous face-
A Greek it was who first opposing dared
Raise mortal eyes that terror to withstand,
Whom nor the fame of Gods nor lightning's stroke
Nor threatening thunder of the ominous sky
Abashed; but rather chafed to angry zest
His dauntless heart to be the first to rend
The crossbars at the gates of Nature old.

And thus his will and hardy wisdom won;
And forward thus he fared afar, beyond
The flaming ramparts of the world, until
He wandered the unmeasurable All.
Whence he to us, a conqueror, reports
What things can rise to being, what cannot,
And by what law to each its scope prescribed,
Its boundary stone that clings so deep in Time.
Wherefore Religion now is under foot,
And us his victory now exalts to heaven.

It was the in their third night at Atticus villa that they actually met one of the triumvir. Cleo wore a white toga with a sachet of myyrh tucked next to skin. Also some elaborate make up, but not too much or to garish as too look like a courtesan. Something that happened to her beloved older Berenice. A good heart, good looks but not the smartest head. Cleo sincerely hoped that the treacherous bitch Tryphaena hadn’t done anything to her. She was quite the jealous type after all. But now wasn’t the time for worries but for confident self presentation.

"To Gaius Memmius, son of Gaius Memmius, grandson of Sulla Felix (paid for this monument) from his own funds/C∙MEMMIO∙C∙F∙SULLAE∙FELICIS∙N∙EX∙PEQUNI(A)." Ephesus



A Toast to Reason

The banquet hall was a grand room that opened on to the gardens. Couches had been arranged around round tables low tables so that the host and his guests could recline together while eating. The pillows and covers had the same fabrics that had home. This was properly because both Rome and Alexandria.

Soon serving girls appeared with simmering dish plates, full of tasty delicacies like roasted songbirds and the juiciest grapes and boiled squall eggs. After the dinner was finished suddenly soldiers marches into the room, standing guard or blowing their ceremonial trumpets. It was the quite pompous marital entrance of Pompey. After the signal had been sounded, the General marched in, wearing a red cloak draped over his back in the same style as Alexander the Great. One he surveyed the room, he clapped his hands “Well then” and the real party started. With wine, slave girls dancing and pygmies acrobats. Now father really was in his element socializing. To Cleo’s embarrassment he even pulled out his, beloved old trusty flute that had earned him. Why of all things, she thought, did he manage to rescue this curse, old thing.

In contrast Cleo tried to remain as stoic, calm and dignified as she could. Holding some boring, but harmless conversations, mainly with the few other female guests. Only when she overheard one of Pompey’s friends, a certain Gaius Memmius. He was enthusiastically, encouraged by the alcohol, trying to persuade the other guest of the virtues of Epicurus. He also, even more vehemently insulted the Latin language, as piggish, coarse and the brute, grunting of mere soldiers. Greek, now that was the epitome of civilization. While Cleo agreed with both assessments, he was careful enough only to voice her interest in Epicurus. That name got her attention, the last philosopher Abdbraxus wanted her to study. She became quite angry at herself for almost forgetting about the request.

Now Memmius was enthused by the idea of talking about this subject to a little foreign princess, as his own audience had been about his ramblings. However he soon changed his tone and expression after Cleo revealed her in depth knowledge about Greek philosophy. Instead of looking for an excuse to leave the party she now was really upset once she learned that the (male) adult only part of the evening began.

Still, she had gotten quite a bit information out of Memmius. Apparently there were three authorities in Rome on the topic of Epicurean philosophy. The first one was Cicero, who as Memmius phrased it had at least something to say “about every topic imaginable, and sometimes even on the unimaginable, if asked or not” Then there was Philodemus of Gadara. He studied under the Epicurean Phoenician philosopher, Zeno of Sidon, the head (scholarch) of the Epicurean school, in Athens, before settling in Rome about 80 BC, thirty years ago. However it was unlike that he would ever entertain the idea of talking with a little girl about such even or especially if she could hold her own. And it seemed that he was spending more and more time in his home in Herculaneum, bothering little with the matters of the capitol.

That left the most promising prospect for last. Memmius was in fact the patron of a most remarkable epicurean scholar and natural philosopher, Lucretius, in his own words. Apparently Lucretius just happened to be writing and constantly revising his magnum opus De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of Things). An ambitious title if nothing else. Once she went to bed she could barely sleep that night. To a certain extend this was thanks to the noises of debauchery that echoed through the villa, but also because she couldn’t await the slave who Memmius promised would deliver her his newest copy of the this, allegedly, magnificent work.

Notes

The OTL story of Gaius Memmius the Elder

He died circa 49 BC, incorrectly called Gemellus, "The Twin"), Roman orator and poet, tribune of the people (66 BC), patron of Lucretius and acquaintance of Catullus. At first he was a strong supporter of Pompey, he quarrelled with him, and went over to Caesar, whom he had previously attacked. In 54, as candidate for the consulship, he lost Caesar's support by revealing a scandalous transaction in which he and his fellow candidate had been implicated.
Being subsequently condamned for illegal practices at the election, he withdrew to Athens, and afterwards, to Mytilene. According to Ovid he was the author of erotic poems. He possessed considerable oratorical abilities, but his contempt for Latin letters and preference for Greek models impaired his efficiency as an advocate. In this timeline things work out a bit better for him.


Sources

Cleopatra VII: Daughter of the Nile, Egypt, 57 B.C. (The Royal Diaries) by Kristiana Gregory
wikipedia (in general)
De Rerum Natura – Lucretius
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0131

People

Philodemus of Gadara (BC 110 – 35 BC)
Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 BC – 43 BC)
Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (106 BC– 48 BC)
Ptolemy XII Auletes (117 BC –51 BC)
Abdaraxus (unkown)
Titus Lucretius Carus (99 BC– 55 BC in OTL) but (99 BC– c. 25 BC in this timeline)
Gaius Memmius (??? - 49 BCE) (Tribuni Plebis/Tribune of the Plebs 66 BCE)

 

[ComradeHuxley]

The Art of Rejuvenation (II)


Four Elements, Four Humors, Four Blood Types?

Humorism, or humoralism, was a system of medicine detailing the makeup and workings of the human body, adopted by Ancient Greek and Roman physicians and philosophers, positing that an excess or deficiency of any of four distinct bodily fluids in a persons - known as humors or humour - directly influences their temperament and health. The concept of four humors may have origins in Ancient Egyptian medicine or Mesopotamia, though it was not systematized until ancient Greek thinkers around 400 BC directly linked it with the popular theory of the four elements: earth, fire, water and air. Hippocrates is the one usually credited with applying this idea to medicine. One of the treatises attributed to Hippocrates, On the Nature of Man, describes the theory as follows:

“The Human body contains blood (haima), phlegm (phlegma), kitrini chole (yellow bile), black bile (melaina chole). These are the things that make up its constitution and cause its pains and health. Health is primarily that state in which these constituent substances are in the correct proportion to each other, both in strength and quantity, and are well mixed. Pain occurs when one of the substances presents either a deficiency or an excess, or is separated in the body and not mixed with others.”

Although the theory of the four humors does appear in some Hippocratic texts, some Hippocratic writers only accepted the existence of two humors, while some even refrained from discussing the humoral theory at all. One of the people somewhat skeptical about the theory of four humor was Asclepiades of Bithynia. Instead, as mentioned earlier, he attempted to build a new theory of disease, and founded his medical practice on a modification of the atomic or corpuscular theory, according to which disease results from an irregular or inharmonious motion of the corpuscles of the body. His ideas were likely partly derived from the atomic theories of Democritus and Epicurus. All morbid action was reduced to the obstruction of pores and irregular distribution of atoms.

So it is not surprising that when Gaius Memmius made his famous public demonstration of splitting the element water into its corpuscles. Asclepiades got the inspiration to do the same with bodily fluids, to show that they were simple arrangements of atoms as well, strengthening his school's position. Now there were some problems with recreating the experiment, originally devised by Abdaraxus. The biggest one was the clotting and decay of blood. However this wasn’t an insurmountable problem, not even really a problem depending what exactly he wanted to study.


Blood Sedimentation and the 2 or 4 Humors

If blood is left alone for a few hours in a transparent vessel it separates into it different humors. At least that was what it looked like. Hippocrates and other observers correctly noted that when blood from a healthy person clotted, this clot expressed a second humor, clear bile. Blood from a diseased person, however expressed two extra humors, dark bile (the packed red cells at the bottom) and phlegm (the leukocytes on top).The division of a clot into these two extra humors was, of course a reflection of the accelerated sedimentation of of diseased blood permitting time for separation of a buffy coat before clotting was complete. The “phlemn” was not necessary increased in disease, as the Greeks presumed, but merely more readily seen. (1)

Here the idea was to simply wait, extract the different layer and then atomize (via electrolysis) the different humors.


The Defiberated Blood Option

The other option was based on observations made by Aristotle in his The History of Animals:

“The ines (or fibrous connective tissue) are a something intermediate between sinew and vein. Some of them are supplied with fluid, the lymph; and they pass from sinew to vein and from vein to sinew. There is another kind of ines or fibre that is found in blood, but not in the blood of all animals alike. If this fibre be left in the blood, the blood will coagulate; if it be removed or extracted, the blood is found to be incapable of coagulation.”

In another of his works he remarks that the blood in certain diseased conditions will not coagulate. This is known to be the case in cholera, certain fevers, asphyxia, etc.; and the fact was probably obtained from Hippocrates. Although Aristotle speaks here of entire absence of coagulation in the blood of the deer and the roe, in the " History of Animals " he admits an imperfect coagulation, for he says, " so that their blood does not coagulate like that of other animals."

The animals named are commonly hunted, and it was probably after they had been hunted to death that he examined them. Now, it is generally admitted that coagulation under such circumstances is imperfect and even uncommon. The important thing to take away for Asclepiades of Bithynia and his students was that the defiberation process should allow for the electrolysis of blood in its most natural state, with minimal decay.

The Unexpected Discovery

At first it seemed that everything would go as expected. The fluid was mainly made up of water and a bit of salt. Behaving not much different from regular water. Thing might have ended here, satisfying the groups curiosity. If it was not for one odd little phenomenon. In order to thoroughly investigate, they gathered quite a lot of blood. This was necessary since not all blood was quite as easily defiberated. So they quite often mixed successfully purified blood samples together. In some cases this worked fine. In others however they noticed the agglutination of the blood. In short if incompatible bloody groups were mixed together they clumped together regardless of the presence of fibirin.

His pupil Themison of Laodicea who was less wedded to Asclepiades ideas recognized that this could be the base for an entirely new diagnostic tool. Despite his mentor's initial reservations he theorized that maybe the incompatible blood samples maybe were corresponding to the individual composition of the four humors. To him it didn’t matter if these humors themselves were made of atoms. They still were worth studying on their own.

Notes

(1) Robert (Robin) Sanno Fåhræus (1921), a Swedish physician who devised the erythrocyte sedimentation rate, suggested that the four humours were based upon the observation of blood clotting in a transparent container. When blood is drawn in a glass container and left undisturbed for about an hour, four different layers can be seen. A dark clot forms at the bottom (the "black bile"). Above the clot is a layer of red blood cells (the "blood"). Above this is a whitish layer of white blood cells (the "phlegm"). The top layer is clear yellow serum (the "yellow bile").

Source

Fathers of Biology by Charles McRae, M.A., F.L.S.
Oxford Percival & Co. King Street, Covent Garden London 1890
http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/agglutination
The History of Animals by Aristotle (350 B.C.E)

By Aristotle

Written 350 B.C.E

People

Asclepiades of Bithynia (129 – 40 BC)
Abdaraxus
Themison of Laodicea (1st century BC)

 

[ComradeHuxley]

Cleopatra – The Queen of Enlightenment (V)


Family Values

“I Cleopatra, want to be, and should be queen”, thought Cleo lying in their hosts garden. A copy of De Rerum Natura spread out besides her in the grass. A most magnificent present, worthy of a queen. Just a scroll full of scribblings but yet worth more than a pile of gold. “I have to be queen” this may seem an odd confession, from a little princess, living in her Roman exile but she couldn’t help it. She was convinced that her thoughts were perfectly logical and correct. Father had six living children, by his two wives long dead. Cleo had no memory of her mother for she was quite small when her mother died.

Auletes’ daughter’s are Tryphaene, Berenice IV, herself Cleopatra VII, and little Arisoe IV. His sons were just babies, Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy Ptolemy XIV. Of all her siblings she was the only who could speak the language of their native Egyptian people. She spoke the languages of their forefathers the mighty Macedonian and even the foreign tongues of the Jews and Ethiopians.

Father only spoke Greek as well as the language of music and power. Those at least he knew well. His Latin, was still rather pitiful, although it was the coarse language of Barbarians. Their obsession with war and fighting reflecting itself in grunting speech. It was the language of Pompey, a man as father liked to say, who “suck to long on the tits of Mars”. However together they had managed to learn enough Latin to get by. In fact, she thought smugly her Latin was pretty short of being fluent. Her father was especially fond of one Roman saying “In Vino Vertias”. Cleo doubted that one a bit although its seemed that at least Memmius held the promise he made to in his near drunken euphoria.

For reasons unknown to herself, the gods have gifted her with learning tongues. Just from visiting the agora and fishing villages. She also had learned the knowledge of the ancients thinker gathered in the Library of the Mouseium. The gift of befriending people will make her a better queen than the treacherous Tryphaena could ever be. Even if she had waited her time, her disdain for the Jews, Medes, the envy of her fathers power, her paranoia all this would have one day consumed her anyway. It was her Cleopatra, incarnation of Isis the merciful that would rule her people with empathy and justice.

Her gifts Cleo thought, would help her do better than Berenice as well. She loved her sister and worried deeply about her, but she couldn’t see her as a good regent. Afraid to visit the streets, to venture outside their royal palace. Afraid of the ugliness of the plebs, of the world. A queen must not be afraid of the outside. This described her, for certain! After all she was the one father chose to accompany him to Rome. And there was Arisoe, her nine year old sister, cute but spoiled and already showing the same mean streak as Tryphaena. Once they returned Cleo would be queen, become the pharaoh, a living goddess?

Only after her father’s natural! death of course. She was a good daughter after all. What a lovely summer day, the sun shining in her face, tickling her with her rays yet such heavy thoughts clouded er mind. But if Lucretius and Epicurus were right, and she no longer doubted that, there is no fate, the gods are far away and uncaring so the only reason, the only justification for her right to rule were her virtues and might.

I fear perhaps thou deemest that we fare
An impious road to realms of thought profane;
But 'tis that same religion oftener far
Hath bred the foul impieties of men:
As once at Aulis, the elected chiefs,
Foremost of heroes, Danaan counsellors,
Defiled Diana's altar, virgin queen,
With Agamemnon's daughter, foully slain.
She felt the chaplet round her maiden locks
And fillets, fluttering down on either cheek,
And at the altar marked her grieving sire,
The priests beside him who concealed the knife,
And all the folk in tears at sight of her.

With a dumb terror and a sinking knee
She dropped; nor might avail her now that first
'Twas she who gave the king a father's name.
They raised her up, they bore the trembling girl
On to the altar- hither led not now
With solemn rites and hymeneal choir,
But sinless woman, sinfully foredone,
A parent felled her on her bridal day,
Making his child a sacrificial beast
To give the ships auspicious winds for Troy:
Such are the crimes to which Religion leads.

(De Rerum Natura - Lucretius)


Three years ago the divine Neo-Dysonisos “bought” a friendship with with Rome. He borrowed six thousand talents of silver from their kingdom to pay Julius Caesar and Pompey so that Rome and Egypt would be allies. Caesar was unfortunately absent waging a, as far as she heard, successful campaign in in the North, beyond the Alps against the rebellious tribes of Gallium. To bad she probably wouldn’t met him any time soon.

Her first impression of Pompey hadn’t changed. His nickname the “Bearded Executioner” was well earned. In just three month, he had rid the Mediterranean of pirates – 846 – who had been plundering vessels on the trade routes. A fearless man who also captured Jerusalem a few years ago, leaving Roman soldiers in charge. A fate Cleo thought thought they had to be wary of as well. After all her fathers debts had increased manifold to sixteen thousand talents. Cleo tried to talk with him in the few hours they were alone but so far he seemed to be unwilling to discuss such complex matters with her. The closes peak she got into his mind, his future plans was when he talked about his favorite subjects. Tales from his 21 years of reign, seemingly mostly consisting of endless banquets and festival. Here and there a few glimpses, all too rare hidden insights into his role as a sharp political operator, as a cunning survivor. Even more fruitless was her attempt to talks about her own thoughts, and feelings, about Epicurus and the nature of man and the world. On this ear he truly was deaf it seemed.

Thus she was left with Epicurus for advice and guidance. Thankfully Memmius had provided her with additional reading material. This could have been a maneuver to increase his standing with Pompey but the letter explaining the matter made clear that he had an even more selfish reason. He really, really enjoyed the opportunity to have found a soulmate, who both as interested in Greek language and Epicurean philosophy as he was, capable of holding a deep conservation even at her young age.

While she might deny it, Cleo wasn’t immune to flattery. The trust he had shown her, motivated her greatly into devouring all the reading material she got. Her father already had already begun to fondly call her his little bookworm. He might not care much to talk about these highly philosophical things himself, but he encouraged his favorite daughter’s enthusiasm for anything besides politics. The Gods knew how unpleasant these things could end. He’d rather have her play around in Adbraxus workshop again, plotting to overthrow the laws of nature, than his him. He chuckled a bit, and order one of the servant to pour some undiluted wine into his coup. There was a good reason he worshiped Dionysus. The keys to surviving the fucked up family politics as an Olympian or as a “Human” God was wine, more wine and music. Not the advise his daughter should or even wanted to hear form him. Who knew, in all this years on earth he had come to one conclusion. If the gods wanted man to think clearly why did they constantly turn water into poison?

A Long Rocky Road Ahead

If her father wasn’t willing to give a useful advice Epicurus did so freely and with joy in his “The Principal Doctrines/ Sovran Maxims”:

1. A blessed and indestructible being has no trouble himself and brings no trouble upon any other being; so he is free from anger and partiality, for all such things imply weakness.

2. Death is nothing to us; for that which has been dissolved into its elements experiences no sensations, and that which has no sensation is nothing to us.

3. The magnitude of pleasure reaches its limit in the removal of all pain. When such pleasure is present, so long as it is uninterrupted, there is no pain either of body or of mind or of both together.

4. Continuous bodily pain does not last long; instead, pain, if extreme, is present a very short time, and even that degree of pain which slightly exceeds bodily pleasure does not last for many days at once. Diseases of long duration allow an excess of bodily pleasure over pain.

5. It is impossible to live a pleasant life without living wisely and honorably and justly, and it is impossible to live wisely and honorably and justly without living pleasantly. Whenever any one of these is lacking, when, for instance, the man is not able to live wisely, though he lives honorably and justly, it is impossible for him to live a pleasant life.

6. In order to obtain protection from other men, any means for attaining this end is a natural good.

7. Some men want fame and status, thinking that they would thus make themselves secure against other men. If the life of such men really were secure, they have attained a natural good; if, however, it is insecure, they have not attained the end which by nature's own prompting they originally sought.

8. No pleasure is a bad thing in itself, but the things which produce certain pleasures entail disturbances many times greater than the pleasures themselves.

9. If every pleasure had been capable of accumulation, not only over time but also over the entire body or at least over the principal parts of our nature, then pleasures would never differ from one another.

10. If the things that produce the pleasures of profligate men really freed them from fears of the mind concerning celestial and atmospheric phenomena, the fear of death, and the fear of pain; if, further, they taught them to limit their desires, we should never have any fault to find with such persons, for they would then be filled with pleasures from every source and would never have pain of body or mind, which is what is bad.

11. If we had never been troubled by celestial and atmospheric phenomena, nor by fears about death, nor by our ignorance of the limits of pains and desires, we should have had no need of natural science.

12. It is impossible for someone to dispel his fears about the most important matters if he doesn't know the nature of the universe but still gives some credence to myths. So without the study of nature there is no enjoyment of pure pleasure.

13. There is no advantage to obtaining protection from other men so long as we are alarmed by events above or below the earth or in general by whatever happens in the boundless universe.

14. Protection from other men, secured to some extent by the power to expel and by material prosperity, in its purest form comes from a quiet life withdrawn from the multitude.

15. The wealth required by nature is limited and is easy to procure; but the wealth required by vain ideals extends to infinity.

16. Chance seldom interferes with the wise man; his greatest and highest interests have been, are, and will be, directed by reason throughout his whole life.

18. Bodily pleasure does not increase when the pain of want has been removed; after that it only admits of variation. The limit of mental pleasure, however, is reached when we reflect on these bodily pleasures and their related emotions, which used to cause the mind the greatest alarms.

20. The flesh receives as unlimited the limits of pleasure; and to provide it requires unlimited time. But the mind, intellectually grasping what the end and limit of the flesh is, and banishing the terrors of the future, procures a complete and perfect life, and we have no longer any need of unlimited time. Nevertheless the mind does not shun pleasure, and even when circumstances make death imminent, the mind does not lack enjoyment of the best life.

21. He who understands the limits of life knows that it is easy to obtain that which removes the pain of want and makes the whole of life complete and perfect. Thus he has no longer any need of things which involve struggle.

Thus the path to happiness was clear,…. in theory at least. Cleo could believe that natural philosophy might one day, maybe even in her lifetime disperse many superstitions, but overcoming fears and desires only with reason. She wasn’t sure she ever could do that. In fact she doubted it was really possible, a good goal yes but an attainable one, no. How would such a man even look like?

Notes

Epicurus had more principles then written down here. However I believe the combination of these specific ones provides us with the best, concise narrative of Cleo's thoughts about them.

Sources

Cleopatra VII: Daughter of the Nile, Egypt, 57 B.C. (The Royal Diaries) by Kristiana Gregory
http://www.epicurus.net/en/principal.html
http://www.cornellcollege.edu/classical_studies/lit/tragedyFYSsch.shtml
http://balkhandshambhala.blogspot.de/2016_02_01_archive.html

People
Cleopatra VII Philopator (69 BCE – 30 BCE)
Ptolemy XII Auletes (117 BCE –51 BCE)
Abdaraxus (unkown)
Gaius Memmius (??? - 49 BCE) (Tribuni Plebis/Tribune of the Plebs 66 BCE)

 

[ComradeHuxley]

The Fall of Aristotle and The Rise of the Minervaeum II


Vitruvius and the Universal Theory of Gravity


“I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I still seem to have been only like a boy playing on the seashore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.”

Vitruvius laughed, certainly not what his audience expected.

“But why do I chose the image of the beach? Three reasons, three people or more precisely three works we will discuss, before you honored guests all relating to the sea. Last one my newest and most likely final works!”

Unintentionally but certainly to impressive dramatic effect, he began to cough heavily. His time on this curious earth really was limited after all. And just when he began to understand it. Well, nothing he could do about that, he should know better to strain his health by acting overly theatrical. After all, if his latest work didn't impress, no rethoric trick would ever come close.

“First we need to recall Archimedes of Syracus’s work on the size of the universe.”


The Sand Reckoner of Archimedes

"There are some, King Gelon, who think that the number of the sand is infinite in multitude; and I mean by the sand not only that which exists about Syracuse and the rest of Sicily but also that which is found in every region whether inhabited or uninhabited. Again there are some who, without regarding it as infinite, yet think that no number has been named which is great enough to exceed its multitude. And it is clear that they who hold this view, if they imagined a mass made up of sand in other respects as large as the mass of the earth, including in it all the seas and the hollows of the earth filled up to a height equal to that of the highest of the mountains, would be many times further still from recognizing that any number could be expressed which exceeded the multitude of the sand so taken. But I will try to show you by means of geometrical proofs, which you will be able to follow, that, of the numbers named by me and given in the work which I sent to Zeuxippus, some exceed not only the number of the mass of sand equal in magnitude to the earth filled up in the way described, but also that of a mass equal in magnitude to the universe.

Now you are aware that 'universe' is the name given by most astronomers to the sphere whose centre is the centre of the earth and whose radius is equal to the straight line between the centre of the sun and the centre of the earth. This is the common account , as you have heard from astronomers. But Aristarchus of Samos brought out a book consisting of some hypotheses, in which the premisses lead to the result that the universe is many times greater than that now so called. His hypotheses are that the fixed stars and the sun remain unmoved, that the earth revolves about the sun in the circumference of a circle, the sun lying in the middle of the orbit, and that the sphere of the fixed stars, situated about the same centre as the sun, is so great that the circle in which he supposes the earth to revolve bears such a proportion to the distance of the fixed stars as the centre of the sphere bears to its surface.

Now it is easy to see that this is impossible; for, since the centre of the sphere has no magnitude, we cannot conceive it to bear any ratio whatever to the surface of the sphere. We must however take Aristarchus to mean this: since we conceive the earth to be, as it were, the centre of the universe, the ratio which the earth bears to what we describe as the 'universe' is the same as the ratio which the sphere containing the circle in which he supposes the earth to revolve bears to the sphere of the fixed stars. For he adapts the proofs of his results to a hypothesis of this kind, and in particular he appears to suppose the magnitude of the sphere in which he represents the earth as moving to be equal to what we call the 'universe. I say then that, even if a sphere were made up of the sand, as great as Aristarchus supposes the sphere of the fixed stars to be, I shall still prove that, of the numbers named in the Principles, some exceed in multitude the number of the sand which is equal in magnitude to the sphere referred to, provided that the following assumptions be made…”

Vitruvius Interlude

“When I was younger, I was mostly interested in his practical work on siege engines, but now that I have fought my battles for Roman glory, build our machines of conquest, the time came for me to expand into new frontiers, to conquer the world with my mind. And as our empire expands so should our knowledge. A friend who shares this attitude is Strabo of Pontus. We discussed some interesting observations of the nature of the tides.”

Statue of Strabo in his hometown Amaseia

Strabo and the Early History of Tides

Strabo was a Greek geographer, philosopher, and historian who lived in Asia Minor during the transitional period of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. Strabo was born to an affluent family from Amaseia in Pontus a city that he said was situated the approximate equivalent of 75 km from the Black Sea. Pontus had recently fallen to the Roman Republic, and although politically he was a proponent of Roman imperialism, Strabo belonged on his mother's side to a prominent family whose members had held important positions under the resisting regime of King Mithridates VI of Pontus.

Strabo's life was characterized by extensive travels. He journeyed to Egypt and Kush, as far west as coastal Tuscany and as far south as Ethiopia in addition to his travels in Asia Minor and the time he spent in Rome. Travel throughout the Mediterranean and Near East, especially for scholarly purposes, was popular during this era and was facilitated by the relative peace enjoyed throughout the reign of Augustus.

Strabo is most notable for his work "Geographika") which presented a descriptive history of people and places from different regions of the world known to his era. Although Strabo cited the antique Greek astronomers Eratosthenes and Hipparchus, acknowledging their astronomical and mathematical efforts towards geography, he claimed that a descriptive approach was more practical, such that his works were designed for statesmen who were more anthropologically than numerically concerned with the character of countries and regions. Still, he never stop being fascinated by the tides.

About 330 B.C. the Greek astronomer and explorer Pytheas made a long voyage, sailing from the western part of the Mediterranean Sea (where he lived in a Greek colony) to the British Isles. Observing the great ocean tides there, he made a fundamental discovery: The tides were in some way controlled by the Moon. This discovery can be considered the starting point of tidal research; it was published in Pytheas' "On the Ocean", now lost but quoted by other antique authors. Pytheas discovered not only that there were two high tides per lunar day, but also that the amplitude depended on the phases of the Moon.

The Greek scientists could not observe the tides at home because of their insignificance there. Nevertheless, around 150 BCE, the astronomer Seleucus of Seleucia found out that the two tides per day had unequal amplitudes when the Moon was far from the equator; this is what we today call the diurnal inequality. Seleucus was able to detect this phenomenon because his observations were made at the Red Sea, this being, according to modern tidal analyses, one of the few ocean areas where the diurnal inequality is relatively pronounced. The Greek scientist Poseidonios devoted a part of one of his written works to a review of the tidal knowledge of his time, including some of his own studies made at the Atlantic coast of Hispania around 100 BCE.

Strabon in his impressive book "Geographika" collected all these Idea and occasionally added upon them. He wrote for example: “When the moon rises above the horizon to the extent of a zodiacal sign [30°], the sea begins to swell, and perceptibly invades the land until the moon is in the meridian; but when the heavenly body has begun to decline, the sea retreats again, little by little; then invades the land again until the moon reaches the meridian below the earth; then retreats until the moon, moving round towards her risings, is a sign distant from the horizon. The flux and reflux become greatest about the time of the conjunction [new moon], and then diminish until the half-moon; and, again, they increase until the full moon and diminish again until the waning half-moon. If the moon is in the equinoctial signs [zero declination], the behavior of the tides is regular, but, in the solstitial signs [maximum declination], irregular, in respect both to amount and to speed, while, in each of the other signs, the relation is in proportion to the nearness of the moon's approach.”

He added that: “There is a spring at the [temple of] Heracleium at Gades, with a descent of only a few steps to the water (which is good to drink), and the spring behaves inversely to the flux and reflux of the sea, since it fails at the time of the flood-tides and fills up at the time of the ebb-tides”

This passage on reversed tides in a well is a remarkable one since it represents, in fact, the first observations of earth tides in the form of tidal strain. Although the phenomenon in the well had been known for a long time it appears that Poseidonios was the first scientist to study it, during his above-mentioned scientific travel to Hispania. Poseidonios, while admitting that "the ebb-tide often occurs at the particular time of the well's fullness", did not believe that it really had anything to do with the tides. Strabon, however, discussing the problem in detail, arrives at the conclusion that the phenomenon somehow must be a tidal one.

Vitruvius Interlude

“Now this question the question remains, how does the moon influence the sea or for that matter the fiendishly contrarian little well in Hispania? The answer of course is gravitational attraction, a subject that I have explored quite a bit.”

Despite his outward humbleness he obviously knew that he was one of the greatest contributor to the understanding of gravity in the known world. What kept him grounded however were precisely the little mysterious like the well of Gades, who’s behavior still didn’t fit in his new framework.

Notes and Sources

As you might have guessed from the borrowed quote in the beginning in this timeline Vitruvius is going to be their version of Galileo as well as Newton, although with a bit less math and a lot more tinkering.

As mentioned earlier he also was fascinated with the phenomenon of tides.A Concise History of the Theoreis of Tides Precession-Nutation and Polar Motion(From Antiquity to 1950) by Martin Ekman

The Sand Reckoner of Archimedes translated by Thomas L. Heath (Original publication: Cambridge University Press, 1897).

wikipedia: Strabo etc.

People

Marcus Vitruvius Pollio (79 BCE, c. 11 BCE) - In this timeline
Strabo (64 or 63 BCE – c. 24 ACE)

 

[ComradeHuxley]

Cleopatra – The Queen of Enlightenment (VI)


Two different Travelogues

"So, Memmius told me you wanted to learn more about Epicurus?" Lucretius asked the little girl in front of him trying to gauge her, finding an answer to the actual question what his patron and friend Gaius saw in her.

Cleo squeaked out a shy "Yes", and felt oddly awkward. She didn’t have much of a problem dealing with important or self-important people, growing up at the court of a major power helped in that regard. But talking to people that were actually important to her, that was an entirely different situation.

“Why don’t we start with your travel here frist, before we get to the more serious stuff? I am always in for a good traveling account.”

“Well, …….and than we, were running with the wind, tacking through the swells along a rugged shoreline. Directly ahead was a narrow channel that would allow us to sail between Silicy and Italy into the Tyrrhenian Sea. the water was extremely rough. The sailors were terrified, crying to their gods Castor and Pollux. They believed that the whirlpool Charybdis was there, the one that pulls ships to the bottom of the ocean. You know as Homer himself wrote it down.Before I had time to work myself into a fright, we had sailed through, and there was Italy on our starboard side. Oh, I thanked Isis a thousand times for our safe passage. I prayed upon her to guide me in this foreign land. But instead I found you,… I mean Epicurus. It is all so weird. Were was I a yes Italy...”

A bit too honest for a future ruler but certainly a charming little girl Lucretius thought. He also noticed that she certainly saw the world with very curious eyes, and essential requirement for anyone willing to dive deeper into the teachings of Epicurus. Still, reading his words and understanding them were two very different things.

I wander afield, thriving in sturdy thought,
Through unpathed haunts of the Pierides,
Trodden by step of none before. I joy
To come on undefiled fountains there,
To drain them deep; I joy to pluck new flowers,
To seek for this my head a signal crown
From regions where the Muses never yet
Have garlanded the temples of a man:
First, since I teach concerning mighty things,
And go right on to loose from round the mind
The tightened coils of dread religion;

Next, since, concerning themes so dark, I frame
Song so pellucid, touching all throughout
Even with the Muses' charm- which, as 'twould seem,
Is not without a reasonable ground:
For as physicians, when they seek to give
Young boys the nauseous wormwood, first do touch
The brim around the cup with the sweet juice
And yellow of the honey, in order that

The thoughtless age of boyhood be cajoled
As far as the lips, and meanwhile swallow down
The wormwood's bitter draught, and, though befooled,
Be yet not merely duped, but rather thus
Grow strong again with recreated health:
So now I too (since this my doctrine seems
In general somewhat woeful unto those
Who've had it not in hand, and since the crowd
Starts back from it in horror) have desired
To expound our doctrine unto thee in song
Soft-speaking and Pierian, and, as 'twere,
To touch it with sweet honey of the Muse-
If by such method haply I might hold
The mind of thee upon these lines of ours,
Till thou dost learn the nature of all things
And understandest their utility.

“As much as I’d love to hear your first impression of my home. I think this is actually a good starting point for our first lesson, if you will.”

“Sure, sure.” Cleo replied, very unsure about herself and a bit afraid she might have bored her teacher.

“You know there is a reason I love listening so much to people tell of their travels, it says a lot about them. And you certainly have a knack for vivid story telling. Your fathers talents for poetry certainly were lost on you. But let me tell the story of another restless traveler who had to leave his land of birth. Have you ever heard of Diagoras "the Atheist" of Melos?

Diagoras was the son of Telecleides or Teleclytus, and was born in the island of Melos, one of the Cyclades. According to the Suda, he was a disciple of Democritus after Democritus had paid 10,000 drachmas to free Diagoras from captivity following the cruel subjugation of Melos (416 BC) by Athen. In his youth Diagoras had acquired some reputation as a lyric poet. Among his lyrical accomplishments were a beautiful and on his former lover Nicodorus. Nicodorus was a statsmen of Mantineia who wrote, with some assistance of Diagoras, one of the most well thought out constitutions in the ancient world. A a few years later, 416 BCE, he was accused of impiety, and he thought it best to escape Athens to avoid prosecution, and there was quite a reward for either catching or killing him.

From their perspective they had good reasons. He revealed the secret rituals of the Eleusinian mystery religion to everyone and "thus made them ordinary," that is, he purposefully demystified a cherished secret rite, apparently to provoke his contemporaries into thought. How, if you know the way to salvation, can you justify keeping it a secret from your fellow men? He also made firewood of an image of Herakles, telling the god thus to perform his thirteenth labour by cooking turnips.

The origin of his skepticism was twofold. He declared that the non-punishment of a certain act of iniquity proved that there were no Gods. It has been surmised, with some reason, that the iniquity in question was the slaughter of the Melians by the Athenians in 416 B.C I mentioned earlier.

Thanks to Democritus he also had learned that the world doesn’t need the Gods intervention to work as it does. Everything can be explained in terms of atomic movements. Now he went a bit far denying the Gods existence wholesale but many of his questions are still valid. And her we come back to the traveling part of the story.

Once a a friend pointed out an expensive display of votive gifts at a temple and said, "You think the gods have no care for man? Why, you can see from all these votive pictures here how many people have escaped the fury of storms at sea by praying to the gods who have brought them safe to harbor." To which Diagoras replied, "Yes, indeed, but where are the pictures of all those who suffered shipwreck and perished in the waves?"

A good question. Diagoras was indicted for profaning the mysteries, but escaped. A search was out for him throughout the Athenian empire, which indicated that the charges were serious, but he was never found mocking his tormentors by just living a long happy life.”

And here our first lesson shall end. Don’t subscribe to fortune or the will of the Gods either your misery or success. Its simply the a concert of human action and a few, perfectly natural accidents here and there that determine the circumstances of our life. There will come times when you feel really sick and lost, when seeking the motherly embrace of Isis, may promise salvation, but in those time its most important to swallow the bitter medicine of natural truth for it is the only lasting cure.

Notes and Sources

(1) The Eleusinian Mysteries were initiations held every year for the cult of Demeter and Persephone based at Eleusis in ancient Greece. The mysteries represented the myth of the abduction of Persephone from her mother Demeter by the king of the underworld Hades, in a cycle with three phases, the "descent" (loss), the "search" and the "ascent", with the main theme the "ascent" of Persephone and the reunion with her mother. It was a major festival during the Hellenic era, and later spread to Rome

wikipedia
Lucretius, De Rerum Natura (William Ellery Leonard, Ed)
Cleopatra VII: Daughter of the Nile, Egypt, 57 B.C. (The Royal Diaries) by Kristiana Gregory


People
Cleopatra VII Philopator (69 BCE – 30 BCE)
Diagoras of Melos (5th century BCE)
Gaius Memmius (??? - 49 BCE) (Tribuni Plebis/Tribune of the Plebs 66 BCE)