#but the one thing greece is known for in theater?
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Why Jason Grace is The Most Tragic Character in the Riordanverse
*in no way is this trying to dial down Nico's own suffering, I'm just stating my case for Jason because godsdamn SOMEBODY needs to say it!*
@most-tragic-character-tournament here's propoganda i came out guns ablazing
List of why fans are saying Nico:
Lost his mother
lost years of his life
found out he was a demigod at age 10
lost sister at 10
rough relationship with his dad
closeted gay
crush is madly in love with somebody else
forced to come out
List of why Jason is more tragic:
Lost his mom to alcoholism/mental decline
Lost his ENTIRE FUCKING CHILDHOOD because Said Mom gave him up to Juno to be raised by a PACK OF WOLVES who would've EATEN HIM if he was WEAK FOR EVEN A SECOND - AS A FUCKING TWO YEAR OLD
Was a trained demigod FROM THE GET-GO (again, TWO YEARS OLD)
Because of previously stated separation, was TAKEN FROM HIS SISTER WHO LOVED HIM SO MUCH SHE RAN AWAY BECAUSE SHE COULDN'T TAKE THE GUILT AND FEAR AND RAGE THAT FILLED HER AT HIS ABSENCE
Was set up into a "perfect" relationship by Juno/Hera WHILE HAVING HIS MEMORIES TAKEN
Jason may not have had the awful forced outting Nico had to go through, but...that's not really his fault? Nobody has any control over their sexual identity, and Jason? Well. He never really got to explore it. Because that was taken from him too.
Thinks he LOST LEO VALDEZ, ONE OF HIS ACTUAL FIRST FRIENDS, WHO LIKED HIM FOR HIM AND NOT BECAUSE OF HIS STATUS
FORCED TO COMPLY TO A DEMANDING SOCIETY THAT EXALTED HIM FROM DAY 1 BECAUSE HIS DAD IS THE OH-SO-IMPORTANT JUPITER (*cough victim of nepotism cough*)
AND WHEN HE TRIES TO COMBAT THAT NEPOTISM HE KEEPS GETTING PUSHBACK UNTIL HE FALTERS
then. then his girlfriend breaks up with him - not because of any drama, or even a disagreement, but over a very valid point
their relationship didn't exactly start out very...honestly. Jason had been mind-wiped of all memories and Piper had fake ones implanted into her to make her think she liked Jason as more than a friend. sure. they had a pretty nice relationship, but when everything slowed down and they took a look at their lives?
Piper's the one who sees it first, and makes the decision. Jason is heartbroken, but understands - he even, dare I say, agrees that they should end the relationship. it was built on fake memories - you could say it was built on lies.
and now Jason has this opportunity to step back and analyze who he is and what he wants.
what he finds is depressing. everything he's had, everything's he's been up till now...
it's not him.
he never wanted to be raised by Lupa and her wolves.
he never wanted to be Jupiter's son
he never wanted to be the exalted leader Camp Jupiter praised him for
From day 1 his life was somebody else's. his first steps were under the tutelage of a wolf, not of the loving eyes of his sister
Camp Jupiter only ever saw him as the demigod to be praised and turn to above all others, even before he became praetor.
Jason's life...was never his own.
and now that he's away from all that pressure and expectation...he doesn't know who he is.
Son of Jupiter?
Champion of Juno?
Praetor of the Twelfth Legion?
Member of the Prophesized Seven?
Hero of Olympus?
no. he was never himself under these names.
he was never...Jason.
but maybe now he could start navigating his own life. without some god intervening for once. this would be good for him, and for Piper, to find their own way.
but then. then they talk to Herophile...and find out one of them will die. And Jason? Well, he's not going to let Piper be taken from the life she deserves. he may not be her boyfriend, her knight in shining armor, but he sure as HELL loves her - especially as a friend. And if there's one thing you should know about Jason? It's that he loves his friends.
so what does he do? He sacrifices himself. He duels Caligula himself, and urges Piper, Meg, and Apollo to Go, save yourselves! and -
he's stabbed. through the chest. the only thing he can do? Look to Apollo, to the blue gaze so much like his own drenched in horror, and ask; Remember. because he didn't get to live the life he wished, but maybe Apollo could - no, Apollo can, he can make the difference Jason wanted. Because he trusts Apollo.
Jason doesn't regret his sacrifice. he saved Piper from the prophecy, after all. He saved Apollo & Meg's lives too.
in fact, Jason didn't really mind dying. Because he didn't have much of a life either. And a life like that? shrug It's worth sacrificing for those who deserve theirs.
and as icing on the cake, remember who Jason's father is? The almighty, all-powerful Jupiter himself, King of the Gods?
he doesn't do a damn thing to help Jason. Not a single. Thing.
because Jupiter/Zeus doesn't care about his children. Especially his sons.
Zeus saved Thalia. But he didn't even try to save Jason.
Trying would have at least lessened the pain...
People like to claim Jason is a bland, boring character who's never suffered a minute in his life. That he's a golden retriever with no flaws.
Well.
Take a look up there and ask yourself - it that the life of a boy who knows no suffering?
Because it sure as hell don't look that way to me.
To me, it looks like Jason was a used, depressed young man who never got to choose his own path. Who's father abandoned him first to his wife's mercy, then to a cruel emperor's.
Jason Grace suffered.
and he never got to live that happy life he saw within the Fates.
Never got to get that family, those grandchildren he saw himself telling the story of the Argo II to.
Because The Fall of Jason Grace is a true, utter tragedy.
#jason grace#i have feeeeelings#remember when people complained about jason being “boring” and then rick was like “okay he's dead now” and then those same people screamed#about never reading toa because “how could rick do that!!! jason was supposed to marry piper and have kids!!!! :(((”#well my friends you DO remember the first page of the lightning thief don't you?#“look i didn't want to be a half-blood”#being a half-blood is dangerous#sometimes it can get you killed in painful nasty ways#~don't say i didn't warn you#- percy jackson#rick warned us at the very beginning#in greek mythology...there's triumph and victory#but the one thing greece is known for in theater?#it's tragedy#and rick perfectly displays it with the fall of jason grace#life's not all sunshine and rainbows#it's not going to be “they all lived happily ever after the end”#it wouldn't be a greek story without tragedy#and really...how many of you ~actually~ cared about jason until he died#hmm?#i'm not judging#i ~was~ one of those people#he wasn't my favorite but i was more...eh about him#he existed for me#until i took a step back and looked at his life and went...#oh.#he's not who i thought he was#and he's not who you think he is either#thank you for coming to my tedtalk#the burning maze
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Head of Ancient Greek Statue of Dionysus Found in Libya
In a stream, an archaeologist working in the ancient Greek city of Cyrene in todays Libya, found the head of the statue of Bacchus, also known as Dionysus in Greek, the god of wine and theater.
Archaeology in ancient Greek city of Cyrene
While carrying out research in the city of Shahhat near the ancient Greek city of Cyrene in eastern Libya, an archaeologist detected something of interest. Nestled in the foothills of the al-Jabal al-Akhdar region, Issam Al-Menfi spotted a severed part of an ancient statue.
The item is the third to be discovered since Storm Daniel hit the eastern region of Libya last September, according to Libyan News Agency. It was collected by Menfi for scientific purposes.
The agency confirmed that the head of the statue is that of Bacchus, as the Romans called him, or Dionysus, as he was known to the ancient Greeks. The god was symbolic of a number of things, including wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theater.
Cyrene is believed to have been founded in 631 BC by Greeks from the island of Thera (Santorini), located in the Aegean Sea. The settlers’ first ruler, Battus, founded the dynasty of the Battiads, which ruled the city for eight generations until 440 BC.
The city grew under the rule of the Battiads, eventually encapsulating several ports known today as Marsa Susah, al-Marj, and Benghazi.
With the rise of Ptolemaic Egypt in 323 BC, Cyrene prospered intellectually and became one of the classical world’s most influential places. In due course, with its great philosophers and renowned medical school, the city caught the attention of the Romans, who brought it under their control in 96 BC.
Between the years 67 and 30 BC, Cyrene merged with the then Roman province of Crete, where the provincial capital was located. Cyrene became the chief city. Archaeology in Cyrene has been particularly fruitful.
Another Sculpted Head of a Dionysus Statue Discovered in Aizanoi
Another manifestation of the sculpted head of Dionysus was discovered earlier in the ancient Greek city of Aizanoi in today’s western Turkey. It was found alongside the marble head of Aphrodite, the goddess of love. Aizanoi, like Cyrene, was an important political and economic center in Roman times.
At the time of unearthing, excavation coordinator Gokhan Coskun told Anadolu Agency: “These are important findings for us, as they show that the polytheistic culture of ancient Greece existed for a long time without losing its importance in the Roman era.”
Coskun, an archaeologist at Dumlupinar University in Turkey, went on to explain that the statue heads had been found in a previous dig but weren’t unearthed until some time after in a creek bed in Aizanoi. The archaeologist believes the findings point to a possible sculpture workshop in the region.
In August, a statue of the ancient Greek goddess Hygieia, the goddess of health and cleanliness, was also unearthed in Aizanoi.
By Matthew Norman.
#Head of Ancient Greek Statue of Dionysus Found in Libya#ancient Greek city of Cyrene#statue#marble statue#ancient statue#bacchus#dionysus#ancient gods#ancient artifacts#archeology#archeolgst#history#history news#ancient history#ancient culture#ancient civilizations#roman empire#roman history#greek history#greek art#roman art
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Terrible Fic Ideas #28: Percy Jackson, but make it upgraded
As anyone can tell you, the more I love something, the more hypercritical I become of its problems. And while I love PJO and the entire crazy world Rick Riordan created, it is not designed for someone whose idea of a good time is picking out contradictions and logical fallacies in everything they encounter.
So I asked myself: what would it take to have a PJO that works for me on all levels?
Just bear with me:
My biggest problem with PJO is Camp Half-Blood, especially in light of HOO's New Rome, so about half my problems here involve upgrading the Camp to a small city (called New Athens, probably). It's still small and quaint compared to New Rome, but it houses more than a handful of kids year-round. Population of 500 demigods max, most of them under the age of 21 and most of the rest either camp councilors, administration for the strawberry farm, or elderly demigods who can no longer fight monsters on their own.
More than that, I want New Athens to be a little more, well, Greek. Yes, Olympus is in NYC, but all the signposts should be in Ancient Greek, and the town should be arranged like an Ancient Greek polis - temples, agora, theaters, the works. There should be temples and altars to each of the major gods at the very least, with the heads of each cabin serving as priests for their divine parents (very much a part-time role, even in ancient Greece).
Instead of cabins, the children of each god have little compounds set somewhat apart from each other, so that it is possible - if somewhat difficult - to spend all one's time only with one's siblings. There's a greater delineation of duties amongst the cabins, but in a less stereotypical manner than Rick fell back on in the earlier books. Poseidon's compound, for instance, is responsible for guarding New Athen's coasts and maintaining its small navy; Demeter's compound grows the food and maintains the weaponized plants; Hermes' kids manage the agora and make supply runs into human towns when necessary; Aphrodite's kids help Hephaestus' clothe and arm the camp, &c.
My other major issue is the very uneven distribution of powers among the cabins. Percy gets all the powers, which works if you assume he's destined for godhood, but other kids seem to get none at all. The powers the demigods get here should still be wildly uneven, but there should be a baseline for each - something passive, like the ability to talk to their parent's sacred animal, or being able to make really good jam (Demeter) or haggle with merchants (Hermes) or see in the dark (minor chthonic gods) - and more attention given to the less well-known domains of the gods. Some Hermes' kids are really good shepherds; at least two of Apollo's kids can turn into wolves, and there's always one who seems to have adopted some of their aunt's roles and serves as Artemis' priest in New Athens; &c.
There should also be more recognized children of minor gods. Not many, and they don't have their own cabins, but they do share compounds with the children of the gods their parents are associated with. This should be a point of contention, especially in cases where there are more children of minor gods than the god in question, and several have left the camp rather than be treated like servants by less decent cabin heads.
There should also be some legacies - not many, but a few, and most of those are second-generation children of other gods. Things like, IDK, a daughter of Apollo who's also a granddaughter of Ares, or a grandson of Hermes who's also the son of a wood nymph; or the rare kid who has two demigod parents. All of Dionysus' kids during this time period should be legacies, given he's largely stuck at New Athens.
All that being said, I imagine the books themselves going in much the same way, with some minor changes:
When Percy comes to camp in TLT, yes, he's Poseidon's only demigod child, but Poseidon's compound is not empty. A handful of water nymphs live there and one or two children of minor water gods - maybe a nephew in a son of Triton, maybe a daughter of Thetis who makes a big deal her half-brother was Achilles. Regardless of the details, Percy being Poseidon's son automatically places him in charge over the older, more experienced demigods and this is a source of contention for quite a while until Percy wins them over.
Annabeth is still Annabeth, but with more adults in camp she was better supervised and not able to do things like, oh, learn the wording of a Great Prophesy and spend her time trying to find The One. (She's still rough around the edges, but she's allowed to mature over the course of the story in a way I don't feel her character was able to in the books.)
There is no Percy/Annabeth romance.
There is, however, more flushing out of the minor characters, some of whom replace Annabeth and/or Grover on Percy's later quests. SoM should be an all water demigod quest given its title, and TTC should be an all female quest with at two Hunters, a daughter of Apollo, and Thalia - and Percy following behind for half the journey.
Percy also spends more time at New Athens - he draws in far too many monsters to be allowed to leave. He either spends weekends visiting his mom in NYC or she's one of the rare humans allowed to visit New Athens often. Maybe Sally can even be the grandchild of a minor god whose demigod parent left New Athens rather than be treated badly by the children of major gods.
I've been a fan of Percy/Apollo ever since stumbling across lorixjake's Reading Percy Jackson fic, so I'd like to shoehorn that into here, but it's not a requirement - though Percy interacting with all the gods (and befriending most) is. Once he's old enough, many of these interactions should turn into blatant flirting, some more welcome than others, because there's nothing gods find so attractive as power.
Lastly, when Zeus offers Percy immortality and Percy goes, "you know, I think I'd rather have you treat your children and the minor gods better instead," Zeus says, "No, you are too dangerous to leave mortal. You must ascend." And so Percy becomes a minor god at the end of PJO rather against his will and spends the rest of eternity badgering Zeus and the others into treating their children and the minor gods better anyway, which probably works out for the better considering the events of HOO.
That's all I really have. I do like PJO, but what I really want is expansion of the early world-building and greater acknowledgment of the darker aspects of the Greek gods than would be appropriate for the age level the books were intended for. As always, feel free to adopt the plot bunny, just link back if you ever do anything with it.
More Terrible Fic Ideas
#fic ideas#plot bunny#pjo#percy jackson and the olympians#rick riordan#heroes of olympus#hoo#trials of apollo#toa#camp half blood#camp jupiter
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The Only Place Some Experienced Freedom in Ancient Greece - or, the Cult of Dionysus
The term cult in a classical context does not have the same meaning as it does today. While the whole of the Greek World had the same general beliefs and faith in a range of gods, special or more specific worship varied from city to city. The focus of these cults ranged from perhaps a specific myth, to a mythical hero, or even sometimes a real individual. Most cults might have been out in the open with many city residents being members, but others were exclusive and secretive.
Unfortunately, like most things at this time, many cult practices were reserved for the more elite classes. Elite being non-slave males that had citizenship. One of the biggest exceptions to this rule was the Cult of Dionysus.
Dionysus, also known as Bacchus or Liber, represented freedom and liberation for those who had none. These brief moments of worship and frenzy allowed the unmentionable parts of the Greek World to experiment with empowerment for what was most likely the only time in their lives.
This cult has text evidence dating all the way to the Mycenaean Era (1750-1050 BCE) and lasted for centuries up until the times of the Romans. It was uniquely open to women, slaves, outlaws, and non-citizens. There, they lost themselves to wine, hallucinogenics, and chaos in larger organized festivals and small secret meetings.
The largest of these gatherings was an annually held celebration in the city of Dionysia. Every March, everyone was invited to partake in this festival, where officials even allowed foreigners in and released prisoners and slaves for this exclusive event.
There were drinking contests, theater shows (Dionysus was also the god of theater), and sacred ceremonies all performed for the same cause.
As Rome caught onto the cult and its practices, their own version started appearing. Now by around 200 BCE, women hosted female exclusive gatherings called the bacchanalia (Pretty irrelevant, but a pretty good song that has the same theme). Eventually, men were allowed in and this growing group met up 5 times per month.
Unfortunately, the Roman government began to feel threatened by these gatherings and banned any practice within Italy with the threat of severe consequences. Regardless, the cult lived on for long after this.
Anyway, the Cult of Dionysus goes to show that even in the most exclusive, misogynist, and classist societies, the human desire for freedom and liberation prevails - even if they need to meet in secret. In another post in the future, I might go into more detail about the initiation rites and what exactly happened during these celebrations.
#I know im a pretty poor writer#i just like to talk lol#greek mythology#greek gods#dionysus#ancient greece
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Regal Greece Ridge's Last Picture Show
The cinema scene in my home county has been remarkably stable for most of my moviegoing life. Five multiplexes with 10+ screens went up from 1996 to 2000 and a wave of smaller theater closings ended in 2002. Then, for 18 years, the status quo basically held—some temporary shutdowns for renovations or ownership changes, but that was it.
COVID-19, of course, changed all that. Regal Culver Ridge 16 closed with all the rest on March 15, 2020, but never reopened. The Cinema, last of the Rochester neighborhood theaters, went dark for over a year before reopening with new management and a new dine-in model. Pittsford Cinema 9 is following in their footsteps.
Now, with Regal's parent company facing bankruptcy, another one of their theaters is shuttering. Regal Greece Ridge (est. 1998) was, in my memory at least, the only local theater built into a shopping mall. Because it was on the other side of town, I never visited until 2014 (for viewing #5 of Godzilla with a friend who lived nearby). Then I moved nearby in 2017 and started going there semi-regularly... until AMC hired me at the end of 2018 and I got to watch most everything there for free. Since 2017 was the same year I started obsessively tracking my movie outings, I can list everything I saw at Greece Ridge: Dunkirk, Battle of the Sexes, Coco, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle, Every Day, Blockers, Rampage, A Quiet Place, Deadpool 2, Spider-Man: Far from Home, and M3GAN. Note the gap. I didn't have much reason to come back after I got jabbed and pledged allegiance to Cinemark, but I had to see it off.
It wasn't some hidden gem. Stadium seating, middling number of screens, no premium formats besides 3D, and not much to look at visually. But 25 years is time enough to make a lot of memories, and movie theaters are what's known as "anchor tenants"—they draw in a lot of people who can then be enticed to patronize nearby shops afterwards. So if no one swoops in to switch the projectors back on and keep the soda flowing, it'll damage every store in the mall. And it'll always be the place where I first saw the movie that broke the Internet (which I, for the record, still adore).
For posterity—it's not like newspapers print these things anymore—here are the showtimes for the theater's final day. No Scream VI, which feels a little defiant. Maybe the staff just wanted a quiet night. Hopefully they've all had time to line up better things.
Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (PG-13): 11:55 AM | 1:40 PM | 3:05 PM | 4:50 PM | 5:45 PM | 6:15 PM | 8:00 PM
Avatar: The Way of Water (PG-13) [3D]: 1:30 PM | 6:30 PM
Cocaine Bear (R): 12:55 PM | 1:55 PM | 3:45 PM | 4:45 PM | 6:45 PM | 7:45 PM
Creed III (PG-13): 11:50 AM | 12:50 PM | 2:55 PM | 3:55 PM | 6:00 PM | 7:00 PM
80 for Brady (PG-13): 3:20 PM | 6:40 PM
Knock at the Cabin (R): 4:20 PM
The Land Before Time (G): 1:00 PM
Living (PG-13): 12:00 PM | 2:45 PM
Magic Mike's Last Dance (R): 1:15 PM | 7:30 PM
65 (PG-13): 7:10 PM
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FORGET GREEK POETS:
PRAXIL (Praxilla)
He was a Greek poet from the 5th century BC. In Sion or Sione in the Peloponnese. He composed short lyric poems 'skolia' (σκόλι ον) sung at ancient Greek banquets; author of hymns and ditiramos (lyrical compositions dedicated to Dionysus). It is known that classical myths have their own versions and their measurements are original. I would invent the typewriter metro: praxilium.
For political reasons, the Dionysian rites and tragic choir performances and ditiramos were moved to the city of Praxila in the 6th century BC, where one of the largest theaters in Ancient Greece was located. Its ruins can be visited even today. Legend has it that this theater is evidence of the birth of tragedy. Inside was a bronze statue of Praxila, carved by Lisipo, also natural from Sion. There is a marble copy in the Berlin Museum, but without the head. His head is cut off, just like his poems and hymns...
We know that he was known and famous for the statements of writers like Aristophanes in his time, he was quoted twice in his works "Aspas" and "Tesmoforias", so the public knew him. But he is remembered by his contemporaries not for the theater, but for what some consider his stupidity or stupidity. There is a fragment of 3 verses quoted by philologists and historians. Part of his answer when asked what is the most beautiful thing God has left, named "Adonis in the Underworld". Then the late Adonis answers:
"The most beloved thing I have left is sunshine,
then bright stars and moon face
and ripe cucumbers and apples and pears."
Praxila's reputation was in question. There was so much truth in the reading of time. Don't confuse cucumbers with stars, in poetry or thought. That's why it became synonymous with the word stupid and tasteless, Zenobio's words, "more stupid than Praxila's Adonis."
According to Josephine Balmer, in Classical Female Poets, "a cucumber can be considered a perfect symbol of the male fertility god." Adonis was an ancient nature god, so he was connected to the plant world.
Centuries later, Antipater of Thessaloniki repaired the damage done to Praxila, as he was declared one of the 9 earthly muses.
Text: Marian A. Alastruey
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Worldbuilding Intro- Welcome to New Olympus!
In Olympius (where my fantasy series Kingdom of Ichor takes place), its capital is New Olympus, which is also the country's largest city! The inspiration/aesthetic of the city is an amalgamation of real world locations like Modern day Greece, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, Modern day Rome, Modern day Italy, NYC (New York City), LA (Los Angeles), Miami, London, & many more other places!
Here's some general info about the city:
Near the Lightning Harbor stands a 600 ft glittering Imperial Gold statue of King Zeus (holding his iconic lightning bolt in one hand and an aegis in the other). It's called the Panhellenios Statue, commissioned & built by his son Hephaestus (god of the forge).
It's the most diverse, in terms of population!
Grand Thunder Station is a commuter rail terminal having a connection to the New Olympus Subway. It's a mode of transportation not just throughout the country, but also some direct lines to the Underwater Realm & a single direct line to The Underworld. The terminal's Main Concourse is often used as a meeting place. Grand Thunder Station contains a variety of stores & food vendors- including upscale restaurants, bars, three food halls, and a grocery marketplace. It's a tourist attraction! Grand Thunder covers more than 50 acres & has 45 platforms.
Other modes of transportation include ferries, cabs, buses & trains (courtesy of the NOTA- New Olympus Transit Authority), and even through use of a chariot (pulled by a pegasus).
The Three Kings Bridge is the longest suspension bridge in New Olympus. It's of course inspired by the three main rulers & most powerful gods with each section of the bridge being built out of a different material. One section is built out of Imperial Gold (inspired by Zeus), the middle section being built out of Oceanic Metal (inspired by Poseidon), with the last section built out of adamantine (inspired by Hades).
The governor of the city is a mortal woman named Corinna Sotiropoulou while the mayor is the first of its kind- a satyr named Stathis Spiridakis.
There's the Pantheon Walk of Fame- where five pointed Celestial Bronze & Imperial Gold stars contain the names of the major and minor gods & goddesses. They're embedded in the sidewalks along several blocks of Eaglepoint Boulevard and five blocks of Bolt Street in Downtown New Olympus.
The hearth goddess Hestia's eternal red flame (which never goes out) is a symbol of strength and hope is situated (seemingly juxtaposed) in Acropolis Square.
Acropolis Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment center, & neighborhood in Midtown New Olympus. Brightly lit by numerous billboards, neon signs, and advertisements, it's often referred to as "The Crossroads of Olympius." It's the second most visited tourist attraction in Olympius (right after the palace on Mt. Olympus) & is the busiest pedestrian area. Notable locations in Acropolis Square includes Acropolis Square Garden (a multi-purpose indoor arena), Mall of Olympius (the largest retail shopping mall in the country), and The Parthenon Theater (the largest movie theater in the city)
* not to be confused with The Parthenon (an architectural feat & temple built to honor the goddess Athena, located in Athens.
Eaglepoint Park is New Olympus' largest urban park, located between the Queenstown & Skyline neighborhoods. It covers over a thousand acres of land- home to the New Olympus Zoo, among other attractions. Another statue of Zeus (built out of marble) with an eagle perched on each of his shoulders is here as well. The Summer Solstice Music Festival also takes place here. All the people of the city and its visitors know better than to mess with the stymphalian birds (carnivorous birds known for their bronze beaks, sharp metallic feathers, & poisonous dung).
Some notable things to eat in New Olympus:
Gyro hot dog- a beef frank folded into two slices of pita bread & topped with tzatziki sauce, feta cheese, cucumber slices, and sliced plum tomatoes.
A bag of spiced olives!
Loukoumades- small fried dough balls usually covered in honey & topped with cinnamon and chopped walnuts
Koulouris- a ring shaped bread garnished with sesame seeds
A bag of assorted dried fruits (usually containing raisins, figs, apricots, & pears) lightly drizzled in honey
Greek frozen yogurt
A box of mini honey cakes!
Dolmades- wrapped grape leaves stuffed with rice, onions, fresh herbs, & pine nuts. Comes with tzatziki dipping sauce & other sauce options.
*The next post will go more in depth into the individual neighborhoods of New Olympus!
#my writing#writing community#writeblr#writeblr community#worldbuilding#my worldbuilding#modern greek mythology#greek myth retellings
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“We Can Thank Herodotus, the ‘Father of History,’ for Our Knowledge of the Ancient World
One of the first to attempt to write down an account of the past, Herodotus helped establish a historical tradition that continues to this day.
By Nathaniel Scharping
Dec 8, 2020 2:00 AM
Statue of Herodotus in Athens, Greece. (Credit: Theastock/Shutterstock)
There are two ways to look at the question of who invented history. The first, of course, is that no one invented it; History is simply the result of the slow unfurling of time and the actions of those who have lived and died within its murky eddies. But the study of those actions, which we also call history, has a more definite beginning. For many of us in the Western world today, it began with a man named Herodotus.
Called “the father of history” by the Roman statesman Cicero, Herodotus is the author of the first authoritative historical text of any length. The Histories is a multi-volume account of the Greco-Persian wars, filled with informative digressions that span from Egypt to the near East. (It also gave us very the word history, which meant inquiry in the original Greek). To this day, Herodotus is often cited by scholars as a source of information on the lands and civilizations of his time.
Of course, Herodotus wasn’t quite a historian as we might think of today. His account, which relied largely on oral sources and second-person retellings, is replete with instances of fantasy. His tendency toward credulousness also earned him the somewhat less flattering appellation, “father of lies,” based on the numerous critiques of his work that began shortly after The Histories was published.
Herodotus was not the first to write down history. Greeks before him, notably Hecataeus of Miletus, had also written down their accounts of historical events. But no one before Herodotus had attempted to compile the kind of comprehensive record of a major historical occurrences that The Histories represents. Through it, Herodotus attempts to show not just what happened, but why, scholars say.
The First Historian
Of Herodotus the man, little is known. He was born in the city of Helicarnassus, in modern-day Turkey, and which was then part of the Persian empire. He traveled widely, even as a relatively young man, venturing to Egypt, and then moving to Athens. Herodotus reportedly visited parts of the Middle East, including Babylon and present-day Palestine and Syria, as well as Macedonia and eastern Europe, reaching the Black Sea and the Danube River.
A theater in the Halicarnassus, where Herodotus was born. (Credit: Carole Raddato/Wikimedia Commons)
Along the way, he gathered interviews from locals, collecting their accounts of their own histories and of the more far-flung people they encountered. Herodotus was a curious man: He writes of his attempts to explain the seasonal flooding of the Nile, and to trace the lineage of the Greek gods back to ancient Egypt, among other things. He also probably gave oral performances of portions of his historical writings to public audiences in Greece, a common practice at the time.
Herodotus’ practice was often simply to write down everything he was told, and at times qualifying the accounts with his own observations. This habit may be part of the reason Herodotus has often been criticized of outright confabulation. We hear of headless men with eyes in their chests in Libya and gold-digging ants in India that are larger than a fox (now thought to be marmots). It’s unclear whether Herodotus meant to portray these stories as truth, or if he simply intended to catalogue what he had been told by various people as he traveled.
For these reasons and others, Herodotus’ writings drew heavy criticism in ancient Greece. The historian Thucydides, who likely drew much inspiration from The Histories, took pains to call Herodotus out for what he perceived as inaccuracies and biases. And the Greek philosopher Plutarch, writing some three centuries later, mounts an even greater assault, arguing that Herodotus’ work was biased in favor of non-Greeks, and questioning the historian’s judgement. Today, scholars take a more balanced view of Herodotus the historian. Though his tales might not always be truthful, there is much that Herodotus got right — and his insights into the Greek world and beyond at the time are nearly unparalleled.
A Himalayan marmot. (Credit: ©Christopher J. Fynn / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 & GFDL)
Occasional fantasies aside, Herodotus also reported on much that was true. Alongside the headless creatures, he writes of impalas, gazelles and elands in Africa, and of Ethiopians wrapped in lion skins with long bows made of palmwood. Environmental science and biology show up as well. Herodotus reported on the annual flooding of the Nile, and speculates on what caused it. He notes the astonishing growth of crocodiles: “No mortal creature of all which we know grows from so small a beginning to such greatness; for its eggs are not much bigger than goose eggs, and the young crocodile is of a proportional size, but it grows to a length of twenty-eight feet and more.”
A (Mostly) True Account
Herodotus took it upon himself to correct what he saw as the inaccuracies of writers before him. He offers a conflicting account of the events relayed by the epic poet Homer that began the now-legendary Trojan War. The war is supposed to have been instigated when a Trojan kidnapped Helen, wife of the Spartan king Menelaus. But Herodotus, based on research during his time in Egypt, dismisses this as mere myth; Helen was actually in Egypt the whole time, he counters, blown off course during a sea journey.
The Histories also contains what is likely the more accurate version of the legendary story of a lone runner delivering the news of the Greeks’ victory at the Battle of Marathon to Athens, before perishing of exhaustion. But Herodotus’ account instead involves a runner being sent from Athens to Sparta before the battle (a much larger distance of about 150 miles) to ask for help, and then the entire Athenian army marching back to Athens after the battle to confront a Persian fleet bearing down on the city.
But more modern historians have noted inconsistencies throughout Herodotus’ writings, that they say indicate he may never have visited some of the places he claims. For example, he never once mentions the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, despite having allegedly traveled there.
But Herodotus has been vindicated in other ways. For example, a boat recently unearthed in the Nile delta matches almost exactly his description of a curious kind of barge-like watercraft used there.
And his account of the Greco-Persian war, the main subject of The Histories, is also held to be largely true. To lay out the full story of the war, Herodotus begins much further back, describing the history of Persia, as well as Athens and Sparta, and the feats and follies of numerous royal characters along the way. Along with the geography and infrastructure of places he visits, Herodotus imparts numerous observations on the people and customs he encounters, or which he is told about along the way.
In this meandering way, Herodotus finally comes to a lengthy description of the various military engagements of the war itself, a decades-long conflict that would define the course of history during his lifetime and for decades afterward. That story alone would qualify his work as a valuable piece of historical writing — but it is the many and varied digressions he embarks upon that define the true value of The Histories today.
Herodotus gifts us with insights into the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Persia, Assyria, Scythia and more. Given his is one of the oldest works of prose in existence, The Histories is often scholars’ best source for accounts of these cultures, even 2,500 years after Herodotus' death. And beyond that, as many historians point out, it’s also just a really fun read.”
Source: https://www.discovermagazine.com/the-sciences/we-can-thank-herodotus-the-father-of-history-for-our-knowledge-of-the
Very good text! I will add only the following few remarks:
1/ Hecataeus was a very important predecessor of Herodotus, but he was a genealogist (he tried to rationalize the various genealogical traditions of the Greeks) and a geographer. His geographical work contained also an ethnographic aspect, but it seems that his ethnography was too terse. The sure is that he cannot be called historian.
2/ It seems that Thucydides criticizes Herodotus without naming him, but this should not surprise us, because the Greek intellectuals were usually very antagonistic toward their predecessors. On the other hand, it is beyond doubt that Herodotus was a major influence on Thucydides. Plutarch (or Pseudo-Plutarch) is a very different case. His main intention was to undermine the reliability of Herodotus’ (accurate) account of the shameful attitude of the Boetian oligarchs during Xerxes’ invasion of Greece, combined with cultural chauvinism (Herodotus would be “philobarbaros”- ‘barbarian lover”!).
3/ Herodotus does not claim unambiguously that he visited Babylon and the question of the existence and nature of the Hanging Gardens is a subject of heated debate (an eminent Assyriologist has even suggested recently that the Hanging Gardens were in the Assyrian capital Nineveh and only through various misunderstandings later authors have located them in Babylon).
3/ Herodotus gave himself a formidable task, namely to describe the rise of the Persian Empire and its conflict with the Greek city-states, to understand the causes of the conflict and of its outcome, but also, we could say, to understand the unity and the variety in the human nature as expressed in the different nations of the oikoumene. Given that his subject was so broad and that he had to rely mainly on oral traditions, it is not surprising that many tales were included in his work, especially concerning regions of the world about which the Greeks had only indirect knowledge. However, first of all, these tales are often sources of information about how Greeks and non Greeks of that time saw themselves and their world. Second, Herodotus is not uncritical toward this material: he often cites his sources, taking in this way a critical distance from them, and he even expresses not rarely scepticism toward what he had heard and is recording. More importantly, the inclusion of tales and of some legendary material does not change the fact that the main narrative of The Histories about the rise of the Persian Empire and the Persian Wars is mostly solid and reliable and Herodotus manages not only to expose the facts, but also to show clearly the many causes of the conflict and of the surprising Greek victory. Moreover, it is now sure that there is much accurate and thought provoking information in the ethnographic part of Herodotus’ work.
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When did people start writing music down? Music was first written down in the 6th century BC, but the current system we use began in the 11th century.
There is no way of knowing when music itself started. It is very natural for us to sing and dance because they are merely extensions of talking and moving. It most probably was natural for early humans as well. The earliest human musical instruments found have been carbon dated between 42,000 and 43,000 years ago. They are flutes made from bird bones and the ivory from a mammoth. There is a Neanderthal flute that has been found and dated to 60,000 years ago. It is made from the thighbone of a bear. The holes are definitely not accidental and its purpose was probably music, although that obviously cannot be known for definite. This shows that Neanderthals had music as well. Both Neanderthals and homo sapiens probably used music in social occasions and maybe in religious occasions as well.
Musical instruments evolved over the millennia. Wind instruments and drums were the first because they are the simplest and they don’t have any moving parts. They are very easy to make. Rattles were easy to make as well. The first stringed instrument was the lyre, made in Mesopotamia and then in Ancient Egypt. Early music was for the purpose of religion and not just music for the sake of music. There was no concept that music could be written down, just as there was no concept that stories could be written down before writing was invented. All of this changed with the Ancient Greeks.
Music was everywhere in ancient Greece and it was a huge part of the culture. It was far more than just for dancing and for religion. It was used for the performing of poetry (early songs), in theaters, festivals, weddings, and many other occasions. However, the Greeks went one step further than just playing the instruments, they began music theory. The study of music began in roughly the 6th century BC and a document written by Aristoxenos in the 4th century BC is the first surviving example of music theory. Greeks were very interested in it. Pythagoras, the famous mathematician, was fascinated with music and he believed that it was a mathematical expression of the cosmic order. The music theory of the 4th century used a writing system that is the first attempt to write down music. However, they didn’t write it down in the way that we do. They used notes and phrases to explain how the songs should be sung and accompanied. There are 52 pieces of Greek music that survive in various states. Experts have tried to play these, but there is no consensus on what they should actually sound like.
The modern system of musical notation that we use today has its origins in the 11th century with the Gregorian Chants that were used in church. In the Roman Catholic church, the liturgy was often sung. A liturgy is a public worshipping ritual, where everybody repeats the same text. It was almost like the poems set to music that the Ancient Greeks used. These liturgies were reorganized by the 64th pope, Pope Gregory I in 720ish. He was canonized after he died and Gregorian chants are named after him. Gregorian chants were carried around the Catholic world and people made notes on them so they knew how they should be sung. These notes were called neumes, and they weren’t writing down the music, rather they were writing down how the chants should be sung. The neumes marked rising or sinking pitch and other things that would be needed when singing, such as a long note or a tremor. The problem was, it was not easy to sing the chants if you didn’t know what the music was, and it was very difficult to keep everyone singing the same tune.
A monk called Guido of Arrezo saw this problem and he came up with a novel solution. He drew four horizontal lines over the words in the chant. He decided on the key of the chant and he drew a red line that was on that note, C for example, then he drew the other symbols above or below that line to show whether the singer should go up in pitch or down in pitch. The genius of having four lines he could place the symbols on showed the singer just how much they should go up or down in pitch. The shape of the notes changed over time from the original squares to round notes. Some of the symbols disappeared and new ones appeared. The number of lines went from four to five, but Guido of Arrezo had invented music notation. With his system, any music could be written down for anyone to sing or play, whether they had heard it or not. And this is what I learned today.
Image Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=425064
Sources
https://www.nms.si/en/collections/highlights/343-Neanderthal-flute
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-18196349
https://www.classicfm.com/discover-music/how-music-notation-began/
https://livingpianos.com/when-was-music-first-written-down/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_music
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Musical_instrument
https://www.worldhistory.org/Greek_Music/
https://brianjump.net/2015/06/17/music-of-ancient-times/
https://www.wqxr.org/story/how-was-musical-notation-invented-brief-history/
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-musicappreciationtheory/chapter/neume/
https://www.americamagazine.org/arts-culture/2018/03/07/brief-history-gregorian-chant
#music music
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WEEK3
The first stop of our trip, where we left the school together, was Sultanahmet Square. Our guest teacher Ufuk teacher first of all gave us information about Sultanahmet Square. Sultanahmet Square, which is also very close to our school, is located in Fatih. It is possible to see the ruins of Byzantium in Sultanahmet square, which is very rich in historical terms. Sultanahmet square was called the Hippodrome in Constantinople during the Byzantine period, while it was called Atmeydani during the Ottoman period. We started our trip by gathering in front of the fountain in Sultanahmet Square and giving information. It was really very impressive that the roads we constantly passed through had such a historical past. I also learned the difference between amphitheater and theater on this trip. They actually used the hippodrome as the entertainment center of the city. We learned that there are races held here.This fountain was made in Germany and then brought to Istanbul and placed in its place in Istanbul.Then we went towards the place where the obelisks are.
This stone was known as the Obelisk or the Obelisk of Theodosius. It is an ancient Egyptian obelisk. Actually, this stone, which was made in Egypt, was made by the Roman Emperor 1. It was brought from Egypt by Theodosius and took its current place in Sultanahmet square. There were many different hieroglyphs on it. Different things were told on each of its facades, and the story of how the stone was moved to its current location is depicted in the reliefs located at the bottom of the stone.
This column is known as the serpent column or Burmese column. It depicts 3 python snakes. This column, which was made using bronze, belongs to Ancient Greece. According to the belief in Greek mythology, Apollo killed a three-headed snake and this column was made to represent this.
Finally, we saw the knitted obelisk. This stone is also known as the Constantine obelisk. It is located in Sultanahmet square, after the Theodosius Obelisk and the Serpentine Column. VII. It was built by Konstantinos. When we look at this knitted column, unlike the other one, we cannot see any hieroglyphs or plates on it. The knitted obelisk is created only from rectangular columns. We can also see that it is higher than the obelisk. The purpose of this may be related to the show of force and power he wants to make.
When we talked about these stones, we mentioned that the purpose of making these stones is a show of strength.
After the ruins of the hippodrome, we continued walking and arrived at the Little Hagia Sophia, which was our last stop.This building, which was a church when it was first built, was later converted into a mosque. I, who was the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) emperor. It was built by Justinian and his wife Theodora between 527-536 under the name of the Church of St. Sergius and St. Bakhos Dec. Later, Sultan II. Beyazit Topkapi Palace was converted into a mosque during the reign of Hüseyin Ağa, the agha of Darüssaade.There is a main dome with 8 corners. Although it is known as the oldest building in Istanbul, it also has a large garden. There is a Hüseyin Ağa madrasa in the middle. It is currently used for Turkish handicrafts.
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Disney Didn’t Invent Cinderella 💃
Disney Didn’t Invent Cinderella. Her Story Is at Least 2,000 Years Old
The real Cinderella weaves together centuries of storytelling through dozens of cultures.
Vox * Kelsey McKinney
illustration of a girl running, leaving a slipper behind
A 1920s lithograph of Cinderella illustrated by Maud Trube. (Getty)
You know Cinderella. Of course you do. She's a part of the cultural ether, one of those characters we get to know by osmosis.
She's a princess. She wears a beautiful dress with a shiny headband, glass shoes, and long white gloves. She overcomes the adversity of her wicked stepmother and stepsisters, who treat her as their maid, so she can meet and dance with a very handsome prince, then hurry home before the clock strikes midnight and her carriage becomes a pumpkin again.
But that's not the real Cinderella. That's the Disney Cinderella, the one from the 1950 animated film and the new remake in theaters right now.
The real Cinderella isn't so easily defined. She is a character who weaves together centuries of storytelling and most human cultures.
And sometimes her forgotten slipper isn't even glass.
The first Cinderella was Greek
There are two faces to Cinderella: there's the European folk tale that evolved into the modern-day story of a girl in a big blue ball gown, and there's the centuries-old plot that has been passed between cultures for millennia.
The story of overcoming oppression and marrying into another social class to be saved from a family that doesn't love or appreciate you is an incredibly powerful one, too powerful to be contained by the story we all know. At the center of most Cinderella stories (whether they use that name for their protagonist or not) is one thing: a persecuted heroine who rises above her social station through marriage.
The first recorded story featuring a Cinderella-like figure dates to Greece in the sixth century BCE. In that ancient story, , a Greek courtesan named Rhodopis has one of her shoes stolen by an eagle, who flies it all the way across the Mediterranean and drops it in the lap of an Egyptian king.
Taking the shoe drop as a sign from the heavens (literally and metaphorically), the king goes on a quest to find the owner of the shoe. When he finds Rhodopis, he marries her, lifting her from her lowly status to the throne.
Another one of the earliest known Cinderella stories is the ninth-century Chinese fairy tale Ye Xian, in which a young girl named Ye Xian is granted one wish from some magical fishbones, which she uses to create a gown in the hopes of finding a husband.
Like Rhodopis' tale, a monarch comes in possession of the shoe (this time, the shoes have a gold fish-scale pattern) and goes on a quest to find the woman whose tiny feet will fit the shoe. Ye Xian's beauty convinces the king to marry her, and the mean stepmother is crushed by stones in her cave home.
Illustration for fairy tale Cinderella. Artist: Rackham, from 1939
The European version of the story originated in the 17th century
In total, more than 500 versions of the Cinderella story have been found just in Europe, and the Cinderella we know best comes from there (France, specifically).
The first version of Cinderella that bears a significant similarity to the most famous version emerged in the 17th century, when a story called /Cenerentola /was published in a collection of Italian short stories. /Cenerentola/ has all the ingredients of the modern-day tale - the wicked stepmother and stepsisters, the magic, and the missing slipper - but it's darker and just a bit more magical.
In the story, a woman named Zezolla escapes the king, who wants to marry her, at two separate celebrations - before he finally catches her at the third one and prevents her from leaving.
**Instead of a story of requited love, /Cenerentola/ is a story of forced marriage and six very wicked stepsisters.
Sixty years later, the Italian tale got a French twist and became the story we know. In /Cendrillon, /Charles Perrault - a French writer credited with inventing the fairy tale - cast the form that Cinderella would take for the next 400 years. He introduced the glass slipper, the pumpkin, and the fairy godmother (minus the bibbidi bobbidi boo). This is the version Disney later adapted into its animated classic.
Circa 1830: Cinderella, having tried on the glass slipper, produces its fellow. Etching by George Cruikshank as an illustration for Grimm's "Aschenputtel." (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
The Brothers Grimm had a, well, grimmer take on the tale
The Brothers Grimm also collected the tale in their famous fairy tale compendium. That story, called /Aschenputtel /(/Cinderella/ in the English translations), appeared more than 100 years after Perrault's version in the 19th century.
Aschenputtel is a much darker tale. Cinderella's wishes come not from a fairy godmother but from a tree growing on her mother's grave. Her father, instead of being absent as in Perrault's tale, is willfully ignorant of his daughter's suffering.
In the Grimm version, the heroine's slippers are made of gold (not glass), and when the Prince comes to test the stepsisters' feet for size, one of them cuts off her own toes to try and make the shoe fit. In the end, Cinderella marries the prince, her stepsisters serve as her bridesmaids, and doves peck their eyes out during the ceremony. It is, needless to say, a beautiful tale for children.
Did /Cinderella/ invent the Wicked Stepmother trope?
In a word, no.
Many fairy tales that have their roots in the 17th century, including /Snow White /and /Hansel and Gretel, /feature evil stepmothers who seek to ruin the protagonist's lives. In all of these stories, the stepmother's main enemy is the stepdaughter - a living, breathing reminder of her husband's first marriage.
But plots don't just emerge out of nowhere. Most are pulled from real-life scenarios or at least real-life feelings. As Dr. Wednesday Martin, author of the book /StepMonster/, wrote for Psychology Today, "Stepmothers are frequently singled out for very bad treatment indeed by stepchildren who pick up on their mother's anger and resentment and become her proxy in their father's household."
And this is no new problem. Stepmothers, historically, were a very common occurrence not because of divorce and remarriage but because so many women died during childbirth. This meant the new wife (and her children) were in direct competition with the first wife's child not just for love, but also for the inheritance that would decide which station of society they belonged in after the husband's death. Thus, the idea became an overused trope.
This also points to what /Cinderella/ is really about - money.
Cinderella/ is a story about class warfare
At its core, /Cinderella/ is about how dependent women once were on men to determine their place in the world.
Cinderella begins the story as the daughter of a wealthy man. She is an upper-middle-class girl with good prospects who could potentially marry into an upper-class family with even more prospects. But once her mother dies and her father remarries, her position in the family shifts, and her marriage is no longer the primary focus of the family.
"He would improve her position in society, and thus improve her life"
This is common in many other stories that employ this same theory. Consider /Pretty in Pink, My Fair Lady, Pride and Prejudice, /and /Pretty Woman/, to name a few stories in which a man's attractiveness is greatly enhanced by having a lot of money. Sometimes, the love affair is between an upper-class woman and a working-class boy. Think /Titanic
/or/Aladdin. /
The original /Cinderella, /written by Perrault, is even more blatantly about social class because its true moral is that by being nice and beautiful, a woman can earn herself a better life. Thus, /Cinderella/ as Disney retold it in 1950, is the true embodiment of what that time period thought of as women achieving the American Dream — not through
work, but through marriage.
Disney chose to adapt /Cinderella/, instead of /Aschenputtel/. The former needed help to get anything done and had very little freedom, while Aschenputtel does many things of her own free will. Or, put another way, Cinderella has to be home at midnight. That's just when Aschenputtel decides to leave.
This post originally appeared on Vox and was published March 15, 2015.
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THE PERFECT VACATION FOR YOUR ZODIAC SIGN
Have you ever been on vacation and felt like something was missing? Maybe you wanted to visit somewhere that was more aligned with your zodiac sign. Whether you’re looking to pack your bags and head off to another country or simply explore your own backyard, this list of the perfect travel destinations for each zodiac sign will inspire you to get moving!
ARIES - ONE DAY IN NEW YORK CITY
New York City is known as the world's melting pot and a place where people from all walks of life gather to celebrate what makes them different. Getting lost in the concrete jungle feels much more natural to Aries than many other zodiac signs, so a day in NYC is their ideal destination. Be sure to visit Broadway, Rockefeller Center, and walk through Central Park on your way back home.
TAURUS - A WEEKEND GETAWAY IN TOKYO
Taurus people are grounded, down-to-earth and practical. A weekend in Tokyo will satisfy all your worldly desires by introducing you to the art, culture and frenetic energy of Japan's capital city. There's plenty to see with fascinating places like Meiji Shrine, Yasukuni Shrine and Akihabara that pay homage to Taurus' love of simplicity, tradition and history.
GEMINI - THREE DAYS IN LONDON
Gemini is a social butterfly who wants to explore every inch of their home country as well as another one. London is the perfect city for them because there are so many things to do. There are museums, restaurants, theaters, and historic buildings to visit. Check out the Tower of London or Buckingham Palace and then go see a musical at Sadler's Wells Theatre.
CANCER - A FULL WEEK IN PARIS
Cancer, one of the most powerful zodiac signs, deserves a vacation filled with rich art and opulence. Paris has a lot to offer - museums, monuments, markets, theaters. Start by walking through the Tuileries Garden, or taking in Notre Dame Cathedral before heading to the Louvre Museum and exploring Da Vinci's The Last Supper.
LEO - TWO WEEKS IN ROME
Rome is a very beautiful city with old-fashioned buildings and a rich history. If you love the art, food, and ambiance of Italy, Rome is the perfect destination for you. You'll get to enjoy a mix of ancient and modern architecture as well as tasty cuisine, but also have time to explore other areas of Italy like Venice or Florence if you decide to stay longer than two weeks.
VIRGO - 10 DAYS IN BALI
Bali is a great destination for Virgos, as the authentic Balinese culture will give you an opportunity to experience new things and interact with the locals. Plus, being surrounded by tropical scenery and fresh coconut water from coconuts growing on trees is just what your mind needs.
LIBRA - A MONTH IN GREECE
If you're a Libra, October is the perfect time to go to Greece. With the focus on beauty and intellect, taking a tour of the Acropolis and surrounding architecture will satisfy both your love of beauty and intellectual pursuits.
SCORPIO - ONE WEEK IN HAWAII
Scorpios thrive on the thrill of danger, so they would love an adrenaline-inducing trip to Hawaii. Of course, the white sands and picturesque palm trees will be plenty thrilling as well!
Scorpios are natural born leaders, which means they need their own space while they're on vacation. So a house on the beach or condo with lots of privacy is perfect for this sign.
SAGITTARIUS - 6 DAYS IN ATHENS
If you're a Sagittarius, we recommend going to Athens, Greece. They have great shopping and restaurants with a vibrant nightlife scene. This is the perfect vacation if you love history and culture. You'll feel like you're in Europe because it's easy to get around and even people who don't speak English will try their best to help you!
CAPRICORN - FIVE DAYS IN SANTORINI, GREECE
If you're a Capricorn, we recommend five days in Santorini, Greece. Situated on the southernmost of the Cyclades Islands, this ancient city is worth your time and money. The white-washed houses, windmills, and cobblestone streets are all worth exploring. Don't forget to visit the Aegean Sea or taste their delicious wines!
AQUARIUS - 14 DAYS AROUND AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND
Visit the stunning outback region of Australia and New Zealand. In Australia, be sure to visit Alice Springs (population 26,000) and Uluru (previously known as Ayers Rock). In New Zealand, don't miss the Bay of Islands on North Island or Queenstown on South Island. You'll have time to explore this area by kayak or bike!
PISCES - 5 DAYS IN VENICE BEACH, CALIFORNIA
Pisces' quest to reconnect with their spiritual side, the universe, and themselves will be rewarded with a trip to Venice Beach. This small town on the California coast is where many of your most Zen-worthy adventures will take place. The best part about this destination is that you can wake up every morning, walk out on your balcony, and feel as if you're overlooking the ocean without having to worry about fog or clouds.
Time to book the trip that compliments your sun, moon, and rising signs!
#travel#adventure#astrology#zodiac#wanderlust#tourism#traveling#virgo#capricorn#piceses♓️#gemini#aries#sagittarius#scorpio#aquarius#taurus#leo#cancer#libra
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A Manual for Ios Island, Greece
There are different sides of the rent villa mykonos coin practically on each Greek island, however perhaps no place else is however apparent as it seems to be on Ios island.
Youthful, energetic, and offering a lot of diversion valuable open doors, Ios is an in vogue party island in Greece, trailing not very far behind the significantly more modern Mykonos. Yet, Ios has figured out how to hold a conventional Cycladic scene, a rural way of life in a portion of its forgotten clifftop settlements, and a beautiful situation made of whitewashed homes and small houses of prayer along the cobblestone ways of its fundamental town.
PIN THIS!
Where Could Ios be?
The island partakes in an ideal area in the core of the Aegean Ocean near other more famous islands, remembering Santorini for its south, Paros and Naxos towards the North, Iraklia toward the East, and Sikinos on the West side of Ios.
What Is Ios Popular For?
Among the most well known objections in Greece, Ios draws in a huge number of sightseers consistently, the two local people and outsiders the same. The reasons? One of the most staggering mid year scenes and a clear nightlife which characterizes it as one of the most outstanding party islands in Greece. As local people guarantee, however, in Ios, it's about the clubs and bars, yet it's the island's way of thinking.
The island is likewise known for its novel town, Chora, the grand Odysseus Elytis theater with stunning perspectives on the island and the ocean, Homer's grave, its overwhelming nightfalls, and significantly more.
How To Get To Ios?
There's no air terminal on the island, so the main direct method for getting to Ios is by means of ship. Then again, you can travel to Santorini from Athens (and other European objections) and afterward get a 2-hour ship.
Assuming you intend to travel by means of ship from Athens, recollect that you will likewise have to arrive at Santorini first. Ship associations among Ios and Santorini are accessible throughout the entire year, expanding during summer when something like two day to day intersections.
High velocity ships will take you from Santorini to Ios in around 35 minutes, while the ordinary ships (with a less expensive charge) can require up to very nearly 2 hours. The expense begins at €6 and can increment relying upon the vessel you board and what seat you purchase. A few ships will likewise permit you to go in your vehicle.
It's additionally vital to recall that the island can become truly busy, so it is exceptionally prudent to book ahead of time. In the event that you are stressed over keeping social distance during your days off, perhaps Ios isn't the right island for you, accept us, it becomes busy.
The Best Chance To Visit Ios Island
Similarly as with each Greek island in the focal point of the Aegean, the weather conditions will in general be wonderful from May for the rest of September, when the primary mists and rains begin advancing into the Greek skies.
Staying away from July and August likewise implies avoiding immense groups and expanded costs. June and September are most likely the more quiet a long time with warm climate and better charges.
Top Activities In Ios Island
The island changes from morning to evening, intending that there are vast activities at the two times.
Celebrating, clubbing, and appreciating ocean side gatherings until the sun goes up is most likely everything thing you can manage around evening time on the island… However shouldn't something be said about the daytime? Here are probably everything things you can manage in Ios when the sun goes up.
Visit Ios Chora
Ios Chora (likewise known promotion Ios Town) is the primary town on the island and the main significant town. What's more, it offers a lot of spots to find and things to see during your visit. The Chora of Ios is situated on the island's western coast, around a short ways from the port where your ship will show up.
Frequently depicted as one of the loveliest towns in the Aegean, the Chora of Ios stays legitimate and regularly Cycladic, to such an extent that it has been proclaimed a saved settlement. The beguiling postcard-like settlement is gotten by many curves ignoring the little roads. There are ravishing whitewashed, level roofed houses with blue entryways and windows showed along a labyrinth of little cobblestone back streets.
The best opportunity to visit the Chora is during the morning when a large portion of the youthful guests are dozing, and the other travelers are near the ocean. This will get large number of wonderful photographs without individuals on them assuming that is the thing you're searching for.
Wonder About The Perspectives From Panagia Gremiotissa And Then some
The most noteworthy spot on the town, noticeable even from the ship, is the phenomenal white church of Panagia Gremiotissa (meaning Virgin Mary of the Precipice). The spot becomes especially busy during the nightfall, one of the most amazing minutes to investigate the region because of the fantastic lightning that eases up the congregation's white chalk walls.
Likewise, there are a couple of whitewashed windmills in the close by region and a heavenly open air amphitheater devoted to the significant Greek writer Odysseas Elytis. Not exclusively are the acoustics superb, however the perspectives are really extraordinary. It very well may be smart to go to a show here during summer in the event that you get the opportunity.
On top of a similar slope, it is likewise conceivable to investigate the vestiges of an old Venetian palace from which you can respect the whole Chora with its blues, whites, and completely heartfelt environment.
Visit The Archeological Exhibition hall
No Greek island comes up short on archeological exhibition hall, and Ios couldn't be any less. Additionally situated in the primary town, the Archeological Exhibition hall of Ios is sensibly little however in any case truly significant. In the first place, it is housed in a noteworthy Neoclassical structure known as Amiradakio Megaro, truly worth a visit.
When inside the historical center, check the assortment of old things that have been unearthed on the island, from the commonplace earth dolls of the primary Cycladic period to ancient apparatuses, objects from the Old style, Greek, and Roman times, entombment segments, and stone coffin.
Wonder About The Special Archeological Site
Skarkos in the space of Chora is the main ancient archeological exhuming in the Cyclades. It is accepted to have been an early Bronze Age settlement around 1,000 years more seasoned than the well known Akrotiri settlement in Santorini.
It is found a couple of kilometers from the port and bears a strange round shape. It is situated in an extremely elevated place, presumably to permit its previous occupants to have unhindered perspectives on the port and the ocean.
The vast majority of the discoveries from the settlement are currently housed in Ios' Archeological Historical center; in any case, the visit stays fascinating to find out about the awesome association of this human advancement in regards to their arranged road arranging with squares structures and stone-cleared floors (not exactly not quite the same as the present Chora, in the event that you think about it) and guarded walls.
It is great to realize that this specific archeological site has an entry that individuals can use on wheelchairs, something not exactly normal in most archeological locales in Greece.
Check The Burial chamber Of Artist Homer
Around 13 km from the focal point of Chora, close to Plakoto Ocean side, on top of a slope sitting above the ocean, visiting the burial chamber of Homer is conceivable.
Homer is viewed as perhaps of the best history specialist and writers in old Greece and most likely the writer of the amazing sonnets the Odyssey and the Iliad. As per the nearby legend, the artist passed on the island, where his mom was conceived.
In spite of the fact that there was never much proof that Homer had genuinely been covered on the island, thinking back to the seventeenth hundred years, a paleontologist discovered a few graves nearby, with one of them bearing an engraving that recognized the spot as the writer's grave.
Find Ios Water channel
On the island, you will likewise find an extremely old water passage situated in the shoreline town of Agia Theodoti, on the island's southern coast.
There are noticeable remains of a pinnacle, hints of an old reservoir conduit, and two different water tanks from the Frankish time frame.
Best Ios Island Sea shores
Sea shores in Ios are downright dynamite. Some of them have earned global respect, while a lot more have been granted a Blue Banner for their unblemished, clean, and perfectly clear waters. These are the ones that you shouldn't miss.
Mylopotas Ocean side
You can't say to have been in Ios in the event that you don't make it the whole way to Mylopotas, no less than once during your visit. The ocean side is truly fabulous, one of the most lovely in Greece, in any case, since it is very near the Chora (only 3 km away), it is an extremely famous objective on the island, frequently stuffed, particularly in July and August.
The sandy ocean side is a coordinated region and a part with no sort of association. It offers an ideal spot for water sports, chiefly windsurfing. Mylopotas has dynamite turquoise waters and clear sand.
Because of the party idea of the island, it is an extraordinary spot to appreciate toward the beginning of the day, when most travelers are as yet recuperating from an evening of moving and fun, and the ocean side is more serene.
Nearby, there are bistros, eateries, and ocean side bars. You can show up there driving from the focal point of town, taking the transport in the Chora, or strolling for around 20 minutes down the slope.
Dad Ocean side
Perhaps of the most dazzling spot on the island, Daddy Ocean side, is around 10 km from the focal point of town. The sandy inlet is very covered up, encompassed by high precipices and brambles that keep it fairly hidden.
The spot isn't coordinated and doesn't get exceptionally stuffed; the waters are clear and shallow, making it an ideal spot for long loosening up swims in the ocean.
Manganari Ocean side
One more most loved ocean side on the island, Manganari, is found further from the focal point of town. Around 20 km from Ios' Chora, the shore isn't frequently stuffed in light of the fact that it is very far off, so remember this beautiful rent villa mykonos shore assuming you are searching for a disconnected ocean side shelter.
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Maria Pentayótissa
Maria Pentayotissa was a woman who became a folk legend in Greece thanks to her great beauty and her tragic love life. Her true name was Maria Daskalopoulou but she became known as Pentayotissa, because her home town was the Pentayí village in mountainous Phocis, Sterea Hellas. She was born in 1821 (the year the Greek Independence War started).
Pentayi of Phocis.
Her father was a teacher and she was very beautiful, strong willed, educated and liberal. According to legend, she was also a cunning woman with a long string of lovers. She would choose her lovers and men would often fight physically to win her heart, or attention, at least.
That's what these folk song lyrics were based on: " Lambs get slaughtered in Sálona, rams get slaughtered in Chrissós, but on Maria's lap young lads get slaughtered".
The constant fights amongst the young men were disturbing the tranquil routine of her town and the nearby villages. But Maria had found her sweetheart. She started a relationship with a young man named Dimitris Tourkakis, which was a secret known to everyone in the region and was, obviously, not an engagement. The conservative villagers were outraged, fearing Maria would set an example for other girls too, and were pressuring Maria´s brother, Yannis, to put an end to his sister´s affair.
Once, King Otto and Queen Amalia visited Ámfissa, the chief town of Phocís, and all the villages of the region sent representatives to welcome the royal couple. Maria was one of the representatives from Pentayi. It is said that Queen Amalia was so impressed by her beauty that asked her to become one of her ladies-in-waiting in the royal court in Athens.
The arrival of the king and queen was followed by festivities in Sálona in their honour. Maria was dancing and Dimitris slipped right next to her in the dance, taking her hand.
Her brother Yannis saw this, and pressured as he was by the narrow-minded society, he angrily dragged Maria out of the dance in front of everyone. Maria took this as a great insult and when she later met Dimitris back in their village, she told him she wished to never see him again, because he was a coward and did not support her in front of her brother and the villagers, neither did he own up and ask her hand in marriage.
Dimitris decided to prove to Maria that he was no coward and for that reason, of all things, he chose to sneak upon her brother at night and kill him. He then carried the corpse to mount Xerovouni above the village and throw it to a gorge called Kárkanos.
Xirovouni of Phocis by Sotiris Marinopoulos via Flickr.
Dimitris then rushed back to Maria's house into the night and announced the murder of her brother triumphantly. Maria cried: "Alas, brother, I killed you!". So when shepherds found the corpse days later and police arrived for inquiring, Maria's little sister, who had overheard their conversation, told the policemen of Maria's "confession". It is often suggested that the young sister knew the true context of Maria’s cry - she betrayed her due to a slow-burning envy for the attention Maria was getting thanks to her beauty.
Dimitris Tourkakis and Maria Daskalopoulou were lead to the Criminal Court of Missolonghi. Tourkakis was sentenced to many years or life in prison but there are many different tellings regarding what happened to Maria, who was being trialed as an accomplice. All versions agree to this: Maria was punished lightly.
According to the most popular version, the judges were biased because of her beauty and gave her a short sentence. Another version claims that a juror's son pressured the judges to not punish her because he didn't want his own affair with Maria to be revealed. And according to a third, a guard helped Maria to flee prison, seduced by her charms.
Whatever the truth is, after her sentence was through (or she escaped prison), Maria returned to her place on foot. She arrived at Pentayi on Easter Day and found her people to dance on the aforementioned folk song about her. When they saw her, some were judgemental and some hostile. Maria confronted them but eventually abandoned the village, fearing she would get caught again. Maria joined a band of wanted criminals who were hiding in the mountains.
Mountainous Phocis. Source: www.difno.gr
She did not stay with them for long. The priest of Pentayi found her in the mountains and appeared understanding towards her. With gentle words, he convinced her to return to her home. The priest and the villagers then helped her get an amnesty and after that her turmoil was over.
Some years later, she married Konstantinos Armaos from the nearby town of Krokílio, a widower with four children. Maria raised his children with principles and good education. She did not have children of her own. She died honoured in the age of 84.
Her story has become the subject of numerous songs and poems, novels, theatrical plays, even shadow theater plays - sometimes with a lot of liberties taken, including some which connect her to the Greek Independence War, which is entirely false. The famous actress Aliki Vougiouklaki starred as Maria Pentayotissa in a movie about her life.
Sources for the post:
newsitamea.gr
athensvoice.gr
#greece#folklore#tradition#history#folk tales#greek#maria pentayotissa#greeks#greek people#greek facts#phocis#pentayi#sterea hellas#central greece#mainland#otto and amalia#king otto of greece#queen amalia of greece#aliki vouyouklaki#tw murder
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Ya know, I truly hope Miss Renesmee Carlie Cullen fully dedicates herself to just....being as out there and iconic as possible
first things first- ANYTHING with the loch ness monster on it, she owns. Posters, shirts, jackets, shoes, folders, buttons, iron-ons, there is always at least 5 pieces of Nessie merch on her at all times
once she gets old enough to start high school, the cover story is her and Edward are siblings that Carlisle and Esme took in, and sometimes her classmates will ask her what her biological parents were like and she will flat out be like 'oh, they're vampires' and Edward and Bella are like. 5 feet away trying not to scream
every Halloween she'll show up to school in an elaborate Nosferatu costume
goes out of her way to photobomb people in increasingly ridiculous ways so there will Always be a photographic record of her and in like 100 years she can get a huge kick out of teens on the internet trying to make a conspiracy about her
joins as many school clubs as she can, even if she has no interest in them- she just Really wants a concrete record of herself to exist lmao
ICONIC at school theater though. One of those demon theater kids that come to rehearsal purely to cause chaos and nothing else, but her voice is incredible so she secures every lead. One time she somehow managed to star in a show while also playing in the school band for it- her classmates still have no idea how she pulled it off
Always brings blood out in public in a CLEAR THERMOS and it stresses her family out so much but everyone else thinks she's just like, weirdly into tomato juice so the Cullens can't stop her
to everyone's surprise...her biggest chaos enabler is Jasper lmao. everyone thought he'd be a logical, responsible uncle but they're just. A Problem together. He'll 100% assist her in any prank she wants to pull, he gets her fake id's when she wants to sneak into a club with friends, he bails her out of jail without telling her parents, they figured out if she gets high and he reads her feelings he'll get high too and it's. So fucking funny.
she's always carrying some random instrument around school- like for a while it's a guitar or a harmonica, fine, but then she'll start lugging a cello around, a tuba (she doesn't even play, she stole it off a guy who was annoying her) and it escalates until one day she's wheeling a piano around the building. no one's even sure how she got in in the doors of the school. She keeps running kids over in the hallway with it
You know the Catherine Tate Lauren Cooper skit with David Tennant? Where she's being a terrible student and then perfectly recites Shakespeare? 100% Nessie
when she starts getting dates Jacob keeps trying to wing man and be over supportive and give her a ton of girl advice and it's embarrassing as hell so one day when he was on a spiel about How To Woo A Lady she looks him in the eyes and goes 'oh really? did that work on my mom?' and the Cullens fucking LOSE IT. Jacob had to go live in the woods for a few days because he couldn't cope
Emmet and Jasper: arrive to school in their jeep. Rose and Alice: arrive in a convertible. Edward: arrives in his dumb volvo. Bella and Jake: arrive to school on motorcycles. Nessie: arrives to school on a unicycle while juggling
one year she ended up getting nominated for prom queen and Edward read the minds of the teachers tallying the votes so he knew she won and he and Bella were so excited!! they're like we're gonna take so many pictures of our baby looking like a princess! And then she emerges from her room, actually drenched in pigs blood. Like she just did it to herself and went to the dance and accepted her crown like that
she regularly commits crimes against fashion. If she comes out of her room and sees Alice contemplating turning herself over to the Volturi, she KNOWS she's picked a great look
somehow gets ahold of Aro's cell number and sends him selfies of her blatantly breaking vampire laws captioned 'whatcha gonna do'. he keeps blocking her but she keeps managing to get through to him somehow
she illegally sells soda out of her locker and does people's homework for cash, while also paying other people to do her homework for her. she organizes every single senior prank. she's never gotten a detention in her whole immortal life because every teacher just Adores her for some reason
had 100% used her powers for deserved evil before. Like, if someone's being a dick at school, she'll sneak into their room at night and give them nightmarea threatening them to be a better person lol
sometimes she'll show up at the hospital unannounced and ask Carlisle, in front of his coworkers, 'yo can I raid the blood bank?'
her bedroom looks like a library. every wall, floor to ceiling books.
she's been publishing trashy romance novels under a fake name for almost 40 years now and no one in her family knows
one birthday Jacob takes her on a trip to vegas and they get wasted, at some point they were laughing about how ridiculous their lives are and they're like 'wouldn't it be fucking hilarious if we had a baby'. they then black out, hangover style, and wake up like a week later with a payment on her card to a fertility clinic. Jacob's like 😱 and Ness is just like 'you get to be the one to explain this to my parents'
Their kid is absolutely hilarious, they were correct, and at some point they realized 'wait...drinks blood..doesn't sparkle...can shape shift...we've somehow created a classic pop culture vampire' lmao
Edward had to threaten them to get them to not name the kid Vladimir
Also to be clear: Nessie and Jacob have the EXACT same dynamic as Will and Grace. that's canon.
says its her goal to star in a live action all female production of mamma mia and Carlisle is like 'honey you know you can't do anything on broadway or in hollywood' and she's like, 'no, in real life. I'm gonna go to greece and attract a bunch of women with abba songs' and he's like,,,,,ah
she loves all music but she goes out of her way to Only play stuff she knows Edward hates lmao
one day she remembers she doesn't need to breathe and can see under water and just. books herself a ticket to scotland and Finds The Loch Ness Monster
she actually personally finds a lot of monsters and cryptids like her hybrid aura just attracts all kind of weird shit and she LOVES it. She stops writing trashy romance novels and starts writing autobiographies of her traveling and hanging out with paranormal beings and everyone just assumes its fiction so she becomes a best selling fantasy author lmao
100% she's very into witchy stuff and only like...half in a trendy way. She's like what if on top of everything I've got going on I can cast spells? Think I deserve that power
when she's a couple decades old she catches Edward looking grossed out one day and she asks him what's up and he's like 'I really dont need to hear what creepy teachers think about my daughter' and she's like. oh. Dad we are gonna get SO MANY pedophiles arrested shdndjdn she gets him to expose teachers and she baits them then calls the police. queen.
She finds out she can get tattoos but they fade completely out of her skin within 5 years so she's always getting crazy tats
posts selfies on social media of her just like. hanging out with mountain lions or chilling on top of the space needle. her classmates think they're all photoshopped obvi but it drives her family insane
imagine you're 15 and you're on a nice hike in the woods and you come across your one classmate half naked, sacrificing a bear in some ritual, blood dripping down her face, bigfoot chilling on the rocks behind her filming the ritual on her phone...like on one hand, what would you do, but on the other hand. you've known this girl for a bit and you aren't surprised at all
anyway. stan Nessie Cullen.
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Here is a full translation of the interview featured in Max Magazine.
Original text by Andreas Wrede
This was a lot of work so PLEASE don’t post this elsewhere without credit.
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This story with and about Christoph Waltz is a story coming full circle. A little more than 3 decades ago, a small group of editors and photojournalists, graphic artists and authors started developing the pilot for the first German issue of MAX, made possible by Dirk Manthey, the publisher from Hamburg’s Milchstraße, who knew the magazine from Italy, France and Greece. And who made me the founding-editor in chief. Three decades later, the derivative is released, thanks to publisher Max Iannucci. In 1990, Christoph Waltz was in an episode of “Der Alte”, among other things before he played the torn schlager music star Roy Black in “Du bist nicht allein – Die Roy Black Story” – but we will get to that later.
Now Christoph Waltz is an award-winning, internationally known actor, who won two Oscars for best supporting actor. That is unique for a German-speaking actor. Born in Vienna in 1956, he now lives in Los Angeles – if you want to play a role in Hollywood, literally, you must be present in Los Angeles. And during our conversation in a red, furry saloon of the legendary hotel Sacher in Vienna, he emphasizes, “Hollywood is always the goal”.
The place is very fitting, considering Christoph Waltz grew up in Vienna, in a family that cultivated a great affinity for the work on stage for two generations. He says laconically, “You grow into a thing, you grow up with it, and thus, you acquire a familiarity early on, which you’d otherwise have to conquer with a lot more effort.” He often went to the movies from an early age on, but he spent even more time at the opera. “When I had time and had finished my homework, I enjoyed going to the opera.” Back then, a standing room ticket cost about ten Schilling, just a few cents in today’s currency. Little Christoph loved smuggling into the fascinating, secretive opera house.
Later he attended famous acting schools like the Max Reinhardt Seminar or Lee Strasberg’s Actors Studio with significantly less pleasure. “I didn’t like attending acting schools. They didn’t exactly broaden my horizon.” Christoph Waltz hardly found them inspiring. And when he received offers for movies and theater, he accepted them “instead of dealing and struggling with teachers”. He says this with few gestures and in an almost reporting tone, he has always trusted the energies inherent in him. He had his TV debut in “Der Einstand”, where he played a teenage delinquent. That was fitting, considering he continued playing roles which were different, unexpected, and specific, or roles he filled differently, unexpectedly, and specifically.
Christoph Waltz remembers his beginnings as an actor in the 70s a little wistfully. “There were still movies on TV, which were made as movies for television, as one dramatic entity.” Or when there used to be directors like the great Federico Fellini, who was “very, very specifically Italian in everything he did.” Christoph Waltz continues: “And because of this specificity he was able to reach so many people.” A phenomenon like Fellini is marked by obstinacy, nonconformity, and distinct individuality. However, some significant conditions also irritated Christoph Waltz, for instance, when he was hired for the Krzysztof-Zanussi-film “Leben für Leben” in 1991. “I wasn’t adequately informed about the conditions and backgrounds. And so, I found myself – surpsised – in front of a camera in Auschwitz.” How does one react to something like that? “Today, I would know how to react”, he stresses thoughtfully, “but today, that would be due to the self-confidence I acquired over the past years. Back then I felt: Now I’ve been hired for this film.” Alright, he adds, one grows through experience, some conflicts are worth going through. “It helps building character.”
Was the decision to play Roy Black a crystal clear one? Not at all, he responds smiling and closes his eyes for a second. “When my agent called me about it, my spontaneous reaction was: Complete humbug, and I can’t even listen to this music for three seconds.” It only became interesting for him when he learned that Roy Black originally wanted to play Rock ‘n’ Roll. Then he became interested in the tragedy of this character. And the thought that Roy Black’s wish was the desire for freedom and wildness, a wish many Germans shared, “which was inherent in the promising American machinery.” Although this freedom and wildness had always existed in Germany, lived out by people like Nietzsche, Schopenhauer, or Kandinsky.
“The film itself was great, but the marketing-weisenheimers managed to break this film. It would be a great cine film, but they advertised it as a sob story for television. Consequently, the real Roy-Black fans were disappointed, while the people who might have been interested in the movie judged: Leave me alone with this sob story twerp. Well, the weisenheimers are the weisenheimers, what can you do”, deems Christoph Waltz with a beautiful touch of Viennese sarcasm and barely noticeable risen eyebrows. One does not always have to instrumentalize the entire acting equipment with him. A few little cues are enough.
Many more films follow before someone calls from Hollywood and say he is supposed to participate in Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds. In our interview he calls this his “Quentin-jump”, where he is at eye level with Diane Kruger, Brad Pitt and Michael Fassbender in front of the camera. “Tarantino, we mentioned this before, stands for specificity and authenticity, he has an eye for both.” Did Christoph Waltz go into this production with a lot of respect? “With great respect.” He remembers an encounter with Sylvester Groth in front of a theatre in Babelsberg. “Every Thursday, Quentin showed movies during preparation. Once, Sylvester and I stood in front of the theatre and we both said: Imagine this, now we’ve been doing this for so long and suddenly we find ourselves here.” Then we paused for a few moments and kept going: Yes, and despite everything, we’re doing what we’ve always done – what we do, because that is what we do.”
Before Tarantino’s office could call again, other international projects followed, like The Green Hornet (with Cameron Diaz, Tom Wilkinson, James Franco) or Carnage (with Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, John C. Reilly). Then Django Unchained (with Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L. Jackson). For his role in Django Unchained, Christoph Waltz wins his second Oscar for best supporting actor in 2013 and Quentin wins another one for best original screenplay. But Christoph Waltz remains humble: “The opportunities presented to someone for personal growth always come to you through other people.” Although the actor always makes a binary decision. “Yes or no. Am I going to do it or not.”
Can one also make the wrong decision? “You decide for one or the other and from that other possibilities develop, but neither is better or worse.” That was not any different for Quentin Tarantino or for his first film and its director Reinhard Schwabenitzky, who saw him in acting school. Christoph Waltz leans forward and says confidentially: “The essential chances and opportunities were those which were presented to me by another mind, by a great talent, through a vision, which came from another person.” Nothing more, nothing less.
Yes, humility is a virtue. But we do not want to conceal the fact that Christoph Waltz was the first German-speaking host on Saturday Night Live and that he received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (No. 2536, 6667 Hollywood Boulevard). The quote: “And Hollywood is always the goal.” Is correct, “like others say their goal is to get into heaven.” Hollywood, heaven: “I don’t mean to compare the two goals, but the setting of these goals. Especially Hollywood has been mythologized into more than it deserves credit for.” In this respect, as a myth, it is always the goal. Please don't tell anyone Christoph Waltz is over-the-top - the opposite is the case.
During our exchange in the Sacher, I mention one of my favorite books on film. It is Peter Biskind’s Easy Riders, Raging Bulls – How the Sex-Drugs-And-Rock’n’roll Generation saved Hollywood. It says: „There is no worse career move in Hollywood than dying. Hal Ashby is now largely forgotten, because he had the misfortune to die at the end of the 80’s, but he had the most remarkable run of any ’70 director. After ‚The Landlord‘, in 1970, he made ‚Harold and Maude‘, ‚The Last Detail‘, ‚Shampoo‘, ‚Bound for Glory‘, ‚Coming Home‘ and ‚Being there‘ in 1979, before his career disappeared into the dark tunnel of post-‘70’s, Me Decade Drugs and paranoia.“
It can be assumed that this won’t happen to Christoph Waltz? “That is a good example for the mythologizing I was referring to”, he responds. “I would claim that a legend like James Dean probably wouldn’t have developed at all, had he not driven himself to death in his Porsche at such a young age. Who knows what would have become of Marilyn Monroe, had she not put an early end to her complicated life.” And parallel to Hal Ashby, there probably were thousands of directors, who would have been happy to pay their next rent – by working in their profession. It is therefor about comparativeness.
Onto another career step, the James Bond movie Spectre, in which Christoph Waltz portrays the dark Blofeld, a character, who appeared in previous Bond movies. How do we have to imagine that? One sunny day the agent comes along and says: “You’re on the list for the next Bond movie”? Christoph Waltz knows there are no rules to this, especially when it is something like James Bond. A series that has been at the peak of possibilities for more than 50 years.” The producers have a lot to lose, they have to look very closely. Not only to keep up the standard, they also want to be ahead of their time.
Was it intriguing to play this bad boy a second time? Is it about an additional nuance of expertly irony; is it about the myth that is Bond? “This was another unique opportunity for me”, says Christoph Waltz, “a unique opportunity to include myself into such an incredibly successful series.” Now after Spectre, for the second time in No Time To Die – a title that can offer a bit of comfort in times of the world wide covid pandemic. And Christoph Waltz is in the Bond movie that will be Daniel Craig’s final Bond. “It’s his fourth Bond movie”, he counts, “the actors change but the role remains the same. Of course, the role acquires a different profile and thus, different facets.” But it remains James Bond. “And when a new actor gets the role, he has to fit into the role, not the other way around.” Once again, we will have to wait for this Bond movie. It will probably hit theatres in spring 2021.
It reminds one of Shakespeare’s Troilus and Cressida – we’ve seen it a dozen times but keep going to see it again. Nowadays you go to see the production, in the past you went to see whosit faithless. Speaking of productions: Are the demands towards a Bond director more extensive compared to other film projects? “Surely there are more things to keep an eye on compared to a low budget movie or an independent film. In productions like that, you often have to use the tools you have. In Denmark they had demands referring to this “, Christoph Waltz comments in a slightly mocking undertone. He means the group around Lars von Trier? “Precisely, they called it Dogma for fun, and the world took them seriously.” But that is part of it, right, part of the business.
Anyway, every little detail is carefully manufactured for a Bond movie. And that takes, apart from a lot of money, a great level of expertise and many employees, which combine into a story on film. “Legions of people work on every pixel, not to mention the light and the meaning of the music.” With all this in mind, it’s understandable how appealing it is to be in a movie like No Time To Die. Christoph Waltz has a lot of praise for the director, Cary Fukanaga: “He always knew exactly what he was doing and we knew exactly, why he did this or that”. Audiences were able to see this in previous projects, like the brilliant first season of True Detective, where he directed all eight episodes.
Christoph Waltz wouldn’t be Christoph Waltz if he didn’t show his extraordinary talents in unconventional projects as well, like the show Most Dangerous Game (with Liam Hemsworth, produced for Quibi). “What interested me there? The new dramatic form, it’s a story in 16 sections, each section only eight minutes long. We’re dealing with a new form of storytelling.” Does it remind him of the continuous comics that used to be in US-newspapers a few decades ago?
“Yes, it’s connected to that – but it also reminds me of Charles Dickens, who published many of his novels as newspaper installments. In Most Dangerous Game the great story arch is not lost, the suspense is carried from one episode into the next. “That is a sleight of hand.” And for that he received an Emmy nomination, and it wouldn’t be surprising if he was to win the prestigious award one day. But he pulled off other sleight of hands in the past. Or how the New York Times says in a headline: “Christoph Waltz directing Opera, moves from Tarantino to Verdi.” Adding his old comment to this: “The full-blooded, juicy movie experience has a lot of operatic qualities. I’m not talking about the film music, but about the rhythm and color and phrasing.” After “Der Rosenkavalier” (Music: Richard Strauss, Libretto: Hugo von Hofmannsthal), which he staged at the Antwerp Opera, came Giuseppe Verdi’s “Falstaff”, his second opera there.
“I’m not a fan of the never-seen-before concept”, says Christoph Waltz. He agrees with Susan Sontag’s essay Against Interpretation – in opera, there is a fix story, and the music is the central transmitter of this story. Over-interpretations can quickly become “dangerous sliding tackles.” Waltz wants to avoid those. “I want to show what the composers and authors meant.” He stayed true to Sontag’s principle in all three of his opera productions, the third on being Beethoven’s only opera “Fidelio”.
He is self-critical enough, “to personally take the risk of failing.” What would be the alternative?
“I’m just an actor, now what do the music critics, who take themselves so seriously say? Some foam at the mouth and brawl ‘the movie-bod is interfering in the opera’.” He prefers the critics that are capable of formulating things between the lines. “When I read elsewhere, that the very thing I was trying to convey can be seen in detail, then I’m quietly happy about it.” Sadly, the live performances of Fidelio fell victim to the covid-crisis, but there was a TV-screening on ORF, which can certainly be called presentable with 11% of the market-share. “During ‘Fidelio’ I first realized physically that music is a spatial experience.” Here fits another Waltz-quote: “Strip away anything that us unnecessary.” Ergo: Reduce the action to the interaction between the characters. That is an art he mastered to perfection in acting.”
For once, I could surprise the cleaned up, chatty, well-tempered Christoph Waltz with a little research.
In his birthyear, 1956, his fellow countryman Walter Felsenstein, founder and artistic director of the “Komische Oper” in Berlin filmed a version of “Fidelio”. To this day, it remains the only film adaptation of the opera. Probably because – so the actor quotes Felsenstein – “this opera technically is impossible to stage”, he says with aplomb, an attitude that suits him. In ballet an aplomb describes the ability to absorb a movement, the balance.
Christoph Waltz not only shoots a lot of movies, but he also enjoys reading one particular movie critic: Anthony Lane of the New Yorker. Surely one of the most sharpened critics, who outtalks someone or rubs the reader’s nose into his alleged ignorance. We start talking about Lane via a new movie by the fabulous Agnieszka Holland, “Mr. Jones” – referring to Gareth Jones, advisor to the former British Prime Minister Lloyd George. Jones uncovers that the devastating hunger crisis in the Ukraine in 1932/33 was exclusively due to Stalin’s exploiting politics. Anthony Lane writes in inimitable fashion: „Is it conceivable that Holland’s bleak, murky, and instructive film could prompt a change of heart in the current Russian establishment, or even a confession of crimes past? Not a chance.“ Greetings from Belarus.
And of course, we also talk about COVID, what does an actor do who can’t act during these times? Is he reading Robert Musil’s novel The Man Without Qualities, which has more than 1000 pages? “Oh, I’ve already attempted to read this three times. The first time, I got to page 200, the second time I got to page 400, the third time I put it away after 100 pages.” But he doesn’t fully abandon the idea of finishing it one day. “But that would really be a true accomplishment of discipline”, he underlines, allusively smiling. Less amusing is the current stagnancy in Hollywood, where Christoph Waltz lives with his wife and daughter for the most part. “It will be illuminating once things pick up again”, he ponders “will a reforming spirit take over, or will everything fall back into the old, ignorant patterns, or even cause worse?” The temporary dysfunctionality of Hollywood is comparable to a dysfunctional family, which mechanisms become especially clear during crisis. Now he visited his mother here in Vienna. I allow myself the question, “Is Vienna your home?” “Vienna is my home, home is something you can’t choose, like your parents. Everything else can become your center of living, all that is willingly moveable – but home, home cannot be changed at will.”
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