Funeral Wisdom of the World

Elvis Presley funeral took place in 1977.  Thousands of Elvis’s fans participated in funeral services. They lined the streets to see an open casket. Funeral pictures appeared on the cover of National Enquirer making it the fastest selling issue of that publication. Presley was buried next to his mother at Forest Hill Cemetery, Memphis.  Later, there were several attempts to still his remains, so he and his mother were  reburied at Graceland.

Over thirty years passed but the persistent rumor that the rock star did not die still consume imagination of people, creating some kind of national phenomenon and unusual funeral tradition.  Although the idea that the Presley is alive and kicking and live in hiding for so many years seem bizarre, to say the least, it does not go away even in XXI century.

If he were alive, Elvis would be in his seventies and would most likely be amazed at all the stories about him circling the country .  Rumors and gossip reached the new heights by adding all possible conspiracy theories - from an empty casket  to extraterrestrial involvement.  An army of impersonators seem to spread these stories around for publicity and advertising reasons.  It is a sure bet that any tv program or show about Las Vegas will have Presley’s song or a short tune in it.

I wish there would be simple answer, why people just don’t let Elvis rest in peace.  His former fans - baby boomers,  have already retired or in the process of retiring.  I don’t think that they are the ones who perpetuate the stories about undead Elvis Presley.  Generations of talented musicians that came after him, respect the “king”, but don’t spread the rumors either.  Except, maybe, the guy from Oasis who claimed in 2007 that he was drowning but Elvis Presley saved him.

What similarities can the system of knighthood in England share with nomadic tribes that lived on the vast steppes of what is now Russia and the Ukraine? How can any link between them be possible?

There is a theory that knighthood was brought to Britain by Sarmatians, an Iranian language speaking people who displaced the Scythians. Sarmatians tribes migrated from Central Asia to the Ural Mountains around fifth century B.C. and eventually settled in most of southern European Russia, Ukraine, and the eastern Balkans. In fact, their realm was even wider. At some point it extended from China in the east and the Roman empire in the west.

Among other things Sarmatians adopted the dragon motif. They were skillful horse riders and archers, they were also famous for using heavily armored cavalry in their battles. They wore dragon emblems on their shields and armor.

A first big clash between Sarmatians and Romans took place in the third century AD. There was a big battle between them near the mouth of the Danube River on the Black Sea. Romans overcome the Sarmatians but were very impressed with their fighting prowess. That is why, one of the terms of the peace agreement with Sarmatians, included the following condition advanced by Romans. They demanded six thousand Sarmatians warriors and their horses join the Roman army.

Fifty five hundred of these warriors were sent by emperor Marcus Aurelius to guard Roman settlements in Britain against attacks by the Celts. In our times the archaeological evidence related to presence of this Sarmatian force was discovered in Britain. Sarmatians even built there their own retirement villages!

Around these times specialists observe the first appearance of Celtic dragon image, which highly likely came from Sarmatian sources. The most curious fact is that in the religion of the Sarmatians, the altar represented a sword embedded in a stone. As we remember from Arthurian legends, famous Excalibur was that kind of the sword. Excalibur could only be drawn from the stone by Arthur, the rightful king. In some versions of the legend the sword is not even called Excalibur but with another name - Sword in the Stone.

This establishes an interesting and valid possibility between the Arthurian legends and the Sarmatians. There is also another interesting coincidence. Arthur’s father was called Uther Pendragon, which, basically, means “Dragon’s head” and refers to the dragon head symbol on a shield. The evidence suggests that the Sarmatians with their armor created a military caste that survived several centuries and provided the leadership in the early feudal era.

Archaeological search still continues. So, there will be more discoveries that may establish Sarmatian presence and their influence on Celtic Britain.

Believe it or not, but initially a samurai was not a soldier but a public servant. Somewhere in the seventh century Japanese emperor Tenji introduced new reforms that divided imperial bureaucrats into twelve ranks. The first rank belonged to the highest emperor’s adviser. Those of sixth rank and below were referred to as “samurai” and dealt with day-to-day affairs. Although these samurai were civilian public servants, the name has been derived from this term. Military men, however, would not be called samurai for many more centuries.

In early ninth century emperor Kammu was trying to conquer the aboriginal people of Japan who lived in the northern part of the country. His armies could not defeat them, so he had to conduct a military reform and introduced a new military title - shogun, which is equivalent to English word general. Since that time emperor started relying more on powerful regional clans because he needed their help to conquer aborigines. The warriors of the clans were skilled in mounted combat and archery and they became the base of emperor’s reformed army.

These proved to be one of the biggest mistakes Japanese emperor ever made. While Kammu eventually disbanded his army, emperor’s power was slowly declining. Powerful clansmen around Kyoto became ministers and their relatives purchased the positions of magistrates. They were greedy and imposed heavy taxes leaving many farmers without land. Soon they began to recruit these landless farmers as guards and train them intensely in martial arts. The recruits in small numbers would accompany tax collectors and their presence usually restrained thieves and bandits from attacks and robbery. Through protective agreements and political marriages, they accumulated political power, eventually surpassing the traditional aristocracy.

At the same time new clans were created by farmers who took up arms to protect themselves from the imperial magistrates sent to govern their lands and collect taxes. These new clans formed alliances to protect themselves against more powerful clans, and adopted Japanese armor and weapons They also laid the foundations of Bushido, their ethical code and were supposed to behave in a certain manner. Up until fourteenth century samurai were generally illiterate brutes. Yet, naturally, they aspired to the more cultured abilities of the nobility but most of them never achieved their goal at that time.

One of the key part of Bushido is the ritual of seppuku. Somehow in English we use commonly the word hara-kiri instead of seppuku. There are important differences between two words. Basically, for samurai, the ritual is called seppuku, he would never use the word hara-kiri. Only ordinary Japanese people called this ritual hara-kiri, which is a colloquialism, that means “belly-cutting”.

Samurai warriors was used seppuku to avoid falling into enemy hands and to attenuate shame. Samurai women could only commit the act with permission. The feudal lords of samurai could also order samurai to commit seppuku. During seppuku samurai would cut his abdomen. He was supposed to be still alive when he finished the cutting and stretch out his neck for an assistant to cut his head off. The main point of the act was to restore or protect samurai’s honor as a warrior. This is why ordinary Japanese people were never ordered or expected to commit seppuku.

Among samurai seppuku was considered an act of great courage. It meant that samurai completed his life with his transgressions wiped away and with his reputation not merely intact but actually enhanced. The spirit of a samurai was released when he cut his abdomen in the most dramatic fashion. As it is an extremely painful and unpleasant way to die, and sometimes during the agony the samurai asked a loyal comrade to decapitate him.

Japanese concept of chivalry Bushido, which means “Way of the Warrior”, is a Japanese code of conduct and a way of life. It originates from the samurai moral code and stresses frugality, loyalty, martial arts mastery and honor unto death. Bushido expanded and formalized the earlier code of the samurai According, to the Bushido ideal, if a samurai failed to uphold his honor he could regain it by performing seppuku. It was a detailed ritual of suicide, that was committed voluntarily by the samurai.
But not many Westerners, know that there was another form of seppuku. Unlike the the seppuku that we saw in Kurosawa movies, in practice the most common form of seppuku was obligatory. It was a form of capital punishment for disgraced samurai, who committed a serious offense such as unprovoked murder, robbery, corruption, or treason.

In obligatory seppuku the samurai in question were generally told of their offense in full and given a set time, usually before sunset on a given day, to end the life. If the sentenced refused to “cooperate”, it was not unheard of for them to be restrained. Then the actual execution to be carried out by decapitation while retaining only the trappings of seppuku - even the short sword laid out in front of the victim could be replaced with a fan. Unlike voluntary seppuku, the obligatory one did not necessarily absolve the victim’s family of the crime. Depending on the severity of the crime, half or all of the deceased property could be confiscated, and the family stripped of rank.

Amenhotep IV was a Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt was an extraordinary man for the times that lived in. He attempted to compel the Egyptian population in the monotheistic worship of sun god Aten, instead of the whole pantheon of Egyptian gods, that existed at his times. He even changed his name for that purpose to Akhenaten. Some historians even go as far as calling Amenhotep the first individual, as well as the first monotheist, first scientist, and first romantic on the planet Earth.

There are huge volumes written about his reign, his life and his Great Royal wife Nefertiti. So there is no use to go deep into these topics in this humble blog entry. But I wanted to tell you about interesting theories in regards of Akhenaten. The first one is that created by Akhenaten monotheistic religion transitioned later in Judaism. The first scientist that expressed this theory was famous Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis. Freud argued that Moses had been an Atenist priest forced to leave Egypt with his followers after Akhenaten’s death. Akhenaten was striving to promote monotheism, something that the biblical Moses was able to achieve. Freud thought that there was connection between Adonai, the Egyptian Aten and the Syrian divine name of Adonis as a primeval unity of language between the factions.

Freud’s theory expressed in XX century is not dead even now and still have its supporters and adversaries. It even prompted serious researches that were trying to prove or disprove his theory. At least the timing of it seems to be right because Akhenaten appears in history two centuries before the first archaeological and written evidence for Judaism and Israelite culture is found in the Levant.

Pottery found throughout Judea dated to the end of the 8th century BC have seals resembling a winged sun disk of the god Athen burned on their handles. Some historians even claimed that Akhenaten’s maternal grandfather Yuya was the same person as the Biblical Joseph. Another striking coincidence is that there are strong similarities between Akhenaten’s Great Hymn to the Aten and the Biblical Psalm 104.

Up until today nobody knows the origin of the Roman triumph ceremony. Some say that it came from ancient Etruscan civilization and then passed to Rome as a civil ceremony and religious rite . No historian could establish with certainty when the last Roman triumph ceremony was conducted.

In the times of Roman republic, triumph was held to publicly honour the triumphator - military commander of a notably successful foreign war or campaign and to display the glories of Roman victory. If the Roman general wanted to have a triumph in his honor, he had to meet certain requirements.

For example he had to be proclaimed an imperator by his troops after a great victory. This acclamation necessary for a general to apply to the Senate for a triumph. Then an imperator would bring the army home, signifying that the war was over and that the army was no longer needed. After being acclaimed imperator, the victorious general had a right to use the title after his name until the time of his triumph, where he would relinquish the title. The definition of great victory meant that not less than five thousand foreign troops were killed during the battle.

Yet this was not all. Only Roman Senate would evaluate all the events in order to give its approval. There were cases, when a Roman general was denied his triumph. For example, Crassus who defeated Spartacus and his army did not receive his triumph, although the threat to Rome was extremely serious. This happened because internal conflicts did not count. Only defeat of the foreign enemy would merit for triumph, all other victories would be evaluated for ovation which was of a lesser form of triumph.

Naturally, when the days of Roman republic were over, the real meaning and importance of triumph ceremony faded. Any Roman Emperor could grant himself triumph at a whim. The tradition of Roman triumphs survived for a while in Byzantine empire. Last recorded triumph was organized in 534 by Emperor Justinian for his greatest general Flavius Belisarius.

Last time I was telling you that Roman dictator Sulla was famous for his bravery and cunning. Here is his glorious deeds in brief.

In 106 BC Sulla participated in the Roman war against king Jugurtha of Numidian in northern Africa. Thanks to him, Romans defeated Jugurtha. Sulla persuaded Jugurtha’s ally and father-in-law king Bocchus of Mauretania to betray Jugurtha, who had fled there for refuge. It was a dangerous operation from the start, for king Bocchus was weighing up the advantages of handing Jugurtha over to Sulla or Sulla over to Jugurtha. Grateful Romans erected a statue of Sulla donated by King Bocchus in the Forum to commemorate his accomplishment.

In 104 BC Rome was in danger again. The migrating Germanic tribes of the Cimbri and the Teutones were heading for Italy. Sulla, as a commander of a Roman army defeated the tribes and was credited as being the prime mover in the victory.

Citizens of Rome needed Sulla’s skills again during the so called Social War that started in 91 BC. This war was fought against the Rome’s Italian allies. During his military campaign Sulla defeated the rebels and outshone all other Roman generals. As a result of his success in bringing the Social War to a successful conclusion, he was elected consul for the first time in 88 BC.

For his achievements Sulla was awarded the highest Roman military honor - a famous Grass Crown. This award was given for personal bravery to a commanding general that saves a Roman legion or army in the field. Unlike all other Roman military honors, it was awarded only by acclamation of the soldiers of the rescued army. By tradition, the Grass Crown was woven from grasses and other plants taken from the actual battlefield.

Sulla’s military skills were required again during the war against powerful Mithridates VI, king of Pontus. Roman general successfully and masterfully defeated king and his allies, despite all odds. For example, in 86BC, in the Battle of Chaeronea Sulla had defeated a vastly superior force in terms of numbers. It was also the first recorded time that battlefield entrenchments were used.

An interesting even occurred in 82 BC that influenced in many ways the future of Rome. At that time Sulla was appointed the dictator of Rome. He had many powerful enemies in the Senate and patrician families. The young Julius Caesar became one of Sulla’s targets. His father-in-law Cinna was number one enemy of Sulla. Miraculously, young Julius Caesar managed to flee the city in time and survive. Yet Sulla never let his adversaries off the hook, so sooner or later young Caesar was bound to die. Young Julius got lucky again. He was saved through the efforts of his relatives, many of whom were Sulla’s supporters. Yet, Sulla noted in his memoirs that he regretted sparing Caesar’s life, because of the young man’s notorious ambition.

Before Julius Caesar and Octavian Augustus, there was a man who, actually, hastened the end of the Roman Republic by his example. His name was Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix, but usually he was known simply as Sulla.

Sulla had the best chance to become the first Roman Emperor but for some unknown to historians reasons he simply did not want to. Contemporaries compared him to half fox and half lion, due to his perceived cunning and bravery. He enjoyed the absolute power of a dictator. Yet one day he stunned Rome by publicly resigning his dictatorship. It happened near the end of 81 BC. Sulla not only resigned, he also disbanded loyal to him legions and reestablished normal consular government, He dismissed his personal guard and walked unguarded in the forum, offering to give account of his actions to any citizen.

Admiring his noble deed, Roman citizen chose him as a consul for the year of 80 BC. After his time as a consul was over, Sulla simply retired to his country villa. He chose not to get involved  with political activities in Rome anymore.  Instead, he started writing his memoirs that were completed just before his death. He died in his bed surrounded by his favorite actors and dancers.

Later greedy for power Julius Caesar Caesar ridiculed Sulla for resigning voluntarily. Yet, Sulla died peacefully, while Caesar was brutally murdered by senators’ daggers. So one can see, who was right in the end.  Unfortunately, example of Sulla inspired other Roman generals who were dreaming of dictatorship. Though he resigned his complete command of the Republic, Sulla was the one who provided the inspiration for Caesar’s future dictatorship. His example proved that it could be done, and therefore inspired other Roman generals to attempt it.

In the archives of my web analytics company I read an intriguing ancient story related to sudden and unexpected death of Alexander the Great.  Alexander’s death has been reinterpreted many times over the centuries. And the debate surrounding the cause of Alexander’s sudden death has never been clearly resolved. Here are some clues from the ancient sources.

In the fourth century BC there were quite persistent rumors claiming that Alexander the Great did not die of illness but was poisoned by one of his generals. Well, many had powerful motivations for seeing Alexander gone. Yet, people whispered to each other only one name of the alleged assassin: “Antipater”.  The latter was a famous Macedonian general, supporter of Phillip II of Macedon and his son - future Alexander the Great.  So, how close to truth were these rumours?

Antipater was a great friend to both the little Alexander and his mother, Olympias. In fact, Olympias and Antipater were so close that there was a gossip at the time that he was the real father of Alexander. Later Antipater aided Alexander in his struggle to secure his succession after Philip’s death.

After Alexander left to conquer the world, Antipater remained in Greece serving as the regent of Macedon in his absence. He successfully won many battles against other Greek states and subdued them. Plutarch even mentions, that Alexander the Great became jealous when he heard of Antipater’s victories.

Everything seemed fine, but Antipater’s former close relationship with the  Olympias greatly deteriorated.  Ancient Greeks used to say that Olympias had psychic abilities. Maybe, she already smelled a rat?

Probably, due to Olympias requests, suddenly Antipater lost his title of Macedon regent and was replaced by another general old Alexander’s  veteran Craterus.  Antipater was  ordered the latter to lead fresh troops into Asia.  Exactly at that time Alexander the Great suddenly dies in Babylon which allows Antipater to procrastinate with the transition of power from him to Craterus. Amazing coincidence, isn’t it?

Exactly dated to that time ancient sources start consistently mentioning the rumors that Antipater had been responsible for poisoning the great king.  Sources say that there was a huge threat to  Antipater’s position.  In numerous letters Olympias had been writing to her son that Antipater was preparing unrest and disloyalty in Macedon. Antipater was summoned to apear in front of Alexander in Babylon and answer these charges.

Citing his fear of an uprising in Greece, Antipater had sent his son Cassander in his place. Cassander managed to bring the poison to Babylon in a mule’s hoof. He passed the poison to his younger brother Iollas was the royal cup bearer, who administered it while serving wine to Alexander.