Disappeared Inca Empire Supremacy CUZCO part 1 September 19, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Cars, Chile, Cuzco, Destination, Flight Schedule, Sunblock, The Nile, Travel Clinic, Travellers Cheque , 2commentsMore than merely the capital of the Inca empire, the very name ‘Cuzco‘ in Quechua, the language of the Incas and still spoken today, means navel. It was the navel of the Inca world, the omphalos of their empire which at its height stretched over 2,000 miles (3,200km) from Chile in the south to Colombia in the north. It was both an administrative centre and holy city, and is said to have been conceived in the shape of a puma, with its head at Sacsahuaman, the great fortress of cyclopean stonework on the northern edge of modern Cuzco. (more…)
Historic Areas of Istanbul August 5, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Air Tickets, Cairo, Cars, Istanbul, Museum, Rail Pass, Sightseeing, Tickets, Tour, Trip, Turkey , 3commentsLittle modern research seems to have been done (or, at least, published) with regard to the ancient geomancy of the Islamic world. We note the occurrence of mosques on a much older alignment in ancient Thebes, and a dramatic alignment of mosques and tombs in medieval Cairo has been recorded,’ but greater contemporary appraisal of Middle Eastern geomantic patterns needs to be carried out. The alignment in Istanbul described here was initiated as a result of preliminary observations made by architect Patrick Horsbrugh,2 and it is presented merely in the spirit of experimental research, to bring previously unconsidered material to the reader’s attention. (more…)
Split: the east coast of the Adriatic May 30, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Europe, Library, Museum, Oceanarium, USA , add a commentThe Yugoslav town of Split, or Spalato, lies on the east coast of the Adriatic, the much-travelled sea route linking Venice and Central Europe with the more ancient civilisations of the eastern Mediterranean. Here, in the first years of the fourth century, the Roman emperor Diocletian built himself an imposing palace, which, of all his many achievements, is perhaps the clearest reflection of the effect on his personality of his unceasing efforts to reorganise the scattered and rebellious Empire.
The future emperor was born about 245 as simple Diodes, the son of a poor Illyrian farm-hand. On joining the army, he served under a number of soldier-emperors from his own native province of Illyria, which corresponds roughly to modern Yugoslavia. (more…)
The Doge’s Palace May 30, 2008
Posted by dodo in : France , 4commentsBetween the great church of St Mark’s and a broad quay looking out over the lagoon stands the Doge’s Palace, the most impressive secular building in Venice. Until the fall of the Venetian Republic in 1797, the palace combined the functions of senate house, administrative centre, residence of the chief of state, hall of justice, public archive and prison. Devastated by five major fires in the course of its history, the Doge’s Palace has always been sumptuously rebuilt. Today the palace stands as a visible symbol of the glory and power of the Venetian state.
The city of Venice came into existence as a place of asylum for refugees from the Upper Adriatic towns devastated by the barbarian armies that swept across the disintegrating Roman Empire. First came the Huns, then the Ostrogoths, though the coalescence of the tiny Venetian state seems to date from after the Lombard invasion in 568. At first the settlers were dispersed over the islands of the lagoon, with their principal focus at Malmocco on the Lido. But during the eighth century, the appearance of a new menace—the Franks caused the removal of the administration to the inaccessible island of Rialto in the centre of the muddy lagoon. (more…)
The Ptolemies Rule Egypt April 11, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Africa, Egypt, Greece, The Nile , add a commentDuring the many centuries that followed the end of the New Kingdom, Egypt was weakened by both internal rivalries and external pressures, often being literally invaded and ruled by foreigners, including Assyrians and Persians. By the time Alexander the Great conquered Egypt in 332 B.C., the world had already changed profoundly. The Mediterranean basin had become the center of all political and economic life. The sea was dominated by Greece and Carthage; the power of Rome was beginning to take shape. Alexander’s general, Ptolemy, ruled Egypt after Alexander’s death in 323 B.C., and his successors, Macedonian-Greeks known as the Ptolemies, continued to rule Egypt for almost three centuries.
Ptolemaic Egypt was but one of the monarchies into which Alexander’s empire had been divided. This is not the place to discuss the profound changes made in the ancient world’s political system by these states; suffice it to say that each of these monarchies followed a policy of trying to make itself the leading country, each according to the particular social situation. (more…)
The Influence of Christianity March 29, 2008
Posted by flyman in : Asia, Europe, Istanbul, Uncategorized , add a commentThe importance of architecture as the mirror of society was eclipsed in 313 when the converted Emperor Constantine issued the Edict of Milan, which gave Christianity equal rights with other religions and moved the capital of the Empire from Rome to the old Grecian colony of Byzantium, then renamed Constantinople and today called Istanbul. The early Christian period lasted from Constantine until the coronation of
Charlemagne in 800, but not before many warring factions across Europe and Asia Minor brought chaos to the march of Christian progress.
Nevertheless, the collective enthusiasm and energy dedicated to the new religion, which caused more than 40 small churches to be built in Rome even before the Edict of Milan was promulgated, triumphed over the ravages of the Dark Ages and gave rise to the earliest post-pagan church architecture, which evolved, appropriately, from the Roman basilica (from the Greek word basileos meaning kingly) or hall of justice to become the hall of God, the King of Kings. (more…)
The Roman Empire March 29, 2008
Posted by flyman in : Italy, Vaccinations , add a commentAfter the fall of Magna Graecia and the decline of the Etruscan civilization, the Roman Empire emerged as a great republic able to take advantage of two colonies in which scientific, artistic and philosophical scholarship was without match.
During the early years of the Republic, the Romans’ apathy to art and general conservatism makes it difficult to summarize their architectural achievements. After the fall of the Republic, however, the great generals, Sulla, Pompei and Julius Caesar, whose military victories provided a cause for monuments to be built in celebration, promulgated one of the great periods of Roman building. Caesar’s heir, Octavian, or Augustus as he was later known, boasted that he had found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble. In fact, the Roman development of the Etruscan arch into the vault and the ingenious invention of concrete as the principal load-bearing building material, would have Augustus’ own successor, Tiberius (AD14-37), find a city of marble and leave a city of concrete. (more…)
