Disappeared Inca Empire Supremacy CUZCO part 2 September 19, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Cuzco, Encyclopedia, Geographic, Health Insurance, Lodges, Map, Science, Sightseeing, Travel Gear , 3commentsIf Cuzco was the centre of the empire, then the omphalos of Cuzco itself was the Coricancha, the Temple of the Sun. In Inca myth, the spot for this was found by Manco Capac, the first Inca, who was sent to earth to bring civilization. He used a golden rod to test for the correct location, and he knew he had found the spot when the rod disappeared into the ground. (more…)
A Day in Narnia, a Night in Phang Nga September 6, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Bangkok, Hotels, Tour, Trip , 3commentsOn the village green in front of the Chinese Bhuddist temple a fairground was being erected. The skeleton of a Ferris wheel loomed; shooting galleries and hoopla stalls were being knocked together.
The purpose of the structure immediately outside the temple was not so obvious. The men hammering it together had beckoned us, beaming, inviting inspection. A raised wooden runway, carpeted with the pin-sharp points of six-inch nails hammered through from the bottom, ran out 50ft and ended in a bed of nails laid on the grass. At the foot of the bed, guyed by wire ropes, a forty-rung ladder rose vertically. The rungs were steel knives, blades up. (more…)
Greece Delphi: the Sacred Centre, the Navel of the World continue… August 8, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Airlines, Cars, Europe, France, Hotels, Motel, Museum, Rail Pass, Tickets, Trails, Travelling Bag, USA , 3commentsThe village of Kastri was built over the site of the sanctuary and this proved a problem in the nineteenth century when archaeologists wanted to examine the famous oracle site. International rivalry developed over the excavation rights. France won, but at the expense of rehousing all the villagers of Kastri at another site, New Kastri (now the modern Delphi), just over 1/2 mile (1km) to the west. French archaeological investigation has gone on to a greater or lesser degree ever since. (more…)
Greece Delphi: the Sacred Centre, the Navel of the World August 8, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Air Tickets, Cars, Destination, Greece, Museum, Tour, Trails, Trip , 4commentsWorld Heritage List Number 157 Archaeology, Consciousness, Energies, Gemancy, Myth
This is the site from which the term originally derives: in myth, Delphi is the sacred centre, the navel of the world. Plutarch, the famous priest of Apollo at Delphi, recorded that the legend was that Zeus sent out two eagles (the birds associated with Zeus) from each extremity of the Earth. Where their flight paths crossed, at Delphi, was the centre of the world. In other versions, it is swans or ravens (Apollo’s birds) that are sent out to find the geomantic centre. This legend is the reason archaic depictions of omphaloi often have two birds perched on them facing in opposite directions (although Robert K. G. Temple has argued that they refer to a pigeon- carrier message system between chief oracles of the ancient world‘). (more…)
Secret and Scared Ancient Greece Places: World Heritage Epidaurus continue… August 5, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Greece, Hotels, Istanbul , 3commentsSouthwest of the temple are the remains of a curious rotunda-like building known as the Tholos, also described on the stele. This was built very shortly after the temple, perhaps in 360. It stood on a platform three steps high, had 26 Doric columns around its outer side and 14 beautiful marble columns forming an interior colonnade. The foundations of three inner walls seem to have formed a labyrinth, above which was a chequered pavement arranged in a spiral. The purpose of the building is unknown, but reasonable suggestions have been made that it housed a sacred well or snake pit. (more…)
Secret and Scared Ancient Greece Places: World Heritage Epidaurus August 5, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Air Tickets, Cairo, Egypt, Europe, Greece, Hotels, Museum, Rail Pass, Sightseeing, Tickets, Tour, Trails, Travel Gear, Trip , 3commentsWorld Heritage list number 158 Consciousness, Evolved, Geomancy, Myth
The ruined sites of the Sanctuary of Aesculapius (Asklepios), or the Hieron of Epidaurus (Epidavros), is situated in an isolated valley between Mount Velanidhia (the ancient Titthion) to the northeast and Mount Kharani (the old Kynortion) to the southeast, in the vicinity of Ligourio on the Peloponnese Peninsula across the Saronic Gulf from Piraeus and Athens. (more…)
Malta GGANTIJA Myth Temples August 3, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Beach Resorts, Sightseeing, Tour, Trails, Trip , 3commentsWORLD HERITAGE LIST NUMBER 185 ARCHAEOLOGY, EVOLVED, GEOMANCY
The GGANTIJA temples are situated near Xaghra on Gozo, a Mediterranean islanda few miles northwest of its larger neighbour, Malta. Although the combined surface area of these two islands adds up to merely 125 square miles (320 square km), the importance of the megalithic architecture which has survived there is ‘out of all proportion to the islands‘ size’.’ (more…)
Egypt Ancient Thebes & its Necropolis continue… August 3, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Egypt, Flight Schedule, Memorial, Museum, Restaurant, The Nile, Tour, Trip , 6commentsHawkins crossed the Nile to the necropolis. This complex of mortuary temples and tombs hewn out of the living rock served many periods of ancient Egypt and covers a large area. The whole landscape is dominated by a remarkably regular pyramidical mountain. Atop it are the remains of a prehistoric mound, predating dynastic Egypt. It is difficult for a geomantic researcher not to consider that the shape of this peak was an important factor determining the Egyptians’ initial choice of this area as a major necropolis. (more…)
Egypt Ancient Thebes & its Necropolis August 3, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Air Tickets, Cairo, Destination, Egypt, Hotels, Library, Memorial, Museum, The Nile , 5commentsThebes is the Greek name given to what was an ancient capital of Egypt, now most simply identified as Luxor, on the east side of the Nile about 370 miles (600km) south of Cairo. On the opposite side of the river is the great necropolis that includes the famed Valley of the Kings. (more…)
My Dairy of Korea Travel continue… June 13, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Air Tickets, Cars, Destination, Hotels, New York, Round The World, Seoul , add a commentWe climb a steep hill that affords a stunning panorama of the harbor and, except for an absurdly heroic statue of General MacArthur, an attractive esplanade. Concrete fortifications and artillery and radar installations are only half hidden by thick shrubbery and blankets of flowers. On the edge of the lookout is an eleven-story wooden dovecote built more than a century ago. The entrance to each apartment is a different shade of red, blue, green, and yellow, only slightly faded, and the center panel displays the Buddhist vortex, a pinwheel of colors.
In the wine-growing region near Chilbo, the roofs of most houses are blue and pagoda-shaped, and the vines are garlanded, woven together to screen the wind. The turnoff to the temple is a dirt track with a 90° slope. (more…)
My Thailand Travel Diary part 2 June 12, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Bangkok, London, New York, Thailand, USA , add a commentToday’s Bangkok Post features a photo of the float on which a Buddha relic was taken yesterday to Sanam Luang for veneration. Other photos are of barefoot and ragged children from the north who have been subsisting on dried lizards. The front-page story is about monkeys pickpocketing tourists and snapping television antennae in the vicinity of the summer palace of King Rama IV (Yul Brynner). It seems that an attempt was made to entice the marauders into banana-baited cages, but the ruse failed when a long-tailed macaque successfully ejected a clump of bananas before the trap had sprung. A parliament of monkeys was then convened on the palace roof, after which none of them approached the cages again.
Mr. Niloubel, who comes for me at 8 A.M., spends most of my temple- visiting time praying. The solid five-and-a-half-ton Golden Buddha sits in stifling heat, humidity, and incense at the top of steep staircases, the saffron scarf of peace draped over the left shoulder. (more…)
Ceremonies in the House of God April 20, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Beach Resorts, Egypt, Travel Clinic, Travel Insurance, Travellers Cheque , add a commentThe concept of the temple as the “house of god” has been accepted, with the proviso that it should not be taken too literally. But in examining the relationship between the physical elements of the temples and the ceremonies that took place therein, the concept helps to illuminate Egyptian religious attitudes. Some such relationship is inherent in all religious structures, of course, even when the concepts and the temples differ greatly from those of the ancient Egyptians, as in Christianity. In the classical Greek temple, for example, the statue of the god was retained but the altar was situated in an area in front of the temple; the same happened with the ancient Roman temple. And in these two civilizations, not only did the most important moment of worship, the sacrifice, take place outside the temple, but it occurred on certain occasions only. (more…)
Relations Between State and Clergy April 20, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Hotels, Memorial, Museum, Travellers Cheque , add a commentWe have been aware that the temples and religious monuments ofancient Egypt were all the exclusive works of the pharaohs. There isa precise reason for this. Actually, there was only one true priest, one depositary of the divine will, one guarantor of the well-being of the god’s land, the nation: this was the pharaoh. Thus it was that all those connected with worship practices were really subalterns. Even the high priest, the only person who could enter the god’s sanctuary, was merely the pharaoh’s substitute. And just as the state functionary class grew up because the king alone found it impossible to govern a nation with such complex administrative structures, so the priesthood developed because the pharaoh could not attend to the ceremonies of all the nation’s temples. (more…)
Later Additions to the Temple of Karnak April 19, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Africa, Air Tickets, Beach Resorts, China, Egypt, Library, Lodges, Malaysia, Museum, South Africa, Thailand, The Nile, Travel Clinic , add a commentThis is a singular monument, perhaps unique among all those preserved in Egypt. Its general orientation is not east-west like the Amon sanctuary, but north-south. It is in rectangular form, divided into two parts that go along the entire length of the structure. The western part includes a colonnaded room whose minor axis is aligned with the axis of the sanctuary of Amon ; north of this room there are three chapels. The eastern section is subdivided into three parts: the southern part includes a colonnaded room surrounded by smaller rooms; the central part consists basically of three rooms aligned on their axis but oriented east-west; finally, the northern part includes a series of rooms that culminated to the north in a solar sanctuary (the same kind as we have seen in Hatshepsut’s funerary temple at Deir el-Bahri). (more…)
The Interior of a New Kingdom Temple April 19, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Egypt, Flight Schedule, Museum, Travel Insurance, Travellers Cheque , add a commentBefore entering the temple, let us again emphasize its image as a “house of god,” because this is the simplest and most useful way to look at it. Consider the temple organized like a human dwelling. There is one part for private living, another for supporting Services, and a third for “public reception.” So with the New Kingdom temple, we have three roughly analogous parts: one where the god lives; another where the preparatory ceremonies (or functions not directly connected with the cult) take place; and the third, which is public, a place where the god and worshiper can meet. In order to avoid confusion it would be better to use the technical names for these three parts : the sanctuary, the hypostyle hall, and the courtyard. (more…)
The Meaning of the Sphinx April 18, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Beach Resorts, Egypt, Hotels, Library, Memorial, Museum, Travel Insurance, Travellers Cheque , add a commentThe so-called classical sphinx is a lion with a human head ; the oldest example we have is the colossal one at Giza. We do not know exactly what meaning it had for the ancient Egyptians. According to some scholars, it symbolized the force and wisdom united in the person of the pharaoh; but we feel that such symbolism is alien to the Egyptian way of thinking. The Giza sphinx was at one point in history related to the sun god by the Egyptians themselves. But even this interpretation seems to have an a posteriori motivation and was limited to that particular case. We can safely say only that the sphinx in Egypt was always male (whereas in Greek mythology it was female), and almost always associated with the pharaoh. (more…)
In Egypt, Temple as the House of God April 18, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Air Tickets, Aquarium, Cairo, Egypt, Memorial, Museum, Restaurant, Round The World , add a commentThe religious life of the ancient Egyptians, at least as far as we can recreate it today, was focused on the temples. The texts that deal with the temple embellish its origin with a series of mythological elements. Thus, a temple was directly connected to the moment of the world’s creation : from the primordial waters of Chaos there emerged a little hill, the first earth, on which the god-creator found refuge (this god varying according to the temple that elaborated the creation myth). (more…)
Egypt Temple of Karnak April 17, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Air Tickets, Cairo, Credit Card, Egypt , 5commentsIn fact, Karnak is not a temple; it is a complex of temples. Today’s visitor arrives there easily from Luxor, only a couple of miles away. We have already referred to Luxor as the modern town that grew up where Thebes was; in reality the true ancient center, the heart of the New Kingdom’s political and religious life, must have been Karnak. The first impression one has when crossing the threshold of the first pylon (there are many pylons at Karnak), and finding himself amid the ruins of what was the greatest ancient Egyptian sanctuary, is that he will not be able to make any sense out of it. Even the Giza pyramids, although mysterious looking, have an internal logic; they are closed up in themselves and one intuitively experiences them, even when we don’t understand them. Karnak does not offer this possibility. Walking along the courtyards, rooms, columns, obelisks, statues, and miles of hieroglyphic inscriptions, the visitor soon loses any capacity to link one element or monument with another. Therefore one must return to Karnak again and again. Even then, as we have warned, he must avoid searching among the monuments with aesthetic or rational criteria — in short, modern, Western standards. And we have also said that the true temple of Amon was always the sanctuary that formed the central nucleus. All the various additions made over the course of centuries have their own value per se; they are separate nuclei whose presence is independently justified by ceremonial needs, by new ideological lines, or by new links between the various divinities. (more…)
Egyptian Typical New Kingdom Temple April 17, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Air Tickets, Beach Resorts, Egypt, Memorial, Museum, The Nile , add a commentWe have now arrived at the point where we can approach the temples of the New Kingdom as architectural constructions. One fact must be considered : every Egyptian temple was continuously subject to changes, which often meant that the old sections were absorbed by newer ones, or that certain parts were dismantled, their blocks then being used to fill up new parts or to serve as the foundations of new constructions. This last aspect of ancient Egyptian building technique has allowed us to establish the existence of still older structures in certain cases. (more…)
Architecture in New Kingdom Temples April 16, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Egypt , add a commentWe have sketched these rather detailed “blueprints” of the great New Kingdom temples so that we can now proceed to set these monuments within their broader framework. The architecture of the sanctuary embodies the rulers’ philosophy. From this, too, we see how important archaeology is for the historical reconstruction of the past, and how important a historical perspective is to archaeological research. Karnak’s complexity shows us how many different policies and patterns of behavior can be reflected in a series of construction. Each remodeling was a new expression of power and of the relationship with the gods, with the ruling class, or with the clergy. The fact that practically every sovereign, from the Middle Kingdom pharaohs to the Roman emperors, left testimony of himself at Karnak confirms the constant preoccupation with the “house” of the national god, Amon. (more…)
