Calliope

Context of the Comic

The comic is in my vernacular from Aubrey de Selincourt's translation of Herodotus' Histories (Book IX, Chapter 16). If you are familiar with the recent 300 films, those movies proceed this comic. The movies cover the battles of Thermopile and Salamis, the final great battle is Plataea, which the above comic takes place before. The Thebans were Greeks allied with the Persians against the Spartan and Athenian coalition.

Herodotus is was titled the Father of History and later The Father of lies. Having read is book a few times, my own title for him the father of creating a genre without realizing it, but there are probably lots of scholars who can translate ancient Greek that would probably disagree with me, the commonly held belief is that Herodotus used sited Thersander to perpetuate a prognostication. If he knew he was writing history he only had epic poetry as a guide. The other logographer's before him, their work did not survive so there is little context to go on how much he was inventing history and how much he was espousing propaganda for Pericles during the Golden Age of ancient Greece.

By today's standards, Herodotus' work is about as historically accurate as the movie 300. There are a lot of weird and goofy stories that initially drew me to his narrative and are clearly false based on 21st century knowledge. Today, I mostly hear his named mentioned in news articles along the lines that go something like "We don't know much about (said topic) but Herodotus says ... (something that is clearly false)"

The above passage is a little unique for Herodotus because it sites the person who told him the story, there are a couple of other examples. Historians have typically considered these sorts of citations as ways justify a lie but in my own understanding I don't know why he would tell a story that draws sympathy for the enemy. I knew I wanted to illustrate this passage because when I read it, it gave me chills, the best I can say is that I felt truth in it. The passage reminded me of some more contemporary examples of well meaning people being trapped in doomed situations.

If understanding begins with imagination as Ibn Arabi and Karl Jung have said, to understand history can take a great deal of imagination and one always have to be skeptical in understanding the past. "Humans are meaning seeking creatures" though, history, whether scrutinized by the rigors of skepticism and cross examination or based on faith, plays a critical role in how the living understand the context of their lives in the grand scheme of things.

Reading the Parthenon Enigma by Joan Connelly, one thing I was surprised to learn was that both Marx and Hitler admired ancient Athens, I had though Western democracies applied their origins to the ancient past. We all want to think that we're on the right side of history and can cherry pick the facts to make us correct and truthful.

With that caveat, I below are some podcasts and personal reflections that I see a relationship similarities to the above comic.

Process
Working on this comic, I think about my friend who is a page designer with a big imagination, veterans who've been willing to tell me a little bit and a few people I've know with ptsd. My maternal grandfather died over in Vietnam when my mom was a child, she took us in 2010 to see his name on a wall in Washington DC, among many other names. She tried her best to steer her boys away from military service, not letting us play with GI Joes when we were little and throwing away the military recruitment cards when we were in high school.

In Herodotus' story the King Cyrus takes over a city and raises the young people as artists so they would not be strong enough to rebel, that's me, not the kind of person you want physically protecting you. I never totally bought that the pen is mightier than the sword, I don't think either has a monopoly. The sword can lead to dangerous cycle of destruction. The last time, from what I understand, that western civilization was in full blown war was World War 2 and today we are reaching a point where no one has any living memory of it, some have even theorized that history repeats itself once the majority of people who remembered that event die out. These are also the people who say that Mellenials are the same as the Greatest Generation. Today, many say that is not the case and with good reason, but it wasn't the older generations calling crowning the World War 2 generation "The Greatest Generation", is was the people born afterward, never knowing their parents and grandparents naive youth.

My own opinion on predicting the future I am left quoting the father of lies "Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest do not happen at all. The conscientious historian will correct these defects." - Herodotus

and

"Count no one happy until they're dead" - Herodotus.

As much I try to look as I like to take in all kinds of perspectives and see things from as many view points as I can humanly imagine. The first two about World War 2 and the last about the Rwanda Genocide, that's 10 year anniversary was largely dismissed by the American media, but dismissing Africa is a popular/unrecognized pastime for the West.

What Peace Time Forgets About Wartime

This podcast reminds me of Herodotus' quote "In peace, sons bury their fathers. In war, fathers bury their sons."

A podcast by Dan Carlin - Logical Insanity The description is After many listener requests, Dan examines the issue of the morality of dropping the Atomic Bombs in the Second World War. As usual, he does so in his own unique, unexpected way.
Dan Carlin's podcasts are my horror movies, they scare the shit out of me, the scariest part of all is that they actually happened (as much as someone can describe the past and maybe not always in chronological order). His podcasts remind me of the quote "Men trust their ears less than their eyes." - Herodotus. Carlin does not call himself a historian, I would call him an epic poet.

C-Span Podcast on Rwanda Genocide - These least exciting podcast but still worth the listen. Jarod Diamond's book Collapse has a chapter that discusses the environmental/resource dimensions that ultimately escalated into the genocide.

Reflection
I have been working on this blog entry for some years. I started at an extremely low point in my life (a great time to be motivated to do something new). I thought and thought about history and tried to take more in, and thought and thought about all of the suffering that has happened again and again. I wrote this entry and then deleted it. Then I sent it to my brother for someone to bounce it off of. He has better things to think about like starting a family, he just had a daughter, a new generation in my family. It wasn't until I sent it to him and he told me the subject matter was "heavy" that I could begin to have some kind of desire to provide a solution, so he wouldn't feel as weighed down by the past as me.

After this very long post and some very long pod casts linked to it I wanted to talk about the title, Calliope. I worked on an abstract painting by the same name and both times working on a project with that name I felt that I was opening myself up to some very intense psychological forces, trying to understand the greater context of my place in the world but still knowing I am trapped in my own head. I had to accept some very extreme emotional highs and lows, something I don't know if everyone would be able to handle (I know I could barely handle it), I wanted to see the world beyond myself but know that to do so is all in my imagination. I wrote this blog as a draft and then deleted it. Then I rewrote it, left it up for a week until the balloon burst in my head. I went a little crazy for a week (probably from listening to Bob Sheer too closely and a line from Sun Tzu's Art of War about spies)."History is written by a mad man" as I have heard Dan Carlin say several times in his podcasts.

I don't have any real solutions other than some general advice about deal making and that countries like the United States need to embrace the primary value at All are created equal. Something my father said to me after years as a counselor is that "basically everyone is messed up." No one is perfect but everyone is deserving of some degree of dignity. Once people write others off is when they stop listening. Once you stop listening you stop communicating and begin inventing your own imaginary reality where everyone else is the problem and things will not be better until everyone sees the world as you do (whether that's thinking everyone should believe in global warming or everyone should be born again) and from my understanding of history that is when the sword over-powers the pen.

My conflict resolution professor said something that has stuck with me "trust is a difficult thing to build and an easy thing to destroy" - in more or less words (that was the best class I ever took), it taught me the real components, based on game theory, to make working collaborative solutions that often - being brave, being a good listener, being comfortable with your own values, not being threatened by others' values and using creativity to make mutually beneficial deals. I guess I'm an optimist though that really tries to see the best in all people (something that can be a lot of work at times) but knowing how the worst in people can come out.

Anyway, I have more than a million thought and perspectives but this project needs to come to an end. I would like to learn about and regurgitate to the best of my ability, but have to shut up at some point. I realize this is a long entry, long enough that my editor didn't even want to bother reading it (in fact I got 6 views when I posted it and I doubt anyone bothered to listen to my curated podcasts) but it is always helpful for me to have an open exchange with people (it helps me be refine and enhance my ideas), it's what gets me out of dream land and up in the morning. If you have any thoughts or opinions I encourage you to leave a comment.

Behind Closed Doors

Tom Wolf

Acres of Diamonds

American Weaknesses

I hate writing political cartoons. They are divisive and have a very short shelf life, I put making this one off for over a week, it's meaning should be forgotten in about four days.

Steeler Fan Nightmare

Tom Perkins is at home with labor conspiracies

By Hooker, By Crook - The Early Girls

Fun-A-Day 30 & 31: Puritan Generation

Well, this is my final entry for the Fun-A-Day Pittsburgh project. This entails the Puritan Generation (born 1584 - 1612), list some of the other entries, this is of important historical figures from Colonial America with a international figures (mostly English).

Oxford College in the early 17th Century

This is the generation of the first pilgrims and puritans that left Europe for religious freedom in the New World. There was also a colony started in Bermuda that is not well remembered by American Historians.

They founded colonies in New England like Salem and Plymouth.

John Cotton 1584 - 1652: Puritan Radical in England, arrived in Boston in 1633 and served as Congregationalist Minister there.

Myles Standish 1584 - 1656: Military Adviser on the Mayflower. A fictional story about him being shy romantic, written over a century later popularized the holiday Thanksgiving. He was not a Pilgrim himself.

John Rolf 1585 - 1622 and Pocahontas c1595 - 1617

Thomas Hobbes 1588 - 1679; Political Philosopher, wrote The Leviathan - he was an empiricist, and was interested in the great "social contracts" of societies.

John Winthorp 1588 - 1649; Puritan Minister and former lawyer who gave famous "Shining City upon a Hill" sermon during the voyage to the New World.

John Endecott 1589 - 1665; classic jerk Puritan.

William Bradford 1590 - 1657; came to the New World on the Mayflower, governor of Plymouth colony for 26 years.

William Pynchon 1590 - 1662; founder of Springfield Massachusetts, a fur trader and encouraged peace with the American Indians. Much more business minded than his contemporaries.

Anne Hutchinson 1591 - 1643; founded Rhode Island after exiled from Salem.

Peter Stuyvesant 1592 - 1672; director of New Amsterdam until it was ceded to England in 1664. Built a protective wall there that was the wall Wall street was named after. Had a peg leg.

Richard Mather - puritan clergyman

Rene Descartes 1596 - 1650: Father of Modern Philosophy, a Rationalist

John Davenport 1597 - 1670; founder of New Haven colony.

Oliver Cromwell 1599 - 1658; leader of the round-heads during the English Civil War and after the execution of Charles I of England.

King Charles I of England 1600 - 1649; The English King executed during the English Civil War.

Roger Williams 1605 - 1685; founded Rhode Island with Anne Hutchinson

Simon Bradstreet 1603 - 1697; one of the first Puritans to arrive and found Salem. Married to Anne Bradstreet.

John Eliot 1604 - 1690; apostle to the American Indians of the New England.

Sir William Berkeley 1605 - 1677; appointed in charge of Virginia Colony by Charles II of England. He was opposed during Bacon's Rebellion.

John Winthorp the Younger 1606 - 1676; son of John Winthrop, missed the boat his father was on to the New World and never got to hear the famous sermon.

John Harvard 1607 - 1638; died shortly after arriving in New England, he left a collection of books and money to start a school that would go on to be Harvard University.

John Milton 1608 - 1674: wrote Paradise Lost

Henry Dunster 1609 - 1659; first president of Harvard College in 1640.

Anne Bradstreet 1612 - 1672; was the most celebrated female writer in America until the early 19th century. She wrote The 10th Muse Lately Sprung Up in America, just rolls off the tongue doesn't it?

Fun-A-Day 29: Strauss-Howe Generational Theory

Today I wanted to write a little bit about the Strauss-Howe generation theory which has inspired some of the work that I posted this month. I originally heard about the book The Forth Turning from my father when I was fourteen and read their book Generations around seventeen. The cyclical history theory always stuck with me, the Jungian archetypes applied to American History that interpret spans of history into a repeating pattern of zeitgeist/social moods. Regardless of whether the theory is true or not their books were helpful in my understanding of mapping out historical periods and figures and their context into a great historical narrative.

I have always been interested in sociology, history and stories with no central protagonist but rather a long series of imperfect characters where the narrative's scope is beyond one lifetime. The book of Judges from the Bible, Herodotus's Histories were some of the readings that have held my interest.

As my knowledge of world history has expanded I have also developed skeptical eye of their books and publications. First of all it is a very American perspective, one argued in their book The Forth Turning as a uniquely American phenomenon, perhaps rooted in some sort of American Exceptionalist attitude . Also in keeping with an American style, the theory isn't anymore complicated than the rules to American football. Their books also take an American self-help or advice style tone of not just speculating on the past but also attempting to predict the future for the benefit of the readers to prepare for upcoming cultural and economic shifts.

As the Wikipedia article explains in the critical reception section, the authors are accused for "cherry picking", as in selecting convenient facts and antidotes while there is not attempt to look at the long term trends of empirical data. I did find one article on the internet that did look at their theory through long term economic data. Their books, as far as all of the charts it provides, doesn't provide any separate data that covers long term economic or demographic activity. Perhaps involving this would be too confusing and suddenly trying to explain the theory would be mired into something much more complex than the rules of American Football.

Also, reading the generational archetypes is like reading a horoscope, as in they will describe something that can be perceived in a number of ways and frame its meaning to adjust to their theory. Below is an example:
Laura Bush (of a prophet generation) idealistically pursued adult literacy initiatives while in the white house toward Generation X (nomad generation) as the bare minimum prerogative for this destitute generation.
Laura Bush (of a nomad generation) pragmatically pursued adult literacy initiatives while in the white house toward the Generation X (hero generation) to ensure that no one in this generation is left behind.
Laura Bush (of a hero generation) pursued reshaping the institutions of adult literacy while in the White House to ensure that Generation X (an Artist generation).
Laura Bush (artist generation) perused adult literacy while in the white house, serving the low income and poorly educated of Generation X (prophet generation) to accommodate an indulged generation who educational advancements beyond their youth while ignoring the younger nomad generation still in childhood.

This example illustrates how someone can take one action but interpret it to suite the mood they are trying to frame the actions. In all fairness though, this is how historian tells history as no one can fully explain the past (or even the present) fully. Historians synthesize a time period or group of people into something unique and distinguishable and with that comes generalizations. If one does not write in this way they my find their work directionless or too obtuse to draw anything meaningful.

I did look into seeing if there was any empirical data that might prove or disprove the theory. There have been some works that compare the theory with Russian Economist Nikolai Kondratiev's K-Cycle theory on economics.

The Strauss-Howe books helped me mentally map historical figures by age location into the greater context of the different periods of modern history and that is probably why I keep going back to looking into their work. I also find it interesting how ancient cultures saw history/time as a cyclical process, something much more in tune with the Strauss-Howe framing of history than the modern linear perspective.

illustration of the Egyptian Calendar

One thing I would like to note is that from listening to history podcasts there are times described as major crisis, winner-take-all/decisive moments, that follow with a new generation born after that period who seem to reject the values of the older generation that lived through the crisis period. Most recently we can not the gap between "The Greatest Generation" and the Baby Boomers, but (at least from my own understanding) has happened before, such as described in Dan Carlin's Hardcore History, where he describes the generation of Romans after the rein of Sulla who Carlin described as Roman Beat-nicks (Show 39). Or in David Crowther's History of England, a period called The Anarchy (a crisis period for medieval England) was proceeded by Richard the Lionheart's generation that embraced the ideas of courtly love and the emergence of the troubadours. Is is all more complicated than the brief explanations I have heard? yes. Is there any truth to this pattern that relates to the shared experience of a generation? possibly.

I am not a historian or an economist or hoping to be the know-it-all who knew what was going to happen 20 years before it happens. I am an artist who acceptances the uncertainty of all things. The patterns of the world and humanity are a complicated and ephemeral nature that is beyond the scope of a single individual's understanding and that's something I accept but also explore. I'm not interested in pinning down the truth but rather investigate possible truths for a deeper understanding that I know I will never fully grasp.

Fun-A-Day 28: Avicenna

This was a critical figure in the history of medicine. He was really smart and was arrogant about it. His study of medicine was used up until the Enlightenment. He is featured in Stuff you Missed in History Class and The History of Philosophy, episodes 138 - 142.

Fun-A-Day 27: Maimonides

An illustration of Maimonides, an important Jewish Philosopher in the middle ages who lived in Spain and later the Holy Land. You can hear a podcast about him at the History of Philosophy Podcast without any Gaps.

Fun A Day 26 - Pope Miltiades

This illustration is of Miltiades, the Bishop of Rome just before Christian became the state religion of the Roman Empire. He is a mysterious fellow, as there is little known of him. I think if he were alive today he would be pissed that no one remembers him and he would get a better hair cut. The reference I used is not based on the real likeness of Miltiades. Some people believe that he was black, as he was from modern day Tunisia, but from a Greek family. I illustrated this while listening to History of the Papcy Podcast: Episode 25, where all of what is known of him is discussed.

Fun-A-Day 23 - 25; Ancient Egypt

These illustrations are in tribute to two history podcasts. The first is the Egyptian History Podcast. Episode 24, which recently came out, covers the first Intermediate Period of Egyptian History. A poorly understood time. The period saw global cooling, reduction of the flow of the Nile, expansion of the Sahara Desert, barbarians from the Sahara entered into the Nile Valley and the political unification of the Old Kingdom deteriorated.

The second podcast is Stuff you Missed in History Class. In one of their recent episodes they talked about mummification.

I have always liked mummies, I would rather be a mummy than an vampire. In both cases you live forever, but as a mummy you get a lot of sleep. Vampires are sexy but are always hungry for blood, not worth it.

Fun-A-Day 21 - 23, European Generation - 1327 - 1343

Here are some contemporary figures to the last post on the Golden Generation. These are figures, mostly from Northern Europe who lived during their time.

Archibald the Grim 1328 - 1400: He was a Scottish magnate. The bastard son by an unknown mother of Sir James "the Black" Douglas. He fought on the French side at the Battle of Poiters and was captured along with the King of France by the Black Prince (see previous post for Black Prince).

Pope Gregory XI 1329 - 1378: The last of the Avignon Popes (from 1370 - 1378). He was against the Lollardy Movement and rejected John Wycliffe's reforms. (see last post for John Wycliffe)

Louis II of Flanders 1330 - 1384: His father died at the Battle of Crecy by the English and inherited Flanders at that time. He was neutral during the 100 Years War. He seems pretty tired in this picture.

Gaston III, Count of Foix 1331 - 1391: his family was in a feud with the D'Amagnacs and fought at the Battle of Launac. He loved war, hunting and sex. He wrote an important guide for hunting.

Charles the Bad, II of Navarre 1332 - 1387: He was a major player at a critical juncture in the Hundred Years' War between France and England, allying alternately with both powers and repeatedly switching sides in order to further his own agenda. His horrific death was widely considered God's justice upon him.

Henry of Trastamara 1334 - 1369: he was the first King of Castile and León to be from the House of Trastámara. He became king in 1369, backed by the French, by defeating his half-brother, Pedro the Cruel (see below) after numerous rebellions and battles. As king he was involved in the Ferdinand Wars and the Hundred Years' War.

Pedro the Cruel 1334 - 1369: Peter was the last ruler of the main branch of the House of Burgundy. He was backed by the English but lost the seat of Castile to Henry Trastamara (see above).

Louis II, Duke of Bourbon 1337 - 1410: Also known as Louis the Good, he was mentally unstable and inherited the duchy in 1356, at the age of 26. Later in life he led an unsuccessful crusade against Tunis. His sister was Joan of Bourbon, the Queen of France (see below).

Charles V of France 1338 - 1380; Charles the Wise. He was a monarch of the House of Valois who ruled as King of France from 1364 to his death. See the History of England Podcast, episode 114.

Joan of Bourbon 1338 - 1378; brother of Louis II, duke of Bourbon and wife of Charles V of France. She had nine children and was said to have died from taking a bath, against the will of her doctors. Life her brother, she was believed to be mentally unstable.

Pope Innocent VII 1339 - 1406: He was Pope for three years 1404 - 1406: He was a Roman Pope during the time of the Schism. He was a Papal Money Collector in England from 1378 - 89. He was blamed for the Schism and died suddenly, some thought he was assassinated, but there is no evidence.

Louis I, Duke of Anjou 1339 - 1384: Brother of Charles the Wise, he became count of Anjou in 1356. He fought at the battle of Poitiers. The Avignon court granted him Napels, which he never took.

John of Berry 1340 - 1416: Brother of Charles the Wise, he is remembered as a benefactor of the arts. He apparently wore cool hats.

Philip the Bold 1342 - 1404: Brother of Charles the Wise and was the Duke of Burgundy. He was the founder of the Burgundian branch of the house of Valois.