Medieval History
"The Great One, when he'd heard of Darius's passing,
hastened his course with restless mind and washed
the corpse with tears that flowed forth in a stream.
Laying aside a prince's mien, he sat
wringing his hands and grieving for the slain man,
whom he had tried so often to cast down
while he stood."
-- The Alexandreis, c. 1180, Gautier de Châtillon
The narrative of Osama bin Laden's death keeps changing shape, building on itself with additions and subtractions. The telling and retelling has involved both fireworks (no less than three fraternities at DePauw shot them off as the President was on television) and facebook (the embellished Martin Luther King quote, the sobering citation of Proverbs 24:17 - "Do not gloat when your enemy falls, do not let your heart rejoice when he stumbles"). It has experienced contradictions and is now turning itself over the ethical dilemma of image and memory. And so it's Gautier de Châtillon's 12th century poem that comes to mind. The moment between death and commemoration that Alexander experiences as he gazes upon Darius's dead body. It's not a comparison - the tears shed around bin Laden's death were for others, not for him. But it works over this idea of commemoration - of remembering or forgetting the enemy. Alexander builds Darius a tremendous, globalizing memorial that ekphrastically encompasses the entire world, and we are left to wonder at (and remember) Alexander's conquest of absolutely everything. Bin Laden's corpse is in the sea, enshrouded in a heavy silence compounded by an invisibility that will make commemoration impossible. Memory will be another matter.
- H. M. Chadwick Memorial Lecture 2012
The twenty-third annual H. M. Chadwick Memorial Lecture will be delivered by: Professor Michael LapidgeProfessor Emeritus, University of Cambridgeon the subject of: 'H. M. Chadwick: A Centennial Commemoration' The lecture will take...
- Alexander The Not So Great: History Through Persian Eyes
Alexander the Great is portrayed as a legendary conqueror and military leader in Greek-influenced Western history books but his legacy looks very different from a Persian perspective. Any visitor to the spectacular ruins of Persepolis - the site...
- Hope And Hop
And so here is a last picture of Iris stateside, well equipped my darling, for this next chapter: pink beret that actually says "Paris" on it along with the Eiffel Tower: check; swank satchel packed with Mr. Popper's Penguins: check; new watch that...
- Ingredients
Short blog, but I don't want to lose this one. The other day, we were eating out and Mister O and Miss I were sidetracking into puerile and gross conversation and I interjected: "Could you guys try talking about something interesting?" and Miss E...
- Lacedaemonians And Athenians: Battling Persians At Thermopylae And Salamis
My other blogs are:http://religion-by-kyle.blogspot.comhttp://astronomy-by-kyle.blogspot.comLacedaemonians and Athenians Battling Persians at Thermopylae and Salamis A great story then would be the events of the Persians vs. the Greeks up north,...
Medieval History
The Possibilities of Silence and Erasure
"The Great One, when he'd heard of Darius's passing,
hastened his course with restless mind and washed
the corpse with tears that flowed forth in a stream.
Laying aside a prince's mien, he sat
wringing his hands and grieving for the slain man,
whom he had tried so often to cast down
while he stood."
-- The Alexandreis, c. 1180, Gautier de Châtillon
The narrative of Osama bin Laden's death keeps changing shape, building on itself with additions and subtractions. The telling and retelling has involved both fireworks (no less than three fraternities at DePauw shot them off as the President was on television) and facebook (the embellished Martin Luther King quote, the sobering citation of Proverbs 24:17 - "Do not gloat when your enemy falls, do not let your heart rejoice when he stumbles"). It has experienced contradictions and is now turning itself over the ethical dilemma of image and memory. And so it's Gautier de Châtillon's 12th century poem that comes to mind. The moment between death and commemoration that Alexander experiences as he gazes upon Darius's dead body. It's not a comparison - the tears shed around bin Laden's death were for others, not for him. But it works over this idea of commemoration - of remembering or forgetting the enemy. Alexander builds Darius a tremendous, globalizing memorial that ekphrastically encompasses the entire world, and we are left to wonder at (and remember) Alexander's conquest of absolutely everything. Bin Laden's corpse is in the sea, enshrouded in a heavy silence compounded by an invisibility that will make commemoration impossible. Memory will be another matter.
- H. M. Chadwick Memorial Lecture 2012
The twenty-third annual H. M. Chadwick Memorial Lecture will be delivered by: Professor Michael LapidgeProfessor Emeritus, University of Cambridgeon the subject of: 'H. M. Chadwick: A Centennial Commemoration' The lecture will take...
- Alexander The Not So Great: History Through Persian Eyes
Alexander the Great is portrayed as a legendary conqueror and military leader in Greek-influenced Western history books but his legacy looks very different from a Persian perspective. Any visitor to the spectacular ruins of Persepolis - the site...
- Hope And Hop
And so here is a last picture of Iris stateside, well equipped my darling, for this next chapter: pink beret that actually says "Paris" on it along with the Eiffel Tower: check; swank satchel packed with Mr. Popper's Penguins: check; new watch that...
- Ingredients
Short blog, but I don't want to lose this one. The other day, we were eating out and Mister O and Miss I were sidetracking into puerile and gross conversation and I interjected: "Could you guys try talking about something interesting?" and Miss E...
- Lacedaemonians And Athenians: Battling Persians At Thermopylae And Salamis
My other blogs are:http://religion-by-kyle.blogspot.comhttp://astronomy-by-kyle.blogspot.comLacedaemonians and Athenians Battling Persians at Thermopylae and Salamis A great story then would be the events of the Persians vs. the Greeks up north,...