Mass Extinctions, Evolutionary Leaps, and the Virus-Information Connection
- Thread starter Pierre
- Start date
Pierre,
While reading chapter 20, I thought of an article I copied a few years ago on this "good Charlemagne" as he was taught in schools....
This article is still on the net:
Charlemagne, un couronnement romain qui détourne l’Eglise de l’Orient
"As proof, the future Charlemagne did not come to Rome in the year 800 to be crowned.
He had already been since July 27, 754, at Saint-Denis, where Pope Stephen II, making the first trip of a pontiff north of the Alps, had come to crown at the same time his father, Pepin the Short - himself already crowned in 751 in Soissons by the bishop - and his brother."
While reading chapter 20, I thought of an article I copied a few years ago on this "good Charlemagne" as he was taught in schools....
This article is still on the net:
Charlemagne, un couronnement romain qui détourne l’Eglise de l’Orient
"As proof, the future Charlemagne did not come to Rome in the year 800 to be crowned.
He had already been since July 27, 754, at Saint-Denis, where Pope Stephen II, making the first trip of a pontiff north of the Alps, had come to crown at the same time his father, Pepin the Short - himself already crowned in 751 in Soissons by the bishop - and his brother."
-> Black
Benjamin
The Living Force
Great chapter! Really interesting and made me rethink a bit about my family's history in Mecklenburg c. 1600. Thanks Peirre!
Chapter 20:
(also)
-...virtually nonexistent.
(or)
- Julius Caesar was actually divinized while he was still living. He was adored by his legions of troops, and the Senate decorated him with a statue on which an inscription declared him to be a demi-god. Other statues were erected to Caesar himself as "Sol Invictus" (unconquered god).
(The first sentence (as originally written) jumped out at me and felt out of place because the rest of the paragraph has nothing to do with troops or shows how adoration from the troops supports JC's divinity. I tried to come up with some alternatives. In the first alternative, I tried to keep the original sentences but my attempt was poor so in the second alternative, I rewrote the beginning of the paragraph. But, to be clear, I'm not trying to be a monk writting in the margins.
(possible alternative)
(Originally written, this was a really difficult paragraph for me to figure out. I've written a possible alternative but I don't know if it's even right. Please review.)
(or)
- A substantial part of the Celt world practiced Paleochristianity.
(also)
-...common across... (remove comma)
(or)
-...reason for the raids of the monasteries?
(or)
- The naval battle confronting Julius Caesar with Pompeii...
(also)
-...above, Croatia was one of the major locations...
Chapter 20:
- I might change the first 'virtually' to a different word like 'almost'.
(also)
-...virtually nonexistent.
-...uninterrupted...
-...his...
-...since... Until then, the...
- We know that Julius Caesar was adored by his troops. But he was actually divinized while he was still living.
(or)
- Julius Caesar was actually divinized while he was still living. He was adored by his legions of troops, and the Senate decorated him with a statue on which an inscription declared him to be a demi-god. Other statues were erected to Caesar himself as "Sol Invictus" (unconquered god).
(The first sentence (as originally written) jumped out at me and felt out of place because the rest of the paragraph has nothing to do with troops or shows how adoration from the troops supports JC's divinity. I tried to come up with some alternatives. In the first alternative, I tried to keep the original sentences but my attempt was poor so in the second alternative, I rewrote the beginning of the paragraph. But, to be clear, I'm not trying to be a monk writting in the margins.
- The sighting of what might have been the brightest comet in recorded history, was four months after his assassination during the Games that were held in his honor. It was interpreted by the Romans as yet another confirmation of Julius Caesar's divine nature.
(possible alternative)
- In Rome, a temple in homage to Divus Julius was built. There were two merged crosses shown specifically on the door and on the pediment (tympanum) that represented Julius Caesar and the comet. A Latin cross (+), which can be seen in the embossed brass pattern on the central door, ... and the comet (X) which together form an eight-pointed star:
(Originally written, this was a really difficult paragraph for me to figure out. I've written a possible alternative but I don't know if it's even right. Please review.)
- In both cases (one of which is the caption below an image) it needs to be written as 'the Chi-Rho cross' because Rho-Chi is an international honor society for pharmacological sciences.
-... the battles and conquests made by Julius Caesar (and the soldiers who stayed in those areas...) ...
-...attested to by the (typical?) orientation of their cemeteries and their crosses: (I don't know about this one. It might be fine as originally written.)
- If we subtract... from... death... and (10?) years before the debut of the mythical figure...
-...Christ...
-...Paleochristianity was by the Saxons:
-...is the tantalizing ... Caesar was the...
- It was a substantial part of the Celt world who was practicing Paleochristianity.
(or)
- A substantial part of the Celt world practiced Paleochristianity.
(also)
-...common across... (remove comma)
-...rubble... period is called...
-...studies. Does...
- What part of society did the Carolingians consider to be degenerate?
-...years was added to...
-...since, more or less, 300... (commas)
- ...was that Mantis Gräfelfing... what? Did he do something?
- This paragraph is not in a 'quote box' in either the pdf or post version.
-...before (those?) times and waged the... (As written, I'm not completely sure which 'times' you are referring to)
- Here is an extensive list of Charlemagne's wars (there are a lot) and coincidentally...
-...was a/the stronghold...
- remove space (this is a quote)
- One of the main battles was located in the Pyrenees, at the Roncevaux Pass. He confronted the Basque (Vascone) army - not the Muslims - with the Frankish army.
-...Atlantic Ocean to the Garonne River, and was one...
-...Christianized, at the latest, during the 7th...
- Viking...
-...reason behind the raids of the monasteries?
(or)
-...reason for the raids of the monasteries?
-...ascribed to the Vikings... obvious fact that the... foremost the only...
- So were these Viking raids targeting...
-...where Bogomilism was founded.
-...above, the...
- The naval battle of opposing Julius Caesar by Pompeii...
(or)
- The naval battle confronting Julius Caesar with Pompeii...
(also)
-...above, Croatia was one of the major locations...
- But(?) Charlemagne waged war with the Danes after(?) he had given aid...
- A note for the Slavic region that Christianization started...
- That Easter predates Roman Christianity, could it date back to the celebration of the Ides of March...
- Notice that Easter...
- There is no mention of Jesus Christ's...
-...12th of July. Coincidentally or not, to this day a small village in Italy still celebrates... 12th of July.
-...foundations... were there - comets and plagues - and extra devotion... spike in churches being built the...time of the basest survival... in droves.
- At its peak brightness, Caesar's Comet reached a magnitude of -4.0 making it as bright as Venus. (found in references)
-...as the Caucasus (found in references)
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Thanks Pierre!
-> plague
Benjamin
The Living Force
Unbelievable. Out of all the other words...ToxicCoward
Jedi
That typo reminds me about this research:
www.mrc-cbu.cam.ac.uk
Name "Peirre" also exists (Peirre - Meaning of Peirre, What does Peirre mean?), so brain may have trouble deciding how to read.
People
Benjamin
The Living Force
Interesting. I did not know that. Still, in this case, the irony is pretty thick.
Corrected in the master file. Thanks!
The post is quite lengthy but I have included all the information I looked at so far and tried to make some sense out of it. It needs a lot of editing, cleaning up and re-thinking but there is hopefully some information that could be useful.
History of Pliny's Letters
The letters of Pliny the Younger are supposedly composed of a total of 10 books and have been handed down to us in 3 main groups:
During the Middle Ages, the 10-book collection was the only one in circulation but, by then, the entire collection had been lost and only the first 100 letters from books 1-5 were available.
- 10-book collection / 100 letters
- 9-book collection
- 8-book collection
It wasn’t until 1419 that many of the remaining letters were discovered when Italian humanist Guarino Veronese, who had recently moved to Verona, was shown Pliny’s works in the Capitular Library of Verona which contained books 1-7 and 9 (8-book collection), and went on to share the letters with other literates of the time in Italy. The letters describing the Vesuvius eruption are found in Book VI.16 and VI.20, hence they were not available to the public before the Veronese manuscript was discovered.
In his letter to Gualdo, where Guarino announces the discovery of the manuscript, he clearly mentions that the letters need revisioning. According to Elmer Truesdell Merrill, it’s likely that Guarino didn’t share the original version of the manuscript but distributed the revised one which was then copied by the other scholars before disappearing:
It's note clear which parts of the letters were edited by Guarino, but the story doesn't end with him.
What we do know from the records is that during the previous century, two authors had already access to Pliny’s letters in the Capitular Library of Verona. The first one was the author of the Flores moralium auctoritatum, composed around 1329 and attributed to Guglielmo de Pastrengo, a jurist, politician and writer who also befriended the famous Italian poet Petrarca. In it, he quotes extensively sentences of the letters, including some from books 6 and 7. The second author was Giovanni de Matociis, known as the Mansionarius, a notary and writer who composed several works, among which a compilation of the history of Roman emperors called Hitsoria Imperialis that he wrote during the 1310s, and a biographical note own the two Pliny’s called Breuis adnotatio de duobus Plinii. This latter work is particularly relevant as it’s the first time an author distinguishes between Pliny the Younger and Pliny the Elder. Prior to that, it was assumed that only one Pliny existed.
In her paper entitled On the Eight-Book Tradition of Pliny's Letters in Verona, Merrill examines in detail the letters and the works written by the two 13th century authors and also makes these very interesting remarks about the differences between Mansionarius’ Historia Imperialis and the Adnotatio:
So the author who had access to Pliny’s letters, in one of his works states that Pliny was governor of Syria but in the other he goes on to say that he was President of Spain. He then also remarks that Pliny the Elder died under the ashes of Etna, not Vesuvius! What’s going on here? Was he really that forgetful to confuse one volcano with the other and one governorship over the other? What’s more, Giovanni de Matociis makes another unusual remark in the Adnotatio. As pointed out by Merrill:
So the same author who wrote a note warning the other writers about the fact that there were actually two Pliny’s rather than one, as believed at the time, writes about the eight-book manuscript as if any other scholar would know about its existence and its contents when in fact, the writers of the time only had access to the 100 letters from the first 5 books and were only made privy of the more extensive 8-book version in 1419 with the announcement made by Guarino Veronese quote above.
Also, why did it take almost another century before the 8-book version was re-discovered and made available to scholars across Europe? It's interesting to note that Guarino didn't find Pliny's works in the library by himself but was pointed out to him by someone.
The Eruption of 79 AD
Now reading the letters written by Pliny the Younger addressed to Tacitus describing the now famous day of the eruption, there are some aspects of the story that stand out as being out of place, not accounting for he fact that the towns of Pompei and Herculaneum aren't even mentioned.
One such example is the following text describing the moment Pliny the Elder first notices the plume coming from the volcano from his place in Miseno:
As noted by blogger Andreas:
Here, Andreas suggests that the town described by Pliny may not be Miseno but instead Messina in Sicily, due to the similarity of the names and the fact that it’s harder to distinguish Mount Etna from Messina compared to Mount Vesuvius from Miseno. While that is certainly possible, I would be more inclined to suggest that the actual city being referred to is Milazzo (Mylea in latin), a town on the northern coast of Sicily that, unlike Messina, used to be a Roman naval base, an important aspect given that Pliny the Elder was supposedly a naval commander:
In fact, when looking from Milazzo, it is not that easy to distinguish Mount Etna from other mountains as shown in the picture below:
Another point substantiating the idea that the scene of the eruption was more likely in Sicily than in Campania is provided by Pliny:
While the region of Campania is indeed a seismic zone, it is not to the point where tremblings can be perceived as an “ordinary occurrence”. A report published by the National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology shows the seismic risk hazard curves for the country, by probability of surplus quakes over a period of 50 years:
View attachment 55329
As you can see, the area surrounding Milazzo and Mount Etna has a much higher seismic risk compared to the Neapolitan coast.
In his second letter, Pliny the Younger describes a cloud that covers the island of Capri along with the promontory of Miseno, two places that are located in different directions compared to Vesuvius.
When looking at the scene from Miseno on the Neapolitan coast, one would be looking at the sea in the same direction as Mount Vesuvius from where one can safely assume the "black and dreadful cloud broken with rapid zigzag flashes" was originating, so saying that the cloud was on the other side of the sea would hardly reflect the scene as seen from Miseno. Nor would saying that the cloud starts surrounding the island of Capri and the promontory of Miseno which are in different directions.
If one were instead to picture the scene from the promontory of Milazzo in Sicily, the description suddenly makes more sense with the sea facing opposite Mount Etna when viewed from the coastal town, and with the island of Lipari in sight further north.
Mount Etna Historical Eruptions
Historical accounts of eruptions of Mount Etna during Ancient Rome have been recorded by several writers of the time. The main ones observed span the time between 140 BC and 40 AD according to the accepted chronology, spanning a period of circa 180 years. If we include the eruption of 79 AD, we are looking at a period of circa 220 years. We'll come back to this in a moment.
View attachment 55330
A paper published in 2007 examines the written documents pertaining to the historical eruptions of Mount Etna and compares them via magnetic dating of lava flows and cinder cones and other radio-chronology measures to verify the accuracy of the dating of historical eruptions.
The findings of the paper may surprise readers well versed in Ancient Rome:
Adding to this, the authors analysed the magnetic directions and possible ages of historically undated lavas flows and pyroclastic cones. Of these, two samples were dated to circa 550 AD with a high degree of confidence. This suggests that an eruption also occurred around 550 AD, give or take a few decades.
View attachment 55332
We know from both ice core records and dendrochronology that a series of large eruptions took place in 536 AD and 540 AD. @Pierre shows how Procopius, in The Gothic War, notes an explosive eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 536 AD.
Given the above information, we can infer with a certain degree of confidence that Mount Etna may have also been one of the volcanoes to erupt in that period. If we now take the historical period spanning 140 BC to 79 AD mentioned before and shift the timeline so that the end matches the 536 AD event, we have a start for the period of increased volcanic activity of Mount Etna of 317 AD. This matches quite nicely with the period of voluminous eruptions outlined in the paper of 300-450 AD and would support the lack of evidence of any substantial and continual eruptions at the turn of the first millennium.
Going back to Pliny’s letter, can be infer anything from all this?
Was the story made up by a medieval writer claiming the letter to belong to Pliny, added to a compilation of real letters and then discovered as a new manuscript and subsequently modified by the copyists. Or was the text describing a real event about an eruption that may have taken place in Sicily or Campania (or both) around 536 AD and which was later modified to reflect the belief of the writers in later times regarding the time and place of the event?
You did a very thorough work trying to elucidate the mystery surrounding the hypothetical 79 AD Vesuvius eruption!
It's already been corrected in the master file, but not in the published version.
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Do you think Charlemagne was crowned twice (as king of the Franks, and later as emperor) or do you think the second crowning is bogus?
Great chapter! Really interesting and made me rethink a bit about my family's history in Mecklenburg c. 1600. Thanks Peirre!
Chapter 20:
- I might change the first 'virtually' to a different word like 'almost'.
(also)
-...virtually nonexistent.
-...uninterrupted...
-...his...
-...since... Until then, the...
- We know that Julius Caesar was adored by his troops. But he was actually divinized while he was still living.
(or)
- Julius Caesar was actually divinized while he was still living. He was adored by his legions of troops, and the Senate decorated him with a statue on which an inscription declared him to be a demi-god. Other statues were erected to Caesar himself as "Sol Invictus" (unconquered god).
(The first sentence (as originally written) jumped out at me and felt out of place because the rest of the paragraph has nothing to do with troops or shows how adoration from the troops supports JC's divinity. I tried to come up with some alternatives. In the first alternative, I tried to keep the original sentences but my attempt was poor so in the second alternative, I rewrote the beginning of the paragraph. But, to be clear, I'm not trying to be a monk writting in the margins.
- The sighting of what might have been the brightest comet in recorded history, was four months after his assassination during the Games that were held in his honor. It was interpreted by the Romans as yet another confirmation of Julius Caesar's divine nature.
(possible alternative)
- In Rome, a temple in homage to Divus Julius was built. There were two merged crosses shown specifically on the door and on the pediment (tympanum) that represented Julius Caesar and the comet. A Latin cross (+), which can be seen in the embossed brass pattern on the central door, ... and the comet (X) which together form an eight-pointed star:
(Originally written, this was a really difficult paragraph for me to figure out. I've written a possible alternative but I don't know if it's even right. Please review.)
- In both cases (one of which is the caption below an image) it needs to be written as 'the Chi-Rho cross' because Rho-Chi is an international honor society for pharmacological sciences.
-... the battles and conquests made by Julius Caesar (and the soldiers who stayed in those areas...) ...
-...attested to by the (typical?) orientation of their cemeteries and their crosses: (I don't know about this one. It might be fine as originally written.)
- If we subtract... from... death... and (10?) years before the debut of the mythical figure...
-...Christ...
-...Paleochristianity was by the Saxons:
-...is the tantalizing ... Caesar was the...
- It was a substantial part of the Celt world who was practicing Paleochristianity.
(or)
- A substantial part of the Celt world practiced Paleochristianity.
(also)
-...common across... (remove comma)
-...rubble... period is called...
-...studies. Does...
- What part of society did the Carolingians consider to be degenerate?
-...years was added to...
-...since, more or less, 300... (commas)
- ...was that Mantis Gräfelfing... what? Did he do something?
- This paragraph is not in a 'quote box' in either the pdf or post version.
-...before (those?) times and waged the... (As written, I'm not completely sure which 'times' you are referring to)
- Here is an extensive list of Charlemagne's wars (there are a lot) and coincidentally...
-...was a/the stronghold...
- remove space (this is a quote)
- One of the main battles was located in the Pyrenees, at the Roncevaux Pass. He confronted the Basque (Vascone) army - not the Muslims - with the Frankish army.
-...Atlantic Ocean to the Garonne River, and was one...
-...Christianized, at the latest, during the 7th...
- Viking...
-...reason behind the raids of the monasteries?
(or)
-...reason for the raids of the monasteries?
-...ascribed to the Vikings... obvious fact that the... foremost the only...
- So were these Viking raids targeting...
-...where Bogomilism was founded.
-...above, the...
- The naval battle of opposing Julius Caesar by Pompeii...
(or)
- The naval battle confronting Julius Caesar with Pompeii...
(also)
-...above, Croatia was one of the major locations...
- But(?) Charlemagne waged war with the Danes after(?) he had given aid...
- A note for the Slavic region that Christianization started...
- That Easter predates Roman Christianity, could it date back to the celebration of the Ides of March...
- Notice that Easter...
- There is no mention of Jesus Christ's...
-...12th of July. Coincidentally or not, to this day a small village in Italy still celebrates... 12th of July.
-...foundations... were there - comets and plagues - and extra devotion... spike in churches being built the...time of the basest survival... in droves.
- At its peak brightness, Caesar's Comet reached a magnitude of -4.0 making it as bright as Venus. (found in references)
-...as the Caucasus (found in references)
Oh boy, it was a long list of mistakes. It's corrected now in the master file. Thank you!
I re-uploaded an updated pdf file as well.
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