Sunday, October 02, 2011

Mount Nemrut – Home to Gods Beheaded


The Adiyaman Province of Turkey in the south east of the country is not wealthy – it is still classified as a developing rural region. Yet 25 miles from the small town of Kâhta the visitor discovers the remnants of once fabulous wealth.  High on the summit of Mount Nemrut is a huge but little visited necropolis, home to the beheaded gods of the past.

Sixty two years before the birth of Christ, King Antiochus I ordered a huge tomb come sanctuary to be built for himself. His place of burial was flanked by huge statues – one of himself but others of animals.

There were also gods – a syncretism of Iranian, Armenian and Greek which testify to the cultural mix of the area two thousand years ago.  Hercules is there, as is Zeus, Tyche and Apollo.  Their names were inscribed upon them – those Greek ones we recognize from books and movies as well as their Iranian and Armenian counterparts – Vahagn, Aramazd and Ahura Mazda.

Antiochus was half Armenian and half Greek – another reason why his tomb reflects more than just a single culture. This area was a true cross-road of peoples but there was but a single enemy at the time – the Romans. Antiochus managed to keep his kingdom of Commagene independent, even while many Anatolian territories were being annexed. The enemy became a treasured ally.

Antiochus was already part of a dynasty but he wanted to see this preserved. So he created a royal cult and his tomb was built in order for his vassals to worship him after his death. A Greek inscription reveals that he was buried here at the roof of his world as a sign of his parity with the gods.

The complex on Mount Nemrut (or Nemrut Dagi as it is locally known) was built so that many religious festivals could be held there. He commanded that his birthday should be celebrated on the 16th of each and every month and his coronation celebrated likewise on the 10th. To afford this he bought up wealth generating estates and properties which were legally bound to the sites.

He put in charge whole families with a vested interest in keeping this particular status quo. The priests of the tomb complex were to instruct their sons in administering the estates and so ensure that these celebrations would last in perpetuity. Or so Antiochus imagined.

Yet times change and at some point in the history there was a collective effort to demolish the statues – to bring down the gods of old.  All of the statues have been decapitated – their heads roughly removed from their bodies. Archaeologists placed them upright but have not attempted to re-attach the head to the bodies. So, their dismembered heads lie where they fell.

Over the centuries people forgot about Antiochus’ tomb. Then in 1883 an engineer from Germany, Charles Sester, was assessing transport routes for the Ottoman Empire. He discovered more than he had bargained for. As he and his team dug they rediscovered the beheaded gods for the world.

We know that the damage was intentional as there is a pattern to it, particularly their noses. When and exactly why it was done is lost to history. The area is under snow for several months a year and so the statues have naturally weathered too, making it difficult to ascertain when injury came to the gods of Mount Nemrut.

Yet despite the distance from their bodies the heads of these gods are still magnificent and their divinely icy stares still demand something – if not worship then certainly awe. The ruins of the tomb-sanctuary of Antiochus are magnificent to behold even today.



A Bridge Too Far



This fascinating time lapse video show the A1(M) in the United Kingdom. There was an overnight bridge demolition between the towns of Darlington and Dishforth but the road had to be reopened in time for the morning traffic. Will the road workers make it in time?

This was filmed as part of the M1 motorway upgrade scheme when the UK Highways Agency (Yorkshire and Humber) closed the A1, North Yorkshire between Junction 60 (near Darlington) and Junction 49 (Dishforth). It all took place on Saturday 9 April and Sunday 10 April 2011


Welcome to Hoxford - The Movie



Before you click play, please be warned that this contains strong language and scenes of a scary nature! Yet it is so wonderfully done (for a fan film) that I thought I would take Kuriositas out of its safe zone for a short while.

Raymond Delgado is no ordinary prisoner. On a good day he'll take the time to tell you he's the son of Zeus before he tears out your jugular. On a bad day, you won't even have a moment to call out for help.  After a yet another "incident" Raymond has been transferred to Hoxford, a correctional facility and mental institution known for its radical methods.

At Hoxford, Raymond’s not the only predator. Come nightfall, under a full moon, bloodcurdling screams pierce through the darkness of the prison courtyard. It's hunting hour! As the other Hoxford prisoners huddle in the obscurity of their prison cells trembling in fright, Ray cracks a smile. He thrives on confrontation. Lock a human beast in a cage with a legendary monster and, in your opinion. Who will devour? And who will be devoured?

Directed by Julien Mokrani and written by Samuel Bodin Welcome To Hoxford stars Jason Flemyng, Dexter Fletcher and Arben Bajraktaraj. It is adapted from Ben Templesmith's comic published by IDW.


Wanna Live Forever? Become A Noun



Joseph Guillotin, Henry Shrapnel and Jules Leotard became immortal -- by entering the English language. But NPR's Robert Krulwich and Adam Cole discover that when your entire life is reduced to a single definition, the results are sometimes upsetting.

This is a really entertaining animated video which shows that although immortality is often desired (at the very least through your name) then you may not always get exactly what you anticipated.

As they say, when the gods wish to punish us they give us what we want!


Saturday, October 01, 2011

Dalek Art Car at the Burning Man


Guest of honor at this year’s Burning Man Festival was this awesome Dalek art car.  As well as being several times larger than your average Dalek this one could pick up some speed too.  Although a number of festival goers swear that it could also fly – just like the ones in the TV series – we suspect that may have more to do with ingestion of dodgy substances than true aerial ability. 

You have to admit, though, that it looks pretty cool against the desert background – and it even has its own security guard from a galaxy far, far away.




Obama Fried Chicken


It has recently come to light that a fast food restaurant in Beijing has opened – its name is Obama Fried Chicken.  The Kentucky Fried Chicken logo has been somewhat doctored and the face of Colonel Sanders replaced with that of the current presidential incumbent (see left). Although that is just another example of the disregard of certain Chinese citizens of global copyright laws (and racism even?), we do have to reveal here that the idea is hardly a new one!  Above is the Obama Fried Chicken in New York and below one elsewhere (sorry but we do not know its exact location!).



Merlin’s Camelot - Château de Pierrefonds


Those people who have been avidly following the BBC TV series Merlin may have wondered about the wonderful set used to recreate Camelot.

The series, starring Colin Morgan as the eponymous hero, Bradley James as Arthurand Anthony Head as Uther has been a smash it, both in the UK and overseas, notably in the US.

Many people believe that the Camelot seen in the TV series is an elaborate, expensive set.  In fact, the place exists in reality.  Situated North of Paris near the Forest of Compiègne, Château de Pierrefonds makes the perfect setting for the Camelot of the Arthurian legend re-imagined for the twenty first century.

The chateau has a history of its own – and it certainly did not look much like it does today in medieval times (the period most imagine Arthur, round table at all to have existed even though at that point it was but another re-imagining by a gentleman called Mallory of a much older legend).  Thanks to builders playing fast and loose with their idea of medieval architecture the BBC are able to play faster and looser with the idea of Arthurian mythology.

If that likes a criticism of both or either then it was unintentional.  The chateau does retain many of the characteristics of architecture which was used primarily for defense from that period.  The more elaborate imaginings are the result of a restoration in the middle of the nineteenth century. Similarly with the TV series Merlin – although it does retain elements of medieval Arthurian myths, most students of the legends cringe at the liberties taken with the stories.

Then, hopefully, they sit down and enjoy the show for the sheer fantasy it is.  Perhaps if it encourages young people to delve in to medieval literature it has done its job on more than one level.  Similarly with Château de Pierrefonds.  Since Merlin started shooting there three years ago it has seen a substantial rise in visitor numbers.

No doubt the tourist guides now shrug their shoulders in that inimitable French manner when confronted with Americans and Brits dashing around shouting things such as Merlin!  We must stop [insert appropriate villain name] and pretending to be Merlin, Arthur, Gaius, Morgana, Guinevere or possibly even Uther. Be honest, if you are a fan of the show, haven't you been just saying to yourself, oh, that's where Merlin...?  Could you resist the temptation if you were really there?

Although there has been a castle on the site since the 11th century it was the 14th which saw the beginnings of what we see today.  Charles VI, giving preferential treatment of his younger brother Louis, the Duke of Orléans, made the county of Valois in to a Duchy, a territory solely ruled by a Duke. Some peope express astonishment that no castle in England could have been found to be Camelot.  The question that begs an answer is which one?

Isn't that Morgana peering from the window at the top with an evil glint in her eye? 

Pierrefonds was part of the Duchy of Valois and Louis spent little time in prevaricating when it came to consolidating his foothold there.   The year after he ordered the castle to be rebuilt by no less that Jean Le Noir (John the Black), the court architect remembered more these days for his remarkable illuminations.

Le Noir’s work remained standing until 1617 when its then owners, the d'Estrées, fell out of favor with the monarch, Louis XIII.  They had joined what was known as the Party of Malcontents and were determined to usurp the King’s rule so it was no surprise when Richelieu (who was the Secretary of State for War) sent troops to besiege the castle.  When it was inevitably taken he also ordered its destruction.

Yet Le Noir had done such a solid job that the job proved to be too enormous.  So, instead, the exterior works were destroyed as were the roofs.  To ensure that no one could use the castle again to commit treason against the crown large holes were made in the curtain walls and the towers.

It was, effectively, a ruin and slowly moldered for over two hundred years.  It was in such a state of disrepair that when it caught the eye of Napoleon I in 1810 and he made an overture to purchase it, the chateau became his for the tiny sum of 3,000 francs.

The last King of France, Louis-Philippe gave a banquet at the romantic ruin in honor of the marriage of his daughter to one of the Saxe-Cobourg Gotha dynasty (one branch of which is now known as the House of Windsor in the UK).  The castle was drawn by the artist Corot, who depicted it in a state of absolute ruination.

Napoleon III visited in 1850 and was greatly impressed by the romance of the place, to the extent of asking Viollet-le-Duc to restore the place to its former glory.  Le-Duc is now notorious for his restorations of medieval buildings.  He frequently combined historical architectural fact with what you might call creative modification.

With a growing cost and a scale of rebuilding which outlived le-Duc, over 5 million francs (an almost unimaginable sum at the time) was spent on turning the medieval ruin in to a nineteenth century Imagineering of how the castle may have been.  The romanticism of the time usurped strict historical architectural obeisance and the result was the chateau that we see today.

Yet despite the fact that it is a nineteenth century idea about how a medieval castle should look, most people agree that the location scouts for the BBC got it spot on when it comes to the ideal Camelot for Merlin.


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