Eris Goddess of Strife

Strife:
1.: bitter sometimes violent conflict or dissension
2.: an act of contention : fight, struggle
3.: exertion or contention for superiority

Eris was the Greek goddess of strife and discord. Her Roman counterpart was the goddess Discordia. Her parents are thought to be Zeus and Hera, making her the sister of Ares, but a conflicting myth states that she is the daughter of Erebos, the primeval god of darkness, and Nyx, the night. She was also the mother of the Kakodaimones, the plagues of humanity released by Pandora.

"But abhorred Eris (Strife) bare painful Ponos (Toil), and Lethe (Forgetfulness), and Limos (Starvation), and the Algea (Pains), full of weeping, the Hysminai (Fightings) and the Makhai (Battles), the Phonoi (Murders) and the Androktasiai (Man-slaughters), the Neikea (Quarrels), the Pseudo-Logoi (Lies), the Amphilogiai (Disputes), and Dysnomia (Lawlessness) and Ate (Ruin), who share one another's natures, and Horkos (Oath) who does more damage than any other to earthly men, when anyone, of his knowledge, swears to a false oath."

Hesiod

A vicious and unyielding goddess, Eris was feared by all men. Her standing amongst the gods was shaky as well, most tried to keep their distance. All of the gods and goddesses were invited to the wedding of Thetis and Peleus, except for Eris. When she attempted to attend the wedding anyways she was kicked out. In her need for revenge she quietly tossed a golden apple into the foray. It was inscribed "To the Fairest." Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite all believed that the apple Jove to name a mortal to judge who should receive the apple. That mortal was Paris, Prince of Troy. He chose Aphordite in exchange for the love of Helen. Thus began the Trojan War.

Eris (Hate) whose wrath is relentless, she is the sister and companion of murderous Ares, she who is only a little thing at the first, but thereafter grows until she strides on the earth with her head striking heaven.

Homer

This is how Eris took her revenge and grew in power as both men and gods fought a battle inspired by a little golden apple.

The Bible

"We must not read our own meaning into scripture, but must make the sentence of scripture ours."

Hugh of St. Victor

The following is based on information found in Karen Armstrong's book "The Bible". The book is very well written and is highly informative. I have read about religion and the Bible many times and I feel this book would be good for anyone interested in how the Bible became THE Bible.

The Israelites began as a tribal nation. These tribes kept their legends and histories alive through an active oral tradition. Most tribes would focus on local events and heroes, which tended to be part of or similar to the broader Israelite history. In 1000BCE the tribes united into two monarchies: Judah and Israel.

Durring the 18th century BCE the area underwent a literary revolution. In Greece Homer's poetry was recorded and in Israel and Judah the oral traditions were recorded. These records morphed the old tribes' tradions into national sagas. These sagas were subject to the needs of the time, and adapted throughout history to fit the contemporary situation. The sagas were constantly changing until the time of Ezra, who used these teachings as the foundation for his work, legitimizing and formalizing them into the Torah.

In the Third century BCE Jewis scriptures began to be translated into Greek. Myth surrounds the first translation of the Torah. Ptolemy Philadelphus, Greek King of Egypt, wanted a Greek copy of the scriptures and gathered seventy priests to write a translation. It was agreed that the translation was perfect and named the Septuagint. Another variation of the myth had the seventy priest write seperate translations, but when they brought them together they found that the had all written the same translation, word for word. It was the allegorical treatment of this translation by Greek readers that produced the idea that scripture could have more than its literal meaning. Scripture had a deeper meaning.Paul developed this further, saying the scriptures were there to teach something. His letters, later includded in the Bible, were mean to bring these lessons to light.

The Bible was not canonized until the fourth century. It includded the gospels by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the Acts of the Apostles, Epistles by Paul, James, Peter, John and Jude, Hebrews and Revelation. Jerome, a fluent western exegetes translated the Bible into Latin. This became known as the Vulgate. The Vulgate was the standard European text until the sixteenth century. the Vulgate was copied and re-copied by monks until their copying errors became compounded and texts they wrote varied from the original.

Theft at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania

The Historical Society of Pennsylvania (HSP) has a tremendous collection of 12,000 objects which tell the story of Pennsylvania through the civil war. The collection was moved and the catalogue was digitized in 1997. After the collection was moved Artifact Collections Manager, Kristen Froehlich, was reconciling locations for all the objects when she noticed something peculiar. She could not locate four items from the collection. Three swords presented by the citizens of Philadelphia to Civil War General George G. Meade, David Bell Birney, and Andrew A. Humphreys and a 1785 long-rifle were missing. After establishing that these artifacts were no longer in the museum the FBI was contacted by staff members to investigate.

Ms. Froehlich submitted a Notification of Theft form to the FBI on November 13, 1997. This document required her to submit valuable information to the FBI that could be found in the catalogue. For accession number P-4-9, the long-rifle, the form contained the known name of the object, the rifle’s previous owner, the date it was made, a photograph, the manufacturer, a description with measurements, a list of the materials the object is made from, unique decorations, engravings, a condition report and a list of publications mentioning the item. This information was also dispersed to other museums and dealers in the hopes that they would have information regarding the items’ location.

The FBI took this information to one of the largest Civil War weapon shows on the East Coast, the Great Southern Weapons Fair. The agent assigned to the case, Robert K. Whittman, dispersed the photographs and histories of the objects to the various experts and collectors present. It was at this fair that the FBI caught a break in the case. An expert on presentation swords, Bruce Brazelon, recognized at least one of the swords as being part of a group that had been offered for potential sale in 1994. This particular sword had been noted as missing during a previous inventory check. The museum had noted the misplacement of several items over the years, but was unable to prove if they had been stolen or simply misplaced. These items had not been included in the Notification of Theft form, but the list was provided to FBI as additional information. Including this list of missing objects proved to be invaluable in the recovery of the stolen materials. This sword had not been included in the list of thefts, and would not have been recognized by the sword expert if it had not been included in the list of objects with unknown locations. FBI agent Whittman brought information about all of the missing works to the weapon show, not merely the ones thought to be stolen.


Brazelon could not confirm if the items had been sold, but he did know who was trying to make the sale, a Poconos flea market dealer. With this new information in hand the FBI agents contacted the Poconos flea market dealer. The dealer was able to provide the FBI with the name of the person who tried to sell him the swords, George Csizmazia. Csizmazia was an electrical contractor from Rutledge, Pennsylvania, who had been briefly employed by HSP ten years earlier. At first Csizmazia denied any knowledge of the sword and other objects missing from HSP. The FBI had to break down his story, starting with his denial of knowledge of the swords. Eventually Csizmazia admitted the truth and brought the agents to his home where they found the stolen artifacts and approximately 200 of the “missing” artifacts. Csizmazia’s collection was strewn about his home. Objects, including a ring with a lock of George Washington’s hair, cigar holders, and the telescope used by Elisha Kent Kane to locate the Polar Sea were haphazardly placed on coffee tables, shelves, and on the walls. He even admitted to trimming his hedges with a sword from the 1600’s.
At this time Kristen Froehlich and Robert K. Whittman met with the objects and confirmed that the artifacts found in Csizmania’s home were the same pieces that belonged to HSP. They did this by reviewing each piece and comparing it to the photograph HSP had on file and the catalogue information. They had to make sure that each piece matched the museum’s records down to every inscription. This process did two things. First, it proved that the pieces had originated at HSP and the museum would be able to reclaim the objects after the case was closed. Second, it provided the FBI with an exact list of all the items stolen which affected the charges they would place against the suspect.

After further questioning, Csizmazia informed Agent Whittman of how he gained possession of the artifacts. About ten years earlier the subject had met a janitor, Earnest Medford, at HSP while Csizmania had been contracted to do some electrical work. The two men became friends. Medford eventually learned of the other man’s interest in history, particularly the civil war era and military antiques. At one of their meetings Medford presented Csizmania with a gift, a small artifact he had picked up at HSP. After this the security guard continued to “pick up” items for the collector, who paid him a small stipend. Over the years the security guard was paid around $8,000 for the items he stole. It turns out the thief was being severely under paid by his friend. The objects were worth between two and three million dollars. Csizmania and Medford were convicted of theft of culturally significant historical artifacts and were sentenced to spend four years in jail.

Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth

This past weekend I was finally able to make it to the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. During my visit I explored the Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth.


This exhibit provides visitors with a view of Earth outside of our daily experiences. It does this by providing up close looks at rocks, ice, and other natural objects that one wouldn't typically be able to see. These objects are used to explore and answer five core questions:

1) How Has The Earth Evolved?
2) Why Are There Ocean Basins, Continents, And Mountains?
3) How Do We Read The Rocks?
4) What Causes Climate And Climate Change?
5) Why Is Earth Habitable?

My favorite part of the exhibit was the Earthquake monitoring System. This area provides real time seismic data information from Alaska, Arizona, and Japan. It was interesting to see what these seismic graphs look like. I didn't realize that not only is the earth's crust constantly changing, but it the plates seem to move in a sequence. The charts show a slightly higher vibration occurring at regular intervals at all three locations represented.

I also enjoyed the sections on Rocks and the formation of the earth. The large example of Iron Ore offered at the start of the exhibit was as large as a person. This visualization helps visitors make a connection with the object. They learn that metal not only come from the earth in rock-like form, but they can be quite large. visitors also get to see how the iron looks on the inside.

Unfortunately, the section of the exhibit that focused on climate change was having technical difficulties when I visited. Without the video there wasn't much left for visual learners to take in, as the exhibit relies primarily on written explanations.