Thursday photo prompt "... No, we can't detect any sign of human or humanoid life anywhere... There is plenty of life in the water, on land too, mammals and birds... plenty of beautiful insects..." "What about buildings, traces of recent organised activities?" "There are ruins, covered with vegetation, some remnants of railroads... We … Continue reading Stillness #writephoto
Antiquity
Within #writephoto
Thursday photo prompt This is our place now. You see: we'll be safe here, they won't find us easily. By then we will be prepared. Our spears a plenty, our axes a ready. Let them come for us, poor souls.
The Sight of Her #fivewords
Weekly Writing Prompt #178 rock, joint, inner, sight, sail Standing on a rock, alone, he lost sight of her shadow. Gone the tenuous line, the light joint in their inner lives, dissolved, her face less and less recognisable, a sail soon disappeared in the immensity of his despair. Image: Orpheus, by Pierre Amedee … Continue reading The Sight of Her #fivewords
No Rhyme #fivewords
Inspired by the Secret Keeper's Weekly Writing Challenge #124 He felt her insistent stare on him, as he held the precious tablet, still covered by a thin film of blond sand. The text looked like a list, but he guessed that it might also be a poem, perhaps both. Was there a rhyme? His knowledge … Continue reading No Rhyme #fivewords
Prelude
I have long suspected that the ancient deities - some more powerful than others, but who is it to judge? - take more than a passing interest in the life of this city, when they awake from their deep slumber, in the depth of the marvellously resurrected temples that the reconstructed museums of the island are. … Continue reading Prelude
Janus #AtoZAprilChallenge
Janus is the Roman god of "beginnings, gates, transitions, doorways, time, and doors". In his classical representation Janus has two faces: one turned toward the past, the other toward the future. "Janus presided over the beginning and ending of conflict, and hence war and peace. The doors of his temple were open in time of … Continue reading Janus #AtoZAprilChallenge
#AtoZChallenge2015: Xenophon #philosopher and #soldier
As a child, passionate about history lessons, I was always attracted by philosophers who were also soldiers. There were quite a few in ancient times, and this Spartan hero is perhaps the archetype! "Xenophon was a Greek philosopher, soldier, historian, memoirist, and the author of numerous practical treatises on subjects ranging from horsemanship to taxation. While best … Continue reading #AtoZChallenge2015: Xenophon #philosopher and #soldier
#AtoZChallenge2015: Utopia
Idealistic dream, vain hopes of justice and perfection, for others perhaps more dystopia? History and fiction are full of tentative or real utopia, for mankind never gives up... "The term utopia was coined in Greek by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book Utopia, describing a fictional island society in the Atlantic Ocean. The word comes from the Greek: οὐ ("not") and τόπος ("place") and means "no-place", and strictly describes … Continue reading #AtoZChallenge2015: Utopia
#AtoZChallenge2015: Lavandula
I still see those blue scented fields in the Provence, at the foot of green and white mountains, a few steps away, the Mediterranean and its hidden secrets... "The ancient Greeks called the lavender herb nardus, after the Syrian city of Naarda (possibly the modern town of Dohuk, Iraq). It was also commonly called nard.[39] The species originally grown was L. stoechas.[2] Lavender was … Continue reading #AtoZChallenge2015: Lavandula
#AtoZChallenge2015: Hegemony
For students of world history, and of world-historical thought, hegemony is one of the Sesame keys: from ancient Greece, to the Italian city-states of the early Renaissance, to the Netherlands of the 17th century, to imperial Great Britain, to todays' United States of America, the presence of "great powers", and among them that of a … Continue reading #AtoZChallenge2015: Hegemony
