Good morning!! ☀️🌇☕️
Today we’ve made an episode about the Guido da Montefeltro, Lord of Urbino, and later Franciscan Monk and advisor to Pope Boniface VIII. For which, Minos in the Underworld sends him straight to the Eight Circle and the Deceivers!
“Guido da Monefeltro recieves advice”, by Pompeo Randi
The episode comes out next Thursday, July the 23rd!
😀
The Epic opening of the Iliad:
Sing, O Muse, of the rage of Achilles, son of Peleus —
that brought countless ills upon the Achaeans.
Many a brave soul did it send hurrying down to Hades,
and many a hero did it yield a prey to dogs and vultures,
for so were the counsels of Zeus fulfilled
from the day on which the son of Atreus, king of men,
and great Achilles, first fell out with one another.
The Story of when Achilles is discovered among the daughters of King Lycomedes, and brought into the War against Troy.
The Greek Opening is this:
μῆνιν ἄειδε θεὰ Πηληϊάδεω Ἀχιλῆος
οὐλομένην, ἣ μυρί’ Ἀχαιοῖς ἄλγε’ ἔθηκε..
This morning we’ve just finished making Episode 26 on the Podcast – out next Wednesday July the 22nd- which is a deep dive into Dante’s own psyche and his relationship to his own work and writings!
At the deep of Valley 8 in the Circle of Fraud, the Pilgrim sees little “shining flames” at the bottom which represent the souls of the Deceivers, and Dante the Writer comments on how he is being drawn to this deep, and how he must “restrain himself” so his talents are not leading him onto the wrong tracks.
The classic Greek tale of Icarus flying too high!
He’s also drawing parallels between a fictional fate of Ulysses/Odysseus, reaching too high for knowledge and excellence, and the state of Florence having in many ways fallen to the same Hubris and Pride, in his view. Thus adding how close he himself is and has been to the same, which is a repeated theme in the whole Comedy!
Thanks to everyone for a great Seminar on the first half of Inferno this weekend! Especially the thoughts on what happens at the Gates of the City of Dis added several new ideas and perspectives to the symbolic understanding of this important scene and threshold.
Looking forward to the next Seminar already! 🔥🔥
Enjoy! 😀
This painting in the Sassetti Chapel in Santa Trinita in Florence is a very important and historical one – showing Florence and the Medici Family symbolically replacing Rome as the main City of Culture and Glory at the time!
Confirmation of the Rule, Ghirlandaio 1482-85
Person number two from the right is the Medici Banker and Patron Francesco Sassetti, and number three is Lorenzo Il Magnifico, patron of among others the great Artists Botticelli and Michelangelo. The Painting also portrays the moment in the middle background when the Franciscan Order was confirmed by the Pope Honorius III, in 1223!
New episode out June 5th, at 10am UK time! 😄😄
After the first 3 chapters as a sort of a preamble, the 4th chapter is about the big areas and world of traditions and heritage for Dante – with the Biblical Stories, Greek Philosophy, Literature and Poetry, and History! The Giants who were living before Christ are all gathered here in Limbo as they did not have the opportunity for baptism in their own time. But they are living in brightness and peace in a beautiful palace with natural beauty and flowers.
The Pilgrim with the Poets, and the Castle of Limbo!
Through this fourth chapter Dante the Writer is laying the foundation for the journey and the whole renewal and rebirth of the treasures of the Classical World. And he’s also being a guide for us as readers – as to where to look for these treasures when studying history, literature and philosophy!
The Original Italian version when they see Aristotle has a special emotion in the canto, and also place in the whole Comedy – as the “Master of those who Know”.
vidi ’l maestro di color che sanno
seder tra filosofica famiglia.
Tutti lo miran, tutti onor li fanno:
quivi vid’io Socrate e Platone,
che ’nnanzi a li altri più presso li stanno;
Here is Dorés rendering from a scene in Limbo:
Dante and the Poets in Limbo.
After this canto, the Pilgrim is now better equipped with deep knowledge and inspiration, to embark on the rest of the at times hard and difficult journey towards Happiness!
Thanks for listening,
and enjoy!
😀
Today’s episode on chapter 3 is a deeply psychological one, as the Journey begins as a threshold border which also functions as a process through the whole chapter. It starts on the first line, and ends on the last one.
Through this Dante is uniting the conceptions of Hell and the Underworld in the Jewish and Greek Traditions, opening with the Divine Justice that functions more like the neutral consequences of reality, how different types of behavior will lead to different types of outcomes in life. The Pilgrim is balking slightly at the harshness of this, at first refusing to accept these dynamics. Thereby also showing the natural instincts towards denying aspects of reality, even if they are important to acknowledge to begin the path to a better life and also happiness!
One thing that stands out in the chapter is the brief conversation with Charon, the Boatman, who tells Dante to leave as he is still among the living. This could be seen as the instincts of our sinful nature which could try to block the longer path towards a good life. In the story Virgil, here partly as Dante’s own Reason, resolves the situation by simply pointing to the overall goal of the Journey – which takes presedence over the in-the-moment emotional and instinctual reactions.
Charon, bringing the souls into the Underworld.
Overall the third chapter is also a thick marker as the end of the introduction of the whole Comedy, signified by Dante’s fainting as into a sleep in the last few lines. As readers we can now take a deep breath, and digest all the events since the opening in the Dark Forest. The necessity, preparation and ultimate goal are all in place. And thus the Rationality can guide and protect us – and the Pilgrim – through the approaching horrors of the Underworld.
Tomorrow May 28th 2020 at 10am UK time, we’ll launch the new Dante series with the Journey through Inferno! Just $2 pr. month, at http://patreon.com/ancientworld!
New series from the beginning of the Divine Comedy!
We’ll have 10-15 minute long episodes for each chapter, and mainly focus on the bigger picture and context of the whole Comedy, while looking at specific highlights from each canto as well as the “plot” as the story evolves. Major themes will be the poetic beauty and allegorical wisdom, and the several layers of meaning and interpretation of the whole work.
In the Orthodox Christian Faith the Seven Ecumenical Councils of the Byzantine period are still of great importance as the foundation for theological debates about the contemporary times.
The first Council was held in Nicea in 325 AD, led by Emperor Constantine who had just moved the Capital of the Roman Empire to Byzantium, and renamed it Constantinople (though not yet officially inaugurated). Main areas of discussions were the Nature of Christ, the Trinity, and the organization of the Church.
The Seven Councils were:
Nicea 325 (Established Rome, Alexandria and Antioch as main centers.)
Constantinople 381 (Constantinople was designated a new center, put on second place.)
Ephesus in 431
Chalcedon in 451
Constantinople 553
Constantinople 680-81
Nicea 787 (Proclaimed Icons to be venerated and kept in Churches)
Of important influence or present in the Second Council were St. Athanasius and the Cappadocian Fathers with Gregory of Nyssa, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Basil the Great.
This “second period” of the Orthodox Church, which started with Nicea in 325, ended in 843 with the “Triumph of Orthodoxy” when Empress Theodora ended an ongoing conflict started in 815 by Leo V the Armenian, and permanently reinstated icons in the Churches.
