As planned, I spent some time reading today. I finished up the chapter on Assyria and read another chapter, "A Motley of Nations," in Will Durant's Our Oriental Heritage. Pretty grim stuff. The images will stay with me for some time. Regarding the brutality of the Assyrians (skip to the next paragraph if squeamish - Jean this means you): "The Elamite general, Dananu, was flayed alive, and then was bled like a lamb; his brother had his throat cut, and his body was divided into pieces, which were distributed over the country as souvenirs" (page 169). Yow.
Durant goes on to say that Assyria was a conquering state that made few advances in the history of civilization, when compared to other nations such as Egypt or Babylonia. They did apparently advance the notion of the library, though. It is impossible to dismiss a civilization, no matter how barbaric it may have been.
In addition to Durant, I read the book of Esther in the Bible. The Old Testament is just as bloody as Durant's descriptions of Judea's neighbors. A Jew named Mordecai alerts a Persian king that some eunuchs are out to get him. Coincidentally, the king dismisses his queen because she won't strip in front of his buddies. The king executes the eunuchs, promises to reward Mordecai some day, and decides to get a new queen. Haman, a high official for the king, is upset one day because Mordecai won't bow down before him, and decides to get the king to sign off on a decree to kill all the Jews. Meanwhile, Mordecai's step-daughter Esther wins the contest and gets to be the new queen. She finds out about the plot to kill the Jews and risks her own life to ask the king not to kill everybody. The king hangs Haman, a new decree is issued allowing the Jews to kill those who would kill them. The Jews kill seventy-five thousand, and the day after their victory is the Feast of Purim.
Esther is not historical. It is a work of fiction offering an explanation of how the Feast of Purim came to be (I forget what the name is for that kind of story). The work also comes from a time when many civilizations (including some mentioned in "A Motley of Nations") were vanishing without a trace. Having said that, we really aren't much more civilized today than our ancestors of 2,500 years ago. Genocide and other violence continue to shape our world, whether it's World War II Germany or the ongoing conflicts in the Middle East today.
I also had the pleasure of reading something a bit lighter. Last night I began reading The Hobbit to my daughter-to-be. Jean was there, too. I'm only reading two or three pages at a time, so tonight we just finished Gandalf's first visit to Bilbo's home. It's fun reading aloud, and Jean reports that baby becomes still when I'm reading (and resumes fidgeting - sometimes dramatically - when I've stopped). If only the magic of my voice will hold once baby has arrived... (he wished, not for the last time!).
Jean and I took a walk earlier this evening, our first walk together
in more than a week. We went to the river and back. It's not a long
walk, but I don't think Jean can make it through long walks: she's 29
weeks pregnant and carrying a significant load. Tomorrow morning we
go to her doctor again. If I'm not mistaken, we begin visiting every
two weeks now. It is stunning how quickly time is moving. Eleven
weeks to go!
It was cold again today. While we were walking I was surprised to
see the sky. Ordinarily a canopy of leaves obstructs any view of
the sky. Since I usually take this route after dark, today was the
first day this Fall that I could see the pale blue sky above us.
When we got back, we had another fire in the study. Jean continued
knitting baby's hat while I read.
listening: Four Corners (Yellowjackets); White Winds (Andreas Vollenweider); Shepherd Moon (Enya); The Koln Concert (Keith Jarrett); December (George Winston)
reading: Esther (finished!); Our Oriental Heritage (Will Durant); The Hobbit (J.R.R. Tolkien)
© 1998 Kevin J.T. Creamer