Gold stater
Greek
Early Hellenistic Period, 323-315 B.C.
Found in Greece
Source: The Metropolitan Museum
Priestess of Delphi (1891), as imagined by John Collier; the Pythia is inspired by pneuma rising from below as she sits on a tripod
Pythia was the priestess presiding over the Oracle of Apollo at Delphi. There are more than 500 supposed Oracular statements which have survived from various sources referring to the oracle at Delphi. Many are anecdotal, and have survived as proverbs. Several are ambiguously phrased, apparently in order to show the oracle in a good light regardless of the outcome. Such prophesies were admired for their dexterity of phrasing. One such famous prediction was the answer to an unknown person who was inquiring as to whether it would be safe for him to join a military campaign; the answer was: “Go, return not die in war”, which can have two entirely opposite meanings, depending on where a missing comma is supposed to be - before or after the word “not”. Nevertheless the Oracle seems consistently to have advocated peaceful, not violent courses generally.
Aphrodite rescuing her son Aeneas wounded in fight, scene from The Iliad. Shoulder of an Etruscan black-figure amphora, ca. 480 BC.
Courtesy & currently located at the Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich, Germany. Photo taken by Bibi Saint-Pol.
Heads or tails.
With sea eagle on one side and a crab on the other, this coin from the ancient Sicilian city of Akragas features detailed drawings of city symbols. Akragas was home to a large temple dedicated to Zeus, whose mythological symbol was—you guessed it—the eagle.
Crab, 510 - 420 B.C., Greek, Akragas, Silver.
scan: John Lennon’s passports
source: Life Magazine
For all the wildlife found on the Hebrides islands, there’s perhaps no more perfect symbol of the island chain’s isolation and its struggle for the future than the Eriskay ponies.
Eriskay, where the ponies are believed to have originated hundreds of years ago, is a tiny island in the Outer Hebrides—a remote island chain we visited north of the Scottish mainland. Limited habitat and inbreeding had dangerously imperiled the Eriskay ponies, known for their fine gray coat and diminutive stature. In the 1970s, only 20 ponies remained.
That’s when a group of community members saw the urgency to save the rare horse from disappearing forever. Shetland ponies and other breeds were brought to Eriskay to breed with the remaining mares. Some original purebreds exist, but not many. A large portion of the offspring are mixed breed. It’s not ideal, but it’s a small price considering what was at stake. There are now 420 known ponies with Eriskay blood.
It’s still not enough to ensure the current population can sustain itself. They’re still considered dangerously at risk by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust, a UK nonprofit that keeps records on threatened species. The community remains on the case to ensure the islands’ future will includes Eriskays. An organization known as the Eriskay Pony Society has established a detailed studbook to track every individual pony. A key part of the group’s work is very focused breeding schedules to ensure the population of remaining Eriskays stays spry and diverse.
photo by : Jemma Brannigan
text by: http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com (click)
