MBA Notes from an Assassin (part one of two)

Nahavand (present day Iran)
    The wandering Sufi had been there for days on end.  His requests for alms from the local merchants would have been a nuisance were it not for his supplications to Allah on behalf of his benefactors.  He, like so many other wandering mendicants of the time, carried a petition which begged everyone to sign.  this petition concerned some religious principle that was important to the individual Sufi and would eventually be sent to the Caliph for review and possible institution as a law in the book of Sharia.  So, with this dirty and wrinkled sheet of paper, our mendicant made his daily rounds; collecting signatures, meditating and begging alms but never straying too far from his chosen street corner.
    On the afternoon of 14 October 1092, a beautiful litter was carried down the street by four bearers who were surrounded by body guards.  The retinue heralded his arrival well in advance so that the streets were thronged with people trying to catch a glimpse of the most important administrator in the Saljuq Empire; Nizam al Mulk.  With a signature like Nizam's on his petition, surely, the Caliph would pay attention and therefore our dervish would be that much closer to heaven, so he pushed his way forward through the crowd.  He was filthy and quite brusque, so parting the crowd wasn't difficult and finding himself on the front line of the crowd, he was the picture of patient piety: a bedraggled and emaciated servant of Allah, awaiting his chance to fulfil his religious duty.  

    As the Saljuq Empire's great Wazir and sole adviser to the Sultan himself, Nizam, passed by, our beggar advanced with temerity towards the litter, calling audibly for the blessings of Allah to be placed upon the Wazir if only he signed this poor beggar's petition.  The Wazir heard him and allowed the holy man to approach his litter and for a moment a hush fell over the crowd.  As they silently cheered for their local beggar to succeed and the beggar's squalid rags lingered near the Wazir's opulent and colourful garments.  The beggar complied with the Wazir's request and handed over his petition dutifully - from such a lowly life station, the beggar dared not to explain anything to one such as the Wazir, he allowed the great man to read the petition for himself before signing.  During that moment of distraction, a moment caused by the Wazir himself, our mendicant priest pulled a dagger from his sleeve and plunged it repeatedly into the Wazir's chest.  The priest too died where he stood - hacked to pieces by the Wazir's body guards, once they recovered from their initial shock.  Afterwards, many eye-witnesses would claim that despite the opportunity for escape, the priest never even tried to get away.

The murder of Nizam al Mulk

Georgia, The Reason Travel Was Invented? (Part two of two)

View from Meteo Station on Mt. Kazbeg (Author's collection, Copyright 2014)

     

    Not too long after that - but long enough for the Greeks to forget their first alphabet- there was another interest in Georgia.  A generation before the Trojan War (1205BC) this interest was on behalf of the Greeks in their search for the Golden Fleece.  Colchis is on the eastern end of the Black Sea in modern day Georgia.
      There is much speculation over the exact location of the Colchian capitol but most agree it was either Kutaisi, Poti or Vani - each located along the Rioni River.  At any rate, the examples of gold smithing skills on display in Tbilisi's Georgian National Museum from that period are amazing and there is historical evidence that western Georgian gold mining techniques included using a sheepskin to pan the rivers.  Remember that this gold washed out of the Greater Caucasus Mountains - where Mt Kazbeg lies.
    In mythology, Jason and his intrepid crew of heroes that history has dubbed the Argonauts after their vessel, the Argo, made this daunting voyage to Georgia and we can place this story along a realistic timeline because Peleus was an Argonaut and the father of Achilles, who died at Troy.  So, despite all the adventures along the way (and back), Jason's real goal was to procure the golden fleece and procure it he did - as well as a wife, Medea, the daughter of the Colchian king, Aietes, who is the only reason they lived to depart Colchis.  

    

Archaeological excavation in Vani, Georgia (Author's collection, Copyright 2014)

    Further credence is lent to the interaction with Georgian society by a Greek Tragedy Play, "Medea", in which the couples stormy divorce is chronicled: Medea kills her three children by Jason, as well as Jason's new Fiancee, Glauke, prior to escaping in a flying chariot.  The credence is lent by the world renowned spite and fury embodied by Georgian women when scorned.
    These small details are the qualifiers that are overlooked in history.  The facts that, despite seeming to be trivial, are proof that a myth is actually history.  It is these qualifiers that we must turn a jaundiced eye upon in order to sift through the sands of time that obscure the past from our view.

Georgia, The Reason Travel Was Invented? (part one of two)

    A Georgian myth claims that Georgia was the land that God reserved for himself because of its natural beauty and abundant productivity.  Mankind seems to agree with this statement as he has been traveling there since the dawn of time and perhaps this region is the very reason for the concept of travel itself.  Historical vignettes may supply us with proof.

Dmanisi, Georgia (Authors collection, copyright 2014)

    As early as 1.8 million years ago, Georgia was attracting visitors.  A group of Hominids that we call Homo Erectus were the first human species to migrate out of Africa.  Since 2005, five skulls have been discovered near the Georgian town of Dimanisi - all within a 9.2 square metre area (~100 feet squared).  Because these skulls differ greatly, it is theorised that they represent a cross section of the species, in general, and are forcing scientists to re-evaluate the existing theories.  The most recent skull has a brain cavity about half the size of modern humans and a large face; if these were fragments, they would be categorised as different species.  The difficulty for scientists is that they were found together, a long way from Africa and within a 9.2 square metre area.  Scientists are now theorising that this species was more diverse than previously thought and the findings in Dimanisi may lead to grouping all homo fossils dated 1.8 to 1.5 million years old into a new, Homo Erectus family.

View from near Amirani’s(Prometheus’) prison on Mt. Kazbeg (Author's collection, Copyright 2014

More recently, on the summit of Mt. Kazbegi (5,054m), Amirani - we call him Prometheus - was imprisoned for giving fir to humans.  An added punishment was that an eagle would peck out his liver all day and over night, it would grow back.  The question is, Why in Georgia?  Was that because it was close to God's home?  Where better to keep an eye on a recalcitrant child than your backyard?

    It seems that before the dawn of time, before we were even ourselves, we were attracted to the bounty that is Georgia; the land that God reserved for himself and hasn't strayed too far from since.

Similarities over time

"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious...Whoever doesn't know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead..."

Albert Einstein

Lycurgus Cup in Both Forms

In the sixth book of the Homer's Iliad, King Lycurgus of Thrace chased the god of wine, Dionysus, into the sea before he set upon the god's entourage.  Amrosia, a member of this group, who was under duress, called upon the Earth to help and the Earth responded by changing Ambrosia into a vine.  Once in this form, Ambrosia restrained Lycurgus so that Dionysus could return and torture him for his insolence.  It is this scene that was immortalised on one of the most amazing works of art extant today.

Glass holds a special place in our world, it has been used to enchant, insulate, encase and torture for millennia and this cup continues that tradition.  Crafted some 1,700 years ago, this 16.25cm (6.5in) class vessel has only been known to the public since 1958 when the British Museum acquired it from the estate of Lord Rothchild. 

What has been known is man's special relationship with glass over time: American history is rife with legends of land transactions based on glass beads and the Sassanian empire had a great tradition of glasswork as well.  In fact, Islamic glassmaking techniques were distributed from Europe to China and their success stemmed from a combination of Roman and Sassanian techniques that were combined by the consolidation of the entire region by the Islamic expansion.  During the early years of Islamic rule, glassmakers of the eastern mediterranean continued using the Roman recipe which called for calcium-rich sand combined with the mineral natron which can be found in the area of Wadi al Natrun (today's Egypt).  The natron supply from this era was disrupted in the early 9th century AD and plant ash was substituted in its stead.  It seems that this forced adaptation led to the amalgamation of Sassanian and Roman techniques which spawned great innovations in the production of glassware throughout the world and, by the early 1300's resulted in exquisite examples of art like the Mosque lamp image (above) found in Egypt.

Today, our fascination with glass has not diminished.  During a 2013 exhibit in Virginia, I watched throngs of people walk, mouth-agape in wonder, through a Dale Chihuly exhibition.  His work is sought after the world over and appeals to the ancient human attraction to light in its many forms. 

Chihuly Glass Display, VMFA, Richmond, VA- 2013 from the author's collection

Our Lycurgus Cup is a unique example of glass' ability to reflect light in a way that changes the cup's color depending on the nature of light falling upon it.  In ambient light the cup is a milky, opaque green - but when light is shined directly on it, the glass appears as a translucent, ruby red

At work here is ancient nanotechnology: as a microscopic analysis of the glass shows it consists of 40 parts per million of gold and 300 parts per million of silver.  Of course there are more ingredients than silver and gold, this simple revelation of nanotechnology use 1,700 years ago brings us back to our original question:  What did the ancients know and why did we forget it?