Monday, November 26, 2007
Is The Ark of the Covenant In Ethiopia?
A Christian sect in Ethiopia claims to have the Ark of the Covenant. For an article for Smithsonian Magazine, reporter Paul Raffaele travels to Askum, Ethiopia to see the temple where it’s allegedly housed and covers the basics of the story:
According to the First Book of Kings, King Solomon built the First Temple in Jerusalem to house the ark. It was venerated there during Solomon’s reign (c. 970-930 B.C.) and beyond.
Then it vanished. Much of Jewish tradition holds that it disappeared before or while the Babylonians sacked the temple in Jerusalem in 586 b.c.
But through the centuries, Ethiopian Christians have claimed that the ark rests in a chapel in the small town of Aksum, in their country’s northern highlands. It arrived nearly 3,000 years ago, they say, and has been guarded by a succession of virgin monks who, once anointed, are forbidden to set foot outside the chapel grounds until they die.
This isn’t the first time I’ve read that the Ark is in Ethiopia. The connection seems to be between the son of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, named Menelik. Late in Solomon’s reign, Memelik returned to Jerusalem to visit his father. Solomon gave him a copy of the Ark, along with the first born sons of Israel’s elders to take back to Ethiopia. The first borns, however, did not want to live away from the original, however, so they pulled a switch. It was not until they got to Ethiopia that Menelik discovered the ruse.
He had to be a bit worried, considering the Ark’s reputation as a weapon. But when he wasn’t destroyed, Menelik decided to keep it. The Ark then remained in the keeping of the Ethiopian royal families down through the ages. The last Emperor of Ethiopia was Haile Selassie. Interestingly, his official title was “His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, King of Kings of Ethiopia and Elect of God.”
On a Miniature Wargaming note, there’s a lot here for a pulp adventure in Ethiopia.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
A Soviet Poster A Day Blog
The “Soviet Poster A Day” blog offers images—and analysis—of classic Soviet posters. It’s interesting to see read the history behind the events portrayed.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Bodies Exhumed From Viking Grave
I’ve spent the last year painting Vikings, Normans and Saxons, so I’m on the lookout for related stories in the news. On Monday, an AP story from Oslo broke about two bodies—both women—that have been exhumed from a mound in Norway:
OSLO — Archaeologists opened a Viking burial mound on Monday, seeking to learn more about two women — possibly a queen and a princess — laid to rest there 1,173 years ago.
In 1904, the mound in southeastern Norway’s Vestfold County surrendered one of the country’s greatest archaeological treasures, the Oseberg Viking longboat, which is now on display at the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo.
The 65-foot vessel was buried in 834 in the enormous mound as the grave ship for a rich and powerful Viking woman, according to the museum.
The remains of the two women, one believed to have been in her 60s and the other in her 30s, were first exhumed during the ship excavation. They were reburied in the mound in 1948 — in a modern aluminum casket placed inside a five-ton stone sarcophagus — in hopes that future scientific methods might reveal their secrets.
When experts opened the sarcophagus Monday, it was filled with water, although the casket itself may not have been flooded.
more ...
Sunday, July 01, 2007
Why Arabs Lose Wars
There’s an interesting article on The Middle East Forum titled “Why Arabs Lose Wars.” Although with such a title, it could easily slide into a jingoistic rant, the article is instead a thoughtful piece on how a culture has struggled to keep pace with the western way of war.
Author Norvell De Atkine, a U.S. Army retired colonel with eight years residence in Lebanon, Jordan, and Egypt, and a graduate degree in Arab studies from the American University of Beirut, examines several key components of modern warfare, including information, officers v soldiers, decision making, combined arms operations and security. It is also very interesting in light of the United States efforts to build a new Iraqi security force.
The conclusion is pretty sobering:
It would be difficult to exaggerate the cultural gulf separating American and Arab military cultures. In every significant area, American military advisors find students who enthusiastically take in their lessons and then resolutely fail to apply them. The culture they return to—the culture of their own armies in their own countries—defeats the intentions with which they took leave of their American instructors.
When they had an influence on certain Arab military establishments, the Soviets reinforced their clients’ cultural traits far more than, in more recent years, Americans were able to. Like the Arabs’, the Soviets’ military culture was driven by political fears bordering on paranoia. The steps taken to control the sources (real or imagined) of these fears, such as a rigidly centralized command structure, were readily understood by Arab political and military elites. The Arabs, too, felt an affinity for the Soviet officer class’s contempt for ordinary soldiers and the Soviet military hierarchy’s distrust of a well-developed, well-appreciated, well-rewarded NCO corps.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Thor Heyerdahl Was Right
When I was a boy, I thrilled to the adventures of Thor Heyerdahl in books such as Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific in a Raft
and The RA Expeditions
. I remember wanting to lead a life of adventure like Heyerdahl, was very disappointed when some other anthropologists debunked his theories.
Now, though, it turns out that he might have been partially right. A recent study of chicken bones suggests that Polynesians reached South America between 1321 and 1407.
Its fascinating stuff for anyone interested in history. But there’s a wargaming angle in this, of course. How about a skirmish game between Polynesians and Incas?
Monday, May 21, 2007
The War Against Mosquitos
Malcolm Gladwell has a fascinating article on a different sort of war—the war against infectious diseases caused by the mosquito. Without the discovery and use of DDT, retaking the Pacific fromthe Japanese during World War II would have been much more difficult, as large portions of our troops would have been in sick bay.
It’s worth a read.
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About the Miniature Wargaming Hobby
Miniature Wargaming is part of the "adventure games" hobby, which includes r ole p laying and board games. Wargamers recreate battles on the tabletop with toy soldiers, like a more complicated game of chess. Models range in height from 6mm to 28mm tall, with 15mm and 25mm being the most popular. There also is a growing interest in toy soldiers and military models, such as the 1/32 and 1/35 scale plastic soldiers from Conte, and Marx.
The most popular miniature wargames are fantasy and science fiction based, such as Warhammer, Warhammer 40K, Warmachine and The Lord of the Rings. World War II games such as Flames of War and Axis and Allies are new favorites. Other favorite historical periods include Napoleonics, the American Civil War, and ancients, such as Romans or Greeks. Other gamers enjoy miniature naval wargames, recreating battles like Trafalgar, Jutland and the Coral Sea.
Hobbyists research historical periods and paint their tiny soldiers in accurate uniforms. Others develop "historically realistic" rules sets or build scale battlefield terrain using model railroad techniques.
For pictures, visit the gallery.
Some of the bigger hobby companies are Games Workshop, which produces Warhammer, Wargames Foundry and Old Glory Miniatures. Wizards of the Coast produces several lines of pre-painted miniatures games, such as the Star Wars and Dungeons and Dragons miniatures games, and a historical game with pre-painted miniatures: The new Axis and Allies game. Wizkids produces a fantasy collectable miniatures game, such as the Mage Knight and Heroclick fantasy games, the science fiction games MechWarrior and Rocketmen, as well as the quasi-historical Pirates of the Spanish Main.
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