Subject: Re: satan...androgyny...cookies - msg#00260

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Exploding whale -- some classical content

I can't resist passing this one on. Have been reading the new book on biochemical warfare in the ancient world The use of exploding whales (and other large animals) seems like it would fit this category nicely. Does anyone know of the use of large, ripe corpses being used in ancient warfare? I can imagine besieging a city and tossing a ripe whale or other large animal over the ramparts. If the grossness of it didn't force folk out, then surely the smell would! Best, SallyW (who has a very perverse mind) PS If you have a weak stomach, you might want to just read the article and not look at the picture at the URL. It's pretty disgusting but also extremely fun (when viewed at a distance). Decomposing Whale Explodes on Street TAIPEI (Reuters) - The decomposing remains of a 60-ton sperm whale exploded on a busy Taiwan street, showering nearby cars and shops with blood and organs and stopping traffic for hours, local newspapers said. The 56-foot dead whale had been on a truck headed for an autopsy at a university earlier this week, when gases from internal decay caused its entrails to explode in the southern city of Tainan. The whale had died after it was beached on the southwestern coast of the island. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/040129/photos_od/mdf459693 --- [This E-mail scanned for viruses by Declude Virus]

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Re: Exploding whale -- some classical content

Or this one? Imagine how it would smell after 8 million years? Storm Unearths Prehistoric Whale Fossil By STEPHEN MANNING SOLOMONS, Md. (AP) - Heavy erosion by Hurricane Isabel pounding on the cliffs that line St. Mary's River uncovered the fossilized skull of what paleontologists say was a whale that swam in the area eight million years ago. The discovery of the complete skull could help scientists fill a gap in their knowledge of the evolution of Atlantic Ocean whales during the warm Miocene epoch millions of years ago. ``It (the whale) occurs in a 3 million year block of time where we know very little about the whales that were here,'' said Stephen Godfrey, curator of paleontology for the Calvert Marine Museum. The remains were displayed on Thursday at the museum where scientists are carefully chipping away the sediment around the five-and-a-half foot skull with hopes of one day putting it on display. The cliffs of Southern Maryland offer a rich source of marine fossils, including thousands of prehistoric shark teeth and whale bones that are uncovered by erosion. Jeff DiMeglio and his girlfriend were out scouring for shark teeth six days after Isabel swept through the area, when they came across what DiMeglio, an experienced fossil hunter, recognized as the rib of a whale. He covered the fossil and contacted the museum. Godfrey believes the 18-foot whale lived at a time when warm temperatures spread across the Atlantic Ocean, inland across the East Coast covering the Chesapeake Bay and parts of the Washington region. It was found in an area where the water would have been shallow, different from the deep water sediments where most whale fossils are found in the area. Godfrey thinks it was a baleen whale, meaning it would gulp water and then force it out across hairy plates in its mouth, trapping food. He's unsure if it was an ancestor of modern baleen whales, like the humpback or part of an extinct line of whales. Scientists were unable to locate the spine of the whale but did recover some vertebrae, a neck bone, a fin and a shoulder blade along with the skull. There are a few clues to how it may have died. Teethmarks score part of the bone and the fossilized teeth of giant mako and cow sharks were found among the bones. The sharks could have killed the whale or fed on its remains. To free the fossil from the shoreline, scientists swathed it in burlap and plaster-of-paris, creating a hard cast. The museum then turned to the Patuxent Naval Air Station for help. A search and rescue team from the base rappelled from a helicopter, attached the fossil to a cable and flew it to a nearby landing site. ``We picked it up and off we went,'' said Chief Petty Officer Robert Mirabal, who rappelled down to attach the fossil. Godfrey said he has been in contact with possible funders for an exhibit at the museum, but it will be several months before the fossil is entirely clean. While most Southern Marylanders were dismayed by the erosion from Isabel, Godfrey said it was a blessing in disguise. ``There is some angst watching the cliffs disappear, but it's great for paleontology,'' he said. 01/30/04 11:32 On Jan 30, 2004, at 6:16 PM, Sally Winchester wrote: I can't resist passing this one on. Have been reading the new book on biochemical warfare in the ancient world The use of exploding whales (and other large animals) seems like it would fit this category nicely. Does anyone know of the use of large, ripe corpses being used in ancient warfare? I can imagine besieging a city and tossing a ripe whale or other large animal over the ramparts. If the grossness of it didn't force folk out, then surely the smell would! Best, SallyW (who has a very perverse mind) PS If you have a weak stomach, you might want to just read the article and not look at the picture at the URL. It's pretty disgusting but also extremely fun (when viewed at a distance). Decomposing Whale Explodes on Street TAIPEI (Reuters) - The decomposing remains of a 60-ton sperm whale exploded on a busy Taiwan street, showering nearby cars and shops with blood and organs and stopping traffic for hours, local newspapers said. The 56-foot dead whale had been on a truck headed for an autopsy at a university earlier this week, when gases from internal decay caused its entrails to explode in the southern city of Tainan. The whale had died after it was beached on the southwestern coast of the island. http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/040129/photos_od/ mdf459693 --- [This E-mail scanned for viruses by Declude Virus]

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Re: satan...androgyny...cookies

It is quite common in medieval & early Renaissance art for the serpent in the garden to have a woman's head, often with the same face as Eve. DW > About Mel's Satan being female, or at least androgynous: > > In Pasolini's Gospel of Matthew, the "angel of the Lord" is > depicted as > androgynous - he is gorgeous. We might recall that according to > Christian(and Muslim...not sure about Hebrew, but why not) > mythology, Angels do not > have gender (or is that sex? or is that both?). I wish I could > remember how > Pasolini presented Satan though...has anyone seen the film recently? > (Lucifer too had been an angel, so don't the same rules apply? or > did he > pick up sex on the way down?). > > (I might also note that finding the actual text of the Gospel on the > internet was a real challenge...but there are pages and pages of > "commentary". I used to teach this as part of the gen ed progrm at > Temple...(and some of us still do). It was rare to find a > Christian student > who had actually read the text. But they all knew God's word!) > > Doesn't Mel sometimes present the devil in the form of a child? > Isn't the > idea that the form of evil is fluid? Wasn't this a Denzel > Washignton movie? > And, as someone else said, it sounds like the Omen (I think this > is from the > Salon.com article). *Great* art (*very* subtle), that series of > films was. > Especially the part where the president of the US adopts > him...Sounds like > Lahaye and Jenkins could use that creative team...(yes, I have > read the > first Left Behind novel...yawn). > > classical content: I really liked the John Travolta vehicle, > *Michael*,though (I guess because it didn't take itself so > seriously and bash you over > the head with its message, and Travolta has an off-beat religious > axe to > grind too). Did everyone else make the classical connection I did? > When he > first comes down the stairs, everyone smells something *divine* > (bakingcookies). That gods have a divine fragrance is also > classical - Demeter (in > her Homeric Hymn, was it?), for example. > > Cheers, > Janice > > Janice Siegel > Assistant Professor of Classics > Illinois State University > Dept of Foreign Languages > Mail Code 4300 > Normal, Illinois 61790 > 309-438-3583 > > http://lilt.ilstu.edu/drjclassics > http://lilt.ilstu.edu/drjclassics2 >

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Re: satan...androgyny...cookies

I don't know about that, but here is something: the androgeny of Ialdabaoth, if not quite the devil.   On the Origin of the World: 'there appeared for the first time a ruler, out of the waters, lion-like in appearance, and androgynous, having great authority in him' (NHC II, 5, 100.5-8)     lholland <lholland@xxxxxxxx> wrote: Apologies if this has already been mentioned: cunnus diaboli. Can someone whoknows more about this than I comment on contexts and/or specific references?LLH>===== Original Message From Classical Greek and Latin Discussion Group=====>On Wed, 28 Jan 2004, Jeffrey B. Gibson wrote:>>> Janice Siegel wrote:>>>> > About Mel's Satan being female, or at least androgynous:>> >>> > In Pasolini's Gospel of Matthew, the "angel of the Lord" is depicted as>> > androgynous - he is gorgeous. We might recall that according to Christian>> > (and Muslim...not sure about Hebrew, but why not) mythology, Angels donot>> > have gender (or is that se x? or is that both?). I wish I could rememberhow>> > Pasolini presented Satan though...has anyone seen the film recently?>>>> Stan is present as an unshaven, less than attractive man with a crooked>> overbite.>>In Pasolini's film the angel who appears to Joseph (Matt. 2. 13) and to>the two women (28. 2-6) is played by the same actor/-ress. Androgynous>and absolutely gorgeous, with long tresses and suggestive white garment.>>EJThLora L. HollandAsst. Prof. of Classics215 Carmichael HallUniversity of North Carolina at AshevilleAsheville, NC 28804-8505 Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free web site building tool. Try it!