Lenora Rogers's Blog, page 115
January 8, 2016
Empusa
Empusa (Ancient Greek: Ἔμπουσα, Empousa, of unknown meaning) is a demigoddess of Greek mythology. In later incarnations she appeared as a species of monsters commanded by Hecate (known in English as an empuse).
She is often associated or grouped with the demigoddesses Lamia and Mormo, who were likewise related as a kind of spectres in later mythology (the lamias and mormolyceas, respectively).
As a demigoddess
Empusa was the beautiful daughter of the goddess Hecate and the spir...
January 4, 2016
David’s Haunted Library: Imago Mortis
Milan Italy can be a romantic place but it also has a dark and sinister side.Augusto Ghites has been working the mean streets of Milan as a private investigator and he has seen things that would terrify most people. He’s good at what he does, he can talk to ghosts and has the power to relive the ghost’s last moments on Earth. This is a good skill to have as a P. I. but it comes with a hefty price tag.
Augusto is a junkie, his addiction is sniffing the ashes of the dead and...
Journals 10.1 – Loiterings in Europe by John Corson (Part 1)
The Seine near Giverny in Normandy, as painted by Claude Monet (1897)
In 1848 Loiterings in Europe was published by Harper & Brothers, New York. Subtitled Sketches of Travel in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Prussia, Great Britain, and Ireland, it was written by John W. Corson, MD. It is a magnificent travel journal, and I will explain why: I would estimate that 99% of journals from around this time are little more than emotionless descriptions of landma...
January 1, 2016
December 28, 2015
The Breton Bluebeard
“Widower Bluebeard and the Red Key” –a painting from Cassia Lupo’s wonderful series “Fables and myths.” Reproduced with permission and grateful thanks.
For very nearly allits course, the Blavet is a placid river. It winds its way through centralBrittany: broad, unhurried,gentle andunthreatening, a favourite amongfishermen, and –for the century or so since it was dammed at Guerlédan, creating a substantial lake – a magnet for holidaymakers, too. Yet even there, at the...
Clara Barton; Mother to Humanity
Clara Barton is one of those names most of us know, but many of us don’t know much about her. Maybe we know that Barton was a nurse during the American Civil War, or that she went on to found the American Red Cross. But the immensity of her impact and the incredible woman behind it remains mostly a mystery.
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The Nativity of Jesus in Byzantine art.
The History of the Byzantine Empire
There is no doubt that the Christ Pantocrator, Marian art and the passion of Christ are some of the most widely used religious art forms in Orthodox Christianity. However, the importance of the Nativity in art can be said to rival each of these forms. The scope and detail of the Nativity of Jesus in art has been well documented beginning with its first depictions in the fourth century. We have a fine example of this form of art etched on early Christian R...
December 26, 2015
Ancient Crosses At Ilkley by A.W. Morant, F.S.A.
Ilkley Saxon Cross-Shafts used to stand in the churchyard.
OS Grid Reference:SE 1163 4782. All Saints parish church islocated on Church Street (the A65) in the centre of Ilkley, west Yorkshire, near the River Wharfe, and housed within are three Anglo-Saxon cross-shafts. Originally these ancient crosses had stood at the side of the church in the churchyard, but dueto theever-increasing fears of erosion they had to be brought inside the church. The church site is...
The longest prison sentences ever served: redux
Who served out the longest prison sentence known to history? My extensive investigation – begun in 2010 but now comprehensively updated – answers that question [it’s Charles Fossard, of Australia, with an all-but-incomprehensible 70 years, 303 days]. It also takes a look inside the cells, at the prisoners themselves. Their stories are often brutal, occasionally pathetic, but always surprisingly compelling.
The full story – which includes numerous case studies, a state-...
