Past Lives II

We (my customer with the torque and I) talked about history. His favorite historical time period is set in Byzantium before the time of Constantine (300 CE). He actually liked Byzantine battles and knew famous generals’ names. He talked of battles involving a 100,000 men.

He told me an interesting story about Flavius the Delayer. He was successful because he never actually fought a battle.

In order to avoid spreading bad history or misinformation, I tried to google Flavius the Delayer. I did not find anyone historically referred to as such. I did find Flavius Gratianus (359-383 CE) whose uncle did not wait for him and went into battle with Visigoths (early Germans?) never to return. There were rumors that Flavius did not rush as his uncle was a potential heir to the throne (www.roman-empire.net/collapse/gratian.html) but in truth, his uncle faced such odds that there was never a likely happy ending whether Flavius Gratian appeared then or not.

I know nothing about military history in that area or in that time. I know the term Byzantium because I love the tile work in the ceilings of early Byzantine Churches. I also like the history of early Christianity. How and why did certain churches and religious traditions form? That area’s history is key to that answer.

They don’t teach about Byzantium or military history in the area of Turkey, Eastern Europe and the Middle East in any college classes. You have to know about the time and place to find books covering those areas. I believe that you have to already know about Byzantium to know that you are interested in finding out more. I have spent time studying history and no one has EVER mentioned this time or place as a favorite time period. I have worked with and run into faculty on the way to and from academic conferences; none have ever mentioned a research interest in this area.

On a military tangent, I never heard of the battle of Masada (74 CE) until I ran across a reference to it while study early Buddhism and maritime history. At Masada, Jewish warriors and civilians committed mass suicide to avoid giving Romans a victory after a long siege. There are no sculptures of dying Jewish warriors by Greek or Roman sculptors (in the tradition of The Dying Gaul) that I know of…

As I think about the interesting conversation I had, I have to conclude my customer is walking proof of past lives. He knows nothing about Hessians and Prussians who are mentioned in every Western Civilization class, but he has a depth of knowledge on the level of a graduate student in an obscure area that no other academic has ever mentioned. I can’t help but feel certain that he was in the military at the time. He was probably in the military many times and he has probably had many lives long ago.

History and Past Lives

If you are not a history buff, the following will read, “blah, blah, blah.” I know this because my young co-worker read it and blurted out, “Oh my GOD you are putting ME to sleep!!!!!” I am posting it anyway. I have been to many battle sites on the East coast- I love history. History at its best is a good story.

Do you believe in past lives? I have had much experience thinking about them. Western thinkers have good reasons not to believe in them but will have a richer experience if we admit to them.

A customer walked in tonight wearing a torque. He got it at a renaissance fair. I am sure that the desire to attend a renaissance fair is proof of past lives, but I digress.

A torque is a heavy 2 inch thick metal necklace or decorative metal collar with an opening in the front bordered by decorative metal ends. They can be quite ornate. I said, “Nice necklace.” The young man told me that it was a torque and was then surprised that I knew what he meant.

As an art history major (a very useful major), I remember the torques on display as examples of early metal work in Europe. They were heavy looking things in a museum in Ireland. I wondered how one put one on. I assumed that a torque was an Irish or Celtic thing.

I wondered what it would look like on a person until I saw the picture of the sculpture The Dying Gaul (220 BCE). In the sculpture, the man was naked except for the torque and had a noticeably somber look and battered face. Gaul then referred to modern day France.

The residents of Gaul were depicted by the Romans then as barbarians. Invading colonizers always call the rebellious barbarians. Back then, the Romans had a few bad days fighting the rebellious men of Gaul who would occasionally fight naked as a show of strength and fearsome bravery. The Romans were glad when they finally subdued the men of Gaul (hence the Greek copy of a Roman statue about a defeated soldier The Dying Gaul) so that they could move on to problem peoples such as the Celts and Druids in England. My customer talked about the role of Romans in everyday life back then.

Rome was a ‘civilizing force’ in history, but at the time, they were known as oppressive tax collectors. No one wanted the civilization they offered. Ireland was never colonized by Rome and one man (the author of How Ireland Saved Civilization) credits that fact for the great number of great writers from that country.

I talked to the young man for a while. He had a love of celtic culture. Had a celtic Irish pattern tattoo on his arm. In addition, he has a Scottish pattern of tartan that he has picked out as a favorite. (Ireland and Scotland have nothing in common but a former hatred of England as a force of oppression.) He told me that tartans only became a tradition in the 1800’s, not earlier history. Interesting detail, he was born in Germany and has no Irish or Scottish genes anywhere in the family gene pool. His relatives were Prussian. After he mentioned Germany, I mentioned the German Hessians who were the paid marksmen in the English army during the Revolutionary War. This young man had never heard of Hessians. He also never heard of the military might of the Prussian army just a few centuries ago. He loves military history but knows nothing about the military history of his current ancestors. Is this possible? Does it make sense? It struck me as odd that a history buff knew nothing about important historical talking points from his own country’s history.

In another way, it makes perfect sense that he has had past lives. I am sure that he had a past life in the middle East around the time of Christ and in Ireland a long time ago.

PS. According to Wikopedia,

“The Dying Gaul (in Italian: Galata Morente) is an ancient Roman marble copy of a lost Hellenistic sculpture that is thought[1] to have been executed in bronze, which was commissioned some time between 230 BC and 220 BC by Attalus I of Pergamon to celebrate his victory over the Celtic Galatians in Anatolia. The present base was added after its rediscovery. The identity of the sculptor of the original is unknown, but it has been suggested that Epigonus, the court sculptor of the Attalid dynasty of Pergamon, may have been its sculptor.”

“The statue depicts a dying Celt with remarkable realism, particularly in the face, and may have been painted.[2] He is represented as a Gallic warrior with a typically Gallic hairstyle and moustache. The figure is naked save for a neck torc. (The spelling ‘torc’ is what you get when you rely on Wikopedia). He lies on his fallen shield while his sword and other objects lie beside him.”