GO TELL THE SPARTANS

ON THIS DAY in 480 BC, Leonidas reaches Thermopylae with 300 Spartans and 700 Allies.

King Leonidas and the Spartans before the famous "Wall of Bodies" on the third day of their heroic stand.


Thermopylae is one of the most famous battles of the ancient world, of course; it took place in northern Greece during the Persian Wars. The Greek forces, led by King Leonidas of Sparta, managed to hold out for three days against the forces of Persian king Xerxes I, said to have numbered "one million" but probably closer to 200,000. Still, the feat of the Spartans was remarkable. Eventually Leonidas released the other Greek forces and a small Spartan contingent remained behind to resist the advance. The Greeks were only defeated after a traitor betrayed a route by which the Persians were able to outflank them. Leonidas and the remaining members of his original 300 Spartans were killed to the last man.

Leonidas' plan was remarkable for taking advantage of the terrain. At the time of the battle, Thermopylae - which literally means "Hot Gates" due to the presence of natural hot springs - was a narrow neck of land between mountains to the west, and the sea to the east. Leonidas was able to place his forces in this narrow "bottleneck" and thereby wear the Persian forces down in a deliberate delaying tactic, allowing the Greek City-State Alliance to better prepare for a more effective defense deeper within the homeland.

I visited Thermopylae when I was training with Greek Special Forces in the lead up to the 2004 Olympics, which of course were held in Athens. An earthquake in ancient times, and the continuous deposition of sediment from the river and hot springs has substantially altered the landscape during the past few thousand years.

The site of the battle today - the road to the right is built on reclaimed land and approximates the 480 BC shoreline.


Two monument mark the spot of this historic clash between the cultures of East and West:

The modern monument at Thermopylae.

The modern monument bears the words "Molon Labe" (ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ) meaning "Come and take them" - the defiant words reportedly spoken by King Leonidas in response to Xerxes' demand that the Spartans surrender their weapons.


The ancient monument was placed on top of the burial mound of the Spartans at Last Stand Hill:

The commemorative stone marking the last stand of the 300 Spartans at Thermopylae.


The original stone has not survived the ravages of time, but in 1955, the world's most famous epitaph was engraved on a new stone. The text from Herodotus is:

Ὦ ξεῖν', ἀγγέλλειν Λακεδαιμονίοις ὅτι τῇδε

κείμεθα, τοῖς κείνων ῥήμασι πειθόμενοι.

"Go Tell the Spartans, Oh Passerby,

that here, in accordance with their Laws,

Three Hundred Lie"

.

ANCIENT TRADITIONS

Yesterday's piece on the enterprising woman from Livermore, California and her affairs with the two young teenagers stirred controversy; as was my intent.

At Blog STORMBRINGER success is measured when I provoke thought & discourse, on matters of ethical and moral dilemma. Unfortunately my schedule does not always allow my to develop the debate and conversation - yesterday was a pleasant exception. Today is Monday and it's back to the Oar Deck:


"I hate these company pep talks!"


It was suggested I was rationalizing / intellectualizing justification for illegal activity, encouraging pedophilia in our society. I couldn't disagree more strongly: pedophilia is sex with a pre-pubescent child. That is wrong and as far as Blog STORMBRINGER is concerned this is where the death penalty comes in; and the Judicial system does not necessarily need to be involved. What we're discussing here is the concept of statutory rape, which is sex with a post-pubescent adolescent (beneath the age of consent) a.k.a. illicit carnal knowledge; which generally carries a much less severe penalty. The age of consent varies from state to state, of course, going as low as the age of 15 in some states.

I explored the situation from all aspects and looked at it through the prism of the Ancient World (because that's my style) but if you followed my point very carefully you will see that I reached the conclusion that yes in our modern society 13 - 16 year-old adolescents ARE considered children.

So you see I am not some kind of monster who rationalizes away immoral behavior.

The woman's actions WERE extreme; there was something disturbingly predatory in her conduct. If the young men had been a few years older or herself a few years younger perhaps it would seem less outrageous - an older woman taking a younger lover and "showing him the ropes" is not unheard of nor is it necessarily taboo; then later when the young man is with a young woman of his own age, it's not a pair of bumbling virgins in the sack.

What really struck me as outrageous was the number of charges and the high bail; 1.4 million! They really threw the book at her! Meanwhile same-sex marriage is decreed lawful by an activist judge DESPITE the will of the people of California, "medical" marijuana is a thin veil for making it legal to toke up thus stupifying the population, and San Francisco declares itself an "open city" in brazen defiance of Federal immigration laws - and nobody does a thing about it. Just let us know what the rules are so we can go by them. What laws am I allowed to break and what are you going to nail me to the wall for?

- Sean L.


From the Sociology Department of the STORMBRINGER Institute, dedicated to the study & pursuit of Strategic and Philosophical Excellence.



As practiced from the 15th to 20th centuries in Western societies, a duel was a consensual fight between two people, with matched deadly weapons, in accordance with rules explicitly or implicitly agreed upon, over a point of honor, usually accompanied by a trusted representative (who might themselves fight), and in contravention of the law.

The duel usually developed out of the desire of one party (the challenger) to redress a perceived insult to his honor. The goal of the duel was not so much to kill the opponent as to gain “satisfaction,” i.e., to restore one’s honor by demonstrating a willingness to risk one’s life for it.

Duels could be fought with some sort of sword or, from the 18th Century on, with pistols. For this end special sets of dueling pistols were crafted for the wealthiest of noblemen. After the offense, whether real or imagined, the offended party would demand “satisfaction” from the offender, signaling this demand with an inescapably insulting gesture, such as throwing the glove before him, hence the phrase “throwing down the gauntlet”.


.

HOW IS THIS A CRIME?

LIVERMORE WOMAN FACES 67 CHARGES RELATED TO SEX WITH TWO TEENAGE BOYS.


Christine Shreeve Hubbs, a 42-year-old Livermore woman was arrested Thursday on 67 sexual assault charges against two teenage boys. (Livermore Police Department photo)

Hubbs is being held at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin in lieu of $4.3 million bail.

Apparently the mother of one of the boys went to the police after she found a nude photo of Hubbs on her son's cell phone; the boy told police that he began having sex with Hubbs in December 2008, when he was 14.

During the investigation, police learned of a second boy, now 14, had a sexual relationship with Hubbs from December 2009 through July.

Investigators say Hubbs communicated with the teens by text messages and at times used her cell phone to send sexual messages and nude pictures of herself.


The charges involve the concept of statutory rape; sexual activity between an adult and a minor (one below the age of consent). In this case the adult was a woman of course, and the minors involved were (VERY) young teenage males.

I ask how is this a crime - I mean, come on; what we have here is no more than a classic case of Cougarism; the philosophy concerning older women who prey on younger, verile men to fulfill their primal sexual desires.




Granted, in this situation the young men involved (I say men because they are obviously no longer boys) were EXTREMELY young; well beyond society's accepted equation for May-September romantic liaisons (age, divide by two, add seven). In fact, by these standards, I myself became involved in criminal activity under similar circumstances at the age of thirteen.


Grrr, Baby . . .

At the same time I acknowledge that if the tables were turned; that is, if the parties involved here were a 42-year-old man and two teenage girls beneath the age of consent, I would be amongst those leading the pack howling for the perpetrator's neck in a noose.


What's good for the Goose is not always good for the Gander . . .


Hypocrisy? Perhaps. Again, I ask how is this a crime? Amongst the ancient and traditional societies, it is not unheard of for a young man to be tutored by an older woman in the ways of physical love.



In his play Hippolytus, Euripides tells the story of Phaedra, an older, married woman in love with a much younger man.


A practice that was mentioned by many visitors to Sparta was the practice of “wife-sharing”; in accordance with the Spartan belief that breeding should be between the most physically fit parents, many older men allowed younger more fit men to impregnate their wives.

Even by the liberal standards of their day, Spartan women were particularly open-minded.

Aristotle writes:“Someone contacted a Spartan woman to ask if she would agree to let him seduce her. She said: ‘When I was a child I learned to obey my father, and I did so; then when I became a woman I obeyed my husband; so if this man is making me a proper proposal, let him put it to my husband first."


What strikes me here is not so much the crime, but the judicial system's handling of it: bail is set at 1.4 million dollars - isn't this a bit excessive? Especially considering that this occurs in a state where same-sex marriages are endorsed by the governor, marijuana shops are popping up on every street corner and entire cities flout Federal law by openly embracing illegal immigrants.

There are some crimes which are a crime regardless of what the law says. Slavery is a good example; even if it is completely legal - as it was in the United States two hundred years ago - it is still wrong and still a crime against humanity. This is the concept of natural law.


Meee-owww . . .

Natural law (Latin: lex naturalis) has been described as a law whose content is set by nature and that therefore has validity everywhere. As classically used, natural law refers to the use of reason to analyze human nature and deduce binding rules of moral behavior.


Cougars are known to hunt in packs.


Natural law theories feature greatly in the philosophies of Thomas Aquinas, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke, and have had a profound influence on the development of English common law. Because of the intersection between natural law and natural rights, it has been cited as a component in United States Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. The essence of Declarationism is that the founding of the United States is based on Natural law.


A cougar about to maul her prey.

More to the point of what we are discussing here might be the various sodomy laws still on the books across the United States. Although originally intended to outlaw certain sexual acts between homosexuals, many state's sodomy laws made certain heterosexual acts illegal as well. It is hard to imagine - in this day and age - a single, sexually active person in North America who has not violated some aspect of these laws.

Sodomy laws were invalidated by the 2003 Supreme Court decision Lawrence v. Texas.


Cougarism in the Bible - Genesis chapter 39: Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife (1649 painting by Guercino)


The sexual abuse or exploitation of a child is another example of Natural Law. Whether or not endorsed or tolerated by a society it is wrong, outright, anywhere and everywhere it takes place. This is obviously the issue at hand; in today's society thirteen year old males are considered children.

Perhaps I am a little more lenient because I regard the world through a prism of the Classic era; in ancient times a thirteen-year-old male was of military age; a circumstance which continued until at least the Napoleonic era.


Queen of the Cougars

Over the course of her 34-year reign, Catherine the Great of Russia racked up an impressive tally of conquests, which ended with Alexandrovich Zubov, a man 40 years younger than her.



Cougarism in popular culture: "Coo, coo, ca-choo, Mrs Robinson."



Go Team!


.

SATURDAY NIGHT AT STORMBRINGER's

"Bring on the women and the dwarves!"


Bacchus was painted sometime around 1595 by Italian Baroque master Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. You can see this painting in the Uffizi Gallery, in Florence, Italy.

Bacchus (known in Ancient Greece as Dionysus, Διόνυσος) is the Ancient Roman god of wine, the vintage, and drunkeness, wine cups, inspirational ritual madness, joyful worship, and ecstasy, wine, grapes, theater, wineskins, and fertility. Did I mention wine? The contemporary carnival celebrations of Europe, South America and even the Mardi Gras of New Orleans are in actuality modern day incarnations of the ancient Roman Bacchanalia.

I would present the Greek statue of Dionysus but I am not comfortable enough in my masculinity to post it here. - S.L.

The painting shows a youthful Bacchus reclining in classical fashion with grapes and vine leaves in his hair, fingering the drawstring of his loosely-draped robe. On a stone table in front of him is a bowl of fruit and a large carafe of red wine; with his left hand he holds out to the viewer a shallow goblet of the same wine, apparently inviting the viewer to join him.

Whether intentional or not, there is humour in this painting. The pink-faced Bacchus is an accurate portrayal of a half-drunk teenager dressed in a sheet and leaning on a mattress, but far less convincing as a Graeco-Roman god. The carafe has attracted more scholarly attention than Bacchus himself, because after the painting was cleaned, a tiny portrait of the artist working at his easel was discovered in the reflection on the glass. A reflection of Bacchus' face can also be seen on the surface of the wine in the glass he is holding.

Bacchus' offering of the wine with his left hand - despite the obvious effort this would have caused the model - has led to speculation that Caravaggio used a mirror to assist himself while working from life, doing away with the need for drawing. In other words, what appears to us as the boy's left hand was actually the artist's right.

For anyone who has ever attended Mardi Gras; take the drunkeness, gratuitous nudity, open promiscuity and sheer madness of that event, amp it up at least a tenfold and you can begin to imagine what the Roman celebration of Bacchus must have been like.



Is it just me, or does anyone else sense a similarity here? - Sean Linnane

.

BEFORE THERE WAS NIKE . . .

. . . THERE WAS NIKE of SAMOTHRACE

Winged Victory of Samothrace is one of the most celebrated sculptures in the world.

Also known as The Winged Victory of Samothrace (Greek: Σαμοθρακη — Samothraki), she is a second century B.C. marble sculpture of the Greek goddess Nike (Victory). Since 1884, Victory has been prominently displayed at the Louvre. Conveying a sense of action and triumph as well as portraying artful flowing drapery, her features approach that which the Ancient Greeks considered ideal beauty.

Rendered in white Parian marble by an unknown sculptor in approximately 190 BC, Victory originally formed part of the Samothrace temple complex dedicated to the Great Gods, Megalon Theon. Created to not only honor the goddess, Nike, but to commemorate a sea battle; possibly by the Macedonian general Demetrius I Poliorcetes after his naval victory at Cyprus between 295 and 289 BC.

Victory originally stood on a rostral pedestal of gray marble from Lartos representing the prow of a ship and represents the goddess Nike as she descends from the skies to the triumphant fleet. Before she lost her arms, which have never been recovered, Nike's right arm was raised, cupped round her mouth to deliver the shout, "VICTORY!"

The work is notable for its convincing rendering of a pose where violent motion and sudden stillness meet, for its graceful balance and for the rendering of the figure's draped garments, depicted as if rippling in a strong sea breeze, which is considered especially compelling.

Nike of Samothrace is seen as an iconic depiction of triumphant spirit and of the divine momentarily coming face to face with man. Many believe the power of the work is enhanced by the very fact that the head and arms are missing.

A READER ASKS

The following appeared in May 2009:

Q: What is the mission of your blog?

A: The intent of Blog Stormbringer is to stimulate thought, to explore history and philosophy with a military approach, and to sometimes launch a bit of humor . . . I especially enjoy the history of Ancient Greece and Rome, and drawing parallels to our modern experience, hence the submissions Caligula’s Horse and View From Within the Phalanx.

I have visited Greece and Rome several times, and other locations throughout these ancient empires and what is known as the "Holy Land". In high school I studied Latin under a very impressionable Italian woman whom to this day I am convinced was a secret admirer of Benito Mussolini.

Q: Did you develop a charter for your blogs, is it just observations, or a journal?

A: In the early stages of the Global War on Terror I used to get involved in heavy email political discussions / arguments; over time this became tiresome and since the ’08 election it is simply redundant. After firing funny jokes and other material his way, Theo Spark over at Last of the Few suggested I get into blogging. There are still some technical hiccups I am working out, and Theo is providing guidance. I might lighten up on politics and concentrate more on history, philosophy and military themes. The crude humor stays; I hope we never get to the point where we cannot laugh, especially at ourselves.

Q: What is the origin of the name Stormbringer?

A: One of my favorite bands is Deep Purple, of course, and one of their great songs is Stormbringer - inspired by the science fiction / fantasy novels of Michael Moorcock. A good friend who is also a reader introduced me to these books a long, long time ago. Whenever I went to the desert I always named my GunVee “Stormbringer” - I’m not really into the swords & fantasy genre, I just like the sound of that name; STORMBRINGER. It's got a ring to it like some kind of heroic Viking saga. That’s my GunVee in the photo across the top of the blog.

Q: Who IS Sean Linnane - the man behind the pseudonym?

I am not a hero, but I have served with heroes . . .

For legitimate reasons involving my current employment, I use the pseudonym Sean Linnane - for the same rationale I studiously AVOID commenting on certain subjects. It is probable that I will reveal my identity at some future point; the situation is dependent on my work. There are some issues I will never discuss, of course; unlike some, I take the non-disclosure statements I signed seriously.

One thing about me is that I am not politically correct. Another thing about myself: I am a practitioner of a mystical desert sect which happens to be the most persecuted religion on Earth; that is, I am a Christian. But I don't discriminate: when I was in Jerusalem, in '86, I visited the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, up on the Temple Mount, on a Friday. There I was, wearing the robes and surrounded by Arabs at prayer, contemplating on how this place was the site of the original Temple, and also served as the first headquarters of the Knights Templar. On Saturday I attended services at the Great Synagogue on King George Street, and on Sunday I went to St. George's, the Anglican Cathedral (which looks like a Crusader fortress, complete with Crusader flag flying over it) in East Jerusalem, because I am an Anglican. Personally, I don't see any contradiction in this; like the Arabs say, "We are People of the Book".

Q: What am I the reader, to take away from reading it?

A: Philosophy is the study of concepts such as existence, justice, knowledge, truth, beauty, mind, and language. The original Greek meaning of the word is "love of wisdom". Individual character development is essential to our society, if we are to prevail over the destructive forces that are not only out there on the far-flung fringes of the Empire, as it were, but also within the gates. Stormbringer is about education, information, and thought-provoking opinion, based on the experiences of my life and the extraordinary people I've encountered along the way.

A theme I wish to explore is Leadership, which I define as Planning, Decision-Making and Risk Management. Immediately after I retired from active duty, I found there was a great thirst in the business world for the kind of management and organizational skills that are formally taught in military leadership schools. Encouraged by a friend who is also a sort of mentor, I wrote a series of articles on the subject and developed Military Leadership Applications for Small Business Owners & Mid-Level Managers, which I’ve already presented at seminars. I presented Murphy’s Laws of Combat last week as introductory background material for my readership, in the Leadership department. There will be more material like this forthcoming.

THOUGHTS ON AFRICA . . .

Africa is my old stomping grounds; that is where I did a LOT of my soldiering.

The name Africa came into Western use through the Romans to describe the northern part of the continent, as the province of Africa with its capital Carthage, corresponding to modern-day Tunisia, and the most northern parts of Algeria and Libya. The Roman suffix "-ca" denotes "country or land". The later Muslim kingdom of Ifriqya, modern-day Tunisia, also preserved a form of the name.

Egypt was already known territory to the Ancients, but further South was unknown land. Around 2,000 years ago "Aethiopia" seems to have been used to describe the land found south of Sahara.

The origin of the word is still a little uncertain . . . "Africa" may not even be an African word: in Greek aphrike means ‘without cold’; the Latin aprica means ‘sunny’; or possibly the Phoenician `afar, meaning dust.

The Romans called it Africa Terra which translates "Land of the Afri". So the word Africa may come from Afri, a name attributed to several peoples who dwelt in North Africa near Carthage . . . perhaps a Berber tribe, although possibly of European or Asian origin. Their name is usually connected with the Phoenician `afar.

One theory has the name Africa stemming from a Berber word ifri or Ifran meaning "cave", in reference to cave dwellers. Ifri or Afer is name of Banu Ifran from Algeria and Tripolitania (Berber Tribe of Yafran).

The 1st century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus asserted that it was named for Epher, grandson of Abraham according to Gen. 25:4, whose descendants, he claimed, had invaded Libya.

The historian Leo Africanus (1495-1554) attributed the origin to the Greek word phrike (φρικε, meaning "cold and horror"), combined with the negating prefix a-, so meaning a land free of cold and horror. But the change of sound from ph to f in Greek is datable to about the first century, so this cannot really be the origin of the name.

The name "Africa" later came to describe the entire continent. Somewhere along the line it changed from the Land of Warmth and Sunshine to "The Dark Continent".

A READER ASKS . . .

Q: What is the mission of your blog?

A: The intent of Blog Stormbringer is to stimulate thought, to explore history and philosophy with a military approach, and to sometimes launch a bit of humor . . . I especially enjoy the history of Ancient Greece and Rome, and drawing parallels to our modern experience, hence the submissions Caligula’s Horse and View From Within the Phalanx.

I have visited Greece and Rome several times, and other locations throughout these ancient empires and what is known as the "Holy Land". In high school I studied Latin under a very impressionable Italian woman whom to this day I am convinced was a secret admirer of Benito Mussolini.

Q: Did you develop a charter for your blogs, is it just observations, or a journal?

A: In the early stages of the Global War on Terror I used to get involved in heavy email political discussions / arguments; over time this became tiresome and since the ’08 election it is simply redundant. After firing funny jokes and other material his way, Theo Spark over at Last of the Few suggested I get into blogging. There are still some technical hiccups I am working out, and Theo is providing guidance. I might lighten up on politics and concentrate more on history, philosophy and military themes. The crude humor stays; I hope we never get to the point where we cannot laugh, especially at ourselves.

Q: What is the origin of the name Stormbringer?

A: One of my favorite bands is Deep Purple, of course, and one of their great songs is Stormbringer - inspired by the science fiction / fantasy novels of Michael Moorcock. A good friend who is also a reader introduced me to these books a long, long time ago. Whenever I went to the desert I always named my GunVee “Stormbringer” - I’m not really into the swords & fantasy genre, I just like the sound of that name; STORMBRINGER. It's got a ring to it like some kind of heroic Viking saga. That’s my GunVee in the photo across the top of the blog.

Q: Who IS Sean Linnane - the man behind the pseudonym?

I am not a hero, but I have served with heroes . . .

For legitimate reasons involving my current employment, I use the pseudonym Sean Linnane - for the same rationale I studiously AVOID commenting on certain subjects. It is probable that I will reveal my identity at some future point; the situation is dependent on my work. There are some issues I will never discuss, of course; unlike some, I take the non-disclosure statements I signed seriously.

One thing about me is that I am not politically correct. Another thing about myself: I am a practitioner of a mystical desert sect which happens to be the most persecuted religion on Earth; that is, I am a Christian. But I don't discriminate: when I was in Jerusalem, in '86, I visited the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, up on the Temple Mount, on a Friday. There I was, wearing the robes and surrounded by Arabs at prayer, contemplating on how this place was the site of the original Temple, and also served as the first headquarters of the Knights Templar. On Saturday I attended services at the Great Synagogue on King George Street, and on Sunday I went to St. George's, the Anglican Cathedral (which looks like a Crusader fortress, complete with Crusader flag flying over it) in East Jerusalem, because I am an Anglican. Personally, I don't see any contradiction in this; like the Arabs say, "We are People of the Book".

Q: What am I the reader, to take away from reading it?

A: Philosophy is the study of concepts such as existence, justice, knowledge, truth, beauty, mind, and language. The original Greek meaning of the word is "love of wisdom". Individual character development is essential to our society, if we are to prevail over the destructive forces that are not only out there on the far-flung fringes of the Empire, as it were, but also within the gates. Stormbringer is about education, information, and thought-provoking opinion, based on the experiences of my life and the extraordinary people I've encountered along the way.

A theme I wish to explore is Leadership, which I define as Planning, Decision-Making and Risk Management. Immediately after I retired from active duty, I found there was a great thirst in the business world for the kind of management and organizational skills that are formally taught in military leadership schools. Encouraged by a friend who is also a sort of mentor, I wrote a series of articles on the subject and developed Military Leadership Applications for Small Business Owners & Mid-Level Managers, which I’ve already presented at seminars. I presented Murphy’s Laws of Combat last week as introductory background material for my readership, in the Leadership department. There will be more material like this forthcoming.