To fully understand what witches went through during the Elizabethan Age in England, you need to realize how troubled life was for the common people. The bubonic plague, known to most as the Black Death, had such a powerfully negative impact upon the witches and warlocks living during this time. The fear that people felt just to survive resulted in some of the darkest times in the history of witchcraft.

The Black Death was a brutal disease killing millions of people without warning or reason. Medical and scientific technology was not advanced enough at the time to discover that the plague was spreading so quickly due to rats. Because of this, people believed that a more supernatural cause was responsible for the sickness and death. And so the persecution of innocent men and women as members of witchcraft began.

At first, the speculation of witchcraft being the cause of the Black Death was minimal and contained to a few scattered cases. But as the death tolls rose and the hysteria grew, more and more people believed beyond a doubt that only black magic and sinister witches could be at fault.

Of the almost 300 witch trials that took place, almost all involved women. Most of the women were poor common folk whose only fault was being at the wrong place at the wrong time. A neighbor dying unexpectedly, a crop turning out a bad harvest, or a house or barn catching fire could all result in an innocent person being accused of witchcraft. Even having birth defects and other physical abnormalities could lead to accusations of being a witch.

The Black Death was an event that killed millions of people. And because there was no obvious cause, the blame was placed on witches and warlocks. Witchcraft in the Elizabethan age was a scapegoat for a plague that people just didn’t have the ability to understand at that time.

Whenever I’m training a new student to start a home business as a marketing

consultant and they start asking me about setting up “contingency fees” (i.e. getting paid on the percentage of sales versus a fee) I always have to spend an hour trying to talk them out of wanting to do it.

At least at first.

Why?

There are several reasons:

One is you’re in a “partnership” with the business owner. You’re now relying on his

honesty and his trust and his capability of doing business, all of which are

completely outside your control. And while everything may look great “on paper”,

you could find yourself putting a lot of your time and energy into a business and not

get paid a penny on your efforts.

Plus, even if things go good at first, there’s a good chance the things you like will

not keep working the way you want them to work.

And besides that, doing a contingency deal changes the whole relationship between

you and the client.

Especially when big money is involved.

Things may go fine when profits are modest. But when big and sudden success

happens (usually as a result of you, the consultant) clients who used to be rational

and honest can all the sudden start acting funny, trying to justify doing things you

didn’t agree on (especially when it comes to paying you.)

Now don’t get me wrong here.

I’m not saying you should steer totally clear of these contingency deals, as they can

quickly make you a lot of money you wouldn’t have seen otherwise. In fact,

sometimes just a small “tweak” to a company’s marketing and sales can yield huge

windfalls of profits. And if you have a contingency deal, you will get a nice taste of

those profits.

But I would never recommend someone just starting out going in on a pure

contingency basis. You’re much better off charging a flat fee first, and then, as you

work with the client and they work with you, you can both find out if you’re going to

work well together.

In other words, let the deal evolve into a contingency deal. You’ll be much better off

and avoid some of the nasty pitfalls I see so many consultants — marketing and

otherwise — fall into.

The Magnificent Tomb of Boy King Tut – Fleshing Out the Biblical Exodus Story!

When the tomb of Tutankhamon was discovered in 1922 it caused a world-wide sensation, the splendor of its death mask of pure gold becoming a centerpiece display of the wealth and opulence of ancient Egypt. In addition, extensive in size, it contained much jewelry of turquoise, lapis lazuli, carnelian, also articles of gold, silver and bronze, plus numerous objects for the Pharaoh’s journey of death. Egyptologists, however, puzzled over how Tutankhamon, but eighteen and only the heir to Egypt’s throne, could be buried in so magnificent a tomb – the established tradition being that reigning Pharaohs built their own tombs during their lifetimes. The size, grandeur and ornamentation of each Pharaoh’s tomb and the splendor of its contents, reflected upon the length and wealth of his sovereignty.

Dr. Lennart Moeller, medical doctor from Stockholm, but also an Egyptologist, archeologist, amateur deep sea diver, etc., developed a theory in his book “The Exodus Story” to explain the anomaly: Tutankhamun, first born son of Pharaoh Amenhotep III, dies in the Tenth Plague; later, Pharaoh, pursuing the fleeing Hebrews with his chariot army, drowns and his body is lost in the Red Sea; Amenhotep’s empty tomb is therefore available while royal prince Tutankhamun is dead and needful of a burial place.

There is much extra-biblical evidence to support the theory.

The biblical “Ten Plagues” inflict Egypt

After Pharaoh repeatedly refuses to let the Hebrew slaves leave Egypt, Moses warns there will be plagues, first the Nile turning into blood, then frogs, lice, and finally locusts, darkness, and the tenth plague, death of all firstborn, including Prince Tutankhamun.

A highly important extra-biblical source of corroborative detail – to almost all the narratives of the ten-plagues plus Exodus events (as told in both the Bible and Passover-Haggadah), is the Ipuwer Papyrus Scroll. Found in Egypt in the early 19th century, it was translated and taken to the Leiden Museum in Holland where it is still kept. Described in several archaeological books of ancient Egypt, it is a papyrus scroll over twelve feet in length, called “Admonitions of Ipuwer”, written during the 19th Dynasty by an Egyptian scribe-historian named Ipuwer. Interpreted in 1909, it depicts violent events in Egypt during the prior dynasty, which seem to parallel the Biblical plagues and the Exodus story – it describes a society in total crisis, providing essentially an eyewitness account of extreme and unusual occurrences:

• “What the ancestors had foretold has happened”, (Imhotep, the Egyptian vizier who saved Egypt from famine, 260 years earlier – thought to be the biblical Joseph – had foretold the exodus of the Hebrew slaves from Egypt.)
• “The river is blood .. there is blood everywhere, no shortage of death .. many dead are buried in the river {The first plague}.. lacking are grain, charcoal .. great hunger and suffering”.
• “destruction of grain” {The plague of locusts or hail}.
• “We don’t know what has happened in the land.”
• “animals moaning and roaming freely”.
• “darkness” {The ninth plague}.
• Deaths .. “children of princes, prisoners, brothers” {The tenth plague, deaths of all the first-born}.
• “Gone is what yesterday has seen. See now, the land is deprived of kingship. See, all the ranks, they are not in their place .. like a herd that roams without a herdsman.”
• “Poor .. have become of wealth .. Gold and lapis lazuli, silver and malachite, carnelian and bronze are strung on to the necks of female slaves.” {.. and they requested from the Egyptians, silver and gold articles. And God made the Egyptians favor them and they granted their request.” Exodus 12:35-36};
• Additional extra-biblical confirmation of the Passover plagues are the mass burial graves of Egyptians, excavated at Tel ed Daba and elsewhere, indicating a panic, no individual burials.

The Exodus of the Hebrew slaves from Egypt

After the Tenth Plague, when Amenhotep III’s first-born son, Tutankhamun dies in the tenth plague, Pharaoh finally orders Moses to take the Hebrews and leave Egypt. Later however, when he realizes the loss to Egypt of its slave people, also learning from his scouts that they are “trapped in the wilderness” (see article “Miracles, 3500 Years Ago”), he pursues them with his chariot army.

Going beyond the plagues, the Ipuwer scroll also corroborates the biblical description of the Exodus flight: “fire .. mounted up on high .. its burning goes forth against the enemies of the land” {Bible: “by night in a pillar of fire”}.

Pharaoh and his Chariot army Drowns

Pharaoh, leading his chariot army, pursues the Hebrews to the Gulf of Aqaba, where recently discovered artifacts of coral-covered chariot wreckage plus bones of men and horses – all strewn along an eight mile undersea ridge between the Sinai Peninsula and Saudi Arabia – indicate they had drowned (see Ezine article, “Miracles, 3500 Years Ago”).

Corroboration of these events comes from several sources – firstly, the Ipuwer scroll: “See, he who slept wifeless, found a noblewoman ..” Written long afterwards, it obviously describes conditions after the loss of the Egyptian army, composed of upper-class males. Secondly, this also supports the request of the “royal” widow of Pharaoh, in a remarkable (clay cube) Amarna letter to the King of the Hittites- asking for one of his sons to become her new husband. It was sent to King Suppiluliumas, “He who was my husband is dead and I have no son. People say you have many sons. If you send me one of your sons he will become my husband .. repugnant to me to take one of my servants .. since most ancient times .. never happened before .. write to a foreign country .. humiliating to me and my country.”

The loss of the mighty Egyptian chariot army seems to be supported by various items of evidence – Josephus, the Roman historian, quotes Monetho, an Egyptian priest, circa 300 BC, regarding the “easy” conquest of mighty Egypt by the Hyksos. (Egypt’s loss of its entire chariot army at the Red Sea seems a corroborating explanation.)

Also, Tel-Amarna letters have been found from cities dependent on Egypt for protection from invaders, begging Pharaoh to send troops – saying “no help has come”. Historians note that Egypt having lost its powerful chariot army was now incapable of sending military protection, and recovery of a demoralized Egypt would take a long time – per Dr. Moeller, it was “the beginning of the end of the 18th dynasty”.

Tutankhamun is buried in the tomb of his Pharaoh father

With Pharaoh Amenhotep III drowned in a far-off sea and his magnificent tomb completely furnished but absent a body, but with the body of royal Prince Tutankhamun needing a burial place, the obvious apparently took place, the Egyptian court deciding that Tutankhamun would be buried in his father’s tomb. The only personal item was the magnificent death-mask.

One direct reference is cited by Dr. Moeller, ” .. young king .. buried in tomb originally prepared for ‘Ay’.”

When we think about the dangerous animals faced by our pioneer ancestors, what comes to mind? Probably we would imagine wolves, bears, panthers, and poisonous reptiles. Few would consider the lowly squirrel! But for the early Ohio settlers, the squirrel was the cause of famine and suffering.

As pioneers moved into the Valley of the Paint in southern Ohio in the early 1800s, they immediately began to radically change the area’s landscape. Cabins had to be built, fireplaces stoked, and fields cleared for planting. As a result, the great oak, beech, chestnut, and black walnut trees were cut down far and wide. Trees not needed for building were rolled to the vast fires and destroyed.

These trees, especially the nut-bearing ones, were the habitat and food source for the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of squirrels in the area. In short order, the squirrels were desperate for food. They turned to the easiest and most abundant food source-the pioneers’ crops.

Seemingly overnight, hordes of the furry thieves stripped the fields of the young corn, wheat, and rye plants. The settlers and their families were now facing a winter of starvation. There were no general stores in this wilderness; the only food was what the pioneers grew for themselves. Many of the settlers hastily planted kitchen gardens of cabbages and turnips in order to have some provender for the harsh winter to come, while others, who had seed corn still, replanted their corn crop quickly, hoping for a small harvest before the snow came.

In addition to the squirrels’ depredations, blight struck the remaining corn crop at the same time. Many suffered despite the assistance offered by those residents fortunate enough to have a little to spare. American pioneers always supported each other through extended family groups or as neighbors. This was the way before government stepped in to solve the country’s problems. We took care of ourselves.

Highland County, in response to the settlers’ complaints, put through a county levy in 1806. This levy required residents to turn in a specified number of squirrel scalps under penalty of law. Open warfare had been declared against the pests. Men headed into the remaining woods with muskets loaded and ready, along with bags to carry the small, furry bodies. Back at the cabins, the tiny scalps were carefully stored to meet the levy. No doubt, the carcasses ended up in the stewpot hung over the fireplace. Squirrel was a popular meat among the pioneers.

The harsh winter of 1807-08 nearly eliminated squirrels as a species in the Valley, and the levy was allowed to expire. The pioneers continued to subdue the wilderness and open the land to agriculture. The days of the great forests blanketing Appalachian Ohio were coming to an end. In their place now stood row upon row of tall corn plants and waving wheat. Civilization was on the march.

Although most people would name wolves or rattlesnakes as the worst danger to early Ohio pioneers, it was the squirrel that caused the most suffering. Man’s effect on the rodents’ food source led to crop loss and famine. The county act that required the killing of the squirrels, along with the settlers’ sharing with their neighbors in need, helped the new community make it through the long, cold winter to come.

Overcome premature ejaculation with my help. PE is like a plague that affects huge numbers of men at some point in their lives. I want to share with you 3 very good tips to help you to overcome this common male sexual problem.

Try CoEnzyme Q10

CoEnzyme Q10, also known as CoQ10, is the 3rd most used supplement in the United States and rightly so. It is beneficial in many areas of health and this also includes premature ejaculation. I know of several men who swear that this supplement has either directly or indirectly helped them last longer in bed.

It could be that they were simple enjoying the regular health benefits of CoQ10 and this indirectly helped them to last longer. Whatever the reason, you should definitely try this supplement.

Accept Yourself For Who You Are

The true cause of premature ejaculation is something known as “performance anxiety”. This means that you have anxiety in the bedroom which stems from any number of areas.

It is common for many men to feel inadequate, sexually. They may feel that they don’t look like Brad Pitt or cannot please a woman in bed like Casanova can.

Accept yourself for who you are. Nobody is perfect, you nor your partner. Be yourself and don’t worry about anything else. When you accept yourself, your self-doubt disappears, your confidence increases and this usually allows you to last a long time in the bedroom.

Get 8 Hours Sleep Per Night

Modern life is incredibly busy but one area that you should not compromise is your sleeping time. We need enough sleep each night for our bodies to work well and this includes in the bedroom. I recommend 7 to 8 hours of sleep per night on average.

Do you suddenly find yourself questioning your husband’s every move?

Has your husband been acting really weird recently, causing you to suspect whether or not he’s being faithful to you and your marriage?

Well ma’am, I’m sorry to say, but as it stands right now there’s less than a 25% chance that your husband is NOT cheating on you. That’s just plain ol’ statistics talking, there.

However, even though I’m sure that right now you’re feeling both confused and distraught, I urge you to keep your composure.

Coming at your husband guns blazing and throwing suspicions at him all over the place is NOT the way to handle this situation.

Nope, instead what I’d like to do in this article is talk to you about a few of the most common signs of cheating you’re likely to see when your husband is having an affair. This way you can move also be closer to its confirm your suspicions, and from there decide whether or not you want to take further action.

I’m hoping that after you’re done reading this article you realize that your husband is NOT cheating on you, but I guess we’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we?

Well, without further adieu, let’s discuss 3 signs of a cheating husband that you should know about.

3 Common Signs of a Cheating Husband

As I already said, just because your husband fits into one of these cheating signs doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s having an affair. If he fits into more than one, will you should probably be concerned, but not yet confrontational.

At the end of the article I’ll talk to you more about how you can get rock solid proof of cheating, but for right now let’s just talk about the signs, okay?

Sign #1) His Work Schedule is Much Heavier than it Used to Be

Did you know that workplace affairs are widely cited as the second most common type of infidelity? (First being online or virtual cheating)

I mean think about it, if you have a crush on someone that you’re spending 40 hours per week with, it’s going to take some pretty strong willpower to withstand hooking up, especially if you’re given the opportunity. In fact, in a recent study (2003, Vault Office Romance) it was found that 50% of all sampled employees have engaged in an extramarital relationship through their place of employment, and another 20% said that they would like to.

Those numbers certainly aren’t on your side.

So if you notice that your husband has been spending a couple extra hours at work one are two nights a week, go ahead and start taking note of when and where he says he’s going. Over time you may notice that he has a pattern, which could definitely point to an affair.

Sign #2) One of His Buddies Seems…Cold?

I’m not exactly sure how to explain this, but 9 times out of 10 you can learn a lot from examining the way that one of your spouse’s close friends interact with you. Many times they will give something away without even knowing it.

See, chances are that your husband is very used to lying to you by now.

This is good for him, but bad for us. So what we are going to do instead is look to someone who is not quite as used to lying to you for the signs of a cheating husband that we need.

A lot of times you can simply trust your gut on this one, if there’s a slightly weird vibe coming from one of your husband’s friends when he’s around you (or she), then make sure you make a note in the back of your mind.

Sign #3) He Changes his Email Password, or Stops Sharing it With You

Has your husband recently started clamming up when it comes to emails and his e-mail account in general?

Perhaps you discover that he’s open up a new e-mail account without telling you about it?

As I said before, online infidelity is the most common type of cheating that there is right now. In fact, in a 2009 survey of divorce attorneys (maybe 2010, I’m not sure) it was found that over 30% of all divorces are caused by Internet cheating.

That means 1/3 all marriages in the U.S. will end because one spouse or the other decided to hook up with someone online, or perform some other type of Internet based infidelity.

What I’m saying with all this is that you should not take it lightly at all if your husband is acting suspicious on the computer. There is almost 100% guaranteed to be something that he is hiding from you.

Obviously this might not be something that you can check, but there are tools out there that allow you to do so easily and quickly. But I don’t want to talk about that in this particular article.

Getting Proof and Beyond

As you may have noticed throughout this article I’ve talked to you a lot about taking note of any signs of cheating that you notice. I’m not telling you to go out and confront your husband tonight, I’m telling you to study, observe, and hypothesize.

In order to catch your husband’s affair you’re going to need to be cold, calculating and sneaky. Trust me, he’s doing the same thing to you.

Listen, I know that you’ve probably still got quite a few questions for me, and don’t worry, that’s normal.

However, I’m not going to write an entire eBook here, so what I’d like to do instead is recommend you to some of my other resources.

By day Norwich’s Tombland district (derived from the term for ‘Unoccupied Ground’ – actually no reference to anything grave-related) is a major draw for tourists and locals alike, housing numerous historical buildings and being flanked between the majestic Cathedral and Elm Hill. The immediate area also boasts many excellent cafes and restaurants, including Tatlers and Erpingham House.

However, as Halloween draws near, it is fitting to explore a less well-known side to Tombland, and perhaps the possibility that it is not just the living that are frequent visitors to the cobbled streets… 

Situated at one end of Tombland are The Maids Head Hotel and Samson & Hercules House (formerly Ritzy’s, Central Park… newly redeveloped into apartments). Both have ghost stories associated with them, and when you explore their heritage a little further it is perhaps easy to understand why.   The Maids Head dates back to the 13th century, when it was called the ‘Murtle Fish’. The name is said to have changed following a visit by Queen Elizabeth I to Norwich in 1578. Rumours that she stayed at The Maids Head are contradicted by tales that it was full at the time and so she actually stayed elsewhere in the near vicinity. Like most places visited by the Royal Party in 1578, the Black Death or Plague was destined to follow in its wake. It has been suggested that a member of the large party spread the plague as they travelled from place to place and Norwich was no exception (although historians have subsequently doubted this claim). From August 1578 to February 1579 almost 5000 victims of the plague were recorded in the city. In total almost half the entire population of Norwich may have perished from the Plague during this time.   While rats thrived in the narrow alleyways, the grim cry of ‘bring out your dead’ rang throughout the city. As the number of bodies grew in colossal number, formal burials were abandoned in favour of mass-graves or ‘plague pits’. Cartloads of bodies were taken to the Cathedral Close, which became a large burial area. The graveyards behind St. George’s church are so high as they were raised to accommodate the huge number of bodies.

It is alleged that the church played an even more sinister role during this time, being the site where opportunistic looters of the dead and dying were taking if caught. It goes that, after being bound at the ankles and wrists, they would be dropped headfirst from St. George’s church onto the unforgiving ground below. Their bodies, whether dead or still alive, would then join the plague victims in the pits.

One of the largest plague pits in Norwich was dug beneath the site of the Samson and Hercules, which was for many years a nightclub under various names. Those that remember dancing the night away may not be aware that they were also dancing over the bodies of about 5000 plague victims! This uniquely grim feature, along with the close proximity to the Cathedral, may be the root cause of numerous tales of hauntings and disturbances in the building throughout the years. These include the apparition of a ‘Lady In Grey’ (perhaps the ghost of a young girl who apparently starved to death in Augustine Steward House next door (now an antique shop) after it was boarded up during the plague?), spectral monks, shadowy figures and, when the building was used as a YWCA, recurring nightmares for the residents of being buried alive in a huge pit full of dead bodies… 

The Maids Head has also been the location of reported sightings of an elderly lady dressed in grey (the same ‘Grey Lady’ as seen at the Samson & Hercules perhaps?). Staff and guests who have witnessed her move around the hotel, often accompanied by the scent of lavender, speculate that she was once a chambermaid employed by the hotel. The ghost of an elderly man – believed to be a former Mayor, has also been spotted vigorously shaking his head in the courtyard.

Ghosts and spirits are often awoken when refurbishment work is carried out on an old building, disturbing their peaceful rest. Note that both the former nightclub and the hotel have undergone repair and renovation in the recent past.

Other ghostly goings-on that have been reported in the ancient Tombland district include the ghost of a strangled girl, soldiers, rebels and the sound of the hooves of Oliver Cromwell’s slaughtered cavalry on a cold January night.   Perhaps it would take a brave soul to linger around Tombland late this Halloween…?

Other places to visit in Norwich.

What are the common marriage issues that couples go through? How come the relationship problems don’t stop even after you’ve said your vows of lifetime commitment towards each other? What are the problems that plague the marital union and how do women respond or adapt to it? Relationships will always be problematic. People say that it’s a way for the couples to grow and mature. An even greater amount of maturity and growth is required in the most complicated relationship of all: marriage.

Marriage is, ideally, a permanent union between the man and his wife. But more often than not, issues surrounding that union would lead couples into separations. What used to be simple breakups are now called by a name most feared by newlyweds: divorce. Although there are a lot of ways to counter the proliferation of common marriage issues, such as counseling and therapy, the best way to start facing the is by becoming aware of what they are. With awareness, one is able to identify the enemy and thereby prepare for battle. The same holds true for any marriage. Here are some of the issues that become problems for the happy married couple.

Money

In any relationship, power resides in the one with the higher earning capacity. The more money you have, the more powerful you are in the field of finances within the household. Historically, the man is perceived to be the provider. But common marriage issues to date now delve into this: the woman is now capable of earning just as much or even higher than her husband. A power struggle may ensue. The man, with his alpha male ego, will not be willing to be positioned under a woman when it comes to power and money. Other forms of the money problem in marriage would be the expenses: women may love to overspend and not handle the household budget properly. When a couple marries, their money is put into a common fund—what’s yours is mine, what’s mine is yours. But when you overspend what’s ours and leave none for me and the kids? Well, that certainly qualifies as cause for discussion.

Time

The honeymoon period is crucial. It can build a foundation for the couple and prepare them for the next challenge: family life. Once a married couple starts having children and building a family life, gone would be the dates of free-spirited dating and lovey-dovey romantic getaways. Time would have to be balanced between work and the children. Seldom would couples find enough time to reconnect and bond. Another one of the common marriage issues is the lack of time for physical intimacy. And as the couple grows apart physically, they do so emotionally as well.

Fidelity

With the onset of emotional separation, the lack of time for each other, some couples would separately turn to people they spend more of their time with: people at the work place, friends, etc. There arises now the issue of fidelity. Perhaps the biggest among the common marriage issues is this. The most serious problem that leads to couples seeking divorce is when the partner cheats. It is already very demanding of a person’s time and energy to sustain a home— finding out that your partner in life is copulating with someone else instead of nurturing that relationship with you—well that’s just adding fuel to the fire.

If you’re trying to make any sort of change in your life, to take your self or your business to a higher level, there’s a certain kind of person that you should avoid like the plague.

They’re the pessimists, the negative people who see life through glasses coloured with their own limiting beliefs and low self-esteem.

These are people who can never see the good side of things… who insist that someone or something is out to get them.

Who have so much self-loathing, that the only way they can feel good about themselves is by judging others. So little self-esteem that they end up pulling you down with them.

They don’t seem to understand that negativity and hate only breeds more of the same. And what you give out, you get back.

Some of them try to cover it up with arrogance, masquerading as over-confidence. I’ve met a few of these types, and I avoid them like the plague…

Why, you ask? Do I not want to help them?

Well, yes. I used to feel sorry for them, until I realised that you can only help someone who WANTS to be helped.

And the pessimists don’t want to be helped. Because there’s a payoff for their behaviour.

And that payoff is – not having to take responsibility for their lives. Not having to take action to drag themselves out of the morass of their mind.

So they continue being negative, pulling others down and feeling sorry for themselves.

They justify their negativity as being realistic. And continue to attract more of the same.

Then they wonder why they’re in the miserable situation they’re in.

And if you have someone like this in your life. Someone who always makes you feel worse, I’ll give you some very good advice.

Cut them off from your life! Right now!

Because like a blood-sucking leech, they will drain you of all the positive feelings you have and drag you down into their miserable little world.

And if you happen to be a pessimist, here’s some advice for you.

Change your attitude!

You can choose to think negative thoughts or positive thoughts. Guess which ones will help you grow?

You can choose to judge people or see the good in them. Guess which attitude will build better relationships?

You can choose to interpret life events in a way that disempowers you or one that empowers you. Guess which attitude will help you recover faster from tragedy?

You can choose to blame others or take responsibility for your life. Guess which attitude will help you take action and grow as a person?

Your attitude is a choice. Why not choose to make it a good one?

~Continued From Part 1~

Before long Athenian morale had fallen sharply. In an attempt to boost his peoples’ sagging spirits and restore the confidence they had lost, Pericles spoke about the City’s greatness during the annual “public funeral” that was held to honor her war dead.

“Our form of government does not enter into rivalry with the institutions of others. We do not copy our neighbors, but are an example to them. …we are called a democracy, for the administration is in the hands of the many and not the few,” the Athenian leader declared. “There is no exclusiveness in our public life… we are lovers of the beautiful, yet simple in our tastes, and we cultivate the mind without loss of manliness. Wealth we employ, not for talk and ostentation, but when there is a real use for it. To avow poverty with us is no disgrace; the true disgrace is in doing nothing to avoid it. An Athenian citizen does not neglect the state because he takes care of his own household; and even those of us who are engaged in business have a very fair idea of politics,” he added before addressing the courage of the City’s defenders who had fallen in battle. “Methinks that a death such as theirs… gives the true measure of a man’s worth; it may be the first revelation of his virtues… And when the moment came they were minded to resist and suffer, rather than to fly and save their lives; …on the battle-field their feet stood fast, and in an instant, at the height of their fortune, they passed away from the scene, not of their fear, but of their glory. Such was the end of these men; they were worthy of Athens.”[1]

Yet the epidemic was too great for Athenians to bear, which was made even worse by the hot summer as described by Diodorus Siculus – “the etesian winds… by which normally most of the heat in the summer is cooled failed to blow; and when the heat intensified and the air grew fiery, the bodies of the inhabitants, being without anything to cool them, wasted away.”[2]

Social order collapsed as many abandoned the dead along with their sick friends and family since “strong and weak constitutions proved equally incapable of resistance…”[3] To Thucydides, this was the worst part of the epidemic – “By far the most terrible feature in the malady was the dejection which ensured when any one felt himself sickening, for the despair into which they instantly fell took away their power of resistance, and left them a much easier prey to the disorder; besides which, there was the awful spectacle of men dying like sheep, though having caught the infection in nursing each other. …On the other hand, if they were afraid to visit each other, they perished from neglect; indeed many houses were emptied… for want of a nurse: on the other, if they ventured to do so, death was the consequence.”[4]

At the same time, as mentioned earlier, many suffering from the affects of the plague threw themselves into cisterns and water tanks – “…all the illnesses which prevailed at the time were found to be accompanied by fever, the cause of which was the excessive heat. And this was the reason why most of the sick threw themselves into the cisterns and springs in their craving to cool their bodies,”[5] Diodorus Siculus added. Some even amputated extremities such as fingers and toes in a desperate attempt to survive. “[N]umerous unburied bodies were left lying here and there.”[6]

Per Thucydides, “The bodies of dying men lay one upon another, and half-dead creatures reeled about the streets and gathered round all the fountains in their longing for water. The sacred places also in which they had quartered themselves were full of corpses… for as the disaster passed all bounds, men, not knowing what was to become of them, became utterly careless of everything… All burial rites before in use were entirely upset, and they buried the bodies as best they could… [Wood used for pyres, became scarce.] Sometimes getting the start of those who raised a pile, they threw their own dead body upon the stranger’s pyre and ignited it… Fear of the gods or law there was none to restrain them… No one expected to be brought to trial for his offenses, but each felt that a far severer sentence had been already passed upon all.”[7] Even beasts and birds of prey avoided the dead – “All the birds and beasts that prey upon human bodies, either abstained from touching them, or died after tasting them. In proof of this, it was noticed that birds of this kind actually disappeared; they were not about the bodies, or indeed to be seen at all,” Thucydides wrote.[8]

With no one certain that they would survive since it seemed like everyone regardless of the precautions they took, fell ill – “Athenians avoided each other but perished anyway,”[9] most ignoring the “moans of the dying”[10] as they “hastened to gratify their tastes, and abandoned themselves to the greatest moral depravity.”[11]

Per Thucydides, “Men now coolly ventured on what they had formerly done in a corner, and not just as they pleased, seeing the rapid transitions produced by persons in prosperity suddenly dying and those who before had nothing succeeding to their property. So they resolved to spend quickly and enjoy themselves, regarding their lives and riches as alike things of a day. Perseverance in what men called honor was popular with none, it was so uncertain whether they would be spared to attain the object; but it was settled that present enjoyment, and all that contributed to it, was both honorable and useful. Fear of gods or law of man there was none to restrain them. As for the first, they judged it to be just the same whether they worshipped them or not, as they saw all alike perishing; and for the last, no one expected to live to be brought to trial for his offenses, but each felt that a far severer sentence had been already passed upon them all and hung ever over their heads, and before this fell it was only reasonable to enjoy life a little.”[12]

At the same time, with 25% of the City’s population dead, the people turned on their leader. They blamed Pericles, whom they viewed as “the author of the war”[13] for the outbreak (because of his strategy of bringing everyone within the City’s walls even though he “had had no [viable] alternative… since it would have been suicidal to engage the larger and better-trained [Lacedæmonian] infantry”[14] in the Attica countryside) and even urged capitulating to Lacedæmonia’s demands. According to Diodorus Siculus, “Athenians, now that the trees of their countryside had been cut down (by the Lacedæmonians who ravaged their lands) and the plague was carrying off great numbers, were plunged into despondency and became angry with Pericles…”[15] This emboldened Pericles’ political opponents, Kleon, Simmias, and Lakratidas, to bring suit against him on frivolous grounds of “mismanagement of public funds.”[16]

When addressing the charges, Pericles spoke with determination, offering no apologies – “I was expecting this outburst of indignation; the causes of it are not unknown to me… I allow that for men who are in prosperity and free to choose it is great folly to make war. But when they must either submit and at once surrender independence, or strike and be free, then he who shuns and not he who meets the danger is deserving of blame. For my own part, I am the same man and stand where I did. But you are changed; for you have been driven by misfortune to recall the consent which you gave when you were yet unhurt, and to think that my advice was wrong because your own characters are weak… Anything which is sudden and unexpected and utterly beyond calculation, such a disaster for instance as this plague coming upon other misfortunes, enthralls the spirit of a man.” As he spoke to the Athenian Ecclesia, Pericles still urged courage and strength while appealing for understanding – “…being the citizens of a great city and educated in a temper of greatness, you should not succumb to calamities however overwhelming, or darken the luster of your fame… You must not be led away by the advice of such citizens as these [Pericles’ accusers], nor be angry with me; for the resolution in favor of war was your own as much as mine. What if the enemy has come and done what he was certain to do when you refused to yield? What too if the plague followed? That was an unexpected blow… I am well aware that your hatred of me is aggravated by it. But how unjustly…”[17]

By then the anger was so strong that Pericles’ defense fell on deaf ears. He was fined between 15 to 80 talents and removed from power. Afterwards per Telemachus Timayenis, Pericles “calmly submitted to this terrible trial, his physical nature now succumbed to the most frightful sufferings. The pestilence, which spared no one, carried away many of his best friends and many of his relatives, including [his first wife], his sister and his sons Xanthippus and Paralus. He who had so many times insisted upon courage and fortitude in his fellow citizens, and had shown himself worthy of his words, when he saw his dear son Paralus dead, and had drawn near in order to place a wreath on that beloved head, could not restrain himself, and, for the first time in his life, wept bitterly.”[18] He also held the same warm regard for his close circle of friends, whom he also mourned as they fell victim to the plague, demonstrating that “behind his almost icy reserve there was a warm and affectionate heart.”[19]

However, by September 430 B.C., Athenians had had a change of heart “overcome with remorse,”[20] especially when they “saw how much inferior were his successors.”[21] They elected Pericles, who had also begun to suffer from the affects of the plague back to his former office of “Strategos.” However, only the persuasion of his closest friends convinced Pericles to again “take the helm of affairs,” which he then used to gain the permission of Athenians to bypass the citizenship law he had enacted in 451 B.C. to grant his “illegitimate” son, whom he loved to his last breath, Athenian citizenship.[22] Pericles had requested an exception because this surviving son had been born to his mistress, a beautiful educated Milesian woman, Aspasia (470 B.C.-410 B.C.), who had defied the stereotype of the day by taking advantage of her non-Athenian status to become “a great writer… and philosopher.”[23]

Afterwards with Pericles back in charge, the war appeared to go well. The siege of Potidæa, triggered by a popular revolt against Athens came to an end in January 429 B.C. when the Athenian military allowed its inhabitants to depart for neighboring states. Athens laid siege to Platæa two months later (which ultimately surrendered in 427 B.C.) while Admiral Phormio brought the City a “remarkable victory” in the Corinthian Gulf, after engaging with only 20 ships against a Peloponnesian force that had almost three times that number as they attempted to “wrest Acarnania from the Athenian alliance.”[24] It also helped that in 429 B.C., Lacedæmonian forces, unlike in 430 B.C. and every year afterwards, refused to enter and ravage Attica because “the condition of the plague-stricken city made approach [too] dangerous.”[25]

By this time, Pericles’ devoted “service [to] his country was approaching its end”[26] as his life slowly wasted away from the affects of the fever he was suffering from the plague. “He was dying” in sorrow because his “house had been left desolate by the plague”[27] with the deaths of the aforementioned family members and many relatives.

Then as he lay dying, slipping in and out of consciousness, Pericles, according to an account by Mestrius Plutarchus known as “Plutarch” (c. A.D. 46-127), a Greek historian and biographer, “roused himself from the slumber… he had fallen” to scold his friends who spoke “of the victories that he had gained, the power that he had held, and his nobleness of character,” stating that “these were not his chief titles to fame.” He was proudest of Athens’ democratic system of government and a man who disliked all but necessary wars, held humanity in the highest esteem, and harbored a “complete absence of vindictiveness.”[28]

When he passed away at 64 in the autumn of 429 B.C., Pericles was the essence of Athens – a great statesman and general, “a man of action, a philosopher, [and] a lover of art” who had “lived an austere life” never “adopting the tactics of a demogogue,” so much so that in the words of Arthur Grant, “it may be doubted indeed whether any great popular leader ever had so little recourse to flattery.”[29]

Pericles’ death, though, did not bring an end to the plague. It lingered for another three years resulting in an incalculable loss of life, leaving tens of thousands dead. By the time the plague finally lifted in 426 B.C., a third of the Athenian population had perished and the Delian confederacy headed by Athens was crumbling, sparked by the Lacedæmonian capture of Lesbos in 428 B.C. that left Chios the last independent member of the Athenian alliance. Amidst the great loss of life and chaos, Athenian “women were temporarily liberated from the strict bounds of [the City’s] custom” so that they could perform vital functions previously carried out by men. A magistrate called “gynaikonomos” was appointed to supervise their activities.[30]

However, by this time, the very City that Pericles loved, was also nearing its end as “normal expectations were upset as distant relatives of the wealthy suddenly found themselves the possessors of unexpected fortunes, and the normal pool of aristocratic candidates for political office was swept away.”[31] Accordingly, despite the replenishment of Athens’ military by 415 B.C., the City lacked vision and competent leadership to bring victory. In August 405 B.C., Athens suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Lacedæmonian admiral Lysandros, who “captured most of [her] fleet’s triremes.” With the City’s fate sealed by this devastating loss, “Athens was forced to capitulate. Lysandros immediately tore down the Long Wall and the walls around Piræus”[32] before handing power over to a proxy government.

Yet, Pericles proved prophetic when he declared that the memory of Athens’ “glory will always survive.”[33] “So long as the literature of Greece calls forth admiration, and so long as the pillars of the Parthenon remain upon the Acropolis”[34] the spirit of Pericles and Athens lives as symbols of democracy and the Hellenic golden age.

While the history and devastating affects of the Athenian plague have been known for more than 2000 years, it was not until 1994 that the disease that consisted of headaches, conjunctivitis, a rash which covered the body, and fever” with victims suffering from extremely painful stomach cramps, coughing up blood “followed by vomiting and ‘ineffectual retching’”[35] could be retrospectively and thoroughly investigated. It was proven to be Typhoid based on DNA collected from the teeth of “at least 150 bodies, including those of infants” that had been piled hastily and haphazardly one on top of the other in a mass grave that also consisted of “a small number of [funery] vases” dating back to 430 to 429 B.C. “deep beneath Kerameikos cemetery.”[36]

When the mass grave consisting of close to 1000 tombs that may have held 240 bodies including those of ten children, that had been “randomly placed with no layers of soil between them,” was discovered during excavation work for a subway station, Efi Baziotopoulou-Valavani immediately knew that there was something different about it since it “did not have a monumental character. The offerings we found consisted of common, even cheap, burial vessels; black-finished ones, some small red-figured, as well as white lekythoi (oil flasks) of the second half of the fifth century B.C.,” she stated in describing the grave. “The bodies were placed in the pit within a day or two. These [factors] point to a mass burial in a state of panic, quite possibly due to a plague.”[37]

When conducting their tests, “Manolis Papagrigorakis and her colleagues at the University of Athens” selected “three random teeth samples… and extracted the pulp,” which “can store pathogens and other information about the body for centuries” and tested them for a range of bacteria – “bubonic plague, typhus, anthrax, tuberculosis, cowpox and catscratch disease before finding a match in Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi – the bacteria responsible for typhoid fever.” To guard against possible “false results,” the team also tested “two modern teeth” for the same pathogens.[38]

Based on the test results made possible by recent advances in technology, namely “molecular biology tools (DNA PCR and sequencing techniques) which can provide retrospective diagnoses”[39] and through historical accounts, especially by Thucydides and Diodorus Siculus, the mystery has been solved. “Typhoid fever – transmitted by contaminated food or water – [caused the] fever, rash and diarrhea” while the “quick onset” was due to the “possible evolution of typhoid fever over time.”[40]

[1] Thucydides: The Jowett Translation – Funeral Oration of Pericles. 27 July 2006. [http://www.classicpersuasion.org/pw/thucydides/thucydies-passages.php?pleaseget=2.35-46&passageid=Funeral_Oration_of_Pericles]

[2] David Noy. 9. Plagues. University of Wales, Lampeter, UK. 2002. 27 July 2006. [http://www.lampeter.ac.uk/~noy/Medicine9.htm]

[3] Carl J. Richard. Twelve Greeks And Romans Who Changed The World. (Barnes & Noble Publishing. New York. 2006) 90.

[4] Thucydides. The History of the Peloponnesian War. c. 400 B.C.

[5] David Noy. 9. Plagues. University of Wales, Lampeter, UK. 2002. 27 July 2006. [http://www.lampeter.ac.uk/~noy/Medicine9.htm]

[6] Telemachus T. Timayenis. A History of Greece from the Earliest Times to the Present. (D. Appleton & Co. 1883) 315.

[7] Carl J. Richard. Twelve Greeks And Romans Who Changed The World. (Barnes & Noble Publishing. New York. 2006) 90.

[8] Thucydides. The History of the Peloponnesian War. c. 400 B.C.

[9] Carl J. Richard. Twelve Greeks And Romans Who Changed The World. (Barnes & Noble Publishing. New York. 2006) 90.

[10] Thucydides. The History of the Peloponnesian War. c. 400 B.C.

[11] Telemachus T. Timayenis. A History of Greece from the Earliest Times to the Present. (D. Appleton & Co. 1883) 315.

[12] Thucydides. The History of the Peloponnesian War. c. 400 B.C.

[13] Arthur James Grant. Greece In The Age of Pericles. (John Murray. London, UK, 1893) 263.

[14] Carl J. Richard. Twelve Greeks And Romans Who Changed The World. (Barnes & Noble Publishing. New York. 2006) 91.

[15] David Noy. 9. Plagues. University of Wales, Lampeter, UK. 2002. 27 July 2006. [http://www.lampeter.ac.uk/~noy/Medicine9.htm]

[16] Telemachus T. Timayenis. A History of Greece from the Earliest Times to the Present. (D. Appleton & Co. 1883) 317.

[17] Thucydides: The Jowett Translation – Pericles To The Athenian Ecclesia II. 27 July 2006. [http://www.classicpersuasion.org/pw/thucydides/thucydies-passages.php?pleaseget=2.60-64&passageid=Pericles_To_The_Athenian_EcclesiaII]

[18] Telemachus T. Timayenis. A History of Greece from the Earliest Times to the Present. (D. Appleton & Co. 1883) 317.

[19] Arthur James Grant. Greece In The Age of Pericles. (John Murray. London, UK, 1893) 268.

[20] Carl J. Richard. Twelve Greeks And Romans Who Changed The World. (Barnes & Noble Publishing. New York. 2006) 91.

[21] Telemachus T. Timayenis. A History of Greece from the Earliest Times to the Present. (D. Appleton & Co. 1883) 317.

[22] Arthur James Grant. Greece In The Age of Pericles. (John Murray. London, UK, 1893) 266.

[23] Lisa Lewis and Robyn Yearby. Aspasia. The Woman Behind The Great Men of 5th Century B.C. 16 February 2000. 20 August 2006. [http://students.ou.edu/L/Lisa.A.Lewis-1/]

[24] Arthur James Grant. Greece In The Age of Pericles. (John Murray. London, UK, 1893) 264.

[25] Arthur James Grant. Greece In The Age of Pericles. (John Murray. London, UK, 1893) 270.

[26] Telemachus T. Timayenis. A History of Greece from the Earliest Times to the Present. (D. Appleton & Co. 1883) 317.

[27] Arthur James Grant. Greece In The Age of Pericles. (John Murray. London, UK, 1893) 266.

[28] Arthur James Grant. Greece In The Age of Pericles. (John Murray. London, UK, 1893) 266.

[29] Arthur James Grant. Greece In The Age of Pericles. (John Murray. London, UK, 1893) 268.

[30] Plague of Athens. Wikipedia.com. 18 July 2006. 22 July 2006. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plague_of_Athens

[31] Sayaret. The Plague in Athens During The Peloponnesian War. Jelsoft Enterprises, Ltd. 2006. 22 July 2006. http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/archive/index.php/t-28767.html

[32] Athens: The City Of Intellect And Democracy. Myth & History. (Toubi’s. Athens, Greece. 1997) 32.

[33] Thucydides: The Jowett Translation – Pericles To The Athenian Ecclesia II. 27 July 2006. [http://www.classicpersuasion.org/pw/thucydides/thucydies-passages.php?pleaseget=2.60-64&passageid=Pericles_To_The_Athenian_EcclesiaII]

[34] Arthur James Grant. Greece In The Age of Pericles. (John Murray. London, UK, 1893) 268.

[35] Christine A. Smith. Plague in the Ancient World: A Study from Thucydides to Justinian. 1997. 22 July 2006. [http://www.loyno.edu/~history/journal/1996-97/Smith.html]

[36] Ancient Athenian Plague Proves To Be Typhoid. Scientific American.com. 25 January 2006. 22 July 2006. [http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID-000BF619-9B78-13D6-9B7883414B7F0135] and Athenian Plague. Science.com. 22 November 1996. 22 July 2006. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/274/5291/1307a

[37] Nikos Axarlis. Plague Victims Found: Mass Burial In Athens. Archaeology.org. 15 April 1998. 20 August 2006. http://www.archaeology.org/online/news/kerameikos.html

[38] Ancient Athenian Plague Proves To Be Typhoid. Scientific American.com. 25 January 2006. 22 July 2006. [http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID-000BF619-9B78-13D6-9B7883414B7F0135]

[39] Secret of Ancient Athenian Plague Unraveled. National Vanguard.com. 25 January 2006. 22 July 2006. [http://www.nationalvanguard.org/story.php?id=7648]

[40] Ancient Athenian Plague Proves To Be Typhoid. Scientific American.com. 25 January 2006. 22 July 2006. [http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID-000BF619-9B78-13D6-9B7883414B7F0135]