Ancient World Review

The Mont-Saint-Michel Abbey

The Mont-Saint-Michel abbey has a long and complex history. "The island was originally called Mont-Tombe but became known as Mont-Saint-Michel in the 8th century, when St. Aubert, bishop of Avranches, built an oratory there after having a vision of the archangel St. Michael. It rapidly became a pilgrimage centre, and in 966 a Benedictine abbey was built there. In 1203 it was partly burned when King Philip II of France tried to capture the mount. He compensated the monks by paying for the construction of the monastery known as La Merveille ('The Wonder')." Source: Encyclopedia Britannica.

"The island, which was fortified in 1256, resisted sieges during the Hundred Years’ War between England and France (1337–1453) and the French Wars of Religion (1562–98). The monastery declined in the 18th century, and only seven monks were living there when it was dissolved during the French Revolution (1787–99). It became a state prison under Napoleon I (reigned 1804–14/15) and remained a prison until 1863. In 1874 it was classified as a historic monument and restored."

"Perched on a rocky islet in the midst of vast sandbanks exposed to powerful tides between Normandy and Brittany stand the 'Wonder of the West', a Gothic-style Benedictine abbey dedicated to the archangel St Michael, and the village that grew up in the shadow of its great walls. Built between the 11th and 16th centuries, the abbey is a technical and artistic tour de force, having had to adapt to the problems posed by this unique natural site." Source: UNESCO World Heritage List.

The design of the abbey and surrounding architecture reflects the "the structural hierarchy of feudal society,"  according to Five-Minute History. "On top, there is God, then the abbey and monastery; below this, the Great halls, then stores and housing, and at the bottom, outside the walls, the fishermen's and farmers’ housing."

Mont Saint-Michel was evacuated this weekend following a nebulous threat that was probably a false alarm. According to Reuters, "French authorities said they would reopen [the site] on Sunday [4/22/18] after calling off an alert caused by a man threatening the police." At this point, it's unclear what happened (if anything), but "[t]he local government earlier evacuated the major tourist attraction after a local bar owner heard the man uttering threats at the site in the northwestern region of Normandy." According to the Daily Mail, the man got off a tourist shuttle and was apparently trying to start some kind of street performance when he got into an argument with a passer-by and lost his temper, triggering an anti-terror operation that stood down after a few hours.

Thanks to the French government's moronic and self-destructive immigration policies, sites like Mont Saint-Michel with their crowds of tourists have become prime targets for terrorists and have to be guarded by armed police and soldiers. In the case of this iconic abbey, the new security measures were put into effect just last year:

"Mont Saint-Michel, one of France's most popular tourist destinations, is set to have an armed police presence from December this year [2017] in response to the threat of potential terror attacks." Source: The Local (Sept. 2017).

"Visitors to tourist attractions in Paris are used to the site of armed soldiers and police and the same will soon be true for those visiting Mont Saint-Michel off the coast off Normandy."

Building The Great Cathedrals

"The constructive characteristics of the Gothic style are unique in the history of Architecture. Gothic cathedrals pushed structure to the limit -- soaring cross-vaulting, pointed arches (1), hollow walls and piers covered with tracery -- and used the arch as an external brace, the flying buttress, to form one of the most beautiful stylistic elements of the Gothic style." Source: Mathematical Models of Gothic Structures (PDF).

(1) The pointed arch was likely borrowed from the Islamic architecture of Spain.

"The style represented giant steps away from the previous, relatively basic building systems that had prevailed. The Gothic grew out of the Romanesque architectural style, when both prosperity and relative peace allowed for several centuries of cultural development and great building schemes. From roughly 1000 to 1400, several significant cathedrals and churches were built, particularly in Britain and France, offering architects and masons a chance to work out ever more complex and daring designs." -- "Gothic Architecture: An Introduction," the Khan Academy.

Gargoyles On Gothic Cathedrals

"In addition to religious figures, many Gothic cathedrals are heavily ornamented with strange, leering creatures. These gargoyles are not merely decorative. Originally, the sculptures were waterspouts to protect the foundation from rain. Since most people in Medieval days could not read, the carvings took on the important role of illustrating lessons from the scriptures." Source: Thought Company.

According to Medievalists.net, "[The word 'gargoyles'] in its most technical [sense] refer[s] to waterspouts projecting from the roof of the Cathedrals. These beasts spray rain from their mouths off of the side of the roof, protecting the stones from water erosion," and would sometimes drench people as they entered the cathedrals. As far as I can tell, the only difference between the gargoyles and grotesques found in Gothic cathedral architecture is that the grotesques didn't serve as waterspouts.

Besides being important for water drainage, the gargoyles (and apparently the grotesques as well) were supposedly meant to scare away demons. In other words, they were a form of Christian superstition and warding-off magic. As a result, some believe that these weird sculptures prove the connection between the Catholic Church and Satanism and other occult practices. One Christian writer, for example, questions why demons would be frightened off by statues of demons -- a pretty good question, now that I think about it.

Gargoyles are normally associated with Christian cathedrals, but they have deep roots in the pagan world. According to the Washington National Cathedral's website, "Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Etruscans, and Romans all employed animal-shaped waterspouts, but the ancestors of the American gargoyles are thought to date back to the 12th century. St. Bernard once disapprovingly wrote, 'What is the meaning of these unclean monkeys, these savage lions, and monstrous creatures?' Gargoyles caught on anyway."

Related: "The Gargoyles of Chile," Mysterious Universe.

Beaumaris Castle - The Gateway To Medieval Ireland

"Beaumaris Castle lays near the coast and is much larger than other Edwardian castles. Although it has concentric walls, the gates of the outer wall are set out of line with those of the inner wall so that if they should fall, the aggressor would not have direct access to the inner gate. Two powerful gatehouses n the north and south walls give access to the castle, which is surrounded by a wet moat and includes a dock linked to the sea. In addition to the four projecting drum towers in the corners ... Beaumaris has one tower in the center of the two walls without gatehouses. The lower outer wall, which was not added until 1316, includes numerous small projecting towers. Beaumaris was never completed because trouble in Scotland diverted King Edward's attention and funds and it did not face a siege until the English Civil War." -- The Medieval Fortress, Kaufmann & Kaufmann, p. 203.

"This is undoubtedly the ultimate 'concentric' castle, built with an almost geometric symmetry," according to Castles of Wales.

"Beaumaris is the last of the castles built by Edward I during and after his conquest of Wales," according to Castles of the World. "Its design, by Master James of St George, is almost perfectly concentric. It cost nearly [15,000 pounds?]; it took over 35 years to build, and even then was not completed. At one time over 3500 people were working on it, which is thought to be about 1 in 1000 of the total population of England and Wales at the time (1295). It was considered impregnable, but this was never put to the test. No shot appears to have been fired at Beaumaris in anger. And within 20 years of the last, but unfinished, building operations (c.1330), the castle was reported to be deteriorating: most of the timberwork was in decay and some stonework was dilapidated."

The Viking Castle of Peel

Tour of the castle begins at 2:24.

"[The castle in Peel on the Isle of Man] was built in the 11th century by the Vikings, under the rule of King Magnus Barefoot. While there were older stone Celtic monastic buildings on the island, the first Viking fortifications were built of wood. The prominent round tower was originally part of the Celtic monastery, but had battlements added at a later date. In the early 14th century, the majority of the walls and towers were built primarily from local red sandstone, which is found abundantly in the area. After the rule of the Vikings, the castle continued to be used by the Church due to the cathedral built there – the see of the diocese of Sodor and Man – but was eventually abandoned in the 18th century." Source: Wikipedia.

Related: The Ruined Cathedral of St. German, Peel, Isle of Man.

Are The Castles In Game Of Thrones Realistic?

Off the top of my head, the most realistic castle I remember seeing in any movie or TV show was the one in Ironclad. Great flick. Highly recommended, especially for James Purefoy fans.

The Maiden Castle Iron Age Hill Fort

Notes: "Among the largest and most complex of Iron Age hillforts in Europe, Maiden Castle’s huge multiple ramparts once protected several hundred residents. Excavations in the 1930s and 1980s revealed the site's 4,000-year history, from a Neolithic causewayed enclosure to a small Roman temple built on the site in the fourth century AD. They also produced evidence of an extensive late Iron Age cemetery, where many of the burials had suffered horrific injuries in attacks or skirmishes." Source: English Heritage. (A nice timeline of the hill fort's development over the years can be found here).

"It is thought that the construction of Maiden Castle began around 3000 BC and flint tools and other objects dating from that time have been found," according to Historic UK. "The late Stone Age/ early Bronze Age people who lived there built a massive ditch and bank some 545 metres in length. There are Bronze Age burial mounds on the right hand end of the castle."

Roman conquest: The Maiden Castle hillfort was taken by the future Roman emperor Vespasian (founder of the Flavian dynasty) in the invasion of 43 AD. At the time, the fort was inhabited by a Celtic people -- the Durotriges tribe.

According to the Oxford Classical Dictionary (3rd ed. revised), the Durotriges "were a British tribe in Dorset and surrounding areas. They offered heavy resistance to the Roman advance by Legio II Augustus, commanded by Vespasian. These campaigns suggest a decentralized social organization during the Iron Age."

The Romans built a temple -- possibly to Minerva -- at the hillfort, which was later abandoned. It may have been occupied by the Saxons at some point, but it probably lay deserted for over a thousand years.

Hill Forts In Britain: Swords, Skulls and Strongholds

"The countryside of the British Isles is dotted with hill forts, earthworks usually on top of hills that were used in the first millennium B.C. by Bronze and Iron Age Britons. While some of the hill forts are tourist attractions, most of them are tucked away on mountainsides, in agricultural fields or other out-of-the-way places. Now, an impressive new online atlas reveals the location of more than 4,000 of them, reports Steven Morris at The Guardian." Source: The Smithsonian (2017).

The City Of Nan Modal On Pohnpei Island

"Nan Madol is an archaeological site adjacent to the eastern shore of the island of Pohnpei [in Micronesia]," according to Wikipedia. "...Nan Madol was the ceremonial and political seat of the Saudeleur Dynasty, which united Pohnpei's estimated 25,000 people until about 1628. Set apart between the main island of Pohnpei and Temwen Island, it was a scene of human activity as early as the first or second century AD. By the 8th or 9th century, islet construction had started, with construction of the distinctive megalithic architecture beginning 1180–1200 AD ... The earliest settlers on the island were probably Lapita culture people from the Southeast Solomon islands or the Vanuatu archipelago."

"Off the coast of a remote Micronesian island lay the ruins of a once-great city of man-made stone islands that inspired the city of R’lyeh in H. P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos." Source: Atlas Obscura. (1)

"Impressive in their own right, these ruins represent the remains of megalithic architecture on an unparalleled scale in Micronesia ... Evidence of the earliest human activity dates back to the first or second century BC. The construction of artificial islets started probably about 8th and 9th century AD. However, the megalithic structures were built in period of 12th to 13th century, about the same time as the stone construction of the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, or Angkor Wat in Cambodia."

(1) I have no idea how accurate the Lovecraft connection is here. According to Wikipedia, "the Polish ethnographer and oceanographer Jan Kubary (1846–1896) made the first detailed description of Nan Madol in 1874," so Lovecraft (1890 - 1937), a fanatical antiquarian, could easily have been aware of the site. In his classic story The Call of Cthulhu, the sunken city of R'lyeh is located in the southern Pacific, though at different coordinates.

Cities Of The Sea And Wind

"Tripolitania [was the] name given to an area of western Libya containing the three cities of Sabratha, Oea [modern Tripoli], and Lepcis ('Tripolis') and their hinterlands (1). Founded as Phoenician or at least Punic [Carthaginian] emporia [trading places], they provided sheltered harbors on an otherwise inhospitable shore, but owed their importance largely to trans-Saharan trade and the considerable olive-oil production of their hinterlands." Source: Oxford Classical Dictionary (OCD, 3rd ed. revised).

(1) Sabratha and Oea were founded by the Phoenicians, Sabratha around 500 BC, Oea around 700 BC. Lepcis, later known as Leptis Magna, was founded by the Berbers and Carthaginians in the 7th century BC. All three cities were later incorporated into the Roman empire as part of the province of Africa. The cities were part of Tripolis, a district of ancient Tripolitania.

Tripolitania was subject to Carthage until the Carthaginians were defeated by the Romans in the Punic Wars. After that, the area was "in theory subject to the Numidian kings until the Jugurthine War," according to the OCD. The Roman province of Tripolitania, created by the Roman emperor Diocletian, "fell to the Vandals in 455 and was recovered by the Byzantines in 533." The city of Sabratha disappeared during the Arab invasions of the region (643-4 AD).

The Roman ruins at Leptis Magna are really spectacular.

"The exceptionally well-preserved ruins of Lepcis [Leptis Magna], excavated since 1920, include -- apart from the Severan buildings -- the Augustan forum, theater, and market, the amphitheater and adjacent circus, and the Hadrianic baths. The small but virtually intact 'Hunting Baths,' [see below] so named from a venatio fresco in its frigidarium, are of great interest; several rich villae maritimae [seaside villas?] are known in its hinterland." (OCD)

The Hunting Baths at Leptis Magna are particularly interesting because they were apparently built for the private use of a guild of wild-beast hunters whose job was to provide African animals to the amphitheaters in Italy.

Comment: Given a choice between living in modern Libya and the Roman province of Tripolitania, I'd pick Tripolitania without hesitation despite its turbulent history. Modern Libya has been almost completely destroyed, thanks to the idiotic policies of the Obama Administration, particularly the evil witch Hillary Clinton., and cities like Sabratha have been overrun by "refugees" trying to reach Europe. We were told that the overthrow of Kaddafi was necessary to "free the people;" instead, the Obama Administration with its mindboggling incompetence set off a chain of chaotic events that turned Libya into a slave-market hell and threatens to completely destroy western Europe.

Related: The Augustan Theater and the Hadrianic Baths at Leptis Magna

Cities in the Sand: The Town of Letis Magna