Nat Geo History - Hellraiser.pdf

HELLRAISER THE HI THE HIDE DEOU OUS S HISTORY OF SATAN ZARATHUSTRA

FIERY PROPHET OF PERSIA

HIDE AND SEEK

ANCIEN ANCI ENT T MA MAY YA CITIES EXPOSED

UNSOLVED MYSTERY

THE BLOODY CASE OF JACK THE RIPPER PLUS:

House of Wax

Mada me Tuss Madame ussaud’ aud’ss Revolutionary Origins

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018

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FROM THE EDITOR

M U B L A / Z O N O R O

If you close your eyes and imagine evil, what do you see? A scarlet man with horns and a pitchfork? A pair of glowing eyes glaring in the dark? A dark force thriving on fear and pain? Evil has many incarnations, and in this issue, HISTORY explores two of them—one spiritual and the other physical. physical. The first article delves into medieval medieval Christian art to show how the devil’s appearance evolved over centuries from fallen angel to horned monster,, like the one shown above in this monster thi s 15th-century Spanish altarpiece. In many of these artworks, evil is vividly rendered as an ugly, slavering slav ering beast awaiting sinful souls to punish in hell. In the story of Jack the Ripper, evil is a mystery man: predatory, anonymous, and elusive. Dwelling in the shadow shadows, s, it inflicts horror on the living. Unidentified, it can’t be sketched or photographed. photographed. The only prooff of its existenc proo existencee are the brutalized bodies of its victims, killed in one short season in 1888. Unlike the garish, medieval images of the devil, Jack the Ripper lived in the dark: unshackled and unpunished— an evil defined by both its phy physical sical absence and malevo malevolent lent presence.

Amy Briggs, Executive Editor

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY

1

HELLRAISER THE HIDEOUS HISTORYOF SATAN ZARATHUSTRA FIERYPROPHET OFPERSIA

HIDE AND SEEK

ANCIENTMAYA CITIESEXPOSED

UNSOLVED MYSTERY

EXECUTIVE EDITOR AMY

E. BRIGGS

Deputy Editor VICTOR LLORET BLACKBURN PURCELL Editorial Coordinator and Te Text xt Editor JULIUS PURCELL Editorial Consultants JOSEP MARIA CASALS (Managing Editor, Historia magazine), IÑAKI DE LA FUENTE (Art Director, Historia magazine) Design Editor FRANCISCO ORDUÑA Photography Editor MERITXELL CASANOVAS

THEBLOODYCASE OFJACK THERIPPER PLUS:

House of Wax

Madame Tussaud’s Revolutionary Origins

Contributors

LUCAS AZNAR MILES, JOHN BARRASS, IRENE BERMAN-VAPORIS, MARC BRIAN DUCKETT, SARAH PRESANT-COLLINS, NICHOLAS SHRADY, THEODORE A. SICKLEY, JANE SUNDERLAND VICE PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER JOHN

MACKETHAN

ORONOZ/ALBUM

Publishing Directors

YULIA P. BOYLE AMY KOLCZAK LISA THOMAS

senior vice president, national geographic partners

deputy managing editor, national geographic magazine publisher, national geographic books

Advertising ROB BYRNES Consumer Marketing and Planning RICHARD BROWN, PAULA COMMODORE,

SUSAN DIDONATO, DIDONATO, SUZANNE MACKAY, MACKAY, MATT MOORE, CHRISTINA OLNEY, OLNEY, TRAVIS PRICE, ROCCO RUGGIERI, MARK VIOLA Production Services JAMES Customer Service SCOTT

ANDERSON, JULIE IBINSON, ANDERSON, IBINSON, KRISTIN KRISTIN SEMENIUK

ARONSON, TRACY PELT

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MANAGING DIRECTORS ANA RODRIGO, MARI CARMEN CORONAS EDITORIAL DIRECTOR AUREA DÍAZ INTERNATIONAL EXECUTIVE EDITOR SOLEDAD LORENZO EDITORIAL COORDINATOR MONICA ARTIGAS MARKETING DIRECTOR BERTA CASTELLET CREATIVE DIRECTOR JORDINA SALVANY GENERAL DIRECTOR OF PLANNING AND CONTROL IGNACIO LÓPEZ

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VOL. 4 NO. 4

MAYA MAJESTY

Frederick Catherwood’s Catherwood’s detailed illustrations, like this one of Chichén Itzá, revealed the sophistication of Maya architecture and civilization.

Features Feat ures

Departme Depa rtments nts

1 8 Th The e Fl Flam ames es of Za Zara rath thus ustra tra Thousan Thou sands ds of ye year arss ago agoin in an ancie cient nt Ir Iran an,, a mon monot othei heist stic ic fa fait ith h wa wass bo born, rn,ta taugh ughtt by a man call called ed Zar Zarathus athustra. tra. Kno Known wn toda todayy as Zor Zoroastri oastrianism, anism, the reli religion gion flour flo uris ishe hed d an and d gr grew ew to ha have ve a pr prof ofou ound nd im impa pact ct on th thee wo worl rld’ d’ss gr grea eatt fa fait iths hs..

30 M Mur urde derr an and d th the e Ma Mace cedo dons ns By 330 B.C. Per ersi siaa be belo long nged ed to Al Ale exa xand nder er th the e Gr Grea eat, t, an and d In Indi diaa was ne next xt on his lis list. t. Yet at the pea peak k of po powe werr, Ale Alexa xande nder’ r’ss inn inner er cir circle cle was aw awash ash wit with h consp co nspir irac acy y, re reve veali aling ng the vul vulner nerabi abilit lity y and cru cruelt elty y of the Mac Macedo edon n men men..

42 How the the Devi vill Go Gott Hi Hiss Horn rnss Europe Eur opean an artis artists ts in the Mid Middl dle e Ag Ages es ca capt ptur ured ed a met metamo amorph rphosi osiss of ev evil il in the Christ Chr istian ian fa faith ith,, as the de devil vil tr trans ansfor forme med d fr from om fal fallen len ang angel el to hor horrif rific ic be beas ast. t.

uriied Se Secr cre ets of th the e Maya 56 Bur Beneath Benea th the jun jungle gle vin vines es of Ce Centr ntral al Ame Americ rica, a, tw two o 19th-cen 19t h-centur tury y exp explor lorers ers sear searched ched for—a for—and nd foun found— d— — vibrant, vibr ant, com comple plex x com communi munities ties bui built lt by the May Maya. a.

74 Th The e Mys Mystter ery y of Jac ack k th the e Ri Rip ppe perr In 188 1888 8 the the brut brutal al mur murder derss of se seve verral wo women menin in the Whitech Whit echape apell dis distric trictt of Lon London donbaf baffled fledpoli police ceand and obsessed obses sed the pres press. s. Inv Investig estigations ationscontin continued ued for mor more e than tha n a cen centur tury y, but butno no sle sleuth uthhas hascr crack acked ed the theca case seye yet. t.

LONDON’S ILLUSTRATED POLICE NEWS SENSATIONALIZED

THE LATEST THEORIES AND SUSPECTS IN THE RIPPER CASE.

4 NEWS

Archaeolo Archa eologis gists ts fou found nd mor moree than tha n 14 140 0 ch childr ildren en’’s sk skelet eletons ons in a gr ina grou oup p bur burial ialdat dating ingto to15t 15th-c h-cent enturyPeru uryPeru,, the th e lar large gest st ma mass sschi child ld sac sacrif rifice iceev ever erfo found und.. 6 PROFILES

The Frenc rench h Rev Revolution olution gave ga ve Ma Mari riee Tu Tuss ssau aud d bo both th the ar the arti tist stic ic ta talen lents ts an and d su surv rviv ival al sk skil ills ls to found fou nd her wax waxwor works ks empi empire re.. 10 MAPP MAPPING ING THE PA PAST ST

Carved Carve d in mar marble ble,, Ro Rome me’’s third-cen third -century tury “F “Forma orma Urbis rbis”” detaile detai led d th the e ci city ty fr from om its gr gran ande dest st monume mon uments nts to its hum humble blest st sho shops. ps. 14 DAI DAIL LY LIFE

Suffer Suff erer erss of St St.. An Anth thon ony’ y’ss fi fire re writhe wri w thed d in ag agon ony y, bel believ ieving ing theirr ma thei mala lady dy wa wass of di divi vine ne or orig igin in,, bu butt th the e caus ca use e tu turn rned ed ou outt to be mo more re mu mund ndan ane. e. 90 DISCOVERIES 9

IIn 190 1908 8 stu stunni nning ng scu sculptu lptures res of Me o Menk nkau aure re fo foun und d ne near ar th thee base ba b se of hi hiss py pyra rami mid d at Giz Giza a gr gran anted ted art artist istic ic insi nsight ghtint into o Egy Egypt’ pt’s Old Kin Kingd gdom. om.

NEWS

RECOVERING THE DEAD

The remains of the ritually murdered children are carefully uncovered uncover ed at Las Llamas near the ancient city of Chan Chan on Peru’s northern coast. GABRIEL PRIETO/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

RCHAEOLOGY

ma o

Huanc aqui o Chan Ch P A C I F I C O CE A N

n coa coasta stall Peru erua a tea team m of ar archa chaeol eologi ogists sts ha have ve unc uncov over ered ed his histor tory’ y’ss larg la rges estt ma mass ss ch chilild d sa sacr crif ific ice, e, wh whic ich h to took ok pl plac ace e mo more reth than an 50 500 0 ye year arss ag ago. o.

10 10 km

BUILT near the mouth

of the Moche River River,, Chan Chan grew on the back of Chimú agricultural dominance. In its early 15th-century heyday,, the city was heyday a powerhouse of metalworking and envied for its wealth.

4 SEPTEMBER/O SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER CTOBER 2018

A

rchaeologistsfromthe Unit Un ited ed St Stat ates es an and d Peru ha hav ve unc unco ove re re d t he he s in in gl gl e, e, larrge la gest st ac actt of ma mass ss ch chil ild d sa saccrifice rifi ce foun found d to todat date. e. AteamledbyGabrielPrieto of the Uni Unive vers rsidad idad Nacio Nacional nal deTrujillo,andJohnVeranoof TulaneUniversity,Louisiana, disc di sco ove verred a ma mass ss gr grav avee in

northernPeruonabluffabout a th thou ousa sand nd fe feet et fr from om th thee se sea. a. TheburialsiteHuanchaquitoLas Lla Llamas mas,, dub dubbed“Las bed“Las Lla Lla-mas”by ar archaeo chaeologi logists sts,, hold holdss the rema emains insof of mor moree tha than n 14 140 0 child chi ldrren en,, th thee ma majo jori rity ty be be-twee tw een n eig eight ht an and d 12 yea earrs ol old. d. Also Als o fo found und we werre the re remai mains ns of 200 bab baby y llama llamas, s, sacr sacrific ificed ed alongsi alon gside de the child childre ren. n.

Supported by grants from the National Geographic Society,, the archaeologists Society noted that the skeletons bore injuries consistent consistent with human sacrifice: “It “It is ritual killing, and it’s i t’s very systematic,” systematic,” Verano said. The team had been excavating a temple near the ancient coastal site of Chan Chan in

LIVES FOR THE GODS has been recorded in the Aztec, Maya, and Inca cultures, but the rite more typically involved the deaths of adults. Child sacrifice seems to have been much rarer. Before the Las Llamas find, the largest known incident had been at the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, where 42 children were killed. As in this, and in cases of individual child murder at Inca sites, the violence at Las Llamas was highly ritualized. The children’s faces were daubed with a red, cinnabarbased pigment, traces of which were found on their skulls. Their sternums and ribs also bear the marks of a quick, deliberate strike, most likely a deep cut across the chest. HUMAN SACRIFICE

ABOVE RIGHT: 1 CEREMONIAL KNIFE FROM A

CONTEMPORANEOUS PRE-COLUMBIAN SOCIETY (MUSEO ORO DEL PERÚ). BELOW (FOUND AT LAS LLAMAS): 2 SKULL STAINED RED WITH CINNABAR. 3 SEVERED STERNUM. 4 HUMAN RIB BEARING CLEAR SIGNS OF TRAUMA

1

TOP: ORONOZ/ALBUM BOTTOM: JOHN VERANO/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

GABRIEL PRIETO/NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

2

Peru when residents of nearby Huanchaquito reported finding skeletons in the sand. The team explored the site and began a dig there that would last for several years as they studied and recovered the remains. Angry Gods The killings were carried out more than 500 years ago by the wealthy pre-Columbian Chimú civilization. Their capital sat near the mouth of the Moche River and was home to as many as 40,000 people. A muddy layer of soil extends across the site and an d offers intriguing clues about the sacrifices. The researchers concluded that the children

met their fate at the same time because their bodies were all found in this th is layer. layer. It may also offer an insight into motivation. The presence of mud in such an arid environment suggests an unusual amount of heavy rainfall, perhaps caused by the meteorological phenomenon known as El Niño. Prieto and Verano have theorized that the wet weather caused flooding that damaged irrigation and hurt fisheries, which prompted priests to make extreme gestures to appease angry gods. If so, this desperate act was in vain: Around 1475 the Inca would sweep away away what was left le ft of the Chimú civilization.

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PROFILES

Madame Tussauds: The House That Wax Built After surviving the horrors of the French Revolution, Marie Tussaud combined her talent for sculpture and her life experience to create unforgettable wax figures. Her works would captivate Britain and go on to form the core of an empire of museums.

A Life in Figures 1761 Marie Grosholtz is born in Strasbourg, France. She grows up in the Bern home of her mother’s employer, the doctor and sculptor Philippe Curtius.

1765 Curtius moves to Paris, and young Marie and her mother will follow two years later. There he will teach the girl to create lifelike waxworks.

1789 The French Revolution breaks out, and and Marie is accused of being a royalist. To escape execution, she sculpts scul pts wax deat death h mask masks. s.

1794 Curtius dies, and Marie inheritshis waxworks. waxworks.A A ye r later, she marries François Tussaud. Despite Despite beingin being in an unhappy marriage, th couplehave cou plehave twosons.

1802 Leaving France, Madam m Tussaud travels to Brita and gains fame fame with he waxworks. She will nev again return to France.

P

aris seethed with tension in the summer of 1789 as crisis engulfed France. Gripped with revolutionary fervor, the people were clamoring for a greater say in their government. In July outrage grew after King Louis XVI fired his reform-minded finance minister, Jacques Necker. A huge crowd of revolutionaries took to the streets of the capital, waving black flags and mimicking a funeral cortège. They bore wax effigies of both Necker and the pro-democracy prince, the Duke of Orléans. Taken from the collection of a well-known waxwork waxwork artist, these likenesses may have been sculpted by his apprentice, Marie Grosholtz Grosholtz,, who would become better known by her married name: Madame Tussaud. Yearslater, Marie sculpted sculpted a new coli n of rksinspired rks inspired by the horrs of th thee Fr Fren en Revolution that she d wit witnes nesse sed. d. T ese figures captured e pub public lic ima imagi gi ation and became the undation undat ion of empire. Blending the mous wi with e grotesque, today Madame Tussa s wax muse museums ums can be und un d in ci citi ties es around the world, inspirin spi ringg the sa fascination of seeing rities rendered in wax they did in England in he 19th century. century.

Molding of Madame Much of what is known of Madame TusTus saud’s early life comes from her memoirs, which she dictated to a friend, Francis Hervé, when she was in her late 70s. The work is full of colorful details and anecdotes, some of which were never verified. Tussaud was very conscious of her image, which she carefully cultivated over the years, and may have embellished. Hervé generously attributed this tendency to her advanced age which led to “recollections [that] must sometimes be in a degree confused and impaired.” Madame Tussaud was born Marie Grosholtz in Strasbourg, eastern France, in 1761, months after her father was killed in the Seven Years’ War. Her early childhood was spent in the Swiss city of Bern, where her mother worked as housekeeper to the anatomist and wax modeler Dr. Philippe Curtius. Having abandoned medicine to pursue his art full time, Curtius moved to Paris in 1765, and two years later, little Marie and her mother joined him. In the absence of a father, Curtius acted as guardian to the little girl, and she regarded him like an uncle. Curtius’s waxworks had built a considerable considerab le following, and his first exhibition in 1770 grew so successful that it was moved to the royal palace in 1776.

In her memoir Tussaud wrote that during the Reign of Terror her head was shaved sha ved in preparation for the guillotine. A FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY HOISTS HOISTS A WAX BUST BELIEVED TO HAVE BEEN SCULPTED BY MARIE

TUSSAUD IN THIS DETAIL FROM A LATE 18TH-CENTURY GOUACHE. CARNAVALET MUSEUM, PARIS JOSSE/SCALA, FLORENCE

6 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018

AN EARLY IMPRESSION of Marie Grosholtz was fashioned by her mentor, Dr. Philippe Curtius, in 1784. The future Madame Tussaud was in her early 20s when she was in residence at Versailles. According to her memoirs, her skills had earned her a position tutoring members of the French royal family. Her placid expression and regal dress give no hint of the terrors to come after 1789 when the French Revolution broke out. Witnessing the horrors of the day would give her the toughness and the subject matter that formed the foundation of her later success. THIS WAXWORK

ELGAR COLLECTION/BRIDGEMAN/ACI

Curtius taught Marie how to make wax sculptures. She was 15 or 16 when she created her first figure, a likeness of the philosopher Voltaire. She followed it with waxworks of other famous figures, such as the Romantic philosopher Jean Jacque Jac quess Rou Rousse sseau, au, who wou would ld ins inspir piree the leaders of the French Revolution, and the American patriot Benjamin Franklin. She later wrote in her memoirs how both were regular guests at Curtius’s Paris home. In 1782 Curtius unveiled a second exhibition of celebrity busts on the Boulevard du Temple. It included a Caverne des

Grands Voleurs (Cavern of the Great Thieves), featuring sculptures of criminals, some whose corpses were delivered to Curtius following execution so that he could capture their likenesses. An observant student, Marie would later use this idea for her own Chamber of Horrors. Keeping Her Head In her memoirs Madame Tussaud recounted how, around 1780, she became a favorite at the palace of Versailles and taught modeling to Madame Elizabeth, the king’s sister. When revolution broke

out in 1789, Marie and her mentor, both accused of having monarchist sympathies, found themselves in danger. Curtius, as a good businessman, knew that the best way to survive was to adapt his waxwork collection to the quickly changing times. Revolutionary leaders and those sent to the guillotine became the new stars of his gallery. Marie recalled how during the Reign of Terror that lasted from the fall of 1793 to the summer of 1794, she was arrested, together with Joséphine de Beauharnais, the future wife of Napoleon. She went as NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY

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PROFILES

A MODEL FAMILY was strong in Tussaud’s Tussaud’s family, and her successors turned the museum into a lucrative family business. Even after it was no longer in the family’s hands, Tussaud’s great-grandson, John Theodore Tussaud, was museum manager until the 1940s. He wrote a biography of his greatgrandmother and was a respected modeler in his own right, sculpting busts of contemcontemporary figures, like Christabel Pankhurst (left), a suffragette imprisoned in the early 1900s.

MARIE PREPARES a death

mask from a severed head during the Reign of Terror. Madame Tussauds, London GRANGER/AURIMAGES

THE SCULPTING GENE

AGE FOTOSTOCK

far as having her head shaved in preparation for execution. In return for clemency, both she and Curtius are said to have taken on a gruesome task—sculpting task—sculpting death masks of the executed. There is, in fact, little evidence outside Tussaud’s own account that she directly sculpted masks of the freshly guillotined king or the assassinated revolutionary revolutionary leader Jean-Paul Marat, although models of these figures did find their way into Curtius’s collection. Despite the uncertainty, the notion of Tussaud undertaking such grisly work became one of the most famous aspects of her life story. As the English poet Hilaire Belloc wrote with wonder: “The hand that modeled Marat was a hand of Marat’s age. It touched the flesh of the dead man.”

waxwork museums. A year later Marie married François Tussaud, an engineer, and later had two sons, Joseph in 1798 and François in 1800. The marriage grew strained, and times were hard, and Tussaud’s waxworks business was almost ruined by the ravages of revolution. The Madame Tussauds empire might well have never begun had she not met the German illusionist Paul Philidor. A pioneer in the use of the “magic lantern,” which projected colored slides of ghosts and ghouls, Philidor mounted elaborate spectacles known as phantasmagoria. The public was ripe for this kind of new sensory experience and clamored for more. Philidor suggested to Tussaud that they combine his projections with her wax figures to create a joint show for the Lyceum Theater in London. She agreed, Fame and an d Fortun Fortune e Philippe Curtius died in September and in 1802 traveled to England, to try her 1794 and left Marie the sole heir of his luck in a land untouched by turmoil. She 8 SEPTEMBER/O SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER CTOBER 2018

was, however, disappointed with the show, complaining that Philidor was failing to promote her startling, lifelike figures. Toughened by the years of danger and revolution in France, this slightly built woman, now in her 40s, decided to go into business for herself and strike out alone in a new country. Loading her precious waxworks into rail carriages, Madame Tussaud set off on a touring exhibition around the British Isles that would last, last , on and off, for a period of nearly 30 years. Free of Philidor and relying on her own entrepreneurial instincts, Tussaud met with instant fame. The French Revolution and the Reign of Terror awoke fascination, repugnance, and pity in the British, and Tussaud’s creations—Marat stabbed in his bath, the doomed King Louis, and even a model of a guillotine—brought her public face-toface with the 19th-century equivalent of virtual reality.

VISITORS EXPLORE

the Tussaud collection in Baker Street, London, where the museum was housed between 1835 and 1884. Mid19th-century engraving GRANGER/AURIMAGES

In every city Madame Tussaud found sumptuous salons where her waxworks were put on display. The exhibits attracted paying visitors visitors at a time when public exhibitions of this kind were rarely found outside London. The tours were very popular and profitable. Although Tussaud was estranged from her husband, she still sent money to him and their younger son François in Paris. She learned, however, that her husband was squandering all the money she sent, to the point that Françoiswas François was later forced to sell the part of the waxwork collection that remained in Paris. In 1822 young François came to London for good, joining join ing his mot mother her and bro brother ther Jose Joseph. ph. A trained carpenter, François was a good fit in the family business, carving wooden arms and legs for his mother’s wax figures. From this point, the exhibition was renamed and became known as Madame Tussaud and Sons.

A Legacy in Likenesses In 1835 Marie and her sons gave the collection a home in London on Baker Street. By then, executions were no longer public and the so-called Separate Room—later dubbed the Chamber of Horrors by the satirical magazine Punch—offered a tantalizing, if simulated, alternative for ghoulish Londoners. The popularity of the museum was given an extra boost in 1837 when young Queen Victoria allowed her likeness to be fashioned. The resulting waxwork was dressed in an exact replica of her coronation coronatio n attire and became the exhibition centerpiece. The quiet Frenchwoman, who nevertheless is said to have made death masks from executed London criminals, died in her sleep in April 1850 at age 88. Her sons and grandsons carried on the business. In 1884 her grandson Joseph moved the exhibition to a larger space in Marylebone

Road. Although a fire in 1925 and aerial bombing during World War II caused serious damage to the collection, some of the original figures were spared. Madame Tussauds has become a global brand, one of the most visited attractions in London, with 24 branches across the world, including seven in the United States. In 2016, following complaints by visitors, the Chamber of Horrors in London was closed. Inspired by the crowds who came to see the model of Queen Victoria in the 1830s, Marie Tussaud’s successors have tirelessly produced figures to cater to the public demand for famous figures, recently modeling actor Eddie Redmayne and Prince Harry’s bride, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex. Even if the ghoulish side of her work is waning in popularity,, Marie Tussaud’s instinct for popularity celebrity is still proving a winning ticket. — Enr Enric ic H. Marc Marchh NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY

9

MAPPING THE PAST

Bigger Is Better: Rome’s Giant Marble Map The Forma Urbis,” a wall-size map of Rome, was a The cartographic masterpiece on a scale never before seen. “

W

ork on Rome’s Temple of Peace began in the late first century A.D., undertak undertaken en by Emperor Vespasian to commemorate his conquest of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. The temple stood for centuries and later served as an administrative ministrati ve center for the urban prefecture, the body tasked with keeping order in the city. During the reign of Emperor Septimius Severus, in the first years of the third century, century, civil servants worked in the large main chamber, dominated by one of the most extraordinary maps ever produced: A huge marble street plan of Rome known as the “Forma

Urbis Romae.”

Taking up an entire wall and measuring 60 feet wide and 43 feet high, it depicted Rome’s urban landmarks across five square miles, from grand temples to humble warehouses. Aside from their practical functions, maps are also statements of power—in the case of the “Forma Urbis,” spectacularly so. Just as the temple that housed it was built to project the might of Vespasian, this massive map emphasized how every nook and cranny of the city was known to its ruler. Puzzle Pieces Originally constructed from 151 marble blocks, the “ Forma Forma Urbis” fascinates and exasp exasperat erates es histo historian rians. s. Fo Forr many cent ce ntur urie ies, s, it ha hass on only ly ex exis iste ted d in th thee formof fo rmof a gig gigant antic ic jig jigsawpuzz sawpuzzle. le.Af Afte terr the tur turmo moil il of Rom Rome’s e’s fif fifthth-cen centu tury ry decline,thetemplewallwherethemap wasmountedwasincorporatedbyPope Fel elix ix IV in intto th thee Ba Basi sili licca of Sa Sant ntii Cosm Co smaa e Dam Damian iano.By o.By thelate Mid Middle dle Ages Ag es the there rest st of the theori origin ginal al str struct uctur uree wass a ru wa ruin in,, wi with th hu huge ge ch chun unks ks of th thee “Forma “Fo rma Urbi Urbis”purloin s”purloined ed for build building ing materia mat erials. ls. Man Many y fra fragme gments nts were recovere cov ered d dur during ing the Ren Renais aissan sance— ce— only on ly to be lo lost st ag agai ain, n, al alth thou ough gh th thee cont co nten ents ts of so some me su surv rviv ivee in the form fo rm of eng engra ravin vings. gs. Tod Today ay on only ly EMPEROR SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS, DURING WHOSE

REIGN THE “FORMA URBIS” WAS CREATED IN THE EARLY THIRD CENTURY A.D. GLYPTOTHEK, MUNICH, GERMANY PRISMA/ALBUM

GRAND PLAN

Housed in the offices of the urban prefecture in Rome’s Temple of Peace, the early third-century “Forma Urbis” was made from 151 carved marble slabs. This modern illustration was produced under the guidance of archaeologist archaeolog ist Roberto Meneghini, and published in The Atlas of Ancient Rome, edit edited ed by Andrea Carandini. R. MENEGHINI 2009, ILLUSTRAZIONI INKLINK MUSEI

MAPPING THE PAST

THE TEMPLE OF PEACE, part of Rome’s

Imperial Forums, as it looks today. Seven of its column columnss wer were e restored in 2015-16. 2015-16. RICCARDO AUCI

about 10 to 12 percent of the map is physically accounted for, and even that portion exists in nearly 2,000 fragments. In the 18th century many of the pieces were transferred to the city’s Capitoline Museums. Interest in the remarkable artifact was reviv revived, ed, and the painstak king process to reunite as many many of of its s many pieces pieces as possible began. p “FORMA URBIS”

FRAGMENT SHOWING PART OF ROME’S SOUTHERLY AVENTINE HILL. CAPITO CAPITOLINE LINE MUSEUMS,ROME ROMA, SOVRINTENDENZA CAPITOLINA AI BENI CULTURALI

Today, the enormity of this labor can be examined at the click cli ck of a mouse on the website of the Stanford Digital Forma Urbis Romae Project. Images of the 1,186 map fragments are viewable online, as well as descriptions of the information on each piece. For example, fragment 18a—a section of the Roman Forum— includes this informatio information: n:

[The] horizontal horizontal wall of the [Temple of Castor’s] podium is drawn as a double line. The columns were carved in outline and recessed; they would also have been filled with red inscription paint . . . and so would have stood out among the mass of single red-painted lines on the Plan.”

Unlike the Temple of Castor, the walls of humbler buildings appear as single lines. Although fountains, gardens, walls, columns, and even interior stairs are clearly marked, geographic details appear without inscription. The Tiber River, for example, appears as a blank space. Archaeologists theorize that perhaps it was originally painted blue to indicate a water feature. Marble Mapmakers The map was most likely created during the reign of Emperor Septimius Severus who ruled from A.D. 193 to his death in 211. An inscription found on a map fragment notes that he is reigning. A depiction on

R O M E Roman Forum

TEMPLUM PACIS (TEMPLE OF PEACE)

3

Colosseum e r i v R r e b T i

2 AVENTINE AVENTI NE HILL

Horrea Lolliana ( areho arehouses) uses)

T A T I V I T A E R C B M

Mixing Business With Pleasure of the “Forma Urbis” (right) belongs to the collection of Rome’s Capitoline Museums. It shows the Emporium distric t, Rome’s river port near Aventine Hill. A series of 1 riverside warehouses are marked with the word Horrea Lolliana (horrea means “warehouses”). They were organized around two central courtyards where goods were unloaded and sorted. But it was not all work: Two streets above is 2 a colonnaded structure, identified by some scholars as a collegium, a kind of guild, perhaps for dockworkers. 3 Semicircular walls may have been baths where guild members relaxed and socialized. THIS FRAGMENT

the map of the Septizodium, a facade with niches for statues, was dedicated in 203, which puts the map’s creation sometime between 203 and 211. Archaeologists have established that the map was created by first mounting marble slabs on the temple wall and then carving them in situ. The map was designed to the standard Roman scale of 1:240. It also followed the standard

1

orientation of the day with southeast at the top of the map rather than north. north . Due to the map’s location in the urban prefecture offices, it was traditionally thought that the plan was used to levy taxes on real estate. Roman civil servants certainly had such maps, but these were usually in the form of scrolls, and historians now believe the “Forma Urbis” served no purpose as a working record. Details

The “Forma Urbis,” which may have have been based on previous large-scale Roman models, was very accurate but mostly symbolic.

I L A R U T L U C I N E B I A A N I L O T I P A C A Z N E D N E T N I R V O S , A M O R

on its upper part could not be seen from the ground. It also lacked measurements and other vital data for tax collection. What seems more likely is that this remarkable plan, which may have been based on previous large-scale Roman models, was very accurate but mostly symbolic. Made from the costly material associated with grand public buildings, its record of Rome’s monuments was a monumentinitself,asourceofcivicpride andawetoallwhosawit.

—Antonio —Ant onioMont Monterros errosoo Checa Learn more

Stanford Digital Forma Urbis Romae Project https://formaurbis.stanford.edu


13

DAILY LIFE

Killer in the Rye: St. Anthony’s Fire Signs of St. Anthony’s fire were easy to see: seizures, hallucinations, and blackened limbs. Medieval Europeans believed its cause to be spiritual, spiritu al, but the true cause was far more earthly.

T

Fire Starter In the 18th and 19th centuries science revealed that the condition is caused by eating grain infected with a fungus, Claviceps purpurea. Infected plants bear black growths resembling a rooster’s spurs (ergot in French), giving the condition its modern name: ergotism. When ingested, ergot produces toxic alkaloids that cut off the blood supply to the body’s extremities, turning the limbs gangrenous and creating creating the hellish sights described by by Mézeray. Symptoms emerged when people ate the grain or any foodstuffs made from it. Cow Cowss are also affected by ergot. Accounts describe how their hooves and tails turned gangrenous, milk production stopped, and death typically followed. Outbreaks of St. Anthony’s fire caused widespread devastation to rural communities. There is evidence that ancient people were aware aware of the condition’s association with wit h gr grain ain.. An Ass Assyri yrian an tab tablet let fr from om the seventh sev enth cent century ury B.C. ref efer erss to pu pust stule uless caused pregnant women to miscarry or on an ea earr of gr grai ain, n, whi hile le ho holly Zo Zorroa oass- die in childbirth, another anothe r of the poison’s trian tri an te text xtss in Pe Perrsia refe eferr to gr grass asses es tha thatt dreaded effects. In medieval Europe increased rye cultivation and consumption, mostly by the poor, exposed exposed large parts of the populapopu lation to the risk of contracting St. Anthony’ss fire. Ergotism did not affect all of Euny’ rope in equal measure. It is now known seen en gr grow owing ing on an THE ERG ERGOT OT FUNG FUNGUS US Claviceps purpurea, se that Claviceps purpurea spores proliferate infe in fect cted ed ry rye e st stal alkk in th this is 18 1831 31 dr draw awin ing, g, is de dead adly ly wh when en where there is cool, damp weather when inges ing ested ted,, bu butt to toda day y dr drug ugss de deriv rived ed fr from om it tr trea eatt ai ailm lment ents, s, grain ripens, conditions particularly prevsuch suc h as mig migra raine ine hea heada dache ches. s. Th The e fun fungu guss is als also o the sou sourc rce e alent in large la rge areas of central Europe. Europe. of lys lyserg ergic ic acid acid,, fro from m whic which h the hall hallucin ucinoge ogen n LSD LSDis is deri derived ved.. In the ninth century a devastating devastating outbreak of gangrenous ergotism killed tens FLORILEGIUS/ALBUM of thousands in i n the Rhine Valley. Valley. The

he 17th-century French historian, François François Eudes de Mézeray Mézera y, chronicled a plague plagu e that swept through southern France in the 10th century: “The afflicted thronged to the churches and invoked invoked the saints. The cries of those in pain and the shedding of burned-up limbs alike excited pity; the stench of rotten flesh was unbearable.” unbearable.” Throughout Throughout the Middle Ages, many outbreaks outbreaks occurred, some taking tens of thousands of lives. Symptoms included convulsions, hallucinations, and excruciating burning sensations in the limbs. Dubbed ignis sacer, holy fire, the affliction blackened the limbs until they fell off at the joint. Common wisdom of the time held that thesickne the sickness sswas was spiritual spiritual and that divine intervention interv interventi ention could treat treat it. Special hospitalsw pit alsw were set up, manned by monks ofSt.A Anthony of Egypt, famous for hiss sp hi piritual strength in the face of mentfromthedevil.Theterrible torm cond ditionwasthenassociatedwith the esaint,andbecameknownasSt. An nthony’s nthony ’sfire fire..

MALA MA LADI DIES ES AN AND D ME MEDI DICI CINE NES S


PIETER BRUEGEL THE ELDER painted “The Beggars” in 1568. The figures in this detail may depict survivors of St. Anthony’s fire. Oil on wood, Louvre Museum, Paris BRIDGEMAN/ACI

physical burning sensation sufferers felt in their limbs linked the disease to hellfire, giving the sense that the illness had been sent down as a divine punishment. Faith Healing Heal ing Religion became an important factor in dealing with the disease. dis ease. In 1070 relics of St. Anthony of Egypt were brought from Constantinople to a small town in southeastern France, where they were looked after by Benedictine monks. Soon, the relics became associated with a miraculous miraculous cure for ergotism, marking the moment when the condition first became called St. Anthony’s fire.

Everyday Life With St. Anthony’s Fire in Paris, this small painting makes a big impact. Created in 1568 by Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder, the work is perhaps an allegory on the plight of those disabled by St. Anthony’s fire. HELD IN THE LOUVRE

The beggars’ different hats may give the work deeper meaning, but the exact symbolism eludes modern art historians. Bruegel was fascinated by the works of Hieronymus Bosch, a 15thcentury painter who often depicted disabled people in his

paintings. Among the causes suggested for the injuries in the paintings are polio, cerebral palsy, and St. Anthony’s fire. Bruegel’s unflinching look at them reveals how the disabled would have been a regular part of village life.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY 15

DETAIL OF THE PANEL RELATED TO THE LIFE OF

ST. ANTHONY ON THE ISENHEIM ALTARPIECE BY MATT MATTHIAS HIASGRÜNEWALD GRÜNEWALD.. EARLY 1500S. UNTERLINDENMUSEUM, COLMAR, FRANCE DEA/ALBUM

THE TH E SA SAIINT AND HIS SU SUFF FFER ERER ERS S THE MONASTIC MEMBERS of

the Hospital Brothers of St. Anthony would have been a familiar sight in medieval Europe. Many wore on their habit the T-shaped St. Anthony’s cross—also called a tau cross, for its similarity to the Greek letter of that name. Of the 370 or so hospitals built and run by the order across Europe, the most celebrate ebr ated d is tha thatt of Ise Isenhe nheim, im, near near Colmar Col mar in nort northern hern Franc France. e. Here, Her e, in hom homag age e to the hermi hermitt saintwhose reli relic cs c wer were e said to cure sufferers sufferers of St. Anthon Anthony’s y’s fire, the monk monkss commission mmissioned ed a gre eat alta altarpie rpiece ce for the mona monasste ry hosp hospital’ ital’ss chhapel in the e arly a 1500s. Sculp ptedby pted by Niclaus of Hagu Haguena ena au and painted painted

by Matthias Grünewald, the masterpiece is today housed in the Unterlinden Museum in nearby Colmar. A panel (above) shows the saint learning humility from an older hermit monk (right). In the left panel, the saint is assailed by hellish creatures who test his resolve to stay true to Christ. A tormented figure in medieval garb (lower left) may bear symptoms of ergotism—a reminder that faith could deliver Isenheim’s patients from their physical anguish, as their saint had been delivered from his spiritual suffering.

GOLDMEDI CINE CAPSULEIN THE FORM OF A ST. ANTHONY’S (OR TAU) CROSS, PERHAPS USED BY

MEMBERSOF MEMB ERSOFF THE ORDER IN ENGLAND, CIRCA 1485. METROPOLITAN METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, ART, NEW YORK SCALA,FLORENC E

St. Anthony, Anthony, also known as St. Anthony the Great, was a religious hermit of the third and fourth centuries A.D., credited with inspiring Christian monasticism in Egypt. According to his biographer, he began practicing asceticism as a young man and retreated to live alone on a mountain for roughly 20 years. During this time, Christian tradition holds that the devil presented Anthony Anthony with a series of temptations—some carnal, others seductive, and some horrifying—but Anthony’ss faith granted him the strength Anthony’ to resist them all. In the 11th century cen tury Guérin la Valloire, a young French nobleman, was suffering from St. Anthony’s fire. He recovered recovered from the dreaded affliction and credited his renewed health to the saint’s saint ’s relics; relics; he and his father founded what would become the monastic order of the Hospital Brothers of St. Anthony around 1095. The condition’s association with

DAILY LIFE

PILGRIMS’ PROGRESS

The ruins of the Monastery of St. Anthony in Castrojeriz, Spain, on the busy medieval pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela

St. An Antho thony ny wa wass fur furthe therr str streng engthe thened ned becausee the becaus thevividhallucinationsinduced vividhallucinationsinduced by er ergo gott po pois ison onin ingg wer eree li link nked ed to th thee visions visi onssho shown wn to toAnth Anthonyby onyby the dev devil. il. By th thee en end d of th thee 15th cen enttur ury y th thee monk mo nkss had bui built lt roug oughl hly y 37 370 0 hos hospit pitals als across acr oss Eur Europ ope, e, wit with h loc locati ations ons in Fr Franc ance, e, Flande Fla nders rs,, Ger German many y, Spa Spain, in, and Ita Italy ly to treatt outbr trea outbreaksof eaksof St. St.Anthon Anthony’ y’ss fire fire.. The brotherswerealsoinstrumentalincaring forr th fo thos osee in infe fect cted ed wi with th th thee Bl Blac ack k De Deat ath h inthe1300s.InFrancethehospitalswere known kno wn as hôp hôpita itaux ux des déme démembr mbrés, és, hospitalsofthedismembered,reflectingthe customwher custom wherebysuffererswould ebysuffererswould displa display y their the ir amp amputa utate ted d lim limbs bs at the ent entrranc ance, e, as off offeri ering ngs. s. The dis diseas easee pa parti rticul cular arly ly affe af fect cted ed th thee po poor or,, wh who o at atee su subs bsta tanti ntial al amount amo untss of ine inexpen xpensiv sivee ry ryee br bread ead.. The relati re lative ve suc succes cesss of thes thesee we well-e ll-endo ndowe wed d hospit hos pitals als ma may y be at attri tribut buted ed to fee feedin dingg their the ir pa patie tient ntss br brea ead d mad madee fr from om uni uninnfected fect ed gr grains,like ains,like whe wheat at or orothe otherr cer cereals eals..

Themonksalsoappliedatopical,lardbasedointment called calledSt. St.Anthon Anthony’ y’ss waterto ter toaffe affected ctedar areas.This eas.This tr treatm eatment ent wa wass oftenimbuedwithmedicinalplants,like differ diff erent ent va varieti rieties es of night nightshad shade. e. The They y also pr prescr escribed ibed drin drinking king St. Anth Anthony ony’s ’s wine.. Con wine Conside sidere red d a po powe werful rfulantid antidote oteto to thee di th dise seas ase, e, it was ma made de fr from om gr grap apes es at theabbeynearVienneinFrancewherethe saint’srelicswerehoused.Theirpresence was be belie lieve ved d to inf infus usee the mi mirracu aculo lous us vintage vint agewith withheal healing ing pr proper operties. ties. The Fir ire e Die Dies s Do Down wn Outbre Outb reaks aks of simil similar ar con conditio ditions ns we were re o ft ft e n a tt tt ri ri bu bu te te d t o e rg rg o ti ti sm sm . I n Germany Germ any,, Ital Italy y, and Flan Flander derss in the 15t 15th h and 16t 16th h cen centu turie ries, s, wh whole ole pop popula ulatio tions ns started sta rted to danc dancee unco uncontr ntrollab ollably ly.. Calle Called d St. Jo John’ hn’ss da dance nce,, St. Vi Vitu tus’ s’ dan dance ce,, and t ar ara nt nt is is m, m, t he he c on on di di ti ti on on , l ik ike S t. t. Anthon Ant hony’ y’ss fir fire, e, wa wass ass associ ociat ated ed wit with h demons and devils. One modern theory the ory

links the dance mania to rye poisoning as well. But this notion is problematic, in part because it occurred in communities where rye was—and was not— eaten. Ergotism Ergotism is also thought to be a cause of the witchcraft scares, particularly in the 17th-century Salem Witch Hunt in colonial Massachusetts, although this theory has been challenged as well. Curiously, as North America was persecuting witches, witche s, a French French physician, Thuillier, definitively linked rye ergot fungus with the condition condit ion in 1670. Outbreaks of St. Anthony’s fire began to die down as wheat replaced rye rye and became more widespread throughout the 1800s; however, ergotism didn’t disappear completely. completely. Almost 12,000 people were infected in 1926 in the Soviet Union, and Ethiopia and India experienced outbreaks in the late 20th century.

—Ángel Sánchez Crespo NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY 17

FAITH AND FIRE THE TEACHINGS OF ZARATHUSTRA Three thousand years ago, a powerful creed emerged in ancient Iran when its founder, Zarathustra, began teaching teachi ng about the one good god, Ahura Mazda. An elusive figure in history, Zarathustra becomes clearly visible as the center of a monotheistic faith whose influence on other major religions is undeniable. JUAN ANTONIO ÁLVAREZ-PEDROSA NÚÑEZ

HOLY FIRE A permanent flame, a rich and sacred symbol for the followers of Zarathustra, burns in the Zoroastrian Atashgah (“fire temple”), built near Baku, Azerbaijan, between the 17th and 19th centuries. PETER LANGER/AGE FOTOSTOCK

The Fortunes of a Faith 1700-1200 B.C. The Gathas, hymns attributed Zarathustra, a, are to the prophet Zarathustr thought to have been written. Mainstream scholarship considers that Zarathustra lived toward the later part of this period.

539 B.C. Persian king Cyrus the Great conquers Babylon. He is influenced by Zoroastrianism— whose tenets also influence the Hebrews—which will later become Persia’s official religion.

330 B.C. Alexander the Great conquers the Achaemenian Empire by toppling Darius III. Scholars believe many sacred texts are destroyed in the conquest, and Zoroastrianism will decline during Hellenic rule.

. 241-272

A.D

Under Shapur I, Zoroastrianism reemerges as an official, imperial religion at the heart of the Sasanian Persian empire. The building of fire temples begins during this period.

Circa third century A.D. The Sasanian kings oversee the assembly and standardization of the Avesta. This work will continue until the seventh century.

675 67 5

A.D.

The Arabs conquer the Sasanian Empire, beginning centuries of persecution and dispersal of Zoroastrians, who begin to flee to other lands.


RESTORATION Illustrations grace a 1647 copy (below) of the Vendidad Sade, from the Zoroastrian holy book, the Avesta Avesta.. Much of the original Avesta was destroyed during the invasion of Alexander the Great, and was partially re-created re-create d under the Sasanian Persians. AKG/ALBUM

T

he fires of Zoroastrianism began burning thousands of years ago in ancient Persia after a mysterious man preached a new faith. His name was Zarathustra (called Zoroaster by the Greeks), and he taught that there was one true god, a lord of heaven and light named Ahura Mazda. Believed Beli eved to be one of the world’s world’s earliest monotheistic religions, Zoroastrianism spread throughout the Persian Empire and would become the official faith of its rulers. Zoroastrian symbols and motifs adorned the capital cities of Pasargadae and then Persepolis. Its emblems can be seen on the graves graves of the Persian Achaemenian kings, whose empire (from the sixth to the fourth centuries B.C.) was the greatest in the world at that time. From the faith’s earliest day days, s, sacred rituals centered on fire. The flames symbolized purity, warmth, illumination, and enlightenment—the goodness of Ahura Mazda. As Zoroastrianism grew, grew, fire temples were built with w ith carefully tended, sacred hearths.

KINGS AT REST Numerous Zoroastrian images, including that of the sole deity Ahura Mazda, adorn the rockcut tombs of Naqsh-e Rostam, resting place of Persia’ss Achaemenian Persia’ and Sasanian kings. LEONIDA NDRONOV NDRONOV/AGEFOTOSTOCK /AGEFOTOSTOCK

The impacts of Zarathustr Zarathustra’s a’s teachings are bold and brilliant: Common beliefs, concepts, and lessons are plain to see in the tenets tene ts of Judaism, Christianity, Christianity, and Islam. The concepts of one good god battling evil, the existence of a savior,, and a day of final judgment savior judgm ent are just a few of their shared traits. Unlike these illuminating tenets, the figure of Zarathustra himself remains a shadowy figure in the history of ancient Iran.

MAGIC FIRE The 17th- or 18thcentury alchemy manual Clavis Artis Art is is attributed to Zarathustra. It depicts him with a salamander, an animal associated with fire.

Books of the Prophet Historical records of Zarathustra’s life are more difficult to locate. Much of what is known about him comes from religious texts, or from historians historians writing centuries ce nturies after his death. Finding contempor contemporary ary accounts is even more challenging as few experts agree on when Zarathustra lived and died. Zarathustra’s Zarathustr a’s teachings were collected in a compilation known as the Avesta. A massive tome, it was reported to be originally some 12,000 pages, but only a fraction surviv survived. ed. Some say large

I C A / N A M E G D I R B

portions were lost when Alexander the Great conquered Persia in the fourth century B.C. What remained was collected and standardized into a five-part sacred text. The main section contains the Gathas, a collection of hymns believed to be written by Zarathustra Zarathustra during his life. l ife. Other books contain prayers, prayers, rituals, accounts a ccounts of creation, and descriptions of Zoroastrian law. law. Ancient Greek and Roman studies of Zoroastrianism framed Zarathustra as a priest who challenged the polytheistic Indo-Iranian religion. While these accounts tell similar stories, theydo they do not occur in the same time frame. frame. Some Greek authors writing centuries later make grandiose claims for his antiquity based on ideas that Zara Zarathustr thustraa was an alchemist or ev even en the inventor of magic. For instance, Greco-Roman author Plutarch, writing in the first century A.D., claimed that Zarathustra lived “5,000 years before befo re the siege s iege of Troy Troy..” Other historians state that he was a middle-aged man living 258 years before Alexander the Great conquered Persepolis, placing Zarathustra Z arathustra in the seventh century B.C. NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY

21

FIRE FROM BELOW

The fire temple of Baku, Azerbaijan, sits over natural gas vents that once fueled its flames. Gas is now piped in to keep the fires lit. JULIEN GARCÍA/ALAMY/ACI

SACRED SAC RED HEAR HEARTH TH

BURN BU RNIN ING G ZE ZEAL AL

F

ire is a ce ire cent ntra rall ele eleme ment nt of theritu theritualsperf alsperfor orme med d in Zo Zo-roastrian temples, but followers of Zarathustra are at pains to dispel the popular idea that they worship the fire itself. The flame is i s a potent and multifaceted symbol. It represents an attribute of Ahura Mazda, the one god. It recalls the miraculous burning hearth in which the divine essence was kept alive in the home of Zarathustra’s mother moth er,, an and d so co comb mbine iness both bot h do dome mest stic icit ity y an and d th the e wond wo nder er of th the e he heav aven ens. s. It dispels disp els the sha shadow dowss of igno igno-rance ran ce and rep repres resents ents just justice ice andorder.. Fir andorder Fire e tem templesdo plesdo not feat fe atur ure e in the old older er Zo Zoro roas as-trian tr ian sc scrip riptu ture re,, an and d se seem em to have hav e de deve velop loped ed lat later er in the long lon g ev evol olut utio ion n of th the e fa fait ith. h. Thereare The reare thr three ee gra gradesof desof fir fire e temp te mple le.. Fl Flam ames es in th the e tw two o lower low er gr grad ades es of tem temple ple can beten be tendedby dedby les lesserprie serpriest stss or

22 SEPTEMBER/ SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER OCTOBER 2018

even a layp even laypers erson. on. How Howev ever er,, the th e fl flam ame e in an Ata tash sh Be Behhram, ra m, th the e mo most st imp import ortan antt fir fire e temple tem ple,, may onl only y be ten tended ded by a ri ritu tual ally ly pu purif rifie ied d pr prie iest st.. The Th e fl flam ame e is co comp mpos osed ed of 16 fir fire e sou sourc rces, es, inc includ luding ing lightni ligh tning, ng, and the hea hearth rthss of differen diffe rentt sect sectors ors of socie society ty,, such suc h as so soldi ldier erss and cr craft aftssmen.. Som men Someti etimes mes kno known wn as firecathe fire cathedra drals, ls, ther there e are areonly only nine nin e su suchplac chplacesin esin th the e wo world rld today,mainlylocate toda y,mainlylocated d in Ind India. ia.

This timing conflicts with the belief that Zarathustr thu straa comp composed osed the Gat Gathas has in nort northeas heastern tern Iran Ir an as ea earl rly y as 17 170o 0o B.C. Mary Boyce, one of the most distinguished historians of Zarathustra, optss for thi opt thiss dat dating, ing, sug sugges gestin tingg he liv lived ed some some-timebet time betwee ween n 140 1400 0 and 100 1000 0 B.C. The Denkart, a 10th 10th-cen -centu tury ry A.D. compendium of Zoroastrian customs, lays out the cosmic narrative and Zarathustra’s Zarathustra’s place in it. Three thousand years after the creation of time, Ahura Mazda and Ahriman,the embodiment of evil, make a pact to battle for 9,000 years. Six thousand years later, Zarathustra Zarathustra will be born and receive a revelation to bring the good religion of Ahura Mazda to the world. At the close of the 9,000 years, the last of three Saoshyants, or saviors, will appear and defeat evil once and an d for all. During the final battle, the dead will rise again, and Isatvastr Isatvastra, a, Zarathustra’s eldest son, will preside over the last judgment. The Denkart recounts how Zarathustra was conceived. concei ved. An element called khwarr—the glory that infuses creation— creation—descends descends to a family’s hearth where a fire miraculously burns without

ZARATHUSTRA IN THE COURT

OF KING VISHTASPA, IN A LATE 19TH-CENTURY COLORED LITHOGRAPH, PART OF A SERIES ON THE LIFE OF THE PROPHET LOOK AND LEARN/BRIDGEMAN/ LEARN/BRIDGEMAN/ACI ACI

fuel. One of the the daughters, daughters, a young young girl named Dugdhova, Dugdhov a, radiates radiates this mystical mysticalelement. element. Suspected pecte d of sorcery sorcery,, she is sent sent aw away ay fro from m her home. While in exile, exile, she meets meets and marries a youngg nobleman. Other divine attri youn attributes butes,, carried in the the milk of heifer heiferss and special plants, enter the body of Dugdhov Dugdhovaa in theform of ofaa holy drink mixed by by her husband. husband. Theycombine with the khwarr khwarr she already already carries,and carries, and Zarathustr Zarathustraa is conceived. From Fro m the outset outset he proves proves to to be no ordinary baby bab y. Inste Instead ad of of crying crying when he is b born bo rn,, he laughs. As the boy grows, grows, he engages in naseries of combats with servants servants of evil.In evil. In each encounter encount er the young Zarathustra Zarathustra is saved by divine intervention.

A Prophet and Teacher At the age of of 30—the age age when, acccording to the Bible, Jesus began to preachh— Zarathustra enters a river to rituallly cleanse himself. On emerging, emerging, he is dazzled by the presence of Ahura Mazda and becomes enlightened.

FACING TRADITION A 19th-century 19th-century,, Indian India n illust illustrati ration on of Zara Zarathust thustra. ra. His features accord with a trad tradition itional, al, centuriescent uries-long long ideal of the thepro prophe phet’ t’ss appearance. HERITAGE/GETTY HERITAGE/G ETTY IMAGES

In a series of encounters, he receives the divine wisdom of the good religion. He learns the knowledge concerning the judgment of men’s souls, the reward reward and punishment for good and bad actions, and the eventual purification of the world. Here began the public life and mission of Zarathustra, Zarathustr a, but for the first 10 years he struggles and converts only one person—his cousin. He faces outward hostility from the priesthood of the dominant polytheistic religion religion of the day. day. Zarathustra a’sbreakthrough a’s breakthrough arrives arrives when he wins royal favor by miraculously heali he aling ng th he hoov hooves es of King VishtasVishtaspa’ss hor pa’ horse see. The king converts converts to to the new fai faith th and becomes become s Zarathustra’s Zarathustra’s patro pat ron n and d protect protector. or. Fired with zeal and conf confide ide ence, Zarathustra, now in his 40s,dedicates eshis his life to consolidating consolidating the faith fai th tha thatt wo ould bear his name. Scholarspoiint intout out that Vishtaspa Vishtaspa was the name na me of a mu much ch h later historical historical figure—the figure—the fatherofthePersiaan king Darius the Great, Great, who inthesixthcenturyy B.C. made Zoroastrianism the state religion. religion. If,as If, as in all likelihood, Zarathustr Zarathustraa NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY

23

FINAL RESTING PLACE

A dakhma, also called a tower of silence, stands on a hilltop on the outskirts of the Iranian city of Yazd, where Zoroastrians once laid their unburied dead. Believing corpses to be unclean, the faithful exposed them to the elements. Although sky burial was prohibited in Iran in the 1970s, the practice continues in parts of India today. JOSÉ FUSTE RAGA/GETTY IMAGES

MEMORY AND EXILE

A RO ROY YAL RE REFU FUGE GE

P

ersecution and new opportunities in other lands have led to an annual decline in Iran’s Zoroastrian Zoroastrian population. In the city of Yazd, once a thriving center of Zoroastrianism, Zoroastrian ism, only a couple hundred followers of Zarathustra’s Zarathust ra’s creed creed remain in a city of nearly half a million. Near Yazd Yazd is a site that symbolizes symbol izes both the resilience resilien ce of Iran’s Zoroastrian culture, as well as an elegiac reminder of how this ancient creed has weather weathered ed centuries of prejudice and persecution. In the desert, some 60 miles from Yazd, lies the Zoroastrian shrine of Pir-e Sabz, a cave inside an otherwise barren mountain. Nicknamed “Chak-Chak” for the sound of water dripping from a nearby spring, it is the setting of a poignant legend. In the seventh century, as the last Sasanian king, Yaz azdeg degerd erd III, fled befo before re


invading Muslim hosts, his daughter found refuge here. Encircled by her enemies, the princess prayed to Ahura Mazda for deliverance. Her prayers were answered, and she was taken into the heart of the mountain where the shrine is maintained today. The plight of her family is kept alive by the Zoroastrian Parsis of India, whose calendar counts the years since her father’s father ’s reign.

existed centuries before King Darius, the conversion ver sion of Vishtaspa has all the elements of a mythical episode rather than of a historical one.

Spreading the Faith Zoroastrianism gained popularity in the Persian Empir Empire, e, and and began began to spre spread ad in earnest to thee wi th wide derr wor orld ld in th thee six sixth th ce cent ntur ury y B.C.In539 B.C. Persian king Cyrus the Great, founder of the Achaemenian Empire, conquered Babylon and freed Israelite captives who had been in exile there for nearly a century. century. During this time, Jewis Je wish h sch scholar olarss in Jud Judaea aea and Bab Babylo ylon n wer weree developing the canon of the Hebrew Bible. Their exposure to Zoroastrian Zoroastrian beliefs and concepts resulted in some interesting parallels between worship of Yahweh Yahweh and worship of Ahura Mazda. Cyrus’s successors continued to practice ZoroZo roastrian ast rianism ism.. Thereligi Thereligion onre recei ceiveda veda hea heavy vyblo blow w in 330 33 0 B.C. when Persia was conquered by Alexander theGreat. theGrea t.Cit Cities ieswe weresacke resacked d and andman many y imp imporortantsacredtextss wer tantsacredtext weree lost lost.. The Therel religion igionper persist sisted, ed, howe ho weve verr, and lat later er wa wass adop adopted tedby bythe therule rulers rsof of theSas the Sasania anian n Empi Empire rein in the thethi third rdcent century ury A.D.

SANCTUARY

Located in a desert cave near Yazd, Yazd, Iran, the Chak-Chak shrine attracts Zoroastrians from all over the world. Wor Worshippers shippers remember the story of the Sasanian princess fleeing the Arab invasion. She prayed for help here and was protected by the mountain itself. KUNI TAKAHASHI/GETTY IMAGES

During thi During thiss peri period od Zor Zoroas oastria trian n prie priest stss began ga n to bu buil ild d fi firre te temp mple less to ho hous usee th thei eirr sa sacr cred ed flames. flam es. Bec Becaus ausee Ahu Ahura ra Maz Mazda’ da’ss fir firee st stood ood for alll th al that at was go good od,, pu purre, an and d ho holy ly,, te tend ndin ingg th thee firee too fir took k on gr great eater er imp import ortanc ancee duri during ng thi thiss er era. a. Remains Rema insof of man many y fir firee tem temples plesha have vebeen beenfou found nd throughoutIran,mostdatingtotheSasanianera. Oneof themostsigni themostsignific ficantis antis Ta Takht kht-e -eSol Soley eyman man (“thro (“th rone ne of Solo Solomon” mon”). ).Bui Built lt in the theear early lyto tomid mid fifth fif th cen centu tury ry,, it wa wass an imp impre ressi ssive ve fir firee te templ mplee thatt ho tha house used d one of th thee gr grea eatt Zor Zoroa oast stria rian n fi fire re altars alta rs.. Loc Locate ated d in inaa vo volcan lcanic icre regionin gionin nort northw hwest est-ernIran,thefierygeographyofthelandperhaps enhanc enh anced ed it itss sac sacre red d sta statu tus. s. The tem temple pless we were re damaged damag ed byattacksin latercenturiesand ev evenentuallyfellintoruin,butthetemplecomplexand itss sur it surro round unding ing str struct uctur ures es we were re desi designa gnated ted a UNESCOWor UNE SCOWorld ld Her Herita itage ge sit sitee in 200 2003. 3. Zoroas Zor oastrian trian domi dominance nance per persist sisted ed for centur urie iess bu butt cam amee to a rap apid id en end d af aftter th thee Ar Arab ab conque con quest stss in the sev seventh enthcent century ury.. Man Many y Zor Zorooastr as trian ianss fle fled d fr from om Ir Iran an and Az Azerb erbai aija jan n to Ind India ia wheretheycontinuedtopracticetheirfaith.Due to re restr strict ictiv ivee la laws ws for forbid bidding ding the their ir com comingl ingling ing

with oth with other er fai faith ths, s, the their ir enc encla lave vess gr grew ew iso isolat lated ed and an d over ti time me th thee me memb mber erss be beca came me kn kno own as the Par Parsis. sis. Zor Zoroas oastria trians ns wh who o sta stayed yed in Pe Pers rsia ia and ot othe herr ar area eass of Ce Centr ntral al As Asia ia fa face ced d pe pers rsecu ecu-tions tio ns and disc discrimi riminati nation, on, wh which ich re reduc duced ed thei theirr number numb erss and the their ir cent centersof ersof wo wors rship hip..

Firess Still Burni Fire Burning ng Although Althou gh dim diminis inished hed sinc sincee thei theirr pea peak, k, Zar Zaraathustr thus tra’ a’ss fire firess hav havee not notbeenextinguis beenextinguished.Toda hed.Today y Zoroas Zor oastria trianism nism is pr practi acticed ced by comm communit unities ies aroun ar ound d th thee wo worl rld, d, wit with h th thee lar large gest st con conce centr ntraations tio ns in Ir Iran, an,Indi India, a, Nor North th Ame Americ rica, a, the Unit United ed Kingdom, Kingdo m, and Austr Australasia. alasia. Many Man y mode modern rn cong congre regati gations onswor worshipat shipat fir firee temples,wheretheylearnthecenturies-oldcre Humata, a, hukhta hukhta,, hvar hvarshshdo of Zor Zoroas oastria trianism nism:: Humat ta: Goo Good d tho though ughts ts,, goo good d wo word rds, s, goo good d dee deeds. ds. They The y embr embrace ace the tea teachin chings gs of Zar Zarathu athustr stra— a— be ho hones nest, t, be eth ethic ical, al, be co comp mpass assio ionat nate—a e—and nd beli be lieeve th thee pr prom omis isee th that at Ah Ahur uraa Ma Mazd zdaa wi will ll ultimately ultimat ely vanqui vanquish sh evil.

PORTRAIT OF A GOD GOD

The likeness of Zoroastrianism’s supreme being, Ahura Mazda, has been found on many Persian ruins, like this relief (above) from Persepolis, an ancient capital of the Achaemenian Empire. RICHARD ASHWORTH/AGE FOTOSTOCK

JUAN ANTONIO ÁLVAREZ-PEDROSA NÚÑEZ IS A SPECIALIST IN ANCIENT INDO-EUROPEAN LANGUAGES AT THE COMPLUTENSE UNIV ERSITY, MADRID, SPAIN. SPAIN.


27

ZOROASTRIAN RITUALS As one of the oldest living religions in the world, Zoroastrianism has evolved over time. Some rituals, such as the tending of hearths at fire f ire temples, temples, have endured and changed with the centuries, while others, such as sky burials, have fallen out of favor. Celebrations such as the coming-ofage ceremony maintain the lifeblood of this ancient creed by passing on its teachings and gifts to the next generation.

1

Holy Ho ly Fire Fire

During the Achaemenian period, Zoroastrian rituals were conducted in the open, as described by Greek historian Herodotus. Around the first century a.d., temples were first created where priests tended an eternal flame, a ritual referred to by the geographer Strabo. During the Sasanian period, Zoroastrians built temples with a platform where they maintained a fire inside an urn. The faithful would pray while looking into the flames.

4

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Fune F unerar rary y Rit Ritual ualss

PAWOPA/GETTY IMAGES

BRIDGEMAN/ACI

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Priestswere Priests wereguardians guardians of Zoro Zoroastrian astrian commu communities nities and an d te templ mples es.. Th Theytook eytook on th the e study stu dy and ora orall tran transmi smissio ssion n of theAv theAves esta ta as we well ll as oth other er sacred sacr ed tex texts ts and com commen mentari taries. es. They The y wer were e also alsores respons ponsible iblefor for upholdingthe upholding the commu community’ nity’ss ethical eth ical cod code e and res resolvi olving ng legal conflict conflicts. s. Today’ oday’ss priests aredivided intothree diff differe erent nt levels:: the herbad, the mobed, and levels finally fina lly,, the high highest est cate categor gory y in the Zoro Zoroastrian astrian priestly ranking ranking,, the dastur .

Near Yazd, Iran, are ruins of khaiele khaiele,, places where families could gather to remember the dead. In Zoroastrianism, the bodies of the deceased were traditionally exposed to the elements on towers built atop the surrounding hills (see pp. 24-25).

COIN MINTED BY THE PARTHIAN KING VAHBARZ. COIN MUSEUM, TEHRAN, IRAN

2

Pries Pr iests ts

PLACE OF REMEMBRANCE

A FIRE ALTAR ON A SECOND-CENTURY B.C.

Underr Zor Unde Zoroastr oastrian ianbelie belief, f,a a dead per dead person son’sbody ’sbodyis is be belie lieve ved d to be impu impure reand andcoul could d cont contamina aminate te theearthor sac sacre red d fir fire. e.Ori Origin ginally ally corps co rpses eswe werenot renot bur buriedor iedor burned; burn ed;rath rather er,, theywere placed place d on expo exposed sedhigh highplace places, s, sometimesman-made, sometimes man-made,where where scaveng scav engers erscoul could d con consumethe sumethe remains rem ainsquic quickly kly.. Theancient pract pr acticeof iceof sk sky y bur burialis ialis in dec declin line, e, andZor and Zoroastr oastrian ian com communi munities tiesare are looking look ing for foralter alternativ natives, es,suchas suchas solarovensthat solarovens thatrapid rapidly ly dispo dispose se of bodiess witho bodie without ut fire fire..

Rite Rit e of Pa Passa ssage ge

There are important spiritual ceremonies that bring together ceremonies the Zoroastrian community for special occasions. One of the most significant is the comingof-age ceremony, often called Navjote or Sedreh Pushi. The ritual includes many preparatory steps and ends with the tying of a sacred white cord, the kusti, around the initiate’s waist three times. The young person is then accepted into the faith of the elders through this rite of passage.

Sacred Drink

Drinking sacred haoma has played a central role in Zoroastrian Zoroastr ian liturgy since ancient times. The main ingredient is described by the Avesta Avesta as a fragrant plant with golden green leaves. The plant’s juices were mixed with other ingredients, including water and milk. Ritual consumption of haoma was believed to enhance one’s health and vitality. Scholars have tried to identify what this plant could be, and many believe that it is a species of ephedra.

WEIGHT OF THE CROWN

Entitled “A Man in Armor,” Rembrandt van Rijn’s 1655 portrait is believed to depict Alexander the Great, shown here as a young but somber figure—brooding and pensive. Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow, Scotland AKG/ALBUM

Murder Mur der Among Macedons

THE ALEXANDER

CONSPIRACIES Alexander the Great watched his star rising brightly but was blind to the growing darkness in his regime. Plots of murder, murder, both real and imagined, consumed his thoughts, turning Alexander against his former comrades in arms. JUAN PABLO SÁNCHEZ

GENERATION GAP

H

AVING ROUTED DARIUS at

Gaugamela, Alexander enjoyed a warm welcome in Babylon, hosted by Mazaeus, the Persian satrap (regional governor). Although Alexander considered Babylon Babylon to be the seat of his new government in Asia, he allowed Mazaeus to continue in his position as satrap, with some powers curtailed. This decision was key to Alexander cementing power, but some of his Macedon followers were resentful of Mazaeus, who had fought against them at the Battle of Gaugamela. The incident marked a continuing trend: Alexander built up a parallel court of satraps and eunuchs, introduced Asian rituals into court, and later married a Bactrian princess, Roxana. His entourage of Macedons, older men who had fought for Alexander’s father, Philip II, began to resent this behavior on both generational and cultural grounds.

THECAPTURE OF BABYL BABYLON ON

“Entry of Ale “Entry Alexand xander er IntoBabylon,” IntoBabylon ,”a a 1665 canvas canv as by byC Charl harles es Le Brun, Bru n, at theLou theLouvr vre e Museum,Paris Museum, Paris (above) (abo ve),, sho shows ws the surrende surr enderr of Baby Babylon lon by the thePe Persia rsian n satr satrap ap Mazaeus,which Mazaeus, which spared spar ed Ale Alexand xander er the need ne ed to totak take e thecity by for force. ce. ERICH LESSING/ALBUM

A

lexander the Great’s lexander Great’s accomp accomplishlishments in the fourth fourth centur century y B .C. weree brea wer breathtaki thtaking. ng. The son of a powerful king and an ambitious queen, Alexander was born in 356 B.C. He studi studied ed under Aristot Aristotle le until age 16 16 and became king of Macedon Macedon at age 20. 20. In his 13-year 13-y ear rule, rule,Alexander Alexander united united ancient Greece, conquered conquer ed Per Persia, sia,seized seized Egypt, and created crea ted an empir empiree str stretching etching from fr omEur Europeto opeto Asi Asia. a.He fan fan-cied ci ed hi hims mself elf th thee de desc scenendantof Ach Achillesand illesand the son so n of Zeu Zeus. s.

334 33 4

PLOTS TO KILL THE KING


As Alexander’s power grew, grew, so did his fear of losing it. At times megalomaniacal and paranoid, he began to see threats everywhere, including among those closest to him. He believed they envied him. He believed bel ieved they wanted his power. power. He believed they wanted him dead.

Bold Beginnings Alexander’s brilliant start won him many loyal followers, comrades comrades in arms who helped him on his quick rise to glory. glory. In 334 B.C. Alexander’s forces advanced advanced unfaltering across Anatolia (modern-day Turkey)) and invaded the Achaemenian key

B .C.

Alexander invades Alexander the Persian Empire, led by Darius III. Alexander’s victory at Gaugamela Gaugamela in in 331 will lead to Darius’s overthrow.

330 33 0

B. C.

Philotas, commander of the Philotas, commander elite Companion cavalry, is tried, tortured, and executed for allegedly participating in a murder conspiracy. Alexander then orders the death of Philotas’s father, the respected general Parmenio. MARBLEALEXANDER MARBLEALEXANDE R BUST, SECOND CENTURY B.C., LOUVRE MUSEUM, PARIS RMN-GRANDD PALAIS RMN-GRAN

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Note: Present-day Present-day city names names in parentheses

(Persian) Empire. They scored two victories victories:: the first near the Granicus River near the site of Troy Troy,, and the second in Issus. Having rejected rejected an offer of a truce from an increasingly rattled Darius III, leader of Persia, Alexander entered Persia-controlled Egypt in 332 B.C. He was received there as a liberator libe rator from the Persian overlords, overlords, and founded Alexandria, the most famous of the cities that he would name for himself. Journeying far into the desert near the modern-day border with Libya, Alexander had a brush with divinity that only stoked stoked his sense of omnipotence. The young king and his men slogged through the desert to the Siwa Oasis,

328 32 8

B. C.

During a banquet in Samarqand, a drunken Alexander slays his general Cleitus the Black, who Black, who had openly criticized Alexander’s despotism and adoption of Persian customs.

INDIA

GREAT INDIAN DESERT

A R A B I A N S E A

MAP: EOSGIS.COM

327 32 7

home of the oracle of Amun—associated by the Greeks with Zeus—whose starstruck priests proclaimed him the god’s son. Brimming with confidence, Alexander went on to defeat Darius for the third and final time at Gaugamela (near Arbil in modern Iraq) in 331 B.C. Following this victory, accompanied by his generals, Alexander took Persia from Darius III and added more more land to his expanding expanding empir empire. e. Still hungry hung ry for more, more, Alexand Alexander er continu continuedhiscamd hi paign east. Cities fell to him, one one afte ertheother. He took control of Babylon, Babylon, Susa,and Susa, and dothercapitals of the Achaemenian Empire, Empire,and and d with them their vast wealth.

B.C.

Seven royal pages are charged with plotting to murder Alexander. Alexander. All are executed, and the court historian and Alexander’ Alexander’ss biographer, Callisthenes, is accused of being complicit. He is arrest arr ested ed and die diess in pris prison. on.

323

B .C.

After a session of feasting and drinking that lasts for several days, Alexander dies Alexander dies of fever in Babylon, age 32 32..

EGYPTIAN CARTOUCHE WITH ALEXANDER’S NAME IN HIEROGLYPHS. LOUVRE MUSEUM, PARIS ERICH LESSING/ALBUM

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EASTERN ODYSSEY

Alexander’s eightAlexander’s year campaign from Anatolia to the edge of India (above) not only toppled the mighty Persian Per sian Empir Empire e but als also o fou founde nded d numerous nume rous,, lastin lasting g citiess in his name citie name..

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ORACLE IN THE OASIS

Ringed with palms and sited between two desert lakes, the oasis shrine of Amun-Zeus at Siwa, near Egypt’s border with Libya, was visited by Alexander in 331 B.C. MICHEL BARET/GETTY IMAGES

A SK SKIL ILLE LED D NEGOTIATOR

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deathofDariusIII.HehadbeensentonbehalfofNabarzanes, a Pe Pers rsian ian mil milita itary ry off offic icer er who had hel helpe ped d sla slay y Da Dariu rius, s, an and d whom Alexa Alexander nder—as —as Darius Darius’s ’s succ successor essor—could —couldconsid consider er punish pun ishingas ingas a mur murder dererof erof hisking.Wri hisking.Writin ting g in inthefirs thefirstt ce centu ntury ry a.d., Quintu Qui ntuss Cur Curtiu tiuss Ruf Rufus us re recou counts nts tha thatt Ba Bagoa goas, s, “o “off uni unique quely ly lov lovely ely looks, look s,”” argu argued edsucc successf essfully ullythatNabarz thatNabarzanesbe anesbe par pardone doned d andlater became becam e Alexa Alexander’ nder’ss love loverr. The implica implication tion that Alex Alexande ander’s r’s judgmentt wa men wass sw sway ayed ed by Bag Bagoas oas’slooks ’slookswa wass lat later er ech echoedby oedby Plu Plutar tarch, ch, whowroteof Alex Alexande ander’senthus r’senthusiast iastic icres respons ponse e to toBago Bagoas’ as’ss danc dancing. ing. Another Anot her sour source, ce, Arria Arrian n of Nico Nicomedia media,, how howeve everr, gene generally rallyportr portrays ays Alexan Ale xander deras as abl able e to re resis sistt his att attra racti ction on to Bag Bagoas oas.. Som Some e his histor toriiansargue thatBagoas thatBagoas’splea ’splea to toAlex Alexande anderr wasstrengt wasstrengthene hened d by byhis his knowled kno wledge geof of thecase, thecase,andthe andthe facthe spok spoke e Gre Greek. ek.In In othe otherr wor words, ds, looks loo ksasi aside de,, Bag Bagoaswas oaswas pr proba obably bly thebest neg negoti otiato atorr forthe job job..

DEPICT ICTEDAS EDAS A WO WOMANIN MANIN A GRE GREENDRESSIN ENDRESSIN A 15T 15TH-C H-CENT ENTUR URYY FLE FLEMI MISH SH ABOVE,BAGOAS, DEP MINIAT MINI ATURE, URE, PLEA PLEADS DS WITHALEXAND WITHALEXANDER ER (SEA (SEATEDLEFT) TEDLEFT) TOSHOW MERC MERCYY TONABARZAN TONABARZANES. ES. ALAMY/ACI


SoonafterthevictoryatGaugamela,DariusIII was as assas sassi sina nate ted d in 33 330 0 byone of hi hiss ow own n pr proovincialgovernors,orsatraps.AsAlexanderbegan conso co nsolid lidati ating ng po powe werr, he ado adopt pted ed Pe Pers rsian ian cus cus-toms,a to ms,a mo movewhi vewhich ch ma manyof nyof hi hiss Gr Greekcomp eekcompaatriotss foundinsulting.Alexan triot foundinsulting.Alexander’ der’ss magnif magnificent icent vict vi ctor ories ies ha had d not bee been n wo won n sin single gle-h -hand andedl edly y. Theseclose These closefriends friendsand andcompani companions—Pto ons—Ptolemy lemy,, Crat Cr aterus erus,, Clei Cleitus tusthe the Blac Black, k, loy loyal al Hep Hephae haesti stion, on, andthegrizzledgeneralParmenio—hadbeenat hissid his sidee thr through oughout outthe theAsi Asiati aticc cam campai paign. gn.

Parmenio Parm enio and Phil Philotas otas A Ma Mace cedo don n of lon longg-st stand anding ing nob noble le lin lineag eage, e, Parm Pa rmeni enio o ha had d bee been n a rig right ht-h -hand and man to Al Alex ex-ande an der’ r’ss fa fath ther er an and d th then en se serv rved ed as se seco condnd-in in-commandtoAlexander.Heenjoyedclosebonds with wi th bo both th th thee co cour urtt an and d th thee ar arm my. Al Alrrea ead dy in his70s his 70s,, Par Parmeni menio o had hadsev sever eral al sons sonswh who o ser served ved under und er Ale Alexa xande nderr. Th Thee old oldes est, t, Ph Philo ilota tas, s, was perhaps per haps the mos mostt out outsta standin nding. g. Ale Alexand xander er had cho ch ose sen n hi him m to com omma mand nd th thee hetairoi, or Comp Co mpani anion on ca cav valr alry y, an eli elite te cor corps ps for formed med entirely from members of the Macedon nobility.

Philotas had a reputation for bravery bravery and hard work as well as being a generous and loyal friend. Some thought him arrogant and were suspicious, and perhaps envious, of his accomplishments. Philotas didn’t always agree with Alexander and had been a vocal critic at times, especially of the way the king had been hailed as a god in Egypt. Some of Alexander’s generals, led by Craterus, heard whispers that Philotas could be plotting against Alexander. They ordered spies to keep tabs on him, but the only account oftreasonous of treasonous talk they found found came from from a Greek prostitute. She told them that Philotas braggedd to her about how he and Parmenio were were resp ponsible for Alexander’s victories. Crater Craterus reported his findings to Alexander,who did not give much credence to pillow w talk. He trusted trusted Philotas Philotas and also did not want conflict with Parmenio, whom he had long trusted. In 330 B.C. whispers revealed revealed anothe anot her treasonous plot of Philotas, except except this time assassination was involve involved. d. Wh hile

COIN OF A KING Struck in the fourth century B.C. in Babylon, this silver tetradrachm (below) bears the strong profile of Alexander the Great. ORONOZ/ALBUM

wintering with his army at Phrada (modern-day Farah Far ah in Afghanistan), Alexander Alexander learned that a man named Dymnus, a member of the hetaihetairoi, planned to murder murder him. An informant, the brother of Dymnus’s lover, lover, had twice told Philotas of the plot, but but Philotas had done nothing. Finally,, the informant went directly to Alexander Finally to expo expose se Dymnus. Before he could be arrested, Dymnus killed himself, leaving many myst mysteries eries unresolved. Alexander, convinced convinced of his guilt, had Dymnus’s corpse publicly displayed to warn potential traitors.H Having grown grown suspicious of his friend, Alexand derthen der then called on Philotas to answer why why he had d not reported the plot to his leader. leader. Philotas denied being part of a plot to kill Alexander, arguing that the allegations had seemed trivial, the result of a lover’ lover’ss Histo torie riess of Al Alexa exande nderr quarrel. Writing his His the Great around the first century A.D., Roman author Quintus Curtius Rufus reported how Philotas threw his arms aaround Alexander and begged beg ged him “to have have regard to his past life rather than to a fault, faul t, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY

35

BROTHERS IN ARMS

HEPHAESTION POINTS TO

ALEXANDER, IN FRANCESCO DE MURA’S 18TH-CENTURY PAINTING, AFTER DARIUS III’S IMPRISONED MOTHER (LEFT) MISTAKES HIM FOR THE KING. PRINT COLLECTOR/GETTY IMAGES

H

EPHAESTION had been Alexan-

der’s close friend from childhood, probably taught by Aristotle alongside the young prince. The two were close in age, with sources putting Hephaestion’s birth in 357 or 356 b.c., and some historians believe the two were lovers as young men . One popular account puts the comrades near the river Granicus in Anatolia Anatoli a (modern Turkey) Turkey) on the way to battle the Persian army in 334. Alexander Alexand er visited the tomb of Achilles, his alleged ancestor, while Hephaestion paid his respects to Patroclus, Achilles’ dear companion. The two were said to look so alike that they were often mistaken for one another. Hephaestion stayed in Alexander’s favor throughout his career. His sudden death in 324 b.c. deeply affected Alexander, who openly mourned his lifelong friend.

which,afte which, afterr all allwasonly wasonlyone oneof ofsilenc silence. e.”Philotas ”Philotas agreedto agr eedto letthe arm army y de dete termi rmine ne hi hiss fa fate te.. AlexandercalledanassemblyoftheMacedon arm ar my to ju judg dgee hi him. m. In fr fron ontt of th them em al all, l, Cr Crat at-eruss ac eru accu cuse sed d Ph Phil ilot otas as no nott on only ly of ha havi ving ng kep eptt thee mu th murd rder er plo plott sec secre rett bu butt of act actua uall lly y ha havi ving ng instig ins tigat ated ed it. Aft After er hea hearin ringg all the ar argum gument ents, s, the arm army y con consid sider ered ed the ev evide idence: nce:The They y fou found nd Philota Phi lotass gui guilt lty y of oftr treas eason on and andsent senteeenced encedhim him to to death for his treachery. treachery. Alexander’s inner circle was was too o be bese sett by ambition ambiti on and jealousy jealousy to let the m matter end with Philotas’s death. Hephaaestion took the the floor and proposed proposed th hat they torture the condemned before executing him, him, in order to find ou ut who else was involved. Hephaestion, Craterus, and others tortured Philotas all night, until his will was brok ken. They forced forced him, again under torrture, to give give details of the alleged alleged plot aan and d al alll those involved. The following day the thefor for-mer commander of the Companion n cavalry was stoned to death. 36 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018

TRUSTED COMPANION A bronze head of Hephaestion (below), believed to have been made in 323 B.C. Prado Museum, Madrid DEA/ALBUM

Out With the Old Paranoia, intrigue, and ambition had won the Paranoia, day.. From that moment, day momen t, there were no more trit rials. The ranks of the army were simply purged, leaving no one with any doubt that perceived disloyalty disloyalt y would be punished. punis hed. Alexander knew that promotions could shore up his power. power. If Hephaestion had sought Philotas’s downfall to secure e his own advancement, he was successful: fu l: Th he king made him joint joint commander commander with Cleitu us the Black of the Companion cavalry, cavalry, the positiion pre previousl viously y held by Philotas. Cleitus hadssaved Alexander’s Alexander’s life during durin g the battle at Gran nicus and was well connected with the men who wh o served under Alexander’s father. father. But, like Phillotas, Cleitus had criticized Alexander’s Alexander’s auto ocratic aspirations, and Alexander wanted him m where he he could be easily controlled. Following Philotas’s execution, Alexander embaarked on what some scholars believe is hiss daarkest deed. Alexander, perhaps paranoid, hi believ ved that there was was no way Philotas could have ha ve p plotted against him without the knowledgeo of his father, father, Parmenio. He also knew that

Parmenio could act against him to avenge the death of his son. Alexander had to move fast to rid himself of the old man, whose loyalty loyalty had been questioned in Philotas’s trial. Despite a long life of trusted service to Alexander and his father before him, the old general Parmenio was now seen as a threat. Although Parmenio had always been an influential figure, tensions had been growing. His age had made him cautious, in contrast with Alexander’s impetuousness. Their differences had led to frequent disagreements disag reements over the years on tactics and strateg strategy y. Parmenio had been put in charge of much of the empire’ empire’ss wealth and strategic supply lines, a powerful powerful position. Some historians have even suggested that the plot against Philotas was cooked up as an excuse to remove his father from f rom power. Parmenio was based in Ecbatana, a former summer residence of the Persian kings. Sources report that before his murder he knew nothing of the terrible fate that had befallen his son. While there was at least some semblance of a trial before Philotas’s execution, there would be

no trial for his father. Parmenio was murdered by a courier sent sen t by Alexander. Sources Sources report that the courier handed han ded a series of letters l etters to Parmenio and then quickly killed him, an act carried out for political expediency alone. Alexander, determined to reassert his personal authority once and for all, also dispatched a small contingent to Ecbatana with orders to put down any rebel re bellio lion n th that at mi might ght ens ensue ue amo among ng Pa Parme rmenio nio’’s troop tr oopss aft after er his hisdea death. th. Befo Be forre se settti ting ng ou outt fr from om Ph Phrrad adaa to la laun unch ch a newcampaig newcamp aign, n,Ale Alexan xander derre rename named d thecityAlexandriaProphthasia(Anticipation).Hememorializedthecitybecauseitwastherethathehad anticipated anticip atedPhilot Philotas’ as’ss alleged allegedplot. plot.

BEGGING FOR MERCY

Philotas pleads with Alexander to show mercy in a 19th-century sketch by Pierre-Narcisse Guérin (above). Museum of Fine Arts, Valenciennes, Vale nciennes, Fran France ce RENÉ-GABRIEL OJÉDA/RMN-GRAND PALAIS

Despite a long life of trusted service to Alexander and his father before him, the old general Parmenio was now seen as a threat. NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY

37

1

THE TORTURE OF PHILOTAS

Alexander’s aides closed ranks against Philotas, persuading the king to permit his torture:

[H]e was seized, and while his eyes were being bound, while his clothing was taken off, he called upon his country’s gods and on the law of nations, but vainly to deaf ears . . . now fire, and now the lash were used on him, no longer for the purpose of seeking the truth, but as a punishment . . . but when his body, swollen with wounds, could

no longer endure the blows of the scourges . . . he promised that if they would moderate his tortures, he would tell them what they wished to know . . . [Later, he was] stoned to death, on a given signal, after the usage of their country. —Histories of Alexander the Great, Quintus Curtius Rufus (translation by John C. Rolfe, 1946) ABOVE, THE EXECUTION OF P HILOT HILOTAS, AS, A MINIATURE FROM THE 15TH-

CENTURY LIVRE DES CONQUÊTES ET FAITS D’ALEXANDRE , BASED ON THE FIRST-CENTURY A.D. HISTORIES OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT BY BY QUINTUS CURTIUS RUFUS. JOHN PAUL GETTY MUSEUM, LOS ANGELES

FATHER AND SONS Philotas’s father, Parmenio, served Alexander’s father, Philip II, who is said to have called Parmenio his one trustworthy general. After Philip’s death, Parmenio insured Alexander’s smooth accession to the throne by executing his main rival. To reward the faithful old general, Alexander installed two of Parmenio’s sons in his regime: the younger, Nicanor, commanded an infantry regiment, while the elder, Philot Phi lotas, as, becam became e comm commande anderr of the . ALEXANDER, DEPICTED AS ONE OF THE

2

THE ST STABBI ABBING NG OF PARME

Parmenio Parme nio wa wass in a pow powerf erful ul pos positi itio o troll tr ollin ing g the sup supply ply lin lines es tha thatt fed Ale Alexa xande nde s a flung flu ng ca camp mpai aign gns. s. The ki king ng de deci cide ded d to kill ll , eith ei ther er fe fear arin ing g hi hiss re reac acti tion on to hi hiss so son’ n’ss de , because he had wanted to purge both and son all along. According to one usi sin ng an anci cie ent so sou urce cess in incl clu udi din ng th the e s cent ce ntur ury y hi hist stor oria ian n Ar Arri rian an,, Al Alex exan ande derr se t letter lett er orde ordering ring Par Parmeni menio’ o’ss exe executio cution n via mus, a fr frie ien nd of th the e ol old d gen ene eral al.. A sm sma all r sett ou se outt fo forr Ec Ecba bata tana na on ra raci cing ng ca came mels ls an able to cov over er mor ore e tha han n 60 600 0 mil iles es in 1 d . On ar arri riva val, l, Pol olyd ydam amus us ha hand nded ed ov over er th the e ing ng order or der to the ge gener nerals als un under der Pa Parme rmenio nio.. To ge ge the hey y wen entt to lo look ok fo forr the ol old d ma man n, who the th e ga gard rden en of hi hiss ho hous use e an and d wa wass pl plea ease sed d the hem. m. They ha han nde ded d hi him m a let ettter sa sayi yin ng it it from fr om hi hiss so son n Ph Phil ilot otas as,, an and d as he was rea they th ey st stab abbe bed d hi him m to de deat ath. h. ABOVE, ABO VE, THEDEATHOF PAR PARMENIO MENIO IN A 15TH-C 15TH-CENTUR ENTURYY

FLEMISHH MANUS FLEMIS MANUSCRIPT CRIPT.. LISZTCOLLECTI LISZTCOLLECTION ON

M U B L A / X O L T N I U Q : S O T O H P

DIOSCURI (THE TWINS CASTOR AND POLLUX) IN A FIRST-CENTURY B.C. SCULPTURE FROM ANCIENT CYRENE, LIBYA AKG/ALBUM

STANDING ON CEREMONY

A

MONG THE BEHAVIORS that irked members of Alexander’s

entourage was his adoption of the courtly ceremonies of his Persian predecessors. These involved complex rituals of greeting the king, which in the case of the lowliest subjects, required full prostration. Termed Termed proskynesis proskynesis i in n Greek (literally “kissing toward”), the practice was regarded by many Macedons as hostile to the Hellenist spirit. Worshipping a living person as if they were divine struck them as both impious and degrading. The second-century a.d. historian Arrian of Nicomedia writes of a face-off at a banquet when some figures in Alexander’s inner circle spoke of their approval of the ritual. Callisthenes, the court scholar, scholar, was having none of it. “It is unreasonable to obliterate all these distinctions by inflating human beings to excessive proportions proportions through extravagant honors, while inappropriately diminishing gods. If one must think thi nk in foreign ways on the grounds that this argument has originated in a foreign land, then do not forget Greece, Alexander. Alexan der. It was for her sake that you launched your whole expedition, to add Asia to Greece.”

ABOVE, A PERSIAN KING (POSSIBLY (POSSIBLY DARIUS THE GREAT), RECEIVES A

SENIOR COURT OFFICIAL ON A FIFTH-CENTURY B.C. C. RELIEF AT PERSEPOLIS. PERSEPOLIS. DEA/AGE FOTOSTOCK


Remorse and Retreat The deaths of two of his most trusted advisers a dvisers did not soothe Alexander, Alexand er, whose whose character continued to degrade in the coming years. He continued to adopt what the Macedons saw as Persian manners, forgoing a warrior’s restraint in favor fav or of decadence. For example, a Greek banquet represented the apogee of civilized society—a time for celebration, and discussion of philosophy and reason. Alexander’s Alexande r’s banquets, however, however, had become characterized by debauchery, debauchery, colored by passion and carnality carnal ity.. Thee mos Th mostt not notori oriou ouss ba banqu nquet et to took ok pla place ce in Maraca Mar acanda nda (Sam (Samar arqand qand)) in 328 B.C. Alexander, then about age 28 and determined to reach India, was leading his reluctant army into harsh terrain in the east. That night, the great commander was drunk. A furious dispute arose between him and Cleitus the Black over Alexander’s Alexander’s increasingly Persian style style and policies. Incensed by Cleitus’s accusations, Alexander murdered him in a rage with a javelin. Afterward, he was said to have felt

great remor great remorse: se: Fir First-cent st-century ury A.D. Rom Roman an bi biog og- Parallel allel Lives raphe ra pherr Plu Plutar tarch ch desc describ ribed ed in his Par how ho w “h “hee sp spent ent th thee ni nigh ghtt and th thee fo follo llowi wing ng da day y inbitterlamentations,andatlastlayspeechless, worn wo rn out outwit with h his hiscri cries. es.” Alexander’ Alex ander’ss actio actions nsdid didlitt little le to toquellopposiquelloppositionamonghisfollowers,andotherplotsarose. In327 B.C. several of Alexander’s pages were suspected of planning to murder him. One of Alexander’s associates, the biographer and historian Callisthenes, became entangled in the plot. Plutarch said that Callisth Ca llisthenes enes “showed “showed great ability as a speaker speaker,, but lacked lac ked common sense.” sense.” Callisthenes had loudly l oudly glorified Alexander’s exploits, disseminating the account of his incarnation as the son of Zeus in Egypt. His writing earned him favor, but it was no match for Alexander’s ego. Alexander had adopted the Persian custom of proskynesis—prostr —prostration ation before the king—but Callisthenes, as a Greek, would not practice it. Alexander allowed this, but historians believe that the defiance was noted.

News of the plot surfaced, and one account seemed to seal the fate of Callisthenes. Plutarch described how one of the pages asked Callisthenes how to become “a “a most illustrious man.” man.” His damning answer: “By killing the most illustrious.”” None trious. None of the pages named na med Callisthenes Callisthene s as a conspirator, conspirator, but the damage was done. The pages were executed. For his “crimes,” Callisthenes was imprisoned and is believed to to have died die d in pri prison. son. In 32 326 6 B.C., having reached the edge of India at the Hyp Hyphas hasis is (Bea (Beas) s) Ri Rive verr, Ale Alexan xander’ der’ss men hadhad had had enou enough. gh.The They y mut mutinie inied, d, he wa wass for forced ced to retr etrea eatt wes est, t, an and d hi hiss reig eign n wo woul uld d ne neve verr recover cov er.. Thre Threee year yearss later later,, Alex Alexander anderdied diedof of fev fever er in Ba Bab bylo lon n at ag agee 32 32.. On th that at da day y a Ba Bab bylo loni nian an astronomerdispassionatelynotedinhisjournal: “The “T he ki king ng di died ed;; cl clou ouds ds ma made de it im impo poss ssib ible le to observ obs ervee the theski skies. es.”His ”His empi empire rewo would uld be car carved ved up bet betwe ween en his hisgen gener erals,neve als,neverr to torise riseaga again. in.

BANQUET OF DEATH

Daniel de Blieck’s 1663 painting, “Alexander Slaying Cleitus” sets the murder in palatial surroundings. Fascination with Alexander’s exploits inspired writers and artists for centuries. Ferens Art Gallery, Hull, Englan England d BRIDGEMAN/ACI

JUAN PABLO SÁNCHEZ IS A SPECIALIST IN CLASSICAL HISTORY AND LITERATURE, AND A TRANSLATOR OF PLUTARCH’S PARALLEL LIVES .


41

The Devil in the Medieval Mind

HORNS, HOOVES, AND HELL In the Middle Ages European artists and theologians shaped a new terrifying vision of Satan, taking him from a fallen angel to the overlord of hell and archenemy of the divine. MARINA MONTESANO

HELLISH APPETITES Seated on a fiery throne, Satan devours a damned soul in this detail from 13thcentury mosaics adorning the Baptistry of Florence, Italy. Left: The devil torments Job in a scene from a 12th-century capital. Musée des Augustins, Toulouse oulouse,, France MOSAIC: PAUL WILLIAMS/GETTY IMAGES CAPITAL: AKG/ALBUM

BLUE DEVILS? T the Christian idea of the devil

HE OLDEST REPRESENTATION OF

may be this mosaic in the Basilica of Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna, Italy. The sixth-century mosaic shows Jesus Christ, dressed in royal purple, seated at the Last Judgment. He is separating the souls of the saved (symbolized (symboli zed by sheep) from the souls of the damned (the goats). Behind the sheep stands a red angel, and behind the damned is a blue angel. Both angels wear halos, a device originally seen as a symbol of power, but not necessarily of sanctity. The blue figure may be Lucifer, the fallen angel later known as Satan. Unlike later depictions, he is beautiful and radiant—not the horned, hoofed, red monster of later depictions. The color of the holy kingdom in the sixth century, red became associated with hellfire and the devil in later centur centuries. ies. BRIDGEMAN/ACI

REBEL ROUSE ROUSER R Inspired by Milto Inspired Milton’s n’s poem Par Paradise adise Los Lost, t, William Willia m Blak Blake’s e’s 1808 engraving (below) depictss Satan inciti depict inciting ng the re rebel bel ang angels els agains aga instt God God.. V& V&A A Museum, Muse um, Lon London don HERITAGE/AGE FOTOSTOCK


P

e rh rh ap ap s t he he d ev ev il il ’s ’s m os os t f am am ou ou s depiction depic tionwascraft wascrafted ed by byEnglis English h poet John Milton Miltonin in his 1667 1667masterp masterpiece, iece, Paradise Par adiseLost. Lost. Theepicpoemtellstwo stories:oneofthefallofmanandthe otherthefallofanangel.Oncethemostbeautifu ti full of al alll an ange gels ls,, Lu Luci cife ferr reb ebel elss ag agai ains nstt Go God d and bec becomes omes Sat Satan, an, the ad adve vers rsary ary,, wh who o is:

The Ch The Chris risti tian an Bi Bible ble de dev vot otes es on only ly a fe few w pa passsage sa gess tothe de devi vill anddoesnot des descri cribe behi hiss appearranc pea ance. e. In Gene Genesis sis the serp serpent ent wh who o tem tempt ptss Evee is Ev isstr strong onglyassoci lyassociat ated edwit with h Sat Satan,but an,but man many y theolog the ologians ians thi think nk the com compos positi ition on of Gene Genesis sis preda pr edate tess th thee co conce ncept pt of the de devil vil.. Pa Pass ssage agess alludingtoLucifer’sfallcanbefoundinthebooks ofIsaiahandEzekiel.TheOldTestament’sSatan isnottheopponentofGod,butratheranadver Hurldheadl Hur ldheadlongflam ongflamingfro ingfrom m th’Ethe th’Ethere real alSk Skie ie saryasexemplifiedbyhisroleintheBookofJob. With hideous ruine and combustion down In the New Testament Satan has become a To bottomless perdition, perditio n, there to dwell force of evil. He tempts Jesus to abandon his In Ada Adamanti mantine ne Chain Chainss and penal Fir Firee . . . mission: “All “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and an d worship me” (Matthew 4:9). He To develop his character, Milton relied on is described as a hunter of souls: The First Episan idea of the devil that had been evolv- tle of Peter warns: “Discipline yourselves, yourselves, keep ing throughout the Middle Ages and ear- alert. Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil ly Renaissance: the foe of God and man, prow prowls ls around, looking lookin g for someone to devour” the master of witches, and the tempter (I Peter 5:8). By the Book of Revelation, Satan of sinners. This personage was largely has become an apocalyp apocalyptic tic beast, determined fixed in the collective consciousness of to overthrow god and heaven. Christendom, but the devil’s origins are a re The two devils of the Old and New Testaments complex, coming from many places, not are first connected in the Vulgate, a fourth just the Bible. century A.D. translation of the Hebrew Bible into

“GET THEE BEHIND ME, SATAN”

Christ rejects the devil’s offer to give him power over all the world if he will only worship him. From the 14th-century altarpiece entitled “Maestà” (Majesty) (Majesty) by Duccio di Buoninsegna. Frick Collection, New York DEA/ALBUM

Latin. Isaiah 14 refers to an earthly king as Lucifer, meaning “bearer of light, light,”” who who falls fall s from heaven. Echoing Isaiah’s image, Jesus says says in Luke 10:18: “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning.”” At lightning. At the dawn of the Middle Ages in the fifth century, authors began to apply the Vulgate term for Isaiah’s Lucifer to the rebellious angel leader in the Book of Revelation, cast into the pit along with his evil minions.

and infants. In the Jewish tradition, this demoness evolved into Lilith, Adam’s first wife. Lilith came to embody lust, rebellion, rebellion, and ungodliness, ungodline ss, traits later linked to the Christian devil. Another ancient deity who became associated with Satan was Beelzebub, which which translates roughly roughly to “Lord of the Flies. F lies.”” Beelzebub was a Canaanite deity,, named in the Old deity O ld Testament as a false idol that the Hebrews must shun. Classical influences also al so played a role Old Gods and the New in the development of the Christian During the Middle Ages the devil’s appear- devil. As Christianity took root in the ance changed drastically drastically.. A sixth-century mo- Roman world, early worshiper worshiperss rejected saic from Basilica Basil ica of Sant’ Sant’Apollinare Apollinare Nuovo in pagan gods and believed them to be evil Ravenna, Italy, Italy, shows the Last Judgment, Judgme nt, and the spirits. Pan, half goat and half man, was satanic figure appears as an ethereal blue angel. a lusty god of nature whose carnal apThis angelic imagery will ultimately be shed in petites made him easy to associate with favor of a more demonic appearance. the forbidden. His goat horns and cloven Many of the devil’s animalistic traits can be hooves became synonymous with sin traced back to influences from earlier religions. and would later be adopted by artists in One of the first was was found in ancient Babylonian their horrific images of the devil. texts—wicked texts—wick ed demons named na med Lilitu. These THE FALL OF THE REBEL ANGELS BY AN winged female demons demon s flew through the night, ANONYMOUS MASTER OF THE SIENESE SCHOOL, 14TH CENTURY. LOUVRE MUSEUM, PARIS seducing men and attacki attacking ng pregnant women ERICH LESSING/ALBUM NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY

45

LOOKING AHEAD ( 354-430), today considered one of S the most significant Christian authors since St. Paul, T. AUGUSTINE a.d.

took demons very seriously. He wrote a short work dedicated to demons, as well as including many passages about them in his treatise The City of God. God. In his treatise on demons (De divinatione deamonum), Augustine deamonum), Augustine wrote that demons could tell the future and had winged bodies endowed with “keenness of perception and speed of movement,” which allowed them to foretell many things that they have recognized far in advance. At this, this, because of the sluggishness of earthly perception, men wonder. The demons, too, through the long period into which their life is extended, have gained a far greater experience in events than accrues to men . . . Demons not only foretell many things that will occur but also perform many miraculous acts. Since man can neither tell nor perform these things, cer tain individuals think it proper to serve the demons and to render them divine honors.

Reproduced in pictures, from the great artists down to the humble village artisan, a reptilian, winged figure of damnation became the iconic devil figure. Artists like Giotto and Fra Fra Angelico often depicted the devil in paintings of the Last Judgment Judg ment.. In them them,, a rav ravenou enouss Sata Satan n is is seat seated ed in the center of hell as he gleefully chomps on the souls of sinners. The devil’s image was further reflected in one of the world’s most influential literary works: Inferno,, published in the early 14th Dante’s Inferno Divine ine Come Comedy dy.. Dante decentury as part of the Div scribes the deepest regions of hell where Satan holds sway sway.. The devil has ha s three faces and “At every mouth he with his teeth was crunching / A sinner . . . / So that he three of them tormented thus.”Satan bears b ears“mighty wings w ings . . . / No feathfeat hers had they t hey,, but as a s of a bat. bat.””

Active Evil THE PAGAN WRITER APULEIUS WATCHES DEMONS IN A 15TH-CENTUR 15TH-CENTURYY ILLUMINATED

MANUSCRIPT OF ST. AUGUSTINE’S CITY OF GOD . CONDÉ MUSEUM, CHANTILLY, FRANCE PRISMA/ALBUM


Theological ly,, the idea of the devil changed Theologically chan ged during this period as well. His role in the early Middle Ages was much like his role in the Old Testament: He was an adversary but not an active

SPIRIT SUMMONING SOME INSIGHTS into the rituals of the medi-

eval necromancer can be gleaned through the manuals that they used. The best known are those that passed on the supposed magic powers of the biblical king Solomon. The Key of Solomon (Clavicula Salomonis) is generally agreed to be a 14th-century work that contains invocations to demons imploring them for power. The text includes blasphemous supplications to God asking that the demons obey. In the section entitled “The Prayer,” Prayer,” the necromancer is instructed to intone: “Here ye, and be ye ready, in whatever part of the Universe ye may be, to obey the voice of God, the Mighty One, and the names o f the Creator. We We let you know by this signal and sound that ye will be convoked hither . . . to obey our commands.” This being done, let the Master complete his work, renew the Circle, and make the incensements and fumigations. DEPICTION OF THE MAGIC CIRCLE IN A 15TH-CENTURY

ILLUMINATED LETTER M FROM FROM A MANUSCRIPT BY PLINY THE ELDER. BIBLIOTECA NAZIONALE MARCIANA, VENICE DAGLI ORTI/AURIMAGES

enemy. Throughout the Middle Ages Satan enemy. evolved evolv ed into an aggressive aggressive,, malignant force set on tormenting tormenting as many human humansoulsas soulsas possibl possible. e. T he Gre ek da imo n—a sp spir irit i it it or mi mino inorr divinity divinit y who engaged withhu with hu umans—informed a key key aspect of this this new dev vil. vi l. Fr From om th thee th thir ird d century A.D., a mystical phillos losoph ophy y kno known wn as Neoplatonism incorporated theurgy theurgy,, invoking daimons to request request favors. favors. N Neoplatonism Neoplat onism was not wholly wholly incompatible with h Christ Christianit ianity y, but communicating with spirits wa was. s. Rit Ritual ualss cou could ld not sway sway the Christian Godin God in ntograntinghuman wishes; prayers prayers were were on nly evide evidence nce of piety. piety. If daimons were were ind deed de ed do do-ing a person’s person’s bidding, theyha they haadtobe in league with Satan, who who“he “heelped” mortals to deceive deceive them andc and cause c their downfall. As more ancient works were translated into Latin througghout the Middle Ages, a new move ement, Scholasticism, Scholasticis m, tried to recon recon ncilethe teachings of the early church h wi withpathpagan writings on on science, phillosoph losophy y, and

DEVIL IN THE DETAIL

The devil appears in the form of a dragon on this Renaissance-period, French ivory-carved bishop’s crozier. National Museum of Bargello, Florence SCALA, FLORENCE

even necromancy, necromancy, the art of conjuring spirits and demons. Necromancers were courting damnation throu through gh exposur exposuree to demons. demons. In 1326 1326 P PopeJohnXXIIissu J h XXII i ued a bull, Super illius specula, which wh ich sta stated ted tha thatt anyone found guilty of engaging gagi ng in necr necroman oman ncycould ncy could be condemned for for here he resyand syand bur burnt nt at the stake. stake. During Dur ing the 14t 14th h century Europe faced a dark periodblightedbytthe Black Death, famine, and war.Fearofthedeviil iland and his influence increased, increased, as evi vide denc nced ed by an n explo explosion sion of witch hunts. hunts. Unlikee necr Unlik necromanc omancers, the church believed believed that thedevilsoughtoutt women as partners; partners; witches would wo uldsign signpac pacts ts and engage in evil evil on his behalf.Peoplewere e no nolonger longer seen seen as merely merely deceivedbySatan n,but n, but in active active collusion with himagainstG God.By God. By this time in European history,the devil no longer sat passively passively.. Takinganac ctive role, Satan is present in thee wor th orld ld,, stealing souls and recruiting peopleto peo pleto do o his bidding. bidding. MARINAMONTESANOISPROFESSOROFMEDIEVALHISTORY ATTHE UNIVERSI UNIVERSITYOF TYOF MESSINA,ITAL MESSINA,ITALY. Y.


47

g k y n o r i t o u t l , n B n e e a k s e e e h c e c h r h t h i t P t M o h t i k N l 5 i 1 y a y n A v e n a b e T W i t l A D e a e P m S e n l n e r S I i t e A L D h t a a l A P G s ” p , N T A , “ u N s . h D A , g e d r A R c e e i T e u c t h n G v i N N M n A o I i R V c u . / K A b t f a a P A S o p P M B S

f o , l l , t s a a t a a r e i d d d Y p g e u u e c a t T n I c J y h a a s N e n h r t r a F c t R u o i , e E q h b C n . u T s m w g E e e o n t h i u R n d m w g A O a o o r , F m f w l e n a s t o e h u p G R i h s r N d c s o c I i s i , a z i G e h o s a n d v u L N r w e e s . A a n h t e S t J H C o t h

E C N E R O L F , A L A C S

, f s y e - y e - d e a o r r d o e l t e e l h e e n h k r d t d — r i g r l t h d a t l r , e r e r g a a , t c e l s t o o s u m e m a i n e m . b t o g a i n a r i e i w r t v c h s l e n r e M n a o f b , t i r a a f s r a . e b s c n t b e e l l o h t i e h h u a I i s a v t s v p n r . b t s a e i c b e v e o o s e , k i s s t l o l u — w d s w s f a g i e s s o l y a y e n a t u d o e g , c h c r d h c i g a i h w n , h t w p e u o u b l r d m a y g e s e p b e d s a n o A t d c fi n s g r . a a h s a s e n f g a l i i t a n y t t , h t S S w a i n n o r n a e a s d r H n k . e e s n s e a a e k a i l h R a h i e l a l s e s o t a t l , e s l h p t a f a e ; p h l d n i a a o d r p e b c r v t O c e e e l n o l e e p , d r i i a , s g , a o t L u s n h b l v e o s n i d e i e s u r e e h e d s a o g a a a t p d a e H W e e b a O r o n t . d . i e d m m o s e e d r g t e h i e g y s n n a l l t n u x n e h n d h f C t e b T e i u l u i a o a e r e . o l , v s e t f b e s m s t r E a y a b , s l i M r o i n a d l e f n i e r e w h . i y a s o a s o l a e t , U i p y n t e t m a i c o n i h e t s l G i t s s a b a s h n a t R i o s a r i t s c e y h i y t o v y i h s m h t t b e n h c o v m m T C d y i r s s r i p t w i s o r d w y u e u g a a h l h o l e y e S e l f t h t g g r ’ r g d A h i t u s a a o e n e e a t a o m i e f L e i t v v l g d n l t i i I c m n c i d h r i n w i t e u a i e l s d s P i t t p i l a v a c d f V y e e e e i u e h f 2 b w d b d o t r b d t o M 1 E

E

DEVIL’S DEVIL ’S BARGAINS idea of selling one’s soul to the devil has long T hepiqued the European imagination. In the 10th century Hrosvitha of Gandersheim wrote the story of the deacon Theophilus and his pact with the devil. In the tale, set in the sixth century a.d., Theophilus falls into disgrace with his archbishop. With the help of a Jewish magician, the disgraced deacon signs a contract in his own b lood agreeing to exchange his soul for power. But Theophilus soon repents, calls upon the Virgin Mary, and manages to get the pact with the devil dissolved. The 13th-century drama Le Miracle de Théophile by Théophile by French poet Rutebeuf extended the popularity of the story. Accreting around the figure of a real-life alchemist named Faust who lived in northern Germany in the early 1500s, 1 500s, the tale mutated to become the one most familiar famil iar today. In the 1592 stage version by English playwright Christopher Marlowe, Faust signs a deal with the devil in his own blood to be able to use diabolical magic for 24 years. At the end of that time, his powers desert him, and he is dragged away to hell.

TITLE PAGE OF A 1620 EDITION OF CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE’S

1592 PLAY BASED ON THE LEGEND OF FAUST AKG/ALBUM

THE STORY OF THEOPHILUS AND HIS PACT WITH THE DEVIL, DEPICTED IN THE DEVOTIONAL

BOOK MAASTRICHT HOURS. IT WAS CREATED IN LIÈGE IN MODERN-DAY BELGIUM IN THE EARLY 14TH CENTURY, AND IS NOW ON DISPLAY AT THE BRITISH LIBRARY, LONDON. AKG/ALBUM

3 EXORCISTS EXOR CISTS AND INTERVIEWS INTERVIE WS century the devil struck so much B yfeartheintomid-15th the hearts of priests that some clerics cle rics felt moved to write exorcism manuals. One example, published around 1450, is known as the Livre d’Egidius. d’Egidius. It counsels exorcists to prepare for battle with demonic dem onic forces by learning about their enemy. If a spirit has taken possession of someone, the exorcist must ascertain whether they come from hell (the domain of the damned) or purgatory (the transitional space where good, but flawed, souls must do penance before later passing into heaven). Before addressing the demon, the th e exorcist is warned to pray fervently “with a contrite heart.” Then the exorcist should ask the demon’s names and begin the interrogation. To To a spirit from purgatory, they might ask how long they have been there, why they have come, and the reasons for selecting this person. They should also ask that if they are a good spirit, still hoping h oping for God’s mercy, then why are they now behaving in such a malevolent way? way? Spirits suspected of coming from hell were asked different questions. These included details on their crimes and punishments, and which was worse, the torments of hell or the privation of God’s grace?

ST.. THEOBALD EXORCI ST EXORCISES SES A

POSSESSED MAN. 14TH-CE POSSESSED 14TH-CENTURY NTURY ALTTARPI AL ARPIECEOF ECEOF THECHURC THECHURCH H OF ST.THIBAULT,BURGUNDY ST.THIBAULT, BURGUNDY,, FRANCE DEA/ALBUM

PHILETUS (LEFT), HIS BODY

IMMOBILIZED BY A DIABOLIC MAGICIAN, IS FREED BY THE EXORCISING POWER OF A GARMENT BELONGING TO THE APOSTLE JAMES. THE MEDIEVAL TALE IS DEPICTED HERE ON A 12TH-CENTURY WINDOW OF THE CATHEDRAL OF CHARTRES, FRANCE. SCALA, FLORENCE

4 THE LAST JUDGMENT representation of hell grows out of T hethemedieval core Christian belief that Jesus Christ will return to earth, and humanity will be judged. Many paintings of the era depict judgment day when the saintly are rewarded with heaven, and the sinners are punished with hell. Early Renaissance painter Fra Angelico offers a vivid insight into these visions in his circa 1431 painting “The Last Judgment” (right). Armed with spears and spikes, demons shepherd all the damned—bishops and peasants, men and women—into hell for eternity eternity.. Most artists depict in great detail the punishments awaiting them: Stripped naked, their souls are tormented, whether bound by serpents, burned by fire, swallowing molten gold, or tearing each other apart. Common to many of these types of paintings is the central, monstrous figure of Satan who savagely devours the condemned. Fra Angelico’s work is no exception: His Satan appears at the base of the painting, chewing on the damned while sitting in a cauldron filled with body parts and stirred by demons.

THE DAMNED ENTE ENTERR THE

INFERNO.ALTARPIECE BY INFERNO.ALTARPIECE NICHOLASOF NICH OLASOF VERDU VERDUN, N, LAT LATEE 12TH CENTURY CENTURY,, CATHE CATHEDRAL DRAL OF TOUR TOURNAI,BELGI NAI,BELGIUM UM ERICH LESSING/ALBUM

THE SA SAVED VED AND THE DAMNE DAMNED D

DETAIL FROM “THE LAST JUDGMENT DETAIL JUDGMENT”” BY FRA ANGELIC ANGELICO. O. TEMPERA ON BOARD, BOARD, CIRCA 1431. MUSEU MUSEUM M OF SAN MARCO, MARCO, FLORENCE ERICH LESSING/ALBUM

THE MAYA REVEALED In the 1840s two archaeologists introduced introduced the grandeur of the Maya to the world. Through Through compelling words and captivating pictures, John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood exposed the complexity and beauty of the ancients. ISABEL BUENO

HIGH CULTURE

Local lore says the 90-foot-high Pyramid of the Magician was built in one night by a dwarfish sorcerer. The structure soars over the Maya city of Uxmal, Yucatán, Yucatán, which Stephens and Catherwood visited on both of their journeys. DMITRI ALEXANDER/GETTY IMAGES

D

espite ruling an empire that included swathes of Central America, King Philip II of Spain never crossed the Atlantic. His insights into his New World realms came to him in the form of detailed reports, such as one penned in 1576 by Diego García de Palacio, a senior official in Yuc Yucatán: atán: The first place in the t he province of Honduras [is] called Copán; there are ruins there, with vestiges of what had once been a great population, and of magnificent buildings [including] mounds that seem to have been made by hand, and in them many things to note. Before reaching them, there is a large figure of an eagle in stone . . . containing certain letters l etters of a language unknown. In 1839 two archaeologists, John Lloyd Stephens and Frederick Catherwood, carefully pored over these words to Philip to help them in their journey journey to Copán. Although it, and other sites, were not exactly exactly “lost, “lost,”” a fog of ignorance still obscured European and American notions of Mesoamerican culture. Some early 19th-century 19th-century authors—guided authors—guided by racist assumptions about the indigenous inhabitants of the area—even area—even argued the monumental ruined cities of Central America must have been built by Egyptians. Aided by the scant documentation on the site, including García de Palacio’s letter, letter, Stephens and an d Catherwood set out to change these opinions and reawaken interest in these ceremonial centers, now swallowed by the jungle. Equipped with basic surveying gear and machetes, they embarked embarked on two adventure-filled tours of Central America between 1839 and 1842 that provided the first indepth surveys of the sites. Lavishly TERRA-COTTA FIGURINE OF A CELESTIAL DIVINITY, FOUND

AT THE MAYA NECROPOLIS AT JAINA ISLAND, YUCATÁN. MUSEUM OF ANTHROPOLOGY AND HISTORY, MEXICO DAGLI ORTI/AURIMAGES


1836 Author, traveler, and archaeologist Stephens gets to know artist and scholar Catherwood in London.

1839-1840

illustrated by Catherwood, their books revealed to the world the scope and complexity of the Maya’s May a’s ceremonial centers, which flourished in that culture’s classical age, between the third and 10th centuries A.D.

Perfect Partnership

John Llo John Lloyd yd St Steph ephens ens gr grew ew up in Ne New w Yor ork. k. Aft After er studying law, law, he entered en tered the ranks of the DemThe pair carry out their first journey to ocratic Party, Party, and looked set on a career in polisurvey Maya ruins. tics. But his life took a radical turn when his docStephens writes tor recommended that a trip to Europe might Incidents of Travel help him recov recover er from a respirat respiratory ory condition. in Central America, Not content with the usual sightseeing in Italy Chiapas, and Yucatán (published 1841). and Greece, he ventured into in to Turkey. Turkey. In November 1835, unable to secure a return 1841-42 passage to the United States, Stephens took adTheir second vantage of the delay in returning to explore the journe jou rney. y. Ste Steph phens ens Middle East. Adopting the pseudonym Abdel writes Incident Incidentss of Hassis, and paying the sheik of the region, he Travel in Yucatán was granted access to visit the Nabataean city (published 1843). of Petra. Befriending those in power would set Stephens in good stead for much of his tra traveling veling career: In Egypt he took in the key sites thanks tothe to the safe passage afforded him him by Mehmet Ali, the Ottoman governor governor of Egypt. Egypt. Stephens also knew how to turn his experiences into good copy, relating his wanderings in the Middle East and Europe in two two volumes in 1837 and 1838. At At around the time he was was writing these work works—which s—which proved proved to be a major commercial success—Stephens got to know Frederick Catherwood Catherwood in London. A gifted linguist, who spoke and read Arabic, Italian, Greek, and Hebrew perfectly, perfectly, Catherwood was also a talented architect, artist, and draftsman, and had already taken part in several archaeological expeditions. The two men formed an instant bond, and went on to become inseparable intellectual and traveling tra veling companions. companion s. On his return home, Stephens was appointed by President Martin Van Buren as ambassador to the Federal Republic of Central America. Comprising modern-day Honduras, Guatemala, El E l Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, this short-lived republic was fragmenting due to a civil war. In an era that

A LITHOGRAPH

BY FREDERICK CATHERWOOD OF AN IDOL AND ALTAR AT THE MAYA SITE OF COPÁN, DESCRIBED BELOW BY HIS COLLEAGUE, JOHN LLOYD STEPHENS AKG/ALBUM

took a more relaxed attitude attitude to official duties than today,, Stephens had no intention of totally givtoday ing himself over to his diplomatic duties. Fascinated for many years by Mesoamerican culture, he planned to use his position to investigate the archaeological remains in the region. This was not entirely virgin territory. The great GermananthropologistAlexandervonHumboldt had written on ruined Central American cities following his expeditions in the early 1800s. The soldier and explorer Juan Galindo had examined and drawn Palenque and Copán in the 1830s. As a result of this study, study, Galindo had drawn tentative conclusions as to their both forming part of a shared culture. Stephens avidly read these, and as many other sources on the sites, as he could. Flush with funds from his books on the Middle East, and realizing that Catherwood’s Catherwood’s visual skills would add luster l uster to his chronicles, Stephens brought his British friend on board boa rd as illustrator. In October 1839 the pair left New York by ship for Belize.

Jewels Jew els of the Rain For Forest est To arrive at their first site, Copán in modern-day Honduras, they had to slog through large mud patches and endure high humidity, searing heat, and biting insects as they hacked their way through the dense vegetation with machetes. When they at last reached Copán and glimpsed its magnificent pyramids, so different from those they had seen in Egypt, they were ecstatic. They found intricate stelae and engravings that convinced them the city had been home to an advanced indigenous civilization. At first the owner of the land l and wanted them to leave. But Stephens donned his ambassador’s coat“with a profusion profusio n of large eagle ea gle buttons, buttons ,”and used his credentials to convince the owner to give them permission to draw and study the ruins for $50. The two men got to work, Stephens directing the exca excavation. vation. Catherwood, equipped with his theodolite—an instrument for measuring angles—drew up a plan of the city. city. He made extraordinarily detailed drawings, aided by a camera lucida, an early 19th-century invention that projects highly detailed images of objects onto a flat surface, which can then be traced.

WO W ORKS OF AR ART T "THE FRONT was was the figure figure of a man, cu--

riously and richly dressed, and the face, evidently a portrait, solemn, stern, and well fitted to excite terror . . . This our guide called an 'Idol'; and before it . . . was a large block of stone, also sculpted with figures and emblematical devices, which he called an altar. The sight of this unexpected monument put at rest . . . all JOHN LLOYD STEPHENS uncertainty in regard to the character of 19TH-CENTURY WOOD ENGRAVING American Amer ican anti antiquit quities, ies, and gav gavee us the asGRANGER/ALBUM surance that the objects we were in search of were interesting, interesting, not only as the remains of an unknow unknown n people, but as works of art, proving . . . that the people who once occupied the Continent of America were not savages.” From Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatán, FromIncidents by John Lloyd Stephens, 1841

PALACE OF MASKS, KABÁH, A

MAGNIFICENT EXAMPLE OF THE MAYA ARCHITECTURAL STYLE KNOWN AS PUUC. THE MASKS REPRESENT CHAC, THE MAYA GOD OF RAIN. BERTRAND GARDEL/GTRES

COVER OF FREDERICK CATHERWO CATHERWOOD’S OD’S

1844 BOOK CONTAINING 25 COLOR LITHOGRAPHS OF THE KEY MAY MAYAA SITES HE VISITED WITH STEPHENS BETWEEN 1839 AND 1842 AKG/ALBUM


Having visi Having visited ted Quir Quiriguá, iguá, anoth another er May Mayaa site nearby nearb y, and andseen seenits itsimpor important tantcollect collection ion of stestelae,the explo explorer rerss set setoff offfor forPalenqu Palenque. e.On On the wa way y, theynotedthestunningbeautyofthelandscape of Gua Guatem temala, ala,and and fina finally llyre reache ached d the border border of the Mexican state of Chiapas. There, they discovered that General Santa Anna, president of Mexico, had ordered that nobody visit the city. city. Ignoring the prohibition, prohibition , the pair continued their arduous journey and finally reached their goal. Soaked after crossing the water course that divided the settlement, and eaten alive by mosquitoes, they first saw the ruins poking out above the canopy of trees. Despite the prohibition to enter, they set up camp, installing themselves themselves inside one of the buildings known as the Palace. One of their first tasks was

to strip the vegetation from the site’s structures. The great stone bas-reliefs of Palenque’s main courtyard courtyar d were immortalized in Catherwood’s meticulous drawings. He also made engravings of the Temple of the Foliated Cross, the Temple of the Sun, and the Temple of the Inscriptions. Inscription s. It was in the latter a century later that the tomb of Pacal the Great, Lord of Palenque, would be located, whose reign coincided with the city’s seventh-century golden age. Stephens documented common features between this and the other Maya sites he had seen, and argued that many of the reliefs they had found bore what he believed to be complex hieroglyphics forming part of a narrative. Stephens’s Stephens’s hieroglyphs theory was based only on intuition at that stage, as breakthroughs breakthr oughs in deciphering decipher ing Maya writing did not come until the late 20th century. Not all of Stephens’s methods would be considered so praiseworthy by today’s standards. He tried, for instance, in stance, to buy Palenque outright. Mexican law, however however,, did not no t permit a foreigner to own land unless he was married to a Mexican— a step Stephens was not prepared to take. His grandiose ambition had been to transfer the monuments of Palenque, and other sites, stone by stone, and re-create them in New York York in a museum dedicated to Maya culture. He no doubt considered his aims honorable, but such an act would today be unthinkable. After almost almo st twomonths of work, the two men struck camp, setting off for the Gulf of Mexico, determined to explore the ancient city of Uxmal, whose magnificent Pyramid of the Magician is regarded as one of the jewels of the Puuc style of Classic Maya architecture. architecture. By the time they arrived there, on June 24, 1840, Catherwood was gravely gra vely ill with malaria, and soon after, they returned to New York so that he could recover.

Adventurers Adven turers and Authors Despite its hardships and its conclusion in illness, this first trip was deemed a great success. In New York York Stephens put all his notes in order Incidents ents of and published a new book, entitled Incid

Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatán, which would also prove prove to be another publishing publishi ng hit. In it, detailed archaeological accounts rub

M O C . S I G S O E

A CASTLE ON THE COAST Sites visited on the journeys of Stephens and Catherwo Catherwood: od: (1) 1839-1840 (2) 1841-1842

THE PYRAMID, OR CASTILLO, OF THE MAYA CITY OF TULUM LOOMS OVER THE RUGGED YUCATÁN COAST.. STEPHENS AND COAST A ND CATHERWOOD VISITED THE RUINS DURING THEIR SECOND JOURNEY IN 1841-42.

Chiché áh (2)

Ja na Islan

GU LF O MEX IC

Tul (

KAY MAERITZ/ MAERITZ/AGE MAER MAERITZ/AGEFOTO ITZ/AGE AGEFOTOSTOC FOTOSTOCK FOTOSTOC STOCKK

shoulders shoulde rswit with h desc descript ription ionss of a countrytornapartbywarandinstabi st abilit lity y, wi with th ta tales les of ba bandi ndits ts roami ro aming ng the cou countr ntry y. Ami Amid d the turm tu rmoi oill and di disc scom omfo fort rt,, St Steephen ph enss fo foun und d ti time me to sk sket etch ch th thee peo pe opl plee he met et,, an and d revel elss in quirk qui rky y, col colorf orful ul det details ails,, suc such h as detail det ailing ing th thee clu clutt tter er of a pr pries iest’ t’ss room, roo m,encumb encumberedwith:“a eredwith:“acruet cruet of mu mussta tarrd an and d an anot oth her of oi oill . . . cu cups ps,, pl plat ates es,, a saucesau ce-bo boat at,, a lar large ge lum lump p of su suga garr, sk skul ulls, ls, bo bones nes,, books, book s, cheese,and manuscri manuscripts. pts.” Oncee Ca Onc Cathe therw rwoo ood d had re reco cove vere red, d, th thee pai pairr plannedfor planned foranotherjourney anotherjourneyto toY Yucat ucatán. án.Despit Despitee hisairofaflamboyantadventurer,Stephenswasa meticulousorganizer,andpreparedforthesecond trip tri p in mi minu nute te de deta tail. il. Le Leaavi ving ng in Oc Octo tobe berr 18 1841 41,, they the y we were re acc accomp ompani anied ed by th thee nat natur urali alist st Sam Sam-uel Ca Cabo bot, t, wh who o wa want nted ed to st stud udy y th thee loc local al fa fauna una.. Among Amo ng oth other er sit sites, es, the te team am exp explor lored ed the cit cities ies of Kab Kabáh, áh,Chi Chichén chénItz Itzá, á, and Lab Labná, ná,and andre revis visite ited d sites sit es fr from omthei theirr ear earliervisit,includ liervisit,including ingUxm Uxmal. al.A A Incidents ents of Tra Travel vel in Yusecond seco nd book book,, enti entitled tled Incid catán, containing120 engra engravings vingsby byCatherw Catherwood, ood, was pu publ blis ishe hed d in two vol olum umes es in Ne New w Yor ork k in 1843.Ayearlater,Catherwoodpublishedastandalon al onee wor ork k co cont ntai aini ning ng a se sele lect ctio ion n of hi hiss co colo lorr lithogr lith ograph aphss of the thesit sites. es. Thee tw Th two o men ne neve verr tr traave veled led to toge geth ther er ag again ain.. Step St ephe hens ns jo join ined ed th thee bo boar ard d of th thee Oc Ocea ean n St Stea eam m Navigat Nav igation ionComp Company any,, and andin in1850he 1850he wasoffered achancetoparticipateintheconstructionofthe Panamarailway.Althoughhediedin1852inNew Yor ork,a k,a ro roman manticlegen ticlegend d eme emerg rged edtha thatt he hehadmet hadmet hisendinPanamaintheshadeofaceibatree,sacredto the theMay Maya. a.In In 194 1947 7 May Mayaa hier hierogly oglyphs phswer weree added adde d to his gr grav avest estone one,, re recog cogniz nizing ing his con contritribution but ionto tothe thest stud udy y of Ma Maya yaci civili vilizat zation. ion. Frede Fr ederic rick k Cat Cather herwo wood od die died d und under er tr tragi agicc cir cir-cumstancesinSeptember1854,whenthepaddle steam st eamer er on onwh whichhe ichhe wa wass tr trav avelin elingg wa wass wr wreck ecked, ed, andhe and he peri perishe shed d alon alongs gside idesome350 some350 oth other ers. s.The The death dea th of the theman man wh whose ose art artwo work rk had imm immort ortalalizedthe re redis disco cover vered ed Ma Mayacities yacitiespas passed sedalmo almost st unnotic unno ticed ed by bypub public lic opi opinio nion n of the thetim time. e. ISABEL BUENO IS AN HONORARY MEMBER OF THE VICENTE LOMBARDO TOLEDANO CENTER IN MEXICO, ON WHO SE CULTURE AND HISTORY SHE HAS WRITTEN E XTENSIVELY.

aN

GUATEMALA

(1) (1) 1) Q ) Q Quirig Quiri guá g á

DURAS

L A K T N C E I R Y R M E R E U D N E R B F O . W O M N E G , A Á N A D C I F P O O O C H E T O C , S A W Y R R E R E A A H R V L T B E T A B I O S C L

M U B L A / G I U

E G A U G N A L T S O L A

l i t d d e n e h h r e t t i e u r n s n a g d d i a n o n e e i w w l e r u h k c a o u b s o e a d s o o r r e a L , n e i h — p e s n g r h h s . t 0 r s ” . a r i e w t h 9 e e n s y , s t t h i 0 3 t p t w o e s i i e l e p 9 t d d h i p e a c 8 n h 1 d e v h e a n o a t c c l u i v o t 0 e o n i t h e f t a i e o r d t a o n p e s i 0 0 f n l n h m r e 5 e u e m w e á t n t e t 0 e h 2 , t t e p e v t o n . 0 a s m h c i n t i h o ” o , s a t f t n s . 2 m w C e d ’ e s g a r l a o r i e d m n m o f n e n w a o d h l e i t u e e — g l d i t p i r d d t u z n h r n d n t ” l e e o o e d o e o u l r a j i v e h r c t a c h n s i t t a u e e r e e h e , T a r d l f r o l r e t l l d . h z o a n a s w i i t a h o y l s a h t f i v n n i d t , o h f e a n d v i i e , r o r s i o g t t r o h h o e y c t o a s a u c a h a r p t n t a y a o s l w e d u n e i e o r y l r i t g m m e h a u s e d O b S W p t h e e n . v f . t ” e u s u n o y o t y M o . h s p t p r , o t a a H f y g h y r u l r s i n s u d C y o a t w h p i a u n r d a d a l a v d g e i h i v r , t e o n a d n e i n ] s a c o c h e e m n - r h i t h u c n e t a h s a e d r t d d e p l p e e v h g n t e y h e t t e w i n l a c h i n e d i g k e t s g 0 t i a i c s h h o s , h o e 2 c u a s p y i e n r e s r q m a a e e e t c a e h a t n l h l t x i h h l t S S i C m t b a e h t [ w a r

O . G N A C Á I P H O C , C Y M R O A R R B F I E L R Y U R T R E P L B U W C S E F N , O D T O N O E W R M M G E U A H T B R A L A F C / I . G U A F

e d d e m e n s t i i o d i r c s h s d t e , e n a h l n i n e e s t s n á t g o w o m a d i n t n u c i o o t n u . v e a o d o a Y c h e i r w l M r d e h r g t b o n e s e u t n t i l a h n , e l p i t e s d b h s i a r ’ a u t e o c d e p C f n a p c o d s 4 s A a u o d n 4 h f i d h e 8 p o w n C r r h 1 a s , o p e a p r a w s e h n e c g e I r t s i i t r o . a e S s h V e e n t n i , m r C h t k a a l k o r o A h c i h i c t l i r t i o o l c r i a s d b e l r h o a k d c n t u o e n w p e s e f 5 o w x i r F v b e 2 o C o

n e n d i d l d h i r t i h o w a w

PANORAMA OF PALENQUE

F. CATHERWOOD, NEWBERRY GO UIG/ALBUM

NIGHTS IN A PALACE

Palenque During their 1840 survey of Palenque, which flour¡shed between a.d. 600 and 900, Catherwood produced this general view of the site, located in the state of Chiapas, Mexico. Inspired by methods he had seen used on ancient structures in Greece, Catherwood attempted to make plaster molds of carvings and architectural features at the site. This practice, however, however, offended local people, who feared— with good reason—that they would not be the beneficiaries of any commercial

gain from the exhibition and sale of their heritage. The few molds Catherwood made were taken away from him. He and Stephens set up base in the Palace (lower left), where they slung up their hammocks and prepared to sleep in ”a building raised before Europeans knew of the existence of this continent.” Stephens saw key elements of Palenque’s style in the Palace: ”[built] of stone with a mortar of lime and sand, and the whole front covered with stucco and painted.”

SPLENDOR AND SCORPIONS

Stephens saw Uxmal for the first time in 1840 and would revisit the site during his and Catherwood’s second journey in 1841 to 1842. He considered its ruins “living memorials, more worthy than ever of investigation and study, and as I then thought . . . perhaps the only existing vestiges that could transmit to posterity the image of an American city.” Dominating the local area in the late ninth century, Uxmal is now regarded as the most perfect example of Maya Puuc style, named for the Puuc region in this part of Yucatán, and characterized by lavish stone mosaics. Stephens noted in his account that when he and Catherwood set up camp amid the ruins, the workers disapproved: disapproved: “The Indians looked upon our entering these places as senseless and foolhardy foolhardy,, and, besides imaginary dangers, they talked of snakes, scorpions, and hornets, the last of which, from the experience we had had of them in different parts of the ruins, were really objects of fear; for a swarm of them coming upon a man in such a place, would almost murder him before he could be hauled out.”

THE NUNNERYQUADRANGLE,

UXMAL. F. CATHER CATHERWOOD, WOOD, NEWBERRYY LIBRAR NEWBERR LIBRARY,CHICAGO Y,CHICAGO UIG/ALBUM

RESCUED FROM OBSCURITY

Ka á In January 1842, having begun their second trip to the region the October before, Stephens and Catherwood began visiting a chain of Maya sites strongly marked by the Puuc style. Although there was some knowledge of Uxmal and Chichén Itzá among American scholars, the site of Kabáh, which flourished in the ninth century and was abandoned in the 10th, was almost undocumented. Despite its being linked to Uxmal by a causeway— sacbé in sacbé in Mayan—St Mayan—Stephens ephens had difficulty locating the site, and is credited with being the first to provide a detailed survey, including of the surprising apartment interiors: “Here we were presented with a scene entirely new . . . [one apartment] consists of two parallel chambers . . . communicating by a door in the center center.. The inner room is raised . . . higher than the front, and the ascent is by two stone steps carved out of a single block of stone, the lower one being in the form of a scroll. The sides of the steps are ornamented with sculpture, as is also the wall under the doorway. The whole design is graceful and pretty, and, as a mere matter of taste, the effect is extremely good. Here, on the first day of our arrival, we spread out our provisions, and ate to the memory of the former tenant.”

A SCROLL SCROLL-SHAPED -SHAPED STEP AT

KABÁH. F. CATHER KABÁH. CATHERWOOD, WOOD, NEWBERRY NEWBERR NEWBER NEW BERRY RY Y LIBRARY, CHICAGO UIG/ALBUM

THE GRACE OF AN ARCH

Continuingalong Continuing alongthe the chain of Puucstyle sites, Stephens and Catherwood visited Labná, a spot so secluded that even many local people did not know of its existence. Stephens noted his admiration for these “decaying, but still proud memorials of a mysterious people.” Flourishing between the seventh and 10th centuries, Labná is noted for its gateway constructed using a corbeled arch. Echoing the wall of masks at nearby Kabáh, the arch bears representations of Chac, the Maya god of rain—an important deity in a region lacking streams and rivers. Stephens hailed the arch for its “beauty of proportions . . . The effect of the whole combination was curious and striking, and, familiar as we were with ruins, the first view, with the great wall towering in front, created an impression that is not easily described.” It took the workers three days to strip back the vegetation, allowing Catherwood to draw the arch in all its splendor.

THE CORB CORBELEDARCH ELEDARCH OF

LABNÁ. F. CAT CATHERWOOD, HERWOOD, NEWBERRY NEWBER NEW BERRY RY LIB IBRARY, CHICAGO. UIG/ALBUM

THE CASTILLO, THE STEP PYRAMID

OF KUKULKAN AT CHICHÉN ITZÁ, WITH ONE OF ITS TWO STONE SNAKE HEADS IN THE FOREGROUND. F. CATHERWOOD, CATHERWOOD, NEWBERRY LIBRARY, CHICAGO AKG/ALBUM

COLOSSAL COLOSS AL CALENDAR

C h hii hé

Itzá

On March OnMar ch15,1842 15,1842,, Ste Stephe phens ns and Catherwood knew they were approaching approach ing the ruins of Chichén Itzá, when the 100-foot-high step pyramid of Kukulkan—known locally as El Castillo, the castle—rose over the plain. Chichén means “mouth of wells,” a reference to a nearby cenote, a sacred source of water in a region lacking rivers. The city was founded by the Maya in the 500s and was believed to have been overrun in the 10th century by the Itzá, a Mayan-sp Mayan-speaking eaking tribe, who probably built the pyramid. As elsewhere in Yucatán, Stephens and Catherwood were overwhelmed by the sense of fallen magnificence: “The buildings were large, and some were in good preservation; in general, the façades were not so elaborately ornamented as some we had seen, seemed of an old date, and the sculpture was ruder,

but the interior apartments contained decorations and devices that were new to us, and powerfully interesting.” He and Catherwood noted with wonder a feature that would later be connected with the scientific function of the pyramid: “On the ground at the foot of the staircase . . . are two colossal serpents’ heads, ten feet in length, with mouths wide open and tongues protruding . . . No doubt they were emblematic of some religious belief and . . . must have excited feelings of solemn awe.” Stephens’s own sense of awe would have been compounded had he known the pyramid was an astronomical instrument: Each of its 365 steps represent a day in the year, and at sunset on the spring and autumn equinoxes, a shadow snake—the manifestation of Kukulkan, the Maya snake deity—slithers down the sides to join joi n wit with h the rea reall sto stone ne hea heads ds at the bas base. e.

THICK JUNGLE RISES ABOVE A

TOPPLED STELA AT COPÁN, IN AN 1844 COLORED LITHOGRAPH BY FREDERICK CATHERWOOD. SUPERSTOCK/ALBUM

BENEATH THE JUNGLE Alongside feverand Alongsidefever and war war,, anothe ano therr maj major or obs obstac tacle le Gulf of complicated complicat ed Stephens Mex ic o a n d C a t he h e r w o od od ’ s unveilin unv eiling g of Maya citie citiess MAYA REGION C O inthe1840s: in the1840s:thic thick k jungle jungle growthenveloping many PA C I F I C O C E A N of th the e sit sites. es. Whe Where re the Ameri Am erican can an and d Br Brit iton on only onl y had 19t 19th-c h-cent entury ury methods—mache metho ds—machetes— tes—to to uncov uncover er the th e ma magni gnific ficenc ence e of a un unifi ified ed Ma Maya ya c ul ul tu tu re re , a g ro ro up up o f r es es ea ea rc rc he he rs rs sponsore spon sored d by byNati NationalGeograph onalGeographic icare are now usin using g rev revolut olutiona ionary ry 21st 21st-cent -century ury MEXI

GUATEMALA

THENAKEDEYE ONL ONLYY SEE SEESS A DENS DENSEE

TANGL ANGLEE OF VEG VEGET ETAATIONIN THE IMA IMAGE GE ON THELEFT THELEFT,, WHIL WHILEE THE LIDA LIDARR IMA IMAGE GE ON THERIGHT REVE REVEALS ALS THEANCIEN THEANCIENTT MAYAA PYRAMID UNDERNEA MAY UNDERNEATH. TH.

technology to reveal that grand scope of Maya sites in Central America. They have found that these citie s were more interconnected and heavily populated than anyone had imagined. Spearheaded by Guatemala’s PACUNAM PA CUNAM Foundation, the project centers on the biosphere reserve in thePeténare thePetén area a of ofGuat Guatemal emala, a, a dens densely ely forest for ested edare area a nea nearr th the e cit city y ofTikal.The grou gr oup p of res resear earche chers rs an and d Nat Nation ional al Geographi Geogr aphic c Explo Explorers rers hav have e used lidar (“li (“ ligh ghtt det detect ectio ion n an and d ra rang ngin ing”) g”) to survey surv ey800 800squa square remil miles esof ofthereserve thereserve and digi digital tally ly peer bene beneath ath the cano canopy py

of vegetation to reveal the structures underneath without breaking a branch. A breathtaking, intricate world has been revealed—pyramids, highways, terracing, irrigation systems, and quarries. Researchers have revised estimates of its peak population from five million to as many as 15 million, all living livin g in inan anint intercon erconnectedcommunit nectedcommunity y ratherthan isolat isolated edsitesdotted sitesdotted aroun around d the th e ra rain in fo fore rest st.. The lid lidar ar su surve rveys, ys, lik like e Stephe St ephens ns and Cat Catherw herwood ood befo before re them,, hav them have e rev reveale ealed d a gran grander der,, mor more e sophistic sophi sticated ated under understand standing ing of the Maya Ma ya wo worl rld d an and d it itss peo people ple..

(above)) engulfs the Maya city of Tikal in Guatemala and gives an idea of the DENSE FOREST (above obstacles faced by traditional, ground-based exploration. The same image passed through lidar technology (below) reveals reveals an extensive, hidden network of structures linking the city together. ALL PICTURES: WILD BLUE MEDIA

KILLER WITHOUT A FACE

The identity of Jack the Ripper has inspired 140 years of speculation and numerous portraits of the shadowy killer, killer, including this modern engraving, above. above. Opposite, a knife believed to have been found by police alongside one of the Ripper’s victims. Donald RumbelowCollection ILLUSTRATION: MARY EVANS/ACI KNIFE: MARY EVANS/CORDON PRESS

THE ENDURING MYSTERY OF

JA J ACK More t murders of five Victorian Victorian women, the identity of their killer remains unknown. Relentless detectives continue to search for the true nameofJacktheRipper,whoterrorized the . IGNACIO IGNA CIO PEYR PEYRÓ Ó

A POSTCARD,

DATED OCTOBER 1888 AND SIGNED JACK THE RIPPER, IS NOW REGARDED AS A HOAX. THE POLICE RECEIVEDHUNDREDS OF LETTERS LIKE IT, PURPORTING PURPORT ING TO BE FROM FRO M THEKILLER. DPA/ALBUM

A

ttheendofthe19thcenturyaforeigntraveleronlyhad tospe to spend nd a da day y si sigh ghts tsee eein ing g in inLo Lond ndon onto tofe feel el st stirr irred ed byEngl by England’ and’ss pow power er.. At AtW Westmi estminst nster erthe theHouse Housess of Par arlia liamen mentt pr proud oudly ly pr procl oclaim aimed ed Bri Britis tish h glo globa ball dom domin inati ation, on, wh while ile at Buckin Buc kingha gham m Pala alace ceQue Queen enV Vict ictori oriaa cr crow owned nedthe thenat nation ion’’s gol golden denage age.. AllalongtheThamestothesea,linedwithshipaftershipofmerchants and an d th the e Royal Navy vy,, a vi visi sittor co coul uld d se see e fo forr th them emse sellves th the e fo form rmid idaable bl e ma mari riti time me mi migh ghtt of th the e la larrge gest st em empi pirre th the e wor orld ld ha had d ever kn kno own wn.. But al But alll was no nott wel elll wi with th Lo Lond ndon on.. Jo Jose seph ph Heartt of Dark Darkness ness,, deConrad’ Conr ad’ss 1899 nov novel, el, Hear scrib scr ibes es Lo Londo ndon n as “on onee of th thee dar dark k pla place cess of the earth.”To ”To the theat theatergo ergoers ersand and shopper shopperss thro th rongi nging ng th thee we wellll-li lit, t, op opul ulent ent st stre reet etss of thee Wes th estt En End, d, th this is de desc scri ript ptio ion n mi migh ghtt ha have ve seem se emed ed ou outt of pl plac ace, e, bu butt ju just st th thrree mi mile less to theeast,intheneighborhoodofWhitechapel, disease,, alcohol disease alcoholism, ism,and and pov povertyrav ertyravaged agedthe the livesofthousandsofsouls.Itwasaplacethat was as,, as th thee Di Dioc ocese ese of Lo Londo ndon n re repo port rted,“a ed,“ass unexplored unexp loredas as Timbuk Timbuktu. tu.” Thee myst Th ster ery y of Ja Jack ck th thee Ri Ripp pper er be bega gan n on Augu Au gust st 31 31,, 18 1888 88,, whe hen n th thee bo bod dy of a de dead ad woman wo man wa wass fou found nd in a Wh Whit itech echape apell str street eet.. Herr th He thrroa oatt ha had d be been en cu cutt an and d he herr ab abdo dome men n gougedopen.Threemonthslater,whenwhat becameknownasthe“AutumnofTerror”had ended,fourmorewomenhadundergonethe samee gris sam grisly lyfat fate. e. The kill killing ingss elec electrif trified ied Engl England. and. Wealt ealthy hy Londoner Lond onerss we were resud suddenl denly y for forced cedto totak takee notice ti ce of a da dange ngerrou ouss wor orld ld loc locat ated ed at ho home me in 76 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018

theirr mi thei mids dst. t. As th thee hu hunt nt fo forr th thee un unid iden enti ti-fied kill killer er dr dragg agged ed on, wel well-t l-to-do o-do Vi Victo ctorian rian societ soci ety y, fr from om Que Queen en Vi Victo ctoria ria do down, wn, gr grew ew obse ob sess ssed ed by th thee cas asee. In th thee ci citty Ja Jack ck th thee Ripper Rip per bec became ame a sta stand-i nd-in n for the pr preju ejudic dices es and fea fears rs of Lon London don soc societ iety y. Ant Anti-S i-Semi emites tes usedthe used themur murder derer er to def defame ame the theJe Jews wsof of the East Ea st En End; d; th thee po poor or bl blam amed ed th thee ri rich ch an and d th thee rich ric h bla blamed medth thee po poor or;; th thee te terri rribl blee fa fate te of the fivedeadwomenbecamefodderfortheburgeoning geoni ngsensa sensational tionalist istpr press,while ess,whilesocia sociall activi ti vist stss sei seize zed d on th thee ca case se to tocla clamor morfo forr re relie lieff fromurban from urbanpov poverty erty.. Abov Ab ovee all all,, th thee Ri Ripp pper er ca case se lai laid d ba barean rean uncomfo co mfort rtabl ablee ir iron ony: y:At Atth thee he heartof artof a ci citty th that at pride pri ded d it itse self lf on sp spre readi ading ng Pa Pax x Bri Brita tanni nnica ca aroun ar ound d the wo world rld,, a mur murder derer er wa walke lked d fr free— ee— andnone of th thee au auth thor orit itiescoul iescould d st stop op hi him. m. When Wh en the mur murder derss abr abrupt uptly ly ce cease ased d in Nove No vember1888, mber1888,the themy myst stery eryonl only y deep deepened ened andgrew.Nearly140yearslater,JacktheRipper has hasbec become omear argua guablythe blythe mos mostt inf infamou amouss and mos mostt my mytho thologi logized zedseri serial al kil killer ler..

1888:

A MYSTERY UNFOLDS August 31 Mary Ann “Polly” Nichols is murdered. Investigation Investigation will reveal that she is Jack the Ripper’ Ripp er’ss first victi victim. m.

September 1-7 Police begin questioning Whitechapel prostitutes to assemb ass emble le a list listof of sus suspec pects. ts.

September 8 The second Ripper victim, Annie Chapman, is discovered savagely savag ely murder murdered. ed.

September 27 The Central News Agency receives a letter from a person claiming to be the killer. It is signed “Jack the Ripper. Ripper.””

Septemb Sep tember er 30 In one night Jack the Ripper slays two women: Elizabeth Stride Strid e and Cath Catherine erine Eddo Eddowes wes..

October More letters from the would-be killer are received by the police, the press, and Whitechapel officials. Most are hoaxes, but three are believed genuine.

Novembe Nov emberr 9 Mary Jane Kelly is murdered. After her death, the Ripper killings abruptly stop.

HARD TIMES

Taken more than a decade before the Ripper murders, this image of the lower classes of Whitechapel appeared in photographer John Thomson and journalist Adolphe Smith’s Street Life in London (1877). Smith wrote: “We have sought to portray these harder phases of life, bringing to bear the precision of photography . . . to presenttrue pre senttrue typ types es of the theLon London donpoor poor..” MUSEUM OF LONDON/BRIDGEMAN/ACI

QUEENOF QUE ENOF OF THE THEUNITED THEUNITE UNITEDD KIN UNITE KINGDO KINGDOM GDOM M OF VICTORIA, QUEEN VICTORIA

GREAT BRI GREA BRITTAINAND IRE IRELAN LANDD FRO FROM M 183 18377 TO1901. PORTRA POR TRAIT IT ONTHE BAC BACKK OF A SIL SILVERCROW VERCROWN N ORONOZ/ALBUM

MARY ANN NICHOLS’S

BODY WAS FOUND CLOSE TO WOODS BUILDINGS, NEAR BUCKS ROW OFF WHITECHAPEL ROAD. LOOK AND LEARN/BRIDGEMAN/ACI

NOISEMAKERS

METROPOLITAN POLICE STARTED CARRYING BRASS WHISTLES (BELOW), INSTEAD OF HEAVY WOODEN RATTLES, IN 1884. MARY EVANS/CORDON PRESS


facing lower-class women at the time. Of these murders, most experts experts agree that Jack the Ripper was responsible for the five f ive that occurred from August through November 1888. Discovered Discov ered in the early morning hours of August 31, Mary Ann Nichols, also known as Polly,, was a 43-y Polly 43-year-old ear-old mother of five and the first confirmed victim of Jack the Ripper. The daughter of a blacksmith, she spent much of her youth in various poorhouses of the capital. Abandoned by her husband, she earned a living through workhouses, prostitution, and petty theft. Like many women of her class, her name might have have been lost to time—had she not been murdered that August night. One week later, Annie Chapman, a 47-y 47-yearearold widow and mother, was discovered on September 8 shortly before 6 a.m. in a yard on Hanbury Street. Her injuries appeared similar to Nichols’s, but she was missing some of her internal organs. At the end of the month, the killer would claim two more lives in one night: Elizabeth Stride, age 45, and Catherine Eddowes, age 46. The last official victim met her death on November 9, 1888: The body of 25-year-old Mary Jane Kelly was discovered brutally mutilated in a lodging house in Miller’s Court. All residentss of Whitechapel, these women lived resident in poverty, poverty, which left them vulnerable to the predator prowling prowling the streets.

The Murders

The Investigation

In the late 19th century, century, life for lower-class women wo men in Lond London on wa wass dif difficu ficult. lt. Many Many of them worked wor kedfor for meager meagerwag wages es as domestic servants servants orin or insw sweats eatshops.Their hops.Theirdail daily y wages often meant theywould hav havee a place to sleep at night: Three Three orfour or fourpence pencewouldbuy wouldbuy a bed bed in one one of WhiteWhitechapel’ss many lodging houses. In desper chapel’ desperation, ation, women could turn to pro prostit stitution, ution, and certai certain n streets of London’s East End became notorious destinations for the sex trade, of which the Ripper’s victims had all been working working at the time of their deaths. deaths. When Jack the Ripper was was terrorizing Whitech Whitechapel, apel, other killers were were at wo work rk as we well. ll. Collecti Collectivel vely y known known as the “Whitechape “Whitechapell Murders,” the violent deaths deat hs of 11 wom women en reve revealed aled the the dangers dangers

From the beginning of the investigation, Scotland Yardwas flummoxed. The only thing known for sure about Jack the Ripper—assuming, as most theorists do, that he acted alone—is that he killed women. According to Edmund Reid, one of the detectives assigned to investigate the case, these were the only facts: The five women were all active or former prostitutes; all of the victims were from the lower class; all lived no more than a quarter of a mile from one another; and all the murders were committed after pub closing time. To Reid’s Reid’s key facts can be added another salient detail: No one ever heard a single scream or cry for help, unusual for such a densely populated neighborhood. None of the bodies exhibited exhibit ed defense wounds, such as slashes or bruising on the hands and forearms. The one solid, reported sighting of the killer was on the

IN 188 1889 9 thefoun thefounderof derof

theSalvationArmy,Charles Booth,publishedthefirstvol-

2. Annie Chapman, 29 Hanbury Street 9-8-1888

ume of Li ume Lifeand feand La Labo bour ur ofthe People, in wh whic ich h he ma mapp pped ed

1. Mary Ann Nichols, Bucks Row 8-31-1888

outLondon’spovertyblockby block.Inthis,theWhitechapel section,theblocksmarkedin blackdenoteareasofextreme poverty(roughsleepers);dark blueisforsituationsbelowthe povertyy line povert line(casua (casuall laborer laborers); s); lightblue, emplo employmentwith ymentwith

regularr butverylow inc regula income ome;; pink,situationsabovethepovertylinewithfixedincome;and

5. Mary Jane Kelly, Miller´ss Court Miller´ 11-9-1888 119-1888

red, midd middle le class class..

4. Catherine Eddowes, Mitre Square Square 9-30-1888 3. Elizabeth Stride,   9-30-1888

MUSEUM OF LONDON/BRIDGEMAN/ACI

THE SCENE OF THE CRIMES NAMED NAM ED FOR a

parish pari sh ch chur urch ch bu buil iltt in the 13th century, the Whitechapel district is located in L ondon’ ondon’ss East End. It is traversed by Whitechapel Road, part of the ancient highway between London and Norwich. In the 19th century members of the English working class and Irish and Jewish immigrants gravitated to Whitechapel, attracted by its proximity to the docks. The neighborhood grew overcrowded, overcro wded, and poverty and alcohol abuse became visible problems for its residents. After 1880 another wavee of immigrants, many from Ruswav sia and Poland, came to London and settled in Whitechapel, compounding the existing problems and stirring up

English resentment toward the new immigrants. In his 1861 book Ragged book Ragged London, John London, John Hollingshead describes the lanes off the Whitechapel Road as “thousands of closely packed nests, full to overflowing with dirt, misery, and rags.” Children, Hollingshead reported, “play in the streets . . . their fathers and mothers mope in cellars or garrets; their [grandparents] huddle and die in the same miserable dustbins.” While poverty, violence, and crime were pressing issues for Whitechapel, White chapel, it was not the only part of London experiencing these social ills. Chelsea, Chelsea , Westminster, Westminster, Lambeth, and Marylebone contained crimeridden sections as well but were less well known for them. The Jack the Ripper murders bolstered Whitechapel’s seedy reputation for being a center of vice and villainy.

WOMAN AND BABY, STREET LIFE IN LONDON,

BY J. THOMSON AND A. SMITH, 1877 BRIDGEMAN/ACI

Ripped From the He Head adlin lines es

N

OT EVEN DURING THE RIOTS OF 1886 have I seen London so

thoroughly excited as it is tonight,” wrote one breathless reporter following the murder of Annie Chapman on September 8, 1888. “The Whitechapel fiend murdered his fourth victim this morning and still continues undetected, unseen, and unknown. ” The attentive reader will note that—unlike the consensus view of the Ripper case, in which Annie was the second victim—the writer here is attributing att ributing previous murders murder s in the district to the t he killer. killer. It is one insight into the way in which the press drew its own muddled conclusions and whipped up panic. The 1880s were a boom period for the sensationalist press. Publications like the Illustrated Police News seized on the Ripper case to feed public hunger for gory crimes while reveling in the shortcomingsofthepolice.Ethnic tensions were also ratcheted up by the press, which laid much emphasis on the “foreignness” of the killer’s appearance. NEWSPAPER POSTER ANNOUNCING

ARREST OF A SUSPECT, FEBRUARY 1889 BRIDGEMAN/ACI

POSTHUMOUS PHOTOGRAPH

OF ELIZABETH STRIDE TAKEN BY SCOTLAND YARD. THE LARGE CAMERAS USED AT THAT THAT TIME WERE UNABLE TO POINT DOWNWARD,, SO BODIES WERE DOWNWARD HELD UP AGAINST A WALL IN ORDER TO TAKE THE PICTURE. RUE DES ARCHIVES/ALBUM

early morning of September 8, 1888, when a woman saw Annie Chapman, accompanied by a “foreigner” of medium height, wrapped in a dark cloak. They are believed to have met just after 5:30 a.m., and her body was found half an hour later. Like Like all of his other victims, there were no signs of resistance, and no one heard her cry out. The other aspect that all the cases had in common was, of course, the killer’s use of a knife and his customary pattern pattern of not only killing the women but defiling their dead bodies. At least three of his victims were found with internal organs removed, a detail that drove the sensationalist press of the day into a frenzy.. A wav frenzy wavee of panic spread across the whole East End of London. Public fascination spiked after September 27, 1888, when when both the Central News Agency and the police poli ce received a

letter claiming to be from the killer. He taunted them for pursuing false leads l eads and vowed in a broad London English: “I am down on whores and I shan’t quit ripping them till I do get buckled.”” Three buckled. Three days later, the mutilated bodb odies of Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes were found. Many believe this letter is a hoax, but its signature, “Jack the Ripper,” gave the unknown killer his moniker. Hundreds of other letters followed, most of which were confirmed hoaxes. A few seemed genuine, including an October missive—datelined missive— datelined “from hell”—with which was enclosed a human kidney, kidney, supposedly from one of the victims. Following the discovery of the body of Mary Jane Ja ne Ke Kell lly y in No Nove vemb mber er,, ph phy ysi sici cian an Th Thom omas as Bo Bond nd was invited to perform an autopsy on her remains. His report makes for stomach-churning reading, even today. today. In the course of his grim task, Bond noted similarities with the four previous deaths. The murderer slashed the victim’s throat from from one side to the other and then cut c ut open the abdominal a bdominal cavity. cavity. A theory mulled mul led by the police was that the Ripper was a physician or even a surgeon, but Bond—who knew a thing or twoabout incisions—dismissed incisions—dismi ssed this: True to his nickname, the murderer was no precise cutter,, and lacked “even ter “even the technical knowledge of a butcher or horse h orse slaughterer. slau ghterer.”” Bond also attempted to understand the psychology of the killer, kille r, an early early exercise in criminal profiling. It was not enough for the Ripper to kill, he deduced: He also al so had to inflict excessive violence to the bodies afterward:“The murderer must have been a man of physical strength and of great coolness and daring.” Even so, he concluded, he “is quite likely to be a quiet, inoffensive looking man probably middle-aged and neatly and respectably dressed.” dressed.”

The Suspects Whitechapel’s closeness to the London docks led the police to think the killer might have been a sailor passing passin g through or perhaps a stev stevedore. edore. At the time of the murders, the police investigation centered on local characters. Among these were Aaron Kosminski and an d John “Jack” Pizer, Pizer, both working-class men. Francis Tumblety was an American-born quack doctor doc tor who possessed a collection of human organs and, it was

I C A / N A M E G D I R B / N R A E L D N A K O O L

THE ILLUSTRATED POLICE NEWS , , A SENSATIONALIST WEEKLY NEWSPAPER THAT COVERED

CRIME, REPORTED EXTENSIVELY EXTENSIVELY ON THE RIPPER CASE.

Jack Jac k th thee Ri Ripp pper’ er’ss Sixth Six th Vict ictim im

I

T IS THE STUFF OF movie plots, and every police chief’s nightmare: A

killer is on the loose, panic is spreading, and the killer appears to be mocking his pursuers. Captained by Sir Charles Warren, London’s Metropolitan Police struggled from the moment Mary Ann Nichols’s body was found on August 31, 1888. As the murders mounted, and the cases against suspects fell apart, the press picked over the police’s perceived failures: They were slow to react to the murders; they took too few photographs; they destroyed evidence. Today sympathetic historians highlight highli ght the challenge of even basic policing in the East End, as well as the flow of misinformation, and suspected hoax letters, produced by the press. But the media were merciless: In October 1888 the Cork Examiner reported “people are asking whether Warren is a criminaloranimbecile?”In November,, one day before November the murder of Mary Ann Kelly, Warren resigned, a decision greeted by cheers in the House of Commons.

POLICE POSTER REQUESTING BRIDGEMAN/ACI

INFORMATION ABOUT A POSTCARD SIGNED BY JACK THE RIPPER (OCT. 1888)

The fact that Whitechapel was home to many Jews Je ws—and —and tha thatt tw two o of the ear early ly sus suspect pects, s, Piz Pizer er and Kosminski, were Jews—fueled anti-Semitic feelings at the time. Pizer was suspected of being an unidentified and malevolent prowler, nicknamed Leather Apron by the press. The media characterized this figure as Jewish, with one article noting that t hat local women “are “are united in the belieff that he is a Jew or of belie o f Jewish parentage. paren tage.”” Following the murder of Catherine Eddowes on September 30, police found a message scrawled scra wled in chalk above where her bloodstained apron was found. There are various versions recorded by the police as a s to what exactly was written there. One of the variants was:“The Juwes are the men that Will not be Blamed for nothing. nothing.”” Many theories have been put forward to explain these words, but no photograph of them exists— the police erased the message soon after discovering it, so as to prevent anti-Semitic riots. The cases against the early suspects fell apart, either because of a lack of evidence or because suspects had solid alibis. The police force came under increasing attack in the press, eventually eventually leading to the resignation of the Scotland Yard Yard chief, Sir Charles Warr Warren. en. The new lead investigator,, Melville Macnaghten, was popular with tigator the public, but even he did not solve the crime.

Theories and Notions

SIR CHARLES WARREN, CHIEF

OF THE LONDON METROPOLITAN POLICE. HIS HANDLING OF THERIPPERCASE LED TO HIS HIS RESIGNATION RESIGNAT ION IN NOVEMBER 1888. BRIDGEMAN/ACI


reported,detes reported, detested ted pro prostit stitutes. utes.Montagu Montaguee John Druitt, Druit t,whowas whowasfro from m a we wealth althy y back backgro ground und but hadfall had fallen en on har hard d tim times, es,wa wass re regar garded dedas as sexu sexu-ally all y de devia viant. nt. Se Sewe wery ryn n Kl Kloso osows wski ki was a kno known wn poisoner poiso ner,, but butnot,so not,so far faras asany anyone oneknew knew,, a stabberand ber andmutila mutilator tor.. Unrela Unrelated tedtothis tothis policeinquiry was the career career of another poisoner, Thomas Neill Cream, who killed young prostitutes prostitutes in the nearby borough of Lambeth by giving them strychnine-laced drinks. On being hung, he is said to have have cried out, “I am Jack the—” This is highly unlikely unli kely,, as at the time of the Ripper murders, Cream was in the United States, being held near Chicago in a Joliet jail. The savagery of the killings prompted conclusions that only the feared “other” “other” could perpetrate such wickedness, leading to a slew of prejudiced accusations against people of different ethnicities and traditions.

As the Ripper case remained open, an industry sprung up around it. Jack the Ripper has been the subject of more than a hundred nonfiction books, dozens of novels, several several television sese ries, and more than 20 films. The myst mystery ery has even given given birth to an entire ent ire discipline known as “Ripperology, “Ripperology,” which specializes speciali zes in i n exhausexhaus tive research research about the case and theories theori es behind the murders. Ripperologists have have assembled a varied lineup of suspects, which seems to keep growing. Ranging from members of the royal royal family to the humblest Whitechapel resident, the variet variety y of suspects is staggering: William Gladstone, British prime minister; a relativ relativee of Winston Churchill; and the English painter Walter Sickert—even Sickert—ev en though no credible c redible evidence has ever been produced to substantiate these claims. Another theory, theory, adapting the plot of Edgar Allan Poe’s seminal 1841 short story, story, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” postulated that the Ripper

“BLIND-MAN’S BUFF, BUFF,”” AN ENGRAVING BY

JOHN TENNIEL, SATIRIZING SCOTLAND YARD’S PERCEIVED INCOMPETENCE IN THE JACK THE RIPPER INVESTIGATION. PUNCH , SEPTEMBER 1888 ALAMY/ACI

MONTAGUE J. DRUITT

WAS 31 YEARS OLD IN 1888 WHEN HIS BODY WAS FOUND F LOA LOATING TING IN THE THAMES.

WALTER SICKERT,

Y1y

THE UNUSUAL SUSPECTS

M

elville Macnaghten ran the Metropolitan Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) from 1890 and was admired as a brilliant sleuth with an uncanny memory, who later established fingerprinting fingerprinting as a forensic tool. It was Macnaghten Macnaghte n who helped identify the five canonical Ripper victims by linking common characteristics of the crimes. Macnaghte Macnaghten n personally believed Montague John Druitt to be the killer, but little direct evidence can link him to the murders. Over the years, many other sleuths have tried to solve the case and have pointed a finger at different culprits.

IN A PHOTOGRAPH FROM AROUND AROU ND 1884 1884.. HE WAS 28 YEAR YEARSS OLDWHEN THE MURDERS TOOK PLACE. PLACE.

Y1y Mon Montagu tague e J. Drui Druitt tt

Y2y Aaron Kosminski

Macnaghten’ss chief suspect, Macnaghten’ Druitt Drui tt was born intoa mid middle dle-class cla ss fami family ly wit with h a hist history ory of mental illness. illness. Well educat educated ed and tra traine ined d as a law lawyer yer,, he tau taugh gh at a boardingschool boardingschool but was discharged dischar gedfor for unknow unknown n reason reasonss sometime sometim e in 1888. Poli Police ce believ believe e he killed himself himselfby by jumpin jumping g into the Tham Thames; es; his bod body y wasfound d on December December31, 31,188 1888, 8, afte afterr having hav ing bee been n in the theicy icywat waters ers for about about amonth. a month. Despit Despite e Macnaghten’ Macnag hten’ss later lateridea ideathat that Druitt was was the Ripper Ripper,, senior police officia officials ls stated that nothing implicated implicated him.

Some officials were convinced at the e that the perpetrator was Aaron minski (below), a Polish barber wn to have mental health issues. s theory gained more weight in 14, when a shawl believed to have onged to Catherine Eddowes s tested,and mitocho mitochondrial ndrial DNA tDNA)similar to Kosmi Kosminski’ nski’ss wa as found. Critics nted out that his mtDNA subtype m is very common, common, weakening the idea of it being a ““smoking gun.” AARON KOSMINSKI, IN A

Y2y

SKETCH FROM THE PERIOD

I C A / N A M E G D I R B ; S E G A M I Y T T E G / P F A ; S E G A M I Y T T E G / P F A ; S S E R P

LEATHER APRON, DEPICTED

Y3y

LOOKING AT THE SUSPECTS’ FACES ON A POSTER. PUCK MAGAZINE, SEPTEMBER 1889

N O D R O C ; I C A / N A M E G D I R B ; M U B L A ; K C O T S O T O F E G A

ALBERT VICTOR, DUKE

Y4y

OF CLARENCE, IN A COLORED PHOTOGRAPH FROM CIRCA 1890

Y5y

Y3y Walter Sickert

Y4y John Pizer

Y5y A Royal Conspiracy

Several sleuths, most famously mystery author Patricia Cornwell, believe British painter Walter Sickert was Jack the Ripper. The artist’s works focused on sexuality violence, themes common t life in the East End. He even titled one painting “Jack the Ripper’s Bedroom.” Cornwel funded DNA testing of seve “Ripper” letters, despite no proof that the real killer sen them. So far, none of the tests have given a conclusiv connection to Sickert’s DN

After the murder of Mary Ann ols, the press reported sinister figure nickname her Apron who had harassing women in itechapel. Following the h of Annie Chapman, th e arrested John Pizer, ish cobbler, known earing a leather apron nd the streets. Coverage e crimes revealed a stro -Semitic bias prevalent ndon at the time. Pizer’s s were strong, and he w sed without charges.

In his 1976 book, Jack book, Jack the Ripp Ripper: er: The Fin Final al Sol Solutio ution, n, British British writer hen Knight argued that the Ripper murders were the result conspiracy orchestrated by the royal family. According to this ry—completely discredited by experts—the e of Clarence, Queen Victoria’s grandson second in line to the throne, had ered a child with an East End woman. friendss had threatened to expose him friend ss he paid them a hefty sum, so the l family covered up his indiscretions illing the blackmailers. Knight’s book ed the queen’s queen’s personal physician,Sir physician, Sir liam W. W. Gull—who has been fingered by r Ripperologists as Jack himself—was a of the conspiracy and helped carry out killings to protect the monarchy.

SIR WILLIAM W. GULL, THE PERSONAL PHYSICIAN OF QUEEN

VICTORIA, IN A LATE 19TH-CENTURY ENGRAVING

: M O T T O B O T P O T , T H G I R O T T F E L

World’s Fair, World’s Fair, it is also claimed c laimed he was Jack Jac k the Ripper. The only thing these diverse hypotheses have in common is this: None have been convincing enough to achieve the consensus necessary to close the case for good.

Rich and Poor

A BULL’S-EYE LAMP,

FROM THE TIME OF THE MURDERS, WAS AN ESSENTIAL PART OF A POLICE OFFICER’S EQUIPMENT WHILE PATROLLING THE LONDON STREETS AT NIGHT. MUSEUM OF LONDON BRIDGEMAN/ACI


The carnage of the Ripper murders did result in some positive social change. Contempt for the lower classes was ingrained in upper-class thinking. Instead of seeing prostitution as a consequence of povert poverty y, many better-off Londoners saw these women’s decisions as a question of morality and not a question of survival. They subscribed to a prevailing idea that many at the bottom of the social heap lived the way they did because of bad character. By the time of the Ripper murders, social Darwinism—the application of Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection to human groups—reinforced this idea. Little by little, however, however, the consensus consen sus shifted toward towar d tackling tackli ng the roots of poverty p overty.. Founded in Whitechapel in the 1860s, the Salvation Army wass alr wa alread eady y helpi helping ng pr prosti ostitut tutes, es, and att attempt empt-ingg to wea in ean n pe peop ople le of offf th thee al alco coho holl th that at ha had d so “THE NEMESIS blightedthelivesoftheRipper’svictims.Shaken OF NEGLECT, NEGLEC T,” AN ENGRAVING IN PUNCH, bythe by thecon conditi ditions onsexp expose osed d by bythe theWhi Whitec techap hapel el SEPTEMBER 1888 murder mur ders, s, con conser serva vati tive vess also sta starte rted d cal calling ling for LOOKAND LEARN/BRIDG LEARN/BRIDGEMAN/ EMAN/ACI ACI refor re form, m, mot motiv ivat ated ed par partl tly y by enl enligh ighte tened ned self self-interest: inter est:Impr Improvingconditions ovingconditionswouldlessen wouldlessen the chancesof cha ncesof soc social ial re revo volt. lt. wasnotamanbutanapewhohadescapedfrom Themur The murder derss also alsopr promp ompted tedsoci socialis alists ts to cal calll thee zo th zoo. o. Per erha haps ps on onee of th thee mo most st ou outl tlan andi dish sh formeaning formeaningfulreform fulreform.. Onememor Onememorabl ably y fier fiery y reideas ide aspoi pointsthe ntsthefin fingerat gerat Cha Charle rless Dod Dodgso gson, n,bet bet-- sponsetotheRippercasewaspennedbyGeorge terkno ter known wn byhis pse pseudo udonymLewis nymLewisCarr Carroll olland and Be Bern rnar ard d Sh Shaaw, wh who o la late terr sh shot ot to fa fame me fo forr hi hiss Alice’s ’s Adv Adventures entures in Wonderland onderland.. A sati author aut hor of Alice satirica ricall pla play y Pygmalion, th thee bas asis is fo forr th thee hi hitt Fairr Lady Lady.. In Sep 1996book 1996 bookclaimed claimedthat thatunscr unscrambled ambledanagr anagrams ams musical My Fai Septem tember ber 188 1888 8 Sha Shaw w in hi hiss bo book okss rev evea ealed led th thee ki killi lling ngs, s, an argu argumen mentt wroteinthe Star newspaperthattheWhitechathatt has tha hassinc sincee been beendism dismant antled led by byhis histor torians ians.. pell mu pe murrde derrs ha had d fo forrce ced d th thee wea ealt lth hy to ad admi mitt Some have have suggest suggested ed we wealth althy y doct doctor orss as theirmistre theirmistreatmentof atmentof the thepoor poor.. Witha sar sardonic donic suspects, including Sir William WilliamW W. Gull, Gull,Queen Queen twist,Shawopinedthatthemurdererwasdoing Victoria’ Vict oria’ss per personal sonal phy physician. sician. Other Otherss point mor moree to toad adva vance ncethe thecau cause se of re reformthan formthan ye year arss to Ale Alexa xande nderr Peda Pedache chenk nko, o, an age agent nt of Rus Rus-- of po polit litic ical al agi agita tatio tion n had had:: “All Allow ow me to mak makee a sia’s tzarist tzarist secret police, police, who whosupposedly supposedly co comm mment ent on th thee su succ cces esss of th thee Wh Whit itech echap apel el committed the crimes committed crimesto tostain stainScotland Scotland mur murder derer er in ca calli lling ng at atte tenti ntion on for a mo momen mentt to Yard’ ard’ss repu reputation tation.. The plot is detaile detailed d th thee so soci cial al qu ques esti tion on . . . Th Thee on onee ar argu gume ment nt th that at in a later documen document, t, now lost, lost,writt written en touc touches hesyou yourr ladyand gentl gentleman,is eman,is the theknife knife..” by none other thanRasputin. thanRasputin. Mor Moree recent suspect suspectss include include Americ American an serial killer H.H. Holmes. Holmes.Notorious Notoriousfor forsever several al IGNACIOPEYRÓ ISDIRECTOROFTHECERVANTESINSTITUTEINLONDON,ENGLAND, ANDHASWRITTENEXTENSIVELYONBRITISHHISTORYANDCULTURE gruesome murder murderss duringthe 1893 1893Chicag Chicago o

RUMORS RUMO RS FROM HELL HE LL

I I C A / Y M A L A / R E L D I V E V E T S

n October 1888 George Lusk of the The text reads: “From hell / Mr Lusk, Whitechapel Vigilance Commit- Sor I send you half the Kidne I took from tee, a volunteer police force, received one woman and prasarved it for you [.] a small box in the mail. Inside it was tother piece I fried and ate it was very nise. a letter (above)—and half a human I may send you the blood bloodyy knif knif that took it kidney. Known as the “From Hell” out if you only wate a whil longer / signed letter, the author claims to be the killer, k iller, Catch me when you can Mishter Lusk.” describes his revolting behavior, Dr. Thomas Horrocks Openshaw of and taunts Lusk to try to catch him. the London Pathological Museum

examined the organ and identified it as a portion of a human left kidney. The news caused a sensation in the press: Catherine Eddowes (found on September 30) had had her left kidney removed. The press also reported unsubstantiated rumors that it showed damage from excessive drinking, a behavior attributed to Eddowes in life. x

FIVE WOMEN OF WHITECHAPEL The liv The ives es of th thos ose e wh who o fe felll to Ja Jack ck th the e Ri Ripp pper er wer ere e preser pr eserved vedby by the their ir dea death ths. s. Poo Poorr wo women men in Whi White techa chape pe often oft en li live ved d in the sha shado dows, ws, tho those se out outsid side e the their ir ci circ rcles les knowi kno wing ng or car caring ing li littl ttle e abo about ut the their ir har hardsh dship ips. s. Lik Like e many ma ny po poor or wo wome men n of th the e ti time, me, th these ese fi five ve wo wome men n we were re bound bou nd to toget gether her in the sam same e cy cycl cle e of pov poverty erty,, vio violen lence, ce, abandonmen aband onment, t, and addi addictio ction. n.

W

hen th hen they ey co coul uld, d, po poor or Whitechap Whit echapel el wom women en wou ould ld pa pay y a few pe pen nnies ni es fo forr a be bed d in a co comm mmon on lo lodg dgin ing g house ho use.. Thes Thesee larg large, e, cro crowd wded, ed, oft often en filthy filth y dorm dormit itorie oriess nev neverthe ertheless less of of-fered fe red so some me sec securi urity ty and war warmt mth. h. Paymenthadtobemadeinadvance, howe ho weve verr, and wo wome men n wo would uld oft often en turn tu rn to pr pros osti titu tuti tion on to ea earn rn th thee fe feee to av avoi oid d sl sleep eeping ing in the st stree reets ts.. ON THE NI NIGHT GHTS S THE THEY Y WER WERE E KIL KILLED LED,,

Mary Ann Ni Nicho chols ls (A (Augus ugustt 31 31)) and Annie Cha Chapman pman (Sep (Septem tember ber 8) had go ne ne i n s ea ea rc rc h o f c li lie nt nt s s o t he he y couldpayforabed.Prostitutionwas a practi practical cal wayto sup supplem plementother entother

A SHELTER FOR

DESTITUTE WOMEN IN WHITECHAPEL RUN BY THE SALVATION ARMY. ENGRAVING BYCHARLES PA PAUL UL RENOUARD LOOK AND LEARN/ BRIDGEMAN/ACI

types of ba types badl dly y pa paid id an and d ir irre regul gular ar work wo rk:: Ni Nich chol olss wo work rked ed as a do dome messticc se ti serva rvant nt.. Ch Chap apman man di did d cro croch chet et work wo rk and so sold ld flo flowe wers. rs. Eli Eliza zabet beth h Stride Stri de clea cleaned ned room rooms. s. Cat Catherin herinee Eddo Ed dowe wess ha had d ju just st arri arrive ved d ba back ck in London Lon don after hop hop-p -picki icking ng in Ken Kent. t. Financi Fin ancial al secu securityelude rityeluded d all fiv fivee of

these wo these wome men, n, and turni turning ng to to sex work wo rk was a qui quick ck and eas easy y wa way y to earn ear n mo mone ney y to su survi rvive ve.. SEVERAL SEV ERAL OF THE RIP RIPPER PER’S ’S VIC VICTIMS TIMS

lacked the finan lacked financial cial su suppor pportt of of a husbandand hus bandand the soci social al pro protect tection ionss marriageprovidedat the time. Nic Nichhols’shusban ols ’shusband d lefther beca because use of her drinkin drin king. g. Ch Chap apman man and her hushus band had separated, but he contincontinuedtosendhermoneyuntilhe died. Stride’ss husb Stride’ husband and had also died. Eddowe do wess li livedwitha vedwitha manin a lod lodgin ging g house ho use,, bu butt shecoul shecould d no nott be with him him on the nig night ht shewas kill killed ed beca because use shee co sh coul uld d no nott aff affor ord d th thee bed bed.. Mary Mary Jane Kelly was also a widow widow..

DORSETSTREET,

TERMED “THEWORST TERMED STREETT IN LOND STREE LONDON, ON,” WASS NEA WA NEARR THESCEN THESCENEE OFMARY JANEKELLY JANEKELLY’S ’S MURDER. PHOTOGRAPH TAKENAROUND 1902 MARY EVANS/CORDON PRESS

HOMELESS WOMEN

SHIVERING IN WHITECHAPEL ON A FREEZING NIGHT NIGHT.. 1888 NEWSP NEWSPAPER APER ILLUSTRATION ALBUM

LIKE MANY WHITECHAPEL CITIZENS,

the Ripper’s victims had all found solace in alcohol. Nichols had strugstr uggled with alcoholism for most of her adult life. On the nights of their murders, witnesses reported seeing Nichols, Chapman, Eddowes, and Kelly drunk. Eddowes E ddowes had even passed out from drinking and spent a few hours recovering in a police station. Loneliness, necessity, homelessness, and the need for security had already made them vulnerable, but intoxication intoxication would would have dulled their senses and lowered their defenses further, making it hard to fight back against the brutal murderer who stalked the streets of Whitechapel in 1888. x

I C A / N A M E G D I R B / N R A E L D N A K O O L

Who was the Ripper’s last victim? Thepoliceidentified Thepoliceidentifie d fiv five e mur murder derss as bei being ng com commit mittedby tedby Jac Jack k the Ripper Ripp er,, but som some e exp expert ertss beli believ eve e the there remaybe maybe as man many y as 11 kill killings ings.. Thelast of the thefiv five e “c “cano anonic nical” al”vict victims ims is Ma Mary ry Jan Jane e Ke Kelly lly (al (also so known kno wn as Mar Marie ie Jea Jeanet nette) te),, mur murder dered ed in her herro room om in Mil Miller ler’s ’sCou Court rt (abov (ab ove). e).T To the there resid sident entss of Whi Whitec techap hapel, el, the themon months thsfol follow lowing ing her death dea th we were retha thankf nkfully ullyfr free ee of mor more e gri grisly sly dis disco cover veries ies,, but the thehia hiatus tus cameto ca meto anend on Ju July ly 16,1889 16,1889,, wh when en th the e bo body dy of Al Alic ice e Mc McKe Kenz nzie ie wass fou wa found nd wit with h herthroa herthroatt slitand her herabd abdome omen n mut mutilat ilated. ed. Dr Dr.. ThomasBond, Tho masBond, whohad con conduc ducted tedKe Kelly’ lly’ss aut autops opsy, y,stu studie died d the corpseand cor pseand con conclu cludedthat dedthat McK McKenz enzie ie wa wass ano anothe therr vic victim tim of the Ripper Ripp er.. Ev Even en tho though ughthe thepol police icedis disagr agreedwith eedwith Bon Bond’ d’ss opi opinio nion, n, the press pr esssti stirr rred ed up a fre frenzy nzy claimin cla iming g tha thatt the theRip Ripper per had ret returned urned.. MARY JANE KELLY’S BURIAL SITE

AT ST.PATRICK’S ROMAN CATHOLIC CEMETERY, LONDON MAURICE SAVAGE/ALAMY/ACI ACI

DISCOVERIES

The Buried Statues of King Menkaure The pharaoh with the smallest pyramid was at the center of one of Egypt’s biggest finds when American scholar George Reisner unearthed the temple of Menkaure and its artistic masterpieces in 1908.

T

he three great pyramids of Egypt have stood tall for some 4,500 years. By the late 1800s erosion on the Giza plateau raised fears among scholars that the grand structures were threatened. Illicit digging in the area was the suspected cause, and a team of scholars knew that a solution was necessary. In 1902 a group of them met at a Cairo hotel to come up with a plan. In attendance were German Ludwig Borchardt, who would discover the Nefertiti bust in 1912; Italian Ernesto Schiaparelli, who in 1904 would find the tomb of Nefertari, queen of Ramses II; and George Reisner—known as the “American Flinders Petrie” because his cautious methods

M E D I T T E RR R A

Giza

N SEE A

CAIRO

EGYPT

were compared to that of the celebrated British Egyptologist. The group decided to divide up the plateau among them so that teams could organize and conduct their own excavations. Standing on the veranda, they drew lots from a hat. Borchardt won the Pyramid of Khafre, and Schiaparelli part of the cemetery to the north. Reisner picked the funerary complex of the pharaoh Menkaure, a section that would yield some of the most iconic artworks from the Old Kingdom.

1902 George Reisner is granted the right to excavate the funerary complex near the Pyramid of Menkaure.

Buried Treasure

Menkaure, the sixth ruler of Egypt’s 4th dynasty, was buried in the smallest of the three great pyramids. His father Khafre and his grandfather Khufu (Cheops in Greek) rested in the other two. Built between 2550 and 2490 B.C., the Giza Pyramids stand as an eternal symbol of Egypt. This fate, however, was not shared by Menkaure’s mortuary temples, which Reisner believed to be located on the pyramid’s eastern side. These temples would be the center of a cult to worship the dead pharaoh. Evidence suggests that Menkaure’s temples operated for nearly three centuries after the pharaoh’s death. After his cult declined, so did the temples, and they disappeared beneath the sands. The Pyramid of Menkaure had long ago been plundered by robbers in the ancient era.

1906 Sponsored by Harvard University, Reisner begins his dig and locates the remains of the Upper Temple.

1908 The Valley Temple yields a trove of artworks depicting Pharaoh Menkaure, including four intact triad statues.

ALABASTER HEAD OF MENKAURE, DISCOVERED IN THE VALLEY TEMPLE IN 1908. MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON BRIDGEMAN/ACI

SEEING TRIPLE

Taken in 1908, a photo reveals two of Menkaure’s triad sculptures soon after their discovery at Menkaure’s Valley Temple in Giza. MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, BOSTON

Centuries later, other Menkaure artifacts would be lost to time as well. In the 1830s British soldier Richard Vyse entered the structure and

1910 Reisner uncovers a splendid stone sculpture depicting Menkaure escorted by a mysterious female figure.

REISNER’S REVELATIONS GEORGE A. REISNER was born in Indianapolis,

found the empty sarcophagus of the king, which he shipped off to London. The ship carrying it was wrecked, and Menkaure’s sarcophagus ended up on the seabed. Reisner hoped that locating the lost temples would yield artifacts that would compensate for the theft and loss of so many objects from the pyramid, and shed much needed light on this period of the Old Kingdom.

In 1906 Reisner was ready to begin searching his alloted share of the Giza complex. The head of an expedition organized by Harvard University, Reisner would patiently and methodically excavate the site. His prudence paid off. In December he uncovered the “Upper Temple.” In June 1908 he found another major structure, known as the “Valley

Indiana, in 1867. Educated at Harvard, he pursued a career in Egyptology, developing meticulous excavation and recording methods based partly on his use of field photography. Following his 1906-1910 triumph at Giza, Reisner made another great discovery in 1925, finding the tomb of Queen Hetepheres, motherr of Khufu mothe Khufu.. Despite losing his his sight in in the 1930s, he continued continued his work with the help of his daughter.

N O T S O B , S T R A E N I F F O M U E S U M

(continued on page 94)


91

DISCOVERIES

MYSTERY WOMAN Reisner over to a pit at Menkaure’s Valley Temple IN 1910 a boy beckoned George Reisner to show him treasure: the tops of two stone heads protruding from the sand. After Reisner retrieved retrieved the double statue, he knew he was in the presence of a masterpiece: The couple are serene and powerful, individualized and regal. The male figure depicts Menkaure, recognizable by his royal headwear. The identity of the female figure who embraces the king has puzzled scholars, since the statue bears no names. Wearing no divine accessories, she is not a goddess, but a mortal woman,most woman, most likely either Menkaure’s Menkaure’s mother or his Great Royal Wife. BRIDGEMAN/ACI

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DISCOVERIES

Divine protector Divineprote ctor,, Hathor Hathor,, enthroned, holds Menkaure by the waist, touching his right arm. In his right hand is a mace. Next to Hathor is a smaller smaller,, lesser, regional deity from the Hare nome. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Menkaure stands in the center and holds two scrolls. To the left is Hathor, and to the right is the deity of the Waset nome. All three have their left leg extended forward, giving a sense of action and purpose. Egyptian Museum, Cairo

Temple,” crudely constructed Menkaure wearing the tall due to the king’s sudden, un- crown, or hedjet, of Upper expected death. Egypt; the goddess Hathor, As excavation contin- identified by her characterued, Reisner found a cache istic horned headdress and of remarkable artworks cel- solar disk; and a third figure ebrating Menkaure in the personifyi personifying ng regionaldeities Valley Temple. The most from the provinces of Egypt. notable were four intact triads (groups of three figures) A Masterpiece carved from graywacke, Later, when Reisner thought a type of sandstone. Pre- the temple had already reserved in near-perfect con- vealed all of its secrets, a dition, the four pieces depict, double sculpture came to in varying configurations: light in 1910. It depicted the

The triple grouping of king, goddess, and regional symbols can be seen as a powerful pow erful statement of national unity unit y. 94 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018

The phara pharaoh oh is flan flanke ked d by Hat Hathor hor on the left and on the right by the deity of the Jackal nome, whose animal form is seen above her. The goddesses grip the king’s arms in a subtle but protective gesture. Egyptian Museum, Cairo

pharaoh Menkaure wearing a nemes, the striped royal headcloth, and a woman with her arm around his waist. Traces of pigment remain on the figures: red on his face and black on her hair. There are no names inscribed on the piece. While scholars agree that the male is most likely Menkaure, they are divided as to whether the female is the Great Royal Wife, Queen Khamerernebti, or Menkaure’s mother. This duo is counted among the greatest masterpieces ever unearthed in Egypt. With the graywacke polished to a smooth finish, the work blends tenderness and majesty, transmitting

both the confidence and humanity of a powerful ruler.

The function of the triads is uncertain, although the grouping of king, Hathor, and regional deities can be seen as a powerful statement of national unity. A series of unfinished statuettes of the king also found at the site— some still as stone blocks with cut marks indicated in red pigment—have given scholars a rich understanding of sculptural methods in the Old Kingdom. Above all, however, it is the striking realism of the pieces that brings the unimaginably different world of 4,500 years ago just a little closer.

—Carme Mayans

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Next Issue JOUSTING IN THE AIR

WORLD WAR I FLYING ACES

A BRITISH SOPWITH CAMEL IN BATTLE WITH GERMAN BIPLANES DURING THE FIRST WORLD WAR BETTMANN/GETTY IMAGES

thana decade after the Wright brothers’ first flight, aircraft began soaring over the battlefields of World War I on reconnaissance missions, and gave a newfound perspective on the military maneuvers below. When a French crew shot down a German plane, air-to-air combat was born, and warfare was transformed forever. Engineers finetuned maneuverab maneuverability ility and retooled weapons for dogfights. Daring pilots pushed themselves to the limit, adding a dash of chivalrous glamour to the ugliness of war. SLIGHTLY MORE

THE SISTINE CHAPEL: A TOUCH OF GENIUS nine key vignettes from the Book of Genesis, the frescoes on the ceiling of the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel epitomize the genius of the High Renaissance. Pope Julius II’s choice of Michelangelo for the job in 1508 did not seem an obvious one. The pope and the painter had a stormy relationship, while other artists—jealous of the brilliant Florentine— questioned his competence for the job. Only by overcoming astonishing technical difficulties could Michelangelo Michelang elo pull off one of artisticfeats artistic feats CENTERED ON

Babylon’’s Builder Babylon Builder King Ki ng Sacking Jerusalem in 587 B.C. cast him in shadow to some, but to his people, Nebuchadrezzar II was a bringer of light, light , whose reign was marked by the glorious rebuilding of Babylon.

The Colossus of Rhodes “Few can clasp its thumb in their “Few t heir arms,” wrote wrote Pliny the Elder of this wonder of the ancient world, an enormous statue of Helios that once loomed over the harbor of Rhodes.

Rome’ss Vestal Virgins Rome’ Virg ins In ancient Rome six priestesses tended the flame of Vesta, goddess of the hearth. hear th. These women lived according to a strict code but enjoyed rights unavailable to other Roman women.

The Truth About About the Assassins Assas sins Inspiring with their tenacity, craft, craft, and cunning, cunni ng, the Nizari

Ismailiyyah, a Muslim sect, were the source for the fantastic stories of the Assassins, deadly killers living in hidden mountain fortresses of Iran and Syria in the late Middle Ages. MICHELANGELO’S “THE CREATION OF ADAM,” SISTINE CHAPEL, VA VATICAN TICAN CITY ARCHIVIO FOTOGRAFICO MUSEI VATICANI

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Nat Geo History - Hellraiser.pdf

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