Mary Anning with remarkable intelligence

Mary Anning, the daughter of Richard and Mary Moore Anning was born on 21st May 1799 in Lyme Regis, Dorset, England. Though the Annings had ten children, it was only Mary and her brother Joseph who survived till they reached adulthood.

On a particular incident on August 19, 1800, Mary miraculously escaped death during a lightning storm and she was one of the four people who had taken shelter under a tree in Rack Field near Lyme Regis and had survived when the tree was struck by lightning.

After the incident, according to local legend it was believed that her intelligence had significantly increased. Richard Anning, her father raised his family by working as a carpenter and a cabinet maker and he used his hobby of collecting fossils, as anotheroption for additional income where he would clean, polish and sell them to the summer tourists.

An Expert at Fossil Hunting

He was in a position to get a good amount of fossils since the area in which he lived was rich with fossils. Besides, the hometown of Lyme Regis was also located on the southwest coast of England and it was believed that about 200 million years ago, that region had been a sea bottom where a large number of dinosaur remains were fossilized after their death.

When the sea level reduced, these fossils were found, in and around the beach and in the areas of the rocky cliffs. Her father would often take Mary and her brother, fossil hunting all around the cliffs of Lyme Regis and would sell their findings to the tourists.

Mary thus became an expert as a fossil hunter and would spend days looking for fossils in the cliffs around the place where she lived.

Coiled Shells – Ammonites - Mollusk

It was Richard who seemed to be the first person to take advantage of this situation for tourist trade which later increased as Lyme Regis became a summer resort seaside town in late 1700s. One of the most popular items which the locals dubbed was curiosities, coiled shells which later on were determined asammonites and were a type of molluskthat lived during the Jurassic period.

 Mary Anning, the British, who became a fossil collector, dealer and a paleontologist gained popularity due to a number of important discoveries she made in the Jurassic marine fossil beds at Lyme Regis in Dorset near her dwelling place.

She made her contribution to fundamental changes which occurred during her live in scientific thinking with regards to prehistoric life and the history of the earth.

First Discovery - Ichthyosaur

Mary Annings would search for fossils in Blue Lias cliffs’ area especially during winter when landslides would expose new fossils which she would collect quickly before they would be lost in the sea but it was a dangerous task.

 Her first discovery at the age of twelve includeda well preserved, a nearly complete ichthyosaur, a fish lizard, skeleton and the first two plesiosaur skeletons ever found; the first pterosaur skeleton was located outside Germany along with some important fish fossils.

Her observations and discoveries were an important part in the findings of coprolites known as bezoar stones of fossilised faeces, at the time. She also made her contributions to the discoveries of belemnite fossils which contained fossilised ink sacs like the modern cephalopods.

Drew the attention of many after her death

She became popular in geological in Britain, America and Europe and was looked upon with issues related to anatomy and collection of fossils.

Being a woman she was not eligible to join the Geological Society of London nor did she receive credit for her scientific contribution whereupon she made a statement in one of her letters saying `the world hasused me so unkindly, I fear it has made me suspicious of everyone’.

The only writing which seemed to be published during her lifetime was in the Magazine of Natural History, an extract from one of her letter which she had written to the magazine’s editor, questioning on one of its claims in 1839.She drew the attention of many after her death in 1847 after succumbing to breast cancer.

Her Legacy Still Alive

In 1865, Charles Dickens wrote that `the carpenter’s daughter had won a name for herself and deserved to win it’. One hundred and sixty three years after her death, in 2010, the Royal Society added her name in the list of the ten British women who had influenced the most in the history of science. Her legacy still remains alive over the years.

The famous tongue twister `she sells sea shells on the seashore was said to be written with her in mind. Fifteen years after her death, the scientist of the Geological Society of London gave a stained glass window in her honour to the church in Lyme Regis which depicted the six corporal acts of mercy. Towards late twentieth century, the Lyme Regis Museum was erected, which was a home to Anning earlier, its main purpose being the preservation of her legacy.

Agustina of Aragon, A Heroine

A young maiden by the name of Agustina lived in a town of Saragossa which was located in the province of Aragon, in Spain. She became the most unlikely heroine of all times when Napoleon’s army invaded the city in 1808 at a time when the city was unaware and unprepared for warfare without any established army for defense.

They set about protecting its walls with some civilians and at the Portillo gate, over fifty of the defenders had either been killed or wounded. Agustina of Aragon was one of the most romantic Spanish heroines of the Peninsular War who defended Spain during the Spanish War of Independence as a civilian first and later as a professional officer in the Spanish Army which was known as `the Spanish Joan of Arc.

Made a Spectacular Heroic Defense

She was subject to many folklore, artwork and mythology which included sketches by Francisco de Goya and Lord Byron’s poetry. She was the wife of a soldier who joined the resistance when French troops unexpectedly had invaded Spain and was captured early in the invasion but managed to escape.

She found her way to a fortified city, Saragossa, along with many other rebels and was determined in opposing the French invasion when many other cities had accepted defeat without any resistance. Though outgunned by the French, Saragossa made a spectacular heroic defense while Agustina played an important role in the siege by manning guns and cannon, on her own and by doing so had inspired the Spanish defenders.

A Courageous Fighter

It was in June 15, 1808 when the French army had stormed the Portillo which was an ancient gateway in the city defended by a battery of old cannons and also a heavily outnumbered volunteer unit. Agustina had arrived on the ramparts along with a basket of apples to feed the gun men when she saw the nearby defenders falling to the French bayonets.

The Spanish troops had abandoned their post breaking down ranks, suffering heavy casualties. While the French troops were a few distance away, Agustina ran forward loading a cannon lit the fuse shredding a wave of attackers at point blank range.

Seeing a lone woman fighting courageously manning the cannons inspired the fleeing Spaniards troops as well as the volunteering to return back and assist her in the battle. After a fierce bloody struggle, the French finally gave up the battle on Saragossa abandoning their siege for short weeks before returning back to make their way into the city, house by house.

Ordinary Girl Motivated by War

The original records of Agustina indicate that she was not very fervent or pious but an ordinary girl who was motivated by war. There are various places which are claimed to be her birthplace while most biographies inform that she was born in Reus, in Tarragona in 1786 and her family moved to Madrid at an early age.

She portrayed an independence of mind from an early age much to the annoyance of the Spanish where records show that she seemed to be a persistent nuisance hovering around the barracks of the Army at the tender age of 13.

Heat Death Of Universe

Living among Glowing Filaments of Energy

The universe differs in composition in various places and we live among glowing filaments of energy and matter which are collected together in a background of nothingness and the planetary systems, stars, nebulae, black holes, galaxies are all concentrated specks in space.

In the distant future, these hot heavy specks may tend to spread out into cold void mixing till everything will change in a thin mist and like boiling water added to cold content; the two extremes will balance out and thereby leave it lukewarm.

 Heat death began from the work of several physicist who started the study of comprehending how the machines transformed heat to mechanical work and formed an empirical conception on how steam engines and other suppliers of force did this which led them to the understanding of the entire system settling down to an intermediate temperature with no more energy transfer taking place.

This is known as the maximization of entropy. The atoms, subatomic and molecules particles tend to collide in space spreading the energy and momentum from fast to slow wherein the motion of these particles of the universe gradually become random and they collide and interact with no change of energy, finally going out into the empty space.

Universe Reaches Maximum Entropy

The heat death of the universe will take place when the universe reaches a state of maximum entropy when all the available energy like the hot source will have moved to places of less energy as a colder source and when this takes place no additional work will be possible from the universe.

 Since heat will cease to flow, no more work would be acquired from heat transfer while the same sort of equilibrium would also be expected from other forms of energy namely mechanical, electrical etc.; resulting it to be effectively dead especially for the use of humankind. The heat death originated from the second law of thermodynamic which is the entropy that increases in an isolated system being the universe.

 Entropy that can be arranged in a number ways where a system can be arranged should not decrease, but evolve to maximum disorder or thermodynamic equilibrium. When this takes place, it will be divided equally throughout the cosmos leaving no space for any reusable heat or energy to break into existence resulting in the processes which consume energy would cease to exist, including our planet Earth.

Big Freeze/Big Chill

The theory on how the universe will tend to end, the heat death which is also known as the big Freeze or the big chill has been suggested as one of the ways where the cosmos would come to an end especially when it’s expanding.

 The heat death of the universe is considered as the ultimate fate of the universe wherein the universe will tend to diminish to a state of no thermodynamic free energy and will no longer be capable to sustain processes which will consume energy. It does not imply any temperature but needs temperature difference or other processes that may no longer be needed for performance of work.

Charles Martel

Martel – The Hammer 

Charles Martel, a Frankish statesman and a military leader, as a Duke and Prince of the Franks as well as the Mayor of the Palace was considered the de facto ruler of Francia from 718 till his death. His byname, Martel means `the hammer’ and Martel was the illegitimate son of the Frankish statesman Pepin of Herstal and a noblewomen, Alpaida, he asserted his claim to power as the successor to his father’s power behind the throne in Frankish politics and restored centralizing the government continuing and building on his father’s work with a series of military campaigns and re-established the Franks as the undisputed master of all Gaul. He subjugated Bavaria, Frisia and Alemannia, in foreign wars and vanquished the pagan Saxona, halting the Islamic advance in Western Europe at the Battle of Tours. This battle also known as the battle of Poitiers is known as one of the most decisive battle since it decided that Christians and not the Moslems in Europe should be the ruling power at that time and Charles Martel was considered the hero of this battle.

Great Champion of Christianity 

The name Martel was given to him due to his bravery during the fight and Marteau is the French word for hammer and according to a French historian, it says that as a hammer breaks and crushes iron and steel, so as Charles crushed and broken all the power of his enemies in the battle of Tour. Though the Saracens fled from the battlefield of Tours they had not vacated the land of the Franks and Charles had to fight other battles with them before they were finally defeated. He managed to drive them across the Pyrenees after which they never made any more attempts to invade Frankland. After the defeat of the Saracens, Martel gained the admiration as the great champion of Christianity and till his death; he was in reality though not in name a king of the Franks.

Patron of Saint Boniface

He was skilled as an administrator as well as a warrior and considered to be the founding figure of the European Middle Ages. He was also credited with a seminal role in the development of feudalism and knighthood. Being a great patron of Saint Boniface, it was he who made the first attempt to reconcile the Papacy and the Franks and the Pope desired him to be the defender of the Holy See offering him the Roman consulship which Martel refused. Martel had never assumed the title of a king, but he divided Francia like a king between his sons Pepin and Carloman. Pepin became the first of the Carolingians, who became king belonging to the family of Charles Martel. His grandson, Charlemagne, further extended the Frankish realms to include much of the West region, becoming the first Emperor after the fall of Rome and on the basis of his achievements Martel is considered as laying the foundation for the Carolingian Empire and Gibbon has summed up this personality as the hero of the age while Gyerard considers him as being the `champion of the Cross against the Crescent’.

Surena – The Heroic One

Surena is also known as Rustaham Suren Pahlav, a Parthian during the 1st century BC and a member of the House of Suren who was well known for defeating the Romans in the Battle of Carrhae. Suren means `the heroic one, Avestan sura meaning strong, exalted.

General Surena was the son of Arakhsh and Massis and was one of the most distinguished men in wealth, birth as well in honor that was paid to him and the Surenas were one of the most outstanding families in the Parthian empire.

After King Hydrodes was defeated and expelled from Parthia, the Surena recaptured the Kingdom. Surena ranked next to the king, both in courage and ability and was the foremost Parthian of his time. He had no equal both in stature and personal beauty.

Whenever he travelled on his own in the country, he was often accompanied by a huge harem of concubine which needed two hundred wagons to transport including military campaigns which also included 1,000 dromedaries, 1,000 armored cavalry, with more Iight armed cavalry who acted as escorts while the total number of this cavalry along with his vassal and slaves amounted to around 100,000 men.

 At the coronation of the King of Parthia, he had the right to be the first to place the crown on his head being an ancient privilege of his family.

Surena Gained Recognition

The Surena gained recognition due to the defeat of the Roman commander Crassus in 53 BC and the family became influential later with the right to crown the Parthian kings at the beginning of the third century BC.

When Crassus decided to capture the Parthian Empire at the battle of Carrhae, he was reduced to one of the most embarrassing situation of the Roman Army by Surena and his men. When he was given the option to surrender, Crassus had asked his men to take flight and sent them all to their deaths and the Surena chased them and killed all of them while Crassus was personally beheaded by the Surena and molten gold was poured down his neck. Such was his pitiful end at the hands of the Surena.

Description of Great Suren by Plutarch

Plutarch description of the great Suren was, `the Suren was not an ordinary person, but in fortune, family and honor, he was the first after the king and in point of courage and capacity, and in size and beauty, superior to the Parthian during his time.

If he went on excursion in the country, he went along with his baggage and two hundred carriages for his concubines and was attended by a thousand heavy armed horse with many more of the light armed that rode before him. He had the hereditary privilege in his family of placing the crown or the diadem on the king’s head.

It was Surena who conquered for him the great city of Selucia, the first to scale the wall and beat his enemy with his own hands and though he was not even thirty years of age, his counsel esteemed the best and his discernment seemed very strong.

The Myth of Pope Joan, A Female Pope!

The Legend of Pope Joan

A legend perhaps fabricated somewhere in the thirteenth century according to Alain Boureau had persisted in some form or the other about a brilliant young woman, named Joan, in the ninth century who disguised herself as a man in order to follow her lover into an exclusive male domain of scholarship.

She is also said to have been an astute theologian as well as a wise ruler tough no decree or theological teaching are documented to this day. Boureau investigates the historical and ecclesiastical situation under which the myth of Pope Joan sprung up and the different uses to which it was put over the years.

He portrayed how the Catholic clerics justified the exemption of women from the papacy as well as the priesthood by employing the myth in misogynist moral tales to find the Popess they had created had turned against them in an anti Catholic propaganda during the Reformation.

She was so successful with her disguise that she ascended the Catholic hierarchy in Rome and was elected Pope eventually where her pontificate lasted for two years till she became pregnant and died after giving birth during a public process from the Vatican.

Many Versions to Her Story

Many other versions of her story describe Joan as a learned and talented, a courageous feminist, a clever opportunist, a brilliant scholar who under the guise of a man most often at the behest of a lover and due to her abilities rose through the church hierarchy where she eventually got elected as a Pope.

Another legend relates that she was granted a vision by God where she was shown two option of her fate, either of being discovered and disgraced by the world or roasted in fire (hell) for her crime where she chose the former. Another version goes on to tell that she got pregnant by one of the advisors and managed to maintain the charade till she finally gave birth to the child.

When her secret was disclosed and she was deposed as pope, she was sent to the convent to do penance for the rest of her life and the child born to her later on, went on to become the bishop of Ostia which was about 30 miles southwest of Rome. When she died, he buried her body there though there is no evidence to support this.

Fraud Dislosed

The most common detail that these legends have in common is that Pope Joan was discovered due to her intimacy with a cardinal or secretary resulting in pregnancy and the childbirth disclosed her fraud. The main legend is the most disgraceful at this point since Pope Joan while riding in a portable throne in which the pope is carried and as her procession is passing the Coliseum on its way from St. Peter’s Basilica towards St. John Lateran Cathedral goes into labor.

The procession is interrupted and the woman gives birth to the child amidst confused and angry onlookers who kill her as well as the baby on the spot. Some account that she was stoned to death while others say that she died in childbirth as the mob watching the spectacle shouted and insulted her.

Amazons, Ancient Female Warriors without Breast!

Amazons, a Nation of all Female Warriors

The Amazons also known as Oiorpata in the Scythian language was a nation of all female warrior in Greek mythology as well as Classical antiquity. They were placed in a region bordering Scythia in Sarmatia, the modern territory of Ukraine, by Herodotus while other historiographers placed them in Asia Minor or at times in Libya. Notable queens of the Amazons who participated in the Trojan War were Penthesilea and her sister Hippolyta and her magical girdle given to her by her father Ares was the cause of one of the labors of Hercules.

 The Amazons got connected with various historical people throughout the Roman Empire period and the Late Antiquity. There are various accounts of Amazon raids in Asia Minor in Roman historiography and from the Early Modern period, their name came to be termed for female warriors in general. The first mention of the Amazons comes from two epics regarding the Trojan War, the famous Iliad of Homer and lesser acquainted poem known as the Aethiopis which is attributed to Arctinus of Miletus and it is presumed to be written in the 8th or 7th century BC.

Amazons Women Equal to Men in Fighting ability

The Iliad mentions that the Amazons had two or three in passing and the Trojan king Priam and the Greek hero Bellerophon had fought separate wars against the Amazons of two generation before the event of Iliad, at Asia Minor. Homer also mentions about a tomb of Troy belonging to Myrine and later tradition made her an Amazon.

Homer, describe the Amazons as fighting women, equal to men in fighting ability with no further mention made about them. It is believed that the legendary Amazons lived in Pontus which is a part of modern day Turkey towards the southern shore of the Euxine Sea or the Black Sea who had formed an independent kingdom under the reign of queen Hippolyta.

Many Versions of the Legend

It was presumed that the Amazons had formed many towns some of which were Smyrna, Sinope, Ephesus and Paphos. According to some they had lived in Scythia (modern Crimea) in the distant past at the Palus Maeotos while according to Plutarch, the Amazons lived in and around the Don River which the Greeks called the Tanais but the Scythians called it Amazon.

They later moved on to Themiscyra – modern Terme on the River Thermodon and Herodotus called them killers of men or Androktones. Amazons was given a popular etymology, among Classical Greeks, as from a-mozos meaning without breast connected with an etiological tradition that the Amazons had the right one cut off or burnt out to improve their archery.

It was a possibility that these practices occurred in order to steady their bows better and draw their arrows straight across the chest while the other could support or hold the quiver in place and also for the purpose of child rearing. This proposed breast less etymology was widely known in the ancient times somewhere in the 5th century BC but the supporters did not agree about its exact significance and many are speculating on its legend.