Tea at Trianon: Life Before the Pyramids

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, July 29, 2020

Life Before the Pyramids

From Ancient Origins:

One of the unique cultures in prehistoric Egypt that developed was the so-called Khormoussan culture, named for the site of Khor Musa, near the later famed Egyptian site of Wadi Halfa. This society appeared around 45,000 years BC around Maghreb and the southern regions of the Sahara. One thing that is notable for the peoples of this culture is the slow abandonment of the desert regions, and a migration nearer to the fertile valleys of the Nile. They were nomadic, following wild herds and making temporary camps in river valleys.

Wadi Halfa is considered one of the oldest sites in prehistoric Egypt, where the oldest structures were discovered – some dated to 100,000 BC. It was around this site that the later Khormoussan culture was established. They were known for their technological advancements over time. They mastered the use of stone tools, but also developed use of bone and hematite. It began sometime between 42,000 and 32,000 before present, and ended around 16,000 BC, with the gradual emergence of new, more advanced cultures. One of these new cultures that came afterwards is known as the Qadan culture. It moved into the Neolithic stage of development between 15,000 and 10,000 BC and is characteristic of several areas and settlements. These are the well-known Elkab at Wadi Halfa, the Faiyum, Deir el-Badari, Deir Tasa, and El-Omari, near Halwan. (Read more.)