Tea at Trianon: The Mystery of the Oldest Throne in Europe

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

Sunday, September 28, 2025

The Mystery of the Oldest Throne in Europe

knossos throne

From The Greek Reporter:

The magnificent throne room in the 15th century BC palace of Knossos in Crete at the center of Minoan civilization is believed to be the oldest such room in Europe. The Minoan civilization flourished for approximately two thousand years. The magnificent Knossos complex had large palace buildings, extensive workshop installations, and a luxurious rock-cut cave and tholos tombs. As a major center of trade and the economy, Knossos maintained ties with the majority of cities in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The palace was a great labyrinthine complex of 20,000 meters (65,616 feet) in length, a ceremonial, religious, and political center that reflected great wealth, power, and highly advanced architecture. It was based around a central courtyard with more than a thousand interlinked, maze-like halls and chambers. (Read more.)