‘The sphinx will speak at last’: Visions, Communications and Esoteric Experience

2020 ◽  
pp. 186-220
Author(s):  
Eleanor Dobson
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Exchange ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Aleister Crowley ◽  
Sax Rohmer

This chapter investigates visions of ancient Egypt that were understood to be grounded in supernatural truth. It examines the Egyptologists on the peripheries of magical orders, including E. A. Wallis Budge and Battiscombe Gunn, those who took part in spiritualistic activities, such as Howard Carter, as well as the individuals who involved these specialists in their magical and spiritual undertakings. Examining the lives and works of Golden Dawn magicians Florence Farr and Aleister Crowley alongside writers including Sax Rohmer and H. Rider Haggard, it exposes networks of collaboration between Egyptologists and individuals interested in Egyptian rites, and connects these relationships with the Egyptological sites, works and artefacts. Egyptological experts often attempted to distance themselves from the supernatural tales that Egyptian artefacts were particularly liable to inspire, but this was by no means universal. Examining literary overlaps between esotericism and Egyptology illuminates one of the most intriguing aspects of cultural exchange taking place between this scholarly field and culture more broadly: Egyptian spirits and magical ceremonies which Egyptologists frequently claimed had no potency in the modern world (besides in fiction) did, in fact, impress upon several practitioners; esotericists, meanwhile, turned to Egyptology and Egyptologists to buttress their rites, beliefs and experiences.

River Turtle Exploitation: Past and Present

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Don Moll ◽  
Edward O. Moll
Keyword(s):  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Central American ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
South American ◽  
American River ◽  
The World ◽  
Nesting Sites ◽  
Old World Tropics ◽  
River Turtles

Turtles and their eggs have long served as an important source of food for humans—almost certainly since very early in the evolution of the hominid lineage, and surely for at least the last 20,000 years (Nicholls, 1977). Evidence in the form of shells and skeletal material (some showing burn marks as evidence of cooking) in the middens of Paleolithic aboriginal cultures, and from eyewitness accounts of explorer-naturalists in more recent times is available from numerous locations around the world (e.g., Bates, 1863; St. Cricq, 1874; Goode, 1967; Rhodin, 1992, 1995; Pritchard, 1994; Lee, 1996; Stiner et al., 1999). Skeletal evidence of river turtles, in particular from such locations as Mohenjodaro and Harappa in the Indus Valley (e.g., Indian narrow-headed softshells and river terrapins), Mayapan, and many other Mesoamerican Mayan sites (e.g., Central American river turtles), and Naga ed-Der of Upper Ancient Egypt (e.g., Nile softshell) suggest that river turtles have helped to support the rise of the world's great civilizations as well (de Treville, 1975; Nath, 1959 in Groombridge & Wright, 1982; Das, 1991; Lee, 1996). Their role continues and, in fact, has expanded as human populations have burgeoned and spread throughout the modern world. River turtles have always been too convenient and succulent a source of protein to ignore. Often large, fecund, and easily collected with simple techniques and equipment, especially in communal nesters which may concentrate at nesting sites in helpless thousands (at least formerly), river turtles are ideal prey. Much of the harvesting has been, and continues to be, conducted in relative obscurity in many parts of the world. Occasionally, however, the sheer magnitude of the resource and its slaughter has attracted the attention of literate observers, such as the early explorer-naturalists of the New and Old World tropics. Their accounts have given us some idea of the former truly spectacular abundance of some riverine species, and the equally spectacular levels of consistent exploitation which have brought them to their modern, much-diminished condition. Summaries of the exploitation of the two best documented examples of destruction of formerly abundant riverine species, the Asian river terrapin, and the giant South American river turtle, are provided under their appropriate geographic sections below.

1. Four little words

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Riggs
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experience ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Land Art ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Representational Power ◽  
Art And Architecture ◽  
Made In

‘Four little words’ analyses the meanings of ‘Ancient’, ‘Egyptian’, ‘art’, and ‘architecture’ in order to understand how Egyptian art and architecture are studied and discussed, why and how they have influenced the modern world, and whether iconic examples of Egyptian artworks and buildings are in any way representative of cultural norms and lived experience in the ancient past. When is ‘ancient’ Egypt? Where and what was ‘Egypt’ in antiquity and how did its people describe themselves and their land? Art and architecture are considered to comprise those objects made in such a way that their form and materials contribute to their representational power, social or symbolic significance, and aesthetic qualities.

BEFORE THE IMF: THE ECONOMIC IMPLICATIONS OF UNINTENTIONAL STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT IN ANCIENT EGYPT

2000 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 65-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Warburton
Keyword(s):  
Bronze Age ◽  
Structural Adjustment ◽  
Market Competition ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Market Forces ◽  
Economic Implications ◽  
Ancient Egyptian ◽  
Technological Improvement ◽  
The Bronze Age

AbstractDebate about states and markets in the Bronze Age world has directed attention away from their roles and thus away from the way these economies functioned. The ancient Egyptian state assigned fields to its dependents and stimulated demand by spending and taxation. Markets and market forces were responsible for the allocation and distribution of materials in the ancient Near East from the end of the third millennium. Growth did not result from technological improvement or market competition so much as from demand stimulus, as in the modern world, suggesting that demand is more important than supply.

The Beast with Two Backs: Aleister Crowley, Sex Magic and the Exhaustion of Modernity

2004 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 7-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hugh B. Urban
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Sexual Practices ◽  
Western Society ◽  
New Religious Movements ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Level Of Consciousness ◽  
Aleister Crowley ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Media ◽  
Cultural Contradictions

ABSTRACT: Infamous for his drug use and extreme sexual practices, and proclaiming himself the ““Great Beast 666,”” Aleister Crowley remains to this day one of the most influential and yet most often misunderstood figures in the history of Western new religious movements. This article offers a fresh approach to Crowley, by placing him within contemporary debates about modernism and postmodernism. By no means the outcast enemy of modern Western society so often depicted in the media, Crowley was, I argue, a stunning reflection of some of the most acute cultural contradictions at the heart of modern Western civilization in the early twentieth century. A uniquely Janus-faced character, he reflects both the ““Faustian”” will of modernism as well as its tragic failure and exhaustion at mid-century in the aftermath of the two World Wars. Where does our modern world belong——to exhaustion or ascent?——Its manifoldness and unrest conditioned by the attainment of the highest level of consciousness. ——Friedrich Nietzsche, The Will to Power1 The point about Crowley is that he seems to contain all these sorts of ideas and identities——indeed most of the vices of the Twentieth Century——and he was dead at the end of 1947. ——Snoo Wilson, author of the play ““The Beast”” (1974)2

scholarly journals Middle East: New Balkans of the World?

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 112
Author(s):  
Dr.Sc. Georgescu Stefan ◽  
Dr.Sc. Munteanu Marilena
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Western Civilization ◽  
Modern World ◽  
The Balkans ◽  
The World ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
The 19Th Century

Middle East is a region whose geopolitical dynamics has many analogies with the role of the Balkans in the first half of the 19th century and up to the 3rd decade of the 20th century, namely a "Powder keg of Europe", defined in the same period as the "Eastern Issue".Moreover, Middle East is a region located at the junction of three continents: Europe, Asia and the Mediterranean Africa, and along with ancient Egypt is the cradle of Western civilization, providing for it political, economic, religious, scientific, military, intellectual and institutional models.Four millennia of civilization before Christian era did not pass without leaving a trace.Trade, currency, law, diplomacy, technology applied to works in time of war or peace, the profit based economy and the bureaucratized economy, popular and absolutist government, nationalist and universal spirit, tolerance and fanaticism – all these are not inventions of the modern world, but have their origins and methods of implementation, often even sophisticated methods, in this region.

A Short History of Police and Policing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clive Emsley
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
The United States ◽  
Ancient Egypt ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Multiple Forms ◽  
Short History ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of

The police are constantly under scrutiny. They are criticized for failings, praised for successes, and hailed as heroes for their sacrifices. Starting from the premise that every society has norms and ways of dealing with transgressors, this book traces the evolution of the multiple forms of ‘policing’ that existed in the past. It examines the historical development of the various bodies, individuals, and officials who carried these out in different societies, in Europe and European colonies, but also with reference to countries such as ancient Egypt, China, and the United States. By demonstrating that policing was never the exclusive dominion of the police, and that the institution of the police, as we know it today, is a relatively recent creation, the book explores the idea and reality of policing, and shows how an institution we now call ‘the police’ came to be virtually universal in our modern world.

The Pacific Borderlands of the Spanish Empire

2019 ◽  
pp. 764-788
Author(s):  
Catherine Tracy Goode
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
World Economy ◽  
Cultural Exchange ◽  
Spanish Empire ◽  
Direct Access ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Family Networks ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Spanish Colonies ◽  
Asian Economy

This chapter explores the economic relationship between the Spanish colonies in the Americas and the Asian markets at the center of the early modern world economy. Pointing to the importance of political and family networks that existed within the Pacific borderlands, it investigates how Spanish merchants and bureaucrats supplied the sought-after silver to Asian markets in exchange for varied luxury goods like textiles, spices, porcelains, and furniture. The Manila Galleon functioned as the conduit, moving goods, people, and knowledge through the Pacific borderlands. These relationships across the Pacific, which were built on commerce but extended to political and cultural exchange, demonstrate that Spanish colonies that were far beyond the control of a European power benefitted from their direct access to the Asian economy across the Pacific.

scholarly journals The Luso-Baroque Republic of Things and the Contingency of Contact

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mia M. Mochizuki
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Exchange ◽  
Modern World ◽  
Single Subject ◽  
Republic Of Letters ◽  
Politics And Religion ◽  
Immaculate Conception ◽  
Trade Politics ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Trade Route ◽  
Global Systems

 The Republic of Letters is an established concept in the early modern world, but the corresponding circulation of material things, from coins to all they could purchase, has been less recognized, despite its acute agency in the move from an intra-regional Europe to global systems of trade, politics and religion. By tracing the visual patois of a single subject, Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, through its appearance in multiple media along the Portuguese eastern trade route (Antwerp, Lisbon, Goa, Nagasaki), this paper draws upon the tangible residue of engagement to consider how the active responses sparked by mimesis can pave the way for a hermeneutic of cultural exchange grounded in the contingency of contact zones. 

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