From nauplion@charm.net Fri Aug 4 18:22:18 2000 Received: from mxu4.u.washington.edu (mxu4.u.washington.edu [140.142.33.8]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW00.05/8.9.3+UW99.09) with ESMTP id SAA80516 for ; Fri, 4 Aug 2000 18:22:18 -0700 Received: from fellspt.charm.net (root@fellspt.charm.net [199.0.70.29]) by mxu4.u.washington.edu (8.9.3+UW00.02/8.9.3+UW99.09) with ESMTP id SAA23012 for ; Fri, 4 Aug 2000 18:22:17 -0700 Received: from charm.net (coretel-116-037.charm.net [209.143.116.37]) by fellspt.charm.net (8.9.3/8.9.3) with ESMTP id VAA02570 for ; Fri, 4 Aug 2000 21:22:01 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <398B69E1.5835E3F9@charm.net> Date: Fri, 04 Aug 2000 21:12:09 -0400 From: Diana Wright X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.7 [en]C-DIAL (Win95; U) X-Accept-Language: en,el,tr MIME-Version: 1.0 To: classics@u.washington.edu Subject: Re: Omero in Venezia References: <3980996A.D2E98921@charm.net> Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="------------D73977BF58D6C5FBEB761BCD" --------------D73977BF58D6C5FBEB761BCD Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Virginia Knight wrote: > Not really Homeric at all, except insofar as Homer mentions lions in similes: > > When visiting Venice last month I saw the lion standing on guard outside the > Arsenale whose body is believed to have come originally from the Lion Terrace > on Delos. > > a) is there a photo of the lion on the WWW? (I took a good photo of it anyway) > > b) I recall on my previous visit in 1985 seeing the lion fleetingly from a > vaporetto as I was on the way to Murano. But where it now stands it faces into > the city rather than out to the lagoon and no waterbus plies that route (it > goes into the Arsenale which is still an active military base). Has the lion > moved? Was there a copy of it or a similar lion elsewhere outsite the Arsenale? > Did vaporetti in 1985 really go past where it now stands? Or is my memory > deceiving me and I was on foot when I saw it? I used to have lunch regularly at the cafe beside the lions & cannot refrain from quoting James Morris' Venice about the 2 runic inscriptions on the great lion taken from Piraeus. Morris says that these runes were carved by order of Harold the Tall who became King of Norway and died fighting Harold the Saxon at Stamford Bridge, Yorkshire, in 1066. Morris says the runes say: "Haakon, combined with Ulf, with Asmud and with Orn, conquered this port [Piraeus]. These men and Harold the Tall imposed large fines, on account of the revolt of the Greek people. Dalk has been detained in distant lands. Egil was waging war, toghether with Ragnar, in Roumania and Armenia." And, "Asmund engraved these runes in combination with Asgeir, Thorleif, Thord and Ivar, by desire of Harold the Tall, although the Greeks on reflection opposed it." So it is disappointing, though honorable, to report that Sigfus Blondal and Benedikt Benedik in The Varangians of Byzantium (C.U.P. 1978) have looked into the rune issue and report that the runes, while there, are illegible, and these inscriptions are figments. DW --------------D73977BF58D6C5FBEB761BCD Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Virginia Knight wrote:
Not really Homeric at all, except insofar as Homer mentions lions in similes:

When visiting Venice last month I saw the lion standing on guard outside the
Arsenale whose body is believed to have come originally from the Lion Terrace
on Delos.

a) is there a photo of the lion on the WWW? (I took a good photo of it anyway)

b) I recall on my previous visit in 1985 seeing the lion fleetingly from a
vaporetto as I was on the way to Murano. But where it now stands it faces into
the city rather than out to the lagoon and no waterbus plies that route (it
goes into the Arsenale which is still an active military base). Has the lion
moved? Was there a copy of it or a similar lion elsewhere outsite the Arsenale?
Did vaporetti in 1985 really go past where it now stands? Or is my memory
deceiving me and I was on foot when I saw it?

I used to have lunch regularly at the cafe beside the lions & cannot refrain from quoting James Morris' Venice about the 2 runic inscriptions on the great lion taken from Piraeus.  Morris says that these runes were carved by order of Harold the Tall who became King of Norway and died fighting Harold the Saxon at Stamford Bridge, Yorkshire, in 1066.

Morris says the runes say: "Haakon, combined with Ulf, with Asmud and with Orn, conquered this port [Piraeus].  These men and Harold the Tall imposed large fines, on account of the revolt of the Greek people.  Dalk has been detained in distant lands.  Egil was waging war, toghether with Ragnar, in Roumania and Armenia." And, "Asmund engraved these runes in combination with Asgeir, Thorleif, Thord and Ivar, by desire of Harold the Tall, although the Greeks on reflection opposed it."

So it is disappointing, though honorable, to report that  Sigfus Blondal and Benedikt Benedik in
The Varangians of Byzantium (C.U.P. 1978) have looked into the rune issue and report that the runes, while there, are illegible, and these inscriptions are figments.

DW --------------D73977BF58D6C5FBEB761BCD-- .