Wierd habits

Post Reply New Topic

Me too, and mine too!

Me! I'm terrible with names. I hate it when people come up to me and start talking like they've known me for years... which they probably have. Sometimes I can even replay in my mind every detail about them that I've learned over the years (family, occupation, hometown, etc.), and still not have a clue to their name...

If you like that, you might really like gemmatria. Each Hebrew letter has a numerical value. Those values add up to create another Hebrew word, which is usually a synonym. You don't need to know Hebrew, as there are many texts that translate into English for you.

May I suggest Sefer Yetzirah, by Aryeh Kaplan?

This book satisfied my numbers obsession for a long time, while simultaneously satisfying my obsession with Kabbalah (not Madonna's G-d forbid). It talks about how the world was created through the values of Hebrew letters (I am giving you a very watered down explanation). It also takes the Hebrew words from the TANAKH (Hebrew Bible) and shows the deeper meaning to the words in the text of the TANAKH.

Tallgirl

I'm glad I'm not the only one .

I count things....everything I'll be watching TV and all of sudden realize that I haven't been watching the show. Instead I've been counting the angles in the sports coat that the main character is wearing.

I don't count much, unless at least I am really bored. Which I did during really slow times at some of my jobs, like counting cars in the parking lot. As far as numbers goes, it is occasional (like memorizing many of the stats in a baseball video game, I don't necessarily still reflect on it, but it was something I did at the moment) or it is part of another interest. Like remember stock values or remembering that Duke Wallenstein (probably history wealthiest, most successful, and powerful mercenary of all time) who commanded upwards of 100,000 troops in his private army during the thirty years war while working for the Holy Roman Emperor, or know that Prince Dracula commanded 30,000 troops at the most (mostly they joined up while on the march, his actual professional army was probably about half that number) when he faced off against 250,000 troops of the Ottoman Empire (the largest army since Xerxes (about 240,000 land troops and 220,000 naval personnel in the navy) invaded Greece nearly 2000 years earlier), or 15,000 troops ambushed by Arminius, the initial call up 75,000 troops for the North and 100,000 for the South in the Civil War, the 500 troops used to defeat Han Xuan. The average weight of the human brain, the average IQ, the weight of the halbeard of famous Chinese warriors, the lifespan of King Arthur as is indicated by the most logical evidence and in light of his lineage. I know a lot of these kinds of numbers. I had a formula for figuring out the intelligence per pound of brain, the rate of evolutionary change (although I speculate I may have been off a little), the rate of loss of momentum of the earth and when it would stop spinning, just to name a few. I don't if these peculiarities are in line with AS behavior, but they maybe.

Oh please, do share your conclusions. Arthurian history (as opposed to legend) is a particular interest of mine. OK, ok, it's an obsession...

Based on information I have read so far, I conclude that King Arther was most likely, Ambrosius Aurilianus II (465 AD -537 AD). He was a descendent of Emperor Constantine the Great of Rome (the one who stopped christian persecutions by making it a national religion or at least nationally recognized because he saw the cross in a vision as a symbol of victory). His family line tried to take the Western Roman Empire, eventually they were reduced to the last province in they held power, Briton or England today. Merlin was most probably his uncle, also named Ambrosius, who rejunvenated his clan's claim to the English throne by unseating his uncle, Vortigern, who conspired with saxon barbarians. Even Vortigern's son, Vortimer, turned on his father's rule. Arthur may have had multiple wives or a succession of wives and the one we hear about was either the second wife or his second wife's, less than well intentioned, twin sister. His father was Merlin or Ambrosius I's younger brother, Uther. The crossed the English channel to reclaim their lost holdings which were usurped by Vortigern. Merlin got his reputation for his precognitive abilities mainly. The round table was probably an abstract thought relating to a likely alliance among the smaller Kings and their Kingdoms within Briton. An equal footing would certainly be more acceptable among the kings, while Arthur held the position of High-King of Briton (a position his grand dad, Vortignern, Merlin, and Uthur all held before him). The candidate known as Lucius Artorius Castus, appears to have lived in the wrong time and only spent few years in England, most of his career he was in the Balkan region or the Middle East and I have always heard that the real King Arthur fought and defeated saxon invasions in the 5th century. Castus lived 300 years too soon.

I have read that an Earl David may be the best candidate, though I know of others, for the real Robin Hood too. I know who the real Dr. Frankenstein was. The real Santa Clause. I also know John Henry really existed, so did Dracula, the wolfman (I know of at least one guy who was actually executed for being a werewolf and he did actually attack and destroy people like a large wolf would have, he was probably mentally unbalanced but because he believed he was an animal he had the ability to kill like one), Jack and the Beanstalk was based on a real person, there really are dragons (though they don't breath fire), the Mummy was based on a real person (In his day, the people believed he had magical ability, but he is the inspiration for the original Mummy story), and so on. There is truth behind virtually every myth or legend. I know several.

Thank you for the information on Arthur. And I am totally hooked by your final paragraph here quoted. Web links? Book titles? I'm going to the library tomorrow...

Arthurian nut, cindy?

hmmm...

Last edited by vetivert on 07 Dec 2005, 12:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

No, I didn't wonder. My dd has the "Mists of Avalon" books, but I haven't read them yet and she keep "forgetting" to bring them over. I'll have to steal them when we're there on Christmas Eve. From what she has said about them, they're a lot legend and a little history.

Have you read "Firelord" by Parke Godwin? Absolutely awesome. I also own a good chunk of the Rosemary Sutcliff books on Romano-British history, including "The Lantern Bearers" and "Sword at Sunset" (her take on the historical Arthur).

A guy named Gildas wrote the earliest stuff on Arthur and he lived and wrote within a generation of Arthur's time, so his is the closest to the actual events, around the late 6th Century. He does not call Arthur Arthur though. Also, think about the impact of the name Ambrosius, whether you are thinking of Merlin or Arthur or both. But many locations in England are named after Ambrosius, so he was certainly an important figure.

You could also watch some history channel specials on King Arthur. The earlybritishkingdoms website has some info too. Many sources, at the very least, claim Ambrosius as one of the most likely candidates for Arthur, some say he had a general named Arthur, others attribute this to multiple kings, or to Lucius Castus (or Castorius, depending which source you read), or to Riothamus (unlikely though, he did little, and was unsuccessful militarily. I still believe Arthur was most likey Ambrosius II.

That is also why I like some Chinese classics. Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong (get the Moss Roberts translation, its better), is basically a chinese version of King Arthur. I takes place about 250-300 earlier though. And it is much grander than the Arthur stories, more knights, more soldiers, more bad guys, more adventure. In China, their King Arthur, is Liu Bei, like King Arthur he is a skilled fighter and leader, but he is also benevilent. He faces a black knight like figure, whom the entire nation is afraid of, Lu Bu. There is a white knight of pure honor who wears white into battle but leaves them as a red knight. There is are brothers who fight each other and adopted brothers who fight for each other with their life. Liu was thought of as having the best qualities of leadership, the ideal king in China. Like Arthur, he defeated his enemies but only held off the inevitable for a time. It is an amazing read, despite its length, but it encompasses almost everything you could think of a good story should have. It is also, like King Arthur, based on truth, but this book is probably at least 70% and upto 80% true.

Another similarity between east and west, is Robin Hood. In China, a Robin figure emerged about 50 years before Robin Hood appeared in England. His name was Song Jiang. But again, this tale is on a much grander scale. He fights for the King, just like Robin Hood, against injustice and corrupt officials. The people seem to like and or protect him, just like Robin Hood. His fortress is in a wooded area (it is also swampy and mountainous), just like Robin Hood. He has many great people who follow him, men and women, just like Robin Hood. His merry band consists of 108, but his army numbers as many as 100,000 troops hiding in his fortress, which is unlike Robin Hood. This story is The Outlaws of The Marsh and it is very similar to Robin Hood. It some ways it is almost a sequal to Romance of the Three Kingdoms, as one of the authors of the Marsh also wrote Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and some of the characters are related to RTK figures or just have the same family name, and you wonder. But in this story all the families fight on the same side, unlike in RTK, but I still like RTK better.