Showing posts with label Cleopatra. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cleopatra. Show all posts

Thursday, January 12, 2017

Top 15 most powerful women in History




















Updated again today 27/05/2021

Updated today Monday, November 11, 2018


In my previous article I talked about the most powerful women in history and I would like to continue the list in 2018 adding three more great personalities that deserve all our respect and appreciation speaking only at the level of power, Excluding the Queen of England from the list, because her majesty can not be compared. A number of powerful women have shaped the course of history with their intelligence, strength, passion, and leadership qualities. They have challenged the status quo, made lasting reforms, and many have presided over their countries for decades, ushering in prosperity and cultural revolutions.

The first person I would like to add is Angela Merkel, a free thinker and who has the courage to act when others do not, my personal opinion, and do not want the offense of any political party, etc.




German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks during the 2018 budget debate at the lower house of parliament rferl






My second in the list is Hillary Clinton as one of the most powerful women in history that has led democracy to another level and the future historians will write about it. 

The only bad luck in my opinion of course is that she competed against the great Donald Trump and she could not win before such a personality and power, which would have a hard word to say in the history of the world.


Grammys 2018: Hillary Clinton TVLine



While this list is certainly subjective, it tries to take into account the actual power and the impact of each person.




Notably, the United Kingdom has three entries in the top ten, an eye-catching fact, considering that a monarchy managed to achieve such a feminist feat, and yet the United States, which always considered itself as the most advanced democratic society ever, hasn’t been able to elect a female leader in all of its independent existence so far. 

And the 3rd one of my favorites is Marine Le Pen was ranked among the most influential people in 2011 and 2015, by the Time 100. In 2016, she was ranked by Politico as the second-most influential MEP in the European Parliament, after President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz. 

The return of Marine Le Pen photo: POLITICO Europe


 
Marine Le Pen and Vladimir Putin in Moscow on 24 March 2017 Kremlin.ru























15. Zenobia (240-275) was a queen of the Palmyrene Empire in Syria who challenged the authority of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century. She conquered Egypt, Anatolia, Lebanon and Roman Judea until finally being defeated by the Roman emperor Aurelian.


Zenobia Captive (1878), Sir Edward Poynter (mirror of original image) Beauty, Zenobia, Warrior woman


Queen Zenobia's Last Look upon Palmyra by Herbert Gustave Schmalz Photo: wikipedia

14. Cleopatra (69-30 BC) was the last Pharaoh of Ptolemaic Egypt, known for her superior intelligence and improving its country’s standing and economy. She is also famous in popular culture for her love affairs with Roman leaders Julius Caesar and Marc Anthony. 


Cleopatra (69-30 B.C.) - HistoriaRex.com


Lillie Langtry (Emilie Charlotte Le Breton) (1853 - 1929) in costume for her role as Cleopatra in 'Anthony and Cleopatra'. (Photo by W. & D. Downey/Getty Images)

13. Lakshmibai, the Rani of Jhansi (1828-1858) was the queen of India’s Jhansi State, and one of the leaders of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, also known as India’s First War of Independence against British rule. Referred to as “the Indian Joan of Arc”, Rani Lakshmibai became a symbol of resistance for leading her army in first direct confrontations with the occupiers. 

Lakshmibai - The Rani of Jhansi Indian freedom fighters, Women freedom fighters, Freedom fighters of india

Portrait of Lakshmibai, the Ranee of Jhansi, (1850s or 1860s). Probably done after her death (June 1858): she wears a valuable pearl necklace and a cavalrywoman's uniform Photo: wikipedia
12. Joan of Arc (1412-1431) was a French heroine and a saint to Roman Catholics. She claimed to have mystical visions and rallied French troops to defeat the English in the Battle of Orleans among others. She was eventually betrayed to the English and burned at the stake. Her unflinching faith and role in liberating the French from the English invasion has accorded Joan of Arc mythic status.


Saint Joan of Arc (1412 - 1431), known as 'the Maid of Orleans', at Reims Cathedral for the coronation of the dauphin as King Charles VII, circa 1429, accompanied by her squire Anton, her chaplain Jean Pasquerel and her pages. Painting by J D Ingres in the Louvre. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

11. Borte Ujin (1161-1230) was the wife of Genghis Khan and empress of the Mongolian Empire, the largest land empire in history. She was one of Genghis Khan’s most trusted advisors and ruled the Mongol homeland in the long periods when he’d be away at war.

Börte Ujin - Wikipedia

The Mongol Empresses of the Yuan Dynasty. photo: bigthink

































10. Indira Ghandi (1917 - 1984) was the first and only female Prime Minister of India, serving 4 terms between 1966-1984, when she was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards. She was a controversial but very powerful figure, winning a war with Pakistan, which resulted in the creation of Bangladesh. She was murdered by her bodyguards over her order to storm their holy temple during an insurgency four months prior.

Indira Gandhi Inspirational women, Gandhi photo: Pinterest


Indira Gandhi Photo: wikipedia
22nd March 1982: British Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher with Indian premier Indira Gandhi (1917 - 1984), outside 10 Downing Street. (Photo by Central Press/Getty Images)

9. Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013) was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom between 1979 and 1990, the first woman to hold this office. She was the longest-serving British PM of the 20th century, dubbed the “Iron Lady” by the Soviets for her hardheadedness. She won a popular victory over Argentina in the 1982 Falklands War, but her economic policies had mixed support, as she promoted a free market economy and confronted the power of the labor unions

Margaret Thatcher 1925-2013

.
Margaret Thatcher Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Photo: wikipedia

1980: British Conservative politician and first woman to hold the office of Prime Minister of Great Britain Margaret Thatcher at the Tory Party Conference in Brighton, East Sussex. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

8. Theodora (500-548) was a highly influential Empress of the Byzantine Empire and a saint of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Married to Emperor Justinian I, she was his most trusted advisor and used him to achieve her purposes. She controlled foreign affairs and legislation, violently put down riots, and, notably, fought for the rights of women, passing anti-trafficking laws and improving divorce proceedings.


Theodora, detail of a Byzantine mosaic in the Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna Photo: wikipedia

7. Queen Victoria (1819-1901) was the Queen of the United Kingdom, ruling over a vast British Empire that stretched across six continents for 63 years, the second longest reign in its country’s history (the longest belonging to the current Queen Elizabeth II).

 Her rule was so definitive that the period has come to be known as the “Victorian Era”. Under her rule, slavery was abolished throughout all British colonies and voting rights granted to most British men. She also made reforms in labor conditions and presided over significant cultural, political, and military changes in her Empire.

Queen Victoria - Wikipedia shared by Ailee on We Heart It

Photograph of Queen Victoria, 1882 Photo: wikipedia

6. Empress Dowager Cixi (1835-1908) was the Chinese Emperor’s mother and regent who essentially ruled China for 47 years from 1861 until 1908. She instituted technological and military reforms, overhauled the corrupt bureaucracy, and supported anti-Western attitudes, including the Boxer Rebellion of 1899-1901.

Empress Dowager Cixi - Her Later Years (Part two) - History of Royal Women


The Ci-Xi Imperial Dowager Empress Photo: wikipedia

5. Maria Theresa of Austria (1717-1780) was a Hapsburg Empress who reigned for 40 years and controlled a large part of Europe, including Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, and parts of Italy. She had sixteen children, who also became key power players like the Queen of France, the Queen of Naples and Sicily as well as two Holy Roman Emperors. Empress Maria Theresa is known for her reforms in education like making it mandatory, establishing a Royal Academy of Science and Literature in Brussels, and supporting scientific research. She also raised taxes and made reforms in commerce, as well as strengthened the Austrian military (doubling it).

Rosalba Carriera - Maria Theresa, Archduchess of Habsburg (1717-1780) - Google Art Project.jpg - Wikimedia Commons


Kaiserin Maria Theresia (HRR) Photo: wikipedia

4. Hatshepsut (1508 BC - 1458 BC) was an Ancient Egyptian pharaoh, considered to be one of its country’s most successful rulers. She oversaw major building projects, military campaigns into Nubia, Syria and Levant and rebuilt broken trade networks.

Tourists walk past a statue of Queen Hatshepsut, ancient Egypt's most famous female pharaoh, at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, 27 June 2007. (Photo credit: KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/Getty Images)


3. Catherine the Great (1729-1796), also known as Catherine II, was undoubtedly one of history’s most famous women. Born in Poland, as a German princess, she attained rule of Russia through marriage and held on to it for 34 years (especially after she plotted to overthrow her husband and assumed complete power). She is responsible for continuing Peter the Great’s work in modernizing Russia, bringing it more in line with the West’s Enlightenment ideas. She also defeated the Ottoman Empire in two big wars and greatly expanded Russia’s Empire over three continents (including the colonization of Alaska).

Catherine the Great Photo: bigthink
She made legislative reforms, put down the dangerous Pugachev Rebellion and was known for a risqué personal life. Her rule is regarded as the Golden Age of the Russian Empire.

2. Empress Wu Zetian (624-705) was the only female Emperor in Chinese history, living during the Tang Dynasty. Her rule is known for expanding the Chinese empire, economic prosperity, and education reform. She was also known as a patron of Buddhism. She did have her detractors who accused her of ruthlessness and cruelty, perhaps going as far as killing her daughter and son as part of a political intrigue. 

Image taken from an 18th century album of portraits of 86 emperors of China, with Chinese historical notes. Originally published/produced in China, 18th century Photo: wikipedia

1. Elizabeth I (1533-1603) was one of most powerful English monarchs ever. Never married and called the “Virgin Queen,” the intellectual Elizabeth I defeated the Spanish Armada and ruled successfully for so long that her reign from 1558 until 1603 is known as the “Elizabethan Era”. As a monarch, the last of the Tudor dynasty, she encouraged major cultural changes like the Renaissance and the transformation of England into a Protestant country.

Queen Elizabeth I (1533–1603) Art UK


The "Darnley Portrait" of Elizabeth I of England. It was named after a previous owner. Probably painted from life, this portrait is the source of the face pattern called "The Mask of Youth" which would be used for authorized portraits of Elizabeth for decades to come. Recent research has shown the colours have faded. The oranges and browns would have been crimson red in Elizabeth's time. Photo: wikipedia

Other articles on the same theme:





Story source: 
The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Bigthink. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Wednesday, December 14, 2016

From Greek and Roman times to the present day: A brief history of the English Rose

York Minster, south transept rose window, 16th-century Tudor Roses white on red (left) and Lancastrian Roses red. The Tudor Rose became known as “the flower of England” and is today the country’s national flower. (Angelo Hornak/Alamy Stock Photo)



Updated
Updated today 20/05/2020

From Greek and Roman times to the present day, the rose has been a timeless symbol of beauty, transience and love. The rose’s romantic connections are thought to originate from Egypt, where Cleopatra famously carpeted the floor of her boudoir with mounds of rose petals to seduce Mark Antony.

In courtly love, for example, the rose was the iconic symbol of the beloved lady – or of the prize of her love itself – a personification that found its most exquisite representation in the 13th-century French epic poem Le Roman de La Rose, a medieval illustrated allegory that documents the art of chivalric love and its many facets. Written by Guillaume de Lorris, it was completed 40 years later by Jean de Meun.

The characters Mirth and Gladness lead a dance, in a miniature image from a manuscript of The Romance of the Rose in the Bodleian Library (MS Douce 364, folio 8r). wikipedia
Genius of love, Meister des Rosenromans, 1420-1430 - wikipedia


The Virgin Mary

In medieval devotional verse (religious verse devoted to subjects such as Jesus Christ), the Virgin Mary is often referred to as a “rose without thorns”, since she was free of original sin. In fact, the five petals of the wild rose are often equated with the five joys of Mary (the five key moments that gave Mary joy, which were the Annunciation, the Nativity, the Resurrection, the Ascension and the Assumption) and the five letters in her full name, Maria. At this time, the rose as the queen of flowers was a privileged symbol for Mary, as seen in this lyric dated 1420:



There is no rose of such virtue
As is the rose that bare Jesu;
Alleluia.

For in this rose contained was
Heaven and earth in little space;
Res Miranda.


Medieval art often depicts the Virgin Mary in an enclosed rose garden – a representation of Eden, but also a place where courtly lovers could retire. The Christmas rose – a hardy white flower with five petals that blooms at Christmas time – is a symbol of the Nativity and appears in medieval carols and seasonal hymns to the Virgin.

Glenbeigh St. James' Church Nave  Centre light of the triple window in the north-west gable, depicting the Immaculata. Photo: wikipedia.org
The Madonna of the Rose Garden’ (Madonna del Roseto) by Michelino da Besozzo, c1425. Found in the collection of Musei Civici, Verona. (Photo by Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

It is said that the rose’s thorny stems were twined around Christ’s head during his Passion, and its red flowers are a symbol both of worldly love and of martyrdom, which is possibly why they have, over time, become associated with St Valentine’s Day.

Madonna of the Rose Garden - Wikipedia

From the 12th century, rose imagery exploded across Europe with the spread of religious devotion to Mary. The medieval rose, laden with Christian symbolism of love and sacrifice, was now such a strong religious idea that it bloomed into architecture and became incorporated into the building of Gothic churches in the form of rose windows.

Madonna of the Rosegarden (Madonna del Roseto) by BOTTICELLI
The rose continued to be revered into the 13th century, where we have the major appearance of the rosary (Latin: rosarium), a set of prayer beads created as a garland of roses.


The Christian tradition took the rose as representative of the Virgin, and secular literature celebrated the rose as a symbol of earthly love and beauty, so it is little surprise that the canny queen Elizabeth I – fully aware of the rose’s associations with virginity – took this flower as her emblem. In so doing she tied the strands of courtly love and holy virginity together in her own queenly identity.

The "Darnley Portrait" of Elizabeth I of England. It was named after a previous owner. Probably painted from life, this portrait is the source of the face pattern called "The Mask of Youth" which would be used for authorized portraits of Elizabeth for decades to come. Recent research has shown the colours have faded. The oranges and browns would have been crimson red in Elizabeth's time. Photo: wikipedia.org

In portraits of Elizabeth I we sometimes also see the white eglantine, known as the queen’s rose. This was used to symbolise the queen’s chastity and make associations between the queen of England and the queen of heaven (the Virgin Mary).

Kings and queens

The rose is also part of the heraldic imagery of the kings and queens of England. The liveries of the houses of York and Lancaster, for example, were represented by white and red roses respectively, and the civil war that broke out between these two houses between 1455 and 1485 was later termed the Wars of the Roses.

In Henry VI Part I Act II Scene IV, Shakespeare depicts a small gathering of lords plucking different coloured roses from the Temple-garden as a way of choosing sides in the upcoming conflict. The Earl of Warwick, who chooses a white rose, remarks:

And here I prophesy: this brawl today,
Grown to this faction in the Temple garden,
Shall send, between the Red Rose and the White,
A thousand souls to death and deadly night.

Interestingly, the term ‘the Wars of the Roses’ was only used after 1829 when Sir Walter Scott referred to that conflict as such in his novel, Anne of Geierstein.

The Wars of the Roses ended with the clever and strategic Henry VII being crowned king of England. In marrying Elizabeth of York in 1486 he combined two dynasties and two roses, giving birth to the famous Tudor Rose, which was both white and red. This became known as “the flower of England”, and is today the country’s national flower.

The ancient world

Further back in time, we find the same veneration and symbolism surrounding the rose, with a strong emphasis on its powers of seduction and associations with mortality.

The scent of roses permeated the ancient world, where petals were scattered across the floor, the bed or the dinner table. Rose oil was distilled for use as a perfume, breath sweetener or medicine, and rose water was popular for cosmetic use and in food. The Romans offered roses to statues of the gods and used roses to wreathe tombs.

The rose was sacred to Venus, the Roman goddess of love, and to her Greek equivalent, Aphrodite. Botticelli’s famous 15th-century painting The Birth of Venus shows the goddess on her scallop shell, blown in by Zephyrus, being showered in pale pink roses.

The Birth of Venus' 1486. (Photo by Universal History Archive/Getty Images)
The Greek poet Sappho, meanwhile, praises the flower in a poem entitled Song of the Rose, which has been attributed to her:

If Zeus chose us a King of the flowers in his mirth,
He would call to the rose, and would royally crown it;
For the rose, ho, the rose! is the grace of the earth,
Is the light of the plants that are growing upon it!

The rose had other more complex symbolism for the Romans, however. The Rosalia was a Roman feast to remember the dead in which roses played a significant part, and the Roman custom of hanging a rose overhead (or painting or carving one on the ceiling) in confidential meetings was a reminder that nothing that was discussed could be repeated outside the room where the meeting had taken place. The term sub rosa is today used to describe such meetings and means ‘under the rose’. Henry VIII made this practice more widespread, and the carving of roses into ceilings is a design which we still see today.

Across the centuries the rose retained its privileged position as queen of flowers, gaining new varieties and meanings through the centuries. We find the Cavalier poet Richard Lovelace (1617–57) calling upon the rose to adorn his lover’s chamber in much the way that Cleopatra adorned hers many centuries earlier:

Rosie is her Bower,
Her floore is all this Flower;
Her Bed a Rosie nest,
By a Bed of Roses prest.

Adored by the Romantics and particularly by the Victorians, who created a complex language of flowers, new symbolism attached itself in ever more layers to the different colours and styles of roses. It was the red rose, however, that pushed ahead of the rest to become a towering symbol of beauty, transience and sexual love. One of the nation’s best-loved and most-quoted poems is A Red, Red Rose by the Scottish poet Robert Burns (1759–96), written in 1794:

O, my luve is like a red, red rose,
That’s newly sprung in June.

Robert Burns, c1785. Original artwork is a drawing by Skirving. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
Another of the most famous rose poems in the English language, Go, Lovely Rose, was written by the rather unwholesome poet and politician Edmund Waller (1606–87) and later set to music by composer Roger Quilter. It was written in a frenzy of unrequited longing for Lady Dorothy Sidney, a beautiful and very clever young woman of 18.

Waller was the originator of the failed Waller’s Plot of 1643 – to seize London for Charles I – in which he was shown to be a coward after betraying his friends and brother-in-law to save his own neck. After the death of his first wife, Waller became romantically obsessed with Lady Dorothy Sidney. She rejected his advances and in 1639 married Henry Spencer, later to become the Earl of Sunderland. This struck such a blow to Waller’s heart that he went insane for a short period of time. Go, Lovely Rose was most likely addressed to Lady Dorothy during this period of infatuation on one of numerous visits to her house, when she would probably have refused to see him. Much later in life Waller visited Lady Dorothy again, and she asked him: “When, Mr Waller, will you write such fine verses upon me again?” And he replied: “O Madam, when your ladyship is as young again.”

Waller’s poem uses the idea of the rose as a love messenger. The poet speaks directly to it, as if to a person, and commands the flower to go to his beloved, speak to her and then die in her hands, thus reminding her of how fragile beauty is, how brief life is, and that beauty unseen is worthless. It is a most elegant version of the ‘gather ye rosebuds while ye may’ theme, meaning live life for now and live it to the full, which comes from a line in the poem To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time by Cavalier poet Robert Herrick (1591–1674). The stylishly romantic understatement in Go, Lovely Rose would have appealed greatly to Quilter’s musical sensibility, resulting in one of the most beautiful songs ever to be written in English. Indeed, Quilter’s masterpiece is arguably as iconic as Waller’s verse.

Roger Quilter (1877–1953) was a composer much taken with roses, and one who was drawn to the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods in his choice of poetry adaptations. He was a great fan of Shakespeare’s songs, for example, and set all of the words he chose with exquisite care.

Roger Quilter. (Chronicle/Alamy Stock Photo)
At heart a romantic, Quilter set to music at least five poems that reference the rose: the renowned Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal, a poem by Tennyson from The Princess, A Medley (1847); A Last Year’s Rose (William Henley 1849–1903); The Time of Roses (Thomas Hood 1799–1845); Damask Roses (a lovely conceit on lips and roses written by an anonymous Elizabethan poet); and arguably the composer’s most famous song, Go, Lovely Rose:

Go, lovely Rose –
Tell her that wastes her time and me,
That now she knows,
When I resemble her to thee,
How sweet and fair she seems to be.
Tell her that’s young,
And shuns to have her graces spied,
That hadst thou sprung,
In deserts, where no men abide,
Thou must have uncommended died.

Small is the worth,
Of beauty from the light retired:
Bid her come forth,
Suffer herself to be desired,
And not blush so to be admired.

Then die – that she,
The common fate of all things rare,
May read in thee;
How small a part of time they share,
That are so wondrous sweet and fair!


Today the red rose has become an emblem of romantic love to the point of cliché, while we still see the white rose, along with the lily, as a symbol of innocence, grace and purity. Yet, coiled within the lovely, scented petals of this adored flower are centuries of fascinating meaning. For, even in the cynical 21st century, roses continue to delight our senses whenever we come across them – in poetry, art, song, or twined around a trellis in the garden.

Author and Oxford University lecturer Nicola Harrison specialises in the interpretation of song. Her new series of books, The Wordsmith’s Guide to English Song (Compton, 2016), explores the literary, historical, mythological and artistic background to the poetry set to music by two British composers, Roger Quilter and Ivor Gurney.








Story source: 
The above post is reprinted from materials provided by HistoryExtra. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Monday, November 7, 2016

Top 8: Looking for the elixir of immortality.


For hundreds of years, scientists, scholars and philosophers have chased the secret of the elixir of immortality, the transmutation of metals, and the discovery of the alkahest, a universal solvent. Work – and advances – in alchemy were so sought after that those dabbling in it went to great lengths to protect their secrets. Inspired by works like The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz, they often wrote in code, describing their experiments and ideas in secret languages that only they could read. The result is an esoteric practice, the history of which remains mysterious to this day. This article examines several aspects of alchemy and its history, and the works of men and women who chased the most fantastic scientific and mythological ideas of their day. We’ve also thrown in a selection of random tidbits for your alchemical pleasure.


The Real Nicolas Flamel
(Image: filip; Nicolas Flamel’s house in Paris)
When it comes to the world’s great alchemists, Nicolas Flamel is certainly one of the best-known names. All of which is ironic, really, as there is no historical evidence to suggest that he had anything at all to do with practicing alchemy.


The real Nicolas Flamel was born in 1330 and died in Paris in 1410. During his lifetime, he was well-known as a scribe and manuscript-seller, enjoying a comfortable life after marrying the wealthy widow Perenelle. Their fame came from their philanthropy, their dedication to the church and their commissioning of several sculptures. Their home still stands, one of the oldest stone buildings in Paris.

It wasn’t until the 17th century that Flamel’s name was linked to alchemy. During his days as a bookseller, Flamel supposedly published Livre des figures hieroglyphiques (which didn’t appear until 1612), and then spent the rest of his life chasing and – it’s said – eventually achieving immortality and the Philosopher’s Stone. Flamel’s reputation is one of the best examples of pseudepigraphy in history: the practice of publishing works falsely under the name of a historical personality.

Of the estimated 10 million words Newton left behind in papers and notebooks, around one million of them were written on alchemical research. This includes his code words for various substances: codes like “Green Dragon”, “the Net”, “Diana’s doves”, and, bizarrely, the “menstrual blood of the sordid whore”.


John Damian de Falcuis, Scotland’s Flying Alchemist
(Image: Otter; view toward Stirling Castle)
In 1500, the Scottish royal court noted a first of its kind: an alchemical laboratory set up with the blessing of King James IV. It was set behind a door in Stirling Castle that was off-limits to everyone but the alchemist – a shadowy figure named John Damian – and the king himself.

The Scotsman reports that Damian was less than admired at court, and that he earned the nickname of the “French leech” (despite being Italian) for the vast sums of money that the crown sank into his alchemical studies. He had wooed the king with talk of finding a way to create not just the Philosopher’s Stone, but the Elixir of Life. No one could say that he didn’t aim high, however. In 1507, he did – quite literally – just that.

During his studies, he became obsessed with the idea of finding a way to allow man to fly. By September 1507, his hard work and long hours had led to the completion of a pair of mechanical wings that he believed would let him take to the skies – and desperately maintain the patronage of the king.


The alchemist Damian hurled himself from the top of Stirling Castle, but didn’t so much fly as plummet. He broke his leg in the fall, but he retained the patronage of the king. James not only continued to fund his work, but financed a five-year tour of the continent.

Mary the Jewess
One of the earliest alchemical writers, Mary the Jewess lived some time between the first and third centuries. None of her actual writings survived, but her work was quoted and used extensively by her successors.

A remarkable number of practical inventions came from Mary’s work and research. She was the first to record the discovery of hydrochloric acid, and she developed ideas for some of the most important chemical apparatuses used today. As she was writing about her experiments with “divine water” (sulfuric acid) and “philosopher’s clay”, she also developed the mechanisms for distillation that we still use in chemistry today. The bain-marie, a double boiler still used in applications like the melting of chocolate and small-scale soap production, is little changed from Mary the Jewess’ invention some 2,000 years ago.

Legend says that Japan was discovered when Qin Shi Huang sent 500 men and 500 women to explore the eastern seas with the Taoist alchemist Xu Fu. They were looking for the elixir of immortality.



Cleopatra the Alchemist
Cleopatra wasn’t her real name, but she was a very real alchemist and philosopher writing in Egypt during the 3rd century. One of four female alchemists (along with Mary the Jewess) reported to have the knowledge needed to create the Philosopher’s Stone, she also created something that’s had a marked influence on our world today: the alembic still.


Cleopatra (not to be confused with the famous queen, Cleopatra VII) wrote extensively on the transformation of life and the quantification of alchemical experiments. She also coined the term “chrysopoeia”, referring to one of the most well-known alchemical concepts, the search for the method of turning base metals into gold.

Alchemy had its own set of symbols used to indicate some of the most common substances and processes. Some of those processes were linked to the signs of the zodiac; the sign for Separation and Scorpio are the same, for example, along with the sign for Digestion and Leo, and Fermentation and Capricorn.

The Alchemical Waters
(Image: Thejohnnler; aqua regia seen in a lab)

Alchemy had its own set of symbols used to indicate some of the most common substances and processes. Some of those processes were linked to the signs of the zodiac; the sign for Separation and Scorpio are the same, for example, along with the sign for Digestion and Leo, and Fermentation and Capricorn.

Alchemical experiments throughout history were incredibly varied, but one common theme that ran through the centuries was the idea of the alchemical waters. Aqua fortis (strong water) was a highly corrosive liquid that could dissolve anything except gold. It was made by combining various percentages of sand, vitriol, alum and saltpeter, then distilling the mixture.

Aqua vitae (the water of life), meanwhile, was originally made from distilling wine, and referred to water with a high concentration of ethanol. Eventually, it became forever linked with the idea of distilling liquors. The king’s water, or aqua regia, was given its name due to its ability to dissolve gold and platinum. A mixture of hydrochloric acid and nitric acid, it has also been called “royal water”.

Perhaps the strangest is aqua omnium florum, or all-flower water. The name is rather deceiving, as this alchemical ingredient was made by distilling the water removed from cow dung – specifically, dung that was gathered from the fields in May and produced by cows that ate meadow grass and wildflowers. It was mixed with white wine and snails.


The 17th century alchemist Hennig Brand took a bizarre approach to creating the Philosopher’s Stone. Believing that the key to alchemy could be found in water and in the human body, he collected huge amounts of urine and subjected the samples to various experiments. He didn’t find the mythical stone, but he did discover phosphorus.


Alchemy and Laudanum
(Image: Cydone)
Laudanum is well known as the bane of Victorian England, but its discovery dates back to the 16th century and Paracelsus. According to the story, Paracelsus was seeking to unlock the potential healing powers of opium, and discovered that opium was most soluble in alcohol. He would go on to claim that his concoction (which he called his “arcanum”), could cure all illnesses apart from leprosy. He even claimed that it could bring someone back from the dead.

The ingredients of Paracelsus’s laudanum are something of a mystery, as he only gave the recipe to those he initiated into his studies. According to some records, the recipe included opium, henbane, the bezoar stone from a cow’s intestines, musk oil, amber, crushed pearls, coral, mummy, and parts of the heart of a stag and a unicorn.


Later, Thomas Sydenham would claim to have created his own version of the medicine from Paracelsus’s original recipe, and would later be credited with its widespread use across Europe.


Belgian alchemist Jean Baptista van Helmont claimed to have seen the Philosopher’s Stone in action. He said that it was the colour of saffron and had the texture of glass, and that he had seen it turn quicksilver into gold.


Creating the Homunculus
(Images: (left, right) via Wikipedia)
The term “homunculus” was coined by the legendary alchemist and occultist Paracelsus, and the creation of the creature was the subject of numerous 16th century experiments. The basis of the experiment was similar to the creation of the folkloric golem. Numerous alchemists tried it, but we know Paracelsus’s methods.

According to De natura rerum, the process for creating a tiny person was pretty straightforward, if not a bit labour-intensive. Seal some sperm in a horse’s womb until it starts to move on its own, then remove the tiny little man. Feed it human blood for the next 40 weeks, and Paracelsus says that it’ll mature into a little human-like child.

Like-minded individuals loved the idea. It was rumoured that Count Johann von Kefstein had created 10 such beings that could predict the future, and others claimed to have created homunculus that could commune with the spirit world.

Since the writings of Galen, it was believed that the four humors were responsible for creating balance – or imbalance – in the human body. Paracelsus thought differently, writing about three humors: salt (stability), sulphur (combustibility), and mercury (liquidity).

Sir Isaac Newton & the Philosopher’s Stone

At the same time Newton was discovering the secrets of optics and astronomy, he was also searching for the Philosopher’s Stone. In his work “Humores mineralis”, he describes what he sees as mystical properties found in saltpeter, and suggests that this substance is as close to the stone as anyone has come.

The problem Newton faced, however, was over how there could be so many minerals on the surface of the earth, when the water cycle should have been draining them all away into the underground. Minerals never rose to the surface, after all, and that was a problem.

He speculated that there was some sort of reaction going on near the surface of the earth that was replenishing all of these minerals, and that saltpeter was the active ingredient. Along with mercury and sulphur, saltpeter was thought to be one of the crucial elements in the transmutation of minerals and ore – a reaction he studied in the laboratory.

Countless alchemical works were lost in 292 AD, when the Roman Emperor Diocletian ordered all magical and alchemical books to be burned. Only a relative handful of original documents survived.



Other articles on the same theme:


Story source: 
The above post is reprinted from materials provided by urbanghostsmedia . Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.