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CİNLERLE İNSANLAR EVLENEBİLİRLER Mİ?
CİN'CE YADA CİNLERİN ÖZEL BİR DİLİ VAR MIDIR?
YENİ DÜNYA BÜYÜCÜLERİNDE YAMYAMLIK
Kontes Elizabeth Bathory (Kanlı Kontes)
Alcimistler
Middle East
Geber / Abu Musa Jabir ibn Hayyan (721-815)
Abu Bakr Mohammad Ibn Zakariya al-Razi (864-930)
Avicenna - Abu Ali al-Husain ibn Abdallah ibn Sina (985-1037)
Classical and Roman Empire
Plato (ca. 360 BC)
Olympiodorus of Thebes (ca. 400)
Albertus Magnus (1193-1280)
Roger Bacon (1220- 1292)
Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)
Arnald of Villanova (1240-1311)
Nicolas Flamel (1330-1418) - 5 Files
Basil Valentine (supposed 15th cent.) The 12 Keys - 2 Files
Georg Agricola (1494-1555)
Paracelsus (1493-1541]
Valentin Weigel (1533-1588) - 2 Files
Tycho Brahe (1546-1601)
John Dee (1527-1608)
Edward Kelley (1555-1595)
Jacob Bohmen (1575 - 1624)
Heinrich Khunrath (1560-1605)
Michal Sedziwoj (1566-1636)
Jan Baptista van Helmont (1577-1644)
Robert Boyle (1626-1691)
John Mayow (1641-1679)
Isaac Newton (1642 -1727) - 2 Files
Count Alessandro de Cagliostro (1743-1795)
Count of Saint Germain (18th Century)
Demosthenes - The Alchemist God
Alexandre Saint-Yves d'Alveydre The Archeometre (1842-1909)
Fulcanelli
Rönasans'ın Alman bilgini Theophrastus Philippus Aureolus Bombastus von Hohenheim ( 1493-1541) renkli bir kişiliğe sahipti. Genellikle PARACELSUS adıyla tanınmaktadır. Otuz yaşlarındaykenaldığı bu lakap “von Hohenheim”ın Latinceleştirilmiş şeklinden türetilmiş olabileceği gib “Celsus'tan üstün” ( Celsus, milattan sonra birinci yüzyılda yaşamış bir Romalı tıp eserleri derleyicisidir.) anlamına da gelebilmekteydi. Belki de, geleneksel kavramları yıkan “paradoksal” (doktrinlere aykırı) kitaplar yazmasıyla ilgiliydi. Paracelsus 1493 veya 1494'te İsviçre'de Einsiedeln'de tıpla ilgilenen bir ailede doğdu.
İlk eğitimini özellikle botanik, madencilik, metalürji ve genel bilim konusunda babasından aldı. Sonraki hocaları piskoposlar ve büyüyle ilgili faliyetlerinin önde gelen ismi olan Sponheim başrahibiydi. Yirmili yaşlarına geldiğinde, Paracelsus bölgedeki madenlerde veya daha muhtemel olarak bu madenlerin laboratuarlarında çalıştı. Bu, oldukça alışılmış bir eğitimdi. Ayrıca, İtalya'ya gittiği ve Ferrara Üniversitesi'nde bir süre tıp okuduğu da tahmin edilmektedir: çünkü çok geçmeden, önce Venedik'te sonra da başka yerlerde askeri cerrah olarak çalıştığını görmekteyiz.
Doktorluk gibi saygı gören bir mesleğin üyesi olmasına rağmen Paracelsus'un babası gayri meşru bir çocuk olarak doğmuştu. Annesi ise bir Benediktin manastırında hizmet etmekteydi. Bu durum, Paracelsus'u hayatı boyunca etkilemiş görünmektedir; çünkü otorite ile arasında her zaman bir sevgi-nefret ilişkisi vardı. Arkadaşlarını, hatta hamilerini bile kendinden uzaklaştıran öfkeli bir adamdı. Geleneksel bilimi ve tıbbı reddetti; tedavi yöntemlerini köylülerden öğrenmeye çalıştı; köylülerle beraber tavernalarda içki içerek zaman geçirdi; bu alışkanlığı ona şarap konusunda uzmanlık kazandırdı. Köylülerin hastalıklarını ücretsiz olarak tedavi etti ve zenginlerden fahiş ücretler alarak durumunu dengeledi.
Paracelsus'un meslek hayatı, başarı ve başarısızlığın tam bir karışımıydı.Salzburg'da başarılı şekilde doktorluk yaptı, önde gelen hümanist yayımcı Johannes Froben'in hayatını kurtararak büyük ün kazandı. Bu başarısı ve Erasmus'a yaptığı sağlam tıbbi tavsiyeler sayesinde, 1527'de Basel'de belediye doktorluğu ve tıp profesörlüğü görevlerini elde etti. Ancak akademik otoriteler memnun değildi. Çünkü, gerekli belgeleri sunmayı ve yemin etmeyi reddetmiş, Galenos'u karalayan bir yazı hazırlamış ve yeni bir program hazırlayacağını açıklamıştı. Tayini ancak Froben'in ve diğer güçlü reformcuların yardımı sayesinde gerçekleşti. Ancak ertesi yıl Froben öldü ve Paracelsus, Basel'i terk etmek zorunda bırakıldı. İbn Sina'nın Kanun'unun bir nüshasını herkesin önünde yakmış, Almanca ders vermekte ısrar etmiş, sınıflarına berber-cerrahları almış ve hatta, vizite ücretini ödemediği için bir üst düzey hükümet yetkilisini mahkemeye verecek kadar işi ileri götürmüştü. Bundan sonra Paracelsus, bir şehirden diğerine dolaştı. Kendine gösterilen misafirperverliği genellikle suistimal ettiğinden, bir yerde en fazla iki yıl kalabilmekteydi. Madencilerde görülen hastalıkları da, köylü elbisesi giyerek yaptığı bu geziler sırasında inceledi. 1541 yılında Salzburg'da öldü.
Çok sağlam bir bünyeye sahip olan Paracelsus, içki içmede köylülerle iddiaya girmekte ve kazandıktan sonra, gecenin geri kalan kısmında yazılarını çok tutarlı bir dille sekreterine dikte etmekteydi. Tabii ki, elindeki kılıcı sallayarak ve bağırarak etrafındakilere dehşete düşürmediği zamanlarda! Ertesi gün laboratuarında çalışmakta veya muayenehanesinde hasta bakmaktaydı. Bu çılgınca hayata rağmen, tıbba bazı yenilikler getirdi. Silikoz ve tüberkülozu madencilerde görülen meslek hastalıkları olarak tanımladı; frenginin doğuştan gelebileceğini buldu; guatr ile kretinizm (patolojik zeka geriliği) arasında bir bağlantı olduğunu anladı. Ancak en önemli katkısı yeni bir hastalık teorisi ortaya koymuş olmasırdır.
Paracelsus, hastalığın vücut sıvılarındaki dengesizlik veya düzensizlikten meydana geldiğine dair eski inancı çürüttü; dış etkilerin önemini vurguladı ve özellikle vücudun bir “zehir” tarafından istila edildiğini ileri sürdü. Bu onu yeni tedavi şekillerine götürdü ve tedavide, homeopati ilkelerini ve “benzerlikler” kavramını uyguladı.
Homeopati, Sağlıklı kişilerde belirli hastalıklara yol açan ilaçların, o hastalıkların belirtilerine karşı kullanılmasına dayanan tedavi yöntemidir.
Bunun sonuncu tedavi şekline göre, kullanılacak bitkisel ilacın seçimi, bitkinin rengi ve şekli ile hasta organ arasındaki benzerlik göz önüne alınarak yapılmaktaydı. Ayrıca ilaç hammadelerini, içerdikleri spesifik bileşenlere göre ayırmaya çalıştı ve minarelleri doğrudan ilaç olarak kullanmayı öğütledi. Bütün bunlar, kimyada yeni teknik ve fikirler geliştirmesine sebep oldu ki, bu teknikler ve fikirler kendisinden sonra iyatrokimyayı uygulayacak olanlara çok fayda sağlayacaktı.
Paracelsus (born 11 November or 17 December 1493 in Einsiedeln, Switzerland - 24 September 1541) was an alchemist, physician, astrologer, and general occultist. Born Theophrastus Philippus Aureolus Bombastus von Hohenheim, he took the name Paracelsus later in life, meaning "beside or similar to Celsus", an early Roman physician.
Paracelsus was born at Einsiedeln, Switzerland, of a Swabian chemist father and a Swiss mother. He was brought up in Switzerland, and as a youth he worked in nearby mines as an analyst. He started studying medicine at the university of Basel at the age of 16. There is speculation he gained his doctorate degree from the University of Ferrara.
He later journeyed to Egypt, Arabia, the Holy Land, and Constantinople seeking alchemists from whom to learn. On his return to Europe, his knowledge of these treatments won him fame. He did not go along with the conventional treatment of wounds, which was to pour boiling oil onto them to cauterize them; or if they were on a limb, to let them become gangrenous and then to amputate the limb. Paracelsus believed the then-ridiculous idea that wounds would heal themselves if allowed to drain and prevented from becoming infected.
Paracelsus rejected Gnostic traditions, but kept much of the Hermetic, neoplatonic, and Pythagorean philosophies; however, Hermetical science had so much Aristotelian theory that his rejection of Gnosticism was practically meaningless.
In particular, Paracelsus rejected the magic theories of Agrippa and Flamel (N.B. This assertion regarding Flamel is problematic, since a.) no works by Flamel were in circulation prior to Paracelsus' death and b.) Flamel's theories are specifically alchemical and not magical); Paracelsus did not think of himself as a magician and scorned those who did, though he was a practicing astrologer, as were most, if not all of the university-trained physicians working at this time in Europe.
Astrology was a very important part of Paracelsus' medicine. In his Archidoxes of Magic Paracelsus devoted several sections to astrological talismans for curing disease, providing talismans for various maladies as well as talismans for each sign of the Zodiac. He also invented an alphabet called the Alphabet of the Magi, for engraving angelic names upon talismans.
Paracelsus pioneered the use of chemicals and minerals in medicine. He used the name "zink" for the element zinc in about 1526, based on the sharp pointed appearance of its crystals after smelting and the old German word "zinke" for pointed. He used experimentation in learning about the human body.
His hermetical views were that sickness and health in the body relied on the harmony of man, the microcosm, and Nature of the macrocosm. He took an approach different from those before him, using this analogy not in the manner of soul-purification but in the manner that humans must have certain balances of minerals in their bodies, and that certain illnesses of the body had chemical remedies that could cure them. (Debus & Multhauf, p.6-12)
He summarized his own views: "Many have said of Alchemy, that it is for the making of gold and silver. For me such is not the aim, but to consider only what virtue and power may lie in medicines." (Edwardes, p.47) (also in: Holmyard, Eric John. Alchemy. p. 170)
Indeed, the remnants of alchemical traditions can still be seen in modern medicine. For instance, the Caduceus has been adopted as the prime symbol of western medicine.
Paracelsus gained a reputation for being arrogant, and soon garnered the anger of other physicians in Europe. He held the chair of medicine at the University of Basel for less than a year; while there he angered his colleagues by publicly burning books by other physicians. He was forced from the city after having legal trouble over a physician's fee he sued to collect.
He then wandered Europe for some time, typically as a pauper. He revised old manuscripts and wrote new ones, but had trouble finding publishers. In 1536, his Die grosse Wundartzney (The Great Surgery Book) was published which enabled him to make a short comeback in popularity.
After his death, the movement of Paracelsianism was seized upon by many wishing to subvert the traditional Galenic physick and thus did his therapies become more widely known and used.
His motto was "alterius non sit qui suus esse potest" which means "let no man belong to another that can belong to himself".
Cinler daha önceki peygamberlerin tebliğlerine de uymuşlardı. Kur'an-ı Kerim'de Ahkaf suresinin ( 46 / 29 - 30 – 31 ) ayetlerinde,
30) < Dediler ki: “ Ey toplumumuz! Biz; Musa'dan sonra indirilen, kendinden öncekini doğrulayan, hakka ve dosdoğruyola ileten bir Kitap dinledik” >
31) “ Ey toplumumuz! Allah'ın davetçisine uyun, ona imanedin ki Allah, günahlarınızdan bir kısmını bağışlasın ve sizi acıklı bir azaptan korusun.”
Anlatıldığı gibi Hz. Musa'ya indirilene iman etmişlerdi. Nitekim sadece Hz. Musa değil daha pekçok peygamberin de tebliğini aldıkları yine En'am suresinde net olarak görülmektedir. (En'am /130) “ Ey cinler ve insanlar topluluğu! İçinizden, size ayetlerimi anlatan ve şu gününüzle yüzyüze geleceğiniz hususunda sizi uyaran resullaer gelmedi mi? ”
Bütün bu ayetlerden anlaşılacağı gibi, Cinler de peygamberlerin tebliğlerini dinlemişlerdir. Ve aralarından bazıları iman etmiş bazıları da inkar etmişlerdir.
Yine Kur'an-ı Kerim'de Cin suresi gayet net olarak açıklamaktadır;
1) De ki “ Cinlerden bir topluluğun dinleyip şunu söyledikleri bana vahyolundu: Gerçekten biz, hayranlık verici bir Kur'an dinledik.”
Yine Kur'an-ı Kerim'de (Neml, Sebe, Fussılet, Saffat.. ) cinler hakkında pek çok bilgi edinmekteyiz.
O halde sorumuza gelelim . İman eden cinler neye iman etmişlerdir?
- Cinler Allah'ın tek yaratıcı olduğuna, onun resulleri olduğuna ve bu resullerin insanlardan olduğuna iman etmişlerdir.Yani iman eden cinler, şeytanın yaptığı gibi yapmamış topraktan ve sudan olanın üstün olduğuna iman ettikleri gibi peygamberlerin de insanlardan olduğuna iman etmişlerdir.
O halde cinler öteki peygamberlerin de bütün tebliğlerine uyarlar mı?
- Dört ayaklı bir masanın bir ayağı kısa olsa nasıl denge olmaz ve o masanın üzerinde bir şey durmazsa, iman da böyledir. İnançlı bir bütünün tamamına inanır. Peygamberlerin tebliğlerine iman eden cinler de ilahi vahyin tamamına iman etmişlerdir.
Fakat insanlar arasında geçen özel meselelerle ilgili ayetler onları bağlamaz (Bakara 222).
Bu konuda bir başka görüş ise şudur. Ayetlerin okunuşlarının bir görünen manaları bir de sır olan manaları vardır ki, onlar bu örtünün altındaki manaya da iman ederler. Böylece bütün vahyi uygulamaları icab eder.
Cinlere, cinlerden peygamber gelmiş midir?
Bu konuda Kur'an-ı Kerim'de net bir cevap bulamıyoruz. (Sadece Enam 130) Oysa daha önceki inançlarda kabul edilen görüş şudur ki, Adem'den önce yeryüzünde cinler yaşamaktaydı. Daha doğrusu insandan önce onlar vardı. Ve cinler nefisli varlıklardı. Yani kavimdiler. Allah'u teala “ biz her kavime bir uyarıcı elçi gönderdik” der. İşte bu yüzden cinlere de cinlerden peygamber gönderildiğine inanılır.
O halde bu peygamberlerin isimleri nelerdir? Veya kitapları nerededir?
Bugün peygamber isimleri olarak söylenen cin isimleri esasen Akadca, Sümerce ve İbranice isimleridir. Ve bunun böyle olduğunu, daha doğrusu bu isimlerin eski inanışlardaki çok tanrıların isimleri olduğunu bunu savunanların bildiklerini sanmıyorum. Bugün büyüde kullanılan isimler de çoğunlukla bu isimlerdir. Yalnız işin bir enteresan tarafıda şudur ki, Eski ve Yeni Dünya'da cin peygamber isimlerinden bazıları ortak isimlerdir.
Süleyman EYÜP
Şubat, 1991
Süleyman EYYÜP'le röportaj:
CİNLERLE İNSANLAR EVLENEBİLİRLER Mİ?
Hande Karlukzade : Cinlerle insanlar evlenebilirler mi? Çocukları olur mu?
Süleyman Eyyüp : Bildiğimiz gibi insanın ham maddesi basitçe söylemek gerekirse su ve topraktır. Oysa cinlerin ise ateştir. Bu sorunun cevabı “insanoğlu sadece kendisi gibi bir insanoğlu ile evlenebilir.” diyeceğim.
Bir de olaya cinsel ilişki boyutundan baksak da farklı bir cevap bulamayız. Çünkü cinsel ilişkide de etten, kemikten, bedenli olana ihtiyaç vardır. Hatta insanlardan bazı sapıklar bazı hayvanlarla da ilişkiye girebilir. Bu çarpık ilişki de bile su ve beden ilişkisi söz konusudur. Oysa bir erkek insan ile bir cin nasıl ilişkiye girebilir ki? Bu hava ile ilişkiye girmek gibi birşeydir.
Ayrıca insanoğlunun üremesi için ALLAH muazzam bir beden yaratmıştır. Ve insan bedeninin bir ısısı mevcuttur. Biliyorsunuz ki bu ısı spermleri öldürür. İşte bu yüzden testisler vücudun dışındadırlar. Birkaç derecelik ısı azlığı bile spermlerin yaşamasını sağlar ancak bu sayede üreyebiliriz.
O halde bir erkek insanla bir dişi cinin ilişkiye girdiğini düşünsek dahi ateşten olanın içinde spermin yaşaması ve tutması düşünülemez.
Hande Karlukzade : Bir kadın insanla erkek cin ilişkiye girebilir mi? Çocukları olur mu?
Süleyman Eyyüp : BU da mümkün olmayan bir konudur. Asla bir kadın bir cinden hamile kalamaz. Yalnız burada bir farklılık söz konusudur. Kadın kendisi ile ilişkiye giriliyor gibi hissedebilir. Vücudunun belli bölgeleri (göğüs, boyun, rahim) darbeye maruz kalıyor hissedebilir. Hatta bu olayı kameralar bile tespit edebilir (Bu olayın tıptaki literatürüne bak.). Fakat bu derecede bile gelişen olayda çocuk olmaz.
Hande Karlukzade : Peki o zaman bu söylentiler nereden kaynaklanıyor?
Süleyman Eyyüp : Bütün bu söylentilerin kaynağı Yahudilerdir. Yahudi inanışına göre (Kitab-ı Mukaddes) Hz. Adem'in ilk karısı dişi cin LİLİTH'dır. Buna inanılır. Yine Kitab-ı Mukaddeste (Süleyman'ın eşi) Belkıs'ın annesinin cinlerden olduğu bahside vardır. Tabi sadece Yahudi inanacında değil diğer öteki inanaçlarda ve mitolojilerde de insanları cinlerle ilişkiye girdiği ve çocuk sahibi olduğu inanacı da vardır.
Hande Karlukzade : Bu olayı yaşadığını söyleyenler ne demek istiyorlar?
Süleyman Eyyüp : Esasında onlar hayallerini ve rüyalarını anlatıyorlar. Gizli İlimlerin içine girip çıkmayı bir türlü başaramayanlar cinlerden eşleri olduğunu söylerler. Bu hadise ekseriyetle şöyle gelişir (……….. ayetlerini ………… isimlerini belli aralıklarla tekrara ettikten sonra ……….oluşları yerine getirilir. Daha sonra temas sağlanır. Uzatmayalım bir güzel cin kadın görünür. Bu kadın ki o erkeğin asla hayal edemeyeceği bir güzelliktedir. Onunla cinsel ilişkiye girerse ki bu rüya halinde olur boşalır. Daha sonra her uyku anında da onunla ilişkiye girmeye çalışır. Ve belgesel gibi belli zamanlarda bu rüyaların devamını görür. Sanki günlük hayatının dışında rüya aleminde bir başka hayatı daha vardır. Çocukları bile olur. Onları görür konuşur.) İşte bu vakkaların yani kazayla Gizli İlimlerin içine girip çıkmayı bir türlü başaramayanları tedavi etmek lazımdır. Modern tıp ilaç ve psikolojik telkinle tedavi de büyük ilerlemeler kaydetmiş olsa da şu an için tam tedavisi mümkün değildir. Ben de böyle birkaç deli iyileştirdiğim kanaatindeyim. Daha doğrusu onlar artık kadın çocuk görmüyor ve kendi işlerine bakıyorlar.
Bir kadın ise rüyasında bir erkek cin görebilir. Onunla yakınlaşır. Ama tam beraber olacağı an uyanır. İşte dediğimiz gibi bunlar hep rüya aleminde olur.
Ben burada ŞIBLİ'nin, İBN ABBAS'ın, MUHİTTİN ARABİ'nin, İMAM MALİK'in görüşlerini size anlatmadım. Çünkü siz bana benim görüşümü sordunuz. Onların da cinlerle cinsel ilişkide çocuk meselesine bakışları aşağı yukarı aynıdır.
Hande Karlukzade : Sayın Süleyman Eyyüp peki ya büyücülükte üremeleri ve çoğalmaları…………?
Süleyman Eyyüp : Bu olayda şeytanlarla toplanılır. İnsanlar birbirleriyle çarpık ve sapık ilişkilere girerler. Belli günler, belli saatler ve lanetlenmiş ortamlarda bazı şekillerin içersinde …………… ama bu konuyu daha fazla anlatmak istemiyorum.
Yavrum! bu konuyu anlatırken bazı satanistler ve yeni yetme masonikler şunu iyi bilmelidirler ki, biz onların gittiği yoldan çoktan geri döndük. Onlar incubi ve üstatları iyi bilir sutcubilerle uğraşıyorlar. Ben ise bu konuyu anlatma ihtiyacı bile duymadım. Kimyanın elementlerini bile anlayamayacak kapasitede olan bit beyinlilere yardımcı olur diye biraz da bu konuyu anlatayım.
Cıvanın sırlarına vakıf olmaya başladıktan sonra (kuledeki Newton gibi) altını öğrenmeye başlayacaklar. Sonra en başa dönüp suyun sırrına vakıf olurlarsa ne demek istediğimi belki anlarlar.
Neyse fazla uzatmayalım kadınlarla cinsel ilişkiye giren cinlere kısaca incubi derler (Yeni dünyada tamnatom, Asya'da huzunn). Bunun Tevrat'ta yeri var mıdır dersek, Tekvin 6/4'de dayandırırlar. Bu konuyu Magdelena Crucia 1515 eylülünde ilk olarak yaşadı (Ve tam 29 yıl 8 ay 11 gün de devam etti). Erkeklerle beraber olanlarına da folletideunde sutcubi pomrad nızzmennet denir………………………………………………
Hande Karlukzade Not: Değerli okuyucularım, Süleyman Eyyüp bu özel sohbetinde Kur'an-ı KERİM inanışı dışındaki inanışları ayrıntılarıyla anlatmıştır. Bu konuyu cadılık bahsinde ayrıntıları ile vereceğimiz için bu bölümde yayınlamıyoruz. Yine Süleyman Eyyüp esasında bu konularla ilgili geçen pek çok ismin ve olayın esasen tuzaklar ve aldatmacalarla dolu olduğunu söylemiştir. Yine sorular esnasında yazılı olarak not tutulmasına izin vermediğinden kaset çözümünde bazı harflerin eksik yada fazla olabileceği belirtmek isterim. Ben tarzı gereği konuşmaları birebir yazıya döktüm. Böyle daha doğal olacağını düşündüm. Bu yüzden diksiyon hataları yapılmış olabilir.
Şubat 1991
Bilinmeyen bir yer
CİN'CE YADA CİNLERİN ÖZEL BİR DİLİ VAR MIDIR?
Öncelikle şunu belirtmeliyim ki, cinlerin bütün türlerinin kendi aralarında veya diğer türlerle anlaşmaları için sese ve özel bir lisana ihtiyaçları yoktur.
Şimdi sorunuza gelirsek, Ademoğullarının cinlerle temasını sağlama yollarından biri olan seslerde de bir takım özellikler vardır. Bu ses sistemi bizim alfabemizle yorumlandığında daha çok sessiz harflerle ifade edilebilecek sesler içerirler. Okunuş şekilleri ise daha önce Amazonlar'ın yaptığı gibi gırtlaktan çıkan sesler şeklindedir. Bu sesler topluluğundan oluşan kelimelere mana verilmeye kalkarsa en yakın diller Akadça veya Köktürkçe, Ural-Altay dil grubunda az da olsa manalandırılabilir.
Büyük olasılıkla bu manası olan kelimeler, Adem'den önce bu türlerin sınırlı sayıda maddeye verdikleri ya da çağrışım yaptıkları (rüzgar sesi, su sesi, ateşin rüzgarla parlaması, ağacın devrilirken sesi, fokurdamalar v.b.) seslerdir.
Bu bir dildir. Ve bu dili yeryüzünde sınırlı sayıda yazabilen ve yazıya aktarabilen, konuşan (kısa cümlelerle) gruplar vardır.
Bu gruplar: a) Cadılar
b) Büyücüler
c) Aradakiler
Süleyman Eyyüp
Yamyamlık, Arap toplumlarında da vardı. Misal olarak, Muaviye'nin annesi Hind harpte şehit olan müslümanların burun ve kulaklarını kestirerek boynuna uzun bir kolye yapmıştı. Yine Uhud Harbi'nde şehid edilen bir veya birkaç kişinin (Hz. Hamza) Vahşi isimli bir köle vasıtasıyla göğsünü açtırmış kalbinden bir parçayı ve ciğerini çiğ olarak yemişti.
İklimlerin ve koşulların değişik olması yamyamlık geleneğini engellememiştir. Yine bir başka kıtada eskimolarda bile yamyamlık vardı. Yazılı olmayan yasalarına göre aç kaldıklarında ve uzun süre gıda bulamadıklarında köpeklerinden evvel çocuklarını keserek yerlerdi. Bu günkü şartlara göre çok garip gelebilir ama eskimo inancına göre çocuklarını keserek yemek bazen de yaşlı anne ve babalarını yemek bir gelenekti. İşin en ilginç yanı ise bu toplumun yamyamlığı doğal karşılamasıydı. Mesela çocuklar kendi boyunlarına ip bağlayıp öldürülüp yenmeleri için anne ve babalarının önlerine kendi istekleriyle otururlardı. Annelerine ay şeklindeki bıçağı getirirlerdi. Yaşlılar ise geri kalanların kurtuluşu için en iyi çarenin bu olduğuna evlatlarını iknaya çalışırlardı.
Açlık dayanılmaz bir hal alınca kurban öldürülür fakat kafa, kalp ve ciğerine asla dokunulmazdı.
Avrupalı denizciler ve kürk avcıları soğuk denizlere açıldıklarında uzun yolculuklar yaparlardı. Bu seferler esnasında (İskorpit hastalığına da tutulurlar) bir de gemileri buza saplanınca (17. ve 18. yy.) mürettebatları tüm gıdayı buzlar çözülünceye kadar idare edememişlerse önce ölen denizcileri yerler daha sonra zayıfları öldürüp yemeye devam ederlerdi. Yamyamlığı pek çok kere tatbik etmişlerdi.
Haçlı seferleri sırasında da özellikle Franklar ve Almanlar, Müslüman eti yemeyi adet haline getirmişlerdi. O sırada sözde din savaşçılarını örgütleyen kilise yamyamlığı görmezden geliyordu.
Yine bir başka kıtada ise durum farklı değildi. Ekvator ve Bolivya And'larında bulunan Kaçibo Kızılderilileri de yamyamlık yaparlardı. Fakat bunların mantığı diğerlerinden farklıydı. Kaçibolar'a göre ölü etinin mezarda çürümesi, böcekler ve diğer hayvanlar tarafından yenilmesinden ise sevenleri ve dostları tarafından yenilmesi daha doğruydu. Bu kızılderililerde taze ölü yeme adeti vardı. Yine Bora Boralılar yılda bir kere Tahiti'ye saldırırlar ve büyük bir kıyım yaparlardı. İşin ilginç yanı Bora Boralılar Tahiti'li gençlerin etlerinin lezzetini beyazlardan öğrenmişlerdi. Denizci Kaptan Cook Havai'li yerliler tarafından yendiği gibi, illimunati çemberinin göbeğinde yer alan meşhur bir ailenin evladı ise Nakima'lar tarafından yenmişti.
Kimi topluluklarda ise yamyamlık özel törenler ve ritüeller için yapılıyordu. Cadılarda bebek yamyamlığı, Zumnularda cinsel organ yamyamlığı, Vandallarda (Vandal Krallığı değil) göz yamyamlığı mevcuttu.
SÜLEYMAN EYÜP
ÖNEMLİ NOT:
Yukarıda kısaca değişik topluluklarda yamyamlığı anlatmaya çalıştık. Fakat bu yazının devamında gizli ilimlerde büyü ve şeytana tapınmada yamyamlık anlatılacaktır. Toplam 13 bölümden oluşmaktadır. Yazarın isteği üzerine 52 günde bir yazılacaktır. Birinci bölüm 6 Haziran'da yayınlanacaktır.
YENİ DÜNYA BÜYÜCÜLERİNDE YAMYAMLIK
Onlar kafalarına uzun huni şeklinde külahlar takarlardı. Onlar sağ baş parmaklarını çolak ederlerdi. Onlar erkekliklerini ilk rüyadan sonra keserlerdi. Ve baş büyücüye MANÇE derlerdi. Tekerleğin ve atın olmadığı bu dünyada MANÇE'ler yani o büyünün büyük üstadları, şeytanın çocukları yamyamlık yapardı. Onlar en güçlüyü seçerlerdi. Yalnız en güçlüyü seçmekle kalmaz en şanslı olanı da ararlardı. Savaşta biz buna av da diyebiliriz, oklarla yaralanmayanlar en şanslılardı. Savaşları iki Turay (kahin avcı) ve bir Mançe takip ederdi.
Kurbanı tespit ettikten sonra onun yaralanmadan (kanı akmadan) yakalanmasına özen gösterilirdi. Daha sonra bu esir veya esirler Yürüyen Yılanın Tapınağında, Güneşin Mabedindeki törene hazırlanılırdı. Esire (kurban) ilk 9 gün hiç gün ışığı gösterilmezdi. Ve özel karışımlı (si..ad.). içirilirdi. 9. günün bitiminde güneşi görürlerdi. 25. güne kadar seçilen yiyecekler yedirilir ve kimyasal karışımlar içirilirdi. 25. günden sonraki 4 gün sadece sıvı karışımı verilir ve 29. gün eğer gökte güneş varsa tapınağın üstündeki sunakta gölgenin boyu eşit olduğu an ayaklarından (ayakları otlu sıvıya değecek şekilde) katlanarak sırt üstü sunağa yatırılır ve bir hamlede MANÇE kalbini çıkarırdı. O kadar ustaydı ki kalp elinde bile atmaya devam ederdi. Kan sunağa akıtılır kurbanın daha önce içmiş olduğu özel kimyasal sıvı ile karıştırılıp ense köküne yakın iki taraftan alınan et parçaları ile birlikte gırtlak ve dilden parçalar bu sıvının içine konulup, güneş batıncaya kadar bekletilir ve Mançe tarafından yenilirdi. Ve bu işlemi sadece baş rahip yapardı (halifeleri de –turaylar- yapabilirdi).
Bilgelerin öldürülmesi ve yamyamlığı daha farklı olurdu. Kafataslarının içine bilge kurbanın kalbinin sol tarafının parçasıyla ense kökünün parçalarını koyarlardı. Daha sonra beyni ile birlikte ezip lapa haline getirir ve Mançe bunu çorba gibi içerdi. Ve rüzgara, yağmura hükmederdi. Dokunduğunu öldürür, dokunduğunu iyileştirirdi. Büyük blok taşların yerlerini değiştirir, onları üst üste koydururdu. Sesle …………. ları da yapabilirdi. Bu bozguncu ve kan dökücüler kendi kanlarında boğdular. Dikkat edilmesi gereken bir husus da şudur, yamyamlıkla bayramlarda, müsabakalarda ve felaketleri savmak için yapılan insan kurbanları karıştırılmamalıdır. Yukarda bahsettiğim olay sadece Magic güç elde etmek, bu gücü daha da çoğaltmak, cinlerle daha iyi bedelleşmek için yapılan bir törendir. İspanyollar gelmeden çok önce yok oldular (yeni dünyada onlardan çok daha önceki büyücülerin ise başına göktaşı düştü.)
Yine kendilerine tanrıların gücünü cinlerin enerjisini kazanmak isteyen mason üstü bazı gruplarda da yamyamlık mevcuttur. Golden Dawn'da da yamyamlık görülmüştür. Fakat sadece Ipsissimus'ları yani iki kişi bunu denedi. Bu mason üstü tarikat ilk başlarda (Kont Cagliostro gibi) güce ve gizeme sahip olmak için ……. yemeğe ihtiyaç duydular.
SÜLEYMAN EYYÜP
Not: Bir sonraki yazı GoldEn Dawn'da Yamyamlık ve 11. derecenin sırrı.
Not: Yazar yine sohbet esnasında çok ayrıntılı törenden bahsetmiştir. Etik değerlere yakışmayan bu tören şeklini, beyin, ciğer, kalp ve bağırsak okumayı yazarın izniyle yayınlamadık. Bu yazının ikici bölümünde şu an yeryüzünde var olan bir takım gizli ve sapık tarikatların yamyamlık tarzlarını ve yöntemlerini yayınlayacağız, ALLAH yardımcımız olsun.
Ayeti Kerime Meali:
“Şunlar size HARAM kılınmıştır: Boğazlanmayarak ölmüş hayvanın eti, kan, domuz eti, ALLAH'tan başkası adına boğazlananlar, bir de boğulmuş yahut vurulmuş yahut yuvarlanmış yahut süsülmüş yahut canavar yırtmış olup da canı üzerindeyken kesemedikleriniz, dikili adak taşları üzerinde boğazlanan hayvanlar, fal oklarıyla kısmet paylaşmanız…Bütün bunlar birer fısk tır, yoldan çıkıştır. Küfre batmış olanlar bugün dininizden ümitlerini kestiler. Artık onlardan korkmayın, benden korkun. Bugün sizin için dininizi kemale erdirdim, üzerinizdeki nimetimi tamamladım ve sizin için din olarak İslam 'ı/ALLAH'a teslim olmayı seçtim. Şu da var ki, her kim ciddi bir açlıkla yeryüzüne gelir de günaha kaçmak maksadı olmaksızın onlardan yemek zorunda kalırsa, elbette ALLAH Gafur ve Rahim 'dir. (MAİDE - 3)”
Büyük şeytanla temasa geçip ondan güç almak esasında bu delilerin aradığı kadar zor bir şey de değildir.
Ama Okültik, hermetik, putperest ve ekzoterik inanç içinde kaybolan bu insanlar sonunda şeytanları ile buluştular. İşin hiç unutulmaması gereken bir vardıysa son kademeye gelmek için şeytanın kendinden üstün olan topraktan olan birini yok ettirmesi ve onun ruhunu ele geçirmeye kalkışması vardır.
Bu sapık mason üstü tarikat ilk başlarda (Kont cagliostro gibi) güce ve gizeme sahip olmak için mumya yemeye ihtiyaç duydu. Çünkü mumyaların içinde hem ölü hem de bilgelerin karışımları vardı. Bugün için inanması çok güç gelebilir ama Avrupa'da bir dönem özellikle Fransa'da mumyalar kilo ile satılır ve hatta hastalıkları iyi edeceği söylenirdi bugün Mısır'da mumya kalmamasının altındaki neden bu sapık inançtır. ( daha sonra gül haç derneğini faaliyetlerine (annasiperengili woddmanı westcotu materisi aleistercrowly peter cosimoyu dheophrastusbombastusvonhohenhim'i stefan aikel'i ) anlatacağım bir sonraki konu isis tapınağındaki yamyamlık ve 1888 1991 arası yamyamlık .
KANLI KONTES ERZSÉBET (ELIZABETH) BÁTHORY
1560-1614 yillari arasinda yasamis olan Macar kontesi. Bazilari o'nun seytandan daha kötü oldugunu söyleseler de, isledigi suçlar "kötü" kavraminin çok ötesindeydi. Bram Stroker, vampirler hakkindaki romaninin arastirmasini yaptigi siralarda Sabine Baring -Gould'un "The Book Of Werewolves " adli kitabina rastladi. Bu çalismada "Blood Countess" denilen merhametsiz bir kadinin yaptiklari anlatiliyordu. Görünüse bakilirsa bu hikaye Stroker'in Kont Drakula'yi yaratmasinda esin kaynagi olmustur. Gerçekte Elizabeth'in kuzeni Stephan Bathory bir gün Transilvanya'da bir prens olacakti.
Elizabeth iyi egitim görmüs, akilli bir kadin olmasina ragmen çok acimasiz ve zalim bir kisilige sahipti. Anlasilan kocasinin ölümünden sonra ortaya çikan ölüm korkusuyla, usaklarina ve kölelerine karsi sadist davranislar içersine girmisti. Sonsuzluk ya da uzun hayat olmazsa bile en azindan kan banyosu yaparak genç görünümlü bir ten elde etme çabasindaydi. Kocasi bir asker olarak, savasta esir düsmüs Türk askerlerine duygusuzca iskence ederdi ve Elizabeth aslinda, nasil zulmedilecegi hakkinda bilgileri kocasindan almisti.
Söylendigine göre Bathory, çok sayida kadin öldürmüs ve yaptigi insanlik disi eylemlerinde kendinden mevki olarak asagidaki kimseler tarafindan yardim görmüstür.
Bathory, kurbanlarini dövmeyi aliskanlik haline getirdigi gibi ayni zamanda onlari sakat birakirdi. Yine söylentilere bakilirsa Castle Csejthe adli evinin yakinlarinda kurbanlarindan bazilarini kisin karli ve soguk havasinda üzerlerine buzlu su dökerek dondururdu. Bunun disinda olasi yamyamlik davranislari da sergilemekteydi. Iddiaya göre Bathory bir defasinda, yasayan hizmetçi bir kizin vücudundan birçok isirik almistir. Blood Countess'in genç kalma umutlari için bakire genç kizlarin kaniyla banyo yaptigi gibi efsanevi hikayelerde vardir. Baska bir kaynaga göre de 650 kizi öldürüp kanlarini içtigi söylenir. Yine de kesin olan tek bir sey vardir ki, o da Elizabeth Bathory gerçekten var olmus ve seytanca isler yapmistir.
Ölü sayisi arttiginda Bathory'nin usaklari cesetleri satonun disina attilar. Kan içindeki ölü vücutlari bulan köylüler dogal olarak onlarin vampirler tarafindan öldürüldügünü düsündüler dedikodular böylelikle yayilmaya basladi.
Bathory 1610 yilinda, genç yastaki kizlari öldürme tesebbüslerinden sonra tutuklandi. Büyücülükle ilgisi oldugu iddiasi tutuklama nedeni olarak gösteriliyordu. Söylentilere göre, kurbanlarin cesetleri kanlar içinde satosunda bulunmustu. 1611 yilinda yapilan 2 durusmada Bathory'nin isledigi suçlar hakkinda tek ve gerçek ifadesi alindi. Kendisi bizzat mahkemede ortaya çikmadigi halde, usaklari orda bulunuyordu. Mahkemenin ardindan kontes'in sadik usaklari yetkililer tarafindan öldürüldü ve Elizabeth, Karpatya daglarinda bulunan satosundaki yatak odasina, ölümünden yillar sonrasina degin hapsedildi. O'nun hakkinda anlatilan efsaneler hala devam etmektedir. Bugün bile bazi insanlar Bathory'nin hayaletinin, anavatani olan Karpatya'da geceleri etrafta dolasarak kan aradigini söylerler.
Bir baska efsanede Kanli Kontesin yaptigi iskenceler ve cinayetler söyle anlatilir.
Kocasi öldükten sonra büyücülükle ugrasmaya baslamistir. Hatta at ve diger hayvanlarin kurban edildigi ayinlere katildigi düsünülmektedir. 40 yasina geldiginde yaslanmaya basladigini düsünüp güzelligini kaybedecegi telasina düser. Bir gün, genç bir hizmetçi kiz, sacini tararken yanlislikla biraz çeker ve o da kizin eline sert bir sekilde vurur, kizin elinden akan kan Elizabeth'in elinin üstüne düser ve oda kizin güzelligini ve tazeligini aldigini düsünür. Daha sonra bas usagina emir vererek kizin bütün kanini bir tekneye akittirir ve orada "kan banyosu" yapar. Daha sonra isi iyice abartir ve zaman içerisinde 612 genç kizi kaçirarak bunlarin ölümüne sebep olur. Kizlar, tepeye asili bir kafeste iskence görür ve Elizabeth de bu kafeslerden akan kanla dus alir. Çok ses çikartan bir hizmetçisinin de agzini diktigi söylenir, ayrica bakire cesetlerini ormana atarak kurt adam ve vampir söylentilerinin çikmasina neden olur. Kurbanlarini önce baglar sonra atardamarlarina delikler açarak kanin disari daha kolay bosalmasini saglar. Kurban için kan kaybindan ölmeyi beklemekten baska çare yoktur artik. Kurbanlarindan biri kaçmayi basarmis ve Castle Csejthe de dönen olaylar böylelikle gün yüzüne çikmistir. En sonunda bu yaptiklari anlasilir ve 1611 de kaziga baglanip diri diri yakilmaya mahkum edilir ancak sarayli oldugu için bu cezayi satosunda küçük bir odaya kapatmaya ve ölene kadar orada kalma cezasina dönüstürürler. Yalniz yemeginin verilebilmesi için küçük bir delik bulunan bir oda. 1614 yilinda burada ölü olarak bulunur.
HAKKINDA FILM:
Eternal adli 2004 yapimi filme ilham kaynagi olmustur.
HAKKINDA KITAP:
The Book Of Werewolves-Sabine Baring Gould
ERZSÉBET (ELIZABETH) BÁTHORY
Countess of Transylvania, vampire: Born 1560/61; died, August 21, 1614. In order to improve her complexion and also to maintain her failing grasp on her youth and vitality, she slaughtered six hundred innocent young women from her tiny mountain principality... The noble Báthory family stemmed from the Hun Gutkeled clan which held power in broad areas of east central Europe (in those places now known as Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and Romania), and had emerged to assume a role of relative eminence by the first half of the 13th century. Abandoning their tribal roots, they assumed the name of one of their estates (Bátor meaning 'valiant') as a family name. Their power rose to reach a zenith by the mid 16th century, but declined and faded to die out completely by 1658. Great kings, princes, members of the judiciary, as well as holders of ecclesiastical and civil posts were among the ranks of the Báthorys. Adopting an exalted name did not alter some basic familial preferences among lesser lights however, and in order to consolidate more tenuous clingings to influence there was considerable intermarriage amongst the Báthory family, with some of the usual problems of this practice produced as a result. Unfortunately, beyond the 'usual problems' some extraordinary difficulties arose (namely hideous psychoses) and several "evil geniuses" appeared, the notorious and sadistic Erzsébet the most prominent of them. Truly, she was evil enough to be recognized as one of the original "vampires" who later inspired Bram Stoker to write the legend of Dracula -- but unlike Stoker's story, she was real. Unusual for one of her social status, she was a fit and active child. Raised as Magyar royalty, as a young maid she was quite beautiful; delicate in her features, slender of build, tall for the time, but her personality did not attain the same measure of fortuitous development. In her own opinion her most outstanding feature was her often commented upon gloriously creamy complexion. Although others were not really so equally impressed with the quality of her rather ordinary skin, they offered copious praise if they knew what was good for them, as Erzsébet did not accept unenthusiastic half-measures of adulation; and she was vindictive. She was only 15 when she was 'married off' for political gain and position to a rough soldier of (nevertheless) aristocratic stock and manner. By reason of the marriage, she became the lady of the Castle of Csejthe, his home, situated deep in the Carpathian mountains of what is now central Romania, but which then was known only as Transylvania. Located near no exciting urban center, the castle was surrounded by a village of simple peasants and rolling agricultural lands, interspersed with the jagged outcroppings of the frozen Carpathians. While the picturesque setting embraced a bucolic tapestry of ideal small fields, meandering stone walls, quaint cottages, a few satisfied brown cows, and goats with tinkling bells about their necks scampering amongst the chickens, life here was uneventful. The castle was typical for its day and place: cold, dun, gloomy, damp, dark; unlike the cozy thatched houses of the peasants below. While her husband was pursuing his passion, the soldier business, and off on various campaigns, for Elizabeth -- who did not wish to amuse herself in the out-of-doors where those loutish peons were grubbing in the mud -- life became poundingly boring in very short order. Being an energetic teenager, although one with a view and experience of life which was 'special,' she set about finding novel amusements to occupy her days. Her tastes were of a certain slant, and consequently she began to gather about herself (as her ample financial resources readily accommodated) persons of peculiar and sinister arts. These she welcomed into her presence, affording them commodious lodging and lavish attention to each of their most singular needs and interests. Among them were those who claimed to be witches, sorcerers, seers, wizards, alchemists, and others who practiced the most depraved deeds in league with the Devil and too painful to mention even in a story such as this. They taught her their crafts in intimate detail and she was enthralled. But learning such unspeakable things was not enough. War in the 16th century was a brutal affair. While fashionably fighting the Turks and attempting to gain information from prisoners captured, her husband employed a horrid device of torture: clever articulated claw-like pincers, fashioned of hardened silver; which, when fastened to a stout whip would tear and rip the flesh to such an obscene degree that even he, a cruel man, abandoned the apparatus in disgust and left it at the castle as he departed on yet another heroic foray. Elizabeth was not alone in her 'unusual' interests. Aware of Elizabeth's complex preoccupations, and amused by them, her aunt had introduced her also to the pleasures of flagellation (enacted upon desolate others of course), a taste Elizabeth quickly acquired. Equipped with her husband's heinous silver claws, she generously indulged herself, whiling away many lonely hours at the expense of forlorn Slav debtors from her own dungeons. The more shrill their screams and the more copious the blood, the more exquisite and orgasmic her amusement. She preferred to whip her 'subjects' on the front of their nude bodies rather than their backs, not only for the increased damage potential, but so that she could gleefully watch their faces contort in horror at their most grim and burning fate. Her husband died in 1604 (some say 1602) of stab wounds imposed on him by a harlot in Bucharest whom he had not paid, and Elizabeth immediately dreamed of a lover to replace him, since she never cared for him in the first place -- so much for her mourning. However, the mirror showed her that her prurient indulgences, as well as time, had taken their toll on her appearance. Her 'angelic' complexion had long since faded to something less than perfection; she had reached 43. Her desire for a lover did not fade; she raged deep within, cursing time. Such a simple interest as a new husband was not to rule the day, it was merely a detail. With the demise of her husband, prowling highly placed men began to smell a ripe opportunity to seize the power and influence encapsulated in the Báthory name; likely by acquiring her and then eliminating her. As well, she was next in line to become King of Poland, and she wanted the job. This seeming anomaly was possible within the governing constructs of the time, and the office of queen held no political weight. At the same time, she was educated beyond all those around her, reading and writing four languages while the prince of Transylvania was an illiterate boor (who bathed regularly -- every year on his birthday). Maintaining her youth and vitality became central to this developing plot; the absolute divine right to power she understood was hers to keep and protect would be essential to the attainment of all that she sought. Vanity, sexual desire, drive for political power all were seamlessly blended into a central primordial passion. If she lost her youth, she could forfeit all. Her mood deteriorated markedly and one day, as she viciously struck a servant girl for a minor oversight, she drew blood when her pointed nails raked the girl's cheek. The wound was serious enough that some of the blood got onto Elizabeth's skin. Later, Elizabeth was quite sure that that part of her own body - where the girl's blood had dropped - looked fresher somehow; younger, brighter and more pliant. Immediately she consulted her alchemists for their opinion on the phenomenon. They, of course, were enjoying her hospitality and did not wish to disappoint, so, fortunately, they did recall a case many many years before and in a distant place where the blood of a young virgin had caused a similar effect on an aged (but generous) personage of nobility and good grace. With such clear evidence at hand, Elizabeth was convinced that here was a brilliant discovery; a method to restore and preserve her youthful glow forever, or at least until she got what she wanted. The advice of her 'beauty consultant,' a woman named Katarina, concurred that her clever realization was most surely sound. Elizabeth reasoned that if a little was good, then a lot would be better: she firmly believed that if she bathed in the blood of young virgins -- and in the case of especially pretty ones, drank it -- she would be gloriously beautiful and strong once again. For years, Elizabeth's trusted helper in her various secret pleasures had been Dorotta Szentes. Now with her, and other 'witches' to help carry the load, Elizabeth roamed the countryside by night, hunting for suitable virginal girls as raw material for her difficult quest. When back in the castle, each batch of young girls would be hung, alive and naked, upside-down by chains wrapped around their ankles. Their throats would be slit and all of their blood drained for Elizabeth's bath, to be taken while the heat of their young bodies still remained in the thickening and sticky crimson pool. And every now and then, a really lovely young girl would be obtained. As a special treat, Elizabeth would drink the child's blood: at first from a golden flask, but later, as her taste for it increased, directly from the stream, as the writhing and whimpering body hung from the rafters, turning pale. Although she had held off her political foes, after five years of this enterprise Elizabeth at last began to realize that the blood of peasant girls was having little effect on the quality of her skin. Obviously such blood was defective and better blood was required. In early 17th century Transylvania, parents of substantial position wished their daughters to be educated in the appropriate social graces and etiquettes, so that they might gain the 'right' connections when ripe. Here was an opportunity. In 1609, Elizabeth established an academy in the castle, offering to take 25 girls at a time from proper families, and to correctly finish their educations. Indeed, their educations were finished. Assisted by Dorotta Szentes (known also by the graceful diminutive "Dorka") these poor students were consumed in exactly the same beastly fashion as the anguished peasant girls who preceded them. This was too easy, and Elizabeth became careless in her actions for the first time in her dreadful career. During a frenzy of lust, four drained bodies were thrown off the walls of the castle. The error was realized too late, for villagers had already seen, collected, and begun to identify the girls. The disappearance of all those young women began to be solved; the secret was finished. Word of this horror spread rapidly and soon reached the Hungarian Emperor, Matthias II, who immediately ordered that the Countess be placed on public trial. But, her aristocratic status did not allow that she be arrested. Parliament at once passed a new Act to reverse this privilege of station (lest she slip from their hands) and Elizabeth was brought before a formal hearing in 1610. Interestingly, no authority seemed inclined to offer any form of attention to these matters when merely peasant girls had been the subject of Elizabeth's blood-letting for five years previous. By the final count, 600 girls had vanished; Elizabeth admitted nothing. Dorka and her witches were burned alive, but the Countess, by reason of her noble birth, could not be executed. Katarina was somehow seen as another victim, and was set free. So, Elizabeth was damned to a death while alive. Sealed into a tiny closet of her castle -- and never let out -- she died four years later. Elizabeth did not ever utter even a single word of regret, or remorse. A note of interest: When Elizabeth was 25 years old, Stephan Báthory (a prince of Transylvania and her uncle) was elected King of Poland. The last regularly scheduled trans-Atlantic passenger ocean liner ship in operation was named the "Stephan Batory" (a typical spelling variation.) It ceased operation in 1991, and its ports of call were Gdansk, Poland, and Montréal.
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Geber (721-815)
Geber, aka Abu Musa Jabir ibn Hayyan, was a prominent Islamic alchemist, pharmacist, philosopher, astronomer, and physicist. He has also been referred to as "the father of Arab chemistry" by Europeans. His ethnic background is not clear; although most sources state he was an Arab, some describe him as Persian.
Jabir was born in Tus, Khorasan, in Iran, which was at the time ruled by the Umayyad Caliphate; the date of his birth is disputed, but most sources give 721 or 722. He was the son of Hayyan al-Azdi, a pharmacist of the Arabian Azd tribe who emigrated from Yemen to Kufa (in present-day Iraq) during the Umayyad Caliphate.
Hayyan had supported the revolting Abbasids against the Umayyads, and was sent by them to the province of Khorasan (in present Iran) to gather support for their cause. He was eventually caught by the Ummayads and executed. His family fled back to Yemen, where Jabir grew up and studied the Koran, mathematics and other subjects under a scholar named Harbi al-Himyari.
After the Abbasids took power, Jabir went back to Kufa, where he spent most of his career. Jabir's father's profession may have contributed greatly to his interest to chemistry.
In Kufa he became a student of the celebrated Islamic teacher and sixth Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq. It is said that he also studied with the Umayyad prince Khalid Ibn Yazid. He began his career practising medicine, under the patronage of the Barmakid Vizir of Caliph Haroun al-Rashid.
It is known that in 776 he was engaged in alchemy in Kufa.His connections to the Barmakid cost him dearly in the end. When that family fell from grace in 803, Jabir was placed under house arrest in Kufa, where he remained until his death.
The date of his death is given as c.815 by the Encyclopædia Britannica, but as 808 by other sources.
Contributions to chemistry
Jabir is mostly known for his contributions to chemistry. He emphasised systematic experimentation, and did much to free alchemy from superstition and turn it into a science. He is credited with the invention of many types of now-basic chemical laboratory equipment, and with the discovery and description of many now-commonplace chemical substances and processes - such as the hydrochloric and nitric acids, distillation, and crystalization that have become the foundation of today's chemistry and chemical engineering.
He also paved the way for most of the later Islamic alchemists, including al-Razi, al-Tughrai and al-Iraqi, who lived in the 9th, 12th and 13th centuries respectively. His books strongly influenced the medieval European alchemists and justified their search for the philosopher's stone.In spite of his leanings toward mysticism (he was considered a Sufi) and superstition, he more clearly recognised and proclaimed the importance of experimentation.
"The first essential in chemistry", he declared, "is that you should perform practical work and conduct experiments, for he who performs not practical work nor makes experiments will never attain the least degree of mastery."Jabir is also credited with the invention and development of several chemical instruments that are still used today, such as the alembic, which made distillation easy, safe, and efficient.
Distillation Process
By distilling various salts together with sulfuric acid, Jabir discovered hydrochloric acid (from salt) and nitric acid (from saltpeter). By combining the two, he invented aqua regia, one of the few substances that can dissolve gold. Besides its obvious applications to gold extraction and purification, this discovery would fuel the dreams and despair of alchemists for the next thousand years. He is also credited with the discovery of citric acid (the sour component of lemons and other unripe fruits), acetic acid (from vinegar), and tartaric acid (from wine-making residues).
Jabir applied his chemical knowledge to the improvement of many manufacturing processes, such as making steel and other metals, preventing rust, engraving gold, dyeing and waterproofing cloth, tanning leather, and the chemical analysis of pigments and other substances. He developed the use of manganese dioxide in glassmaking, to counteract the green tinge produced by iron - a process that is still used today. He noted that boiling wine released a flammable vapor, thus paving the way to Al-Razi's discovery of ethanol.
The seeds of the modern classification of elements into metals and non-metals could be seen in his chemical nomenclature. He proposed three categories: "spirits" which vaporise on heating, like camphor, arsenic, and ammonium chloride; "metals", like gold, silver, lead, copper, and iron; and "stones" that can be converted into powders.In the Middle Ages, Jabir's treatises on chemistry were translated into Latin and became standard texts for European alchemists.
These include the Kitab al-Kimya (titled Book of the Composition of Alchemy in Europe), translated by Robert of Chester (1144); and the Kitab al-Sab'een by Gerard of Cremona (before 1187). Marcelin Berthelot translated some of his books under the fanciful titles Book of the Kingdom, Book of the Balances, and Book of Eastern Mercury.
Several technical terms introduced by Jabir, such as alkali, have found their way into various European languages and have become part of scientific vocabulary.
Contributions to alchemy
Jabir became an alchemist at the court of Caliph Harun al-Rashid, for whom he wrote the Kitab al-Zuhra ("The Book of Venus", on "the noble art of alchemy").
Jabir's alchemical investigations revolved around the ultimate goal of takwin - the artificial creation of life. Alchemy had a long relationship with Shi'ite mysticism; according to the first Imam, Ali ibn Abi Talib, "alchemy is the sister of prophecy".
Jabir's interest in alchemy was probably inspired by his teacher Ja'far al-Sadiq, and he was himself called "the Sufi", indicating that he followed the ascetic form of mysticism within Islam.In his writings, Jabir pays tribute to Egyptian and Greek alchemists Hermes Trismegistus, Agathodaimon, Pythagoras, and Socrates.
He emphasises the long history of alchemy, "whose origin is Arius ... the first man who applied the first experiment on the [philosopher's] stone... and he declares that man possesses the ability to imitate the workings of Nature" (Nasr, Seyyed Hossein, Science and Civilization of Islam).
Jabir states in his Book of Stones (4:12) that "The purpose is to baffle and lead into error everyone except those whom God loves and provides for". His works seem to have been deliberately written in highly esoteric code, so that only those who had been initiated into his alchemical school could understand them. It is therefore difficult at best for the modern reader to discern which aspects of Jabir's work are to be read as symbols (and what those symbols mean), and what is to be taken literally. Because his works rarely made overt sense, the term gibberish is believed to have originally referred to his writings (Hauck, p. 19).
Jabir's alchemical investigations were theoretically grounded in an elaborate numerology related to Pythagorean and Neoplatonic systems. The nature and properties of elements was defined through numeric values assigned the Arabic consonants present in their name, ultimately culminating in the number 17.
To Aristotelian physics, Jabir added the four properties of hotness, coldness, dryness, and moistness (Burkhardt, p. 29). Each Aristotelian element was characterised by these qualities: Fire was both hot and dry, earth cold and dry, water cold and moist, and air hot and moist. This came from the elementary qualities which are theoretical in nature plus substance. In metals two of these qualities were interior and two were exterior. For example, lead was cold and dry and gold was hot and moist.
Thus, Jabir theorised, by rearranging the qualities of one metal, based on their sulfur/mercury content, a different metal would result. (Burckhardt, p. 29) This theory appears to have originated the search for al-iksir, the elusive elixir that would make this transformation possible - which in European alchemy became known as the philosopher's stone.
Jabir also made important contributions to medicine, astronomy, and other sciences. Only a few of his books have been edited and published, and fewer still are available in translation. The Geber crater, located on the Moon, is named after him.
Writings by Jabir
The writings of Jabir Ibn Hayyan can be divided into four categories:
[864-930 AD]
Abu Bakr Mohammad Ibn Zakariya al-Razi, known as Al-Razi, as Ar-Razi, as Ibn Zakaria ( Zakariya ) or (in Latin) as Rhazes and Rasis , (8641-930 AD) was an Iranian polymath who contributed much to the fields of medicine and chemistry.
He was also significant in the field of philosophy.
He was born in Rayy (Rages) (actually, in Persian language Razi means from the city of Ray), an ancient city located near Tehran, Iran, and pursued a great amount of his research there. Note that Avicenna also lived in Ray for a period of time.
Razi was placed in-charge of the first Royal Hospital at Ray, from where he soon moved to a similar position in Baghdad where he remained the head of its famous Muqtadari Hospital and observed clinical cases. Today his name is commemorated in the Razi Institute near Tehran.
Razi was a Hakim, an alchemist and a philosopher. Before becoming a physician Razi was interested in music, he was well versed in the musical theory and is said to have been an exceptional performer.
He is considered one of the greatest alchemist of all time and his work remained in use for over 10 centuries. Inter alia he discovered alcohol, the use of alcohol in medicine, and he also discovered Sulfuric acid. Many also claim that he was the first to say that the world is round, but this was known much earlier, e.g. see Ptolemy.
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Razi wrote 184 books and articles, in several fields of science. His books and articles are named by Ibn Abi Asi'boed.
Ibn an-Nadim identifies five areas in which Razi distinguished himself:
1. Razi was recognized as the best physician of his time who had fully absorbed Greek medical learning.
2. He traveled in many lands. His repeated visits to Baghdad and his services to many princes and rulers are known from many sources.
3. He was a medical educator who attracted many students, both beginners and advanced.
4. He was compassionate, kind, upright, and devoted to the service of his patients whether rich or poor.
5. He was a prolific reader and writer and authored many books.
Avicenna, aka Abu Ali al-Husain ibn Abdallah ibn Sina, was a Persian physician, philosopher, and scientist who was born in 980 in Kharmaithen near Bukhara, now in Uzbekistan (then Persia), and died June 1037 in Hamadan, Persia (Iran).
He was the author of 450 books on a wide range of subjects. Many of these concentrated on philosophy and medicine. He is considered by many to be "the father of modern medicine."
George Sarton called Ibn Sina "the most famous scientist of Islam and one of the most famous of all races, places, and times." His most famous works are The Book of Healing and The Canon of Medicine, also known as the Qanun (full title: al-qanun fil-tibb ).
Early years
His life is known to us from authoritative sources. An autobiography covers his first thirty years, and the rest are documented by his disciple al-Juzajani, who was also his secretary and his friend.
He was born in 370 (AH) / 980 (AD) in Afshana, his mother's home, a small city now part of Uzbekistan (then part of Persia) and his Father from Balkh now part of Afghanistan (then also Persia). His native language was Persian.
His father, an official of the Samanid administration, had him very carefully educated at Bukhara. Although traditionally influenced by the Ismaili branch of Islam, his independent thought was served by an extraordinary intelligence and memory, which allowed him to overtake his teachers at the age of fourteen.
Ibn Sina was put under the charge of a tutor, and his precocity soon made him the marvel of his neighbours; he displayed exceptional intellectual behavior and was a Child prodigy who had memorized the Koran by the age of 10 and a great deal of Persian poetry as well.
From a greengrocer he learned arithmetic, and he began to learn more from a wandering scholar who gained a livelihood by curing the sick and teaching the young.
However he was greatly troubled by metaphysical problems and in particular the works of Aristotle. So, for the next year and a half, he also studied philosophy, in which he encountered greater obstacles. In such moments of baffled inquiry, he would leave his books, perform the requisite ablutions, then go to the mosque, and continue in prayer till light broke on his difficulties.
Deep into the night he would continue his studies, stimulating his senses by occasional cups of goat's milk, and even in his dreams problems would pursue him and work out their solution.
Forty times, it is said, he read through the Metaphysics of Aristotle, till the words were imprinted on his memory; but their meaning was hopelessly obscure, until one day they found illumination, from the little commentary by Farabi, which he bought at a bookstall for the small sum of three dirhems.
So great was his joy at the discovery, thus made by help of a work from which he had expected only mystery, that he hastened to return thanks to God, and bestowed alms upon the poor.
He turned to medicine at 16, and not only learned medical theory, but by gratuitous attendance on the sick had, according to his own account, discovered new methods of treatment.
The teenager achieved full status as a physician at age 18 and found that "Medicine is no hard and thorny science, like mathematics and metaphysics, so I soon made great progress; I became an excellent doctor and began to treat patients, using approved remedies."
The youthful physician's fame spread quickly, and he treated many patients without asking for payment.His first appointment was that of physician to the emir, who owed him his recovery from a dangerous illness (997).
Ibn Sina's chief reward for this service was access to the royal library of the Samanids, well-known patrons of scholarship and scholars. When the library was destroyed by fire not long after, the enemies of Ibn Sina accused him of burning it, in order for ever to conceal the sources of his knowledge.
Meanwhile, he assisted his father in his financial labours, but still found time to write some of his earliest works.
When Ibn Sina was 22 years old, he lost his father. The Samanid dynasty came to its end in December 1004.
Ibn Sina seems to have declined the offers of Mahmud of Ghazni, and proceeded westwards to Urgench in the modern Uzbekistan, where the vizier, regarded as a friend of scholars, gave him a small monthly stipend. The pay was small, however, so Ibn Sina wandered from place to place through the districts of Nishapur and Merv to the borders of Khorasan, seeking an opening for his talents.
Shams al-Ma'ali Qabtis, the generous ruler of Dailam, himself a poet and a scholar, with whom Ibn Sina had expected to find an asylum, was about that date (1052) starved to death by his troops who had revolted.
Ibn Sina himself was at this season stricken down by a severe illness. Finally, at Gorgan, near the Caspian Sea, Ibn Sina met with a friend, who bought a dwelling near his own house in which Ibn Sina lectured on logic and astronomy.
Several of Ibn Sina's treatises were written for this patron; and the commencement of his Canon of Medicine also dates from his stay in Hyrcania.
Ibn Sina subsequently settled at Rai, in the vicinity of modern Tehran, (present day capital of Iran), the home town of Rhazes; where Majd Addaula, a son of the last emir, was nominal ruler under the regency of his mother (Seyyedeh Khatun).
At Rai about thirty of Ibn Sina's shorter works are said to have been composed. Constant feuds which raged between the regent and her second son, Amir Shamsud-Dawala, however, compelled the scholar to quit the place.
After a brief sojourn at Qazvin he passed southwards to Hamadan, where the emir had established himself. At first, Ibn Sina entered into the service of a high-born lady; but the emir, hearing of his arrival, called him in as medical attendant, and sent him back with presents to his dwelling.
Ibn Sina was even raised to the office of vizier. The emir consented that he should be banished from the country. Ibn Sina, however, remained hidden for forty days in a sheikh's house, till a fresh attack of illness induced the emir to restore him to his post. Even during this perturbed time, Ibn Sina persevered with his studies and teaching.
Every evening, extracts from his great works, the Canon and the Sanatio, were dictated and explained to his pupils; among whom, when the lesson was over, he spent the rest of the night in festive enjoyment with a band of singers and players.
On the death of the amir, Ibn Sina ceased to be vizier and hid himself in the house of an apothecary, where, with intense assiduity, he continued the composition of his works.
Meanwhile, he had written to Abu Ya'far, the prefect of the dynamic city of Isfahan, offering his services.
The new emir of Hamadan, hearing of this correspondence and discovering where Ibn Sina's was hidden, incarcerated him in a fortress. War meanwhile continued between the rulers of Isfahan and Hamadan; in 1024 the former captured Hamadan and its towns, expelling the Turkish mercenaries.
When the storm had passed, Ibn Sina returned with the emir to Hamadan, and carried on his literary labors. Later, however, accompanied by his brother, a favourite pupil, and two slaves, Ibn Sina escaped out of the city in the dress of a Sufite ascetic.
After a perilous journey, they reached Isfahan, receiving an honorable welcome from the prince. Avicenna also introduced medical herbs.
Late life
The remaining ten or twelve years of Avicenna's life were spent in the service of Abu Ya'far 'Ala Addaula, whom he accompanied as physician and general literary and scientific adviser, even in his numerous campaigns.
During these years he began to study literary matters and philology, instigated, it is asserted, by criticisms on his style. But amid his restless study Ibn Sina never forgot his love of enjoyment. Unusual bodily vigour enabled him to combine severe devotion to work with facile indulgence in sensual pleasures.
Versatile, lighthearted, boastful and pleasure-loving, he contrasts with the nobler and more intellectual character of Averroes.
His bouts of pleasure gradually weakened his constitution; a severe colic, which seized him on the march of the army against Hamadan, was checked by remedies so violent that Ibn Sina could scarcely stand.
On a similar occasion the disease returned; with difficulty he reached Hamadan, where, finding the disease gaining ground, he refused to keep up the regimen imposed, and resigned himself to his fate.His friends advised him to slow down and take life moderately.
He refused, however, stating that: "I prefer a short life with width to a narrow one with length".
On his deathbed remorse seized him; he bestowed his goods on the poor, restored unjust gains, freed his slaves, and every third day till his death listened to the reading of the Qur'an. He died in June 1037, in his fifty-eighth year, and was buried in Hamedan, Persia.
Works
Ibn Sina is comparable to such greats as Abu Bakr Mohammad Ibn Zakariya al-Razi. However, despite such glorious tributes to his work, Ibn Sina is rarely remembered in the West today and his fundamental contributions to medicine and the European reawakening go largely unrecognised.Ibn Sina is usually considered as a great philosopher and physician.
His philosophical disciple is not a live school in western philosophy today. Unfortunately, the West only pays attention to some portion of his philosophy, which is known as the Latin Avicennaian School, and his other significant philosophical contribution, which had been hailed by Suhrawardi, is still unknown to West.
This notable part is called hikmat-al-mashriqqiyya by him. In some of his writings, he mentions this to his disciples as his major achievement. Heavily influenced by Ibn Sina, Suhrawardi made philosophical contributions which have developed much from Ibn Sina's work, later founding illuminationist philosophy and believing to have finished what Ibn Sina began.
Ibn Sina also wrote extensively on the subjects of philosophy, logic, ethics, metaphysics and other disciplines. Some of his works were written in Arabic - which was the de facto scientific language of that time, and some were written in the Persian language. Of linguistic significance even to this day are a few books that he wrote in nearly pure Persian language.
Unlike Aquinas who more or less sanctified Aristotle as church dogma, Ibn Sina corrected him often, encouraging a lively debate in the spirit of ijtihad. Accordingly he is one of the earliest pioneers of the scientific process of peer review as we know it today, his influence on that process being profound at least, and perhaps even decisive.
About 100 treatises were ascribed to Ibn Sina. Some of them are tracts of a few pages, others are works extending through several volumes.
The best-known amongst them, and that to which Ibn Sina owed his European reputation, is his 14-volume The Canon of Medicine, which was a standard medical text in Western Europe for seven centuries. It classifies and describes diseases, and outlines their assumed causes.
Hygiene, simple and complex medicines, and functions of parts of the body are also covered. It asserts that tuberculosis was contagious, which was later disputed by Europeans, but turned out to be true. It also describes the symptoms and complications of diabetes.
An Arabic edition of the Canons appeared at Rome in 1593, and a Hebrew version at Naples in 1491. Of the Latin version there were about thirty editions, founded on the original translation by Gerard of Cremona.
The 15th century has the honor of composing the great commentary on the text of the Canon, grouping around it all that theory had imagined, and all that practice had observed. Other medical works translated into Latin are the Medicamenta Cordialia, Canticum de Medicina, and the Tractatus de Syrupo Acetoso.
It was mainly accident which determined that from the 12th to the 17th century Ibn Sina should be the guide of medical study in European universities, and eclipse the names of Rhazes, Ali ibn al-Abbas and Averroes.
His work is not essentially different from that of his predecessor Rhazes, because he presented the doctrine of Galen, and through Galen the doctrine of Hippocrates, modified by the system of Aristotle. But the Canon of Avicenna is distinguished from the Al-Hawi (Continens) or Summary of Rhazes by its greater method, due perhaps to the logical studies of the former.
The work has been variously appreciated in subsequent ages, some regarding it as a treasury of wisdom, and others, like Averroes, holding it useful only as waste paper. In modern times it has been more criticized than read.
The vice of the book is excessive classification of bodily faculties, and over-subtlety in the discrimination of diseases.
It includes five books; of which the first and second treat of physiology, pathology and hygiene, the third and fourth deal with the methods of treating disease, and the fifth describes the composition and preparation of remedies.
This last part contains some personal observations. He is, like all his countrymen, ample in the enumeration of symptoms, and is said to be inferior to Ali in practical medicine and surgery. He introduced into medical theory the four causes of the Peripatetic system.
Of natural history and botany he pretended to no special knowledge.
Up to the year 1650, or thereabouts, the Canon was still used as a textbook in the universities of Leuven and Montpellier.
Scarcely any member of the Arabian circle of the sciences, including theology, philology, mathematics, astronomy, physics, and music, was left untouched by the treatises of Ibn Sina, many of which probably varied little, except in being commissioned by a different patron and having a different form or extent.
He wrote at least one treatise on alchemy, but several others have been falsely attributed to him. His book on animals was translated by Michael Scot. His Logic, Metaphysics, Physics, and De Caelo, are treatises giving a synoptic view of Aristotelian doctrine.
The Logic and Metaphysics have been printed more than once, the latter, e.g., at Venice in 1493, 1495, and 1546. Some of his shorter essays on medicine, logic, &c., take a poetical form (the poem on logic was published by Schmoelders in 1836).
Two encyclopaedic treatises, dealing with philosophy, are often mentioned. The larger, Al-Shifa' (Sanatio), exists nearly complete in manuscript in the Bodleian Library and elsewhere; part of it on the De Anima appeared at Pavia (1490) as the Liber Sextus Naturalium, and the long account of Ibn Sina's philosophy given by Shahrastani seems to be mainly an analysis, and in many places a reproduction, of the Al-Shifa'.
A shorter form of the work is known as the An-najat (Liberatio). The Latin editions of part of these works have been modified by the corrections which the monastic editors confess that they applied. There is also a Philosophia Orientalis, mentioned by Roger Bacon, and now lost, which according to Averroes was pantheistic in tone.
In the museum at Bukhara, there are displays showing many of his writings, surgical instruments from the period and paintings of patients undergoing treatment.
In Iran, he is considered a national icon, and is often regarded as one of the greatest Persians to have ever lived. Many of his portraits and statues remain in Iran today.
An impressive monument to the life and works of the man who is known as the 'doctor of doctors' still stands outside the Bukhara museum and his portrait hangs in the Hall of the Faculty of Medicine in the University of Paris.
Ibn Sina was interested in the effect of the mind on the body, and wrote a great deal on psychology, likely influencing Ibn Tufayl and Ibn Bajjah.
Along with Rhazes, Ibn Nafis, Al-Zahra and Al-Ibadi, he is considered an important compiler of Early Muslim medicine.
There is a crater on the moon called Avicenna which was named after him.
Plato is probably one of the greatest philosophers of all times, if not the greatest.
Plato was born to an aristocratic family in Athens. His father, Ariston, was believed to have descended from the early kings of Athens. Perictione, his mother, was distantly related to the 6th-century B.C. lawmaker Solon.
When Plato was a child, his father died, and his mother married Pyrilampes, who was an associate of the statesman Pericles.
Plato's original name was Aristocles, but in his school days he received the nickname Platon (meaning "broad" ) because of his broad shoulders.
It was mostly in Pyrilampes' house that Plato was brought up. Aristotle writes that when Plato was a young man he studied under Cratylus who was a student of Heracleitus, famed for his cosmology which is based on fire being the basic material of the universe. It almost certain that Plato became friends with Socrates when he was young, for Plato's mother's brother Charmides was a close friend of Socrates.
The Peloponnesian War was fought between Athens and Sparta between 431 BC and 404 BC.
Plato was in military service from 409 BC to 404 BC but at this time he wanted a political career rather than a military one. At the end of the war he joined the oligarchy of the Thirty Tyrants in Athens set up in 404 BC, one of whose leaders being his mother's brother Charmides, but their violent acts meant that Plato quickly left.
In 403 BC there was a restoration of democracy at Athens and Plato had great hopes that he would be able to enter politics again. However, the excesses of Athenian political life seem to have persuaded him to give up political ambitions.
In particular, the execution of Socrates in 399 BC had a profound effect on him and he decided that he would have nothing further to do with politics in Athens.
Plato left Athens after Socrates had been executed and traveled in Egypt, Sicily and Italy. In Egypt he learned of a water clock and later introduced it into Greece. In Italy he learned of the work of Pythagoras and came to appreciate the value of mathematics. He studied with the disciples of Pythagoras.
Again there was a period of war and again Plato entered military service. It was claimed by later writers on Plato's life that he was decorated for bravery in battle during this period of his life. It is also thought that he began to write his dialogues at this time.
On his return to Athens Plato founded, in about 387 BC, on land which had belonged to Academos, a school of learning which being situated in the grove of Academos was called the Academy.
On his journeys he decided to devote the rest of his life to philosophy.
In 389 B.C. he founded a school in Athens. Because it was on the grounds that had once belonged to a legendary Greek called A cademus, it came to be called the Academy, and this term has been d for schools ever since. The institution often described as the first European university.
The Academy provided a comprehensive curriculum, including such subjects as astronomy, biology, mathematics, political theory, and philosophy.
The main purpose of the Academy was to cultivate thought to lead to a restoration of decent government in the cities of Greece.
Only two further episodes in Plato's life are recorded. He went to Syracuse in 367 BC following the death of Dionysius I who had ruled the city. Dion, the brother-in-law of Dionysius I, persuaded Plato to come to Syracuse to tutor Dionysius II, the new ruler. Plato did not expect the plan to succeed but because both Dion and Archytas of Tarentum believed in the plan then Plato agreed. Their plan was that if Dionysius II was trained in science and philosophy he would be able to prevent Carthage invading Sicily. However, Dionysius II was jealous of Dion who he forced out of Syracuse and the plan, as Plato had expected, fell apart.
Plato returned to Athens, but visited Syracuse again in 361 BC hoping to be able to bring the rivals together. He remained in Syracuse for part of 360 BC but did not achieve a political solution to the rivalry. Dion attacked Syracuse in a coup in 357, gained control, but was murdered in 354.
Like Socrates, Plato was chiefly interested in moral philosophy and despised natural philosophy (that is, science) as an inferior and unworthy sort of knowledge.
To Plato, knowledge had no practical use, it existed for the abstract good of the soul.
At the heart of Plato's philosophy is his theory of Forms, or Ideas. Ultimately, his view of knowledge, his ethical theory, his psychology, his concept of the state, and his perspective on art must be understood in terms of this theory.
THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE
Plato's theory of Forms and his theory of knowledge are so interrelated that they must be discussed together. Influenced by Socrates, Plato was convinced that knowledge is attainable. He was also convinced of two essential characteristics of knowledge.
First, knowledge must be certain and infallible. Second, knowledge must have as its object that which is genuinely real as contrasted with that which is an appearance only. Because that which is fully real must, for Plato, be fixed, permanent, and unchanging, he identified the real with the ideal realm of being as opposed to the physical world of becoming. One consequence of this view was Plato's rejection of empiricism, the claim that knowledge is derived from sense experience. He thought that propositions derived from sense experience have, at most, a degree of probability. They are not certain.
Furthermore, the objects of sense experience are changeable phenomena of the physical world. Hence, objects of sense experience are not proper objects of knowledge.
Plato's own theory of knowledge is found in the Republic, particularly in his discussion of the image of the divided line and the myth of the cave. In the former, Plato distinguishes between two levels of awareness: opinion and knowledge. Claims or assertions about the physical or visible world, including both commonsense observations and the propositions of science, are opinions only. Some of these opinions are well founded; some are not; but none of them counts as genuine knowledge. The higher level of awareness is knowledge, because there reason, rather than sense experience, is involved.
Reason, properly used, results in intellectual insights that are certain, and the objects of these rational insights are the abiding universals, the eternal Forms or substances that constitute the real world.
THE MYTH OF THE CAVE
The myth of the cave describes individuals chained deep within the recesses of a cave. Bound so that vision is restricted, they cannot see one another. The only thing visible is the wall of the cave upon which appear shadows cast by models or statues of animals and objects that are passed before a brightly burning fire.
Breaking free, one of the individuals escapes from the cave into the light of day.
With the aid of the sun, that person sees for the first time the real world and returns to the cave with the message that the only things they have seen heretofore are shadows and appearances and that the real world awaits them if they are willing to struggle free of their bonds.
The shadowy environment of the cave symbolizes for Plato the physical world of appearances. Escape into the sun-filled setting outside the cave symbolizes the transition to the real world, the world of full and perfect being, the world of Forms, which is the proper object of knowledge.
The theory of Forms may best be understood in terms of mathematical entities. A circle, for instance, is defined as a plane figure composed of a series of points, all of which are equidistant from a given point. No one has ever actually seen such a figure, however.
What people have actually seen are drawn figures that are more or less close approximations of the ideal circle. In fact, when mathematicians define a circle, the points referred to are not spatial points at all; they are logical points. They do not occupy space.
Nevertheless, although the Form of a circle has never been seen-indeed, could never be seen-mathematicians and others do in fact know what a circle is. That they can define a circle is evidence that they know what it is.
For Plato, therefore, the Form "circularity" exists, but not in the physical world of space and time.
It exists as a changeless object in the world of Forms or Ideas, which can be known only by reason.
Forms have greater reality than objects in the physical world both because of their perfection and stability and because they are models, resemblance to which gives ordinary physical objects whatever reality they have.
Circularity, squareness, and triangularity are excellent examples, then, of what Plato meant by Forms. An object existing in the physical world may be called a circle or a square or a triangle only to the extent that it resembles - "participates in" is Plato's phrase - the Form "circularity" or "squareness" or "triangularity."
Plato extended his theory beyond the realm of mathematics. Indeed, he was most interested in its application in the field of social ethics. The theory was his way of explaining how the same universal term can refer to so many particular things or events.
The word justice, for example, can be applied to hundreds of particular acts because these acts have something in common, namely, their resemblance to, or participation in, the Form "justice."
An individual is human to the extent that he or she resembles or participates in the Form "humanness." If "humanness" is defined in terms of being a rational animal, then an individual is human to the extent that he or she is rational.
A particular act is courageous or cowardly to the extent that it participates in its Form.
An object is beautiful to the extent that it participates in the Idea, or Form, of beauty.
Everything in the world of space and time is what it is by virtue of its resemblance to, or participation in, its universal Form. The ability to define the universal term is evidence that one has grasped the Form to which that universal refers.
Plato conceived the Forms as arranged hierarchically; the supreme Form is the Form of the Good, which, like the sun in the myth of the cave, illuminates all the other Ideas.
There is a sense in which the Form of the Good represents Plato's movement in the direction of an ultimate principle of explanation. The Good is perfect and desired by all who know it. In the Philebus he wonders, Is it pleasure or knowledge?
He shows that pleasure cannot be the Good; pleasures are often accompanied by false opinions, and great pleasures and pains occur in bad states of body or soul.
Knowledge is not perfect either, because some arts are more exact than others.
The Good can be neither knowledge nor pleasure alone, but a mixture of the best parts of both, which include the sciences and those pleasures that are pure and necessary. The best parts of this mixture are beauty, symmetry, and truth, which are all closer to knowledge than pleasure.
He finally gives the order of value as measure, beauty, mind, science, and pure pleasure.
Plato had an essentially antagonistic view of art and the artist, although he approved of certain religious and moralistic kinds of art.
His approach is related to his theory of Forms. A beautiful flower, for example, is a copy or imitation of the universal Forms "flowerness" and "beauty."
The physical flower is one step removed from reality, that is, the Forms.
A picture of the flower is, therefore, two steps removed from reality.
This also meant that the artist is two steps removed from knowledge, and, indeed, Plato's frequent criticism of the artists is that they lack genuine knowledge of what they are doing.
Artistic creation, Plato observed, seems to be rooted in a kind of inspired madness.
Plato's influence throughout the history of philosophy has been monumental.
When he died, Speusippus became head of the Academy. The school continued in existence until AD 529, when it was closed by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I, who objected to its pagan teachings.
Plato's impact on Jewish thought is apparent in the work of the 1st-century Alexandrian philosopher Philo Judaeus.
Neoplatonism, founded by the 3rd-century philosopher important later development of Platonism.
The theologians Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and St. Augustine were early Christian exponents of a Platonic perspective. Platonic ideas have had a crucial role in the development of Christian theology and also in medieval Islamic thought.
Nature of Forms:
The theory of Forms may best be understood in terms of mathematical entities.
A circle, for instance, is defined as a plane figure composed of a series of points, all of which are equidistant from a given point.
No one has ever actually seen such a figure, however.
What people have actually seen are drawn figures that are more or less close approximations of the ideal circle. In fact, when mathematicians define a circle, the points referred to are not spatial points at all; they are logical points.
They do not occupy space. Nevertheless, although the Form of a circle has never been seen-indeed, could never be seen-mathematicians and others do in fact know what a circle is.
That they can define a circle is evidence that they know what it is. For Plato, therefore, the Form "circularity" exists, but not in the physical world of space and time. It exists as a changeless object in the world of Forms or Ideas, which can be known only by reason. Forms have greater reality than objects in the physical world both because of their perfection and stability and because they are models, resemblance to which gives ordinary physical objects whatever reality they have. Circularity, squareness, and triangularity are excellent examples, then, of what Plato meant by Forms.
An object existing in the physical world may be called a circle or a square or a triangle only to the extent that it resembles ("participates in" is Plato's phrase) the Form "circularity" or "squareness" or "triangularity."
Plato extended his theory beyond the realm of mathematics. Indeed, he was most interested in its application in the field of social ethics.
The theory was his way of explaining how the same universal term can refer to so many particular things or events. The word justice, for example, can be applied to hundreds of particular acts because these acts have something in common, namely, their resemblance to, or participation in, the Form "justice."
An individual is human to the extent that he or she resembles or participates in the Form "humanness." If "humanness" is defined in terms of being a rational animal, then an individual is human to the extent that he or she is rational. A particular act is courageous or cowardly to the extent that it participates in its Form.
An object is beautiful to the extent that it participates in the Idea, or Form, of beauty. Everything in the world of space and time is what it is by virtue of its resemblance to, or participation in, its universal Form. The ability to define the universal term is evidence that one has grasped the Form to which that universal refers.
Plato conceived the Forms as arranged hierarchically; the supreme Form is the Form of the Good, which, like the sun in the myth of the cave, illuminates all the other Ideas. There is a sense in which the Form of the Good represents Plato's movement in the direction of an ultimate principle of explanation. Ultimately, the theory of Forms is intended to explain how one comes to know and also how things have come to be as they are. In philosophical language, Plato's theory of Forms is both an epistemological (theory of knowledge) and an ontological (theory of being) thesis.
MATHEMATICS
Plato was fond of mathematics because of its idealized abstractions and its separation from the merely material.
Nowadays, the purest mathematics manages to be applied, sooner or later, to practical matters of science. In Plato's day this was not so, and the mathematician could well consider himself as dealing only with the loftiest form of pure thought and as having nothing to do with the gross and imperfect everyday world.
And so above the doorway to the Academy was written, "Let no one ignorant of mathematics enter here."
Plato did, however, believe that mathematics in its ideal form could still be applied to the heavens.
The heavenly bodies, he believed, exhibited perfect geometric form. This he expresses most clearly in a dialogue called Timaeus in which he presents his scheme of the universe.
He describes the five (and only five) possible regular solids -- that is, those with equivalent faces and with all lines and angles, formed by those faces, equal.
These are the four-sided tetrahedron, the six-sided hexahed ron (or cube), the eight-sided octahedron, the twelve-sided dodecahedron, and the twenty-sided icosahedron.
Four of the five regular solids, according to Plato, represented the four elements, while the dodecahedron represented the universe as a whole.
These solids were first discovered by the Pythagoreans, but the fame of this dialogue has led to their being called the Platonic solids ever since.
Plato decided also that since the heavens were perfect, the various heavenly bodies would have to move in exact circles (the perfect curve) along with the crystalline spheres (the perfect solid) that held them in place.
The spheres were another Pythagorean notion, and the Pythagorean preoccupation with sound also shows itself in Philolaus belief that the spheres of the various planets made celestial music as they turned -- a belief that persisted even in the time of Kepler two thou sand years later.
We still use the phrase "the music of the spheres" to epitomize heavenly sounds or the stark beauty of outer space.
This insistence that the heavens must reflect the perfection of abstract mathematics in its simplest form held absolute sway over astronomical thought until Kepler's time, even though compromises with reality had to be made constantly, beginning shortly after Plato's death with Eudoxus and Callippus.
On Science
Plato's principal work touching on scientific questions, the Timaeus, bluntly states that this world "in very truth [is] a living creature with soul and reason."
To this viewpoint Plato accords an unconditional primacy even in matters of detail.
Thus when he discusses the working of the human eye, he deplores the fact that "the great mass of mankind regard [the geometrical and mechanical aspects of the question] as the sole causes of all things."
Against this he opposes the classification of causes into two groups: the accessory or mechanical causes that are "incapable of any plan or intelligence for any purpose," and those that "work with intelligence to produce what is good and desirable." The reaffirmation of the Socratic or organismic approach in science could hardly be more unequivocal.
Such an emphasis on the concept of organism as the basic framework in which the cosmos is to be explained derived only in part from factors like the emergence in the fifth century of the Hippocratic medical theory and practice.
The principal factor was a deeper and more universal one. It was rooted in the Greek nature as such and was given unchallenged prominence when cultural developments forced the Greek mind to reflect on the consequences of a mechanistic explanation of the inanimate and animate world including man both as an individual and as a member of society.
The "Greekness" of the organismic approach can be seen in the fact that they first applied the term cosmos to a patently living thing - a well-ordered society - and only afterward to the orderliness of the physical world.
Rooted deeply in their personal, cultural inclinations, this organismic approach to reality, once it became the conscious possession of the Greeks, had never been seriously questioned or abandoned by them. Single views of the Ionians and atomists continued, of course, to play seminal roles in Greek science.
What is more, once the cultural crisis evidenced by the activity of the Sophists was over, even the poets began to take more kindly to the physikoi, who for a while were the principal targets of plays concerned with the source of various cultural evils.
At any rate, the Ionians ceased to be called in literary circles, as Plato remarks, "she dogs uttering vain howlings and talking other nonsense of the same sort."
This was, however, merely a concession that could easily be meted out by those who won the cultural battle.
For as Plato could confidently state in the same context, the authority of the mechanical views had been checked, or to paraphrase his words, the case was reversed in favor of the organismic viewpoint.
PLATO'S REPUBLIC
The Republic, Plato's major political work, is concerned with the question of justice and therefore with the questions "what is a just state" and "who is a just individual?"
The ideal state, according to Plato, is composed of three classes. The economic structure of the state is maintained by the merchant class. Security needs are met by the military class, and political leadership is provided by the philosopher-kings. A particular person's class is determined by an educational process that begins at birth and proceeds until that person has reached the maximum level of education compatible with interest and ability. Those who complete the entire educational process become philosopher-kings. They are the ones whose minds have been so developed that they are able to grasp the Forms and, therefore, to make the wisest decisions. Indeed, Plato's ideal educational system is primarily structured so as to produce philosopher-kings.
Plato associates the traditional Greek virtues with the class structure of the ideal state. Temperance is the unique virtue of the artisan class; courage is the virtue peculiar to the military class; and wisdom characterizes the rulers. Justice, the fourth virtue, characterizes society as a whole. The just state is one in which each class performs its own function well without infringing on the activities of the other classes.
Plato divides the human soul into three parts: the rational part, the will, and the appetites. The just person is the one in whom the rational element, supported by the will, controls the appetites. An obvious analogy exists here with the threefold class structure of the state, in which the enlightened philosopher-kings, supported by the soldiers, govern the rest of society.
ETHICS
Plato's ethical theory rests on the assumption that virtue is knowledge and can be taught, which has to be understood in terms of his theory of Forms. As indicated previously, the ultimate Form for Plato is the Form of the Good, and knowledge of this Form is the source of guidance in moral decision making. Plato also argued that to know the good is to do the good. The corollary of this is that anyone who behaves immorally does so out of ignorance. This conclusion follows from Plato's conviction that the moral person is the truly happy person, and because individuals always desire their own happiness, they always desire to do that which is moral.
ART
Plato had an essentially antagonistic view of art and the artist, although he approved of certain religious and moralistic kinds of art. Again, his approach is related to his theory of Forms. A beautiful flower, for example, is a copy or imitation of the universal Forms "flowerness" and "beauty." The physical flower is one step removed from reality, that is, the Forms. A picture of the flower is, therefore, two steps removed from reality. This also meant that the artist is two steps removed from knowledge, and, indeed, Plato's frequent criticism of the artists is that they lack genuine knowledge of what they are doing. Artistic creation, Plato observed, seems to be rooted in a kind of inspired madness.
The concluding years of Plato's life were spent lecturing at the Academy and writing.
At age 60 - the arrival of Aristotle - age 18 - as a student at Plato's Academy, where he will stay until Plato's death in 347.
Plato's influence extended long past his own life and, indeed, never died. The Academy remained a going institution until A.D. 529, when the Eastern Roman Emperor, Justinian, ordered it closed. It was the last stronghold of paganism in a Christian world.
Plato's influence throughout the history of philosophy has been monumental. When he died, Speusippus became head of the Academy.
Aristotle is by now about 38 and leaves the Academy perhaps because he was not chosen - or perhaps he had another destiny.
The school continued in existence until AD529, when it was closed by the Byzantine emperor Justinian I, who objected to its pagan teachings. Plato's impact on Jewish thought is apparent in the work of the 1st-century Alexandrian philosopher Philo Judaeus.
Neoplatonism, founded by the 3rd-century philosopher Plotinus, was an important later development of Platonism. The theologians Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and St. Augustine were early Christian exponents of a Platonic perspective. Platonic ideas have had a crucial role in the development of Christian theology and also in medieval Islamic thought (see Islam).
During the Renaissance, the primary focus of Platonic influence was the Florentine Academy, founded in the 15th century near Florence. Under the leadership of Marsilio Ficino, members of the Academy studied Plato in the original Greek. In England, Platonism was revived in the 17th century by Ralph Cudworth and others who became known as the Cambridge Platonists.
Plato's influence has been extended into the 20th century by such thinkers as Alfred North Whitehead, who once paid him tribute by describing the history of philosophy as simply "a series of footnotes to Plato."
Plato died at about the age of 80 in Athens in 347 BC.
Reference: Encyclopedia Britannica
Olympiodorus was an historical writer (5th century AD), born at Thebes in Egypt, who was sent on a mission to the Huns on the Black Sea by emperor Honorius in 412, and later lived at the court of Theodosius. The record of his diplomatic mission survives in a single epitome:
Donatus and the Huns, and the skillfulness of their kings in shooting with the bow. The author relates that he himself was sent on a mission to them and Donatus, and gives a tragic account of his wanderings and perils by the sea. How Donatus, being deceived by an oath, was unlawfully put to death. How Charaton, the first of the kings, being incensed by the murder, was appeased by presents from the emperor. from Photius' Bibliotheca, tr. J. H. Freese
