Flo's History

  This post will be the final episode of my Hogwarts series. Lacock Abbey and New College were used to shoot Professor Snap's lab in Harry Potter 1 and 2 as well as the courtyard in Harry Potter 3. L acock Abbey, Ela's Masterpiece Located east of the city of Bristol, Lacock Abbey was constructed in 1232 by the third countess of Salisbury, Ela. Her childhood was rather harsh, but we lack details about it compared to her later life. Early in her life, she was smuggled to Normandy by her mother, Eleonore de Vitre. Though the reasons are not very clear, it is likely she did so to protect her daughter from her uncle Philip who was probably trying to get the title of Count of Salisbury from the underaged girl. Family bonds at the time usually meant a lot less when power and money got in the way! The life of Ela Countess of Salisbury ] As good intentions as she had, Ela's mother forgot the crucial detail of the girl being the ward of King Richard I, who was the head of the Angevin...

  Following last week’s post, we continue with the second most prominent location used to stage the wizard school Hogwarts from the Harry Potter series. Appearing in the first three movies of the franchise, this cathedral from the northern part of England was used not only for exterior shots like Alnwick Castle but also for interior shots. Pre-Cathedral This cathedral was built in a city called Durham (obviously), as Bishop Aldhun consecrated the area. Any non-religious person, like me, knows that “consecrating” a place is pretty much declaring it holy ground. This was done to house the remains of Saint Cuthbert from the Danes. Great Britain was still in the process of suffering an existential crisis from the Danelaw and, therefore, became a prime ground for raids. This proved to be somewhat effective, and Wessex would ultimately expel the Danes from Great Britain shortly after anyways. All was well until a certain Norman Conqueror crashed the place and built the originally named D...

  Hogwarts castle is probably one of the most iconic locations in the Harry Potter franchise. And, of course, the movie series didn’t disappoint in capturing the majestic atmosphere of the wizard school. Now, enough with the magical world of wizards! Let’s return to the dull reality where we are all muggles without any supernatural power. Even if it seems like an excellent tool for dealing with daily chores (like Molly Weasley showed us), considering the amount of harm we can do already is enough to make me grateful we don’t have magic. Seriously can you imagine the disaster we would create if we could teleport and shoot fireballs? Returning to today’s post, Hogwarts may be an entirely imaginary place, but it was filmed in real castles. After all, especially in the earlier movies, CGI was nowhere near as widespread as it is now. Alnwick Castle Let’s start with the OG location of our wizard school. Used in the first two movies, the Alnwick Castle gave us a much closer look at Hogwar...

  Some time ago, Disney released a Marvel series based on the character Moon Knight, featuring the anti-hero Egyptian moon god Khonshu. In the series, he is the god of justice, punishing those who committed evil and protecting the "travellers of the light". Now returning to the real world, Khonshu is inspired by a real-life Egyptian god (sure they wouldn't get inspired by a Maori deity!) named Khonsu. Yeah, creativity was on vacation the day Marvel named this character. Just like his Marvel counterpart, he is the god of the moon. Unlike his Marvel counterpart, he has nothing to do with justice and vengeance. Justice was the domain of the goddess  Matt , while vengeance was the domain of the dreaded Sekhmet.  Khonsu, besides representing the moon, also ruled over time and …baboons?  Sometimes mythology is undoubtedly weird. Back to Khonsu himself, in terms of appearance, he is one of the rare Egyptian gods with a human head and is described as relatively young. This i...

  The Babylonian empire had a rather extensive and tumultuous life. Various ethnic groups dominated the empire over its millennial-long history. The Kassite period, today's focus, came relatively early. The Beginning The first dynasty, also known as the old Babylonian Dynasty, has been losing power ever since the death of the legendary ruler Hammurabi. Between internal disputes (like the Sealand Dynasty breaking away from them) and their neighbour in the north, the Hittites, attacking them constantly, times were tough. In this unstable environment, the Kassite people rose to power. The old Babylonians tried to stop them initially, seeing them as a threat to their position. However, they failed and let them slowly take control of the empire. This went to such an extent that, towards the end of the dynasty, it was recorded that the Babylonian army was composed of Kassite people. This may sound like a bad thing, as pretty much nothing stood between the Kassites and a coup to take over...

  After exploring the famed Kelpie, let’s discover a more exotic being for this week. The Akhlut is a monster hailing from the legends of the Inuit’s inhabiting the arctic regions. Like most of the supernatural creatures of the area, the Akhlut is more of a spirit than a creature, only taking physical form when active. The Akhlut is quite a badass spirit. He is generally portrayed as a mix between a wolf and an orca. If you don’t find this awesome, nothing will meet your expectations! However, being the mix of two predators means that this creature is not to be messed with. It is considered extremely dangerous by the Inuit tribes. The spirit is known to be quite ravenous, preying on anything that it can find, but it seems to have a taste for human flesh. The Akhlut would only take physical form when it is hungry, which is about all the time. Most of the time, it would attack isolated fishermen or travellers sleeping close to the seashore. However, it is not unheard of that when the...

Well, after the last three posts being about a historical figure, I think it is time that we return to the supernatural part of cultures. Let’s visit one of the most recognizable monsters of Scottish mythology, which at first glance may not look like it but is very much of the mythical world. Today I present you the Kelpie. Kelpies are shapeshifting monsters, usually resembling a great black or grey horse. They live exclusively in aquatic environments like lakes or rivers and only ever go to the surface to hunt. Be wary of them as Kelpies are expert hunters. They use their appearance to attract unsuspecting victims before dragging any unfortunate individual into the depth of their domain to be devoured. Their body is also extremely adhesive, making approaching one even more dangerous. If you couldn’t tell already, that creature isn’t exactly the friendliest thing to hang around. I mean it will be more than happy to invite you for dinner, except you are the dinner. Kelpies, however, are...

  While Vlad was busy asserting power by UTTER BRUTALITY (seriously, that guy is like a mix between Settra and a Khorne Follower), things outside of Wallachia have been moving. Returning to the Ottoman and Memeth, Vlad had initially promised to pay a yearly tribute not to have the Sultan's army steamroll him. Apparently, in the Wallachian's king language, an annual tribute means paying the first year and never sending anything again. Memeth, being frustrated by this, sent an envoy to see what the hell was going on. This is where the Ottoman sultan would find out how much of a nut job Vlad is. The envoy, barely arriving on Wallachian soil, got captured and was introduced to Vlad's favourite pass time via volunteering. (Read, they got impaled) At war with the Ottoman Immediately after this, Vlad sent his armies on a murder looting spree across the Ottoman territories, in the Balkan. Initially, during his assault, Memeth hadn't expected the Wallachian king to react this ...

  Last week we left off with Vlad slowly building up his power for his eventual reconquest of Walachia. Meanwhile, the Ottoman Empire was on the warpath. Mehmed the second had just finished conquering Constantinople, ending the long decaying Byzantine Empire. John Hunyadi (remember him from the last episode), sensing that Mehmed wasn't the type of person to be satisfied with conquering one city, readied Belgrade's defences. And just as he expected, the Sultan was quick to march on the frontiers gate between the two mighty nations. On the other hand, Vlad was tasked to guard the frontier with Walachia, which he was pretty successful at. As the siege of Belgrade turned sour for both sides, with the Ottoman being repealed with massive causalities and Hunyadi and most of his forces dying of the plague short after, the exiled prince decided that now was the time. Taking back the throne Vlad's forces marched through Walachia and met the usurper's Vladislav forces not far from...

  We already talked about vampires quite a bit on this blog. Dracula himself was already mentioned in the Dearg Due post a while ago. Today, I thought it would be nice for this famous prince of Walachia to receive his own post. Bring on the stakes, the Impaler has arrived. Vlad III Dracula, the son of Vlad II Dracul, prince and then ruler of Walachia, is a pretty controversial figure. Though in his homeland of modern Romania, he is revered as a national hero and one of the defenders of Europe against the Ottoman expansion, in other places he is viewed as a cruel tyrant. And both sides are kind of true. You see, Walachia was at the time, in a difficult position. Stuck between the behemoth Ottoman Empire and the mighty Kingdom of Hungary, the tiny principality was in a fishy position. Try ally with one and the other will steam role through your lands. Both sides would also constantly keep interfering with Walachian politics, overthrowing the current leader to install a puppet one and...

  Buddha, the founder of the Buddhist religion, is one of the most well-known figures in India and Tibet. However, his path to illumination wasn’t an easy journey, with one encounter in particular, which will be today's topic of interest. This being is known as Mara, the demon King of the Sixth Realm. Mara is a recurrent figure in Buddhist texts, being a usual adversary of Prince Siddhartha before he became Buddha. But first, we need to understand where this figure comes from. Unfortunately for us, his origins are incredibly blurry, with no legend covering where this being came from. Regarding inspiration, it is highly debated that its creation might have been inspired by an entity dating back from an even older folklore, now forgotten. It was noted that every culture based in India had its own version of Mara, making him a rather widespread concept. Regarding his various conflicts with Buddha, there is one for which he is truly known for. The demon always had a grudge against the ...

  Japan is a country with one of the richest cultural heritages. Being one of the rare countries in the world that have never been invaded by foreign power has played a major role in this. One aspect of Japanese culture that does tend to be left on the side is castles . Due to the country’s difficult landscape, mountain regions and unstable soil, it made the construction of fortified positions more challenging than on the continent. However, the Japanese found a peculiar way to build their castle. Instead of being high walls surrounding a set of fortifications, Japanese castles are composed of a set of reinforced terraces. The main structure has less of a defensive purpose, relying more on its hard foundations and the layout of the courts around it for protection. But that’s enough talk about castles in general, as we are here today to discuss the most famous of them, the Himeji Castle. It is located in the Town of Himeji (that’s why they share the same name), in the Hyogo prefectu...

  For those who saw the latest Tomb Raider movie, you may remember the fake antagonist, Queen Himiko. Some of you (like me) may have wondered if this character was taken from history or if she was purely fictional. Well, the answer to the first question is yes, kind off. You see, Himiko’s status is hard to pinpoint between the mythical and down to earth. The main issue with this ruler is that everything we know of her doesn’t come from Japanese sources but from Chinese ones, known as the Wei Zhi at the time. Yes, despite being a Japanese ruler, her own country has no record of her existence. I know this may sound a bit strange, leading some to believe she may have been an invention of the Wei Zhi. Himiko ruled over the mysterious nation of Yamatai. Their whereabouts are heavily debated due to a lack of evidence. The two most popular theories were that they were either located in the Nara or Kyushu region. Yamatai, under the rule of Himiko, was exceptionally wealthy and powerful. Th...

  Great Britain was formed of many lesser nations brought (read conquered) together by Wessex, one of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms. However, what about the other six kingdoms that shared the island? Technically speaking, they weren't precisely seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms (also known as Heptarchy) as sub-kingdoms, and political division existed. For the sake of convenience, they are referred to as Mercia, East-Anglia, Essex, Kent, Sussex, and the one that interests us today, Northumbria. Northumbria came into existence around the year 654, when the smaller kingdoms of Bernicia and Deira unified. Both countries were often at odds, most likely over territorial disputes, but were first brought together by Aethelfrith, a king of Bernicia. The details of how he succeeded in unifying them aren't known. However, we do know that around the year 604, he managed to exile the current king of Deira, Edwin, to the court of King Raedwald of Eats-Anglia. This marked the unification of both countrie...

  If Disney movies and other fairy tales taught us one thing, it is that fairies are all nice and good-hearted creatures, right? WRONG! Folklore fairies are anything but innocent candies, and here is an example of one: Leanan Sidhe, which can be compared to a femme fatale. Leanan Sidhe are fairies on the eviller side of the spectrum. They are notorious in Irish Mythology for tormenting artists, writers and other creators. Using their shapeshifting ability, they approach them and transform into their dream partner to seduce them. Once they capture the heart of their chosen lover, the Aos Si (Celtic fairies, specifically the Celtic Briton) gift them with great inspiration and creativity. Faithfull, she will remain with her lover until he dies, being the mortal of the couple. This may sound all nice and romantic until you realize that the man in question got the short end of the stick. You see, the Leanan Sidhe are like that obnoxious girlfriend that can’t stand that you are not think...

  “I meet a traveler from an antique land who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, and wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, tell that its sculptor well those passions read which yet survive, stamped on this lifeless things, the hand that mocked them and the heart that fed: And on the pedestal these words appear: ‘My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings: Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!’ Nothing beside remains. Round the decay of that colossal wreck, boundless and brave the lone and level sand stretch far away.” 'Ozymandias' is a poem written by the English poet Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1818, and it quite popularized the name. However, not many know its true origin. Before being the character of a sonnet, Ozymandias was the title of the most well-known and influential Pharaoh who ever lived. Wh-wait-what? No, not Cleopatra. I'm talking about Ramesses II, the Elect of ...

  Echidna is one of the most important figures in Greek Mythology, and before you ask, she has nothing to do with the cute Monotreme of the same name. Trust me, those adorable little balls of spikes have nothing in common with the snake lady we are going to talk about today. Echidna is one of the most obscure figures in Greek Mythology. It is suspected that she is the daughter of Phorcys, another sea god because yes, the Greeks felt the need to create like three of them, with Poseidon and Pontus holding on the same title. Anyways, Echidna wasn’t exactly pretty to begin with. She had the upper body of a woman and the lower body of a snake. And for those that saw the similarities with Medusa and the 2 other gorgons then congratulations, you know your stuff! Unfortunately, no she is not a gorgon at all. Now that her appearance is covered, you might be wondering why Echidna is so important in Greek Mythology even though she appears in very few, if no fables at all. Well, you see, at o...

  Stonehenge is an icon of the ancient time. The site was built long before mankind invented writing and started building large cities and empires. Of course, this means that we have little evidence to work with to recreate its history. Fortunately enough, the human race was made with unparalleled determination which allowed us to conquer these ancient worlds. Now, back to the world's most famous stone circle. Stonehenge is located in southern England, on the Great Britain island, in the middle of a large plain in the middle of absolutely nowhere. Sitting mid-way from Bristol and Southampton, it’s quite uncommon for something to be in such a remote location on an island; although Great Britain isn’t exactly small. The site in itself contains many structures. The first one is a circular ditch that is approximately dated from as far back as 3000 BC. Surrounding this first structure were uncovered various smaller ditches and pits, and even today we still don’t know for sure their use....

  The Longship is one of the symbols of the Vikings, and unlike the horn helmet this one is 100% historically accurate. This marvel of engineering is what enabled the time period known as the Viking Era to happen in the first place. It was on one of those vessels that Leif Erikson became the first European to travel to the New World 500 years before Christopher Columbus. But, why were those ships so widespread among the Scandinavians? It took long to perfect it First thing first, the longship wasn’t exactly invented overnight. Just like Rome wasn’t built overnight, the longship is the result of centuries of ship construction being refined and improved. The earliest design, being nothing more than skin canoe used by Inuit, is over 2,500 years old. That’s a lot of time for improvement. This resulted in the longship having numerous advantages that allowed it to dominate the seas during its time. It’s conception was light It’s built alone was quite ingenious. Being known as the Clinker...