Serapeum

The site is located on a rocky plateau, overlooking land and sea.[1] By all detailed accounts, the Serapeum was the largest and most magnificent of all temples in the Greek quarter of Alexandria.

Besides the image of the god, the temple precinct housed an offshoot collection of the Library of Alexandria.[2] The geographer Strabo tells that this stood in the west of the city.

Nothing now remains above ground, except the enormous Pompey's Pillar. According to Rowe and Rees 1956, accounts of Serapeum's still standing buildings they saw there have been left by Aphthonius, the Greek rhetorician of Antioch "who visited it about A.D. 315", and Rufinus, "a Christian who assisted at the destruction of [it] during the end of the fourth century"; the Pillar marks the "Acropolis" of the Serapeum in the account by Aphthonius, that is, "the upper part of the great Serapeum area".[1]

Closure and destruction[edit]

The Serapeum of Alexandria was closed in July of 325 AD, likely on the orders of the Christian emperor Constantine.[citation needed] Emperor Theodosius I (379-395) gradually made pagan feasts into workdays, banned public sacrifices, and closed pagan temples. The decree promulgated in 391 declared that "no one is to go to the sanctuaries, [or] walk through the temples", which resulted in the abandonment of many temples throughout the Empire. This set the stage for riots in Alexandria in 391 (although the date is debated). According to Wace,[1]

The Serapeum was the last stronghold of the pagans who fortified themselves in the temple and its enclosure. The sanctuary was stormed by the Christians. The pagans were driven out, the temple was sacked, and its contents were destroyed.

The Serapeum was destroyed by Roman soldiers in 391[3][4] and not rebuilt. After the destruction, a monastery was established, a church was built for St. John the Baptist, known as Angelium or Evangelium. However, the church fell to ruins around 600 AD, restored by Pope Isaac of Alexandria (681–684 AD), and finally destroyed in the 10th century. In the 20th century, a Muslim cemetery, Bāb Sidra, was located at the site.[1]

The destruction of the Serapeum was but the most spectacular of such conflicts, according to Peter Brown.[5] Several other ancient, and modern authors, instead, have interpreted the destruction of the Serapeum in Alexandria as representative of the triumph of Christianity and an example of the attitude of the Christians towards pagans. However, Peter Brown frames it against a long-term backdrop of frequent mob violence in the city, where the Greek and Jewish quarters had fought during four hundred years, since the 1st century BC.[6] Also, Eusebius mentions street-fighting in Alexandria between Christians and non-Christians, occurring as early as 249. There is evidence that non-Christians had taken part in citywide struggles both for and against Athanasius of Alexandria in 341 and 356. Similar accounts are found in the writings of Socrates of Constantinople. R. McMullan further reports that, in 363 (almost 30 years earlier), George of Cappadocia was killed for his repeated acts of pointed outrage, insult, and pillage of the most sacred treasures of the city.[7]

Accounts of the events[edit]

Several accounts for the context of the destruction of the Serapeum exist. According to church historians Sozomen and Rufinus of Aquileia, Bishop Theophilus of Alexandria obtained legal authority over one such temple of Dionysus, which he intended to convert into a church. During the renovations, the objects of pagan mystery still held within, especially the cultic phalli of Dionysus, were removed and exhibited in a procession of exposure, offense, and ridicule by the Patriarch; this incited crowds of pagans to seek revenge. They killed and wounded many Christians before seizing the Serapeum, still the most imposing of the city's remaining sanctuaries, and barricading themselves inside, taking captured Christians with them. These sources report that the captives were forced to offer sacrifices and that those who refused were tortured (their shins broken) and ultimately cast into caves that had been built for blood sacrifices. The pagans also plundered the Serapeum.[8]

A decree was issued by Theodosius offering the offending pagans pardon and calling for the destruction of all pagan images, suggesting that these were at the origin of the commotion. Consequently, the Serapeum was either destroyed, or (as per Sozomen) converted into a Christian temple, as were the buildings dedicated to the Egyptian god Canopus.[8]

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serapeum_of_Alexandria

In 1884, at the age of 19, John Monash joined the newly formed University Company, D Company, 4th Battalion, Victorian Rifles.

He rose through the ranks, and by 1913 was a soldier with knowledge of staff work, transport, supply, engineering and intelligence.

In 1914, the First World War broke out. He was among the first under fire at Gallipoli and was the only Australian brigade commander among the original troops not killed or evacuated as wounded.

By 1918, he was in charge of the entire Australian Corps. In this same year King George V knighted him on the battlefield for his role in the Battle of Hamel Hill. Many historians consider him to be the foremost Allied military commander of the First World War.

https://www.monash.edu/about/who/history/sir-john-monash

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THIS WAS A LESSON IN HISTORY: BAKHMUT IS GONE, ARTYMOVSK WILL BE REBUILT.....

MAKE A DEAL PRONTO BEFORE THE SHIT HITS THE FAN:

NO NATO IN "UKRAINE" (WHAT'S LEFT OF IT)

THE DONBASS REPUBLICS ARE NOW BACK IN THE RUSSIAN FOLD — AS THEY USED TO BE PRIOR 1922. THE RUSSIANS WON'T ABANDON THESE AGAIN.

CRIMEA IS RUSSIAN — AS IT USED TO BE PRIOR 1954

A MEMORANDUM OF NON-AGGRESSION BETWEEN RUSSIA AND THE USA.

EASY.

THE WEST KNOWS IT.

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The judgement on Ben Roberts-Smith’s defamation case delivered a heavily damning summary of conduct. That would have come as little surprise to many; rumour abounded for a decade or more.

Not only has Roberts-Smith been severely impacted. The ordure is spread widely but not thinly. It will stick perniciously to individuals (Roberts-Smith being just one), organisations (the SAS specifically and the Australian military more generally), institutions (the Australian War Memorial being front and centre) and even the Great Australian Trope: the ANZAC legend/myth.

ANZAC and the Australian War Memorial are indivisible. Two people created an additional nexus to Roberts-Smith. The fall of Roberts-Smith drags the Memorial down with him and seriously wounds the ANZAC legend/myth.

The farrago of an (increasingly mythical) ANZAC trope, the highly-focussed lionisation of Roberts-Smith and the Memorial’s widely hated expansionary project has been somewhat rectified by the hard landing of facts by the Judgement – not before time. This view is masterfully articulated in Paul Daley’s article of 1 June 2023.

Two persons drove Robert-Smith’s veneration as a ‘Warrior Hero’, which transmogrified at the Memorial into justification for a vast, unwanted and legislatively unsupported development project: ‘telling the story of modern conflicts’. This unauthorised mandate to pervert the Memorial’s primary purpose – to commemorate those who died on active service, as specified in AWM Act 1980: Section 5 (I) (a) – into being a military museum is antipathetic to the Memorial’s concept.

Those two persons are the ex- Chairman of Council Kerry Stokes, and the also-ex-Chairman (and for the gestation of the Memorial’s development project, Director), Brendan Nelson.

Stokes and Nelson supplanted the simple and dignified recognition of the honour signified by the award of the Victoria Cross in the Hall of Valour by creating a grotesque temple to Roberts-Smith, complete with an Idol via the presentation of a mounted uniform and an Icon in the form of a huge portrait: the larger-than-lifesize ‘Pistol Grip’. Also featured: another, more reasonable, portrait in case visitors overlooked the highlight of the Roberts-Smith extravaganza.

This was likely to become the cherry on top of the pie for the development project. A shiny new ‘ANZAC tradition’ Hero. A new iteration – The Adoration of the Warrior Hero – of the ‘ANZAC Spirit’ of service and sacrifice. Incredibly, it was commenced well after the rumours of Roberts-Smith’s and SAS more widely suspect actions had surfaced. Both Stokes and Nelson at that time ridiculed suggestions of caution against sanctifying Roberts-Smith. Nelson describing allegations as an attempt to “tear down our heroes” and Stokes expressing concern at the “media pursuit of Ben Roberts-Smith.”

This media pursuit was in the end proven to be justified, and deaths in Afghanistan were not just a case of ‘killing bad dudes’.

 “I still don’t agree with the fact BRS [Roberts-Smith] is here, under extreme duress, for killing bad dudes we went there to kill.” (Person 24, B R-S court proceedings).

Neither Justice Besanko nor Justice Paul Brereton have accepted that the only Afghan deaths were of ‘bad dudes’. It is not in the remit of soldiers to decide who is / is not the enemy and unilaterally turn them from civilians into ‘legitimate targets’.

Misjudgement is one thing. Murder is a crime and must be judicially determined to have occurred; that has not been found of Roberts-Smith, but he stands judicially described as having committed murder ‘on the balance of probability’. Further investigation by the OSI may settle the matter.

Public repudiation of the temple to Roberts-Smith at the Memorial has already started with clamour to remove it. The Memorial is in an invidious position (and Chair Kim Beazley’s very careful initial statement shows he is acutely sensitive to this), since the criteria for Roberts-Smith to be included in the Hall of Valour remains currently valid – but the Memorial is badly tarnished even so.  If it removes the offensive display whilst Roberts-Smith holds the VC, he would have been denied natural justice; but while the display remains, the Memorial will be seen as failing to repudiate the actions sheeted home by Justice Besanko.

That the Memorial should ever have been placed in this position by its Chairman Kerry Stokes and Director Brendan Nelson will forever be their legacy.

The damage to the AWM is probably irreparable. Collateral damage at a tectonic scale to an institution frequently described as ‘the soul of the Nation’ and an ideal that – even though ubiquitously pimped to a myriad of unworthy associations – has hitherto played a significant part in the development of ‘Australian’ (i.e. post-1901 national) history.

Lest We Forget.

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https://johnmenadue.com/shattered-idol-synchronised-drowning/

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