The Black Death of Politics in Medieval Europe

     The Black Plague killed at least one-third of the population of Europe between 1346 and 1350. Almost overnight, it seemed, one out of every three faces vanished from the human community. Famine and war, along with little immune resistance to the disease, set the perfect stage for one of the worst natural disasters ever. The Black Plague forced and influenced changes in governmental policies and religious views in the European Medieval Period.
     Power before the Black Plague was firmly established in the feudal system and beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church. Primarily, manors had control over the majority of the population, but their power was slowly weakening. With favorable weather and good crop years, the population greatly expanded in the 1200s, and serfs could buy their way out by paying a fee to the lord. With serfs leaving manors, the yeomen gradually became more significant.
     In England, the king had begun to send out royal justices twice a year to aid serfs in their plight of gaining freedom. Once the peasants were free, their taxes went directly to the king, ignoring local lords altogether. Kings received a higher percentage of the taxes, and lords did not have to support such a large peasant population on a small piece of land. This transition occurred smoothly because kings held divine rights and, consequentially, absolute authority. The slow change in political power away from local lords was lubricant that initiated large scale revolution centuries later after the seeds of change were tended.
     Outside the king, power, wealth, and influence rested with the Roman Catholic Church which governed nearly every aspect of the people’s lives. Even politics were affected since laws were formed by reason (practical application of previous governing), church influence, and cleric involvement. Control was cemented by fear of excommunication.
     During the plague years, disorder and chaos ruled the plague-stricken world. Governmental officials of every rank, everywhere died regularly or fled to a secluded areas because no one was safe. Judges deserted the courts and the common people did what they pleased. People lost hope for the future and did not make provision for it. As Giovanni Boccaccio says in The Decameron, “Thus it came about that oxen, asses, [and] sheep . . . were driven away and allowed to roam freely though the fields, where the crops lay abandoned and had not even been reaped, let alone gathered in.. A large portion of people focused completely on deriving as much pleasure from life as possible while they could. It was a common thought that today was the end with no tomorrow, and people went uncontrolled by anything except fear and their own desires.

     Religion tried to gather a firmer grip but lost its stranglehold in the Middle Ages during and after the Black Death. Pope Clement VI recognized the large percent of death in the clergy and allowed changes in some regulations for simple church activities to make up for clergy shortages. The sheer number of funerals, prevented tradition. Instead of long parades of mourners grieving over the loss of a loved one, few processions had more than a handful of those closest to them follow the body to the graveyard and, without service or respect, throw the body into the grave. Traveling monks preached conviction to purify life from sin to abate the plague. Despite all the efforts of the Catholic Church to maintain its powerful position, many people turned to magic for salvation from the plague.
     Flagellants believed they could take on the sin of the world by suffering and eliminate the Black Plague. Flagellants beat themselves with flagella which were the nine-tailed whips used to beat Jesus. These people, in desperation after the failure of the church, prayer, magic, and medicine, beat themselves hoping to appease God’s wrath. Pope Clement VI outlawed the movement. The sense of panic during the ceremonies occasionally caused riots in the cities, and the teachings of the flagellants undercut the Catholic church’s authority.
     Immense changes occurred because of the Black Plague; some changes were evident immediately after, but the most significant ones came years later. The common people became more independent. Before the plague with large populations, wages were low; after the death of swathes of workers, wages increased. With most of the population employed, laborers had a strong sway in determining wages. Workers voiced their opinions and forced lords to pay higher prices. Coffers were quickly emptying because of inexpensive grain prices and increasing pay. The Peasant’s Revolt of 1381 displayed the newly found power of the working class. If landowners died and no heirs came forward, the church claimed the land; but peasants cultivated the land and eventually claimed it themselves. Death of public officials and clergy members allowed a class change as peasants were moved to the upper class.
     The independence attitude that developed after the fall of the feudal system brought inspiration. There was a great demand for education with secular views overwriting the church encouraging a turn to philosophy for explanations instead of religion. The philosophies of the Enlightenment and Reformation began to form and challenge the old teachings of the Roman Catholic Church shortly after the plague. The Black Plague made people realize the church was not perfect.
     The Medieval World was an ideal setting for the Black Plague. Weak immune systems from famine, stress and fear of death were prevalent. Noble houses and the Roman Catholic Church had control over most of Europe, but serfs were breaking apart the feudal system. The Black Plague rerouted some power to the working class, but authority still rested in the hands of nobility for the time. The Reformation traced its roots to this time where people became skeptical about religious views. The Renaissance also found its origin in this time where individualism and an eagerness for learning began. The Black Plague introduced to the modern world new ideas in government, religious views, change in social class, and education.

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Agatha Tyche

GMO: Understanding & Explanation

     Most people think of transgenic glowing pigs or glowing tobacco plants when considering a genetically modified organism (GMO). However, the most prominent area of GMO use is that of agriculture. This field has vast possibilities, but the future of GMOs in agriculture lies in the endless perpetuation of new modifications. Every year herbicides and pesticides are spread on hundreds of thousands of American acres of farmland in order to promote the best possible environment for crops to thrive. These additives are designed with the delicate equilibrium of making them as harsh as possible on the negative components they are attacking while having little to no negative effects on the crops themselves. Meanwhile, new crop seeds are designed each year to better resist the harmful effects of the chemical additives. This process goes effectively until the chemically pressured weeds and insects begin to develop an innate resistance to the additives. The herbicides and pesticides must be modified in order to remain potent. When these additives are regulated, the old resistant crop seeds must also be modified according to the new additive specifications, and the cycle perpetuates itself continually.

     This new technology allowing mankind to alter an organism’s genetic material has affected, but is not limited to, areas such as: bacteria, yeast, plants, vertebrates, biological and medical research, and production of pharmaceutical drugs. For instance, the first genetically modified animal was produced by injecting DNA into mouse embryos. Certain breeds of beef cows are common subjects of genetic modification in order to maximize beef production. The study and continuation of GMO research contains incredible potential for all areas of life, including possible solutions to worldwide issues, but there are detrimental side effects that require monitoring and regulation.

     Other staple crops, such as rice, are frequently used for GMO studies. Consequently, a study of polyploid rice, which usually has viable seed rates as low as 40% because of failed meiosis within pollen formation, resulted in the development of polyploid meiosis stability (PMeS), which allows the production of polyploidy rice with increased seed count and size. The continued studies of these crops and others have propagated the development of newer, more efficient methods of gene transformation. There are many methods for genetic engineering including agrobacterium-mediated gene transformation, knock-out engineering, and RNA silencing. Typically used in major agricultural crops such as corn, cotton, and soybeans, agrobacterium-mediated gene transformation allows genetic insertions to be completed inexpensively on a large scale with bacterial plasmids. Meanwhile, knock-out engineering allows the determination of genes via loss-of-function, and RNA silencing is used as a widely used controlling mechanism. Before understanding these methods of genetic engineering, it is necessary to comprehend how transgenes are engineered which is depicted below.

     Since metabolism is one of the driving forces of any organism, it has been widely studied when considering how GMOs can be used to maximize plant growth and production. Hot spots of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) have been sequenced to determine non-randomness of genetic metabolism control within plant species. While largely controlled by genetics, metabolic function is also determined by environmental interaction and is considered genetically inheritable and stimulative. The sequenced areas of the genome affecting the metabolism are better understood. Metabolisms for plants cycles and develop depend on the growing season and the timing of crop maturity. This variation involves alternative switch signalling of genes as the plant matures and involves separated components of integrated metabolic systems. Once this was understood, methods of genetic engineering could be used to modify the genes affecting the metabolism in a positive manner. Genetic coefficients of variation can be altered and controlled via genetic dilution with crossing as exhibited in studies done with Arabidopsis thaliana; five genes largely control metabolic processes and are physically close on a chromosome, usually within 10kb from each other.
     Unfortunately, GMOs are not without associated risks. One of these risks is horizontal gene transfer which could lead to genome instability or unintended consequences such as new crops that could destroy the ecosystem. This transference can occur between like organisms, or even between such different organisms as plants and animals. A more widespread concern is gene transference in relation to viruses. Many plants carry regulatory sequences from viruses enabling the virus easy access through gene transference, and some viruses have a movement protein gene that allows for easier horizontal gene transfer. Some GM plants may acquire this DNA through testing or through simple contact with viruses that contain the DNA. There are many systems in place to ensure that scientifically acceptable genetically modified plants are released or properly handled. Through this, many methods have been developed in order to guard and monitor GMOs and to determine whether certain plants have been detrimentally altered.
     Although much progress has been made, the multitude of organizations and varieties of GMOs in existence create an impossibility for results to be quantifiable across all restrictions and organizations. Many factors come into play when affecting GMO detection with most having to do in some way with the method in which the DNA was extracted. The structure of DNA can be affected by mechanical stress, high temperature, pH variation, enzymatic activity, or fermentation. DNA quality can be lessened when yield is valued over purity. This high level of variation propagates a need for the testing of precision and accuracy.
     Corporate farms are working desperately to supply the demand of growing nations. As a result many methods have been developed to maximize yields, including genetic engineering. These corporate farms require monstrous amounts of seed each year for human consumption and animal feed crops. As long as the need for factory farming continues, GMO production and progress will always be a matter of intense interest.
     Because of the harmful effects of pesticide and herbicide chemicals being sprayed on crops then polluting the groundwater, as well as the dramatic benefit seen in crop development, many studies have been executed in order to create a plant that requires no additives to repel its assailants. The bacterial-based pesticide, Basillus thringiensis (Bt) was genetically grafted into many major food crops via agrobacterium as a hopeful inbred pesticide. Some studies report that these technologies mainly substitute for pesticides but that yield effects are generally smaller. Yield advantages of insect-resistant cotton in the United States and China are less than 10% on average. However, others point out that Bt hybrids were sprayed against bollworms three times less often than were non-Bt counter parts, representing a significant cost reduction and a massive reduction in the amount of pesticides being introduced to the environment.
     When dealing with GMOs, ecological risks attract two main concerns. First, non-target effects of transgenic crops occur when the expression of a transgene in a crop has negative effects on non-target species. For instance, a dramatic reduction in a certain pest species may result in the collapse of a predatory species that depended on the pest, leading to a multitude of unanticipated fatalities and pest increases, decreasing biodiversity. This reduction in biodiversity has been linked with rapid spread of diseases. Second, transgenes might escape into wild populations through the hybridization of crop plants with their wild relatives, affecting seed production, population size, or habitat use in the wild species.
    The future of GMOs will, undoubtedly, remain riddled with strife and turmoil. The USA claims to base its regulation of GMOs on sound science, whereas the European Union regularly invokes the precautionary principle. This divide accurately portrays the two sides of the GMO debate. In one corner there lies the idea that so long as the scientific principles remain proven, advancements can and must be made in order to propagate the betterment of the world at large. The opposition argues that too many unknowns still leave the equation unbalanced, and control must be established before unleashing possible catastrophes on the globe.
     Regardless of the debate between progress and caution, science will inevitably continue to plow forward. The field of agriculture is now largely dependent on the ever continual promulgation of genetically modified seed, pesticide, and herbicide industries. Although the actual mechanism of genetic engineering through which GMOs are made possible are not yet thoroughly understood, the process of analysis and development of future uses will advance. The technology and information being utilized in the area of GMOs will almost certainly lead to more remarkable and ingenious possibilities in the food supply of the future.

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Agatha Tyche

Post Hekaton

     Celebrating one-hundred posts over forty-six months, the process of writing a blog has been informative and insightful because it requires an investigative expansion on seedling ideas. Presented is an incomplete list of the benefits of blogging or any writing process that practices research and presentation skills.      

1.) Research Is Not Everything. Source abundance or scarcity cannot dictate the topic of research. Writing themes are a conglomeration of interest, information, and education combined to draw conclusions that are succinct if not novel.

2.) Information is easier to digest when broken up with interesting facts and sides notes to keep
attention. As noticeable by a perusal of popular internet sites, the list format is an effective, marketable way to deliver memorable statistics to interested consumers. Prior to the impact of internet-market research and still encouraged in high school language classes, outline format is one of the best ways to organize information and predetermine presentation. The freedom and informality of a blog allows for unrelated connections, images, and splashes of personal insight.

3.) If original intentions change, adopt the purpose to align with the facts of presentation or abandon that topic completely. Flexibility is a useful skill whether occupationally, militarily, or in writing. As many fiction authors have commented, powerful characters can alter the original design of the story. Similarly, topical research and can the initial conclusion or even the topic altogether. Many of the posts on this blog were intended to focus on a single event or achievement, but the underlying motivation or symbolism of that event grew to overshadow history and became a metaphor for ideal virtues instead.

4.) Self-satisfaction and sense of achievement are more rewarding than public interest. Type A and Type B personalities are the two large groups people sort themselves into similar to introvert and extrovert. Motivation for writing must be internalized because wide viewership or viral public acceptance are not guaranteed. Desire to learn, focus, and discipline are necessary for the slow investment of writing.

5.) Write what you know but constantly learn new things - on every topic. The human brain is adaptive and capable of reason, memorization, and analysis which are enhanced through application and use and evaporate with stagnation. Constant inquiry and educational vigilance sharpens the minds prowess and capabilities like the muscles of the body and the skills of life.

6.) Short, information infused articles are different from the creative process of fictional short stories and less formal than research papers for history or science. Writing through the education system is viewed as a necessary, tasking chore. Writing in professional fields from journalism to science is necessary to retain position and earn income makes writing as fundamental to the career model as farming was to human history. Turning writing into a pastime or hobby carries the benefits of writing professionally to keep grammar and spelling skills sharp while gifting a connotation of enjoyment much as reading for pleasure enraptures millions of people each day.

As always, thank you for the many of you around the world for your support over nearly four years. One hundred posts have covered a wide variety of topics from feminism to cooking, Germany to South Africa, and imperialism to self reliance.
     Unfortunately, due to constrictions on free time with two hours of daily commute and being a newly married man, on my one-hundredth post I announce to all my readers around the world that by the end of the year, posts will no longer be bi-monthly. My attentions will be turned to focus on other writing interests, and while blogging has been informative, as the points above indicate, there are many other lessons to learn in life. When certain issues come to mind, they will be assimilated in the long list of topics already found on this blog since the initial and enduring purpose of Wyyes: microcosm is to clean my mind of things that have cluttered it for years.

Thank you all.


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Agatha Tyche

The Cat of Many Names

     With the largest latitude range of any predatory species in the world, Puma concolor is known to many peoples in many languages. The huge habitat range and variation has long enraptured the residents of the Americas from Chile to Canada, and the multitude of languages has given the American cat the most common names of any species in the world. The mountain lion, panther, American lion, puma had the respect of the Incan Empire, terrified American gold miners, and enraptured the Florida public merely two decades ago.
     Destruction of limited resources and habitats is associated with recent urban population and industry expansions. Habitats of many species have become sectionalized or completely isolated. The main concern of conservation are habitat and genetic variability retention. A prominent example of environmental preservation is the Florida panther. Although this species survives in diverse habitats, spatial reductions for agriculture, mining, and urban growth have severely impacted the population. Because of an increased mining industry in and around panther habitats, toxic chemicals, such as mercury, dangerously increased in blood samples of many panthers and further threatened health.
     Efforts to expand the Florida panther range into central Florida have met some success as long as new areas connect to older, established habitats. Poor evaluations on individual panther ranges, habitat requirements, and the number of panthers capable of migrating all negatively impacted the territorial predictions, but governmental land use designation is one of the largest enemies to the panther. Large-scale land protection is the simplest method of preserving the panther since heavily managing isolated populations is both expensive and difficult. Estimates on the panther’s population size involve radio-tracking and traditional footprint and feces methods.

     Other than habitat loss, disease is a major threat to the perseverance of the subspecies. For a full century the Florida panther population remained under 500 individuals and resulted in significant inbreeding with low rates of fecundity and high levels of heart disease. Sperm counts in Florida panthers were 95% malformed, the worst of any known species. The high levels of genetic similarity also threated the population from many types of pathogens. An outbreak of Feline Leukemia Virus (FeLV) from 2002 to 2005 debilitated a majority of the population. Fecundity rates remain low in the Florida panther due to transmammary infections that kill newborn kittens.
     By the late 1980s the panther population faltered between 15 to 30 individuals. Large-scale public support brought 8 female panthers from eastern Texas  in 1995 that were introduced to Florida habitats to repopulate and decrease the severe level of inbreeding. As genetic variability rebounded, the population tripled. Genetic heterozygosity doubled but remains insufficient to recover the population if current rates of inbreeding continue. Inter-crossed individuals show higher litter success rates, little heart trouble, and increased sperm counts.
     Habitat protection is essential for the survival of the Florida panther. To increase the genetic variability and avoid extreme management of the subspecies, territorial expansion and habitat extensions are necessary. Although introduction of several Texan panthers in 1995 successfully boosted population numbers via reproduction and reduced phenotypic signs of heavy inbreeding depression, isolated populations remain at risk for diseases. Leukemia, immunodeficiency, and transmammary diseases all play determining roles in the newly diversified genome. While urban development and habitat destruction play a large factor in the existence of the Florida panther, genetic variability and disease susceptibility will determine their success in expanding the population size and range.
     Despite these ongoing difficulties, threats, and risks, the Florida population of Puma concolor has rebounded since its near extinction in the mid-1980s. Through determined conservation effort, widespread public support, and governmental recognition of habitat lands, the Florida panther has seen a resurgence in numbers and health. While the subspecies is still mired in the problems of small population numbers, two decades of intense efforts have secured the species for the enjoyment of the next generation.

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Agatha Tyche

Developing Insanity

     Edgar Allan Poe crafts the elements of fear, death, and madness to connect parallel themes in his stories. Although Poe’s stories contain limited variation, his works offer deep insight into his morbid writing style. Poe believed that fear was essential for the basic plot of a story because fear communicates emotion to the reader through tension and unfamiliarity. Although murder was seen as taboo in writings at the time, Poe did not limit his writing content for the moral preferences of the society of his age. The author used murder or the threat of death to bring forth fear’s vast power over the reader. As the narrator of each story drew closer to the time of executionary plans, the tension and fear of the one to be murdered grew exponentially, all while Poe brings the reader to sympathize with the narrator. Another common method of bringing fear into his writing was by strange sounds near the time of death. Typically, these sounds were the beating of a heart or the screech of some unknown door.
     Eyes emphasize an object of fear for the narrator in several of Poe’s tales. The speaker in the story is often fascinated with the eyes of another which eventually provokes the narrator’s fear. The most notable of these examples is the hated blue eyes of the old man in “The Tell-Tale Heart,” and the cutting out of Pluto’s eye in “The Black Cat.” The body of many of Poe's stories has a deep undercurrent of fear which pervades each paragraph and progressively seeps into the reader’s consciousness.

     Through the stories, the narrator changes temperament from calm to angry, usually resulting in death. In “The Black Cat” a kind, gentle man in the beginning becomes an unrepentant murderer in the end.
     As fear manifests the emotions of the tales, death forms the substance and result of that fear. Poe emphasizes that death is inevitable and universal usually through the narrator's aside commentary to the reader. Another parallelism in these stories is that the narrator lives either alone or with a single companion who the narrator eventually kills. In “The Tale-Tell Heart” the narrator kills the old man whom he cares for, but while the murder is testified as being planned, the narrator seems to perform the method of suffocation without foresight. Similarly, the narrator’s wife who is murdered in “The Black Cat,” has an accidental death by the hands of the narrator, and her body is stowed behind the cellar wall. In “The Raven” and “The Cask of Amontillado,” the narrator lives by himself and performs the foul task of murder without worry of others’ notice.
     Poe attempts to give death a certain beauty and dismisses life shortly after to emphasize death’s destruction. In “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the narrator shows extra concern before he actually murders, and the old man suspects nothing because the narrator is even kinder to the man than normal. As death approaches, the narrator’s mental condition falters to present Poe’s bloody, methodical murders.
     As Poe advances through his writing, the narrator, who once appeared fearful and angry, is increasingly presented as mad via vehement announcements, repeating details, repetitive habits, and the seeking of protection in enclosed rooms.
     The narrator gradually descends from debatable sanity to the maelstrom of madness. While presented as unstable in the beginning of most of the stories, the narrator slides downward in a spiral of insanity and quickly becomes believably mad. Both in “The Black Cat” and “The Tell-Tale Heart,” the narrator specifically claims his sanity in the narrative prologue and tells his story to prove it. Throughout the story, the narrator rejects his deteriorating state and protests that he is not mad and was fully aware of his actions while relying on the proof of his clever and cautious disposals of the victim. Although the narrator insists on his sanity, Poe presents contradictory evidence and reveals the true madness.
     The narrator interprets his behavior from his own opinion in “The Black Cat” by his fearful fascination with the cat’s seemingly supernatural abilities, but the narrator interprets his behavior from others’ opinions in “The Tell-Tale Heart” when protesting his insanity in the introduction of the story. The narrator in “The Black Cat” notices his own behavioral downgrade through the treatment of his wife and pets. However, the speaker accuses the police for mocking his agitation at the sound of the beating heart in “The Tell-Tale Heart.”

     Meticulous attention rivets the speaker to his victim’s emotions and the potential discovery of the body. Poe has the narrator plan ahead in “The Cask of Amontillado” by storing supplies in the cellar with which to murder his enemy and flawlessly execute the crime. The narrator of “The Tell-Tale Heart” cleverly disposes of the body without blood or dust’s revealing the fate or location of the victim. Lastly, in “The Black Cat” the narrator disposes of the debris from the wall and repaints the wall to hide all recent disturbance.
     Poe’s most emphatic revelation of the narrator’s insanity comes from the character’s indistinguishability between the physical world and the world of the mind. The speaker cannot overcome the fact that his delirious imagination corrupts the data of the senses. The narrator constantly twitches uncomfortably with small, terrified movements while talking or mumbling to himself repetitiously.
     The speaker hears and sees nonexistent things which only assist in his appearing mad to the reader. The narrator believes that the cat, Pluto, is a witch in animal form in “The Black Cat,” and in “The Raven” the speaker believes the carrion bird is actually conversing with him. The loud beating of a dead man’s heart concludes that the speaker of “The Tell-Tale Heart” imagines unreal possibilities.
     Edgar Allan Poe has striking similarities in his work that link the topics of his tales together. Each story creates its own world of insanity while remaining united with reality enough to stir nightmarish fear within the reader.

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Agatha Tyche

Rhodes Hard Change

     Everything man has ever created has been from this earth. The value of our creations depends upon the skill of creation and the cost of the material which is dependent on its usefulness and scarcity. Through human history, gemstones have proven valuable for both reasons being difficult to find and procure and widely applicable. Of all the gems, diamonds capture the modern mind most severely, but the unbreakable, clear crystal's first use was to sharpen stone weapons to keep mankind alive.
     Diamond mining was underway in India by the 300s B.C. and were traded throughout the world for millenia. By the 1700s Indian mine production faltered and encouraged travelers to seek mines elsewhere - something never done before. By 1725 Brazil became the new producer of the world's diamonds and continued producing under 50,000 carats a year. By 1870 Brazil's production had plateaued at 200,000 carats annually. In 1866 a 21 carat diamond was discovered in a stream bed in South Africa and created a mining boom that continued through the last three centuries. In the first ten years after mining began in South Africa, global production doubled, and by 1882 more diamonds had entered the market than had existed for 2,000 years.
   An asthmatic teenager from England who traveled to South Africa for his health in  1871 and, leaving his brother's cotton farm, realized the potential from these new, enormously productive mines. Combining small mining rights he had purchased with a friend over the years, he established, De Beers Mining Company in 1880. By 1888 he had purchased Kimberly Central Diamond Mining Company for $25 million. A few years later De Beers Consolidated Mines, Ltd controlled 90% of global diamond production.

     With diamond production escalating faster than market demands, prices crashed, but Rhodes, a clever businessman, used his dominance of the production market to secure escalated sales prices through so release of stockpiled reserves. His production and reserve monopoly made this strategy successful in controlling the market and effectively established a vertical monopoly as Rockefeller achieved with oil production in America in the same period.
     Aside from his business accomplishments, Rhodes gained several political offices of the Cape Colony in South Africa. An extremely motivated imperialist, Rhodes pushed for northern expansion into the interior and created tension with native tribes, Boers, and other imperialist powers including Portugal, Germany, and Belguim. His press northward to control the mineral rights of Africa's interior was a significant motivator to the 1884 Berlin Conference, the "Scramble for Africa" that drew boundaries on African lands for European empires.
     A political businessman of extreme wealth, Rhodes used his effectively unlimited mineral rights to expand British influence northward, and he sought to establish a Red Line railroad from Cape Town, South Africa to Cairo, Egypt to connect the continents lands. Though unsuccessful with his imperialist goals, his other successes made him a made of wealth and renown. At his death in 1902 his will donated much of his money to established the Rhodes scholarship which allowed promising Germans, Americans, and British opportunity to study at Oxford University "regardless of race" effectively opening the scholarship to native Africans in the decades to follow.
     Buried in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) Rhodes's legacy has soured over the century. His De Beers mines have lost the absolute monopoly of the market, the British Empire has relinquished her African colonies, and his political history is now seen as oppressive and racist. None the less, Rhodes started from nothing and used his own skill, ingenuity, and opportunities to become one of the most successful businessmen in the late nineteenth century and a testament to the driving energy of the British Empire.


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Agatha Tyche

Word versus Word

     While conquering the world, Alexander’s army relied on the phalanx formations for military movement forcing each man to rely on the defense of the man beside him; despite the army’s reliance on each other, after the fall of the Persian Empire, Alexander’s leaders’ phalanx-alliance split and began to fall in on itself as the enemy beside became more deadly than the enemy ahead. An excellent, early example of this mounting distrust and unease is Alexander's suspicion and ultimate execution of his heretofore trusted general Philotas. Philotas’ alleged conspiracy demonstrates the conflicts Alexander faced after the fall of the Persian empire. The accounts of this event vary in their presentations in ancient sources which create various interpretations of the occurrence. Key surviving ancient records include those of Plutarch, Quintus Curius Rufus, and Arrian which mostly confirm the reliability of the event.
     Plutarch primarily focuses on Philotas’ character, but clearly describes the order in which the conspiracy was discovered. During his examination of the trial, Plutarch only mentions evidence that had been well established through Philotas’ mistress’s secret reports to Alexander, who endured Philotas’ insults in silence. The consequences of Philotas’ trial resulted in Parmenion’s execution. Alexander’s underhanded elimination of two very prominent officers instilled a previously unknown fear in his remaining commanders. A further catalyst for this fear was Alexander’s murder of Cleitus shortly after this incident.
     Since Quintus Curius Rufus focused mainly on the social and political portions of Alexander’s conquests, he provides a very descriptive analysis of the events surrounding Philotas’ trial. Like Plutarch, Rufus initiates the conspiracy plot with Dimnos’ confession to his homosexual lover. This key information is brought to Philotas’ attention but is rejected due to the unreliability of its source.1 Because of the delay in Alexander’s reception of the conspiratory information, he charged Philotas with treason. A secret meeting afterward confirmed Philotas’ guilt through a confession under torture. When brought on trial already in chains, Philotas unsuccessfully defended himself against hateful attacks by other generals and Alexander himself. Although Philotas was accused of treason and executed, none of the other conspirators ever named Philotas as being involved.2
     After concluding the guilt of Philotas and the others, the conspirators were stoned, Parmenion was assassinated, and Alexander Lyncestes was executed after three years of imprisonment.3 The quick verdict and sketchy evidence used in Philotas’ conviction later affected different conspirators’ approach to both assassinating and warning Alexander, notably in the example of the basileus paiges.
     Quintus Curius Rufus provides several reasons which motivated the mutinous plots against Alexander. While on trial Hegalochus, a conspirator with the paiges, shouted his desire to eliminate Alexander for the following: Alexander’s adoption of Persian mannerisms, his belittling of Philip II’s and the army’s contributions, the oppression Alexander enforced on the Macedonian victors of his conquest while allowing the losers a lighter yoke of burden, and Alexander’s demand of prokinesis. With the conquest of Persia complete, Alexander began acting like a master over slaves which free Macedonians naturally rejected.
     While Plutarch focuses on character and Quintus Curius Rufus studies social and political factors, Arrian preserves a militaristic viewpoint which minimizes his comments on Philotas’ trial but allows for a fuller analysis of the effects on the army as the conspiracies continued. Philotas had commanded a large portion of the Companion cavalry, but after his execution, Alexander no longer permitted any one general to control such a large portion of his troops and consequently split Philotas’ old squadrons between Hephastion and Cleitus the Black.
     The consistency throughout the sources of Alexander’s learning of the plot assists in its factuality; modern authors concur. Although the causes for the conspiracies mesh nicely in the ancient sources, a Macedonian social tradition that escapes ancient authors’ attention; Macedonian kings normally died by assassination or in battle. This bloody tradition helped motivate Alexander’s later paranoia about conspiracy.4 As Alexander went further east, the toils of the campaign increased while the rewards shrunk. The resulting rigors inflamed resentment in the army.
     Alexander changed several policies in the wake of Philotas’ trial. His paranoia began to express itself both through Philotas’ death as well as Parmenion’s, which was more for what might be done than any disloyal action previous to the assassination. This paranoid killing spree eventually eliminated all capable heirs to Alexander’s throne and terrified the remaining commanders into submission since outspokenness against Alexander meant risking his anger. Modern authors also agree with the ancients that Alexander’s mistrust of generals forced him to break military units further among commanders to minimize the impact a general would have in attempts to oust Alexander.
     Each ancient source contributes to the overall comprehension of Philotas’ trial through different author’s focuses on varied topics. Plutarch contributes significantly in understanding Philotas’ character and interaction with the other officers around him. While explaining the history leading up to the event with sufficient detail, Plutarch neglects the conflicts of the trial itself. Quintus Curius Rufus thoroughly explains each step progressively throughout the event but lacks any defined consequences other than the immediate. Arrian, the opposite of Quintus Curius Rufus, neatly generalizes the entire proceedings up to Philotas’ execution and carefully analyzes the results of the verdict both on the army as a whole as well as on Alexander himself. By neglecting even one of these sources in analyzing any event in Alexander’s life, key information is lost and bias in the authors’ focus is emphasized whether in reference to politics, military, or psychology.

     History is composed of the lives and actions of billions of people. Analysis of history should call upon multiple sources and different accounts wherever possible to make full use the lessons of the past have on the present.

1 Rufus and Plutarch concur on the order of events leading up to Philotas’ trial. Philotas rejected the information because it came from the brother of a male prostitute during a quarrel between lovers.
2 Alexander’s main accusation of Philotas was guilt through silence. Philotas knew of his condemnation before the verdict since he gave his defense in chains, and Alexander, while present for the accusations, left during Philotas’ defense, signifying a lack of an aquittal.
3 Since “Philip was safer in combat than in the theatre: often avoiding the hands of his enemies, he could not escape those of his own people,” Alexander attempted to protect himself from possible threats.
4 Because “Great men have often met their ends at the hands of insignificant agents or even for relatively minor causes,” Alexander can be justified for executing Philotas for negligence.

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Agatha Tyche