MUT Halloween Fun: Mummies, Dracula, and Roman Legionnaires!

Dear Readers: I want to start with a big shout-out to Legal Insurrection’s Professor Jacobson, who featured a selection of bumper sticker shots I took at the jousting tournament I went to Sunday: Let my people go

Here is my favorite of the series:

And to the Professor, I want to add this:

And since the topic is Egypt, I wanted to hit two key points:

• Also from Legal Insurrection – Egyptian authorities reportedly seize 1.7 million documents proving Jewish ownership of assets in Cairo: I don’t think “Arab Spring” is working out well for Egyptian non-Muslim minorities too terribly well.  I guess I fail to comprehend the “Smart Diplomacy”.

• I will be on Canto Talk tonight (CLICK HERE FOR PROGRAM LINK) with S.J. Wolfe, the author of “Mummies in 19th Century America: Ancient Egyptians as Artifacts”.

  Wolfe’s book details the story of specific Egyptian mummies in pre-1900 America–how they got here, what happened to them, and how they were viewed by the public and scientists who studied them.portedly seize 1.7 million documents proving Jewish ownership of assets in Cairo.

As an extra bonus, we are going to talk to one of my favorite Romanian-born pundit, Dr. Ileana Johnson Paugh, on the country’s most famous ruler: Dracula. She has an excellent post on Bran’s Castle and the Legend of Vlad the Impaler Her description focuses on Bran Castle:

The inspirational castle of Bram Stoker’s “Dracula,” was strategically located on a rocky bluff, difficult to conquer, tiny by any definition of a castle, and surrounded by stone turrets. The savage nature of the landscape surrounded it with mystique.

To Westerners, Vlad Tepes was Vlad the Impaler, a ruthless ruler demonized in many German writings of the 15th century. To Bram Stoker’s novel fans, he was the inspiration for Count Dracula.

Bran Castle was built more than 600 years ago. In 1377, King Louis gave the citizens of Brasov the right to build a fort at Bran at their expense. A citadel was erected by 1382. In early 1400s, the fortress was entrusted to Mircea cel Batrin to help the Wallachian ruler to continue his anti-Ottoman policy.

The one and only reference to Vlad Tepes was in 1459 when his troops passed through Bran, attacked and looted Brasov, following the disputes between the Wallachian ruler and the Brasov traders. Perhaps for commercial reasons, the legend of Bran Castle as Vlad’s property stuck.

Finally, I want to share a photo of the Young Prince. At the jousting tournament on Sunday, we were treated to a demonstration from Legio IX Hispana, a group of Roman Legion reenactors. My son was cheering them on, as they defeated a band of unorganized Celtic barbarians. He has decided he wants to join the Legion, and for is 18th birthday, he has requested a full set of Roman armor. Being ancient Egyptian in my views, I have to admit some of those soldiers were very handsome, indeed.

One of the best moments for both the Young Prince and myself was when we had one of the soldiers explain the shield design. As Legion IX Hispana has the sea-god Neptune as its patron, the shield elements included eagle wings (Rome), lightening bolts (Jupiter Optimums Maximus) and the trident for Neptune.

Reading the Percy Jackson/Jason Grace series that features teen children of Greek/Roman divinities, Blake decided that is he were a son of an Olympian, it would be Poseidon — and as he favors Camp Jupiter and Rome, this translates to Neptune.

I will let my readers guess as which Greek/Roman divinity who is my “parent” based on the Rick Riordan book series. You can place your guesses in the comments section. This post contains several clues, so choose wisely.

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