M.J. Rose

Water is life…

From Motherboard,

Satellite Images Revealed the Secret Meaning of These Ancient Desert Spirals

by Kaleigh Rogers

“The Nazca lines are world famous geoglyphs, and their nearby spiral structure help explain why they were built.

 
Imagine staring out the window of an airplane and seeing a 1,200-foot hummingbird carved into the earth. Now imagine realizing that design was carved sometime between 1 and 700 AD. That’s how the Nazca lines were first introduced to the western world.

Found in the southern desert region of Peru, the Nazca lines are massive drawings in the soil, also known as geoglyphs. They’re named after the ancient civilization that lived in the region: the Nazca. The lines range from spirals to intricate designs like monkeys, llamas, and flowers. Some of the drawings are up to 1,200 feet—that’s more than three football fields—which means they’re best viewed from above, in a plane, or from a satellite.

But they were created long before planes or satellites, leaving generations of scholars to ponder why they were made, particularly if the Nazca people couldn’t enjoy the full glory of their work. Thanks to satellite imaging, scientists believe they have a good hypothesis for the mystery behind these lines. They were linked to the most precious desert resource: water…”

For the rest. click here.

Certainly this incredible place is the result of some serious hubris…

From Abandoned Spaces,
The Gods of Mount Nemrut – The most valuable monument of the Kingdom of Commagene

Mount Nemrut, also called Mount Nemrud, is a 2,134-metre-high (7,001 ft) mountain located in southeastern Turkey famous for the giant head statues scattered on the summit.

It is the site of extensive ruins of the tomb of Antiochus I (69-36 BC) of the Commagene Kingdom (163 BC – 72 AD).

This spectacular structure is made of large slabs of rock forming a pyramid-like configuration. The stone sculptures once stood nearly 10 meters high and depicted lions, eagles, various ancient gods.
Antiochus I himself is represented here as well. Sixty-two years before the birth of Christ, King Antiochus I ordered a huge tomb come sanctuary to be built for himself.

What was particularly notable about this king was his pride and his over-extended ego. Antiochus I claimed he had a special relationship with the gods and instituted a royal cult in the Greek form of the religion Zoroastrianism with the clear intention of being worshiped as a god after his death.
He wanted his sanctuary to be in a high and holy place, close to the gods in order to be in rank with them, and high enough that the whole kingdom could see it and remember him…”

For the rest, and many glorious photographs of these ruins, click here.

We are fascinated by the Ripper – he is a legend, with countless books and films dedicated to his mystery. There’s an entire field dedicated to the study of his crimes: Ripperology.

But who were his tragic victims? Let’s find out…

The Forgotten Lives Of Jack The Ripper’s Victims
By Elisabeth Sherman

Because he was the first celebrity serial killer, Jack the Ripper’s victims and their tragic lives were always overshadowed by the man himself.

“Head to London for a dose of the macabre, and you won’t be disappointed. Guided tours of the Whitechapel district — where in 1888 legendary serial killer Jack the Ripper brutally cut the throats of five prostitutes and removed their organs — continue to draw in droves of tourists to this day.

There’s the Jack the Ripper museum, too, which opened last year to controversy. According to historian Fern Riddell, the museum intended to tell the “history of women in the East End,” but activists said the museum mainly “glamorises sexual violence against women.”

Beyond the outcry, it’s not entirely surprising that the museum shifted focus away from Jack the Ripper’s victims and back onto the killer himself. After all, the mystery surrounding who he was and his motivations never ceases to captivate an audience — so much so that there’s a whole field dedicated to the study of his crimes: Ripperology.

As some have noted, though, at its core this “thriving Ripper industry” is misogynistic, and “commercially [exploits] real-life murder victims.”

Regardless of the truths these criticisms may highlight, fascination with Jack the Ripper and serial killers like him endure — and experts don’t see that changing any time soon. As appears in Psychology Today, “the incomprehensibility of such actions drives society to understand why serial killers do incredibly horrible things…serial killers appeal to the most basic and powerful instinct in all of us—that is, survival.”

This, coupled with media market dynamics, helps cement sustained public interest in figures like Jack the Ripper…”

For the rest, click here. And if you’re interested, here are The Ripper Letters.