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SOPHIA OF WISDOM III - ARCADIA
LIBRARY OF SOPHIA OF WISDOM III
SOPHIA OF ALL SOPHIA OF WISDOMS
AKA
CAROLINE
E. KENNEDY______________________________
OCTOBER 29, 2006
Arcadia
(Greek: Ἀñêáäßá) is a modern
Greek province dating back to antiquity. As a consequence of its sparsely inhabited mountainous topography it was occupied
mainly by pastoralists. Subsequently it has become a poetic byword for an idyllic vision of unspoiled wilderness filled with
the bounties of nature and inhabited by shepherds(having more or less the same connotation as Utopia), and as a concept originated
in Renaissance mythology. The inhabitants were often regarded as having continued to live after the manner of the Golden
Age, without the pride and avarice that corrupted other regions.
[1] It is also sometimes referred to in English poetry as Arcady. The inhabitants of this
region bear an obvious connection to the figure of the Noble savage, both being regarded as living close to nature, uncorrupted
by civilization, and so virtuous.
Arcadia is now the name of many cities in the United States.
Arcadia in
antiquity
According to Greek mythology, Arcadia of Peloponnesus was the domain of Pan, the virgin
wilderness home of the god of the forest and his court of dryads, nymphs and other spirits of nature. It was a version of
paradise, though only in the sense of being the abode of supernatural entities, not an afterlife for deceased mortals.
Thomas
Eakins, "Arcadia"Arcadia has remained a popular artistic subject since antiquity, both in visual arts and literature. Images
of beautiful nymphs frolicking in lush forests have been a frequent source of inspiration for painters and sculptors. Greek
mythology inspired the Roman poet Virgil to write his Eclogues, a series of poems set in Arcadia. As a result of the influence
of Virgil in medieval European literature (see, for example, The Divine Comedy), Arcadia became a symbol
of pastoral simplicity. European Renaissance writers (for instance, the Spanish poet Garcilaso de la Vega) often revisited
the theme, and the name came to apply to any idyllic location or paradise. Unlike the word "utopia" (named for Thomas More's
book, Utopia), "Arcadia" does not carry the connotation of a human-designed civilization; Arcadia is presented as the spontaneous
result of life lived naturally, uncorrupted by civilization.
Of particular note is Et in Arcadia ego
by Nicholas Poussin, which has become famous both in its own right and because of its (possible) connection with the gnostic
histories of the Rosicrucians (see below). In 1502 Jacopo Sannazaro published his long poem Arcadia that fixed the Early Modern
perception of Arcadia as a lost world of idyllic bliss, remembered in regretful dirges. The play A Midsummer
Night's Dream by William Shakespeare is set within an Arcadian realm ruled by a fairy king and queen. In the 1590s
Sir Philip Sidney circulated copies of his influential heroic romance poem The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia establishing
Arcadia as an icon of the Renaissance; although the story is plentifully supplied with shepherds and other pastoral figures,
the central characters of the plot are all royalty visiting the countryside.
[...] Does not the pleasantness of this
place carry in itself sufficient reward for any time lost in it, or for any such danger that might ensue? Do you not see how
everything conspires together to make this place a heavenly dwelling? Do you not see the grass, how in color they excel the
emeralds [...]? Do not these stately trees seem to maintain their flourishing old age, with the only happiness of their seat
being clothed with a continual spring, because no beauty here should ever fade? Doth not the air breathe health which the
birds (both delightful both to the ear and eye) do daily solemnize with the sweet consent of their voices? Is not every echo
here a perfect music? And these fresh and delightful brooks, how slowly they slide away, as, loath to leave the company of
so many things united in perfection, and with how sweet a murmur they lament their forced departure.
Certainly, certainly, cousin, it must needs be, that some goddess this desert
belongs unto, who is the soul of this soil, for neither is any less than a goddess worthy to be shrined in such a heap of
pleasures, nor any less than a goddess could have made it so perfect a model of the heavenly dwellings. [...]
Friedrich
August von Kaulbach - In ArcadiaThough depicted as contemporary, this pastoral form is often connected with the Golden Age.
It may be suggested that its inhabitants have merely continued to live
as people did in the Golden Age, and all other nations have less pleasant lives because they have allowed themselves to depart
from the original simplicity.
Modern usage
In 1945, Evelyn Waugh entitled the first part of his novel
Brideshead Revisited with the phrase 'Et in Arcadia ego', referring to his protagonist's blissful and
innocent interbellum years as an undergraduate student at Oxford University at the height of the British Empire and his new-found
friendship with an eccentric aristocratic family.
In 1993, Tom Stoppard wrote an acclaimed play with this title, referring
to the sense of classical beauty and order associated with Arcadia.
In recent literature, especially fantasy, Arcadia
has been used for a magical realm, respective to the fictional universe the story occurs. A number of
role-playing games have also adopted the idea, either using it as a separate realm within the multiverse (a la the Arcadia
of the Dungeons & Dragons universe), or even using it as the central focus of an entire game system (as was the case with
White Wolf's Changeling: The Dreaming game).
According to the best-selling PC-game The
Longest Journey, Arcadia was divided from the primordial original world, and represents fantasy, dreams and magic, while our
world, Stark, is the world of science and technology. 'Arkadia' was also a subterranean world in the French cartoon
series Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea.
The name has recently been popularized by its connection to the pseudohistory
of the Freemasons - in particular the Latin motto "Et in Arcadia ego" (even here, I [Death] exist.) The phrase is used frequently
in conspiracy fiction and lore, such as the pseudohistorical work Holy Blood, Holy Grail and the novel The Da
Vinci Code, where it is interpreted as an anagram of I! Tego
Arcana Dei (Begone! I know the secrets of God).
The Libertines, especially Pete Doherty, use Arcadia as the
destination their ship Albion is sailing towards. It is thought of as a place without rules or authority, where cigarettes
grow on trees and park benches are covered in denim, and it is evenly populated by Cockney Rudeboys and Dickensian Gentlemen.
The American rockband Red Hot Chili Peppers refer to Arcadia in their album title "Stadium Arcadium".
External links
Net in Arcadia Virtual Museum of Contemporary Classicism
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcadia_%28utopia%29"
Categories: Articles lacking sources from June 2006 | All articles lacking sources | Greek mythology | Fictional dimensions
| Utopias | Fictional countries | Renaissance art | Concepts of Heaven | Arcadia | Visual motifs
Modern Arcadia
Arcadia has its present-day capital at Tripoli. It forms the largest prefecture on the Peloponnesian peninsula. It currently covers about 18% of the entire peninsula, although
it once extended to about 20 to 25% of the peninsula.
The prefecture has a skiing resort on Mount Maenalus, the Mainalon, located about 20 km NW of Tripoli. The other mountains include the Parnon in the southeast, the Artemisio, the Saita, the Skiathio, the Lykaia and Tsiberou.
The Greek National Road 7 (E65) highway, which was extended after 1997 and in 2003, runs through Arcadia on a north-west
to south-east axis and nearly forms in the southwest the end of the highway. A thermoelectric power station which produces
electricity for most of southern Greece, operates to the south of Megalopolis, along with a coal mine.
Arcadia has two tunnels. The Artemisio Tunnel opened first, followed by the tunnel east of Megalopolis; both serve traffic flowing between
Messenia and Athens.
In agriculture, potato farms (dominant in central and northcentral Arcadia), mixed farming,
olive groves, and pasture dominate the plains of Arcadia, especially in the area around Megalopolis and between Tripoli and
Levidi. One of these cuisines were featured on Mega Channel's cooking show hosted by Mamalakis that was shown on prime time.
Theodoros Kolokotronis (1770 - 1843), a general in the Greek War of Independence (1821 - 1832), lived in Arcadia.
Dimitris Plapoutas (1786-1864), a general in the Greek War of Independence, also lived in Arcadia.
The chief cities and communities in the prefecture include Tripoli, Astros, Vytina, Dimitsana, Lagkadia, Leonidio, Leontari, Levidi, Megalopolis Paloumba and Stemnitsa.
Ancient cities include Asea, Astros, Athinaio, Daseae, Falaisia (Phalesia), Gortys, Hypsus (Stemnitsa, Irea, Lusi, Lykaio, Megalopoli, Tegea, Thoknia,. Trapezus, Tropaia, Tripoli and more.
Climate
The climate consists of hot summers and mild winters in the eastern part, the southern part,
the low lying areas and the central area at altitudes lower than 1,000 m. The area primarily receives rain during fall and
winter months in the rest of Arcadia. Winter snow occurs commonly in the mountainous areas for much of the west and the northern
part, the Taygetus area, the Mainalon.
History
****NOTES OF SOPHIA OF WISDOM III - CAROLINE E. KENNEDY THESE ARE NOT
STAR GODS THEY ARE PLAYING AROUND WITH MAGIC JUST LIKE JFK,JR AND HIS DINE A DOZEN MOTHER'S OF DARKNESS.
Due to its remote, mountainous character, Arcadia has always been a classical refuge. So during
the Dorian invasion, when Mycenaean Greek was replaced with Doric = DORIA Greek along the coast of the Peloponnes, it survived in Arcadia, developing into the Arcadocypriot dialect of Classical Antiquity.
Arcadocypriot never became a literary dialect, but it is known from inscriptions. Tsan is a letter of the Greek alphabet occurring only in Arcadia, shaped like Cyrillic И; it represents an affricate that developed from labiovelars in context where they became t in other dialects. Tsakonian Greek , still spoken on the coast of the modern prefecture of Arcadia, in the Classical period considered
the southern Argolid coast immediately adjoining Arcadia, is a descendant of Doric Greek, and as such is an extraordinary example of a surviving regional dialect of archaic Greek. The
capital of Tsakonia is the Arcadian coastal town of Leonidio.
One of the birthplaces reported for Zeus is Mount Lycaeum in Arcadia. Lycaon, a cannibalistic Pelasgian king, was transformed into a werewolf by Zeus. Lycaon's daughter was Callisto. It was also said to have been the birthplace of Zeus' son, Hermes.
Arcadia remained a rustic, secluded area, and its inhabitants became proverbial as primitive
herdsmen leading simple pastoral unsophisticated yet happy lives, to the point that Arcadia may refer to some imaginary
idyllic paradise, immortalized by Virgil's Eclogues, and later by Jacopo Sannazaro in his pastoral masterpiece, Arcadia (1504); see also Arcadia (utopia).
Arcadia later joined the Roman Empire and later the Byzantine Empire. In the early-1st millennium, the area became a part of the Frankish Empire. In the mid-15th century, the region fell into the hands of the Ottoman Turks with some exceptions in the 16th century for a couple of years. During these periods, many towns
and villages were founded.
The Latin phrase Et in Arcadia ego which is usually interpreted to mean "I am also in Arcadia" or "I am even in Arcadia"
is an example of memento mori, a cautionary reminder of the transitory nature of life and the inevitability of death. The phrase is most often associated
with a 1647 painting by Nicolas Poussin, also known as "The Arcadian Shepherds". In the painting the phrase appears
as an inscription on a tomb discovered by youthful figures in classical garb. It has been suggested that the phrase is an
anagram for the Latin phrase "I! Tego arcana Dei", which translates to "Begone! I keep God's
secrets."[citation needed]
After 400 years of occupation by the Ottomans, Arcadia was the epicentre of the Greek War of Independence which saw victories in their battles including one in Tripoli which saw the Greek revolutionaries slaughter around 30,000 Turks. After a victorious revolutionary
war, Arcadia was finally incorporated into a newly-created Greek state. Arcadia saw economic growth and small emigration.
In the 20th century, Arcadia experienced extensive population loss through emigration, mostly
to the Americas. Many Arcadian villages lost almost half their inhabitants, and fears arose that they would turn
into ghost towns. Arcadia now has a smaller population than Corinthia. Demographers expected that its population would halve between 1951 and the early 21st century.
The prefectural population is in a range to a point that could fall below the 100,000 mark which could make it the next prefecture
in Greece to have less than 100,000 people.
After World War II and the Greek Civil War, many villages and towns were rebuilt.
An enormous earthquake with a 5 Richter scale range shook Megalopoli and the surrounding area.
Many buildings were destroyed, leaving people homeless. Within a couple of years, the buildings were rebuilt anti-seismically.
In 1967, construction began on the Megalopoli Power Plant. It began operating in 1970, producing electricity for southern Greece. A mining area south of
the plant is the largest mining area in the peninsula and continues to the present day with one settlement moved.
Water problems troubled local residents protesting over the rights of water usage with the
Argolida and its new reservoir near Saga, on July 3, 2007. On July 27, a wildfire broke out in Gortynia in the western portion, threatening several nearby villages and burning a small portion of the
forested area. Less than a month later, another minor forest fire occurred near Tropaia, on Thursday August 23. A day later, the minor fire became a major blaze beginning in the southwest of Arcadia Soulos. Arson-related fires spread and burned villages including Chrousa, Leontari, Vasta, Tourkoleka, Dirahi, near Megalopoli, Makryssi and Anavryto, and burned around 5% of the prefecture and the southwestern portion. The fire raging in the
southern Ilia prefecture spread into Arcadia, and began to burn Atsicholos and the area around Karytaina. Residents prevented the fire from entering Megalopoli, Karytaina, and its surrounding area by
chopping down trees, preventing it from entering the village ; helicopters received water from Lake Taka and the sea. The fires continued from Friday August 24, with high winds and hot temperatures reported at 42°C ; the outbreaks slowed slowed three
days later but progressed on Tuesday August 27. The blazes finally died down when temperatures dropped and a low pressure system from southern
Europe brought rain into the area ; roads had been closed and electricity cut off for several days. At the extinguishing
of the fire, hundreds of mobile homes were sent to inhabitants who had lost houses. Trees and a number of groves are to be
planted, but it is expected to take a few years to restore part of the area's natural beauty and forest. Less seriously for
the area, Kynouria experienced weather problems in the winter, with a snowstorm affecting Leonidi and the village of Agios Petros on February 10, 2008.
SEE ARCADIA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcadia
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