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| Ruins of St. Mark's Campanile |
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Piazza San Marco, Venice
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The campanile of Venice collapsed mid-morning on July 12, 1902.
The campanile's fall is also part of the story telling in Realms of Gold.
St. Mark's Campanile, Venice
The campanile's fall is also part of the story telling in Realms of Gold.
Otranto The mosaic of secrets
More than one thousand
years old, this precious tree of life mosaic pavement in Otranto
Cathedral depicts the image of the melusina and other
mythical creatures as well as the first representation of King
Arthur. Both the melusina and King Arthur have a place in my novel, Realms of Gold.
Melusina Otranto Cathedral
The precious pavement in Otranto Cathedral is
one is one of the sites depicting the image of the melusine. This
mythical creature is part of the story telling in Realms of Gold.
Vix Krater Statuette
Displayed separately from the Krater is its perforated lid, with a protrusion at its centre which supports a 19 cm statuette of molded bronze, depicting a woman with one outstretched arm, which once may have held some object. She wears a peplos , the body-length Ancient Greek garment worn by women, and her head is covered by a veil. The statuette appears of a somewhat older style than figures on the rest of the vessel.
Artù. King Arthur. From The Tree of Life, mosaic floor, Otranto Cathedral, Puglia, Italy.
Designed by the monk,
Pantaleone, built by Duke Roger, of Apulia in 1163, completed
1166-67. Chrétien died in 1180. Between 1160 and 1170 he was at the court of
Marie de Champagne. The floor is contemporary with Chrétien. The story of King
Arthur was most likely brought to Otranto by the Normans who had occupied what
is now Puglia and Sicily since the early eleventh century.
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The very first example of Arthurian imagery may be these mosaic pavements (Otranto Cathedral, Puglia , c.1165
Contemporary with
Chretien de Troyes
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| Otranto Cathedral |
Myth of Melusine
Melusine (or Melusina) is a figure of European legends and folklore, a feminine spirit of fresh waters in sacred springs and rivers.
She is usually depicted as a woman who is a serpent or fish from the waist down (much like a mermaid)
From Sybaris to Burgundy - Part Six
French and Italian translations follow the English text.
Translation. French, Dr. Thierry Boucquey: Italian, Dottoressa Paola Biscosi
Part VI
My research on
Chrétien eventually led me to read The Historical King Arthur by
Geoffrey Ashe, a Cambridge don, and the most famous Arthurian expert. His theory: in Late Antiquity, circa 460
A.D., Arthur Riothamus (kingliest or great king) King of the Britons, was
called into service by the Romans to rid Gaul of the Visigoths. Although an
historical Arthur was described in The History of Britain by Geoffrey of
Monmouth a few generations before Chrétien de Troyes, it was Chrétien who first
wrote about Arthur as a character in his Four Romances. Chrétien was also the first to write of
Lancelot and Guinevere and Camelot. In his last, unfinished romance, Le Conte du
Graal, he told the story of
Blanchefleur and Perceval--and a grail.
De Sybaris en
Italie jusqu'en Bourgogne - Part VI
Mes recherches sur Chrétien m’ont finalement menée à the historical l King Arthur. Arthur Riothamus (460 av. JC),
roi des Bretons, a
été recruté par les Romains pour
débarrasser la Gaule des
Wisigoths. Bien que Geoffrey de
Monmouth ait décrit un Arthur
historique dans son Historia
Regum Brittaniae quelques générations avant Chrétien de
Troyes, c’est ce dernier qui a écrit
en premier sur Arthur comme
personnage dans ses quatre
romans. Chrétien a également été le premier à écrire au sujet de
Lancelot, de Guenièvre et de la
Table Ronde. Dans son dernier
roman, Le Conte du Graal, qu’il n’a pas achevé, il a raconté
l'histoire de Blanchefleur et de
Perceval ainsi que du Graal.
Dall’italica
Sibari alla Borgogna in Francia - Part VI
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