Cleopatra's Daughter

 

If modern people were asked about the Egyptian queen Cleopatra VII (70/69 BC–30 BC) they would most likely draw upon the knowledge they gained by watching Elizabeth Taylor as the enticing femme fatale in the movie from 1963. However, there are several other actresses who have appeared in movies about the famous queen's life, like for instance, Vivien Leigh in a movie from 1945. And what's more the histprical Cleopatra was so much more than those depicting her ....

There is a tradition of turning the queen into some sort of sex-goddess who first and foremost gained her fame from seducing the powerful men of her day: Julius Caesar and Mark Anthony. However, much indicate that she was a smart woman who knew more than most Egyptian rulers before her. According to Plutarch she had an aptitude for languages and spoke several foreign languages, thus being able to negotiate, discuss or just talk with people of other countries. As a token of her acclaimed smartness she even saw to it that the belief in her divinity as "the reincarnation of the goddess Isis" was established.  

The most famous movie love couple Cleopatra VII and Roman Triumvir Mark Anthony definitely is Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. As far as I remember the movie only depicted the young son Cleopatra had by Julius Caesar, namely Caesarion. He is assumed to have been the only biological son of Julius Caesar and that made him an important pawn in the fight for power in The Roman Empire. That fact must be the reason why he was killed by Octavian whom we know as Augustus, i.e. the first Roman emperor.

Caesarion (47 BC-30 BC)

However, Cleopatra had several other children, one of them being her namesake, Cleopatra Selene II, i.e. the daughter she had by her lover, Mark Anthony. After the defeat and suicides of her parents she succeeded in surviving the turmoil of Augustus' rise to emperor and being paraded as a prisoner of war with her twin brother in the streets of Rome. Her survival may have been made easier by her stay with Augustus' sister, Octavia the Younger, who had been married to her father, Mark Anthony. As to her two brothers they "disappeared" from the historical annals and are presumed dead, either by illness or murder.

A Roman bust of either Cleopatra VII or her daughter Cleopatra Selene

Not only did Cleopatra Selene survive, but she also became the queen consort of Juba II of Numidia and Mauretania. As such she had great influence on everything concerning government decisions. It seems that she was especially interested in trade and architecture, making her mark on that part of the country's success.

 

Presumably Cleopatra Selene

When Augustus decided to confer the newly created client kingdom of Mauretania on Cleopatra Selene and Juba II the young rulers renamed the new capital Caesarea in honor of him. Through her granddaughter - or great-grandaughter, Drusilla, the lineage of Cleopatra VII and Mark Anthony was intertwined with the Roman nobility.

Wikipedia

https://movieweb.com/best-movies-about-cleopatra/ 

 

 

Prison And Artistic Fulfillments

 

When I think of what prisons were e.g. in The Middle Ages and then look at something like this "Swedish prison cell" then I get some very mixed feelings: 1) Good that we don't starve or torture inmates anymore (unless it's done in secret ....) and 2) What the HELL is this? Is that supposed to be punishment for crimes that definitely should get punished????? No, it looks more like part of a cosy holiday cottage, and THAT's WEIRD when it comes to crimes and punishments. Some of the most heinous criminals who were caught and sentenced to prison were done so at an immense expense to the tax-payers of his/her country and these law abiding citizen may never even get close to such a nice looking habitat as this prison cell. 

This book - and others by the same author - came into being because he was sentenced to prison. Robert Franklin Stroud (1890-1963) was a convicted - and feared - murderer, but being in prison he gained a reputation as a great ornithologist and became known as "The Birdman of Alcatraz". He had not changed his ways in prison as he, for instance, attacked and killed a guard. However, somehow all his misdeeds were overshadowed of his well deserved reputation as an ornitologist. 

Robert Franklin Stroud

Would he have become an ornithologist if he had not been incarcerated for his crimes? That's not likely as he set out as a pimp and a murderer. In my opinion there are several angles to his biography and that may always be the case of inprisoned criminals who obtain fame by skills they gain while in prison. I, for one, don't want to forget what he did before going to prison over his achievements as a prisoner. He is/was a criminal who got the perfect setting for studies and writings: A prison cell. Without that cell and the sentence that sent him there he would never have achieved anything academic.

Theodore John Kaczynski 

The exploits of the so-called "Unabomber", Ted Kaczynski (born 1942) include bombs that killed three innocent people as well as wounded almost thirty. These crimes go hand in hand with his considerable intelligence as a mathematician. What's also of a considerable size is his narcissistic personality that, luckily enough, made him confess to his crimes so that he wouldn't be declared insane ....  

While in prison The infamous Unabomber has gained new fame with two books he wrote in his cell, one of them is "Technological Slavery", and the other one is "Anti-Tech Revolution". Would he have been able to publish these books had he not been in prison? Maybe, if he had not committed his crimes, but it was the prison that gave him the opportunity when he had ruined his chances of being an aknowledged part of the society.

Dante Alighieri

Neither Robert Stroud nor Ted Kaczynski has written "prison literature", i.e. books or articles about their life in prison. Both of them wrote about subjects that interest them and which they might also have taken up had they never been incarcerated. It wouldn't have been likely, but in theory, it might have happened. They got caught, were sentenced and imprisoned and that was the situation that started their literary career. On some points they resemble a great author like e.g. Dante Alighieri who wrote his masterpiece "The Divine Comedy" in exile. Others, like Sir Thomas Malory wrote "Le Morte d'Arthur" while imprisoned as did several other great writers. One of them wasn't in any way "great", but famous he is and will always be: Adolf Hitler. 

I must admit that I don't like the lack of reason behind some prison sentences, and I do have mixed feelings about prison sentences that give criminals the perfect settings for writing and publishing or painting. Maybe the problem is that these thieves, murderers, muggers, etc., etc., are NOT all that different from ordinary people who don't commit these crimes. Many who toil in low-paid jobs without any status, although they are the ones who make the wheels turn around in our society, would benefit from some time in a modern prison cell like the one above. I'm indignant of such a life being called a "punishment" as it would be a blessing to many good hard working, but under paid people.

https://incarcerationlaw.com/chapter/chapter-6-gallery/ 

 

https://www.nownovel.com/blog/12-incarcerated-writers/ 

 

Wikipedia

 

The Castration Game

 

Anna Bachmeier, what an angel!

This pretty German girl of seven, Anna Bachmeier, had the misfortune of catching the eye of a well-known pedophile and repeated sex offender, namely the 35 years old butcher, Klaus Grabowski. He told her that he had kittens in his home and she, who was a great animal lover, came to see them. Nobody seems to have warned her or her Mom, Marianne Bachmeier (1950-1996), of this sex crazed man who kidnapped, raped and killed the child when she came to see his presumed kittens on the 5th of May, 1980. Sadly enough this kidnapping and repeated rapes are not an uncommon scenery, because it has happened all over the planet, over and over again. Many women and girls have lost their lives because some man had an urge to commit these crimes, but still, this case is in many ways different from most of them as the mother of the victim, 30 years old Marianne Bachmeier, decided to revenge her child. When Klaus Grabowski was put on trial in 1981 she shot him in the courtroom, shouting: "This if for you, Anna!"

The bereaved mother sparked international interest and that may have helped her in her own trial as she only received a conviction of manslaughter and unlawful possession of a firearm. She was sentenced to six years in prison, but was released on bail after three. Many, all over the world, sympathized with her and found this short span of prison time appropriate for a killer like her: The bereaved mother. More came to be known of her life which may also have been in her favour: Her father, who was a heavy drinker, had been in Hitler's Waffen SS and he brought his Nazi brutality into the home of his family. At the age of 16 Marianne got pregnant and had to put the child up for adoption. Two years later the same happened once again, but when she godt pregnant the third time she decided to keep the child, her daughter Anna. 

The father of the child didn't commit to either her or their daughter so she had to do everything herself. The mother and daughter seem to have been very attached to each other even though it can't have been easy to be an unwed mother at that time. However, Marianne managed.

Two people lost their lives because of the sad assault on this child: Anna and her attacker, Klaus Grabowski. However, both might have lived had the sex maniac butcher not dodged the medical treatment he had been sentenced to receive after one of his repeated offences.

He was supposed to take testosterone suppressers, but cheated and even succeeded in getting hormone boosters from doctors who didn't know about him and his previous crimes. Had he accepted the medical treatment he would have been virtually castrated. Actually, Germany is one of the countries which adhere to this treatment of criminals who commit grave sexual offences. Denmark, along with Britain and Sweden, also use medical castrations when it's deemed necessary. Surgical castrations are more rare, but also in e.g. USA there are chemical castration laws, including in California, that's the first state to legalize the measure.  

However, private castrations as a female weapon against men and their various kinds of tyranny when it is at its worst is not all that uncommon. One of the best known cases is that of Lorena Bobbitt and her husband, John Wayne Bobbitt, but they are not the only ones. Women have sought revenge or protection against male assaults by harming one of the most vulnerable spots on their body, e.g. their penis, either by hand or by knife. A swift movement downwards of an erect penis may lead to a more or less untreatable injury that puts a stop to rape for all eternity, but strangely enough a severed penis like in the Bobbitt case may be treated surgically and (presumably) be cured. At least that's the message we get from Bobbitt's porn career after the attack by his wife. He did everything in his power to prove that he and his penis were still functional.

Several of these women who feel that they have to defend themselves by cutting off a man's penis say they did so to avoid rape. There are other ways, like e.g. this gadget: 

Some women who feel very vulnerable to males with criminal sex urges may resort to something like this "Rapex". I bet it works when used, but I doubt it's pleasant to the woman to wear. As to the men who meet a "Repex" or another gadget like it when they feel safe to force their way then I'm sure they will regret their actions ....

The vigilante mother, Marianne Bachmeier, became quite a "celebrity" after her deed

https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/europe/calls-for-germany-to-end-surgical-castration-of-sex-offenders-1.454019 

 

https://www.evidencelockerpodcast.com/transcripts/transcript-68-vigilante-mother-germany  

 

 

https://www.findlaw.com/criminal/criminal-charges/sex-offenders-and-sex-offenses-overview.html 

 

 

https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/europe/calls-for-germany-to-end-surgical-castration-of-sex-offenders-1.454019 

 

 

https://www.oddmurdersandmysteries.com/the-murder-of-anna-bachmeier/ 

 

 

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/15223029/women-who-chopped-off-penises-more-than-once/ 

 

 

https://nypost.com/2023/02/27/woman-allegedly-cut-off-mans-penis-after-a-fight-about-sex/ 

 

 

https://firstcuriosity.com/featured/marianne-bachmeier-the-woman-who-killed-her-daughters-rapist-and-murderer-in-court/ 

 

 

https://decider.com/2019/02/19/lorena-john-wayne-bobbitt/ 

 

 

Wikipedia

The Emperor's Mistress: A Woman of Influence - or Not?

Marie Łączyńska, Countess Walewska and later on Countess d'Ornano, painting by François Gérard

The Polish countess Marie Walewska (1786-1817) was one of the famous women of European history who earned her fame from becoming the mistress of a powerful man, in this case the Emperor Napoleon I (1769-1821) of France. Rumours had it that he had fathered one of her three sons, namely Alexandre. However, her aging husband, Athenasius, Count Colonna-Walewski, behaved like a true gentleman and acknowledged him as his child, thus ignoring the infidelity of his wife. 

 

One of Marie's sons, Alexandre Walewski, who most likely was fathered by The Emperor, Napoleon I 

 

 

The young Marie

Marie was a lovely, young girl of 18 when she married the count who at that time was 68. It was a marriage of convenience as the Mother of Marie found that she had to sacrifice her beautiful, young daughter to save the family from bankruptcy after some ill-judged political adventures of her by then deceased husband, the father of Marie and her six siblings. However, as we know that was neither the first nor the last one of that kind of marriages so Marie may not have found it to be an unexpected surprise. 

 

Greta Garbo and Charles Boyer in the most famous of the movies about the couple

In the romantic movies about Marie and Napoleon it looks like they are overcome with genuine love and passion, but in reality - or at least according to Marie's memoirs - she had to force herself to get intimate with The Emperor, andf I suppose it may have been the same with her husband. With her husband it was for her family, and with Napoleon it was for her native country, Poland:

"The sacrifice was complete. It was all about harvesting fruit now, achieving this one single equivalence [convincing Napoleon to support Polish independence movement], which could excuse my debased position. This was the thought that possessed me. Ruling over my will it did not allow me to fall under the weight of my bad consciousness and sadness." (Quote from Wikipedia)

Being in for the Polish cause wasn't easy for Marie when Napoleon decided to divorce his barren empress, Josephine, to marry the Habsburg princess, Marie Louise, the eldest daughter of Emperor Francis II of Austria. That means that no matter what her reasons were for the affair with the emperor she had ended up in a tight spot when he decided to divorce his wife, the Empress Josephine, to marry the Habsburg princess Marie Louise for dynastic reasons. Would he help his mistress in her Polish crusade or would he side with his new father-in-law, the Austrian emperor, Francis II?

Marie Louise, the second wife of Napoleon I, born a Habsburg princess 

Of course Napoleon chose the latter over the first one even though that meant that Marie's fight for her beloved Poland would get sacrificed. Even though Napoleon had to leave his Polish mistress he saw to it that her - and their son's - future was assured by the grant of large land estates in The Kingdom of Naples. The home life of Marie was turned upside down in 1812 when she divorced her old husband, the count, claiming that it had been forced upon her. Not only did she get her divorce, but she also got half of his estates. Four years later she married her long time lover, the handsome count Philippe Antoine d'Ornano.  

Philippe Antoine d'Ornano. After giving birth to his son, Rudolph Augustus, in 1817 she died from kidney failure.

To me it's obvious that the fate of this Polish noblewoman mirrors that of many other women both before and after her. They make the best of their situation as "merchandise" in the patriarchal society, and I doubt that they have been too surprised at being forced into marrying 50 years older men whom they didn't love. The new French empress, The Habsburg princess, Marie Louise, didn't chose Napoleon who was the enemy of her people and her father, but she too made it work. Hopefully she didn't suffer too much in her marriage, but I bet she just sacrificed herself to something she considered a "higher purpose" like Marie said she did .... 

 

 

http://www.walewski.eu/upload//File/Journal_de_Marie_Walewska_version_anglaise.pdf

 

 

Wikipedia

 

The Fragrance That Isn't A Stinker

 

Gwyneth Paltrow (born in 1972), a pretty and very self-assured woman, actress and businesswoman, the recipient of e.g. an Oscar and a Golden Globe. Early on in her career she made her name as an actress in "A Perfect Murder", "Shakespeare In Love", and "The Talented Mr. Ripley", but now she is more into the market of perfumes as she after becoming a mother has not been all that much into movie works or acting. She has published several cookbooks, and has founded the lifestyle company Goop. In 1995 she became the so-called "face" of Estée Lauder's "Pleasures perfume", but her own fragranced candles is what got the most notice.

That sure is a new angle to something that I've often seen men comment in a derogatory manner: Nature's own perfume that was made to attract males, but which somehow deter them. To me that's one of the many PROOFs that the Patriarchy has turned into a perversion. It doesn't work the natural way with fragrances and the female biological rhytms anymore, but with something of less - or even no - value, namely the male internal drives for sex and power as he sees this. 

Looking like a genuine lady, but behaving like a "slut"? Well, many people were shocked by this adoring allusion to something that was considered bad or even abhorrent by a lot of people. The male response to this female acclaim of their most intimate personality was the introduction of a male fragrance candle.

The smell of the penis comes from the smegma which consists of the thick, white, cheesy substance that collects under the foreskin of the penis. This "cream" is something which really turns the male organ into a stinker as well as a transmitter of unhealthy secreations. One of the reasons for the age old habit of circumcision actually is this smegma that should not be transmitted to the female and pollute her vagina. That means that the penis candles don't "hold a candle to" the vagina candle or Gwyneth Paltrow's new invention:

 

 

https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2020/jan/13/why-is-gwyneth-paltrow-selling-a-candle-that-smells-like-her-vagina-goop

 

https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/london-life/we-should-all-be-peeing-in-the-shower-and-having-more-sex-according-to-gwyneth-paltrow-10413160.html 

 

https://www.insider.com/penis-scented-candle-make-a-point-about-gender-pay-gap-2020-1 

 

Wikipedia

Two In One

 

What nightmare for a judge who has a sincere and honest approach to the obligations of his job: Sometime in the seventeenth century the Italian Lazarus Colloredo (presumably 1617-1646) who made a living as a "sideshow freak", came to brawls with one of the men who teased him with the very bodily condition that gave him his living. Although he was known as a mild, gentle and also (in some ways) quite handsome man who did not engage in brawls or crimes this time he snapped: His respons was to kill the teaser. The judge had no doubt that the killer should be executed for his actions, but - as the condemned killer, Lazarus, pointed out to him - that would also lead to the death of an innocent man, namely his conjoined twin, Johannes. Strangely to say, but although this twin didn't have a life of his own, he obviously was alive:

As detailed in the 19th-century book, "Kirby’s Wonderful and Eccentric Museum" Danish anatomist, Thomas Bartholinus, described Lazarus and his brother thoroughly: "I saw Lazarus Colloredo, the Genoese, first at Copenhagen, after at Basil, when he was twenty-eight years of age, but in both places with amazement. This Lazarus had a little brother growing out at his breast, who was in that posture born with him. If I mistake not, the bone, called xyphoides, in both of them grew together; his left foot along hung downwards; he had two arms but only three fingers upon each hand: some appearance there was of the secret parts: he moved his hands ears and lips.

This little brother voids no excrements but by the mouth, nose, and ears, and is nourished by that which the greater takes: he has distinct animal and vital parts from the greater, since he sleeps, sweats, and moves when the other wakes, rests and sweats not. Both received their names at the font; the greater that of Lazarus, and the other that of Johannes Baptista. The natural bowels, as the liver, spleen, &c. are the same in both. Johannes Baptista hath his eyes for the most part shut: his breath small, so that holding a feather at his mouth it scarcely moves, but holding the hand there we find a small and warm breath. His mouth is usually open, and wet with spittle; his head is bigger than that of Lazarus, but deformed; his hair hanging down while his face is in an upright posture. Both have beards; that of Baptista is neglected, but that of Lazarus very neat. Lazarus is of a just stature, a decent body, courteous deportment, and gallantly attired: he covers the body of his brother with his cloak, nor would you think a monster lay within at your first discourse with him. .... " 

That's not much of a life, but still, Johannes WAS alive, and he was innocent of the crime of his brother which meant that the judge in the case had to drop the Death Sentence he had passed on Lazarus. It was told that, courteous and handsome (in some respects!), as he was, the otherwise condemned killer married and had several children. The last time the brothers were heard of was circa 1646, and it's supposed that they passed the way Lazarus had feared all his life: ".... he feared the death of his brother, presaging that when it came to pass, he should also expire with the stench and putrefaction of his body; and therefore he took greater care of his brother than himself."

https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-conjoined-twins-lazarus-and-joannes-baptista-colloredo-28061590.html

https://www.weirdhistorian.com/parasitic-twins/

 

Wikipedia

 

 

Hitler's Love, His Niece Geli Raubal

 

Angela Maria "Geli" Raubal (1908–1931) was the daughter of Adolf Hitler's half-sister, Angela Raubal, thus being his half-niece. Born in Linz, Austria-Hungary, she  lived in close contact with her uncle from 1925 until her death, presumably by suicide, in 1931. When Geli was a toddler of two her father died at the early age of 31. After some time her widowed mother, Angela Raubal, became the housekeeper of her half-brother, Adolf Hitler, and she brought her 3 young children with her: Geli, Elfriede Hochegger and Leo Raubal. 

 

 

Hitler with his two half-nieces, Geli and Elfriede

 

At that time Geli, a pretty and charming, young girl of 17, enrolled in medicine, while living in her uncle's apartment in Munich. However, she never completed her education as a physician, and one gets the impression that the next six years of her life was spent in some sort of emotional and fysical captivity. There are many theories and rumours about her relationship with her uncle who was 19 years her senior and a very powerful man. He was extremely possessive of his half-niece and was known to domineer and suppress her, showing a fierce jealousy of the men who admired her. When he found out that she had a relationship with his chauffeur he dismissed the young man. After putting an end to their affair he prevented her from forming new relationships with other men, and he saw to it that she was close to him or someone he trusted at all times. 

 

After the war her mother said that Geli had hopes of marrying a man from Linz, but that Hitler had forbidden her to see him. After leaving her medicine studies she also wanted to go to Vienna to start singing lessons, but that too was forbidden by her uncle. These plans - or dreams - of hers was something she and Hitler had argued about before he departed for a meeting in Nuremberg on 18th September, 1931 while she stayed in Munich. While he was away the young woman of 23 years died from a gunshot wound to her chest. It appeared that she had shot herself with his Walther pistol, but her untimely death gave rise to many rumours and insinuations.

 

The media broadcasted many unpleasant rumours, including allegations of physical and sexual abuse, a tempestuous love affair or an infatuation of the young woman for her uncle. Also there were rumours of murder as she obviously had been unfaithful to him when she saw other men. Some of the more saucy stories were broadcasted by one of Hitler's political opponents, Otto Strasser. The obvious possesiveness of Hitler towards Geli indicates that he had very strong feelings of a sexual nature for his half-niece, and it seems she had told several of her friends that she was disgusted by "something perverted he had asked/demanded her to do".

 

Geli and her mother

 

As to the cause of her death the investigations by the police not surprisingly ruled out foul play and it was deemed suicide, not murder. No matter what the cause of death of Geli was it sent her uncle into a deep depression and he decided not to attend her funeral in Vienna, but later on he visited her grave several times. He is reputed to have declared her to have been the love of his life. Her room was kept as it was and he was said to worship his portraits of her and always kept them close by.

 

 

https://spartacus-educational.com/GERraubal.htm 

 

 

Wikipedia