tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3101913167226700484.post5253188075790591230..comments2023-11-03T12:03:01.691-07:00Comments on Surprised by Time: The dog of VeniceNauplionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10598950480737808706noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3101913167226700484.post-38411528937292720212013-05-04T11:38:31.926-07:002013-05-04T11:38:31.926-07:00Thank you, Emanda -- I still get sad about the dog...Thank you, Emanda -- I still get sad about the dog that died in 1963.Nauplionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10598950480737808706noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3101913167226700484.post-27753591033206763722013-05-04T11:30:14.626-07:002013-05-04T11:30:14.626-07:00I quite enjoyed this post having just come out fro...I quite enjoyed this post having just come out from under a deep cloud of sadness after the death of our sweet dog. I smiled at your student's Dog of Venice and remember my student who did a presentation of the Pre-Columbian temple at "Chicken-It's-A".EmandaJhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03908128665226502895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3101913167226700484.post-7712436520486985672013-04-22T11:51:43.696-07:002013-04-22T11:51:43.696-07:00I hasten to answer that of course it is. One of t...I hasten to answer that of course it is. One of the great failings in the use of the Seyahatname over the past two centuries is the habit of treating him as a dour. serious writer, offering, at best, a mechanical source of economic data, etc, Remember that Evliya regarded himself as a Nedim, and that he had an unmistakable sense of humour, In many of the cases where Evliya has been accused of illiterate unhistorical ignorance, he is simply trying to be funny. It is one of his charms that he is quite capable of making himself the butt of his own jokes. <br /><br />Pierre MacKay<br />www.angiolello.net<br />Pierre MacKayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06539446944905632852noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3101913167226700484.post-59092999900053598632013-04-21T10:31:56.749-07:002013-04-21T10:31:56.749-07:00P.S. The lion on the Cruxifix at the Pantocrator m...P.S. The lion on the Cruxifix at the Pantocrator monastery on Mt. Athos is probably not a particularly Venetian lion of St. Marco but rather a more general St. Mark as lion, part of the Tetramorph. You can see the Eagle, the Ox and the Angel in the other corners of the cruxifix. So it shouldn't be so unexpected to find a lion depicted there. George D. https://www.blogger.com/profile/05331680699229885206noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3101913167226700484.post-29010521114772079982013-04-21T10:22:03.264-07:002013-04-21T10:22:03.264-07:00Not to forget that the Ottoman Turkish word "...Not to forget that the Ottoman Turkish word "Kelb" comes form the arab word "kalb" meaning dog, and in Islam, dogs are traditionally seen as unclean animals. "Dog" was a common pejorative term for infidels that Ottomans and Arabs alike used to call the Byzantines and Catholic Christians. <br />Lions ("aslans") on the other hand were, of course, highly important symbols of power in islamic culture. One finds them in art, often resembling a dog or cat, or as epithets (alsan or arslan). <br />Given the number of close encounters that the Ottomans had with the Venetians across the centuries, living as they did side by side, fighting and trading with each other, it would seem unlikely that Evliya ignored the fact that the Venetian symbol was, in fact, a highly stylized lion and not a dog. <br />So Evliya's description of the Venetians worshipping an unclean animal could be a form of delierate misinterpretation, either to amuse his readers or for the purpose of propaganda. George D. https://www.blogger.com/profile/05331680699229885206noreply@blogger.com