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If I'm being one hundred percent honest, I have to hold up my hands and say initially, I found Boneshaker by Cherie Priest a difficult book to read. Now before all you Priest fans form a steam-powered lynch mob and head toward my house with burning torches, let me take a moment to explain and hopefully this will calm your anger.

This situation doesn't happen often, in fact I can remember exactly the last time this issue did occur. When I started reading Trainspotting by Irvine Welsh, I often had to read pages four or five times before I understood what was going on. (That admission is made all the more embarrassing by the fact I'm Scottish, but I digress.)

I stress that the fault is most definitely with the reader, in both cases, not the writer. Like Welsh, Priest has written something that delivers on many levels but in order to get the most from the story, the reader must allow the novel to command their full attention.

Once I had the opportunity to sit down and properly concentrate on the novel, I was blown away by how gripping it was. Over the last couple of years I have read a fair amount of `steampunk' and I enjoy the genre, it always seems to offer endless possibilities. Boneshaker is a fantastic example and very effectively captures the pioneering spirit of America in the 19th century. I have to admit I was also pleased that there were zombies or in this case rotters thrown into the mix as well.

Set fifteen years after a man-made disaster, Seattle has become a no go area surrounded by a huge wall. The city has suffered at the hands of the Boneshaker, a huge drill that destroyed buildings and released a toxic Blight upon the unsuspecting citizenry. This deadly gas kills and then re-animates those that suffer prolonged exposure. Eeking out a meagre living, widow Briar Wilkies and her son Zeke live just outside the city in an area that has come to be known as The Outskirts. Both are ostracised by the community, as many hold Brair's husband, Leviticus Blue - the man who built the Boneshaker - responsible for the calamity that has befallen them. Zeke is driven by the need to find out the truth about his father, and the events that occurred before his birth.

I liked the way the narrative splits between the two characters when Zeke heads into the city looking for answers and Briar follows. He travels under the wall while his mother travels above. This gives the author the opportunity to establish the details of the different communities that exist in and around Seattle. Both meet many colourful characters and there are lot of twists and turns on the way to the novels conclusion.

This era of American history lends itself well to the steampunk genre, and the author's descriptions of people and places are very vivid. Though initially, I had some difficulty with the novel, I persevered and I'm glad that I did as the story was ultimately rewarding.
on 25 November 2010
Surprisingly, the detailed blurb for this book doesn't give much away. Most of that background info is crammed into the first couple of pages. It is presented as an extract from a historical novel, which one of the characters is writing.

This character, Hale Quarter, is one of the first people we come across in chapter one. We see the world from a mixture of his and Briar's point-of-view. Then, Quarter disappears, and doesn't reappear again in the novel. Not a particularly smooth introduction to the story.

The novel is structured with two dominant view points: Briar and Zeke. Each have their own chapters. Briar's chapters are illustrated with a pair of goggles at the beginning, and Zeke's chapters with a gas lamp. A nice touch.

I felt Priest painted Briar's character quite well. Her history, her flaws, made her more human. However, she boarded on the stereotypical 'mother who will stop at nothing' to save her child.

Zeke, on the other hand, was an incredibly annoying character. He is meant to be an older teenager, but acts more like a ten or eleven year old. He lacks a sense of maturity, and his thoughts are simple. Often, he comes across as rather dumb, and I felt almost completely unsympathetic towards him.

Whereas Briar has a much more active stance in moving the plot forward, Zeke is lead around by others, making him passive and quite boring.

All four-hundred pages of the book take place within a few days. And this slow pace often takes its toll. The action scenes are well executed and exciting, but the spaces between them are often bogged down with unnecessary description, bantering, and time-fillers. It seems to me that there is no real control over the contours of action and suspense.

I commend Priest's original zombie ideas. The term 'rotter' is both apt and phonetically pleasing, and I liked the idea that these zombies were created by a poisonous gas. However, there is no attempt to explain why this 'blight' created the undead, or why or how it was being formed beneath the city. The characters don't even wonder about this, which I found strange. The role of the zombies in the plot is quite unoriginal. They are just there to loom, chase and destroy.

The steampunk elements are largely aesthetic. There are copious amounts of goggles, airships, weird weapons and strange devices. Nothing seems superficial in the sense that all the steampunk objects are important to the narrative. However, there is no real sense of rebellion in this text, no real sense of the 'punk'. This book doesn't really try to hold up a mirror to anything, to reveal any ugly truth.

The book itself bears a sepia text (as opposed to traditional black) which I personally found a little hard on the eyes. However, I adore the cover art and design.

Overall, I did enjoy reading Boneshaker, despite its flaws. Priest's imagined world is rich and dark. Perhaps with a little more editing and fine tuning, this book could have been even better.
I bought this book some while back and it has been sitting on my TBR pile for quite some time. Deciding that I wanted to put my feet up with something entertaining and enjoyable I decided to give this a go. Ultimately though I found this was just an okay book, the kind of thing that you may read over a weekend and then promptly forget about as you dump it in the bag for the charity shop.

I thought that there would be more action in places than there really was and this just really turned into a story of a mother looking for her son who had gone into the walled city mentioned in the blurb on the back cover. Obviously this is an alternative history novel and Seattle has been changed to write this, and I had no problem with that, it is just that this seemed rather clichéd and similar to many another tale, although not as good as some.

So on the whole if you are looking for just some average escapism then this will fit the bill, but if you are looking for something that will make you sit up and want to tell others about the great book you have just read, then this isn't it. There are much better Steampunk books on the market, but by the same token, there are also much worse.
on 3 August 2015
Story starts of promising - at least what I expect from steampunk. Big fantastical machines driven by gears and steam, airships, furnaces. Oh, and zombie hoard thrown in for good measure. However, it all too rapidly degenerates into a series of isolated adventures which together form a loose story with a minor plot twist at the end. Some characters are really well developed while others are more two dimensional and seem to be there just to make up the numbers. Some totally unbelievable teenage behaviour (goes from calling his mother by name to Mom) - I understand what the author was signifying but it does not ring true with any teenage boys I know. Overall, the story lacks excitement and pace. Perhaps this will sound sexist, but in this case I would say the novel is obviously written by a woman with too much emphasis on relationships and emotions and not enough given to adventure and technology. Not a bad book - just not what I would recommend to a friend. Wont be reading the rest of the series.
on 11 October 2013
Review - Boneshaker by Cherie Priest - 5/5 stars

I received this book as a gift. I wanted to try a bit of steampunk again, and this was happily waiting on my bookshelf.

The beginning was a bit slow, I confess. The author starts us from the ground up, which is a good way to start, and teaches us about the two main characters: Briar Wilkes and her son Zeke, who have a bit of history in the story. Briar tended to procrastinate a few times, clearly avoiding discussing some sensitive family matters with her son.

It turns out the main characters have a direct connection to the Boneshaker machine. The Boneshaker machine caused quite an incident in Seattle, unleashing a gas called the Blight, which turns humans into the undead. Seattle is walled off from the rest of civilization.

I must say the author did a very good job introducing steampunk technologies to the reader, and ensured there was a very good reason for their presence. For example, gas masks are worn to ensure people are not infected by the Blight gas, and the subsequent isolation in Seattle and the scavenging of a local inventor leads to new/steampunk technologies.

There was a lot happening in this book. There were many interesting characters and the main two characters sped through a lot of non-stop action.

I'd recommend this book to anybody who likes steampunk. The ending was good, and although unexpected, it didn't really overawe me. However the gradual build-up of the truth between mother and son is definitely enjoyable and makes the rest of the story an intriguing read.
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on 22 October 2011
In an alternate 1860s Seattle, Briar Wilkes and her son Zeke are living hand to mouth on the outskirts of a once bustling city of the gold rush. Sixteen years previous, the city was literally torn asunder by the Boneshaker, a great drill-engine built by Briar's then husband, Dr. Blue, to mine through Alaska's ice in search of gold. This terrible disaster not only caused many deaths and ruined livelihoods but unearthed a blight gas that turns anybody who breathes it into the living dead. Now Zeke wants answers. Was his father really to blame? He heads off to the other side of the wall with an old gas mask and an antique rifle and only Briar can bring him back.

Last but not least in Discovering Steampunk: Boneshaker by Cherie Priest. Boneshaker is a cleverly weaved nail-biting story full of intricacies and hidden history. Beginning with a catastrophic event that shakes the very foundations of Seattle and its' people, causing them to have to wall off the main part of the town to remove the possibility of blight contamination from the strange gas that was unearthed all those years ago, it reminded me a lot of an action-horror film.

It is a fantastically written piece of fiction. It's atmospheric, chilling, and dark. The entire story has layers and hidden depths that I can only hope are explored in later books and the rich description paints such a clear picture of the environment that it is just the story and you. It is told from two perspectives, those of Briar and Zeke, and their stories are so tightly connected yet distant with entirely different voices that it really keeps the narrative ever-changing and fresh.

The relationship between Briar Wilkes, and her son Ezekial is explored in depth as he runs off to recredit his family name from beyond the wall, and Briar strives to rescue him from a world of `rotters' (zombies), blight gas which turns people into rotters if breathed, and the criminals who have made a life for themselves there. It is heart-rending and gripping to the very end.

Briar might actually be one of my favourite heroines in modern fiction. She reminds me of a Ripleyesque 80's action heroine, kicking arse and not just for the sake of it but because she has to. There is no romance, just a grim fight for survival of herself and her son and she is willing to do anything to save him. The strong female heroine is a very difficult trope to manage because very often it is taken too far and you know it's been used just to make a statement, or they aren't that strong at all, however, Briar is neither and I love that about her character.

I would recommend Boneshaker for folk who enjoy a good adult novel. There's no sexual content but if you don't enjoy adult fiction, you won't enjoy this as it can be quite slow-going in parts. However, if that doesn't bother you, then it comes highly recommended from me as a steampunk staple. There's a bit of a horror element to it, though nothing that will have you hiding under the covers if you read it at night, there are a few zombies, a strong criminal underground, and everything fits together so well. It's easy to lose yourself in the story and forget that you're reading a work of fiction.
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on 11 July 2012
I liked the premise of 'Boneshaker' and Priest's portrayal of post-apocolyptic 19th-century Seattle and the characters who dwell there. It's a lovingly crafted book and you can tell Priest has a real fondness for the period - I just felt that it took a bit too much time to hit it's stride (as her subsequent novels have done also) which left the end feeling a little rushed. Also be warned: it's not really a zombie novel - although a zombie-type scurge does inhabit much of the city where the action occurs, but this is not the novel's central theme.

on 31 October 2009
After enjoying Four and Twenty Blackbirds, I've been meaning to read more of Cherie Priest's work but my reading pile has simply been to large and diverse to come back. However, when Boneshaker came out, I simply had to get it and bump it up on top of the pile. I have no regrets doing so.

Determined to clear his father's name, Zeke runs away from home and finds a way into the city. His worried mother soon follows him and the narrative switches back and forth between them and their desperate struggle to find what they are looking for. They make friends and enemies alike until they are finally confronted with the the ruler of the inner city who might hold all the answers...

There have been few books in recent years that have captivated me as much as Boneshaker, it is simply unputdownable. The plot chucks along nicely, constantly little bits of the background are revealed but never too much so the reader is always left guessing at the truth until it is finally revealed in the end.
The setting isn't classic steampunk in that it isn't Victorian England or the Empire but it has all the elements. Belching furnaces, wonderful and horrible machines and gadets made from brass and wood, dirigibles and airships and of course goggles in all kinds of shapes and sizes, creating an interesting world away from the stereotype. Also unlike the stereotype it is a dark and depressing world, everyone is fighting for survival or making ends meet.
Both plot and characters are very well written and vividly described so it's easy for the reader's mental eye to imagine what's going on.

Well done Cherie, I can't wait for the next book in this universe.
As the first novel in Cherie Priest's "Clockwork Century" series I was really looking forward to reading this, having previously read her intriguing short story "Reluctance" which is set in the same world.

I think my anticipation was a little too high; it`s not a bad novel by any means, it just didn't quite live up to the high praise it has received in all the Steampunk reference books.
As it is, the characterisations are fairly good, with a strong female leading character and her wayward son - Briar and Zeke (Ezekiel) Wilkes - and a host of interesting - if, in some cases, underdeveloped - supporting characters. The plot sags somewhat in places though, rescued mainly by set-piece scenes. There are many good ideas presented within the alternative world Priest has constructed - the Civil War, airship technology, zombies etc., but I was left feeling that the sum of parts was somewhat greater than the whole.
There is a strong idea at work here - this alternative-world setting is too good to give up on - and Priest certainly shows flashes of quality in her writing which will lead me to read the next volume.

"Boneshaker", however, was regrettably less earth trembling than hoped for by this reader. 3 ½ stars.
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Why an Unconditional Basic Income (UBI)?

Paying universal transfers acknowledges that every individual has the same unconditional right – to a basic income sufficient for them to live in dignity. The Unconditional Basic Income (UBI) provides this.

With this basic protection in place people are then free to add to that income through paid work if they choose. Equally, they can live on the UBI and pursue other activities – doing the unpaid work of caring for children or others in their community for example, or studying full time, or pursuing new business ventures. The UBI offers the prospect of ensuring everyone has the means to live while giving them the freedom to live their lives as they choose.

What is the alternative to a universal transfer?

The alternative – targeted transfers – involves discriminating between people. Some get more support than others. But on what basis should we discriminate between people? By the number of children they look after perhaps - but what about the number of dependent elderly parents they care for, or the step children that they care for when other parents also provide support? What about those who contribute a lot of time and money to their wider community, or who have high health costs? In practice it is not possible to credibly discriminate between people so many fall through the cracks of targeted transfers. As well, the very process of identifying “the needy” stigmatises people, removes the choices of those who receive help and exacerbates social divisions.

This is what the New Zealand Royal Commission on Social Policy had to say in 1988 about universal and targeted transfers:

“Universalism recognises that we are all members of society… being New Zealanders entitles and engages all of us, whatever our ages or circumstances, and support measures should be rights based. And those eligible for income support should not be subject to unnecessary and stigmatising procedures to establish what is theirs as a basic right.

A system designed only to assist the poor helps perpetuate existing social and economic inequality in the longer run by reinforcing distinctions between the poor and the rest of society, and at the same time it may lock the poor into a cycle of poverty by its system of benefit abatement. A further implication is that a highly targeted system will ultimately face considerable resistance from taxpayers unwilling to support a system perceived as rewarding the improvident and providing themselves with no return for their contributions. The longer run consequences could thus be an even more targeted system that provides continually falling benefit levels.”


amy poehler recall vote parks and recreation nbc 'Parks and Recreation': Amy Poehler, Mike Schur on what's next for Leslie after 'Recall Vote'As “Parks and Recreation” returned with two brand-new episodes on Thursday (Nov. 14) after a a brief hiatus, fans got the results of Leslie Knope’s (Amy Poehler) recall election they’ve been waiting for, though not exactly the ones they’d hoped for.

That’s right, the citizens of Pawnee stood up and voted Leslie out of office, leaving the (soon-to-be former) city councilwoman left to pick up the pieces in the coming episodes. At a press conference for the big reveal, Poehler and “Parks” executive producer Mike Schur previewed Leslie’s road ahead.

”How does she move forward? I think there’s a lot of comedy coming up and  we had a lot of fun with what she does as a dead man walking,” Poehler says. “A lame duck, so to speak.”

”The next few episodes are largely about Leslie with a ticking clock, like a massive ticking clock on her career,” Schur adds. “It’s largely about how she tries to finish off her career.”

“As a city councillor,” the actress quickly clarifies.

“As a city councillor, yes,” Schur says. “And then the 100th episode, which airs in January, is about literally her final hours in office.”

As for whether the disappointing outcome was always in the cards for the eternally-optimistic Leslie, Schur admits it wasn’t. “We didn’t specifically have a plan to have her win, but we got her recalled in the finale last year and then we spent, the writers spent the 10 weeks leading up to the shooting just talking about the options, and it just seemed like the best, juiciest option,” he adds. “Like, once we committed to having a recall, it was like, ‘Well, if she wins the recall vote, then she’s just back where she was before.’ And the more exciting and kind of interesting thing seemed to be to boot her out.”

Leslie’s defeat is the continuation of her character’s story as envisioned from the very beginning, as Poehler puts. it. “It’s also an interesting idea that Schur and I talked about at the very beginning of the show. The idea of, like, this long arc of one person with very little power believing they could make a difference and when you start being that person and things change, people don’t always like it,” she says. “People don’t always like the things that you change, especially when they’re really personal and small, like the size of your sodas. And it’s kind of cool to play around with the idea that just because Leslie’s getting things done doesn’t meant that people like what she’s doing. And how do you fight the cynicism and disappointment that comes along with that? Which is, like, how do you make anything different in politics? How do you change city hall without getting defeated by, when change does happen, people still want to kick you out?”

“Yeah, we talked a lot about the long-term story of the character fighting cynicism, fighting the tide of cynicism, and you kind of can’t tell that story if everything is going great,” Schur adds. “Like, if nothing challenging happens in her life, if her best friend doesn’t leave town, or if she gets elected to office and just everything she wants to accomplish is very easy to accomplish, then you can’t really tell a story about how to stem the tide of cynicism, so occasionally, we have to kind of knock her around a little bit, especially professionally. But this year it’s both, it’s professionally and personally.”

Schur says that Leslie will bounce back from the defeat and work towards finding writing her next chapter. “She’s gonna do what she always does, right?” he teases. “She’s gonna mull some stuff over and she gets a lot of advice from a lot of different people, among them Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman), along the way. She actively seeks out a bunch of different possibilities for her life and certain things present themselves to her and she’s just gonna kind of — she just never stops moving. She’s a shark, and she never stops moving and eventually she’s gonna figure out a path that makes sense to her.”

One reporter asks if the park that Leslie was so determined to have built in the beginning of the series will re-enter her narrative. “There’s at least one episode in the chunk that comes after where that comes back into play,” Schur reveals.

“It’s always there. It’s very symbolic of her progress, or lack there of,” Poehler adds.

“Parks and Recreation” has just two episodes left to air in 2013, on Thursday (Nov. 21) from 8-9 p.m. The show will return in the new year for its 100th episode on Jan. 9, settling into its new time slot, 8:30 p.m.

Are you disappointed that Leslie lost the recall vote? Sound off in the comments below.


Salon Des Amateurs

Released in US & Canada: 04/12/2011
Formats: CD / Digital / LP
Barcodes: CD - 6 - 00116 - 13162 - 1
Digital - 06 - 00116 - 13165 - 2
LP - 6 - 00116 - 13161 - 4

Track listing:
1. Radar
2. TwoAM
3. Girls
4. Ping
5. Cube
6. Subconscious
7. NoSleep
8. Tanzbein
9. TaxiTaxi
10. Sunrise
Salon Des Amateurs

Press Release

Hot on the heels of October 2010's âForeign Landscapesâ album, Hauschka returns with a brilliant new full-length, which once again sees the adventurous pianist/composer pushing into fresh territory and expanding his oeuvre. Where 'Foreign Landscapes' saw Hauschka shifting from his acclaimed solo 'prepared' piano into full-scale orchestral compositions, âSalon des Amateursâ sees the artist utilising the percussive qualities of the treated piano for a unique take on techno and house music. Expanded to include drum kit and orchestral instrumentation, the album is a rousing set of dance tracks. Named after the club/bar in his native DÃ¼sseldorf, where Hauschka (aka Volker Bertelmann) presents an annual piano festival â follows a night out around the Salon, itself a âstand for unselfish programming and creating a space for development and possibilities that are normally not createdâ, to borrow Hauschkaâs description.

âSalon des Amateursâ is simultaneously a bold departure and a logical step forward for Hauschka. A unique project that sounds simultaneously organic and mechanised, it is full of carefully-picked references to two opposing genres â modern classical and heady dance music. Featuring mÃºm drummer Samuli Kosminen and Calexicoâs John Convertino and Joe Burns, there is a driving propulsion to the record, firmly aimed to resonate through dance floors, while Grammy award-winning violinist Hilary Hahn ensures her guest spot will not go unnoticed by a classically-aligned audience. Far from being a musical curio or a covers album, this record is entirely comprised of original pieces, each imbued with a palpable sense of fun (as is often the case in Hauschkaâs music) and a huge sonic depth, yet its instrumentation upholds an astute, sharp elegance. Subtle electronic touches swarm around âCubeâ with the same grace and nuance as the syncopated brass stabs of âRadarâ, while the grimey-synth mimicking low-end piano of âTwo AMâ and âTanzbeinâ references the layers of repetition that characterise the golden age of house and techno.

The album was largely recorded by Bertelmann at his Studio Zwei space in DÃ¼sseldorf. Beginning as a series of piano solos, these were gradually expanded and ultimately accorded the essential dance touch â a solid, thumping low end. Kosminen and the Calexico members recorded their own work remotely following directive notes from Bertelmann. A final collaborator â âDancer in the Darkâ author SjÃ³n Sigurdsson â contributes a surreal short story to the liner notes, in keeping with a theme present in each of Hauschkaâs FatCat releases.

Hauschka is perhaps predominantly known for his work with the prepared piano, with Bertelmann working from a start-point of creative modification: gaffa tape, aluminium foil, bottle tops, ping-pong balls, even vibrators placed across the piano's internal strings and hammers to produce a beautiful, bizarre spectrum of timbres that belies the traditionalist expectations of the instrument. Immediately lauded for his playful approach to the post-classical field, Bertelmannâs profile as an artist has steadily risen since the release of his FatCat debut âRoom to Expandâ (2007). Following a series of engaging live shows (the point at which so many people 'get' what he's doing), his follow-up, âFerndorfâ (2008), drew an even wider audience, and âForeign Landscapesâ (2010) marked the next leap forward, bringing in a large-scale ensemble for the record itself and a great critical response.

James Vella : [email protected]

David Howell : [email protected]

Adam Pierce : [email protected]


The 25th of the month of Thargelion marks the day of the Plynteria festival. This minor festival was held solely in Athens and surrounding areas and was in honor of Athena Polias, protector of the city. It was considered an auspicious day by the ancient Athenians because on this day, they did not have the protection of Athena. Around the time of the Pynteria the Kallunteria also took place, a festival during which the temple of Athena was cleaned throughly and Her sacred fires relit. Elaion will organize PAT rituals for both celebrationss and invites you to join us on 31 May and 4 June. Note! The Plynteria is a nighttime festival and thus not at the usual 10 am EDT.

Plutarch, in his 'Life of Alkibiades' describes the Plynteria festival beautifully:

"But while Alcibiades was thus prospering brilliantly, some were nevertheless disturbed at the particular season of his return. For he had put into harbour on the very day when the Plynteria of the goddess Athene were being celebrated. The Praxiergidae celebrate these rites on the twenty-fifth day of Thargelion, in strict secrecy, removing the robes of the goddess and covering up her images. Wherefore the Athenians regard this day as the unluckiest of all days for business of any sort. The goddess, therefore, did not appear to welcome Alcibiades with kindly favour and good will, but rather to veil herself from him and repel him. However, all things fell out as he wished, and one hundred triremes were manned for service, with which he was minded to sail off again; but a great and laudable ambition took possession of him and detained him there until the Eleusinian mysteries." [34.1]

During the Plynteria, the wooden statue of Athena was disrobed of the Peplos that she received during the Panathenaia by Her priestesses, veiled, and then taken down to the sea for a wash. Veiling a Theos' image from head to toe was considered apophras, unlucky, as it removed Their presence.

The women who removed the robe and jewelry from the ancient wooden image and then veiled her, were part of an Athenian family traditionally entrusted with this task. They were called the Praxiergidai. The procession to the sea, several miles away, was a city-affair. As all other sanctuaries and temples in Athens remained closed on this day, it's likely many attended.

In front of the procession was a single woman, carrying a basket of fig pastries (known as 'hegeteria'), for the fig was believed to be the first cultivated food, and was--like the sea water--a purifier. Mounted young men, known as 'epheboi' escorted the statue deep into the water before coming back to shore. Thee, it was bathed by two girls, the bathers (loutrides). A single priestess was most likely in charge of washing the peplos of the Goddess. her title has not survived. In the evening, a torch-lid procession brought the statue back to Her temple and she was redressed by the Praxiergidai. The statue may have remained veiled for the remainder of the day.

There is another, smaller, festival connected to the Plynteria: the Kallunteria, which was celebrated somewhere in the vicinity of the Plynthria. During this festival, the temple of Athena was swept out--the name of the festival means 'sweeping out' or 'to beautify by sweeping'--and cleaned thoroughly, so that the washed statue would have a clean home to return to. The lamp of Her eternal flame was also refilled and relit by the priestesses on this day. The lamp was a golden vessel, created in the late fifth century by Kallimakhos, and was big enough to hold enough oil to burn day and night for the whole year. It's therefor logical to assume that the festival was held on a day close to the twenty-fifth, possibly the twenty-fourth or twenty-sixth. Ancient sources state that the festival must have taken place after the Bendideia. From Proklos' 'Timaeus of Plato':

"For they say, that the Bendideia were celebrated in the Piraeus on the twentieth day of [Thargelion], but that the festival sacred to Minerva followed these."

Mikalson, in his 'The sacred and civil calendar of the Athenian year', gives the 24th as the date but stresses that the 24th is merely a estimation, and we, in fact, do not know when the festival was held. He assumes it could even have taken place after the Plynteria, and places the Kallunteria between the 24th and the 28th of the month, with the exception of the 25th, as that was the date of the Plyneria. Christiane Sourvinou-Inwood in 'Athenian Myths and Festivals' sets the date as the 27th with a somewhat unshakable certaintly. We have accepted the 27th as the possible date of the Kallunteria festival for our PAT ritual although we again stress that the date of the Kallunteria is unknown.

The rituals for the event can be found here for the Plynteria and here for the Kallunteria, and you can join the community page here.
In the category 'stories that are almost too amazing to believe', it seems an incredibly rare gold crown believed to be more than 2,000 years old has been discovered under a bed in a Somerset cottage. The delicate Hellenic myrtle wreath, which is thought to date to 300 BC, was found in a tatty cardboard box in the modest Taunton property. Its elderly owner, who wants to remain anonymous, was stunned when he found it. Needless to say his shock gauge went through the roof when an auctioneer then told him the valuable artefact it is worth at least £100,000. This reports The Daily Mail.

Valuers from Duke's of Dorchester in Dorset attended the pensioner's home to look at some items he had inherited from his grandfather. But Guy Schwinge from the auctioneers was astonished when he pulled aside the newspaper inside a worn box to reveal the precious ancient piece. He said:

"When the owner pulled the gold wreath from a tatty cardboard box filled with paper, my heart missed a beat. When I went to the cottage the last thing I expected to see was a piece of gold from antiquity. It is notoriously difficult to date gold wreaths of this type. Stylistically it belongs to a rarefied group of wreaths dateable to the Hellenistic period and the form may indicate that it was made in Northern Greece. It is eight inches across and weighs about 100 grams. It's pure gold and handmade, it would have been hammered out by a goldsmith. The wreath is in very nice condition for something that's 2,300 years old. It's a very rare antiquity to find, they don't turn up often. I've never seen one in my career before."

Gold wreaths like the one found were meant to imitate the wreaths of real leaves that were worn in Ancient Hellenic in religious ceremonies and given as prizes in athletic and artistic contests. They usually depicted branches of laurel, myrtle, oak and olive trees, which were symbolic of concepts such as wisdom, triumph, fertility, peace and virtue. Due to their fragile nature, they were only worn on very special occasions. Many were dedicated to the Gods in sanctuaries or placed in the graves of royal or aristocratic people as funerary offerings. It seems this one might have been a funerary offerign as well as bits of dirt embedded on the wreath suggest this one was buried at some point. Most date to the Hellenistic period (323 BC to 31 BC), which this one is also thought to date from, and show the exceptional skill of goldsmiths at that time. Some were made during earlier periods but the wreaths became more frequent after Alexander the Great's Eastern conquests, when gold was more available in ancient Hellas.

"I knew my grandfather travelled extensively in the 1940s and 50s and he spent time in the north west frontier area, where Alexander the Great was, so it's possible he got it while he was there. But he never told me anything about this wreath. I inherited quite a lot of things from him and I just put this to one side for almost a decade and didn't really think anything of it. Recently I decided I needed to sort through things and called in Duke's to have look at some of the items he'd passed on to me. The wreath is a beautiful piece but I never expected it to be so valuable. It was a mixture of excitement and just disbelief when they told me what it was."

The most famous of these types of wreaths is one that was found at Vergina in the tomb of Alexander the Great's father Philip II of Macedon in the 1970s, which is in a museum in Greece. A gold wreath similar to this latest one sold at auction in 2012 for almost £200,000. The antiquity will be sold on June 9.
In an announcement that makes me very giddy, archeologist Kostas Sismanidis has stated there are strong indications that a peculiar ancient tomb found in the area of Stagira, in central Macedonia, is the tomb of the Aristotle. The Archaeological News Network reports this after the announcement was made during an international conference on the famous philosopher in Thessaloniki.

Sismanidis, whose team has spent 20 years digging in the area, said the horseshoe-shaped domed building unearthed in the middle of the south side of the Stagira hill was just a few dozen meters from the agora arcade. The tomb had a tiled roof made at the royal pottery workshop, affirming its public function. A two-meter-wide raised, processional, built road lead to the monument entrance that was accessible to people offering bids.

Artefacts, pottery and more than fifty coins found in the area date the tomb and the altar at the times of Alexander the Great. The top of the dome is 10 meters high and there is a rectangular marble floor surrounding a Byzantine tower. Aristotle, considered as one of the most important philosophers, was a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great.

Sismanidis cited two literary sources that in his view indicate the people of Stagira may have transferred Aristotle's remains from Evia, where he died in 322 BC, to his birthplace. The manuscripts he referred to are from The Marciana Library and an Arabic biography of Aristotle from the second half of the 11 century BC. According to the latter:

"...when Aristotle died, the people of Stagira sent and brought back his ashes to their home, placed it in a copper urn and then deposited this urn in a location called ‘Aristotelion’. Every time they had important issues and wanted to resolve difficult problems, they convened their assembly in this place."

Addressing the “Aristotle World Congress”, Sismanidis, upon explaining these sources, stated the following on the transport of Aristotle's remains and a potential hero cult that was formed after his death:

"Based, therefore, on the above written sources, we believe that we cannot challenge the information they give us concerning the transport and burial of Aristotle's remains in the city of Stagira, on the establishment of an altar at the tomb of the philosopher, on the posthumous honours and on the establishment of the annual ‘Aristotelian’ celebration. We believe, but without having proof, just strong indications, that all evidence contribute to this version."

The possibility of a hero cult in honour of Aristotle in his hometown is not far-fetched. We know of many people who inspired or protected a town who, upon death, recieved these honours. The Erkhian calendar, for example, lists many heroes who recieved annual sacrifice but were worshipped nowhere else, at least not in such a way. It is the first time actual evidence has been brought to bear, however, in connection to an actually plausible location of his tomb. Of course, this evidence was immedietly challenged. The major pain points?

- The structure has been standing at Stagira for 20 years, why did Sismanidis wait so long to make his revelation? The announcement was quickly dubbed the “Amphipolis of the Left.”

- The area is found just a few kilometers away from the controversial Skouries mine, a high-grade gold-copper porphyry deposit located in the Halkidiki peninsula that was planned to operate as an open pit mine for about seven years, followed by approximately 20 years of underground development. However, in January 2016, Eldorado Gold suspended work on the controversial Skouries mine, with the decision coming after a year of confrontations with the Greek government that included permits being revoked and delayed by the state multiple times, principally due to environmental concerns, and local opposition. An important finding such as Aristotle’s tomb in the area would further weigh the balance against the operation of the mine.

- Though archaeologists point to Sismanidis as a respected scientist, they are critical of his decision to make his announcement at a conference where the findings would not be put to tough scrutiny by archaeologists but at an event of a philosophical character.

So there you have it. As with many archaeological finds, most likely only time will tell. For now, I love the idea and I'm rolling with it. Call it the privilage of the unscientific.

Khaula, another of the actors, said:

"I have a very difficult time sorting out and keeping straight different variations of the mythos. I'm trying to learn about Chronos, Phanes, Aeon etc, the Primordial Gods, the Gods of Time, bu I'm struggleing to understand who is an equivalent to who, which is just another name, who was simply an idea more than a God, etc. Can you help?"

Ha! Oh... tall order! I can help you with specific Theoi and I can help you with a bit of background on why it's such a muddled mess. for the prior, I'd need you to contact me with a question about a specific Theoi and I will do the other now.

So, in general, this is what it comes down to: the Hellenic empire stretched out over hundreds of years, was influenced by hundreds of cultures and regional practices and was formed by the voices of thousands of people. What we have in written evidence of the ancient Hellenic views on the Theoi is, pretty much, what happens when all of these things come together: they make a muddled mess.

I tend to go with the idea that the Theoi know what happened and that what mankind recorded is greatly influenced by mankind. I use it as a foundation, not stone cold fact. Accept that Aphrodite may have been born from the castrated genitals of Ouranos in the sea's foam as Hesiod says, or of Zeus and Dione as per Homeros. Or that Ouranos was born either of the world egg formed by Khronos as per the Orphic Tradition or from Gaia with out a father, as per Hesiod. You won't ever find out which one is true--or neither, or both. This is why we have epithets.

An epithet is an attachment to the name of a God or Goddess, used to indicate either a specific domain of the Deity, a specific origin myth or region from which the Deity came, or an entirely different entity, through either domain or origin.  Epithets within polytheism pose a challenge; are all epithets different Gods or different faces of the same God(dess)? I belief Aphrodite Diôniaia (Daughter of Dione) and Aphrodite Anadyomenê (Risen from the Sea) are different Goddesses but the epithet Aphrodite Philommeides (Laughter-Loving) could be applied to both and is not a distinct Goddess. I have no set rule for this; it's a matter of feeling.

All I can advice you is to read all interpretations and honour all version at the appropriate time. Embrace the practice of epithets, they will save you a monster headache. Worship the Theoi in a way that feels 'true' for you--at the end of the day, that is the best any of us can do.

"What do you know about the ancient Athenian calendar and the seasons? I am trying to figure out when to celebrate festivals we know little about, like the ones for Poseidon, and understanding how the Hellenes experienced the seasons would be quite instructive."

The Mediterranean climate is characterized by two seasons: the first dry and hot, from Mounichion to Metageitnion (April to September) when river beds tended to dry up, the second is humid and marked by often violent rain storms brought in by west winds, with mild, frost free temperatures.

The ancient Hellenes, however, destinguished three seasons: spring, summer and winter, and these had deities presiding over them--the Hôrai: Eunomia (Good Order, Good Pasture), Eirene (Peace, Spring), and Dike (Justice). They were originally the personifications of nature in its different seasonal aspects, but in later times they were regarded as Goddesses of order in general and natural justice, because these were required for farming prosperity. The association of agriculture with law and order can also be found in the divinities of Zeus and Demeter, for example.

To date festivals we don't have a set date about, the focus needs to be on the why of the festival. Why was it held? When would this event take place now? Then you can look at things like sacred days for a deity, the stage of the moon and the presence of other festivals to make a better guestimation. But it will always remain a guestimation--this is not bad, obviously, but it is something to forever remain aware of.

"Can you worship Hellenic deities without practicing Hellenismos? Like can you still worship those deities without defining yourself with that religion?"

Yes, of course you can! The greater Pagan community--and especially the non-recon branches like Religious Witchcraft and Wicca--incorporate many of the ancient Gods in some way, either as separate Gods or as a conglomorated whole in The God and Goddess who are generally understood as the whole of all individual Gods (or the other way around: all individual Gods as part of Them). Personally, I consider most people who worship solely one (or a small handful of) God(s) or Goddess(es) out of the Hellenic pantheon non-Hellenistic as well, so that is also a possibility. Worship however and whoever you are called to!

"How did Greek soldiers worship the theoi while out at war? I am curious how it differed from when home. Is there any practice of them wearing pendants of the theoi as an image of a god or the gods to worship? Sorry I am new to this and curious, thank you!"

To be honest, it wasn't as different as at home. Probably the only difference was that they made an impromptu altar out of sand or rocks instead of using one especially made and installed at the oikos (house) or temple, or they simply used their campfires to get the job done. Let me quote you some Homeros:

"They rose, and scattered quickly among the ships, lit fires in the huts and ate their meal. And each made sacrifice to the immortal gods, to whichever god they chose, praying they might escape death in the tumult of war. Agamemnon, their leader, himself sacrificed a fat five-year old ox to almighty Zeus, inviting the elders, the chiefs of the Achaeans, to attend. Nestor, first, and King Idomeneus, then Ajax and his namesake, and Diomedes son of Tydeus, and Odysseus, sixth, Zeus’ equal in counsel. Menelaus of the loud war-cry had no need of summons, for he knew his brother’s thoughts in the matter. They stood around the victim, and took up the sacred barley, and Agamemnon prayed: ‘Sky-dwelling Zeus, great and glorious lord of the thunder clouds, let the sun not set nor darkness fall before I have razed Priam’s smoke-blackened halls, torching his gates with greedy fire, ripping Hector’s tunic from his breast with the shredding bronze, toppling a host of his comrades round him, headlong in the dust to bite the earth.’ So he prayed, but Zeus would not yet grant his wish; accepting the offering, but prolonging the toils of war.

When they had offered their petition and scattered grains of barley, they drew back the victims’ heads, slit their throats and flayed them. Then they cut slices from the thighs, wrapped them in layers of fat, and laid raw meat on top. These they burned on billets of wood stripped of leaves, then spitted the innards and held them over the Hephaestean flames. When the thighs were burnt and they had tasted the inner meat, they carved the rest in small pieces, skewered and roasted them through, then drew them from the spits. Their work done and the meal prepared, they feasted and enjoyed the shared banquet, and when they had quenched immediate hunger and thirst, Nestor of Gerenia spoke up, saying: ‘Agamemnon, leader of men, glorious son of Atreus, let us stay here no longer, nor delay the work the god directs us to. Come, let the heralds of the bronze-greaved Achaeans make their rounds of the ships and gather the men together, and let us as generals inspect the whole army, so as to swiftly rouse the spirit of Ares in them.’"[Iliad, Bk II:394-483]

The ancient Hellenes did not believe that representations of the Theoi were linked to the Theoi. They did not, for example, believe that the statues in temples were a 'home' for the Gods. They placed them there as a gift to the Theoi in hopes of gaining Their favour and a bit more of Their attention. And because everyone who mattered (Greek citizens) honoured the same pantheon of Gods, they also didn't have the need to display their religious preference. The custom of wearing jewellery 'to keep the Gods close' is very recent; the ancient Hellenes performed sacrifice the way they did exactly for this reason, they did not need representations of Them for worship. The Theoi would always find them once They hear their name called in the beautiful singing of hymns.

"We're (my family and I) going to be culling our chickens this spring, and I have permission from my grandmother and my dad to set aside as an offering. Our chickens are black, so am I right in assuming that they would only be an acceptable offering to chthonic Gods? (This is not a problem for me, considering I feel closest to the chthonic Gods, but I wanted to check.)"

Yes, Khthonic Theoi usually recieved the black offerings. That said, heroes also generally recieved black sacrifices and so did Gaea (and some other Earth deities, as They are all also considered Khthonic). Good luck with your sacrifice!
A sacrifice to Menedeios was performed by the Attic deme Erkhia on the 19th day of the month Thargelion. Menedeios was an entirely local deitified hero and sacrifices to him seems to have been performed only at Erkhia. Because he was most likely a war hero, however, we will honour Him with the Theoi he would have prayed to for guidance and strength: Athena, Ares and Niké. Will you join us in honouring these Theoi and this hero on the 28th of May, 10 am EDT?

Heroes and heroines have a special place in Hellenismos, as they had in ancient Hellas. These were humans--most with at least a part divine heritage--who were considered so brave, so skillful, so extraordinary in their lifetime that they became revered. Some were priests or priestesses of a temple, some excelled in battle, others were skilled healers or good rulers. Once they passed to the realm of Hades, their names were remembered at least once a year on a special ocassion, because the ancient Hellenes believed that if the name and deeds of a person were remembered, they would live forever and potentially look out for those they had looked out for before.

We, unfortunately, know very little about Menedeios. We know he must have been local to the Erkhian area. He recieved a ram that was to be consumed on site. His name means 'the One who Stands his Ground' and as such, he was most likely a war hero, famed for bravery, skill and his ability to protect his home town. For us, this is enough to honour him with sacrifices.

You can find the ritual for the event here and join the community page here. As a note, the ritual calls for an offering of barley cake (shaped like a sheep) with ash placed into a pit in the ground. If you don't have the time or means to make a barey cake, try to at least give sacrifice in an offering pit or on an altar lower than your usual one.
On the 19th of Thargelion, an Athenian festival for the Thrakian Goddess Bendis (Βενδις) was held. This festival, which went on into the night of the 20th of the month, was designed especially for Bendis, who was introduced to Attika by Thrakian métoikoi who took the opportunity to introduce their Goddess into the Athenian pantheon after the Oracle of Dodona decreed that Thrakian worshippers should be granted the right for ground to build a sanctuary on. Their shrine to Her was built on the hill Mounykhia, near to the temple of Artemis Mounikhia, with whom She was identified. The temenos was completed somewhere before 429 BC, and at least one Thrakian festival to the Goddess was held before the Athenians got involved. Would you like to involve yourself with Her worship as well? Elaion is hosting a PAT ritual for Her, Artemis and Hekate on the 28th of May at the usual 10 am EDT.

The Goddess Bendis originated in Thrake, to the north of Hellas. Her cult was imported into Athens around 432 BC, at the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. Athens had always had close ties with Thrake, but besides the oracle's decree, it seems that the acceptance of the foreign cult into the city at this time was probably connected with Athens' military alliance with the Odrysian Thrakians, who supplied mercenaries throughout the war.
The Bendideia (Βενδίδεια) itself was celebrated in the port town of Peiraeeus. At first, only the Thrakians honored Her, but within a few years, the Athenians held their own procession alongside the Thrakians, theirs winding down from the Prataneion (Πρυτανεῖον)--the seat of government in ancient Hellas--in the morning  to the sanctuary of the Goddess in the Peiraios, while the Thrakian procession was entirely within the port town. The six-mile procession of the Athenians was so unusual, that a decree called for basins, water and sponges to bathe after it, and garlands. It seems obvious to place a meal here in the timeframe, followed by a period of rest until it became dark enough to perform the most telling of cult worship to the Goddess: an evening torch race on horseback; a true novelty. Plato, in his 'Republic' tells us a little it about this race:
You are not far wrong, I said.
Of course.
Certainly not, replied Glaucon.
Very good, I replied."
What, exactly, Bendis presided over to either the Thrakians or the Athenians is unclear. She was identified mostly with Artemis, but not equated with Her, as She received a temple of Her own. Due to a connection with grain and the growth cycle of plants, she was identified with Demeter, and sometimes Persephone and/or Hekate. She was thus also associated with Selene.  Mostly, however, she was equated with Artemis Mounikhia.
In the Classical literature and in later traditions, Artemis was portrayed as a huntress; a savage and wild deity of nature, and a virgin maiden. Artemis Mounikhia, however, differed from this Classical image. The characteristics of this particular epithet of Artemis were in fact more similar to the cult of the moon Goddess Hekate. In Classical tradition, the holy day of Artemis was on the 6th day of the month, but the Mounikhia festival was instead held on the 16th day of Mounychion, under the full moon, an element of the cult of Hekate. During the Mounikhia procession, round cakes with little torches were offered to the Goddess, corresponding directly to the torch races of the neighbouring cult of Bendis.
It appears that Artemis Mounychia was seen as a deity of protection, one connecting women with the moon cycle, and one which represents marriage, fertility and the protection of human life and nature. The physical proximity of the Bendis temple to that of Artemis Mounikhia, and the similarity of festival activities (such as the torch use in relation to the moon cycle) suggests their cults were similar and prehaps even linked. And through Artemis, Bendis is also linked to Hekate.
The worship of Bendis outside of Thrake and Athens never caught on; she was revered almost solely at these places. Yet, the Athenians seemed to have held Her in high regard for a Goddess not of their pantheon.

Will you be honoouring Bendis with us on the 28th of May, at 10 am EDT? You cn find the ritual here and the community page here.