Julius Caesar @ the H'ART museum, Amsterdam

 

Dear Ming Ming and Emile,

Today I visited the H'Art Museum at Amsterdam and spent maybe 2 hour touring an exhibition on Julius Caesar. Although Julius Caesar is not really a story about the Netherlands (he did invaded and occupied this region though), the exhibition gathered artefacts from several different museum across Italy (and Leiden) and presented a fascinating story. Here I would like to tell you what I have learnt today. 

Julius Caesar was born in Rome in 100BCE (Emile, this means 100 years before Jesus was born), in a noble family that was not so rich, so Julius grew up in a crowded neighbourhood in Rome. That was maybe why Julius would later join the populares, a political party that supported the interests of the ordinary people and aimed to limit the power of the senate (the parliament), while the other party--optimates--supported the interests of the noblemen. 

Julius Caeser was good at fighting wars. When he became powerful, he joined two other powerful men--Pompey and Crassus--and formed the first triumvirate (meaning three-man political alliance). Very quickly Caesar ran into a lot of debt and he left Rome to govern Northern Italy and Southern France. From 58-50BC he conquered the Gaul (France and Southern Netherlands). 

these two images are particularly for papa Antoine. 

the crimson red marks the territory of the Roman Republic before Caesar. the part in light red on the East was conquered by Pompey, and the salmon Pink part in the West was conquered by Caesar. 

When Caeser was trying to conquest the Gaul (the French), one of the three leaders--Crassus--died in a battle in Turkey, the triumvirate (three people rule) ended. Pompey was the only one in Rome and so he became the only consul. Caesar achieved major victories in Gaul (France) and want to fight for the consul position in Rome. Pompey ordered him to disband his army but Caesar did not listen. In 49 BC he crossed the river Rubicon to Rome. From here we would inherit the saying "crossing the Rubicon" (Ming Ming used to know this from "the Story of the World"), which means passing the point of no return, because tragedy would soon follow this decision to cross the Rubicon to Rome. 

Because of his victories in Gaul, Caesar became the most powerful man in Rome, he was appointed dictator and consul. This marked the end of the 450-year-old Roman Republic. Caesar concentrated military and civil power and turn Rome into an autocracy and an Empire. 

Caesar then claimed that he was the distant descendant of the Goddess Venus (the Roman name for Aphrodite), he dedicated a temple to Venus, put his own image and that of Venus on the Roman coins (the first ruler ever to do that). he also introduced the Julian calendar (I wonder how it works). 

Caesar's claim; the Goddess Venus gave birth to Aeneas. Fleeing the Trojan War, Aeneas and his son lulus landed on the coast of Latium (close to Rome), Lulus founded the city of Alba Longa (central Italy). On the other hand, Romulus--the founder of Rome and son of war god Mars-was a descent of Lulus' city, so he was the descendant of both Venus and Mars. and Julius Caesar comes from the Lulus family. 

The myth of Rome

the two brother Romulus and Remus were to be abandoned after their birth. The servants could not bring themselves to do such a thing and put the babies in a basket to drift down the river. They were saved by a she-wolf and they would found and build Rome when they grew up. The same story as Moses and The Jungle Book, basically.

 

The senate thought that Caesar had became too powerful and 60 senators plotted to assassinate (kill) him. On 15 March 44BC, Caesar was stabbed and died at the senate. So, do the senators killed Caesar to protect democracy? Was the roman republic democratic? I don't know enough to say that, but Julius Caesar did look very much like a dictator. We do not see what he had done for the ordinary people when he became dictator, but there is plenty of material on how he changed his genealogy to make himself half-god, and put his own face on the coin (money). 

 

showing on three screens how Caesar left home for the Senate (with map and pictures of the ruin) and the senate building and how he was murdered. 

the Story of Cleopatra 

In 48BC, Pompey fled to Egypt and was murdered there by Cleopatra's brother who was the Pharaoh. When Caesar arrived in Egypt, the 20-year-old princess Cleopatra was fighting with her brother to become the pharaoh (King) of Egypt. Caesar supported Cleopatra and helped her to become pharaoh. Cleopatra was strong, beautiful, and very intelligent. Caesar stayed 9 months in Egypt. There are stories that Caesar and Cleopatra were lovers and had a son together. 

Cleopatra: royal diadem, "melon" hairdo. 

The Romans could not agree if Cleopatra was a beauty, because Egyptians were discriminated then. But, following the story, the fascination with Egyptian culture flourished in Rome.  

After Caesar

After Caesar died, his supporters rounded up and killed the senators who had betrayed and murdered Caesar. Rome was then governed by Octavian (the grandson of Caesar's sister, the successor in Caesar's will) and Mark Antony (Caesar's friend). Then Mark Anthony married Cleopatra (!!!) and made himself ruler of the Eastern part of the Roman Empire. War started between Mark Anthony and Octavian in 32 BCE, 3 years after, Mark Anthony lost the war and committed suicide together with Cleopatra. Octavian became the first emperor of Rome, changed his title to Caesar Augustus (and that is how we got July and August in our calendar). Augustus would rule for over 40 years, and Rome changed from a city of brick and terracotta to a city of marble under his reign. The Roman Empire kept its territory (major conquest and expansion achieved in the West by Julius Caesar and in the East by Pompey) would remain intact for another 500 years until the 5th century. 

the territory of the Roman Empire

Roman culture

 the 12 Zodiac sign, how many can you recognise Ming Ming ?

my favorite statue from the exhibit: 

the pillar is from a luxurious garden of a villa, the head represents a satyr (a man with horse/goat ears and tail), the status refers to Bacchus (Dionysus in Greek mytholody), the god of wine. 

  

Goddess Isis, an Egyptian goddess of power and magic who helps the dead enter afterlife or resurrects the dead. On the right is the Egyptian image of her and the left the roman rendition. She is recongized by her crown: with the sun disc, crescent moon, and cow horns. 

Ming Ming: a piece of info for your Personal Project. The Greek Toga, a garment marking the roman citizen's identity and should be worn with the utmost respect. Caesar complained often of his friend Mark Anthony for commiting unworthy acts while wearing the Toga, thus dishonouring the Roman people. 

Now I have spent more than 2 hours sorting through the pictures and info. I hope that you would read it. Emile, mama will call tomorrow to read this to you ok?

bisous, and good night. 

love,

Mama

Leiden, 23 September, 2023

first game in the new season JSS league

Emile's second year playing for Etoile. 

The result for the first year is pretty spectacular, undefeated in a total of 14 games. 

league table for Fall 2022, Etoile came up on top in Division 2

Eddy the top goalscorer of the division (16 goals), and Emile the third (10 goals).

Spring 2023, Etoile got promoted to division 1 and still topped the chart. unfeated in a series of 8 games, winning 7 and drawing 1.

Emile was the top striker with a total of 16 goals.

For this year, Etoile chose to join a more elite league, JSSL. The teams are a lot better and our Under 9 (year old) team A played in division 2 (out of a total of 5 division). 
 

Today (Sept 17) is the first game, and we lost 1-6. pretty dramatic. 

Etoile vs Island City (1st half)

Etoile vs Island City (2nd half)

It is thanks to Mei (Aelijah's mom) that I can watch the game from afar. Our boys played better in the second half, still it is a hard match. The boys are not demoralised though. Team B in Division 4 also lost today, but most boys are happy that they got to have more game time, eveyone got to play more when the U9 group is broken down into two teams. 

Ok, next match will be a hard one against an even stronger team. but we expect Etoile to play better. 

Mama's adventure in Amsterdam on Sat

Train station at Amsterdam, it takes 30min from Leiden to come here, the trains are pretty frequent. 

It costs 22 euros for the round trip, I need to apply for a subscription that would give me 50% off during off peak and weekend hours, but to do that I need to have a local cellphone number first.

houses by the water and many of them are tilted. will take more pictures to show you next time. 

a city full of waterways, need to read up on the history of Amsterdam's canal system and report back here, 

I meet two Hong Kong colleagues and 1 PhD student studying in the University of Amsterdam today. and then came back to Leiden to welcome my friend from graduate school from Chicago, Daniela, who came to Leiden for a week-long library research. She will be staying with me. we are very happy to find each other again after 7 years.  

 

Etoile community

Chicken rice at hawker center after training on Sat morning

parents are happy to hang out

Emile and Renzo

Renzo came over to swim, play football with Emile and our neighbor David, and play chess. 

 

Leiden, first week

one of Leiden's canals

a gate at the University of Leiden

photos taking on my running route, first 5K run in Leiden on Sept 12

the first and only windmill that I saw in the Netherlands so far

a research office shared by fellows. it is never this full, we sat there just for the picture. but I am sitting in my regular seat in this pic. 

Emile, which soccer team is that? I ran into many football fans on Sat at the train station, there must be a game happening here. 

another waterway

 

what else has mama done in Udine?

the conference was held at the university at the center of the city, and all the lunches were provided at the castle at the top of the small hill, so we walked past the city government and the steps at the picture below to the castle for buffet lunch. 

in early morning mama went running with two friends.

a carpenter making toys out of wood

the torre river, which is completely dry

at the last day, we had a quick bike ride (30 min long) from Udine to the Torre River.

 

Mystery in Udine, Italy

This building is a bank, so the question for Ming Ming and Emile is why is there a church inside a bank?

The interior of the Church

Answer: in every city in Italy, there is a community bank that lend money to poor people with very low interest rate. They are often the only bank that is willing to lend money to the poor, and only a bank like this would have a church, to show that God has mercy.