The Biography Podcast - Stories of Life: Phillip Zannini

Showing posts with label Phillip Zannini. Show all posts

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Biography Podcast 0030 - Cleopatra

Hey everyone! Welcome to all you newcomers and welcome back to everyone else glad to have you here for this special episode 30 of the Biography Podcast - Stories of Life. Today, I'm finally back, and I'm profiling our second woman in a row as our subject! I hope you enjoy it.

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God bless, now go out and do something amazing that will be in your biography!

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Biography Transcript
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Cleopatra. The name conjures up images of a beautiful, exotic woman. A seductress of two of the most powerful men in Rome. It also conjures up images of a defiant death. Legend has it that in order to avoid being at the complete and totla mercy of the ruthless general Octavian, who was also her greatest enemy, she closed herself off in her chambers and had an Egyptian asp bite her on the arm, it's poison threading through her body and killing her within minutes.

But who is the true woman behind the legend? The seductress? The skilled politician? Did she truly kill herself the way that legend says she did? We shall soon see.
Cleopatra was born at the beginning of 69 B.C. or at the end of 70 B.C. in Egypt. Cleopatra, although known as Egypt's greatest Queen, had not even the smallest drop of Egyptian blood. She and her entire family,which consisted of several siblings, was what was called Macedonian Greek. "Dark" Greek but Greek in customs, tradition, and language. She also spoke several other tongues besides her own, including Arabic and Egyptian. Egyptian being a langage that her predecessors didn't even bother to learn. She could also read hieroglyphs.

At the age of seventeen, cleopatra became co-regent or co-ruler of Egypt with her ten year old brother Ptomely and following his death after a massive Civil War she married her younger brother, Ptomely XIV who was only six years old. This meant that Cleopatra, the eldest of the two, was the supreme ruler.

Cleopatra turned out to be very good at politics and was able to bring prosperity and peaceful times to a country which had become poverty stricken and torn apart by war. But it was only the beginning.

Cleopatra met Julius Ceasar when she was twenty one years old. Ceasar was charmed by the youthful and intelligent woman and took her to Rome with him. Thus began the most famous affair in history. One historian states that contary to popular view, Cleopatra only allied with him because of shared political views rather then romantic love. Nevertheless, a year or two later she bore him a son named Cesarion, though Ceasar never publicly acknowledged him as his son much to Cleopatra's dismay.
A few years later, Ceasar was assasinated and Cleopatra left Rome and returned to Egypt once more. In order to have full power of the throne and have sole control of Egypt, Cleopatra murdered her brother who had been ruling in her abscence and appointed Cesarion, her son, to the throne.

In 41 B.C., Mark Antony, whom Cleopatra had met a few years before, summouned her to meet him in Tarsus. Thus began Cleopatra's second love affair. However, historians say that her interest in Mark Antony was not purely political as it had been with Ceasar but was born of a true romantic interest in him. It is shown in records of the time that the two lovers returned to Egypt and were married in the Egyptian tradition and had three children, two sons and a daughter, by their union. It seemed that Cleopatra had finally found happiness, but sadly, it was not to last.

On September 2, a few years after they were married, Cleopatra and Mark Antony combined armies to take on the forces of Rome that were controlled by Octavian, a ruthless Roman general who had become over time Cleopatra's worst enemy.
Facing defeat, it has been said until recently that in an act of incredible cowardice, Cleopatra turned and fled the battle. Now, according to records recently uncovered it is now said amongst historians that her escaping was a part of a planned maneuver rather then cowardice on her part. Antony, seeing Cleopatra's escape, decided to abandon his fleet and follow her as she made her return to Egypt. They lived in relative safety there for nearly a year.

However, Octavian was ruthless and pursued Antony to Egypt where Antony's troops deserted him after Octavian's appearance in Egypt. Mark Antony found himself in a hopeless situation and he chose to take his own life. Cleopatra became a virtual prisoner of Octavian and he planned to parade her around Rome To make sure everyone knew how great of a general he truly was. Cleopatra however had other plans.
Just eleven days after Mark Antony's death, Cleopatra herself comitted suicids in her chambers in Rome virtually ruining Octavian's plans. In the end, it was she who had the last word.

Though legend suggests that Cleopatra ended her life through the bite of an Egyptian asp, some hisotrians aren't so sure. There are some who debate that she could have taken some kind of poison to end her life. As for her children by Marc Antony, no one truly knows what became of them. Yet another enticing mystery in the life of one of the most extraordinary women in history.

Friday, April 13, 2007

Biography Podcast 0025: Vlad the Impaler - Part II

Yo yo yo! What up out there in the nation! Phillip here stoked and ready to serve up Vlad Dracula - Part II. Snuggle up, find a blankie, turn on the lights - it's coming at you now!

The Impaler's rule continued along the same lines. Many boyars were taken captive and used for slave labor, the church structure was changed with Dracula putting his uncle (a Bishop) as the head of his church rather than answer to Rome. Then, Vlad the Impaler went on one of the most awful reigns of terror known to man, killing between 30,000 to 100,000 men, women and children. Numbers only comparable to the brutality and cruelty of Nazi Germany or Stalin's Russia. For the sake of saving the young listeners, I will spare most of the details, however, if you can imagine a cruel and unusual way to kill someone, Dracula did it. He impaled, he boiled people, he had them skinned, he had their internals cut out and cut people open - while they were alive. But mostly, he impaled.

While impalement wasn't the invention of Vlad Dracula, he raised it to an art form, in ways a little to graphic for me to describe here. But, if Dracula was so busy raising torture to an art form and murdering thousands of people - how did he stay in power? Why wasn't there some type of rebellion? The answer to the question was in two parts. It was a willing ignorance from the ruling elites that were willing to allow whatever happened inside Romania to stay inside Romania (kind of like modern day Vegas) as long as Vlad was also killing the Turks - which he was also doing by the thousands; and, it was fear and intimidation that kept the countrymen quiet. But, it couldn't stay quiet forever, and, it didn't.

Near the middle of the second rule, conflicts started again with the Ottoman Empire, and the Son of the Dragon was in the midst of the trouble. With the west, lead by the Roman Church attempting to stay out of all out war, Dracula pushed the then Sultan, Sultan Mehmed whom he knew from his boyhood, into a desire to crush the Wallachian ruler once and for all by sending back his emissaries with their traditional head garb nailed to their heads with rusty spikes. Despite a potential last effort at relative peace by the Muslims - which Vlad responded to by impaling an advanced guard and leaving them out in the sun to rot - the Sultan was finally inflamed enough to attack.

The numbers were staggering. Dracula was out manned, he was desperate. He appealed to Rome to authorize a Holy Crusade (which they did), though it was by threatening them to provide help or be attacked by *him* if Romaina was taken. The 30,000 men weren't enough though. Dracula knew that he could not defeat the massive Ottoman force no matter how brilliant a physical campaign could be run. He knew that he had to defeat the Ottomans in their imaginations. And he knew the way to do it. As the Sultan and his men marched on the capital, Vlad Dracula took all of the Muslim captives he had taken - all 20,000 of them - from his dungeon. When the Sultan and his men reached the capital they saw a vision of hell. 20,000 of their comrades with their robes billowing about them, impaled through their backsides with the spikes coming out of their mouths. The Ottomans buckled their mounts, turned in terror and rode for the Danube praying for deliverance from the devil behind them. What Vlad the Impaler did not know was that among the retreating Turks was his brother, Radu, who was determined to take Wallachia for the Turks and become the first Prince crowned in Romania for the Ottoman Empire.

Using his knowledge of Vlad and his knowledge of the Europeans, Radu - also son of the dragon - planned his attack. Using the same mind games, Radu stationed troops where he could summon them, then infiltrated the Boyar class. There he took advantage of Dracula's cruelty by promising the boyars that there would be no more torture, a restoration of their ruling class - and peace with the Turks - *if* they supported him as prince. With the die thus set, Radu started a rebellion. Vlad, thinking that his brother could not bald-face betray him, made the mistake of letting his guard down. Radu, calling for troops out of nowhere attacked and routed the Prince's castle... but Vlad wasn't there. As it turned out, Vlad was vacationing in his castle to the north of the capital. Hearing this, Radu surrounded the castle and attacked. With but a few gunners and troops the castle was soon breached. Rather than suffer a horrible fate, Vlad's wife threw herself from a tower. With his wife and his kingdom gone, Vlad Son of the Dragon fled for his life to Hungary - where he was promptly arrested and imprisoned by King Matthias.

While imprisoned, confined to his cell, the former prince practiced a strange habit of impaling spiders, roaches and mice that he would trap. According to prison guards, he would skewer them with slivers of wood pried from the floorboards of his cell and display them, trophies, on his windowsill. He'd sink into a reverie after stabbing them, gazing in awe at their tiny twitches until they finally lay still. But Vlad was not to be in prison long.

Only several months after Vlad was imprisoned, Radu settled into his seat on the throne of Wallechia, affairs calmed down, and Vlad's imprisionment became more of a "tag" program - where, while he was still technically in custody of the King, Vlad was on a release program and could go (within the country where he would). Here Vlad Dracula proved his sanity, and his deviousness. While in custody, Dracula, rather than being a lowly prisioner, turned on all the charm of a brilliant noble born and charmed the court of the King - going so far as to win the heart of the Countess Ilona Szilagy - a cousin of the King - and getting the king's blessing to marry her and an apartment to live in! Vlad was on best behavior in this marriage (as opposed to earlier marriages and affairs where he had his wife and mistress killed in gruesome manners) - and the Countess provided the son of the dragon with two strapping sons - one even named Vlad. But, even with prosperity, a wife, healthy children and all the benefits of being one of the king's confidants - Dracula was not happy. He wanted war - and as it turned out, he didn't have too long to wait.

After 13 years as a political prisoner - King Matthias officially pardoned Dracula - but with a purpose. Unrest had grown in Wallechia for two reasons. Vlad's brother Radu was in trouble with the boyar class, who were unhappy with him because he hadn't come through with all the reforms in their favor that he had promised when they helped him overthrow his brother Vlad. Meanwhile, Matthias and Steven the Great were unhappy with the Turkish presence and the traitorous actions of Radu, so, in an historical first alliance of all three portions of modern day Romania, along with Vlad, they plotted Radu's overthrow. There was only one problem, the people of Wallechia hadn't forgotten Vlad in his long absence. It seems that cruel torture, impalement and enslavement sits long on a populations mind. Undeterred, Matthias became Vlad's front-man. But why would he do such a thing? Good question.

Matthias wanted Vlad on the throne for two simple reasons. He knew he would be a capable commander, and he knew he'd be loyal. He wanted his cousin Vlad on the throne because it would be beneficial for him, and so, Matthias became Dracula's pimp. How'd you like to go down in history with that inauspicious moniker, heh?

Anyway, with the plot in motion, Matthias provided the blood thirsty Impaler with an army to terrorize the Turks, drive Radu out and weaken the sultan - all which Dracula did with relish. Getting rid of Radu was easier than planned - he died of syphilis. Would it surprise you to hear that Dracula wasn't all broken up over it? Good, because he wasn't. Instead of morning, starting in October of 1475, Dracula went on an impalement spree, cutting a swath through the reeling Turks all the way to the Danube. In one of the most staggering blood baths ever recorded, the 5,000 Crusaders routed the Turks and had Vlad ensconced in the palace at Tirgoviste by March of '76. Matthias did a masterful PR job for Dracula, telling the ruling class that the son of the Dragon was stabilizing the region and telling the Pope it was for the cause of the Crusades. Unfortunately, he couldn't sell it to the local counties around the palace, and that made Dracula's final rule briefer than the life expectancy of a vampire with a stake in it's heart.

With Vlad on the throne, Matthias' army returned home in March leaving Vlad with barely 2,000 men to defend the kingdom and to attack the Turks if needed. Unfortunately for Dracula, by November the Sultan regrouped and he was called to go into battle again. By Christmas, the Impaler would be dead. You see, unfortunately, when the son of the dragon sounded the battle cry - no one responded. Dracula, a man virtually without an army, went to fight the Sultan troops that numbered in the TENS of thousands.

On a cold morning not long before Christmas, Dracula and his vanguard encountered an overwhelming body of Turks. Lead by their leader who wielded his father's Toledo blade and charged screaming into the fray like a berserker, the Romanians, though in great minority, fought like devils. But, even the devil will have his day of judgement - and that day Vlad the Impaler had his. How Dracula died is anyone's guess...assumptions are many and witnesses unreliable. In the end, only this is certain – it was recorded by the monastery monks – his body was found mutilated in a nearby bog: The only way the good priests could tell who he was came from the medallions and the princely vestments he wore. He was decapitated, seemingly in ritualistic style after death. His head was nowhere to be found. Where he is buried is unknown.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Biography Podcast 0021: Feel the Love! It's St. Valentine

Happy Valentines Day! Please accept my apologies for the choppy presentation today - it's what happens when you record late on little sleep! I still hope you enjoy our episode on St. Valentine though!

Contact info:
e-mail: biographypodcast [at] gmail.com
voicemail: 206-202-W00T (9008)
Skype, AIM/iChat, Yahoo!: PalmMagnate

Contact Ed Melendez at Five Shock Design for your web site!
e-mail: ed [at] fiveshock.com

Vote for us at Podcast Alley

God bless, now go out and do something amazing that will be in your biography!

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Biography Transcript
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The origin of St. Valentine, and how many St. Valentines there were, remains a mystery. One opinion is that he was a Roman martyred for refusing to give up his Christian faith. Other historians hold that St. Valentine was a temple priest jailed for defiance during the reign of Claudius. This we do know, that whoever he was, Valentine really existed because archaeologists have unearthed a Roman catacomb and an ancient church dedicated to Saint Valentine. In 496 AD Pope Gelasius marked February 14th as a celebration in honor of his martyrdom.

Though his birth date and birthplace are unknown, there is a woodcut portrait of Valentinus, and aside of it text states that Valentinus was a Roman priest martyred during the reign of Claudius the Goth [Claudius II]. Since he was caught marrying Christian couples and aiding any Christians who were being persecuted under Emperor Claudius in Rome [when helping them was considered a crime], Valentinus was arrested and imprisoned. Interestingly, Claudius is said to have taken a liking to this prisoner (much like King Herod took a liking to John the Baptist) -- until Valentinus made a strategic error: he tried to convert the Emperor -- whereupon this priest was condemned to death.

While in jail, allegedly Valentinus did not rest, in fact, being in jail or dead is no excuse for non-performance of the supernatural by a potential future Saint. Accordingly, one legend says, while awaiting his execution, Valentinus restored the sight of his jailer's blind daughter. Another legend says, on the eve of his death, he penned a farewell note to the jailer's daughter, signing it, "From your Valentine." Of course, that would be odd considering his name was Valentinus, but I will say that it was a legend.

The Legenda Aurea does not contain anything about hearts and last notes signed "from your Valentine", as is sometimes suggested in modern works of sentimental piety [1]. Many of the current legends surrounding them appear in the late Middle Ages in France and England, when the feast day of February 14 became associated with romantic love.

A Little bit about Valentine's Day

In ancient Rome, February was the official beginning of spring and was considered a time for purification. Houses were ritually cleansed by sweeping them out and then sprinkling salt and a type of wheat called spelt throughout their interiors. Lupercalia, which began at the ides of February, February 15, was a fertility festival dedicated to Faunus, the Roman god of agriculture, as well as to the Roman founders Romulus and Remus.

In Great Britain, Valentine's Day began to be popularly celebrated around the seventeenth century. By the middle of the eighteenth century, it was common for friends and lovers in all social classes to exchange small tokens of affection or handwritten notes. By the end of the century, printed cards began to replace written letters due to improvements in printing technology. Ready-made cards were an easy way for people to express their emotions in a time when direct expression of one's feelings was discouraged. Cheaper postage rates also contributed to an increase in the popularity of sending Valentine's Day greetings. Americans probably began exchanging hand-made valentines in the early 1700s. In the 1840s, Esther A. Howland began to sell the first mass-produced valentines in America.

According to the Greeting Card Association, an estimated one billion valentine cards are sent each year, making Valentine's Day the second largest card-sending holiday of the year. (An estimated 2.6 billion cards are sent for Christmas.) Approximately 85 percent of all valentines are purchased by women. In addition to the United States, Valentine's Day is celebrated in Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, and Australia.

The Biography Podcast - Stories of Life