Saturday, December 16, 2017

I suppose the only thing to do is to rejoice in the days when I don’t actually go backwards. The Christmas cards I have so far written now have stamps on them – I’ll post tomorrow. I washed quite a few dishes. I knit a bit more. The new J&S version of the pattern divides the borders into a series of separate charts, A through G. I’ve finished A. Amedro just gives it row by row, 1 to 99.

I finished the first ball of yarn the other day. I will use them, rather than any calculations about the pattern, for the progress bar to the right over there. I think I can trust J&S to have got it right – they sent 8 balls, so 12.5% per ball. Assuming the last ball isn’t consumed down to the last few inches, that will leave me a percentage point or two for weaving in ends and blocking.

We had a good Italian lesson this morning, all about Palermo. There are lots and lots of interesting and beautiful things there. Italian lessons always leave me semi-prostrate. That was the last one for a while – Federica is going home to Rome on Wednesday.

Comment – non-knit


CKP, I remember learning at Oberlin that the ancient Greeks were horrified to find that the Persians prostrated themselves in prayer. The word is the one you mention, “proskinesis”. (Herodotus, perhaps?) Is it interesting that Muslims still do so, while Greeks still pray standing up?

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous1:54 PM

    We are always hearing how travel teaches us how alike we all are, with differences being mostly superficial. Apparently the Greeks found it to be the opposite. Chloe

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  2. Anonymous2:20 PM

    You can read more about proskinesis in Herodotus I.134 - and this site gives one English translation as well as the option of consulting the ancient Greek text (sidebar on right; click on “focus” next to Greek and it loads the same passage in the other language) - http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:abo:tlg,0016,001:1:134
    As for the horror at prostrating oneself during prayer: I suspect it has as much to do with the complex relationship the Greeks had to the Persians. Once friends, then bitterest enemies, construed as the source of all decadence (but maybe also a tinge of jealousy underlying the animosity?). Earlier in his Histories Herodotus equates the gods across cultures (Astarte is Ishtar is Aphrodite); the difference in practice may have well been all the more egregious to the Greeks for that reason.
    Random thoughts to contemplate while knitting!
    cheers,
    CKP

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