Journal articles on the topic 'Set (Egyptian god)'

The article deals with a number of monuments in the Egyptian collection of the A.S. Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts showing Egyptian deities in the guise of Roman warriors: I, 1a 2985 (the best known and widely reproduced object) – a statuette of the falcon-headed god Horus in the double crown and in the Roman armour and dress (bronze); I, 1a 2794 – a similar statuette of smaller size and worse preservation (bronze with traces of gilding); I, 1a 6667 – a statuette of the dog-or jackal-headed god Anubis in the Roman armour and dress (bronze); I, 1a 3389 – a bust showing the falcon-headed god Horus wearing nemes, with the sun-disc and snake over his head (glass paste); I, 1a 5382 – a stela showing the sphinx-god Tutu with a lion head being a part of the armour-plate on his chest. Aside from republishing these objects, the aim of the article is to propose an interpretation of the iconographic type, to which they belong (this type also includes a number of Apius’ images and a singular image of Khnum in the Roman guise). The most multiple group in this type are the images of Horus, which, in author’s view, reflect the concept of the Roman principes’ rule in Egypt shaped by Egyptians: they were ruled not so much by a specific Roman strong-man as by the god Hous embodied in him and largely absorbing his personality. This concept of Egyptian rulers’ “derivative sacrality” dated back to the First Persian Domination and played largely a compensatory role, as it made a foreign and unfriendly rule more tolerable for Egyptians. In the Roman time it was reflected in emperors’ titularies, in which the Horus’ name was shaped of a set of epithets conveying upon a ruler the qualities of the god Horus. Probably the concept manifested itself in the images of Horus and Anubis, perhaps Khnum in the Roman guise; the images of Tutu and, perhaps, Apis rather show a transfer on them of the iconographic standard developed in the imagery of Horus.

Talvez nenhuma outra cultura tenha criado um conjunto de crenças e práticas funerárias tão complexo e diversificado quanto os egípcios antigos. Em um panteão repleto de divindades funerárias, Osíris se destaca como a própria essência e princípio explicativo da morte e do pós-vida. Entre as práticas funerárias destaca-se a peregrinação até a cidade de Abidos, local de devoção a Osíris, onde eram depositadas estelas em honra ao deus e aos mortos. O Museu Nacional do Rio de Janeiro possui uma grande coleção destas estelas, testemunhos da piedade pessoal e da esperança em uma vida postmortem sob as graças de Osíris. WORSHIPPING OSIRIS: Afterlife Conceptions in the Egyptian stelae of the National Museum of Rio de Janeiro ABSTRACTLike no other culture, the ancient Egyptians are known for having created a whole set of complex funerary beliefs and practices. Amongst several deities, the Egyptians attributed a prominent role to Osiris, as the very essence and explanatory principle of their afterlife conceptions. The journey to Abydos, sacred city associated with Osiris, was an important part of the devotion to this god. There, the Egyptians left votive stelae dedicated to Osiris and the deceased. The National Museum of Rio de Janeiro houses a large collection of Egyptian stelae, which are sources for the study of the Egyptians’ personal piety and belief in an afterlife associated with Osiris.Keywords: Osiris, funerary practices, funerary stelae, the National Museum of Rio de Janeiro.

Abstract In the past, different points in time have been set as demarcating the beginning of the end of Ancient Egyptian religion. One of these is the start of the so-called “proscription” of the god Seth, whose names and images are found damaged in many of their occurrences. In previous studies, this observation was explained as the result of intentional destruction performed during the first millennium BCE, and as such as indicative of the decay of Ancient Egyptian religion at this time. However, Seth was from his earliest attestations conceived as a deity ready to perform acts of violence and disruption; under specific circumstances he needed to be banished, but his character was also valued in circumstances requiring violence. This article discusses the problems, fallacies, and arguments of interpreting the intentions behind the destruction of monuments in general and the treatment of Seth in particular. It will be argued that “negating” the image of the “negative” god was not done with malicious intent, but to highlight this god’s role, which was important for the context of the image. It will be proposed that this phenomenon proves that Egyptian religion was still vibrantly alive at that time, not fading away and dying.

Yahya Haqqi is one of the most popular novelists in Egypt in the mid–twentieth century. He is known not only as an author of works of art. His books on the history of Egyptian literature, critical works, books of commemorations provide invaluable material about the life and activities of the literary circles of Egypt in the last century. He is the founder of the genre of “lauhat” (literary sketches) in Egyptian literature. The writer's artistic creativity reflects the development of Arabic short stories for more than forty years. His most famous works are “The Lamp of Umm Hashim”, “Awakening”, “The Postman”, “God bless you”. He is considered, first of all, the master of the novella, at the origins of which he stood in Egyptian literature. Yahya Haqqi plays a huge role in the creation of modern literary Arabic. He consciously set himself this task, scrupulously working on each phrase. He is the author of one of the most significant works of Arabic literature of the last century, his “Lamp of Umm Hashim” has become the most popular not only in Egypt, but throughout the Arab world.

Gods, Goddesses, Heroes and other mythical figures from religious mythologies have made continued appearances in Hollywood films since the 20th century, with many of them reflecting the times and era of their production in the guise of depicting the “ancient” world and dealing with “sacred” themes in a secular manner. While a cinematic text invites us to identify with the hero, the antagonist is imbued with qualities that require judgement from the hero. This paper seeks to undertake a character study of the Greek God Hades from Clash of the Titans (2010) and the Egyptian God Set from Gods of Egypt (2016) to understand the ways in which the cinematic imagination constructs them as antagonists and condemns their ways. While the hero and his masculinity is generally propagated as a form of “ideal” masculinity, the villain forms a more complex characterization as he may embody qualities possessed by the hero himself and yet be termed “unheroic”. Reading the texts as embodiments of popular culture, and thus, as sites for interrogating contemporary socio-political and cultural concerns, the paper would like to explore the construction of villainous and “non-ideal” masculinities in the figures of Hades and Set. Utilizing a textual reading of the films, the analysis would be supported by theories derived from Masculinity Studies and Film Studies. Keywords: Hollywood, mythology, masculinities, heroism and villainy

Abstract This essay examines the narrated recollections of the spy in Gerard Manley Hopkins’s unfinished poem “A soliloquy of one of the spies left in the wilderness” (1863). Particular attention is paid to the spy’s account of the Israelites’ wilderness wanderings and slavery in Egypt in order to examine Hopkins’s depiction of a will in rebellion against God. After considering the poem’s relationship to Hopkins’s undergraduate years in light of his imminent conversion to Catholicism, the essay investigates the ways in which the soliloquy’s confused chronologies and emendations call attention to the spy’s spiritual disorders. By reading the spy’s internal disorder as a corollary to the social disintegration in Eden that Hopkins identified in Adam and Eve’s rebellion, the essay argues that the soliloquy attributes the speaker’s inner disorientation to his rebellious will set against God. Although the soliloquy appropriates descriptions of the lush Canaanite landscape to describe Egyptian slavery as comfortable, even luxurious, the vestiges of violence repeatedly interrupt the soliloquy’s relentless insistence on Egypt’s “pleasance.” As the soliloquy’s rhetorical maneuvers repeatedly fail to justify the spy’s rebellion, Hopkins explores and displays the impact of spiritual rebellion on the human psyche.

The rise of a vigorous and sometimes violent Islamistmovement in Egypt has attracted considerable attentionfrom scholars. Less attention has been given to those whohave responded to this challenge at the level of ideologicaldebate. One of these is a prominent judge, Muhammad Sa’idal-‘Ashmawi. He argues that the call for the "application ofthe syarî’ah" (tathbîq al-sharî’ah), watchwords of the Islamistmovement, are in reality little more than empty slogans,designed to get popular support for a political venture butextremely vague and probably insignificant in substance. Intime, however, its meaning expanded, first to include all ofthe rules for worship and society found in the Qur’ân, thenthose in the sunna of the Prophet, and finally all the opinionsand judgments of the scholars (ijtihâd). But these opinionsand judgments are properly called fiqh, and the final result ofthe development is that in common usage the term syarî’ahhas come to mean fiqh.Those who use the slogan, however,are in fact calling for the application oí fiqh, that is, a set ofrules and laws devised by humans, not God, to meethistorical conditions of the past which no longer obtain. Indiscussing ribä, al-cAshmawi holds that current Egyptianlaw essentially conforms to the syarî’ah. The same is true ofthe rest of Egyptian law.

This paper shows how governments are reluctant to take decisions to allow GMO products for human use and to change them. It also draws a comparison about the allowance and usage of GMO products between Russia and Egypt (with the United States of America representing the largest country around the world in using GMO products). The results of the study are supported by the data of a survey among certain age groups from the Russian and Egyptian populations, conducted by the authors of the paper. As a solution, the Egyptian and Russian governments should allow imports and cultivation of GMO crops under supervision by departments to guarantee their safety. The authors see that GMO products are the best solution to face the potential food shortage for most of the countries dependent on foods imported from Ukraine and Russia because of the Russia-Ukraine war.

The article deals with the feasts of the crocodile god Sebek, celebrated in Fayum, Thebes and Kom Ombo, which originated during the Old Kingdom. The surviving images of Sebek are studied, that provide an opportunity to reconstruct the ritual and symbolic programs of festivals of the named deity. The analysis of the reliefs from the temple of Nyuserra (V Dyn.) depicting the harvest scenes, crocodile, fish, frog and bA-boat, suggested that they represent festive rituals held during the harvest season and related to the cults of Sebek, Osiris and Re. These rites probably celebrated the renewal of nature, the full flow of the river and the fertility of the earth. A study of the relief of Amenemhat III from the British Museum (EA 1072) made it possible to reconstruct the programs of Sebek feasts in Fayum, which involved the Osirian, solar and Heb-sed rituals. These festivals reproduced the visible movement of the sun and moon across the sky and aimed at the revival of strength and power of the gods and the king. Sebek was associated with the sun, moon and various constellations, represented as crocodiles in the paintings of the coffin of Heny (Asyut; XII Dyn.), the ceilings of the tombs of Senmut (TT 353; XVIII Dyn.) and Seti I (KV 17; XIX Dyn.). Two of these constellations are designated sAq («crocodile») and Htp-rdwy («restful of feet»). It seems that some of the feasts of Sebek were concerned with «the festivals of the sky» and celebrated certain astronomical phenomena.

Coral reefs are the most biological systems productive and versatile on the surface of the planet earth, which is a source with economic and social, returns great for the country that God-given this natural wealth. Egypt is home to some of the most spectacular coral reefs and associated marine life in the world. Egypt has enacted laws and takes effective measures for the protection and management of coral reefs and associated ecosystems in the Red Sea and its Gulf to characterize these areas of the richness and diversity of coral reef environment is scarce to be repeated elsewhere in the world. The largest sub-sector for the Egyptian tourism market is the coastal tourism. Coastal tourism depends largely on intact reefs, and this is also one of the most important causes of reef degradation in Egypt. Over the last two decades live coral cover has declined in Egypt. Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) implements its own methodology to estimate the coral reefs impacts as a result of the destruction of coral reefs due to ship aground or anchorage. This paper focuses on and presents the modelling of the destruction of coral reefs as a result of the collision and the ship ground damage assessment in case of oil spills in Egyptian coastal water referring to the EEAA methodology applied in Egypt.

The second book of the Pentateuch is called Exodus, from the Greek word for “departure,” because its central event was understood by the Septuagint’s translators to be the departure of the Israelites from Egypt. Its Hebrew title, Shemoth (“Names”), is from the book’s opening phrase, “These are the names….” Continuing the history of Israel from the point where the Book of Genesis leaves off, Exodus recounts the Egyptian oppression of Jacob’s ever-increasing descendants and their miraculous deliverance by God through Moses, who led them across the Red Sea to Mount Sinai where they entered. This article attempts to study the historical aspect of the Book of Exodus compared to the Noble Qur’an, adopting the comparative historical methodology.

The issue of Christ’s two natures (human and divine) and the Trinitarian persons of God in the Christian conception have posed a conundrum in Christian-Muslim Relations. Islam has historically held to a formulation of absolute unity while the historic Christian faith prefers to see a plurality of union as the proper expression of divine unity. The debate raged throughout the medieval period. The contemporary Egyptian intellectual Awwaḍ Simʽān is one outstanding voice in the current nexus of Muslim-Christian engagement. Simʽān presents a rationally appealing formulation of the Christian doctrine, avoiding or carefully explaining some of the Christian Trinitarian terminology which Muslims regard as most egregious. He appeals to Muslim philosophers as well as historic Christian apologists to buttress his views. It is a winsome and rationally appealing formulation from an Arabic-writing theologian from within the Muslim context. This article seeks to examine the salient points of Simʽān’s formulation and ask if it could be heard in today’s Muslim milieu with all its attending dissonance due to the realities of religious militancy and social displacement. The communal unity of the Trinity may yet find corners of the Muslim world where it is welcomed and embraced. If so, Awwaḍ Simʽān’s formulation will play a visible role.

The article examines four terracotta figurines depicting the ancient Egyptian god Bes and his female counterpart Beset, acquired by Vladimir S. Golenischev in Egypt and kept in the storages of the Department of the Ancient Orient at the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts. The analyzed objects are diverse in their topics, form and functional purposes, testifying to the great popularity of this ‘minor’ deity in Graeco-Roman Egypt; all objects are included in the context of domestic worship of the god Bes. They served as a “link” between temple festivals and domestic worship, and could also be placed in a burial place as grave goods or could be brought to a temple as votive offerings. Bes and Beset guarded and helped a person during periods when he faced the forces of chaos – in a time of sleeping, illness, in childbirth, during the war. Bes and Beset were considered the protectors of childhood and motherhood, promoting conception and successful childbirth. Bes was associated with the different borderline states of human health and the period of a person’s transition to another world. The images of Bes do not come from temple theology, but from the context of domestic, private rituals; Bes remains entirely a “popular” god, the part of a daily life cycle of the population of Graeco-Roman Egypt. These multifaced quality is one of the secrets of the incredible popularity of Bes, whose figurines spread along with the Greeks and Romans throughout the oecumene down to the Black Sea region.

Dance is strongly connected to life, freedom, salvation, restoration and victory over the enemies. The Bible uses the word dance for the first time in the verse when Miriam took her tambourine and led the Israelites in a victorious dance after they had been set free from the Egyptians, who chased them into the red sea. God gave them salvation, victory, deliverance, and life. Miriam’s dance was a respond and expression of victory over the enemies (Ex. 15:20). Dance or body movement is a language of communication equal to words, music, or other expressed art. For this reason, when a dance is communicating the word of God, for certain people or in certain situations then it could be called a prophetic dance. To be a dancer is a great calling. A calling to bring back what has been taken from heaven, a calling to love God more and more, a calling to make a new covenant between men and God. Prophetic dance is a way to serve God through dance. In this way a dancer is not an artist who chooses to be served rather than to serve. But the principle is when one is appointed to be a leader, the more is his responsibility to serve his brethrens. Every movement is a body language to communicate the messages. Within the context of dance, every movement should carry a message in a way that people would understand the meaning when they see the dance. Abstrak Tarian mempunyai hubungan yang sangat kuat dengan kehidupan, kebebasan, keselamatan, pemulihan, dan kemenangan atas musuh-musuh. Alkitab menyebutkan kata tarian yang pertama di ayat tentang Miryam. Ketika dia mengambil tambourinenya dan memimpin orang Israel dalam sebuah tarian kemengangan setelah mereka dibebaskan dari orang-orang Mesir yang mengejar mereka di Laut Merah. Tuhan memberikan keselamatan, kemenangan, kebebasan, dan kehidupan. Tarian Miryam adalah respon dan ekspresi kemenangan atas musuh-musuh (Kel.15:20). Tarian atau gerakan tubuh adalah sebuah bahasa komunikasi sama seperti kata-kata, musik, atau kesenian yang dapat dilihat. Maka dari itu, ketika tarian sedang mengkomunikasikan Firman Tuhan untuk sebagian orang dan dalam situasi tertentu, inilah yang disebut profetik. Menjadi penari adalah sebuah panggilan yang sangat besar. Panggilan untuk mengembalikan apa yang pernah hilang dari Sorga, panggilan untuk mencintai Tuhan lebih dan lebih lagi, panggilan untuk membuat sebuah perjanjian yang baru antara umat manusia dengan Tuhan. Pelayanan tarian adalah cara melayani Tuhan melalui tarian. Artinya seorang penari bukanlah menjadi artis yang ingin untuk dilayani daripada melayani. Tetapi prinsip adalah semakin diangkat menjadi pemimpin, maka semakin besar tanggung jawab untuk melayani saudara-saudara. Setiap gerakan adalah bahasa tubuh yang mengkomunikasikan setiap pesan. Di dalam konteks tarian, setiap gerakan harus menyampaikan makna yang dapat dimengerti oleh orang yang melihatnya.

Exodus 7:8–15:21 contains a sequence of conflicts between YHWH and Pharaoh that can be divided into three parts: the Snake Confrontation, the Ten Plagues of Egypt, and the Parting of the Reed Sea. A careful reading of the entire narrative in conjunction with a New Kingdom Egyptian funerary text—the Book of Gates (BG)—reveals that both works share a number of similarities in terms of themes, terminologies, and structure. However, significant differences also occur at some crucial junctures as the respective stories unfold. These findings suggest that the Israelite author (or group of authors) might have made use of the tradition related to BG—with polemical changes—as one of his sources in framing the Exodus 7–15 narrative, in order to juxtapose the sequence of YHWH’s miracles with the progression of Pharaoh’s impending death. In this regard, Exodus 7:8–15:21 can be read as a polemical parody of the already well-established myth concerning the sun god’s journey through the Netherworld. According to this parodic reading, YHWH is the deity par excellence who stands above the Egyptian pantheon and controls order in Egypt.

The beard first appeared in Egyptian iconography in the Early Dynastic period on the Narmer palette and remained a common feature thereafter. The pharaoh, as a god on earth, was a personification of perfection. Always crisp and clean-shaven, he represented both the Egyptian nation and divine power. His fake beard, which was attached with ribbons and was clearly visible on his images and reliefs, was one of the elements indicating his divine nature.Ordinary people also grew beards or moustaches. We can see stubble on the faces of men mostly engaged in physical work on a number of images on the walls of tombs. However, in these cases, the facial hair would not have indicated any godly qualities.Nevertheless, some depictions of the pharaoh are similar to those of simple men in that he also possesses stubble. This is most clearly seen on a number of ostracons from Deir el-Medina. However, if the pharaoh has stubble, its significance is quite different. Very few such unshaven images are known and published and only a small number of these are official depictions. The final such image that will be considered is the one found in KV 9 belonging to Pharaoh Rameses VI.

Since ancient times, two ancient civilizations of the world such as the Indus Valley Civilization and the Egyptian Civilization though geographically fall apart from one another; they were well connected through the sea routes for maritime trading and cultural exchange as described in the ancient texts and archival records. The maritime trading also resulted in the social and cultural exchange between the two civilizations as well. The article focuses primarily on the striking resemblances observed between the Puri Shri Jagannath temple in India with that of the temples of ancient Egypt in terms of the religious worship of the deities, ritual practices in the temples, arts and architecture, celebration of temple festivals, religious record keeping, the role of king as the first servitor, humanisation of God and daily offering rituals, the concept of the state deity and God-King relationship etc. Though it is very difficult to trace the origin and evolution of the religio-cultural system and ritual practices in the temples of both the regions Odisha in India and ancient Egypt, however this similar system and arrangements might have been originated and evolved at one place at some point in time, might have gradually spread over to the other places in course of time.

Due to his role as mediator between YHWH and Israel (see Ex. 32:11-14; 33:12-13), Moses has often been seen as a type of Christ. But perhaps due both in part to the brevity of her story and in part to her identity as a “foreign” woman, Zipporah’s role as a mediator has not afforded her the same legacy in the church. Nevertheless, her legacy is needed. The way that Zipporah acts in the narrative serves to fill out important aspects of Exodus’s theology of mediation that are missed when she is overlooked. Reminding ourselves of her role is especially important today, when populist nationalism and xenophobia are gaining ground in too many majority Christian countries. Not only does Zipporah’s actions in the narrative demonstrate that even Moses needed a mediator, and that God found one in a “foreign” woman, Zipporah’s location between Moses’s calling and YHWH’s alleged slaughter of the firstborn Egyptian children provides a much-needed counter-voice in the text that hints toward a hope that, with the right mediator, God can become the saviour of all people, no matter which “side” they are on. Christians have tended to focus on the Passover Lamb as the substitute in the Exodus narrative–the one who stands in Israel’s place and dies for it. But in practical terms it was the Egyptian firstborn children whose deaths effected Pharaoh’s (temporary) change of heart, leading to the Israelites’ liberation. If the story is read without Zipporah, an “us-versus-them” dualism tends stubbornly to emerge and re-emerge. But when Zipporah’s is story is given its proper place, the force of the “us-versus-them” way of reading the Exodus story is mitigated. Meditating on Zipporah as mediator illuminates both our understanding of the theology of Exodus as a cohesive narrative as well as our Christology, as we consider how she foreshadows the mediating work of Jesus as the final deliverer of Israel and the world.

It is often said today that the current religious crisis is caused by a false image of God. The question therefore is how is He to be presented, so that with all the limitations of the human intellect and language in the face of the apophatic cha­racter of the Divine Majesty, God will be expressed in a way that will be the least “detrimental” to Him (and also to man)? It seems that the Egyptian Desert Fathers may be qualified teachers, even masters in this matter, not only, because the “sem­blance of God” was an issue that greatly engaged their community which had to deal with the heresy of anthropomorphism, but even more so, because as men of deep faith and prayer, often great mystics, they had an experience of God and so they continue to be for us unrivalled “experts” in this field. Analysing therefore their teaching on the image of God contained in the Apophthegmata of the Desert Fathers, we have arrived at the following conclusions. The Desert Fathers were fully aware how important the image of God is in the process of faith, knowing that a false image may lead not only to personal tragedies, but even to social unrest, and that it always leads to an atrophy of prayer and is an obstacle on the way to perfec­tion. In spite of this, even though the word “God” appears in the Apophthegmata very often, the search for some uniform image of God and even clauses of the type: “God is…” that are extremely rare, would be in vain. What could be the reasons for the “silence” of the Desert Fathers in this matter? In our view, first of all the fun­damental reason was their humility and the fact that they did not see themselves as teachers of others, and second, their suspicion as to their own visions that could in fact hide the ruses of Satan. However, the most important reason for the “omission” of the image of God in the Apopthegmata is, in our view, Eastern spirituality which treated every endeavour to define God and to demonstrate His image as an attempt to limit His divine nature. The ineffable and infinite God in the understanding of the Desert Fathers was also a God who is unique and unspeakable, to such an extent that each individual has to arrive alone, in his own heart, as far as this is possible, at His true image. Thus, in the Apophthegmata we do not find univocal statements declaring what is the true image of God, and the only thing that the Desert Fathers have conveyed to us is that approaching God is something of a process, at the be­ginning of which, yes certainly, some even infantile imagination of God may be admissible (hence a “leniency” towards anthropomorphism), but then it has to be subjected to a progressive purification, in the knowledge that “that which is perfect will come later”. This will come, not so much as a result of hearing about God or the acquisition of knowledge about Him, but through the practice of prayer, pe-nance and almsgiving.

For half a century, the Egyptians have been concerned about the coverage of all their local waters in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea with visual and electronic aids to navigation. As a result, they constructed several lighthouses and landmarks as separate entities. Long years of political friction and military conflict in the Middle East resulted in damage to the majority of visual and primitive aids to navigation, particularly in the Gulf of Suez (GOS), the Gulf of Aqaba (GOA) and the Red Sea.

The decoration of the sanctuary in the old church of St. Anthony’s Monastery The problem of Jephthah and his daughter Four Old Testament scenes are depicted in the sanctuary of the old church of St. Anthony’s Monastery near the Red Sea, all figuring as a prefiguration of the Eucharist. On the north wall, from left to right, Isaiah and the Seraph (Is. 6, 1-7) and the meeting of Abraham and Melchizedek (Gen. 14, 17-21) are painted. On the south side follow, from left to right, the Sacrifice by Abraham (Gen. 22, 1-9) and Jephthah, sacrificing his daughter (Judges 11, 30-40). The first three scenes are well known in the sanctuaries of Egyptian churches (cf. the haikal of St. Marc, Deir abu Makar; the haikal of the church of the Virgin, Deir el Baramus), but of the last scene only one parallel is known, situated in the bema of the church of St. Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai (cf. K. Weitzmann, The Jephthah Panel, in: Dumbarton Oaks Papers 18 (1964) 342-352). The question is why Jephthah was chosen for decorating such an important place in a church, near the altar. Churchfathers like John Chrysostom, Theodoret of Cyr and Anastasius of Sinai could not find words to condemn his deed in a most harsh way. However, some fathers have formed a quite different opinion. They (Origen, Aphraates, Ephraëm the Syrian) see this episode as a prefiguration of Christ’s Sacrifice. A close examination of these comments makes it possible to conclude that all four paintings are prefigurations of the Eucharist. But a problem still to be solved is why Jephthah’s infanticide was chosen for this role while for example the sacrifice by Abel (Gen. 4, 4) would be a more suitable scene. In my opinion, this has something to do with the fact that both paintings are situated in a church in a monastery. Jephthah’s daughter obeyed her fat her and as a virgin she was dedicated to God. In a general sense, you can apply this description to the monk, who has to show obedience to his superior, Jives in celibacy and chastity and as a novice was also dedicated to God. In short, in this case the function of the room (the sanctuary) dictates the choice of the themes of the paintings, but there is a kind of, False-bottom’. The selection was made with a second theme in mind: monastic life.

One of the most important myths of the Ancient Egypt civilization is Osiris’ cyclical myth. Even though not enough attention has been given to it, one of the most important mythemes is the sexual act between the god and Isis. This sexual act establishes two pillars of the monarchy in Ancient Egypt: the conception and the subsequent birth of Horus (the archetype of the earthly Egyptian king) and Osiris’ (re)birth (king of the Underworld and archetype of the dead). Regardless of the great importance of this sexual act, the sources that relate to it are scarce. On a textual level, the intercourse between both divinities has been documented since the Pyramid Texts until the end of the Pharaonic Period. However, it appears narrated on very few occasions with verbs carrying explicit sexual meaning. Only the context allows one to see that the protagonists are having sexual relations. Since Osiris is dead, Isis is the obvious agent of the action, an exception that makes the goddess different from the rest of her peers. Regarding iconography, only three images have been documented in the Dynastic Period: one in the Middle Kingdom and two in the New Kingdom. In all of them the image is the same, the anthropomorphic Osiris, lies in his funerary bed while Isis, in the shape of a bird of prey, copulates with him.

At the core of the various messages that have been sent out about the Coronavirus is how to deal with an invisible threat. Revealing the invisible is however an ancient issue, one that goes back thousands of years and reoccurs throughout human history. This article is an exploration of the complex interrelationship between several long-standing visual tropes that over historical time have emerged from various cultures in response to a need to communicate invisible forces. Beginning with reflections on the poster for the International Hygiene Exhibition of 1911 held in Dresden, linking in images of an Egyptian sun god, via extramission theory and thoughts about the first drawings done through a handheld, lens-focused microscope by Robert Hooke, a series of links and interconnections are made that explore how the invisible has been represented and how the invisible virus can be read as a type of ‘dark star’ or anti-sun. Christian traditions of the use of unnatural colour to signify both invisible power and demonic possession and the way the Coronavirus has itself been depicted are compared to historical visual tropes such as the aureola and the mandorla as used in the Greek Orthodox Church to depict sacred moments that transcend time and space. From Buddhist and Christian uses of halos via images of sea-mines, a complex series of interconnections are revealed that are now being tapped into by Government-sanctioned information leaflets relating to the Coronavirus outbreak.

This article discusses the question of how the personal element, which became the starting point of the movement toward individual thinking, manifested itself in the culture of ancient Israel and the culture of ancient India. The article attempts to describe the features of these cultures, which unlike the ancient Egyptian and Sumero-Akkadian, allowed to pass this way to the end. The process of formation of monotheism from the pre-state period to the great prophets is traced. It is noted that socio-political life, which determined with such force the status of man in a number of other Near Eastern cultures, in Israelite culture was subordinated to religious life, which otherwise determined the consciousness of man's status. In doing so, henotheism is gradually overcome. In the consciousness of the Israelite people the idea of complete dependence on God, who reveals himself through the prophets and establishes the requirement of a personal relationship to him, is established. At the same time, God, acting as a guarantor of justice, is revealed through the problem of theodicy, which can be posed only by a free personality. The movement of thought in ancient India turns out to be the opposite of what we see in ancient Israel: while the latter is affirmed through a long but persistent movement towards monotheism, Indian Brahmanism accepts the great diversity of divine reality and through the affirmation of its unity only multiplies the number of its components The decisive period for the emergence of individual consciousness was the period of the Upanishads. At this time, the deepened comprehension of the texts of the Vedas leads to the fact that a philosophical knowledge is built over religious knowledge. The specificity of Indian consciousness is determined by the long period of its oral existence, when the sounding speech in ritual or in the process of meditation acquires the key importance in the realization of the unity of the world. Individual consciousness is manifested in the process of concentration, directed towards understanding rather than mere reproduction of ritual mantras. The practice of asceticism played a role here. Just like in some other cultures in India real authorship emerges in the Axial period as an important sign of awareness of individual creativity.

These two inscriptions come from the precinct of the temple of Hathor at Denderah (Tentyra), capital of the Tentyrite nome, just north of Thebes in Upper Egypt. The impressive remains of the complex are mostly late Ptolemaic and Roman (re)constructions, but they look Pharaonic and suggest social and cultural continuity across the centuries. The inscriptions, however, illustrate the radical changes in communal organization and administration which the Romans introduced. These changes form the subject of this paper. The first inscription dates to 12 B.C., but is almost entirely in the pre-Roman tradition. It is a trilingual dedication with the primary version in demotic (i.e. Egyptian). Augustus is god, implicitly Pharaoh, and lacks his Roman titles. The strategos (governor of the nome) Ptolemaios gives himself obsolete court titles and a string of local priesthoods. Ptolemaios came from a family which had hereditarily held local priesthoods (and probably continued to hold them after him), and his father Panas had preceded him as strategos of the Tentyrite nome, retaining office through the Roman annexation. On this occasion Ptolemaios' dedication was personal, but other dedications show him acting, like his father, as the head of local cult associations. Ptolemaios is last attested as strategos in 5 B.C. Five years later, our second inscription, which dates to 23 September A.D. I, reveals a very different situation. The dedication was made on Augustus' birthday, and was finely inscribed in Greek only. The strategos Tryphon, whose name suggests an Alexandrian sent up to the Tentyrite nome, figures only as an element of the official dating clause standard throughout Roman Egypt; he is just a cog in the Roman administrative machine. The dedication was made corporately by the local community, structured, as we will see, on the new Roman model.

A perícope das serpentes no deserto destaca-se do conjunto de escritos que recorrem ao simbolismo da serpente, ao utilizar esse elemento potencialmente enganoso para a fé de Israel, ambivalente. Diante disso, o objetivo deste trabalho foi compreender o simbolismo da serpente em Nm 21,4-9, a partir de uma análise do texto e da possível influência por parte dos egípcios e povos do Antigo Oriente Próximo. A análise narrativa destacou o texto como um enredo de conflito-solução no drama vivido pelo povo. Na ótica do conflito, foram levados em conta os aspectos antropológicos e culturais do simbolismo da serpente e seu alcance teológico. A interpretação favoreceu a compreensão da dimensão pedagógica de Deus diante da necessidade de conversão do povo que estava na etapa final da caminhada do deserto, prestes a entrar na terra de Canaã. Dentro da economia da revelação, o autor dá um novo significado à serpente levantada na haste. No início do relato, fora instrumento de castigo expresso na mordedura que causou muitas mortes; no fim, torna-se sinal de salvação. Assim, mediante o sinal, o mesmo Deus que castiga é o que está sempre pronto a oferecer uma nova chance àquele que volta seus olhos para Ele.Palavras-chave: Exegese. Números. Símbolo. Serpente. Conflitos.AbstractThe pericope of the wilderness’ snakes is highlighted in the set of writings using the symbol of the serpent, for this symbol is potentially doubtful to the faith of Israel, ambivalent. Therefore, this paper aims to comprehend the symbolism of the serpent in Numbers 21,4-9, through a text analysis and a study of the possible influence of Egyptians and the nations from Ancient Near Eastern. The narrative analysis highlighted the text as a plot of conflict-solution in the drama lived by the people. In that conflict approach, it was considered the anthropological and cultural features of the serpent symbolism and its theological range. The interpretation favored the comprehension of the pedagogic dimension of God before the necessity of people’s conversion, once they were in the final stage of the wilderness’ pilgrimage, being about to enter at the land of Canaan. In line with the economy of revelation, the author gives a new meaning to the serpent raised in the rod. In the beginning of the report, it was an instrument of punishment expressed in the bite that caused a lot of deaths; at the end, it becomes a sign of salvation. Thus, through this signal, the same God who punishes is the One who is always ready to offer a new chance to those whose eyes turn upon Him.Keywords: Exegesis. Numbers. Symbol. Serpent. Conflicts.

Lyre shaped ornament is a common motif of ornamental and folklore applied art. But, unfortunately, the origins of the lyre shaped motif are still not well investigated. In the paper we review the literature devoted to the study of the emergence and spread of a lyre shaped motif and analyze museum exhibits from catalogs and published sources. The aim of the study is to define the сenters of the lyre motif origin and the paths of its distribution. Material and methods. Article analyzes lyre shaped motifs in museum artifacts, folk arts and crafts using materials presented in published literature and catalogs of museum exhibits. A spiral motif originated in Egypt. The origins of the lyre motif in ancient Egypt are probably connected with the iconography of the Egyptian god of Hathor, who was depicted as a woman with a headdress decorated with lyre shaped horns and a solar disk between them. It should be noted that the tradition of depicting a human face with cow horns has connections with the Neolithic period of the Nile Valley, where cattle breeding arose in the 6-5th millennium BC. The first cases of using a lyre shaped motif occured in scarab-like seals of Egypt and Minoan culture. Artifacts with a lyre shaped motif were observed related, dating from the Minoan and Mycenaean periods, during to the period of classical Hellenistic Greece. A lyre shaped motif was spread along trade routes from Crete to the Danube, the Elbe, the shores of the Baltic Sea and, together with the Celts, penetrated into Britain, from the Greek colonies of the Black Sea to the Scythians. In the Asian part of the Eurasian steppes, this motif symbolized the image of the eagle totem animal depicted like a griffin, especially in the early Scythian and Hunnic period. The origins of the lyre shaped motif in the Asian steppe, apparently, were the ancient motifs “taotie” in China and “masks” in the Russian Far East. The popularity of the lyre shaped motif in the folk arts and crafts of the Turkic peoples was probably due to the spread of this motif within the Scythian community, when there was a cult of the eagle-like griffin and totem.

The Holy mountain Sinai was known and venerated in the Old Testament. On this mountain, moses saw God in the form of a burning bush and heard His name – Jahwe (I am, who I am). When returning from bondage in Egypt, moses received the ten commandments on stone tablets and instructed Israel. also, the Prophet Elijah hid himself from the wrath of Queen Isabel on mount Sinai.In the times of the New Testament, the caves of Sinai became a dwelling place for Christian recluses in the III century. after the relics of St. Catherine the martyr were found on the top of mount Sinai, anchoritic monasticism began to give way to monastic communities. The first church was built by St. Helen here in the IV century, and later in the VI century, a monastery was established by the Emperor Justinian. The monks of this monastery, such as St. John Climacus and St. Gregory of Sinai, significantly contributed to the development of Christian teaching and asceticism. The monastery on mount Sinai engaged itself in the theological debates of this time, fighting against monotheletism and iconoclasm. mount Sinai did not lose its importance when the arabs and later Turks occupied the whole Sinai Peninsula.In the VII century, the monastery of St. Catherine was made the seat of the bishop of Pharan. In the IX century, it was raised to the honour of archbishop. The diocese was made into an autonomous Church by the Patriarch of Constantinople in 1575. although Sinai was canonically dependant on Jerusalem, it was granted much independence. The Church safely survived both world wars and Israeli-Egyptian conflicts. although the Church in Sinai consists of the fewest people in any local church, its importance still remains. The icon collection is the richest in the world, the archives and library is second largest in the world and the Codex Sinaiticus of the Holy Scriptures is a world treasure. The relics of St. Catherine and the Burning Bush of moses also give loftiness to the image of the autonomous Church of Sinai.

It is 1842. Two Englishman set out on a Grand Tour of Europe and the Middle East. One is a young, gifted artist; the other a Gentleman. By the time they return to England, the artist has become a devotee of the Egyptian god Osiris. One night, after dining together in a small inn in Cobham, he violently murders his beloved father, believing him to be an imposter. Why? Son is a novel inspired by the life of Richard Dadd, one of the greatest Victorian painters and inmate of Bethlem Hospital - more commonly known as Bedlam. Part Two of Son will be published in Portal vol. 2, no. 1, January 2005.

It is 1842. Two Englishman set out on a Grand Tour of Europe and the Middle East. One is a young, gifted artist; the other a Gentleman. By the time they return to England, the artist has become a devotee of the Egyptian god Osiris. One night, after dining together in a small inn in Cobham, he violently murders his beloved father, believing him to be an imposter. Why? Son is a novel inspired by the life of Richard Dadd, one of the greatest Victorian painters and inmate of Bethlem Hospital - more commonly known as Bedlam. Part one of Son was published in PORTAL vol. 1, no. 2, in July 2004. This is the second and concluding part of the novel.

Give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties. —John Milton (1608-1674) Introduction The publication of 12 cartoons depicting images of Prophet Mohammed [Peace Be Upon Him] first in Denmark’s Jyllands-Posten on 30 September 2005, and later reprinted in European media and two New Zealand newspapers, sparked protests around the Muslim world. The Australian newspapers – with the exception of The Courier-Mail, which published one cartoon – refrained from reprinting the cartoons, acknowledging that depictions of the Prophet are regarded as “blasphemous by Muslims”. How is this apparent act of restraint to be assessed? Edward Said, in his book Covering Islam has acknowledged that there have been many Muslim provocations and troubling incidents by Islamic countries such as Iran, Libya, Sudan, and others in the 1980s. However, he contends that the use of the label “Islam” by non-Muslim commentators, either to explain or indiscriminately condemn “Islam”, ends up becoming a form of attack, which in turn provokes more hostility (xv-xvi). This article examines how two Australian newspapers – The Australian and The West Australian – handled the debate on the Prophet Muhammad cartoons and considers whether in the name of “free speech” it ended in “a form of attack” on Australian Muslims. It also considers the media’s treatment of Muslim Australians’ “free speech” on previous occasions. This article is drawn from the oral testimonies of Muslims of diverse ethnic background. Since 1998, as part of PhD and post-doctoral research on Muslims in Australia, the author conducted 130 face-to-face, in-depth, taped interviews of Muslims, aged 18-90, both male and female. While speaking about their settlement experience, several interviewees made unsolicited remarks about Western/Australian media, all of them making the point that Muslims were being demonised. Australian Muslims Many of Australia’s 281,578 Muslims — 1.5 per cent of the total population (Australian Bureau of Statistics) — believe that as a result of media bias, they are vilified in society as “terrorists”, and discriminated in the workplace (Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission; Dreher 13; Kabir 266-277). The ABS figures support their claim of discrimination in the workplace; in 1996 the unemployment rate for Muslim Australians was 25 per cent, compared to 9 per cent for the national total. In 2001, it was reduced to 18.5 per cent, compared to 6.8 per cent for the national total, but the ratio of underprivileged positions in the labour market remained almost three times higher than for the wider community. Instead of reflecting on Muslims’ labour market issues or highlighting the social issues confronting Muslims since 9/11, some Australian media, in the name of “free speech”, reinforce negative perceptions of Muslims through images, cartoons and headlines. In 2004, one Muslim informant offered their perceptions of Australian media: I think the Australian media are quite prejudiced, and they only do show one side of the story, which is quite pro-Bush, pro-Howard, pro-war. Probably the least prejudiced media would be ABC or SBS, but the most pro-Jewish, pro-America, would be Channel Seven, Channel Nine, Channel Ten. They only ever show things from one side of the story. This article considers the validity of the Muslim interviewee’s perception that Australian media representation is one-sided. On 26 October 2005, under the headline: “Draw a Cartoon about Mohammed and You Must Die”, The Australian warned its readers: ISLAM is no laughing matter. Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten, is being protected by security guards and several cartoonists have gone into hiding after the newspaper published a series of 12 cartoons about the prophet Mohammed. According to Islam, it is blasphemous to make images of the prophet. Muslim fundamentalists have threatened to bomb the paper’s offices and kill the cartoonists (17). Militant Muslims The most provocative cartoons appearing in the Danish media are probably those showing a Muhammad-like figure wearing a turban shaped as a bomb with a burning fuse coming out of it, or a queue of smoking suicide bombers on a cloud with an Islamic cleric saying, “Stop stop we have run out of virgins”. Another showed a blindfolded Muslim man with two veiled Muslim women standing behind him. These messages appeared to be concerned with Islam’s repression of women (Jyllands-Posten), and possibly with the American channel CBS airing an interview in August 2001 of a Palestinian Hamas activist, Muhammad Abu Wardeh, who recruited terrorists for suicide bombings in Israel. Abu Wardeh was quoted as saying: “I described to him [the suicide bomber] how God would compensate the martyr for sacrificing his life for his land. If you become a martyr, God will give you 70 virgins, 70 wives and everlasting happiness” (The Guardian). Perhaps to serve their goals, the militants have re-interpreted the verses of the Holy Quran (Sura 44:51-54; 55:56) where it is said that Muslims who perform good deeds will be blessed by the huris or “pure being” (Ali 1290-1291; 1404). However, since 9/11, it is also clear that the Muslim militant groups such as the Al-Qaeda have become the “new enemy” of the West. They have used religion to justify the terrorist acts and suicide bombings that have impacted on Western interests in New York, Washington, Bali, Madrid amongst other places. But it should be noted that there are Muslim critics, such as Pakistani-born writer, Irshad Manji, Bangladeshi-born writer Taslima Nasreen and Somalian-born Dutch parliamentarian Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who have been constant critics of Muslim men’s oppression of women and have urged reformation. However, their extremist fellow believers threatened them with a death sentence for their “free speech” (Chadwick). The non-Muslim Dutch film director, Theo van Gogh, also a critic of Islam and a supporter of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, advocated a reduction in immigration into Holland, especially by Muslims. Both van Gogh and Hirsi Ali – who co-scripted and co-produced the film Submission – received death threats from Muslim extremists because the film exhibited the verses of the Quran across the chest, stomach and thighs of an almost naked girl, and featured four women in see-through robes showing their breasts, with texts from the Quran daubed on their bodies, talking about the abuse they had suffered under Islam (Anon 25). Whereas there may be some justification for the claim made in the film, that some Muslim men interpret the Quran to oppress women (Doogue and Kirkwood 220), the writing of the Quranic verses on almost-naked women is surely offensive to all Muslims because the Quran teaches Muslim women to dress modestly (Sura 24: 30-31; Ali 873). On 4 November 2004, The West Australian reported that the Dutch director Theo van Gogh was murdered by a 26-year-old Dutch-Moroccan Muslim on 2 November 2004 (27). Hirsi Ali, the co-producer of the film was forced to go into hiding after van Gogh’s murder. In the face of a growing clamour from both the Dutch Muslims and the secular communities to silence her, Ayaan Hirsi Ali resigned from the Dutch Parliament in May 2006 and decided to re-settle in Washington (Jardine 2006). It should be noted that militant Muslims form a tiny but forceful minority of the 1.4 billion Muslims worldwide. The Muslim majority are moderate and peaceful (Doogue and Kirkwood 79-80). Some Muslim scholars argue that there is specific instruction in the Quran for people to apply their knowledge and arrive at whatever interpretation is of greatest benefit to the community. It may be that stricter practitioners would not agree with the moderate interpretation of the Quran and vice versa (Doogue and Kirkwood 232). Therefore, when the Western media makes a mockery of the Muslim religion or their Prophet in the name of “free speech”, or generalises all Muslims for the acts of a few through headlines or cartoons, it impacts on the Muslims residing in the West. Prophet Muhammad’s Cartoons With the above-mentioned publication of Prophet Muhammad’s cartoons in Denmark, Islamic critics charged that the cartoons were a deliberate provocation and insult to their religion, designed to incite hatred and polarise people of different faiths. In February 2006, regrettably, violent reactions took place in the Middle East, Europe and in Asia. Danish embassies were attacked and, in some instances, were set on fire. The demonstrators chanted, “With our blood and souls we defend you, O Prophet of God!”. Some replaced the Danish flag with a green one printed with the first pillar of Islam (Kalima): “There is no god but God and Mohammed is the messenger of God”. Some considered the cartoons “an unforgivable insult” that merited punishment by death (The Age). A debate on “free speech” soon emerged in newspapers throughout the world. On 7 February 2006 the editorial in The West Australian, “World Has Had Enough of Muslim Fanatics”, stated that the newspaper would not publish cartoons of Mohammad that have drawn protests from Muslims around the world. The newspaper acknowledged that depictions of the prophet are regarded as “blasphemous by Muslims” (18). However, the editorial was juxtaposed with another article “Can Liberty Survive a Clash of Cultures?”, with an image of bearded men wearing Muslim head coverings, holding Arabic placards and chanting slogans, implying the violent nature of Islam. And in the letters page of this newspaper, published on the same day, appeared the following headlines (20): Another Excuse for Muslims to Threaten Us Islam Attacked Cartoon Rage: Greatest Threat to World Peace We’re Living in Dangerous Times Why Treat Embassies with Contempt? Muslim Religion Is Not So Soft Civilised World Is Threatened The West Australian is a state-based newspaper that tends to side with the conservative Liberal party, and is designed to appeal to the “man in the street”. The West Australian did not republish the Prophet Muhammad cartoon, but for 8 days from 7 to 15 February 2006 the letters to the editor and opinion columns consistently criticised Islam and upheld “superior” Western secular values. During this period, the newspaper did publish a few letters that condemned the Danish cartoonist, including the author’s letter, which also condemned the Muslims’ attack on the embassies. But the overall message was that Western secular values were superior to Islamic values. In other words, the newspaper adopted a jingoistic posture and asserted the cultural superiority of mainstream Australians. The Danish cartoons also sparked a debate on “free speech” in Australia’s leading newspaper, The Australian, which is a national newspaper that also tends to reflect the values of the ruling national government – also the conservative Liberal party. And it followed a similar pattern of debate as The West Australian. On 14 February 2006, The Australian (13) published a reader’s criticism of The Australian for not republishing the cartoons. The author questioned whether the Muslims deserved any tolerance because their Holy Book teaches intolerance. The Koran [Quran] (22:19) says: Garments of fire have been prepared for the unbelievers. Scalding water shall be poured upon their heads, melting their skins and that which is in their bellies. Perhaps this reader did not find the three cartoons published in The Australian a few days earlier to be ‘offensive’ to the Australian Muslims. In the first, on 6 February 2006, the cartoonist Bill Leak showed that his head was chopped off by some masked people (8), implying that Muslim militants, such as the Hamas, would commit such a brutal act. The Palestinian Hamas group often appear in masks before the media. In this context, it is important to note that Israel is an ally of Australia and the United States, whereas the Hamas is Israel’s enemy whose political ideology goes against Israel’s national interest. On 25 January 2006, the Hamas won a landslide victory in the Palestine elections but Israel refused to recognise this government because Hamas has not abandoned its militant ideology (Page 13). The cartoon, therefore, probably means that the cartoonist or perhaps The Australian has taken sides on behalf of Australia’s ally Israel. In the second cartoon, on 7 February 2006, Bill Leak sketched an Arab raising his sword over a school boy who was drawing in a classroom. The caption read, “One more line and I’ll chop your hand off!” (12). And in the third, on 10 February 2006, Bill Leak sketched Mr Mohammed’s shadow holding a sword with the caption: “The unacceptable face of fanaticism”. A reporter asked: “And so, Mr Mohammed, what do you have to say about the current crisis?” to which Mr Mohammed replied, “I refuse to be drawn on the subject” (16). The cartoonist also thought that the Danish cartoons should have been republished in the Australian newspapers (Insight). Cartoons are supposed to reflect the theme of the day. Therefore, Bill Leak’s cartoons were certainly topical. But his cartoons reveal that his or The Australian’s “freedom of expression” has been one-sided, all depicting Islam as representing violence. For example, after the Bali bombing on 21 November 2002, Leak sketched two fully veiled women, one carrying explosives under her veil and asking the other, “Does my bomb look big in this”? The cartoonist’s immediate response to criticism of the cartoon in a television programme was, “inevitably, when you look at a cartoon such as that one, the first thing you’ve got to do is remember that as a daily editorial cartoonist, you’re commenting first and foremost on the events of the day. They’re very ephemeral things”. He added, “It was…drawn about three years ago after a spate of suicide bombing attacks in Israel” (Insight). Earlier events also suggested that that The Australian resolutely supports Australia’s ally, Israel. On 13-14 November 2004 Bill Leak caricatured the recently deceased Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in The Weekend Australian (18). In the cartoon, God appeared to be displeased with him and would not allow him to enter paradise. Arafat was shown with explosives strapped to his body and threatening God by saying, “A cloud to myself or the whole place goes up….”. On the other hand, on 6 January 2006 the same cartoonist sympathetically portrayed ailing Israeli leader Ariel Sharon as a decent man wearing a black suit, with God willing to accept him (10); and the next day Sharon was portrayed as “a Man of Peace” (12). Politics and Religion Thus, the anecdotal evidence so far reveals that in the name of “freedom of expression”, or “free speech” The West Australian and The Australian newspapers have taken sides – either glorifying their “superior” Western culture or taking sides on behalf of its allies. On the other hand, these print media would not tolerate the “free speech” of a Muslim leader who spoke against their ally or another religious group. From the 1980s until recently, some print media, particularly The Australian, have been critical of the Egyptian-born Muslim spiritual leader Imam Taj el din al-Hilali for his “free speech”. In 1988 the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils bestowed the title of Mufti to Imam al- Hilali, and al-Hilali was elevated to a position of national religious leadership. Al-Hilali became a controversial figure after 1988 when he gave a speech to the Muslim students at Sydney University and accused Jews of trying to control the world through “sex, then sexual perversion, then the promotion of espionage, treason and economic hoarding” (Hewett 7). The Imam started being identified as a “Muslim chief” in the news headlines once he directly criticised American foreign policy during the 1990-91 Gulf crisis. The Imam interpreted US intervention in Kuwait as a “political dictatorship” that was exploiting the Gulf crisis because it was seen as a threat to its oil supply (Hewett 7). After the Bali bombings in 2002, the Howard government distributed information on terrorism through the “Alert and Alarmed” kit as part of its campaign of public awareness. The first casualty of the “Be alert, but not alarmed” campaign was the Imam al-Hilali. On 6 January 2003, police saw a tube of plastic protruding from a passenger door window and suspected that al-Hilali might have been carrying a gun when they pulled him over for traffic infringements. Sheikh al-Hilali was charged with resisting arrest and assaulting police (Morris 1, 4). On 8 January 2003 The Australian reminded its readers “Arrest Adds to Mufti’s Mystery” (9). The same issue of The Australian portrayed the Sheikh being stripped of his clothes by two policemen. The letter page also contained some unsympathetic opinions under the headline: “Mufti Deserved No Special Treatment” (10). In January 2004, al-Hilali was again brought under the spotlight. The Australian media alleged that al-Hilali praised the suicide bombers at a Mosque in Lebanon and said that the destruction of the World Trade Center was “God’s work against oppressors” (Guillatt 24). Without further investigation, The Australian again reported his alleged inflammatory comments. Under the headline, “Muslim Leader’s Jihad Call”, it condemned al-Hilali and accused him of strongly endorsing “terrorist groups Hezbollah and Hamas, during his visit to Lebanon”. Federal Labor Member of Parliament Michael Danby said, “Hilali’s presence in Australia is a mistake. He and his associates must give authorities an assurance he will not assist future homicide attacks” (Chulov 1, 5). Later investigations by Sydney’s Good Weekend Magazine and SBS Television found that al-Hilali’s speech had been mistranslated (Guillatt 24). However, the selected print media that had been very critical of the Sheikh did not highlight the mistranslation. On the other hand, the Archbishop of Sydney, Cardinal George Pell has been critical of Islam and is also opposed to Australia’s involvement in the Iraq war in 2003, but the print media appeared to ignore his “free speech” (Dateline). In November 2004, Dr Pell said that secular liberal democracy was empty and selfish, and Islam was emerging as an alternative world view that attracted the alienated (Zwartz 3). In May 2006, Dr Pell said that he tried to reconcile claims that Islam was a faith of peace with those that suggested the Quran legitimised the killings of non-Muslims but: In my own reading of the Koran [Quran], I began to note down invocations to violence. There are so many of them, however, that I abandoned this exercise after 50 or 60 or 70 pages (Morris). Muslim leaders regarded Dr Pell’s anti-Islam statement as “inflammatory” (Morris). However, both the newspapers, The Australian and The West Australian remained uncritical of Dr Pell’s “free speech” against Islam. Conclusion Edward Said believed that media images are informed by official definitions of Islam that serve the interests of government and business. The success of the images is not in their accuracy but in the power of the people who produce them, the triumph of which is hardly challenged. “Labels have survived many experiences and have been capable of adapting to new events, information and realities” (9). In this paper the author accepts that, in the Australian context, militant Muslims are the “enemy of the West”. However, they are also the enemy of most moderate Australian Muslims. When some selected media take sides on behalf of the hegemony, or Australia’s “allies”, and offend moderate Australian Muslims, the media’s claim of “free speech” or “freedom of expression” remains highly questionable. Muslim interviewees in this study have noted a systemic bias in some Australian media, but they are not alone in detecting this bias (see the “Abu Who?” segment of Media Watch on ABC TV, 31 July 2006). To address this concern, Australian Muslim leaders need to play an active role in monitoring the media. This might take the form of a watchdog body within the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils. If the media bias is found to be persistent, the AFIC might then recommend legislative intervention or application of existing anti-discrimination policies; alternatively, AFIC could seek sanctions from within the Australian journalistic community. One way or another this practice should be stopped. References Ali, Abdullah Yusuf. The Holy Quran: Text, Translation and Commentary. New Revised Ed. Maryland, USA: Amana Corporation, 1989. Anonymous. “Dutch Courage in Aftermath of Film-Maker’s Slaying.” The Weekend Australian 6-7 Nov. 2004. Chadwick, Alex. “The Caged Virgin: A Call for Change in Islam.” 4 June 2006 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5382547>. Chulov, Martin. “Muslim Leader’s Jihad Call.” The Australian 19 Feb. 2004. Dateline. “Cardinal George Pell Interview.” SBS TV 6 April 2005. 7 June 2006 http://news.sbs.com.au/dateline/>. Dreher, Tanya. “Targeted”, Experiences of Racism in NSW after September 11, 2001. Sydney: University of Technology, 2005. Doogue, Geraldine, and Peter Kirkwood. Tomorrow’s Islam: Understanding Age-Old Beliefs and a Modern World. Sydney: ABC Books, 2005. Insight. “Culture Clash.” SBS TV 7 March 2006. 11 June 2006 http://news.sbs.com.au/insight/archive.php>. Guillatt, Richard. “Moderate or Menace.” Sydney Morning Herald Good Weekend 21 Aug. 2004. Hewett, Tony. “Australia Exploiting Crisis: Muslim Chief.” Sydney Morning Herald 27 Nov. 1990. Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. Ismaa – Listen: National Consultations on Eliminating Prejudice against Arab and Muslim Australians. Sydney: Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, 2004. Jyllands-Posten. 24 Jan. 2006. http://www.di2.nu/files/Muhammad_Cartoons_Jyllands_Posten.html>. Jardine, Lisa. “Liberalism under Pressure.” BBC News 5 June 2006. 12 June 2006 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/5042418.stm>. Kabir, Nahid. Muslims in Australia: Immigration, Race Relations and Cultural History. London: Kegan Paul, 2005. Media Watch. “Abu Who?” ABC Television 31 July 2006. http://abc.net.au/mediawatch/>. Morris, Linda. “Imam Facing Charges after Row with Police.” Sydney Morning Herald 7 Jan. 2003. Morris, Linda. “Pell Challenges Islam – O Ye, of Little Tolerant Faith.” Sydney Morning Herald 5 May 2006. Page, Jeremy. “Russia May Sell Arms to Hamas.” The Australian 18 Feb. 2006. Said, Edward. Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World. London: Vintage, 1981, 1997. Submission. “Film Clip from Short Submission.” Submission. 11 June 2006. http://www.ifilm.com/ifilmdetail/2655656?htv=12> The Age. “Embassies Torched over Cartoons.” 5 Feb. 2006. http://www.theage.com.au>. The Guardian. “Virgins? What Virgins?” 12 Jan. 2002. 4 June 2006 http://www.guardian.co.uk/>. Zwartz, Barney. “Islam Could Be New Communism, Pell Tells US Audience.” Sydney Morning Herald 12 Nov. 2004. Citation reference for this article MLA Style Kabir, Nahid. "Depiction of Muslims in Selected Australian Media: Free Speech or Taking Sides." M/C Journal 9.4 (2006). echo date('d M. Y'); ?> <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0609/1-kabir.php>. APA Style Kabir, N. (Sep. 2006) "Depiction of Muslims in Selected Australian Media: Free Speech or Taking Sides," M/C Journal, 9(4). Retrieved echo date('d M. Y'); ?> from <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/0609/1-kabir.php>.

OPSOMMING Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831), een van die belangrikste figure in die ontwikkeling van Duitse idealisme, se filosofie staan as "absolute idealisme" bekend, aangesien hy die idee, of gees (verstand) as die eintlike werklikheid beskou - in teenstelling met 'n materialistiese denker soos Karl Marx, wat materie (stof) as primêre werklikheid aanwys. Hegel was die eerste Westerse denker wat die geskiedenis ernstig opgeneem het; volgens hom is alles, spesifiek menslike kulturele aktiwiteite, onderworpe aan historiese ontwikkeling, en beskryf hy hierdie ontwikkeling op verskeie vlakke, insluitende dié wat hy "absolute gees" noem. Op hierdie vlak word wêreldgeskiedenis aan die hand van 'n "dialektiese" ontwikkeling vanaf "subjektiewe" gees (individuele menslike passies en bedoelinge) via "objektiewe" gees (staatstrukture en wette) tot "absolute gees" voorgestel. In hierdie artikel word daar aandag gegee aan wat volgens Hegel op laasgenoemde vlak gebeur, spesifiek met betrekking tot sy raaiselagtige stelling, dat die kuns as "hoogste uitdrukking" van die gees "moet sterf", om plek te maak vir religie en filosofie as manifestasies daarvan op meer gevorderde vlakke. 'n Mens kan tereg wonder wat Hegel daarmee bedoel het in die lig van die voortdurende beoefening van kuns tot vandag toe. Die antwoord is geleë in die frase, "hoogste uitdrukking", wat daarop dui dat hy aan kuns in historiese ontwikkelingsterme dink - met ander woorde, kuns is die draer van die absolute gees tot op 'n bepaalde tydstip, waarna dit plek moet maak vir ander sodanige uitdrukkingsvorme, te wete godsdiens en filosofie. Bowendien is kuns self ook onderworpe aan interne ontwikkeling; vir Hegel is die vroegste kuns simbolies van aard, (met Egiptiese kuns as voorbeeld), gevolg deur klassieke kuns (onder die antieke Grieke) en laastens romantiese kuns (in sy eie tyd). Die verskille tussen hierdie drie kunsvorms word bepaal deur die verhouding tussen idee en materie; in simboliese kuns domineer materie oor die idee in kunswerke, sodat die betekenis daarvan slegs vaagweg gepeil kan word (dink maar aan die Sfinks, as die "simbool van die simboliese"), terwyl daar 'n volmaakte balans tussen idee en materie bestaan in klassieke Griekse kuns, sodat geeneen van die twee dominant is nie (soos in die geval van beeldhouwerke wat die god Apollo voorstel). In romantiese kuns (byvoorbeeld die romantiese skilderkuns van Gericault) vind 'n mens die teenoorgestelde van simboliese kuns, met die idee wat dermate oor die materie heers dat dit byna daarin slaag om in denkbeeldige vorm daarvan los te breek. Hierdie is volgens Hegel die "hoogste" ontwikkelingspunt wat kuns as draer van die gees kan bereik, voordat dit plek maak vir religie as "beelddenke" en uiteindelik filosofie, waar die gees as idee suiwer, sonder enige stoflike oorblyfsel, tot uitdrukking kom. Hier voltooi die absolute gees die ontwikkelingstrajek daarvan, wat by die objektiewe vergestalting daarvan begin en via subjektiewe beliggaming uiteindelik in absolute "selfkennis" kulmineer. Vir die doeleindes van hierdie artikel is dit egter tematies betekenisvol dat Hegel ook melding maak van die voortbestaan van kuns ná die punt waar dit afstand doen van die titel van "hoogste" manifestasie van die gees of idee, naamlik in die gewaad van "kritiese", polemiese kuns, wat vry geword het van spesifieke wêreldbeskouings. 'n Mens kan in die moderne kunsbewegings van die vroeë 20ste eeu - insluitende kubisme, abstrakte ekspressionisme, konseptualisme en futurisme - die beliggaming van hierdie verwagting by Hegel bespeur, waar hierdie soort kuns telkens die ontologiese aanspraak maak dat dit die ware werklikheid blootlê. As besonder treffende tydgenootlike uitdrukking van sodanige (radikale) kritiese kuns word Andy Goldsworthy se ekologiese kuns ten slotte onder die loep geplaas. Trefwoorde: dood van kuns, kritiese kuns, ekologiese kuns, dialekties, Hegel, geskiedenis, kapitalisme, Goldsworthy ABSTRACT Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831), one of the major figures in the history of philosophy, played a significant role in the development of German idealism from Immanuel Kant in the 18th century via figures such as Schelling and Fichte, with the movement culminating in Hegel's "absolute idealism". In ontological terms idealism means that "the idea" is regarded as the true reality, instead of material things. Karl Marx, who learned a lot from Hegel as far as his dialectical method goes, famously remarked that Hegel had turned the world on its head, and he, Marx (a materialist thinker), would put it back on its feet again. Hegel made a substantial contribution to the philosophy of art - his multi-volume work, Lectures on Aesthetics, is justly famous - but instead of discussing it here in general terms, I shall focus on Hegel's puzzling statement that art had reached the highest point of its development as bearer of "the idea" in his own time (the first half of the 19th century), and would have to make way for religion and philosophy as expressions of the idea, or spirit/mind. This is known as Hegel's thesis of "the death of art". One might wonder what this means, because anyone can see that, if he meant the end of art as a cultural practice, he was simply wrong, given the ubiquitous signs of ongoing artistic activities. This may be the case, but recall that Hegel saw art as having reached the highest point of its development as bearer of "the idea" at that time, suggesting that there would still be a role for art after this point. This is precisely what is the case. For Hegel, the idea, or spirit (mind) as ultimate reality, unfolds itself in the history of the world at various levels. At the niveau of social and political development, which Hegel writes about in his Philosophy of History, he understands history from the ancient Chinese, Indians and Persians, through the Greeks and Romans until his own time as the history of the increasing "consciousness of freedom", with every new era displaying a step forward, approximating the ideal of political freedom. In this, his most accessible work, as well as in his magnum opus, The Phenomenology of spirit/mind, Hegel displays what is probably his most lasting philosophical legacy - a keen awareness, more than any philosopher before him, of history, and the fact that everything human is subject to historical development, which he believed to have meaning and direction. Moreover, instead of a simple-minded, linear conception of history, he thinks of historical change dialectically - that is, developing from one state of affairs through its negation by its dialectical opposite, or antithesis, to another, higher state, which comprises a synthesis of the two preceding stages. This new stage is again negated by its opposite, and so on. Importantly, however, Hegel claims that, with every dialectical movement from one historical condition to another, the previous, negated stage is preserved, uplifted, and cancelled simultaneously (a tripartite process called sublation in English, and Aufhebung in German). This means that every earlier stage of development is still present in every later stage, but in a transformed fashion. Hegel also calls this "the negation of the negation" - incorporating something of the other into oneself. To reach the level of what he calls absolute spirit, it develops through subjective spirit (sense perception, consciousness, self-consciousness) and objective spirit (the family, the state, law) to the point where it manifests itself in art, followed by religion, and eventually the highest level, namely, philosophy, where absolute spirit or mind "knows itself" in clear conceptual terms. In the development of art he distinguishes three stages, namely symbolic art, classical art and the art of his own time, namely romantic art. Certain kinds of art correspond to these stages, with architecture being the exemplary symbolic art, sculpture the epitome of classical art, and painting, music and dramatic poetry the clearest expressions of romantic art. Moreover, in every stage, and kind of art there is a typical relationship between the idea and the material within which it is enveloped (for that is what art is, for Hegel: the sensuous, or material, embodiment of the idea). In the case of symbolic art the idea does not appear clearly, but is only dimly suggested because the sensuous envelope predominates over it. The art of the ancient Egyptians serves as an example of symbolic art, with the Sphinx as "the symbol of the symbolic". Classical art is exemplified by ancient Greek sculpture, which is in a sense the "highest" that art is capable of as far as the relationship between idea and matter goes: in the sculptures depicting the Greek gods, such as Apollo, we see the perfect equilibrium, Hegel claims, between idea and matter, with neither dominating the other. However, when romantic art replaces classical art we find a preponderance that is the opposite of that found in symbolic art, insofar as the idea becomes too strong for the material to contain, so that it threatens to break its material bonds. Hegel sees this happening in the painting, music and poetry or drama of his time. Think of romantic paintings such as those of Eugene Delacroix or Theodore Gericault, for example, the latter's painting of The Raft of the Medusa, which commemorates the sinking of a ship by that name and shows survivors on a raft, in various stages of exhaustion and desperation. It is as if the painting is striving to surpass itself as artistic medium in an attempt to express the suffering of these people. The same is true of some of the music of Hegel's time. He would probably have been familiar with Beethoven's opera, Fidelio - with its valorisation of love, courage, sacrifice and freedom - although he does not refer to it. But it is particularly poetry and drama, where the poetic expressions of joy and suffering come close to philosophy (except that here they are instances of imaginative, instead of conceptual articulations), that testify to romantic art signalling the finale of art's capacity to embody the idea. Art passes the baton to religion, which Hegel thinks of as "pictorial thinking", and which expresses the subjectivity of humans and of God better than art could. Eventually religion has to make way for philosophy, though, because it is there that spirit or mind knows itself self-reflectively and clearly. As far as art is concerned there is an important corollary, however. Hegel writes about a "free art" that continues to exist after art has relinquished its "highest vocation", and attributes to this art a critical, polemical function, given that the artist has become free from the constraints of a specific worldview. In this respect Hegel seems to have been prescient; even in his own time he noticed that people had become less interested in merely looking at art, for instance, and more interested in what art meant - hence Hegel's anticipation of a "science of art". Beyond Hegel's lifetime art developed in a manner that bears out his expectations. Particularly in the early 20th century one notices a plethora of new art movements - abstract expressionism, cubism, fauvism, conceptualism, suprematism, futurism, metaphysical art - all of which bear overtly theoretical names, claiming to reflect the true nature of reality. In contemporary ecological art, such as that of Andy Goldsworthy, one may perceive a particularly powerful instance of the "critical" role of art that Hegel anticipated. It is here discussed to demonstrate what is meant by claiming that it embodies a "radically critical" art in the face of the ecological crisis facing humanity. Keywords: death of art, critical art, ecological art, dialectical, Hegel, history, capitalism, Goldsworthy

The computer game is perhaps the fastest growing and most quickly evolving cultural leisure technology in the western world. Invented as a form just under 40 years ago with the creation of Space War at MIT, computer and video games collectively account for hundreds of billions of dollars in sales across the world. And yet critical analysis of this cultural form is still in its infancy. Perhaps the sheer speed of the development of games may account for this. Thirty years ago, strategy games were screens of text instructions and a prompt where you could type a weather forecast. Today pretty much all games are flawlessly shaded and rendered polygons. The technology of film has barely changed at all in the same period. In any case, the critical study of games began in the eighties. The focus initially was on the psychology of the gamer. Most game players were children and teenagers during this period, and the focussing of their leisure time on this new and strange computer technology became a source of extreme moral panic for educators, parents and researchers alike. Later, research into the cultures of gaming would become more nuanced, and begin to detail the semiotics and narrative structures of games. It is in that kind of frame that this article is positioned. I want to look closely at a particular strategy game series, The Settlers. Firstly, however, a description of the strategy game genre. Strategy games put the player into a simulated inhabited environment and give the player almost total control over that environment and its simulated inhabitants. The strategy game has many genres, including the simulation game and the god game, but the sub-genre I will focus on in this paper is the real-time strategy game. The game requires the player to develop a functioning economy, geared around the production of weapons and armies, which are sent out to combat neighbouring tribes or armies. Real-time games typically give greater tactical control of the armies to the player, and slightly less detailed economic control. The aim is basically to amass as much gold or whatever as possible to buy as many troops as possible. However, the game I am about to discuss is, in addition to being a simple game of war, a very interesting simulation of economic and logistical constraints. The Settlers is series of fantasy computer strategy games developed by the German game design firm Blue Byte. The three extant Settlers games can be considered an evolution of game design rather than a continuing narrative, so, given the time constraints, for the purposes of this paper I will address only one game in the series, the most recently released title, The Settlers 3. The Settlers 3 tells the story of three expansionist empires, the Romans, the Egyptians, and the Asians, who have been thrust onto an uninhabited continent by the gods of their peoples to determine who is the fittest to survive. In other words, the game is founded from the beginning on a socio-Darwinian premise. In each level of the game, the settlers of each tribe must, under their player's direction, build an efficient and well maintained colony with a fully operating economy in order to achieve a set objective, which is usually to wipe out the opposing tribes by building up a large army, though it may be also to amass a predetermined level of a particular resource. Each level begins with about twenty settlers, a small guard hut to define the limits of the borders and a barely adequate supply of wooden planks, stone slabs and tools with which to begin to construct the economy. The player chooses building types from a menu and places them on the screen. Immediately the appropriate number of settlers walk across the landscape, leaving visible tracks in their wake, to pick up tools and supplies in order to construct the building. Typically, the player will order the construction of a woodcutter's hut, a sawmill, a stone cutter and a forester to ensure the steady flow of the basic construction materials to the rest of the colony. From this point more guard huts and towers are constructed to expand into new territory, and farms are built to feed the miners. Once constructed, the mine produce coal, gold and ore, which is sent down to the smelters to make iron bars (to make swords and tools) and gold bars (to pay the troops). Luxuries such as beer and wine are produced as a sacrifice to the gods. This results in rewards such as magical spells and promotion of the soldiers. Occasionally, incursions of enemy troops must be dealt with -- if they take a guard tower in battle, the borders, represented by lines of coloured flags, shrink, leading to the collapse and destruction of any building outside the boundaries. Finally, sufficient swords, bows and spears are produced, the soldiers are promoted, and they set off to pillage and destroy their neighbours' territory. If the previously mentioned enemy incursions were frequent enough, the final conflict where the player's warriors brutally annihilate the enemy is tremendously satisfying. The problematics of that particular game construct are left as an exercise for the audience. When territory is taken, the villages of the enemy go up in smoke and their resources are left lying on the ground, for the settlers to pick up and use for the benefit of the player. One of the things that make the game so fascinating to play is the complexity of the simulation. It must be said right away that the game employs many abstractions to make it playable and not utterly boring. For instance, only the miners out of all the settlers actually need food, and the mechanism by which new settlers are actually created is a bit vague (you construct a building called a "residence", and when it's completed, new setters simply troop out. And there only seem to be male settlers, unless you play the Amazons). Nonetheless, the game still quite explicitly details things most games of its type gloss right over. Unlike most games, pulling out all the stops in production just leads to bottlenecks where the transportation infrastructure can't get the goods to their destinations. Production levels have to be carefully monitored and throttled back where necessary to ensure the smooth flow of resources from A to B, C and D. Resources themselves -- coal lumps, gold bricks, fish, loaves of bread, swords --are modelled individually: you can actually track the process whereby an individual sheaf of wheat is harvested, picked up by a settler, carried off to the mill, turned into flour, sent to the bakery, made into a loaf of bread, and delivered to the coal miner for consumption. With its attention to the gritty detail of getting stuff from one place to the next, The Settlers is one of the very few truly logistically precise strategy games. Before I begin the analysis proper, I want to introduce some key terms that I'll be using a bit idiosyncratically in this paper. I'll be talking about gameplay quite a bit. Gameplay is a bit of a sliding signifier in the discourse of gaming theory -- loosely speaking it's that indefinable something that gets a player heated up about a game and keeps them playing for days on end. But here I want to be more precise. I'll offer a strategic definition. Gameplay is a way of quantifying the operations of a kind of economy of desire that operates between the player and the game itself. This economy has, as its constitutive elements, such factors as attention span, pleasure, ratio of novelty to repetition. These elements are in constant circulation in a game and the resulting economy is responsible for a good deal of the dynamism of the experience: in other words, the gameplay. What I want to focus on in this paper is what comes from the precise moment where two, quite central impulses of gameplay are in perfect balance, just before the first surrenders its grasp and the second takes over. The first impulse of play consists of two elements -- the visual presentation of the game, i.e. the pretty pictures that draw you in, and the narrative pretext of the story, the thing that gives what you are doing some kind of sense. It is on these two elements that classical ideological analysis of gameplay is typically founded. For instance, the archetypal platform game where all the female characters are helpless maidens who only exist as a way of getting the masculine protagonist into the action. The second impulse of gameplay is what might be called the "process", the somewhat under-theorised state where the visual trappings of the game and the motivating story line have slipped into the background, leaving only the sense of seamless integration of the player into the game's cybernetic feedback loop. The visual presentation and narrative pretext of The Settlers draws the player into a familiar fantasy of pre-modern existence. Presented to the player is a beautifully rendered virgin wilderness, filled with rolling hills, magnificent mountain ranges and vast forests, resounding with the sounds of the stream and brook, and the rustling of the wildlife. Into this wilderness the player must project an empire. That empire will consist of an elaborately detailed network (and I use the term deliberately) of cottage industries, labourers, paths, commodities, resources, defensive structures and places of worship. Real-world economic activities are consummately simulated as complex flows of information. The simulation is always fascinating to watch. Each node in this network, be it a fisherman's hut, a bakery, or a smelter, is exquisitely rendered, and full of picturesque, yet highly functional, animation. For instance, the process of a fisherman leaving his hut, going to a stream, setting his line, and catching a fish is visually expressive and lively, but it also is a specific bottleneck in the production process -- it takes a finite time, during which the carrier settlers stand around waiting for produce to deliver. This, then, is the game's crucial dialectic. What is depicted is a visually sumptuous, idyllic existence, but on closer inspection is a model of constant, uninterrupted, backbreaking labour. There are not even demarcations of day and night in the game -- life is perpetually midday and the working day will last forever. To put it less simply, perhaps, the game purposefully reifies the human social condition as being a reflexively structured mechanism of economic production under the guise of an ideologically idyllic pastoral paradise. It positions the player as not merely complicit in this mechanism but the fundamental point of determination within it. The balancing moment then is the point where the player begins to ignore or take for granted the visual lushness of the game's graphics and to focus instead on the underlying system, to internalise the lessons of the game -- the particular ideological and discursive assumptions about how economic and political systems successfully operate -- and to apply these lessons to the correct playing of the game, almost like a transition between REM dream-state sleep and deep sleep. And the analogy to sleep is not entirely specious -- critics and players alike have noted the way time stops when you play a game, with whole nights and days seemingly swallowed up in seconds of game time. The type of focus I am describing is not an interpretative one -- players are not expected to gain new insights of meaning from the act of playing at this new level of intensity, instead they are simply to blend their thoughts, actions and reactions with the dynamic processes of the game system. In a sense, a computer game is less a textual form than it is a kind of tool: in the same way proficient word processor users becomes so fluent in the operations of their software that the trappings -- toolbars, menus, mouse -- become secondary to the smooth continuous process of churning out words. Such a relationship does not exactly inspire thoughtful contemplation about the repressive qualities of Microsoft's hegemonic domination of office software, and the similar relationship with the computer game makes any kind of reflexivity about the gameplay's cultural referents seem simply counterproductive. It's an interesting dilemma for the theorist of gaming -- the point at which the underlying structure comes most clearly into focus during the state of play/analysis is also the moment when one is most resistant to the need to draw the wider connections. In this paper, I've tried to take a suggestive approach, to point out some of the ways that ideological assumptions about culture and production can be actualised in a simulated environment. And hopefully, I've also pointed out some of the pitfalls in a purely ideological analysis of games. Games are never just about the ideology. A nuanced analysis from a cultural studies point of view must also take into account the quite complex ways games not only articulate certain ideologies but they also complicate them. Beyond that, analysis must take into account the ways that games go beyond the paradigm of textuality and begin to take on the aspect of being whole systems of symbolic manipulation and transmission. It is only at this point that any kind of comprehensive and theoretically precise engagement with games as cultural texts and processes can be seriously begun. References Crawford, Chris. The Art of Computer Game Design. Berkeley, California: Osborne / McGraw-Hill, 1984. Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York: HarperCollins, 1990. Fleming, Dan. Powerplay: Toys as Popular Culture. Manchester and New York: Manchester UP, 1996. Freidman, Ted. "Making Sense of Software: Computer Games and Interactive Textuality." CyberSociety: Computer-Mediated Communication and Community. Ed. Steven G. Jones. Thousand Oaks: Sage, 1995. 73-89. Virilio, Paul. War and Cinema: The Logistics of Perception. Trans. Patrick Camiller. London and New York: Verso, 1989. Citation reference for this article MLA style: Nick Caldwell. "Settler Stories: Representational Ideologies in Computer Strategy Gaming." M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 3.5 (2000). [your date of access] <http://www.api-network.com/mc/0010/settlers.php>. Chicago style: Nick Caldwell, "Settler Stories: Representational Ideologies in Computer Strategy Gaming," M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 3, no. 5 (2000), <http://www.api-network.com/mc/0010/settlers.php> ([your date of access]). APA style: Nick Caldwell. (2000) Settler Stories: Representational Ideologies in Computer Strategy Gaming. M/C: A Journal of Media and Culture 3(5). <http://www.api-network.com/mc/0010/settlers.php> ([your date of access]).