The Market, Energy, Political And Meme Page, T+66 -- October 18, 2018 -- Nothing About The Bakken

This is another example of a meme. My hunch is that Sir Saint Obama is incredibly bright and knows the power of a meme. The interesting thing is that the "Pocahontas" / Elizabeth Warren joke has gone on much longer than I think a lot of folks anticipated -- and that is what makes it a meme.

One can listen to an hour or Rachel Maddow or three hours of Rush Limbaugh or two seconds looking at this graphic -- one of the three will last. By the way, the graphic below is a derivative of a much better graphic carrying this meme along in the national conscience.

Again, to be clear, the graphic is not the meme. The "idea" is the meme. It will cement Elizabeth Warren's legacy forever.

The power of the meme? Anyone who saw it cannot forget the photograph of Michael Dukakis sticking his head out of a tank.

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The Aeneid

The 120-second introduction to the Aeneid. 

One of the problems I've always had with the Aeneid: the chronology and anachronism. Troy fell early in the 12 century BC (early, I suppose meaning closer to the end of the 13th century than the end of the 12th centur -- working in "BC" can be confusing) where the founding of Rome occurred at the same time as Carthage (814 BC) or 753 BC, the date used by historians. That's a lot of years to fill between the fall of Troy and the founding of Rome for one man, Aeneas, to fill.

I assume Roman schoolboys at the time of Christ, when reading the epic poem simply got over it (the chronology and the anachronism) and simply pressed on with the story.

In the Iliad, Aeneas says he is the son of Anchises and Aphrodite (Venus), and then traces his descent from Zeus through Dardanus (son of Zeus and Electra) and Erichthonius of Dardania. The latter was the father of Tros, the founder of Troy. Tros had three sons: Ilus (think Ilium Iliad); Assaracus, and Ganymede. Ilus was the father of King Laomedon and grandfather of King Priam (ruler of Troy during the Trojan War).

Assaracus was the father of Capys and grandfather of Anchises. So, Prince Paris and Prince Aeneas would have been cousins? Second cousins, it turns out, to Hector and Paris.

Moments before Achilles and Aeneas met mano a mano, Poseidon saves Aeneas from being killed ...
Poseidon observes that that Aeneas must be saved so that Dardanus' race will not die out. Zeus loved Dardanus above all his children by mortal women but Zeus had come to hate the "descent" of Priam. Therefore, Poseidon realized that Aeneas needed to be saved. Aeneas will become the king of the Trojans, as well as the sons of Aeneas -- and they will rise again in Italy (Rome).

And that is what the Roman schoolboys at the time of Christ were taught: they were the heirs of the great city of Troy and looked upon favorably by the God of all gods, Zeus. Sort of like the special relationship the Jewish people had with their God, the chosen people.

Virgil's biggest problem? Reconciling his story of Aeneas with the prevailing story of Romulus and Remus.

This was how it was done. A Roman poet, Ennius, who preceded Virgil by 150 years or so, suggested that Aeneas was the father of Ilia (and presumably the ruler of Lavinium), grandfather of her sons Romulus and Remus.

Once Romans realized the chronological gap between the Homeric age of Troy and Rome's foundation, they needed king-lists to fill it, and so the tradition arose, that there were fourteen generations of Alban kings between Aeneas' son and Numitor, the father of Romulus.

Frederick Ahl notes:

Jupiter allows three hundred thirty-three years in all from Aeneas' foundation of Lavinium to the birth of Romulus. Even so, the numbers fall short.

Wow. Sort of reminds me of the list of kings in the Bible. Harold Bloom, no doubt, also noted that.