48. Swirling The Ashes

FACT: Artemisia II of Caria was both the wife, and sister, of the Greek king Mausolus. She loved him deeply throughout the whole of their marriage and mourned his death. In fact her grief was so extreme that many educated Greek rhetoricians did sing the king’s praises, for only a good man, they reasoned, could inspire such grief.

However her grief went far beyond terminal sobbing. The most lasting and well known product of her grief the construction of a fantastically large Mausoleum in tribute. In actuality, the tomb was so grand that the word ‘mausoleum‘ comes from this tomb she had built for her king Mausolus. Furthermore it was in fact so grand in its final form that Mausoleum at Halicarnassus was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, a list also including the Sphynx and the Pyramids of Giza.

In addition to producing the fantastic monument that created a new word and an entry into one of the most prestigious lists of all time, she performed one more act which was spurred by her grief.

Every day, upon receiving her daily drink, she would collect the cremated remains of her husband’s body. From their vessel she would draw a small amount, and mix it into her drink. She would then drink it. This continued on through every day of her two year reign of power. She suffered an early death due to the pure stress put on her by her husband’s death.

She died of a broken heart.

 

31. The Burning Monk

World Press Photo of the Year - 1963

Thich Quang Duc – The Burning Monk of Vietnam

11^th June 1963, Vietnam : In Vietnam there is a small Buddhist uprising going on, protests against the Diem regime are now commonplace and have been so for one month. A small group of American journalists have gathered outside of the Cambodian Embassy in Saigon, the busy road intersections traffic produced a low roar which permeated the air, the Journalists had been told that the Buddhists would do something, but they didn’t know what. Suddenly they notice a fuss, a small car approaches, it is a pale blue Austin Westminster, it is being followed by 2 phalanxes of Buddhists, 350 Monks and Nuns in total. In the wind their banners wave, they are in English and Thai, denouncing the Diem government and its persecution of Buddhists and other religious groups. The car and procession stops. The event begins.

Thich Quang Duc and two other monks emerge from the car, the two other monks go the boot of the car and pull out a 5-gallon gasoline can and a cushion. The monk puts the cushion down in the centre of the road and the Buddhists form a circle around the site. Thich Quang Duc sits down in the Lotus position, and in this meditative position, his colleague emptied the whole 5 gallons of gasoline over him.