#hyrcania

[omniatlas]

NEW MAP: Europe 59: War of the Armenian Succession (31 Jul 59 AD) https://buff.ly/2ZyTEhZ In 54 AD the Armenians rose up against Rhadamistus’ rule, restoring the Parthian prince Tiridates to power. The Roman emperor Nero—who had succeeded Claudius that year—asked Tiridates to Rome to receive his crown as a client king, but was rebuffed. In response, the Romans invaded Armenia, deposing Tiridates and placing their own candidate on the throne. #europe #history #welovehistory #welovemaps #map #ancienthistory #classicalera #ancientarmenia #europeanhistory #hyrcania #parthianempire #july #july31 #nero #parthia #romanempire #romans #roman #ancientrome #romanhistory #emperornero #maps #newmap #historyteacher #historybuff #historygeek #historynerd #worldhistory #cartography #geopolitics (at Artashat, Armenia) https://www.instagram.com/p/B1wqh8wgJDa/?igshid=ki25mcplc312

[historyfiles]

Coverage of the various historical cultures, rulers, and states of the Near East

The ancient province of Hyrcania was situated along the southern shores of the Caspian Sea, in what is now north-eastern Iran, but it stretched deep into territory to the east of that.

[north-of-reality]

THE HYRCANIAN TIGER

In his bestiary’s entry regarding tigers, Leonardo da Vinci describes a bizarre interaction between humans and these mighty beasts:

"This is a native of Hyrcania; it bears some resemblance to the panther from the various spots on its skin; and it is an animal of terrifying speed. When the hunter finds its cubs he carries them off instantly, after placing mirrors at the spot from which he has taken them, and immediately takes to flight upon a swift horse.

The [tiger] when it returns finds the mirrors fixed to the ground and in looking at these it thinks that it sees its own children, until by searching with its paw it discovers the fraud and then following the scent of its cubs pursues the hunter. And as soon as the hunter sees the tigress he abandons one of the cubs, and this she takes and carries back to her lair and instantly sets off again after the hunter, and this is repeated until he gains his boat."

The Hyrcanian subspecies described within has allegedly been hunted to extinction, but one curious aspect of Leonardo’s depiction is that the tiger is not actually killed during the course of the ritual that he outlines. The hunter simply sets up an elaborate system of ruses which allows him to encounter the tiger face to face, then outrun it multiple times. If his intent in this were merely to kill the beast, it would seem possible to do so in a much less ceremonious manner.

This is because the purpose of this endeavor is instead to separate the tiger from its own reflection. While the mother runs off to fetch her young, its image behind the mirror stays behind to watch over those which have already been recovered. This is because, as its stripes unconsciously indicate, the Hyrcanian tiger is actually two beasts in one. It is not enough to split the cat’s monstrous heart with a rifle; even if the immediately visible animal is killed, the jaws of its still-living reflection may yet find their way around the image of its killer’s throat. As a result, it is shrewd for the hunter not to fire until the maximum possible distance has been achieved between the tiger’s halves, lest he never see himself again.

Given this, it is altogether possible that the Hyrcanian tiger is not actually extinct, only half-so. Though only pelts remain of those that once lived on this side of the silvered glass, the reflections they left behind may have continued to breed in a second Hyrcania beyond sight. While such a dichotomy may at first seem to be little more than Renaissance fantasy, it is important to remember that modern science is still actively considering the possibility of cats that are simultaneously dead and alive.

The continued breeding of tiger reflections may have resulted in mutations.

The abilities of the Hyrcanian tiger were set in motion by a very small cosmic disturbance.

Humans are very different in composition from their reflections- but not at first sight.

North of Reality is an explorable fiction space written by Uel Aramchek. You can receive these pieces overnight via email by signing up here. This is entry #257. Learn how you can receive secret stories via physical mail here.

[erikaeriksone]

"Hyrcania"- Walton Ford

A: So the story with this [Hyrcania] is that this Persian stole the tiger’s cub?  W: Well, not really. It’s funny really. This is perfect though – this is like George Bush or something. This is like Westerners who don’t know what the hell they’re talking about, talking about the Levant. It’s from a 13th Century European bestiary, and so they’re going down the list of animals. So they get to the tiger, and they say “These live in Hyrcania…” which is now Persia, which is now Iran. I was like, whoah. That’s heavy right away. And then he says, “And if one wants to steal one, a cub, the way one does this is by going to the lair, stealing the cub, fleeing on a horse, and when the female tiger is chasing you, you throw these reflective balls over your shoulder. It says, “glass balls.” When she sees her reflection in the balls, she’ll think it’s her cub and stop, and start to nurse or cuddle. Then she’ll realize that she’s been fooled, but you’ll have gained enough distance. So she redoubles her efforts, and so you continue to do it until you lose her. And I thought, this is perfect…because what are they afraid of in a place like Iran right now if not that we’re going to steal their young? That the youth is going to be seduced. So I made it so the guy is escaping to the west with the cub. And she’s left with rather than her cub, which she wanted to be a reflection of her culture and of her, she’s left with a ball. And the rage is on her face, like “Ergh… this is the last straw, the end of your trickster bullshit!” I thought about the cruelty of the story being this sort of fanciful European idea of what you do when you’re a Persian – you hunt tigers. It just seemed like a good lock for the situation we’re in, you know? (laughing) And, then I thought, well what kind of tiger lives in Persia, and with more research I found out that it’s the Persian tiger – and it’s extinct! And again, how perfect! It’s an extinct subspecies of tiger that had a lot of fur growing on its belly [now referring to tiger in the painting] and this is the size and shape of it and it’s different than any other tiger. It was one of the largest tigers.