#takuji abe

[aboutanancientenquiry]

The Two Orients for Greek Writers: Herodotus and Ctesias on India and its relation with Persia

The Two Orients for Greek Writers

India was subdued by Darius I and incorporated into the vast Persian Empire at the end of the sixth century. This conquest stimulated the in

Takuji Abe "The Two Orients for Greek Writers", 2011, The Kyoto Journal of Ancient History.

A very interesting paper on how the ancient Greek writers of the Classical era saw the Indian "Far East".

[aboutanancientenquiry]

The question of “proskynesis”

“Herodotus, our most valuable witness to Achaemenid history, discusses various practices of Persian culture in the first book of his Histories (131-140) and–albeit sometimes in vain– attempts to interpret them. In 134 he introduces us to the manner in which the Persians greet each other:

“There is a sign by which one may know whether or not two Persians who encounter on the street are equals. If they are, then instead of greeting to each other, they kiss each other on the mouth; if either of them is of a slightly lower rank, they kiss each other on the cheeks; and if one of them is very much inferior, he falls down and offers proskynēsis in front of the other person (προσπίπτων προσκυνέει τὸν ἕτερον)” (Hdt. 1.134).

First of all, one should bear in mind the broad variety of connotations attached to the word proskynēsis. The remarkable thing is that of the two classicalGreek writers quoted thus far, Herodotus and Isocrates, both named prostration separately from proskynēsis, instead of choosing to mention the two practices side by side.13 Persians, they say, prostrate themselves and then perform proskynēsis...”

“Summary

Greek ambassadors who were granted an audience before the Persian Kingwere required to observe a certain form of court ritual. Although the Persian proper name for this ritual has since been lost to us, the Greeks called this act of homage proskynēsis; a term normally understood to refer to the act of “falling down” and prostrating oneself before the king. At the same time, the Greeks employed a gesture also called proskynēsis, which was performed when addressing a divine entity. These two acts, while different in their functions,shared the same name on the basis that their outward appearances bore a co-incidental likeness to each other. Greek ambassadors, who would have come to Susa for the purpose of petitioning assistance from the Great King, were rigorously hesitant to follow the Persian practice, arguing that the religious practice of proskynēsis was reserved exclusively for the divine among them. In this paper, I endeavour to elucidate the true nature of this Persian court protocol, and to show why the Greeks were so unwilling to perform this ceremo-nial act. I conclude that the normal posture of the Persian proskynēsis was most represented by that of a bow with a hand raised up to the mouth, the depth of the bow being dependent on the ethnicity of those performing it and the irrelative status. In contrast to the Greek version, this Persian proskynēsis was a rather secular practice, serving to authenticate social hierarchy between superiors and inferiors. Even though some of the Greek ambassadors must have been aware of this, or perhaps as a direct result of this understanding, they remained loath to accept the insult that offering proskynēsis would cause to the belief of their perceived freedom from Persian subjugation.”

From the paper of Takuji Abe  Proskynēsis: From a Persian Court Protocol to a Greek Religious Practice,Tekmeria, 2018

On line source: https://www.academia.edu/37292080/Proskyn%C4%93sis_From_a_Persian_Court_Protocol_to_a_Greek_Religious_Practice?email_work_card=abstract-read-more

Takuji Abe, member of the Faculty of the Kyoto Prefectural University.

Probable representation of proskynesis of a courtier before Darius I of Persia, from the Apadana palace of Persepolis. 

[aniranma]

Ranma 1/2 OAV VHS Anti-Piracy Bonuses

These were found at the end of OAV tapes.  Only the first three were done in English, the rest are Japanese only.

I don't think Atsuko Nakajima did these (though the Ranma & Akane, and Nabiki ones could be her).  They look like the art director for Ranma vs. The Legendary Phoenix (One Grew Over the Kuno's Nest) movie, Takuji Abe.   Who I believe also did a good chunk of the DoCo Music Videos as well.

Takuji Abe usually has even longer legs, the arms and legs are also thinner in general.  If you watch the Phoenix movie again, you can see it's not quite the caliber of the first few OAV series.  Something is just off about their faces and bodies at times.