14 September 2026

The Hooverville Hexagon: Voices from the Past

 

In which some of us contemplate history.

 

A Walk Into the Past

by FWR

Five-mile walk out of town, in the heat, just to see a small hill.

 

A long road, and dusty.

But wait till you see what's inside....

 

Tumulus, Bulgaria

Seriously well built. Even our Victorian bricklayers would be put to shame!

Round column with circular chamber, made of brick.

 

So, What Are We Looking At?

Explainer by DG

Light shining through the door at the end of the dromos.


The Thracian Heroön at Anchialos is a tumulus outside Pomorie, Bulgaria. Built in the 2nd-4th centuries CE, the heroön is a combination mausoleum and temple to a Thracian ruler who died and…well, was deified. That means 'turned into a god'.

That sort of thing tended to happen a lot, apparently. We award posthumous prizes: they turned dead leaders into gods. That way, they could keep them on the payroll and get some work out of them.

The 22-meter dromos, or corridor, leads to the massive inner chamber, 11.5 meters in diameter and 5.5 meters high. A staircase in the central column winds up to the surface. There are side chambers, as well.

The unusual shape, unique among these kinds of cult mausoleum tumuli, is still providing archaeologists and historians with fodder for research.

Or, you can just join FWR in admiring the workmanship and sense of space.

Another view of the circular chamber showing the workmanship.
 
And now for the tour...


Misplaced Eloquence

by DG

'New Republic of Letters', pah.

 

Job's Comforters The first mention of 'eloquence' in the English language: Netheles my myracle make thee not afeerd, and myn eloquence be not greuouse to thee. Job 33:7 Wycliffe They like to talk, these people. They've been 'eloquent' since 1382. Lecture to all the sheeple who couldn't possibly know what they do. Four thousand years ago they came and sat with grieving Job. Today the 'net draws as to a flame pundits around the globe. From youtubes, podcasts, and retro blogs they proclaim that they know best. They croak like the Hellene chorus of frogs, all getting things off their chest. They leave, or we turn off the squawking device. We sigh for the noisy grift. We reflect that they always bring bad advice and no bread-and-butter gift. Image: A page from a 1382 Wycliffe Bible manuscript, Library of Congress.

 

TTFN, Dmitri Gheorgheni, Editor

 

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3 comments:

  1. paigetheoracle9/15/26, 8:22 AM

    That is impressive. Are the bricks half up, signs of a wooden floor and an upper level or something else, I ask in my usual ignorance but interest? I won't mention my own short story about Job as it is too embarrassing, given the editorial bias (as usual)

    ReplyDelete
  2. DG9/15/26, 8:27 AM

    When FWR gets back from Bulgaria, he'll probably answer that question if (unlike me) he can manage to understand it.

    As for Job and 'editorial bias', I ask myself, 'Do I want to know?' Probably not...

    ReplyDelete
  3. SashaQ9/21/26, 12:52 PM

    Thanks for the tour and explainer! Great photos

    ReplyDelete

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