Fallen Sagittarius, Mountain Sparrows and Other Thoughts on Footnote 6 in Chapter 3

It was Gaspard-Serge Coriolis, of course, who first detailed the mathematical principles that govern the function of kinetic energy. Much of Straka’s work evinces an understanding of, and appreciation for, the work of innovative practitioners of the sciences. Straka was particularly impressed by some of the lesser-known of these people, like Wolfgang Spatzberg, Samuel Quinn-Collier, and Sagittario della Caduta. Careful readers of Book V of Coriolis will discover the roles each of these men’s findings play in the development of the narrative.

First there are the names themselves.  I started with Sagittario della Caduta which in Italian means "Fall of Sagittarius."  Sagittarius is the constellation representing a centaur with bow and arrow drawn.  All the imagery is taken directly from Greek mythology, but Sagittarius does not have a clear mythological link to the Greeks.

The Babylonians identified Sagittarius as the god Nergal, a strange centaur-like creature firing an arrow from a bow. It is generally depicted with wings, with two heads, one panther head and one human head, as well as a scorpion's stinger raised above its more conventional horse's tail. The Sumerian name Pabilsag is composed of two elements – Pabil, meaning 'elder paternal kinsman' and Sag, meaning 'chief, head'. The name may thus be translated as the 'Forefather' or 'Chief Ancestor'. The figure is reminiscent of modern depictions of Sagittarius.

In Greek mythology, Sagittarius is usually identified as a centaur: half human, half horse. However, perhaps due to the Greek's adoption of the Sumerian constellation, some confusion surrounds the identity of the archer. Some identify Sagittarius as the centaur Chiron, the son of Philyra and Saturn and tutor to Jason, who was said to have changed himself into a horse to escape his jealous wife, Rhea. However, Chiron is in fact represented by the constellation Centaurus, the other heavenly centaur. An alternative tradition is that Chiron merely invented the constellation Sagittarius to help in guiding the Argonauts in their quest for the Golden Fleece.

It also appears that Sagittario is a common name for airplanes and boats in Italy.  The Italian Destroyer, Sagittario, was involved in Operation Mercury which was the invasion to take Crete by the Axis Powers during World War 2.  The invasion started on May 20, 1941 and ended June 1, 1941 with a German victory.

I think the Sumerian name Pabilsag for the constellation Sagittarius may be meaningful in the context of one of the other names given, Samuel Quinn-Collier.  Samuel means "name of God" or "heard by God."  Quinn is deriviative of Conn, which means "chief, intellect or mind."  Quinn means "son of chief, son of Conn, race of Conn."  Collier is French for ruff or necklace.  It maybe a stretch, but I think that Samuel Quinn-Collier might be a reference to Moses and the golden calf.  Moses was raised by the Pharoah's daughter who claimed Moses as her own son.  The Israelites in Exodus melted down their gold to create the calf while Moses was on Mount Sinai to receive the 10 commandments.

The third and final name is Wolfgang Spatzberg.  Wolfgang roughly means "wolf path or wolf journey" and Spatzberg, I think means in the context of German, "mountain sparrow."  Although so far, I have not found what I felt were any meaningful connections, I did find an interesting poem by Goethe (archive.org) called:

WINTER JOURNEY OVER THE HARTZ* MOUNTAINS.

[The following explanation is necessary, in order to make this
ode in any way intelligible. The Poet is supposed to leave his
companions, who are proceeding on a hunting expedition in winter,
in order himself to pay a visit to a hypochondriacal friend, and
also to see the mining in the Hartz mountains. The ode
alternately describes, in a very fragmentary and peculiar manner,
the naturally happy disposition of the Poet himself and the
unhappiness of his friend; it pictures the wildness of the road
and the dreariness of the prospect, which is relieved at one spot
by the distant sight of a town, a very vague allusion to which is
made in the third strophe; it recalls the hunting party on which
his companions have gone; and after an address to Love, concludes
by a contrast between the unexplored recesses of the highest peak
of the Hartz and the metalliferous veins of its smaller
brethren.]

LIKE the vulture
Who on heavy morning clouds
With gentle wing reposing
Looks for his prey,--
Hover, my song!
For a God hath
Unto each prescribed
His destined path,
Which the happy one
Runs o'er swiftly
To his glad goal:
He whose heart cruel
Fate hath contracted,
Struggles but vainly
Against all the barriers
The brazen thread raises,
But which the harsh shears
Must one day sever.
Through gloomy thickets
Presseth the wild deer on,
And with the sparrows
Long have the wealthy
Settled themselves in the marsh.
Easy 'tis following the chariot
That by Fortune is driven,
Like the baggage that moves
Over well-mended highways
After the train of a prince.
But who stands there apart?
In the thicket, lost is his path;
Behind him the bushes
Are closing together,
The grass springs up again,
The desert engulphs him.
Ah, who'll heal his afflictions,
To whom balsam was poison,
Who, from love's fullness,
Drank in misanthropy only?
First despised, and now a despiser,
He, in secret, wasteth
All that he is worth,
In a selfishness vain.
If there be, on thy psaltery,
Father of Love, but one tone
That to his ear may be pleasing,
Oh, then, quicken his heart!
Clear his cloud-enveloped eyes
Over the thousand fountains
Close by the thirsty one
In the desert.
Thou who createst much joy,
For each a measure o'erflowing,
Bless the sons of the chase
When on the track of the prey,
With a wild thirsting for blood,
Youthful and joyous
Avenging late the injustice
Which the peasant resisted
Vainly for years with his staff.
But the lonely one veil
Within thy gold clouds!
Surround with winter-green,
Until the roses bloom again,
The humid locks,
Oh Love, of thy minstrel!
With thy glimmering torch
Lightest thou him
Through the fords when 'tis night,
Over bottomless places
On desert-like plains;
With the thousand colours of morning
Gladd'nest his bosom;
With the fierce-biting storm
Bearest him proudly on high;
Winter torrents rush from the cliffs,--
Blend with his psalms;
An altar of grateful delight
He finds in the much-dreaded mountain's
Snow-begirded summit,
Which foreboding nations
Crown'd with spirit-dances.
Thou stand'st with breast inscrutable,
Mysteriously disclosed,
High o'er the wondering world,
And look'st from clouds
Upon its realms and its majesty,
Which thou from the veins of thy brethren
Near thee dost water.

*It should be noted that Hartz appears to be a typo or mis-translation as later versions of the poem correctly refer to the Harz Mountains (harz meaning resin in German).

Other blog posts relating to these topics:
http://ladansedusinge.wordpress.com/2014/01/19/jill-aggies-treasure-trove-of-digging/


(8/17/14 edited for clarity and tags added)

The Monkey's Marginalia, No. 1

I have decided to collect random notes and internet wanderings that are too small for their own blog posts (at least for now) into fewer, larger blog posts. (edit, I suspect that most of these may be wagtails, but they are fun, too!)


1.  On page vii, Eric left a penciled note that Caldeira may have been schizophrenic as per "Bolton (1957)."

Bolton may refer to:

• Herbert Eugene Bolton, American historian who originated the Bolton Theory in which the United States cannot be studied without considering its relationships to its neighbors. He served as chair of the history department at University of California, Berkeley for 22 years.  Despite his death in 1953, his work appeared in books published in 1957. 
• Walter James Bolton was executed in 1957 for poisoning his wife.  He was the last man executed by the New Zealand penal system.  He was 68 years old. 
• Bolton Wanderers, UK football team during the 1957/1958 season.

2.  Eotvos appears in several places (Eotvos wheel & Eotvos Syndrome).   

Baron Loránd Eötvös de Vásárosnamény was a physicist known for his experimental work with gravity.  He worked at the University of Budapest until the end of his life.  The University of Budapest was renamed the Eotvos Lorand University.  His father, Jozsef, was poet, writer and politican. 

3.  Defenestration or the act of being thrown out of an open window is reoccurring event and mentioned a few times as being the mode of death for some of Straka's peers. 

4.  Prague, where it may have all begun, actually has two events in history known as First and Second Defenestration of Prague.  You can read about the events on wikipedia here. 

5. Coriolis is the name of one Straka's books.  It is also the name of the mathematician and mechanical engineer who first described the Coriolis Effect.  

6.  Footnote 2, Chapter 1 (page 8) talks about the fictional prize the Prix Bouchard and Straka's refusal of the prize in 1912 via monkey.  I surprised that no one has mentioned Alfred Nobel, whose primary business was in munitions.  Two companies still bear his name, Akzo Nobel and Dynamit Nobel.  In 1912, the Nobel Prize in Literature was awarded to Gerhart Hauptmann (whose novel Atlantis was published in 1912 and later made into a silent film in 1913). 

Only one person ever refused the prize, Jean-Paul Sartre.  Sartre never accepted any official prize or honor.  

7.  Eric noted in pencil about the celebration of the first street lights in Miracle at Braxenholm.  In Edison, New Jersey, Christie Street was the world's first street to be lit with incandescent lights on New Year's Eve, 1879. 

References: 

Hubert Eugene Bolton:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Eugene_Bolton

Walter James Bolton: 

http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/culture/the-death-penalty/the-last-execution

Bolton Wanderers: 

http://stats.football.co.uk/results_fixtures/1957_1958/bolton_wanderers/index.shtml

Baron Loránd Eötvös de Vásárosnamény: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lor%C3%A1nd_E%C3%B6tv%C3%B6s

Gustave Coriolos: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspard-Gustave_Coriolis

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coriolis_Effect

Alfred Nobel: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Nobel

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nobel_laureates

Gerhart Hauptman: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerhart_Hauptmann

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atlantis_(1913_film)

Jean-Paul Sartre

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Paul_Sartre

Thomas Edison

http://www.menloparkmuseum.org/thomas-edison-and-menlo-park

http://dailykenn.blogspot.com/2013/12/december-31-1879-edison-demonstrates.html

(7/31/14 edited for grammar and tags added)