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Ostrogothic Ravenna
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Ostrogothic Ravenna refers to the time period in which Ravenna was the capital of the Ostrogothic Kingdom in Italy. Ravenna is a city in Northeastern Italy that served as the capital of the Ostrogothic Kingdom which existed between 493 and 553 CE. During that time Ravenna saw a great renovation, in particular under Theodoric the Great (454–526). During his rule Ravenna saw many of its finest monuments constructed or renovated including the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, the Palace of Theoderic and Mausoleum of Theodoric. Many of these monuments reflected Theodoric's, as well as the Goths as a people, religion of Arian Christianity. Though an Arian Christian himself, Theodoric's rule was a time of religious tolerance in the city of Ravenna. His religious tolerance extended also to forging a balance between the Romans and Goths in Ravenna. Theodoric attempted to model Ravenna as a capital equivalent to that of Rome or Constantinople and as such was a defender of classical antiquity in a western world that saw much of its classical heritage disappearing.
Ravenna's newfound ascendance did not last under the successors of Theodoric as they lacked the respect that Theodoric commanded of both the Romans and Goths within his capital and the empire as a whole, in particular his grandson Athalaric who succeeded him at the age of eight under the regency of his mother Amalasuintha.[1] The Gothic Kingdom eventually fell to the invasions by Belisarius as part of Justinian's ambitious plans of reconquering the territories of the western empire lost to Germanic invasions.
Contents
[hide]
1 History
1.1 Odovacar
1.2 Theodoric and the Establishment of the Ostrogothic Kingdom
1.2.1 Theodoric's Rise to power
1.2.2 War with Odovacar
1.2.3 Victory over Odovacar
2 Theodoric's Ravenna
2.1 Buildings and architecture
2.1.1 Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo
2.1.2 Theodoric's Palace
2.1.3 Mausoleum of Theodoric
2.2 Religion and Tolerance in Theodoric's Ravenna
2.2.1 Arians and the Orthodoxy
2.2.2 Toleration of the Jewish population
3 Legacy of Theodoric
3.1 Theodoric's successors
3.2 A third great capital of Rome?
4 References
5 Bibliography
5.1 Primary sources
5.2 Secondary sources
6 External links
History[edit]
Odovacar[edit]
In 476 the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Romulus Augustus, was forced to abdicate under invasions by Goths led by Odovacar. Upon the sacking of Rome by these Goths, Odovacar declared himself King of Italy and was able to conquer the peninsula as well as much of the "Dalmatian coast". Odovacar drew the ire of the imperial court at Constantinople as "a barbarian, a non-Roman, had deposed the Roman emperor in the original heartland of the empire. He had taken on the hated royal title and was getting ready to rule in the emperor’s place..."[2] Odovacar, however, issued his coinage in the name of the emperor Nepos, whom Constantinople had never removed its recognition of when Romulus had assumed the imperial title therefore painting himself as merely overthrowing a previous usurper to the imperial throne.[3]
Theodoric and the Establishment of the Ostrogothic Kingdom[edit]
Theodoric's Rise to power[edit]
Theodoric, from the age of seven had lived in the imperial court at Constantinople after a revolt by his father had been subdued. He returned to his own people, the Amal branch of the Goths, at the age of 18 in 471 and became the leader of his people in 474 upon the death of his father.[4] Upon ascension to leadership he established himself as a capable leader both militarily and politically. He fought various wars both for and against the East Roman Empire as well as wars against other Gothic factions. He was recognized politically by Constantinople, who bestowed upon him first the title of patricius and named as magister militum Praesentalis in 476 and was appointed consul of the Eastern Empire in 484.[4]
War with Odovacar[edit]
By the late 480’s Theodoric had become leader of the most dominant Gothic force and found himself leading his people into Italy against Odovacar. There is much debate as to whether this was ordered by the Emperor Zeno or whether it was Theodoric’s own decision. Primary sources conflict on this score. The Anonymus Valesianus, claims Theodoric moved on Italy at the urging of Zeno:
Theodoric stipulated with [Zeno], that if Odoacer should be vanquished, in return for his own labors in Odoacer's place he should rule in his stead only until the arrival of Zeno. Therefore, when the patrician Theodoric came from the city of Nova with the Gothic people, he was sent by the emperor Zeno from the regions of the Orient, in order to defend Italy for him.[5]
-Anonymus Valesianus 2.49
Contrary to the account provided in Anonymus Valesianus, Jordanes makes the claim in his work, The Origin and Deeds of the Goths, Getica, that the idea was Theodoric's:
So [Theodoric] chose rather to seek a living by his own exertions...After pondering these matters, he said to the Emperor: "Though I lack nothing in serving your Empire, yet if Your Piety deem it worthy, be pleased to hear the desire of my heart"..."The western country, long ago governed by the rule of your ancestors and predecessors...--wherefore is it now shaken by the tyranny of the Torcilingi and the Rugi? Send me there with my race. Thus if you but say the word, you may be freed from the burden of expense here, and, if by the Lord's help I shall conquer, the fame of Your Piety shall be glorious there.[6]
Jordanes, Getica LXII 289–291
In either case Theodoric and his Goths marched on Italy in 489 and waged war on Odovacar. Theodoric’s forces quickly forced Odovacar to flee to Ravenna and in short succession they captured both Verona and Milan. In Milan both secular and ecclesiastical leaders, as well as Odovacar’s commander-in-chief Tufa – though he would later betray Theodoric – and many of the defeated troops who joined Theodoric, welcomed him into the city as a representative of the emperor.[7] In the summer of 490, with Odovacar back on the offensive, Alaric II of the Visigoths, in a rare moment of Gothic solidarity,[8] sent troops to aid Theodoric in his efforts to remove Odovacar from power. Odoacer was forced to retreat once again into Ravenna, where Theodoric besieged him for two more years until Theodoric was finally able to gather the ships necessary to mount an effective blockade of Ravenna, which could only be effectively attacked from the sea.
Victory over Odovacar[edit]
It was not until 493 that a peace agreement was finally reached between Theodoric and Odovacar. It was negotiated by John, Bishop of Ravenna, and stated that Theodoric and Odovacar were to both occupy Ravenna and jointly rule over Italy. Ten days later Odovacar was killed at a banquet held jointly with Theodoric. Procopius writes of the event in The Wars of Justinian, The Gothic war: "And for some time they observed the agreement; but afterward [Theodoric] caught [Odovacar], as they say, plotting against him, and bidding him to a feast with treacherous intent slew him..."[9] From That point on Theodoric had become the undisputed king of Italy, establishing the Ostrogothic Kingdom, headed at Ravenna, that would last until 553.
Theodoric's Ravenna[edit]
Buildings and architecture[edit]
Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo[edit]
The Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo was the main Arian church of Theodoric’s Ravenna. Immediately near Theodoric’s palace, it was dedicated in 504 to Christ the Redeemer. The 9th century historian Agnellus, in his description of the Basilica, tells of Theodoric's in particular imprint upon it says in Liber Pontificalis Ecclesiae Ravennatis "[Sant'Apollinaire Nuovo] in this city, which King Theodoric founded, which is called the Golden Heaven... Indeed in the apse, if you look closely, you will find the following written above the windows in stone letters: 'King Theodoric made this church from its foundations in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.'"[10]
The Basilica is noted especially for the numerous mosaics that adorn its interior. There is twenty six mosaic depiction of the Christological cycle that, while other iconographical depictions were known to exist at the time, there is not known of any that were as extensive as the one that was present in Theodoric’s Sant' Apollinaire Nuovo.[11] Also present in the church are 32 statues meant to represent, in a nonspecific manner, the biblical authors.[12] Each one of the statues in their hands has either a book or a scroll, nine with the former and twenty-one with the latter.[12] Each has different appearance characteristics different from their counterparts and none are named or labeled, meaning that they are not saints.[12] There is also a depiction of Christ and in imperial regalia: He sits upon a gem studded throne draped in the imperial purple and gold.[12] The halo above him and the cross are also covered in gems.[12] Upon a throne beside him, the Virgin Mary who, though also on a similar jewel encrusted throne, is not adorned in the regalia of an empress.[12]
Theodoric's Palace[edit]
Main article: Palace of Theoderic
Theodoric’s Palace at Ravenna was one of many that he constructed around Italy, however, with Ravenna as his capital and main residence the palace there was the main palace by which he lived and ruled and was adorned as such. The Anonymus Valesianus tells that Theodoric "...completely finished the palace, but did not dedicate it."[13] What this shows is that Theodoric, though he completed the palace, was not the one commissioned its original construction.[14] Cassiodorus in his Orationum Reliquiae states "The marble surface shines with the same color as gems, the scattered gold gleams. .. , the gifts of mosaic work delineate the circling rows of stones; and the whole is adorned with marble hues where the waxen pictures are displayed."[15]
Mausoleum of Theodoric[edit]
The Mausoleum of Theodoric was one of his crowning building achievements. The mausoleum itself was constructed during his lifetime and was described in the Anonymus Valesianus as such: "During his lifetime he had made himself a mausoleum of squared blocks of stone, a work of extraordinary size, and sought out a huge rock to place upon it."[16] His goal seemed to echo that of the burial place of Mausolus of Halicarnassus, one of Jerome’s seven wonders of the ancient world.[17] The style of the building echoed the dual nature of Theodoric’s rule. There is much debate as to whether the mausoleum is a "Roman" or "Gothic" monument and this was perhaps as Theodoric intended it, having himself to rule over both the Goths and Romans equally within his kingdom.[17]
Religion and Tolerance in Theodoric's Ravenna[edit]
The Ostrogoths, though having power themselves, by no means supplanted the entire Roman population of Ravenna, Italy, or of the ruling administration. The distinction between Roman and Goth was made even more evident by the different sects of Christianity that they practiced: Orthodox Christianity and Arianism respectively.
Arians and the Orthodoxy[edit]
The differences between Romans and Goths in Ostrogothic Ravenna were never as clearly defined as they were along religious lines. The Goths followed the Arian branch of Christianity, while the Romans practiced Orthodoxy. Both considered the other to be heretics. Theodoric, however, was the keystone in maintaining order amongst the peoples that he ruled, commanding respect and fear in equal measure from both Romans and Goths alike.[18] Upon his taking of power the Orthodox bishops and leaders of Ravenna were allowed to keep their posts, but not had to enter into power sharing with Arian counterparts.[19] In his Variae Cassiodorus has letters he penned for Theodoric that show his toleration as well as protection of the Orthodox Church. In one such letter Theodoric had Cassiodorus write, this time to Faustus, a Roman prefect, saying "'The Defensores of the Holy Church of Milan want to be enabled to buy as cheap as possible the things which they need for the relief of the poor; and they say that we have bestowed this favor on the Church of Ravenna. 'Your Magnificence will therefore allow them to single out some one merchant who shall buy for them in the market, without being subject to monopoly, siliquaticum, or the payment of gold-fee."[20]
Toleration of the Jewish population[edit]
In line with his toleration of other Christian groups within his empire and in Ravenna in particular, Theodoric had a long history of tolerance when it came to the Jews of his empire and in his capital. There are numerous accounts of Jewish persecution throughout the Kingdom, all of which was dealt with in a manner of fairness by Theodoric. Cassiodorus tells us of these events in the letters he wrote for the King. He both allowed for the Jews of Genoa to rebuild and remodel their synagogue[21] as well as assured them that the privileges awarded then since antiquity would remain in place.[22] Rome and Ravenna had similar occurrences with their Jewish populations and Theodoric dealt with them accordingly. They both saw a major attack on much of their Jewish synagogues and population and in both cases Theodoric dealt with the Christians as the aggressors and requested that the attacks cease and placed blame for the attacks on them.[22] In Ravenna, the pretense for the attack was that the Jews of the city had ridiculed Christians and even thrown holy water into the river. Theodoric responded by levying a fine on all Roman citizens of Ravenna to pay for the damages to the Jewish synagogues.[23]
Legacy of Theodoric[edit]
Theodoric's successors[edit]
Theodoric died in 526 and his kingdom was left to his then eight-year-old grandson Athalaric, who was under the auspices of his mother and regent Amalasuntha. She was Roman educated and ought to pass that on to her son. She is praised heavily by Cassiodorus in a letter to the Senate of Rome[24] and Procopius describes her leadership skills saying "[Amalasuntha] proved to be endowed with wisdom and regard for justice in the highest degree, displaying to a great extent the masculine temper."[25] The Goths of the court however were not attracted to the way in which she was raising her son and their King. They sought to give a more "barbarian" education to the young king – one that involved much more drinking and debauchery – and it eventually led to his death in 534.[25] Amalasuntha, in the very next year, after a brief attempt at ruling herself with her cousin before he exiled her, was murdered. This murder gave Justinian the pretense by which he could launch his war in 535 that eventually destroyed the Gothic Kingdom and ended Ravenna’s period of imperial aspirations.
A third great capital of Rome?[edit]
Theodoric’s legacy on Ravenna remains to this day in the buildings he constructed and the improvements that he made to the city. Under Theodoric Ravenna became a center education and culture, and anyone who wished an audience with Theodoric, had to travel to Ravenna to do so.[26] Since the establishment of Constantinople it had become customary in the Roman Empire to show both Rome and Constantinople on coins. Theodoric introduced during his reign a new Rome-Ravenna political iconography[26] and went so far as to have any land grants to be picked up by his soldiers be done in person, in Ravenna.[27] C.L.R. Fletcher writes on the achievements of Theodoric: "Ravenna, however, remained Theodoric's capital...the thirty-six years of Theodoric's rule afford rather a pretty picture, a sort of Indian summer during which Italy recovered a good deal of prosperity on the eve of her final ruin."[28]
He did not however achieve this goal of uplifting the city to the status held by Rome and Constantinople. Theodoric expended energy and treasure enriching Ravenna in an attempt to bring to it the status accorded to both cities. He constructed both religious and secular buildings in imitation of those in the great imperial cities, but, as in the imperial era, Ravenna's prestige was actively rivaled by that of Rome.[26] To exemplify this fact, even during Theodoric’s reign while silver coins were minted in Ravenna, gold coins were minted exclusively in Rome.[29] Nevertheless, Fletcher cites Theodoric as one of the saviors of Roman culture: "His care for ancient buildings was exemplary; he enjoined the prefect to restore Pompey's theatre; he carried on the drainage of the Pomptine marshes, and he was a great restorer of aqueducts. Indeed, it is quite possible to maintain that but for 'this Goth,' the remains of classical antiquity, whether built or written, might have perished altogether in Italy."[30]
References[edit]
Jump up ^ Deliyannis, p. 137
Jump up ^ Wolfram, p. 185
Jump up ^ Wolfram p. 185
^ Jump up to: a b Dellyanis p. 109
Jump up ^ Anonymus Valesianus 2.49
Jump up ^ Jordanes, 57, 289–291
Jump up ^ Dunlap, p. 281
Jump up ^ Wolfram p. 188
Jump up ^ Procopius, History of the Wars, The Gothic War. Book V.1.
Jump up ^ Agnellus, p. 107
Jump up ^ Dellyanis pp. 153–56
^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Dellyanis p. 158
Jump up ^ Anonymus Valesianus 2.71 tr. in Delyannis, p. 119
Jump up ^ Deliyannis 119
Jump up ^ Cassiodorus Orationum Reliquae 2, tr. in Deliyannis, p. 120
Jump up ^ Anonymus Valesianus 2.96. tr. in Deliyannis, p. 124
^ Jump up to: a b Deliyannis p. 124
Jump up ^ Delyannis p. 136
Jump up ^ Delyannis pp. 187–88
Jump up ^ Cassiodorus Variae 2.30
Jump up ^ Cassiodorus Variae 2.27
^ Jump up to: a b Cassiodorus Variae 4.33
Jump up ^ Bachrach, p. 31
Jump up ^ Cassiodorus Variae 11.1, 6–8
^ Jump up to: a b Procopius Book V.2
^ Jump up to: a b c Delyannis p. 115
Jump up ^ Delyannis p. 116
Jump up ^ Fletcher, p. 104
Jump up ^ Metlich, p. 38
Jump up ^ Fletcher p. 103
Bibliography[edit]
Primary sources[edit]
Agnellus Liber Pontificalis Ecclesiae Ravennatis tr. Mango, Cyril A. The art of the Byzantine Empire, 312–1453; sources and documents. Englewood cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1972
Anonymus Valesianus tr. Loeb Classical Library 1939. University of Chicago.
Anonymus Valesianus tr. Deborah Mauskopf Delyannis, as cited it Ravenna in late antiquity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Cassiodorus 'Orationum Reliquae'. Tr. Deborah Mauskopf Delyannis. Ravenna in late antiquity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010.
Cassiodorus 'Variae'. tr. Thomas Hogkin. Project Gutenberg.
Jordanes 'Getica'. Tr. Charles C. Mierow. University of Calcagy.
Procopius 'History of the Wars, The Gothic War' tr. H.B. Dewing. Project Gutenberg.
Secondary sources[edit]
Bachrach, Bernard S.. Early medieval Jewish policy in Western Europe. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1977 ISBN 0-8166-5698-3.
Deliyannis, Deborah Mauskopf. Ravenna in late antiquity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010 ISBN 0-521-83672-7.
Dunlap, Thomas J., and Herwig Wolfram. History of the Goths. New and completely rev. from the 2nd German ed. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988 ISBN 0-520-06983-8.
Fletcher, Charles Robert Leslie. The Making of Western Europe: The Dark Ages: 300–1000 A.D.. London: Murray, 1912.
Mango, Cyril A. The art of the Byzantine Empire, 312–1453; sources and documents. Englewood cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1972 ISBN 0-8020-6627-5.
Metlich, Michael Andreas, and E. A. Arslan. The coinage of Ostrogothic Italy. London: Spink, 2004 ISBN 1-902040-58-9.
Wolfram, Herwig. The Roman Empire and its Germanic peoples. Berkeley, California: Univ. of California Press, 2005 ISBN 0-520-08511-6.
External links[edit]
The Gothic War
Variae
Getica
Anonymus Valesianus
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Prime meridian
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search
A line of longitude, at which longitude is defined to be 0°
"Prime Meridian" redirects here. For the meridian often called the Prime Meridian, see Prime meridian (Greenwich).
0°
Prime Meridian
A prime meridian is a meridian (a line of longitude) in a geographic coordinate system at which longitude is defined to be 0°. Together, a prime meridian and its antimeridian (the 180th meridian in a 360°-system) form a great circle. This great circle divides the sphere, e.g., Earth, into two hemispheres. If one uses directions of East and West from a defined prime meridian, then they can be called the Eastern Hemisphere and the Western Hemisphere.
Gerardus Mercator in his Atlas Cosmographicae (1595) uses a prime meridian somewhere close to 25°W, passing just to the west of Santa Maria Island in the Atlantic. His 180th meridian runs along the Strait of Anián (Bering Strait)
A prime meridian is ultimately arbitrary, unlike an equator, which is determined by the axis of rotation—and various conventions have been used or advocated in different regions and throughout history.[1] The most widely used modern meridian is the IERS Reference Meridian. It is derived but deviates slightly from the Greenwich Meridian, which was selected as an international standard in 1884.
Contents
1 History
2 List of prime meridians on Earth
3 International prime meridian
3.1 Prime meridian at Greenwich
3.2 IERS Reference Meridian
3.2.1 List of places
4 Prime meridian on other planetary bodies
5 See also
6 Notes
7 Citations
8 Works cited
9 External links
History[edit]
See also: History of longitude
Ptolemy's 1st projection, redrawn under Maximus Planudes around 1300, using a prime meridian east of Africa
The notion of longitude was developed by the Greek Eratosthenes (c. 276 BC – c. 195 BC) in Alexandria, and Hipparchus (c. 190 BC – c. 120 BC) in Rhodes, and applied to a large number of cities by the geographer Strabo (64/63 BC – c. 24 AD). But it was Ptolemy (c. AD 90 – c. AD 168) who first used a consistent meridian for a world map in his Geographia.
Ptolemy used as his basis the "Fortunate Isles", a group of islands in the Atlantic which are usually associated with the Canary Islands (13° to 18°W), although his maps correspond more closely to the Cape Verde islands (22° to 25° W). The main point is to be comfortably west of the western tip of Africa (17.5° W) as negative numbers were not yet in use. His prime meridian corresponds to 18° 40' west of Winchester (about 20°W) today.[2] At that time the chief method of determining longitude was by using the reported times of lunar eclipses in different countries.
Diogo Ribeiro's map of 1529, now in the Vatican library
Ptolemy's Geographia was first printed with maps at Bologna in 1477, and many early globes in the 16th century followed his lead. But there was still a hope that a "natural" basis for a prime meridian existed. Christopher Columbus reported (1493) that the compass pointed due north somewhere in mid-Atlantic, and this fact was used in the important Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494 which settled the territorial dispute between Spain and Portugal over newly discovered lands. The Tordesillas line was eventually settled at 370 leagues west of Cape Verde. This is shown in Diogo Ribeiro's 1529 map. São Miguel Island (25.5°W) in the Azores was still used for the same reason as late as 1594 by Christopher Saxton, although by then it had been shown that the zero magnetic deviation line did not follow a line of longitude.[3]
1571 Africa map by Abraham Ortelius, with Cabo Verde prime meridian
In 1541, Mercator produced his famous 41 cm terrestrial globe and drew his prime meridian precisely through Fuerteventura (14°1'W) in the Canaries. His later maps used the Azores, following the magnetic hypothesis. But by the time that Ortelius produced the first modern atlas in 1570, other islands such as Cape Verde were coming into use. In his atlas longitudes were counted from 0° to 360°, not 180°W to 180°E as is usual today. This practice was followed by navigators well into the 18th century.[4] In 1634, Cardinal Richelieu used the westernmost island of the Canaries, Ferro, 19° 55' west of Paris, as the choice of meridian. The geographer Delisle decided to round this off to 20°, so that it simply became the meridian of Paris disguised.[5]
In the early 18th century the battle was on to improve the determination of longitude at sea, leading to the development of the marine chronometer by John Harrison. But it was the development of accurate star charts, principally by the first British Astronomer Royal, John Flamsteed between 1680 and 1719 and disseminated by his successor Edmund Halley, that enabled navigators to use the lunar method of determining longitude more accurately using the octant developed by Thomas Godfrey and John Hadley.[6] Between 1765 and 1811, Nevil Maskelyne published 49 issues of the Nautical Almanac based on the meridian of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. "Maskelyne's tables not only made the lunar method practicable, they also made the Greenwich meridian the universal reference point. Even the French translations of the Nautical Almanac retained Maskelyne's calculations from Greenwich—in spite of the fact that every other table in the Connaissance des Temps considered the Paris meridian as the prime." [7]
In 1884, at the International Meridian Conference in Washington, D.C., 22 countries voted to adopt the Greenwich[8] meridian as the prime meridian of the world. The French argued for a neutral line, mentioning the Azores and the Bering Strait, but eventually abstained and continued to use the Paris meridian until 1911.
List of prime meridians on Earth[edit]
Locality
Modern longitude
Meridian name
Comment
Bering Strait 168°30′ W Offered in 1884 as possibility for a "neutral prime meridian" by Pierre Janssen at the International Meridian Conference [9]
Washington, D.C. 77°03′56.07″ W (1897) or 77°04′02.24″ W (NAD 27)[clarification needed] or 77°04′01.16″ W (NAD 83) New Naval Observatory meridian
Washington, D.C. 77°02′48.0″ W, 77°03′02.3″, 77°03′06.119″ W or 77°03′06.276″ W (both presumably NAD 27). If NAD27, the latter would be 77°03′05.194″ W (NAD 83) Old Naval Observatory meridian
Washington, D.C. 77°02′11.56299″ W (NAD 83),[10] 77°02′11.55811″ W (NAD 83),[11] 77°02′11.58325″ W (NAD 83)[12] (three different monuments originally intended to be on the White House meridian) White House meridian
Washington, D.C. 77°00′32.6″ W (NAD 83) Capitol meridian
Philadelphia 75° 10′ 12″ W [13][14]
Rio de Janeiro 43° 10′ 19″ W [15]
Fortunate Isles / Azores 25° 40′ 32″ W Used until the Middle Ages, proposed as one possible neutral meridian by Pierre Janssen at the International Meridian Conference[16]
El Hierro (Ferro),
Canary Islands 18° 03′ W,
later redefined as
17° 39′ 46″ W Ferro meridian [17]
Tenerife 16° 38' 22" W Tenerife meridian Rose to prominence with Dutch cartographers and navigators after they abandoned the idea of a magnetic meridian[18]
Cadiz 6° 17' 15" W San Fernando meridian [19]
Lisbon 9° 07′ 54.862″ W [20]
Madrid 3° 41′ 16.58″ W [20]
Greenwich 0° 00′ 05.3101″ W Greenwich meridian Airy Meridian[21]
Greenwich 0° 00′ 05.33″ W United Kingdom Ordnance Survey Zero Meridian Bradley Meridian[21]
Greenwich 0° 00′ 00.00″ IERS Reference Meridian
Paris 2° 20′ 14.025″ E Paris meridian
Brussels 4° 22′ 4.71″ E [20]
Antwerp 4° 24′ E Antwerp meridian
Amsterdam 4° 53′ E through the Westerkerk in Amsterdam; used to define the legal time in the Netherlands from 1909 to 1937[22]
Bern 7° 26′ 22.5″ E [citation needed]
Pisa 10° 24′ E [13]
Oslo (Kristiania) 10° 43′ 22.5″ E [13][14]
Florence 11°15′ E Florence meridian used in the Peters projection, 180° from a meridian running through the Bering Strait
Rome 12° 27′ 08.4″ E meridian of Monte Mario Used in Roma 40 Datum [23]
Copenhagen 12° 34′ 32.25″ E Rundetårn[24]
Naples 14° 15′ E [16]
Bratislava 17° 06′ 03″ E Meridianus Posoniensis Used by Sámuel Mikoviny
Stockholm 18° 03′ 29.8″ E at the Stockholm Observatory[20]
Kraków 19° 57′ 21.43″ E Kraków meridian at the Old Kraków Observatory at the Śniadecki' College; mentioned also in Nicolaus Copernicus's work On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres.
Warsaw 21° 00′ 42″ E Warsaw meridian [20]
Oradea 21° 55′ 16″ E [25] Between 1464 and 1667, a prime meridian was set in the Fortress of Oradea (Varadinum at the time) by Georg von Peuerbach.[26]
Alexandria 29° 53′ E Meridian of Alexandria The meridian of Ptolemy's Almagest.
Saint Petersburg 30° 19′ 42.09″ E Pulkovo meridian
Great Pyramid of Giza 31° 08′ 03.69″ E 1884 [27]
Jerusalem 35° 13′ 47.1″ E [14]
Mecca 39° 49′ 34″ E see also Mecca Time [28]
Ujjain 75° 47′ E Used from 4th century CE Indian astronomy and calendars(see also Time in India).[29]
Kyoto 136° 14′ E Used in 18th and 19th (officially 1779–1871) century Japanese maps. Exact place unknown, but in "Kairekisyo" in Nishigekkoutyou-town in Kyoto, then the capital.[citation needed]
~ 180 Opposite of Greenwich, proposed 13 October 1884 on the International Meridian Conference by Sandford Fleming [16]
International prime meridian[edit]
In October 1884 the Greenwich Meridian was selected by delegates (forty-one delegates representing twenty-five nations) to the International Meridian Conference held in Washington, D.C., United States to be the common zero of longitude and standard of time reckoning throughout the world.[30][note 1] The modern prime meridian, the IERS Reference Meridian, is placed very near this meridian and is the prime meridian that currently has the widest use.
Prime meridian at Greenwich[edit]
Markings of the prime meridian at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.
Main article: Prime meridian (Greenwich)
The modern prime meridian, based at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, was established by Sir George Airy in 1851.[32]
The position of the Greenwich Meridian has been defined by the location of the Airy Transit Circle ever since the first observation was taken with it by Sir George Airy in 1851.[32] Prior to that, it was defined by a succession of earlier transit instruments, the first of which was acquired by the second Astronomer Royal, Edmond Halley in 1721. It was set up in the extreme north-west corner of the Observatory between Flamsteed House and the Western Summer House. This spot, now subsumed into Flamsteed House, is roughly 43 metres to the west of the Airy Transit Circle, a distance equivalent to roughly 0.15 seconds of time.[21] It was Airy's transit circle that was adopted in principle (with French delegates, who pressed for adoption of the Paris meridian abstaining) as the Prime Meridian of the world at the 1884 International Meridian Conference.[33][34]
All of these Greenwich meridians were located via an astronomic observation from the surface of the Earth, oriented via a plumb line along the direction of gravity at the surface. This astronomic Greenwich meridian was disseminated around the world, first via the lunar distance method, then by chronometers carried on ships, then via telegraph lines carried by submarine communications cables, then via radio time signals. One remote longitude ultimately based on the Greenwich meridian using these methods was that of the North American Datum 1927 or NAD27, an ellipsoid whose surface best matches mean sea level under the United States.
IERS Reference Meridian[edit]
Main article: IERS Reference Meridian
Satellites changed the reference from the surface of the Earth to its centre of mass around which all satellites orbit regardless of surface irregularities. The requirement that satellite-based geodetic reference systems be centred on the centre of mass of the earth caused the modern prime meridian to be 5.3" east of the astronomic Greenwich prime meridian through the Airy Transit Circle[clarification needed]. At the latitude of Greenwich, this amounts to 102 metres.[35] This was officially accepted by the Bureau International de l'Heure (BIH) in 1984 via its BTS84 (BIH Terrestrial System) that later became WGS84 (World Geodetic System 1984) and the various ITRFs (International Terrestrial Reference Systems).
Due to the movement of Earth's tectonic plates, the line of 0° longitude along the surface of the Earth has slowly moved toward the west from this shifted position by a few centimetres; that is, towards the Airy Transit Circle (or the Airy Transit Circle has moved toward the east, depending on your point of view) since 1984 (or the 1960s). With the introduction of satellite technology, it became possible to create a more accurate and detailed global map. With these advances there also arose the necessity to define a reference meridian that, whilst being derived from the Airy Transit Circle, would also take into account the effects of plate movement and variations in the way that the Earth was spinning.[36] As a result, the International Reference Meridian was established and is commonly used to denote Earth's prime meridian (0° longitude) by the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service, which defines and maintains the link between longitude and time. Based on observations to satellites and celestial compact radio sources (quasars) from various coordinated stations around the globe, Airy's transit circle drifts northeast about 2.5 centimetres per year relative to this Earth-centred 0° longitude. Circa 1999 the international reference meridian (IRM) passed 5.31 arcseconds east of Airy's meridian or 102.5 metres (336.3 feet) at the latitude of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, London.[37][38][39][40] It is also the reference meridian of the Global Positioning System operated by the United States Department of Defense, and of WGS84 and its two formal versions, the ideal International Terrestrial Reference System (ITRS) and its realization, the International Terrestrial Reference Frame (ITRF).[37][38][39] A current convention on the Earth uses the opposite of the IRM as the basis for the International Date Line.
List of places[edit]
Map all coordinates using: OpenStreetMap
Download coordinates as: KML · GPX
On Earth, starting at the North Pole and heading south to the South Pole, the IERS Reference Meridian (as of 2016) passes through:
Co-ordinates
(approximate)
Country, territory or sea
Notes
90°0′N 0°0′E / 90.000°N 0.000°E / 90.000; 0.000 (North Pole)
Arctic Ocean
81°39′N 0°0′E / 81.650°N 0.000°E / 81.650; 0.000 (Greenland Sea)
Greenland Sea
72°53′N 0°0′E / 72.883°N 0.000°E / 72.883; 0.000 (Norwegian Sea)
Norwegian Sea
61°0′N 0°0′E / 61.000°N 0.000°E / 61.000; 0.000 (North Sea)
North Sea
53°45′N 0°0′E / 53.750°N 0.000°E / 53.750; 0.000 (United Kingdom)
United Kingdom
From Tunstall in East Riding to Peacehaven, passing through Greenwich
50°47′N 0°0′E / 50.783°N 0.000°E / 50.783; 0.000 (English Channel)
English Channel
49°19′N 0°0′E / 49.317°N 0.000°E / 49.317; 0.000 (France)
France
From Villers-sur-Mer to Gavarnie
42°41′N 0°0′E / 42.683°N 0.000°E / 42.683; 0.000 (Spain)
Spain
From Cilindro de Marboré to Castellón de la Plana
39°56′N 0°0′E / 39.933°N 0.000°E / 39.933; 0.000 (Mediterranean Sea)
Mediterranean Sea
Gulf of Valencia
38°52′N 0°0′E / 38.867°N 0.000°E / 38.867; 0.000 (Spain)
Spain
From El Verger to Calpe
38°38′N 0°0′E / 38.633°N 0.000°E / 38.633; 0.000 (Mediterranean Sea)
Mediterranean Sea
35°50′N 0°0′E / 35.833°N 0.000°E / 35.833; 0.000 (Algeria)
Algeria
From Stidia to Algeria-Mali border near Bordj Mokhtar
21°50′N 0°0′E / 21.833°N 0.000°E / 21.833; 0.000 (Mali)
Mali
14°59′N 0°0′E / 14.983°N 0.000°E / 14.983; 0.000 (Burkina Faso)
Burkina Faso
11°6′N 0°0′E / 11.100°N 0.000°E / 11.100; 0.000 (Togo)
Togo
For about 600 m
11°6′N 0°0′E / 11.100°N 0.000°E / 11.100; 0.000 (Ghana)
Ghana
For about 16 km
10°57′N 0°0′E / 10.950°N 0.000°E / 10.950; 0.000 (Togo)
Togo
For about 39 km
10°36′N 0°0′E / 10.600°N 0.000°E / 10.600; 0.000 (Ghana)
Ghana
From the Togo-Ghana border near Bunkpurugu to Tema
Passing through Lake Volta at 7°48′N 0°0′E / 7.800°N 0.000°E / 7.800; 0.000 (Lake Volta)
5°37′N 0°0′E / 5.617°N 0.000°E / 5.617; 0.000 (Atlantic Ocean)
Atlantic Ocean
Passing through the Equator at 0°0′N 0°0′E / 0.000°N 0.000°E / 0.000; 0.000 (Equator) ("Null Island")
60°0′S 0°0′E / 60.000°S 0.000°E / -60.000; 0.000 (Southern Ocean)
Southern Ocean
68°54′S 0°0′E / 68.900°S 0.000°E / -68.900; 0.000 (Antarctica)
Antarctica
Queen Maud Land, claimed by Norway
Prime meridian on other planetary bodies[edit]
See also: Longitude (planets)
"Prime meridian (planets)" redirects here. It is not to be confused with Central meridian (planets).
As on the Earth, prime meridians must be arbitrarily defined. Often a landmark such as a crater is used; other times a prime meridian is defined by reference to another celestial object, or by magnetic fields. The prime meridians of the following planetographic systems have been defined:
Two different heliographic coordinate systems are used on the Sun. The first is the Carrington heliographic coordinate system. In this system, the prime meridian passes through the center of the solar disk as seen from the Earth on 9 November 1853, which is when Richard Christopher Carrington started his observations of sunspots.[41] The second is the Stonyhurst heliographic coordinates system.
In 1975 the prime meridian of Mercury was defined[42][43] to be 20° east of the crater Hun Kal.[44]
Defined[45] in 1992, the prime meridian of Venus passes through the central peak in the crater Ariadne.[46]
The prime meridian of the Moon lies directly in the middle of the face of the moon visible from Earth and passes near the crater Bruce.
The prime meridian of Mars was established in 1971[47] and passes through the center of the crater Airy-0, although it is fixed by the longitude of the Viking 1 lander, which is defined to be 47°.95137 west.[48].
Jupiter has several coordinate systems because its cloud tops—the only part of the planet visible from space—rotate at different rates depending on latitude.[49] It is unknown whether Jupiter has any internal solid surface that would enable a more Earth-like coordinate system. System I and System II coordinates are based on atmospheric rotation, and System III coordinates use Jupiter's magnetic field.
Titan, like the Earth's moon, always has the same face towards Saturn, and so the middle of that face is 0 longitude.
Pluto's prime meridian is defined as the center of the face that is always pointed towards Charon, its largest moon, as the two are tidally locked towards each other.
See also[edit]
Geography portal
1st meridian east
1st meridian west
180th meridian
Notes[edit]
Jump up ^ Voting took place on 13 October and the resolutions were adopted on 22 October 1884.[31]
Citations[edit]
Jump up ^ Prime Meridian, geog.port.ac.uk
Jump up ^ Norgate & Norgate 2006
Jump up ^ Hooker 2006
Jump up ^ e.g. Jacob Roggeveen in 1722 reported the longitude of Easter Island as 268° 45' (starting from Fuerteventura) in the Extract from the Official log of Jacob Roggeveen reproduced in Bolton Glanville Corney, ed. (1908), The voyage of Don Felipe Gonzalez to Easter Island in 1770-1, Hakluyt Society, p. 3, retrieved 13 January 2013
Jump up ^ Speech by Pierre Janssen, director of the Paris observatory, at the first session of the Meridian Conference.
Jump up ^ Sobel & Andrewes 1998, pp. 110–115
Jump up ^ Sobel & Andrewes 1998, pp. 197–199
Jump up ^ "The Prime Meridian at Greenwich". Royal Museums Greenwich. n.d. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
Jump up ^ International Conference Held at Washington for the Purpose of Fixing a Prime Meridian and a Universal Day. October, 1884. Project Gutenberg
Jump up ^ NGS 2016, PID: HV1847.
Jump up ^ NGS 2016, PID: HV1846.
Jump up ^ NGS 2016, PID: AH7372.
^ Jump up to: a b c Hooker (2006), introduction.
^ Jump up to: a b c Oct. 13, 1884: Greenwich Resolves Subprime Meridian Crisis, WIRED, 13 October 2010.
Jump up ^ Atlas do Brazil, 1909, by Barão Homem de Mello e Francisco Homem de Mello, published in Rio de Janeiro by F. Briguiet & Cia.
^ Jump up to: a b c "The Project Gutenberg eBook of International Conference Held at Washington for the Purpose of Fixing a Prime Meridian and a Universal Day". Gutenberg.org. 12 February 2006. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
Jump up ^ Ancient, used in Ptolemy's Geographia. Later redefined 17° 39′ 46″ W of Greenwich to be exactly 20° W of Paris. French "submarin" at Washington 1884.
Jump up ^ A.R.T. Jonkers; Parallel meridians: Diffusion and change in early modern oceanic reckoning, in Noord-Zuid in Oostindisch perspectief, The Hague, 2005, p. 7. Retrieved 2 February 2015.
Jump up ^ , [1], in El País, 2016, retrieved 23 December 2016.
^ Jump up to: a b c d e Bartky, Ian R. (2007), One Time Fits All: The Campaigns for Global Uniformity, p. 98, retrieved through GoogleBooks, 6 May 2014.
^ Jump up to: a b c Dolan 2013a.
Jump up ^ (in Dutch)Eenheid van tijd in Nederland (Unity of time in the Netherlands), Utrecht University website, retrieved 28 August 2013.
Jump up ^ Grids & Datums – Italian Republic, asprs.org, Retrieved 10 December 2013.
Jump up ^ meridian, article from Den Store Danske Encyklopædi
Jump up ^ Oradea, Tourism office website, retrieved 3 February 2015.
Jump up ^ "Romanian astronaut makrsk 10th anniversary of Prime Meridian Astronomy Club". NineO'Clock.ro. 2015. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
Jump up ^ Wilcomb E. Washburn, "The Canary Islands and the Question of the Prime Meridian: The Search for Precision in the Measurement of the Earth Archived 29 May 2007 at the Wayback Machine."
Jump up ^ Maimonides, Hilchot Kiddush Hachodesh 11:17, calls this point אמצע היישוב, "the middle of the habitation", i.e. the habitable hemisphere. Evidently this was a convention accepted by Arab geographers of his day.
Jump up ^ Burgess 1860
Jump up ^ "International Conference Held at Washington for the Purpose of Fixing a Prime Meridian and a Universal Day. October, 1884. Protocols of the proceedings". Project Gutenberg. 1884. Retrieved 30 November 2012.
Jump up ^ Howse 1997, pp. 12, 137
^ Jump up to: a b Greenwich Observatory ... the story of Britain's oldest scientific institution, the Royal Observatory at Greenwich and Herstmonceux, 1675–1975 p.10. Taylor & Francis, 1975
Jump up ^ McCarthy, Dennis; Seidelmann, P. Kenneth (2009). TIME from Earth Rotation to Atomic Physics. Weinheim: Wiley-VCH. pp. 244–5.
Jump up ^ ROG Learning Team (23 August 2002). "The Prime Meridian at Greenwich". Royal Museums Greenwich. Royal Museums Greenwich. Retrieved 14 June 2012.
Jump up ^ Malys, Stephen; Seago, John H.; Palvis, Nikolaos K.; Seidelmann, P. Kenneth; Kaplan, George H. (1 August 2015). "Why the Greenwich meridian moved". Journal of Geodesy. 89 (12): 1263. Bibcode:2015JGeod..89.1263M. doi:10.1007/s00190-015-0844-y.
Jump up ^ Dolan 2013b.
^ Jump up to: a b History of the Prime Meridian -Past and Present
^ Jump up to: a b IRM on grounds of Royal Observatory from Google Earth Accessed 30 March 2012
^ Jump up to: a b The astronomic latitude of the Royal Observatory is 51°28'38"N whereas its latitude on the European Terrestrial Reference Frame (1989) datum is 51°28'40.1247"N.
Jump up ^ Guinot, B., 2011. Solar time, legal time, time in use. Metrologica 48, S181–S185.
Jump up ^ "Carrington heliographic coordinates".
Jump up ^ Davies, M. E., "Surface Coordinates and Cartography of Mercury," Journal of Geophysical Research, Vol. 80, No. 17, June 10, 1975
Jump up ^ Davies, M. E., S. E. Dwornik, D. E. Gault, and R. G. Strom, NASA Atlas of Mercury, NASA Scientific and Technical Information Office, 1978.
Jump up ^ Archinal, Brent A.; A'Hearn, Michael F.; Bowell, Edward G.; Conrad, Albert R.; Consolmagno, Guy J.; et al. (2010). "Report of the IAU Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotational Elements: 2009" (PDF). Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy. 109 (2): 101–135. Bibcode:2011CeMDA.109..101A. doi:10.1007/s10569-010-9320-4.
Jump up ^ Davies, M. E.; Colvin, T. R.; Rogers, P. G.; Chodas, P. G.; Sjogren, W. L. ; Akim, W. L.; Stepanyantz, E. L.; Vlasova, Z. P.; and Zakharov, A. I.; "The Rotation Period, Direction of the North Pole, and Geodetic Control Network of Venus", Journal of Geophysical Research, vol. 97, no. 8, 1992, pp. 1-14, 151
Jump up ^ "USGS Astrogeology: Rotation and pole position for the Sun and planets (IAU WGCCRE)". Retrieved 22 October 2009.
Jump up ^ Davies, M. E., and Berg, R. A.; "Preliminary Control Net of Mars", Journal of Geophysical Research, vol. 76, no. 2, January 10, 1971, pp. 373-393
Jump up ^ Archinal, Brent A.; Acton, C. H.; A’Hearn, Michael F.; Conrad, Albert R.; et al. (2018), "Report of the IAU Working Group on Cartographic Coordinates and Rotational Elements: 2015", Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy, 130 (22), doi:10.1007/s10569-017-9805-5 CS1 maint: Explicit use of et al. (link)
Jump up ^ "Planetographic Coordinates". Retrieved 24 May 2017.
Works cited[edit]
Burgess, Ebenezer (1860), "Translation of the Surya-Siddhanta", Journal of the American Oriental Society (e book), 6, Google (published c. 2013), p. 185
Dolan, Graham (2013a). "The Greenwich Meridian before the Airy Transit Circle". The Greenwich Meridian.
Dolan, Graham (2013b). "WGS84 and the Greenwich Meridian". The Greenwich Meridian.
Hooker, Brian (2006), A multitude of prime meridians, retrieved 13 January 2013
Howse, Derek (1997), Greenwich Time and the Longitude, Phillip Wilson, ISBN 0-85667-468-0
Norgate, Jean; Norgate, Martin (2006), Prime meridian, retrieved 13 January 2013
NGS datasheet station name form, National Geodetic Survey, 2016, retrieved 11 December 2016
Sobel, Dava; Andrewes, William J. H. (1998), The Illustrated Longitude, Fourth Estate, London
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Prime meridian.
"Where the Earth's surface begins—and ends", Popular Mechanics, December 1930
scanned TIFFs of the conference proceedings
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text:
Young Goodman Brown
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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"Young Goodman Brown"
Author
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Country
United States
Language
English
Published in
Mosses from an Old Manse
Publication date
1835 (anonymously) in The New-England Magazine; 1846 (under his own name) in Mosses from an Old Manse
"Young Goodman Brown" is a short story published in 1835 by American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne. The story takes place in 17th century Puritan New England, a common setting for Hawthorne's works, and addresses the Calvinist/Puritan belief that all of humanity exists in a state of depravity, but that God has destined some to unconditional election through unmerited grace. Hawthorne frequently focuses on the tensions within Puritan culture, yet steeps his stories in the Puritan sense of sin. In a symbolic fashion, the story follows Young Goodman Brown's journey into self-scrutiny, which results in his loss of virtue and belief.[1]
Contents
1 Plot summary
2 Background
3 Analysis
4 Critical response and impact
5 References
6 External links
Plot summary[edit]
The story begins at dusk in Salem Village, Massachusetts as young Goodman Brown leaves Faith, his wife of three months, for some unknown errand in the forest. Faith pleads with her husband to stay with her, but he insists that the journey must be completed that night. In the forest he meets an older man, dressed in a similar manner and bearing a physical resemblance to himself. The man carries a black serpent-shaped staff. Deeper in the woods, the two encounter Goody Cloyse, an older woman, whom Young Goodman had known as a boy and who had taught him his catechism. Cloyse complains about the need to walk; the older man throws his staff on the ground for the woman and quickly leaves with Brown.
Other townspeople inhabit the woods that night, traveling in the same direction as Goodman Brown. When he hears his wife's voice in the trees, he calls out but is not answered. He then runs angrily through the forest, distraught that his beautiful Faith is lost somewhere in the dark, sinful forest. He soon stumbles upon a clearing at midnight where all the townspeople assembled. At the ceremony, which is carried out at a flame-lit altar of rocks, the newest acolytes are brought forth—Goodman Brown and Faith. They are the only two of the townspeople not yet initiated. Goodman Brown calls to heaven and Faith to resist and instantly the scene vanishes. Arriving back at his home in Salem the next morning, Goodman Brown is uncertain whether the previous night's events were real or a dream, but he is deeply shaken, and his belief he lives in a Christian community is distorted. He loses his faith in his wife, along with all of humanity. He lives his life an embittered and suspicious cynic, wary of everyone around him. The story concludes: "And when he had lived long, and was borne to his grave... they carved no hopeful verse upon his tombstone, for his dying hour was gloom."
Background[edit]
Title page of Mosses from an Old Manse
The story is set during the Salem witch trials, at which Hawthorne's great-great-grandfather John Hathorne was a judge, guilt over which inspired the author to change his family's name, adding a "w" in his early twenties, shortly after graduating from college.[2] In his writings Hawthorne questioned established thought—most specifically New England Puritanism and contemporary Transcendentalism. In "Young Goodman Brown", as with much of his other writing, he utilizes ambiguity.[3]
Analysis[edit]
"Young Goodman Brown" is often characterized as an allegory about the recognition of evil and depravity as the nature of humanity.[4] Much of Hawthorne's fiction, such as The Scarlet Letter, is set in 17th-century colonial America, particularly Salem Village. To convey the setting, he used literary techniques such as specific diction, or colloquial expressions. Language of the period is used to enhance the setting. Hawthorne gives the characters specific names that depict abstract pure and wholesome beliefs, such as "Young Goodman Brown" and "Faith". The characters' names ultimately serve as a paradox in the conclusion of the story. The inclusion of this technique was to provide a definite contrast and irony. Hawthorne aims to critique the ideals of Puritan society and express his disdain for it, thus illustrating the difference between the appearance of those in society and their true identities.[5][6][7]
Literary scholar Walter Shear writes that Hawthorne structured the story in three parts. The first part shows Goodman Brown at his home in his village integrated in his society. The second part of the story is an extended dreamlike/nightmare sequence in the forest for a single night. The third part shows his return to society and to his home, yet he is so profoundly changed that in rejecting the greeting of his wife Faith, Hawthorne shows Goodman Brown has lost faith and rejected the tenets of his Puritan world during the course of the night.[8]
The story is about Brown's loss of faith as one of the elect, according to scholar Jane Eberwein. Believing himself to be of the elect, Goodman Brown falls into self-doubt after three months of marriage which to him represents sin and depravity as opposed to salvation. His journey to the forest is symbolic of Christian "self-exploration" in which doubt immediately supplants faith. At the end of the forest experience he loses his wife Faith, his faith in salvation, and his faith in human goodness.[5]
Critical response and impact[edit]
Herman Melville said "Young Goodman Brown" was "as deep as Dante" and Henry James called it a "magnificent little romance".[9] Hawthorne himself believed the story made no more impact than any of his tales. Years later he wrote, "These stories were published... in Magazines and Annuals, extending over a period of ten or twelve years, and comprising the whole of the writer's young manhood, without making (so far as he has ever been aware) the slightest impression on the public."[10] Contemporary critic Edgar Allan Poe disagreed, referring to Hawthorne's short stories as "the products of a truly imaginative intellect".[11]
Modern scholars and critics generally view the short story as an allegorical tale written to expose the contradictions in place concerning Puritan beliefs and societies. However, there have been many other interpretations of the text including those who believe Hawthorne sympathizes with Puritan beliefs. Author Harold Bloom comments on the variety of explanations; Stephen King has referred to the story as "one of the ten best stories written by an American". He calls it his favorite story by Hawthorne and cites it as an inspiration for his O. Henry Award-winning short story, "The Man in the Black Suit".[12]
A 1972 short film directed by Donald Fox is based on the story. It features actors Mark Bramhall, Peter Kilman, and Maggie McOmie.
In 1982, the story was adapted for the CBC radio program Nightfall.
This is the only work of Hawthorne's included in the Library of America's 2009 anthology American Fantastic Tales: Terror and the Uncanny from Poe to the Pulps.
In 2011, playwright Lucas (Luke) Krueger, adapted the story for the stage. It was produced by Northern Illinois University. In 2012, Playscripts Inc. published the play. It has since been produced by several companies and high schools.
The 2015 music video for the Brandon Flowers song "Can't Deny My Love" is based on Hawthorne's story, with Flowers starring as the Goodman Brown figure and Evan Rachel Wood as his wife.
Comic artist Kate Beaton satirized the story in a series of comic strips for her webcomic Hark! A Vagrant, which focuses on mocking Goodman Brown's obsessive black and white morality, and his hypocrisy towards his wife and friends.[13]
References[edit]
Jump up ^ Summary of Young Goodman Brown, articlemyriad.com; accessed December 23, 2014.
Jump up ^ McFarland, Philip. Hawthorne in Concord. New York: Grove Press, 2004: 18. ISBN 0-8021-1776-7.
Jump up ^ Gray, Richard. A History of American Literature. p. 200
Jump up ^ Bell, Michael Davitt. Hawthorne and the Historical Romance of New England. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1971, p. 77; ISBN 0-691-06136-X
^ Jump up to: a b Eberwein, Jane Donahue. "My Faith is Gone! 'Young Goodman Brown' and Puritan conversion", Nathaniel Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown (2005). Bloom, Harold, (ed.) Chelsea House; ISBN 0-7910-8124-9, pp. 20–27.
Jump up ^ Easterly, Joan Elizabeth. "Lachrymal Imagery in Hawthorne's 'Young Goodman Brown'", Studies in Short Fiction 28, no. 3 (Summer 1991). Quoted as "Lachrymal Imagery in Hawthorne's 'Young Goodman Brown'", Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2005. Bloom's Literary Reference Online
Jump up ^ Mayr, Julia Gaunce; Gaunce, Suzette (2004). The Broadview Anthology of Short Fiction. Peterborough: Broadview Press.
Jump up ^ Shear, Walter. "Cultural Fate and Social Freedom in Three American Short Stories", Nathaniel Hawthorne's Young Goodman Brown (2005). Bloom, Harold (ed.), Chelsea House; ISBN 0-7910-8124-9, pp. 63–66.
Jump up ^ Miller, Edwin Haviland. Salem Is My Dwelling Place: A Life of Nathaniel Hawthorne. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 1991: 119; ISBN 0-87745-332-2.
Jump up ^ McFarland, Philip. Hawthorne in Concord. New York: Grove Press, 2004: 22. ISBN 0-8021-1776-7.
Jump up ^ Quinn, Arthur Hobson. Edgar Allan Poe: A Critical Biography. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998: 334; ISBN 0-8018-5730-9.
Jump up ^ King, Stephen. Everything's Eventual. New York: Pocket Books, 2007: pp. 69–70
Jump up ^ harkavagrant.com
External links[edit]
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Young Goodman Brown
Young Goodman Brown at Project Gutenberg
Reading of Young Goodman Brown by Stuff You Should Read Podcast
Young Goodman Brown public domain audiobook at LibriVox
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Nathaniel Hawthorne
Novels
Fanshawe (1828)
The Scarlet Letter (1850)
The House of the Seven Gables (1851)
The Blithedale Romance (1852)
The Marble Faun (1860)
The Dolliver Romance (1863)
Doctor Grimshaw's Secret (1882)
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"The May-Pole of Merry Mount"
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"Young Goodman Brown"
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"P.'s Correspondence"
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"A Virtuoso's Collection"
"Feathertop"
The Snow-Image, and
Other Twice-Told Tales (1852)
"The Great Stone Face"
"Ethan Brand"
"The Man of Adamant"
"My Kinsman, Major Molineux"
Children's books
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Tanglewood Tales (1853)
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Rose Hawthorne, Mother Mary Alphonsa (daughter)
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The Wayside
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WorldCat Identities
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LCCN: n92081113
SUDOC: 152647732
VIAF: 185973459
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