Cassandra Voices

Author: Andrea Reynell

  • The Classical World in Video Games

    Hollywood has a long history of portraying the Classical world in film, often with a large degree of artistic licence. One recent example is the film Gladiator, where a Roman general is reduced to the status of a gladiator. This could never have happened of course, as being a military commander in Rome was based on holding high political office.

    There are also numerous examples of Hollywood taking liberties with Roman and Greek mythology, such as in the movie Troy where the tale is condensed into a few weeks. So how closely do video games stick to Classical history and the original myths?

    Hades

    One recent games set in the Classical world is the multi award-winning Hades by Supergiant Games. After the early 2018 release the game was released to the public on the September 17th 2020 on Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Nintendo Switch.

    Its excellent plot, storytelling ,characters and playability – not to mention the canonically bisexual main character Zagreus – have made this roguelike dungeon crawler a triumph in the gaming world. A key feature, unusual in such games, is that despite the character dying, the story will still progress. But how closely does this game keep to the original myth of Hades and Persephone?

    Hades is presented in an isometric view, with the player controlling Zagreus (center) as he fights his way out of the Underworld.

    The story begins with Hades seeing Persephone picking flowers. He then abducts her, carrying her off to the Underworld at the behest of Zeus. Here she is tricked by Hades into eating seeds of a pomegranate. This ties her to the Underworld for one third of the year. Demeter, upon learning of her daughter’s fate is enraged with Zeus and use her divine power to make the harvests fail, so that widespread famine ensues. Eventually Zeus steps in to put an end to this, forcing Hades to return Persephone. Of course there is a lot more to the story, including details of the Underworld, but these are the crucial elements.

    In the myth there appear to be two versions of Zagreus – or even three if we acknowledge that some sources equate him with Hades himself. One is as the son of Hades and Persephone, and is the version we see in the game. The other is as the son of Selemus and Zeus and is known as the Orphic Dionysus Zagreus. This Zagreus was ripped apart by the Titans after Hera hears that Zeus intends to make him his successor. He is then reborn to Zeus and Selemus as Dionysus.

    In the plot of the game the protagonist is Zagreus, Prince of the Greek Underworld, who is fighting his way to the surface to reach Mount Olympus in order to get away from his seemingly uncaring father Hades. Persephone is nowhere to be seen at the start, as she believes that her son is dead. It is explained that those on Mount Olympus are often engaged in petty squabbles and Persephone doesn’t want to return for that reason, leading her mother Demeter to thinks she has gone missing.

    There is no mention of any other siblings of Zagreus. As Demeter thinks her daughter has gone missing she inflicts a widespread winter, rather than just changes to the seasons.

    The game is true to many of the Underworld residents who are included in the narrative. Some are, however, left out – most likely because their vast array would make the plot unwieldy. For example, The Fates are mentioned, but aren’t characters that show up, and so are their siblings Hypnos (sleep personified) and Thanatos (death personified), but there were also sixteen other siblings. All the areas of the Greek Underworld are dealt with, the best known being: Tartarus, Asphodel Meadows, Elysium and Erebus. The game adds in another area, The Temple of Styx, presumably for further gameplay.

    On the whole, the game does stick to the original myth but uses aspects of it to help the plot along. The eating of the pomegranate pips by Persephone does come into the plot at a later stage but is more an excuse as to why she is staying in the Underworld. There is also reference to Zagreus and Dionysus being the one and the same. The marriage of Hades and Persephone is shown to be a loving marriage despite Hades being a difficult character. Only Zagreus is mentioned as being the child of Hades and Persephone despite the myths saying that they had Melinoë, Plutus, and Dionysus (Orphic) too. Of course with mythology,parentage of the Gods does not seem to be set in stone.

    Assassin’s Creed Odyssey

    Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is another game that borrows its story line from the ancient Greek world. It is an action, role-playing video game developed by Ubisoft Quebec and published by Ubisoft in October 2018. This game takes on parts of Spartan history such as The Battle of Thermopylae and the Peloponnesian War. The Battle of Thermopylae is playable in the opening tutorial level and is featured in a series of flashbacks.

    There’s no set myth or story here, rather it combines several stories together into the game’s original plot. Set in 431–422 BC, it recounts a secret mythological history set during the Peloponnesian War. The player takes on the role of mercenaries and can choose to fight for the Delian League, led by Athens, or the Peloponnesian League, led by Sparta. The main storyline has the protagonist attempting to restore their fractured family after they and their sibling were thrown off a cliff, when they were young at the urging of the Oracle of Delphi, and left for dead by their father.

    The plot of this game deviates a lot from what we know about Spartan life. But while there are historical inaccuracies, it can certainly contribute to an understanding of the Classical world.

    In the first tutorial, the player is King Leonidas fighting in The Battle of Thermopylae. Something to note is the scarlet cloak that King Leonidas is wearing in gameplay. Edna Mode from The Incredibles comes to mind with ‘No Capes’. Cloaks were certainly not worn in battle. It was likely that the developers needed the King to stand out as the protagonist of this scene. In fact cloaks were used to sleep in on long marches.

    The playable character changes after the tutorial from King Leonidas to the grandchild of Leonidas. Although we do not know whether Pleistarchus, Leonidas’s son, ever married. All we know is that he was born aa prince, likely the only son of King Leonidas I and Queen Gorgo. He ruled with a regent as he was relatively young when his father died in battle in 480 BC. Given that Pleistarchus’ successor was Pleistoanax, who was the son of his second regent, it seems unlikely that he had any descendants.

    In the game the protagonist and their siblings are thrown off a mountain according to an oracle’s prophecy. This practice of infanticide was indeed commonly carried out in Sparta. A society based on the development of fierce warriors permitted eugenics.

    Moreover, seers and prophecies were taken very seriously in the Greek world. Thus Agamemnon, King of Mycenae, sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia in order to appease Artemis before he set sail for Troy.

    Pericles and Kleon are also mentioned. Pericles was a prominent and influential Greek statesman, orator and general of Athens during the first two years of the Peloponnesian War. Kleon or Cleon was Pericles’ political rival and was also a general during the Peloponnesian War. He wasn’t written about in a favourable light by Aristophanes and Thucydides, most likely due to personal grudges and because Cleon had many informants around Athens.

    Other historical characters also feature such as the Minotaur, Cyclops and Medusa.

    Video Game in Education

    Of course these are just two recent games that have been in the public eye. Age of Empires and Age of Mythology, Kid Icarus, God of War and even Halo are also based on or reference the Classical world, along with numerous others.

    So what can video games bring to education? Video games could be especially useful in terms of widening appreciation of archaeological history. Ruins can be reconstructed from the past and returned to their former glory through virtual reality or augmented reality. For example Wessex Archaeology have been excavating and recording beneath Bath Abbey floor since 2018 as part of The Bath Abbey Footprint Project. The archaeologists have used traditional recording systems, as well as recording everything in 3D using a process called photogrammetry.

    Photogrammetry creates accurate fully textured 3D models from photographs. It can even record details on individual stones which affords conservationists a greater level of accuracy than traditional techniques.

    Video games can, therefore, be used as a tool in teach the Classics, but should at least attempt to remain faithful to the sources. Otherwise they can serve a purpose in highlighting inaccuracies!

    Feature Image: Pollice Verso (Thumbs Down) by Jean-Léon Gérôme

  • Christmas Traditions Old and New

    Ostensibly, Christmas is the occasion when Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ; its origins, however, aren’t Christian at all but Pagan.

    It is no coincidence that Christmas should fall just after the Winter Solstice on December 21st, which is the shortest day of the year. From that point on the days lengthen into ‘a fine stretch in the evening’, as we optimistically portray it in Ireland on December 22nd!

    The importance of the occasion in pre-Christian Ireland is demonstrated by the orientation of the ancient passage tomb at Newgrange, which predates Stonehenge and even the pyramids. The entrance is aligned with the sun rise on the days around December 21st: sunlight floods into the inner chamber through a roofbox located above the entrance to the amazement of the lucky few that have managed to squeeze in.

    Attendance has always been a golden ticket affair confined to an annual lottery, but due to pandemic restrictions no crowd assembled at all this year for this symbolic moment of renewal.

    It has been suggested that when Pagans converted to Christianity, they maintained many of their traditions, switching from a veneration of the sun to a new born son. There is no Biblical evidence for December 25th being the birth date of Jesus Christ.

    So what of the other traditions that grew up around the event?

    Wherever Christmas is celebrated there are different traditions, and even individual families have developed their own idiosyncratic rituals. The standard Western Christmas includes decorative trees, stockings, wreaths, advent calendars, puddings, baked goods, and of course Santa Claus or St. Nicholas; we also find the nativity portrayed in cribs, present-giving and midnight masses. The switching on of municipal lights – to the constant refrain of ‘it gets earlier every year!’ – on prominent shopping streets is also popular. And of course, the Christmas dinner is also a major part of the tradition.

    Lighting of O’Connell Street Christmas Tree, 1988. Dublin City Council Photographic Collection.

    Oh Christmas Tree…

    The practice of putting up and decorating a so-called ‘Christmas’ trees – usually an evergreen conifer – can be traced to the pagan worship of Ancient Rome. Evergreen wreaths were brought into Roman homes during the Saturnalia celebrations (a festival for the god Saturn).

    Non-Roman peoples of the time – barbarians to Roman sophisticates – also brought branches of evergreen trees indoors at this time of year. The evergreen plant was a symbol of fertility and enduring growth. Beliefs of course varied across different cultures and times. For some it symbolised eternal life. Because of its triangular shape it eventually came to represent the Holy Trinity for Christians.

    Decoration of the Christmas Tree as we know it in modern times first began in earnest in sixteenth century Germany. Trees were decorated with coloured paper, apples, wafers, tinsel as well as sweetmeats and other foods. It has been suggested that candles first appeared when the Protestant reformer Martin Luther hung them from an evergreen tree. The fairy lights are the electrical descendent of these candles, and, happily, less of a fire hazard..

    Over time traditions spread throughout Europe and the New World, initially through multinational Royal families and other noble castes.

    Artificial or Real?

    Clearfelling of sitka plantations near Connemara National Park.

    Artificial trees are an increasingly popular option for those who don’t relish hoovering up needles and disposing of the heavy load of a real one. So what are the pros and cons of each?

    A benefit of an artificial tree is that it can be stored it in their attic from year-to-year, which should make it a one-off-investment. On the other hand, it is made from fire-retardant, but not fire-resistant PVC plastic, and we could do with producing a lot less of this, especially in an era of climate change. Moreover, unfortunately most artificial trees will eventually end up in landfill – hopefully after many years of service – which takes many years to break down.

    On the positive side of using a real tree, while they grow they convert carbon dioxide to oxygen through photosynthesis and are of course recyclable, although the wood would have to be seasoned for at least a year for it to be used as fuel.

    The variety generally used in Ireland, Sitka spruce, is a non-native species, and plantations have a seriously damaging effects on the environment, so their continued use is certainly not ideal.

    One approach could be to grow a tree in a pot and bring it indoors for Christmas, or why not get creative and use loose branches to construct an alternative ‘hipster’ tree!

    Who was the Original Santa Claus?

    Christmas postcard with Santa Claus wearing green robes, carrying full sack, with “Christmas Greetings.” (1909).

    Not much is known about St. Nicholas, the original Santa Claus, who was born in Asia Minor in what is present-day Turkey. He was known for his secret gift-giving and generosity, and became bishop of Myra where one still finds spectacular rock-cut tombs. In the Middle Ages merchants from the city of Bari in Southern Italy plundered his bones and enshrined them in the Basilica di San Nicola.

    Santa Claus is based on of this legendary figure, honoured annually during the Feast of Sinterklaas on the 6th of December in some countries. This feast is celebrated with the giving of gifts on St. Nicholas’ Eve (5th of December) in the Netherlands and on the morning of December 6th, Saint Nicholas Day, in Belgium, Luxembourg and northern France.

    There are countless invocations of Santa in songs and poems. Perhaps the best known is ‘The Night Before Christmas/ A Visit From Saint Nicholas’, by Clement Moore, also known as ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas.’

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19XNS6SBRYA

    Previously depicted wearing tan or green, it has been suggested that Thomas Nast, a German-born American caricaturist, created the modern American version of Santa’s suit that featured in the December 25th, 1866 edition of Harper’s Weekly Magazine. He drew Santa in both red and green, but the new red version proved enduring.

    Beginning with 1930’s advertisements, Coca-Cola has been responsible for the modern version of Santa we are now familiar with. The company created the image of the jolly, bearded, present-giving man wearing his distinctive red and white robes. The artist responsible was an American artist of Finnish and Swedish descent named Haddon Sundblom, who created the legendary figure wearing red with white trimmed fur.

    The tradition of present-giving is likely to have originated in the Roman Feast of Saturnalia, and the legends around St. Nicholas. Notably, the Roman god Saturn was associated with generation, dissolution, plenty, wealth, agriculture, periodic renewal and liberation. The feast took place on December 17th of the Julian calendar, and lasted until the 23rd of the month. This consisted of feasting, role reversals where slaves and masters would swop positions for the day – similar to the medieval ‘festival of fools’ – free speech, gift-giving and general revelry.

    Christmas in Other Monotheistic Faiths

    The Nativity is the Biblical account of the birth of Jesus Christ, and is fundamental to the Christian celebration. At Christmas time many churches incorporate nativity scenes near to the altar. This typically involves Mary, Joseph, the baby Jesus in a manger, assorted farm animals and the three wise men hovering outside with their gifts. The nativity scene is also a theme for school plays coming up to the Christmas holiday.

    Outdoor nativity scene of life-sized figurines in Barcelona (2009).

    The story comes from the New Testament, specifically, the gospels of Luke and Matthew, but how are Mary and Jesus depicted in other religions?

    In Islam, Mary(Maryam) is the only woman mentioned in the Qur’an. She is an honoured figure. The story is essentially the same: Mary becomes pregnant through the will of God – a divine conception –  and gives birth to Jesus. However, other parts of the story differ.

    A palm tree is mentioned in the Qur’an, as well as a voice urging her

    Grieve not! for thy Lord hath provided a rivulet beneath thee; And shake towards thyself the trunk of the palm-tree: It will let fall fresh ripe dates upon thee.

    There is also an account of the baby Jesus prophesising from his cradle of his being brought to a temple. It is also agreed that she remains a virgin throughout her life. She is referred to as the daughter of Imran and the sister of Aaron, but is also associated with a range of other titles.

    In Islam, Jesus’s story is similar to the Biblical tale: he is born of Mary (Īsā ibn Maryam: ‘son of Mary’), performs miracles and is seen as a prophet of God/Allah, who has been sent to guide the Children of Israel. Jesus is followed by disciples, and rejected by the Jewish establishment. Eventually he is raised to heaven. However, unlike in Christianity Jesus isn’t crucified, and nor does the Qur’an refer to him as the son of God, or God incarnate.

    As regards Judaism, Mary does not appear by name in the Talmud, and doesn’t have an exalted status as in other religions. And there are even suggestions of adultery in Jewish traditions.

    Toledot Yeshu, ‘The Generations of Jesus’, a medieval parody of the New Testament, (author and date unknown), reconstructs Mary’s adultery and her son’s tainted paternity. Mary’s husband is referred to as ‘Pappos ben Judah’; Jesus is called the ‘Son of Pandera’, or the ‘Son of Stada’, ‘stada’ refers to a deviant or unfaithful woman.

    Perhaps unsurprisingly, at certain times the Catholic Church censored the Talmud for blasphemous references to Jesus and Mary.

    Altering Traditions?

    Kalettes, a trendy addition.

    The Christmas meal varies considerably from country to country. It is either eaten on Christmas Eve or on Christmas Day. The contents also differ considerably. The most popular meal in English-speaking countries include turkey, ham, roast potatoes, gravy, stuffing, and ‘Brussel’s’ sprouts, with a ‘kalettes’ a trendy edition to the repatoire. The dessert include mince pies and so-called Christmas cake.

    The Christmas meal reflects how the U.K. was once a global empire with many dominions. It is not clear exactly when the tradition for all ingredients of the meal began. The turkey first appeared in the U.K. in the seventeenth century under King Henry VIII. However, it wasn’t until the twentieth century that it took over from goose as the dominant dish for carnivores. As the nursery rhyme puts it:

    Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat
    Please put a penny in the old man’s hat
    If you haven’t got a penny, a ha’penny will do
    If you haven’t got a ha’penny, then God bless you!

    One unpleasant-sounding ritual that grew up around goose was in response to the tuberculosis or ‘consumption’ circulating widely in Ireland until the 1950s. According to one account:

    When Christmas time came you’d put on the goose. Goose was cooked then for Christmas dinner. Your father would make up the goose grease and rub it into your chest going into school. All over your chest and around your back. It was as good as an overcoat to you.[i]

    Christmas meals often give rise to considerable waste, and unfortunately this year it is more difficult to make donations of food directly to those in need. Thus, it might be an idea to avoid stocking up as if World War III was about to commence, and make a charitable donation instead.

    The way in which we give presents could also definitely do with a makeover. I shudder to think of the scale of unwanted gifts that will be discarded, along with reams of wrapping paper, and cards that will be consigned to the bin. Let’s try to recycle wrapping paper, make our own cards, and only buys those that include a charitable donation; reusable gift bags and donating unwanted toys to charities are other worthwhile ideas.

    Presents from Santa and Parents?!

    That a child should receive a gift from both Santa and their parents (which could easily mean another two presents) is a remarkable feat of marketing that increases costs during an already expensive season. It is surely sufficient for Santa alone to give a present! For families with older children, a Secret Santa or kris kingle works fine, and reduces the expense and stress of having to buy for everyone.

    In recent years in Ireland the Catholic Church has made a big effort to attract families with young children to Christmas services. As a child, it always seemed to go on forever – with all those toys at home left unplayed with –  but it was still a part of Christmas. Most attendees would be dressed in their fine new clothes, or in festive jumpers that have grown more outrageous with the years. This year’s restrictions mean the embarrassing show of inebriation witnessed at some midnight masses in the past is unlikely to be repeated.

    Christmas jumpers: more outrageous by the year.

    Unusual Traditions

    Some Christmas traditions from around the world are more unusual than others, and wonderful in their own way. Every December in the Philippines the Giant Lantern Festival is held in the city of San Fernando. Light is highly symbolic for Filipinos: the star is a sign of hope and the most important symbol of the Christmas season.

    Elsewhere, Ukrainians prepare a traditional twelve-course meal. But before everybody sits down to it the youngest child in the family is told to watch through the window for the evening star to appear, which is a signal for the feast to begin.

    Some countries have more sensible traditions than others. Jolabokaflod is the Icelandic tradition of giving books to a loved one on Christmas Eve. It translates as ‘The Christmas Book Flood’.

    A distinctive tradition that has grown increasingly popular in Ireland is for people to swim in the sea on Christmas day. The most famous spot for doing so is the Forty Foot in Dun Laoghaire, Dublin. ‘Swim’ is however an exaggeration for what is really an immersion for most people, followed by a hot chocolate from a thermos flask or something stronger!

    This article has only scrapped the surface of the many Christmas rituals that survive in Ireland and around the world. There are some we could safely dispense with, especially the excess, but there are others that serve a need that people feel to come together at the darkest time of the year.

    [i] Quoted in Ronan Sheehan and Brendan Walshe, Dublin: The Heart of the City, The Lilliput Press, Dublin, 1998 and 2016, p.30

  • A Curious Irish Disregard for Historic Buildings

    Under normal circumstances tourists flock to Ireland for its rich cultural inheritance and traditions. Indeed we live atop generations of history. When the soil offers its secrets in the form of ruins and artefacts, we either attempt to preserve or reduce them to rubble. More often than not, we choose to tear down or bury the past. This often occurs without the general public being aware of what is happening.

    Perhaps our relationship with heritage is conditioned by a colonial past, with buildings  associated with the legacy of an occupation.

    Thus, in 1944 Minister for Lands, Sean Moylan, described the Big Houses of the Protestant ascendency as ‘tombstones of a departed aristocracy’ remarking ‘the sooner they go down the better. They are no use’. More recently, Nuala O’Faolain admitted: ‘We cannot, or at least I cannot, look at the Big House without some degree of rage.’

    Moore Hall, County Mayo, a Big House burnt down by the IRA in 1923, and subsequently abandoned.

    But this attitude towards our heritage seems to run deeper as the approach towards even pre-English history demonstrates.

    The Wood Quay Dublin Council webpage describes what is there as ‘a stretch of the original Hiberno Norse (Viking) City Wall dating from 1100AD.’ This, however, is a far cry from what previously lay there. The site of about four acres consisted of the remains of around one-hundred-and-eighty houses, thousands of artefacts, and a wealth of information.

    In 1978 the site was owned by Dublin Corporation. Despite the High Court declaring it National Monument, Dublin Corporation found a legal loophole to allow them to build new civic offices there. Despite this declaration and a ‘Save Wood Quay’ campaign involving over twenty thousand protesters, a petition, and Operation Sitric – a sit-in protest where people occupied it for three weeks – construction went ahead. It was a devastating loss for Irish heritage.

    Wood Quay, 1978, Dublin City Council Photographic Collection

    The O’Rahilly House

    A recent loss has been The O’Rahilly House on 40 Herbert Park. Michael Joseph O’Rahilly, who lived at the house with his wife and family, was the only leader of the 1916 Rising to be killed during the fighting itself. In the hours after the fatal exchange of gunfire on Sackville Lane (now O’Rahilly Parade off O’Connell Street) he wrote a letter to his wife who lived on 40 Herbert Park in Dublin 4.

    The house had been the site for many meetings of the signatories of the 1916 Proclamation. It is likely that three former Irish presidents, Eamon de Valera, Sean T. O’Ceallaigh, and Douglas Hyde, had all passed through its doors at one time or another.

    The house was demolished in September 2020 to make way for a twelve-storey hotel, and an apartment development, in the face of opposition from several residents associations, the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, the 1916 Relatives Alliance and Relatives of the Signatories of the 1916 Proclamation, and Proinsias Ó Rathaille (The O’Rahilly’s grandson). Apart from the building’s historical significance, there were other problems identified with the project, including the disproportionate height of the proposed building.

    As of October 2020 an application for a judicial review of the planning forms for the site has been approved by the High Court. The Pembroke Road Association has been getting donations from all over the country on a daily basis towards the estimated €50,000 needed to bring the application. There was also talk about potentially rebuilding the house, or turning the site into a park for children, and to commemorate the 1916 Rising. Perhaps this site will fare better than Wood Quay, but since the building itself no longer exists, and Dublin City Council are involved, I am not holding out much hope.

    40 Herbert Park, before demolition.

    Literary Houses

    Hoey Court is where the satirical author of Gulliver’s Travels (1726) Jonathan Swift was born, in 1667. All that remains of it now is a plaque on a wall near Dublin Castle. This would surely have been a fantastic site for a museum dedicated to this world renowned writer.

    I hadn’t even been aware of its existence until I went on a tour on Dublin’s Dark side, led by John Caffrey. It’s a pity these aren’t the places we learn about in school.

    The House of ‘The Dead,’ James Joyce’s final story in Dubliners at 15 Usher’s Island is the latest of Dublin’s historical buildings to be refurbished. Joyce’s great-aunts rented the upper floors of the house in the 1890’s and ran a music school there. Joyce spent sufficient time there for it be used as the location for his famous short story.

    Since then it has gone from being a virtual tenement, to a refurbishment under Brendan Kilty’s ownership. But he went bankrupt in 2017. It was then ignored by Dublin City Council, before being purchased by private investors Fergus McCabe and Brian Stynes.

    Dublin City Council have granted planning permission to turn it into a hostel. This has brought complaints from some quarters about Dublin losing its character with the number of hotels being built and writers, artists and Dubliners being pushed out of the city due to exorbitant renting and housing prices.

    Indeed in November 2019 a slew of Irish and internationally-renowned writers signed an open letter calling on Josepha Madigan, then Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, and Owen Keegan, Dublin City Manager to intervene in the investors plans. The letter stated that: ‘In the decades since Joyce’s death, too many of the places that are rendered immortal in his writing have been lost to the city. Let us not repeat this mistake today.’ A compromise for both sides could be to keep the rooms as used by Joyce’s aunts for use for literary events and to proceed with the planned hostel rooms for the rest. That way the building isn’t falling into ruin and still preserves its history.

    The examples I have provided are among the many buildings that have been, or will be, lost and there are undoubtedly many more such notable buildings in Ireland that few know about. It is just a pity that we learn so little about this heritage in school.

    The National Monuments Act

    According to the 1930 National Monuments Act: ‘a ‘national monument’ means a monument or the remains of a monument the preservation of which is a matter of national importance by reason of the historical, architectural, traditional, artistic, or archaeological interest.’

    It also states that a building/site can only be tampered with in the interests of public health and safety or in the interests of preserving archaeology. The most recent addition to the National Monuments Act as of 2004 actually weakens the protection that National Monuments receive. This includes provisions for the partial or complete destruction of National Monuments by the Government of Ireland if such destruction is deemed to be in the public interest.

    According to section 14 the Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht can also choose to alter, remove, preserve or demolish a site for road works.

    Ruins of Carrickmines Castle. Dublin City Library and Archive

    The site of Carrickmines Castle fell victim to this provision. Previously classified as a National Monument it was the site of historical battles during the 1641 Rebellion and later the Irish Confederate Wars 1641-43. It seems that this particular amendment was brought in specifically for the M50 road to be built across the grounds. Yet the original plan was for the road to bypass the Castle grounds.

    Latest Developments

    A happy ending for one ancient history site is the incorporation of glass floors in new Lidl that opened on Aungier Street. The ruins consist of an eleventh century house, a stone-lined cistern and the eighteenth century Aungier Theatre staircase. It’s a way of keeping history alive and ads an unusual dimension to one’s weekly shop, in a time when we are crying out for positivity.

    Another excavation which will hopefully have a positive outcome is taking place on Ship Street near Dublin Castle. It began in March 2020 as part of an office block construction. The dig is near the remains of one of Dublin’s oldest churches, St Michael le Pole that was founded in the 6th century. There have been a few interesting discoveries already, such as the city’s oldest police cells, a punishment burial, and the skeleton of a ten- to twelve-year-old child. Other discoveries indicates that Dubh Linn (Black Pool), and in turn the Viking settlement, was larger than previously assumed.

    Heritage should be celebrated, not destroyed. One solution to address this problem would be to introduce a mandatory amount of time for an archaeological survey to occur, which would be factored into construction schedules regardless of whether any artefacts were found.

    As the Lidl on Aungier Street shows, it is possible to incorporate archaeology into the building in a way that preserves it, allowing the public to absorb the history of the site. Finally, where a change is suggested to the status of a building or site which is of significant historical interest and designated a national monument it should require a vote to be taken in Dáil Eireann.

    What is the point in having national monuments if they are going to be destroyed without public oversight? Successive governments have failed to preserve our heritage yet continue to sell this to tourists. If we continue on our present course precious few of our historical buildings will be left for future generations to consider the civilisations that have preceded us.

    Feature Image: Dublin City Library And Archive

  • Sé Merry Doyle: James Joyce – Reluctant Groom

    Andrea Reynell caught up with renowned documentary filmmaker Sé Merry Doyle to discuss his new film ‘James Joyce – Reluctant Groom‘ in which poet Niall McDevitt guides us through a London landscape with unknown Joycean associations. The film takes us back to period in 1931 when Joyce and his long-term partner Nora Barnacle moved to London for a year in order to secure a legal marriage. The film also demonstrates that in this period of Covid-19 necessity is the mother of invention.

    Andrea Reynell: Why was Joyce’s marriage to Nora worthy of a documentary?

    Sé Merry Doyle: Well, it mainly came about through Niall McDevitt – the person who leads the whole story – and a well-known poet in London; an Irish poet, very well known in Irish poetry circles. Niall gives literary cycle or walking tours where he uses the landscape to tell stories. He often draws large crowds. I filmed him pre-Covid-19 doing one on Oscar Wilde just to have the material. There were about twenty people traipsing around Wildean landscapes. I noticed how brilliant he was and we became friends and then we did a small film called The Battle of Blythe Road, which was a temple dedicated to the goddess Isis in Hammersmith that W.B Yeats used to run, and where he got into feats of daring do with Aleister Crowley, who was into black magic. Nobody knew about this place in London.

    Before telling you how the Joyce film happened, I’ll backtrack a bit. I came to London to show some films, documentaries I had made in The Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith and while I was here I ended up making a feature documentary called The Knitting Ring featuring older Irish women, and then Covid-19 hit and the whole place got locked down. Then the Irish Cultural Centre decided to start a digital channel. So we got together lots of musicians, poets, and writers. I was coordinating this with Rosalind Scanlon who’s the cultural director. So since then we’ve been posting weekly on ICC Digital.

    The Battle of Blythe Road was my first commissioned piece for them and I went out with Niall. It was just shot on the iPhone, rough and ready but became a viral hit let’s say. Then we decided to take on James Joyce after Niall told me the story. Again the attraction was that it was just me, Niall, and the iPhone with some sound editing. So it was perfect in a Covid-19 world.

    It’s about James Joyce coming to London in 1931 to get married because of a law saying you had to live there for a year beforehand. So he came for a year with his wife Nora and his daughter Lucia, and his son Giorgio came over quite a lot as well.

    AR: How have current circumstances had an impact on your work?

    SMD: Funnily enough before I came to London, I was living in Abbeyleix in Co. Laois, with my daughter and there wasn’t much work. I don’t want to be negative about Ireland, but there was very little happening and I felt like I couldn’t afford to live in Dublin anymore and that’s why I had to move out. I found the environment slightly hostile whenever I tried to put anything out, but then I came to London, and all of a sudden all these people were asking: do you make documentaries and would you make this and that? It felt like a breath of fresh air. People admired me for what I could do and I didn’t have to go out for a pint with someone and find nothing would happen afterwards.

    Since Covid-19 in a way I’ve been busier than ever. I go out and shoot little films for ICC Digital. We’re filming some stuff next week under controlled measures. Then I return to my editing suite and balcony near Wimbledon Woods. So my environment is safe from Covid-19.

    I see the Joyce film as something that could sit very well on RTE, even though it’s shot on an iPhone; a half-hour film produced extremely economically. So I’m enjoying this new relationship with my iPhone and I’ve been filming poets and actors like Nora Connolly. She did a Bloomsday event. I know certain musicians are having a terrible time right now. Musicians are suffering more than others in the pandemic. They are out there all the time. Now I like going out as well. I like nothing more than bringing all the material back. So, it’s suiting my particular field.

    AR: How would you say that independent differ from mainstream films?

    In the last couple of years I’ve been mainly working on feature-length documentaries films that are 70-75 minutes long and do well on the festival circuit. I did a film recently on Simon Walker’s father the architect Robin Walker; also on the famous animator Jimmy Murakami who animated When the Wind Blows and The Snowman, and came to Ireland and married. His childhood secret is that he was interned in a Concentration Camp in America for Japanese-Americans after Pearl Harbour.

    At least in the Covid-19 era RTE are starting to show feature-length documentaries again. So I would say there is a very fine line between mainstream and non-mainstream. I think TV stations are in danger of losing a large audience though who are not necessarily all intellectuals, but who like a good story and don’t want to be spoon fed: they want to engage with the material and to think for themselves. I think if they took more chances they’d have more success. Fine, at 8 o’clock schedule Coronation Street, but after 9.30 let’s make it a little more loose. We are seeing the same trends is Britain. My colleagues tell me that BBC Four is closing soon or being ‘dumped’ as Boris puts it.

    Media is a very complex. A lot of people are streaming, and don’t watch TV any more. I still like watching TV. I like saying “oh this is on now” and just sitting back.

    It’s a huge world for our little film on James Joyce. It’s reliant on word of mouth. It’s very hard to know where to place yourself. I think it’s a film that could easily sit in the mainstream. The story is very well told, Nial McDevitt doesn’t over intellectualise. He’s joyous. But finding outlets is extremely hard.

    AR: Do you think that 28 Campden Grove, James Joyce’s London residence should hold greater significance?

    SMD: I don’t know. London always was the flight path for Irish artists, going back to Jonathan Swift, Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker, and all sorts of people. London was a jewel of a city for extending creativity. And you see all the blue plaques around the place. A lot of the film involved Niall talking but then he encountered the man who lived there (on Campden Grove) and another guy was moving out. It’s moments like these when a documentary comes alive: somebody coming into the frame unexpectedly, and if you’re a good documentarian you hope to capture that. Another person might say “oh no somebody’s moving out, you better stop filming you know,” but I prefer to take all that in. Films that are set on the street involve people telling a story. All of a sudden somebody reveals a whole lot of things that you never knew. It makes the street much more interesting to be able to say: “oh look, James Joyce lived here for a year.”

    It is interesting with all the statues being pulled down. A statue is not a blue plaque, but it is something saying this person fought in India, or where ever, and it may be contentious, but should we take it down?

    I did a film long ago about the sculptor John Henry Foley called ‘Sculpture to the Empire.’ But John Henry Foley also made ones of Daniel O’Connell and Henry Grattan and Oliver Goldsmith too. He probably has more statues standing in Ireland than anybody else. But a couple of his statues like the one of Field Marshall Gough in the Phoenix Park were attacked several times by the IRA. Eventually it was moved out of Ireland. So you have this dichotomy around what to do. In India one guy said that we should leave the statues and say that this person was a bastard, and he can bring his children to tell a history. Maybe we have to find a way to absorb them and so in India they put them all in sculptured graveyards. Most of the films I’ve done are set in Dublin. You walk out the door and you can find a story in five minutes. It’s all around you.

    AR: In October 2019 it was proposed that Joyce’s remains should be repatriated for the centenary of the publication of Ulysses in 2022. It was not met with enthusiasm. What are your thoughts on the matter?

    SMD: I always wanted to see his statue in Trieste. I liked the fact that he wandered the Earth. Removing his remains at this stage is not a big deal for me. It’s a sideline issue. I was running Bloomsday for a number of years in Dublin in a Duke Street Gallery and various poets and people would come on that day to sing a song or read a poem. John Behan, Ireland’s most famous sculptor always had this fascination with Leopold Bloom and we’re part of a little campaign now to get a statue of Leopold Bloom erected in Dublin. He is one of the most famous fictional characters in the world and is emblematic of fair play and experiences racism too. We thought that this would be a great subject for a statue. I’d love to get Leopold more into the consciousness of Dublin. Joyce used to imagine Dublin in his consciousness and he gave us that great gift in Ulysses. It’s more the atmosphere of Joyce and his works that should be celebrated I think. So leave him be and let him rest in peace wherever he is and God bless him.

    Joyce in Trieste

    AR: James Joyce never set foot on Irish soil after he left the country for the last time in 1912. Do you think his exile and the fact that he has no living descendents as of January 2020 has an impact on his legacy in Ireland?

    SMD: I think he’ll shine on. He broke the mould like Shakespeare. He had a tragic life in lots of ways. I was just discussing his daughter Lucia suffering from schizophrenia. He dictated most of Finnegans Wake to her; a fairly incomprehensible book for a lot of people, but Joyce said it should be read aloud, and I think the schizophrenia in the language uses Lucia’s fragmented mind. She lived and died in an asylum in Northampton, leaving no children. Giorgio gave us Stephen who was a very difficult character in terms of Joyce’s legacy.

    AR: Did the documentary turn out differently to what you had envisioned?

    SMD: The Battle of Blythe Road was a rehearsal for doing this one, but It was odd for me as I’d normally have Paddy Jordan on camera. A lot of technical stuff has terrified me. And I remember the iPhone ran out of memory at one point and it started deleting shots, and we also had to go to a café to get a bit of charge, but I got through it, and really enjoyed the experience. I’m not saying I’d like to take this approach all the time. I’d like to have somebody on sound. It was just me and Niall and I’d never experienced that before and I enjoyed it, but it’s nicer having a crew, but needs must.

    AR: Do you have any further plans for collaborating with Niall McDevitt?

    SMD: We’re planning an Oscar Wilde film, and are currently at the drawing board stage as to what that might entail. Again it’s going to a product of this Covid-19 period. With Joyce we were talking about going to Dublin, Zurich, Trieste, Paris – you know the story of James Joyce’s life – but until Covid-19 abates we’ll stay in an area that we can control, but we’re out filming again on the 27th of July. We’re bringing a lot of artists into The Irish Cultural Centre for lectures and poetry. It’s just three days of filming with people. It’s a very strange time for everyone as you have social distancing. Nobody’s working properly. We don’t know when it’s going to end. So everyone has to find new outlets and new ways of keeping going.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3vQBobNjSw