Saturday April 22, 2023
The last day of the World Cruise for those that are getting off in Southampton, and for us it is the start of the last few days across the Atlantic where packing and still some fun is to be had. The first lecture was the Historian Dave Wright who spoke of St. George. While he is the Patron Saint of England and his flag a red cross on a white background forms part of the British (Union Jack) flag, most people don’t know too much about the person. Is he a myth, is he a person? He supposedly slew the dragon and is often depicted in statues as a man, often dressed in Crusader era vestments, armor or clothing, on a horse slaying a dragon with a long spear. However who was he? First of all his name was not George, he was dead centuries before the Crusades and not only never laid eyes on England, nor visited it, but actually England did not exist when he was alive. He was born in the 3rd century CE (AD) in a part of the Roman Empire that was mainly Greek in a landlocked province of what is today Turkey. His name in Greek was Gregorio and his father became a prominent advisor and close confidant of Diocletian who was the ruler. His mother also came from a noble family. He and his family grew up in a small town, today Lod in modern Israel near Tel Aviv and when he was of age, he went to see Diocletian, the leader of Roman armed forces and asked for a job in the Roman army. Given his father’s high position he was soon hired and rose in the ranks rapidly as he was a fearsome warrior and a good, just man. Diocletian was a ruthless leader and insisted on all to worship the old Roman gods, however George was a devout Christian. When the edict came down that all other religions were to be eliminated, by force and killing, if necessary, George was found still practicing his Christianity. Diocletian tried to convince him but eventually he was tortured on the wheel (a carriage wheel was used to tie the victim backwards in a semi-circle and then the generals would pierce and cut the victim with a sword, which was followed by someone rubbing salt into the wounds) in order to “beat Christianity out of him”. He remained steadfast in his religious beliefs and was eventually beheaded. His mortal remains are now in the Church of St. Gorge in Lod, Israel, but his head is under the altar of St Georges church in Rome.
The story of the Dragon is based on a story that there was a well where the people of a town had to go daily to pick up the water. On the way to the well there was a dragon which would terrorize the people, however they would daily give the dragon a sheep to eat and thus detract from their water carrying activity. Eventually all the sheep were gone so it was decided to sacrifice young girls. When they drew lots to see who was the first girl to be sacrificed it was the daughter of the leader of the town. She was taken off, bound to a rock for the dragon. St. George then came along and slew the dragon saving the girl. Is this a myth, did it happen, or was it allegorical referring to through his commitment to Christianity, over time getting more followers resulting in the down fall of Rome and the birth of the Roman Catholic Church. As he was seen in battle and became an inspiring individual in his martyrdom. There are various places that venerate him as their patron saint – Georgia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Belarus, Portugal, Russia amongst others. During the First Crusade, which had as it’s objective to Christianize the Muslims, St George and 2 others appeared before the army before a battle and the British Crusaders won a decisive victory. This then led to St. George being named the patron of the Army and then England. The flag – white background with Red Cross, was actually the flag of a prior saint which was then used as a flag of St George in Genoa. The English asked to also use it and paid a tribute for it’s use. An amusing point was that soon before Queen Elizabeth died the mayor of Genoa sent her a bill for 250 years tribute in arrears in paying for the use of the flag. This was “tongue in cheek”!!!
The second lecture was Paul Fellows, the Astronomer, speaking about Einstein and Stephen Hawkins, however the subject was so far above most of the heads of those listening, with intricate formulae, that I must admit a slight snooze came over me! Anne intelligently did not attend. The third was Dr. Stephen Payne, QM2 Designer, speaking about the rise and fall of the Union-Castle line of ships that for many years took people from England to South Africa and indeed around the cape and back through the Suez Canal and Mediterranean.
Since we had seen the stage being dressed last night and as it was the final night of the troupe as they are all getting off in Southampton tomorrow, we went to the show – Symphony, to see what the set looked like and to cheer on the group that had entertained us for the last 4 months. By this time we had already docked at the Ocean Terminal port to dock. We were to arrive at 6 AM tomorrow. We hope they will fix the mechanical issues and that we will sail tomorrow to NY as planned at midnight.
Roger & Anne Travels 