The Western Post - August 2023

Beneath the royal necropolis, where carious peaks tumbled to a sunburnt plain, the colossus stood. Centuries of earthquakes and desert wind had reduced it to a shapeless hulk. But almost every morning, as dawn swept over the Nile, the colossus would sing. It was a song without words, sharp as the snapping of an otherworldly harp string.* The crowds of visitors who came to hear it were invariably impressed—so impressed that they did what people throughout history have done in the face of wonder and beauty: they left graffiti. The calves of the colossus read like a register: local dignitaries, passing soldiers, a scattering of provincial governors, and tourists from every corner of the Roman Empire.

Travel in the classical world was inevitably slow, relentlessly uncomfortable, and surprisingly common. Merchants crossed and recrossed the Mediterranean, venturing as far as Sri Lanka in pursuit of pepper and profit.^† Actors, athletes, and musicians journeyed from city to city, following the annual rounds of games and festivals. Scholars and students congregated in famous centers of learning. Pilgrims presented themselves to oracles. Officials shuttled from province to province. Slaves were sold. Soldiers marched. And a trickle of tourists set out for parts unknown.

The colossi of Memnon, their legs still covered with ancient graffiti.
Author's photo, full version here

Leisure travel was limited in Classical Greece, where famous sanctuaries like Delphi and great festivals like the Olympics were almost the exclusive goals of long-distance journeys. Tourism was much more widespread in the rich and stable Roman Empire. The great biographer Plutarch, writing around the end of the first century CE, describes a meeting with two friends who had recently returned from long tours abroad. One had traveled through Egypt, visited the caves along the coasts of the Red Sea, and voyaged beyond the Persian Gulf on the trade route to India. The other man had been commissioned by the imperial government to explore remote islands off the coast of Britain that were rumoured to be haunted by demons.**

Whenever possible, long journeys were made by sea. Since there were no passenger ships, travelers booked passage on merchant vessels heading in the right direction. Most had to sleep on deck, and all were responsible for their own food and bedding. Passengers were also expected to help the crew in the event of bad weather, which could wreck even the largest vessels. One Roman author describes how he and six hundred fellow passengers were pitched into the sea when their vessel broke apart in a gale.^† Only eighty survived to be rescued by a passing ship the next morning. Pirates could be an even greater danger, especially during the first century BCE, when they were bold enough to sack cities and kidnap Roman senators (including a young Julius Caesar).

It was unusual for an ancient ship to sail faster than about 5 knots (approximately 6 miles per hour), or more than 125 miles in a day. But with a good wind, a ship setting out from the ports of Rome could reach North Africa in as little as two days, the French Riviera in three, and the Strait of Gibraltar in seven. Heading east from Rome or Naples, Greece might be only five days away, and Egypt only nine. These, however, were best-case scenarios. Contrary winds added weeks or months to a voyage, and for nearly half the year—from November to March—few captains would put to sea. These limitations, combined with the various dangers and discomforts of sea travel, encouraged many ancient tourists to make at least part of their journey overland.

In Classical Greece, land travel meant walking or riding a donkey. Only the richest could afford horses, and the poor quality of the roads often made wagons impractical. Thanks to vastly better highways (and cheaper horses), passenger vehicles were much more common in the Roman world. There were many types. Two-wheeled carriages were typically light and swift, designed for one or two passengers and minimal baggage. Though heavier and slower, four-wheeled carriages were more spacious and—if the owner had money—luxurious. Roman emperors and senators pimped their rides with gold statues, silk upholstery, swivel seats, and built-in gaming boards.*** Since even the swankiest examples lacked shock absorbers, however, riding in one of these rolling palaces was a rattling experience. It was much more comfortable to travel in a cushioned and curtained litter, which made it possible to nap, read, and write on the road.

On foot or in a litter, a good pace was about twenty miles a day.^† Heavy carriages were only slightly swifter, probably averaging about twenty-five miles a day. A light carriage might be twice as quick but was still unlikely to break five miles per hour; Caesar's single-day sprint of one hundred miles in a carriage was remembered as exceptional. Riding was the only way to go significantly faster. Since saddles were rudimentary and stirrups nonexistent, however, riding long distances was uncomfortable. And because of their relatively small size^‡ and lack of shoes,^§ ancient horses could not be ridden as fast or as far as their descendants. The record for a day's ride, with frequent changes of mount, was two hundred miles.

Whether ensconced in a litter or jolting along in a carriage, it was a good idea to travel with a large group or at least with a few armed slaves. Highwaymen lurked in dark forests, lonely mountain passes, and even hotels (they occasionally took over remote inns and used them as bases for attacking unsuspecting travelers). Waylaid travelers lost their valuables and sometimes their lives; one especially brutal brigand was notorious for cutting off his victims' legs and letting them bleed to death. Local authorities responded in kind, staging manhunts and hanging or crucifying robbers by the side of the road.

No matter how dangerous the road, the hotel was usually worse. The great majority of Greek and Roman inns were filthy, cramped, and crawling with bedbugs. The food wasn't very appealing either; some innkeepers were said to slip the flesh of murdered guests into their stews. Travelers who could afford to avoid hotels usually did so. Some Roman notables bought lodges on the roads between their villas and the capital, staffed them with slaves, and slept in them as they journeyed to and fro. Whenever possible, wealthy travelers stayed in the homes of friends and acquaintances. If none was available, a slave was sent ahead to the next town, where he would inform the owner of the largest house that someone important was in need of a room.

As mentioned earlier, the Classical Greeks normally confined their travel to the great sanctuaries that hosted oracles and games. The Romans were more ambitious tourists. For wealthy Romans, the default vacation destination was the Bay of Naples. Although the island of Capri, owned by the emperors, was off-limits to the public, tourists could revere the Grotto of the Sibyl at Cumae, sample athletic contests and theater performances at Naples, or abandon themselves to the torrid pleasures of Baiae, sin city of the classical world.

Those who wanted a serious dose of culture headed to Greece. In Athens, tourists marveled at the artistic treasures of the Acropolis and visited the most fashionable philosophers. At Sparta, they indulged in the less exalted pleasure of watching the annual "endurance contest," during which boys lay upon an altar and competed to see who could be whipped the longest without crying out. The mountain sanctuary of Delphi, glittering with the offerings left by centuries of pilgrims, was another favorite destination, as was the magnificent ivory statue of Zeus at Olympia, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The remains of another wonder could be seen at Rhodes, where tourists tried to wrap their arms around the thumb of the fallen Colossus. Between the famous cities and artistic treasures, visitors paused to appreciate mementos of the Greek myths, including the clay from which Prometheus had molded mankind and a replica of Helen of Troy's breast.

In Asia Minor (modern Turkey), tourists flocked to the famous statue of Aphrodite at Knidos, which stood in a marble pavilion perfumed by flowering trees. This sculpture was agreed to be the most alluring of Greek masterpieces (local souvenir sellers produced a titillating array of commemorative erotic pottery). For any Roman traveling through Asia Minor, however, the main attraction was the city of Ilium, which stood on the reputed site of Homer's Troy. Since the Romans claimed descent from the Trojan hero Aeneas and his followers, they sometimes thought of Ilium as a sort of ancestral home. The Ilians, happy to profit from this fantasy, led visitors to the site of every episode in the Trojan War, up to and including the tomb of Achilles.

Tourists could relive history in Ilium and stock up on erotic crockery at Knidos. But for a real taste of the exotic, they visited Egypt. Most began by sailing to Alexandria. After docking in the shadow of the city's towering lighthouse—more than three hundred feet tall and visible up to thirty miles away—they wandered the broad boulevards lined with porticoes for miles on end. The pious sacrificed in the immense temple complexes. The scholarly took in lectures at the famous library. The curious visited the monumental tomb of Alexander the Great.

From Alexandria, tourists secured passage on boats heading up the Nile. The first destination was usually Memphis, where the sacred Apis bull could be seen moseying around its enclosure. A short distance away, visitors watched local villagers, working for tips, climb the sheer face of the Great Pyramid. Some tourists continued up the Nile to modern Aswan, where the more daring shot the rapids of the First Cataract in an ancient version of whitewater rafting. Most, however, went no further than Thebes (modern Luxor), where they gaped at the colossal Karnak Temple, strained to hear the colossus sing, and lit torches to explore tombs in the Valley of the Kings. In one tomb, more than a thousand ancient graffiti have been discovered. These confirm that, when it came to the pleasures of travel, the Greeks and Romans felt much as we do. One etched message summarizes them all: "wonderful, wonderful, wonderful!"

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There are a great many languages in the world, from Pashto to Hainanese, Cree or Portuguese; the languages that I'd grown up around, Hindi, English and Marathi; and their sisters, which I could pick apart, but only understand in broad strokes⁠—Bengali, Punjabi, Bhojpuri, and many more. Even the most similar ones sound different, might have different vocabulary, or in the more dissimilar cases, different grammar and structure entirely.

One of the few things that all languages share, however, is the sense of cultural unity that it imparts onto those who speak it. Look upon many modern nations today, and you'll likely find a large diversity in terms of the people living there, however they are all still united, in spite of any other extraneous factors, by the shared language between them. Even in largely homogeneous societies, like Korea and Japan, language forms a large portion of how they define their national and cultural activity. A man of Japanese parentage who can't speak a bit of the language would likely largely be viewed as more of an outsider than a, say, Brazilian immigrant who speaks the language fluently.

Living where I am today, halfway around the globe from where I entered this world, getting to speak and truly converse in Hindi with anybody apart from my friends and family feels like drinking from an oasis while meandering around in a harsh desert. This feeling might well be completely alien to those reading this who might have only ever spoken English, learning a foreign language for the sake of some academic metric at best, however depriving someone of their language very well deprives them of their cultural identity.

However, the inverse is also true, as I've found. In learning new languages, I've come to almost adopt new cultural identities, solely by way of learning their languages, and it's given me entirely new perspectives on many things one wouldn't think it'd ever influence.

There are many places I could start this story. I could start at the 5th of November 2022, at the 1st of January 2022, or even earlier, at the 14th of March 2021. However, to truly do it justice, I have to go a little further back, and introduce some terminology from amateur linguistics, though I promise it won't be too bad.

Since before history even began, people have been communicating amongst each other. Arguably, our communication and social nature is what allowed us to survive and dominate as we have in the first place. A large part of that has been dreaming up languages with which we may converse amongst ourselves, as languages splinter into dialects, which ossify into languages, with much borrowing and other complexity it'd take someone an entire Linguistics and Language Studies degree to explain.

However, at some point, one genius soul had the bright idea to dream up a language of his own on purpose. And thence, Constructed Languages or conlangs were born. Many people have made up languages in order to immerse their readers in a fiction, from Dothraki from Game of Thrones, to Klingon from Star Trek, even trendsetters like the many languages Tolkien weaved, such as Sindarin or Quenya, which in fact predated the Lord of the Rings itself, and serve as the basis on which the entire rest of the world was developed.

Many more have developed languages entirely for the sake of developing a language, some for the sake of enabling greater communication between peoples by creating an international language which is relatively easy for speakers of most languages to learn, such as Esperanto and Lojban, or simply languages for the sake of artistic expression, such as Drsk or Kelen. However, the one we're particularly interested in, doesn't necessarily fall into any of these categories, and to understand exactly what it is, we'll have to go a good ways further back in time.

The 16th century marked a dramatic explosion in European exploration and colonisation, after which the period in time was named after. Columbus had just rediscovered the New World, Vasco da Gama had just found a sea route to India, and as Europeans do, they set up trading outposts and settlements there, regularly coming across locals with whom they didn't share any common language with which they could communicate with each other. But they had to communicate in order to trade, and to keep coffers flowing. Presumably, after a lot of gesturing and frantic explanation, the world's first pidgins were born.

A pidgin, in essence, is a means of basic communication that develops between two groups which would otherwise have no lingua franca, with which they can do all the things humans do with words and language (though this is, of course, subject to individual variation). Hawaiian English, for example, is commonly referred to as Pidgin by its speakers, due to it being a pidgin between Hawaiian, a Polynesian language, and English, a Germanic language (at heart). The languages ought not be dissimilar, however⁠—Portuñol or Portunhol is an example of a pidgin between two closely related languages, Spanish and Portuguese. The name itself is a portmanteau of Portugués and Español in Spanish, and of Português and Espanhol in Portuguese.

The conlang you and I are most interested in, is not a constructed language per se, but a constructed pidgin, or a conpidgin, known as Viossa, which is essentially the product of a bunch of friends from all across the globe coming together and thinking "Hey, what'd happen if we created a pidgin exclusively out of the varied and diverse languages we all speak, and attempt to develop intercommunication the same way those European explorers must have done so many years ago?". It's a highly interesting conlang, and while I could speak at length about it, many people better equipped than I have already done so.

The one interesting quirk of Viossa that we really care about is how one goes about learning Viossa. You see, there is no real grammar reference or dictionary. The only way to truly learn Viossa is to jump right into it, observe other people, monkey see monkey do style, and gesture vaguely using emoji. You have the option of being handed five basic words with which you can form questions with, but you're off from there. That was the prospect I was faced with, on the 14th of March 2021, and it was one I immensely enjoyed. Most of the Viossa that I once knew has faded away, but things like "on se" still remain a regular part of my speech, an indelible mark it's left on me.

Come the 1st of January 2022, I had an interesting thought. With a move to Canada around the corner, the idea of learning French was being bandied around my household for a while, in a mostly joking manner. However, I thought the idea had some real potential to it. Having had a lot of fun learning Viossa in such a 'jump right in' way, an idea brewed in my head, an experiment of sorts⁠—what if I were to try learning French solely by speaking it, and without using any 'academic' resources?

And thus, I resolved, on the 1st of January, to learn French in a trial by fire, to forgo conjugation charts and useless mnemonics and attempt to learn with nothing but a dictionary and a Wikipedia page on French, very quickly accompanied by a translator for double checking.

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The three swords on the flag are known as Seaxes. They were used by the Saxons, from which Essex — Eastseaxe (East Saxons) in Old English — received its name.

The county known as Essex, based within the East, is the 12th largest of England's many such regions, sitting at around 1,420m² and ranking it slightly smaller than Kent in the South-East but larger than Cornwall within the South-West. It is also the county I hail from, more specifically from Harlow. This is one of those places with its own accent, though it has faded to mostly parts of the north. The Essex accent of English has faded due mainly to the mass influx of East Londoners into Essex after World War 2, bringing their Cockney accent with them. Cockney, which was originally heavily influenced by the Essex accent, has mixed with Received Pronunciation in the southern areas of the county to create a relatively new accent called Estuary English.

Whether for better or worse, Essex is arguably one of the most famous, or perhaps infamous, English counties in the world, and it can get quite an unfair reputation in stereotypes. The fake tan jokes and the less-than-pleasant 'Essex Girl' come to mind. Regardless of that, it would be an understatement to say that the county has a fair bit to offer that's far more valuable than that one reality television show.

Crucial Locations

Where better to start than the many well-known locations that call Essex home? There are too many to feasibly place into this article, so I'll list a few and take you on a brief journey through them.

Colchester

Different areas of Colchester.

It's not exactly easy to find a much more significant settlement in British history than Colchester, located in the north-east on the River Colne. Although it likely saw settlement in the early Palaeolithic era of the Old Stone Age, it started out properly as the centre of the Trinovantes tribe of Celt, before the Romans conquered what is now England in 43 and built a fort on the site a year later.

The Romans abandoned the site in 49, upon which civilians and soon enough retired Roman soldiers migrated to call it home. They called the settlement Camulodunum, after the Celtic deity of war Camulos and the Roman word for fort. Although Boudicca led a rebellion against Roman Britain in 61 and had Camulodunum burnt down, after her rebellion was crushed the Roman Empire got to work rebuilding what was one of their most important settlements on the isles. So important that it was Roman Britain's first capital until the advent of Londinium—later known as London. It even had its own mint.

Having first been recorded in 77, Colchester lays claim to being the oldest recorded town in Britain, something it likes to make known to anyone entering. It's on the entrance sign. Colchester also holds Britain's earliest Christian church, the oldest town walls and the only known chariot circus in the land. Mind you, that doesn't translate into continuous settlement. When the Romans were forced to depart the British Isles in the 400s, history became silent for Colchester until around the 1000s when the Vikings occupied the area. The English, who were originally known as the Angles and Saxons, fought back and reclaimed Colchester—which they had given its name, see Colne Ceaster—before rebuilding and occupying it. During Roman times, it may have been known as the Colonia Claudia Victricensis, loosely translated as the City of Victory.

It is believed that the land that would later become Colchester was formed as a fluvial terrace by the ancestor to the Colne between the Anglian Glaciation and the Ipswichian Glaciation that lasted from 130,000-115,000 years ago. Before this, it was a gravel hill that formed during the Middle Pleistocene Period of 770,000-126,000 years past.

Some of the more noteworthy places include Colchester Zoo, a collection of Gardens designed by 10-time Chelsea Flower Show winner Beth Chatto, and Colchester Castle which is the largest Norman keep that exists. Colchester gained city status very recently, no earlier than 23rd November 2022.

A sign referring to Colchester as Britain's 1st city, and Colchester Castle.

Elsewhere and then Some

Although Colchester is almost certainly the first thing that is thought of when 'well-known Essex places' is uttered, there are more areas of note to mention. Chief among these is the Essex coastline, which is among the largest county coastlines in the country and beyond, jagged with its many small islands such as Mersea and Northey. Another notable place is the largest settlement in Essex, Southend-on-Sea, the home of the world's longest pleasure pier at 1.34 miles (2.16 km) long and housing a crazy golf course and a pier railway among other things. The pier began construction in 1829 and was originally shorter than it is today. Useful then that Southend-on-Sea is one of the only growing seaside resorts in Britain.

It's also good to take into account the nation's best-preserved World War II airfield at Duxford and the local Imperial War Museum that lies nearby. One hotel in the vicinity is a converted barn in the middle of the countryside, which Essex is mostly comprised of, outside of the heavily urbanised Thameside areas.

Essex also has the distinction of being home to Britain's oldest recorded battlefield, on Northey Island beyond the coast at Maldon. The Viking Danes used this island as a base for their side of the Battle of Maldon. Nowadays, it is possible to camp on the island overnight completely cut off from the mainland. Naturally, the Dedham Vale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty that inspired John Constable in his paintings of what some might call Constable Country can't go unmentioned. This is shared with Suffolk to the north along the River Stour. On the other side, near the Hertfordshire border to the west, there is Hatfield Forest. It's the last remaining Royal Forest in England, otherwise known as a Kingswood, which refers to the forest being a hunting ground for the monarch since Norman times in the 1200s, when fallow deer were introduced.

Besides that, there is also the aforementioned New Town of Harlow, formed from a collection of villages and the original village of Harlow, which is now known as Old Harlow and still has a village-esque feel to it despite being within a large town. There is a slight debate over the origin of the name, with some asserting that it comes from the Anglo-Saxon words Here + Hlaw (meaning Army Hill), and some others still instead saying that it comes from Here + Hearg (meaning Temple Hill). The former of these most likely relates to Mulberry Hill, a meeting point for those in the area, while the latter is in reference to an Iron Age burial mound and a subsequent Roman temple.

Northey Island, and Southend Pier.

Food and Beverages

Besides all the nature that exists in the idyllic representation of the English countryside known as Dedham Vale, there are vineyards within the grounds where a selection of English wines are crafted. These local wines aren't the only food/drink item that Essex can plant its seaxe-laden flag onto. They're hardly even the most well known. In the last culture article involving an English county, the popular cheese known as Cheddar was mentioned, as was cider. Essex has its own contributions to the culinary scene, such as Wilkins & Sons who create various spreads like lemon curd and salted caramel spread. They claim that their wild blueberry spread is what their Japanese customers are fond of, their Middle Eastern customers enjoy their honey, and that the No Added Sugar collection is doing well among Brazilians who use their spreads.

But perhaps Essex's most credible claim to fame in this regard is Maldon Sea Salt. As the name suggests, it's hand-crafted within the town of Maldon on the River Blackwater via salt evaporation ponds in the estuary. Maldon Salt is exceptionally unique in the world of food-enhancing, thanks to its pyramid-shaped salt crystals created by heating brine over an elaborate network of brick flues. The pyramid shape prevents the salt from caking. To add onto that, the salt is a soft and crumbly one, far removed from rock salts, and the low magnesium content results in the lack of a bitter aftertaste to accompany a mild yet slightly sweet flavour. Maldon Salt was originally harvested back in Roman Britain, and today there is a local company under the Maldon Salt name that has been forging this sea salt all through the 1900s up to the present day.

A selection of flavours of Dedham Vale wine, and a pile of original Maldon Salt.

Sports

Essex is probably most known in sport for cricket—Essex County Cricket Club currently holds 8 county cricket championship titles under its belt, with 6 of those coming in their dominant period between 1979 and 1992, though they had to wait another 25 years before 2 more titles in 2017 and 2019 respectively. It also holds 1 Twenty20 title, along with 5 Pro40 titles and more. Their limited overs team is known as Essex Eagles. They compete in the County Championship Division One, the top tier of English county cricket.

Besides cricket, a lot of interesting things are going on in the football end. Essex isn't particularly great in this sport. The best team currently at their disposal is League Two's Colchester United, with the National League's Southend United in second. These two teams would be contesting the Essex Derby if they were in the same league. As of the time of writing, Southend aren't exactly doing too well financially, as their owner Ron Martin intends to sell the club, but has very specific sale requirements that have yet to be met. He originally bought the club in the 1990s purely to sell the stadium Roots Hall and the land to developers who would build new homes on it, and move them to a new stadium built on Fossetts Farm, a piece of land he owns—he insists this has to happen, but even today it still hasn't, and perhaps it simply can't.

There seems to be a Catch-22 as he can't sell Roots Hall to homebuilders until Southend have a new home, yet at the same time the funds for the new home simply don't seem to be available without something like an improvement to a stadium he wants rid of. It appears that some fans have resorted to staging protests outside his house and boycotting home matches to try and force the ever-unpopular Martin to finally begin negotiations with an interested party to sell up. On top of all that, a transfer embargo is being implemented upon the club and the training ground is apparently without water due to unpaid bills. This situation isn't new for Southend United—they've been before the courts for financial reasons multiple times over recent years to settle various debts. They were given the go-ahead to pay £300,000 of football-related debts just to be able to play this league season, as the court heard they have £2,500,000 worth of debt to pay off. It has been a long time that they've been teetering on the edge of the proverbial abyss, however there is a serious danger that the torture cycle could end with the club's death. Perhaps on 23rd August, when the next court hearing takes place, they'll finally resolve their years-long financial prison sentence.

Mind you, it's not all grim. There are other clubs with pretty impressive resumes. Billericay Town holds 3 FA Vases to its name, the trophy being a non-league competition. Besides them, Essex also has the rather impressive case of the YouTube-team-turned-semi-professional club called Hashtag United based within the county, along with one of the more interesting cases within the borders. Near the border with Hertfordshire, a club called Harlow Town found themselves in a rather unique and unwanted happenstance when they were forced to resign from the football pyramid briefly with severe stadium issues. They managed to re-enter the pyramid a couple of tiers below where they left, in the Eastern Counties League Division One South, where they happen to be in the same league as their neighbours 3 miles west across the Rivers Lea & Stort. I point this out for a purely personal reason—I was born in Harlow and yet my original hometown was said neighbours across the border, a settlement roughly half the size of Harlow called Hoddesdon.

Notably, Harlow Town are best known for their shock FA Cup run in the 1979-80 season when they made it to the fourth round knocking out Leicester City and, rather coincidentally considering the main focus of the sports article here, Southend United. Harlow Town had originally appealed to the Southern League to be able to re-enter the system at the league they would have been relegated to if they remained in the football pyramid until the season's end. Unfortunately, this was rejected and they had to settle for Step 6 of the Non-League System, though the Hawks are still pleased to be back. Turn attention to volleyball and Chelmsford-based Team Essex is one of England's most impressive, having been founded in 2013. The men's 1st team play in the top tier of the men's volleyball leagues with the women's 1st team playing in the second tier of the women's volleyball leagues. It's known for a strong junior program.

Furthermore, there's a fair few individuals from Essex known in the sporting scene. Chief among which is the man regarded as one of the greatest snooker players there has ever been. Technically, he's from the West Midlands, but having lived essentially his entire life in Essex, Ronnie O'Sullivan more than counts. He's managed to claim 7 world championships, 7 Masters titles and 21 Triple Crowns while transcending snooker itself to become one of the world’s all-time sporting greats. He’s not the only one however, there was also the footballer Jimmy Greaves who played a major part in the 1966 World Cup winning England team. Sadly for him, he was unable to play in the final due to injury, however he's still England's fourth-highest goalscorer and was the all-time top scorer for Tottenham Hotspur until a certain Harry Kane overtook his tally. Remaining on football there is also Frank Lampard Senior. Not the one known for Chelsea, rather his dad. Having been born in East Ham, part of Greater London but historically considered part of Essex, Lampard Sr. became a West Ham United legend in his own right between 1967-1985 and even when retired his loyalty never faded as he returned to the Hammers as assistant manager from 1994 until 2001, where he oversaw the first-team path for the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Jermaine Defoe and his son, Frank Lampard.

A group of 100+ volunteers gave Roots Hall a clean/paint job to help it obtain a new safety license, and The Harlow Arena resolved its own pitch issues to return to the league system.

Other Interesting Things

Ever had the idea to put the concept of marriage and loyalty to each other in a competition-style format? Meet the Dunmow Flitch Trials, one of Britain's oldest traditional events, where married couples from all over the world can gather and have to prove to a jury of 6 maidens and 6 bachelors that within a year and a day they have been entirely devoted to one another. The winners of the tradition are awarded a flitch of bacon, hence the name Flitch Trials. It is said that the Flitch Trials began in 1104 when the Manor Lord within the Augustinian Priory of Little Dunmow Reginald Fitzwalter and his wife disguised themselves as members of the citizenry and begged the blessing of the local prior a year and a day after they married. The prior was impressed by their devotion and awarded them a flitch of bacon, upon which the Lord and Lady revealed themselves to the prior. Fitzwalter gave his land to the priory following this on the condition that a flitch like the one awarded to the couple also be granted to any other married couple who could prove they were similarly devoted.

Since then, it's become significantly well known outside the borders of Great Dunmow where the tradition takes place. Between 1832 and 1855 the tradition was moved from Little Dunmow to Great Dunmow but lapsed until a novelist called Harrison Ainsworth published a book titled The Custom of Dunmow, detailing the story of an attempt by Little Dunmow's bacon flitch publican to claim the bacon by marrying multiple women in succession in an attempt to find his ideal wife. The event was revived soon after. Successful couples are carried by a procession in an ancient Flitch Chair to a marketplace where they take an oath while kneeling on pointed stones similar to pre-Reformation marriage vows. Unsuccessful couples have to walk behind an empty Flitch Chair consoled with a gammon prize.

Now to close things off, I'll go and offer a bit of symbol trivia. The Essex flag and coat of arms both follow the same essential design—the red background with three swords pointing towards the right. Even though they look like scimitars, they're actually called seaxes. The symbol was attributed to the Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Essex by the Dutch author Richard Verstegen in his book A Restitution of Delayed Intelligence in 1605. The English historian John Speed backed the claims up in his 1611 writing Historie of Great Britaine. Essex also has a county plant, the Caltha Palustris, otherwise regarded as Marsh-Marigold or Kingcup.

A part of the Dunmow Flitch Trials in action and a painting depicting the first monarch of the East Saxons, King Æscwine of Essex.

Conclusion

That concludes this culture article for the English county known as Essex. Naturally, this isn’t everything that there is to know about my birth county, which is just as well as there is good opportunity for further research by any reader who wishes to do so. As for Essex itself, its one of those places that once you enter and take it in, it’s practically impossible to forget. There’s nowhere else in the world quite like Essex.
If you weren’t already aware, you can also write about the culture or history of your own chosen location in The Western Post. If that’s something you want to write, get in touch with Giovanniland by telegram or by Discord (@.giovanni_). On that advice, it is time to end this article. Cheers for reading, and enjoy the rest of the issue.

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Welcome to the second edition of Photos of the World! In the inaugural edition last month that you can check in the link above, I shared a few local photos featuring interesting nature and a beautiful coastline, while providing some commentary in some photos. I also mentioned my idea for further editions of picking photos of different places I've visited, as well as the possibility for other people to showcase their own pictures as well by sending them to me—and I'm glad to say that we've already had interest on it!

This month's edition will feature photos both from me and from Apexiala, which is the first reader of our newspaper to be interested in participating of Photos of the World! Apex sent several photos from many different locations, and also suggested to spread them over several issues, which is what I've chosen to do. We'll start with some of the photos they shared of Cyprus, taken in 2019 when they returned there after spending some of their childhood there.

Apex's Photos

Full quality photos here

The first two photos are from the Troodos Mountains, a large mountain range at the centre of Cyprus which span nearly a third of the island. It's usually very hot there, although occasionally in winter these mountains can be completely snow covered, with Apex also mentioning that they once skied a little bit during winter when they grew up in Cyprus. The first photo's focus is the large, cool looking tree along the route up the mountain range; I also appreciate the great view from there and the surrounding nature. The second photo shows Troodos Square, a small village near the top of the mountains, and one can also see the convoy of Jeeps, which offer "Safari" style tours.

As for the third photo, it depicts the Sanctuary and Temple of Apollo Hylates in the ancient city of Kourion, where today there are impressive archeological ruins that span multiple eras of history from as early as 1600 BCE to 370 AD. Hylates was a god worshipped on the island of Cyprus who was later likened to the Greek god Apollo, and this temple was dedicated to him, also being one main religious centres of ancient Cyprus. Two more of Apex's photos that I chose for this edition are shown below, the first one portraying more ruins of Kourion and some trees in the background, and the other one featuring the Agapitos Beach and a hillside aptly named on maps as "Scenic Mountain Plateau"! I think the second one is my favorite of all the Cyprus photos, I particularly love the beautiful color of the sea and the great mountain behind.

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Gio's Photos

Now, it's time to showcase some of my photos for this edition as well—I decided to take a look at my photos from Greece, because it is very close both culturally and geographically to Cyprus. I went to Greece in February 2017 alongside Italy, and it was quite possibly the best vacation of my life so far! Even though I only visited the capital Athens and its surroundings, and that is what my photos will show, I also hope to return one day and see some other cities. For now, I picked four photos from my Greece album which I hope you like.

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These two photos pertain to ancient buildings at or near the famous Acropolis of Athens, with the first depicting the Odeon of Herodes Atticus, a Greco-Roman theater on the southwest slope of the Acropolis. The namesake of the building, completed in 161 AD, is the Roman senator who funded the project in memory of his wife. The Odeon was used in antiquity for music concerts and had a capacity of around 5,000, and even though it was later destroyed and left in ruins, it's since been renovated in 1950 and now used for events once more, including the Athens Festival and numerous other performances by artists from all the world. This photo is one of my favorites not only because of the beautiful building, but also because of the view of the city seen from above, with many houses seen to the left and a hill with a lot of trees to the right.

The other photo was taken at the Temple of Olympian Zeus, the epithet referring to the god's position as head of the Olympian gods. The project took a long time to be complete, starting from the time of the Athenian tyrants who wanted to build the greatest temple in the ancient world, and only finishing during the Roman emperor Hadrian's rule over six centuries after. The ancient temple had 104 colossal columns, however only 15 of them remain standing today, as well as a sixteenth lying on the ground because it fell during a storm in 1852. Nevertheless, it's still a very important archaeological site and a great sight to have, with the picture I took also showing the Acropolis and the famous Parthenon in the background.

Full quality photos here

While in Athens, I also took some time to take photos of modern buildings alongside the archaeological sites and museums that I visited. On the left is the National Library of Greece, which was established nearly two centuries ago in 1832 and houses a large amount of important information about Greek history and culture. Even though the bulk of the library's function has since then been transferred to a larger place due to limited space and technological demands, it is still a wonderful sight. The other photo, meanwhile, shows more modern buildings surrounding a small plaza, with them also contrasting with the ancient Acropolis in the background once more.

That is all for this edition, I hope everyone continues to appreciate this editions and future ones of this new article series that seeks to share interesting photos of various places in the world. Furthermore, if anyone is interested in participating by sharing some photos, I am accepting submissions—just let me know through a Discord message (username: @.giovanni_) or telegram to Giovanniland!

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