Hellas, Rome and the Continuation of Their Legacy

By

Dr Ricardo Duchesne*

For some decades now, historians in the West are being trained to

portray the history of Europe as a long history of migrations and racial

mixing -- to make students believe that the current immigration trends

are in line with past patterns.

Even the best historians abide by the dictates of diversity. Take this

otherwise excellent book, The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome from

the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (1000-264 BC) ----- from the start it

says that "Italy has always been a variegated country...a patchwork of

different peoples, languages and cultures". "The resulting patch work

was the product of successive movements of population in prehistoric

times".

Yet, in truth, the peoples of prehistoric Italy were overwhelmingly

members of the "Indo-European 'Italic' languages". It sounds very

diverse when you read about the Volscians, Latins, Samnites, Romans,

Marsi, Umbrians, Sabines...with the Greeks in the south and the Celts in

the north.

Don't be misguided. These are all members of the 'Aryan' Indo-European

race. You can categorize them as the "Italic" group of the IEs who

colonized Italy in the second millennium.

Yes, there were also pre-IE "survivals forming part of a 'Mediterranean'

substratum" who came originally from Anatolia, the farmers who migrated

into southern Europe 8,000 years ago. These farming peoples, it needs to

be clarified, were also Caucasian, selected for *additional* white

traits in the new climes of Europe.

What about the famous Etruscans? They were not IE, likely Semitic,

Phoenician.

After WWII, to counter Mussolini's fascism, and the idea that Italy was

"overrun by Aryan invaders", historians pushed the idea that the

Etruscans were the most important cultural shaper of prehistoric/ancient

Rome.

But the book I referenced above, to its credit, demonstrates that "the

Etruscans had only superficial effects on Roman life and culture".

The most powerful cultural-racial influence came from the Italic IEs,

and the Greeks who had been colonizing southern Italy and by the fifth

century had created a "Great Greece".

Since the Greeks in southern Italy were the most advanced IEs in contact

with the Greek mainland, they came to provide a powerful cultural model

for an aristocratic civilization in Italy, starting with the Homeric

ideals of personal esteem in warfare, feasting with warrior companions,

pursuit of honor and prestige.

IEs are naturally inclined to create Republics because of their fierce

aristocratic pride and unwillingness to submit. Even after they

conquered Greece in the 2nd century, the Romans felt a strong cultural

bond with the Greeks.

Without the Romans, the Greek legacy would have been diluted by the

Orientalization which occurred with Alexander's expansion in the East.

Once the Roman empire experienced its own Orientalization and began to

lose its Republican ethos in a state of decadent affluence, it was for

the IE Germanic peoples to preserve this legacy.

*Ricardo Duchesne is a retired professor and author of Uniqueness of

Western Civilization,  Canada in Decay, Faustian Man, and Greatness and

Ruin.

The Will of God

 

"As in dreams I designed,

as my will it decreed,

strong and fair stands it in sight:

lofty, lordly abode!"

Carl Hermann Bachmann

(1834-1937)

as 

WOTAN

Der Ring des Nibelungen

The Invincible Sun of December 25th

Sol Invictus was the Roman embodiment of the sun’s enduring power—the unconquered one. Rising to prominence in the 3rd century AD, the cult emphasized renewal, victory, and cosmic order during a time of political crisis.

The god’s status was elevated by Aurelian, who in AD 274 established Sol Invictus as a state-supported deity, built a grand temple in Rome, and instituted official games in his honor. Sol was depicted radiate-crowned, driving the solar chariot across the sky—an image of invincibility and stability.

The festival Dies Natalis Solis Invicti (“Birthday of the Unconquered Sun”), celebrated on December 25, marked the sun’s return after the winter solstice. In Late Antiquity, solar symbolism proved enduring; its themes of light and rebirth resonated widely and were adapted within a changing religious landscape.

Sol Invictus stands at a crossroads of Roman tradition—where power, light, and renewal were bound to the turning of the year.

Source: Truth & Trends 

The Wild Ride of Yule

ASGAARDSREIEN

by

Johan Sebastian Welhaven

Sounds through the air at night a train

on foaming black horses.

In storm-driven rush the wild throngs go;

they have only clouds for foothold.

They go over valley, over field and moor,

through darkness and weather; they notice it not.

The traveler throws himself terrified on the road.

Hear what roaring — it is the Wild Ride of Asgard!

Thor, the strong, with lifted hammer,

stands high in his chariot, at the front of the host;

he strikes on his shield, and red flames

light up the nightly procession at the front.

Then horns blow, then there is a clamor

of bells and jingling riding gear;

then the swarming host howls and the people listen

with growing fear in their trembling huts.

The Wild Ride of Asgard in battle array rides

in harsh nights of autumn and winter,

but especially it travels at Yuletide;

then it holds revel with trolls and giants,

then it sweeps low over meadow and path

and races past the noisy countryside —

so watch yourself, farmer, keep custom and order;

for the Wild Ride of Asgard is soon at the farm!

When the ale works in the living-room beam

and awakens the heathen Yuletide customs,

and the fire casts its glow from the hearth

on drawn knives and wild eyes,

then a shudder goes through the tumult often;

then are heard the nightly host’s rides,

then the wall creaks, then the mug dances;

for the Wild Ride of Asgard makes a ring around the house.

There was a wedding at Upper Flage

that lasted through three holy Yuletide days.

Among the bridesmaids was no kinswoman of the bride,

and among the young men no kin of the groom.

There stood a splendor in the polished hall

of laid tables and precious metal,

there was a treasure, as has come to be told,

of copper on the walls and of silver on the tables.

And merrily drummed the drums and fiddles,

and the groom stepped his dance manfully;

he led his bride between young men and girls —

then, suddenly, Grim fell over.

And blood streamed widely from his breast.

The harder the two others wrestled

and held each other by the scruff.

At last the groom was set down on the ground,

and the knife already at his throat.

But Wolf held back and stood stunned,

and quavered and trembled like aspen leaves.

For through the air in the gloom rushed

a whooshing train on snorting horses;

it sped over the forest toward the bridal house,

and intended to visit the bloody feast.

Then horns blew, then there was a clamor

of bells and jingling riding gear.

Now it was near — it came over the moor —

there was a scream: “It is the Wild Ride of Asgard!”

Then there was a storm between earth and heaven,

that threw terror into every breast;

it hurled along in increasing throngs,

it struck with wings, it seized with arms.

Then it was Wolf who was dragged by his hair,

and flung in the air and taken from the farm,

yes, taken over forest, over mountain peaks —

he was not asked again, he was not to be found.

When the tumult died down at the scene of terror,

Grim lay curled up from his death struggle,

but the groom was led inside from the snow

and set upon a couch in the guest room.

His head wavered, his bloodstream flowed,

he hovered a while between life and death;

but he was tended and well bandaged,

and by spring he had regained all.

Now he sits bent and well old,

and can gather his kin about the hearth,

now he often sits with tales in the company

and shortens time for young and old.

So it was that last Yuletide eve,

when the youth cried: “Tell, tell!”

Then his eyes flamed, then he looked back,

then he recounted his wedding days.

Temple of Apollo Epicurius - A Cinematic Poem

This film, shot in 1964 and awarded at the Paris Biennale in 1965, was never shown in cinemas. It's screening at the event "Epicurius Apollo by the Moonlight" was one of the rare ones and combined with the place where it was filmed and dedicated, it was a unique experience for the viewers.

Temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae: collectible documentary before the temple is covered! It is the first film about the temple of the epicurean Apollo that Iktinos built on top of a mountain.

The director (Jean-Daniel Pollet) was enchanted and said that this temple was the center of the world for him. So he filmed him with the rhythm of a sacred ritual and the result rewarded his efforts. The temple is built mainly with limestone stone and is without the statue of the god Apollo. Impressed by the charm of the archaeological site of Basso, the excellent director Jean-Daniel Pollet, as soon as he discovered it, found an existential refuge saying "Here you can exist".

He characterized the place as the unheard end of magic and for a decade considered it the center of the world. He visited it many times and three of his films have references to the temple of the Epicurean Apollo. One of these "Vasses" is dedicated to the temple. It is a cinematic poem. The director himself has described his relationship with Vasses as follows: "I first saw the temple of the Basses while circumnavigating the Mediterranean. So I have to say why I left, why I did this round. I had marked the temple in a lithograph (not a photo) of some book because it said that it was the only one built on the heights of the Peloponnese and without a view of the sea.

Source: HERE

Florian Geyer, Goetz von Berlichingen and Their Divisions

They named SS divisions after men like Florian Geyer and Götz von Berlichingen, and there is nothing strange about it. Because these weren’t “anti-authoritarian rebels” in the liberal sense. They were Teutonic avatars of the freeman-soldier, the wild nobility of blood and oath, untamed by throne or mitre and yet bound by the higher principles of honour, wrath, and destiny.

Florian Geyer led the Black Company like a mythic revenant of Wotan. He

was a knight against a fallen world who turned his sword against both

crown and cross in wrathful remembrance of a higher order betrayed. “No

cross, no crown” because both had become parodies.

“In a society that no longer understands the figure of the ascetic and

of the warrior; in which the hands of the latest aristocrats seem better

fit to hold tennis rackets or shakers for cocktail mixes than swords or

scepters…” 

Julius Evola, Revolt Against the Modern World, p. 163

The world is no longer fit for warriors, and the aristocracy is no

longer worthy of rule, but Geyer’s sword remembered, and so did the SS

who named a cavalry division after him.

 Götz was a man of fire-forged defiance. When flesh failed, he forged

a fist of iron. When emperors betrayed the folk, he cursed them in

immortal tongue. He was loyal to the ancestral blood that still surged

in his veins and his allegiance was to the Germanic will, to that sacred

axis of sword-law, clan-right, and divine fury.

Those who still feel the call of war, of legend, of the sacred flame,

will always be called “strange” by the gelded moderns, but National

Socialism reached backward in remembrance. It sought the archetypes of

the wild knight, the folk-warrior, the god-killer, the iron-handed

revenant of a race that once walked with the gods. These were living

symbols: figures who rose in the twilight between Reichs, and whose

legend burned with the raw flame of pre-Christian sovereignty.

Aesthetic? Yes. Mythic? Absolutely. But above all, ancestral.

Because as Savitri Devi noted, “National Socialism is the only modern

“ism” that is anything but modern.” It was an attempt to reconnect the

severed thread of blood and myth, to reawaken the thunder beneath the

cross and the spear beneath the crown.

SOURCE: Dispatches from the Past

The Ballad of Lenora

 

THE PAINTING: The Ballad of Lenora (1839) by Horace Vernet

The story comes from a German ballad written in 1773 by Gottfried August Bürger , a poem so haunting it inspired everyone from Edgar Allan Poe to Bram Stoker. It even gave Dracula one of its most famous lines: "The dead travel fast."

Here's what happens:

It's 1763. The Seven Years' War has ended. Lenora is waiting for her fiancé William to return from the Battle of Prague. The army comes back. Everyone's reunited with their loved ones.

Except William. He's not among them.

Lenora spirals into grief. She curses God. She loses hope.

Then, at midnight, there's a knock at the door.

It's him. William. On a black horse. In full armor. He tells her to come with him , they'll be married before dawn. They have to ride fast. Very fast.

She climbs on. They gallop through the night. Past forests. Over rivers. Through graveyards. The wind howls. Spirits chase them. She asks why they're going so fast.

He answers: "The dead travel fast."

As dawn breaks, they arrive at a cemetery. The horse stops. And William transforms.

The armor crumbles. The flesh falls away. He's not her lover.

He's Death itself.

SOURCE: Stories Behind Art