Snakes - The Oldest Victims of Prejudice

Fossil of an archaeophis proavus massalongo from Monte Bolca, a site
near Verona, Italy that is an important source of fossils from the Eocene.
This era was from about 37.5 million to 54 million years ago.
Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin 

Inducing fear and dread for possibly millenia, not to mention terror and revulsion, our prejudices for this creature go back to time out of mind.  This creature has been both divine and demonic.  We tend to love them or hate them, and always have.

The etymology of the word "snake" is interesting, because it comes from the same root word as "sneak".  Our current word came from the Old English snaca, from Proto-Germanic *snak-an, in turn from Proto-Indo-European *(s)nēg-o- meaning to crawl or creep.  The Sanskrit word "naga" shares this etymology.
 

Leptotyphlops carlae (thread snake) on a quarter (a quarter is .94")
Image courtesy of Blair Hedges, Penn State

Snakes can be found on every continent except Antartica, and on most islands. They can range in size from the tiny thread snake (shown in the image above on a U.S. quarter dollar coin) with a length of four inches, to the reticulated python, which can be thirty feet long.  Most snakes average about three feet in length.  In 2009, in the open-pit El Cerrejon coal mine in Colombia, the fossil of a snake called Titanoboa cerrejonensis, estimated to be 49 feet long and to weigh 2,500 pounds was discovered.  That length is about the same as a T-Rex.  New species of snakes are still being discovered.

Modern snakes are a diverse group, their evolutionary growth occurring alongside that of mammals after the extinction of dinosaurs.  There are currently over 2,900 known species, from sea dwellers to ones who live 16,000 feet high in the Himalayas.  There are two basic theories for their evolution.  The first  advocates that they came from burrowing lizards in the Cretaceous era.  Snakes lost their external ears and developed transparent eyelids to avoid problems such as scratched corneas and dirt in the ears.  The second theory is that snake ancestors came from aquatic reptiles like the mosasaur.  Transparent eyelids then evolved due to marine conditions, and external ears were lost from disuse.  In the late Cretaceous, snakes colonized land and came to exhibit their present appearance. The fossil record tends to support this now, but in the end may refute both hypotheses.

Rod of Asclepius.  Asclepius was the son of Apollo and a healer.
His attributes were the rod and the snake, in this symbol combined.
This is the true symbol associated with medicine, used by the field.
Drawing courtesy of Wikipedia.

It is a common belief that snakes are slimy, like worms.  This is not true.  A snake's skin is covered in scales giving them a smooth and dry texture.  They shed this skin as a whole when they moult, which replaces the old, worn skin while at the same time getting rid of mites and parasites.  Snakes moult from two to four times a year.  This periodic shedding of the old skin has led to the snake being a symbol of healing and medicine.

The caduceus, the staff carried by Hermes (Greek) or Mercury (Roman).
Often mistakenly used by the medical field.  Hermes/Mercury was the messenger
of the gods, guide of the dead, and protector of merchants, shepherds, gamblers,
liars, and thieves.  It became a popular icon in the Renaissance, associated with
alchemy and wisdom.  Image by Rama and Lash on Wikipedia.

The vision of snakes varies according to species.  Some are only able to distinguish light from dark, while some have keen eyesight.  Generally their vision is adequate and allows them to track movement.  They track their prey primarily by smell.  Their tongues flicker and collect airborne particles, passing them to a specialized organ for analysis.  Their tongues are in constant motion giving them a directional sense of smell and also taste.  Their bodies are also very sensitive to vibrations and can detect vibrations from the air and the ground.  Pythons, pit vipers, and some boas have infrared-sensitive receptors on their heads which allow them to read the radiated heat of warm-blooded prey.

Anatomy of a snake. 1 esophagus, 2 trachea, 3 tracheal lungs, 

4 rudimentary left lung, 5 right lung, 6 heart, 7 liver, 8 stomach, 

9 air sac, 10 gallbladder, 11 pancreas, 12 spleen, 13 intestine, 

14 testicles, 15 kidneys.  Artist:  Uwe Gille from Wikipedia.

Most species are nonvenomous.  Those that are venomous use the venom first and foremost for killing and subduing prey rather than self-defense.  Since venoms are not inhaled or ingested they are technically not  poisons.  Venom is a highly modified saliva produced by special glands, composed of a combination of proteins, enzymes, neurotoxins (attacking the nervous system), cytotoxins (attacking the cells), and coagulants.  For most species of venomous snakes when biting, the venom discharges the moment the fangs penetrate the skin.  The venom is used up after several bites.  Some snakes, like the so-called spitting cobras, can eject venom by spitting, shooting venom up to 4-8 feet.  This is a defensive reaction, and this type of snake aims for the eyes.  There is no danger if the skin is contacted, unless there is an open wound, and if rinsed at once with lots of water there are no serious results, however blindness results if left untreated.

Creator and model:  Mikael Häggström
Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

It has been suggested that all snakes are venomous to a degree, but don't have a delivery system or can't deliver enough venom to harm a human, which leads to the hypothesis that snakes evolved from a venomous lizard ancestor.  Some birds, mammals, and snakes such as king snakes (who prey on venomous snakes) have developed an immunity to venoms.  Although the term "poisonous snake" is a misnomer there are two exceptions.  The rhabdophis genus (also called Keelback snakes) found in southeast Asia, retains the poisons from the toads they eat and secretes it to ward off predators.  Similarly there is a small group of garter snakes in Oregon that become poisonous to predators like foxes and crows from preserving the poisons they ingest from the newts they consume.

Human immunity to snake bites is one of the oldest forms of vaccinology, dating back to ancient tales of the Psylli tribe. Several people have injected themselves with venom successfully achieving immunity.  There is a project to develop a DNA-based vaccine using genes that encode the venom through electropermeabilization, which introduces the venom into a cell.  This will be a godsend for people who live in areas where venomous snakes live.    There are native plants that can help treat snakebites, usually used on domesticated animals, but that can work on humans as well.    It is unfortunate, however, that even where the reactions to snakebites appear the same, different snake venoms are not affected by sera or inoculations that work for others.  Bites from nonvenomous snakes need to be treated immediately, just like bites from dogs, cats, or any creature.

So, enough about the negatives concerning this gorgeous creature.  Keep in mind that humans have used their superior intellect to create weapons of mass destruction, which kill all manners of living creatures, as well as killing things one-by-one (and not just in self-defense), which makes them far more evil and scary.

Swiss-born Italian photographer Guido Mocafico is well-known in Europe for his work.  He has worked for international magazines, and done ad campaigns for the like of Gucci, Yves Saint Laurent, Clinique, Shiseido, and Hermès.  His photography books are spectacular, as he regards many creatures as the work of an unparalleled artist.  But his most beautiful work may be his photographs of snakes. (Note to my husband:  NO!  We are not getting a snake!)

In March of 2008, Steidl published a book of Mocafico's photographs entitled Serpens, with an essay by Ivan Ineich.  Ineich is a French reptile specialist at France's Natural History Museum in Paris.  (P.S. to my husband:  live snake = bad idea; book = good idea.)  Below are just some of his photographs, and it was indeed a hard choice to make which to include.  To see more, go to his website.

Snakes are so remarkable and so beautifully conceived that we should be in awe of them.  They are not vicious, but with no limbs are very restricted in protecting themselves, hence their bite.  Please remember that they bite as a last resort - they would rather be left alone and will flee if given the chance.  Please respect these awesome creatures, and grant them the space they need to feel safe.

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Entartete Kunst

Our patience with all those who have not been able to fall in line
 is at 

an end.  What you are seeing here are the crippled products 
of 

madness, impertinence, and lack of talent.  I would need
 several 

freight trains to clear our galleries of this rubbish.  
This will happen soon.

Adolf Ziegler, President of the Reichkulturkammer, 1937

Among the many things the Nazis burned was art.  In their attempts to forge a new national identity that reflected their Aryan purity was the effort to control artistic expression and that meant anything contemporary was not sanctioned. Furthermore all this art was exhibited in ways that were intended to denigrate and villify it and also to associate it with the Jewish race and communists, to underscore what they claimed was the negative impact both had on "proper" society.

"Entartete kunst" in German means "degenerate art" - art that was debauched, of low value, contemptible, despicable, shameful - you get it.  The term actually came from a book from 1892 by Max Nordau, a social critic, entitled Entartung.  In his opus, which consists of five books, Nordau identified "a contempt for the traditional views of custom and morality", and sees society imitating what they see in art, which he then goes on to diagnosis as an illness - degeneration and hysteria which points to neurasthenia, a type of mental disorder.  Entartung was not his original concept, but one that had originated in German-speaking countries during the 19th century, and was even made legitimate by a pseudo-scientific branch of medicine called "psycho-physiognomy", thus entartung was accepted as a serious medical term.  Not until Freud and psychoanalysis was this idea challenged.  To be fair, however, Mordau also condemned anti-Semitism, which was growing at the time, as a product of entartung.  This is a significant fact, because Mordau was a Jew.

Max Nordau
Image courtesy of Wikipedia

Born Simcha Südfeld in Budapest, he was the son of a Hebrew poet.  He earned a medical degree, then moved to Berlin and changed his name.  He moved again to Paris as a newspaper correspondent and spent most of his life there.  His reaction to the Dreyfus affair - a French Jew named Alfred Dreyfus was falsely accused of sharing military secrets and then proof of his innocence was suppressed by the military - drove Nordau to Zionism.  He became co-founder of the World Zionist Organization and held executive positions at several Zionist congresses.  But his ideas were influenced by another Jew, Cesare Lombroso.  In The Criminal Man, published in 1876, Lombroso maintained that some people were born criminals whose ability to deviate from social norms could be predicted by abnormal physical characteristics which confirmed them as atavistic.

Cesare Lombroso

Thus the idea of entartung was a growing and prevalent European concept that the Nazis twisted and seized to use as a tool to enforce their goal of purifying culture, albeit from concepts generated by Jews who could never have foreseen the damage that would be done.  I'm sure the irony of this escaped the Nazis.

Adding further fuel to the fire of Nazi concepts of art and race was Paul Schultze-Naumburg, a well-known painter and architect at the turn of the century.  He was part of the group of artists that formed the Jugenstil and Arts and Crafts movements in Munich.  He wrote a nine-volume series of books on art - the Kulturarbeiten, or "Works of Culture", published in 1900-1917.  This series was very popular and established him as a cultural guru of the time.  He went on to become a prominent architect.  After WWI, he became regressive and began to write condemning treatises on modern art and architecture using racial terms, such as Die Kunst de Deutschen.  Ihr Wesen und ihre Werke, "The Art of the Germans. Their Nature and Factories" (1934), and Kunst und Rasse, "Art and Race" (1928).  Schultze-Naumburg  posited that only "racially pure" artists could produce true art, like that of classical Greece and the Middle Ages, while racially mixed modern artists produced inferior art.  The Nazis held that classical art was the true ancestor of Aryan art.

In 1933, the Reichskulturkammer, or Reich Culture Chamber, was established under Josef Goebbels.  This was divided into sub-chambers for each form of artistic expression:  art, music, film, architecture, etc.  Only "racially pure" artists were allowed to create works, and membership was open to only those who met the entrance condition of works which met the Nazi standards, which included no experimentation of style. In June of 1937, Adolph Ziegler, head of the Reich Chamber of Visual Art, created a six-man commission authorized to confiscate any extant art from the various purgings from any museum or collection within the Reich.  These works were to be featured in a massive art exhibit intended to reveal to the public the revulsion of "Jewish spirit" and garner their support of Aryan supremacy.

There were many defamatory exhibits of "degenerate art", but the culmination was one that opened in Munich in July of 1937, and was touted as the exhibit of "cultural documents of the decadent work of Bolsheviks and Jews."  The Entarte Kunst exhibit was held on the second floor of what was once the Institute of Archaeology.  The layout of the exhibit was such that patrons would be in cramped rooms with the art displayed erratically, some unframed, and all hanging by cords.  There was graffiti on the walls, and slogans that were prejudicial and jeering.  Paintings by psychotic patients were also displayed to mock the art. The first room held works deemed to be anti-religious; the second room contained works by Jews; and the third held works considered to be disrespectful of soldiers, women, and farmers, or in other words, the German people.  The rest of the exhibit was helter-skelter with no perceived scheme.  Most of the pieces were identified as Jewish-Bolshevist, however of the over 100 artists whose works were included, only six were actually Jewish.  Prices were hung by each work with inflated amounts that were supposedly what the museums and collections they were from had paid.

Hitler and Goebbels at the Entartete Kunst exhibit,.

Some of the so-called degenerate art was traded at first, for pieces across Nazi-occupied Europe that exemplified the new German art.  Eventually the Nazis just began looting museums and private collections, and taking whatever they wanted. There is a current database for art stolen from Jews in German-occupied France and parts of Belgium.  There is also a registry for looted cultural property from 1933-1945.  On March 20, 1939, at a fire station in Berlin, over 1,000 paintings and almost 4,000 drawings and watercolors were burned.

The "degenerate" self-portrait of Vincent Van Gogh is auctioned in Lucerne, Switzerland.
Proceeds of this 1939 auction financed the Nazi Party.

Perhaps because Germany had become the center of avant-garde development - think Bauhaus, Schoenberg, Kurt Weill, Fritz Lang - the German public supported the return to tradition (think "family values"), which made it easy for Nazi imposition of this cultural cleansing.  Although this post focuses on fine arts, all aspects of culture were affected, even philosophy, critical theory, and many fields of academia.  Ultimately, the Nazis' attempt to end the progression of modern art, and modern life, was in vain.  But it was very costly in so many ways.

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Y2K All Over Again

A calendar that commemorates year 1 of the
Republic of China (the Minguo calendar)
featuring Sun Yat-sen as provisional leader.
Image courtesy of Wikipedia

Remember the stress and panic eleven years ago when the West faced the millennium change?  Because of our practice of abbreviating four digits to two, we had no idea what our computers would do with the rollover from "99" to "00".  Worldwide, organizations began corrective actions to ensure that on December 31 of the final year of the last century we could "party like it's 1999".

Well, this time it's Asia's turn to worry.  In 1912 when the Chinese emperor was deposed by the Nationalists, they began a new calendar, and year 1 of the Minguo calendar started it off.  Next year (tomorrow; 2011) will be Minguo 100, and officials don't know what their computers will do with a three-digit year.  (This wasn't a problem when the years changed to two digits since it was far from the "computer age".)  This Minguo calendar is still used by Taiwan today.

Known as the Y1C problem, it is likely to be only a problem for the government, as the private sector uses the Gregorian calendar.  Some government computers already use a three-digit systems for dates, placing a zero in front of numbers below 100.

This isn't just Taiwan's problem, it's North Korea's problem as well.  The Democratic People's Republic in 1996 declared that 1912 was the first year of the Juche calendar, to commemorate the birth of Kim-Il Sung.  Their linux system displays only two digits, but although little is known about their operations it is generally thought there are not a significant number of computers.

Let's hope their problems, if any, be mild.  To all the world I wish a healthy and prosperous new year!

Image by New Evolution Designs.

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Almanacs

The Clog Almanac, so named by Dr. Robert Plot, keeper of the
Ashmolean Museum and chemistry professor at Oxford,  in 1686.
It was a square stick or box about 8" long that could be hung up or carried as
part of a walking stick.  It was a perpetual almanac showing Sundays and
other fixed holidays.  One would have to calculate which day the year began.
Image courtesy of Wilson's Almanac.

Almanacs are annual publications that include practical information, based on cultural need-to-knows, such as weather forecasts, tide tables, astronomical data, and best planting times.  Some cultures produce almanacs that provide auspicious and inauspicious days for various rites and celebrations, and dates for religious festivals.  Astrological, once akin to astronomical, dates are also often included.

Illustrations of Taurus and Gemini by Mirzazade Salim Efendi.
Circa 1740, Istanbul University Library

The first use of the word was in 1267 by Roger Bacon.  The source of the word is unknown, although many think it is from an Arabic word.  However there is no corresponding word in Arabic, causing some scholars to think it is pseudo-Arabic, constructed to give it the prestige that Arabic works had in medieval times.   The word possibly comes from the Patristic Greek almenichiata from the Coptic  meaning "supernatural rulers of the celestial bodies."

Page from an Ottoman almanac from the reign of Bayezid II.
1711, Topkapi Palace Museum Library. 

Babylonian astronomy may have been the origin of the concept.  Tables of planetary periods were constructed to predict planetary and lunar phenomena.  In Hellenistic times a parapegma was used, an inscribed stone with pegs inserted into holes to show the day of the month.  Ptolemy, the 2nd century Alexandrian astronomer, wrote a treatise featuring a type of parapegma with astronomical information, predictable weather changes, and other similar events based on the solar year.  Islamic scholars composed a similar work called a Zij.

Babylonian almanac from the British Museum.

An almanac from China may be derived from the oldest one.  The Wong lik, or yellow calendar, is rumored to have been founded by Huang Di, the Yellow Emperor.  Regarded as the founder of Chinese civilization, the half-real/half-legendary ruler is said to have ruled from 2696-2598 BCE.  A later version of his almanac was edited by the Qing dynasty (1644-1912 CE) and called the Tung Shu.  The Tung Shing (name change from Tung Shu) is still published in Guangzhou and Hong Kong.  This “fortune telling almanac” mostly contains suitable actions for each day, and auspicious timings for activities.  It also provides for conversions between the lunar year and the common year.

Cover of the 2010 Tung Shing

The Almanach cracoviense ad annum 1474, or Cracovian Almanac for the Year 1474, is a single sheet wall calendar from Poland.  This incunabulum was made in Kraków by Kasper Straube, a Bavarian printer who worked in Kraków.  Printing with moveable type had only existed for about twenty years at the time of this publication.

Sole surviving copy of the Almanach cracoviense
ad annum 1474, Jagiellonian University

A tonalamatl is a Nahuatl word meaning “pages of days”, and was a divinatory almanac from central Mexico in the early 1500s, around the time of the Spanish conquest.  It was based on the tonalpohualli, a sacred year of 20 divisions of 13 days each, making a 260-day year.  Each page of a tonalamatl was one division, called a trecena, and featured a depiction of the reigning deity for that trecena.  The various signs and glyphs were used to predict the future and cast horoscopes.  There are surviving examples in the Codices Borbonicus and Borgia.  (Click here for a look at all the pages of the Codex Borbonicus.)

Page 13 of the Codex Borbonicus showing the 13th trecena, which was
under the auspices of the goddess Tlazolteotl.  She is portrayed wearing
a flayed skin giving birth to Cinteotl.

A panjika, or panchangam depending on what part of India one is referring to, is a Hindu astrological almanac.  Used by Indians of all religions (it contains information on Muslim, Christian, and other religious festivals), it is one of the most popular books published in India and used to find auspicious times.  The earliest Indian almanacs date back to about 1000 BCE, but were not very accurate.  It wasn’t until the 4th and 5th centuries CE that better calculations were derived.  Finally, in 1952, a major revision was done by the Indian Government, published in 1957.  Several of the panchangams contain information for more than one year – the Vishvavijaya Panchanga covers 100 years.

Fabric Hindu calendar/almanac corresponding to 1871-1872.
The left column shows the ten avatars of Vishnu, the center right column
shows the twelve signs of the Hindu zodiac.  Rajasthan, India

Hindu almanac from Kannada was published by Majestic Press, Udupi.
It is mostly used by Shivalli brahmins.

In the western world, almanacs have a rich and varied history.  Copies of 12th century almanacs are in the British Museum and Oxford and Cambridge Universities.  In the 17th century English almanacs were second to the Bible in sales, and by mid-century 400,000 were produced annually.  Perhaps the most famous almanac in the U.S. was Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanack (1733-1758). 

One of the many American almanacs published over the centuries.

Modern western almanacs have expanded their contents, offering statistical data that covers the whole world and summaries of historical events.  There are also specialized almanacs available that cover varied topics such as sports, geography, religion, medicine, business, and agriculture to name some.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac is a reference work that not only features the standard information but also includes anecdotes and trend predictions.  It has been published continually since 1792, which makes it the oldest continual publication in the U.S.  Its founder, Robert B. Thomas, studied solar activity, astronomy cycles and weather patterns, then devised his own secret forecasting formula that is still used today (along with modern forecasting technology).  Few people have seen it and it is kept in the publication’s offices.  Thomas also began to drill holes in the almanacs to facilitate hanging them in outhouses, providing both reading material and toilet paper.  The hole was discontinued in the 90s to save the $40,000 it cost per year, but due to customer response the company decided to continue drilling the holes.

The market for almanacs seems to be steady throughout the centuries.  Although the newer ones don't have nearly the panache and decorum of the old ones, the information is certainly more germane to the times.  Obtaining almanacs from all over the world would be interesting, assuming one could read them all, and provide an interesting take on what is comparatively important to the world's denizens.

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Unless otherwise noted, all images from Wikipedia

For more information and specifically for collecting almanacs check out the Private Library.

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Joan of Arc, Icon of Righteousness

Image of Joan of Arc, circa 1450-1500 CE.
Centre Historique des Archives Nationales, Paris.
An unknown artist's work; the only portrait of her
that she is known to have sat for has not survived.
Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

A cultural icon and significant figure in western culture, Joan of Arc, or Jeanne d’Arc, is one of the patron saints of France, along with St. Denis, St. Martin of Tours, St. Louis IX, and St. Teresa of Lisieux.  She is also known as Saint Joan or the Maid of Orléans.  She was beatified in 1909 and canonized in 1920. 

Born a peasant in eastern France, she led the French army to victory in several important battles during the Hundred Years’ War, begun in 1337 as a dispute over succession to the French throne.  France at the time was in dismal straits, nowhere near its strength and position of the prior century.  The Black Death had hit France hard, its economy suffered from trade loss, and England controlled large parts of the country. 

Statue of Jeanne D'Arc in the Cathedral of Notre Dame, Paris

King Charles VI was ruling at the time of her birth and he was ineffective, often suffering bouts of insanity.  His brother and his cousin, the Dukes of Orléans and of Burgundy respectively, quarreled over the guardianship of the royal children and the regency of France.  The Duke of Burgundy ordered the assassination of the Duke of Orléans.  In the midst of all the in-fighting Henry V of England invaded France and eventually the English controlled much of northern France, including Paris.  The future King of France, Charles VII, took the title of "Dauphin" or heir to the throne, at age fourteen.

France during the Hundred Years' War, 1435.
Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

Enter the peasant girl.  Illiterate and poor, Joan of Arc had visions of St. Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret, who she believed were sent from God.  They told her that she had a divine mission to save her country from the English.  She began this by cutting her hair, dressing as a man, and donning arms.

She convinced the captain of the Dauphin’s forces and then the Dauphin himself of her divine calling.  She was made captain and given troops after passing an examination by theologians.  In May 1429, Jeanne d’Arc led her troops to an astounding victory at the battle of Orléans.  She continued to lead her troops causing formidable fear among the English.  Her use of frontal assaults and artillery changed French tactics permanently.  The Dauphin was crowned King Charles VII in a coronation in 1429, at Reims Cathedral, with Joan of Arc at his side.

At the coronation of Charles VII at the Cathedral of Reims.
Oil on canvas by Jean August Dominique Ingres, 1854.

Musée du Louvre, Paris

(Note the attempt to feminize her with the skirt and long hair.)

The next year she was captured and sold to the English, who in turn gave her to the ecclesiastical court at Rouen to be tried for witchcraft and heresy.  Her insistence on dressing as a man, which the court deemed was a crime against God, seemed to have sealed her fate in the pro-English court.  After being interrogated for fourteen months, she was convicted and burned at the stake on May 30, 1431.  Charles VII made no attempt to rescue the nineteen-year-old woman.

Death at the Stake - right-hand part of a triptych
Oil by Hermann Stilke, 1843
Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

A second trial was held in 1456, at the end of the war.  Authorized by Pope Callixtus III, it is also known as the "nullification" trial.  This appellate process was attended by clergy all across Europe.  Testimony was heard from 115 witnesses.  She was pronounced innocent of the charges against her.  There is an unusual wealth of information from primary sources on her trials, including letters, three of which have her signature ("Jehanne") on dictated letters.  This is quite an anomaly in the field of history.

Signature of "Jehanne" (Joan of Arc), courtesy of Wikipedia 

From Napoleon on French politicians have invoked her, regardless of their political bent.  She was not a feminist; she fought because of her religious convictions.  She is a beloved political figure because of her humble origins, support of the monarchy, and her nationalism.  As a non-controversial heroine, she was the perfect icon to define France's identity.

Other countries have adopted her image.  Most recently she has been called on to represent the Tea Party in their astroturfing - political, advertising and public relation campaigns that are formally planned by an organized group but made to look as though they are grassroots endeavors.

Many famous writers and composers have created works about her, including Shakespeare, Voltaire, Verdi, Tchaikovsky, and even Mark Twain.  She continues to be the subject of film, theater, music, television, and even video games - the modern sign of arrival as a major entity.

After almost six centuries of carrying various banners, she remains the tireless advocate of bravery and the feminine call to action.  Called on by both religious and secular causes, she wages on in battle, proving that illiterate peasant girls can kick butt.

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