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Baseball playoffs/Humor
Greetings -
The beginnings of the professional baseball playoff series brings
to mind some classic archival humor which I've unearthed from
the ARCHIVES Listerv archives. For your enjoyment on a
Friday-----------
PRILEP, Yugoslavia (AP) - Outside a small Macedonian
village close to the border between Greece and
strife-torn Yugoslavia, a lone Catholic nun keeps a
quiet watch over a silent convent. She is the last
caretaker of the site of significant historical
developments spanning more than 2,000 years.
When Sister Maria Cyrilla of the Order of the
Perpetual Watch dies, the convent of St. Elias will be
closed by the Eastern Orthodox Patriarch of
Macedonia.
However, that isn't likely to happen soon as Sister
Maria, 53, enjoys excellent health. By her own estimate,
she walks 10 miles daily about the grounds of the
convent, which once served as a base for the army of
Attila the Hun. In more ancient times, a Greek temple
to Eros, the god of love, occupied the hilltop site.
Historians say that Attila took over the old temple in
439 A.D. and used it as a base for his marauding army.
The Huns are believed to have first collected and then
destroyed a large gathering of Greek legal writs at the
site. It is believed that Attila wanted to study the Greek
legal system and had the writs and other documents
brought to the temple. Scholars differ on why he had
the valuable documents destroyed - either because he
was barely literate and couldn't read them, or
because they provided evidence of democratic
government that did not square with his own notion of
rule by an all-powerful tyrant.
When the Greek church took over the site in the 15th
Century and the convent was built, church leaders
ordered the pagan statue of Eros destroyed, so
another ancient Greek treasure was lost. Today, there is
only the lone sister, watching over the old Hun base,
amidst the strife of war torn Yugoslavia, and when she
goes, that will be it.
Thus, that's how it ends, with No Huns, no writs, no
Eros, and nun left on base.
Carol A. Edwards
USGS Field Records Library
MS 914, Box 25046, Federal Center
Denver, CO 80225-0046
email: cedwards@usgs.gov
phone: 303-236-1005
fax: 303-236-0015
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