The Trojan War

Almost all of the Greek myths have been adapted or made into films, television, and written about in books.  However, the one myth that that has been adapted the most was the Myth of the Trojan War.   Recounted first by Homer of Greece (Achaia).  This was recounted in the Iliad, and then the myth has been adapted and transformed so many times by Americans and the British it can only mean one thing.  The Trojan War is an Epic Battle between two nations -- Greece and Israel.

The Trojan War as a National Epic

There are two players in this great drama, of a war that launched a thousand ships from the Aegean to the lands of Troy.  Greece and Troy.  Greece --  (Achaia) at that time was under control of Mycenae.  The Greeks, or Hellenes, shared a double ancestry.   First, Javan of Japeth took his family and migrated to the Peloponeseus and founded the lands of Achaia.  His inhabitants spread through the land and worshiped first Chronos (Saturn), then Zeus (Jupiter) along with Aphrodite (Venus) and Ares (Mars).  Along to join him were other indo-europeans also descendants of Japeth.  They spoke proto-Greek.

Javan is identified as Hellen by the Greeks.  But in time, others came.  Cecrops had come, a descendant of Zarah -- son of Judah.  He founded Athens, while his kinsman -- Cadmus -- founded Thebes, and several other cities were founded by other kinsmen (including Argos).  Sparta itself was founded by Dan, and many of the Danites moved north, past the Danube.  Cecrops and Cadmus brought laws instituting marriage, and cast down human sacrifice to pagan gods.  They could not cast down paganism completely, but they instituted many reforms.  By the time the Greeks had come to fight the Trojan War, they were a mixed people of Hebrew and Indo-European Descent and spoke Mycenaean Greek.

Troy was founded by Darda (Most likely Troy VI, but could be Troy V).  Darda was also a descendant of Zarah, son of Judah.  The first son of Judah, Zarah's bloodline was to become the Kings of Europe.  He founded Troy, which soon became a great trading center.

Achilles

Homer lists the principle actors in the Trojan War to be as follows:

• Paris -- Prince of Troy, son of King Priam.  He falls in love with Helen and steals her away.
• King Menelaus -- King of Sparta, husband to Helen. 
• King Agamemnon -- The King of Mycenae.  Perhaps the true villain in the entire saga.
• Achilles -- King of Thebes, the best swordsman in all Greece.
• Odysseus -- King of Ithica.  Someone who felt he shouldn't have gone in the first place, but Agamemnon needed his wisdom.
• King Priam -- King of Troy and pure descendant of Zarah of Judah.
• Hector -- Best fighter of the Trojans.
• Helen -- the face that launched a thousand ships.

Character Analysis of the Iliad

Protagonist --  King Menelaus, King of Sparta.   His wife, his beautiful wife, was stolen from him by Paris, the Prince of Troy.
Antagonists -- Paris of Troy, Agamemnon of Mycenae
Contagonist -- Odysseus of Ithica
Guardian -- King Priam of Troy

Logic -- Hector, Briseis
Emotional -- Cassandra, Helen
Follower -- Patroclos
Skeptic -- Achilles

Main Character
 The Main Character in the Iliad is Achilles without a doubt.  Although in further adaptations of the story, the Main Character switches from Achilles to Menelaus, to Helen, to Paris, and other characters in the story.  There is a play where Agamemnon is treated heroically only to have his life end tragically.

Impact Character

Briseis

Briseis is the Impact Character that challenges Achilles' point of view of the War.  The Trojan concubine that Achilles and Agamemnon fought over eventually became the property of Achilles.  The great war, which lasts ten years, in all that time Achilles fought for the Greeks.  However, the young maid put doubt in Achilles' heart about the War as to whether it is just.  The major change in Achilles' heart is first seen when Priam asks for Hector's body to be properly buried.


Why was the Trojan War fought?
The War was fought over Trojan Wealth, Trojan control of the Bosporus or Dardanelles, and Troy's control of the Tin Oxide trade in the East.  All roads led to Troy at that time, and the Hellenes, Danaan, or Achaeans were jealous to control that trade.  What ever the reasons, the trigger is the most written about and the most commented upon in the myths.

Menelaus

Who was in the Right?
As far as I understand it, the only Greek King that was truly in the right during the war was Menelaus.  King Menelaus felt that Paris kidnapped his wife and took her to Troy.  He eventually wins the war, and travels with Helen to Egypt.  I agree with this assessment, because Menelaus was truly hurt by Paris stealing his wife, his property.  

Who was in the wrong?
 Both Paris and Agamemnon are actually to be blamed for wrong doing.  Paris, because he stole another man's wife; and Agamemnon for going to war to Troy for reasons that aren't discussed.  He needed an excuse and Helen was that excuse.

Who escalated the War?
Odysseus escalated the War.  The Iliad begins with Achilles and Agamemnon fighting over who would possess Briseis.   When Achilles lost, he sulked in his tent for all that time.  Odysseus, getting reports of what was going on in Ithica, wanted to bring the Trojan War to an end.  He wanted to return to Penelope and live out his life as King of Ithica.  He escalated the war through trickery and deceit.

 Which side suffered the most?
 Both sides.  The Greeks suffered because of Agamemnon's drive and obstinance.  Thousands of lives were lost on the Greek side of the war.  Similarly, many Trojans and Troy's allies also suffered.  Many of the Amazons in the region died during battle.  Patroclos was slain, which brought out Achilles.  Eventually, the Trojans lost because of poor judgment.  They allowed a gift of the Greeks to come in, the Trojan Horse, which contained many Greek Soldiers.  During the night, the Greek Soldiers came out of the Horse and proceeded to sack the city.

What was the outcome?
 The destruction and razing of Troy by Odysseus and his men and the scattering of the Trojans to the North and to the West.  Achilles died because he wanted to protect Briseis.  Hector died because he wanted to protect Troy and bring an end to the conflict.  Priam died because he brought in the Trojan Horse.

Who survived?

Aeneas

 Aeneas and his people eventually moved Westward to establish a colony in the area of Rome.  About sometime later, his grandson Brutus leads about a thousand Trojans to the British Isles and establish Troynovant or Caer Troas.  This colony would later become London.

A number of kingdoms were founded as the Trojans who left and was scattered to Scandinavia.  Memnon eventually begat Thor who eventually begat Odin.  These Trojans settled Norway, Sweden, and Finland.  Eventually their descendants (who included members of many other Hebrew Tribes) came to settle England and Norway.   One of them, William the Conquerer, would set about finally finishing what happened at Glastonbury after the reign of Arthur.  

How does it end?
Menelaus wins his wife back, and they retire in Egypt.  As they retired, Sparta suffered a decline in power and influence and eventually fell to a Doric (Indo-European) invasion like most of Greece.

Did the Trojan War actually happen?
The Trojan War does have a basis in Historical Fact.  The Egyptians, largely a neutral power in the War, have records related to the War.  According to the Egyptian perspective, Paris stops in Karnak (Thebes) Egypt and visits the Pharaoh.  The Pharaoh recognized that Paris stole Helen from her real husband and sends him back to Troy without her.  The Pharaoh keeps Helen until Menelaus comes to claim her.  After Menelaus claims her, they stay in Egypt for the rest of their lives.

Hittite sources tell of a Wilusa kingdom in the area where Troy is.  This source is the Tawagalawa letter.  The letter accounts of an unnamed Hittite king's correspondence to the king of the Ahhiyawa, referring to an earlier "Wilusa episode" involving hostility on the part of the Ahhiyawa.  This is based on a letter from the Hittite king to the king of the Ahhiyawa people.  Sources independent of the Tawagalawa letter also mentions one Alaksandu, which could have been Paris since his birth name was Alexandros.

Troy VIIa

As for Archaeology, Heinrich Schliemann excavated Troy.  Although Archaeology was in its infancy, and what he did was considered to be acceptable at the time; Archaeologists right now would like to hit him on the head.  But Schliemann did excavated the city in a gross manner, and established that there was a Troy.  Scholars now, however, date the War as occuring during the life of Troy VIIa; because of the burn layer found there.

Note though, as Archaeology of the site progresses, a different picture than the one Homer wrote about arises.  So what actually happened?  Who knows?  Archaeology is presenting a different picture based on what has been recovered.

So, is the Iliad truly history?  Homer based much of his epic poem in fact, that much is clear.  With Hittite sources and Egyptian sources mentioning Helen, Paris, and Menelaus it must have happened based on the testimony of two independent Kingdoms.  However, some of Homer may have written what is fiction.  Achilles and Hector's superhuman feats, and Achilles supposed invulnerability, is undoubtedly fiction.  Homer may have recounted the War for an entirely different reason than to write a national historical epic.

But still, the story is a very popular subject in Hollywood in the U.S.  Why this is, it's clear, the Trojan War -- more than any other Greek Myth -- is a National Epic of two nations: Greece -- which was the winners, and Israel, who was the loser.  Of course, History is written by the winners, and there is no way to get the actual Trojan view of the war and what led to its defeat.

WORKS CITED

Historical and Literary

• Fagles, Robert, and Bernard Knox. The Iliad . New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Viking, 1990. Print. 
• Ancient Discoveries -- Siege of Troy. Dir. Ben Mole. Perf. Stephen Kemble. A&E Television Networks, 2007. DVD.
• The True Story of Troy (History Channel). Dir. Gary Glassman. Perf. Tom Bruno, Kevin Cirone, Allegra De Vita. A&E Home Video, 2004. DVD. 
• In Search of the Trojan War. Dir. Bill Lyons. Perf. Michael Wood, John Chadwick, Peter Connolly. Bbc Warner, 2001. DVD.  
• Frost, Frank J.. Greek society . Lexington, Mass.: Heath, 1971. Print. 
• Fagles, Robert. The Odyssey . New York: Viking, 1996. Print.  

Mythological

Hunt, Keith. "The Trojan connection with Britain." Keith Hunt - Trojans - Jews - Israel - Britain. Version 1.0. Keith Hunt, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2011.

Freeborn, Leland. "Helen of Troy, the face that launched a thousand ships." Helen of Troy July 2001 Tribes # 9. Version 1.0. The Parowan Prophet dot com, n.d. Web. 27 Apr. 2011.

 

The Feudal System

Greatly, one of the things about Feudalism, especially the English System, is that it has been romanticized.  The tales of King Arthur, Grimm's Fairy Tales (although Cinder-Ella is an ancient tale that was adapted around the life of a Noblewoman), and various fantastic works and paintings and even the Romanticizing of the Society of Creative Anachronism.

Although it was an interesting time.  Even to re-enact; there are some things about the Feudal System that is often glossed over in Hollywood movies, fairy tales, and Arthurian stories.  It's the fact that the Feudal System is anathema to Freedom and Scientific Progress.

The one system the Shadow Government of the U.S.A. wants us to return to is the Feudal System. 
Albeit modified around Socialism.  To understand where we are going, we need to understand where we've been.  In studying for this week's adventures of the PCs in Grummond Cave, I needed a base where they can go to resupply if needed.  I chose the hamlet of Wodfeld; which is produced by 0one Games and sold through various outlets -- including Iron Crown Enterprises and Your Games Now.  However, the PCs have seen the good and are expecting the good of the Feudal System, I think its time to introduce the Bad.

The Feudal System, in Collusion with the Church of Medieval times, suppressed learning and literacy. The Church kept all the knowledge of science to itself, and promulgated fallacies that are largely disproved today.  The Feudal System also placed humankind into at least three different social castes, with some divided further.

They are

Those who War: which included the Nobility.  Knights, Princes, Lords, Earls, Barons, Marque's, and Kings.  Those who pray: included the priests of the Church as well as the monks.  And those who toil: which includes everyone else.

During Medieval Times, there was incessant warfare.  No body knew what year it was.  The best inventions of the day was the waterwheel and the windmill.  Knowledge of the Gastrophetes, the Ballistae, the Scorpion, and other inventions were lost.  Basic knowledge of Art and Science was lost too.  There were no steam engines, no robots, no computers, nothing of the Wonders of Archimedes or the Helenic Age.  The only relic of the forgotten Helenic Age that was produced in quantity was the Astrolabe -- an invention of Hypatia of Alexandria.

The Medieval Period was marked by a very powerful Dark Age.  There were no prophets, no apostles, no evangelists, no Seventy, no ministers, no deacons, no teachers, and no high priests, or patriarchs.  Kings ruled by Divine Right, something that would be tested against the Church by King Henry VIII (Henry Tudor II?). The system was unjust, since it give a lot of rights to the nobility and the priestly caste.  The people on the bottom had problems.

The Feudal System didn't truly break down until the Crusades of Europe against the "Saracens."  The Crusades was the beginning of the break down, and who would have known that the Pope at the time was contributing to the destruction of his system?

However, the Feudal System was lent a heavy blow during the Black Plague.  When the Black Plague struck Europe, everyone -- Christians, Jews, and Pagans alike; cried for deliverance and a "Restitution" of their world.

After the first and second waves of the plague, however, things did turn upside down. What the people didn't realize that when you ask for a restitution of your world -- YOU GET IT!  Although it took a full generation, through Danse Macabre generation, the Renaissance started as Indian artists and their intelligentsia migrated into Italy to escape oppression.  Although it really ended in during the American Revolution -- the Feudal System broke down.  After all, the Black Plague killed one third of the Population of Europe.  And not one class of people were spared.  The black plague killed villein, freeman, merchant, nobles, kings, and priests.

Not too soon was the Discovery* of America, the colonizing of the New World, the First Revival in the Colonies, the second Revival; and the hundreds of inventions and rediscovered science of the Helenic Age.  We have a lot to be thankful for.  The Medieval system is a terrible system to be under.  If you were born a free man or a noble, you had privileges.  However, even nobles were vassals to someone else.


Villeiny vs. Freedom

There was two distinctions in the lower classes from the nobility, and that was being a Villein or a Freeman.  A villein -- from which our word villain comes from -- is essentially a man in serfdom or more properly, in slavery.  The legal definition of villein depends on a number of points.  If all of them were true, you'd be considered a villein.  The children of villeins are villeins by birth.  That's just the way it is. Villeins were to perform labor services, apparently without limit.  They also couldn't marry without paying a merchet tax.  Women in villeiny that were caught in fornication had to pay a fine known as the leyrwite. During the Middle Ages, about a tenth of the population of the countryside engaged in illicit sex, simply because they can't afford to get married, which is tragic (marriage shouldn't be taxed, even in the real world, but it is). Villeins can be sold by their lord to other freemen.  Anything they own is considered their lord's property, and they hold their land only at his whim.  Villeins can be evicted from their land by their lord without apparent warning.  Villeiny is one of the bad things about the Middle Ages.


Repressed Opportunity to Learn

The Second bad thing about the Middle Ages is the repressed opportunity to learn.  Who ever controlled the government at that time (the Pope?) felt that knowledge was power so they repressed learning.  By repressing learning, they could control the masses.  If the masses are kept in ignorance, it makes it better to control them.  For almost a thousand years, the Church kept a monopoly on freedom and taught the masses through medieval friezes and morality plays.  However, progress was made, with Guttenberg inventing the Printing Press, the Church's monopoly on Learning was broken.  It took one printing press, one expedition to China, and one religious Reformation to break the stranglehold of the Church on Learning.  Repression of Learning is another bad thing about the Middle Ages.


Incessant Warfare

By John Gilbert (1817–97)[see page for license], via Wikimedia Commons

 Warfare was incessant in the Middle Ages.  Well, actually, its incessant now.  War was once a religious ceremony of mass missionary work and evangelizing of a people that didn't believe in your religion.  In the Middle Ages, as now, Warfare is fought for economic and political reasons.  However, war was regulated by the Church.  The purpose for the Church to regulate war was to protect the lives and property of the non-combatants in the war.  At least, I believe given the power of the Roman Catholic Church, that the Church wanted to reduce the collateral damage of War in Europe.  However, it doesn't reduce the human impact.  War, after all, is used to reduce the population of human beings in Medieval Europe.  And most everywhere else.


Feudalism in Roleplaying Games

Most Roleplaying games, like Dungeons and Dragons, Rolemaster, the Palladium Roleplaying Game,  RuneQuest, and Pendragon; assume a Medieval Fantasy gaming environment.  The Fantasy of being a knight that saves the princess and slays the dragon is a very powerful one.  Especially since you have Tolkien's stories to work off of and the imagination of many other fantasy authors. Most fantasy worlds do not really explain how feudal systems work.  The best works to get started on this subject, of recreating a realistic medieval environment for your games are King Arthur Pendragon for the Nobility side of the Feudal System, Harn: A Real Fantasy World by Columbia Games, Ars Magica, and the Ars Magica supplement Heirs to Merlin to show the other sides of the feudal system.

And there are a lot of books you can go to and read up on Feudal Europe.  However, if Feudal Europe isn't something you don't want to portray to your players, there are several other settings you can use.  Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, the Celts, Biblical Palestine (i.e. the Kingdoms of Israel), and the forgotten Age of Seventy Nations.  There is also the time of the 3 Musketeers, the time of the Scarlet Pimpernel, Zorro, etc.  There are endless other settings you can use for Roleplaying fodder.

But note, brave is the GM that lifts the veil of Feudalism and shows it to his players.  In all of its glory -- both ugly and beauty.  The Medieval World is well documented in History, a lot of historians have written about the Medieval World.  You can get anything on that time period from recipes to eating menus to military history.  Go to the Library, surf the web, there is a wealth of information for the GM/DM use in his games.

Creativity, Copyright, and Education

You know, sometimes people force creativity.  It's something you can't do, really.  You try to squeeze an image out of your head and sometimes it just won't come together.  For the past few days, I was trying to think of an image that would say "thank you" for a thousand page views of one of my recent images.

Frankly the reason why I think it's so popular is because it showed a man's penis.  I think the thousand views it got was because I dared to show a penis in art.  Anyway, I don't think you can force creativity. Especially when you are in a rut and you are forcibly trying to think of something that says, "thank you for the one thousand page views in 3 days!"

Forcing an image out when creativity isn't flowing is almost like giving birth.  In other words, it's hard to squeeze a watermelon through a hole the size of a lemon that is in a dam.  Nina Paley talked about how creativity is being stifled.  In fact, it is being stifled by our current copyright law.  A nation that prides itself on Free Speech gives corporations the power to limit our free speech by sponsoring government monopolies for an impossible amount of time.

This makes Copyright bad.  Since for extending copyright for an impossible limited length of time just so that a Corporation can continue to make money by locking away culture is evil.  It limits a man's creativity unless he is rich beyond the dreams of avarice.  And therefore, it limits Free Speech.  When you limit a man's creativity, you are limiting his ability to express himself.

A man who is cowed by ten years in jail or five years in jail cannot properly express himself so his creativity is stifled.  He becomes silent and works in the factory or the office at a job he can't do well. He makes a meager wage while Corporations who own all the culture collect all the profits.  Tell me for a second, what is wrong with this picture?

Current copyright law is one of the things responsible for our current, out of control consumerism.  Our economy is run by Corporations who own our culture and produce and say we must consume and consume!  Frankly, we are all victims of a system that is designed to kill our creativity.  I mean we are taught literacy in Math, Language, and Science while Music, Art, Drama, and Dance suffers.  I  mean, its true, the education system is designed to output college professors and droids who work in factories.

What we need to do is to specialize in creativity in school.  We have to teach creativity in school so that we can prepare for a future where man is allowed to do anything.  Secondly, we need to limit the time something is in cultural lockdown.  I say five years maximum for free, and then you tax the stupid corporation a tax that rises arithematically so that in time, it's more expensive to keep culture locked down than it is to release it into the public domain.

Thirdly, robots can do everything a human being can do in a factory.  Especially when it comes to making cars and aircraft.  Humans should be free to think and have free time to persue creative pursuits.   An adult can join a dance class, an acting company, or even produce art.  Or he even has time to play.

in the future, when we kill all the Moneychangers and destroy the Rothschildes and manage our resources more efficiently, man will have more free time to do anything he likes.  Frankly, I think we should prepare our children for that future than turn them all into college professors and lock down their speech.

Thank you for reading my blog.

Mary Shelley's Frankstein

In 1816, Mary W. Shelley wrote Frankenstein: or the Modern Prometheus in response to Lord Byron's little contest to see who could write the best ghost story.  Of the ghost stories told in Lord Byron's little party, only Mary Shelley's Frakenstein would live on.

The story, to be summarized, is about a scientist named Victor von Frankenstein that studied and found the secret to life.  He used his knowledge to bring to life a creature made from human body parts.  Essentially, a flesh golem in D&D but with the ability to reason and to speak.  Horrified at reanimating dead tissue, Victor runs from his laboratory and the creature also leaves.

Through their adventures the creature is shunned by humanity and it starts to murder.  After each murder, Frankenstein grows ill because he is responsible by default since he brought the creature to life.  At some point, the creature demands that Victor creates a mate for him.  Victor starts to do so, but he stops before completing the second creature.  Victor gains a conscious, realizing that the creatures may be mortal and may be able to reproduce.  He tears the thing to pieces and the first creature angrily curses him for destroying his font of happiness.  In retaliation, he murders Victor's wife.  The two have a final confrontation at the North Pole and in the end Victor dies and the creature wanders the Earth, never to be seen again.


The Modern Prometheus

The reason why Mary called the story the Modern Prometheus is because its an allusion to the myth of Prometheus and Epimetheus.  Both Prometheus and Epimetheus were tasked to create life on Earth by the gods.  Epimetheus, which his name means Afterthought, created all the animals first.  He handed them all the powers that each of the animals all have.  So, when he set to create man, there was nothing to give.  So Epimetheus turned to his brother, Prometheus.  Prometheus, whose name means Forethought, designed man with all the powers of the gods and gave them life.

However, Prometheus' story doesn't stop there.  Prometheus cared for his children so he wanted to give them fire.  Zeus forbade him to give Men fire.  However, Prometheus disobeyed Zeus and took a fennel stock and started it on fire using the sun.  He returned to Earth and showed men fire and taught him how to make fire.  The result made Zeus angry, so Zeus chained the Titan to Mount Caucasus where an eagle or a vulture would come to eat out his liver every day.

By comparing the novel with the myth, Prometheus creates life and Victor von Frankenstein reanimates life, Victor von Frankenstein becomes Prometheus.  At the outset, Mary Shelley wrote the book as a cautionary tale of how science can be used without limits or conscience.  This book had a sequel, written by H.G. Wells known as The Island of Dr. Moreau that did deal with the consequences of science turned loose without ethics or morals to restrain it.  Only in this case, The Island of Doctor Moreau had dealt with the consequences of genetic research without ethics and how it can be used to create monsters.


Frankenstein as a critique on Government

Frankenstein can be viewed as a critique on the Industrial Revolution and the politics of Commerce at the time.  Although the writer Charles Dickens revealed how terrible the Industrial Revolution has had  as an impact on 19th Century England; Mary Shelley goes at the heart of the problem and how Industrialized commerce could collude with government.  Mary Shelley wasn't critiquing the Industrial Revolution she was critiquing government behind the Industrial Revolution.  The government was personified by Victor von Frankenstein.  The creature personified the society of the Industrial Revolution at the time.  In a way, you could say that the story argues the consequences of social engineering -- something that the President of the United States wants to put into high gear on the United States of America.

It's also a story about the arrogance of government, and the monsters it can create out of society.  In a terrible way, one can interpret Frankenstein as a story of what happens when government interferes with nature.  It is the natural order of things for life to beget life and to die.  In human society, it's natural for commerce, science, and religion to go about unregulated by the government.  However, when government starts interfering, it can create an unnatural society.  As capitalism can be seen as natural to Man, or even better yet, a society working under the Law of Consecration; socialism is a wicked construct that forces everyone to be equal in the eyes of human beings, removing the hope of individuality.  The result is an unnatural society as powerful and mighty as the Creature Victor created.


Frankenstein's inspirations.

Mary Shelley took inspiration for Victor von Frankenstein from the work and lives of four men.  Luigi Galvani, who experimented with electricity on dead animals to see what happened; his nephew Giovanni Aldini [pictured], who worked with electricity on dead human cadavers; Andrew Ure, a Scottish scientist who built on Luigi Galvani's experiments and also worked with cadavers.  And finally, the infamous Konrad Dippel.  The man who is strongly linked to the Frankenstein story even though his macabre experiments was done with alchemy rather than electricity.

Luigi Galvani was probably one of the scientists that studied electricity and its effects on dead animals.  He stumbled across the notion that electricity was apart of our bodies when a thunderstorm caused the frog legs to twitch.  So, Galvani tested electricity by applying it to a dead frog's sciatic nerve.  The result was that the frog's legs jumped.  He then released his findings and it revolutionized biology.

Galvani's work led to an explosion of using electricity to treat many kinds of ailments, as the new technology was believed to be a panacea and used as an entertainment piece.  Much like computers are being used today, no doubt.  Also, during Galvani's day, the new knowledge of how electricity was linked to the Body was demonstrated in Europe with all kinds of shows showing twitching limbs.  It surprised and horrified people as the scientist explained how electrical energy was used by animals and humans to help their bodies move.  However, Galvani put forward an idea that man can achieve immortality by being infused with electricity artificially.  However, it took his nephew to demonstrate this in a much more startling and macbre way.

Giovanni Aldini had more common with Victor von Frankenstein than Galvani or Konrad Dippel.  The man would demonstrate the effects of electricity on a human body.  Aldini did this with a dead murderer's body.  He'd connect electricity to the head and the anus and other parts of the body and the cadaver seemed to have come to life.  Which was an unnerving experience.

The other man was Andrew Ure. Andrew Ure used a cadaver which he had made incisions into the body.  He then applied electricity in the incisions.  The bizarre experiment caused the man to make several faces, extend his leg and jump the leg enough to cause one of the assistants to fall back, and finally he used the electricity on the finger, which caused it to extend and point at the audience.  Many believed that the man had come back to life.

The final man was Konrad Dippel.  Dippel was born in, ironically enough, Castle Frankenstein.  Konrad Dippel was educated in Alchemy and all matters of science.  Konrad fought with his professors and felt his thoughts were right.  He left the university and followed his own theories on finding the secret to life.  Konrad Dippel was responsible for Prussian Blue, Dippel's oil, and other things.  No one, however, was sure tha he used cadavers  but the authorities found strange human bones in the courtyard of where he lived.  Konrad Dippel died mysteriously either by poison or a stroke.


Frankenstein Filmography
Frankenstein is the story that is the most adapted to film, beating out Dracula the strange love story between an undead count and a young woman.

Frankenstein (1910)--one-reel Edison Studios film, recently recovered.  
Life Without Soul (1915)--five-reel version.
Frankenstein (1931)--Universal film with Boris Karloff.
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)--with Elsa Lanchester.  
Son of Frankenstein (1939)--with Basil Rathbone.  
The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)--Lon Chaney, Jr.
Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)--Bela Lugosi.
House of Frankenstein (1944)--Glenn Strange.  
House of Dracula (1945)--last of Universal's horror series.
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)--Glenn Strange.
The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)--Hammer Films with Christopher Lee.
I Was a Teenage Frankenstein (1957)--pieces of teen corpses.
The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958)--Hammer with Michael Gwynn.
Frankenstein 1970 (1958)--Boris Karloff.
How To Make a Monster (1958)--make-up man's revenge.
Frankenstein's Daughter (1959)--son of creates woman.
The Evil of Frankenstein (1964)--Hammer with Kiwi Kingston.
Frankenstein Conquers the World (1965)--Japanese Toho Studios.
Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster (1965)--British, with android.
Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter (1966)--p.u.
Frankenstein Created Woman (1967)--Hammer, revenge.
Mad Monster Party (1968)--Rankin/Bass, stop-motion.
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed (1969)--yes, we know this.
Horror of Frankenstein (1970)--Hammer.
Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1971)--Lon Chaney, Jr.
Lady Frankenstein (1971)--woman builds man.
Frankenstein's Bloody Terror (1972)--Spanish.
Frankenstein (1972)--Dan Curtis Productions, made-for-tv.
Frankenstein: The True Story (1973)--Michael Sarrazin; and see Jane Seymour get her head ripped off.  
Frankenstein's Castle of Freaks (1973)--brain transplants.
Andy Warhol's Frankenstein (1974)--French-Italian.
Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell (1974)--Hammer.
Young Frankenstein (1974)--Mel Brooks parody.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)--the cult musical.
Terror of Frankenstein (1977)--fairly literal adaptation of the Shelley novel.
Frankenstein Island (1981)--John Carradine plus spiders, snakes, and Amazons.
Frankenstein (1982)--stars Robert Powell.
Frankenstein 90 (1984)--Frankenstein descendent and cultured creature.
Frankenweenie (1984)--resurrected pet dog.
Transylvania 6-5000 (1985)--tabloid scoop on return of monster.
Weird Science (1985)--nerds create woman.
Frankenstein's Great-Aunt Tillie (1985)--inheritance comedy.
Gothic (1987)--account of the 1816 stay of the Shelleys with Byron.
Dr. Hackenstein (1988)--comedy resurrection of late wife.
Frankenstein General Hospital (1988)--med. student "hi-jinks."
Frankenstein Unbound (1990)--Roger Corman's return to directing.
Frankenhooker (1990)--New Jersey mad doctor.
Edison's Frankenstein (1990)--Researched remake of the 1910 one.
Frankenstein: The College Years (1991)--Augh.
Frankenstein (1993)--Randy Quaid.
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1994)--Kenneth Branaugh, Robert De Niro.
Frankenstein and Me (1995)--carnival sideshow exhibit.
Mr. Stitch (1996)--A humanoid military weapon made from 88 corpses.
Lust for Frankenstein (1998)--Dr.'s ghost tells daughter to resurrect project: lesbian monster.  
Frankenstein Reborn! (1998)--13-year-old Anna Frankenstein is curious about her uncle's experiments.  
Rock & Roll Frankenstein (1999)--Music agent has nephew piece together rock star from pieces of greats.  
Mistress Frankenstein (2000)--Lesbian nympho's brain in the dead Mrs. Helena Frankenstein. Frankenthumb (2002)--Spoof of the Frankenstein films done "digitally."

Hallmark's Mary Shelly's Frankenstein (2004) --Hallmark's version which centered on the love story.  Frankenstein Reborn (2005)

Frankenstein (2007) -- Asylum's modern retelling.

Frankenstein (2010) -- College adaptation. 

Any of these would be perfect to start.  The best movie to start with is either the 1931 Universal Film with Boris Karloff, or this Peter Cushing classic, The Curse of Frankenstein.