A Place of Brightness: osiris

Tuesday, January 22, 2013

The Harbaugh Brothers: Living the Fratricidal Archetype!

What a story! Two brothers are facing off against each other as head coaches in that game of games known as the Superbowl. Not surprisingly, they're calling it the "Harbowl."

James (Jim) Harbaugh, coach of the San Francisco 49'ers.

John Harbaugh, coach of the Baltimore Ravens.

But the reason this is so fascinating to us is fraternal conflict is a deeply ingrained archetype.

Ancient literature abounds with accounts of brothers fighting against and often even killing their brothers.

In the Hebrew Bible, the first murder is Cain killing his brother Abel (Gen 4:8).

The Egyptian deity Osiris is murdered by his brother Set.

Romulus kills his twin brother Remus before founding the city of Rome.

In the Midst of Life, by Ambrose Bierce, contains an account of a brother killing a brother in the Civil War.

So, that's why this grabs our imagination. But I suspect both these men want badly to win and will feel nothing but pride if their brother emerges victorious.

On the one hand, I want the 49'ers to win, since they beat my Packers (I know most people would think it should be opposite, but that's how we roll in Wisconsin. If the team that beat my team then loses, it makes my team all the worse. Think about it.) On the other hand, I used to live in Baltimore. Tough call. Regardless, may the best Harbaugh win.

In Saecula Saeculorum, the 4th Novel in the Valquist Series

In this fourth novel of the Valquist Series, Andrew Valquist is retired (?) from the National Security Agency and teaching Latin at a Classical Academy in the Washington DC area. But in the world of espionage, looks can be deceiving. He's not necessarily happy with the role he has played in all this, but the school was actually a joint NSA/MI-6 Project in which four young people have been unwittingly prepared for a mission to travel back in time to ancient Rome to retrieve information from a library that may save the modern world from certain destruction. They know they have to at least try to save humanity, but can they also save each other?

Next Stop: Spanish, the 3rd Novel in the Valquist Series

This third novel in the Valquist Series can be read as an espionage action-adventure in its own right, but also you can use it as a way to either brush up on your Spanish or learn functional Spanish for the first time! John Valquist needs to learn Spanish. But he's in luck, since his uncle Andrew is a language expert and a former (?) spy who is taking him on a vacation to Spain so he can study the language. In Next Stop: Spanish, you have the chance to see and study the words John studies, and then watch him add more and more Spanish into his dialogue as the story progresses. During this vacation, they get pulled into espionage intrigue (why do these things always happen to the Valquist family?). In the dramatic conclusion, John will need to put together everything he has learned to save his uncle!

Amor Vincit Omnia: the 2nd Novel in the Valquist Series

In this second novel of the Valquist Series, Keith Massey takes you into the halls of the National Security Agency, where he himself worked for four years after 9/11 and an Arabic linguist. You follow our hero Andrew Valquist, as he starts work as a new recruit at the NSA. Little does he know that on his first on the job, he's about to fly off on an unexpected overseas assignment. He'll be even more surprised when he learns that his background in ancient Latin will be crucial to the mission!