Mission 8: The Sixth Wonder.
Well, this is the most obvious. A quote I got off an australian website:
"The sixth wonder of the world was the Colossus of Rhodes, a huge statue of Helios the sun-god, made of bronze reinforced with iron and weighted with stones."
In hte mission we have several ships, including the NTC
Cato.The Cato appears to be a person (see link), and somewhat of a rebel...perhaps an indication of it's captian's nature?
"From this standpoint he attacked, and generally discredited, for embezzlement and other illegal acts while abroad, a succession of victims: M’. Acilius Glabrio, his commander in 191, another New Man; the great Scipio Africanus, Cato’s commander in Sicily and Africa, and his brother L. Cornelius Scipio; Q. Minucius Thermus, one of those who followed Cato in Spain. By 184 he had a well-deserved reputation for stubborn righteousness and fiery oratory. "
"Cato’s last major contribution to Roman public affairs was to urge war against Carthage, the ‘Third Punic War’ as it is now known — a war that was eventually declared in his lifetime and ended, after his death, with the complete destruction of Rome’s great rival. As Cato had so insistently repeated, Carthago delenda est, ‘Carthage must be razed.’ Its destroyer would be P. Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus, brother of Cato’s daughter-in-law Tertia. ‘He alone has a mind,’ said the aged Cato about Aemilianus; ‘the rest are darting shadows’ (Polybius 36 fragment 8.7). "
And then, of course, we have Enif station.
Enif station....is quite literally
epsilon pegasi."
The brightest star in Pegasus; its name comes from the Arabic for "the nose" and refers to the muzzle of the winged horse. Enif is an orange supergiant K star, big enough, if put in place of the Sun, to stretch halfway to the orbit of Venus. It seems to be part of a family of three similar supergiants that also includes the Alpha and Beta stars of nearby Aquarius, Sadalmelik and Sadalsuud. The stellar trio, all at roughly the same luminosity and distance (Sadalmelik at 760 light-years, Sadalsuud at 610) may have been born together in the same extended group and. over the past 15 million years or so, have drifted well over 100 light-years apart. Most odd about Enif is its possible erratic and violent behavior. In 1972, an observer in Florida reported Enif to be as bright as Altair - five times brighter than normal—after which it faded. For over 10 minutes it appeared to pop some kind of enormous flare, one vastly brighter than those often seen on the Sun. Such events are rare—only two dozen or so are known—and not well documented, nor is there any theory for them. "
This is all fine and interesting - but what about the Hawkwood?
Running a google search brought up many, many entries, but this one is probably the most relevant:
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0823031.html"Hawkwood, Sir John de, d. 1394, English soldier. He fought in the French wars of Edward III and was knighted, although it is not known when or where. With his “white company” of mercenaries, he entered (1362) Italy and became a condottiere. He served sometimes one republic, sometimes another, but he was employed most regularly by Florence, where he died. The cathedral in Florence contains an equestrian portrait of Hawkwood by Paolo Uccello."
Now, running the search on Florence brought up too many results to find the one im looking for - if anyone else can get it, it would be deeply appreciated.
Now, for the analysis:
If one looked at the previous mission and the background behind it, and then this one, there is a slight connection. The construction of the temple in Ramayan's honor during his repenance of the slaying of Ravana. More interestingly, in history, the construction of the Colossus at rhodes did have a similar reason - peace.
"Throughout most of its history, ancient Greece was comprised of city-states which had limited power beyond their boundary. On the small island of Rhodes were three of these: Ialysos, Kamiros, and Lindos. In 408 BC, the cities united to form one territory, with a unified capital, Rhodes. The city thrived commercially and had strong economic ties with their main ally, Ptolemy I Soter of Egypt. In 305 BC, the Antigonids of Macedonia who were also rivals of the Ptolemies, besieged Rhodes in an attempt to break the Rhodo-Egyptian alliance. They could never penetrate the city. When a peace agreement was reached in 304 BC, the Antagonids lifted the siege, leaving a wealth of military equipment behind. To celebrate their unity, the Rhodians sold the equipment and used the money to erect an enormous statue of their sun god, Helios."
In the case of connection with Hindu mythology, its
appearance came forth from the destruction of an ancient foe and the reconciliation of one's action, while the connection in greek mythology and history, its construction and
creation came about from a peace between two historic enemies.
Now
this is interesting, to say the least.
