Feb 24, 2020 06:45 PM
Why Edgar Allan Poe probably did not kill himself
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/...022420.php
RELEASE: A computational analysis of language used by the writer Edgar Allan Poe has revealed that his mysterious death was unlikely to have been suicide. The author, poet, editor, and literary critic died in 1849 after spending several days in hospital while in a state of delirium. To date, Poe's death remains an unsolved enigma, with his contemporary, poet Charles Baudelaire even speculating that the incident was "almost a suicide, a suicide prepared for a long time".
But psychologist Dr Ryan Boyd from Lancaster University and his colleague -- Hannah Dean from the University of Texas at Austin -- have found that Poe's psychological markers of depression are not consistent with suicide. This research has now been published in the Journal of Affective Disorders. Dr Boyd said: "My hunch is that he was indeed spiralling into a depression toward the end of his life, but that he didn't kill himself."
Using computerized language analysis, they analysed 309 of Poe's personal letters, 49 poems, and 63 short stories and investigated whether a pattern of linguistic cues consistent with depression and suicidal cognition were discernible throughout the writer's life, particularly in his final years. They focused on five measures which have been established as diagnostic of depression and/or suicidality;
• Increased use of first-person singular pronouns (e.g., words like I, me, and my)
• Increased use of negative emotion words (bad, sad, angry)
• More cognitive processing words (think, understand, know)
• Fewer positive emotion words (happy, good, terrific)
• Fewer first-person plural pronouns (we, us, our).
These linguistic markers of depression spiked during negative events in Poe's life, like the death of his wife. Past research has shown that depressive language patterns tend to dramatically rise leading up to one's death by suicide, however, this pattern did not consistently emerge in the last year of Poe's life.
Poe was known to have suffered from regular bouts of severe depression and also had drug and alcohol problems. He lost his parents as a two year old and was devastated first by the death of his foster mother and then by that of his own wife Virginia Clemm Poe in 1847.
The researchers concluded: "Significant, consistent patterns of depression were not found and do not support suicide as a cause of death. However, linguistic evidence was found suggesting the presence of several potential depressive episodes over the course of Poe's life - these episodes were the most pronounced during years of Poe's greatest success, as well as those following the death of his late wife."
"Our analyses suggest that he struggled deeply with success, with linguistic markers of depression peaking during the times of his greatest fame and popularity in 1843, 1845 and 1849."
Canaanite temple unearthed at Lachish
https://mfa.gov.il/mfa/israelexperience/...-2020.aspx
RELEASE: "And the Lord delivered Lachish into the hand of Israel, which took it on the second day, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls therein..." -Joshua, 10:32
The Biblical Book of Joshua tells the story of the ancient Israelites' entry into the Promised Land after a 40-year sojourn in the desert. Now, a team of archaeologists led by Professor Yosef Garfinkel at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Institute of Archaeology and Professor Michael Hasel at Southern Adventist University in Tennessee, have opened a window onto the Canaanite society that inhabited the land during that era.
In a study published last month in Levant, Garfinkel and his co-authors revealed, for the first time ever, extensive ruins of a Canaanite temple dating to the 12th century BCE that they uncovered in National Park Tel Lachish, a large Bronze Age-era settlement near the present-day Israeli city of Kiryat Gat.
Lachish was one of the most important Canaanite cities in the Land of Israel during the Middle and late Bronze Ages; its people controlled large parts of the Judean lowlands. The city was built around 1800 BCE and later destroyed by the Egyptians around 1550 BCE. It was rebuilt and destroyed twice more, succumbing for good around 1150 BCE. The settlement is mentioned in both the Bible and in various Egyptian sources and was one of the few Canaanite cities to survive into the 12th century BCE.
"This excavation has been breath-taking," shared Garfinkel. "Only once every 30 or 40 years do we get the chance to excavate a Canaanite temple in Israel. What we found sheds new light on ancient life in the region. It would be hard to overstate the importance of these findings."
The layout of the temple is similar to other Canaanite temples in northern Israel, among them Nablus, Megiddo and Hazor. The front of the compound is marked by two columns and two towers leading to a large hall. The inner sanctum has four supporting columns and several unhewn "standing stones" that may have served as representations of temple gods. The Lachish temple is more square in shape and has several side rooms, typical of later temples including Solomon's Temple.
In addition to these archaeological ruins, the team unearthed a trove of artifacts including, bronze cauldrons, Hathor-inspired jewellery, daggers and axe-heads adorned with bird images, scarabs, and a gold-plated bottle inscribed with the name Ramses II, one of Egypt's most powerful pharaohs. Near the temple's holy of holies, the team found two bronze figurines. Unlike the winged cherubs in Solomon's Temple, the Lachish figurines were armed "smiting gods".
Of particular interest was a pottery sherd engraved with ancient Canaanite script. There, the letter "samek" appears, marked by an elongated vertical line crossed by three perpendicular shorter lines. This makes it the oldest known example of the letter and a unique specimen for the study of ancient alphabets.
Only time will tell what treasures still remain to be uncovered in the ancient city of Lachish.
https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/...022420.php
RELEASE: A computational analysis of language used by the writer Edgar Allan Poe has revealed that his mysterious death was unlikely to have been suicide. The author, poet, editor, and literary critic died in 1849 after spending several days in hospital while in a state of delirium. To date, Poe's death remains an unsolved enigma, with his contemporary, poet Charles Baudelaire even speculating that the incident was "almost a suicide, a suicide prepared for a long time".
But psychologist Dr Ryan Boyd from Lancaster University and his colleague -- Hannah Dean from the University of Texas at Austin -- have found that Poe's psychological markers of depression are not consistent with suicide. This research has now been published in the Journal of Affective Disorders. Dr Boyd said: "My hunch is that he was indeed spiralling into a depression toward the end of his life, but that he didn't kill himself."
Using computerized language analysis, they analysed 309 of Poe's personal letters, 49 poems, and 63 short stories and investigated whether a pattern of linguistic cues consistent with depression and suicidal cognition were discernible throughout the writer's life, particularly in his final years. They focused on five measures which have been established as diagnostic of depression and/or suicidality;
• Increased use of first-person singular pronouns (e.g., words like I, me, and my)
• Increased use of negative emotion words (bad, sad, angry)
• More cognitive processing words (think, understand, know)
• Fewer positive emotion words (happy, good, terrific)
• Fewer first-person plural pronouns (we, us, our).
These linguistic markers of depression spiked during negative events in Poe's life, like the death of his wife. Past research has shown that depressive language patterns tend to dramatically rise leading up to one's death by suicide, however, this pattern did not consistently emerge in the last year of Poe's life.
Poe was known to have suffered from regular bouts of severe depression and also had drug and alcohol problems. He lost his parents as a two year old and was devastated first by the death of his foster mother and then by that of his own wife Virginia Clemm Poe in 1847.
The researchers concluded: "Significant, consistent patterns of depression were not found and do not support suicide as a cause of death. However, linguistic evidence was found suggesting the presence of several potential depressive episodes over the course of Poe's life - these episodes were the most pronounced during years of Poe's greatest success, as well as those following the death of his late wife."
"Our analyses suggest that he struggled deeply with success, with linguistic markers of depression peaking during the times of his greatest fame and popularity in 1843, 1845 and 1849."
Canaanite temple unearthed at Lachish
https://mfa.gov.il/mfa/israelexperience/...-2020.aspx
RELEASE: "And the Lord delivered Lachish into the hand of Israel, which took it on the second day, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and all the souls therein..." -Joshua, 10:32
The Biblical Book of Joshua tells the story of the ancient Israelites' entry into the Promised Land after a 40-year sojourn in the desert. Now, a team of archaeologists led by Professor Yosef Garfinkel at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Institute of Archaeology and Professor Michael Hasel at Southern Adventist University in Tennessee, have opened a window onto the Canaanite society that inhabited the land during that era.
In a study published last month in Levant, Garfinkel and his co-authors revealed, for the first time ever, extensive ruins of a Canaanite temple dating to the 12th century BCE that they uncovered in National Park Tel Lachish, a large Bronze Age-era settlement near the present-day Israeli city of Kiryat Gat.
Lachish was one of the most important Canaanite cities in the Land of Israel during the Middle and late Bronze Ages; its people controlled large parts of the Judean lowlands. The city was built around 1800 BCE and later destroyed by the Egyptians around 1550 BCE. It was rebuilt and destroyed twice more, succumbing for good around 1150 BCE. The settlement is mentioned in both the Bible and in various Egyptian sources and was one of the few Canaanite cities to survive into the 12th century BCE.
"This excavation has been breath-taking," shared Garfinkel. "Only once every 30 or 40 years do we get the chance to excavate a Canaanite temple in Israel. What we found sheds new light on ancient life in the region. It would be hard to overstate the importance of these findings."
The layout of the temple is similar to other Canaanite temples in northern Israel, among them Nablus, Megiddo and Hazor. The front of the compound is marked by two columns and two towers leading to a large hall. The inner sanctum has four supporting columns and several unhewn "standing stones" that may have served as representations of temple gods. The Lachish temple is more square in shape and has several side rooms, typical of later temples including Solomon's Temple.
In addition to these archaeological ruins, the team unearthed a trove of artifacts including, bronze cauldrons, Hathor-inspired jewellery, daggers and axe-heads adorned with bird images, scarabs, and a gold-plated bottle inscribed with the name Ramses II, one of Egypt's most powerful pharaohs. Near the temple's holy of holies, the team found two bronze figurines. Unlike the winged cherubs in Solomon's Temple, the Lachish figurines were armed "smiting gods".
Of particular interest was a pottery sherd engraved with ancient Canaanite script. There, the letter "samek" appears, marked by an elongated vertical line crossed by three perpendicular shorter lines. This makes it the oldest known example of the letter and a unique specimen for the study of ancient alphabets.
Only time will tell what treasures still remain to be uncovered in the ancient city of Lachish.
