Chapter 743 Vertical City

If you look through travel magazines, whether it is Kyoto or Florence, these cities have one characteristic, that is, there are no tall buildings. The commanding heights in the city are generally Buddhist towers or church bell towers. Even the commanding height of Bern is also a medieval church.

The commanding height of the main island of Venice is the bell tower of St. Mark's Church, but the buildings in this city are generally three or four stories high.

This is due to the size of the main island. The world's first "skyscraper" was built in a slum on the Greek island of Crete, where Greek mythology and European civilization were born.

The mythical Minos was born by Zeus and his lover Europa. Zeus once turned into a bull to meet Europa, in order to avoid the harm of Hera. Therefore, Minos, the son of Europa, never used strong bulls to sacrifice to the gods, which offended the gods. God made the queen of Minos fall in love with a bull and gave birth to the Minotaur, a monster with the head of a bull and a human body. Since then, the man-eating monster Minotaur has plunged the Cretans into a vortex of terror. Minos decided to ask Daedalus, an outstanding Greek architect at the time, to build a labyrinth in the Knossos Palace to hide the Minotaur. At that time, Athens was a vassal state of Crete, and Minos ordered the King of Athens to send 7 pairs of boys and girls to Crete every 9 years, and put them in the maze to feed the Minotaur.

Prince Theseus of Athens was determined to eliminate harm for the people, and came to Crete with boys and girls. Princess Ariadne of Crete fell in love with Theseus at first sight and presented him with a magic sword and a ball of thread. Theseus entered the maze with the magic sword, let go of the ball of thread as a mark, and after a desperate struggle, killed the Minotaur, and left the maze according to the mark.

The mythical Knossos palace chief was buried underground for more than 3,000 years without any news. Many people think that it is a legend that does not exist.

Until 1878, archaeologists in Heraklion stumbled upon the ruins of an ancient city, where they found ancient coins and ceramic fragments. In 1879, the discoverer of the ancient city, archaeologist Minos Kalokelinos, began to excavate the ancient city, but due to strong opposition from the Turkish government that ruled Crete at that time, the ongoing work had to be stopped. archaeological excavation.

Just as the Cretans were fighting tit-for-tat with the Turks, British scholar Arthur Evans bought the land with huge sums of money.

Neither the Turks nor the Cretans had the right to continue digging. Ivans began to conduct large-scale excavations on the Knossos site in 1900, and discovered palace ruins and a large number of precious cultural relics similar to myths and legends. This makes this luxurious palace with a large scale, complex structure and exquisite interior decoration be able to see the light of day again.

Construction of the palace began in 2000 BC and the last buildings were completed in 1600 BC. In these 400 years, the Knossos Palace has been damaged by earthquakes many times, but the earthquake also gave Crete architects the opportunity to fully display their talents. They used their superb architectural skills to organically combine buildings of different periods, and made this palace more magnificent and brilliant.

The area of ​​a small island is limited, rich people occupy a large area of ​​land, and the place where the poor live is getting smaller and smaller, and finally can only extend vertically upwards.

There is a seven-acre area in the Cannaregio district of Venice, which is a well-known slum except near the ** Bridge.

The word "ghetto" actually originated in Venice, where copper foundries existed before the arrival of the Jews.

They have worked in the city for centuries, but this is the first time they are allowed to have their own residential quarters in the city.

Five hundred years ago, Venice officials welcomed foreign Jews to the city. According to the standards of the time, this was a big concession. It was the result of negotiations among the Jews themselves. It had nothing to do with the modern concept of tolerance. Venice accepted while rejecting them. They are, but this is already much better than other places.

Cows are grazing animals, maybe those virgins were not eaten by the half-man half-bull Minotaur, but accompanied him alone, playing hide-and-seek in the maze.

The streets of Venice are intricate, like a labyrinth. Architects added the essence of buildings of different eras to their own designs, and finally formed their own style.

However, the area of ​​the island is so small that when the community starts to grow, the only room is upwards. Building land on the lagoon requires a lot of wood, not to mention that the house occupies too much area, and the streets will become intricate. Under the constraints of various conditions, the palace is also built vertically upward like the houses in the slums.

Once the daughter of a wealthy Hispanic businessman named Sara Copio Salam, she became a published poet at an early age. She also opened a literary salon, hosting Christians and Jews. This wonder woman was later accused in the most horrific way, denying the immortality of the soul, which was heresy for both Jews and Christians.

There was a book she published that was a manifesto in which she denied the allegations, yet her life became miserable, no one wanted to go to her salon anymore, she was robbed by servants and marginalized in society.

If there is too much difference between a person and the world, this is the fate. After all, people are still social animals with a certain degree of similarity. If the difference is too large, they will be rejected.

Boys will feel uncomfortable if girls force them to smoke, drink, and talk about politics and military affairs with boys. Similarly, when women are chatting, men will also have scruples.

Compromise is necessary to get along with the group. Severus and even the whole Slytherin are the kind of people who are unwilling to compromise and seem to be very out of gregarious. Bringing this kind of person to the salon will disturb everyone's elegance.

It doesn't matter if you wear a mask and mix with the carnival crowd. No one will recognize him, and he won't look out of place because of the mask.

There are no clubs in Venice. Although there are many bars that are open until late with live DJ performances, the mainstream nightlife and socializing is still the opera house.

Opera originated in the Baroque period. It was originally a musical form created by a group of humanists in Florence, Italy, to revive the drama tradition of the Greek period. Later, it influenced Venice. Just like the painting school, Venice also had its own opera school. In the following half a century, more than a dozen opera houses have been opened in Venice, and a large number of talented composers and playwrights have composed music and scripts for them. The more famous ones include Chesti, Cavalli and others. The Venetian opera scenes in this period were sometimes extravagant to the point of exaggeration, and they began to use lighting, props, scenery and other means to set off the plot.

Judging from the relationship between Rousseau, Mrs. Warren, and Mrs. Dupin, there are not many serious people in the salon, and Voltaire is an exception. After all, he is not called "European conscience".

Opera is not an elegant art. The opera "Jason" written by Cavalli describes such a story. The Argonauts went to Colchis and met King Aeetes. The king promised Jason to complete Those two impossible missions will get you the Golden Fleece. The king's daughter Medea was shot by Cupid's arrow and fell in love with Jason. Although Jason is married to Isfele, Queen of Lemunos and has two children, he is still tempted by Medea and falls in love.

The adulterer who cheated in marriage, Medea didn't know that he was married and had children, Medea treasoned for Jason, and even killed her brother and broke his body into pieces, but what happened in the end? ?

In the original story, Medea said to all the women who sympathized with her, "Among all rational and spiritual creatures, we women are the most unfortunate. It is unfortunate for a woman to not marry when she reaches an age; You have to pay a lot of money to buy a dowry, but you find a master for yourself; what's worse, it's even more miserable if you marry a bad guy. Because divorce is a dishonorable thing for a woman, but we can't blow a bad husband Going out of the house. In this way, the first thing a woman has to learn after marriage is how to control her husband. If she succeeds, then life is enviable, otherwise, it would be better to die."

In Cavalli's opera, the one who accuses Jason becomes Hercules.

Jason sang: Joy and joy fill my soul, the joy of love is enough, no more, I don't want more, I have enough joy. In the womb of love and in the bondage of sweetness, death is enough. Fierce tenderness kills me in my lover's arms. Enough is enough, I don't yearn for more, I have enough joy.

Heracleto sang: Either put down your weapons and wear a skirt to live your weak life with your mistress, or return to being a warrior to complete the due battle and win the Golden Fleece.

Jason hesitated very much.

Jason was a great hero, a steadfast leader. But at this time all his goals, to seize the Golden Fleece and regain his kingdom, were all lost with the pervasiveness of lust. Even the accusations of his friends could not arouse the fighting spirit in his heart. Facing all kinds of monsters and ghosts, he was fearless, hesitating in love and desire.

If Florindo is faithful, I will fall in love.

If it's a faithful Florindo, I'll fall in love.

Cupid drew the trembling bowstring.

It doesn't matter, I will protect myself in a seemingly calm way.

Praying, crying and complaining, I will never hear again.

But if he is faithful, I will fall in love.

If Florindo is faithful, I will fall in love.

Full of the pain and confusion of a middle-aged man.

Music in Venice will not be the same as Michael Jackson in the United States, which makes people watching the concert faint with excitement. Even if there is Italian-style rock and roll, it will not be unrestrained.

The nightclubs where young people hang out are always full of hustle and bustle. Paradiso is in an old slum. After Napoleon tore down the gates of the Jewish Quarter, this community gradually disappeared. In addition to the 43 years of eviction, almost all the residents moved out.

Someone bought the store and turned it into a nightclub. From the first floor to the roof, everyone "dances" under the dizzying fluorescent lights.

The light, and the people screaming and screaming in masks, made Pomona feel that this place was scary, not at all like the name of the store—heaven.

The paradise she understands is the seaside beach where she stayed just now, with the pink sunset and pink clouds, not the one in front of her eyes.

"How do you feel?" Monica said cheerfully. The air on the roof is better, and you can see the scenery of Venice, and the bartender is performing fancy bartending.

"I want to hold my wand." Pomona said cautiously, no wonder there are rumors that there will be vampires here, and the young blood surging in the veins can make the living dead feel alive.

"Don't drink from here." Severus looked at the wine and said to Monica and Alessandro, "Maybe I misunderstood the meaning of the carnival, I thought the carnival was to celebrate that I was alive, not desperate court death."

"I'm getting out of here!" said Pomona in disgust. "This place stinks."

It was a stench that could not be concealed even with high-quality perfume. No wonder Quirrell smelled of garlic.

When the scent and the smell are mixed together, people will distinguish the source of the two smells, and if they are both, they will rush to avoid them, and don't bother to smell them at all.

Truth is a beautiful and terrible thing, and a true conqueror would never try to escape death. He embraces mortality, knowing that there are far worse things in the world of the living than death.

To the sober-minded, death is just another great adventure, exploring uncharted territory; only the muddled-headed hope for immortality.

Have no pity for the dead, pity for the living, and above all, pity for those who live without love.

Because sometimes they don't know whether they are in hell or heaven.

Humans have existed on the earth for millions of years, and during this long period of time, humans have been constantly evolving. But why didn't human evolution take the path of immortality?

Reproduction is a hallmark of living things. Reproduction in the human sense probably refers to the behavior of producing offspring through mating.

For billions of years, cyanobacteria have basically not changed, because water bodies such as the ocean are basically stable environments and have not changed for a long time. Therefore, single-celled organisms such as cyanobacteria do not need to change.

Cyanobacteria have always used cell division to reproduce. In a sense, this creature is immortal.

Human beings have given up immortality for the sake of evolution, and genes have produced different combinations in the continuous division and recombination to adapt to the ever-changing environment.

Dinosaurs became extinct, as did mammoths and saber-toothed tigers at the same time as humans. Only humans stood at the top of the food chain.

This is why wizards discriminate against vampires, even though they are elegant and noble blood in the eyes of Muggles.

Essentially, they are parasites like lice, and without a human host they cannot make blood on their own, because they are not living people.

Avada Kedavra has no effect on them.

The kind of death that leaves no trace, as if falling asleep, is not suitable for them. Avada Kedavra is still useful after the werewolf is transformed, although they will maintain the appearance of wolves when they die, which does not look beautiful at all.

But they are still living creatures after all, going through the process of birth, old age, sickness and death, and there are good people like Remus Lupin.

His first class at Hogwarts was with a Boggart, the one that attacked his Muggle mother when her wizard father rescued her.

Don't care how "funny" the spell is, as long as it's effective, use a "front tooth stick" to deal with vampires, or put bricks and rocks in the vampire's mouth if it's Muggle, if they can't bite people, they're nothing to be afraid of.