Marillion - Explanations of Song Elements: Mad

'Amazon and Eskimo'
Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia says: "In Greek mythology the Amazons were a nation of female warriors ruled by a queen. No man was permitted to dwell in their country, which was located on the south coast of the Black Sea. They occasionally had sexual relations with men form neighbouring tribes. Male infants were sent to their fathers, in a neighbouring land or killed. The girls were trained in agriculture, hunting, and the art of war.

The custom of burning off the right breast was practiced to facilitate bending bows, hence the name 'Amazon', deriving from the Greek for 'breastless'. In art in which they were recently depicted, they are depicted as beautiful fair-skinned women with no apparent mutilation.

The term 'Eskimo' for people from the northern circumpolar region (chiefly comprising the Inuit and Yupik people, plus other Indigenous Alaskan and Siberian people) is controversial - there are groups in Alaska that regard it as the correct term, and some in Canada that regard it as a slur. The word is believed by many to have derived from a Cree word meaning 'eaters of raw meat', which offended because so-called Eskimos no more ate raw meat than anyone else. Scholars dispute this is the etymology, suggesting it comes from an Inuit term relating to lacing of a snowshoe.

Nevertheless, there is no other group term that is acceptable and in legal documentation both 'Inuit' (meaning 'the people') and 'Eskimo' are used.

'Troy'
Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia says: "Troy (or Ilium), ancient city in n.w. Asia Minor famous in Greek legend; scene of Trojan War.

TROJAN WAR.

The romantic images conjured up by legends sometimes obscure the real-life truths that inspired them. Because the Homeric epic 'The Iliad' involved ancient Greek gods and goddesses in fantasies of heroism and revenge, the poem's background the end of the Trojan War after a 10-year siege of Troy seems to be part of the mythology.

There really was a city named Troy in north-eastern Asia Minor. Its existence was proved by the archaeological work of Heinrich Schliemann, who began his excavations there in 1870. Eventually evidence of at least nine cities was uncovered on the spot cities that existed from about 3000 BC until the Roman period 30 centuries later. The inspiration for the Homeric legend, and the many versions of it that followed, is probably the city at the level numbered II. Ancient Troy was destroyed by fire in about the 13th, or possibly early 12th, century BC.

The stories about the Trojan War were based on an actual struggle over control of the rich trade routes through the Hellespont (the Dardanelles). In the more familiar mythology, the initial cause was a kidnapping that resulted from an act of vengeance by a goddess with a golden apple. Ambiguously inscribed "For the fairest," the so-called apple of discord led to a beauty contest. After Paris, the son of the king of Troy, chose Aphrodite as the winner, she helped him abduct Helen, the wife of the king of Sparta. The capture of Troy by Greeks hidden in a hollow wooden horse was also a myth."

'Charlemagne'
Compton's Interactive Encyclopedia says: "(742?-814). "By the sword and the cross," Charlemagne (Charles the Great) became master of Western Europe. It was falling into decay when Charlemagne became joint king of the Franks in 768. Except in the monasteries, people had all but forgotten education and the arts. Boldly Charlemagne conquered barbarians and kings alike. By restoring the roots of learning and order, he preserved many political rights and revived culture.

"Charlemagne's grandfather was Charles Martel, the warrior who crushed the Saracens. Charlemagne was the elder son of Bertrade ("Bertha Greatfoot") and Pepin the Short, first "mayor of the palace" to become king of the Franks. Although schools had almost disappeared in the 8th century, historians believe that Bertrade gave young Charles some education and that he learned to read. His devotion to the church motivated him throughout life.

"Charlemagne's character was contradictory. In an age when the usual penalty for defeat was death, Charlemagne several times spared the lives of his defeated foes; yet in 782 at Verden, after a Saxon uprising, he ordered 4,500 Saxons beheaded. He compelled the clergy and nobles to reform, but he divorced two of his four wives without any cause. He forced kings and princes to kneel at his feet, yet his mother and his two favorite wives often overruled him in his own household.

"At Charlemagne's death in 814 only one of his three sons, Louis, was living. Louis's weak rule brought on the rise of civil wars and revolts. After his death his three quarrelling sons split the empire between them by the Partition of Verdun in 843.

"Charlemagne is chiefly remembered not for his victories and the size of his empire but for the special blend of tradition and innovation that he represented. On the one hand he was a traditional Germanic warrior who spent most of his adult life fighting but on the other, placed his immense power and prestige at the service of Christian doctrine, the monastic life, the teaching of Latin, the copying of books and the rule of law. His life, held up as a model to most later kings, thus embodies the fusion of Germanic, Roman and Christian cultures that became the basis of European culture."

Song Listing

Songs with a link have explanations. Now Wash Your Hands is a separate link to Alone Again.