Posted on 07/28/2002 11:37:32 AM PDT by Hacksaw
Ivan the Terrible
Stalin admired him. The rest of Europe believed he was mad. What is certain is that he was one of the most ruthless tyrants in history.
The name 'Ivan the Terrible' conjours up images of senseless cruelty and paranoia. Yet, for many in Russia, he is a national hero. Ivan appears to be a man of huge contradictions - a man of God who personally tortured his victims and beat his own son to death; a hardened despot who often behaved like a coward, asking his ally, Elizabeth I of England, for political asylum; a man who believed himself chosen to save the souls of his people, but who brutally put thousands to death in carefully orchestrated purges.
Born in 1530, Ivan was only three when he inherited the Russian throne following his father's death. At the age of seven, tragedy struck again when his mother was poisoned by nobles at court. By his early teens, he was already displaying some of his uglier traits. He would throw live animals from towers and appeared to derive pleasure from doing so.
Ivan was crowned Russia's first Tsar at the age of 17. Three weeks later he married, having chosen his bride in a national virgin competition. Virgins over the age of twelve were brought to the Kremlin to be paraded before him. He chose Anastasia, the daughter of a minor noble, and their marriage proved to be a very close one.
Ivan had huge ambitions for his new Imperial dynasty. He launched a holy war against Russia's traditional enemy - the Tartars - showing no mercy to these Muslim peoples and decimating their cultural heritage. Ivan's conquest of Kazan and later Astrakhan and Siberia gave birth to a sixteenth century personality cult glorifying him as the Orthodox crusader.
His wife Anastasia helped to hold his cruelty in check, but in 1560 she died. He accused his nobles of poisoning her, and became even more mentally unstable. Until recently, most scholars have dismissed Ivan's accusation of murder as evidence of his paranoia. But recent forensic tests on Anastasia's remains have revealed more than ten times the normal levels of mercury in her hair. It is likely, that Anastasia was indeed murdered, sending Ivan into a downward spiral of murder and cruelty.
He set up a bodyguard that has been described as Russia's first 'secret police' - the Oprichniki - as a religious brotherhood sworn to protecting God's Tsar. In reality, they became marauding thugs, ready to commit any crime in the Tsar's name. Ivan sentenced thousands to internal exile in far flung parts of the empire. Others were condemned to death; their families and servants often killed as well. Ivan would give detailed orders about the executions, using biblically inspired tortures to reconstruct the sufferings of hell. More than 3,000 people lost their lives in Ivan's attack on Novgorod alone. In a fit of rage, Ivan struck his son and heir dead with his staff. Mad with sorrow and guilt, he had a dramatic volte face, posthumously forgiving all those he'd executed and paying for prayers to be said for their souls. Before his death, Ivan was re-christened as the monk Jonah and buried in his monk's habit - in the hope of finding ultimate forgiveness.
Wrong, wrong, wrong - there is no "J" sound in Latin. Say it with me - "ee-yoo-lee-oos Kaiser"
- general_re, who had his own version of Mrs. McAlpin to deal with ;)
The son of a tsar is a "tsarevich" (öàðåâè÷)...
The daughter of a tsar is "tsarevna" (öàðåâíà).
A prince in Russian is a "Knyaz'" (êíÿçü)...
A princess is a "knyaginya" (êíÿãèíèÿ).
(You'll have to set your encoding in your browser's 'View' pulldown to "Cyrillic-Windows" to be able to view the Russian in Cyrillic Russian text).
I can't recall the source, but it's my understanding that 'Czarina' is the wife of the Czar; and 'Czaritza' is her title as Queen and Empress.
I still know my declentions and conjugations.
She's one of the best teachers I ever had (and I've had well over 27 years of education--lots of teachers)--strictly no nonsense. You did not come to her class unprepared. No chewing gum. Girls could not have their hair in curlers. (I went to a very tacky high school.) Everyone was afraid to peep. And she didn't make friends with the students. I loved Latin, was always prepared, made straight A's, was fascinated every day in class.
The next year I had one of the worst teachers I'ver ever had. She had pets. (I wasn't one. I always had an unfortunate talent for letting teachers know what I thought of them.) There was no discipline. Cheating on tests was the general custom. She was particularly interested in who was "popular" and befriended those who were. I didn't learn anything. I was disappointed. (My sister, who was very "popular" was crazy about her, and vice versa.) The final semester, she gave me "50" in Latin, which wrecked my average, and promptly left town for the summer so that my parents and I could not protest. Even today, I think of her with no respect.
The first year teacher though I always think of with respect and gratitude. She taught me a lot more than Latin.
So did the second year teacher.
For this reason alone, the character of those in public office is very important.
It is true that checks on public officials today, not present in Ivan's time, prevent most overt acts of depravity, but they do not prevent mischief, depravity, and evil, destructive acts.
This is why it is very significant when someone with a psychopathic personality is elected to a powerful public office. Those who are not alarmed either do not understand the significance; choose not to, possibly because they find it advantageous; or are depraved themselves.
Such people have always been a part of the human race and probably always will be. But they should not be allowed to reach positions of power.
None of my Russian dictionaries even has a listing for the "tsarina" spelling, all only list "tsaritsa" - wife of a tsar.
My Webster's dictionary lists both words, but under "tsaritsa" it simply has, as the definition: = tsarina.
There could be some finer point to the definitions of these two words that I don't know about.... it's just that I've been unable to find it in several dictionaries, nor in my encyclopedia.
In any case, Ivan the Terrible was a real "zhopa".
So, it could be "Yakov-zhelezen" or "Ivan-zhelezen", (where the adjective follows the noun it modifies, so it would be more like "Jack of Iron" in Russian as opposed to Iron Jack) or some other variation along that theme.
BTW, Joseph Stalin derived his name "stalin" from the Russian word for steel, so "Stalin" means "of steel" or "like steel" in Russian. (He was a native Georgian by birth, his real name was Joseph Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili). Many thought he was a real "zhopa" too.
I love languages. I would love to read Dostoyevsky in Russian. I called the Russian embassy in Washington and asked for the correct pronunciation of Rachmaninov and Karinina; they were very helpful.
Saddam Hussien seems to be a good runner up. He has the qualifications - purges of his staff, murder of his relatives, slaughter of his people not suspected of being loyal, and a huge ego.
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