Mostly Vala

thewatermilltheatre on Instagram, 13 August 2023:

It wasn't just on the host. The rules also applied to the guests.

Xenia was basically what allowed for nobles of different cities to network with each other.

Greece, you may have noticed, is mountainous and rocky. If you're ruling with ancient technology the easiest way to set up a government is to put a fortress on a hill and rule everything you can physically see from there. Maintaining an empire of any kind is difficult. Frankly, idk how the Macedonians and Romans pulled it off.

But. Even though they all have different governments there's a general shared culture in the area. Not identical, but they all worship the same gods, speak roughly the same language, and have similar moral codes. There's a specific type of guy who is a noble-born Hellene. A free citizen of a city. A guy who owns property. A guy who is Greek. You know a Greek when you come across one.

So when the noble-born Hellenes are traveling around they are guaranteed safe lodging by the laws of hospitality. They help their host, their host helps them, they eat together, they work together, and this is where the inter-city and inter-regional politics happen. These dinner conversations are where alliances are struck. These rules are what makes travel safe. They keep you from being attacked by your host and keep you from sleeping on the ground.

Aari, also known as Zalakdozi is a form of embroidery originating from Kashmir. The word zalokdozi means chain stitch. Aari embroidery involves only the chain stitch done in concentric rings to fill a pattern. Zalakdozi typically uses wool, cotton, or silk thread. It is done not using a needle, but a hook known as ‘ari’. Using a hook to do this embroidery saves on time and energy as the hook is used to pull a series of loops of the chain stitch, as against the single loops that have to be done using a needle.

Vank church, Isfahan, Iran.

These are what memories are made of