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Jim Morrison's grave, Paris.
One of my favorite internet sites is Find A Grave. While some people
might find that morbid, for me it is just a matter of historical and
cultural interest.
My favorite grave to present is Jim Morrison's grave.
The site gives a good bit of information about Jim's plot in the La Pere
Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. There have been some strange goings-on there
over the years.
"The grave unmarked for many years became much to the chagrin of cemetery
officials a number one Paris tourist destination. A stone block was
placed over his sealed grave after many attempts to unearth the grave
were made by fans of the occult and mysticism who came from around the
world, performed devil worship rites, sexual orgies and had drug
parties at the grave site. They came over the walls at night. Security
guards with dogs patrolled the grounds while cameras to survey the grave
were installed along with night lighting. Litter, wine bottles, drug
needles and graffiti were left behind. Souvenir hunters took every thing
that could be uprooted or torn free." (from Find A Grave)
Sounds pretty wild. I'm sure Jim appreciated the parties for him.
Find A Grave also has one unusual feature. You can leave virtual flowers
and a note for the person you've come to visit. At the time of this
post, 3788 mourners have left notes for Jim. It is interesting to look
through the notes. Some obvious cases of obsession here, no doubt. And
then other ones that are more of what you would expect, and which I take
a great joy in reading, like this one:
"Hey my love. How's you? Anyways, just wanted to say I love you lots,
wish you were here; can't wait to meet you! I did some crazy ass drugs
just for you this weekend! Party on…"
Not that I am encouraging drug use or anything. But we are talking about
Jim Morrison's grave here — not Emily Dickinson's.
Some of the notes lean toward the more poetic side.
"Angels always sing with accord."
There is an ancient Greek phrase on Jim's grave.
KATA TON DAIMONA EAYTOY
If there's anybody out there who has studied Greek, I would certainly give
you my heartfelt thanks if you could translate it for me.
Yeah, the blue bus is comin' for all of us. I think that what matters is
not what you have in life, or how much time you have, it's what you do in
life that counts. And in spite of his short span Jim did a lot, no doubt
about it. So it's impossible to be sad. Now….let's get this party going.
I don´t know the first thing in Greek.But I have been to that place in Paris. 1981. I tell you, there were some weirdoes hanging around that place. Goth-like young girls sleeping there – if they were able to hide from the watchmen of the cemetary. Freaked out characters performing obscure rituals with candles and chicken´s bones.Allsorts indeed.But I spoke to someone passing by just as myself, and we talked about that sentence. He knew what it meant, or at least he said he did. As I remeber it, the sentence would say "Against the Demon within" in English.It doesn´t really make sense to me – so I am probably just as interested in finding out if anyone would be so kind as to enlighten us uneducated souls here as you are, Edward 😉
Wow, thanks for the great ancedotes Allan. That really adds to what was posted on Find A Grave. As far as the Greek, I remember the the word "daimon" was used in the context of Socrates for some reason. Which probably doesn't help much. And none of the archaeologists I know personally are Classical archaeologists. I guess we can just hope I get some kind visitor who happened to do their shooling at Eaton in GB or something.But to be honest, that translation at least has the right feel to it. Thanks a million for the supplement!
Just wait for the expert. Or take Bob's word for it that <<The meaning intended by the Morrison family when the inscription was selected is "True to his own spirit.">>A quick search also shows it might be translated "against the devil himself". Or "(to act) according to own spirit (will)". Yeah, the daimon was not evil, arguably quite the contrary (minor deity, attendant spirit, luck, fortune, "guiding star" and the like). Or Old Greek "The devil within himself" or Modern Greek "The genius in his mind", but also "He caused his own demons".
Well it seems we have quite a grab-bag there to chose from! Thanks, Dan, for the analysis!
that´s pretty neat! i like that, celebrating a person´s existance… :hat:hail on Jim! :p
Anonymous writes:the greek is when self demon
Uh well thanks for visiting my little blog here! 😀