Xenophon created the Cyropaedia in the 4th century B.C, a semi-factual work about Cyrus the Great.  In some tangental link, I have been trying to compile my own encyclopaedia of my ideas and inspirational images for over a year now, using the Cyrus Garden Blog as  the framework on which to hang it. Everytime I get nearer the end it concertinas out like a long, metal Slinky, revealing more ideas, more images more of interest. And whether to stay in print format or go with the digital-only version, goodness knows.  My latest attempt is to simply cover the letters A to D as a first volume, with a severly implemented cut-off point beyond which no new subjects will be included.


Perhaps it is more of a compendium or a directory or an inventory than an encyclopaedia? 
Encyclopaedia: Origin; mid 16th cent.: modern Latin, from pseudo-Greek enkuklopaideia for enkuklios paideia ‘all-around education.’ My book certainly won't be 'all-round' but decidedly 2 or 3 sided, partial and with large gaps in it.

Nicola Naismith sent me this image from a shop front in Norwich. Perhaps an alternative model for the book?

I've finally got hold of a postcard of the fabulous tomb of Cyrus the Great, once set within what may be considered the first four-quartered garden or chahar bagh. I've sneaked some streaks of neon yellow onto the image, for a direct comparison with my sculpture, "The House is Black" from a couple of years ago.  The form of this was, of course, based on Cyrus' tomb.
the tomb is at Pasargadae.


A brief mention of the plan to build the Sivand Dam somewhere between Pasargadae and Persepolis - a somewhat controversial proposal due to the unreliability of the flood plain level and also the increased humidity levels that experts believe will accelerate the destruction of Pasargadae - a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Tomb- House-Bunker-Tomb

Because of constructing the Bunker-House-Bunker, thinking about house shapes and the The House is Black form taken from Cyrus' tomb.  This image is from an engraving from Flandin  and Coste's Voyages en Perse 1840-1842. 

And so it goes full-circle, to the tomb-like bunker of Paul Virillio's Standardised Valhalla and the camouflaged bunkers that had a dual potential of home and tomb.

Satellite studio visit

Satellite studio visit to Jo Chapman's temporary studio in Downham Market. Jo's done some beautiful drawings of personality-filled apple trees. Four of the Satellite group visited and we discussed ancient orchards. It reminded me of the Garden of Cyrus line about trees in rows and grids, Cyrus, " disposing his trees like his armies in regular ordination ..... brought the treasures of the field into rule and circumspection". I visited a gnarly old orchard in Alfriston some days ago, all propped up branches and rapidly ripening fruit. I had black mulberries off a tree there - the first time since being horribly sick after eating mulberries in a Chaikhaneh / teahouse in the mountains outside Tehran. These ones were explosively juicy and I had some more a couple of days later off the grand tree at Great Dixter.