Lararium of Chiuthyphro's Villa:
Her Personal Page
(Alas, no, this is not a picture of me! But she does have my black hair, dark coloring--and taste for the dramatic. She is actually the "Pavonia," 1867, by Leighton.)
Welcome to the lararium of the villa, so to speak. In a Roman home, the lararium was the room in which the lares of the family were kept, as well as the momentos of one's ancestors. It was a place in which to remember your forebears, and perhaps to understand yourself better by better understanding them. What better way to get acquainted with a family? Since you followed me here from the main doors of my villa, I surmise that you would like to know a bit more about my family and myself?
What answers would you like to discover?
"What's in a name? A classicist by any other name would smell as sweet."
The inevitable question is at hand: what kind of bizarre name is "Chiuthyphro" and however did you come by it? And why, if you are a Roman persona, do you not have a decent Roman name? (ah, yes, I'm such a disgrace to the Empire, I am certain.) I've been "Chiuthyphro" for some time now; some fellow classicists coined it, punning my surname "Chiu" with "Euthyphro," a character in Plato's dialogue of the same name. I've been Chiuthyphro ever since (sometimes it suits me all too well. Euthyphro was one of the great blockheads of classical literature, after all).
To make matters worse--or better, depending on your view--there are those who occasionally call me "Xena," after the television heroine. Confused? I actually do have a Roman name as well. As a member of the AncientSites online community for studying the ancient world, I have one. I chose my first name to be "Lepida," a good Latin name, with some nice ties to neoteric poetry and Catullus. (Imperium vivat--with SPQR, which every good Latinist knows stands for "the Society for the Prevention of Quelty to Romans.")
The name chaos worsens from here on out. A great many of my college friends refer to me as "Weave" or some variant thereof, with "Weavage" being a favorite. The reference is, of course, to my hair, which happens to be waist-length…The joke naturally is that all those tresses couldn't possibly be all real. (And yes, they are, thanks.) Finally, my brother calls me "Che," the Taiwanese for "(elder) Sis." With all those names, I could well be a Pharaoh of ancient Egypt--they had some five names in their titularies…
But, of course, on business letterheads I can't engrave "Chiuthyphro" or "Lepida" or "Weave" or "Che." My actual name is Angeline Chiu in English and Chiu An-Leng in my native Taiwanese and also in Mandarin Chinese.
I'm a first-generation Taiwanese-American, born in Fort Worth, Texas, on 13 November, 1973, where my parents were foreign students at Texas Christian University. I grew up in Houston, and in 1992 graduated with honors from Langham Creek High School in the Cypress-Fairbanks ISD. From there I went on to Baylor University in Waco, where I double-majored in English and History with a minor in Spanish and a certification in Asian Studies. I studied in the Honors Program, graduating with my bachelor's degree magna cum laude in May 1997.
I'm currently a graduate student, with my primary focus in classical studies, especially where it overlaps with medieval culture. That, and I am very much interested in the interplay between classics and popular culture, be that pop culture medieval, Renaissance, or contemporary.Starting in Fall 1998. I'll be studying at the University of Vermont, who just offered me a grand fellowship!
I'm thankful for a great family: my parents Earnest and Grace Chiu, and my brother Jeff, who's three and a half years younger than I am and currently with me at Baylor as a computer science major. Jeff, otherwise known to our circle of friends as Jeeves, Chinoboy, and "Ti" (the Taiwanese for "younger brother"), is a laugh a minute--really a great guy. And no, he didn't pay me to say that. Unlike many another pair of siblings in Rome, we have yet to make attempts on each other's lives--serious ones, anyway…
And mine is a fun family, with a fascinating heritage. Being Asian is a rich enough heritage already--I love multiculturalism in one's own house--but there's a little skeleton in the family closet. Actually, it's a big skeleton, and it's on a pedestal in Tamsui, Taiwan. His name was George Leslie MacKay, a Scotsman who traveled to Taiwan in the 1880s as a Christian missionary.
When he arrived, he busied himself as a teacher, naturalist, writer, and dentist along with being a minister. He founded various schools, including Tamsui's first girls' school, and established a church. Later he married a Taiwanese girl, and they had three children. MacKay died and was buried in Taiwan. Today there is a hospital, MacKay Memorial, named in his honor, as well as a statue of him, to commemorate his work and life. MacKay Memorial's website has a good bio of George, as well as a good number of photographs.
MacKay lived and worked nearly a century ago, in the 1880s. From there fast-forward a few generations, and you have me: I'm all Taiwanese blood except for a touch of Scottish heritage, courtesy of old George, my great-great-grandfather. It's no small legacy, and I'm quite proud of it (me, the Celtic Asian!). He introduced education and learning to rural Taiwan, and gave his community a legacy of faith that still remains. Nice footsteps to follow, eh?
And I enjoy remembering the mad, dedicated Scot who undertook six-month-long sea voyages, roamed through the tropical Taiwanese jungles, faced death threats from aborigines, and found romance with a beautiful native girl. And it all really happened; you can read it in his autobiography From Far Formosa (here's an excerpt) and in the archives at Tamsui. Cheers to you, George.
I did a bit of research on the Scottish part of me and found not a few interesting facts. Here are a few relevant links to Clan MacKay online (and also to Scottish genealogy in general):
The MacKay Badge**The MacKay Tartan**The Clan MacKay**More on Clan MacKay
Find Your Clan**The Gathering of the Clans
As for researching my Asian genealogy, I'm having a bit of trouble with it. It's difficult to go back easily for more than the last two or three generations. Documents are harder to mess with, being in Chinese and still in Taiwan, for example; also, what I can find is not linkable. Even so, with luck I'll have some links one day soon. I may be writing my own compilation of research, but hey, someone has to!
Well, I'm such a temperamental, workaholic oddball that I'm surprised I have friends at all--why would anyone in their right mind want to put up with me, anyway? But I find that I do have wonderful friends who enrich my life everyday and keep me sane. Most of them are camera-shy and won't let me give their names or images on the Web. (But I know and you know who you are.)
Several, however, have their own personal homepages which you may find interesting. I'm working on the links...
Keith Brown
Ron Kim
One of my compatriots is known on the Net as Ruacougar, so I will one day soon address a small "hall of fame" to her without using her true identity. Thanks, Rua.
The word in Latin means internal, hidden, innate talent. I'm using it as a question because I'm not quite sure if I have any true ingenium for my interests, though I enjoy them immensely. My tastes and pursuits tend to be a bit eclectic, and here they are listed, along with a few relevant links.
Star Trek: check out the Star Trek Webrings
Yahoo's Surfers' Picks for Cool Sites
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Back to the Main Doors of the Villa
Send the Chatelaine Chiuthyphro a scroll:
Please remember to sign my guestbook.
Rome was not built in a day. But it was started in one.
Homepages are not built in a day. But they too can be started in one.
Build your own free homepage with Geocities, host of this website.
