Clouds As Ancient Symbols

In The Deadliest Hate, the second novel in the Miriam bat Isaac Mystery Series, Miriam heads to Caesarea aboard her cousin’s ship. She amuses herself in the deckhouse lounge with the caricature of Socrates portrayed in Aristophanes’s play The Clouds.

The play follows an elderly Athenian man who enrolls in a school run by Socrates to learn how to argue his way out of paying his debts. And so, Aristophanes ridicules the growing tendency among intellectuals and sophists to subvert traditional Athenian values.

Clouds are defined by their distinctive shape. The definition for cumulus clouds is clouds that have a flat base along with a fluffy or puffy appearance. Their name “cumulus” derives from the Latin word cumulus, meaning “heap” or “pile”.  The Athenians might have thought of cumulus clouds as fluffs of hot air, but in fact they are formed as air warmed at the surface of the Earth begins to rise, which causes their temperature to drop.

The opposite will happen to you as you read The Deadliest Hate. Your temperature will rise as Judean terrorist target Miriam for assassination. To find out how she eludes them, click here.