The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia

The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia, also known simply as the Arcadia, is a long prose work by Sir Philip Sidney written towards the end of the 16th century. Having finished one version of his text, Sidney later significantly expanded and revised his work. Scholars today often refer to these two major versions as the Old Arcadia and the New Arcadia. The Arcadia is Sidney's most ambitious literary work by far, and as significant in its own way as his sonnets.

Composition and publication

Sidney's Arcadia has a history that is unusually complex even for its time.

The Old Arcadia

Sidney may have begun an early draft in the late 1570s, when he was in his twenties. His own comments indicate that his purpose was humble; he asserts that he intended only to entertain his sister, Mary Herbert, the Countess of Pembroke. This version is narrated in chronological order, with sets of poems separating the books from each other. It seems likely that Sidney finished this version while staying at Herbert's estate during a temporary eclipse at court in 1580.

Countess of Pembroke

Countess of Pembroke is a title that has been borne by several women throughout history, including:

Arcadia Aegypti

Arcadia or Arcadia Aegypti was a Late Roman province in northern Egypt.

History

It was created between 386 and ca. 395 out of the province of Augustamnica and named for the reigning Byzantine emperor, Arcadius (395 to 408).

The province comprised most of the historical region known as "Heptanomis" ("Seven Nomes"), except for Hermopolis, which belonged to the Thebaid.

In the Notitia Dignitatum, Arcadia forms one of six provinces of the Diocese of Egypt, under a governor with the low rank of praeses.

Episcopal sees

Ancient episcopal sees in the Roman province of Arcadia Aegypti, listed in the Annuario Pontificio as titular sees:

References

Sources

Arcadia (card game)

Arcadia is a collectible card game involving combat and terrain, created in 1996 by White Wolf, Inc. and based around the world of the fae, who are changelings that draw on the dreams of humans. Quests, delineated and represented by cards, are completed by cards similarly representing Characters moving from one Terrain card to an adjacent one until the Quest is completed. The game was discontinued after the base set (subtitled The Wyld Hunt) and a single expansion set (King Ironheart's Madness).

Card types and gameplay

Each player chooses objectives, or quests, and plays upon the table Character cards that, together with modifying cards, move from one Terrain card to the next. Each player may play Waylay cards to thwart their opponents or opponents' progress through the terrain.
Arcadia has no starter packs; playing requires only one character booster pack and one story booster pack for each player, and two dice. Each booster pack includes a rulebook; dice were sold alongside the game.

Arcadia (utopia)

Arcadia (Greek: Ἀρκαδία) refers to a vision of pastoralism and harmony with nature. The term is derived from the Greek province of the same name which dates to antiquity; the province's mountainous topography and sparse population of pastoralists later caused the word Arcadia to develop into a poetic byword for an idyllic vision of unspoiled wilderness. Arcadia is a poetic shaped space associated with bountiful natural splendor and harmony. The 'Garden' is often inhabited by shepherds. The concept also figures in Renaissance mythology. Commonly thought of as being in line with Utopian ideals, Arcadia differs from that tradition in that it is more often specifically regarded as unattainable. Furthermore, it is seen as a lost, Edenic form of life, contrasting to the progressive nature of Utopian desires.

The inhabitants were often regarded as having continued to live after the manner of the Golden Age, without the pride and avarice that corrupted other regions. It is also sometimes referred to in English poetry as Arcady. The inhabitants of this region bear an obvious connection to the figure of the noble savage, both being regarded as living close to nature, uncorrupted by civilization, and virtuous.