Word: emperor
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...Emperor Bokassa's $20 million coronation [Dec. 19] was an insult to the black man's pride. This extravaganza staged in the poor country of Central Africa is not to be criticized for its lavishness. It lifts the hearts and eyes of millions of depressed people. It gives them something to dream about and stories for their great-grandchildren...
...great dramas of history was enacted between the 3rd and 7th centuries A.D.: the slow collapse of Rome, the fading of its empire and, with it, the death of the classical world. The age of Christianity was officially brought to term when the Emperor Constantine formally embraced the new faith and in A.D. 324-330 moved the capital of the Roman Empire from Rome to Constantinople. But across the still vast spread of the imperial territories, which ran from the Euphrates to Gibraltar, there was no clean break with the old religions. For 400 years, the remnants of the pagan...
...extravaganza that few of the 3,500 guests from 43 nations would ever forget-or forgive. The scene was Bangui, dusty upriver capital of the Central African Empire (formerly Republic), and the event was the coronation last week of the continent's only Emperor since the deposition and death of Ethiopia's Haile Selassie. Sweltering in the 100° heat and 90% humidity, the guests, in morning coats and Parisian gowns, struggled to attention as a voice boomed out over the loudspeaker: "Sa Majesté Impériale, I'Empereur Bokassa Premier...
Entering his coronation palace-actually, a sports arena disguised with flowers and rich draperies-Emperor Bokassa looked cool and calm. He wore a white robe set off with two striped sashes in the C.A.E.'s national colors (blue, white, green, yellow and red) and a wreath of golden laurel on his balding head. Ascending his throne-shaped in the form of a giant eagle, with a 13.6-ft. wingspan, 800 gilded feathers and a seat carved out of the bird's belly-Bokassa donned a flowing ermine and velvet cape with a 39-ft. train. The Emperor then...
...coronation cost about $20 million, which was a bit much for a country whose annual gross domestic product (mostly from diamonds, cotton and timber) is only $250 million. Kenya's Sunday Nation wrote sarcastically about Bokassa's "clowning glory." Zambia's Daily Mail deplored the new Emperor's "obnoxious excesses." Bokassa was unfazed by such criticism, since he knows full well that others will end up paying for his little ceremony. The Emperor will accept aid money from anyone, and currently receives it from South Africa, China and the Soviet Union. The bulk of the largesse...