DRACULA WAS A HERO?SCHOOL”TIBERIU MORARIU” SALVA,ROMANIAA15-TRADITIONAL GAMES IN IPAD? A CHALLENGING QUEST.

ERASMUS+PROJECT “BRIDGING THREE GENERATIONS: TIMELESS GAMES AND TOYS”

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Vlad III Dracula, better known as Vlad the Impaler (Tepes), was a member of the House of Draculesti, a branch of the House of Basarab. Vlad III was born in late 1431 in Sighisoara, a city in Transylvania, Kingdom of Hungary, where he is a folk hero to the locals.

A huge bust of Vlad III sits on a high pedestal just outside the city hall. His father's surname, Dracul, was bestowed upon Vlad II when he was inducted into the Order of the Dragon. Dracul is the Romanian name for Dragon. Vlad III was given the name Dracula, meaning "son of Dracul, or son of the dragon".

Vlad III Dracula was one of the most notorious leaders in history. After his death, he was dubbed with the name Vlad Tepes, which means Vlad the Impaler.

Dracula's supposedly excessive cruelty to his enemies gave him a reputation that kept his name prominent in history. Vlad Tepes was famous for impaling his victims and displaying the impaled dead like a forest of corpses, with the leaders on a higher stake than their soldiers.

Vlad Tepes and his brother Radu cel Frumos, were given to the Ottoman sultan in 1442 as hostages when their father made a treaty with the Ottomans. For the next several years, Vlad Tepes was trained in warfare and horseback riding. He was given education in logic, learned the Quran and was taught the Turkish language, which he became fluent in. He was instructed to become familiar with the literature of the Turks.

After his father, Vlad II, and his brother, Mircea II, were brutally murdered, Vlad Tepes was installed on the throne by the Ottomans when they invaded Wallachia. The term of this reign did not last very long, but he ruled again in 1456-1462, and yet again in 1476.

Vlad Tepes wasn’t the nicest guy, but he was also a ruler during a turbulent time in history. Romanians view him as a national hero for successfully defending the country from thieves, helping restore order to the land, and even successfully defending against Turkish invaders who feared his methods of impalement.

The Turkish empire at the time was a big threat to all of Europe, and Vlad Tepes( Vlad the Impaler’s) r—was recognized as a hero in many other European countries, with the king of Hungary, Sigismund of Luxemburg, knighting Vlad Tepes into the Order of the Dragon for protecting Europe on the battlefield.

That was just the tip of the iceberg though, with princes from Genoa to Germany—and even the pope—praising Vlad Tepes.

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For Romanian Orthodox Christians in the Byzantine tradition, Dracula was a hero who held back the invading Ottoman armies longer than most leaders managed to do. He was a Christian hero, in spite of his sadism toward his own people. Of course for the Ottomans he was a barbarian, who was attacking the fringes of their civilization. It's very interesting to see him from all these points of view.

Nobody believed, in Dracula's lifetime or in many centuries after his lifetime, that he was a vampire. That connection--putting the Dracula name on a vampire--was completely invented by Bram Stoker, in his 1897 novel "Dracula." But there was, and still is in places, this very strong Eastern European belief in vampires.

The vampire is an incarnation of evil in East European folklore, and can be opposed only by a mixture of rituals, some of which are Christian and some of which probably pre-date Christianity.

Bram Stoker( Irish) based his novel Dracula on the real life historical figure Vlad Tepes. Although there is no evidence that Vlad the Impaler was a real vampire, it’s fun to stretch the imagination a bit. At the same time, vampire stories have been a part of the myths and  folklore of Romania for many centuries, and Bram Stoker likely came across these myths while doing the background research for his novel. That research did NOT include actually visiting Transylvania or any part of Romania to get the real story on Vlad the Impaler.

The Romanians weren’t quite aware of what these visitors were referring to, but quickly realized that there was a fledgling tourism opportunity. They created tourist sites and guided tours to sate the west’s hunger for all things Dracula. Even if these tourist creations were a bit tacky and contrived, they only helped cement the legacy of vampires in Romania

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The Dracula legend was known for centuries in Eastern Europe through folk songs and epic poetry. It was reintroduced in its new supernatural form by Hollywood.

After the fall of communism, the Romanian people became aware of the novel Dracula that was and still is popular in the west. American and British tourist showed up wanting to see the sites where Dracula lived and did all his evil deeds.

Now Romanians are very aware of Dracula because he's become a major export and a tourist attraction. For some Romanians that's a discouraging thing, but for others it's a way to attract western tourists. The historical Dracula is a very complicated figure

Many Romanians are proud of Dracula as a national hero.

THANK YOU FOR ATTENTION!

TEACHER VASILICA GAZDACTEACHER LUMINITA -MARIA CUCEU

TEACHER CRINA LINULTEACHER ANA-FLOAREA SIMIONESE

TEACHER ANA-ADRIANA POPTEACHER DANIEL POP

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