OLDEST
I’m starting a series where I am investigating our -est things in the collection. Oldest, largest, smallest, most ——.
This 4,060-year-old clay ("cuneiform") tablet from Umma, modern Djoka, is a receipt signed by the temple scribe and is the oldest item in Special Collections & University Archives at the University of Iowa.
Are there any "-est" or “most —-" items you want to know?
(Photo by Tom Jorgensen).
So that’s why they always seem to be in a foul mood…
Via Grumpy Cat on Twitter
Head of a Buddha, Japan, Heian period, made of wood, lacquer, gilt, and crystal.
This large head was originally part of an eight-foot-tall Buddha, probably that of Amida, creator of the Pure Land of the West. Made of cypress wood, it was lacquered in black and covered with gold leaf, traces of which remain. It bears the requisite characteristics of a Buddha: the crystal third eye emitting infinite light, the tight curls of hair, and the elongated ears.
The head of a Buddhist statue is by far its most important element: the power, meaning, and compassion of the Buddha is expressed through its face. The construction of this head is of an ancient type seen only in sculpture of the eleventh century or before, called wari-hagi-zukuri (splitting, carving out, and rejoining). In this technique the head is first carved from a single large block of wood, then split into halves along a vertical line behind the ears, creating a front half and back half.
Both of these halves are then hollowed out using a chisel, and the two halves rejoined. This technique produces a sculpture that is lighter and far less likely to crack due to dryness. (Robert Singer, Curator Japanese Art)
Courtesy the LACMA, California, USA, via their collections.
Part of a structure thought to be a hospital dating to the Crusader period (1099–1291 CE), has currently been opened to the public following excavations and research by the Israel Antiquities Authority in East Jerusalem.
The building, owned by the Waqf, is situated in the heart of the Christian Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem, in an area known as “Muristan” (a corruption of the Persian word for hospital), near David Street, the main road in the Old City.
Until a decade or so ago the building served as a bustling fruit and vegetable market but it has since stood empty until taken over by the Grand Bazaar Company with the intention to renovate the market as a restaurant. Prior to the development, the Israel Antiquities Authority conducted archaeological evaluations.
The structure, only a small part of which was exposed in the excavation, seems to extend across a large area with massive pillars and ribbed vaults standing more than six metres high. The image conveyed is that of a great hall composed of pillars, rooms and smaller halls.
According to Renee Forestany and Amit Re’em, the excavation directors on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, “We’ve learned about the hospital from contemporary historical documents, most of which are written in Latin. These mention a sophisticated hospital that is as large and as organized as a modern hospital. The hospital was established and constructed by a Christian military order named the “Order of St. John of the Hospital in Jerusalem and known by its Latin name the hospitallers.”
These holy warriors took an oath to care for and watch over pilgrims, and when necessary they joined the ranks of fighters as an elite unit of knights.
The hospital was comprised of departments according to the nature of the illness and the condition of the patient – similar to a modern hospital. In an emergency situation it could accept as many as 2,000 patients and treated sick men and women of any religion, There is even records ensuring their Jewish patients received kosher food.
However, the finer details of medicine and sanitation were lost on them: an eyewitness of the period reports that a Crusader doctor amputated the leg of a warrior just because he had a small infected wound – needless to say the patient died. The Muslim Arab population was instrumental in assisting the western order in establishing the hospital and teaching them medicine. Arab culture has always held the medical profession in high regard and Arab physicians were famous far and wide.
In addition to the medical departments, the hospital also functioned as an orphanage where abandoned newborns were brought. Mothers who did not want their offspring would come there with covered heads and hand over their infants. In many instances when twins were born, one of them was given to the orphanage. The orphans were treated with great devotion and when they reached adulthood they served in the military order.
We can learn about the size of the hospital from contemporary documents. One of the documents recounts an incident about a staff member who was irresponsible in the performance of his work in the hospital. That person was marched alongside the building awhile, and the rest of the staff, with whips in hand, formed a line behind and beat him. This spectacle was witnessed by all of the patients.
The Ayyubid ruler Saladin lived near the hospital following the defeat of the Crusaders, and he renovated and maintained the structure. He permitted ten monks to continue to reside there and serve the population of Jerusalem.
The building collapsed in an earthquake that struck in 1457 CE and was buried beneath its ruins, which is how it remained until the Ottoman period. In the Middle Ages parts of the structure were used as a stable and the bones of horses and camels were found in excavations, alongside an enormous amount of metal that was used in shoeing the animals.
According to M. Shwieki, the project manager, “The magnificent building will be integrated in a restaurant slated to be constructed there, and its patrons will be impressed by the enchanting atmosphere of the Middle Ages that prevails there. The place will be open to the public later this year.”
Source: Israel Antiquities Authority
More Information | |
Cite this articleIsrael Antiquities Authority. Crusader hospital revealed to the public in Jerusalem.Past Horizons. August 5, 2013, from http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/08/2013/crusader-hospital-revealed-to-the-public-in-jerusalem | |
The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago recently posted a new volume in the Oriental Institute Seminars series: Heaven on Earth: Temples, Ritual, and Cosmic Symbolism in the Ancient World (Edited by Deena Ragavan). You can download the book as a PDF for free here (click on the down arrow next to “terms of use”).
Here is the Table of Contents – some good stuff here!
Introduction
1. Heaven on Earth: Temples, Ritual, and Cosmic Symbolism in the Ancient World. Deena Ragavan
Part I: Architecture and Cosmology
2. Naturalizing Buddhist Cosmology in the Temple Architecture of China: The Case of the Yicihui Pillar. Tracy Miller
3. Hints at Temple Topography and Cosmic Geography from Hittite Sources. Susanne Görke
4. Images of the Cosmos: Sacred and Ritual Space in Jaina Temple Architecture in India. Julia A. B. Hegewald
Part II: Built Space and Natural Forms
5. The Classic Maya Temple: Centrality, Cosmology, and Sacred Geography in Ancient Mesoamerica. Karl Taube
6. Seeds and Mountains: The Cosmogony of Temples in South Asia. Michael W. Meister
7. Intrinsic and Constructed Sacred Space in Hittite Anatolia. Gary Beckman
Part III: Myth and Movement
8. On the Rocks: Greek Mountains and Sacred Conversations. Betsey A. Robinson
9. Entering Other Worlds: Gates, Rituals, and Cosmic Journeys in Sumerian Sources. Deena Ragavan
Part IV: Sacred Space and Ritual Practice
10. “We Are Going to the House in Prayer”: Theology, Cultic Topography, and Cosmology in the Emesal Prayers of Ancient Mesopotamia. Uri Gabbay
11. Temporary Ritual Structures and Their Cosmological Symbolism in Ancient
Mesopotamia. Claus Ambos
12. Sacred Space and Ritual Practice at the End of Prehistory in the Southern Levant. Yorke M. Rowan
Part V: Architecture, Power, and the State
13. Egyptian Temple Graffiti and the Gods: Appropriation and Ritualization in Karnak and Luxor. Elizabeth Frood
14. The Transformation of Sacred Space, Topography, and Royal Ritual in Persia and the Ancient Iranian World. Matthew P Canepa
15. The Cattlepen and the Sheepfold: Cities, Temples, and Pastoral Power in Ancient Mesopotamia. Omur Harmansah
Part VI: Images of Ritual
16. Sources of Egyptian Temple Cosmology: Divine Image, King, and Ritual Performer. John Baines
17. Mirror and Memory: Images of Ritual Actions in Greek Temple Decoration. Clemente Marconi
PART VII: Responses
18. Temples of the Depths, Pillars of the Heights, Gates in Between. Davíd Carrasco
19. Cosmos and Discipline. Richard Neer
One of the world’s oldest religions, Zoroastrianism originated amongst Iranian tribes in Central Asia during the second millennium BCE and spread to Iran where it became the principal faith until the advent of Islam. Central to the religion is the belief in a sole creator god, Ahura Mazda, his agent Zarathustra (Zoroaster) and the dichotomy between good and evil.
The Everlasting Flame: Zoroastrianism in History and Imagination to be held at the Brunei Gallery, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London, is the first exhibition of it’s kind to provide a visual narrative of the history of Zoroastrianism, its rich cultural heritage and the influence it has had on the major world religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
The exhibition takes you on a journey from the earliest days to its emergence as the foremost religion of the Achaemenid, Parthian and Sasanian empires of imperial Iran.
Prof. Paul Webley, director of SOAS says “is very proud indeed both of the distinguished researchers and teachers of Zoroastrianism who have been members of the school in the past and of its continuing commitment to the study of Zoroastrianism. We have an endowed chair in Zoroastrianism and a lectureship in Zoroastrianism, which represents a wonderful pool of expertise.
We are also very grateful for the generous support we have received from the Zoroastrian community to continue this work. So it is a real pleasure that we will be hosting at our Brunei Gallery an exhibition on the history of Zoroastrianism – there is no better location for this and I am looking forward greatly to the opening of the exhibition.”
Ten stories within the overall historical narrative explore the fascinating ways in which Zoroastrianism has been imagined through the art, iconography and literature of non-Zoroastrians down the ages. Artefacts, coins and silverware introduce the ancient and imperial periods of Iranian Zoroastrian history.
Illustrated texts and manuscripts written in Avestan, Pahlavi, Persian and Gujarati languages show how the oral tradition was committed to writing during the Sasanian and later periods. . From Iran to India the textiles, paintings, jewellery and furnishings from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries bear witness to the role of Parsis in the China trade that included opium, silk and tea.
A collection of photographs and maps illustrate the wider diaspora in Hong Kong, Singapore, Britain and the United States.
The exhibition transforms areas of the gallery with spectacular installations. A walk- in fire temple, consisting of a prayer room, inner sanctum and ritual precinct offers a unique opportunity for visitors who are not permitted to enter the fire temples of India and Pakistan. Other signature pieces include a reproduction engraved in glass of the British Museum’s 10 metre cast of the western staircase from the palace of Darius at Persepolis, complete with the magnificent lion and bull motif. Finally, verses from the Gathas of Zarathustra will be presented as a series of large calligraphic panels and combined with voice recordings of the text to be presented as an audio-visual experience.
A two day conference titled “Looking Back: The Formation of Zoroastrian Identity Through Rediscovery of the Past” and organised by the Centre for Iranian Studies at SOAS will take place at the Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre on the 11th and 12th October 2013.
The exhibition is accompanied by a major publication published by IB Tauris including essays by leading academics in the field of Zoroastrian Studies.
Source: SOAS
More Information | |
Cite this articleSOAS. The Everlasting Flame: Zoroastrianism in History and Imagination. August 6, 2013, from http://www.pasthorizonspr.com/index.php/archives/08/2013/the-everlasting-flame-zoroastrianism-in-history-and-imagination | |
What is your motivation for wanting to buy uncleaned Roman coins? There is no such thing as a "reputable" seller of uncleaned ancient coins. The only source for such things are illegal archaeological digs, often from places in the Balkans. These operations destroy archaeological information about the item, and often finance various organized crime groups. Coins sold as "uncleaned lots" have been cleaned already, and picked through for better-quality items. There are other reasons for avoiding these things, but I am NOT an expert on this. I do read the blog of an archaeologist who writes about the antiquities trade, and who has a lot more information about this thing than I do; this link should give you multiple reasons for avoiding uncleaned lots of ancient coins http://paul-barford.blogspot.com/se...?q=uncleanedWow. A first. But this breath of sanity was short-lived. Seventeen minutes to be precise. Another member ("Gil-galad" ["Pillar Of The Community"] United States, 01/13/2013 11:08am) jumps in:
There is a lot more to it than that. Many coins are found in areas that ain't archaeologist dig sites. And those that have found a lot of coins have reported their finds and have found many places that were studied that may not have otherwise been found. A lot of coins found and stored in a museum will be in buckets, and stored in other ways and never fully studied such as amateur numismatists would, even professionals. You can also read articles at the ACCG to read the other side of the debate and learn more.For a start, this latter statement is actually untrue, if you examine carefully the reasons why on this blog I express concern about these bulk loads of dugup antiquities, you'll not find those points adequately answered on the ACCG website, just a load of glib Amero-centric (and American Exceptionalist) claptrap. From this pro-trade propaganda, I doubt the objective reader will indeed "learn more".As for the other points:
Recovery of coins isn't always unauthorized or detrimental to archeological sites. Buried coins don't usually figure into the most important findshe then cites an Early Bronze Age grave... duh. That's a novel one (his point is "grave robbers are always with us" - another artefact-centred two-wrongs argument. He then says that if collectors did not buy the things looters dig up, the ignorant natives would melt them down. I've discussed this "scrap metal" model before, issued a challenge that would test it which nobody has taken up. I consider it is nonsense.
Specifically to coins, some say that every coin dug outside the auspices of a regulated dig represents a "loss of culture". Naturally, this depends on the context of their burial and what the government considers their cultural history [...] states are free to define their cultural antiquity as it suits them.That's decent of him isn't it? But of course he is reducing the question to one of so-called "national patrimony" (which he then develops according to the usual coiney song-sheet: "is a Roman coin found on German soil a "cultural artifact"--whose culture precisely?"). He thus neatly brushes aside the question of archaeological sites and assemblages as part of the common heritage of the past, trash a site to produce saleable coins and you destroy that cultural resource. "DVCollector" goes on:
I see coins more as artifacts of trade than culture. Since coins are often dispersed far outside their cultural point of origin, and were used (and later buried) for monetary worth, what story they tell is more on the coin itself than its context of burial.Apparently he sees no illogic there. They can only tell us about trade patterns when we know where they were used, which means, among other things, knowing where the finds come from. I've asked collectors before, but I'll do it again, can they give me an up-to-date distribution map (with or without a supporting list with references to the individual finds that make it up) of - for example - one of the more common Greek coin series, the hemidrachms from Cherronesos, Thrace? To come back to the bulk lots of LRBs of the thread, evidence has emerged, from studies of findspots, that certain reverse types were targeted for certain social categories of recipients, what chance is there of checking that if most of these coins on the market are coming in mixed bulk lots without precise findspots? "DVCollector" reckons:
Coins stand on their own as individual pieces of history--representing the politics, beliefs, and art of the particular state where they were minted. .They may "represent" this through the pictures and writing on them, but (though it may satisfy the superficial mnds of those who just want to "touch the past" through coin-fondling), that is by no means the full story. Indeed coins by themselves may mislead, take the ongoing debate on the 'Koson' series for example, the controversy over some recent(ish) Apollonia Pontica 'hoards', or the recent Syracuse Dekas and Proculus coin. Drawing information from such contextless "surfaced" items requires first some subjective assumptions to be made, which again is no basis for proper 'research'.
I've seen it argued 000's of times. I can see both points of view, Archaeologists and detectorists, neither are 100% correct or without blame.Blame? Another two-wrongs argument? The no-questions-asked buying of dugup artefacts by dealers and collectors (especially in bulk) unquestionably encourages the looting (and therefore trashing) of archaeological sites. Nothing else is to "blame" for this but the no-questions-asked dugup antiquity market with its pathetic "justifications" (the mantras seen above). Bobbyhelmet suggests "The truth is they need each other". Complete nonsense. Nobody "needs" looters. Nobody (except collectors) "needs" archaeological sites to be trashed.
To suggest that all coins should be turned over to the authorities shows massive ignorance, recorded maybe but even then I suspect it could be information overload. In truth the authorities would not be interested in keeping 99% of what is found.he seems to be suggesting that, by not obeying the law, and not handing over finds when required to do so, the looters, smugglers and dodgy dealers are really doing the authorities a favour, preventing them from acquiring so much information about the (their) past that they (poor ignorant brown folk) would not know what do do with it. The arrogance of such an approach is obvious. If the law requires finders to hand over what they've found then it is simply wrong of a collector (even if he lives in a foreign country) to buy freshly found material which has not been dealt with as the law requires. Sort of like buying clothes made in foreign sweat factories employing underpaid and coerced children (no law broken in your OWN country, after all). People do it, no law against it, but it is wrong and leads only to the persistence of this form of exploitation. Just say 'no'.
speaking of the antiquities trade, I like UK dug coins because I know these are always dealt with properly.Of course that is only true if the coins come on the market with a PAS record number (though I would question the automatic use of the phrase "always dealt with properly" even in the case of PAS-reporters, or whether this is the proper way to deal with the fragile and finite archaeological record).
Thanks for the information. To those in the UK is there any way for a novice collector to contact the "European detectors" directly. I cannot wait to begin my adventure with these coins.There you are Bazza Thugwit, your chance, contact Mr Hatter through the forum and make a coiney very happy.
Sphinx though to have been sent as a gift from the Egyptian Pharaohs top the King of Hazor during the New Kingdom.
The post As unique as Egypt appeared first on Αρχαιολογία Online.
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