John Polkinghorne writes: When I left the full-time practice of science and turned my collar round to become a clergyman, my life changed in all sorts of ways. One important thing did not change, however, for, in both my careers, I have been concerned with the search for truth. Religion is not just a technique […]
Science, Religion, and the Quest for Truth
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Archaeologist debunks the myth of "the nearly naked Bushmen"
It is said that “clothes maketh the man.”It is therefore a paradox that researchers have...
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Weekend Roundup, Part 1
Archaeologists believe that a public bath excavated in Sepphoris may have been used by Rabbi Judah the Prince.
Archaeologists excavating at the Negev town of Shivta have found a lamp wick dating to the Byzantine period.
Kiriath Jearim has a large platform which must have been cultic and could only have been built by the northern kingdom of Israel. Or so says Israel Finkelstein. (Haaretz premium)
A total of 1,500 landmines have been cleared since the spring near the Jordan River baptismal location of Qasr al-Yahud.
Migdal Aphek, the Crusader castle also known as Mirabel, will soon be open to the public following conservation works.
Dennis Mizzi asks, “What does Qumran have to do with the Mediterranean?”
The Annual Conference on the Excavations of the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University will be held on Thursday.
Israel’s Good Name reports on a university field trip to the Hebron area.
Biblical Byways has a couple of tours to Israel coming up, including a Spanish tour in April.
Tim Frank’s latest book, Household Food Storage in Ancient Israel and Judah, is now available in paperback and as an e-book.
The Lexham Geographic Commentary on the Gospels was chosen as the Best Book in Biblical Studies in Christianity Today’s 2019 book awards. You can read an excerpt about the birthplace of Jesus here.
HT: Agade, Ted Weis, Joseph Lauer
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Constructing monuments, perceiving monumentality and the economics of building: Theoretical and methodological approaches to the built environment
Constructing monuments, perceiving monumentality and the economics of building: Theoretical and methodological approaches to the built environment
Edited by Ann Brysbaert, Victor Klinkenberg, Anna Gutiérrez Garcia-M., Irene Vikatou | 2018
ISBN: 9789088906961
In many societies monuments are associated with dynamic socio-economic and political processes that these societies underwent and/or instrumentalised. Due to the often large human and other resources input involved in their construction and maintenance, such constructions form an useful research target in order to investigate both their associated societies as well as the underlying processes that generated differential construction levels. Monumental constructions may physically remain the same for some time but certainly not forever. The actual meaning, too, that people associate with these may change regularly due to changing contexts in which people perceived, assessed, and interacted with such constructions.These changes of meaning may occur diachronically, geographically but also socially. Realising that such shifts may occur forces us to rethink the meaning and the roles that past technologies may play in constructing, consuming and perceiving something monumental. In fact, it is through investigating the processes, the practices of building and crafting, and selecting the specific locales in which these activities took place, that we can argue convincingly that meaning may already become formulated while the form itself is still being created. As such, meaning-making and -giving may also influence the shaping of the monument in each of its facets: spatially, materially, technologically, socially and diachronically.This volume varies widely in regional and chronological focus and forms a useful manual to studying both the acts of building and the constructions themselves across cultural contexts. A range of theoretical and practical methods are discussed, and papers illustrate that these are applicable to both small or large architectural expressions, making it useful for scholars investigating urban, architectural, landscape and human resources in archaeological and historical contexts. The ultimate goal of this book is to place architectural studies, in which people’s interactions with each other and material resources are key, at the crossing of both landscape studies and material culture studies, where it belongs.
Editors’ Biographies
List of contributors
Editors’ Acknowledgements
List of Abbreviations used in referencesPart 1. Theoretical and practical considerations on monumentalityConstructing monuments, perceiving monumentality. Introduction
Ann BrysbaertMounds and monumentality in Neolithic Europe
Chris ScarreArchitectural conspicuous consumption and design as social strategy in the Argolid during the Mycenaean period
Kalliopi EfkleidouOuter Worlds Inside
Lesley McFadyenPart 2. Methodological approaches to studying architectureInterpreting architecture from a survey context: recognising monumental structures.
Yannick BoswinkelThree-dimensional documentation of architecture and archaeology in the field: combining intensive total station drawing and photogrammetry
Jari PakkanenSet in stone at the Mycenaean Acropolis of Athens. Documentation with 3D integrated methodologies
Elisavet P. SioumparaLabour mobilization and architectural energetics in the North Cemetery at Ayios Vasilios, Laconia, Greece
Sofia Voutsaki, Youp van den Beld, Yannick de RaaffPart 3. Architectural energetics methods and applicationsComparative labour rates in cross-cultural contexts
Daniel R. TurnerRethinking monumentality in Teotihuacan, Mexico
Maria Torras FreixaEconomic choice in Roman construction: case studies from Ostia
Janet DeLaineLarge-scale building in early imperial Tarraco (Tarragona, Spain) and the dynamics behind the creation of a Roman provincial capital landscape
Anna Gutiérrez Garcia-M., Maria Serena VinciBuilding materials, construction processes and labour: The Temple of Isis in Pompeii
Cathalin ReckoThe construction process of the republican city walls of Aquileia (northeastern Italy): a case study of the quantitative analysis on ancient buildings
Jacopo Bonetto, Caterina PreviatoIndex
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Entre Pétrone et Fellini, lire et interpréter la cena Trimalchionis
Titre: Entre Pétrone et Fellini, lire et interpréter la cena Trimalchionis
Lieu: Lycée Louis-le-Grand / Paris
Catégorie: Séminaires, conférences
Date: 12.01.2019
Heure: 13.30 h - 16.30 h
Description:
Lieu: Lycée Louis-le-Grand / Paris
Catégorie: Séminaires, conférences
Date: 12.01.2019
Heure: 13.30 h - 16.30 h
Description:
Information signalée par Cecilia Suzzoni
Conférence de Jean-Pierre de Giorgio
maître de conférences en latin :
Entre Pétrone et Fellini, lire et interpréter la cena Trimalchionis
La conférence portera sur une partie importante de l'œuvre au programme des Terminales et sera accompagnée de la projection du film de Fellini Satyricon (extraits)
Samedi 12 janvier , de 13h30 à 16h30, lycée Louis -Le-Grand, amphithéâtre Chéreau.
Lieu de la manifestation : Lycée Louis -Le-Grand 75005
Organisation : Association ALLE
Contact : contacter.alle[at]gmail.com
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Sumerians Look On In Confusion As God Creates World
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| Cunies on EBay still Though this one is a fake |
Members of the earth's earliest known civilization, the Sumerians, looked on in shock and confusion some 6,000 years ago as God, the Lord Almighty, created Heaven and Earth. According to recently excavated clay tablets inscribed with cuneiform script, thousands of Sumerians—the first humans to establish systems of writing, agriculture, and government—were working on their sophisticated irrigation systems when the Father of All Creation reached down from the ether and blew the divine spirit of life into their thriving civilization. "I do not understand," reads an ancient line of pictographs depicting the sun, the moon, water, and a Sumerian who appears to be scratching his head. "A booming voice is saying, 'Let there be light,' but there is already light. It is saying, 'Let the earth bring forth grass,' but I am already standing on grass.""Everything is here already," the pictograph continues. "We do not need more stars." Historians believe that, immediately following the biblical event, Sumerian witnesses returned to the city of Eridu, a bustling metropolis built 1,500 years before God called for the appearance of dry land, to discuss the new development. According to records, Sumerian farmers, priests, and civic administrators were not only befuddled, but also took issue with the face of God moving across the water, saying that He scared away those who were traveling to Mesopotamia to participate in their vast and intricate trade system. Moreover, the Sumerians were taken aback by the creation of the same animals and herb-yielding seeds that they had been domesticating and cultivating for hundreds of generations. The Sumerian people must have found God's making of heaven and earth in the middle of their well-established society to be more of an annoyance than anything else," said Paul Helund, ancient history professor at Cornell University. "If what the pictographs indicate are true, His loud voice interrupted their ancient prayer rituals for an entire week." According to the cuneiform tablets, Sumerians found God's most puzzling act to be the creation from dust of the first two human beings. "These two people made in his image do not know how to communicate, lack skills in both mathematics and farming, and have the intellectual capacity of an infant," one Sumerian philosopher wrote.
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4,400-Year-Old Tomb of 'Divine Inspector' with Hidden Shafts Discovered in Egypt
A 4,400-year-old tomb constructed for a “divine inspector” named “Wahtye”...
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From Hell’s bookshelf: the official 1930 history of the Student Christian Movement
Some books are fun to read. Some are worth reading, fun or not. Some are not worth reading. And finally some are worse than that.
Last weekend I was reading Oliver Barclay’s From Cambridge to the World, a fine description of the work of God through student ministry in Britain over the last 120 years. I was myself a member of the Oxford Intercollegiate Christian Union (OICCU) when I was a student, so it is a world that is familiar to me. It’s not a long book, but it is full of interest.
I noticed that the author used extracts from the official Story of the Student Christian Movement by Tissington Tatlow, published in 1930, and this reminded me that I wanted to read this. Now the SCM was an early attempt by the Cambridge intercollegiate CU (CICCU) to create an inter-university link for the Christian Unions, but it went badly off the rails into heresy, ran into trouble after WW1, and collapsed more or less finally – I think it still exists in name – during the 1960s. Tissington Tatlow was the secretary of The Movement – they spoke of it in capitals, curiously – for much of its life, so his book has an official character. Anyway I found a copy for sale for a few dollars, and ordered it.
I was leaving my house this morning, and to my surprise the postman called to me from up the road that he had a parcel for me. So he did; and inside a thin plastic wrapper was Tatlow’s opus. It’s almost a thousand pages long and three inches thick.
But the content! Oh my goodness. Even after a lifetime of reading corporate communications, the prose style is impenetrable. Did anyone ever read this? The author seems to feel that his work must glorify The Movement at all costs, and any hint of dissent or difficulty might scare people away. But of course this means that most of the interesting episodes of the history of the SCM are omitted. That leaves only paper-shuffling. It is the work of a bureaucrat.
A characteristic passage occurs early on, as early as page seven. Dwight L. Moody ran a mission in the 1890s at Cambridge, which met violent opposition. There were many striking scenes, of the highest interest to any reader. Barclay tells the story at some length. Tatlow, however, dismisses it in half-a-sentence; that “the first meeting was broken up”. It’s not a good moment for the reader. That’s when he discovers that anything interesting is not likely to be described.
It’s not a very honest Story either, in that it misleads the reader. The basic facts are that the SCM was created by men from the CICCU. Over time the SCM drifted away from these roots into the theological liberalism prevalent in the Edwardian period. After WW1 the CICCU found it difficult to remain part of an organisation that believed in a different God and a different religion, and – not without great heart-burnings – disaffiliated. But Tatlow conceals the role of the CICCU in founding the SCM. The SCM just happens to arise at Cambridge, in his account.
In fact less than a dozen pages mention the CICCU throughout the thousand pages of his work, which is astonishing. What on earth does he fill up the pages with? For most of that time the CICCU was the Cambridge representative of the SCM, as well as its founder. He does describe a mission at Cambridge in the early 20s, which Barclay also describes. Tatlow does not mention that only one of the missioners was backed by the CICCU, or that the CICCU thought the mission a failure. Instead he tells us that the mission “shook the university to the core”. A striking phrase; but what this means in concrete terms is not stated. Instead he moves on. Barclay tells us rather more, including the salient fact that the mission meetings were well-attended, but produced no conversions.
Tatlow likewise misrepresents the break with the CICCU in the 1920s, somewhere around page three hundred and something. Five pages are devoted to this episode, nor is there a lack of criticism of the CICCU for refusing to change as the SCM had changed. But there is nothing to tell the reader that the SCM was sawing off its own roots by forcing its founding organisation to leave. The description is quite bitter enough, however, to explain that the CICCU were very right to leave. Sadly, within forty pages, Tatlow is telling us how the members of the movement no longer knew what truth was, and started having inward-looking meetings to try to find out! One suspects that these efforts were unsuccessful. What the remaining seven hundred pages cover is unclear – I was unable to summon the strength to read them – considering that the book appeared in 1930.
The book is really very hard to read. There is not a trace of Christian conviction within it. Like everything else about the SCM, it was intended to give a message to adults rather than for students. But the overwhelming impression is of a little man toadying to bishops and senior ecclesiastics.
It may be relevant that Tatlow himself was not of high social status, at a time when Cambridge was the preserve of the upper class. He was merely the son of an Irish land-agent, who managed the estates of Lord Kingston. Perhaps he always felt the need to doff his cap? His ecclesiastical career was not exciting. For all of his efforts he did not obtain any real preferment in the Church of England, becoming only a canon of Canterbury. But his real achievement was to lead a gospel movement onto the rocks. He died as late as 1957, by which time the SCM was far gone in decay. I wonder if there are obituaries around? They might be interesting to read. There is a rather dishonest Wikipedia article on the SCM; Tatlow himself has no such page, and is clearly a forgotten figure.
The size and shape of the book is redolent of the late Victorian era. I found myself wondering if he was ordered to write it by some imperious Barchester-type bishop, in order to fill a gap of that size and shape in his lordship’s palace library; and the bishop telling him firmly to “leave out the religious nonsense”. It reads a bit like that! There are some interesting photographs in it, however, which I have not seen elsewhere.
I really ought to make sure that Tatlow is online. It is unlikely that anybody will consider it worth scanning otherwise. There is no drearier sight than the “religion” section of a second-hand bookshop, full of rubbish, and Tatlow certainly belongs there. But it is still data, with all its faults. Even when Tatlow is wrong, or foolish, the fact that he thought so – that the secretary of The Movement thought in this way – is itself evidence.
Let us all hope that we use our lives more productively than he did. Let us make absolutely certain that we do not write books like this. The world does not need litanies of pointless self-congratulation, masking utter failure. Only Hell enjoys such books; but one suspects they still go unread.
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The Sappho Papyrus Again (Still)
On his 'Variant Readings Thoughts on History, Religion, Archaeology, Papyrology, etc.' blog, Brent Nongbri has an interesting set of observations which raise again a question discussed on my own blog: ' The Green Collection Sappho Papyrus: Some New Details' (December 13, 2018) by Brent Nongbri
Once again, some light could be shed on these matters if the Green Collection released information concerning from whom they purchased these papyri (or the cartonnage from which they were allegedly extracted).
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Ephraim Graecus – a list of works
Just to wrap up my work on Ephraim Graecus, I’ve uploaded a list of works to the site. This appears as a page in the right-hand side of the blog here. I give the title of the work, in Greek, the Latin title, where the text may be found, any translations known to me, and a link to the Greek text where it is online.
The whole list is divided into the seven sections of the Phrantzolas edition, whose titles are also given.
This is the basis for further work. Go to it, people!
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Collectors' Corner: UK Metal Detecting - "Not in it Fer the Munny. 'cept When we Are"
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| Not broken by the plough |
Broken Iron age / Celtic bronze terret ring with red enamel cells who knows how it became broken such a robust piece of bronze must of been hacked or smashed either in battle or as a votive piece?? a good starter / study piece, Measures 39mm long, Item specifics Colour: Bronze Material: BronzePAS record number unavailable, export licencing procedure not stated upfront. Ackton Antiquities
craig20050 ('craig slater [...], Pontefract West Yorkshire WF7 6JB') has been an eBay member since Jan 15, 2005 and in that time sold some 12819 items - that's 915 per year.
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Podcast 4.1: Introduction to Honouring the Gods
Podcast 4.1: Introduction to Honouring the Gods (Download).
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Podcast 4.2: A City and Its Patron Deity – Artemis of Ephesos
Podcast 4.2: A City and Its Patron Deity – Artemis of Ephesus (Download).
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Podcast 4.3: Salvation from the Gods – Asklepios at Pergamum
Podcast 4.3: Salvation from the Gods – Asklepios at Pergamum (Download).
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Podcast 4.4: Messages from the Gods – Apollo at Claros and Didyma
Podcast 4.4: Messages from the Gods – Apollo at Claros and Didyma (Download).
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Podcast 4.5: Justice from the Gods in Lydia
Podcast 4.5: Justice from the Gods in Lydia (Download).
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Podcast 4.6: Honouring the Emperors as Gods
Podcast 4.6: Honouring the Emperors as Gods (Download).
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Open Access Journal: Newsletter Osirisnet
Newsletter Osirisnet
The Osirisnet monthly newsletter covers everything about Ancient Egypt.
It is free, and there are no advertisements.
Readers will also be advised of all new Osirisnet publications.
Newsletters since 2001
See AWOL's full List of Open Access Journals in Ancient Studies
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Scholars in Press: An interview with Mike Aubrey
Education: I received a BA in Biblical Languages at Moody Bible Institute in 2007. Since then, my wife and I have been actively preparing for service with SIL/Wycliffe Bible Translators as a linguist. We completed certificates in applied linguistics in 2008 as well as started graduate studies in linguistics at the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics... Continue Reading →
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Scholars in Press: An interview with Elizabeth Robar
Name: Elizabeth Robar Education: MA in OT & MA in NT from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary; Graduate work with Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics; ABD from Southern Seminary (changed programmes from LXX > Hebrew, hence Southern > Cambridge); PhD from University of Cambridge Favorite Past-time: Sip homemade hot chocolate while my husband reads aloud to the... Continue Reading →
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More Pages to Explore .....
