Weekly Roundup of Archaeology, History and Historical Fiction Sept 17-23

“Godnapping” in the Ancient Near East. It might be easy in the current crazy world to forget that religious wars are a relatively recent invention in human history. There was a time of no forced conversions or wars against heretics, etc. Makes one downright nostalgic for the ancient world. This post on the ASOR blog by Shana Zaia discusses the fate of ancient gods when a city was taken. In this polytheistic context no wise ruler or general disrespected anyone else’s gods, but you might cart them off to your city with all due honor, hence “godnapping.” Click here for ASOR blog “Godnapping in the Ancient Near East” 

Ancient “Older Woman Power”? Found at the Catalhoyuk dig in central Turkey, a lovely example of the 8,000 yr-old female figurines, this time stone rather than the usual clay, with distinctive breasts and belly. Previously these small figures (7” this one) were called fertility goddesses, but the more recent idea is that they represent older women who had achieved status. If that’s correct, we in the pro-skinny, young people modern world, have something valuable to learn from our Neolithic ancestors about attitude toward women as they age. I’ve always loved these figurines and I’m liking them even more with this new understanding. Someone needs to adopt them as the symbol of a movement. Click here for the Miami Herald “8,000 year old figurine uncovered in central Turkey”

“Losing your head at Göbekli Tepe” An intriguing post about the reliefs and sculptures of separated human heads at this Neolithic site in southeastern Turkey—perhaps a sanctuary—that connects these odd arrangements of heads and animals to death/burial rituals. I particularly like the pillars carved as highly abstracted human forms with other animal-carved pillars arranged as if to listen to the central human ones. There’s a story if only one could accurately guess it. I haven’t made it to this site, but it poses some incredible mysteries and is definitely on my list for return trips. This post is from the dig’s ongoing blog, so if this intrigues you, good spot to bookmark. Click here for Tepe Telegrams blog “Losing your hedt at Gobekli Tepe”

Were I in Dublin, I would go see this play. It seems to be a mash up of post-moderism and Homeric insight. Not light entertainment but the themes and the main character (Briseis, who is the main character of my novel) definitely intrigue me. Mind you one of the actors has no clue what the play is about. (New one each night) Here’s how the article describes the play: “Briseis After the Black is an insightful, provocative and entertaining post-dramatic exercise in ambiguity that leads an exploration into the telling of myths, the treatment of women in literature and life, and how hard it is to separate a work from its creator.” If you want to read a short article that’ll get you thinking about the nature of theater, women and their frequent marginalization and Homer, well here’s the link “Tiger Dublin Fringe Festival Briseis after the Black”