Here are some posts I enjoyed from around the web this week:
A popular concept: Hamilton, the Revolution as a master class of a book about writing. This post is on Writer Unboxed. Good Stuff! Click on Writer Unboxed “The Best book on writng I’ve read lately”
(There’s another different discussion same idea and also interesting on Literary Hub Click here for Literary Hub “Eight Writing Lessons from Hamilton the Revolution”)
Extensive study of a lot of Imperial Roman bones by orthopedic surgeons and anthropologists concluded many Romans suffered from arthritis starting at age 30 and causing debilitating pain. The hard work Romans did brought it on, which I’m thinking would apply to a lot of other ancient peoples. I’ve only used arthritis in one character (and now that I think about it, I may have cut him… So hard to remember sometimes which version of my book is actually the one I published), but I’m thinking I need to keep this in mind. Unfortunately, this is a condition I know well from personal experience, so I can write it with passion. I guess everything has a silver lining. Nice to know the experts would support it if I added arthritic characters to my plots. Bones sure do tell tales! Click here for “Arthritis Brings Romans ‘To their Knees'”
King Tut’s dagger was from outer space. No, really. Blade made from iron from a meteorite, long before the “Iron Age.” (It’s not the only weapon/artifact made of meteoric metal in the ancient world, but still, so cool for the Tut.) And you know what else can blow your mind, the hieroglyphs meaning “iron of the sky” appear about the same time on tablets, i.e. the Egyptians knew the meteoric metal came from the heavens. Sometimes life sounds so like science fiction. Don’t you love it? Click here for “King Tut’s Burial Blade was Forged from Iron Meteorite”
In Mesopotamia as well as elsewhere in the ancient world, religiously significant items were buried into the foundations of major buildings such as temples and palaces. These were offerings to the gods not meant for human eyes. But lucky for us, the Morgan Library and Museum in New York (and online) has an exhibit of several “foundation figures,” in this case bronze figures about a foot tall that are gorgeous in their depiction of various kings and priests. The figures are often attached to or extend from a ceremonial peg to symbolize the foundation building. The website post about the exhibit has a lovely set of photos with write ups of these marvels of portraiture from about 3,000 to 2,000 BCE. I am enjoying thinking about what each says about kingship and the representation of power and subservience to the gods. Click through and step back into a kingly or priestly mind! Click here for The Morgan Library and Museum “Founding Figures”
Linkin: A punk archaeology song. If you like finding information about the ancient world online and silly lyrics, this is your post. AWOL is a great contribution, listing daily newly open sourced resources. The song composed by the classics librarian at Penn State who set up and maintains AWOL. Click here for AWOL Linkin: A punk archaeology song”