From My Fantasy Writing Desk:
Looking for good summer reading?
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Contest dates: June 17 – July 3
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Archaeology I enjoyed:
Excavation at Roman site turns up a wooden arm
Votive offerings of body parts, formed in miniature of metal and terracotta, appear at both modern and ancient altars and, interestingly enough, at the bottom of ancient Greek and Roman wells. These physical offerings tell the god what body part needs healing or else are given as thanks for healing already rendered.
The other kind of “spiritual” deposit archaeologists find in such wells are lead curse tablets. If you want to harm your rival in love, for example, hire a scribe to carve the words for the necessary evil actions onto the lead and then toss it on in.
In a somewhat similar vein, archaeologists excavated a full-scale wooden arm from a Roman well in Northamptonshire, England. I first thought it must have been a prosthetic replacement for a maimed person to wear, in the mode of Jaimie Lannister’s golden hand or a “peg leg.” In contrast, the specialist specialist who examined it assumed it was part of a larger sculpture–which makes a lot of sense. However, he observed no marks of jointing or other methods to attach it to a larger piece. That would eliminate it as a prosthesis, also, since it couldn’t be worn on the human body, either.
So the hypothesis is that it was a votive offering. None on this full scale like this one have been found before in Britain, but large wooden Roman votives of similar date do turn up on the continent.
So there you have it. It’s a small, graceful arm about the right size for an adolescent. I’m thinking someone broke an arm and gave thanks for a good healing. What are you going to toss down a well in thanks to the gods of healing?
Click here for Archaeology News Network “Unusual Roman wooden arm found during Northamptonshire excavation”
Trees, Goddesses and Effective Leadership
Sacred, female trees represent leadership in Mediterranean and Near Eastern ancient cultures (Anatolia, Cyprus, Levant, Egypt, etc.). Several goddesses are associated with this symbolism, including Ishtar, the goddess in my fiction. (In my novels, I’ve renamed her Ishana in the interests of honesty re being a fiction writer, but my history is as accurate as I can make it given the fragmentary evidence.)
Sometimes the female nature of the trees is made explicit with breasts and other human body parts melded into the tree’s structure. Other times, women attend to the trees in ritual activities.
The trees and the goddesses they represent “symbolised effective rulership, fertility, nurturance, protection, regeneration, order and stability.”
For a well-developed presentation of these cultic trees and goddesses, click through and read this ASOR blog post “Trees and Power in Aegean Art.” I particularly love the article’s artwork of signet rings and seals. Trees, women, effective leadership—isn’t that an intriguing triad for thinking about right now? Wisdom from ancient cultures, anyone?