Small fragment (13 cm h) of Queen Tiye bust, yellow jasper, ca. 14th c BCE / Dynasty 18, Metropolitan Museum New York (image courtesy of MMNY) By Patrick Hunt – Did the Ancient Egyptians know and use emery? I reprised this old question in 1991 in an invited paper at […]
By Jess Taylor – Setting The Minoan civilization often evokes thoughts of myths of the bull-headed Monitor and his labyrinth, images of the ruins of the Knossos palace, with its red, tapered columns and advanced multi-storied architecture, their early written languages, the untranslated Linear A and translated Linear B as […]
Bayeux Tapestry Norman Ships with Dragon Prows as “Figureheads” (image public domain) By Timothy Demy – The carving and painting of eyes, faces, and figures on boats and ships is an ancient practice that continues around the globe in the present day. Whether the eyes were decorative, religious, or believed […]
Giotto’s Navicella, ca 1305, Vatican (see below) public domain By Timothy Demy – Consider the things one might expect to see in chapels, churches, and cathedrals—stained glass windows, altars, pulpits, pianos, pipe organs, Bibles, hymnals, prayer books, missals, vestments, candles, pews, embroidered kneelers, and a score of other items. […]
By Patrick Hunt – Seldom has ancient literature been so psychologically riveting as the biblical peripety of David and Bathsheba in 2 Samuel II and following to the conclusion of the book with David’s diminished end. King David’s multiple mistakes with Bathsheba – adultery and the requested murder of her […]
By P. F. Sommerfeldt – I know how lucky I am, having just returned from a fabulous tour of Morocco, exploring Rabat, Fes, Meknes, Arfoud, Merzouga, Toubkal and Marrakesh (March, 2023), staying in wonderful riads and scouring three medinas (Rabat, Fes, Marrakesh) for exotic items generally unavailable in San Francisco […]
By P. F. Sommerfeldt – I spend a fair amount of time in museums, perhaps too much, but I usually don’t need a deep reason to enter a museum whether I’ve been there often or not to revisit favorite objects or works. Because a museum is literally a “House of […]
By Patrick Hunt – One of the more intriguing passages of the Hebrew Bible, Joshua 7: 10-23 & ff. describes the sin of Achan and his “accursed” secret purloined material spoliation after the taking of Jericho by the Israelites, a narrative with controversial historicity. Regardless of when it can be […]
By Timothy Demy – You can’t help but look up. The ceiling is covered with decades-old graffiti. It is not the profanity or pop art so often seen today on buildings, fences, and other public and private places. It’s not even the famous “Kilroy was here.” It is the names […]
By Garth C. Hall – This paper addresses the African stone age somewhat myopically, focusing on artifacts and not much on the hominins who made and used them. It also focuses geographically on South Africa, yet, at least in the Early and Middle Stone Ages, the literature indicates that the […]