[briglebond]

Lake Eyre from space: From 705 km above Earth, you get a spectacular view of central Australia - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporati

This is a very cool bird’s-eye view of the seasonal flooding of Kati Thanda - Lake Eyre. 🌏 Precious water, and its life giving (and sometimes life taking) qualities, snaking it’s way across the middle of the Australian continent.

Link to the digital story above. ^ ^ ^

Thoughts go out to those in Queensland who have suffered from the recent floodwaters.

Queensland floodwaters flow to outback South Australia and Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

[humansofnewyork]

“My family emigrated from Haiti when I was seven. None of us spoke any English. So I learned at a very early age that I would need education to advocate for myself. My father worked as a landscaper and my mother was a janitor. Whenever they visited my elementary school, they would need a translator to speak to my teachers. Ms. Rogers, my first grade teacher, told me that I would need to learn fast so that I could advocate for my family. She gave me extra books to bring home during the summer. I remember being a child, and arguing about bills with cable and utility companies. I kept advocating for my parents until my father passed away last year. Because he couldn’t speak English, his doctors never took the time to fully explain his cancer to him. So I had to get on the phone and draw the prognosis out of his doctors. I had to tell my father he had stage four pancreatic cancer, and I was the one who had to deal with the insurance companies. I would not have been able to do that without my education.”

[humansofnewyork]

“My students are going to need education to advocate for themselves. They need to understand the law, so they know if it’s being applied to them fairly. They need to understand the services they deserve, so they know if they’re receiving them. They even need to be educated about simple things like fresh fruit. There isn’t any fresh fruit in the stores around here. And they think that’s normal. They need to know that’s not normal, and that they deserve fresh fruit.”

[medievalistsnet]

Along with clothes, manners, and ways of speaking, alimentary habits and food choices in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance were relevant indicators of social standing, economic status, and more broadly cultural identity. Conceptions of food in the Renaissance were also still influenced by the humoral-Galenic theory, which said that to keep the different “humors” of the body in balance, a good diet had to be the result of foods balancing the moist/water and the dry/air, the warm/fire and the cold/earth, recalling again the four Aristotelian elements.

[archaicwonder]

Roman Gold and Garnet Winged Thunderbolt Pendant, c. 1st Century AD

In Greek and Roman mythology, the thunderbolt was a weapon given to Zeus/Jupiter by the Cyclops.

[archaicwonder]

Electrum Stater from Miletos, Ionia, c. 560-545 BC

The reverse of this very rare issue has 3 ornamental incuse punches, the left of which is a square punch containing a stag’s head facing to right, the center a rectangular punch containing a fox running to left (here downwards) and an ornament, the right a second square punch containing a star of five pellets connected by lines. The obverse shows a roaring lion seated to the left, its head turned.

This is one of the earliest of all coin types than can be attributed to a particular city. The lion was a civic symbol of Miletos (aka Miletus) and in the 3rd century BC two large, iconic Hellenistic lion statues were added to the edges of the busy harbor at Miletus. Unfortunately the harbor silted up around the 4th century AD, leading to the decline and ruin of this great city. The mighty statues however can still be seen in the ruins today. (photo)

Ionian Greeks arrived in Miletus around 1000 BC, but the site had been occupied since Neolithic times by various peoples such as Minoans, Leleges, Cretans and Carians.  In the 6th century BC, Miletus was one of the first Greek cities to mint coinage before coming under Persian domination. The city was prosperous and it established numerous colonies throughout the Greek world. It has been called the birthplace of the modern world because Miletus was the intellectual and commercial capital of the Greeks a century before Athens rose to power. It was the home of Thales (c. 624-546 BC) and his followers Anaximander and Anaximenes. Thales is known as the father of philosophy and one of the Seven Sages of Greece.

The ruins of Miletus are located near the mouth of the Maeander River near the modern town of Balat in Aydin Province, Turkey.

[archaicwonder]

Greek Proto-Corinthian Owl Aryballos, c. 630 BC

Proto-Corinthian style Greek pottery is a style that flourished at Corinth during the Oriental period (c. 725–c. 600 BC). Proto-Corinthian pottery, most of which is miniature in size, was the first to be decorated in the black-figure painting technique: figure silhouettes drawn in black and filled in with incised details. The principal motifs, which mirror Middle Eastern styles, are animals in procession and human figures, sometimes in mythical scenes. The small aryballos (scent or oil bottle) is an especially common shape.

[archaicwonder]

Mysterious Akkadian Cylinder Seal with Enki and a Judgement Scene, Mesopotamia, c. 2300-2200 BC

The judgement scene mythology presented on this seal is unknown as it has not been found in any ancient texts. The design shows the water-god Enki sitting, identified by streams of water flowing from his body. He sits on a stool and wears a horned tiara and long robe with bottom fringe, clasping the hands at the waist. Before him are three standing gods. The first and third are also wearing horned tiaras, but long robes falling in creases. They are leading in a prisoner for judgement. He is a bird-man: top half human, bottom half a bird. For some reason the bird-man was arrested and brought before Enki for judgement. A star and lunar crescent appear in the sky. The seal is made of carved black jasper.

[archaicwonder]

The day after I posted this seal, I found this page that may provide an explanation for the “unknown” mythology represented here and it shows another cylinder seal similar to this one. Just fyi… I thought it was interesting but I haven’t formed an opinion yet. Mesopotamian mythology is a hot mess of confusion to me. What do you think? Could the bird-man be Anzu?

[upworthy]

There Were Too Many Deer In The Forest. So They Unleashed The Wolves Without Any Idea What Would Happen.

When the deer killed off the forest, they decided to let the wolves loose to fix it. We had no idea what exactly we had done.

[briglebond]

Wolves = Biodiversity heroes!

[ancientorigins]

Analysis of Medieval warlord mummy reveals death by poison

Renaissance Italians who held power are infamous for intrigue, back-stabbing, power struggles, war and homicide, including murder by poisoning. In keeping with this theme, archaeologists have discovered that the mummy of a 14th century Veronese warlord appears to have been deliberately poisoned with foxglove.

Read more …

[archaeologicalnews]

Gleaming cast metal called orichalcum, which was said by Ancient Greeks to be found in Atlantis, have been recovered from a shipwreck that sunk 2,600 years ago off the coast of Sicily.

The lumps of metal were arriving to Gela in southern Sicily, possibly coming from Greece or Asia Minor. The...

[fughtopia]

Sally McManus ‏@sallymcmanus Jan 4

Firies would rather Abbott fight climate change….

[archaicwonder]

Hellenistic Gold Oak Wreath, c. 4th-3rd Century BC

A Greek Hellenistic diadem wreath comprising numerous projecting sprays of sheet-gold oak leaves in two sizes with serrated edges and veins, a large central rosette with two smaller similar roundels flanking, laurel leaves to the rear with gold Heracles knot, the four intersections covered by miniature gold masks modeled in the round with varying expressions, and four more to the bands of the knot; each element affixed to a custom-designed display stand.

The most famous of such wreaths is the example from Vergina in the tomb of Philip II of Macedon, father of Alexander the Great. Similar wreaths have been found all over the Hellenistic world in funerary contexts, as far apart as Asia Minor, the Black Sea coasts and Magna Graecia. The Greek writer Demosthenes (384-322 BC) noted that gold wreaths were worn for religious ceremonies, and the inventories of Greek temples and sanctuaries record that they were left as dedications by local men and women, foreign visitors, officials approaching the end of their career, as well as foreign powers seeking a favorable relationship. The oak leaves may symbolize the power of Zeus, who was often represented by the oak tree. This is a finely detailed example of the type executed with great skill.

[archaicwonder]

Urartian Silver Pectoral, c. 7th Century BC

The pectoral is decorated with sirens walking in profile, five in the upper register and seven in the lower, interspersed with palmettes (possibly representing a sacred tree), each frieze with a raised band above and below, the panel bordered above and below with a punched double-triangle motif, the curved panels and each end decorated with a profile figure of a winged genius (benevolent spirit) in the ‘Knielauf’ (kneeling-running) position, each holding a situla (a bucket-like vessel associated with purification rituals in and around the ancient Mesopotamian region).

The region of Urartu (map) corresponds to the mountainous plateau between Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, and the Caucasus mountains, later known as the Armenian Highlands. The Urartian Kingdom rose to power in the mid-9th century BC, but was conquered by Media in the early 6th century BC. The heirs of Urartu are the Armenians and their successive kingdoms. Urartu is cognate with the Biblical Ararat. 

[briglebond]

Join me and break up with fossil fuels this Valentines Day.

globaldivestmentday.org

[popthirdworld]

No Logo was a big deal for me. The book explained so much about how our world work. Here’s the official No Logo doco.

[briglebond]

An excellent, eye-opening doco.

[briglebond]

Essential viewing for anyone who... eats food!