mladi orao ispao iz gnijezda

Writing systems and history.

[lionofchaeronea]

Pectoral bearing a cartouche with the name of the 19th Dynasty Pharaoh Ramesses II “the Great” (r. 1279-1213 BCE), held up by the vulture goddess Nekhbet and the cobra goddess Wadjet.  Now in the Louvre.

[dwellerinthelibrary]

Ptolemaic tombstone by Heidi Kontkanen. “Inscribed tombstone of Tausire daughter of Nike. God Anubis presents Tausire to Osiris, king of the underworld. Isis attends him. Tausire´s name, age and a prayer are written in demotic Egyptian, with a simpler text giving her name, mother´s name age at death (about 21) in Greek. AN1883.3 Ptolemaic, Abydos. Ashmolean Museum.”

(I adore Flickr photographers who include the details with their photos - especially this much detail!)

[waswseffortblog-blog]

Large Fibula with a Cameo. Roman, c. Late 2nd - Early 3rd Century AD.

(Source)

[archaicwonder]

Viking Ceremonial Necklace and Pin Set, 10th-11th Century

A complex bronze ornament for the female chest comprising: one larger and one smaller dress pin each with round-section tapering shaft and cruciform finial of four lobes, the larger with conical bosses and the smaller with incised ring-and-dot motifs; a pair of trapezoidal openwork plaques each with conical bosses, the plaque attached to the smaller pin modified after loss of the upper lobe; three substantial double-link chains attached to the rear of each plaque, extending to the central waisted plaque with tremolier ladder pattern motif; the chains supporting a variety of embellishments and pendants comprising: two lengths of coiled rod, a disc pendant with hook, a small conical bell, two larger conical bells, a spherical rumbler bell, a silver disc fragment, a Roman(?) hand pendant in the ‘figa’ gesture, two flat-section triangular pendants, a fragment of green-glazed ceramic, Baltic workmanship.

[speciesbarocus]

The privilegium granted by Otto I (purple parchment written in gold).

Vatican Secret Archives.

> Photo by Daniele Fregonese (2012).

[waswseffortblog-blog]

A fine calligraphic scroll section, Turkey or Persia, Ottoman or Timurid, mid-15th century

(Source)

[mapsontheweb]

Map of native languages in Alaska.

[via-appia]

Cartonnage Painted Fragment Depicting Isis

Egypt, Late Period - Ptolemaic Period (724 - 31 BCE)

[archaicwonder]

Bactrian Gold, Garnet and Glass Earrings, 1st Century AD

[mirekulous]

Gal Potha (stone book) Polonnaruwa, Sri Lanka.

This is one of the famous works of King Nissanka Malla (1187-1196) which describes himself, his rule and the eligibility for being a king of Sri Lanka. This massive slab which is 26’10” feet (8.2 metres) long and 4’7” feet (1.4 metres) in breath has been brought form Mahiyangana area by the warriors of King Nissanka Malla (1187-1196). The text is written in 3 columns and contain over 4300 characters in 72 lines.

There are sighs that liquidified metal has been pored on to the carved characters to bring out the letters much clearer.

[divent-an-dour]

In Brittany, France, there is a dolmen, a galley grave, named “la roche aux fées” ; the rock of fairies. The legend says that they are fairies who built this monument long ago.  They carried the stones in their aprons , and when there had enough, they let them fall into the moor, creating menhirs. Now the fairies disappeared, and when we hear the wind blow between the rocks, it’s lamentations of souls of brave people calling fairies…

Maybe this dolmen is a door to another world, sidh.

[hellenicdreams]

Four Egyptian pectoral amulets and a piece of mummy cartonage (Archaeological Museum of Bologna)

[whencyclopedia]

THE ANCIENT PEOPLE OF PALMYRA, SYRIA: 

THE recent developments in the Middle East have drawn the attention of the world to the magnificent ruins of the ancient city of Palmyra. Its impressive remains were brought to light by travellers, first in 1678, and by archaeologists in more recent times. Equally impressive are the numerous representations of the inhabitants of the city in the form of funerary sculptures in the distinctive Palmyrene style.

From the 1st century BC the city grew in both wealth and population with the name Palmyra (city of palms) coming to replace the older Tadmor. It flourished as a caravan oasis on the trade route linking the Mediterranean with the West and Central Asia (the Silk Road). 

It was incorporated into the Roman Empire in the early years of Tiberius’ reign and became a metropolis with “free” status (civitas libera) under Hadrian, who visited the city in 129 AD and renamed it “Hadriana Palmyra”. Caracalla declared Palmyra a Roman colony in 212 AD and exempted the city from paying taxes on luxury items.

Many members of Palmyra’s prosperous merchant class commissioned funerary busts depicting fashionably dressed individuals and family groups. These stone faces, representing Palmyrenes who lived between 50 AD and 270 AD, came from tombs outside the city in the so-called Valley of the Tombs. Their fashion was Syrian but they were shown in a Greco-Roman style with Parthian elements.

Read More 

Info and photos by Carole Raddato/Following Hadrian on Ancient History Encyclopedia 

[bellytalker]

Udug-hul Rituals

Udug-gul (”Evil Demons”) is a serialized composition of apotropaic rituals against demons and the sorcerers who manipulate them. Preserved on sixteen tablets, the collection contains rituals that span from the Old Akkadian (2300-2200) to the Seleucid periods (300-200). It is in the context of Udug-hul that the asipu most foreshadows the New Testament exorcist in his attribution of affliction to the demons, in his dependence upon divine powers to treat those afflictions, and in his own role as the mediator between that divine assistance and the human victim which includes a confrontation with the demonic antagonist.

As in Surpu, the incantations of Udug-hul help to restore the proper cosmic order. In this case, however, the order has been disrupted by one’s personal transgressions. Tablet 4 of Udug-hul concerns the identification of demons who have come up from the netherworld and their return by Enki to their proper place. Tablet 5 illustrates this in its description of the activity of seven demons called the “watchmen”:

The watchmen (demons) pursue anything

created in the Netherworld, the seed of An.

The watchmen constitute a sort of netherworld police force, but have left their proper domain and are misusing their authority in the upper world. In a case where the literary presentation may actually document the course of a disease, one by one the demons assault the patient in worsening stages:

the fifth lays him there on his bed.

As the sixth one approached the distraught man, he lifts his head from his belly

As the seventh one approaches the distraught man, (the patient) had already set his mind on

the Netherworld.

Udug-hul includes several passages which illustrate well the confrontation between the asipu and the demonic presences he seeks to drive out. These passages refer to the asipu’s making known his source of authority, and threats made against the demons not to harm him. From Tablet 6 of the collection we read:

I am the incantation priest, the sangamah of Enki.

The Lord (Enki) sent me to him (the victim), he sent to him me, the vizier of the Abzu.

You shall not shriek behind me,

nor shall you shout after me.

O evil man, may you not lift your hand (against me).

O evil demon, may you not lift your hand (against me).

Udug-hul also makes known the asipu’s uncompromising stance against the demons’ requests. From Tablet 8 the priest adjures the demon to depart:

Do [not say, “let me] stand [at the side].”

[Go out, [evil Udug-demon,] to [a distant place],

[go] away, [evil Ala-demon], to [the desert].

These passages show the asipu’s dependence upon and confidence in divine support for his craft, and an aggressive attitude toward the demons that one also finds in connection with the New Testament exorcists.

Source: Siebeck, 2.2.1.2

Image: Clay tablet; a Greek student’s exercise; on the front of this tablet is part of a cuneiform incantation against evil spirits written in both Sumerian and Babylonian; on the back the text has been repeated phonetically in Greek script. (Clay cuneiform tablet. Graeco-Babyloniaca; bilingual incantation, Udug-hul 9.) 3rdC BC-1stC BC.

[aegean-okra]

Midas City in Yazılıkaya village, Eskişehir, Turkey

The archaeological site of the so-called Midas City is situated in the Eskişehir region in Central Anatolia, near the village of Yazılıkaya (which in Turkish means “inscribed rock"). With a few exceptions, most of the Phrygian rock-cut monuments for which the site has become famous, date back to the 6th century BCE. The most prominent part of the Midas Monument is a high rock-cut facade with an incised decoration apparently showing a pedimented temple front with acroteria, faced with terra cotta and with a niche at the bottom center. The niche’s walls bear graffiti reading Matar (Mother, i.e. the goddess Cybele) and it probably held a statue of Cybele. The monument carries a dedication in Old Phrygian by Ates son of Arkias to Midas (ΜΙΔΑΙ ϜΑΝΑΚΤΕΙ).

[kutxx]

2.

Seated goddess, probably Persephone (Severe style)

480-60 B.C., Pergamon Museum, Berlin

[tlatollotl]

Orator’s Staff with Carved Warriors

Peru. Chancay. 1000 AD to 1450 AD

The Walters