Month: December 2007

Can you believe the loot people find on eBay?

Ancient, Looting

eBay cuneiform tabletLiteral loot, as in looted from post-invasion Iraq. Thankfully it was spotted and pulled a few minutes before the auction closed.

A German archaeologist had spotted the tablet bearing wedge-shaped cuneiform script on the online auctioneer’s Swiss Web site, www.eBay.ch, a government official said.

The archaeologist alerted German authorities, who passed the tip onto their Swiss counterparts, said Yves Fischer, who directs the Swiss Federal Office of Culture’s department on commerce in cultural objects.

EBay Inc. stopped the auction on Dec. 12 “a few minutes before the end” of its bidding deadline, Fischer said. Zurich police then confiscated the small tablet – about the size of a business card – from a storage facility.

I bet that Swiss storage facility is like the warehouse at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.

It’s in a safe place

Caroling’s raunchy past

Modern(ish)

From a USA Today story about the decline of Christmas caroling, here’s a tasty nugget of holiday cheer:

Yet, caroling is ancient (the first Christmas carol was probably written in the 4th century, Studwell says), and associated with pre-Christian festivals, fertility rites, feasting and drinking — the antique equivalents of sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. In medieval Europe, caroling referred to singing that accompanied dancing and merrymaking.

“Before 1800, it was public, rowdy, drunken, potentially violent, often sexual, and of course now we have New Year’s Eve for all that,” says Stephen Nissenbaum, professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts and author of The Battle for Christmas.

He says wassailing (from the Anglo-Saxon was hail, or good health — a kind of medieval version of whassup) was a form of caroling that amounted to “aggressive begging.” Poor people would go to homes of the rich and sing, and if no one coughed up cash or treat, they could expect a trick .

I propose a new slogan for Christmas traditionalists: Debauchery is the reason for the season.

Christmas partyin’

Curses! Lead foiled again.

Ancient, Roma, Caput Mundi

It’s not unusual to find Roman cursing charms inscribed on lead in England, but ones cursing the emperor were pretty much unheard of, until now.

Some 1,650 years ago someone was so comprehensively fed up with the state of the Roman empire that they committed an act of treason, blasphemy and probably criminal defacing of the coinage. They cursed the emperor Valens by hammering a coin with his image into lead, then folding the lead over his face.

Valens was emperor from 364 AD to 378 AD. He was a hardcore Arian and not keen on religious tolerance, so doubtless that garnered him some hatred. He also let the Visigoths settle across the natural border of the Danube and then treated them like crap so they revolted, kicking ass all over the Balkans until finally kicking Valens’ own ass for good and annihilating his army at the Battle of Adrianople.

Medieval bishops sure ate well

Medieval

An old find is giving us new information about the lifestyles of the rich and clerical in medieval Scotland. The bones of six bishops were excavated at Whithorn Priory in Galloway in the late 50’s and 60’s, but there wasn’t much in the way of clues to their identities.

New radiocarbon dating has identified the bishops by their date of death, and new dietary analysis has determined that they supped richly on fine meats and large fish.

Mind you, even ordinary Scots ate better in the middle ages than modern ones. I blame the McDonald clan.

~ Thanks to Lees for the story tip. ~ :thanks:

Mosaic tells how the Roman games worked

Ancient, Roma, Caput Mundi

Discovered in a small village in Tunisia in 1966, the Magerius mosaic is an intricate combination of word and image describing a gladiatorial game sponsored by a local magistrate by the name of Magerius. Current Archaeology magazine breaks it all down for us: The Magerius Mosaic: How a Roman amphitheatre really worked.

“Roll up! Roll up! Roll Up! There will be a magnificent spectacle at the amphitheatre today, and you mustn’t miss it! Magerius is giving it. Of course, you all know Magerius who has just finished his term of office as mayor. He’s a pompous old ass but he thinks the world of himself and he’s going to lay on a big spectacle and he is paying through the nose for it, and he wants everyone to know how generous he has been.”

The Magerius mosaic“He is bringing in the Telegenii. You’ve heard of the Telegenii – they are the best theatrical producers in North Africa. They have all the best beasts and all the best hunters too. Today they have for your delight four leopards, all home grown and well trained. They are called Crispinus, Luxurius, Victor – who of course is going to be conquered – and then, Ho! Hum! there’s Romanus, ‘The Roman’ who is going to bite the dust at the hands of a hunter. And then he’s got four of his best hunters, Hilarinus, Bullarius, Spittara, who always hunts on stilts, and finally the champion, Mamertinus. It’s going to be a great spectacle, so hurry along to the amphitheatre. Who’s going to win – the beasts or the hunters?

The article continues with a detailed examination of what the mosaic and its location can tell us about the operation of gladiatorial games in the provinces. It’s a quick read and very much worth the time.