Archaeology of the ancient world and some great writing tips. Here are some posts I enjoyed from around the web this week:
“Ancient Bling” Elisabeth Storrs discusses the Etruscans’ love of shiny things and their magnificent jewelry (720-575 BCE) and the 19th C fad in neo-Etruscan parure sets that became all the rage until diamonds knocked that style out of popularity. What do you think, should we bring back Etruscan style? Click here for Historical Fiction Ebooks “Ancient Bling” by Elisabeth Storrs
Stephen King says, “The road to hell is paved with adverbs.” But there are times to use an adjective or adverb. Great post by September C. Fawkes on when and why, as well as how to spot the times to slash and remove. Click here for September C. Fawkes’s website “How to Break Writing Rules Right: Don’t Use Adverbs, Adjectives
New Discovery: A fragment of a linen curtain that would have been placed before a statue of the goddess Isis. It’s inscribed with the name of the father of legendary Cleopatra VII. Interestingly, this heavy curtain was carted off in 6th century by hermit monks to use for some practical purpose & hence comes to us. From the archaeological site reports I’ve read, this type of temple “furniture” hasn’t been built into my imaged view of religious practice—textiles rarely survive—so to me this is a light bulb detail for the next time I’m writing a temple scene, even though this evidence is both from a later period and a different geography. I’ve actually, over the years of researching, been struck far more often with the similarities than the differences of Bronze Age religious practices stretching from Egypt up through the Levant and Near East into Europe. Click here for “Tomb Shaft in Luxor Yields Unexpected Finds” on Archaeology News Network
Brightly colored Greek statues? Yes, it’s true, no matter how ingrained your image of white purity might be. Bruce Holsinger reminded me of this exhibit featured at Harvard’s Sackler Museum a while back. It featured colored reconstructions of various Greek and Roman statues. It’s quite an eye-opener. Susanne Ebbinhaus, who put together the exhibit, was one of my early advisors as to how on track my reconstruction of the Hittite world was. I am eternally grateful for the time she spent with me and her expertise. (The Sackler has a lovely Hittite collection) Building a world from archaeological site reports can be a dicey thing and her vote of confidence meant a great deal at a key time in the process of writing Hand of Fire. Click here for Harvard Magazine November 2007 “Dazzlers”
Also here’s the link to a pdf of the catalogue of the exhibit at the Sackler. I have a copy Susanne gave me. It’s fascinating and fun. I also received a coloring book of the exhibit. Now that was a clever piece of marketing and education! PDF of Gods in Color Arthur Sackler Museum Harvard