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e are some of my favorite posts from around the web this week.
If you’re looking for good gifts, a number of authors in my historical fiction website group have put together boxed sets of their series at great discounts. Jewish regency to Egypt to Victorian and other stops along the way. Give the gift of intelligent, fun reading from authors Libi Astaire, Libbie Hawker, JJ Toner, Rebecca Lochlann, M. Louisa Locke and Sarah Woodbury. Click here for Historical Fiction ebooks website (which isn’t just ebooks, but never mind) “Historical Fiction Holiday Boxes Sets”.
If you’ve ever wondered how and why writers of historical fiction try to recreate the psyches and worlds of long ago, this short article in Sunday’s NYT Book Review by Geraldine Brooks will clarify. I love her fiction and I love the way she talks about writing historical. I heard her a few weeks ago talking about The Secret Chord, her novel of King David. She uses her journalism experiences in the Middle East to extraordinary effect and puts to rest Henry James’ dismissal of writing anything further back than 50 years ago. Do read this inspiring piece. We can see into the minds of the past, even when that takes us to very dark places indeed. Click here for the New York Times Books Review “The King and I” by Geraldine Brooks.
Now this was a stinky sunk ship. Romans loved a fish sauce called garum-made by fermenting salted fish intestines. A sunken vessel with 3,000 amphorae of garum has been found off the coast of Liguria. Quite the delicacy! Alas all the stinky fish sauce has floated away and its past presence is surmised by the shape of the storage jars. I imagine a smellier, thicker version of Thai fish sauce, which is what I use as a substitute when trying to cook Roman. It was a mainstay of banqueting tables and street food stands across the Roman empire. Anyone for some rotted anchovy flavored roasted dormouse? The recipe that most thoroughly grossed out my Latin students. Click here for “Sunken Haul of Roman Fish Sauce found off Italy” on the Archaeology News Network
King Tut is back on display. His false beard has been reattached, held in place with beeswax since this is the adhesive the Egyptians used and won’t cause any damage. The conservators first scraped off the epoxy the maintenance men had used to fix King Tut in one of the most ridiculous mistreatments of an ancient treasure ever. The conservators manually rubbed with a wooden scraper edging off microscopic amounts of epoxy over a period of four weeks. Chemical removal would have damaged the mask. The big surprise for the German team who did the work was that before they started repairs, they studied both the mask and the archives pertaining to it in the museum. It turns out the beard was detached (presumably during excavation or transport in 1922) and not reattached until 1944. So the bumbling maintenance men who broke it this time have a little less guilt on their shoulders. One of the most iconic artifacts from the ancient world is back in action with a little help from some bees. Click here for National Geographic “King Tut’s Beard is Back, with help from a little beeswax”