Here are some posts I enjoyed this week around the web:
It’s often hard to put your finger on what makes a luscious read, a book you just love. I like this analysis by Cynthia Robertson. She gets to the core of it, heart and art. Click here for “Five elements of brilliant fiction” by Cynthia Robertson
A Bronze Age Pompeii in Britain. A wealthy house built on stilts that started to burn then fell into water and a state of excellent preservation. No one returned to retrieve possessions—even the food was left cooking, a cow carcass partially butchered, jewelry, spears, chairs, tables, clothes. Says the lead archaeologist, “The site is so rich in material goods we have to look now at other bronze age sites where very little was found, and ask if they were once equally rich but have been stripped.” Also interesting was his comment, “This is a world full of swords and spears – it is not entirely a friendly place.” I’m not usually in this part of the world during the Bronze Age, but I find this quite intriguing! Click here for The Guardian “A Bronze Age Pompeii: archaeologists hail discovery of Peterborough site”
A National Geographic interview with Caroline Alexander about what the Iliad says about war and why the Iliad is such a revolutionary form of epic—not focused on the glory of the fight but on the psychology of people. Alexander also notes the folktale/fairy tale qualities of Achilles. I have a personal theory that those come straight from the Hittite myth of Telipinu, which I think is the basis for parts of the Achilles tradition. Although there are no talking horses in the Telipinu story! My portrayal of Achilles in Hand of Fire owes much to seeing him as a hybrid of man and myth, a hybrid that is innately uncomfortable for him. Click here for “War in Unavoidable: and Other Hard Lessons from Homer’s Iliad” an interview with Caroline Alexander in National Geographic
Some pro-book, winter humor via Janet Rudolph Click here for Mystery Fanfare “Bookstore Sign of the Day”
A royal burial found in Maya El Zotz in Guatemala. All the drama of the unexpected, fabulous find. I love the enthusiasm of this archaeologist Tom Garrison. He must be fun to have as a teacher. After all, on his way to get treated for poisonwood exposure, he turned his truck around on the phoned news of the discovery of a royal tomb. I might have gone to the doctor first! Click here for USC website “Digging Deep USC archaeologist recounts the mystery and appeal of his work at a Maya Burial Site”