Cover Reveal, Mummified Cats and Scarabs, Found: Lost Greek City Built by Trojan Captives

From my fantasy writing desk:

The exciting news this week is . . . (drumroll) . . . the cover reveal for the first book in my Tesha series, Priestess of Ishana. I love the way it came out. There are some excellent authentic historical cues (like that lion behind Tesha). The cover artist asked how much “magic” did I want her to add and in what form. I think she got it just right. Cover art shouldn’t try to capture a full scene in a book–all that detail would get lost, especially online where most people look at book covers before buying. So you aim at some essentials to tell readers what kind of book it is. I think this cover says historical fantasy with a strong female main character with magical powers. And that the history in the “historical” part is fresh and exotic. Let me know in the comments what you think of this cover.

Archaeology posts I enjoyed:

Newly discovered Egyptian tombs filled with cat and scarab mummies

Ancient Egyptians liked cats, but they had a most unfortunate way of expressing their admiration for the divine qualities of kitties. They mummified cats—and they didn’t wait until said cats died of natural causes.

Cat mummies feature in a new discovery of several sarcophagi in an ancient cemetery on the edge of the pyramid complex that once served the ancient capital Memphis. Three tombs for cats and one for the overseer of the buildings in the royal palace. They also found some mummified scarab beetles. Knocking off bugs seems less disturbing. But worshipping the cat goddess Bastet by killing cats just seems wrong. I may have the purpose of cat mummies wrong. Perhaps they aren’t offered to Bastet. But they were offered in abundance.

Bastet, by the way, is portrayed as both nurturing mother and terrifying avenger—which seems like an accurate cat behavior dichotomy. Originally, she had a lion head and later a cat head. I’m not sure if that is a demotion or not. Leave your thoughts. Click here for Archaeology News Network “Mummified sacred beetles and cats found in ancient Egyptian tombs”

Lost city built by Trojan captives excavated

The first major remains of the ancient city of Tenea in the Peloponnese near Corinth have been excavated. We knew this city existed from references in Greek sources. They tell us that Tenea was founded by Trojan captives whom Agamemnon allowed to settle there (which is likely enough an apocryphal legend). Later residents of Tenea were among the Greek colonists who settled Syracuse in Sicily. Tenea survived during the Roman period after Corinth was destroyed. There’s something evocative about this tradition of a city founded in “enemy” territory by Trojans dragged from their burning city. I’m guessing that origin tale formed their sense of civic identity, since the later residents would have believed in the tradition whether it happened that way or not. Click here for Washington Post “A lost ancient city built by Trojan War captives has been found, Greek officials say”