From My Fantasy Writing Desk:
I’ll be speaking at the KJZZ StoryFest at 2:40 on the Author Reading Stage—just a 15 minute talk so don’t be late!
In addition, I’ll be signing and chatting with readers all day at table #50, 10 am to 4 pm. I always bring Tesha’s royal seal to stamp copies of my book in the fully regal form a Hittite queen deserves. You can buy the books there or bring your copy from home.
Join me! I’d love to see all my Arizona friends.
Another great part of this event: The Storytelling stage will also be active much of the day—buy tickets to hear these incredibly talented tellers of tales, in the Homeric tradition of oral storytelling.
As you can see from the lineup of authors, this will be a great place to find your next favorite book.
Come enjoy authors and storytelling Saturday, June 1, 10 am to 4 pm at Mesa Convention Center – Building C 201 North Center Street, Mesa AZ 85201
Archaeology I Enjoyed:
Vindolanda Gaming
A volunteer digger at Vindolanda in England found a Roman gaming board for playing ludus latrunculorum (game of robbers). Interestingly, this is the fifth game board excavated at the site, all dating to the 3rd and 4th century. Those Roman soldiers liked their version of chess.
For Ludus latrunculorum, two players used a rectangular board marked with a grid of squares. The players each have an equal number of pieces, with one player’s differing from the other in color. Pieces move around the board and capture one another. The unlucky player whose piece gets caught between two of the other color must remove it from play. The winner is the player who captures all of the opponent’s pieces. At the fort, they’ve also found lots of gaming pieces, which were made from pottery, glass or stone.
Deciphering Egyptian Papyrus Records
Deciphering the economics of Egypt under the Romans. An extensive infusion of funds has initiated a large translation and digital publication project called DimeData, after the temple of Dime in Egypt where the papyri originally came from.
Dime, an active temple between 30 BCE to the 2nd century CE, had the archaeological good fortune to be abandoned and left untouched sometime in the 3rd century. However, it suffered from being discovered in the 19th century so its many papyrus records were scattered across museums in Europe.
This project hopes to join all the information and advance the translation of the papyri to give a much more accurate view of the economic relationship between the Roman and Egyptian economies. Traditionally, scholars blame Rome for Egypt’s decline in this period, but the Dime evidence implies the opposite.
As the translators show, the evidence lies in long lists of accounts of wheat, olives, salaries to workers, all that good solid stuff. The slow and painstaking reconstruction of historical reality. Apparently, the version of demotic writing that the temple officials used is particular to them and especially difficult to decipher. Patience required!
Click here for Archaeology News Network “Wheat, Wine And Wool: What Old Account Statements Reveal”