From My Fantasy Writing Desk:
I’m participating in a “History and Mystery” exchange of books. You get to choose from 22 novels in the historical fiction genre, with an emphasis on historical mysteries, and discover a new-to-you author through their newsletter in the process. You can, of course, unsubscribe to any newsletters you sign up for whenever you like.
If you haven’t read my Priestess of Ishana yet, this is a chance to get it for free. The publication date for the sequel to Priestess is set for October 14, so this is a good time to start my Tesha series. Lots of excellent novels in this group. One of my favorites is Anna Castle’s Murder By Misrule. It’s the first in her Francis Bacon mystery series. It’s a humorous, carefully researched, cleverly written series with the famous Elizabethan philosopher and statesman as sleuth. Treat yourself and it’s all free!
Click here to view the books and choose your downloads.
A Day in the Life
I was a guest on Relevant History with a post about a day in the life of Queen Puduhepa, the historical queen who provides the basis for my Tesha. Click through to hear about issues from a Hittite obsession with clean water for the royal family to Puduhepa’s prayers.
Archaeology I Enjoyed:
Pulling the Battle of Aegates from the Sea Floor
Rome and Carthage battled it out during the Punic Wars, leaving Carthage utterly defeated. During the first of the Punic Wars, a final naval battle, the Battle of Aegates (or in Italian Egadi), gave Rome the victory. Carthage sued for peace and surrendered territory.
Underwater archaeologists exploring the seabed over which this battle took place have made some remarkable discoveries. A local museum will display their finds in an exhibit featuring this battle. They’ve found both Roman and Carthaginian rostra, that is the rams built onto the ships to attack each other. (The placement of the rostra from enemy ships on the speaking platform in the Roman Forum gave us our word rostrum.)
They’ve also found particularly fine Roman helmets with decoration at the top in the shape of animals and an iron sword 70 centimeters long, 5 wide. The sea is quite an amazing new frontier in archaeology. Often, what burial in the ground would not preserve, wood, for example, being sunk underwater will, so this opens up new categories of finds. Click here for Archaeology News Network “Rostrums, helmets and sword recovered at the Battle of the Egadi Islands site”
Sunken Classical Greek Amphorae Found
While exploring off Albania’s coast, the research vessel Hercules of the RPM Nautical Foundation found 22 amphorae—a two-handled jar with a narrow neck used for wine or oil—40-60 meters deep on the seabed. They date to between the 7th and 5th century BCE. Their presence hints of a shipwreck they hope to uncover nearby. That would make this the earliest ship found off the Albanian coast.
“If confirmed this ship wreck can be associated with the foundation of two major cities in Albanian coastline, Dyrrachium and Apollonia, both the gates of Via Egnatia, the ancient road to the eastern trade,” said Auron Tare, UNESCO head of the Scientific and Technical Committee for World Underwater Heritage. Albania initiated the underwater archaeological exploration as part of its push to develop an underwater antiquities museum. Click here for Archaeology News Network “22 ancient Greek amphorae found off Albanian coast”