Appetitive: Update

Wow, it's been a long time! I've been incredibly busy with school and friends. I am going to try to get back to posting some things more regularly. For the moment, I have posted a few more verbs on my Principle Parts page.

Also, two Egyptology News article grabbed my attention this morning. The first is that a statue of Cleopatra and Marc Antony's children has been discovered. The second is about the recovery of fragments from the Egyptian Book of the Dead. Interestingly enough, both of these "discoveries" were actually found years ago, but scholars didn't realize what they were until recently. It shows that there are still new things to be discovered, even in museum archives.

Appeitive: Follow-up on New Mummy

I mentioned a while ago that a team of scientists discovered a new tomb in the Valley of the Kings. Egyptology News sent out a video about  the new mummy within the tomb. My German isn't good enough to understand more than about 15% of it, but for anyone who speaks German, this is probably a useful resource.

Appetitive: Follow Up on Giza

Apparently, according to one mathematician, the markings on the secret room of the Great Pyramid at Giza  are numbers. I could not get to the original article, but the report is on Egyptology News. The numbers combine to be 121.

Appetitive: Pyramids in Egypt Found by Modern Technology

I am a huge Time Team geek. Before every dig on Time Team, the team does a geophysical scan of the area in order to see anomalies in the soil. Sometimes they even go up in a helicopter-- Roman ruins are often visible as lines in fields, soil, or crops that can be seen from the air.

What archaeologists are doing in Egypt takes this type of scanning one step further. The are scanning with inferred images from satellites in order to discover tombs-- and possibly even pyramids-- under layers of silt. Listen to the story on NPR.

Reasoning: Constructs of Ethnic Identity in the Ancient World

Instead of what I was supposed to be doing today (reading Medea), I spent a lovely cool spring day on the porch reading the Landmark Herodotus and the Iliad (which I do have to read in preparation for reading book 14 in Greek with Propertius II). Much of Herodotus, in my mind, is a combination of political science and a quest to understanding ethnic identity. The way that the Greeks defined themselves and others is a fascinating question int he ancient world and one i would like ot expore more thoroughly.

In the last few days, both AWOL and Egyptology News have recommended a new open-access journal and magazine called Egyptological. I decided to browse around and read an article on Ancient Egyptian perceptions of Ethnic identities that sounded intriguing. The article was a comparison between two different books on ethnic identity in ancient Egypt which each take a different anthropological view of the way that Egyptians perceived foreigners.

Appetitive/Reasoning: Greek History Review #7: A Brief History of the Mediterranean

Although I have been working on improving my Greek and Latin reading, some of my attempt to review my history has fallen by the wayside. I have, however, been listening to various lectures while I do chores. I decided that I should listen to history in my own field (what a concept!) while I cook and do the various chores I have to do anyway. I am currently listening to Berkeley's History 4A which is a basic history of the Mediterranean. It can be found on Berkeley's Webcast Site or on iTunes U (the lectures are in reverse order on iTunes). The professor's voice is a little grating and she has a lazy way of speaking, but she is informative and reasonably engaging in her content. I am on the second lecture that is available, which is on Egypt. The lectures will move into Greece soon. I recommend the lectures thus far.

Appetitive: Archaeologists on Strike?

I had no idea we lived in a world where archaeologists could go on strike. Apparently, this is actually something that can happen in Egypt. According to Egyptology News, in responses to a mass of looting, archaeologists might be striking in protest against the failure of the new government to appoint a minister to handle archaeological affairs. I think it's great that archaeologists have this power (although, obviously the looting is unfortunate).

More to come. I have a great old friend in town and I still have a lot of Medea to read...

Appetitive: Egyptology News

I am not much of an Egyptology person, but I find it interesting as a non-scholarly observer. When I was looking for some information on Egyptology recently I happened across a prolific blog called Egyptology News that posts updates on everything Egyptology related. Recently, the site has posted pictures of the Ptolomaic Temple, as well as a lot of information on the looting that took place in Egypt during the recent protests.