It seems as though Qaddafi is about to be defeated in Libya. No one knows what kind of government will replace him. But we do know that a long time ago this was a bastion of the Roman Empire. Above is one of the mosaics from Sabratha.
Category Archives: Archaeology and Antiquities
Old World Travel 90 years on: #4 Cheops’ Anthill
Exactly 90 years ago a four-volume set of encyclopedia-like human interest books was published as The Human Interest Library: Visualized Knowledge by Midland Press in Chicago. In a previous post I commented on its thoroughly “Orientalist” flavor. The section on Egypt covers mainly the archaeological history with only a few brief comments on the then contemporary state of Egypt. One of the great mysteries over the years has been an explanation for how the massive pyramids were built. Here is a novel idea, if a picture is worth a thousand scholarly words: ants.
Dreaming on a hot summer day
“The Simoon” by Ludwif Hans Fischer
One does not have to be on a caravan in the Sahara or trying to cross the Empty Quarter in mid-summer to appreciate the beauty of a sandstorm; in fact it is probably best appreciated when one is not in it. Above is how the hot winded simoon looked to the Austrian artist Ludwig Hans Fischer (1848-1915), who painted “The Simoon” in 1878. Below is how the simoon looked approaching the Sphinx to David Roberts in the early 19th century.
“Approach of the Simoon” by David Roberts
French Center for Yemeni Studies threatened
Le CEFAS : un instrument indispensable de compréhension de la péninsule Arabique
by Laurent Bonnefoy (chercheur, Institut français du Proche-Orient)
En 2011, jamais la France et l’Union européenne n’ont autant eu besoin de comprendre les sociétés arabes. Jamais les chercheurs spécialistes du monde arabe contemporain n’ont autant répondu à une demande sociale venant tant des médias et des diplomates que même parfois des entreprises. A l’heure où le Yémen connaît un profond mouvement de révolte et où s’expriment des aspirations au changement, à la liberté et à la démocratie, le ministère des Affaires étrangères songe à mettre fin à l’expérience du Centre français d’archéologie et de sciences sociales de Sanaa (CEFAS).
Ce centre, créé sous le nom de Centre français d’études yéménites en 1982 sous la double tutelle du ministères des Affaires étrangères et du CNRS, a en près de trente ans permis à des centaines d’étudiants et de chercheurs de se familiariser avec les sociétés de la péninsule Arabique, d’apprendre l’arabe et de mener à bien de nombreux projets de recherche avec les partenaires locaux qu’ils soient yéménites, saoudiens, omanais ou autres. Son travail d’interface avec les institutions yéménites et du Golfe, sa bibliothèque exhaustive ont fait du CEFAS un instrument unique au monde, valorisé à l’échelle internationale. Les archéologues liés à cet institut ont été à la pointe des découvertes sur les cités antiques de l’Arabie Heureuse. Ses historiens ont pu analyser et réévaluer tant les spécificités que l’intégration ancienne de la péninsule Arabique dans le système monde. Ensemble ils ont directement contribué à valoriser, mais également à préserver, un patrimoine d’une richesse inestimable qui reste encore pour une grande part inconnu. Les chercheurs en sciences sociales ont pour leur part travaillé à rendre intelligible les sociétés et systèmes politiques de cette région du monde arabe. Le rôle de chacun, dans un Yémen et dans un Golfe arabo-persique en transformation, est dès maintenant d’appréhender et d’analyser les transformations et, à l’usage de chacun en France, en Europe et dans le monde, de fournir de nouvelles grilles de lectures indispensables. Continue reading French Center for Yemeni Studies threatened
The Legacy of Donny George Youkhanna
A memorial conference entitled “Cultural Heritage Now – The Legacy of Donny George Youkhanna” will be held Wednesday, April 27, 2011 from 4:30 – 6:30 at the Rutgers Student Center in New Brunswick , New Jersey. Details below.
Cultural Heritage Now:
Iraq and Beyond
The Legacy of Donny George Youkhanna
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
4:30-6:30
Rutgers Student Center
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
126 College Ave
New Brunswick, NJ 08901
The event is open to the public, but pre-registration is required. Those wishing to contribute remarks must indicate this at the time of registration.
Presentations by:
John Russell
“Preserving Iraq’s Pastâ€
John Malcolm Russell teaches the art and archaeology of the ancient Middle East and Egypt at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston, Massachusetts. He is the author of numerous articles and four books on ancient Assyria, one of which, The Final Sack of Nineveh (Yale), investigates the destruction of Sennacherib’s palace in Iraq by looters in the 1990’ s. Professor Russell has conducted archaeological excavations at Nineveh, Iraq, and Tell Ahmar, Syria. In 2003-2004 he served with the Coalition Provisional Authority as an advisor to the Iraqi Ministry of Culture in Baghdad, Iraq, where he focused on renovating the Iraq Museum and protecting archaeological sites. Continue reading The Legacy of Donny George Youkhanna
Central Asian, Early Iranian and Islamic Numismatic Conference
The Third MECA Seminar on early Iranian and Central Asian Numismatics will be held at Hofstra University in Hempstead, NY, this Sunday, April 10, 10:00 am to 5:00 pm in 106 Breslin Hall. This seminar has been organized by Prof. Aleksandr Naymark and is open to faculty and students of Hofstra University and to the public, free of charge. For more information, check out the conference website.
Program
Session I: Early Islamic Coinage
10:30 am to 12:00 pm
• Konstantin Kravtsov (State Hermitage Museum)
An Obscure Period in the History of Tabaristan (760s AD): Analysis of Written and Numismatic Sources
• Stuart Sears (Wheaton College)
Crisis on an Asian Frontier: The Countermarking of Umayyad Dirahms in Khurasan in the Early Eighth Century CE
• Luke Treadwell (Oxford Univeristy)
Aleksandr Naymark (Hofstra University)
The Very Last Sogdian Coin
Lunch break
12:00 pm to 1:00 pm
Session II: Classical Age of Islamic Coinage
1:00 pm to 2:15 pm
• Michael Bates (American Numismatic Society)
The Second Muhammadiyya, the Mine of Bajunays
• Arianna d’Ottone (La Sapienza University of Rome)
From Russia to Rome: the Stanzani Collection of Islamic Coins
• Aleksandr Naymark (Hofstra University)
Byzantine Anonymous Folles from Qarakhanid lands in the Ferghana and Chu Valleys
Coffee Break
2:15 pm to 2:30 pm
Session III: On the Borders: India and Yemen
2:30 pm to 3:30 pm
• Waleed Ziad (Yale University)
Islamic Coins from a Hindu Temple: Reevaluating Ghaznawid Policy towards Hinduism
through new Numismatic Evidence from the Kashmir Smast in Gandhara
• Daniel Martin Varisco (Hofstra University)
Rasulid Coinage in the Daftar of al-Malik al-Muzaffar: A Preliminary Textual Study
Coffee Break
3:30 pm to 3:45 pm
Session IV: Mongols
3:45 am to 5:00 pm
• Stefan Heidemann (Metropolitan Museum of Art B Bard College Graduate Center)
The Coin Finds from the Heart of the Mongol Empire: Qaraqorum Results of the Bonn University Excavation
• Necla Akkaya (Selcuk Universty)
Coins of the Ilkhanid ruler Abu Sa`id Bahadur Khan
• Olga Kirillova (Orel, Russia), Aleksandr Naymark (Hofstra University)
A Copy of the Seal of the Bulgarian Tsar Ivan II Asen from Samarqand
General Discussion
5:00 pm – 6:00 pm
Dinner in Brooklyn – 6:45 pm
Café Uzbekistan
2170 86th St. Brooklyn, NY 11214 (in the first block east of the crossing with Bay Parkway; parking on the sides streets)
Tel.: (718) 373-9393
Looting the Pharaohs before Mubarak
Statue of Ramses II in Aswan
The status of Egyptian antiquities today, 3 March, 2011
by Zahi Hawass, March 3, 2011
When the revolution began on January 25, 2011, and through its first week, there were only a few reports of looting: at Qantara East in the Sinai, and at the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. However, since Mubarak’s resignation, looting has increased all over the country, and our antiquities are in grave danger from criminals trying to take advantage of the current situation.
The Egyptian Museum, Cairo
On Saturday, 29 January, I entered the museum the morning after the break-in and I could see through the museum’s monitor, objects were broken and thrown all over the galleries. However, all of the masterpieces seemed to be present. At first glance, it did not seem that objects were missing and I announced that the museum was safe.
After our preliminary inventory, we discovered that eighteen items were missing. Thankfully four of these items have already been recovered. The Heart Scarab of Yuya and the body of the goddess from the statue of Menkaret carrying Tutankhamun were both found on the west side of the museum near the new gift shop, and one of the missing shabtis of Yuya was discovered under a showcase inside of the museum. The statue of Akhenaten as an offering bearer was discovered by a young protester near the southern wall of the museum in Tahrir Square. His family immediately contacted the Ministry of State for Antiquities to arrange the statue’s return to the museum. I am now waiting for the Registration, Collections Management and Documentation Department to complete its final report on what else, if anything, is missing from the Egyptian Museum, Cairo. The General Director of the museum has told me that this report will be completed by Sunday. Continue reading Looting the Pharaohs before Mubarak
Ozymandias Redux
One of the great Victorian Orientalist poems, Ozymandias, was penned by Percy Bysshe Shelley almost two centuries ago in 1818. Substitute the name “Hosni Mubarakias” and experience the déjà vu that is Egypt, and indeed the entire world.
I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert… Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal these words appear:
My name is Ozymandius, King of Kings,
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
The memories of past kings and pharaohs are not sacred, as looters were able to enter the Cairo Museum and damage some of the objects there. Looting is as old as the pyramids. Such was the fate with most of the pharaohs’ well concealed (and conceited) wealth for the afterlife. Now the objects preserved in the museum are also in danger.
Egypt will survive the fall of its latest pharaoh, but right now the sneer of cold command is once again sinking in the sand.