Archaeology is Just for Fun

I found this little article from Martin Rundqvist’s blog intriguing.  On the one hand I am tempted to agree with it since archaeological theories usually don’t have any direct impact on the world outside of the academy.  On the other hand, the connection between history and national and cultural identities cannot be ignored.  As a result, the discoveries made by archaeologists can have an impact on the wider world.  It’s not uncommon for political leaders to point to history and archaeological relics to inspire a sense of pride, unity, and nationalism in the people. 

But overall, I have to agree that most of the things we fuss over are just academics playing in their intellectual sandboxes.

 

Humanities Have No Important Issues

Category: Archaeology • Skepticism
Posted on: June 10, 2009 8:20 AM, by Martin R

A seminar in Stockholm tomorrow will treat the question, "What are the most important unanswered questions in the humanities and social sciences?". In my opinion, the most important ones are "How can peace, prosperity and democracy be established in countries where they are lacking?". And historian Arne Jarrick (whom I met last week at Alan Sokal's talk) agrees. In yesterday's Dagens Nyheter he's quoted as saying (and I translate),

“To build a bridge you need technological knowledge. To bomb the bridge you need technological knowledge. But to understand why the bridge was bombed and how to save societies where such things have happened, you need other kinds of science.”

Now, what kinds of science is he referring to? Perhaps he means history. But very few historians work with such issues. In fact, almost all research that aims to help build peace, prosperity and democracy is conducted within the Faculty of Social Science. Not the Faculty of Humanities. Let's be honest: we're looking at political science, national economics, foreign aid studies and conflict studies. Not cinema studies or Russian lang & lit or bloody archaeology.

So in my opinion, the seminar's question doesn't apply to the humanities. We have no important issues. We have only fun ones. The choice of what questions archaeology should pursue, for instance, is not dictated by societal importance. We pursue lines of inquiry that we find fun or trendy or likely to get funded because someone with money deludes themself into seeing them as important. Whether I study the Iron Age in one part of the country or the Bronze Age in another is not important in any reasonable sense of the word. But I try to keep my output fun for those who take an interest in such things. I certainly wouldn't bother if I wasn't having fun.

Figures in a Rose Garden, 1450–55

Figures in a Rose Garden, 1450–55
South Netherlandish
Wool warp; wool, silk, metallic weft yarns; 9 ft. 5 3/4 in. x 10 ft. 8 in. (288.9 x 325.1 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 1909 (09.137.2)

http://www.metmuseum.org/works_of_art/collection_database/all/figures_in_a_rose_garden/objectview.aspx?collID=0&OID=170003032&vT=1

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I absolutely love medieval tapestries.  They so often present a such a graceful and lyrical approach to the subject matter, often rich with symbolic power.  I think my all-time favourite will always have to be the French “Lady and Unicorn” tapestries, but this Dutch work from the Met site is a fine example of the grace and idealism that causes these works to retain both their charm and power over half a millennium later.

Essay on Egyptian Art

Here’s a great summary of some of the basic elements of ancient Egyptian art from Jane Akshar’s blog.

http://luxor-news.blogspot.com/2009/06/understanding-egyptian-art.html

Understanding Egyptian Art

from Luxor News by Jane Akshar

I just recently had to write an essay about the conventions of 2 dimensial Egyptian art and gave it to one of my guests to review before I submitted it. She found it really helpful to read before she visited the tombs so I thought I would give a section of it a wider audience. Especially now it has been marked and I have not made any glaring errors. The biblography is at the end and I really recommend Gay Robbins book's, she is by far the most readable.

It is important when looking at Egyptian wall paintings to remember what we are looking at. This is not some pretty picture to cheer up a tomb but it had a vital and significant purpose . To provide for the deceased in the after life. The artist could not experiment or he might destroy the whole purpose of what he was trying to achieve. Art as, defined by European standards , did not exist, the decoration of the tomb had a specific function and, as such, artistic considerations were not important. According to Aldred (1980 p15) the artist “… represented not what could be seen transiently, but what he expected to exist for perpetuity, symbols rather than images”.

This does not mean the tombs are devoid of beauty but rather should be viewed with an unprejudiced eye. The tomb craftsman used two dimensional art to fully represent what he was trying to show. It was ‘fit for purpose’; indeed it was more than that as some of the small vignettes are testimony to skill to the largely unknown craftsman. Indeed “to represent was, in a way, to create” (Robins 1997 p12) so they needed to represent the clearest picture of the object or figure, so it was instantly recognisable.

The Figure
The figures in the tomb were drawn according to a convention that was well established, first shown on the Narmer palette. The convention was: head in profile, eye full frontal, shoulders full frontal with distinct collar bones, arms in profile, hand does not appear as a hand but as a symbol for a hand, upper chest side view with one nipple, navel three quarters with belly button showing two thirds along, legs profile, feet striding, inner side of foot always shown so depending on the direction of the figure there will be two left or two right feet (Smith 1946 p273 Robins 1990 p14). It is not until the New Kingdom that both left and right feet will be shown. Mostly the figure is shown facing left which means when it was turned to face right, for example on both sides of a doorway, it can be a little clumsy.

The Cannon of Proportion
Not only was the figure drawn according to this convention but the figure also has rules about proportion. Some Egyptologists believed that these rules are rigid. “The small cubit equals the length of the arm from the elbow to the tip of the outstretched thumb. It is divided in 6 hand breadths, each of 4 fingers, measured across the knuckles at the back of the hand. Each finger has sub division ½ 1/3 ¼ 1/8 1/16. An extension of the hands breadth is 5 fingers or 1 ¼ hands breadth. The fist represents 4 fingers and thumb (which equals 1 1/3 fingers), making 5 1/3 fingers or 1 1/3 handbreadths, 2/3 of the cubit is the length of the arm elbow to wrist, which is equivalent to 4 handbreadths. It corresponds to a foot in Greek metrology. Lastly we have the fathom, which measures 4 small cubits and represents the height of a standard standing male figure.” (Iverson 1975 p22)
“As has been the custom, we take the baseline as 0 and count upwards horizontal 5 runs beneath the knee cap, 6 above the kneecap, 7 beneath the tips of the fingers hanging by the body, 8 under the thumb, 9 beneath the buttocks, 11 through the naval, 12 through the elbow, 14 through the nipple, 16 through the junction of the neck and shoulders, 17 beneath the nose, 18 through the hairline” (Robins 1994, p36). A proper grid is a later tool and during the Old Kingdom it is not often seen.

“Based on the small cubit the figure is drawn. Although grids are not generally used at this time, Old Kingdom figures can be analysed on the bases of hypothetical grids.” (Robins 1990 p35).

However whilst grids, rules and lines are common they were not always followed exactly and good artists did not always need them. “Once Iverson has established his hypothetical system, he attributes discrepancies between it and the material to errors arising from the incompetence of the artist.” (Robins 1994 p53). So it is a mistake to think that grids and rigid rules were always used, perhaps one could theorise that the very worst and the very best did not . “One has to assume, therefore, that these lines were merely aids to the artist and he was not tied to them”. (Robins 1994 p66) and “…proportions are not dependent on the grid and that the grid was simply adopted as an aid to obtaining them” (Robins 1994 p229)

Groups of Figures
Size matters, the most important person in the scene is the biggest, if shown “the king and the deity are equal footing” (Robins 1994 p8). However the most important person in an Old Kingdom noble’s tomb is the owner, as neither the king nor a god appears until after the Old Kingdom. He is the dominant figure in every scene. Men are in front of women , who are usually shown on a smaller scale or occasionally on the same scale. Adults are always shown in their prime, women are slim, and men are muscular. “The owner could be displayed either as a young man with a short kilt or a mature man with a calf length kilt. The wife was always displayed young as maturity might indicate lack of fertility.” (Robins 1997 p76). “The elite have no disease, deformity or old age…identity was established by the inscriptions” (Robins 1997 p75).

Young are shown as mini adults with a finger to their mouth or forelock of youth and they are generally nude.

Depiction of the minor figures in a scene was much more flexible and here you see much more lifelike poses and attitudes, humour or a snap shoot of real daily life.

“Where as major figures had to be depicted as ideal in formal poses, minor figures could be shown as far from perfect, perhaps suffering from deformity, disease or hunger, in positions which caught the body in transitory actions or engaged in energetic movement.” (Robins 1990 p38)

The Tomb
Neither time nor space are reflected and within the same set of registers you could see ploughing and threshing, gathering grapes and bottling wine. The figures and objects completely fill the space available with appropriate hieroglyphic inscriptions filling and balancing the scene. The only occasion registers are not used is when there is a deliberate invocation of chaos, a desert hunting scene, a battle or a marsh hunting scene.

The central figure was usually male, accompanied by wives , parents and offspring. His titles and name would be constantly repeated and a biography would be included . There would be a false door connecting the dead with the living. The deceased would be shown before a table of offerings and there could be a procession of offering bearers. There would be the production of further supplies in scenes of everyday life showing the production of food, clothing, objects (furniture, jewellery, and boats). “The owners would be shown benevolently supervising these activities.” (Aldred 1980 p87) The peasants are shown in a variety of lively poses. The owner is shown taking an active part in fishing and fowling in the marshes and hunting in the desert. These have the threefold purpose in the afterlife, enjoyment, food provisions and also the religious concept of overcoming chaos. The depiction of the funeral would ensure the correct funerary rights. The common scene of the clap net being employed in the marshes shows the owner bring order and rule to the chaos of the marches, as he hoped would happen in both life and death.

A mixture of carving styles was used depending on where the scene appeared.

Traditional, sunk relief was used on the outside walls and raised relief on the interior ones. (Robbins 1997 p25). It would often be indicative of a reward from the king that a noble had a top quality tomb. The best non royal tombs would belong to members of the king’s family or very senior members of his court. “The ability to command first rate artists displayed the tomb owner’s wealth and status”. (Robbins 1997 p25)

Perspective v Plan
They draw things in plan because this shows most of the contents. If you drew a building with an enclosure wall drawn in perspective you would know nothing of the interior of the wall. By drawing in plan you can seen the house and garden. The art is “conceptual rather than purely perceptual” (Robins 1990 p11). If you take the plan of a house you have no idea of the internal structure when shown in perspective, it was important to the Egyptians that this would understood and represented. Indeed the hieroglyphic for house and courtyard show the plan rather than the elevation or perspective.

There is an attitude that not showing perspective is somehow primitive or naïve and that being aware of it they should use it. “…men have always been conscious of the phenomena of perspective at all periods, but for some reason they have not at all periods made use of this awareness in their drawing”. (Schafer 1986 p81).

Fig 1 http://www.excavacionegipto.com/campana/campana04_ing.jsp.htm
However the apprentice board discovered by Dr Jose Galan in the courtyard of TT11 shows us in unmistakeable terms that the Egyptian artist was capable of fully representational drawings. This board, Figure 1, shows a picture of the king fully frontal. It is thought to have been a practice piece for a sculpture. There are two drawings side by side, one by the confident hand of a master and the other by the more hesitant hand of a student. As the shoulders are five squares across it is believed to be a representation of Hatshepsut as females are traditionally shown with the smaller shoulder width where as a male would be six squares across. The second picture shows the reverse of this piece with the more usual sideways view. It shows us that artists were taught both methods but only one type would appear on a wall and the other would be used for sculpture. But they could do it and were obviously expected to.

Offerings & Contents
These are vital to the survival of the owner so need to be shown in detail from the best possible angle to make it completely obvious what they are. A table would be shown with the contents tipped or piled up so every object is clearly defined.

The contents of a chest or box are drawn individually above the container. Again without this the contents would not be useable by the owner. The figures would be shown carrying offerings so in the unlikely event of the descendents neglecting to provide offerings; a combination of artistic skill depicting offerings, the hieroglyphics removing any ambiguity and magic e.g. the opening of the mouth, would provide for the tomb owner.

“The drawings could occasionally reinforce the hieroglyphs with a picture of a scribe having the palette and staff that comprise the hieroglyphics for scribe. Likewise offering bearers are shown carrying the hieroglyphic for offering” (Robbins1997 p51).

Magic
“… the role of representational art was closely interwoven with the religious beliefs of the ancient Egyptians and often one cannot be understood without reference to the other.” (Wilkinson 1992 p11). He continues “It is only knowledge of this aspect of Egyptian Art which can transform such a scene a relatively meaningless to the richly detailed tapestry of symbols which the artist originally produced”

Figure 2 tomb of Kheruef (photo Ray Johnson 2008)

The ceremony of the opening of the mouth will make these drawings come alive so they will sustain the owner but they could also bring danger to him so certain hieroglyphs will be incomplete or cut through so the dangerous creature would not hurt the owner, see Figure 2. This mutilation of hieroglyphics is shown in Pyramid Text and it demonstrates how vividly the Ancient Egyptian believed in the magical potency of the pictures. Likewise removal of the name beside a figure is enough to remove that person from the tomb .

Scenes often reflect mystic values such as order v chaos, the battle against demons in the after world . The clap net bringing order to the marshes. Spearing the hippopotamus destroys the demons of chaos.

Colour
Tones and shading are not shown but there is some clever use of colour including a white, white and a black black. The white white is shown on a kilt (hunite) on the while back ground (Calcium Carbonate). (Robbins 1997 p27). Also black, black wigs or the ‘T’ glyph on a black background. Although men are shown a reddish colour and women a yellow sometimes there are variations of this where several people are shown on top of each other and there is a need to differentiate or a very high status man will be shown a lighter shade than the workers in the field. (Francisco Tiradritti pers comm. 2008).

Biblography
Where is says personal communication these are from lectures at the Mummification Museum.
Aldred, C. (1980), Egyptian Art in the Days of the Pharaohs, 3100-320 BC, Thames and Hudson, London.
Harper Y & Scemin, P (2006) the Chapel of Kegemni, Oxford University Press
Iversen, E. (1975, 2nd edition), Canon and Proportions in Egyptian Art, Aris & Phillips Ltd, Warminster.
Robins, G. (1997), The Art of Ancient Egypt, British Museum Press, London.
Robins, G. (1990), Egyptian Painting and Relief, Shire Books, Princes Risborough.
Robins, G. (1994), Proportion and Style in Ancient Egyptian Art, University of Texas Press, London.
Schafer, H. (1986), Principles of Egyptian art, translated and edited with an introduction by J. Baines; foreword by E.H. Gombrich, Griffith Institute, Oxford.
Smith, W (1946) A history of Egyptian Sculpture and Painting in the Old Kingdom, Oxford University Press
Wilkinson, R (1992) Reading Egyptian Art, Thames & Hudson
http://www.excavacionegipto.com/campana/campana04_ing.jsp.htm (Accessed February 2008)

Thoughts on Christian Suffering

For some reason, this topic seems to be clinging to my thoughts.  I am no stranger to the experience of suffering, and much of my life has been woven together with threads of pain and tragedy.  Things have changing, and my life has received an injection of superb joy.  But yet, I face times where there is an angst and an emptiness that hangs from my heart with its talons firmly set within the delicate flesh.  Perhaps I am just inclined to melancholy, or perhaps it is a result of my biological makeup.  But whatever the cause may be for these shadowy emotions, the questions still exist: How do Christians handle suffering?  Why do we suffer in the first place?

On April 16th this year, I was asked to give a devotion for the choir I was singing with, and in particular to share some of my life story, especially about how I have dealt with my sexual orientation.  I thought I would share the majority of that message here.  Even though homosexuality is a major theme of this message, I think it summarizes many of my feelings on suffering.  It picks up after a few introductory notes about myself and some of the public discussions on homosexuality that I lead.  I’ve also snipped out a few segments that I felt was appropriate to say to friends in the choir that I don’t feel good about posting online.

What I’d like to do is to share a few points of my life and experiences, but mostly what I’ve learned about the place of suffering, sanctification, and hope in the Christian life.

To put it simply, my life has been far from easy. I always had some awareness of my feelings, but did not identify them with homosexuality until I was 12, and did not start talking about them until I was 16. The shame in that confession was so immense, that it took me about 20 minutes for me to coerce my mouth to shape the word “homosexuality.” In high school, I had to deal with incidents such as being sexually molested by a man, a mutual sexual encounter with another man which my pastor forced me to confess to my whole youth group, and people who did not understand my struggle, but rather treated me more like a problem than a person. I was in counseling with three different people in those years, all of whom were trying to help me change my orientation. I continued counseling [in college] in both group and individual sessions. But in spite of these efforts and my nightly prayers and pleas to be relieved of my struggles, I never experienced the slightest change in the direction of my attractions.

When I took a year off of school two years ago, I found all of the questions I had been trying so hard to suppress rising up and soon I was overwhelmed by them. Did God see my suffering? Did he know my longing to be pleasing to Him? Why would he not reach out and make himself known to me? Could I trust in God’s goodness? Was he good? Was he in fact a twisted and sadistic God? Christianity had brought me nothing but sorrow upon sorrow, and every day was a shadowy hell.

Since Christianity seemed to hold no hope of happiness for me, so I sought out the alternative forms of happiness. I began making trips to the gay district of Chicago to have anonymous sex with other men.  I had not found anything better – only more suffering.

One thing I have observed among the homosexual population at [this college] is that there is a struggle to hold on to hope. I’ve seen so many people give into despair and lose their faith.

So, what hope is there for someone who experiences attractions to the same sex? The rest of what I am going to share with you are the lessons I learned as I emerged from this dark time of my life.

The first thing is that sanctification does not take place on our own terms, nor is it something we do ourselves. It is a lifelong process that has more to do with obedience than with personal motivation. I often find myself frustrated with the typical evangelical attitude towards holiness that forces it into such perfectionistic terms of self-control that it leaves no room for the redeeming and relieving work of God’s grace. We anxiously obsess over our faults, and feel that unless we can remove them by our own power or by coercing God into removing them, we are failures. This does not mean that we should not strive to live lives marked by purity, by far the contrary. But we must stop living in a manner in which we define ourselves by our weaknesses and our struggles, making them the measurement of our success or failure as a Christian.

Through the fall, we are all equally depraved sinners, who are dearly loved and forgiven by a merciful and gracious God. Fallenness is universal, and for us who have accepted God’s grace, it is fully sufficient to cover our every mistake. The complete and sufficient oblation of our sins calls us to humility, not to fear and guilt.

But though we are wholly forgiven and on the road of sanctification, we still live in an epoch tainted by sin, on an earth which groans for the day of perfect redemption. Life will not be perfect, and suffering is inevitable. But one of the most beautiful things about being a Christian is the way we are called to suffer, and that suffering is given meaning and purpose.

We just finished a season contemplating the passion of Christ. As many of you know, passion is derived from the Latin word for suffering. A frequent theme in Scripture is that faith is perfected through testing and suffering. In the same way, Christ’s perfection did not truly become perfect, that is, complete, until he suffered and died. In Phillipians 2:8 we read that “he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!” Hebrews 2:10 says, “In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.” In Romans 8:17, it says “Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”

Here we see key elements to the good news of the Gospel: humility, obedience, suffering, and ultimately glory. Part of our calling as Christians is to suffer just as Christ suffered, and to endure and be obedient to the end. But none of it is meaningless, and there is hope and even joy to be found in the strife. We are people who are called to live eschatological lives, that is, we cannot and must not become so absorbed in our present circumstances that we fail to perceive the bigger picture.

In Scripture, the common encouragement for persecuted Christians was to look forward to the return of Christ, the resurrection of the body, and the final judgment where the righteous are vindicated and the wicked condemned. This is the “bigger picture” we need to contemplate and keep before us. This should give us hope when all seems hopeless, and it will strengthen our faith, challenging us to stand on what we believe when rationality tells us to abandon it. And as we step out of these periods of testing, we can look back and see the way God has changed us and shaped us, and rejoice in the deepening and maturing work God has done. When I look over the things I wrote during that time of extreme anger and rebellion, I honestly cannot recognize myself in them. Rather, I am someone I never thought I would be – someone who is largely at peace with God and himself.

To summarize, sanctification is not something we can achieve ourselves, but rather is accomplished as we submit to God’s refining work carried out through the suffering we face as part of our existence in a fallen world. God is not a sadist, nor is he unjust. Rather, his goodness is exuded in the grace he gives us to endure trials, and the way he does not ask us to make ourselves perfect, but only to be faithful to him as he does the purifying work for us.

To return to the discussion of sexuality, I want to end this time with a few practical words.

To those who struggle with homosexual feelings: you are a full and worthy member of the body of Christ. You are wholly forgiven and made worthy, and therefore capable of being an influential Christian even if your sexual feelings never change, just as mine have never changed. The grace of God is sufficient for you, no matter what. Don’t drown in silence, but build a strong support network. Don’t be afraid to ask hard questions, and seek out those older and wiser who will help you work through them. Remember that there is hope of a bright and joyous future, that Christ loves you and is with you. You are never alone. And I especially want to stress the importance of taking care of yourself, and not feeling any shame in seeking professional help or in taking medication for depression. Do whatever it takes to hold onto hope.

And to those of you who have friends who experience homosexual attractions: be a friend. Remember that they are a whole and complete person, they are not a project, a problem, or an issue. Remember that they are your equal in every way. Don’t be afraid to ask them questions about their sexuality, but don’t make that the focal point of your relationship. Listen to them and learn from them. Some of the worst damage is done by well-meaning friends who think that they have the issue figured out and fail to see the full complexities of human sexuality. Empathize with them and treat them as you would want to be treated.

Let’s Pray.

We come to you Father as broken and needy people, undeserving of your grace. But we give you unending thanks that you have deemed us worthy to be called your children. We thank you for your infinite goodness and perfect love. We thank you that you never leave us nor forsake us. May we never lose sight of that love and faithfulness as we journey through this broken world. Give us strength to tenaciously hold on to the truth of your love and forgiveness. Give us strength to love and encourage one another, that we may never cause another believer to feel less than another, but that we may be united in the acknowledgement of our need for You. Instill hope in us, that we might always know that you are in control of the whole universe and are working for good in our lives. Bless this club, that we will be a positive example of Christian brotherhood and the love you have called us to as believers. Through Christ our Lord, Amen.

St. Thomas Aquinas: Prayer for Guidance

 

O creator past all telling,
you have appointed from the treasures of your wisdom the hierarchies of angels,
disposing them in wondrous order above the bright heavens,
and have so beautifully set out all parts of the universe.
You we call the true fount of wisdom
and the noble origin of all things.
Be pleased to shed on the darkness of mind in which I was born,
The twofold beam of your light and warmth
to dispel my ignorance and sin.
You make eloquent the tongues of children.
Then instruct my speech and touch my lips with graciousness.
Make me keen to understand,
quick to learn,
able to remember;
make me delicate to interpret and ready to speak.
Guide my going in and going forward,
lead home my going forth.
You are true God and true man,
and live for ever and ever.

--St Thomas Aquinas, 1225-74

Music Archaeology, Part 1

 

Being a passionate lover of music, I had always been fascinated by the idea of reconstructing the music of the ancient world. But it seemed impossible that enough information could have survived to create an accurate representation of what it may have sounded like; that in the end, all recreations would be nothing but conjecture. However, the archaeological record has given up notated music from a couple of civilizations, namely the Greek and the Ugaritic people. There is sufficient descriptive data contained in the writings of the ancient Greeks that we have been able to accurately decipher their notation and re-create their instruments.  However, the people of Ugarit, Mesopotamia, and the rest of the ancient world did not leave behind such a helpful body of texts, and the work that has been done still has a long ways to go before they reach any level of certainty with their interpretations.

I’m going to do a series of posts on the entirety of recordings of ancient music that I have been able to acquire.  I think I’ve got nearly all of the recordings that have been made, except  the Musica Romana recordings from Germany, and a really bad CD that was made with a reproduction of the lyre of Ur that was so bad that I’m not going soil this post by saying anything more about it.  Some of the recordings are of actual notated texts that have been found in the archaeological record.  Others are original compositions in the style of the ancient civilization, others are merely performances on reproductions of ancient instruments.

This first post will feature the three most common recordings of Greek music that are out there.  Two of them are taken from original ancient sources, while the last one features original compositions in the style of the ancient Greeks.

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Atrium Musicae de Madrid: Ancient Greek Music

Grade: B

This is one of the first recordings of ancient music that I have come across, and is something of a classic in the genre of ancient music. The primary problem I have with this recording is just that it is excessively melodramatic. The first track is the best example, which starts off in a loud cacophonous crash, and each phrase of the following melody is broken by a loud, dissonant chord. I’m not sure that Greek instrumentation would have been that dramatic, rather, it would have been simple and less “noisy.” Director Gregorio Paniagua explains in the liner notes that since some of the musical papyri were fragmentary, that some of the gaps were filled in with noise, and consequently, the recording often just gets really noisy. Other places it is just really dramatic, such as in “The Hymn to the Sun,” which features the chorus chanting in a way that seems more theatrical than natural.

On the other hand, I absolutely love the rawness of some aspects of this recording. The acoustics sound very spacious, and the singing is simple and can either sound pure or harsh. Really, if they took out the all of the noise they throw in, then the recording would have gotten a much higher grade. A few of the tracks I simply love, like the “Hymn to the Muse” and the “Hymn to Nemesis.” Also, this recording really captured my imagination in many ways, particularly on some of these better tracks, and gave me that wonderful sense of being transported back in time.  If this album was completely filled with these simple and beautiful interpretations, I definitely would have given it an A+.

In the end, this recording truly stands firm as a classic in the recordings of ancient music, and it is one that really grows on you despite its flaws, and you will find yourself listening to it over and over again!

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Ensemble De Organograpia: Music of the Ancient Greeks

Grade: A+

I absolutely love this recording! They get is right in the ways that Atrium Musicae got it wrong. Their interpretations are pure, simple, and consistently beautiful. Even on the more dissonant melodies, such as the choral ode from “Orestes,” it still retains a pleasant listenability. In addition, Gayle Stuwe Neumann has an absolutely stunning voice, and she sings with magnificent clarity and precision. Primarily due to its simplicity, I think this is the most believable recordings of Greek music out there, and there’s really nothing bad to say about it! If you want to begin exploring ancient music, start by purchasing this album!

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Ensemble Melpomen: Ancient Greek Music

Grade: B-

This recording interestingly does not use any of the surviving notated music, but are original settings of ancient Greek poetry in the style of the surviving ancient Greek compositions. This has some wonderful instrumentation; I particularly enjoyed their use of the barbitos, the large lyre that is particularly known for its association with Sappho, who is frequently depicted performing on one. Much of the poetry used on this recording comes from Sappho, so it is highly appropriate that they would construct the instrument for this recording.

My highest praise for this recording is that it is the one that makes a noticeable connection between ancient and modern Mediterranean music. This is probably best heard on the track, “Gaia,” which is an upbeat dance-like melody, and the inflection of the voices and overall mood of the song sounds like Mediterranean folk music of the modern Mediterranean world. My biggest complaint with this album is the vocal techniques employed, which often sound too classical, and the countertenor sometimes sounds downright silly. “Gaia” is the major exception, where they sound much like modern Greek folksingers. On the rest of the album, they sound much more warbly and operatic, in contrast to the simple and pure tone employed by De Organographia and Atrium Musicae. In my opinion, someone singing ancient music should either perform using techniques closer to medieval music, or they should sound like a folk singer. I could believe that their performance techniques could have advanced to the point how medieval singing is traditionally done, but to use such operatic singing is just not believable. In addition, this recording often gives me a headache due to the shrill sounds created by the singers and the flute, as can be heard on “Tenge pleúmonas oino.” This is an album with potential, but inappropriate techniques and shrill sounds make it unbelievable and at times difficult to listen to.

Meresamun: A Temple Singer in Ancient Egypt

Here’s an article on the mummy of Meresamun, which is housed at the Oriental Institute.  She is now the subject of a new book and exhibit that look absolutely spiffy.  I’ve not made it down yet, but I hopefully will before my time in Chicago is through!

Super X Ray Unwraps 3000-Year-Old Mummy

The face of Meresamun, a priestess who sang in the temples of Ancient Egypt hundreds of years before the birth of Christ, has been revealed to the world for the first time thanks to a X-ray with a light ten billion times brighter than the sun.

Known as Joint Engineering, Environmental and Processing beamline or Jeep, the cutting edge technology uses intense radiation known as synchrotron light to see through solid objects.

The Jeep beamline showed astonishing 3D images of the a 3,000-year-old Egyptian mummy, still wrapped in her linen bandages.

According to an inscription on the casket, Meresamun (whose name means “She Lives for Amun”) served as a “Singer in the Interior of the Temple of Amun”. She was in her late twenties or early thirties when she died.

An exhibition featuring the mummy is running at the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute Museum ("The Life of Meresamun: A Temple Singer in Ancient Egypt”, until December 6, 2009)

Here is a video showing the virtual unwrapping of the mummy. One roughly oval-shaped amulet covers each of Meresamun's eyes. Her eyeballs are shrunken but intact.

 

And here’s the info on the book:

 

Oriental Institute Museum Publications (OIMP)

OIMP 29.
The Life of Meresamun: A Temple Singer in Ancient Egypt

This companion volume and catalog to the exhibit that opens on February 9, 2009, traces the life of Meresamun whose mummy, dating to about 800 B.C., is one of the highlights of the Oriental Institute’s Museum. The text introduces the historical and cultural setting of Egypt during her time. Essays and artifacts examine the role of music and of musicians in Egyptian temple cults, their training, and the types of musical instruments that Meresamun would have used. The life of Meresamun outside the temple is explored, with emphasis upon her social and legal status, what other professions were available to her, and what home life was like. The study of the life of this individual is augmented by forensic evidence obtained with the newest generation of CT scanners that sheds light on Meresamun’s life and death.