Friday 27 April 2018

Rhyton of a Hounds Head

This #rhyton found in #france was probably made for the #Gaulish market since the Gaulish aristocrats loved imported greek wines and ceramics but also hunting.


Note the handle ... it would have been upside when in use 

Saturday 21 April 2018

SALTY CONTEXT OF PEACE

#bible study #greeknewtestament #mark #gospel #salt

There's a couple of verses in Marks' Gospel often described as enigmatic and yet as reading the same way in English Greek and Hebrew/Aramaic due to the grammar and words choices.

Yes I'm typing about Chapter 9  Verses 49 - 50

All for with fire will be salted. (lovely example of future passive and dative of agent)

Fine/good (is) SALT if (conditional form ean) the salt saltless / unsalt becomes (note geneetai subjunctive in/ with  what / which you will season it ?  or is it season with it?
have in yourselves salt and be at peace in / amongst each other.

Thing is this whole dscussion started with the disciples arguing about who was the greatest amongst them and moved through several topics and then ...I think there should be a pause between verse 48 and 49.
Jesus had just cited a belief that Hell was a place in which fire never was extinguished

I think this gave him an idea.

Some burnt offerings were slated before being placed in flames and there is a also a cooking technique of using salt crusts to seal in seasonings and flavours.

Maybe he was being ironic . 
Maybe as he spoke to his followers some one nearby was preparing a dish for an oven.

You will be salted for the fire ? Or everything is salted for the fire.

Salt used for cooking can not be reused but salt is an essential thing.

Was someone nearby arguing about how much salt should be used?

The disciples had been arguing and look how verse 50 ends.

Be at peace amongst yourselves and each other.

Keep your salt. Don't waste it?

Maybe those two verses aren't so enigmatic but more ironic?

Maybe the most important message is not about salt but about PEACE

eireeneute en alleelois 

BE PEACEFUL

and revise the uses of the dative case !

Saturday 14 April 2018

ENEMIES AND ALLIES

#gospelofmark #whatjesussaid #biblestudy #greeknewtestament

Theres a verse in Mark that illustrates SEMANTIC differences between Greek and English

Mark 9:40

He who for not is down of us over of us is

hos gar ouk estin kath' heeemoon huper heemoon estin.

Generally translated For he who is not against us is for us in English.

So why can kata mean against as well as down and hyper mean for as well as over.

Consider how hilly Greece and Galilee were.
You can move downwards downhill against something a downhill charge from higher ground for example or the idea of a hostile action placing the thing or person moved against in a lower position and likewise protection and shelter being an action over and above of a shield over a fellow fighter or providing a roof as shelter.

The enemy of my enemy can become an ally or even better a friend working for a common good.

Oh and I think the use of the masculine form doesnt exclude women.

While Jesus is giving a piece of general advice about possible allies he was also using referring to a man who was probably a Jewish male exorcist.

The parallel verse in Luke uses you rather than us but again I ask look at and study the similarities and meaning and don't get obsessed with minor textual variances.



Wednesday 11 April 2018

Artemis and Hound

#artemis #hound #sculpture

I have no idea if this represents a small breed or halfgrown pup as the Greeks had several types of hounds. Or if possibly the artist is just trying a bit too hard to scale down everything to fit on one slab of stone ? Note that Artemis may NOT wearing a man's tunic but rather a garment that appears to be a long tunic hitched up?


Saturday 7 April 2018

How Linear B was Lost

HOW LINEAR B WAS LOST #linearb #mycenaeangreece

How does a culture lose literacy?

In the case of LINEAR B I think these were the major factors

Use of perishable materials

Linear B is known only from clay tablets but it may have also been inscribed on leather parchment or embroidered on clothing or inscribed on lead or metal tablets.

All of these can be burnt smashed or decay.

It may be that the rooms in which tablets were found were holding areas until accounts could be copied from clay onto more permanent materials. Or materials the Mycenaean Scribes thought were more permanent. It may be that poetry or chronicles were kept in the lost upper storeys of palaces and I can see lead or gold tablets being melted down for jewellery or loom weights.

Lack of backup.

No copies on other stronger media

Limited literacy.

The location of surviving tablets and a few reference in stories suggest only priests palace scribes and and aristocrats had any ability or training in reading and writing and probably very few of them!

Kill off the elite and with no one to train the next generation ....

THE peasants are revolting

I rather suspect the truth behind the  Return of the Heraclids tradition of a Dorian "invasion" was that people claiming a link to Heracles as the Champion of the People Against Monsters probably delibarately burnt archives to destroy land deeds and tax records.

Also remember paper and printing had not yet been discovered and the concept of having inscriptions on pottery and gravestones or statue plinths dates centuries later.