Ancient places and writings
This photo journalist has many things here, & includes footnotes to his articles. I included only one of his photo albums, and some writings on the ancient tablets.
Shunya's site
About Shunya's Policy
What is in a name "0"
Lost Cities - Click on thumbnails below for larger pictures. Links indicate photo sets.
"As a kid, when I first came across the term `lost cities,' I was mesmerized. A whole city lost? Lost? I've seen many lost cities since then but have lost none of my fascination for them. I am in Lattakia to visit another – the nearby ruins of Ugarit, the 2nd millennium BCE city credited with the first and only invention of the alphabet."
Shunya pictures - Highlights - Lost Cities.
The Lost City of Ugarit - The Birthplace of the Alphabet, Syria
Article about Ugarit
Exerpt: What's interesting is the siege of a distant city over a woman, a theme central to both Homer's Iliad and Valmiki's Ramayana. Mystical thought suffuses this verse fragment from The Legend of Keret:
Shunya's site
About Shunya's Policy
What is in a name "0"
Lost Cities - Click on thumbnails below for larger pictures. Links indicate photo sets.
"As a kid, when I first came across the term `lost cities,' I was mesmerized. A whole city lost? Lost? I've seen many lost cities since then but have lost none of my fascination for them. I am in Lattakia to visit another – the nearby ruins of Ugarit, the 2nd millennium BCE city credited with the first and only invention of the alphabet."
Shunya pictures - Highlights - Lost Cities.
The Lost City of Ugarit - The Birthplace of the Alphabet, Syria
Article about Ugarit
Exerpt: What's interesting is the siege of a distant city over a woman, a theme central to both Homer's Iliad and Valmiki's Ramayana. Mystical thought suffuses this verse fragment from The Legend of Keret:
Grand the plans of gods and man,
But when the day is done –
Bones broadly scattered in the sun,
For ironic Moira* the fray hath won.
And naught remains for Apollo's progeny,
But to sing her praise,
In comic agony. [* Fate, or the will of the gods]
On a clay tablet, someone's anguish is expressed in these evocative
words:
My brothers swim in blood like crazy men.
I ate my stone like bread. And for a drink,
I drank my blood.
My tears have replaced my food.
I ate my stone like bread. And for a drink,
I drank my blood.
My tears have replaced my food.
Another fragment is from a letter to the authorities. In it the
writer laments,
The poor has become rich.
The wise is in despair.
Our crops have been stolen.
The vineyard is in ruins.
And our town has been destroyed.
The wise is in despair.
Our crops have been stolen.
The vineyard is in ruins.
And our town has been destroyed.
And on one clay tablet this timeless reminder to men written 34
centuries ago,
"Do not tell your wife where you hide your money."
Humans inhabited this site for 7000 years, from the 7th millennium to
Roman times. I wander around the desolate ruins, trying to imagine
the city at its prime, its street life, homes, people. The breeze has
pulled in low clouds, it might rain. The damp earth is overgrown with
weeds; worm hills abound, tiny white and yellow wildflowers carpet
the floor. I can see the Mediterranean Sea. There are still no
tourists; only the bells on a few grazing sheep break the calm.
Pictures of Aegean Turkey: Troy
Pictures Highlights: LostCities.
Aegean Turkey /Trojan Horse photo
[Gosh as large as it was would you not suspect
something of your enemies giving such a large gift?]
posted by LadyIrene @ 4/06/2007 04:54:00 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home