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Highlights from the wonderful exhibition of Tutankhamun's Gold Treasures at Saatchi Gallery London UK 30 Nov 2019.
© Amberinsea Photography 2019
The main chapel of Wat Suthat Thep Wararam Temple and its reflection on the marble floor. This temple is a Buddhist temple in Bangkok, Thailand. It is a royal temple of the first grade, one of ten such temples in Bangkok (23 in Thailand). This main chapel (in the photo) contains the great Buddha image Phra Sri Sakyamuni which have been moved from Sukhothai province. This is one of the most beautiful temple in Thailand. Don't miss it.
Cavates, carved rooms, were also common behind the rooms built at the bottom of cliffs. Luckily, the tuff is soft and malleable. Carving these rooms using stone tools would have still been very difficult. The walls of the cavates were often plastered and the ceilings smoked. Smoking the ceiling made it less crumbly. Sometimes pictographs painted on or petroglyphs were carved into the walls. Source: www.nps.gov/band/historyculture/ancestral-pueblo-home-con...
Masada (“fortress” in Hebrew) is a mountain complex in Israel in the Judean desert that overlooks the Dead Sea. It is famous for the last stand of the Zealots (and Sicarii) in the Jewish Revolt against Rome (66-73 CE). Masada is a UNESCO world heritage site and one of the most popular tourist destinations in Israel.
The last occupation at Masada was a Byzantine monastery, and then the site was largely forgotten due to its remoteness and harsh environment (especially in the summer months). The site was superficially explored in 1838 CE by the American archaeologists Edward Robinson and Eli Smith. Then, between 1963 and 1965 CE, Yigael Yadin, who was both an Israeli military commander as well as an archaeologist, organized the first major excavations with volunteers from around the world.
The source for the history of Masada is Flavius Josephus (36-100 CE), who wrote about the origins of the fortress under the Hasmoneans and the renovations of the site under Herod the Great (37-4 BCE). As an eyewitness to the events of the Jewish revolt against Rome (66-73 CE), he wrote The Jewish War with the last chapter relating events at Masada in 73-74 CE. Josephus described the decision to commit mass suicide at the fortress (960 men, women, and children). However, because he was not an eyewitness to the events, modern debate continues in relation to the historical basis of his story.
An aerial view of Babylon showing the reconstructed Palace of Nebuchadnezzar, with adjacent helipad (at the top, between the palace and the lake) and trailers for military housing (PHOTO Martin Bailey January 25, 2005)
www.albionmonitor.com/0510a/iraqheritage.html
Some 90 kilometres to the south of modern Bagdhad lie the ruins of ancient Babylon, the original name of which, "bab-ili", may be translated as "the Gate of the Gods". For the world at large Babylon ranks as one of the most famous cities of antiquity, renowned alike for its refinement, beauty and magnificence. As a centre of culture and government it flourished for about fifteen centuries, from the arrival of the Amorites ca. 1850 B.C. down to Alexander the Great, who died there in 322 B.C. One of the best known of the city's early rulers was the great law-giver, Hammurabi (1792-1750 B.C.).
In classical times the city walls of Babylon were spoken of with admiration and astonishment, while her "Hanging Gardens" were accounted one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
During the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II (605-563 B.C.) Babylon was extensively re-built on an altogether magnificent scale, the city becoming at this period both the most beautiful and the most prosperous of the ancient world. Bisected from north to south by the river Euphrates, the city was surrounded by a moat and by two massive walls, the outer being about 16 kilometres in length, the inner about 8 kilometres. Within the inner city wall were brick- and bitumen-paved Thoroughfares and imposing buildings, of which numerous traces and ruins may still be seen by the visitor today. In particular there is part of Babylon's great Procession Street which passes through the Ishtar Gate and on towards the site of the city's huge staged temple tower or "Ziggurat". On one side of the Procession Street are the ruins of the South Palace (300 x 190 metres) amongst which are to be found those of the famous "Hanging Gardens" mentioned above. To the north of the South Palace are the ruins of the Principal Gate, the broken walls of which consist of baked bricks laid with gypsum mortar. Also within the circuit of the inner wall and surrounded by residential buildings are the temples of Marduk, Ishtar, Gula and Ninurta.
For the past two thousand years the ancient buildings of Babylon have been extensively quarried for their excellent baked bricks. Thus, what survives today is generally only the lower courses of the walls or simply their foundations. Moreover, what survives is threatened by salt and the high local water table. Action is urgentls required to rescue these ruins.
Fotunately there already exist plans and reconstructed drawings on many of Babylon's principal buildings, even some of which little now remains but their foundations. These plans and drawings were made by German archaeologists who dedicated some seventeen years to the excavation of Babylon before the First World War.
As the product of fifteen centuries of human toil and endeavour Babylon belongs to all people and to all nations. Visitors from all over the world are anxious that something should be done to further the restorations and reconstruction of babylon's principal buildings, so that the city's former grandeur may be better appreciated. It is appropriate, we feel, that all countries should assist in this work, not only in recognition of Babylons' great place in history, but also in recognition of her great cultural importance for everyone.
The imposing Capitol of Dougga, built in AD 166, is a Roman temple principally dedicated to Rome’s protective triad: Jupiter Best and Greatest, Juno the Queen, and Minerva the August.
In remarkable condition, it has 10m-high walls and six mighty, one-piece fluted columns – each 8m high – supporting the portico. The massive walls are the finest known example of a construction technique called opus africanum, which uses large stones to strengthen walls built of small stones and rubble. In the temple's inner sanctum are three large niches in the north wall, which once housed a giant statue of the Roman god Jupiter flanked by smaller statues of Juno and Minerva. The carved frieze shows the emperor Antonius Pius being carried off in an eagle’s claws, with an inscription dedicating the temple to the three gods.
Dougga or Thugga is an ancient Roman city in northern Tunisia. UNESCO qualified Dougga as a World Heritage Site in 1997, believing that it represents “the best-preserved Roman small town in North Africa”. The site, which lies in the middle of the countryside, has been protected from the encroachment of modern urbanisation, in contrast, for example, to Carthage, which has been pillaged and rebuilt on numerous occasions.
Thugga’s size, its well-preserved monuments and its rich Numidian-Berber, Punic, ancient Roman and Byzantine history make it exceptional.
Mission day 92 from Perseverance Rover, Corrected version as the last version has a large stitching error that I didn't initially see.
Source Images can be found here: mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/multimedia/raw-images/
Masada (“fortress” in Hebrew) is a mountain complex in Israel in the Judean desert that overlooks the Dead Sea. It is famous for the last stand of the Zealots (and Sicarii) in the Jewish Revolt against Rome (66-73 CE). Masada is a UNESCO world heritage site and one of the most popular tourist destinations in Israel.
The last occupation at Masada was a Byzantine monastery, and then the site was largely forgotten due to its remoteness and harsh environment (especially in the summer months). The site was superficially explored in 1838 CE by the American archaeologists Edward Robinson and Eli Smith. Then, between 1963 and 1965 CE, Yigael Yadin, who was both an Israeli military commander as well as an archaeologist, organized the first major excavations with volunteers from around the world.
The source for the history of Masada is Flavius Josephus (36-100 CE), who wrote about the origins of the fortress under the Hasmoneans and the renovations of the site under Herod the Great (37-4 BCE). As an eyewitness to the events of the Jewish revolt against Rome (66-73 CE), he wrote The Jewish War with the last chapter relating events at Masada in 73-74 CE. Josephus described the decision to commit mass suicide at the fortress (960 men, women, and children). However, because he was not an eyewitness to the events, modern debate continues in relation to the historical basis of his story.
... In biblical literature, structure built in the land of Shinar (Babylonia) some time after the Deluge. The story of its construction, given in Genesis 11:1–9, appears to be an attempt to explain the existence of diverse human languages. According to Genesis, the Babylonians wanted to make a name for themselves by building a mighty city and a tower “with its top in the heavens.” God disrupted the work by so confusing the language of the workers that they could no longer understand one another. The city was never completed, and the people were dispersed over the face of the earth. The myth may have been inspired by the Babylonian tower temple north of the Marduk temple, which in Babylonian was called Bab-ilu (“Gate of God”), Hebrew form Babel, or Bavel. The similarity in pronunciation of Babel and balal (“to confuse”) led to the play on words in Genesis 11:9: “Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth.”
“With each sunrise, we start anew”
Happy Monday. I hope you all had a great weekend.
May you all have a wonderful Monday and an amazing new week ahead.
Take care.
Tomb (TT55) of Ramose, c. 1411-1375 BCE
A painted scene in the tomb of Ramose showing funerary goods including cases for shabtis, perfume jars, stools, and pair of sandals being born in procession to his tomb. In the middle, women mourners lament the deceased. Despite its rich decoration, Ramose's tomb was unfinished and he was not buried there. /The civilisation of Ancient Egypt
Masada (“fortress” in Hebrew) is a mountain complex in Israel in the Judean desert that overlooks the Dead Sea. It is famous for the last stand of the Zealots (and Sicarii) in the Jewish Revolt against Rome (66-73 CE). Masada is a UNESCO world heritage site and one of the most popular tourist destinations in Israel.
The last occupation at Masada was a Byzantine monastery, and then the site was largely forgotten due to its remoteness and harsh environment (especially in the summer months). The site was superficially explored in 1838 CE by the American archaeologists Edward Robinson and Eli Smith. Then, between 1963 and 1965 CE, Yigael Yadin, who was both an Israeli military commander as well as an archaeologist, organized the first major excavations with volunteers from around the world.
The source for the history of Masada is Flavius Josephus (36-100 CE), who wrote about the origins of the fortress under the Hasmoneans and the renovations of the site under Herod the Great (37-4 BCE). As an eyewitness to the events of the Jewish revolt against Rome (66-73 CE), he wrote The Jewish War with the last chapter relating events at Masada in 73-74 CE. Josephus described the decision to commit mass suicide at the fortress (960 men, women, and children). However, because he was not an eyewitness to the events, modern debate continues in relation to the historical basis of his story.
Stonehenge in Wiltshire, photographed at A303, Salisbury by Joel Morin. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED - No rights granted unless in writing by Joel Morin
Ancient Shiva statue carved out of stone inside a cave at Elephanta Caves ruins in Mumbai (Bombay) India at Gharapuri island.
Egypt doesn’t have the monopoly on pyramids. The Sudan has many of them, and discovers new ones regularly. The most beautiful and impressive pyramids form the Meroe necropolis. After a few hours on a brand new road (the same trip required two days on trails last year), we arrive at an unimaginably beautiful site: an alignment of small pyramids in the desert, bathed in the hot red sun on orange sand. No busses on the car park, no tourist shops. It’s almost like being the French explorer Fréderic Caillaud, who discovered the site in 1821! We understand immediately why UNESCO classified it as a World Heritage Site in 2011.
The pyramids were built between 4BC and 3AD. The site contains over two hundred of them, whereas Egypt has only a hundred in total! Forty kings and queens are buried here.
We notice immediately that the summits of all the pyramids have been blown off with dynamite. This is the work of the Italian explorer Giuseppe Ferlini, who in 1834 came and pillaged the site, taking away priceless treasures.
© Eric Lafforgue
The Phu-Khao Thong (Golden Mountain) Chedi is shining bright among the modern skyscrapers in the center of Bangkok.Chedi Phukhao Thong is a steep artificial hill inside the Wat Saket Temple compound. Phu Khao Thong is now a popular Bangkok tourist attraction and has become one of the symbols of the city.
Egypt doesn’t have the monopoly on pyramids. The Sudan has many of them, and discovers new ones regularly. The most beautiful and impressive pyramids form the Meroe necropolis. After a few hours on a brand new road (the same trip required two days on trails last year), we arrive at an unimaginably beautiful site: an alignment of small pyramids in the desert, bathed in the hot red sun on orange sand. No busses on the car park, no tourist shops. It’s almost like being the French explorer Fréderic Caillaud, who discovered the site in 1821! We understand immediately why UNESCO classified it as a World Heritage Site in 2011.
The pyramids were built between 4BC and 3AD. The site contains over two hundred of them, whereas Egypt has only a hundred in total! Forty kings and queens are buried here.
We notice immediately that the summits of all the pyramids have been blown off with dynamite. This is the work of the Italian explorer Giuseppe Ferlini, who in 1834 came and pillaged the site, taking away priceless treasures.
© Eric Lafforgue
With the blend of the handing gardens and the mysterious towered Ziggurat, Babylon has captured the imaginations of artists and ancient historians throughout the centuries. The fanciful pictures of Grecian temples with lush gardens and Ziggurats of multi-layers towers with platforms of equal size are now becoming balances with the evidence of more recent archeological excavations. Yet as Herodotus said, “Babylon surpasses in splendor any city in the known world.” Yes it was the head of gold, in which all subsequent empires would be depicted of inferior metals.
Actually, the oldest and recognized as the most reliable historical record of the Hanging Garden came from the third century BCE annals of a Chaldean priest in Babylon called Berossus. In his book, called the ‘Babylonica’, he records with great detail the life of the ancient Babylonians which was taken from the primary source of clay cuneiform tablets more ancient than his era. His history of the city, the record of the creation myths and the Epic of Gilgamesh, the dynasties of the kings and countries they ruled over, highlight even the most reliable and accurate account of the rule of King Nebuchadnezzar.
Engineers and plumbing experts have for years been examining the remains of Babylon with wonder. To maintain the lush beauty of such garden in the hot desert atmosphere required an engineering pump system to lift the water from the Euphrates to the heights of the garden terraces.
One of North Africa's best-preserved ancient Roman cities, Sufetula is awash with temples, monumental arches and bath complexes that speak of an ancient civilisation that knew how to live.
Archaeological site of Sbeïtla , ancient Sufetula. Sbeïtla is renowned for its three temples dedicated to the gods of the Capitoline Triad: Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. In addition, the place has a theater, a bath complex, churches, a triumphal arch and forts from the Byzantine era.
The surrounding countryside proved ideal for olive growing, and Sufetula quickly waxed wealthy, building its finest temples in the 2nd century, when the town – like all of Roman Tunisia – was at the height of its prosperity. Fortuitously, its olive groves ensured that Sufetula continued to prosper long after other Roman towns slipped into decline, helping it to become an important Christian centre in the 4th century.
The Byzantines made Sufetula their regional capital, transforming it into a military stronghold from where they could tackle the area’s rebellious local tribes. It was here in AD 647 that Prefect Gregory declared himself independent of Constantinople. However, his moment of glory lasted only a few months before he was killed by the Arabs, who simultaneously destroyed much of Sufetula.
Bas-relief of Persian guards procession carved on the Apadana Staircase, inside Persepolis, the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire, destroyed and sacked by Alexander the Great from Macedonia, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated 60 km northeast of the city of Shiraz in in Fars Province, Iran.
© All rights reserved. You may not use this photo in website, blog or any other media without my explicit permission.
Babylon was the capital of Babylonia, the alluvial plain between the Euphrates and Tigris. After the fall of the Assyrian empire (612 BCE), Babylon became the capital of the ancient Near East, and king Nebuchadnezzar adorned the city with several famous buildings. Even when the Babylonian Empire had been conquered by the Persian king Cyrus the Great (539), Babylon remained a splendid city. Alexander the Great and the Seleucid kings respected the city, but after the mid-second century, the city's decline started.
The Greek word 'Babylon' is a rendering of Babillu, a very old word in an unknown language. When Mesopotamia was infiltrated by people who spoke a Semitic language (Akkadians or Amorites), they recognized their own words Bâb ("gate") and ili ("gods") and concluded that this place was 'the gate of the gods'. (A similar etymology was invented for Arbela.)
The oldest building phase of Babylon can not be recovered. The city was (and the ruins are) situated on the banks of the river Euphrates, and the remains of the oldest city are below groundwater level. From written sources, however, we know that the city became important after the fall of the empire of the Third dynasty of Ur, when the Amorites had invaded the area.
In the first half of the second millennium, especially during the reign of king Hammurabi (1792-1750?), Babylon became the capital of Mesopotamia, and even though the political power of Babylonia had its ups and downs in the next millennium or so, Babylon remained the cultural capital of the ancient Near East.
One of the results was that the hitherto unimportant city god of Babylon, Marduk, gained prestige. He superseded the Sumerian supreme god Enlil, took over many of his attributes, and now became the head of the pantheon. The syncretism is expressed in the words that Marduk is "the enlil of the gods", an expression that is perhaps best translated as "president of the council of gods".
The famous temple of Marduk, Esagila, and its ziggurat, Etemenanki, were considered to be the foundation of heaven on earth. In the creation epic Enûma êliš, Babylon is the center of the universe, an idea that is also implied (or parodied?) in the Biblical account of the "tower of Babel", in which the confusion of languages is followed by people spreading all over the world out of Babylon.
The theological fact that Babylon was the center of the world, was reflected in several aspects. One of these was the New Year's Festival (Akitu), during which gods left their cities, visited Marduk, and announced their plans for the new year. Several quarters of Babylon received the name of important Babylonian cities (e.g., Eridu), as if Babylon were some sort of microcosm.
As cultural capital of the ancient Near East, even a politically powerless Babylon was an important city, which created a problem to the Assyrian kings, who conquered Babylonia in the eighth century. From Tiglath-pileser III (744-727) on, they had themselves enthroned as kings of both Assyria and Babylon: by uniting the city in a personal union with their empire, they wanted to express their respect for the Babylonian civilization, institutions, and science. However, the Babylonians revolted under Marduk-apla-iddin (703; the Biblical Merodach Baladan), and king Sennacherib sacked the city in 689 - an act of terrible impiety, because he broke the "axis" between heaven and earth. Babylon's population was deported to Nineveh and the site was left alone for some time.
Finally, king Esarhaddon (680-669) allowed the people to return. A text says that the gods had decreed the Babylon was to be in ruins for seventy years, but that they regretted their harshness, turned the tablet of destiny upside down, and allowed the people to return after eleven year (in cuneiform, the numbers 70 and 11 relate to each other as our 6 and 9).
A new model of ruling the city and its environs was found by Aššurbanipal (668-631), who appointed his brother Šamaš-šuma-ukin as king, but he revolted too (ABC 15), and again, Babylon was captured. Another brother served as king of Babylon, and in 627, the Assyrian king sent two of his relatives as governors. They were expelled by a Babylonian soldier named Nabopolassar, who had once fought in the Assyrian army but now started a kingdom for himself..
According to the Babylonian chronicle known as ABC 2, he was recognized as king on 23 November 626. This seems to have been the beginning of a series of insurrections against the Assyrians. In 612, Nineveh the Babylonians and Medes sacked Nineveh (text), and Babylon became the new political capital of the Near East.
The son of Nabopolassar, Nebuchadnezzar, ruled from 605 to 562 (more...) and is credited with rebuilding his capital as the most splendid city in the Near East. The famous blue Ištar Gate is an example. Elsewhere, the royal palace was improved, the Etemenanki reconstructed, and somewhere in the city, a beautiful park seems to have been created, that has become famous as the "Hanging Gardens". Archaeologists have been unable to identify this monument, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, but perhaps this will change. For the time being, scholars believe that this park was either in Nineveh, or is nothing but a fairy tale.
Ziggurat (pyramid) at Chichen Itza with two people staring at it in front of the stairway. Dark blue sky
The first wall remains and wall paintings were found in 1904 by people ploughing in the Balácapuszta field of a village named Vámos in Veszprém County. Soon it became apparent that traces of a Roman farm had been discovered. The farm in Balaca is the largest known Roman farm in the former Pannonia Province. The famous mosaic floor of 62 m2 of its central building was discovered in 1925 with the help of the National Museum. It is still the main attraction of the Roman Lapidarium of the Museum. The other three mosaic floors were transferred back to their original places in 1984, in the year of the official opening of the gardens of ruins.
mnm.hu/en/museums/villa-romana-balaca-roman-villa-and-gar...