The Forum

006

Filthy Lucre!

As a general reader of archaeology magazines, I have found Archaeology Odyssey a well-produced and enlightening medium for articles and news in the classical realm. As a professional archaeologist (of North American prehistory), however, I disagree strongly with your editorial stance on antiquities dealers and the use of looted or purchased artifacts. It is for the latter reason that I am canceling my subscription to your magazine. I cannot condone a policy that, however pragmatic you believe it to be, can only encourage the destruction of sites and the context of their associated remains. As long as antiquities have a price tag, the sites from which they come will be vulnerable to those who value money more than knowledge.

Politics, Not Religion

In “No Guts No Glory: Inside the Roman Arena,” AO 03:01, Donald Kyle writes that “Christians in the arena were not persecuted heroes but prosecuted heretics.” I contend, however, as do most historians, that it was the radical social reformist views of the early Christians—not their religious leanings—that caused so many of them to be sacrificed in the arena. By the second century C.E., the Romans had already annexed much of Spain, Macedonia, Greece, the Near East and North Africa, and, in the process, encountered a great many other religions. The Romans showed tolerance for these belief systems, allowing the subjugated to continue their religious practices as long as the proper tributes were paid to Rome. That a certain group of people followed a man called Jesus mattered little, if at all, to the Romans; rather, it was the political nature of the Christian movement that Rome wished to debase in the arena.

Blood Lust?

Strange, but “No Guts No Glory: Inside the Roman Arena,” AO 03:01, seems to lack any feeling at all for the horrors its words convey. I would not want this article within reach of my grandchildren, because they would find it frightening. And I wonder if there are parallels between Roman values and our own: Life is cheap, life is meaningless, and it doesn’t matter what happens to others as long as we have our piece of the pie. Why not have public executions, public floggings of criminals? How much do we hunger for that kind of exhilaration? I’m not sure why you published this article—maybe you had good reason, but I’m not convinced. Many people find it easier to commit obscene acts when they know such things have been done before. One step leads to another. I do not believe in censorship, in the suppression of ideas, or in burying one’s head in the sand. But this article was disturbing.

007

Homo Horribilis

Donald Kyle is perplexed by how such a highly civilized people as the Romans could enjoy watching humans and animals fight, maim and kill each other.

But were the ancients all that different from us? How could citizens of such a modern and highly civilized Christian nation as Germany exterminate millions of people it considered undesirable?

Let’s face it, the human race has a violent and brutal streak built into its makeup. One only has to read the daily newspapers to see evidence. If it weren’t for laws, and the means of enforcing them, we would be watching modern versions of the Roman Circus on TV. The stadiums would have standing room only.

America the Brutal

Are we the modern Rome? Your article on bloodshed as entertainment in Rome provides one of the most obvious parallels I have yet run across, and I am not referring only to cinematic make-believe.

Where are the “barbarians” who will overwhelm us?

Life Begins at 70

In “No Guts No Glory: Inside the Roman Arena,” AO 03:01, you show a picture of a rather tired Kirk Douglas acting in the role of Spartacus. No wonder he was tired. According to your text, Spartacus started his rebellion in 73 B.C. (first paragraph) and fought until he was killed in 71 A.D. (last paragraph). That’s 144 years! Enough to fatigue even Kirk Douglas, who is now celebrating his second bar mitzvah.

Thank you, Mr. Lyons, for your careful eye and gentle correction. That last date, 71 A.D., should have been 71 B.C. However, because there is no year 0, we erred only by 141 years.—Ed.

A Plethora of Pots

After reading Elizabeth Lyding Will’s article, “The Roman Amphora: Learning from Storage Jars,” AO 03:01, I wondered what happens to the thousands of amphoras after they are brought up from the depths and studied. There are certainly too many—the underwater excavation at Albenga, Italy, alone produced 11,000 examples—to display them all in a museum. Are they put in some “annex” and forgotten?

Elizabeth Lyding Will responds:

That is a very good question. Most of the amphoras found nowadays are left under water. Representative examples of the chief types of amphoras in the wrecks are brought to the surface for study and for display in museums. Jacques Cousteau brought up an unusually large number of jars—almost 2,000—from the two Grand Congloué wrecks, partly because under water archaeology was then in its infancy, and his exploration of the site awakened great interest around the world. I imagine that most of those amphoras are still in France, probably at the Borély Museum in Marseilles, though Cousteau gave several to colleagues abroad. Amphoras from the lower Grand Congloué wreck, for example, are in museums at Pennsylvania State University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Georgia on My Mind

A fascinating January/February issue!

I hate to be grumpy, but a box in the article on the Georgian national exhibition (Jack Meinhardt, “Canceled! A New Exhibit of 5,000 Years of Georgia Art Is Now Ancient History,” AO 03:01) claims: “The native language of the country is still Georgian—a unique Indo-European language with its own writing system.” In fact, Georgian is a member of the Kartvelian, or South Caucasian, branch of the Caucasian language group, which is not Indo-European.

Faulty Reckoning

In “Under a Desert Sky” (Past Perfect, AO 03:01), one of Gertrude Bell’s letters is dated “Saturday, March 21 [1909],” while the following letter is dated “Friday, March 26 [1909].” This just doesn’t add up.

No, it doesn’t. These were, in fact, the headings Gertrude Bell herself wrote on her letters. The dates are correct, but Bell apparently lost track of the days of the week.—Ed.

008

Sheer Lunacy

The problem with reading a magazine like yours is that it always raises questions.

Would you please explain the following statement in “Ransomed for Posterity!” (Field Notes, AO 02:04), concerning Aramaic tombstones from an ancient Jewish community near the Dead Sea in Jordan: “Apparently the Jews from this community, like the people of the Dead Sea Scrolls, followed a different calendar from Jews who followed the rabbis. Observance of Passover … could vary by as much as a month between those who were buried in this cemetery and those who followed the rabbis.”

Did this community use the same calendar as the Essenes (oops, I gave away my position on that question) at Qumran?

Also, please explain how Passover could fall on different days. I find it hard to believe that any Jewish sect would change Numbers 28:16, so as to celebrate on a day other than the 14th of Abib/Nisan. And 14 days after the new moon is the same for everyone.

James C. VanderKam, professor of Hebrew Scriptures at the University of Notre Dame, replies:

One aspect of the tombstone inscriptions shown in Archaeology Odyssey differs from the 364-day Qumran calendar used by the Dead Sea Scroll sect: Whereas the tombstones use Babylonian month names (the name Sivan, for example), the Qumran calendar designates months by numbers.

The Jewish community associated with these tombstones could well have celebrated Passover at a different time from the rabbinic communities. Both groups, of course, would have celebrated Passover on the 14th day of the first month, as the Bible stipulates; but they could have calculated the beginning of the month in different ways.

The rabbinic calendar was based on observation of the new moon. If the group followed a solar calendar, the beginning of the month would not necessarily have anything to do with the new moon. Or, if the group began the month with the full moon, the first of the month would not correspond with the new moon; in this instance, it would fall about a month from from the day designated by the rabbis.

Our policy is to print letters referring not to the most recent issue but to the last issue but one. You will notice, for example, that most of the letters in this May/June 2000 issue refer to articles in the January/February 2000 issue.

Now, however, we must make an exception. In the March/April 2000 issue, we reproduced a series of colorful, whimsical drawings by the early-20th-century British cartoonist Lance Thackeray (on the cover and in Past Perfect, AO 03:02). In these drawings, Thackeray captured—and spoofed—European tourists as they clambered up the pyramids, bounced along on camels or just drifted off to sleep.

The response from readers has been overwhelming. Everyone, it seems, wants copies of Thackeray’s postcards.

Unfortunately, the book in which they were published, The Light Side of Egypt (1908), and Thackeray’s postcards can be difficult to find. For the book, either call a used-book dealer or consult the following Web sites:
www.bookradar.com
www.bookfinder.com
www.abebooks.com
www.alibris.com

For postcards, either call a dealer in collectibles or try these Web sites:
www.ebay.com
www.deltiology.com

Filthy Lucre!