The Location of Avaris

While it is very clear today, based on the excavations of Manfred Bietak, that the Hyksos (Dynasty 15) capital in Egypt was at Tell-ed-Dab'a, there once was a very heated debate on this topic. Some scholars favored Tell ed-Dab'a / Kantir, while others favored Tanis.

I wrote a paper back in 1986, in which I argued strongly for Tell ed-Dab'a. I based my reasons on a variety of arguments that had nothing to do with Dr. Bietak's excavations (which were not widely known at the time, except to working Egyptologists). I have incorporated into that paper a number of arguments based on Bietak's excavations.

I will begin posting the relevent portions of my paper tomorrow or the next day, and will post all of it over the next few days.

Glyph Tutor

One of the people in the Middle Egyptian study group I have joined sent out a link which I will pass along to the readers of this blog.

The link is for a program called GlyphTutor. The program displays a bi-literal or tri-literal middle Egyptian sign and allows you to select the single letter characters that make up the sound of the b-literal or tri-literal. The program then tells you that you got the answer correct or displays (and pronounces) the correct response if you got the question wrong.

The program definitely will help you learn the values of the major bi-literals and tri-literals! It also comes at an ideal price - free! Click on the link above, download the software and install it. Then start learning bi- and tri-literals in a way that is much more fun than staring at a list of characters over and over.

Hieroglyph Flash Cards

A few posts back I mentioned that I had joined a Middle Egyptian study group. One of the group members has found an interesting product for anyone who is learning Ancient Egyptain, a set of flashcards.

The set includes signs and vocabulary words. I have not seen the cards myself, but they can be ordered on the internet here.

The study group began working on July 12. As we progress I will give everyone an update regarding how this sort of thing works.

Minerva Magazine

Minerva Magzine is an archaeology magazine published in the United Kingdom, which is available in many bookstores here in the United States. The May / June issue has several articles of interest to readers of this blog.

There is a short article on the Assyrian Palace sculptures that are in the British Museum. These sculptures are among the most famous works of art to have survived from ancient Assyria and the article has numerous, high-quality photos of them in full color.

There is also an article on some of the ancient Egyptian art in the Turin Museum in Italy. The Turin collection is one of the most important collections of Egyptian art outside of Egypt. There is also a review, with photos, of the Brooklyn Museum's special exhibition "Unearthing the Truth: Egypt's Pagan and Coptic Sculptures".

Other articles cover the classical world of Greece and Rome and there is also an article devoted to Mayan murals.

Minerva aims for the interested lay reader and is not a heavy, overly-scholarly magazine. The articles are short and beautifully illustrated.

The Greco-Persian Wars (a Review)

The battles between the Persians and the Greeks were some of the most important events in the entirety of human history, but are rarely given much though today. But what if the Persians had won the Greco-Persian wars instead of the Greeks? How different would the course of European history have been? Would Rome have ever existed as a great empire? Would Alexander have ever conquered the "world"?

Peter Green's book "The Greco-Persian Wars" does a great job of describing the wars, mostly from the Greek point of view. The book is well written and full of fascinating details about the behind-the-scenes politics in the Greek camp as they awaited the Persian invasions.

Part one tries to illustrate some of the Greks misconceptions about the Persians and then the author launches into a dscription of the historical events in question, from the Battle of Marathon to the final Greek victories of the war. The reader is caried along by the narrative and given all the information one could want about this fascinating topic.

Anyone interested in either Greek or Near Eastern history should find this to be a fascinating and worthwhile read.

The Forgotten Empire (a Review)

Most of us who are interested in Near Eastern Archaeology are familiar with Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilizations. A smaller number of us are interested in the Hittites. But the Near Eastern civilization that attracts the least attention is probably the Persian Empire.

"The Forgotten Empire" is the beautifully done catalogue for an exhibit of the same name. The book not only is filled with gorgeous photographs, but it also has a series of excellent articles written by experts in the field. The articles include a brief history of the Persian Empire, the story of the decipherment of Old Persian and Elamite, an overview of the known archaeological sites (with special emphasis on Persepolis), gold work (jewellery and "dinnerware"), religion and burial customs, warfare and an overview of Persia's "relationship" with the Greeks.

This is a good book which contains a better text than many museum exhibit catalogs, and I recommend it to anyone who would like to learn more about the Persian Empire.

Some Useful Links

Here are a few more interesting links that I have found on the internet:

The official site of the excavations at Avaris, the capital of the Hyksos Dynasty in ancient Egypt: http://www.auaris.at/ This site is in German and English.

http://www1.lib.uchicago.edu/cgi-bin/eos/eos_page.pl?DPI=100&callnum=PJ3835.B85_cop2&object=61 has inscriptions in Akkadian, transliteration and translation.

A number of texts in Egyptian Hieroglyphs, without translation, can be found here: http://webperso.iut.univ-paris8.fr/~rosmord/hieroglyphes/