Dots indicate "inthos" placenames, characteristic of Minoan Crete.
Posted on 12/28/2014 11:18:54 AM PST by SunkenCiv
The HistoriesThe Lydians have very nearly the same customs as the Greeks, with the exception that these last do not bring up their girls in the same way. So far as we have any knowledge, they were the first nation to introduce the use of gold and silver coin, and the first who sold goods by retail. They claim also the invention of all the games which are common to them with the Greeks. These they declare that they invented about the time when they colonised Tyrrhenia, an event of which they give the following account. In the days of Atys, the son of Manes, there was great scarcity through the whole land of Lydia. For some time the Lydians bore the affliction patiently, but finding that it did not pass away, they set to work to devise remedies for the evil. Various expedients were discovered by various persons; dice, and huckle-bones, and ball, and all such games were invented, except tables, the invention of which they do not claim as theirs. The plan adopted against the famine was to engage in games one day so entirely as not to feel any craving for food, and the next day to eat and abstain from games. In this way they passed eighteen years. Still the affliction continued and even became more grievous. So the king determined to divide the nation in half, and to make the two portions draw lots, the one to stay, the other to leave the land. He would continue to reign over those whose lot it should be to remain behind; the emigrants should have his son Tyrrhenus for their leader. The lot was cast, and they who had to emigrate went down to Smyrna, and built themselves ships, in which, after they had put on board all needful stores, they sailed away in search of new homes and better sustenance. After sailing past many countries they came to Umbria, where they built cities for themselves, and fixed their residence. Their former name of Lydians they laid aside, and called themselves after the name of the king's son, who led the colony, Tyrrhenians.
by Herodotus
tr by George Rawlinson
Book I -- Clio
Dots indicate "inthos" placenames, characteristic of Minoan Crete.
So Herodotus was right.
The History of Etruria: Burning of the BooksOne noted discovery of the 20th Century was the Liber Linteus, or Linen book, which was thought to be the fragments of an Etruscan book made of linen and re-used to preserve an Egyptian Mummy. The Liber Linteus can be seen in Zagreb museum. If linen was used as a medium, then this would have had even less chance of survival than papyrus. Certainly there have been examples of models of Etruscan books found in the tombs of Cerveteri. These suggest that Linen was indeed traditionally used by the Etruscans for the written word.
The Mysterious Etruscans
The question of the scope of Etruscan literature remains unanswered, but it is quite clear from other sources that it must have been quite substantial. Censorinus refers to the Annals of Etruria, and during the late Roman Republic and Early Imperial years it was considered quite fashionable for Roman Patricians to send their boys to Etruscan schools to further their education. Some of this would no doubt have been a grounding in the disciplina etrusca, but it seems unlikely that that was all that they learned. We also know that enough of the history of Etruria survived in written form even up to late Imperial times for the emperor Claudius to write a twenty volume history of Etruria. (together with an 8 volume history of the Carthaginians, both in the Greek Language) If even a fragment of this history survived today it would answer a great many questions.
Even though Claudius' history was written in Greek, the Byzantines might not have been interested in the Etruscans. Maybe they scraped the parchment for other use, and we'll find it underneath something else.
Geez, I click on this expecting some Hot Lemnian Text, and they’re talking about “writing”, or some such...
“He who has not seen the so-called Cyclopean cities of Latium…those marvels of early art, which overpower the mind with their grandeur, bewilder it with amazement, or excite it to active speculations as to their antiquity, the race which erected them, and the state of society which demanded fortifications so stupendous on sites so inaccessible as they in general occupy; — he who has not beheld those sublime trophies of early Italian civilization — the bastion and round tower of Norba — the gates of Segni and Arpino — the citadel of Alatri — the many terraces of Cora — the covered way of Praeneste, and the colossal works of the same masonry in the mountains of Latium, Sabina, and Samnium, will be astonished at the first view of the walls of Cosa. Nay, he who is no stranger to this style of masonry, will be surprised to see it on this spot, so remote from the district which seems its peculiar locality. He will behold in these walls immense blocks of stone, irregular polygons in form, not bound together with cement, yet fitted with so admirable nicety, that the joints are mere lines, into which he might often in vain attempt to insert a penknife: the surface smooth as a billiard-table; and the whole resembling, at a little distance, a freshly plastered wall, scratched over with strange diagrams.”
George Dennis, The Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria, London, 1848
Cyclopean-Ruins-San-Felice-Circeo
The Saracena Gate, a Cyclopean masterpiece. Massive stones fitted together using the polygonal technique, long before the Romans and the Etruscans.
“Ages before the Romans existed, the fair land of Italy was inhabited by nations who have left indestructible monuments as the only records of their history. Those wonderful cities of early Italy which have been termed Cyclopean, are thickly scattered throughout certain districts, and are often perched like eagles’ nests, on the very crests of mountains, at such an elevation as to strike amazement into the traveler who now visits them, and to bewilder him with speculations as to the state of society which could have driven men to such scarcely accessible spots for habitation, and to entrench themselves therein with such stupendous fortifications.”
Louisa Caroline Tuthill, History of Architecture, (1848)
These ancient Cyclopean ruins are not in Italy, but in neighboring Greece (Tiryns)
(I've chosen to leave out any reference to Atlantis and Giants, thus the blog headline is truncated.)
Ha!!
Claudius introduced a couple of letters to the Latin alphabet which didn’t survive him; he spent more than half his life (prior to his elevation) in study, spoke multiple languages, read and wrote in them, and his history of Etruscans vanished. It’s easy to understand how stuff from that time hasn’t survived, but so little of his work survived, perhaps he was really just a dilettante, or perceived as such. :’) OTOH, after he became emperor, it became a little dicey to quote his work during his lifetime, and probably a good idea to consult with him to make sure it was okay. That too could account for its nearly total loss.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudius#Views_of_ancient_historians
Nice! Speaking of Atlantis, I can’t find it on the drives, it might be in Herodotus, but there’s a reference to remarkable walls, the inference being something not previously seen, in a city that gave haven to some lost mariners; it made me wonder if (and this would be a bit far out anyway) it was a classical source of information about those Peruvian walls set without mortar. Instead, the upper of those two pictures shows the same kind of construction. :’) Thanks FN!
Oh, here it is... Phocaeans fled during the Persian assault and their use of the pentaconter rather than “round-built” merchant ships; they were also colonizers of the western med, beating the Carthaginians in a sea-battle over there. Anyway, the reference is to their flight from their home city to Tartessus, the king there offered them land in his realm, they turned him down, and he helped them build their new city walls for Phocaea. They are different:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3852/14346051868_6219ca9664_m.jpg
Heh... the works of Nappho didn’t survive. ;’)
Am I imagining it or are some of the letters in this and the above inscriptions similar to Runes? Don’t have my Gloria Farley book with me at this time to compare the ancient alphabets in the back of the book. What are the suggested ages on the cyclopean walls? Noted there were also some of that type in ancient Egypt with no good explanations.
German Scientists: Europe's Oldest Script Found in BulgariaAncient tablets found in South Bulgaria... unearthed near the Southern town of Kardzhali, are over 35-centuries old, and bear the ancient script of the Cretan (Minoan) civilization, according to scientists from the University of Heidelberg, who examined the foundings. This is the Cretan writing, also known as Linear A script, which dates back to XV-XIV century B.C.
Wednesday, May 18, 2005
In her Plato Prehistorian: 10,000 to 5000 B.C. Myth, Religion, Archaeology, Mary Settegast reproduces a table which shows four runic character sets; a is Upper Paleolithic (found among the cave paintings), b is Indus Valley script, c is Greek (western branch), and d is the Scandinavian runic alphabet.
archaeological sites of Sardinia YOUTUBE
I’d read about the towers there, but this is quite different, more interesting. Thanks FN!
:)
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