Posted on 04/20/2009 7:47:04 PM PDT by Free ThinkerNY
Archaeologists searching for the lost bodies of doomed lovers Cleopatra and Mark Antony have made a number of important discoveries.
In what could be the most thrilling finds since the tomb of Tutankhamun was unearthed in 1922, leading Egyptologists believe they are edging ever closer to the country's most fabled queen.
The female skull was found during a radar survey of a temple close to Alexandria, Egypt, and workers are hopeful they will also find the remains of the celebrated Roman general.
Egypt's top archaeologist Zahi Hawass was optimistic of making a significant find when the dig began last month.
'This could be the most important discovery of the 21st century,' he said.
'This is the perfect place for them to be hidden.'
The skull is not confirmed as Cleopatra's but is set to be tested by scientists, alongside a complete body found in a stone coffin.
The excavation aims to unravel a number of questions that have lingered over the couple, including whether they were buried together, her reputed beauty and their suicide.
Egypt's Supreme Council of Antiquities said that the three sites were identified in February during the radar survey.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
What gives anyone the right to “dig” up the remains of a human being in the name of archeology???? They are people who DIED and were BURIED. They act like they found gold and then they dig them up. I guess they’ll trapes them around the country for everyone to see and make money off of. I think it is sacrilegous and a disgrace. No respect for the dead here...Shameful!!!!
I saw that! Some guy was holding it up, talking to it! Not sure what he did with it then...
Absolutely!
Wealth, power, and position(s) had NOTHING to do with it!
Oh, get over it! They were just Heathens. /sarc>
Is that the son of Threetinbras ?
Hey, after you’re dead a couple thousand years, the sacredness wears off...
There are places in Europe where you can see roomfuls of skulls or roomfuls of other bones--under St. Stephen's cathedral in Vienna, for example. This doesn't quite match our notions of respect for the dead.
“I think it is sacrilegous and a disgrace. No respect for the dead here”
But Cleo and Antony were pagans born before the time of Christ. They won’t be saved anyway.
“’Fortinbras’
‘Is that the son of Threetinbras ?’”
No, he’s the son of Old Fortinbras, who was killed by Old Hamlet, which compelled Young Fortinbras to invade, against the wishes of his uncle, the kingdom of Young Hamlet, who happened to be rebelling against his own uncle.
Hamlet and Fortinbras are, like, perfect foils for eachother. It’s almost as if someone wrote it that way.
Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horacio.
I have of late, but wherefore not lost all my mirth.
......your tax dollars arent being used,.....
From the web....
“Saad Eddin Ibrahim, a 69-year-old sociologist from the American University in Cairo, is lobbying members of Congress to attach conditions to America’s $1.5 billion annual aid to Egypt. “I am pushing for conditionality, and I would like the democracy and freedom agenda to be a bipartisan one,” Ibrahim said.”
Since money is fungible, the money freed up as a result of the $1.5 billion American foreign aid to Egypt, the dig might actually be paid for by US taxpayers.
I can live with that. Really, is there something so awful about archaeological research that American money shouldn't be used? Is there something in Egypt that's so much more important? I submit that seeing and understanding the past is important, and if we're going to be giving aid to Egypt anyway, there's no real reason it shouldn't be spent here as anywhere else. It's good to remind people that Egypt wasn't always Arab and Muslim, too.
.....Really, is there something so awful about archaeological research that American money shouldn’t be used?.....
I don’t think so and since I don’t know if the aid was defense related as in building an air force hospital or some such, the point is not to disagree with the effort.
My problem with archeology is trying to create something sensational from very little evidence.
It was encased in polyurethane shaped like an orb and then had three holes drilled into it. I believe it is in Milwaukee.
I think it’s not unknown for researcher—particularly in fields where there is unlikely to be any sort of real-world financial bonanza like electronics or medicine might offer—to generate interest from sponsors and more funding through promises or sensationalism.
“What Ive read about Cleopatra she was actually considered plain, but it was the tone of her voice, demeanor and charm that won men over.”
[Mae West voice] “Come up and see me sometime.” “Are you glad to see me or is that an ankh under your robe?”
How do WE know that? We are not the last judge are we? Either way...I don’t care who they are...no one deserves to be dug up and paraded around the country like that. It is flat out wrong.
In your book maybe. Not mine.
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