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Showing 6 posts tagged Ancient
![Al Khazneh (“The Treasury”; Arabic: الخزنة) is one of the most elaborate buildings in the ancient Jordanian city of Petra. As with most of the other buildings in this ancient town, including the Monastery (Arabic: Ad Deir), this structure was also carved out of a sandstone rock face. It has classical Greek-influenced architecture, and it is a popular tourist attraction.
It is unknown as to why Al Khazneh was originally built, probably between 100 BC and AD 200.[1] Its Arabic name Treasury derives from one legend that bandits or pirates hid their loot in a stone urn high on the second level. Significant damage from bullets can be seen on the urn. Local lore attributes this to Bedouins, who are said to have shot at the urn in hopes of breaking it open and spilling out the “treasure” within (the decorative urn, however, is solid sandstone). Another is that it functioned as a treasury of the Egyptian Pharaoh of the time of Moses (Khaznet Far’oun).[2]
Many of the building’s architectural details have eroded away during the two thousand years since it was carved and sculpted from the cliff. The sculptures are thought to be those of various mythological figures associated with the afterlife.
— via Wikipedia
Thanks for the sourcing the location, landlore.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lg8xnqgdl01qa31pso1_500.jpg)
High-res
Al Khazneh (“The Treasury”; Arabic: الخزنة) is one of the most elaborate buildings in the ancient Jordanian city of Petra. As with most of the other buildings in this ancient town, including the Monastery (Arabic: Ad Deir), this structure was also carved out of a sandstone rock face. It has classical Greek-influenced architecture, and it is a popular tourist attraction.
It is unknown as to why Al Khazneh was originally built, probably between 100 BC and AD 200.[1] Its Arabic name Treasury derives from one legend that bandits or pirates hid their loot in a stone urn high on the second level. Significant damage from bullets can be seen on the urn. Local lore attributes this to Bedouins, who are said to have shot at the urn in hopes of breaking it open and spilling out the “treasure” within (the decorative urn, however, is solid sandstone). Another is that it functioned as a treasury of the Egyptian Pharaoh of the time of Moses (Khaznet Far’oun).[2]
Many of the building’s architectural details have eroded away during the two thousand years since it was carved and sculpted from the cliff. The sculptures are thought to be those of various mythological figures associated with the afterlife.
— via Wikipedia
Thanks for the sourcing the location, landlore.
Listen to Hurrian Hymn no. 6, a 3400 year old dream… The world’s most ancient known melody. Absolutely enchanting.
From the musician:
This unique video, features my arrangement for solo lyre, of the 3400 year old “Hurrian Hymn no.6”, which was discovered in Ugarit in Syria in the early 1950s, and was preserved for 3400 years on a clay tablet, written in the Cuniform text of the ancient Hurrian language - it is THE oldest written song yet known! Respect, to the amazing ancient culture of Syria…السلام عليكم
Although about 29 musical texts were discovered at Ugarit, only this text, (text H6), was in a sufficient state of preservation to allow for modern academic musical reconstruction.
In short, the Cuneiform text clearly indicated specific names for lyre strings, and their respective musical intervals — a sort of “Guitar tablature”, for lyre!
Although discovered in modern day Syria, the Hurrians were not Syrian — they came from modern day Anatolia. The Hurrian Hymn actually dates to the very end of the Hurrian civilisation (c.1400BCE) . The Hurrian civilization dates back to at least 3000 BCE. It is an incredible thought, that just maybe, the musical texts found at Ugarit, preserved precious sacred Hurrian music which may have already been thousands of years old, prior to their inscription for posterity, on the clay tablets found at Ugarit!
My arrangement here, is based on the that the original transcription of the melody, as interpreted by Prof. Richard Dumbrill. Here is a link to his book, “The Archeomusicology of the Near East”: http://bit.ly/d3aovp
It is played here, on a replica of the ancient Kinnor Lyre from neighbouring Israel; an instrument almost tonally identical to the wooden asymmetric-shaped lyres played throughout the Middle East at this amazingly distant time…when the Pharaoh’s still ruled ancient Egypt.
A photograph of the actual clay tablet on which the Hurrian Hymn was inscribed, can be seen here:
http://www.phoenicia.org/music.html
The melody is one of several academic interpretations, derived from the ambiguous Cuneiform text of the Hurrian language in which it was written. Although many of the meanings of the Hurrian language are now lost in the mists of time, it can be established that the fragmentary Hurrian Hymn which has been found on these precious clay tablets are dedicated to Nikkal; the wife of the moon goddess.
8000 year-old Sun temple found in Bulgaria
The oldest temple of the Sun has been discovered in northwest Bulgaria, near the town of Vratsa, aged at more then 8000 years, the Bulgarian National Television (BNT) reported on December 15 2010.
The Bulgarian ‘Stonehenge’ is hence about 3000 years older than its illustrious English counterpart. But unlike its more renowned English cousin, the Bulgarian sun temple was not on the surface, rather it was dug out from under tons of earth and is shaped in the form of a horse shoe, the report said.
The temple was found near the village of Ohoden. According to archaeologists, the prehistoric people used the celestial facility to calculate the seasons and to determine the best times for sowing and harvest. The site was also used for rituals, offering gifts to the Sun for fertility as BNT reported.
This area of Bulgaria was previously made famous because remnants of the oldest people who lived in this part of Europe were found.
Archaeologists also found dozens of clay and stone disks in the area of the temple.
“The semantics of the disks symbolise the disk of the Sun itself, which means that this is the earliest ever temple dedicated to the worship of the Sun God, discovered on our lands,” archaeologist Georgi Ganetsovski told the BNT
— via The Sofia Echo
“The NASA technology aboard the Cessna saw beyond the rainforest and detected thousands of new structures, 11 new causeways, tens of thousands of agricultural terraces and many hidden caves — results beyond anyone’s imagination. The data also confirms the size of the city (spread over 177 square kilometers or 68 square miles) and corroborate the Chases’ previous estimates for the size of the population (at least 115,000 people in A.D. 650).”
What an adventure it would be to traverse those forgotten paths!
What period of geologic would you most enjoy time-travelling to? Past only, as the options into the far future get rather complicated.
Asked by
glot
Are we speaking of a perspective for the natural world or the human one? How about a little of both? ;)
On an immense scale I would love to experience a god’s-eye view of the beginning of time! I want to wake up to stars being born, galaxies coalescing, life coming to form…
I have always dreamed of knowing the world as it was during the dawn of civilization, to be a creative force in the birth of philosophy, art, and culture. I want to walk the streets as a citizen would through the ancient city-states of Sumer, Babylon, Thebes, Athens. I want to contemplate as a scholar amongst the corridors of the first great libraries of Alexandria and Pergamum, worship as a humble patron seeking the divine within the Temple of Apollo or Artemis. The Mediterranean has especially captivated my imagination; I one day hope to explore the temperate bloom of its lands and witness the enduring elegance of the classical world.
∞
