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Historical Notes
Historical Notes - These are references to a few of the obscure
things in the story that might intrigue you to explore further, if you are
fascinated by history and archaeology.
The
Emesal Language - I came across this in Vicki Leon’s wonderful book “Uppity
Women of Ancient Times”, a book with brief biographical notes on 200 women of
ancient times who were worthy of note yet largely ignored by most history texts.
The section on Ennigaldi (page 37). It says: “Literate women even had their
own written dialect, called Emesal. Because of this dialect, anthropologists can
tell when women wrote - or were written to - on the tablets.” That’s all she
wrote, so that’s all I know so far, but I look forward to researching this
more and would welcome comments from anyone familiar with this subject.
Vicki
also mentions Seriramis, the Assyrian Queen sometimes described as inspiring the
Gardens in the Alternate Stories.
The
Persian Princess Mummy - My reference to this is ARCHAEOLOGY Magazine,
January/February 2001 issue, cover story “Anatomy of a Forgery” page 24 on
“Saga of the Persian Princess”. It seems somebody in Pakistan had a
mummified woman’s body and was trying to sell it to antiquities collectors
claiming the body was of a Persian Princess from about 600 BC. in the time of
the Persian King Cyrus (640 - 590 BC) But the cuneiform inscription on it has a
section copied from a famous inscription of the Persian King Darius I (522 - 486
BC). So the inscription is about 80 years more recent than the mummy’s
described age. Opps!!
This
is quite a fascinating article about forgeries of antiquities, and gives a nice
context for the struggle Vivian has to try and authenticate Jameleh’s
writings.
The Topography of Babylon texts - These are authentic. I’m still looking for
more detailed references on them, but they do exist.
In
Suto - This is a term often used in the story. It essentially means something
has been found in a historical context, like inside a building room that’s
been sealed for thousands of years and just newly re-opened by scientists.
Anything found “in suto” is immediately presumed to be authentic and does
not have to be rigorously proven to be real or authentic. Only orphan relics,
with no documentation of their discovery in suto, are suspect until proven real
by the most exacting and challenging procedures.
On to "The
Jewel Of The Sky"
Back to
"References"
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