Mysterious 'Witch Girl' of Northern Italy

From Huffington Post:

Archaeologists in northern Italy have unearthed the skeleton of a teenage girl who lived there hundreds of years ago. The skeleton itself is unremarkable, but its unusual face-down position in the grave has some calling the child a "witch girl.". The skeleton was discovered in San Calocero in Albenga on the Ligurian Riviera.

The skeleton -- believed to be that of a 13-year-old -- was unearthed by a team from the Pontifical Institute of Christian Archaeology near a church built on the site of a burial ground in the town of Albenga. The archaeologists said the prone burial may have been intended to punish the girl, perhaps because she had committed a heinous crime.

read more here at Huffington Post and @ Yahoo News

Matilda, Daughter of Henry I | History Extra

Another great article in History Extra, this time by historian Helen Castor on one of England's more enigmatic pseudo-Queens of England - Matilda, Empress and daughter of King Henry I of England (March 2012).

A little snippet for you - read more here @ History Extra:

Matilda’s story left a complex and ambiguous precedent in English politics. Women could pass on the throne to their male heirs, that much was clear, and no principle had been explicitly established to exclude them from the succession.

All that stood in the way of Matilda’s path to the throne, it transpired, was another coup exactly like the one that had made her father king. The result was civil war. Despite her sex, Matilda’s claim was not dismissed out of hand by the nobles she sought to rule. 

Matilda is a fascinating character - much has been written about her and her times, most notably, “Queen Emma & Queen Edith: Queenship and Women’s Power in Eleventh-Century England” by Pauline Stafford, and “The Empress Matilda: Queen Consort, Queen Mother and Lady of the English” by Majorie Chibnall.

Noblewomen in the Wars of the Roses by Lauren Johnson

I chanced upon this rather informative blog post by Lauren Johnson (October 2013) regarding the status of noblewomen who lived through those turbulent times known as The Wars of the Roses. It formed part of her masters thesis The impact of the Wars of the Roses on Noblewomen, 1450-1509 (October 2007).

Here is a little teaser:

However, for every man directly involved in the Wars of the Roses there were numerous female relatives who were not only themselves affected by the conflict, but played an active part in it. 

On the contrary, efforts to claw lands back to one’s family by battling through the law courts or pleading with prominent powerholders were deemed essential to those involved, and at a time when many men found themselves on the wrong side of the law or battlefield, and thus lost their authority (or their life), it fell to their wives and mothers to try to save their estates.

Read more of this and other interesting posts @ Lauren's Blog

Florence Nightingale's 'rubbish' amulets

A collection of ancient Egyptian amulets acquired by Florence Nightingale in the winter of 1849 when she went on an adventurous Egyptian holiday are going on display for the first time – and the curator at the World Museum in Liverpool is rather more impressed by them than the Lady of the Lamp herself was.

Five years before she sailed to Scutari, Istanbul, during the Crimean war, Nightingale travelled to Egypt at a time when mass tourism there was in its infancy. She wrote vivid letters home to her older sister, Parthenope, who later published them, but described her little amulets as “rubbish”.

“What she brought back is fascinating to us, but I think she expected to be offered ancient treasures and she was very disappointed with what was available,” he said. “Ironically we are displaying some of the objects which she did rate and was very pleased at getting hold of – which have turned out, alas, to be fakes.”

Read more here at The Guardian

Sumaria's "Mona Lisa"

Lady or Uruk c3700BC

Back in February 2008, I posted this:

An article published in Gulf News reports on the re-discovery of this ancient artifact:

"The 'Sayedat Al Warkaa', a Sumarian 20cm facial curving, known among archaeologists as the Sumarian Mona Lisa, and which is more than 5000 years old, was found in a garden after the police and occupation forces received a report." (note: link no longer working)

During the war in Iraq, the Baghdad Museum was looted of many of its priceless treasures (April 2003), including what was known as "The Lady of Warka" or "The Mask of Warka" or "The Lady of Uruk".

From IOL - 23rd September 2003:

The 5 000-year-old alabaster sculpture, which topped a list of 30 priceless antiques looted from the museum at the end of the invasion of Iraq, is believed to be one of the earliest representations of the human face, dating from around 3 500 BC. The Lady of Warka had been entombed for weeks in a Baghdad backyard before her rescue. Her saviours were a New York police officer and prosecutor who tracked the mask-like sculpture down to a shallow grave. 

From Irish Times - 19th September 2003

The alabaster sculpture is believed to be one of the earliest artistic representations of the human face, and dates from around 3500 BC. The work is originally from the ancient city of Warka. "During the past two days, we were able to recover the second most-valuable item of the Iraqi National Museum - the face of the Lady of Warka, which is known as the Sumerian Mona Lisa," Mr Mofeed al-Jazairi told a news conference. 

From Middle East Online - 24th September 2003:

Also known as the "Mona Lisa of Mesopotamia," the 20-centimetre (eight-inch) high limestone sculpture, dating from 3,100 BC, depicts the head of a woman and was returned to Iraq's National Museum in a formal handover.  It was fashioned in the southern city of Warka during the Sumerian period, and was among the five most precious pieces still missing since the museum was ransacked after the April 9 fall of Saddam.

From Ancient Pages -15th September 2016

The artifact – the first accurate depiction of the human face – is one of the earliest representations of the human face. Researchers believe that carved out of marble female face is a depiction of Inanna, the Sumerian goddess of love, fertility, and warfare, and the most prominent female deity in Mesopotamia.

From SFGate - 24th September 2003

The Lady of Warka lay buried half a foot underground in a farmer's backyard, wrapped casually in a cotton cloth and stuffed into a plastic bag, before a joint force of American soldiers and Iraqi police discovered the priceless 5,200-year-old sculpture last week.

Since it was stolen in April, the artifact -- known familiarly as the Mona Lisa of Mesopotamia -- had changed hands half a dozen times in the maze of Baghdad's back alleys and clandestine antique shops, going from dealer to dealer, said Col. Walid Misil, a Baghdad police spokesman.

Read More:

Open Access - The Mask of Warka

The Bible & Interpretation - Mesopotamian Ruins and American Scholars

Archaeology Magazine (online) - National Museum, Baghdad: 10 Years Later

University of Chicago Chronicle - Archaeologists review loss of valuable artifacts one year after looting

Ancient Civilisations - Uruk

The Iraq War & Archaeology - Article 12 - 2nd 1/2 of September 2003

Female Gladiators - Part Of The Lure Of The Roman Arena

Sarah Bond writes in Forbes on the lure of women fighting in the arena:

The use of the word 'gladiatrix' (pl. gladiatrices) is a pseudo-Latin term for these fighters not actually applied in antiquity. In reality, there was a great deal of ambiguity about how one should refer to them. The Roman satirists Martial and Juvenal employ the word 'ludia', which could also be used to refer to an actress or a theatrical dancer, but is most often used to refer to a gladiator's wife.

Relief from Halicarnassus of two female gladiators

The status of these fighters is an oft-discussed point in the literature on these women. Those that were a part of the arena were given a debilitating legal and social stigma called infamia. Yet this did not stop some Roman elites from fighting anyways. The historian Tacitus notes that during the reign of Nero, there were high-ranking women who entered into gladiatorial combat and fought: "

Many ladies of distinction, however, and senators, disgraced themselves by appearing in the amphitheater." Historian Barbara Levick has argued that the ban on elite women participating in the arena likely first came into effect under the emperor Augustus, in 22 BCE. We know that the emperor Septimius Severus re-banned elite women from fighting in the arena in 200 CE. Clearly there was a lure for both men and women. 

Read entire article here @ Forbes

Boudicca - the Celtic Queen of the Iceni

Ancient Origins:

Boudicca, sometimes written Boadicea, was queen of the Iceni tribe, a Celtic clan which united a number of British tribes in revolt against the occupying forces of the Roman Empire in 60-61 AD. While she famously succeeded in defeating the Romans in three great battles, their victories would not last. The Romans rallied and eventually crushed the revolts, executing thousands of Iceni and taking the rest as slaves. Boudicca’s name has been remembered through history as the courageous warrior queen who fought for freedom from oppression, for herself, and all the Celtic tribes of Britain.

History Extra:

A freedom fighter, the woman who almost drove the Romans out of the country, Boudica is one of the most iconic queens of Britain. Despite being one of the first ‘British’ women mentioned in history, there is no direct evidence that she even existed. Instead, we have to rely on the accounts of two classical authors, Tacitus and Cassius Dio, both writing decades after the alleged battles between Boudica’s rebel army and their new Roman overlords. Their accounts were constructed with a specific political agenda, and a Roman audience, in mind but they are the only references we have. We don’t even know her real name: Boudica derives from bouda, the ancient British word for victory.

Further Reading:

The Boudican Revolt: Countdown to Defeat by Grahame Appleby

Internet Classics - The Annals by Tacitus

Bill Thayer's website - Tacitus - The Annals & The Histories

Bill Thayer's website - Cassius Dio - Roman History

Women of History - Legion of the Damned

A Byzantine Lament for a Lost Wife

Dimiter Angelov posted this article in Medievalist dot net:

It is rare to find a work from the Middle Ages where a man writes about the loss of his wife – even more rare that these words are written by a Byzantine emperor. However, this is the case of Emperor Theodore II Laskaris and the heartfelt lament for his wife Elena.

Seal of Theodore II Lascaris

Theodore succeeded his father John III Vatatzes as Byzantine Emperor in 1254 - ruling for only 4 years. He was seen as a capable leader and general - his reign dominated by struggles against the Bulgarians for territory and his attempts at the reunification of the Latin and Greek Orthodox Churches. He was married (c.1235) to Elena, daughter of Ivan Asen II of Bulgaria, by whom he had several children, including his heir, son John IV.

The teenagers grew up together, and from all indications were very much in love. They would have six children, but in the year 1252 Elena passed away at the age of 28. Theodore, who was now ruling as co-emperor along with his father, was devastated at his wife’s death, and turned to writing to express his sadness.

read entire article here @ Medievalists

Further reading:

• The Journal of Medieval Military History edited by Clifford J. Rogers, Kelly DeVries, John France
• Warfare in Late Byzantium, 1204-1453 By Savvas Kyriakidis
• The Fourth Crusade: Event and Context By Michael J Angold
• Byzantium and the Turks in the Thirteenth Century By Dimitri Korobeinikov
• History of the Byzantine State by Georgije Ostrogorski
• Theodore II lascaris, Empereur de Nicee by Jean B. Pappadopoulos
• A Byzantine Government in Exile: Government and Society Under the Laskarids of Nicaea, 1204-1261 by Michael Angold
• Imperial Ideology and Political Thought in Byzantium, 1204-1330 By Dimiter Angelov

See also: 

The History of the Great Paraklesis (Supplication) Canon to the Theotokos

65 Byzantine Tombs Discovered in Ancient City in Turkey

From an article in January 2017 by David DeMar:

In the remains of the ancient marble-clad city of Stratonikeia in southwestern Turkey, archaeologists have found a staggering 65 tombs dating to the Byzantine era, according to the Hurryiet Daily News.

The researcher, who referred to Stratonikeia as “a living archaeological city”, called the site unique for is various characteristics, which included a high number of ancient structures surviving to the present day. The city, which would have at one time been home to the Carians of central Anatolia before the arrival of the Greeks, also holds ties to the Leleges, a pre-Hellenistic people that were said to have been allies of Troy during the Trojan War, the archaeologist said.

One of the primary finds, according to Söğüt, was the nearly four-foot-long skeleton found within a Byzantine-era tomb that had been undergoing cleaning and preservation works. The remains are thought to have belonged to a young woman who lived nearly 1,300 years in the past.

read entire article here @ the New Historian and @ Daily Sabah History