Tarquinius would be proud to know that an exhibition about his people, the mysterious Etruscans, has recently opened in Sydney. Read about it here. Hmmm. Can I excuse the expense to go down under to see it? I wish…
A British underwater research team has discovered an amazing haul of rare Roman vessels, and brought some of them to the surface. This is one of the things I love so much about history – that every week or two, something new turns up! Read about it here.
In other news, Harry’s launch party was great. Very glad that I’d booked a day off writing today, as wouldn’t have got anything done anyway!
annis says
Ah, the Etruscans – so fascinating. Did you ever get to read Elisabeth Storrs’ novel, “The Wedding Shroud”, btw? As is the way of the internet, a recent chance discussion led me to re-read Macaulay’s “Horatius” from “The Lays of Ancient Rome” (who could forget that famous stand on the Pons Sublicius?) and ponder why as a student I never had any curiosity about who the Nine Gods were.
Lars Porsena of Clusium
By the nine gods he swore
That the great house of Tarquin
Should suffer wrong no more.
Macaulay: Lays of Ancient Rome (Horatius, i.).
An investigation came up with this:
The Nine Gods
Of the Etruscans: Juno, Minerva, and Tinia ( the three chief); the other six were Vulcan, Mars, and Saturn, Hercules, Summauus, and Vedius.
benkane says
@Annis: no, not yet. Grrrr. I get to read perhaps 2-3% of all the books I want to read (and that’s no exaggeration). Was it good?
annis says
Elisabeth Storrs came to mind because she’s Australian, and she’ll probably be one of the first through the doors to the Etruscan exhibition! I thought The Wedding Shroud was very good- very evocative, though it’s history from a female POV and not in the historical adventure style. It’s a good example of an author recreating another time so convincingly that I emerged from the story feeling as if I had been living it. .Obviously Storrs used an imaginative leap or two to create this absorbing world, because we don’t really know that much about the Etruscans.
On the negative side, I recently tried a Valerio Massimo Manfredi novel which plays with the idea of an Etruscan curse perpetuated into modern times called “The Ancient Curse” and, yep, it was bad. Why do I keep persisting with Manfredi? I should know by now…
benkane says
@Annis: I must read The Wedding Shroud some time.
I know what you mean about Manfredi! Only ever tried one – The Last Legion – and it was not good. I told myself it was the translation, but I’ve never tried again. I won’t be now!