Featured Ancient ... but not a coin! Artifacts thread! Post 'em!

sometimes, it seems, the best solution is to slide things into your own pocket.

 

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I think that we need to be accountable to ourselves and to do what is right. After all, we can control how we behave and react even when we have no control over what others do, which is true for the vast majority of our encounters and experiences, at least in my case.

I am starting to read Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, and I find it very illuminating and insightful, often validating my view of life, but also shedding new light on what I thought of as Stoicism.

 

Posted this in a different thread and @lordmarcovan suggested to post it here in this thread:

My latest acquisition: a ring for my husband

"Roman Bronze Ring with Carnelian Intaglio of Athena, ca. 2nd Century AD. The goddess, helmeted and draped, turned to the right, is holding a spear in her left hand and a shield (on the ground)."

Picture courtesy HJB:

 

Agreed.

I find as I study Stoicism and Buddhism, that they are very similar.

I very much agree with you @robinjojo , I have always had the same philosophy through my life, and as I more deeply learned Stoicism through my passion for Ancient History, and my travels enlightened me to Buddhism.

 

At the last show I went to I picked up 2 archaic Syrian stamp seals

 

Earlier I strayed into Mesopotamian cylinder seals and the dealer I bought from had these. I hadn’t seen anything like them and couldn’t resist.
From the dealer:
“So, from my experience, this group of Syrian Archaic stamp seals fall in line approximately with the Early Dynastic Period of Mesopotamia itself. I guess that makes dating from 3000-2350 or so, leaning heavily on the first part of the 3rd. Millenium. Very salient features include quadrupeds, often representative of ibex or undescribed creatures, with plants and rather abstract fillers present as well. Triangles, clover shapes, rectangles, gable seals, and round cachets tend to fill the rather prolific diaspora of seal shapes. Not all examples have handles, but I have a few that do have these - imho it's an Anatolian influence on these cachets.”

 

Ok, I've got a couple of things that fall in this category.
1. 3 Olive Oil Lamps from a little different time period . 1 is a different design. Franklin Half for size comparison only.
The oldest is the "Pinch" type. It looks like you basically roll out a "Tortilla", fold and pinch together. It's from around 200-100 B.C. The other 2 are very similar. One is just a little older than the other one. The 2nd one was found in Jerusalem and hasn't been totally cleaned out. I decided to leave it that way. It's probably from the first century A.D. The last type is probably from the 2nd - 4th Century A.D. I'm not sure it was ever used? I've read where they would uncover 100's of "new" ones that had just been made and left.
2. Roman lead sling "bullet", football shaped for better flight pattern. Very heavy. 0.75" wide by 1.25" long. Supposedly this was like getting shot with a .44 mag.? Picked up on battle field from around 400 B.C.
3. Hand made Roman nails. These were made, and used around 82 A.D. So, still in the First Century A.D.
Since I love History so much, these all caught my interest. Hope you enjoy, too.