#the 8th century.

[morningsaidthemoon]

Excerpt from The Song of Roland, translated by Norma Lorre Goodrich (Medieval Myths)

[theancientwayoflife]

~ Noble Lady.

Date: 700's

Period: Tang dynasty

Culture: Chinese

Medium: Earthenware with paint

[musubiki]

danmarch 🐉💎

[city-of-ladies]

"Burginda’s letter is instructing the young man in his spiritual endeavours, and the contents of the (albeit short) letter reveal that she was highly educated and well-read. Written in a period that many still refer to erroneously as an intellectual ‘Dark Ages’, Burginda’s letter uses Greek words, utilises biblical exegesis, imitates Christian poetry like the fifth-century Psychomachia of Prudentius, and references both the sixth-century Italian poet Arator and the classical Roman poet Virgil. It also contains a reworking of a description of heaven found in a Latin poem from Africa that dates to c. 500. Burginda was clearly a very well-read intellectual.

This letter can be used as an example to refute many popular misconceptions about the early middle ages. The first misconception is that antique texts were neglected or unknown in this period. The second misconception is that medieval women were uneducated and unintellectual. The third misconception is that there was little or no intellectual transmission between Africa and Europe in this period. Burginda’s letter proves all these assumptions false. Not bad for two paragraphs of Latin."

[thoodleoo]

when you're being mean to me this is who you're being mean to. btw

[mapsontheweb]

Odysseus' journey.

by LegendesCarto

[cuties-in-codices]

joyful calligraphy

in the "sacramentarium gelasianum", france, ca. 780-800

source: Paris, BnF, Latin 12048

[kusurrone]

ANCIENT RUS DIVINE COMEDY AU :DDD

dont ask me why i was just feeling like it (couldnt make any of their heights match)

Dante's name is Dusia or Dania (yes the first one sounds like dussy-) and Guido is Glieb :D

Virgil is Vavila (probably shouldve made him old but i need a gusliar bard twink from ancient rus) and Beatrice is Viera

Gemma is Euhienia + bonus little dantino (dushen'ka :з) ina big ass papaha.

of course dante would wear a freaking papaha.

[handweavers]

something that has interested me for years is the ways in which mysticism within religions allows for a kind of heretical or non-orthodox thought, and particularly within the context of christianity i find a lot of that heretical mysticism stumbles into the same epiphanies and ontologies that are found within south/east/asian religions as well as among contemporary medieval mystics studying kabbalah and sufi thought. i'm particularly fond of when christian mystics would stumble into nondualist belief, and how often nondualism is positioned as deeply unorthodox when it's possible to find mystics across time and space and culture who have arrived to similar conclusions, and the degree of spiritual and almost scientific honesty expressed by them within that belief. how much of their words still ring true, even with all we know now about the universe, because of their willingness to face the unknowable and the immense and sit with it simply because they understand it is sometimes all we can do

[ltwilliammowett]

Byzantine shipwreck

Last year, two amateur divers found a piece of wood sticking out of the sand off the coast of Israel. A little later it turned out to be a Byzantine shipwreck from the 7th or 8th century AD.

This merchant ship, made of fir and walnut wood, was loaded with treasures from all over the Mediterranean. The wreck contained more than 200 amphorae with the remains of fish sauces, olives, dates and figs. What led to its sinking more than 1,200 years ago is unknown.

The once 25-metre-long vessel at the Ma'agan Mikhael B site lies at a depth of only about three metres. Further research and recovery of the artefacts continues to this day, but it is possible to identify food vessels of different origins and languages. This means that the ship sailed from port to port during a time of great religious unrest. At that time, the Christian Byzantine Empire was losing its hold on the eastern Mediterranean and Islamic rule was spreading. The shipwreck off Ma'agan Michael is evidence that trade with the rest of the Mediterranean continued despite the religious schism, contrary to what scholars have assumed.

[molkolsdal]

Surya, the Sun God

early 700s, Kashmir

Surya wears a long tunic and boots suitable for riding horses across the grassland steppes of Central Asia. The sun god was of paramount power among the people of Central and Western Asia who followed religions such as Zoroastrianism, a pre-Islamic faith emphasizing a sacred duality between light and dark. When the image of the sun god began to be made in India from the 100s BC on, he is shown in the dress of the people who revered him the most. Surya is worshipped throughout the Indian subcontinent and Himalayan regions of Kashmir and Nepal alongside both Hindu and Buddhist deities.

[robedruby]

Out and about.

I went outside, where it was cold and rainy, because I’m a dumbass.

(Let’s also pretend that this is a build kit post, as I haven’t been able to do much with finals recently, but I had this laying around and I felt weird not posting for so long so here it is.)

[theancientwayoflife]

~ Cylinder Vessel with Palace Scene.

Place of origin: Guatemala, Petén, Dos Pilas or vicinity

Culture: Maya, lk style

Date: A.D. 740–800

Medium: Slip-painted ceramic with post-fire pigment.

[blueiscoool]

Ancient Greek Bronze Statuette of a Sphinx Greek, 8th century B.C. Bronze

[city-of-ladies]

Japan’s fifth empress regnant, Genshō (680-748), ruled after her mother, Empress Genmei. Like her mother, she was a protector of culture and a reformer.

From Mother to Daughter

When Empress Genmei abdicated in 715, she passed the throne to her daughter instead of her sickly and too-young grandson. This created a unique case in Japanese history, marking the Nara period as the pinnacle of female monarchy in Japan. Unlike previous female sovereigns, Genshō had never been married before.

Her reign marked the height of the Nara state. One of her major achievements was the compilation of the Yōrō code in 718, a faithful copy of the earlier Taihō code. It was widely distributed throughout the country, ensuring effective central administration. This code became the legal basis of government for the next two centuries.

Cultural Contributions

Like her mother, Genshō made significant cultural contributions. In 720, the Nihon Shoki, a work aiming to produce a national history of Japan and the imperial family, was completed and officially sanctioned. Using diverse sources such as Chinese and Korean documents, government records, and house journals, it covered a longer period than the earlier Kojiki, including the reign of Empress Jitō, in a scholarly tone.

Interestingly, the two chronicles linking the imperial family to the sun goddess Amaterasu were sanctioned and promoted by female rulers.

Retired Empress

Genshō spent nine years on the throne. She stepped down in 724 to make way for her 23-year-old nephew, Emperor Shōmu (701-756). Unlike her mother, Genshō did not become a nun. She assumed the title of Daijō Tennō (or "retired emperor") and remained active for another 24 years.

My Ko-Fi

Further reading 

Shillony Ben-Ami, Enigma of the Emperors Sacred Subservience in Japanese History

Tsurumi Patricia E., “Japan’s early female emperors”

Aoki Michiko Y., “Jitō Tennō, the female sovereign”,in: Mulhern Chieko Irie (ed.), Heroic with grace legendary women of Japan

[artschoolglasses]

Disk brooch, found in Northamptonshire, 8th Century

From the British Museum