Month: December 2012

New light on the Harem Conspiracy and Unknown Man E

Ramesses III made headlines recently when a team of scientists revealed that a CT scan of his mummy indicated that his throat had been slashed.

The head of Ramesses’ mummy. Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons.

Egyptologists have long suspected that his reign might have ended in some form of skullduggery. Thanks to a remarkable set of papyri, we know that one of his junior queens, Tiye, tried to instigate a coup in order to place her son Pentawere on the throne. The conspiracy seems to have been quite wide-ranging, and it included a number of palace officials as well as a military officer from Nubia. Ultimately, they were tried by a special commission of judges, and most of the conspirators were either forced to commit suicide or executed.

Unfortunately, the trial records don’t say whether the plot against the king was successful. Until now, many Egyptologists believed that the king survived for at least a little while since the trial records imply that he was the one who ordered the judges to investigate the matter. But the forensic evidence makes it clear that he would have died almost instantly.

The scientists may also have identified the body of the luckless Prince Pentawere. Genetic testing revealed that the mummy known as Unknown Man E is probably a son of Ramesses III. Unknown Man E has long been a puzzle ever since he was discovered among the cache of royal mummies at Deir el-Bahri in the late 19th century. Found in an unmarked coffin, his body had been wrapped in sheepskin, which the Egyptian considered ritually impure. His body hadn’t been properly mummified, and his tortured expression suggested that he died in incredible agony. Recent examination of his mummy has found marks on his neck that could be evidence of strangulation (although we know Pentawere was condemned by the court, we don’t know how he actually met his end).

While none of this provides conclusive proof of Pentawere’s identity, the circumstantial evidence is certainly compelling. Though I do think it is curious that they bothered to save his body at all. Not only that, but they also took the time to move it to a safe place when the royal necropolis was dismantled in the 21st dynasty. I would have thought that regicide would be so awful that they would have wanted to destroy his body so that he couldn’t have any kind of afterlife. Then again, since he didn’t receive a proper burial and there was nothing to perpetuate his name, his posthumous existence would have been a bleak one!

Indie publishing as a gateway to traditional publishing

Amazon recently published their 2012 best-seller lists and it revealed something interesting: four of the authors on the adult top-ten list originally went the indie route (i.e. self-publishing or publishing through a small press). However, each of them ultimately had their work picked up by a traditional publisher.

So what might this tell us about the future of publishing? For one thing, I think it suggests that traditional publishers aren’t quite as moribund as many people might think. Given their strategic advantages, they will probably dominate the best-seller lists for the foreseeable future.

But at the same time, traditional publishers will likely become more and more receptive to the idea of acquiring successful indie works. Indeed, there may come a day when indie publishing becomes a semi-official alternative to the industry’s traditional gatekeepers.

After all, relying on literary agents and the slush pile can be a risky proposition, which is why so many books never earn out their advance. But with indie publishing, a lot of that risk is borne by the author. That means that traditional publishers can sit on the sidelines and see who’s winning before they have to pony up any of their money.

Still, I don’t think indie publishing is going to completely supplant literary agents and slush piles. As I’ve mentioned before, the indie route is a difficult one, and you need to sell a lot of copies if you want to catch the eye of a traditional publisher. But if all you’ve done is taken your unedited NaNoWriMo manuscript and uploaded it to the Kindle store, you’re not going to find your inbox flooded with offers from traditional publishers.

Lady Gaga’s Medieval Antecedents

During a wiki walk this morning, I stumbled upon Albrecht Dürer’s Three Mighty Ladies of Livonia:

Seriously Stylin'

Lady Gaga would have felt right at home in medieval Livonia!

Now I’m on a mission to learn more about these costumes. Why hasn’t the woman on the right covered her face? What does that tell us about her social standing vis–à–vis the other two ladies? Sadly, I have a feeling that learning more about medieval Livonian costumes will be something of a challenge…