These two photos show terracotta acroteria of the head of Juno Sospita from a temple of Juno that was once on the Palatine Hill. They are now in the Palatine Museum, a museum that seems to be open every day - even Mondays when other museums in Rome are closed. When I first saw these in 2006 I was quite struck by Juno's goat-skin headdress because it looked to me a lot like... well, what we would now expect a certain founder of The Church of Satan to be wearing - as if a goat-skin really means the Satan of the New Testament (as the ha' satan of the Hebrew Bible is another thing altogether)! Consequently when I was in Rome in 2009 I marched through the Roman Forum in the boiling midday heat and up on to the Palatine Hill, almost getting heat-stroke, to find the museum to have another look at these terracotts and photograph them. So here they are. And what can I say about Juno Sospita? Well, according to Price and Kearns in the "Oxford Dictionary of Classical Myth and Religion" p.305, the cult of Juno Sospita was imported to Rome from the city of Lanuvium which from 338 BCE was administered jointly with Rome. The distinctive iconography of this goddess, who wears a goatskin and carries a spear and shield, indicates a martial character. Dumezil believed that her full epithet Sospita Mater Regina confirmed his thesis that Juno was originally trivalent, with influence over military prowess, fertility and political organisation. In Beard, North and Price's "Religions of Rome Vol 2: A Sourcebook" p.37-8 Cicero is quoted (On the Nature of the Gods I. 77, 81-2) saying "...Just as much, I'd swear, as you believe in the divinity of that Juno Sospita of your own native town - the one you never see, not even in your dreams, without a goat-skin, spear, shield and shoes turned up at the toe. But the Argive Juno does not appear like that, nor the Roman. So it follows that Juno has one appearance for the Argives, another for the people of Lanuvium, another for us." Anyway, while I am less amazed at her goat-skin headdress than I once was, I still think it's pretty remarkable. See these interesting coins with Juno on them.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
I am really struck by this photograph by artist, Simryn Gill, from her exhibition, 'Inland'. I don't actually know what the title of this work is, but I find it evokes in my mind a Vodou aesthetic, possibly as mediated through black and white films, either ethnographic, or horror. Basically it is an image of banana trees wearing clothes. I love it, and I would never have thought to do that myself, dress up banana trees. I don't think the artist's intention was to evoke Vodou, well, I don't know, but that's what it suggests to me.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Dance in a ring of flames, shadows fall the same, fire, love and pain. Do voodoo, voodoo, voodoo. ~Chris Isaak. 'Voodoo'.
Since the earthquake in Haiti "Voodoo" or more properly Vodou is a hot topic on people's lips - especially religious nutters who think it's demonic. Having originally come across Vodou through a simultaneous mix of reading Anne Rice books, buying the New Orleans Voodoo Tarot Deck by author and practitioner Sallie Ann Glassman, and film maker Maya Deren's book 'Divine Horsemen' in the early 1990s, when Vodou was a huge trend in Australia's occult scene (Religious Studies academic Lynne Hume discusses a "vodou ritual" she attended, in which I was one of a group of Hounsi, in her book 'Witchcraft and Paganism in Australia' - we had no idea how inauthentic we appeared!), I later went about reading more ethnographical works on the subject in an effort to understand it from that angle. I guess I'd say I was actively interested in Vodou for about five years and only moved on to other topics because, well, there are just so many things to know about. Seeing as it's now featuring in the news - especially the religious news, including Pagan religious news - I am inclined to Google it and see how it's going here in Oz these days. Of course there is still musician Kerri Simpson , a student of Glassman, who has some interesting things to say, there is also Mambo Racine in New Zealand, and I just discovered this group, Sancista, in South Australia. I'm mainly interested in Vodou nowadays from an art angle (sequined flags, vodou sculpture) as well as in regards to deified aspects of landscape and the natural world for the purposes of analogy with prehistoric Aegean religion(s) - not from the syncretistic angle of African religions and Catholicism of course, but from the possession angle. It seems poignant that the only tattoo I have is the Vodou veve of Ayizan, the first priestess (pictured above). It's a schematized palm frond mask and that is exactly where I'm currently going with my PhD research. We circle around, it seems.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Really, who wouldn't love it? I've been spending days going almost blind, scrutinising the CMS volumes in the uni library, and I've only done about half of them. Yay! This one, the Isopata Ring, is particularly gorgeous, but there are hundreds of other beautiful ones too. I saw some of these 'celebrity' rings and seals in the Athens Archaeological Museum in July. Haven't been to Crete yet though to see famous examples there, anyway the Heraklion Museum was closed last year, I think it is still closed. I'd feel irritated to go to Crete and be confronted with a closed museum, like how in Israel the archaeological section of the Israel Museum was closed, but I already knew that and the Rockefeller Museum, the Bible Lands Museum and Eretz Israel Museum were compensation enough.
Picha mbili za juu zinaonyesha akroteria ya terracotta ya kichwa cha Juno Sospita kutoka hekalu la Juno ambalo wakati mmoja lilikuwa kwenye Mlima Palatine. Jumba la makumbusho la Palatine ni jumba la makumbusho ambalo linafunguliwa kila siku, hata siku za Jumatatu wakati makumbusho mengine ya Roma yanafungwa. "Nilipoona hii kwa mara ya kwanza mwaka 2006, nilivutiwa sana na vazi la kichwa la Juno la ngozi ya mbuzi kwa sababu lilinionekana kama... kile ambacho sasa tungetarajia mwanzilishi fulani wa Kanisa la Shetani kuvaa - kama kwamba ngozi ya mbuzi inamaanisha kweli Shetani wa Agano Jipya (kama vile ""Haa"" ya Biblia ya Kiebrania ni kitu kingine kabisa cha Shetani)." """Nilipokuwa Roma mwaka 2009, nilienda kwenye Ukumbi wa Roma katika joto la mchana na kupanda juu ya Mlima Palatine, karibu kupata joto la joto, kupata makumbusho ya kuangalia tena terracotta hizi na kupiga picha." Kwa hiyo, hapa wako. Na ninaweza kusema nini kuhusu Juno Sospita? "Kulingana na Price na Kearns katika ""Oxford Dictionary of Classical Mythology and Religion"" (Oxford Dictionary of Classical Mythology and Religion), ibada ya Juno Sospita ilisafirishwa kwenda Roma kutoka mji wa Lanuvium, ambao kutoka 338 KK ulisimamiwa pamoja na Roma." Sanamu za pekee za mungu-mke huyu, ambaye huvaa ngozi ya mbuzi na kubeba mkuki na ngao, zinaonyesha tabia ya kijeshi. Dumezil aliamini kwamba jina lake kamili la Sospita Mater Regina lilithibitisha nadharia yake kwamba Juno alikuwa na nguvu tatu, na ushawishi juu ya ustadi wa kijeshi, uzazi na shirika la kisiasa. "Katika kitabu cha Beard, North na Price ""Religions of Rome, Vol.2, A Sourcebook"" (Sura ya 37-8), Cicero anatajwa (On the Nature of the Gods, I." "Mungu alisema, ""Ninaamini kama vile unavyoamini katika mungu wa Juno Sospita wa mji wako wa asili, ambaye huoni kamwe, hata katika ndoto zako, bila ngozi ya mbuzi, mkuki, ngao na viatu vilivyoonekana kwenye kidole cha mguu.""" Lakini Juno wa Argea haonekani hivyo, wala yule wa Roma. "Kwa hiyo, Juno anaonekana kwa mara moja kwa watu wa Argives, mara nyingine kwa watu wa Lanuvium, na mara nyingine kwa sisi.""" Hata hivyo, ingawa sivutiwi sana na vazi lake la kichwa la ngozi ya mbuzi kuliko nilivyokuwa wakati mmoja, bado naona ni jambo la ajabu sana. Angalia sarafu hizi zenye kupendeza zilizo na Juno juu yao. "Mwanzoni mwa mwaka huu, picha ya ""Inland"" ya Simran Gill ilichapishwa kwenye maonyesho ya kimataifa." "Hata hivyo, kwa sababu ya jina la filamu hiyo, ""Vodou"" inaonekana kuwa ya kawaida, na inaonekana kuwa ya kawaida, na inaonekana kuwa ya kawaida, na inaonekana kuwa ya kawaida, na inaonekana kuwa ya kawaida, na inaonekana kuwa ya kawaida." Kimsingi ni picha ya miti ya ndizi ikiwa imevaa nguo. """Ninafurahi sana na ninaamini kwamba sikuwahi kuwa na wazo la kuunda mti wa ndizi." "Hakuna mtu anayeweza kusema kwamba ""Vodou"" ni kitu cha kawaida, lakini kwa kweli, ni kitu ambacho kinaweza kuonekana." "Siku ya Jumamosi, Februari 6, 2010: ""Dansi katika pete ya moto, vivuli kuanguka sawa, moto, upendo na maumivu.""" Voodoo, Voodoo, Voodoo ~Chris Isaak. 'Voodoo'. "Kama ilivyoelezwa hapo juu, ""Voodoo"" ni neno la kawaida katika lugha ya Kiingereza, na kwa hivyo ni neno la kawaida kwa watu wengi, hasa kwa wale wanaofikiria kuwa ni roho waovu." "Wakati wa kuanzisha biashara ya Vodou, Anne Rice aliandika kitabu chake cha kwanza cha vitabu cha New Orleans Voodoo Tarot Deck na mwandishi na mtendaji Sallie Ann Glassman, na kitabu cha mwandishi wa filamu Maya Deren, ""Divine Horsemen"" katika miaka ya 1990s, wakati Vodou ilikuwa mwenendo mkubwa katika eneo la Australia la uchawi (Religious Studies Academic Lynne Hume anajadili "Vodoo Ritual" aliyohudhuria, ambayo nilikuwa mmoja wa kikundi cha Hounslow." Baadaye, nilianza kusoma vitabu zaidi vya etnography juu ya mada hiyo katika jitihada ya kuielewa kutoka kwa pembe hiyo. Kwa mfano, mimi ni mpenzi wa Vodou kwa miaka mitano na sasa nina uzoefu wa kuwasiliana na watu wengi. "Kama unavyoona habari za dini, hasa habari za kidini, ikiwa ni pamoja na habari za kidini za kipagani, nina mwelekeo wa kuitafuta kwenye Google na kuona jinsi inavyoendelea hapa Oz siku hizi.""" "Kama vile mwanamuziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa muziki wa Australia.""" Mimi hasa nia ya Vodou siku hizi kutoka pembe ya sanaa (bendera sequined, Vodou sanamu) kama vile katika suala la masuala deified ya mazingira na ulimwengu wa asili kwa madhumuni ya analogy na prehistoric Aegean dini (s) - si kutoka syncretic pembe ya dini za Afrika na Ukatoliki bila shaka, lakini kutoka pembe ya kumiliki. "Kama ilivyoelezwa hapo juu, tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu ya tatu.""" Ni schematized mtende frond mask na kwamba ni hasa ambapo mimi kwa sasa kwenda na PhD yangu utafiti. Inaonekana kwamba tunazunguka-zunguka. Jumatatu, Februari 1, 2010 - Ni nani ambaye hatapenda? """Nimekuwa nikitumia siku nyingi nikiwa karibu kipofu, nikichunguza kwa uangalifu vitabu vya CMS katika maktaba ya chuo kikuu, na nimefanya nusu tu ya vitabu hivyo." Yaay! Pembe ya Isopoda ni mojawapo ya pete za kipekee zaidi za dunia, na ni mojawapo ya pete za kipekee zaidi za dunia. Niliona baadhi ya pete na mihuri hiyo ya'mashuhuri' katika Jumba la Makumbusho la Akiolojia la Athens mwezi Julai. Kwa mfano, unaweza kuona nyumba ya sanaa ya Heraklion huko Krete, ambayo ilifungwa mwaka jana, lakini bado haijafunguliwa. "Kama mtu ambaye amekuwa akifanya kazi katika makumbusho ya kale ya Israeli, na ambaye amekuwa akifanya kazi katika makumbusho ya kale ya Israeli, na ambaye amekuwa akifanya kazi katika makumbusho ya kale ya Israeli, na ambaye amekuwa akifanya kazi katika makumbusho ya Israeli, na ambaye amekuwa akifanya kazi katika makumbusho ya Israeli, na ambaye amekuwa akifanya kazi katika makumbusho ya Israeli, ""alisema."