Archaeologists today follow strict guidelines for preserving their finds

by | Sep 16, 2021 | Archeology

Archaeologists today follow strict guidelines for preserving their finds in order to keep them as close to their original state as possible. This was not always the case. Before “archaeology” was a recognized academic field, wealthy amateurs traveled Europe looking for interesting old things to dig up. You can read about the discoveries of people like Heinrich Schliemann (discovered Troy and Mycenae) and Sir Arthur Evans (discovered Knossos and the Minoans). These early amateur archaeologists sometimes altered the objects they found or reconstructed them in ways that may have significantly deviated from their original appearance. You can read about the doubt surrounding Schliemann’s “Mask of Agamemnon” on page 97 of your text. For the discussion this week, we are going to consider the case of the “Snake Goddess” that is discussed in the document below. As the document points out, there are important parts of this sculpture that were reconstructed and/or fabricated based on guesswork. It may be that this sculpture looked very different from this and may, even, not have been ​‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‌‍‌‌‍‍‍‌‍‌‌‌‍​holding snakes at all. To prepare for the discussion, follow these steps: 1) Read the essay at the web page linked below, which describes the reconstruction of the Snake Goddess. Snake Goddess (Links to an external site.) https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ancient-art-civilizations/aegean-art1/minoan/a/snake-goddess 2) Watch this video from the Indianapolis Museum of Art. The video deals with the decisions made by the Louvre Museum to exhibit Roman sculpture that had been reconstructed incorrectly in the 19th century. While the art is from a different civilization than the Minoans, the issues are similar to the situation with the Minoan “Snake Goddess.” https://youtu.be/357gUKY98-s 3) Answer the following questions in your initial post: How would you present the Snake Goddess (and other objects recovered only in fragments) for exhibition in a museum? What options do museum staff have in exhibiting objects such as these? Which option would you choose and why? Keep in mind that the museum staff does not know what the objects originally looked like since only portions of them were found and those parts​‌‍‍‍‌‍‍‌‍‌‌‍‍‍‌‍‌‌‌‍​ were in fragments.

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Dante Alighieri played a critical role in the literature world through his poem Divine Comedy that was written in the 14th century. The poem contains Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The Inferno is a description of the nine circles of torment that are found on the earth. It depicts the realms of the people that have gone against the spiritual values and who, instead, have chosen bestial appetite, violence, or fraud and malice. The nine circles of hell are limbo, lust, gluttony, greed and wrath. Others are heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Dante’s Inferno in the perspective of its portrayal of God’s image and the justification of hell. 

In this epic poem, God is portrayed as a super being guilty of multiple weaknesses including being egotistic, unjust, and hypocritical. Dante, in this poem, depicts God as being more human than divine by challenging God’s omnipotence. Additionally, the manner in which Dante describes Hell is in full contradiction to the morals of God as written in the Bible. When god arranges Hell to flatter Himself, He commits egotism, a sin that is common among human beings (Cheney, 2016). The weakness is depicted in Limbo and on the Gate of Hell where, for instance, God sends those who do not worship Him to Hell. This implies that failure to worship Him is a sin.


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God is also depicted as lacking justice in His actions thus removing the godly image. The injustice is portrayed by the manner in which the sodomites and opportunists are treated. The opportunists are subjected to banner chasing in their lives after death followed by being stung by insects and maggots. They are known to having done neither good nor bad during their lifetimes and, therefore, justice could have demanded that they be granted a neutral punishment having lived a neutral life. The sodomites are also punished unfairly by God when Brunetto Lattini is condemned to hell despite being a good leader (Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). While he commited sodomy, God chooses to ignore all the other good deeds that Brunetto did.

Finally, God is also portrayed as being hypocritical in His actions, a sin that further diminishes His godliness and makes Him more human. A case in point is when God condemns the sin of egotism and goes ahead to commit it repeatedly. Proverbs 29:23 states that “arrogance will bring your downfall, but if you are humble, you will be respected.” When Slattery condemns Dante’s human state as being weak, doubtful, and limited, he is proving God’s hypocrisy because He is also human (Verdicchio, 2015). The actions of God in Hell as portrayed by Dante are inconsistent with the Biblical literature. Both Dante and God are prone to making mistakes, something common among human beings thus making God more human.

To wrap it up, Dante portrays God is more human since He commits the same sins that humans commit: egotism, hypocrisy, and injustice. Hell is justified as being a destination for victims of the mistakes committed by God. The Hell is presented as being a totally different place as compared to what is written about it in the Bible. As a result, reading through the text gives an image of God who is prone to the very mistakes common to humans thus ripping Him off His lofty status of divine and, instead, making Him a mere human. Whether or not Dante did it intentionally is subject to debate but one thing is clear in the poem: the misconstrued notion of God is revealed to future generations.

 

References

Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). Dante’s inferno: Seven deadly sins in scientific publishing and how to avoid them. Addiction Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, 267.

Cheney, L. D. G. (2016). Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno: A Comparative Study of Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni Stradano, and Federico Zuccaro. Cultural and Religious Studies, 4(8), 487.

Verdicchio, M. (2015). Irony and Desire in Dante’s” Inferno” 27. Italica, 285-297.

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