The sea knows where all the rocks are

[sovay]

I walked something like five miles today and worked until nearly five in the morning and my body does not appear to believe it needs sleep, although I am quite certain it does; I do.

derspatchel and I visited the MFA briefly tonight. There are three new galleries in the classical wing; I only got as far as the one dedicated to the art of Homeric epic before the museum closed and kicked us out, though Rob reports to my great delight that one of my favorite erotic kylices is back on display. I photographed this marble fragment of a siren through the glass:



(Phone caption as I mailed it to myself: "Mourning Siren, then we got thrown out of gallery.")

Comments

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

when I see some of the classical statuary, I try to envision them as they were first new, painted and dressed. Then I think about how they would be painted and dressed in todays fashions and colors.

I spend a lot of time giggling in museums.

[sovay]

Then I think about how they would be painted and dressed in todays fashions and colors.

Heh. Well, she's a siren; she'd probably be wearing about the same.

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

just less..

[sovay]

just less..

I don't think she can wear less than she's wearing in antiquity. The wings aren't exactly an accessory.

[liquidmorpheme.livejournal.com]

They've been repairing/restoring for what seems like years a sarcophagus in their tiny Etruscan room, which has been closed as a result. Is that one of the galleries that has been added?

[sovay]

They've been repairing/restoring for what seems like years a sarcophagus in their tiny Etruscan room, which has been closed as a result. Is that one of the galleries that has been added?

The three galleries are one long partitioned room upstairs next to the renovated Roman section. It used to be full of statuary and pottery and a lot of window light; I believe it's where the (probably fake) Minoan snake goddess used to be, although that might have been the current coin collection. The Etruscan gallery is still being used as a conservation lab. One of the sarcophagi is now finished and on display downstairs among the Greek artifacts—it's the younger one, of Larth Tetnies and Thanchvil Tarnai. The older sarcophagus, which is actually my favorite, is still undergoing conservation and looks like it's currently on hold; the featured object in the lab is a Roman fountain. I miss the Etruscan room. I used to visit it regularly. There were the sarcophagi and the jewelry and the beautiful black bucchero ware and an amazed winged Skylla or siren on a cinerary urn with the paint still on her.

[handful-ofdust.livejournal.com]

That Etruscan room sounds amazing! Why would they get rid of it? Really love the siren, too.

[sovay]

That Etruscan room sounds amazing! Why would they get rid of it? Really love the siren, too.

It was one of my favorite rooms in the museum; I'm really hoping they'll restore it. Here's the cinerary urn I was talking about, and here is some of the jewelry, and here is some bucchero ware, and here is a vase possibly featuring Vanth. You can still see the aulos-player from the tomb wall and his companion with her kithara when you enter, but they've been swathed protectively with some kind of cloth. This is the lid of the recently restored sarcophagus currently on display and this is my favorite, a generation earlier. I love their faces, and their arms around each other's shoulders, and their bare feet. She was Ramtha Vishnai and her husband was Arnth Tetnies.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

That is a lovely body she has, and that hand :-)

There's something about her missing limbs and her anxious expression that makes me think she's dissolving, or transforming, against her will--she looks a bit like Daphne or someone like that.

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

I am reminded of this tweet.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Definitely!

I know it's a quiver of arrows over there on the left but it looks suspiciously (and intentionally?) like something else.

[sovay]

I know it's a quiver of arrows over there on the left but it looks suspiciously (and intentionally?) like something else.

For me it's the eyes. That is the creepiest Herm I've ever seen. It is cartoonishly lascivious in a way that tips right over into the uncanny valley and consequently waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

I had rather the same reaction, but I perhaps should not have shared.

Also, in an unrelated note, I'm watching Time Team and they're arguing over a note they're composing to the local tutelary spirit.

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

Or rather, arguing over the Latin in the note they're writing.

[sovay]

I had rather the same reaction, but I perhaps should not have shared.

No, no, I understand the impulse. It's very memorable. People cannot properly commiserate unless they've seen it for themselves.

Or rather, arguing over the Latin in the note they're writing.

That is excellent. What is Time Team?

[ladymondegreen.livejournal.com]

Time Team was a concept show pitched by Tony Robinson of Black Adder fame. The concept was 'three days of archeology at high speed (for archeology) to determine whether a site should be preserved for conservation and further excavation'. Their goal was to find things, but not dig them all up, so that the future can have a crack at them. The show ran from 1994 until quite recently, when one of the chief archeologists passed away. They did try to do a more commercial reboot, which was apparently an utter failure.

The program features a lot of amazing bits of archeological geekery, some truly epic jumpers (worn by Mick), some very disreputable hats (worn by Phil) and some really epic recreations of practices of the time. The show runs about an hour per episode, and I think we have all of it digitally. There were about 12 episodes a year, I think, as it was basically a once a month project for the basic crew.

They often find entire habitations, pottery (hence the icon), jewelry, coins, and infrequently, bones. The period ranges all over the map from digging up a missing bomber all the way back to pre-Roman sites. I recommend it and can DropBox you some if you enjoy that sort of thing.

[sovay]

The program features a lot of amazing bits of archeological geekery, some truly epic jumpers (worn by Mick), some very disreputable hats (worn by Phil) and some really epic recreations of practices of the time.

That all sounds lovely. I will ask derspatchel if he can find it, and if not, I will ask you for Dropbox. Thank you!

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Yeah, cartoonishly lascivious is exactly right! If he had a mustache, he'd twirl it. If he had mobile eyebrows, he'd waggle them.

[sovay]

I am reminded of this tweet.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

[sovay]

That is a lovely body she has, and that hand

Her legs break just as you can begin to see the feathers chiseled into her shins. She would have had a bird's wings and perhaps a bird's tail, but nearly all of that has broken off over the years.

There's something about her missing limbs and her anxious expression that makes me think she's dissolving, or transforming, against her will--she looks a bit like Daphne or someone like that.

Perhaps she wasn't a siren to begin with.

(I didn't have time to copy the notes from the display; the museum really was closing around us. I think she was part of a funerary monument, which makes me want to know why a siren was such an appropriate image of grief. It doesn't seem to explain enough that they were lethal to hear. Perhaps because of their songs: if they know everything, as they appeal to Odysseus, all history, all recorded time, they must accurately remember the dead. They know and mourn. It would be perilous, but beautiful to hear.

NO BRAIN WE DO NOT HAVE TIME FOR THIS NOW THERE IS ALREADY ONE STORY IN THE QUEUE WITH A HOMERIC-TYPE SIREN AND THAT OTHER STORY HAS TO BE FINISHED FIRST ARGH.)

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

They know and mourn.

Maybe that's what makes their songs so dangerous--maybe it's the hopelessness of their grief--maybe as immortal (semi-immortal) creatures watching a mortal world? And maybe it's not love of the beauty of their song but a sense of existential despair that sends people to the rocks.

Hello, my name is Asakiyume and I always think of The Most Melancholy Alternative.