Sylvia Rose
Thrace - Warfare, Slavery & Music
Thrace is an ancient region of Bulgaria bordering the Black Sea. In Neolithic and Chalcolithic times the seaport Varna and salt center...
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Sylvia Rose
May 86 min read
Enkomi: Bronze Age Trade of Cyprus
Enkomi is among the most important settlements of middle Bronze Age Cyprus. Originally it's situated on the east coast as a prime...
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Sylvia Rose
May 55 min read
Casting the Bones - Astragalomancy
Astragalomancy is divination using astragali or ankle bones (talus) of animals as dice. Bones of sheep and goats are popular in the near...
39 views
Sylvia Rose
May 22 min read
Sacred Cave Trapeza (Kronion), Crete
The Sacred Cave Trapeza (Kronion) is a Neolithic and Bronze Age ritual site on the island of Crete in Greece. During the Minoan era it's...
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Sylvia Rose
Mar 115 min read
Black Pigments of Ancient Artisans
Black is among the first pigments in the palette of early humans. By Paleolithic times, black defines lines, shadows and meaning. Black...
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Sylvia Rose
Jan 163 min read
Lukka: Bronze Age Warrior Sea People
The Bronze Age Lukka (Lugga) people occupy part of the glimmering Turquoise Coast in southern Turkey by the 3rd millennium BCE. Tribal...
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Sylvia Rose
Jan 104 min read
Salt Trade - the Most Precious Mineral
Salt is an essential mineral of life. In food it stimulates taste and is among the oldest preservation methods. Part of the human taste...
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Sylvia Rose
Jan 54 min read
Arcadia - Greek Lands of Ancient Gods
Arcadia is a central pastoral region on the Peloponnese peninsula of southern Greece. It's equated with idyllic Arcadia, a paradise of...
67 views
Sylvia Rose
Dec 20, 20234 min read
Giant Cinnamon Birds of Arabia
Cinnamon birds appear in folklore of Eurasia shortly after Arab merchants begin trading with ancient lands to the north. Cinnamon enjoys...
70 views
Sylvia Rose
Dec 19, 20235 min read
Cinnamon - Spice Trade of Ancients
Cinnamon ( Cinnamomum ) is the oldest known spice in the world. The fragrant bark comes into popular use by c. 2000 BCE, when Egyptians...
51 views
Sylvia Rose
Nov 28, 20232 min read
Ornithomancy - Prophecy by the Birds
Ornithomancy or augury is first recorded during the Hittite Empire (c. 1450 - 1180). From ancient Greek "take omens from the flight and...
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Sylvia Rose
Nov 20, 20234 min read
Minoan Genius (Genii) Helper Spirits
The Minoan Genius (pl. Genii) spirit appears as a hybrid animal merger of animals which can include lion, snake, hippopotamus, crocodile,...
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Sylvia Rose
Nov 17, 20235 min read
Lucifer, Venus & Anti-Gods of Mythology
Lucifer is Latin for bringer of light, or the morning star, symbolic of the return of light each day. In Greco-Roman myth Aurora, Goddess...
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Sylvia Rose
Nov 15, 20234 min read
Volcanic Wipeout - 1600 BCE Eruption of Thera
In the mid Bronze Age the Minoan Greeks come under fire in more ways than one. A series of volcanic eruptions by the Cyclades island of...
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Sylvia Rose
Oct 29, 20234 min read
Ancient Greece: Mycenaean Invasion
Mycenaean Greece rises to power in the Bronze Age c. 1750 - 1050 BCE. Mycenaean civilization is a pinnacle of Greek grandeur, with...
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Sylvia Rose
Oct 27, 20234 min read
Spiritual Alchemy: Touching the Divine
Spiritual alchemy uses the power of nature, psychology and metaphysical processes of alchemy to transcend the limitations of the mortal...
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Sylvia Rose
Oct 26, 20233 min read
Alchemy Symbols: Circle, Snake, Lion
The squared circle, snake, dragon or wyrm biting its tail, and the alchemical lion appear as predominant signs in alchemy and literature....
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Sylvia Rose
Oct 25, 20232 min read
What is the Philosopher's Stone?
The Philosopher's Stone (latin: lapis philosophorum ) conjures elements of primal lore and eternal powers. In history and legend,...
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Sylvia Rose
Oct 25, 20235 min read
Minoans of Crete: Ancient Greek Culture
Minoan culture arises from the Neolithic people who settle Crete c. 7000 - 6000 BCE. They open the door to a prosperous civilization,...
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Sylvia Rose
Oct 14, 20235 min read
Ouroboros Glyph: Snake Eating its Tail
A mythical serpent or dragon, ouroboros appears in literature and illustration from ancient Greece. Tales of ouroboros spread east, and...
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