Seventeen 5th century BCE tombs unearthed in Macedonia

This discovery sounds exciting and very unique. I wish the article had included some pictures. The discovery of the gold chest plate embossed with a sun is particularly interesting. I wonder if the sun resembles the so-called Vergina sun found on a gold casket in the royal tombs discovered by Manolis Andronikos.

This YouTube video includes images of several Macedonian tomb sites and artifacts discovered within them including the gold casket embossed with the Vergina sun. It gets a little political towards the end though. My inclusion of it here is merely for illustrative purposes and does not imply any agreement with any political statements made within it.



Macedonian archaeologists have discovered 17 tombs dating from the 5th century BC in Ohrid, southwestern Macedonia, local media reported Monday. In one tomb, archaeologists found bones of a 15-year-old girl with a unique funeral mask made up of thin gold eye-covers, gold plate for the mouth and a plaque with an engraved sun placed on her chest. "This kind of a mask is unique for the Balkans. Several gold plates were found in Aegean region, but this kind of combination in one grave is unknown," Pasko Kuzman, head of the Macedonian Department for Cultural Heritage, was quoted as saying. Jewelry, golden chains and objects made from amber were also found in the graves. - More: EarthTimes
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Laurence Hutton's "Undying Faces" mesmerizing

I want to thank Laurence Hutton for commenting on my post about the recreation of Abraham Lincoln in the upcoming program "Stealing Lincoln's Body". He pointed me to his blog highlighting famous life and death masks, entitled "Undying Faces". I was mesmerized as I looked at faces of people I had read about but only seen in painted portraits, as they lived, for the most part, before the age of photography.

[Image left - Vice-admiral Horatio Nelson life mask, 1800, National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London]

I was particularly interested in the life mask of Vice Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson, commander in Britain's most famous naval victory at Trafalgar. I have always found Lord Nelson to be a very handsome man. I certainly understand why Emma Hamilton found him so attractive and have even collected historical figures of him (my favorite is a portrait doll by English artist Ann Parker. I was gratified to see that he was as handsome in reality as he has been portrayed in art.

[Image right - Vice Admiral Horatio Lord Nelson, by Lemuel Francis Abbott]

It is not surprising that Lord Nelson had a life mask made of himself. He was, apparently, quite vain, according to an assessment of his personality in Wikipedia:

Nelson was regarded as a highly effective leader, and someone who was able to sympathise with the needs of his men. He based his command on love rather than authority, inspiring both his superiors and his subordinates with his considerable courage, commitment and charisma, dubbed 'the Nelson touch'.^[206][207] Nelson combined this talent with an adept grasp of strategy and politics, making him a highly successful naval commander. However, Nelson's personality was complex, often characterised by a desire to be noticed, both by his superiors, and the general public. He was easily flattered by praise, and dismayed when he felt he was not given sufficient credit for his actions.^[208] This led him to take risks, and to enthusiastically publicise his resultant successes.^[209] Nelson was also highly confident in his abilities, determined and able to make important decisions.^[210] His active career meant that he was considerably experienced in combat, and was a shrewd judge of his opponents, able to identify and exploit his enemies' weaknesses.^[206] He was often prone to insecurities however, as well as violent mood swings,^[211] and was extremely vain: he loved to receive decorations, tributes and praise.^[212] Despite his personality, he remained a highly professional leader and was driven all his life by a strong sense of duty. - Wikipedia

Of the Civil War-era death masks in Mr. Hutton's collection, I found the cast of Ulysses S. Grant to look the closest to his portraits in paintings and on our currency. Of course, in his case we have a photograph to compare with it.

[Image left - death mask of President Ulysses S. Grant]

I thought the death mask of Robert E. Lee reflected a sad end to a once great warrior.

His face seemed more elongated and emaciated than portraits I have seen of him.

[Image right - Death mask of Confederate General Robert E. Lee]

Of course, that is the problem when looking at a death mask. It is created at the end of life after, in many cases, wasting illnesses. In Lee's case:

"On September 28, 1870, Lee suffered a stroke that left him without the ability to speak. Lee died from the effects of pneumonia, a little after 9 a.m., October 12, 1870, two weeks after the stroke, in Lexington, Virginia. He was buried underneath Lee Chapel at Washington and Lee University, where his body remains today. According to J. William Jones' Personal Reminiscences, Anecdotes, and Letters of Gen. Robert E. Lee, his last words, on the day of his death, were "Tell Hill he must come up. Strike the tent," but this is debatable because of conflicting accounts. Since Lee's stroke resulted in aphasia, last words may have been impossible. Lee was treated homeopathically for this illness.^{[42]" - Wikipedia}

^{It's as if you can see the profound sadness on his face, even in death, for the effects of his surrender at Appamatox and the brutal "reconstruction" that followed.}

"Lee attended a meeting of ex-Confederates in 1870, during which he expressed regrets about his surrender at Appomattox Courthouse, given the effects of Republican Reconstruction policy on the South. Speaking to former Confederate Governor of Texas Fletcher Stockdale, he said:

Governor, if I had foreseen the use those people [Yankees] designed to make of their victory, there would have been no surrender at Appomattox Courthouse; no sir, not by me. Had I foreseen these results of subjugation, I would have preferred to die at Appomattox with my brave men, my sword in my right hand.^[39]- Wikipedia

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Shakespeare's Death Mask and Comparisons to other representations is subject of book

Two years ago I posted an abstract from an article about the controversy surrounding a death mask identified as William Shakespeare. I recently received an email from University of Mainz academic Hildegard Hammerschmidt-Hummel, who is a champion of the mask, pointing out that she has written a book about the mask entitled "The True Face of William Shakespeare. The Poet's Death Mask and Likenesses from Three Periods of His Life". In it, she explains the scientific methods she used to analyze the mask and compare it to four Shakespearean portraits.

She also includes information about how the portraits and mask point to the cause of Shakespeare's early death at 52 years old.

"By combining exhaustive academic research with the latest technology and collaborating over
many years with specialists from the most varied disciplines - including forensic experts from the German Federal Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BKA=CID), Professors of Medicine, 3D imaging engineers, archivists and an expert on old masters - Hildegard Hammerschmidt-Hummel has proved the authenticity of the Chandos portrait, the Darmstadt
death mask and the Flower portrait (recently incorrectly dismissed as a ‘fake’ by the National
Portrait Gallery, as shown by the author's latest evidence). Her revolutionary research has also
authenticated another true face of Shakespeare - the Davenant bust. This haunting sculpture has resided in the Garrick Club since 1855 and was thought to be the work of an eighteenth century sculptor. According to the author’s new documentary sources, it derives from the collection of Sir William Davenant (1606-1668), Shakespeare’s godson, who also owned the Chandos portrait.

By tracing the development of certain signs of illness in each of the images, first noticed by
Hildegard Hammerschmidt-Hummel, the author’s medical experts have identified and verified the most probable cause of Shakespeare’s death. The conspicuous growth on the upper left eyelid, they interpreted as Mikulicz Syndrome (a probably cancerous abnormality of the tear glands), the swelling in the nasal corner of the left eye as a fine caruncular tumour, and the considerable swelling on the forehead (in conjunction with the other pathological symptoms) as systemic sarcoidosis, an inner disease that affects the organs and takes a very protracted course, but proves to be fatal."

Professor Hammerschmidt-Hummel has also written a comprehensive biography of William Shakespeare that was released in October 2007.

"In this extraordinary study, Professor Hildegard Hammerschmidt-Hummel sets the great English playwright firmly in his time and reveals his deep involvement in the dramatic political events of the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I. After coming to the throne, Queen Elizabeth I made Anglicanism, a version of the Protestant faith, the official State religion. Catholicism was to be eradicated within her own lifetime. Brutal persecution of priests and believers in the Old
Religion followed, and they were forced to go underground or into exile. This background of
religious ferment meant that, due to their potentially explosive content, nearly half of
Shakepeare’s works could not be published during his lifetime, only becoming public seven
years after his death. Hammerschmidt-Hummel demonstrates how this turbulent religious and
political backdrop is the key to understanding so many of the secrets and puzzles of Shakespeare’s life and work.

Who were Shakespeare’s friends and enemies? What did he do during his ‘lost years’? How did
he manage to become the most influential writer in England in such a short time? What did his
contemporaries think and write about him? Why did he stop writing comedies, suddenly
producing mainly tragedies and problem plays? Is Hamlet, the tragedy of a great Prince in a
rotten State, a reflection of the dramatic and tragic events at the end of the Elizabethan age?
And why did Shakespeare fail to write one word of homage to the dead Queen after her 45-year
reign? Professor Hildegard Hammerschmidt-Hummel answers these and other key questions
in this comprehensive and groundbreaking biography of William Shakespeare. "

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