As writers, do we ever get off the first page? Not just the physical first to which most of us return again and again (before discarding) but the writing itself. It’s always empty, always new. These days, I’m reading all sorts of things about the transition from Babylonian to Persian rule in the ancient Near East and working on the business of packaging what I learn into an exciting read for others. Oh, to be a sponge. The feeling is rather of a 50-50 polyester blend dishtowel: soaks up a little and smears the rest around. But it’s super interesting on all sorts of levels. The writing helps piece some things together and shows the holes in info, breaks in the narrative, that I need to fill and mend.
- Tiglath-Pileser III (Assyria 8th cent BCE)
Like this: would Cyrus II have ridden a horse into Babylon or a chariot? There are oodles of ancient Near Eastern images of kings in chariots; but would he have wanted to demonstrate independence of leadership and control better illustrated alone astride a horse? Or here’s another: How much different was the topography and environment, flora and fauna, 2500 years ago in what is now Iran?So many questions, so many intriguing hints and whispers of this ancient story.
