The Fisherman's Tomb: The True Story of the Vatican's Secret Search by John O'Neill
Author:John O'Neill [O'Neill, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Antiquities & Archaeology, Catholic, Christianity, History, Religion
ISBN: 9781681921402
Google: PWg5swEACAAJ
Amazon: 1681921405
Publisher: Our Sunday Visitor
Published: 2018-04-05T03:00:00+00:00
Chapter Fourteen
Margherita Guarducci
Epigraphy is the study of ancient inscriptions. There are few more subtle and difficult subspecialties of archeology. The locations of the ancient inscriptions are often dark, unpleasant, and sometimes even dangerous. Epigraphers are a fountainhead of interesting stories often populated with bandits, snakes, scorpions, and tomb robbers pilfering ancient remains. In addition to the arduous nature of the work, this specialty requires fluency in the dead language involved, and often the ability to understand colloquialisms and rapidly evolving meanings from long-gone worlds. On rare occasions, it requires actually decrypting inscriptions made in long-ago codes. The epigraphist is the Sherlock Holmes of archeology, discovering truth by linking ancient signs one to another, many with meanings that were in use for only a few decades.
Twentieth-century Italy was profoundly sexist. The Italian female stereotype of a mother cooking pasta was, in fact, not an atypical view held in that place and age. Margherita Guarducci profoundly broke the mold. By all descriptions, she could be considered an early Italian feminist, accomplishing amazing archeological breakthroughs in a time and profession dominated by men. She was deeply in love with men â but they were men who had died thousands of years before her birth. She had little use for the men or world of her time. While existing in the present, she lived in the past.
The great archeologists of fiction are invariably sophisticated men of great panache and impressive physical ability and appearance. Indiana Jones of Raiders of the Lost Ark battles natives, snakes, and Nazis with skill and aplomb. Professor Robert Langdon of The Da Vinci Code rushes through a variety of ancient sites adroitly avoiding a variety of deadly conspirators, accompanied by the beautiful Sophie Neveu. It is sometimes said that truth is stranger than fiction, because fiction must be written to seem possible. No writer of fiction could have invented Margherita Guarducci. The brilliant, real-life archeological genius Guarducci, whose discoveries would rival or exceed those of any fictional rivals, was a short, thin, frail-looking woman, whose uninspiring presence concealed an unconquerable spirit, intense energy, and a mind of utter genius. She was truly âa diamond bitâ seeking the truth. Before her long life ended, she would perform mental feats, find archeological wonders, and fight battles at least as great as her counterparts in fiction.
She was born in Florence in 1902, to a family of ancient roots. Her long life began shortly after the new century opened. It would end only as the twentieth century closed. It was an amazing journey. Guarducci graduated in 1924 with a degree in archeology from the University of Bologna. She then attended courses and began her lifeâs work at the National School of Archeology in Rome and the Italian Archaeological School of Athens.143 Almost immediately, she was recognized by her teachers as a rare genius in early Greek epigraphy and became the leading accomplice of Federico Halbherr, a famous archeologist.144 Guarducci had a fanatical capacity for frenzied work â often under difficult conditions. It was her âfirm, but gentle characterâ that defined Guarducci.
Download
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.
Resisting Happiness by Matthew Kelly(2876)
The Social Psychology of Inequality by Unknown(2290)
Designing Your Life by Bill Burnett(2238)
Day by Elie Wiesel(2231)
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein(1820)
Angels of God: The Bible, the Church and the Heavenly Hosts by Mike Aquilina(1618)
Human Design by Chetan Parkyn(1565)
Augustine: Conversions to Confessions by Robin Lane Fox(1465)
The Supreme Gift by Paulo Coelho(1434)
Hostage to the Devil by Malachi Martin(1380)
7 Secrets of Divine Mercy by Vinny Flynn(1380)
Jesus of Nazareth by Joseph Ratzinger(1362)
The Vatican Pimpernel by Brian Fleming(1330)
Dark Mysteries of the Vatican by H. Paul Jeffers(1328)
Saints & Angels by Doreen Virtue(1302)
St. Thomas Aquinas by G. K. Chesterton(1289)
My Daily Catholic Bible, NABRE by Thigpen Edited by Dr. Paul(1201)
Called to Life by Jacques Philippe(1194)
The Ratline by Philippe Sands(1154)