{"id":3618,"date":"2015-01-22T23:56:14","date_gmt":"2015-01-23T07:56:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=3618"},"modified":"2015-01-22T23:56:14","modified_gmt":"2015-01-23T07:56:14","slug":"the-cost-of-glass-01222015","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/?p=3618","title":{"rendered":"The Cost of Glass\u2026 \u2013 [01\/22\/2015]"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Funeral_Mask_of_Tutankhamen\"<\/a>Epoxy\u2026they used epoxy<\/em>\u2026.<\/p>\n

Just…I just can’t…wrap my head around it…<\/p>\n

I was lucky enough to gaze into the eyes of King Tut\u2019s mask years ago when my second contract took me to Alexandria and the Cairo museum. Never before, and never since, have I seen eyes like that on a non-living artifact; although, I would argue that perhaps the mask is not non-living. It depends, I suppose, on what you believe. Those lapis eyes seem to see directly into your soul, they stop you and you are suddenly completely unaware of the people buffeting you on either side, the world shrinks to just those eyes\u2026those eyes that have seen so much\u2026.<\/p>\n

Either way, the way that the boy king has been treated has oft disgusted me, and this newest development brings again to light the age old debate of archeology and art history alike.<\/p>\n

What right<\/em> have we?<\/p>\n

If belief is \u2013 as so many hold to \u2013 the foundation of truth, then what do we do when we rip these artifacts from their intended homes for the sake of furthering our knowledge? Our plans? Our needs? What do we destroy? These individuals, whether peasants or kings, were laid to rest with the expectation that they would stay there; what are we but grave robbers with degrees? Are we not, in our own way, risking ripping those at rest out of their concept of heaven, for the sake of a few trinkets. Yes, we should always learn more about the world around us, but at what price? And what good is that knowledge that has been so dearly gleaned if we continue to fail to learn anything of import from it; do we take into our hearts the lessons of the ancients? The concept of balance and death as a part of life? The incredible technology which to this day we have yet to fully understand let alone replicate? Do we really listen <\/em>to what they have to teach us? No, not truly, we are too rational for that, to scientific, to \u2018intelligent\u2019 instead we hold it at arm\u2019s length and therefore can hold ourselves above it. If the ancient Egyptians themselves are to be believed, we risk ripping their eternal soul to pieces in order to learn about it\u2026<\/p>\n

How would you feel, if someone tore up your loved one\u2019s grave, without consent, or permission or any reason given except \u201cwe need to know more about them\u201d\u2026how would you feel, and \u2013 if you believe such things \u2013 how would they<\/em> feel?<\/p>\n

While ignorance is the curse of the world\u2026.in cases like this one must also ask, at what cost comes knowledge? And when does a thirst for knowledge give way to greed?<\/p>\n

And if we must, if we must<\/em> put things under glass, can they not be treated with some modicum of respect. Of understanding. Of\u2026love?<\/p>\n

Of those who would answer in the negative, the Cairo museum would seem to be among the worst. When I was there, there was no semblance of crowd control, no safety barriers, nothing controlling flash photography within steps of delicate parchment, no one and nothing stopping children from clambering on marble statues\u2026the mask itself was a small island of calm in the chaos\u2026<\/p>\n

And now, he has been damaged forever\u2026when never was a human eye supposed to meet his gaze in the first place.<\/p>\n

I asked one of my art history professors once, how I could resolve the battle in my head\u2026how I could balance the fact that the more I learned about what came before, the more I felt guilty for intruding on the past\u2026the more I felt that we had no right to pursue it at all\u2026<\/p>\n

She told me that if I ever figured it out to let her know\u2026<\/p>\n

Nearly 10 years later\u2026I still don\u2019t have an answer for her\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Epoxy\u2026they used epoxy\u2026. Just…I just can’t…wrap my head around it… I was lucky enough to gaze into the eyes of King Tut\u2019s mask years ago when my second contract took me to Alexandria and the Cairo museum. Never before, and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,12,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-below-the-waterline","category-historical-sites","category-travel"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3GtNE-Wm","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3618"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3618\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3621,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3618\/revisions\/3621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bloodinyoursaltwater.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}