"Whenever you are, Theo. Lead the way...please." responded Jordan. As they made their start, Jordan asked:
"Are you part of the research staff, Theo, or one of the docents told off to take this strange young man on tour?"
This is for adding a Search Category to the thread.
"Whenever you are, Theo. Lead the way...please." responded Jordan. As they made their start, Jordan asked:
"Are you part of the research staff, Theo, or one of the docents told off to take this strange young man on tour?"
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Theo motions for Jordan to follow and starts off. "I'm one of the museum's regular tour guides, so it's not anything too unusual. I generally work with groups who are half asleep to begin with, though.
"How about you? What brings you to this place of mystery and culture?"
Theo walks and talks his way to the wing containing Near East art.
"Ok, so we'll be starting the tour with the museum's current visiting exhibt. The local Anthropology Association has funded a display of ancient Mesopotamian artifacts."
"Museums are sort of second homes. By trade, I am a broker in rare books and manuscripts. I haven't done any Sumerian stuff yet, so this should be interesting. And you can be sure that I am fully Awake."
Jordan smiled again, then started to look around.
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"Oh, there's for more than just Sumerian. There's Akkadian, Babylonian, Hittite, and Assyrian." There was an energy in his voice that expressed that all the periods he had named were interesting and exciting.
"Sumerian is where it starts though."
Theo went over to a display of pictures and models of ziggurats.
Zigguart
"Beautiful." said Jordan thoughtfully. He looked at the intelligent, tiered architecture. "Religion inspired some wonderful architectural creations. Is it true that there was supposed to be an active shrine at the top of every ziggurat?"
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"Supposed to be yes. We can't know for sure. Many, if not most, have had thier upper structure eroded away. With evidence and using a holistic approach greater pictures of truth can be seen.
"The ziggurats for example were not made solely from religeous inspiration. The very first were likely made by happenstance, with new shrines being built on the rubble of the old. The old structure becoming the foundation for the new. It's possible they were built with the pratical purpose of protecting the shrine from flooding. Or they were made as an expression of the belief that high places are closer to the gods.
"They could have been built like they are because of all these influences, each effecting the other. Religeous belief, practical purpose, political influence, coincidence, climate, avalable material and more all come together throughout history to influence art and architecture in strange ways, some of which requires an almost arcane understanding of cultures to see."
Jordan nodded. Confluence was a rule of history, with meaningful events taking place because of a mixed bag of attitudes and other events. He was appreciating the ziggurat. He could swear he had seen something similar in West Sacramento.
"And is that a research goal here, to achieve that arcane understanding of cultures?"
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"I'm not that high up the ranks. I'm just a tour guide. I do know several of the staff do research on higher levels of Art." There was an unstated 'the' before the word. "More recent periods."
"However, even ties to the more recent Art can be seen in the lower periods on the archealogical clock. For example, the symbolism of high places being Hallowed and closer to the divine can be seen throughout history. The Acropolis in Athens, how the occulus of the Pantheon lets in the rays the sun, the continuous lines and large windows of the Gothic period churches to emphasize high and light.
"Not all research of Art in the museum takes that approach but our collection can help with understanding mysteries for those who study here." It could be very difficult to dicern supernal truth from the fallen world but it was interesting way to discover them.
"I am some research for the museum, currently mapping the ley out of the city. Use of lines in design and things like that." That was a little abstract even for Theo.
"Are you?" asked Jordan with interest. "Lines focused or shaped by architectural or artistic design? Now that's something."
He nodded, partly to himself. "I can't tap those lines, but the potentials in your work for those who can...hmmm."
Arcana of Prime was not within Jordan's reach.
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"It's an interesting enough study." A dangerous, maddening, interesting study and the way that new runes kept growing in his head was more than a little unnerving.
Jordan seemed to be taking a more active interest in the directly mystical aspect of the tour, rather than the occult symbolism of the museums art, so Theo made the choice to rearrange his tour "If you would prefer, I could show you the research area first. It has several artifacts not on display here and fewer crowds."
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