Author Archives: Eleanor Kuhns

About Eleanor Kuhns

Librarian and Writer Published A Simple Murder, May 2012

Priestesses

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From the frescos, the statuary and other artworks, we know women had a lot of power in Bronze Age Crete. Seals show a female figure as several times the size of the male figure; that is assumed to be a representation of a Supreme Goddess with a less important consort or son beside her.

Other works show figures in the traditional clothing: the short, tight short-sleeved jackets and long skirts, with elaborate headdresses. Two very famous statues show these women holding snakes (which were sacred.) These, it is theorized, are the Priestesses.

In many cultures, women were expected to know prayers/spells and make regular offering to the Gods to safeguard their homes and families. The Bronze Age was an age when many women died in childbirth (estimates rise as high as half) and miscarriages and stillbirths were common. Women employed amulets, prayers, and appeals to wise women to help them attract their love, inspire pregnancy, make the birth easy, keep the baby safe and more. These practices continued up through Roman times.

Christianity does not have priestesses. The only formal avenue for women in their worship is to become a nun. The spells, love potions, amulets and so one went underground, to women who became feared as witches.

In Ancient Crete, women would have been responsible for the prayers and sacrifices to keep their homes safe. Clearly, as shown by the above statue, there were other women whose responsibilities were far greater.

In In The Shadow of the Bull,

I imagined a class of Priestesses who lived separately and were responsible for all the rituals involving appeals to the Goddess. This was their profession. I suspect these women would have also attained a high degree of political power as well so, in my reconstruction of the world, I made the female ruler also the High Priestess with the others below her.

I will be taking a break for the next few weeks but I will return the last week of October.

Currently Reading

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This week I read the fourth in a series of time travel mysteries by Carol Pouliot.

A bit of background. Olivia Watson and Stephen Blackwell live in the same house – just separated by eighty years. Olivia lives in the house in 2014 while Stephen lives in it in 1934. One night Stephen sees a woman sleeping in bed. She sees him pass in front of her and disappear into a wall. They discover they can cross from one time to another.

In this fourth offering, Stephen and Olivia have embarked on a relationship. They have been invited upstate, to the Onondaga Cabins for a holiday party. While there, the owner of the camp, as well as a newspaper empire, is murdered. Shortly after, the first victim’s son is murdered as well in a particularly cruel way.

This is, in effect, a locked room mystery. Since they are snowed in, no one can get in or out, although his partner Will and Jimmy Bou snowshoe through the heavy snow to assist.

Pouliot is brilliant in portraying Stephen’s partner, Will, and his questions about Olivia. He’s noticed certain anomalies and does an investigation into her – discovering, of course, that the college she graduated from and the paper she worked for have never heard of her. Pouliot handled Will’s questions, and his inevitable discovery of the secret, brilliantly.

Recommended.

Women’s work in Ancient Crete

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Women have always worked. And up until the modern era, their jobs they’ve done remained fairly consistent.

First and foremost, the care of children. The work that women have done has been tasks that can be scheduled around childcare.

Across cultures, women have been responsible for food production – babies can be brought to the garden – and clothing their families. Although men did some farming, they owned oxen, most of the crops they relied upon were not cereals but orchard crops such as olives and grapes.

Weaving, up until modern times, has always been one of a woman’s primary jobs. Without the textiles the women made, there would be no cloth. Flax – and linen – known since Neolithic times, was joined by wool. Wool is easy to work with since it has a little more stretch than linen. Wool comes in a variety of shades, black gray, cream and more. It takes dyes easily as well How can we be sure they were weavers? Spindles and looms weights have been discovered in the excavations. I saw them myself in Akrotiri, a town buried by ash and now being revealed.

The Minoan men traded these textiles all over the Mediterranean.

The designs were very complicated, so complicated we can only assume a long learning curve, especially if the patterns had to memorized. One of the popular patterns consisted of heart spirals set point to point with red diamonds in the center. Colored spirals were another favorite. How do we know this? Statuary and wall painting depict gorgeously clad women in elaborate clothing dancing, picking saffron, and more. And not just in Crete either. The patterns have been recorded by Egyptian artists.

No wonder Nephele, Martis’s mother is horrified when Martis refuses to become a weaver.

It was not until the Industrial Revolution and mechanization of weaving that hand weaving ceased to be an in-house task and a profession.

Next time: Priestesses.

Currently Reading

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Death Among the Ruins is Susanna Calkins seventh Lucy Campion Mystery. (And I have read the entire series!)

Lucy Campion is a printer’s apprentice, quite a step up for a servant in the Middle Ages. She is engaged to Adam Hargreaves, the son of the family she served, although she is quite nervous about the marriage because of the difference in their stations.

Death Among the Ruins begins with a rag picker approaching Lucy because she has found a dead body. Lucy accompanies her to the ruins, some of the many left by the Great Fire of 1666. It is immediately apparent the rag picker has not told the entire story.

An expensive dress leads Lucite the Mobley family, and the sickly daughter Charlotte. Lucy quickly realizes that all of the family members have secrets. But is any one of them the murderer?

Calkins’ real strength is her depiction of the 1600s in London. The descriptions, the characters, even the writing style puts you right there. Highly Recommended.

I have been a fan of Simon Brett for many years, right from his beginning with the Charles Paris mysteries. Mrs. Pargeter is one of his newer series. Mrs Pargetr’s Patio, which will be released later this month, is number seven.

Mrs Pargeter is enjoying the fine weather on her patio when one of the stones cracks, and reveals a human skull. What to do?

Fortunately, the now deceased Mr. Pargeter knew an array of dodgy characters that will gladly assist Mrs. Pargeter until it is the right time to call the police.

Funny as usual. Even the names: Concrete Jacket. Fixin’ Nixon, Truffler, are amusing. Fun.

Albany Book Festival and More

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Last Saturday I attended the Albany Book Festival at the Albany University Upper Campus. This is always one of my favorite events as it gives me a chance to talk to both other writers and of course many readers.

Jacqueline Boulden, Carol Pouliot, Chris Keefer, Amy Patricia Meade, Syr Lazlo, Catherine Bruns, Eleanor Kuhns – some of the Mavens of Mayhem.

My contest on Fresh Fiction has been extended through October. Follow this link: https://gleam.io/Jghrh/eleanor-kuhns-september to join and possibly win a copy of my new book, In the Shadow of the Bull, as well as A Simple Murder and a $10.00 Amazon gift card.

Very excited to announce I will be speaking at Newburgh Free Library next Wednesday, October 4 at 6:30. The event is free.

Currently Reading

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Before I review my latest book, allow me to urge everyone to join he Fresh Fiction contest. You might win a copy of In the Shadow of the Bull

Plus a copy of A Simple Murder, the first Will Rees Mystery AND a gift card to Amazon.

Here is the link: https://gleam.io/Jghrh/eleanor-kuhns-september

With all the publicity I’ve been doing, I’ve only had time to read one book. The Ninja’s Oath by Tori Eldridge.

Lily Wong is a martial arts master. In this fourth one of the series, she travels to help Uncle, the cook in her father’s restaurant. Uncle was a gang member and is a pretty lethal fighter now. His granddaughter has been abducted and he needs Lily’s help in rescuing her.

I loved the descriptions of the setting – Shanghai. An old city of circuitous alleys and crumbling houses within a thoroughly modern city of high rises and affluence.

J Tran, the child soldier who intermittently assists Lily, makes an appearance just when he is needed most.

So fun. Plenty of action, an exotic setting and hitting of romance with the mystery. What could be better?

Dyes in Bronze Age Crete

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First, a note. My website went down on Friday for some as yet unknown reason. However, after a discussion with Bluehost, it is now working again. So, this is the blog I would have written on Thursday.

This Bronze Age civilization was the pinnacle of sophistication and culture in the Mediterranean. Their art – the paintings, mosaics, sculpture, jewelry – even their pottery – was much sought after. Excavations on mainland Greece, Turkey and Egypt have found remnants of these trade goods.

They were also noted for their textiles, especially a purple dye. The murals, sculptures, and sculptures reveal clothing dyed many colors. Indigo was known. (In fact, our name for this blue comes from the Greek name – which went into Latin – for Indian. The dye was originally exported from India. Madder was also known, although the Minoans also knew of the cochineal beetle for scarlet.

But the dye for which they are known is Tyrian purple, a deep color extracted from tens of thousands of murex snail shells. The dye was so expensive that it became known as Royal purple.

The one color they did not have was green unless they overdyed blue and yellow. A green dye was discovered in the 1800’s, but since it was made with copper arsenide, it was incredibly toxic.

Currently Reading

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This week I read the fifth in Charlaine Harris’s Gunnie Rose series: All the Dead shall weep.

The novel begins with a bang; the arrival of Lizbeth’s half-sister Felicia and Eli’s brother Peter. The very next day, a contingent of soldiers arrive in Segunda Mexia. Lizbeth and Felicia realize Peter and Eli have followed the soldiers so of course the women must pursue the men. Lizbeth and Felicia soon come upon the car Eli took, crashed and burning, and with a dead Comanche woman in the trunk. Now in a panic, Lizbeth and Felicia begin to hurry,

I really enjoy this series. It is a both fantasy and a mystery with engaging characters and lots of action.

The second book couldn’t be more different. Missing White Woman, by Kellye Garrett, will be released next April.

Bree is on a romantic weekend with her boyfriend Ty Franklin at an AirBnb in New Jersey. Posters of a young white woman are plastered all over the area. Bree pays little attention as she is too busy trying to lure Ty away from his work on the computer. He promises her a trip to Manhattan if she’ll let him work a little longer. When she returns from her run, he is missing and there is the dead body in the house. The police suspect her.

Garrett is one of my co-panelists on LJ’s Digital Day of Dialog on October 29. More details to follow.

Makeup, Hairstyles and Clothing for Minoan Women

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What do we know about the cosmetics used by the women in Ancient Crete and the clothing they wore? Because we have no written records, archaeologists (and writers like me) are forced to rely on interpretations of murals, statuary and other art work.

Cosmetics were commonly used in the Ancient World: Egypt, the Middle Ages, and Asia. In Egypt and Mesopotamia, they were used by both men and women and all classes. Kohl was the most commonly used cosmetic. Kohl was made from galena, a dark gray ore and crushed charcoal, mixed with gum or water to make a paste. Cosmetics were so important cosmetic palettes were found buried in gold with the deceased’s grave goods.

Kohl was used for lining the eyes, like modern eyeliner. It offered health benefits in the form of protection from disease, bugs and sun rays. Red ochre clay was ground up and mixed with water to create a paste to paint on the lips and cheeks.

The murals also show the hairstyle fashionable at that time. Locks of hair were brought over the front of the shoulders. Most of the hair was drawn back from the forehead and decorated with pearls, gold beads or gems. Both sexes wore their hair in this manner.

Note in the graphic above the white ribbon at the back of the women’s necks. This was a sacral knot worn by the priestesses.

Finally, the murals and statuary depict a certain style of dress. All the women wear long skirts, usually ruffled or arranged in tiers, with a short short-sleeved jacket. Opinions vary about what women wore under the jacket. Were they nude or did they wear a blouse? It is difficult to tell from the artifacts available to us.

Below, a statue of a goddess or priestess holding snakes.


Minoan statue

Notice the elaborate belt around her wasp waist. Apparently, tiny waists were also the fashion and tight belts were worn to accentuate it. These wasp waists and tight belts were worn by men as well as by women.

This is the setting I use for In The Shadow of the Bull, a mystery set in Bronze Age Crete. Martis’s preference for more comfortable clothing, and only a loincloth when she is bull leaping, is frequently mentioned. As she grows up, she too adopts the tiered skirt with its tight belt and the short-sleeved jacket.

Currently Reading

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Chertsey Park is the fourth in the Sophie Burgoyne series by G. J. Bellamy.

In this outing, Sophie and her intrepid crew focus on the evil Stokely. Servants are requested from the Burgoyne Agency, giving Sophie and the others an opportunity to spy on Stokely.

Sophie’s investigations lead her into danger – from the police as well as from Stokely’s crew. While following one of his thugs, Sophie almost witnesses a murder, coming upon the body seconds after the murder has occurred.

When she is questioned by the police, Sophie refuses to give her name or any other pertinent information and ends up in a cell. Penrose has to give her a false name and spring her from jail.

This series is many things: a mystery, historical fiction, a spy thriller and it is all wrapped up in a cozy package.

Long but great fun.