Posted on 06/19/2025 6:27:24 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
The carving on this gemstone depicts the mythological carpenter Taitle, whose name is inscribed at the bottom. Taitle is the Etruscan equivalent of Daedalus, the Greek inventor who fashioned wings for himself and his son Icarus, whose Etruscan counterpart is named Vikare. Together, father and son used the wings to escape the island of Crete, where the pair were imprisoned lest they expose the secrets of the labyrinth that Daedalus had designed.
"Taitle is an important figure for craftspeople, especially for the Etruscans," says archaeologist Holly Piper of the Nevada State Museum, Las Vegas. Artisans frequently depicted Taitle wearing or constructing wings, as well as using woodworking tools such as the frame saw -- a flexible blade held by tension on a rectangular frame -- which he holds in his right hand. "Etruscan artistic representations of artisans' tools are significant because they help us understand what something like a frame saw actually looked like, which can flesh out our understanding of the development and spread of tools on the Italian peninsula," Piper says. "Often the invention of a certain type of tool is credited to the Romans because a Roman author wrote about it, but many of these tools actually have much earlier origins, and the Roman tool is just the final stage."
(Excerpt) Read more at archaeology.org ...
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Thank you very much and God bless you.
Etruscan, 450–400 b.c., Carnelian, 0.66 inches long, 0.55 inches wide© The Trustees of the British Museum
Beautiful. Thank you.
There is something under the saw.................
“I see”, said the blind man,
As he picked up his hammer and saw.
I don’t think it’s a hammer. I see the saw on his right hand and what appears to be a framing square in his left hand...........
The image appears to be mirrored (flipped horizontally), and it’s the same at the Archaeology Mag site. Unless the Etruscans wrote right to left, and reversed the letters L and E. I put it in Paint, mirrored it, and the name shows up correct: TAITLE
The Etruscans wrote from right to left, so the photo is correct.
Yeah, I want one. (^:
Didn’t know that. I don’t know much about the Etruscans. Thanks!
My pleasure. :^)
Looks to be a stamp for sealing wax, etc.
Plus, the father who neglected them wants a million dollars back.
Nice!
What's up with that.
In any case, it took me a while to find the hidden pictures in all of these Highlights, the American children's magazine. It was started in June 1946 by educators...
The first thing I saw on this gem wasn't a saw, but a set of golf clubs.
Kids see the darndest things!
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