Starting March in a bookish way

Already March and time flies. Here in Sweden, we have reached the end of the annual book sale, and for an offer of 'buy 4 books and pay for 3', I popped over to the book shop and managed, without much problems I have to admit, buy another four books. I was mainly looking for nonfiction, found only three, so added a fiction book I am eager to read. 

New purchases

Ödesmark (The Last Snow) by Stina Jackson - this is her second book about life and mystery in the north of Sweden. I loved her first book, Silvervägen (The Silver Road). She comes from the north of Sweden but lives in Denver, Colorado today. Excellent writing about life in a harsh environment, spiced with a mystery. Highly recommended if you have not yet read anything by her.

The three nonfiction books are about Swedish history. From diligent historian, Dick Harrison, I choose Mordet på Gustav III, about king Gustav III who was shot at an opera ball on 16 March, 1792, and died from his wounds a few days later. A famous drama from the Swedish history.

Tomas Blom's book Sturemorden, ett blodigt maktspel, covers another bloody chapter in our history. In the late spring of 1567, king Erik XIV suffers from mental disorder, and sees conspiracies wherever he looks. In the end he looses control, and puts his knife into prisoner Nils Sture, a noble man. The event ends in killing several of the Sture family and other nobilities. 

For more easygoing historical events, I bought a book about Prehistoric Skåne (the area where I live now). It promises 18 spectacular excursions from volcanoes to dinosaurs. Quite suitable when we are approaching spring, and hopefully, nicer weather. 

Finished

This morning I finished Antikens Religioner (The Religions of the Antiquity) by Ingvild S Gilhus and Einar Thomassen. It was part of my February theme Antiquity and Other Greek Tales. It also covers my challenge of non English/Swedish authors, since they are Norwegian.  

Very interesting telling on religions from the Middle East and the area around the Mediterranean Sea. From Egypt and Mesopotamia, to Greece, Iran and on to the Romans. Many of us today believes in only one god, but then there were so many, protecting each part of society, people, agriculture and everything else. The Romans, who mainly took their gods from the Greeks, but gave them a new name, also included a few other gods from older civilisations. On their terms, of course. It would take too much to go into each of the religions here, but in the end the authors look at the continuity and renewal of these religions.

Are there any traces left of later antiquity in our post modern society? In a way it is. For example, we find traces of latin in several roman languages; it is still studied; the church, the bureaucracy and diplomacy in Europe used it for centuries; a lot of the names we give our children come from Hebrew, Greek or Latin; democracy, the theatre are still playing comedies and tragedies from the antiquity; the olympic games and so on. All have roots in the old Greek world. 

What about religion? Antiquity was divided into a western and eastern sphere. Christianity became predominant in the west, and islam came to dominate the eastern part. Greece and Italy became Christians, while Egypt, Mesopotamia and Persia became muslim. 

Whether we know it or not, we are still influenced by the Antiquity today. One only hopes that we can respect each other's religions, and live together in peace. The main thing is that we have something 'higher' to believe in, if we wish to do so.  

It was interesting to finish this book for the monthly theme. Although, I have to admit that I still have a few chapters left of The Iliad, before I can put it behind me.