Technology & Mythology: Popular Beliefs About Artisans in the Second Temple Period

One of the ironies of history concerns the creative people who mold and shape objects with their own hands, and whom we call artisans or craftspeople, and give specific names to their respective varieties of arts and crafts. The pen, the ink, the clay, the papyrus, the vellum and all other medium of writing which we use to interpret history were fashioned by them. Every shred of pottery or every bit of coin, every bit of utensils or furniture, every corner stone of an ancient building over which the archeologist hovers is their legacy. The monumental steles, the grandiose temples and palaces with ornate columns, the beautiful jewelry, the ostentatious sculptures, and the intricate mosaics which fascinate art historians were created by them. Not only were every tool and utensil people always used at home and every weapon with which they fought their brutal wars abroad “manufactured,” made by the hand of the artisan, but undoubtedly every step in human technological advance until the age of the electronic revolution was made by them. It is indeed no exaggeration to say that history would be blank without the products of artisans or craftspeople who more than any other single professional group in antiquity left the clearest and most tangible symbols of human ability and achievement. Yet it is truly ironic that above and beyond the mythologies about them and the eternal products of their handiwork, these “giants” left us so little factual information about themselves as individuals and groups (compared to kings and princes, priests and politicians, soldiers and philosophers...).