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A letter written by a Roman emperor helped lead a team of archaeologists to an ancient temple that "adds significant insights into the social changes" from pagan beliefs to Christianity in the Roman Empire, experts announced recently. The lead archaeologist on the expedition, Douglas Boin, Ph.D., announced the "monumental discovery" at the annual meeting of the Archaeological Institute of America, according to a news release from St. Louis University, where Boin is a professor of history. Boin said he and his team discovered "three walls of a monumental structure" that appears to have been a Roman temple from the Constantine...

The ruins of an ancient Roman pagan temple have been uncovered by a team of archaeologists in Spello, a hilltop town in northern Italy. At the site, which is located near a religious sanctuary, researchers identified three walls that are part of a massive structure with four-foot wide foundations. These foundations suggest evidence of a Roman temple dating to the 330s, during reign of Constantine (306–337 CE), the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. These finds further illuminate the transition from pagan to Christian worship within the Roman Empire. The results of excavations conducted this summer were presented by...

Daniel Lüdin... swept his metal detector across the ground, a “strong signal” suddenly emitted from the machine... he was shocked by what he found: a clay pot filled with 1,290 coins.In accordance with proper archaeological protocol, Lüdin reburied the pot and contacted local experts, who dated the cache of coins to the fourth century... At the time, Switzerland was part of the Roman Empire.Based on the coins’ composition—copper alloy and traces of silver... was simply a large stack of “small change,” equal to about two months of earnings for a soldier, per the statement. Collectively, the coins amounted to as...

Reading native Michael Constantine, an actor best known for his Emmy-winning role as high school principal Seymour Kaufman in the TV series “Room 222” from 1969 to 1974 and his portrayal of Kostas “Gus” Portokalos, the Windex bottle-toting father of the bride in the 2002 film “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” died Aug. 31 at age 94, his family disclosed Wednesday.Constantine’s brother-in-law Michael Gordon said Constantine died peacefully of natural causes in his Reading home, surrounded by family, including his sisters, Patricia Gordon and Chris Dobbs. Constantine had been ill for several years, but the nature of his illness was...

A missing finger from a giant statue of the Roman emperor Constantine has been reunited with the hand it came from, roughly 550 years after being separated. The 38cm long index finger was recently sent to the Capitoline Museums in Rome by the Louvre Museum in Paris. This week the piece was finally being returned to its rightful position on the hand, which sits in the museum alongside the colossal bronze bust of Constantine.

Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maxentius, more commonly known as simply Maxentius, ruled in Rome as a usurper from AD 306 until AD 312. His reign came to an abrupt end when he drowned in the Tiber after being defeated at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge by Constantine the Great. As usurpers go, Maxentius had some impressive familial connections. He was the son of the emperor Maximian Herculius, who was raised to the status of co-Augustus by Diocletian in AD 286. He was also the son-in-law of the emperor Galerius, whom Diocletian would create Caesar in AD 293 and name as...

In the dusty highlands of northern Ethiopia, a team of archaeologists recently uncovered the oldest known Christian church in sub-Saharan Africa, a find that sheds new light on one of the Old World’s most enigmatic kingdoms—and its surprisingly early conversion to Christianity. An international assemblage of scientists discovered the church 30 miles northeast of Aksum, the capital of the Aksumite kingdom, a trading empire that emerged in the first century A.D. and would go on to dominate much of eastern Africa and western Arabia. Through radiocarbon dating artifacts uncovered at the church, the researchers concluded that the structure was built...

Archaeologists now can more closely date when the religion spread to the Aksumite EmpireIn the dusty highlands of northern Ethiopia, a team of archaeologists recently uncovered the oldest known Christian church in sub-Saharan Africa, a find that sheds new light on one of the Old World’s most enigmatic kingdoms—and its surprisingly early conversion to Christianity. An international assemblage of scientists discovered the church 30 miles northeast of Aksum, the capital of the Aksumite kingdom, a trading empire that emerged in the first century A.D. and would go on to dominate much of eastern Africa and western Arabia. Through radiocarbon dating...

There have been of late a splurge of populist history books damning Constantine the Great as the villain of the piece. Almost without exception they have drawn their picture of this most complex and complicated of late-antique Roman emperors from secondhand, clichéd and hackneyed books of an older generation, adding their own clichés in the process. Constantine has been sketched luridly, as the man who corrupted Christianity either by financial or military means. At long last we have here, in Peter Leithart, a writer who knows how to tell a lively story but is also no mean shakes as a...

Today, August 18, is the feast of Saint Helena Augusta, mother of Constantine the Great. A long lived and active woman, even in her old age, Saint Helena died ca. AD 330 and was greatly mourned by her son. Please enjoy this short video taken from The Life of the Blessed Emperor Constantine, written about the year AD 340 by the bishop Eusebius Pamphilus, detailing some of the works of Saint Helena. It also includes some lovely images of Helena and her son from antiquity and later art. St. Helena, the mother of Constantine, as described by 4th Century historian...

On this date in AD 337 ended one of the most impactful lives in all of human history. The Roman emperor Constantine the Great passed from human existence to eternal life on May 22, AD 337. (Click here if you need a refresher on Constantine's many and long-standing accomplishments.) A primary account of Constantine's final days and death may be found in the Vita Constantini of the historian Eusebius Pamphilus--a Christian bishop who knew Constantine personally. The entire Vita is well worth reading, but here are a few snippets detailing the final sickness and death of the emperor after 31...

Where exactly did the Council of Nicea meet in 325? As described in their article "Nicea's Underwater Basilica" in the November/December 2018 issue of BAR, Mustafa Sahin and Mark R. Fairchild have an idea. In 2014, an ancient basilica was discovered 165 feet off the coast of Iznik, submerged 6-10 feet under Lake Askanios. Subsequent survey and excavation headed by Professor Mustafa Sahin of Uludag University determined that this Nicea church had three aisles and a central apse and dated to the late fourth-early fifth century... The floor of the basilica's nave lay 1.6 feet lower than its walls, suggesting...

An imperial Roman villa has been found along the banks of the Tiber near the Milvian Bridge, archaeologists said Tuesday. Digs have uncovered a large floor area in 'opus sectile', decorated with "extraordinary" multicoloured marble floral motifs, they said. The beauty of the floor has led experts to believe that the rest of the building was full of precious decorations. The villa's setting so close to the river is unusual, archaeologists said.

I am going to skip down this article, and post what I think might have something to do with the Jan 29th, 2010 Comet-Asteroid P/2010 A2 taken by NASA as a Heavenly Sign of Jesus Christ, in addition Dec 21, 2010 there is a total (Red) Moon Lunar Eclipse* "Constantine was warned in a dream to make the celestial sign of God upon his soldiers' shields, and so to join battle. He did as he was bid, and with the transverse letter X circumflecting the hand of it, he marks Christ on their shields. Equipped with this sign, his army...

I do not pretend to call the Roman Empire the United States, but it seems to me there are some similarities as if history is repeating itself. Why did Rome Fall? There are some adherents to single factors, but more people think Rome fell because of a combination of such factors as Christianity, decadence, lead, monetary, and military problems. Even the rise of Islam is proposed by some who think the Fall of Rome happened at Constantinople. Since not all viewpoints are available on the Internet, this list of theories about the Fall of Rome is limited: *Decay *Financial Problems...

The removal of the Jews from the Arab world has been all but ignored, says Tom Gross It is not surprising, given the sheer scale of the Holocaust and its sadism, that it has dominated contemporary discourse among Jews and others. But, while the extermination of European Jews has rightfully (though belatedly) generated a great deal of study and research, the removal of the Jews from the Arab world has been all but ignored. This ignorance extends to policy-makers at the highest level. Some journalists and politicians I have spoken to have expressed surprise when I even mentioned that Jews...

Rome, September 1st, Islamic gathering at the Colosseum: “We want it as a place to pray” Libero Quotidiano August 25, 2017 Disturbing image of the October 2016 Muslim gathering The appointment is for September 1st. On that day Muslims will invade the Colosseum  transforming it into an open-air mosque. “Il Tempo” reports that the Islamic community of Rome will gather under the Flavian Amphitheatre, as they did last October. For the Muslims the occasion is a prime feast: 'Eid Al Adha, the  Sacrifice of Abraham.  The  Bengalese Association Dhuumcatu  organizing it, has decided to transform Via San Gregorio, under the...

Cairo- Egypt has announced the discovery of a rare manuscript dating back to the fifth or sixth century at the Saint Catherine Monastery in southern Sinai. Minister of Antiquities Khaled El-Enany said the manuscript was uncovered by monks during restoration works carried out at the monastery’s library. The minister highlighted the discovery’s importance, as it features medical texts written by the renowned Greek physician Hippocrates, along with three other texts by an anonymous writer. The monastery has a library containing 6,000 manuscripts, among them 600 manuscripts written in Arabic, Greek, Ethiopian, Coptic, Armenian and Syriac dating back to the 4th...

Space impact 'saved Christianity' By Dr David Whitehouse BBC News Online science editor Did a meteor over central Italy in AD 312 change the course of Roman and Christian history? About the size of a football field: The impact crater left behind A team of geologists believes it has found the incoming space rock's impact crater, and dating suggests its formation coincided with the celestial vision said to have converted a future Roman emperor to Christianity. It was just before a decisive battle for control of Rome and the empire that Constantine saw a blazing light cross the sky and...

Speranza points out another difficulty with the impact-origins theory. Large blocks of limestone sit within the boundaries of the Sirente "crater." Such limestone would not have survived an impact. So if Ormö's theory is correct, one must surmise that somebody set these giant chunks of rock in place since the crater formed. To Speranza, that just didn't make sense. Speranza and colleagues further argue that Ormö's radiocarbon dating gave one age for the main feature (placing it in the 4th or 5th century a.d.) and a completely different age for a nearby "crater" called C9, a date in the 3rd...