Free Republic

The parallels between the state of our country and the spectacular fall of Athens are too disturbing to ignore. The Athenian democracy fell to Sparta in 404 B.C. That disaster was not inevitable; it was the result of a series of poor decisions, themselves the result of greed and self-interest on the part of various factions. Had the Athenians not followed the advice of a charismatic but rash leader, Alcibiades (whom they then exiled, driving him to the other side, where he served as an adviser before returning to Athens to unleash further mischief), they might not have sent their...

Step into the world of ancient naval warfare as we bring the Athenian trireme to life. From the rhythmic sounds of 170 oars moving in unison to the overwhelming presence of this mighty warship, this video captures the sensory experience and tactical brilliance of the trireme in battle. It showcases how these vessels were not only technological marvels but also highly impactful on ancient maritime history.The Athenian Trireme in Action: Power, Precision, and Dominance at Sea | 7:41IEEE Reach | 587 subscribers | 67,904 views | November 30, 2024

An undocumented migrant accused of murdering nursing student Laken Riley waived his right to a jury trial during a chilling courtroom exchange. Jose Antonio Ibarra, 26, stared coldly ahead in Georgia's Superior Court on Tuesday as Judge H. Patrick Haggard approved his request for a judge-only trial. He is accused of killing Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student at Augusta University College, on February 22 as she was out for a run.

The chilling 911 call that captured Georgia nursing student Laken Riley’s horrifying final moments was played in court Friday — leaving her grieving mother in a flood of tears during the first day of opening statements. Riley, 22, triggered the emergency function on her cellphone and called 911 while running on the University of Georgia campus around 9:11 a.m. Feb. 22, prosecutor Sheila Ross told the Athens-Clark County courtroom. Only a male voice was heard on the brief, muffled audio that was played in court.

Researchers have uncovered unique graffiti on Barako Hill near Vari, Attica that may indicate there once stood a massive ancient Greek temple or structure on Athen's famous Acropolis that has since been lost to history.According to a new study published in the American Journal of Archaeology, this ancient drawing, attributed to a shepherd named Mikon, depicts a building identified as "the Hekatompedon," a term historically associated with large temples...The graffito (a term sometimes used to describe a singular piece of graffiti) was found among over 2,000 ancient engravings on marble outcrops in the hills north and east of Vari. These...

RIOT IN ATHENS AS MOB TRIES TO BREAK INTO HOTEL Details of the Incident In a shocking turn of events, chaos erupted in Athens as a mob of rioters attempted to break into a hotel where a group of Israeli tourists were staying. The situation quickly escalated as the mob stormed the hotel, prompting riot police to intervene and deploy tear gas to disperse the crowd. Location and Participants The incident took place in the heart of Athens, a popular destination for tourists from around the world. The group of Israeli tourists had been enjoying their stay in the city...

The burial spot was found in one of the Herculaneum scrolls charred by Mt. Vesuvius. Greek philosopher Plato played a huge role in shaping Western thought, particularly around politics, and even though he died more than 2,300 years ago, his “Republic” is still one of the most studied books at top US colleges. Despite Plato’s wide and lasting influence, though, there’s still a lot we don’t know about him, including his final resting place. Historians had been able to narrow it down to the garden of the school he founded in Athens, but where exactly in the expansive gardens was...

The papyrus had been buried under metres of ash at the house, believed to have belonged to Julius Caesar’s father-in-law, after Vesuvius erupted in AD79 and scholars have spent the last 250 years painstakingly trying to find a way to read its contents, The Times reports. Now Professor Graziano Ranocchia of the University of Pisa and his colleagues have used techniques, including shortwave infrared hyperspectral imaging, which picks up variations in the way light bounces off the black ink on the papyrus, to decipher the document. Professor Ranocchia described the scroll as 'the oldest history of Greek philosophy in our...

A suspected gang member was arrested early Saturday in connection with a drive-by shooting that killed a 3-year-old boy hours earlier at an eastside Athens trailer park. One of the gangs reportedly bragged about the shooting on social media. Julian Omar Cubillos was booked into jail at 3:30 a.m. for malice murder, criminal gang activity and multiple counts of aggravated assault in connection to the death of Kyron Zarco at Hallmark Estates off of Spring Valley Road. When fatally shot at about 5:30 p.m. Friday, The child was watching TV with his 9-year-old brother who also was shot, as was...

Violent crime is going down in Venezuela just as the United States has been hit with a rash of high-profile violent crimes by illegal immigrants. It’s not hard to figure out why. The killing of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student in Athens, Georgia, has become the latest and most prominent case of an American being killed as a consequence of President Joe Biden’s open-border policies. The man being held in connection with the killing of Riley is Jose Antonio Ibarra, a Venezuelan illegal immigrant who reportedly entered the United States in 2022. Since his arrival in the U.S., he...

Corporate media are covering for the deadly consequences of President Joe Biden’s border invasion by pretending the illegal border crosser who allegedly assaulted, kidnapped, imprisoned, and murdered 22-year-old University of Georgia nursing student Laken Hope Riley this week was merely a nearby resident and not an illegal alien from Venezuelan with a criminal history.One day after Riley’s body was reported missing and subsequently found following an early morning run on her university’s campus in Athens, Georgia, Jose Ibarra was charged with several felonies related to her disappearance and death.The revelation sparked outrage among Americans who have noticed a pattern of...

As I drove down the lengthy driveway of Mercy Montessori Center, I called my great aunt from Athens, Georgia, whom we lovingly call Aunt Puddien. Aunt Puddien is like another mother to me and I trusted her wisdom. She always introduced me to a relative or friend of the family as the teacher to which they responded with praise and affirmation. To them, loving and teaching our youth was a great honor despite the devaluation educators often experience. As an educator, I work within and around systems that are designed to lock out historically marginalized communities; this is why I...

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis cut through the red tape to rescue Floridians stranded in Israel. What we didn’t know is that he’s also planning to pick up non-Floridian Americans, as well as those Joe Biden dumped in Greece. “We knew there’d be people that wanted to get back, many hundreds, maybe even more than 1,000. And they were not getting any luck with the State Department or with the embassy. So I did an executive order last week, activating Florida emergency response to be able to bring planes in there and take people back home.” “I had mothers that were...

A new mobile phone app will enable visitors to view the Acropolis in Athens in all the grandeur it would have appeared in during the 5th century BC. The new app uses cutting-edge virtual and augmented reality technology, together with artificial intelligence and 5G to recreate the form of the Acropolis in its heyday. In addition, an artificial intelligence assistant will be able to answer questions about the site. The most iconic portions of the Acropolis, together with some prominent exhibits at the Acropolis museum will now be accessible as a virtual digital representation, allowing visitors to compare the ancient...

Temple of Apollo, built ca. 540 BC by the ancient greeks Temple of the Greek god Apollo, built ca. 540 BC, Corinth, Greece. Credit: Following Hadrian/CC BY-SA 2.0 Recent research shows that ancient Greeks used a primitive type of lifting machine to move heavy stones before they began using cranes 2,500 years ago. It is commonly believed that the foremost discovery of the ancient Greeks in building technology is the crane. Yet, enormous stone structures were known to have been built in Greece at least 150 years before the use of cranes themselves. Cranes first appeared in the late sixth...

ATLANTA – Local elections offices in Georgia would not be allowed to accept donations from private sources to help run their operations under a Republican-backed bill that has passed the state House of Representatives. Senate Bill 222 cleared the lower chamber along party lines 100-69 late Monday night, the last bill lawmakers took up in a marathon next-to-last day of this year’s legislative session. The legislation stems from complaints from Republicans in Georgia and other states about private donations flowing into elections offices in Democratic counties, notably a $350 million contribution by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to the nonprofit Center...

Greek authorities released a new recording on Thursday that shed light on what may have caused one of the country's worst railway wrecks in history. In the audio, a station manager appears to instruct a driver to "pass the red signal" before that train collided head-on with another on Tuesday night local time, near the city of Larissa in northern Greece, according to Greek news media. At least 57 people have died as a result of the crash and 48 remain in the hospital — including seven who are being treated in intensive care units as of Friday morning. The...

The Big Apple’s jet-setting chief executive, Mayor Eric Adams, is heading to Athens, Greece for a conference on anti-Semitism and Doha, Qatar, to “learn more” about co-hosting the World Cup. According to a copy of Adams’ public schedule released Friday, Hizzoner will head to Athens on Nov. 30 to attend the 2022 Mayors Summit Against Antisemitism. The trip comes soon after the NYPD and federal law enforcement prevented an attempted attack on city synagogues by would-be terrorists Matthew Mahrer and Christopher Brown. Adams will then head to Doha, Qatar on Dec. 1 and stay until Dec. 4 — to “learn...

The Biden administration this week opened the path to citizenship for immigrants with mental disabilities so great that they can’t learn basic English or pass a U.S. civics test. The changes are raising new questions that enemies of the nation may claim mental disabilities to skirt requirements to swear loyalty to the United States or demonstrate they have good moral character. “It’s one thing to promote policies that encourage naturalization and make it accessible, but these new rules cross the line, diluting the requirements in a way that potentially will lead to abuse of the system,” said Jessica Vaughan, director...