Free Republic

Archaeologists working in the buried Roman city of Pompeii say they have uncovered a "sorcerer's treasure trove" of artefacts, including good-luck charms, mirrors and glass beads. A room with the bodies of 10 victims, including women and children, was excavated in the same house. Pompeii was engulfed by a volcanic eruption from Mt Vesuvius in AD 79. The fatal eruption froze the city and its residents in time, making it a rich source for archaeologists. The trove was found in what remained of a wooden box. The wood itself had decomposed and only the bronze hinges remained, preserved by the...

The most stunning artifact recovered beneath Gosposvetska Street was a transparent blue glass bowl found next to the woman’s body... This exquisite drinking bowl could have been used in both regular daily life as well as for burial ceremonies, and an analysis of its chemical composition points to its manufacture somewhere in the eastern Mediterranean region. The grapevine decorations have their role in the Christian Eucharist and Communion, but have their origins in motifs associated with Dionysus, the pagan god of wine and ecstasy. Archaeologists are also interested in how the woman’s tomb developed over time. It seems that possibly...

Ancient Greek Bronze Fished from Sea Dazzles Italy By Estelle Shirbon ROME (Reuters) - Italy unveiled an ancient Greek bronze statue of a dancing satyr on Tuesday, five years after Sicilian fishermen dragged it from the Mediterranean seabed in one of the most important marine archaeological finds ever. The 2,500-year-old satyr went on public display inside Italy's parliament in Rome, where it will spend two months before being moved to a permanent home in Mazara del Vallo, the fishing village in western Sicily nearest to where it was found. "The sea has given us back an extraordinary heirloom of our...

Conservators have completed work on a fourth-century A.D. mosaic that was discovered in the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Augusta Traiana in 2011, reports Archaeology in Bulgaria. The mosaic was discovered during rescue excavations, and once decorated a triclinium, or formal dining room. It depicts followers of the god Dionysus during a celebratory procession. On the right is Silenus, the tutor and companion of the god, who leads two dancing women. Local archaeologists describe the work as skillfully done, pointing to the subtle use of color and the depiction of shading in the clothing of the dancing women.The...

A new archaeological find on the Danish island of Falster can be traced back to the first Roman Emperor, Augustus. A bronze figure representing the Greek figure Silenus, from the time of Rome's first emperor, Augustus, has been found on the south-eastern Danish island of Falster. This find suggests that there was close contact between the Roman empire and Scandinavia, before and after the emperor's reign... At first sight the figure seemed so finely detailed that the finder took it home in the belief that it was a modern object. Later she handed it over to the National Museum of...

A new doctoral thesis from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, shows that, in contrast to traditional scholarly claims, Dionysian cultic activities may very well have occurred in archaic Rome in the decades around 500 BC. A strong scholarly tradition rooted in the 19th century denies the presence of Dionysian ecstatic rites, cults, and satyr plays in Roman society. Although people in nearby societies evidently engaged in such behaviour around the same time in history, the Romans simply did not, according to early scholars. British scholars often stressed how much their people had in common with the Romans, not least as...

Comparing Christianity and the New Paganism The most serious challenge for Christianity today isn't one of the other great religions of the world, such as Islam or Buddhism. Nor is it simple atheism, which has no depth, no mass appeal, no staying power. Rather, it's a religion most of us think is dead. That religion is paganism — and it is very much alive. Paganism is simply the natural gravity of the human spirit, the line of least resistance, religion in its fallen state. The "old" paganism came from the country. Indeed, the very word "paganism" comes from the Latin...

Thracian God Dionysus's Temple Discovered in Bulgaria? Updated on: 27.05.2008, 12:30 Author: Blaga Bangieva Over the tomb of Sevt III (on the coin) in the mound Goliama Kosmatka near Shipka town (Central Bulgaria) is most probably located the temple of Dionysius - the God of Fruitfulness. The news was reported in Kazanluk city by the director of local History Museum Kosio Zarev. According to Zarev's words the conclusion was made after the detailed geo-radar examinations of the mound executed by a private team. The researches showed that immediately over the Sevt III's tomb, revealed three years ago, is located a...

 Subscribe for free at www.novinite.com Archaeological Discovery in Bulgaria Clue to Ancient Mystery2003-02-13Bulgarian archaeologists discovered an oval ritual hall fitting the description that ancient historians gave to the Dionysus Temple in the Rhodope range famous for its splendor and mysteriousness in antique times and for the many failed attempts to determine its exact location in modernity. During an expedition in 2002, the team of archeologist Nikolay Ovcharov unearthed the hall inside of an ancient Thracian palace, some 250km southeast of Bulgaria's capital Sofia. The temple-palace is part of the dead city of Perpericon in Bulgaria's Eastern Rhodope Mountain that...