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Live Science reports that two 2,300-year-old gold coins have been recovered from the Bärenfels bog in northern Switzerland by a pair of volunteers working with the local archaeology department, Archaeology Baselland. These Celtic coins imitated Greek gold staters minted during the reign of Philip II of Macedon (reigned 360–336 B.C.), and feature an image of the Greek god Apollo on one side and a two-horse chariot on the other. The Celts added a triple spiral known as a triskele, or triskelion, beneath the horses on the smaller coin's reverse. These gold coins, and the 34 silver coins that had previously...

(I just did what I hope are complete corrections to the YouTube transcript as reformatted by that AI I use, but much of this was too much for the YouTube transcriber to handle) I Am the Very Model of a Biblical Philologist | 3:44 Josh Tyra | 4.54K subscribers | 299,975 views | December 11, 2014

YouTube transcript reformatted at textformatter.ai follows. The Oldest Unsolved Problem in Math | 31:32 Veritasium | 19.9M subscribers | 19,504,750 views | March 7, 2024

The Westcar Papyrus describes a conjuring trick performed 4,500 years ago. Image credit: Keith Schengili-Roberts via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.5) It’s literally the oldest trick in the book, although it’s one you’ve probably never seen before. And while no beautiful assistants are sawn in half, this ancient illusion – performed for the Egyptian Pharaoh Khufu – is death-defying in the truest sense of the word. Long before the rabbit-in-the-hat trick was even conceived, an unknown Egyptian scribe penned what is now known as the Westcar Papyrus. Thought to have been written during the Second Intermediate Period – which lasted...

Wayne May tells the story of two 4000 year old Cuneiform Tablets made from the same era found in America. One by Native American Chief Joseph and the other by a woman in Georgia who found it while gardening. Chief Joseph and his 4000 year old tablet | 3:09 Hidden in the Heartland | 5.76K subscribers | 234,927 views | Premiered December 17, 2025

You think you’re being watched by satellites and smartphones—but the real surveillance network is perched on power lines above your head. Scientists recently trained artificial intelligence on thousands of hours of crow vocalizations, expecting meaningless animal noise. Instead, the AI detected structured language, syntax, planning behavior, and something far more disturbing: humans are the primary subject of crow communication. This documentary explores how crows recognize individual human faces, assign identifiers, share reputations across generations, and coordinate warnings through a global avian network. From facial recognition experiments and tool-making intelligence to crow funerals, justice systems, and possible encrypted communication, the evidence...

Archimedes, one of ancient Greece’s most famous and influential physicists and engineers, left a legacy of writings that had been thought to be lost to time. Much of his work only survived through copies and translations by scribes. One of the most famous fragments of Archimedes’ writings was the Palimpsest, a manuscript which by the 12th century a monk had overwritten and repurposed as a book of prayers. To discover the writings of Archimedes in the manuscript, scientists recently used the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center to reveal the iron content of the ink written under the monk’s prayers. The method...

* Elaborate rock murals along the U.S.-Mexico border, dating back over 4,000 years, depict a sophisticated cosmological worldview shared by indigenous cultures. These murals feature human-like and animal-like figures alongside symbolic motifs representing creation myths, cyclical time and multidimensional realities. * Despite spanning 175 generations, the Pecos River Style (PRS) rock art maintained strict iconographic rules—black paint first, followed by red, yellow and white—demonstrating a structured visual language rather than random decoration. * The murals align with pan-indigenous beliefs, such as layered universes and portals between worlds. A Huichol shaman recognized the figures in the 2000s, confirming continuity with modern...

Homer’s Odyssey tells the story of Odysseus’ attempt to return home from Troy to Ithaca. Historians agree that Troy was in northwest Anatolia, while Ithaca was off Western Greece. However, a popular theory among some researchers today is that the Odyssey is actually set in the Baltic Sea around Scandinavia. What is the supposed evidence for this, and does it stand up to scrutiny? Why might the Odyssey be set in Scandinavia? The basic reason for this theory is that, according to some researchers, there are many details in the Iliad and the Odyssey which do not correspond to the...

In the seventh century BCE, the Greek poet Homer wrote the Odyssey. This fascinating tale of adventure and loss would captivate readers for centuries, even millennia. It tells the story of Odysseus attempting to travel home after the Trojan War. One of the most intriguing things about this lengthy poem is that there is significant controversy surrounding the locations mentioned throughout. Based on the best available evidence, where did Odysseus really travel to in the Odyssey? Does the Odyssey take place all over the Mediterranean? The most common belief is that the Odyssey takes place over a very large area....

Universal Pictures has announced on X that acclaimed director Christopher Nolan’s next film will be an adaptation of Homer’s The Odyssey. The British director’s next project is tipped to be a “mythic action epic” and will be shot with cutting-edge IMAX films. It will be released in theaters worldwide on July 17, 2026. The film’s cast is star-studded, as Nolan has assembled an all-star roster to do justice to one of the most influential writings in human history. Cast members for this project include Matt Damon, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, Zendaya, Lupita Nyong’o, Robert Pattinson, and Charlize Theron. This will...

Homer was one of the most important figures in ancient Greece. His contribution to ancient Greek culture was immense, due to his two most famous poems – the Iliad and the Odyssey. To the ancient Greeks, the works of Homer were as important as the Bible is today. It’s ironic, then, that many scholars actually question whether or not Homer was real. What does the evidence show? Reasons for doubting Homer’s existence The main reason some scholars doubt that Homer ever existed is because of a lack of contemporary evidence. Most scholars believe that Homer was supposed to have lived...

A 1,500-year-old mosaic depiction of Homer's Iliad which was found by a walker in a farmer's field has been described by experts as the 'most exciting' Roman discovery of its kind in the UK in the last 100 years. The artwork, which is the first known example in the UK, was unearthed on private land in Rutland, East Midlands.... ...The remains of the mosaic, which measures approximately 31 feet by 21 feet, are the first in the UK and one of only a handful in the world to depict the Ancient Greek poet Homer's story about hero Achilles and his...

Classically-educated colonial Americans learned to be wary of monarchy from the Iliad and the Odyssey. It is very likely that, in July 1776, many Americans heard sermons based on the text of Psalm 143:6 -- “Put not your trust in princes….” One suspects that ministers used words even more harsh than those in the Declaration of Independence, where “the present King of Great Britain” was assailed for “repeated injuries and usurpations, all having their direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States.” George III had been much admired by colonials. They had erected an equestrian statue to...

A sustained effort is under way to deny children access to literature. Under the slogan #DisruptTexts, critical-theory ideologues, schoolteachers and Twitter agitators are purging and propagandizing against classic texts—everything from Homer to F. Scott Fitzgerald to Dr. Seuss. Their ethos holds that children shouldn’t have to read stories written in anything other than the present-day vernacular—especially those "in which racism, sexism, ableism, anti-Semitism, and other forms of hate are the norm," as young-adult novelist Padma Venkatraman writes in School Library Journal. No author is valuable enough to spare, Ms. Venkatraman instructs: "Absolving Shakespeare of responsibility by mentioning that he lived...

A sustained effort is under way to deny children access to literature. Under the slogan #DisruptTexts, critical-theory ideologues, schoolteachers and Twitter agitators are purging and propagandizing against classic texts—everything from Homer to F. Scott Fitzgerald to Dr. Seuss. Their ethos holds that children shouldn’t have to read stories written in anything other than the present-day vernacular—especially those “in which racism, sexism, ableism, anti-Semitism, and other forms of hate are the norm,” as young-adult novelist Padma Venkatraman writes in School Library Journal. No author is valuable enough to spare, Ms. Venkatraman instructs: “Absolving Shakespeare of responsibility by mentioning that he lived...

For students of ancient civilizations, one of the curious facts is that the site of Troy (Hisarlik in western Turkey), whose walls Homer describes as overlooking the sea, is now 6.5 kilometers inland at the closest point to the Aegean. Millions of modern-day tourists have visited that inland site since Schliemann excavated it in the 19th century. Portions of the walls and towers are clearly visible — but the Aegean is nowhere in sight. Why? Because the world's oceans and seas were different at the time of the Trojan War that Homer celebrated in the Iliad. The seas were higher...

Oxford University has shocked classics students by proposing to drop two of the most important texts from its syllabus. Virgil's Aeneid and Homer's Iliad may be made optional in an attempt to modernise the degree course, amid a drop in schools teaching Latin and Greek. But undergraduates say the works are vital to understanding the subject. Jan Preiss, a second-year at New College and president of the Oxford Latinitas Project, has started a petition to keep the texts. 'Removing Homer and Virgil would be a terrible and fatal mistake,' he said.

A chunk of worked limestone unearthed at a dig came from to the lost throne of Agamemnon, the ancient Greek hero revered by Homer in The Iliad, his epic story of the Trojan War, according to an archaeologist. Christofilis Maggidis, who leads excavations in Mycenae, in the north-eastern Peloponnese, said that the 110lb (50kg) slab was found two years ago in a streambed metres from a palace that collapsed during an earthquake in about 1200 BC. “This is one of the most emblematic and significant finds from the Mycenaean era,” Mr Maggidis said after an elaborate, year-long study of the...

Achilles, the main character of the Iliad, remains one of the emblematic heroes of Greek mythology and modern literature for his bravery and fierceness in avenging the death of his best friend, Patroclus. Homer’s epic poem, along with The Odyssey, has retained enormous influence on Western literature to this very day, and this is also true for Achilles, the fearless warrior who became the very symbol of gallantry. “Sing, Goddess, of the rage of Peleus’ son Achilles,” is the opening line of the Iliad, the poem that describes a few weeks of the ten-year Trojan War, mainly the many feats...