Free Republic

The sun bears down and dust swirls as Roman centurions, followed by armor-clad legionnaires and bruised gladiators, tramp out of the ancient hippodrome to the trailing sounds of a military march. In the seats all around twenty-first century spectators in modern-day Jordan cheer and applaud the spectacle before them - a one-hour show held in honor of Julius Caesar and part of Jordan's newest tourist attraction. Starting mid-July visitors to Jordan can plunge into the past, reliving in a unique location just north of the capital, Amman, some of the high moments that made the Roman Empire. The setting is...

French archeologists find Marcus Aurelius 'head' AMMAN, April 22 (AFP) - French archeologists have unearthed a perfectly preserved head of the Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius in the ancient Nabatean city of Petra south of Jordan, the head of the mission told AFP Thursday. "A monumental white marble head, in excellent condition, belonging to a statue the emperor Marcus Aurelius was found in Petra by French archeologists," Christian Auge said. The head of the 2nd century AD Roman leader who was also known as the "good emperor" or the "philosopher-king" was found in the Qasr al-Bint area of Petra, a Nabatean...

Lots of pictures.

Israeli archaeologists say it is the second such find at the same site within the last year.A 2,300-year-old ring has been discovered in Jerusalem’s ancient City of David, in the second such find at the same site within the last year, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Wednesday.The small size of the ring, gold and set with a red gemstone, indicates that it belonged to a youngster living in Jerusalem during the Second Temple period more than two millennia ago, the state-run archaeological body said.The member of the excavation team who found the ring initially thought it was a modern...

Losin, Yigal. (1983). Pillar of Fire: The Rebirth of Israel--a Visual History. Israel: Shikmona Publishing Company. *(Archived screenshot)Swastika on the walls of Jerusalem's Zion Gate. Arab feelings in 1936.1936 was not a good year for democracy. The Fascist countries were seen as successful by many people. Every step taken by Hitler or Mussolini met with hesitation and trepidation on the part of the leaders of the free world. Hitler armed Germany, contraven-ing the Treaty of Versailles. The Wehrmacht marched to the Rhineland; this was a blatant violation of the Locarno Pact, according to which Germany was to keep the area...

Around 50 fire crews and 10 firefighting planes and a helicopter have been deployed to extinguish the blaze.

A wave of Israeli strikes across Gaza on Sunday hit a hospital and other sites, killing at least 21 people, including children, as Israel vowed to expand its security presence in the small coastal strip. The predawn strike on Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza City was the latest of several attacks on northern Gaza’s last major hospital providing critical health care. Hospital director Dr. Fadel Naim said the emergency room, pharmacy and surrounding buildings were severely damaged, affecting over 100 patients and dozens of staff. One patient, a girl, died during the evacuation following an Israeli warning because staff were unable...

Jerusalem's Church of the Holy Sepulchre is the holiest site in Christianity Proof of an ancient garden, consistent with biblical scripture, has emerged at the holiest site in Christianity — and an archaeologist says "many surprises" from the site are in the works. Archaeologists excavating the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the ancient church in Jerusalem situated where Jesus Christ was crucified and buried, recently found evidence of ancient olive trees and grapevines. The specimens date back roughly 2,000 years. The discovery echoes the New Testament verse John 19:41, "Now in the place where he was crucified there was a...

The location of a chest believed to contain the Ten Commandments has long been a mystery, but CIA documents claims the Ark of the Covenant has been found.

Cholo Abdi Abdullah Obtained Pilot Training and Researched How to Hijack Aircraft in Order to Conduct a 9/11-Style Attack at the Direction of al ShabaabThe Department of Justice announced the unsealing of an indictment charging Cholo Abdi Abdullah with six counts of terrorism-related offenses arising from his activities as an operative of the foreign terrorist organization al Shabaab, including conspiring to hijack aircraft in order to conduct a 9/11-style attack in the United States. Abdullah was arrested in July 2019 in the Philippines on local charges, and was subsequently transferred on Dec. 15, 2020 in connection with his deportation from...

During excavations at the Khirbat el-Masani site, a Byzantine monastery dated between the 4th and 7th centuries, several tombs were uncovered. Among them, one stood out in particular: a burial where the individual had been wrapped in chains, an ascetic practice symbolizing the sacrifice of the body and detachment from the material world. Traditionally, this type of penance has been associated with male anchorites, leading archaeologists to assume that the remains belonged to a man. However, the poor preservation of the bones prevented a conclusive osteological determination of the individual's sex.Faced with the inability to rely on traditional osteological methods,...

Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon officially informed the members of the UN Security Council today (Tuesday) that UNRWA has 48 hours to end all operations in Jerusalem and leave Israel's capital. “Within 48 hours, the State of Israel will cease its cooperation with UNRWA. UNRWA must cease its activities and evacuate all its facilities in Jerusalem," he said. Ambassador Danon elaborated, "The legislation prohibits UNRWA from operating within the sovereign territory of the State of Israel and prohibits any contact between Israeli authorities and UNRWA. In addition, the organization is prohibited from maintaining any representative office, service...

A ten-year-old schoolboy accidentally discovered a 100-year-old cross medallion during a school trip to the birthplace of John the Baptist.Nehorai Nir, a student at Jerusalem's Argentina Experimental High School in Kiryat Hoyovel, said that when he was picking edible plants, "I suddenly saw a colourful object shining in the dirt. I pulled it out and was immediately very excited...According to Dr Amrit Re'em, the Jerusalem District Archaeologist of the Israel Antiquities Authority, the cross medallion was made with a micro-mosaic technique."This cross medallion is not considered an antiquity by law as it is 'only' 100-200 years old or so, but...

On December 6, 2024, Senator Tom Cotton (Republican of Arkansas) introduced a bill in the Senate to replace “West Bank” in all federal documents with “Judea and Samaria,” noting, “The Jewish people’s legal and historic rights to Judea and Samaria go back thousands of years. The US should stop using the politically charged term West Bank to refer to the biblical heartland of Israel.” His bill matches a House bill introduced earlier this year by Representatives Claudia Tenney, Randy Weber, and Anthony D’Esposito. Yes, they are the Jewish names but also the world’s. In 1947, the United Nations General Assembly...

A rare collection of ancient coins was discovered last week by Israeli researchers, who called the find an "archaeological Hanukkah miracle." The coins are more than 2,000 years old and believed to belong to King Alexander Jannaeus, the second ruler of the Hasmonean dynasty that presided over Judea in the final centuries leading up to the common era, according to the University of Haifa in Israel. Archaeologists found the hoard of about 160 of the coins during ongoing excavations in the Jordan Valley, which runs between the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the eastern border of Jordan. The project is headed...

That's how it all started. The "opening shot" of the Jewish-Arab blood battle for this land was heard on Passover 93 years ago, in the forgotten events of the 19th century - the first significant defining event in the national and religious struggle between the two peoples. Nadav Shragai. Israel Hayom. 24/3/2013. [...]. The time was approximately 11:30 a.m., April 4, 1920 (15 Nisan 5680), the first day of the Chol HaMoed of Passover holiday in Jerusalem. The death of a threatening crowd was heard from afar. The Arabs in the nearby markets of the old city rushed to close...

A place of worship sealed up by the ancestors of Jesus has been discovered in the ancient heart of Jerusalem, frozen in time for nearly 3,000 years. Carved into the rock near Temple Mount, the structure comprises eight rooms, containing an altar, a sacred standing stone, and presses for olive oil and wine. And experts believe its destruction may have featured in the Bible, which describes how Hezekiah – one of Jesus' ancestors – smashed idolatrous places of worship. This was one such place, according to Eli Shukron, exacavation director for the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), who dated it to...

Arutz Sheva has learned that some of the terrorists who will be released will be sent to Judea and Samaria, as well as eastern Jerusalem.

During the Hanukkah festival, hikers discovered a rare engraving of a menorah in a water cistern in the Judean Hills. The Israel Antiquities Authority reports that a rare and intriguing discovery was revealed over the Hanukkah weekend by hikers exploring a water cistern in the Judean hills: On the walls of the cistern, in chalk bedrock, were inscribed ancient engravings of a seven-branched menorah and a cross. Last weekend touring enthusiasts Mickey Barkal, Sefi Givoni, and Ido Meroz, who are members of the Israel Caving Club, went out to visit hidden caves in the Judean hills. According to hiker Ido...

Ancient Map Sets Middle East Ablaze: Jordan Accuses Israel of 'Criminal[sic]' Territory Grab What started as an Israeli Foreign Ministry social media post about ancient Jewish kingdoms has erupted into a major diplomatic crisis, with Jordan and the Palestinian Authority accusing Israel of revealing "malicious[sic] territorial ambitions" by sharing a map of biblical borders that extend into modern Arab states. The map which enraged Jordan and the Palestinians. Photo: Screenshot from Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, X. A social media post by Israel's Foreign Ministry featuring an ancient biblical map has ignited fierce criticism from Arab nations, with Jordan's government...