Free Republic

“One of the most important discoveries made in Israel this century.” —Ariel David and Ruth Schuster, reporters for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.1 “A stunning trio of early Christian (3rd century) inscriptions.” —Christopher Rollston, Professor of Northwest Semitic Languages and Literatures and chairman of the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the George Washington University.2 What is it that has these reporters and a linguistic expert so excited? It is the discovery and further study of three mosaic texts in pristine condition that were excavated in 2005 by Yotam Tepper3 on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority...

Less lavish than amphitheaters for the civilian population, the military amphitheaters were used for training and entertainment by the troops.Archaeologists excavating at the base of the Legio VI Ferrata Roman Legion near Megiddo (known as Legio) believe they have found evidence of the first military amphitheater to be identified in the Southern Levant.While remains of over 230 Roman civilian amphitheaters have been found throughout what was the territory of the Roman Empire, fewer military amphitheaters have been excavated, and most of those are in the western regions of the empire...The archaeological project at Legio is conducted under the auspices of...