Free Republic

Egypt ruler moved to pull down Cheops Pyramid of noble motives Cairo, 13:30 An Albanian with Macedonian origin, Muhammad Ali Pasha, ruler of Egypt, Syria and Arabia in 19th century, had ordered his French engineer Linan to pull down the Cheops Pyramid. The Great Pyramid of Cheops had been rescued with two piastres, the then Egyptian currency. This information was documented in archive paperwork kept in Revolution Museum depots. Media in Egypt cited extracts of these documents. According to documents, the then Egypt ruler Muhammad Ali wanted to remove stone blocks from their pyramid in order to build a dam...

In Plovdiv, in southern Bulgaria, archaeologists have discovered over 500 ancient coins and a gold template for making jewelry from different periods.The coins were found during salvage excavations at the foot of the Old Town, in the Philipopol-Trimontium-Plovdiv historical zone, which is a group cultural monument. It is located next to the Eastern Gate of Philippopolis, BTA reports.Plovdiv is an ancient city built around 7 hills, in southern Bulgaria. It has been recognized as one of the oldest settlements in Europe, with evidence of habitation reaching as far back as the 6th millennium BC. Until relatively recently in its history,...

Alexander the Great, who lived from July 356 BC to June 323 BC, was an intrepid conqueror and one of the most brilliant military generals in history. More importantly, however, he laid the cultural foundations for the establishment of the ancient Hellenistic world, all the way from Alexandria in Egypt to the borders of India. By his own admission, Alexander endeavored to conquer lands all the way to the “ends of the world and the Great Outer Sea.” He and his legions invaded India in the year 326 BC, winning an important victory over the Pauravas at the Battle of...

The ISIS teen who plotted a terror attack on a Taylor Swift concert has been pictured for the first time as neighbours say he completely changed his look recently. The 19-year-old ISIS fanatic has been identified as Beran A., who lived in a newly-built end-terraced house in Ternitz, nearly 50 miles south of Vienna, where he spent his childhood. A few years ago, Beran A.'s parents - who immigrated to Austria from North Macedonia - moved into a new-built house in the Neunkirchen district of Ternitz with him and his younger sister. Beran A. and his accomplice had planned to...

Bulgarian archaeologists stumbled upon unexpected treasure this week during a dig in an ancient Roman sewer - a well-preserved, marble statue depicting the Greek god Hermes.The discovery of the 6.8-foot (2-metre) tall statue was made during excavation work at the site of the ancient city of Heraclea Sintica in southwestern Bulgaria, which lies close to the Greek border.Archaeologists leading the work said that after an earthquake devastated the sprawling city in about A.D. 388, the statue had been carefully placed in the sewers and covered with soil, explaining its good condition."Its head is preserved. (It's in a) very good condition....

The center of Skopje, the capital of North Macedonia, a Balkan country born just 33 years ago as an independent state, is awash in history. A statue of Alexander the Great looms over the central square. One of his father, Philip II of Macedon, towers above a nearby piazza atop an oversize pedestal. The city is also littered with tributes in bronze, stone and plaster to generations of other heroes from what the country sees as its glorious and very long history. The problem, though, is that most of the history on display is claimed by other countries. Present-day North...

Yet another Netflix documentary on the ancient world has proven controversial, this time with the depiction of Alexander the Great as gay. In the opening episode of “Alexander: The Making of a God,” which started airing on Netflix on January 31, Alexander, played by Buck Braithwaite, kisses his friend Hephaestion on the mouth and body, as they engage in an intimate embrace. The portrayal of the ancient Macedonian king as a homosexual has generated angry responses from some viewers who feel that the documentary is distorting history. Meanwhile, The new Netflix series promises to reveal the “extraordinary life of Alexander...

A coronation site for one of the world’s greatest military leaders is open again. On Sunday, the Palace of Aigai in Vergina, Greece, where Alexander the Great was crowned King of Macedonia around 2,400 years ago, started welcoming back guests. The historic property, formally known as the Royal Metropolis of the Macedonians, spans approximately 161,500 square feet, according to the Greek Cultural Ministry. It was mostly built by the young king’s father, Philip II of Macedonia, in the 4th century BCE and was once the largest building in the country. Related Articles Temple ruins, ca. 330 CE, Spello, Italy. Newly...

The Palace of Aigai in northern Greece was fully reopened Friday following a 16-year renovation that cost more than 20 million euros ($22 million) and included financial support from the European Union.It was built more than 2,300 years ago during the reign of Alexander's father, Phillip II, who had transformed the kingdom of Macedonia into a dominant military power of ancient Greece. Aigai was its royal capital...The palace contained column-rimmed courtyards, courts, places of worship, and spacious banquet halls, its floors decorated with patterned marble and intricate mosaics. The building covered a ground area of 15,000 sq. meters (160,000 sq...

Thousands of people protested Monday outside the government headquarters in North Macedonia ‘s capital, Skopje, over allegations that patients at a state cancer hospital missed life-saving treatment because staff were stealing the expensive drugs to sell on the black market. Chanting “Murderers,” demonstrators demanded the resignation of the country’s health minister and the hospital management. Among the protesters were several people who said their relatives had died after being given placebos instead of proper chemotherapy because the drugs had been stolen.

Over the centuries, humans have always been fascinated by the vices and virtues of history’s most consequential figures. As one of the towering figures of history, Alexander the Great often attracts some of the closest scrutiny in this regard. At the time of his death in 323 BCE, Alexander the Great had conquered a vast empire that stretched across three continents: Europe, Asia, and Africa. His conquests had a profound impact on the ancient world and left a lasting legacy. One of Alexander’s worst vices may have been his relationship with alcohol. His biographers chronicled several sessions of especially heavy...

A new version of how the face of the legendary Greek king and army leader Alexander the Great might have been in real life is presented by Royalty Now Studios on YouTube. Researchers have often employed modern technology and historical records to try and answer the question what Alexander’s true face might have looked like, also based on numerous surviving busts of the great Greek leader who was born in 356 b.C. and died in 323 b.C.. In his short but fascinating life, Alexander created a vast empire that stretched from Greece to northwestern India and established him in the...

Dr. Zahi Hawass, one of the most famous Egyptologists and the former Egyptian Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs, has criticized Netflix for its controversial decision to cast Cleopatra with a black actress in an upcoming docuseries. The new Netflix series, dubbed “Queen Cleopatra”, which is produced and narrated by the American actress Jada Pinkett Smith, has sparked fierce debate over the misrepresentation of history and representation in TV and media. Hawass, who is Egypt’s most recognizable archaeologist, decried the decision by Netflix to portray Cleopatra as being of black descent, pointing out that the historical figure “was Greek”. Zahi...

Iranian embassy staff in the Albanian capital worked through the night after they were given 24 hours to leave the country over a major cyberattack that the Albanian government blames on Iran. It is the first known case of a country cutting diplomatic relations over a cyberattack. Movement inside the Iranian embassy in Tirana continued nonstop from Wednesday into Thursday. An empty barrel was seen taken into the compound and later a fire was started in it, apparently burning documents. A diplomatic car went in and out, while an Albanian police officer communicated with the embassy before two officers entered...

The lost tomb of Olympias, the mother of Alexander the Great, has finally been discovered. Recent excavations in the Tomb of Korinos in northern Greece have resulted in what amounts to a massive historical discovery. Pontos News reported exclusively yesterday that Professor Athanasios Bidas recently presented a suite of hard evidence at a scientific conference suggesting this latest Korinos’ tomb was that of Olympias, wife of King Philip of Macedonia and mother of Alexander the Great. In 2019, Professor Bidas read a set of ancient inscriptions that led him to believe he had identified the Tomb of Korinos as the...

Obama USAID Used U.S. Taxpayers’ Funds to Back Soros Group’s Effort to Give Albania’s Socialist Government ‘Full Control Over Judiciary’ (Washington, DC) — Judicial Watch obtained 32 pages of records showing the Obama administration sent U.S. taxpayers’ funds to a group backed by billionaire George Soros, which used the money to fund left-wing political activities in Albania, including working with the country’s socialist government to push for highly controversial judicial “reform.” The records also detail how the Soros operation helped the State Department review grant applications from other groups for taxpayer funding. The records were obtained in a May 26,...

Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev says the entire Balkans will have prosperity and lasting peace when Macedonia joins NATO. Zaev spoke in Sofia, Bulgaria Monday — two days before Macedonia signs the accession protocol at NATO headquarters in Brussels. "Macedonia has been waiting for 27 years to become a member of NATO. Zaev said. "Today, Macedonia has the hope of having open doors." Greece had blocked Macedonia's efforts to join NATO and the EU because of a long-running dispute over the use of the name 'Macedonia' — shared both by a historic region of northern Greece and the former Yugoslav...

FULL TITLE: Alexander the Great ‘was ALIVE while his body was prepared for burial’ – after rare disease left him paralysed for six days ===================================================================== It has baffled boffins for decades, but we may finally know what killed one of history's finest military minds ====================================================================== HE mystery over the death of Alexander the Great may have finally been solved – and his passing was grislier than historians had ever imagined. The fearsome military genius succumbed to a rare disease that left him paralysed for six days, gradually robbing him of his ability to move, speak and breath, claims a new...

Judicial Watch released 49 pages of new State Department documents showing top Soros representatives in Romania collaborating with the State Department in a program jointly funded by, among others, Soros’s Open Society Foundations – Romania and USAID, called the “Open Government Partnership.” The documents were obtained thanks to a March 2018 Judicial Watch Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed against the U.S. Department of State and USAID after it failed to substantively respond to an October 2017 request ... September 16, 2016, the State Department’s .. Jennryn Wetzler sent an email announcing that the featured speaker in a State Department-sponsored...

Four Russian diplomats will be banned from Greece after evidence revealed Russia was trying to foment opposition to a historic deal between Greece and Macedonia that is likely to pave the way for Macedonia’s Nato membership and so weaken Russian influence in the western Balkans. Russia, involved in a wider struggle for influence with the EU across the region, has already been accused of backing a failed coup in Montenegro in 2016. Russia said it would respond to the Greek expulsions by taking similar steps against Greek diplomats in Moscow. The expulsion of the diplomats, revealed in the Greek media...