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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...

Russia cut gas exports to Europe by 60 per cent today, plunging the continent into an energy crisis 'within hours' as a dispute with Ukraine escalated. This morning, gas companies in Ukraine said that Russia had completely cut off their supply. Six countries reported a complete shut-off of Russian gas shipped via Ukraine today, in a sharp escalation of a struggle over energy that threatens Europe as winter sets in. Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Romania, Croatia and Turkey all reported a halt in gas shipments from Russia through Ukraine. Croatia said it was temporarily reducing supplies to industrial customers while Bulgaria...

THE Loch Ness Monster may have been found – but a little far from home.Footage captured the moment what appears to be a huge sea creature in the Great Prespa Lake – a massive body of water shared by Albania, Greece and Macedonia. The viral video shows “Nessie” poking its long neck out of the water before ducking back down. Many viewers have been wondering whether the mythical beast has gone on holiday away from its usual home in Scotland’s Loch Ness. And it could even be a trip it’s made before as a similar giant sea creature was spotted...

Federal authorities on Wednesday began legal proceedings to strip U.S. citizenship from two Bosnians, including one living in Oregon, for war crimes including executing civilians during that country’s civil war in the 1990s. The move by the U.S. Justice Department comes years after Rasema Handanovic and Edin Dzeko were extradited and later convicted by courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2011. After serving her sentence, Handanovic returned to Beaverton, Oregon, according to a statement from the Justice department, while Dzeko has not yet been released by Bosnian authorities. The department filed denaturalization lawsuits against the pair in federal courts in...

Russia's envoy to the U.N. on Friday warned long-term ally President Bashar al-Assad over his vow to retake all of Syria, saying he faced dire consequences if he did not comply with Moscow over the peace process. 'Russia has invested very seriously in this crisis, politically, diplomatically and now also militarily,' Vitaly Churkin told Kommersant newspaper, referring to an international agreement to cease hostilities sealed in Munich last week. 'Therefore we would like Assad also to respond to this,' he said, adding that the Syrian leader's stance 'is not in accord with the diplomatic efforts that Russia is making.'

SKOPJE, Macedonia – Several thousand protesters in Macedonia have demanded that the government call off ongoing talks with neighboring Greece over a decades-long name dispute. Civic organizations joined under the motto "We are Macedonia" to organize a rally in the capital, Skopje, on Sunday. They are urging the government not to agree to any changes to the country's name and to protect the Macedonian national identity and language.

Although Trump has been far from perfect so far as president, he's a great upgrade from Obama. For instance, see Trump's major tax cut bill and his other job-growth policies, and his appointment of conservative judges. And that's not all: he's fulfilled his promise to restore relations with Israel. Clearly, the only Jewish state and the only Mideast democracy is well aware of that fact: A new poll shows that a wide swath of Israelis approves of United States President Donald Trump's performance in his first year of office. According to the Gallup poll, 67% of Israelis say they approve...