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A nailed-shut amulet uncovered in Turkey in the 1930s, written in Jewish Aramaic and newly translated, pleads for help from Balaam's ass at the track A 5th century ‘curse’ tablet written in Jewish Aramaic from Antioch, Turkey, which was recently deciphered by Tel Aviv University doctoral student Rivka Elitzur-Leiman. (Princeton University) When a typical nailed-shut 5th century curse scroll was uncovered by the University of Princeton in a 1930s excavation under the hippodrome in the city of Antioch (now in Turkey), the team of archaeologists didn’t realize what a unique find they had in hand. It would take almost another...

Archaeologists claim that they have identified the deadly dance floor where John the Baptist...was sentenced to death around A.D. 29. The Bible and the ancient writer Flavius Josephus (A.D. 37-100) both describe how King Herod Antipas, a son of King Herod, had John the Baptist executed. Josephus specified that the execution took place at Machaerus, a fort near the Dead Sea in modern-day Jordan. ...Herod Antipas was set to marry a woman named Herodias, both of whom had been divorced — something that John the Baptist objected to. At Herod Antipas' birthday party, Herodias' daughter, named Salome, performed a dance...

A seemingly dull marble slab, used for 10 years as a stepping stone in an English garden, is actually a rare ancient Roman engraving, a new analysis finds. The discovery surprised its owner, who learned that the 25-inch-long (63 centimeters) slab — a stone she had previously used as a stair while mounting her horse — dated to the second century A.D. and was worth about $20,400 (£15,000). However, no one knows how the marble masterpiece ended up in England. It was likely carved in Greece or Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey), according to a statement from Woolley and Wallis, a...

The Greeks who represent the last vestiges of Christian Byzantium and the Roman Empire are heading towards their final extinction in Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Turkey, with their numbers dwindling to a mere handful under his Islamist government. What is now Turkey only began to be colonised in by the Turkic peoples in earnest from around 1071, after their Seljuk ancestors had arrived from Central Asia and vanquished the Greek-speaking Christian ruler Romanos IV Diogenes’s forces at the Battle of Manzikert. The last vestiges of the Byzantine state where finally snuffed out with the brutal conquest of Constantinople, widely regarded as...

A fast-food eatery — or thermopolium — discovered at Pompeii has been completely excavated, helping to reveal some top dishes of the ancient Roman city. The site is about 18 miles southeast of Naples, Italy. Luigi Spina/Archaeological Park of Pompeii ================================================================== Ever wonder what a 2,000-year-old fast-food restaurant might look like? Well, new photos from researchers might give you an idea. Archaeologists said on Saturday they excavated a complete thermopolium — a Roman food counter — in the ancient city of Pompeii. Researchers are analyzing the findings to create a more complete picture of the daily life — and diet...

Known as a termopolium, Latin for hot drinks counter, the shop was discovered in the archaeological park's Regio V site, which is not yet open the public, and unveiled on Saturday. Traces of nearly 2,000-year-old food were found in some of the deep terra cotta jars containing hot food which the shop keeper lowered into a counter with circular holes. Archaeologists also found a decorated bronze drinking bowl known as a patera, ceramic jars used for cooking stews and soups, wine flasks and amphora. Pompeii, 23 km (14 miles) southeast of Naples, was home to about 13,000 people...

What we love does not always make sense. In ancient Roman myth Aeneas had a clear duty to found a new city in Italy but exhaustion and the need to rest from storms and war forced him to dally in Carthage and break Dido’s heart. He couldn’t please everyone. Now the world sees a clear proven template for democracy and freedom. For a long time we have rightfully believed that America was founded and defined by: The Constitution. The Declaration Of Independence. The Gettysburg Address. But now some people in the great big family that is the Democrats see the...

Human beings need safe homes and love. The foundation for this was and always will be family. Families flourish when society is free. So in Vergil’s classic epic poem, The Aeneid, the Trojan hero Aeneas is loyal to his father and history, as he seeks a new home for his people. The goddess Juno holds old grudges against Aeneas and his people and makes life hard for them. But the love of his mother Venus leads him to a safe harbour in Carthage for the Trojan people. This story was part of the process of making the Roman people proud...

Melting glacier sheds light upon hidden Viking era artifacts in Norway dated back to 300 AD The tremendous melting of the glaciers resulted in some recent archaeological discoveries revealing several well preserved historical objects, and one of these remarkable finds is the discoveries of artifacts from the Viking era on the hills that were once used for transportation purposes dated back to 300 A.D. as per the study. More glacial melt, although a disturbing factor of a much larger global warming effect, has provided ample shreds of evidence and remains of the age-old objects for today’s generation advantageously. Artifacts from...

There are three principal reasons why the 4 B.C. date has prevailed over 1 B.C. These reasons were articulated by Emil Schürer in A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ, also published in the 19th century. First, Josephus informs us that Herod died shortly before a Passover (Antiquities 17.9.3, The Jewish War 2.1.3), making a lunar eclipse in March (the time of the 4 B.C. eclipse) much more likely than one in December. Second, Josephus writes that Herod reigned for 37 years from the time of his appointment in 40 B.C. and 34 years from...

April 13, 2005 1:20 PM Ancient Cypriot copper mine for sale By Michele Kambas NICOSIA (Reuters) - A copper mine in Cyprus where the metal has been mined since Biblical times faces closure unless the Church of Cyprus can find a buyer, officials said on Wednesday. The Skouriotissa mine, which produced copper ore at a site where there has been mining for some 4,000 years, suspended operations in January, leaving its workers unpaid and with debts labour unions estimate at 14 million pounds. Herod the Great, who in the Bible ordered the Massacre of the Innocents in an attempt to...

Excavations in the East Jordan Land13 December 2007 This year Thomas Pola, professor for theology at TU Dortmund, and his team have continued the excavations in the East Jordan Land. With their findings on the mountain Tall adh-Dhahab (West) in the Jabbok Valley the archeologists could substantiate one assumption: everything points to the fact that the building remains from the Hellenistic and Roman era, found in 2006, were part of a yet unknown monumental building of Herod the Great (73-4 BC). This assumption is based on the floors of one of the discovered peristyle yards (yards enclosed by continuous...

Wooden beams from the time of Herod’s Temple Mount in secondary use in the Al-Aqsa MosqueWhat happened to Jerusalem’s Temple Mount when the Romans destroyed Herod’s Temple in 70 C.E.? There is no report of any building left on the Temple Mount by the time the Muslims erected the iconic Dome of the Rock and the gray-domed Al-Aqsa Mosque in the late seventh and early eighth centuries. Did the wooden beams from Herod’s Temple Mount survive? In the May/June 2013 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, Peretz Reuven studies beams removed from the Al-Aqsa Mosque to reveal the storied history of...

The exact spot upon which Jesus stood as he was sentenced to death, may have been pinpointed by archaeologists in Jerusalem. Discovered around 15 years ago, the remains of Herod the Great’s palace have been carefully examined and a place between a gate and uneven stone pavement has been identified as fitting the description of the event in the Gospel of John. Pilgrims and tourists will be able to visit the Biblical site, because tours are being offered by the Tower of David Museum, which is located nearby.

JERUSALEM – Israel's national museum said Tuesday it will open what it calls the world's first exhibition devoted to the architectural legacy of biblical King Herod, the Jewish proxy monarch who ruled Jerusalem and the Holy Land under Roman occupation two millennia ago.

Herod was born in 73 B.C. and grew up in Judaea, a kingdom in the heart of ancient Palestine that was torn by civil war and caught between powerful enemies. The Hasmonaean monarchy that had ruled Judaea for 70 years was split by a vicious fight for the throne between two princely brothers, Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II. The kingdom was in turn caught in a larger geopolitical struggle between the Roman legions to the north and west, and the Parthians, historic enemies of Rome, to the east. Herod's father, the chief adviser to Hyrcanus and a gifted general, threw...

An astute and generous ruler, a brilliant general, and one of the most imaginative and energetic builders of the ancient world, ... Now who could the National Geographic be talking about? Why of course it is King Herod the Great! Herod guided his kingdom to new prosperity and power. He was all about hope and change. Yet today he is best known as the sly and murderous monarch of Matthew's Gospel, who slaughtered every male infant in Bethlehem in an unsuccessful attempt to kill the newborn Jesus, the prophesied King of the Jews. During the Middle Ages he became an...

THE tomb of the biblical King Herod the Great has been found, archeologists say. The final resting place of King Herod, who ruled Judea for the Roman empire from about 37BC, was found at the ruins of a magnificent palace he built near Jerusalem. King Herod was known for his role in the massacre of the innocents as described in the Gospel of Matthew, where he ordered the deaths of young males in Bethlehem to stop a new king of the Jews, whose birth had been prophesied by the three wise men. Herod was also known for expanding the second...

BEIT SAHOUR, West Bank (Reuters) – An Israeli archaeologist said on Wednesday he had unearthed what he believed were the 2,000-year-old remains of two tombs which had held a wife and daughter-in-law of the biblical King Herod. Other findings announced by Ehud Netzer of Jerusalem's Hebrew University provided new evidence of the lavish lifestyle of the Roman-era monarch also known as the "King of the Jews." Herod, a Roman-anointed king who ruled Judea from 37 BC until his death in 4 BC, has a special place in biblical history. Herod rebuilt the Jewish temple in Jerusalem, making him a focus...