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The Nafah IDF base recently made headlines in an Israeli TV series on the 1973 Yom Kippur War which was bought by HBO, Valley of Tears. Now an archaeological excavation conducted on the Golan Heights reveals for the first time that the name Nafah was given to the site as early as 1700 years ago. A boundary stone inscribed in Greek was discovered during an archaeological excavation conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority ahead of the Mekorot Water Company project to install a water pipeline in Nafah. At some point, the boundary stone was re-purposed as a tombstone... According to...

They were two powerful, ancient empires separated by more than 5,000 miles of imposing mountain ranges, barren desert and exposed steppe grasslands. Yet a collection of seemingly unremarkable bones discovered in a Roman cemetery in London has provided new insights into the links between the Roman Empire and Imperial China. Analysis has revealed that two skeletons dating from between the 2nd and 4th Century AD unearthed at the site in the city's Southwark area may have been Chinese.

Pasta is Italy’s staple food, but it’s not only Italians who indulge in platefuls of the doughy concoction every day. People all over the world adore it. It comes in more than 300 shapes: long, as in spaghetti; flat, as in fettuccine; hollow (bucatini); short, as in penne; the butterfly-shaped farfalle and ear-shaped orecchiette; tubular (rigatoni); and stuffed, in varieties such as tortellini and ravioli. It can be bought dry or freshly made from egg-based dough. World Pasta Day, held each October , celebrates the universal love of this staple of the Mediterranean diet. But who invented pasta? Legend has...

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.” — President John F. Kennedy, 1962 Mark Twain reputedly quipped, “History does not repeat itself, but it rhymes.” Whoever actually said it, the rhyming of history is nowhere better illustrated that the resonance of events during the last four years in America with the events that ushered in the final descent of the old Roman Republic into tyranny. From swamp creatures to political disruptors; from endless wars to corrupt and avaricious politicians; from politicians who go to any lengths to further their wealth, expand their power and control the...

Probably a training exercise but interesting.

Oldest Roman body armour found in Germany Archaeologists have discovered the oldest and most complete Roman body armour at the site of the  Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in Kalkriese, Germany. Before this find, the earliest known examples of Roman lorica segmentata — iron plate sections tied together — were found in Corbridge, UK, and date to the 2nd century. Those were fragments. The Kalkriese armor is a complete set, and includes an extremely rare iron collar used to shackle prisoners.More than 7,000 objects have been found at the Kalkriese battlefield site, from weapons to coins to items of everyday...

Rather than dumbing down the curriculum, advisers proposed that first and second graders study ancient China and Rome and learn the names of capitals. October 22, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) -- Earlier this week, Canadian media outlets broke what we are supposed to believe is a hugely upsetting story. Curriculum advisers handpicked by Alberta’s government, they reported, had made a series of unthinkable recommendations. Professors were called upon to condemn the proposals; commentators struggled to catch a breath; the New Democrats in opposition were frankly hornswoggled. The new recommendations, it turns out, include teaching seven- and eight-year-olds about ancient Rome, ancient China,...

An actual ancient gold earring which can be seen depicted in some of the so called Fayum Mummy Portraits from Roman Egypt has been discovered in Southeast Bulgaria by archaeologists excavating the Ancient Roman colony Deultum near the town of Debelt, Burgas District, close to the Black Sea coast. Deultum was a Roman colony, which according to Roman law signified a status equal to that of the city of Rome itself. In today's Bulgaria, there are only three Roman cities which enjoyed this status - Deultum (Colonia Flavia Pacis Deultensium) near Burgas, Ratiaria (Colonia Ulpia Traiana Ratiaria) near Archar, Ulpia...

Archaeologists working in the ancient Greek city of Soli Pompeipolis in the southern Mersin province in Turkey have unveiled the memorial tomb of the Greek poet and astronomer Aratus, who was born in 315 BC. The city, located in the ancient region of Paphlagonia, was still prominent during Roman times but was only rediscovered in the 1800s with the unearthing of the ruins of Zimbilli Tepe in the Black Sea region of the country. Soli Pompeipolis, lying just across the river from Tasköprü, in the Gökirmak (Greek: Amnias) Valley, in ancient times stretched as far as the Küre and ilgaz...

Over the course of this day in 31, Lucius Aelius Seianus went from virtual master of the Roman Empire to strangulation at the order of the Senate. Known simply as Sejanus, he was of equestrian stock who rose to prefect the Praetorian Guard when Tiberius succeeded Augustus as Rome’s first citizen. It was not yet the “infamous Praetorian Guard”. Sejanus would make it so: his were the institutional aggrandizement — long outliving Sejanus — that would position the Guard to arbitrate imperial succession; his the persecutorial internal policing that made it a swords-and-sandals Gestapo.

Archaeologists have uncovered evidence of Romans transporting salt from the outskirts of Spalding... Two substantial ditches and holding tanks have been uncovered during the 16-week excavation... He said: "Nothing was expected from the site prior to evaluation. There was an aerial photograph which showed a crop mark but there was no indication of the quality of the archaeology... During the Roman period, Spalding and the surrounding area would have been creeks which would provide the ideal location for creating salt. Romans would use a hearth to evaporate tidal water intobrine to create salt. Mr McDaid said: "There are no signs...

Mazal tov to Hannah and Methuselah on their 111 miracle babies! The proud parents are date palms grown from ancient seeds uncovered in archeological excavations in Israel. These dates, recently picked at the Arava Institute at Kibbutz Ketura in southern Israel, are a type that hasn't been tasted since the times of Jesus and the Maccabees. "Dr. Elaine Solowey, our director of the Center for Sustainable Agriculture, grew our first ancient date tree, Methuselah, in 2005," explained Miriam May, CEO of Friends of the Arava Institute. "He came from a 2,000-year-old seed found in excavations at Masada; his growth was...

An Irish tourist has been accused of vandalizing Rome's Colosseum after security staff spotted him allegedly carving his initials into the ancient Italian structure. The Carabinieri police said the 32-year-old man was caught by the Colosseum's private security on Monday and immediately reported to officers. The man's two initials, about 6 centimeters (2 inches) high, were said to have been carved with a metal point on a pillar of the first floor of the 2,000-year-old monument.

How accurate are these 21st century recreations? Voshart is the first to admit this is a creative project more than a historical one. He tells Smithsonian Magazine the results are “my artistic interpretation”. On Medium he writes the images are “more art than science”. “Sculptures and busts were idealized images of the emperors” states archaeologist Jane Fejfer from the University of Copenhagen. Referring to Emperor Augustus – the first to rule the Empire from 27 BC – AD 14 – she outlines how “mass-produced models were sent out to local workshops around the kingdom, which they then carved the portraits...

The 2,000-year-old remains of a dog with its fur still intact have been found at a Roman fort. The rare find was made at Vindolanda, Hexham, near Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland, and has been sent for analysis to determine the dog's breed... Other finds included an 1,800-year-old skull of a beheaded native Briton that was stuck on a spike... The top part of the human skull also found showed evidence of numerous wounds including sword injuries... Another artefact found during this year's dig was a solid silver brooch in the shape of a duck dating back more than 1,800 years....

A 5th-century chalice covered in religious iconography has been discovered in Northumberland, to the astonishment of archaeologists, who describe it as Britain’s first known example of Christian graffiti on an object. With its complex mass of crosses and chi-rhos, angels and a priestly figure, as well as fish, a whale and ships, it is believed to be without parallel in western Europe. Made of lead and now in 14 fragments, it was unearthed at the Vindolanda Roman fort, one of Europe’s foremost archaeological sites, near Hadrian’s Wall, during an excavation that has also discovered the foundations of a significant church...

Ancient Romans and Egyptians imported monkeys from India as household pets, Polish archaeologists have discovered. By examining the skeletons of monkeys buried in the animal cemetery in the Red Sea port of Berenice researchers found that the primates were rhesus macaques endemic to India, rather than some local species. Archaeologists from the Warsaw University's Centre of Mediterranean Archaeology were in the process of excavating a vast animal cemetery when they came across the monkey skeletons. For years they assumed they belonged to guenon species, quite common in this area. It was only by using 3D scanners and comparing the bones...

The Serce Port shipwreck, on display at the Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology in southwestern Mugla province, offers a glimpse into the popular 11th-century trade route between the Middle East and Europe. Popularly called the "Glass Wreck," the exhibit hosts hundreds of items reflecting the ship's historical and archaeological importance. The ship is believed to have set sail from Lebanon's Port of Beirut... in the 11th century and sunk at a depth of 33 meters (108 feet) in Serce Port, Marmaris, in southwestern [Anatolia]... Among the artifacts exhibited along with the ship are gold Islamic and copper Byzantine coins, scales,...

New DNA analysis has found that Roman satirists may have been right when they spoke of Greeks and Syrians taking over their city. Things started to change however from 900 BCE to 200 BCE, as Rome grew in size and importance, and the diversity shot up from 27 BCE to 300 CE, when the city was the capital to an empire of 50 million to 90 million people, stretching from North Africa to Britain to the Middle East.

The sack of Rome, the Eternal City, by Alaric and his Goths occurred on this date, August 24, in anno Domini 410. This catastrophic event, caused as much by the inept diplomacy of the Romans as by the intrepidity of Alaric, was a major turning-point in history that shook the Roman Empire to its very core. Indeed, this event was such a profound shock that it inspired Augustine of Hippo to write his greatest and most influential work, The City of God, as a response. Writing later in a work called Retractiones, Augustine records the event and the immediate reaction...