Free Republic

This video explores why the Romans invented astrology, and how they give it the basic form it still has today.Did the Romans think that the Planets were Gods?toldinstone | 333K subscribers | 27K views | 2 weeks ago

...a number of residential buildings, along with workshops and pigeon towers..., according to a ministry statement, which noted that this is the "first complete residential city" from the Roman Empire era found in east Luxor. A variety of artifacts were also uncovered, including pottery, bells, grinding tools (often used for food preparation), and Roman coins made of copper and bronze...Susanna McFadden, a professor of art history at the University of Hong Kong who specializes in Greco-Roman art, called the finds "exciting news." She is curious to learn how the team determined that the remains dated to the second and third...

A number of decapitated skeletons have been uncovered by archaeologists at a Roman burial site.The discovery, which included evidence of Roman and Iron Age settlements, was made at Wintringham near St Neots, Cambridgeshire.Dating from 2,500 years ago, the site will feature in the latest series of BBC Two's Digging for Britain...The work comes ahead of a development of about 2,800 homes in the village.Archaeologists uncovered an Iron Age settlement composed of 40 roundhouses and a network of trackways and enclosures related to farming activities.The Oxford Archaeology team also discovered Roman coins, brooches, a large lead lid or platter, and numerous...

...a team of researchers, led by Dr. Allison Emmerson of Tulane University, is exploring Insula 14, a block in the southeastern part of the city that could reveal new information about Pompeii's early existence, how the city developed over time, its economy and infrastructure, and the lives of residents who lived on the margins. The project, called Pompeii I.14, includes a digital data initiatives team that is employing geospatial technology to more efficiently and accurately collect, organize, analyze, visualize, and share the data that's being unearthed at the site. ArcGIS Survey123, ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS Dashboards, and web scenes in ArcGIS...

CNA Newsroom, Jan 7, 2023 / 09:00 am The excavation site of the Pool of Siloam in Jerusalem, the place where Jesus restored sight to a blind man, will be open to the public for the first time. The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), the Israel National Parks Authority, and the City of David Foundation announced the start of excavations that will allow the complete exposure of the Pool of Siloam. Visitors will be able to see the stage of the excavation of the pool that in the coming months will form part of the tourist route from the City of...

Visiting the Pantheon, one of Rome’s premier tourist sites, it’s hard not be humbled by the knowledge that this building has lasted 1900 years and still stands as the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome, while modern concrete structures deteriorate. Take a look at the magnificence of the Pantheon.Photo credit: CC BY-SA 4.0 licensePhoto credit: Macrons CC BY-SA 4.0 licensePhoto credit: Anthony Majanlahti CC BY 2.0 licenseThe Romans’ concrete technology was lost for almost a millennium as the Dark Ages unfolded, and Europe regressed technologically and economically. The discovery of Roman manuscripts on making concrete in 1414 sparked gradual reintroduction of...

By the first century BCE, Rome had gained control of the entire Mediterranean, but those conquests had been accompanied by a century of civil war that witnessed the assassination of politicians on all sides of the political spectrum. At one point, the adherents of one populist politician marched on Rome's temple of Castor and Pollux, which was closely associated with the Senate, and tore up the temple steps. This period of nearly continuous warfare would not end until 31 BCE, when Julius Caesar’s nephew Octavian vanquished the combined forces of Mark Antony and the Egyptian queen Cleopatra at the battle...

About 1,500 years ago, in the previously Roman city of Antiochia Hippos, a magnificent cathedral arose. It was decked out in the finest stone available, say the archaeologists who have now completed an excavation there that began seven decades ago. And what they found in its ruins may shed light on early Christian power politics in Byzantine Palestine.Now theoretically reconstructed (on paper) for the first time, its size and pomp suggest that this basilica and its presiding bishop commanded a monopoly over baptism of catechumens in much of what is today the southern Golan Heights and eastern side of the...

It's a riddle that has left engineers scratching their heads for a very long time.How is it that Rome's famed Pantheon has stayed intact for almost 2,000 years while many modern concrete structures crumble after just a few decades?Now, researchers may have finally discovered the secret behind ancient construction methods – and it's all to do with tiny pieces of lime that come with 'self-healing' capabilities.Close analysis of Roman concrete has revealed tiny, bright white mineral chunks called 'lime clasts'...And they discovered the lime may actually help the concrete 'heal' itself when it cracks or breaks.During the hot mixing process...

The imposing temple in Rome, completed in AD 128, is one of the most impressive buildings that survives from antiquity. It consists of a cylindrical chamber topped by a domed roof with an oculus in the top which lets through a dramatic shaft of sunlight. It boasts a colonnaded courtyard at the front. When Robert Hannah of the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, visited the Pantheon in 2005, researching for a book... he realised that the Pantheon may have been more than just a temple. During the six months of winter, the light of the noon sun traces...

[snip] Vespasian, one of the Roman Empire's finest emperors remains largely unknown, yet his reign in 1st century AD transitioned a weakening Empire into a period of stability and growth that was the legacy of the other great emperors Trajan, Hadrian, Marcus Aurelius and Septimius Severus. Vespasian ultimately saved Rome from disaster and made possible the Golden Age of the 2nd century AD. [/snip]The Untold Story Of Emperor VespasianOdyssey - Ancient History Documentaries1:16:04 | 493K subscribers | 2,791,055 views | June 1, 2021Vespasian [YouTube search]

The 19th Legion was founded by Augustus in 41 or 40 BC, first operating in Sicily against a revolt led by Sextus Pompey, the son of Pompey the Great.Active throughout the Germanic campaigns of Drusus (13–9 BC) and Tiberius (8–5 BC), the 19th legion would eventually be destroyed at the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest in AD 9, resulting in the legion’s eagle being captured and the 19th name stricken from the Roman army listings...The team analysed the composition of chemical trace elements in Roman artefacts found at modern-day Kalkriese (site of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest), which are...

How did the Romans Prove Their Identity? | toldinstone | 330K subscribers | 169,854 views | November 25, 2022

Witches have had a long and elaborate history, even back to ancient Greece. Thanks to Homer and his epic adventure tale the Odyssey, we met Circe, who has often been identified as the first witch in Greek mythology. Circe was one of the most dangerous women a man could come across. She was known for seducing men, luring them to her island, and never letting them go. When men, driven mad by their desire to touch her, visited the island, she caught them off guard and used a spell to transform them into pigs, trapping them forever in their ignominious...

The ancient city of Aizanoi was founded as a Phrygian city on the western end of the Phrygia kingdom, in the present-day Çavdarhisar district of the western Anatolian province of Kütahya in Turkey. Aizanoi was home to the Aizanitisians, Phrygians, Greeks, Romans and Byzantines and the site was rediscovered by European travelers in 1824. The German Archaeological Institute began excavating in 1926 and works resumed in 1970, with them having accelerated significantly over the last two years. At this site, that’s listed on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List , over the years archaeologists have unearthed ancient stone heads and...

Were it not for its proximity to Christmas, Hanukkah would be unknown to most non-Jews and it would not be celebrated by most non-religious Jews. The proof is that the other post-Hebrew Bible holiday, Purim, while very popular in Israel, where it is sort of a Jewish Mardi Gras, is essentially unknown to non-Jews and largely ignored by most American Jews. Too bad. Hanukkah is actually of seminal importance both to Judaism and to the world. SNIP To understand why Judaism so bothered Antiochus, one needs to understand that no pagan religion completely rejected Hellenism. Judaism did. If Antiochus wanted...

Historical Bangor - Episode Three:The Roman World Map of Marcus AgrippaDr Raoul McLaughlin | 9.56K subscribers | 875 views | Premiered Jun 9, 2022

The Pewsey Hoard is a group of Late Roman copper-alloy vessels found by metal detectorists in 2014 in a field in the Vale of Pewsey, Wiltshire (UK). Excavated by the finders themselves, it consists of a large iron-rimmed copper-alloy cauldron (Fig. 1a,b) holding two bowls (Vessels A and C) and another vessel (Vessel B) containing four scale pans carefully packed with plants (Fig. 1c). Subsequent excavation of the area surrounding the findspot by Historic England concluded that the hoard was deposited in a pit, dug in an actively used landscape with no structures or ditches in its immediate vicinity...The adoption...

"This is the third coin of this type found in excavations in Jerusalem, and one of the few ever found in archeological excavations," said the researchers.During the Great Revolt against Rome, the Jews in Jerusalem minted bronze and silver coins. Most of the silver coins featured a goblet on one side, with ancient Hebrew script above it noting the year of the Revolt. Depending on its denomination, the coins also included an inscription around the border noting either, "Israel Shekel," "Half-Shekel," or "Quarter-Shekel." The other side of these coins showcased a branch with three pomegranates, surrounded by an inscription in...

JERUSALEM – Israel displayed for the first time Wednesday a collection of rare coins charred and burned from the Roman destruction of the Jewish Temple nearly 2,000 years ago. About 70 coins were found in an excavation at the foot of a key Jerusalem holy site. They give a rare glimpse into the period of the Jewish revolt that eventually led to the destruction of the Second Jewish Temple in A.D. 70, said Hava Katz, curator of the exhibition. The Jews rebelled against the Roman Empire and took over Jerusalem in A.D. 66. After laying siege to Jerusalem, the Romans...