Free Republic

In 2018, Laura Young, the owner of vintage good shop in Austin, Texas, spotted a carved marble bust priced at $34.99 in a local Goodwill. At 52 pounds, it was heavy, and it looked old. An expert examination revealed that it was, in fact, ancient. It dated back to the 1st century CE—and had once belonged to the collection of King Ludwig I of Bavaria. Four years later, the ancient Roman bust, which may depict Roman commander Drusus Germanicus, will be returned to Germany’s Bavarian Administration of State-Owned Palaces, Gardens and Lakes. In a signal of the institution’s gratitude, it...

Were the Romans close to an Industrial Revolution? (Part 1) | February 25, 2022 | toldinstone

The Roman Gadget Archaeologists Can't Figure Out | March 29, 2022 | Sideprojects

It was a solemn day in a federal court room in Rome, when Arturo d’Ello took the stand. The former employee of the 8th largest defense contractor in the world Leonardo SpA - which is partially owned by the Italian government – began his shocking testimony with the usual swearing in on the Bible. That was the last thing that was ordinary about the day. As the crowd gasped, he outlined the scheme that proved successful in using Leonardo computer systems and military satellites located in Pescara, Italy to help Dominion steal the U.S. election for Joseph Biden. He explained...

This video explores the famous Roman roads, and investigates why - after 2,000 years of wear and tear - they seem to be in better shape than most expressways in modern America. Chapters:0:00 Introduction0:59 The Roman road network2:23 Building the roads3:25 Traffic on the roads4:48 StartMail (paid ad)5:53 Cuts, bridges, and tunnels7:58 Longevity of the roads9:16 Comparing ancient and modern roads10:39 ConclusionWere Roman Roads more Durable than Modern Highways? | February 4, 2022 | toldinstone

More prophesy being fulfilled with one world religion.

A stunning gold-wrapped jar crafted out of rock crystal has finally been uncovered in its entirety, revealing a Latin inscription that might provide new clues about its mysterious origins. Researchers at National Museums Scotland, where the Viking-Age vessel is being conserved, think the receptacle was probably used for religious purposes. And one expert believes it may have been a diplomatic gift from the Roman Empire to an Anglo-Saxon kingdom in Britain. The treasure was discovered in southwest Scotland in 2014 and is part of the Galloway Hoard....the jar's inscription states "Bishop Hygauld had me made." .....

[Catholic Caucus] Traditional Catholics Sound Alarm As Rome Suppresses Most Old Rite SacramentsThey contend the Oct. 7 pastoral instruction forbidding six of the seven sacraments celebrated according to the extraordinary form is a violation of canon law and will cause spiritual harm.ROME — Canon lawyers and experts in the traditional liturgy have warned that a pastoral instruction issued by the Diocese of Rome that bans traditional communities and priests from celebrating all the sacraments with the exception of the Eucharist according to the traditional form of the Roman Rite is unlawful and will harm souls if allowed to continue.The guidelines,...

Pope Francis could reportedly help to bring up to 50 migrants to Italy as part of his trip to Cyprus and Greece this week. Cypriot government spokesman Marios Pelekanos said that the Vatican wanted to arrange the transfer of migrants currently in Cyprus to Rome, Reuters reported on Nov. 26. “This is a tangible expression of solidarity by the head of the Roman Catholic Church to people in need, affirming that the Vatican recognizes the problem that the Republic of Cyprus faces today because of the increased migratory flows and the need for a fair distribution among EU member states,”...

The first inscription was discovered in 2003 at ancient Hegra in Hedjaz, an oasis city on the Incense Road. Today it is known as Al-Hijr (Mada'in Salih)...Hegra was the major center in the south of the Nabataean kingdom that in the 1st century CE also controlled other oasis towns, such as nearby Taima or Dumatha. The kingdom was one of Rome's client states along its eastern border. When the last Nabataean king died in 106 CE, Trajan had already prepared the orders for imperial troops in neighboring provinces to swiftly move in and occupy his territory before any resistance could...

More than 5,500 silver coins buried by a river about 1,800 years ago are now in the hands of archaeologists, following the hoard's discovery in Augsburg, Germany.At the time of the coins' burial, the Roman Empire was in full swing, with its coinage reaching all corners of its territory and beyond.These coins "are denarii, the standard silver denomination during the 1st-early 3rd century [A.D.]," Stefan Krmnicek, a professor of ancient numismatics (the study of coins) at the University of Tübingen in Germany, told Live Science in an email.Archaeologists found the hoard earlier this year in an old riverbed. But though...

For centuries, concrete was everywhere in Roman Italy: in the awesomely durable breakwaters of artificial harbors, in the soaring vaults of great baths, in the foundations of the Colosseum, and - of course - in the spectacular dome of the Pantheon. But during late antiquity, concrete all but vanished from the Mediterranean world, and would not be used widely again until the twentieth century. This video explains why.Chapters:0:00 Introduction0:39 Understanding Roman concrete1:29 Early experiments2:25 The apogee3:33 Squarespace!4:19 Geographic limits of Roman concrete5:00 The decline of concrete6:28 Final notices7:26 Not forgotten, but goneWhy was Roman Concrete Forgotten during the Middle Ages?...

Mystery still swirls around Klimt’s painting, which went missing for nearly 23 years after its theft from an Italian museum, only to turn up at the start of coronavirus pandemicMystery still swirls around Gustav Klimt’s Portrait of a Lady nearly a quarter-century after the painting was stolen from an Italian museum, only to turn up at the start of what would become the coronavirus pandemic. Who stole the 1917 artwork and how it wound up stashed inside the museum’s outer walls are still unknown. But the portrait of a young woman with a sensuous side glance will be part of...

Biden discussed meeting with other world leaders in Rome to enact climate change initiatives. After his talk, he opened the floor to questions but admitted that he was told to start with the Associated Press. "And now I’m happy to take some questions. And I’m told I should start with AP, Zeke Miller," Biden said. Biden has previously alluded to the idea that he had a list of pre-approved reporters to call on back in June following his Geneva visit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. "I’ll take your questions, and as usual, folks, they gave me a list of the...

President Biden on Friday cruised through Rome with an 85-vehicle motorcade — drawing criticism for the poor optics ahead of a global warming summit in Glasgow, Scotland, to which Biden is bringing about a dozen top US officials. “Biden arriving at the Vatican. His motorcade is lonnnnnng,” tweeted Washington Post reporter Chico Harlan, along with a video of the procession. “#Decarbonize this,” one person captioned the video. “America’s Marie Antoinette class is Washington’s elites – and that shows it,” another person responded. Biden routinely says there’s a “climate crisis” caused by fossil fuels. It’s unclear how many of the motorcade...

Audiences, 09.10.2021 This morning, the Holy Father Francis received in audience: - The Honorable Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States of America, with her husband and entourage; https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2021/10/09/211009b.html

The granddaughter of Benito Mussolini won the highest number of votes in elections for Rome’s city council as support for Brothers of Italy, the far-right party to which she belongs, edged up in northern cities held by the left. Rachele Mussolini secured more than 8,200 votes in the municipal elections on Sunday and Monday, an increase on the 657 received when she entered the council on her first mandate in 2016. She said her success in Rome is down to hard work and not her surname. “I learned to live with my surname since I was a child,” she told...

Michel Wal / Wikimedia Commons The Vindolanda tablets (also known as Vindolanda Letters) are thin pieces of wood about the size of a modern postcard, which were used as writing paper for the Roman soldiers garrisoned at the fort of Vindolanda between AD 85 and 130. Such tablets have been found at other Roman sites, including nearby Carlisle, but not in as much abundance. In Latin texts, such as those of Pliny the Elder, these kinds of tablets are referred to as leaf tablets or sectiles or laminae—Pliny used them to keep notes for his Natural History, written in...

The new barbarians desperately want the bread and circuses given to them by the Washington elite. We're in trouble if we don't check them. The founding fathers did not see themselves as constituting a new version of classical Greece. Instead, they saw themselves as biblically inspired Romans, which is to say modern Republicans. Paul Meany has written insightfully about how the founding fathers were enamored of the Roman Republic and how, in many ways, collectively and personally, they modeled themselves on the ancient Romans. SNIP The Romans had a word for their moral code. They called it "Romanitas." It was...