All  

Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ

Ancient Origins Tour IRAQ Mobile

Greeks

Cupid and Psyche (Amore e Psiche) - symbol of eternal love, by sculptor Giovanni Maria Benzoni. Source: Paolo Gallo/Adobe Stock

Love May Be Timeless, But the Way We Talk About It Isn’t

By David Albertson /The Conversation Every year as Valentine’s Day approaches, people remind themselves that not all expressions of love fit the stereotypes of modern romance. V-Day cynics might plan...
The Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan undergoing imaging to reveal the hidden text. Source: Lumiere Technology/Pascal Cotte and Salvatore Apicella

Manuscript Containing Missing Details of Ptolemy’s Meteoroscope Decrypted

A parchment, part of a larger manuscript found in the library of the Bobbio Abbey in Italy, is believed to be authored by ancient Greek mathematician, astronomer, and geographer Claudius Ptolemy. It...
Chinese woman in white makeup, illustrative of how lead white makeup was once worn.	Source: yuri2011 / Adobe Stock

The Chinese May have Been First to Use Synthetic Skin-whitening Cosmetics

A new study suggests that the Chinese may have been the first to use synthetic skin-whitening makeup and were making it before the Greeks and Romans. Bronze jars excavated from an elite tomb in...
Poseidon: The Powerful Greek Sea God Who Created the Minotaur

Poseidon: Greek God of the Sea Who Created the Minotaur

Remembered today as the God of the Sea, Poseidon is one of the most well-known Greek gods. Whilst he is immortalized in myths as a violent and hot-headed god who would brew up a raging sea, the story...
The Nymphaeum of Illyria at the ancient city of Apollonia, Albania fed by underground water sources, built in the middle of the 3rd century BC. It is the biggest and best-preserved Apollonia monument covering an area of 1,500 square meters or 16,146 square feet. Source: Carole Raddato / CC BY 2.0

Illustrious Post-Macedon Illyria and the Roman Illyrian Wars

The legendary and illustrious tribal kingdoms of Illyria were located in current-day Albania and Montenegro, just across the Adriatic from Italy. The Illyrian world was also an important strategic...
In this painting by Maarten van Heemskerck Helen, queen of the Greek city-state Sparta, is abducted by Paris, a prince of the Trojans. 		Source: Walters Art Museum / Public domain

The Friend in the Foe: Trojans in Greek Media

Trojans are typically thought of as the archrivals of the Greeks. Their abduction of the beautiful Helen launched a thousand ships on Trojan shores, igniting a war that spanned ten years...
Sarmatia bronze dolphin coins, 5th-4th century BC, from the ancient city of Olbia, which was first Greek, and then Scythian and then Roman. Source: catawiki

Olbia: Greek, Scythian, Roman Trade Center That Had Dolphin Money

Olbia (also spelled Olvia) began as an ancient Greek colony on the northern coast of the Black Sea, in the southern part of modern-day Ukraine. Olbia was famous as an emporium, and the importance of...
Helmet still in the ground at the Velia temple site.	Source: Parco Archeologico Paestum

Two Warrior Helmets Unearthed At Greek Temple In Velia, Italy

A pair of sixth-century BC warrior’s helmets have been discovered along with a ruined temple at Velia in southern Italy. It is believed that these rare artifacts are relics from the legendary Battle...
Just one of the many Zeugma mosaics found in a high-class home in Zeugma, Turkey. It was in this home, the House of Muses, that two new rock chambers were recently discovered.       Source: Bulent SARI / Adobe Stock

Rock-Cut Banquet Rooms Found At The House of Muses, Zeugma

Two rock chambers have been discovered deep beneath the House of Muses in Zeugma, Turkey. Signifying the intellectual level, wealth and power of a wealthy family, these two chambers can be seen as...
Customized Bronze Corinthian Helmet Found In Israeli Waters

Customized Bronze Corinthian Helmet Found In Israeli Waters

The Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA) recently announced they were in possession of an ancient Corinthian helmet that had been worn by a Greek warrior in either the sixth or fifth century BC...
The Spanish beachside site of El Moncayo-Torre del Descargador, where the ancient Roman villa, and Islamic tower and mosque were discovered.            Source: Universidad de Alicante

Islamic Tower Found “In” Roman Villa On A Spanish Beach

Researchers in Spain have unearthed the foundations of a rustic Roman residential seaside villa at Guardamar, like none other ever discovered. Why is it so unique? Well, this one had the later...
Trojan War scene. Achilles dragging the dead body of Hector in front of the gates of Troy

Was There Ever a Trojan War?

Was there ever a Trojan War? That is, the almost legendary battle fought between Greeks and Trojans. This question continues to go unanswered by the academic and archaeological world. If we read from...
The god Horus represented by a falcon at the Temple of Edfu. Source: Edyta / Adobe Stock

The Cult of Horus: Myths That Stretch From Egypt To Rome

Horus (also known as Heru) was one of the most important deities in the ancient Egyptian pantheon . The ancient Egyptians worshipped Horus mainly as the sky god and the god of kingship. In the cult...
Newly discovered Thracian pit sanctuary in Burgas, Bulgaria  Source: RHM Burgas

Ritual Thracian Pit Sanctuary Found in Bulgaria

A new pit sanctuary has been uncovered in Bulgaria during construction work. This site is up to 2500 years old and is thought to have been used by Thracian tribal groups, for ritual purposes. The...
Cyrus the Great. Source: armin dara / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Cyrus the Great – Conqueror or Uber Human Rights Activist?

Cyrus II of Persia (more commonly known as Cyrus the Great and called Cyrus the Elder by the ancient Greeks) was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire. Although there are various ancient sources for...
Grey wolf.   Source: Jon Anders Wiken /Adobe Stock

Lupus In Fabula: The Wolf In The Story

Lupus in fabula or perhaps more accurately in historia , given that historically the figure of the wolf is not marginal at all. The undisputed symbol of the forest, the wolf has always been strongly...
The Ionians were Greeks who revolted against the Achaemenid Empire in Asia Minor. Source: Fernando Cortés / Adobe Stock.

The Ionian Revolt - Prelude to the Graeco-Persian Wars

The Ionian Revolt was a series of revolts that broke out in Asia Minor at the beginning of the 5th century BC. At that time, the whole of Asia Minor was under the rule of the Achaemenid Empire. The...
Helen of Troy

Helen of Troy, The Beauty Who Sparked the Trojan War

In Greek mythology, Helen of Troy is known as the woman whose beauty sparked the Trojan War. But Helen’s character is more complex than it seems. When considering the many Greek and Roman myths that...
Beautiful woman with fashion make-up and hairstyle like Egyptian queen Cleopatra (EmotionPhoto / Adobe Stock)

8 Ancient Beauty Secrets We Can Still Use Today

Beautification and cosmetology have been important to humans for many thousands of years. Obsessing over our appearance is something that seems to go back to the very roots of modern human behavior,...
Kom Ombo Temple

Kom Ombo: An Egyptian Temple Dedicated to Two Rival Gods

Kom Ombo (meaning the ‘Mound of Ombo’) is an ancient Egyptian town located in what is today the Aswan Governorate of Upper Egypt, about 50 km (31 miles) to the north of Aswan. Kom Ombo is notable...
‘The Birth of the Milky Way’ (1636-1637) by Peter Paul Rubens.

Breastfeeding Beliefs: From Invincibility to Universal Creation

Breastfeeding is an infant feeding practice in which a child is fed breast milk directly from breast to mouth. Breastfeeding could be performed by the mother herself or by a wet nurse. Evidence of...
Ancient Khmer carving of childbirth.

Ancient Childbirth Beliefs and Rituals Thought to Protect Mother and Child

For much of human history, pregnancy and childbirth was an extremely dangerous period in a woman’s life. It was often believed that the expectant mother and her baby were vulnerable to malevolent...
Sculpture portraying Greek god Apollo

Tiny Black Sea Island may be Hiding Lost Temple of Apollo

A lost temple dedicated to the Greek and Roman god Apollo may be hiding in Sozopol, Bulgaria, known in ancient times as Apollonia Pontica - ‘Apollonia on the Black Sea’. Archaeologists with the...
The Mother of all Gods: The Phrygian Cybele

The Mother of all Gods: The Phrygian Cybele

A goddess of ecstatic and chthonic reproductive mysteries, Cybele was the primary mother goddess of ancient Anatolia, and Phrygia's only known goddess thus far. She was a "Mistress of Animals", "...

Pages