I have spent an awful lot of time in Roman sewers – enough to earn me the nickname Queen of Latrines from my friends. The Etruscans laid the first underground sewers in the city of Rome around 500 BC...
Byzantine Emperor Justinian wanted to ensure the domination of the new religion of Christianity so much that he shipped disassembled marble church parts around the empire to have them built in...
The Latin statement Ego sum Attila flagellum Dei , which means I am Attila, the scourge of God , is said to have been first expressed in 1387, and is obviously making a reference to Attila the Hun...
The Lupercal Cave is a cave mentioned in the story of Romulus and Remus, the legendary founders of the city of Rome. Like many other legendary forefathers of ancient cities and societies, Romulus and...
The word forum is a Latin term denoting a ‘public open space’. In ancient Rome, forums would normally be found in the center of cities, and were often surrounded by a number of other buildings, such...
The war has so disrupted parts of the Near East that scholars have just a few Roman Empire sites to study in what was the Roman province of Syria. But archaeologists are able to work a few sites,...
One of the most well-known forms of punishment today is imprisonment. One could argue that for any society to function properly, public order has to be maintained. This is an important function of...
The Plague is far older than previously known and later changed to become much more virulent—so virulent that it may have contributed to the decline of Classical Greece and the Roman and Byzantine...
The word vandal today may be defined as a person who deliberately destroys or damages property. Historically speaking, a Vandal was “a member of a Germanic people who lived in the area south of the...
The local and provincial administration of Cosenza in Italy has launched a plan to systematically search for the treasure hoard of Alaric, King of the Visigoths, who looted the riches during his sack...
Archaeologists have unearthed an extremely rare 4 th century BC tomb of a woman dating to before the Roman presence in Pompeii , when the Samnites occupied the area. Evidence suggests the Romans knew...
A house discovered in ancient Rome’s central district may prove that the city was considerably larger than previously believed. The rectangular residence, which is still largely intact, has been...
The Mamertine Prison (a.k.a Carcere Mamertino in Italian) is an ancient prison located in Rome at the foot of Capitoline Hill overlooking the ruins of the Roman forum. When it was built, this was...
Archaeologists have excavated an ancient Roman villa in Arles, France, with fresco murals depicting a musician playing a harp, Dionysus and the entourage of Bacchus. Researchers say it is rare to...
The ancient Romans have passed many traditions on to modern day society, but they certainly had a different perspective on urine. It was seen as much more useful than today. They used it as a...
Rome had its hands full in Palestine in the 1 st and 2 nd centuries AD with two Jewish uprisings against Roman rule. The establishment of a Roman Legion outpost in the Galilee may have prevented the...
Archaeologists excavating an ancient Roman fortified hill town in Israel have made a remarkable find there: hobnailed-boot prints typical of a Roman soldier. The Romans had “boots on the ground,” as...
Now learn, my dears, the art of beautifying your faces; learn by what means you can retain your charms. This line, taken from Publius Ovidius Naso's (Ovid's) Medicamina Faciei Femineae , or The Art...
A team of researchers using the latest technologies have come to startling new conclusions about the discovery of 450 dead babies and 150 dogs in an ancient Greek well. The discovery of the baby’s...
The Great Pyramid of Giza is undoubtedly one of the most well-known icons of ancient Egypt. Nevertheless, similar pyramids are found scattered all throughout Egypt and beyond. Egyptian-style pyramids...
A person with a metal detector uncovered some beautiful items of a Roman period burial from around 200 AD in a field in England north of London. An archaeologist says the items were likely owned by a...
A vow of silence has protected the mystery behind an ingenious invention for nearly 500 years. The secrets behind Guglielmo de Lorena’s amazing diving bell, a technical marvel, would have remained an...
Just a stone’s throw away from the bustling Termini station in the heart of Rome stands a section of an ancient wall. This wall is known as the Servian Wall, as it is believed to have been built...
In the heart of Rome stands a 38m tall column built in the 2 nd century AD. Carved in low relief spiralling around the monument are over 2600 figures, representing the combatants of wars fought in a...
