Jericho Cave/Quarry
Despite the piles of news coverage of this one, it probably needs to be pointed out that we’re still in the early days of research. A vary large underground man-made cave — originally a quarry, apparently — has been found near Jericho. Coverage from PhysOrg seems to be the best on this one, inter alia: [...]
Lod Mosaic Re-exposed
Much excitement over the past few days over the ‘re-exposure’ of the very nice 4th century Roman mosaic from Lod. It was originally discovered back in 1996, then recovered because funds weren’t available at the time for its preservation. Now, however, the Leon Levy Foundation and the Jerome Levy Foundation are partnering up with the [...]
Parthenon Colours
This is interesting … we have reported in the past of various studies etc. which have demonstrated/recreated the colours which originally adorned ancient statuary and temples, but apparently no trace of paint has ever been found on the Parthenon before. Recently, however, a researcher at the British Museum — Giovanni Verri — has developed a [...]
CFP: ‘Mediterranean Identities: Formation and Transformation’, final CFP
seen on the Classicists list … Final Call for Papers: deadline 30th July 2009 International Conference Mediterranean Identities: Formation and Transformation University of Leicester, Friday 26 – Sunday 28th March 2010 Recent studies of the Mediterranean have been dominated by the construction, reinforcement, representation and renegotiation of identities. As a departure point, this conference will [...]
Mithras in the News
A couple of items of interest relating to the worship of Mithras. First, remains of a Mithraeum have been found in Iraq’s Duhok province. Here’s the incipit of a piece (ultimately from Bloomberg, it turns out) in St. Louis Today: A temple built by followers of Mithraism, a mystery cult that flourished throughout the Roman [...]
Semper Aliquid Novi ex … Bulgaria
Still in catchup mode, over the past few weeks there have been several items reported in the Bulgarian Press varying amount of detail/clarity. We’ll begin, though, with one that just popped into my mailbox last night — the discovery of a second Peperikon-like sanctuary (hmmmm). Here’s the coverage from Standart: Bulgarian speleologists have discovered a [...]
Greek Street
Came across this while waiting for my Sirena to heat up for espresso … Greek Street is a very interesting looking comic which, to judge by descriptions all over the internet, reimagines Greek myths/tragedies as modern ‘street stories’. Newsarama has an interview with its creator — Peter Milligan (the guy who brought us John Constantine) [...]
This Day in Ancient History
kalendae quintilis rites in honour of Juno rites in honour of Felicitas 69 A.D. — Vespasian hailed as emperor in Alexandria 70 A.D. — Titus attacks the walls of Jerusalem 1614 — death of Isaac Casaubon
