• Saturnalia (day 2) – major, popular festival in honour of Saturn with banquets, the wearing of soft caps (pilei), and general good cheer. Shops and schools were closed, gambling was legally permitted, gifts were exchanged and masters might even wait on their servants. Obviously this festival is often seen as a precursor to our modern-day Christmas celebrations …
• 69 A.D. — emperor-for-a-little-while Vitellius abdicates, but changes his mind later
• 1809 – Death of Alexander Adam, an eminent Classicist

===========================================================
LEGENDA
===========================================================
Pompeii victims were wearing woolen cloaks in August when they died — but experts are split on what that means | Live Science
https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/romans/pompeii-victims-were-wearing-woolen-cloaks-in-august-when-they-died-but-experts-are-split-on-what-that-means

Pompeii’s Graffiti Captures Every Joke, Boast and Argument of an Ancient Roman City Frozen in Time
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/pompeiis-graffiti-captures-every-joke-boast-and-argument-of-an-ancient-roman-city-frozen-in-time-180987831/

Roman-era Beachy Head Woman originated from southern UK – University of Reading
https://www.reading.ac.uk/news/2025/Research-News/Roman-era-Beachy-Head-Woman-originated-from-southern-UK

Stolen Hercules Fresco Found to Belong to Ancient Pompeii Villa
https://news.artnet.com/art-world/pompeii-hercules-fresco-location-2730508

Ancient CT Scan Reveals the Last Meal That Got This Egyptian Crocodile Killed
https://www.zmescience.com/science/archaeology/ancient-ct-scan-reveals-the-last-meal-that-got-this-egyptian-crocodile-killed/

Rome opens long-awaited Colosseum subway station, with displays of unearthed artifacts – ABC News
https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/rome-opens-long-awaited-colosseum-subway-station-displays-128453767

Ancient Egyptian valley temple excavated — and it’s connected to a massive upper temple dedicated to the sun god, Ra | Live Science
https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/ancient-egyptians/ancient-egyptian-valley-temple-excavated-and-its-connected-to-a-massive-upper-temple-dedicated-to-the-sun-god-ra

What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us? Made Us Sicker, Apparently
https://www.zmescience.com/science/archaeology/roman-rule-health-decline/

Did the Romans celebrate Saturnalia in Britain? | Great British Life
https://www.greatbritishlife.co.uk/magazines/cotswold/25703893.romans-celebrate-saturnalia-britain/

Greek Goddess Hestia Statue Head Unearthed at Ancient City in Turkey – GreekReporter.com
https://greekreporter.com/2025/12/17/greek-goddess-hestia-statue-head-ancient-city-turkey/

Spencer Alley: Renderings of Antiquities
https://spenceralley.blogspot.com/2025/12/renderings-of-antiquities.html

Ancient Greek History Gift Guide (Part 5): A Brief History of Ancient Greece
https://www.karwansaraypublishers.com/en-ca/blogs/ancient-history-blog/ancient-greek-history-gift-guide-part-5-a-brief-history-of-ancient-greece

A visit to the Grand Egyptian Museum | Blog post | Mary Beard

A visit to the Grand Egyptian Museum

Aristotle’s Politics has wisdoms and warnings for our age of tech utopias and inequality
https://theconversation.com/aristotles-politics-has-wisdoms-and-warnings-for-our-age-of-tech-utopias-and-inequality-270154

Archaeology-washing apartheid: Why you should boycott the American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR) – Everyday Orientalism

Archaeology-washing apartheid: Why you should boycott the American Society of Overseas Research (ASOR)

Writing Wednesday: Contextualizing Lamps from Polis | Archaeology of the Mediterranean World

Writing Wednesday: Contextualizing Lamps from Polis

Vragen rond de jaarwisseling 2025 – Mainzer Beobachter

Vragen rond de jaarwisseling 2025

PaleoJudaica.com: A Persepolis conservation project
https://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2025/12/a-persepolis-conservation-project.html

PaleoJudaica.com: Ross on “Reevaluating Parataxis in the Septuagint”
https://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2025/12/ross-on-reevaluating-parataxis-in.html

PaleoJudaica.com: State Department grant for Albright Institute and Huqoq Excavation Project
https://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2025/12/state-department-grant-for-albright.html

PaleoJudaica.com: Who will play Metatron in Dogma 2?
https://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2025/12/who-will-play-metatron-in-dogma-2.html

PaleoJudaica.com: The Cyrus Cylinder
https://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2025/12/the-cyrus-cylinder.html

AWOL – The Ancient World Online: Luwic Dialects and Anatolian: Inheritance and Diffusion
http://ancientworldonline.blogspot.com/2025/12/luwic-dialects-and-anatolian.html

AWOL – The Ancient World Online: El Próximo Oriente antiguo y el Egipto faraónico en España y Portugal. Viajeros, pioneros, coleccionistas, instituciones y recepción
http://ancientworldonline.blogspot.com/2025/12/el-proximo-oriente-antiguo-y-el-egipto.html

“There and back again” – The wreck of Portiţei A. An imperial-era empty cargo transporter in the Black Sea | Spartokos read

“There and back again” – The wreck of Portiţei A. An imperial-era empty cargo transporter in the Black Sea

August Boeckh: Encyclopädie der Philologie – Bryn Mawr Classical Review
https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2025/2025.12.22/

Hellenistic monarchies in the Mediterranean world: building a new world order? – Bryn Mawr Classical Review
https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2025/2025.12.24/

Xenophon’s anabasis: a Socratic history – Bryn Mawr Classical Review
https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2025/2025.12.23/

The Sanctuary of Hermes and Aphrodite at Syme Viannou VII: The Greek and Roman Pottery, Volume 1 By Antonis Kotsonas (Library of the Archaeological Society at Athens 348). Athens and New York: Archaeological Society of Athens and Institute for the Study of the Ancient World 2024. Pp. 651. ISBN 9781479830046 (hardcover) $85. | American Journal of Archaeology: Vol 130, No 1
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/739302?utm_source=Archaeological+Institute+of+America&utm_campaign=6f703e1d97-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_12_16_11_36_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-894de77e7c-215971384&mc_cid=6f703e1d97&mc_eid=693126d49d

Lycian Families in the Hellenistic and Roman Periods: A Regional Study of Inscriptions, Towards a Social and Legal Framework By Selen Kılıç Aslan (Brill Studies in Greek and Roman Epigraphy 19). Leiden: Brill 2023. Pp. 416. ISBN 978-90-04-54841-1 (hardcover) €147.40. | American Journal of Archaeology: Vol 130, No 1
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/738864?utm_source=Archaeological+Institute+of+America&utm_campaign=6f703e1d97-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_12_16_11_36_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-894de77e7c-215971384&mc_cid=6f703e1d97&mc_eid=693126d49d

Sacred Landscapes, Connecting Routes: Religious Topographies in the Graeco-Roman World Edited by Christina G. Williamson (Caeculus: Papers on Mediterranean Archaeology and Greek and Roman Studies 10). Leuven: Peeters 2024. Pp. 291. ISBN 9789042949782 (paperback) €69; ISBN 9789042949799 (ebook) €69. | American Journal of Archaeology: Vol 130, No 1
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/739301?utm_source=Archaeological+Institute+of+America&utm_campaign=6f703e1d97-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_12_16_11_36_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-894de77e7c-215971384&mc_cid=6f703e1d97&mc_eid=693126d49d

Sculture del Museo Archeologico al Teatro Romano di Verona Edited by Luigi Sperti and Margherita Bolla (Collezioni e Musei Archeologici del Veneto 49). Rome: Giorgio Bretschneider 2024. Pp. 333. ISBN 9788876893476 (hardcover) €170. | American Journal of Archaeology: Vol 130, No 1
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/738866?utm_source=Archaeological+Institute+of+America&utm_campaign=6f703e1d97-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2024_12_16_11_36_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-894de77e7c-215971384&mc_cid=6f703e1d97&mc_eid=693126d49d

===========================================================
AUDIENDA
===========================================================
TCP Talking Disability: Neurod…–The Classics Podcast – Apple Podcasts

H.I. Marrou’s A History of Education in Antiquity, Part XVIII (Ad Navseam, Episode 204) | Ad Navseam
https://adnavseam.podbean.com/e/hi-marrou-s-a-history-of-education-in-antiquity-part-xviii-ad-navseam-episode-204/
===========================================================
VIDENDA
===========================================================
(27) EES Oxyrhynchus Papyri collection – YouTube

(27) Does the REAL Odyssey Survive From the Ancient World? – YouTube

(27) Metro C Colosseo – Fori Imperiali opens! – YouTube

(29) Archaeological Find Near Temple Mount Rewrites Jewish History – YouTube

===========================================================
NOTANDA
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Wiencke Postdoctoral Fellowship in Classics | Society for Classical Studies
https://www.classicalstudies.org/placement-service/2025-2026/39219/wiencke-postdoctoral-fellowship-classics

Call for Papers — Land and Power in the Later Roman World – Land and loyalty

Call for Papers — Land and Power in the Later Roman World

The Archaeology of Olive Oil Production in Roman and Pre-Roman Italy | January 2026 (130.1) | American Journal of Archaeology

The Archaeology of Olive Oil Production in Roman and Pre-Roman Italy

• Saturnalia (day 1) — major, popular festival in honour of Saturn with banquets, the wearing of soft caps (pilei), and general good cheer. Shops and schools were closed, gambling was legally permitted, gifts were exchanged and masters might even wait on their servants. Obviously this festival is often seen as a precursor to our modern-day Christmas celebrations …
• 246 B.C.E. — the Torah is translated into Greek (obviously not in one day)

===========================================================
LEGENDA
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A simple turn reveals a 1,500-year-old secret on Roman glass | ScienceDaily
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/12/251216081947.htm

Damascus Jewish antiques dealer arrested for trafficking | The Jerusalem Post
https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-880425

Rome’s new Colosseum station reveals ancient treasures
https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20251216-rome-s-new-colosseum-station-reveals-ancient-treasures

Magdala stone: 2,000-year-old carving from Jerusalem is world’s oldest known depiction of a menorah | Live Science
https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/magdala-stone-2-000-year-old-carving-from-jerusalem-is-worlds-oldest-known-depiction-of-a-menorah

Mendoni: Greece is getting the National Archaeological Museum it deserves – ProtoThema English

Mendoni: Greece is getting the National Archaeological Museum it deserves

A settlement built by the Legio XI Claudia Pia Fidelis and an amphora filled with “garum” from Hispania unearthed in Switzerland

A settlement built by the Legio XI Claudia Pia Fidelis and an amphora filled with “garum” from Hispania unearthed in Switzerland

Monumental Hellenistic Goddess Head Unearthed at Metropolis May Depict Hestia, Guardian of the Hearth – Arkeonews
https://arkeonews.net/monumental-hellenistic-goddess-head-unearthed-at-metropolis-may-depict-hestia-guardian-of-the-hearth/

Submerged structural remains discovered off Crimean coastline
https://www.heritagedaily.com/2025/12/submerged-structural-remains-discovered-off-crimean-coastline/156608

[paywalled] ‘Skull’ oligarch accused of hoarding treasures looted from Italy
https://www.thetimes.com/world/europe/article/skull-oligarch-accused-of-hoarding-treasures-looted-from-italy-d63j78vj6

The Politics of Breasts in Ancient Greece and Rome – Archaeology
https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/2025-12-10/ty-article/the-politics-of-breasts-in-ancient-greece-and-rome/0000019a-fd4c-de90-adfa-ff5c36a00000

1,300-year-old menorah pendant suggests Rome couldn’t keep all Jews out of Jerusalem | The Times of Israel
https://www.timesofisrael.com/1300-year-old-menorah-pendant-suggests-romes-ban-on-jews-from-jerusalem-was-a-failure/

Pompei, ritrovato l’affresco di Ercole bambino: il reperto rubato torna al Parco Archeologico
https://www.ilmessaggero.it/italia/pompei_ritrovato_affresco_di_ercole_bambino_reperto_rubato_torna_al_parco_archeologico-9248957.html

Pompeii recovers a valuable fresco that was in the U.S. in a private collection
https://www.finestresullarte.info/en/ancient-art/pompeii-recovers-a-valuable-fresco-that-was-in-the-u-s-in-a-private-collection

AI-generated reconstructions of ancient Rome turn out to be full of errors – France 24
https://www.france24.com/en/technology/20251216-ai-generated-reconstructions-ancient-rome-errors

Ancient CT Scan Reveals the Last Meal That Got This Egyptian Crocodile Killed
https://www.zmescience.com/science/archaeology/ancient-ct-scan-reveals-the-last-meal-that-got-this-egyptian-crocodile-killed/

New ‘The Odyssey’ images show Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Tom Holland as family divided (exclusive)
https://ew.com/the-odyssey-exclusive-images-matt-damon-anne-hathaway-tom-holland-11857321

Has culture become obsolete as an archaeological concept?
https://idw-online.de/en/news863556

In Memoriam: Emeritus Professor Apostolos Athanassakis | Division of Humanities and Fine Arts
https://www.hfa.ucsb.edu/news/memoriam-emeritus-professor-apostolos-athanassakis

Obituary information for William McCulloh
https://www.snyderfuneralhomes.com/obituaries/William-Mcculloh?obId=46706521

Israel wants to steal the archaeological site of Sebastia: Here’s what you can do about it – Everyday Orientalism

Israel wants to steal the archaeological site of Sebastia: Here’s what you can do about it

Pseudo-Epiphanius, “Or. de Laud. Deip.” – Roger Pearse

Pseudo-Epiphanius, “Or. de Laud. Deip.”

Early Medieval and Roman Remains Discovered in York – Medievalists.net

Early Medieval and Roman Remains Discovered in York

Ancient History Roundup – by Owen Rees – Our Ancient World
https://owenrees.substack.com/p/ancient-history-roundup-1da?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=2470207&post_id=181662643&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=q7tlq&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

Laudator Temporis Acti: Two Different Things
https://laudatortemporisacti.blogspot.com/2025/12/two-different-things.html

Ashamed and Afraid: The Rhetoric of Kleos in Iliad 7 – SENTENTIAE ANTIQUAE

Ashamed and Afraid: The Rhetoric of Kleos in Iliad 7

PaleoJudaica.com: Hasmonean artifacts recovered in West Bank village
https://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2025/12/hasmonean-artifacts-recovered-in-west.html

PaleoJudaica.com: Apamea and Hanukkah?
https://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2025/12/apamea-and-hanukkah.html

PaleoJudaica.com: A 19th-century “storm in an oil jug” over the Hanukkah miracle
https://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2025/12/a-19th-century-storm-in-oil-jug-over.html

PaleoJudaica.com: Hanukkah history in Jerusalem
https://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2025/12/hanukkah-history-in-jerusalem.html

PaleoJudaica.com: “Hasmonean Palaces” to open to public during Hanukkah
https://paleojudaica.blogspot.com/2025/12/hasmonean-palaces-to-open-to-public.html

AWOL – The Ancient World Online: Rape Culture and the Bible: Scholars Reflect
http://ancientworldonline.blogspot.com/2025/12/rape-culture-and-bible-scholars-reflect.html

AWOL – The Ancient World Online: Ergebnisse zur archäologischen Abbruchbegleitung der ehemaligen Eternitfabrik im Bereich des augusteisch-tiberischen Truppenplatzes NOVAESIUM im Neusser Augustinusviertel
http://ancientworldonline.blogspot.com/2025/12/ergebnisse-zur-archaologischen.html

AWOL – The Ancient World Online: Time and Tradition:Temporal Thinking in Ecclesiastes in the Context of Emerging Apocalypticism and the History of Ideas in the Hellenistic Period
http://ancientworldonline.blogspot.com/2025/12/time-and-traditiontemporal-thinking-in.html

AWOL – The Ancient World Online: Hunting and Extinctions in Southwest Asia and North America: The Silent Testimony of Communal Game Traps
http://ancientworldonline.blogspot.com/2025/12/hunting-and-extinctions-in-southwest.html

The fortified site of Artezian in the Kingdom of the Bosphorus | Spartokos read

Le site fortifié d’Artezian dans le Royaume du Bosphore

The Julio-Claudian principate: tradition and transition – Bryn Mawr Classical Review
https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2025/2025.12.21/

Greek culture in Hellenistic Egypt: persistence and evolutions – Bryn Mawr Classical Review
https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2025/2025.12.20/

Identity, power and group formation in archaic Macedonia (600-400 BC) – Bryn Mawr Classical Review
https://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2025/2025.12.19/

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VIDENDA
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(314) Verona’s ancient Roman arena to improve disabled accessibility for 2026 Games – AP Explains – YouTube

(315) Deciphering Secrets of Ancient Civilizations, Noah’s Ark, and Flood Myths | Lex Fridman Podcast #487 – YouTube

(315) Rome opens two new Metro C stations, showcasing ancient ruins near Colosseum – YouTube

(315) The Pantheon Inside and Out: Hidden Rooms Now Open – YouTube

(315) L’Ercole ritrovato della Villa di Civita Giuliana – La Storia che si ricompone – YouTube

(315) Illicit Trafficking of Syrian Cultural Properties: Trading Methods and Challenges of Restitution – YouTube

(315) Archeologists Uncover New Evidence Of Pompeii’s Last Hours – YouTube

(315) Walk a newly opened road in the Roman Forum plus an underground site! – YouTube

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NOTANDA
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Assistant Professorships in Classics (Greek literature) | University of Cambridge
https://www.cam.ac.uk/jobs/assistant-professorships-in-classics-greek-literature-ge48097

• ca. 250 A.D. — martyrdom of Albina at Formiae