Ancient History News Archive October 2011

Rome means different things to different people. Some associate Rome with its ancient civilization and massive empire; to others, it's the center of the Roman Catholic Church and the vibrant capital of modern Italy. For many though, it's the "eternal city," a metropolis which exemplifies magnificence, art, and culture. Robert Hughes, the acclaimed Australian art-critic... [continue reading]

Teutoberger Wald, 9 A.D. – Strategic Implications By John M. D’Amico US Army War College, 2000 The Battle of Teutoberger Wald (9 A.D.) in which tribal Germans defeated a highly professional and disciplined Roman Army... [continue reading]

An archaeological excavation at Poggio Colla, the site of a 2,700-year-old Etruscan settlement in Italy’s Mugello Valley, has turned up a surprising and unique find: two images of a woman giving birth to a child. Researchers from the Mugello Valley Archaeological Project, which oversees the Poggio Colla excavation site some 20 miles northeast of Florence, discovered... [continue reading]

Britain’s Portable Antiquities Scheme announced this week details about two recent discoveries of Roman coin hoards. One involved the find of more than 9000 coins that was discovered in August 2009 by a novice metal detector user in the Shrewsbury... [continue reading]

Centuries before movie and television audiences thrilled to tales of werewolves, vampires and wizards and Halloween became the second biggest celebration of the year, the ancient Greeks and Romans were spinning scary stories about monsters, ghosts and the afterlife... [continue reading]

An archaeological excavation at Poggio Colla, the site of a 2,700-year-old Etruscan settlement in Italy’s Mugello Valley, has turned up a surprising and unique find: two images of a woman giving birth to a child. Researchers from... [continue reading]

For a long time I felt that the "community" part of Ancient History Encyclopedia was still in need of improvement. Yes, the content is all contributed by the community... but a community means interaction. Therefore I'm happy to announce that we now have more communication features! Whenever somebody post a comment on your content, or replies to one of your comments... [continue reading]

A reconstruction based on the skull of Norway’s best-preserved Stone Age skeleton makes it possible to study the features of a boy who lived in Scandinavia 7,500 years ago. “It is hoped that this reconstruction is a good likeness and that, if someone... [continue reading]

The anatomy of a mercenary: from Archilochoas to Alexander By Nicholas Fields PhD Dissertation, University of Newcastle, 1994 Abstract: Xenophon, who marched so many perilous Persian parasangs as a soldier-of-fortune and survived... [continue reading]

Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor: Minoans and Mycenaeans abroad By Eric H. Cline Aegaeum, Vol.12 (1995) Introduction: In 1984, exactly ten years ago, at a conference in Athens on the ‘Function of the Minoan Palaces’... [continue reading]

Classical Precariousness vs. Modern Risk: Lessons in Prudence from the Battle of Salamis By Ernest Sternberg Humanitas, Vol.18:1-2 (2005) Introduction: On September 19, 480 B.C., the ancient... [continue reading]

For those of you who are interested in the Hellenistic era or late Republican Rome, please be sure to read this National Geographic Magazine article on the infamous Queen Cleopatra VII, published in their July 2011 issue. Click here to access the article.

This week, exciting news has emerged from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu. An article in the Times of India has reported that Roman pottery remains have been discovered in the village of Naduvirapattu, located outside the city of Tambaram. In ancient times, Tamil Nadu lay at the nexus of overseas trade between East and West. Please read this article by clicking here.

If you are based in Germany or are near the vicinity of Berlin, be sure to visit a special show entitled "Pergamon: Panorama of the Ancient Metropolis," at Berlin's Pergamon Museum. The show, which opened earlier this month, includes a spectacular panoramic recreation of the city during the second century CE. Please read more about this exciting museum show... [continue reading]

For those of you interested in urban archaeology and the painstaking process of uncovering the past beneath our cities, please check out this recent article in France Today. It's a gem! Also, for those of you interested in the Romans, be aware that there is a new biography on the infamous Caligula by the Swiss historian, Alyos Winterling. Please read the review... [continue reading]

Our goal at Ancient History Encyclopedia is always to give you great content that cannot be found elsewhere on the internet, but we cannot deny that various universities and journals have already published excellent research papers (usually PDFs) that we would like to publish here on the site. Unfortunately, these papers are usually protected by copyright... [continue reading]

Dye was already being produced and used 100,000 years ago, an international team of researchers found in South Africa. They discovered two bowls containing traces of dye from sea snails in the Blombos-Cave near Cape Town. It is still unclear what the dye was used for: body paint, skin protection, or paint for art? The two bowls are now on display in the Iziko... [continue reading]

I am proud to present a massively improved timeline search and visual timeline: I have categorized every timeline entry (which took quite a while, considering we have over 1000 entries, even though I did get some help) and you can now search the timeline by category. Categories include "Philosophy & Religion", "States & Territories", "War(fare) & Battles"... [continue reading]