A group of Turkish and Spanish scientists has revealed the results of an archaeological study in western Turkey that challenges the accepted historical dates of an aqueduct near the ancient city of Lebedos, one of the twelve Ionian cities of Anatolia. The research, recently published in the Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, used uranium-thorium (U-Th) […]
Greeks
Posted inAntiquity
The Sicilian Wars that Pitted Carthage against Magna Graecia were the Longest-Lasting Conflict in Antiquity
The rivalry between Rome and Carthage for control of the western Mediterranean culminated in the three Punic Wars, fought between the two powers from 264 B.C. to 146 B.C., ending in Roman victory. However, this wasn’t the first time the Carthaginians had resorted to arms to contest maritime dominance; they had been doing so since […]
Posted inAncient Greece, Ancient Rome
Kingdom of the Bosporus, the Longest-Lasting Greek State of Antiquity
Greeks and Romans referred to the current Kerch Strait as the Cimmerian Bosporus, the strait that connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Azov, separating the Kerch and Taman peninsulas in the vicinity of Crimea. Today, this area is a war zone between Russia and Ukraine, but in antiquity, it was a region that, […]
Posted inAntiquity
The Remains of the Battle of Himera, One of the Greatest Archaeological Discoveries in Recent Decades
Himera, currently known as Termini Imerese on the north coast of Sicily, was a Greek city founded in 648 B.C. by colonists from Zancle (Messina). Its location, the westernmost of all Greek cities on the island, made it a strategic point at the edge of the territory controlled by Carthage, which occupied the west. The […]
Posted inAncient Greece
The Expedition of the Ten Thousand, the Greeks who Ventured into the Heart of the Persian Empire One Hundred Years before Alexander
Thalassa! Thalassa!, the legendary cry of excitement uttered by Greek mercenaries when they saw the sea, which could put an end to their painful retreat by Persian land and return them safely to their homeland, is now a classic phrase that metaphorizes that Hellenic world so closely linked to the great blue and could very […]
Posted inMiddle Ages
Empire of Trebizond, the Greek State that Survived the Fall of Constantinople
When the Ottomans, led by Sultan Mehmed II, captured Constantinople on May 29, 1453, bringing an end to the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantine Empire, they virtually controlled all the territories that had once been part of it. However, a Byzantine Greek state remained independent on the northeast coast of the Anatolian Peninsula. The Sea, […]
Posted inAntiquity
Lebanon’s Amazing Site with Egyptian, Assyrian, Babylonian, Islamic and Colonial Stelae, Inscriptions and Dedications
The river Nahr al-Kalb (called Lykos in ancient times) originates near the town of Jeita and flows for only 31 kilometers before emptying into the Mediterranean about 30 kilometers north of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon. It is not a particularly long river, and in summer, it is often nearly dry. However, the valley it […]
