A remarkable archaeological discovery has been made at Taposiris Magna, a historic site located 45 kilometers west of Alexandria, Egypt. A French archaeological mission led by Dr. Joachim Le Bomin, in collaboration with the University of Lyon and the French Institute of Oriental Archaeology (IFAO), uncovered a massive marble head belonging to a monumental statue […]
Hellenism
Posted inClassical Archaeology
A Mysterious Mask Embedded in the Walls of a Cistern Found in the Ancient Egyptian City of Ptolemais in Libya
On the coast of the Cyrenaica region in present-day Libya lies the ancient city of Ptolemais, founded by the Egyptian pharaohs of the Ptolemaic dynasty in the 4th or 3rd century BCE. This city thrived as a prosperous urban center until the Arab conquest in the 7th century CE. Today, thanks to the efforts of […]
Posted inClassical Archaeology
The remains found in the Octagon Tomb of Ephesus are revealed not to be Cleopatra’s sister but a 14-year-old boy
An interdisciplinary team led by anthropologist Gerhard Weber from the University of Vienna, together with experts from the Austrian Academy of Sciences, has concluded, after analyzing a skull discovered in 1929 in the ruins of the Octagon Tomb of Ephesus in Turkey, that the remains belong to a boy aged between 11 and 14 with […]
Posted inAncient Greece
Agathocleia, the Greek Queen Who Ruled Northern India
Women were relegated to secondary roles in Ancient Greece, which is why most queenly names belong to mythology: Jocasta, Leda, Pelops, Gorgophone, Aglaea… A few historical ones could be added, but they ruled only as consorts, such as Stratonice of Cappadocia, Philistis, Nereis of Epirus, or Stratonice of Pergamum. However, during the Hellenistic Period, things […]
Posted inClassical Archaeology
The Mystery of the Origin of Cinnabar in Ancient Ephesus: Analyses Reveal It Came from the Almadén Mines in Hispania and the Balkans
Ephesus, one of the most iconic cities of antiquity, renowned for its rich commercial and cultural history, has unveiled new secrets thanks to a study that connects Roman mural art with trade routes and pigment production techniques of the era. International researchers have analyzed samples of cinnabar (a bright red mineral used as a pigment) […]
Posted inAncient Greece
The Revolution of Time in the Hellenistic World: How Clock Time Spread in the 3rd Century BCE
At a time when the passage of time was dictated by the movement of the sun and the seasons, the introduction of “clock time” in Hellenistic Greece, around the 3rd century BCE, marked a radical shift in people’s daily lives. Historian Sofie Remijsen, a researcher at the University of Amsterdam, has delved into this phenomenon, […]
Posted inClassical Archaeology
Sacred tunic of Alexander the Great identified in one of the Macedonian tombs at Vergina in Greece
A recent discovery in Tomb II at Vergina, Macedonia, Greece, has revealed what appears to be the sacred “chiton” or tunic of Alexander the Great, a finding that could change the historical understanding of artifacts associated with the famous conqueror. A group of archaeologists, led by Antonis Bartsiokas from Democritus University of Thrace, identified a […]
Posted inAntiquity
Ai-Khanoum: The Lost Greek City in Afghanistan
At the confluence of the Kokcha River and the Amu Darya, in northern Afghanistan’s Takhar province, lie the ruins of Ai-Khanoum (which means “Moon Princess”). This ancient settlement was home to a major Hellenistic city from the late 4th century BC to the mid-2nd century BC, whose original name remains unknown (some researchers propose Estobara, […]
Posted inAncient Greece
Termessos, the Impregnable Mountaintop City Alexander Never Conquered
Located about twenty kilometers from Antalya, in the Güllük Dağı National Park, there is a place called Karabunar Kiui, where the Archaeological Site of Termessos is located. It hosts the well-preserved remains of the ancient city of Termessos, a city-fortress that mythology attributes to the founding by the Homeric hero Bellerophon, and whose location at […]
Posted inAncient Egypt, Ancient Greece
The Frenzied Life of Ptolemy Ceraunus, the Man Who Ended the Last Successor of Alexander the Great
He was disinherited from the Egyptian throne, organized an expedition to overthrow his brother-in-law in Thrace, murdered the ally who helped him, married his own stepsister, killed her children, briefly ruled in Macedonia, and ultimately lost his life because, in his reckless impetuosity, he did not wait for reinforcements in his last battle, ending with […]
