Egyptians never called their river “Nile”. This word comes from the Egyptian “nwy”, which means 'water' – it was mispronounced by Greeks as “Neilos”. But the original and very ancient name of Nile was “Hapi” probably signifying "the hidden". Later, Egyptians started to call the Nile 'the river', and Hapi became the name of river’s god, or, more precisely, the god of the [...]
The wars following the death of Alexander saw his great empire split into four, each considered a Hellenistic Kingdom. There were the Seleucids to the east, based out of Babylon. The Antigonids ruled Macedonia and Greece. The great Ptolemaic Empire controlled Egypt from their seat in Alexandria. The fourth and often forgotten kingdom was that of Pergamon, in northern Asia Minor. These four [...]
This past week, the Central Archaeological Council of Greece announced their approval of a plan for certain restoration projects in the ancient city of Pella. A study to this end has been underway since 2016, but this is the first step toward that dream. It will aim to preserve and restore segments of the large ornate entrance and the main ceremonial building. They [...]
Some travelers who come to Rome think that Trajan’s column was the very first of its kind and that it is unique. In reality, Romans have erected many great columns in Rome and across the Empire. Some of them still stand today, but most of them are unfortunately lost. We know about a dozen of Columns that stood in Rome, but only three [...]
By the time of the Second Punic War, Cirta was the capital of the kingdom of Numidia. Here Syphax established his headquarters, after defecting from the Romans and taking much of Masinissa’s ancestral kingdom. Syphax also gained a wife from his new support of Carthage, Sophonisba, who was Masinissa’s former fiancée. After his return from Spain, Masinissa at once began a campaign to [...]
Nestled between the Palatine and the Capitoline Hills, the Forum Romanum was the heart of activity in ancient Rome. To this day its ruins attract millions of visitors. The area was originally a thick bog, entirely uninhabitable. Taquinius Superbus, the very last king of Rome, ordered the area drained by the construction of the Cloaca Maxima, one of the world’s earliest examples of [...]
Phoenician settlers from Tyre established Gades, now Cadiz, in 1104 B.C., and in the 7th century they added a connected port. According to legend, Hercules himself founded the city after defeating Geryon, a three-headed monster. It was the tenth of his famous twelve labors. The Carthaginians took the city when they invaded Spain during the 2nd Punic War. Hannibal even made sacrifices in [...]
The Circus Maximus’s history is as ancient as Rome’s itself. Legend has it that it was during the first games in the circus, put on by Romulus himself, that Rome’s king gave the order for the infamous Rape of the Sabine women. Under the Tarquins, wooden seats were constructed that spatially separated spectators according to class. And during the mid-Republic (c. 189 BC) [...]
“It is impossible for any good man to be born from me and this woman.” - Nero’s Father about himself and Agrippina the Younger The city of Baiae seems to have been one of the younger cities of Italy. A source from 178 B.C makes the earliest known reference to the city. Baiae takes its name from Baius, the Greek helmsman of Odysseus’s [...]
“But though I am almost heart-broken at the orphanhood and desolation of our house, the good fortune and courage of our race forbid me to despair of the State…In the midst of this utter collapse one thing stood unshaken and unimpaired, the courage of the Roman people; it and it alone raised up and sustained all that lay prostrate in the dust.”- Scipio [...]