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A study of the DNA remains of Phoenician graves showed that most people who were culturally Phoenician “had no Levantine ancestry.” The results showed that the Phoenicians were a mixture of Mediterranean populations, mainly from Sicily, Greece and the islands of the Aegean, and North Africa. The Carthaginians were originally a Phoenician colony in Tunisia that became an independent empire. https://www.science.org/content/article/most-phoenicians-did-not-come-land-canaan-challenging-biblical-assumptions

Hello, My name is Rosie, I'm a writer working on a set of historical novels set in ancient Rome covering the lives of Pompeius Magnus, his son Sextus, and concluding with Sextus' daughter Pompeia's life. I'm pro Pompeians pro Liberators and the number one Augustus hater. lol. Agrippa was way too cool for his snivelly bestie.

A blog investigating the origins and jounrye of Alaric the Visigoth, the king who conquered Rome: https://www.gordondoherty.co.uk/writeblog/alaric-the-visigoth-king-of-all

What more can a person give to a cause, than their very existence? This is the essence of the ancient Roman oath of 'Devotio' - the word from which the modern term 'devotion' is derived. Read my blog that explores this chilling final resort of ancient Romans at war: https://www.gordondoherty.co.uk/writeblog/the-greatest-sacrifice?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAYnJpZBEwakRWTXR2ek5uSTJFYVlvNQEeNZVGENCkHeYmyzIBbxt1NxTONyMw2DhxnpSQRnlx4_kGRYFxh1vhtdIkKyM_aem_eRglGEnEcW7QxP-VhbvZDw

A couple of pertinent points-- -Copper is the element with symbol Cu- for Cuprum in Latin....in classical Latin, "y" is actually pronounced "o-o-o" as in "you," so "Cyprus" would have been pronounced "Koo-prus.' -It's been calculated that Old Worls coper mines couldn't have produced enough Cu to account for all the bronze in use in The Bronze Age, and that the huge amount of Cu mined during that time in the Lake Superior area of NA can not be accounted for among the NA artifacts..... ...and furthermore, certain genetic markers found in the Minoan population are also found among modern Ojibwa (or do you say Chippewa?) tribe members today (!)...Coincidentally, copper mining and copper usage in NA fell off just when the Minoan civilization collapsed. Go figure. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-42185-y https://chapelboro.com/town-square/columns/common-science/bronze-age-part-ii-the-case-of-the-missing-copper

A follow-up article on the find: Conservators Are Puzzling Together Ancient Roman Murals Found in Hundreds of Pieces

Archaeologists have found an ancient wheel and a Bronze Age cremation urn during excavation for a golf course near Iverness, Scotland. A chariot wheel was found within a cremation pit discovered within the remains of a walled enclosure. https://www.heritagedaily.com/2025/04/significant-archaeological-discoveries-near-inverness/155046 https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2yw30y8p9o.amp

Along the Danube River in Austria, two miles from the Roman legionary fortress of Carnuntum, the “Desolate Castle” (known as “Odes Schloss” in Austria) has been under investigation. It has been confirmed to have been a Roman bridgehead fort, and the nearly nine-foot-tall tower walls are now confirmed to be part of the fort. Experts believe the vital trade route connecting the Roman Empire with the Baltic Region, known as the Amber Road, crossed the Danube at this location. https://www.oeaw.ac.at/en/oeai/media/news-archive/news-detail/carnuntum-fort https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/roman-fort-austria-0022031#

I found this short video surprisingly informative. Cyprus was a significant supplier of copper to Ancient Rome, if not the largest. The connection between Cyprus and copper was so strong that the metal's name became associated with the island. The ancient Romans sourced copper from several regions across their vast empire. Some of the most significant sources included: · • Cyprus – The island was a major supplier of copper, and its name is believed to be the origin of the Latin word for copper, cuprum. · • Iberia (modern Spain) – Rich copper deposits were actively mined here. · • Elba and Sardinia (Italy) – These islands provided copper and other metals for Roman use. · • Britannia (modern UK) – Copper mining was conducted in Roman Britain. · • Dacia (modern Romania) – Another important source of copper and other minerals. Here is an old post about how Cyprus became part of Rome’s expansion:

A suspected mithraeum, a temple of Mithras, in Colchester, Britain, has undergone intense research. Built between AD 320 and 340, the site is now believed to have been converted into Britain’s earliest known Roman Christian church. Recent studies of the nearby burial sites suggest that the site later functioned as a Christian church. The religious site seems to have been in use until AD 400. The abrupt change in later burial patterns is more consistent with Christian burials (see quote below). Additionally, a coin hoard of at least 500 coins dating from after AD 330 has been discovered. This coin hoard would have been accumulated following Constantine the Great’s conversion to Christianity. Before the recent research, it had not been regarded as an early Christian church. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj0z4p4py1mo http://cat.essex.ac.uk/reports/CAR-report-0009.pdf Colchester has been the site of other Roman findings:

While most of us who've ever had 2 of 3 y/o kids to care for know the strong temptation to rub out the over-active, little nuisances, most us resist the urge. Apparently neither the Mayans nor the Cartiginians had such good self control. Long thought to be anti-Carthage propaganda, Roman and Greek reports of child sacrifice there now have been confirmed by archeological evidence. https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2014-01-23-ancient-carthaginians-really-did-sacrifice-their-children

An alter from the Teotihuacan culture was found in Guatemala, the region of the later Mayan culture. The alter was believed to be used for human sacrifices, especially of children. The remains of three children not older than four-years-old were found at the sides of the alter. Of course, in an effort not to offend, this practice of child sacrifice has been described by the media as “nonviolent.” This has created some controversy. https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/tikal-altar-guatemala-jungle-used-sacrifices-mayan-teotihuacan-cultures/ The academic article on the research https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/teotihuacan-altar-at-tikal-guatemala-central-mexican-ritual-and-elite-interaction-in-the-maya-lowlands/78F1EE665FD51C6B41457872CDA20A80 A largely nonviolent depiction of human sacrifices in Mesoamerica from the movie “Apocalyptico.”

Corrected. Funny, though.

Colder temps & prolonged droughts are well known to probably be important factors in the fall of civilizations, from ancient Sumeria to the Anasazi to the Aztecs to Rome itself....but in this case, the very short drought was from 364-366, so why did the rebellion wait to start until 367?...Maybe the starving barbarians were too weak from starvation to wield their swords in the three drought years? In applying this concept to more modern events, recall that the "Arab Spring" uprising a decade ago (remember Bengazi/Hilary/destroyed phones?) was precipitated by a sudden rise in food prices in Tunisia (those @#*+ Cartiginians causing problems again)...and that the trade negotiations going on now between the US and China has a lot to do with China's limited food supply. (I'm assuming that's a typo in the title above....If it isn't, then it's easy to see how a shortage of beer could cause a rebellion in Britain.)

In AD 367, the Picts, Scotti, and Saxons launched attacks on Roman defenses in Britain. Dry summers are now believed to have led to famine and social pressures that precipitated the assaults. A recent study using oak tree-ring records suggests that severe drought was a catalyst for the Barbarian incursions, known as the Great Conspiracy (see Wikipedia article below). https://scienceblog.com/drought-toppled-roman-britain-before-barbarians/ https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/apr/17/british-rebellion-against-roman-legions-caused-by-drought-research-finds#:~:text=The researchers identified no other,the Picts into northern Britain”. https://phys.org/news/2025-04-extreme-drought-contributed-barbarian-invasion.amp The academic article: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-025-03925-4 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Conspiracy

An amazing compilation......What do you do in your spare time? What are your reference sources?

It's been said that all computer models are wrong, but some are useful. They show us what, if the modeler is close to being right, to expect. They can serve as a basis for forming hypotheses that can then be tested. That's their biggest value. JD Murray https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-662-08542-4 has done some amazing modeling to reproduce animal coat patterns, for instance, just by varying the values of the constants in the model. I'm just pointing out that it's absurd for the authors of that paper to assert single digit per cent differences between Roman and Han economics when their data is probably not more accurate than a 50% level at best...Eg- did a Roman laborer earn 1 or did he earn 2 sisterci a day?...and how many days did he work each year?....and what was the total value of all money in circulation? ...How do they know?

I think the art was not to determine the exact Roman and then Han situation and then compare them, with that bottom line graph that shows a stunning difference. Rather they played around with similar estimation techniques which, if biased, might be biased in a consistent way and thus cancel out in a Rome/Han ratio. Even the mental exercise sheds sidelights, and seems more useful than admitting all is more or less uncertain. Maybe I just have warm feelings for simulations, since I worked on optimizing electronic design thru evolution or monte carlo/annealing simulations. Injecting random mutations or whatever was fun and effective until the Phd folks invented better boring math approaches.

Computer modeling is art, not science. The model only tells you what you told it to tell you. Anyone visiting this site, for instance, probably is already well aware that the Roman elite were filthy rich and the plebs were just getting by. Any attempt at quantitating that with any more precision is just an exercise in imagination..... Not only do we have only very rough indications of average wages, but we don't even know what the population numbers really were.

After sharing on another site a story about a Vitellius aureus discovered in Britain and recently sold at auction (see the original UNRV post below), I received some pushback from the numismatic site Cointalk.com regarding Vitellius’s role in Britain. Here is my response. My response:

They are labeled simulation results and seem to be precision of the model rather than claimed accuracy of actual history. Often they are ratios ranging only from 0 to 1 or 1 to 3, and a lot of granularity is happening in that range that you wouldn't want to discard. They have a section on uncertainty which is nice to be explicit about, but you may not find it convincing.

Fragments of a Roman wall painting have been unearthed in Villajoyosa, Spain. The villa’s foundation dates to the reign of Trajan (AD 98-117). Over 4,000 fragments of these wall paintings have been excavated. https://www.heritagedaily.com/2025/04/4000-fragments-of-roman-wall-paintings-unearthed-in-villajoyosa/154957

I haven't read the article yet, but at first glance at the graphs presented here, I'm highly suspicious that they can discern three significant figure accuracy in collecting such remote data from such incomplete sources. ...I bet the only thing they are justified to conclude is that the ancient 10th decile group was relatively richer than the other 9 deciles compared to the modern USA.

Approximately 4000 Roman-era bricks have been stored at a museum in Trier, Germany. They will finally be examined more closely after new research funding. Below is a brick with the stamp of Legio XXII Primigenia https://arkeonews.net/researchers-examine-4000-bricks-to-solve-the-secrets-of-an-ancient-roman-metropolis-of-trier/ https://aktuelles.uni-frankfurt.de/en/english/building-material-for-an-ancient-metropolis/ Here is the Wikipedia article on Legio XII Primigenia. The unit was first stationed in the Roman province of Germania Superior, guarding the Rhine border as part of the limes. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legio_XXII_Primigenia

Thank you. It's a little hard to see the numbers on similar shaped charts there, but the income per capita is almost double for the Romans. Since they don't calibrate charts with a common zero point, the different offsets are disguised and charts can falsely look alike.