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...from a question i got via email: ...who were the first tribe or nation to use family or surnames? My immediate thoughts were the Roman Empire but perhaps you can advise otherwise.... ...anyone chipping in?

Swords And Cinema by Jeremiah McCall Book Review by caldrail Fancy a spot of entertainment? You might sit back on a sofa to watch television, perhaps a DVD, or maybe you throw caution to the winds and head toward the local cinema for the big screen experience. The latest 'sword & sandals' epic might be the one to watch. Drama, tragedy, slow motion action, and a glorious festival of special effects to drop your jaw as the battle sequence unfolds in deafening bloody violence. But hang on a minute - Was that really how they fought? Did they really use weapons like that? Was that what the well dressed ancient warrior actually wore? ...continue to the full review of Swords And Cinema by Jeremiah McCall

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A 2,000-year-old bronze and enamel clasp has been unearthed south of the town of Nexø on the island of Bornholm. Shaped like an owl, the bronze and enamel button has large orange eyes and colourful wings. “There are very few of these types of buttons,” said archaeologist Christina Seehusen from Bornholms Museum. “It is likely that someone travelling to the island carried it there.” The owl was produced in regions along the Roman frontier that ran along the Danube and the Rhine at the time, so it may originate from ancient Cologne or another nearby town. The clasp was usually worn by men to hold their cloaks closed, so it is possible that a man from the island was a Germanic mercenary in the Roman army and brought the owl back to Bornholm with him. ...via Online Post

Researchers are studying the popular Latin of Roman Hispania through the graffiti found on 'terra sigillata' ceramic ware. As part of this approach, analyses of the graffiti kept in the Spanish Royal Academy of History have just been started. 'Research focuses on the words written on the surface of these everyday ceramic pieces which can provide linguistic data, but also territorial and ethnological information', says the author of the work... ...via Science Daily

Bronze artifacts discovered in a 1,000-year-old house in Alaska suggest trade was occurring between East Asia and the New World centuries before the voyages of Columbus. The new discoveries, combined with other finds made over the past 100 years, suggest trade items and ideas were reaching Alaska from East Asian civilizations well before Christopher Columbus arrived in the Caribbean Sea in 1492 archaeologists said. "We're seeing the interactions, indirect as they are, with these so-called 'high civilizations' of China, Korea or Yakutia," a region in Russia, Mason said... ...via Livescience.com

Title fixed....

The statue of the empress Livia was sold last week at an auction for 640.000 dollar! Pretty impressive piece. Does anyone know where and when this statue was found? ProvenanceThe Stowe Sale; Christie, Manson and Woods, London, 3 October 1848 (thirty-sixth day), lot 18, 'Agrippina, as the Muse of History'; sold to Mr A. Robertson Esq., Surrey. A. Robertson 'appears to have been acting for the Earl of Lonsdale of Lowther Castle' (B. Cassidy, 'Gavin Hamilton, Thomas Pitt and Statues for Stowe', The Burlington Magazine, vol. 146, no. 1221, p.808 note 27). Earl of Lonsdale, Lowther Castle, Cumbria. Lowther Castle, near Penrith, Cumberland. The major part of the Earl of Lonsdale's collection; Maple & Co. Ltd, 30 April 1947, lot 2284, 'Agrippina'. Private collection, Cumbria, acquired in 1957 from Lowther Castle; and thence by descent to the present owner. http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/ancient-art-antiquities/a-roman-marble-statue-of-the-empress-5882219-details.aspx?from=salesummary&intObjectID=5882219&sid=d8b7258b-5a58-4d1e-97cd-81b930d678bf

A History of the Later Roman Empire, AD 284-641 by Stephen Mitchel Book Review by Joe Medhurst Stephen Mitchell, an Emeritus Professor of Ancient History at the University of Exeter and a Fellow of the British Academy, provides an exceptionally clear and detailed account both of the march of events and of the structures of the Empire from the accession of the emperor Diocletian in AD 284 to the death of Heraclius in 641, using the latest scholarship to reveal the massive political and military transformations in Rome’s western and eastern empires that led to its decline and gave way to the emergence of medieval and modern Europe and the Islamic world. It is an excellent reference work containing everything necessary for understanding and initiating research into late antiquity, considering the sources for the period. It includes chronological tables, maps, and charts of important information help to orient the reader... ...continue to the full review of A History of the Later Roman Empire, AD 284-641 by Stephen Mitchel

File Name: THE ROSETTA STONE File Submitter: Viggen File Submitted: 14 Apr 2015 File Category: Free Classic Works in PDF This is a fairly solid account of the Rosetta Stone, and its deciphering. There is ample background, and the actual inscriptions are presented, and analyzed in considerable detail. It provides the English translations of the hieroglyphic, demotic and Greek texts as well as the original Greek and hieroglyphic inscriptions, as they appear on the Rosetta Stone. It also describes its discovery and its arrival in London. The author briefly explains the coptic alphabet and tells the history of the decipherment by Thomas Young and Jean-François Champollion. Finally, in the last section are the English translations of the decrees of Canopus and of Memphis. Sir Ernest Alfred Thompson Wallis Budge (1857-1934) was an English egyptologist, orientalist, and philologist who worked for the British Museum and published numerous works on the ancient Near East. Click here to download this file

...fascinating find! Found by Badnam Creek in Southampton in 1982, this curse tablet from the Roman-Greco world was created in about 350 or 400 AD by Muconius, a man angry at the mystery thief who stole his gold and silver coins. Willing divine retribution to visit his assailant, Muconius might have paid a scribe or prepared the scornful curse himself, etched upon lead, a naturally plentiful material with a heavy, cold nature thought to possess a lifelessness which could enhance the power of the sentiments. The text reads: “Lord Neptune, I give you the man who has stolen the solidus and six argentioli of Muconius. “So I give the names who took them away, whether male or female, whether boy or girl. So I give you Niskus, and to Neptune, the life, health, blood, of him who has been privy to that taking away. “The mind which stole this and has been privy to it, may you take it away. The thief who stole this, may you consume his blood and take it away, Lord Neptune.” via Culture24

This could become epic or horrible, time will tell... “Britannia” takes place in 43 AD when the Roman Emperor Claudius, who ruled over the expansionist Roman Empire, ordered the invasion of Britannia, an egalitarian land where women and men were on an equal footing. The series, conceived to be edgy enough for pay TV, will center around three main characters: The tribal King, Prasutagus, his wife, Queen Boudicea, and Roman consul Cassius. The eight-episode series, which is now fully developed, will depict how Cassius’ loyalty to the Roman Empire was put to test by his growing passion for Queen Boudicea, who transformed into a fearless warrior following the death of her husband Prasutagus and the rape of her daughters. Together with Cassius, Boudicea led an insurrection that brought the Empire to its knees. via Variety

interesting read So why should we get out our mead bongs and honor an obscure prætorian prefect from the early Middle Ages? Because Cassiodorus was a total badass of prescient wisdom. According to historian Paul Freedman, Cassiodorus was one of the two smartest people of his time (Boethius, the other one, is also worthy of a festive, pants-off holiday – perhaps in September to break up the tedious monotony between Labor Day and Rocktoberfest). Most people were apparently super unsmart back in those days, perhaps not unlike Hoosier lawmakers today. But not Cassiodorus – he was a clever chap. Freedman credits Cassiodorus with two achievements that changed the course of history... ...via Leo Weekly

The greatest challenge for early Christians was not the power of the Roman Empire but rather the threat of lynch mobs who did not understand Christianity as a religion. In his anthology The Bible in Context, researcher Paul Mirecki, an associate professor of the Department of Religious Studies, University of Kansas, drew from 142 important political and religious writings from the ancient Mediterranean and Near East, as well as translations and original writings to give readers an understanding of what early Christians were faced with. He asserted that most of the violence suffered by Christians was not a result of the Empire, as many believed, but rather of mobs. "Most of the violence was not done legally from the top-down. The Romans were not interested in converting people to Roman religion. That's Hollywood. The Romans were not interested in persecuting people and putting them to the sword. It was unlawful local lynch mobs that were doing that, and some governors looked the other way," he explained. Mirecki said that Romans were unsure of how to deal with Christianity as a religion because of its unique customs... very interesting read at Christian Today

The remains of a nearly 1,600-year-old basilica that was discovered at the beginning of last year under Lake İznik in the northwestern province of Bursa is now set to become an underwater museum. The underwater museum project, approved by the Culture and Tourism Ministry, will be carried out by the Bursa Metropolitan Municipality, the sponsor of the project. They determined that it was built in hon-or of St. Neophytos, who was among the saints and devout Christians who were martyred during the time of Roman emperors Diocletian and Galerius, when bans and punishments against Christians were common. According to resources, Neophytos was a saint who was killed by Roman soldiers in A.D. 303, 10 years before the Edict of Milan, a proclamation that permanently established religious toleration for Christianity within the Roman Empire. ...via Hurriyet

...so, from those 10, how many have you never heard of`? Done Pompeii, Ephesus and Angkor and still thirsting after archeological marvels? The founder of Timeless Travels magazine recommends 10 less well-known sites that can usually be savoured without the crowds... via The Guardian

Archaeologists have uncovered the complete skeleton of a 17th-century camel that was likely used in the second Ottoman-Habsburg war. They believe the camel - the first intact camel skeleton found in central Europe - may have been left in the town of Tulln for trading after the siege of Vienna in 1683. In a country where cows dominate the rural landscape, the discovery in an Austrian cellar shocked scientists. The researchers described it as a 'sunken ship in the desert'. more at Daily Mail

Hello everyone! Please see below the new releases of april 2015. The Complete Roman Legions by Nigel Pollard The Archaeology of Sanitation in Roman Italy by Ann Olga Koloski-Ostrow Learning Latin and Greek from Antiquity to the Present by Elizabeth P. Archibald

File Name: Empires of Silk and Steel (first 20 pages) by J W Medhurst File Submitter: Viggen File Submitted: 31 Mar 2015 File Category: Historic Novels First 20 pages of Empires of Silk and Steel by J W Medhurst It is the high empire and the Emperor Pius Antoninus has chosen one of his less reputable relatives to lead a dangerous mission to the land of silk. Forced to lead the mission to escape his debtors the young senator, Marcus, travels through Egypt, Arabia, Parthia and India to reach his goal. Joined by several Praetorian guardsmen, a Greek philosopher, and several others they meet along the way. Marcus travels further than any Roman before him and learns of many marvels of the east. Chased by Parthians and sorcerers and hated by the gods they finally, after many battles reach their a great goal and in doing so find enlightenment. Filled with violence, magic, battles and comedy and yet at the same time philosophy, spirituality and self discovery, Empires of Silk and Steel gives a new insight into the people of the ancient world. Click here to download this file

Congratulation to cinzia8 on the release of her novel! On the Edge of Sunrise

Delphi: A History of the Center of the Ancient World by Michael Scott Review by Josho Brouwers Delphi was one of the Pan-Hellenic sanctuaries of ancient Greece. It was dedicated to the god Apollo and famous, from an early period onwards, for the Pythia or oracle, a priestess who gave prophesies supposedly transmitted to her directly from the god himself. The site possesses remains of a number of temples, treasuries, a stadium, and other structures. Delphi was considered the centre of the Classical world: visitors to the museum on the site will be able to see the omphalos, a large worked stone that represents the ‘navel’ of the world. Due to its importance, much has been written about Delphi. In the book under review, Michael Scott presents a narrative history of the site and the sanctuary... ...continue to the full review of Delphi: A History of the Center of the Ancient World by Michael Scott

Ten years since the Judean Date Palm was miraculously brought back to life following the chance discovery of seeds in the 2,000-year-old ruins of Masada, the male date palm tree named Methuselah, the only one of his kind, has become a father. For thousands of years, the date palm was a staple crop in the Kingdom of Judea, as it was a source of food, shelter and shade. Thick forests of the palms towering up to 80 feet and spreading for 7 miles covered the Jordan River valley from the Sea of Galilee in the north to the shores of the Dead Sea in the south. However, its value was also the source of its demise and eventual extinction. The tree so defined the local economy that it became a prime resource for the invading Roman army to destroy. Once the Roman Empire took control of the kingdom in 70 AD, the date palms were wiped out in an attempt to cripple the Jewish economy. They eventually succeeded and by 500 AD the once plentiful palm had completely disappeared, driven to extinction for the sake of conquest. ...via Ancient Origins