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Amphipolis – The 3rd chamber’s depth is unfathomable Geologists are using a hand drill to manually work their way through the sandy backfill of the third chamber while archaeologists can but second-guess its depth. Archaeologists are trying to reach the interior of the ancient tomb of Amphipolis and are hoping to unlock the puzzle of the fourth chamber. So far, they have managed to proceed down 23 meters of the tomb’s burial path and have reached the third chamber. Another 50 meters of excavation work may be required before they manage to reach the center of the tomb and they may even find that the path could divide to another portion that would take them deeper underground and into the tomb’s secrets. The depth of the third chamber is still unfathomable and geologists are trying to calculate this by using a hand drill that allows them to dig their way through the volumes of sandy backfill. The range of the instrument they are using is 7 meters, however the floor may be much lower... via Protothema

fantastic links, i remember when i was in Aguntum i also saw diplomas and indeed from Antoninius Pius era (the most common) http://www.unrv.com/roman-events/roman-military-diploma.php fascinating that none of the (originals) or was it copy`? from Rome survived

never heard of steam, quick look at their website, they advertise Total War on the front page?

It is AD395 and its time to play! Cant wait till it comes out... http://www.totalwar.com/attila

The surprisingly luxurious lives of Roman legionnaires on the eastern edges of the empire are being uncovered by a team of archaeologists from the University of Warsaw. Two of the most notable Roman legions were stationed at the fort of Novae—the Eighth Augustan, in the mid-first century A.D., and the First Italic, who replaced the Augustan in A.D. 69. This year’s archaeological campaign has been especially successful, unearthing luxury items such as several dagger handles made of ivory, three finely crafted second-century A.D. bronze figurines, and several bronze lamps.... via Archaeology Magazine

22.000 coins, so from a practical point of view, back in the times, safe manufacturer must have been a profitable business? Where did "wealthy" Romans store their money usually?

..yeah thats was a real fun show personally after finishing the second season of House of Cards i was not convinced i will find a quick fix to fill the void, but the recent discovery of "The Bridge - America" has done the trick, only two episodes in but really amazing stuff

Pretty amazing to think that this is how it could have sounded,the mother of all indo-european languages... http://www.archaeology.org/exclusives/articles/1302-proto-indo-european-schleichers-fable

Thanks Alex, for this great and at times very funny interview!

Alex Johnston is author of several fiction books about Marcus Mettius, a minor character in Julius Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic War. UNRV Hello Alex, why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got interested in Roman history? Alex Johnston: I’ve worked in finance and technology most of my career, and have always been interested in history – ancient history primarily, and Roman history primarily primarily. Not sure how it happened, to be honest with you. It was just always the case for as long as I can remember. In Caesar’s Lictor, I have Pompey riding Crassus about how old he is. Well, I’m the same age, more or less, and thinking about retiring. So I thought it would be fun to do something with that interest as sort of a post-retirement gig. The extra $1.50 or so per month that I expect to earn should really come in handy... ...continue to the Interview with Alex Johnston

...is this even Augustus?

Archaeologists working on an ancient Roman site in the centre of London are calling on members of the public to share their memories, memorabilia and photographs of the site when it was first excavated 60 years ago. The Temple of Mithras was discovered on a Saturday afternoon in September 1954, in the last hour of a rather dull and muddy excavation on the site of a dull office block in the heart of the City of London. In the drab postwar city, its glamour caught the public imagination and it became front-page and cinema documentary news. Police had to be called in to control the crowds, and after the furore over its proposed destruction was discussed at cabinet, the ruins were moved and haphazardly reconstructed on another part of the site... ...via The Guardian

Archaeologists uncovered a large Byzantine Age compound west of Jerusalem, with a rarely preserved oil press, a wine press and a mosaic, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced Thursday. “This was very likely a monastery,” excavation director Irene Zilberbod said in a statement. A spokesperson with the Antiquities Authority said the first clues of the compound were stumbled upon in recent weeks, during construction work on a new residential neighbourhood in the town of Bet Shemesh, some 35 km west of Jerusalem, Xinhua reported. At some point, which the archaeologists dated to the beginning of the Islamic period (7th century A.D.), the compound ceased to function and was subsequently occupied by new residents. They changed the plan of the compound and adapted it for their needs, the archaeologists said.... ...via Ancientfoods

Berlin’s Pergamon Museum is losing its star attraction for five years. Sunday is the last day to see the Pergamon Altar in Berlin's most famous museum. How will it survive without its main draw? Almost 1.5 million people visited the Pergamon last year, making it Berlin’s most popular museum. Many come to see the monumental Pergamon Altar – a huge marble work dating from the 2nd Century BC. It depicts Greece’s greatest heroes and gods locked in battle and destroying enemies. The impending closure of the hall housing the altar, to renovate the museum, has prompted huge queues on Berlin’s Museum Island this week.... ...via The Local

Archaeologists fear that the remains of a large Roman villa found in Tuscany may have to be buried after they battled for years against bureaucratic incompetence. Italy has been likened to a “banana republic” for its inability to protect the remains of a 1,600-year-old Roman villa discovered in Tuscany. For seven years, archaeologists have excavated the site, patiently removing tonnes of soil to reveal the mosiac and marble remains of a villa which they believe to have been owned by a powerful Roman nobleman.But a familiar Italian saga of red tape and confusion between authoroties means further digging at the site, near the tiny village of Aiano-Torraccia di Chiusi, has come to a grinding halt. Archaeologists say that unless a last-minute solution can be found, they will be ordered to fill in the site, covering the remains of the villa’s reception rooms, atriums and mosaic floors with soil... ...full article at the Telegraph

Is the Mother of Alexander the Great in the Tomb at Amphipolis? http://greece.greekreporter.com/2014/09/24/is-the-mother-of-alexander-the-great-in-the-tomb-at-amphipolis-part-2/

Translations reveal Amazons' names such as Don't Fail and Hot Flanks hidden in ancient "nonsense" inscriptions. In the forthcoming study of pottery dating from 550 B.C. to 450 B.C., study lead author Adrienne Mayor and J. Paul Getty Museum assistant curator David Saunders translated Greek inscriptions into their phonetic sounds for 12 ancient vases from Athens. The inscriptions appear next to scenes of Amazons fighting, hunting, or shooting arrows. They next submitted just the phonetic transcriptions without explanation to linguist John Colarusso of Canada's McMaster University in Hamilton, who is an expert on rare languages of the Caucasus. He translated the inscriptions into names—such as Princess, Don't Fail, and Hot Flanks—without knowing the details of the pictures of Amazons. The report in the journal Hesperia gives linguists unparalleled insight into languages last spoken more than 2,500 years ago around the Black Sea. This area was the realm of Scythian nomads, who fought and traded with the Greeks... ...via National Geographic

It takes something special to make Caernarfon Castle look small. But now, if you visit Cadw’s website, you can see for yourself how a much larger building dominated this part of North Wales almost 2,000 years ago. Only the footings of some of the walls remain to show where Segontium Roman Fort once stood, but the building has risen again through digital technology. The computer-generated video starts at sea level to show how this massive building towered over the site of the present town, covering four times the area of the famous castle. We then zoom in and explore the site itself, with 3D-model Roman characters giving an impression of its scale. ...via Wales Online

A unique gold coin struck 2,000 years ago during the reign of Roman Empire founder Augustus Caesar has sold for a £480,000. The gold coin - called an aureus - was made between 27BC and 18BC and depicts a portrait of Augustus transformed into an ageless Apollo-like classical sculpture on one side. On its reverse is an image of a heifer based on a long-lost masterpiece by a Greek sculptor. The well preserved coin, celebrates the power of the man who founded the Roman Empire and laid the foundations of a regime that lasted for centuries. Just 22 examples of the heifer-reverse aureus minted during the reign of Augustus are known to have survived, of which 15 are in museums... ...more at the Daily Mail

File Name: The Epodes by Horace File Submitter: Viggen File Submitted: 24 Sep 2014 File Category: Free Classic Works in PDF The Carmen Saeculare (Latin for "Secular Hymn" or "Song of the Ages") is a hymn in Sapphic meter written by the Roman poet Horace. It was commissioned by the Roman emperor Augustus in 17 BC. The hymn was sung by a chorus of twenty-seven maidens and the same number of youths on the occasion of the Ludi Saeculares (Secular Games), which celebrated the end of one saeculum (typically 110 years in length) and the beginning of another. The mythological and religious song is in the form of a prayer addressed to Phoebus (Apollo) and Diana; it especially brings to prominence Apollo, functioning as a surrogate for and patron of the princeps (Augustus), for whom a new temple on the Palatine had recently been consecrated. A marble inscription recording the ceremony and the part played by Horace still survives. The Carmen Saeculare is the earliest lyric poem for which we have definite information about the circumstances of its performance,[dubious – discuss] and is the only one of Horace's known for certain to have been performed orally. Click here to download this file

I live near Virunum, what was once the capital of Noricum. Also the legendary town of Noreia (cimbri and teutons defeated the Romans) is said to be somewhere around here. The place i actually live has never been an official town, but rather a postal station, there are many findings but no settlement, however there are roman carriage tracks carved into the stone from heavy use of the centuries... It was the also one of the few "provinces" that more or less peacefully integrated with the Empire...

Very nice new website for the Antonine Wall, definitely on my to do list of places to visit... http://www.antoninewall.org/

A set of documents, brought to United States by an Italian immigrant, may reveal new details about Marco Polo’s travels in Asia, including that he possibly explored and mapped Alaska. Marco Polo (1254-1324) was a Venetian merchant who wrote a detailed account of his travels into Asia, where he spent over 20 years, including being in the service of the Mongol ruler Qubilai Khan. His work, known as the Book of the Marvels of the World, was one of the most famous accounts of Eastern Asia from the Middle Ages, although Marco noted that “I did not tell half of what I saw.” Besides his account of his travels of Asia, very little is known about Marco Polo. It seems that a set of fourteen documents might offer some new insights into his life. ...full article at the Medievalist

Stone tools recovered from the site where the 30,000-year-old Venus of Willendorf was discovered in 1908 have been dated to 43,500 years ago, making them the oldest-known artifacts made by modern humans in Europe. Soil analysis at Willendorf indicates that these early inhabitants lived in a cool, steppe-like environment with conifer trees distributed along river valleys. “The remarkably early date of the finds shows that modern humans and Neanderthals overlapped for much longer than we thought and that modern humans coped well with a variety of climates,” announced Philip Nigst of the University of Cambridge. He adds that the changes in the material culture of the last surviving Neanderthals took place at the same time that modern humans were present at Willendorf. “The timing of these events cannot be a coincidence,” he said. http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/they-werent-wimps-how-modern-humans-like-neanderthals-braved-the-northern-cold