guy

The sword was made from iron and has mostly rusted away, but its scabbard is decorated throughout its length with gold-leaf. (Image credit: CNAIR/Vasile Pârvan Institute of Archeology) Hunnic burial sites have been found during road construction in Romania. https://www.livescience.com/princely-tomb-hun-warrior-romania

The Plague of Galen (the Antonine Plague) between AD 165-180 was thought to be the result of smallpox. There is increasing evidence that smallpox had devastated humans 1000 years before the Antonine Plague. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2023/01/230109112755.htm

Another dodecahedron has been found in Flanders: https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/en/2023/01/10/second-mysterious-dodecahedron-found-in-flanders/ The mystery of the dodecahedron has been discussed on previous posts.

It’s good to see that Garrett Ryan (“Toldinstone”) has a podcast. He is one of the best publishers on ancient history on YouTube and now with podcasts.

The race in the early 1800s to decipher the Rosetta Stone was epic, between the British polymath Thomas Young and the French linguist Champollion. https://the-past.com/feature/the-power-of-words-racing-to-read-the-lost-secrets-of-egypt/

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., today announced the return of the “Green Coffin,” valued at over $1 million, to the people of Egypt. The Green Coffin was looted from an archaeological site in Egypt and trafficked by the Dib-Simonian network, who smuggled the piece through Germany into the United States in 2008. It was sold to a private collector and eventually loaned to the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences, where it remained on view until this Office’s seizure. The Green Coffin is more than 9.5 feet tall and belongs to the ancient Egyptian priest Ankhenmaat. It was looted from Abusir al-Malaq in Northern Egypt and then surfaced in the possession of Simon Simonian in Switzerland. It was trafficked to the United States in 2008 and then sold to a private collector, who loaned the piece to the Michael C. Carlos Museum at Emory University until 2013, when it was loaned to Houston Museum of Natural Sciences. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-64147545 https://www.manhattanda.org/d-a-bragg-returns-green-coffin-from-the-houston-museum-of-natural-sciences-to-the-people-of-egypt/

A fountain built in Turkey 2,000 years ago has been restored using 150 original fragments uncovered at the site It is located in Kibyra, known as the City of Gladiators due to several the massive 10,000-person arena that was also built in the town by the Roman Empire Archaeologists are also restoring the water system so it will soon flow with drinkable water just as it did 2,000 years ago Above is a 10,400-person Roman stadium in Kibrya. It was used for both races and gladiator fights as suggested by the gladiator friezes. (By Dosseman - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=77208381) By Dosseman - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=92793659 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-11586381/Fountain-stood-Turkeys-ancient-City-Gladiators-2-000-years-ago-restored.html#comments-11586381

Here is follow-up on the linguistic importance of the comb: https://mosaicmagazine.com/observation/history-ideas/2023/01/is-the-language-abraham-spoke-engraved-on-an-ancient-lice-comb/

Here is a wonderful article on Legio V Macedonia, Rome’s longest-documented legio: https://www.heritagedaily.com/2023/01/legio-v-macedonica-the-last-roman-legion/145686 Here’s a more in-depth article on the legion: http://byzantinemilitary.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-last-roman-legion-legio-v-macedonica.html?m=1

First, welcome to UNRV. (Your post probably would have been better placed in the subforum "Templum Romae - Temple of Rome.") I think you are overestimating the power and influence of pagan temples in the late Roman Empire. By AD 331, paganism had become an effete and less important factor in Roman government and daily life. You may be confusing the pagan temples' importance at the time of Constantine with that of the Delian Temple of Apollo on the ancient Greek Island Delos, which held the treasury of the Delian League until Pericles transferred it to Athens around 454 BCE. In fact, most of these pagan temples continued to function and still had nominal power many decades after the reign of Constantine. These pagan temples, nevertheless, were not "the heart of finance and economy" of the late Roman Empire.

https://www.heritagedaily.com/2022/12/archaeologists-uncover-high-status-roman-domus/145674 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reims

This is an interesting find in the modern city of Çavdarhisar, Turkey. The location of the finds: https://www.heritagedaily.com/2022/12/heads-of-several-greek-gods-found-during-excavations-at-aizanoi/145660

This discovery by an amateur detectorist from Norfolk of a Roman earring is noteworthy: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-norfolk-63989057

Garrett Ryan has another excellent video, this one discussing Roman financial crises:

A unique Byzantine inscription using some Greek letters was discovered recently on Gerasun Island, the only inhabited island in the Black Sea. Credit: Facebook/Ioannis Georgopoulos A wonderful Byzantine find: https://greekreporter.com/2022/12/12/byzantine-inscription-gerasun-island/

Here is an excellent article by Dr. Joanne Ball discussing the need to adopt an unconventional military strategy by the Roman army to defeat the African rebel Tacfarinas. https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/tacfarinas-made-rome-realize-it-had-to-fight-like-the-enemy-to-win Tacfarinas - Wikipedia

I don’t think I understand the question. Are Greeks considered “barbarians?” As you probably know better than I, for example, the Roman pantheon was derived from the earlier Greek gods. Or does this question extend beyond religion?

Below is a great article on the frescoes of Pompeii. Blue pigment in a small dish from Pompeii https://the-past.com/feature/painting-pompeii/

Thank you for reading my post. I am amazed at that relative ease in which the Hunnic forces sliced through the Germanic tribes. I find it hard to believe, however, that somehow the Chinese would have been able to quickly and totally expel these same Huns from their lands. China, at that time, was a weakened state that was experiencing its own internal revolts and instability. Another theory, therefore, emerges about the origins of the Huns. The possibly genetically-related tribes to Huns, the Xiongnu, may be the answer. The Xiongnu were quite successful with their incursions into Northern China for centuries. The Xiongnu were a formidable force five hundred years before Atilla invaded Western Europe. By AD 48, as a result of succession battles, the weakened Xiongnu separated into a Northern and Southern Kingdoms. There is some suggestion that the Northern Xiongnu later evolved into the Hunnic coalition after being subjugated by the Chinese. The most interesting theory from Chinese scholars, therefore, is that the defeated Northern Xiongnu eventually migrated west to form the new Hunnic Empire. Here is a good summary video of the possible transformation of the Northern Xiongnu into the Huns that terrorized Europe:

Research suggests that climatic changes may have forced the Huns to leave their homelands and adapt a more predatory behavior. https://phys.org/news/2022-12-drought-attila-huns-roman-empire.html

Cástulo slate found in Linares in 1976.© Junta de Andalucía (EL PAÍS) The Iberian necropolis in Estacar de Robarinas, Spain is famous for its archeological finds. Among the finds was an image on a horseman thought to be Iberian in origin. New studies suggest, however, that that the horseman was African in origin, possibly one of the Numidian or Mauritanian cavalry that sided with Carthage during the Second Punic War. Study sheds light on mysterious mounted warrior from Africa who fought the Roman legions (msn.com)

The ancient roman city Jerash in modern day Jordan is not well known, but this short video shows the well-preserved site. Jerash - Wikipedia

A beautiful ancient Roman ring thought to depict Caesonia, Ciligula’s forth and final wife. Here is an excellent video by Garrett Ryan on the rings and jewelry in Ancient Rome:

The Roman fort at Magna, mostly unexcavated, will be more closely evaluated as concerns for climactic impact mounts: https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/huge-roman-fort-excavated-lottery-25738260

On his excellent YouTube channel "Tasting History," Max Miller does an excellent job summarizing the psychopathic Emperor Domitian’s Black Banquet as described by Cassius Dio. Max prepares an ancient Roman jellyfish for the macabre feast. (Cassius Dio’s “Roman History,” Book LXVII , 9) http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/cassius_dio/67*.html