guy

I don’t think there are any untranslated and readable large Latin texts now available. There are, however, many small fragments in both Greek and Latin that have not been translated. There are, for example, many papyrus fragments found in an ancient Egypt rubbish heap at Oxyrhynchus that are waiting to be translated. Much of these are in Greek, however. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxyrhynchus_Papyri There also are still hundreds of carbonized, unopened scrolls found at the Villa of Papyri at Herculaneum that was devastated by Vesuvius in 79 AD. These might all be in Greek, however. The examined scrolls have been Greek texts on the subject of Epicurean Philosophy. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herculaneum_papyri Of course, there will always be newly discovered statues and monuments that have previously-untranslated Latin inscriptions.

One of the best Latin courses available online is at Wondrium (formerly GreatCourses Plus). It is a great lecture course by Professor Mueller, consisting of 36 well-planned lectures. Unfortunately, my brain has ossified. I need to be more than merely functional in Spanish at work and I need to speak Italian to my cousins in Italy. I found learning the ultimate Latin language just confused my speaking these two Latin-derived languages. https://www.wondrium.com/latin-101-learning-a-classical-language

Hardly earth-shattering, but museums are working on finding the true color of ancient sculpture.

I think the evidence is flimsy for the use of lions for executions in Britain. This image of a lion on an elaborate key is interesting, nevertheless: https://www.miragenews.com/thrown-to-lions-new-evidence-from-roman-britain-609741/ https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/thrown-to-the-lions-new-evidence-from-roman-britain-executions-revealed

Nice article on the marbles: https://greekreporter.com/2021/07/31/parthenon-sculptures-marbles-elgin/

There is mounting pressure to return the Parthenon marbles to Greece. The return of looted items from Iraq may be an early indicator of things to come: Thousands of ancient cuneiform tablets, taken from the country during periods of war and conflict, were part of the artifacts returned to Iraq recently. Credit: Public Domain https://greekreporter.com/2021/08/06/looted-artifacts-returned-to-iraq-could-open-path-for-parthenon-marbles/ This is a nice summary of the ongoing controversy whether to return the “removed” Elgin Marbles of the Parthenon from the British Museum back to Athens:

Welcome to our newest members. Please post when you can. Things have been a little slow around here the last few months. Erik: You may want to reach out to Ian Hughes (Sonic) who has done some excellent work (and written several books) on the late Roman Empire.

Another story about the presumed earthquake discovery: Remains of the tools shattered in the earthquake. Photo: Eliyahu Yanai, City of David https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/earthquake-bible-0015659

I’m not a gamer, but it is good to see one of the currently more popular games is based on Greek mythology: https://greekreporter.com/2021/08/01/hades-game-greek-mythology/

The final destruction of the first temple was discussed before. Evidence has confirmed a cataclysmic event before the final destruction. Further studies have also confined evidence of an earthquake described in the Bible that damaged the First Temple, two hundred years before the Babylonian destruction in 600 BCE. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/311137

More information on the discovery: Archaeologists digging near the Talayotic settlement in Menorca, Spain have unearthed a treasure trove of artifacts from Roman soldiers Other items include three arrowheads, spearheads, projectiles, surgical tools, a bronze spatula probe and more https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-9856313/Massive-hoard-Roman-weapons-dating-100-BC-ancient-settlement-Spain.html

https://www.timesofisrael.com/4th-century-bce-baskets-still-containing-fruit-found-in-sunken-egyptian-city/ Summary: Underwater archaeology, now improved with modern technology, will be the source of great discoveries in the future.

I was never aware of this castle’s existence in Diyarbakir, Turkey: https://www.dailysabah.com/arts/photographers-at-picturesque-roman-castle-in-turkeys-diyarbakir/news

Looks like an interesting read by the author LJ Trafford (for adult readers only): https://granthshala.com/was-ancient-rome-really-a-sexual-free-for-all-from-impotence-cures-made-out-of-vultures-lungs-to-the-wickedest-woman-who-bed-hundreds-of-men-new-book-lays-bare-what-people-really-thought-about-s/ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-9851709/Was-Ancient-Rome-REALLY-sexual-free-all.html

A nice reassessment of Nero by the author LJ Trafford: http://the-history-girls.blogspot.com/2021/05/the-good-bits-of-nero-by-lj-trafford.html?m=1

I will defer to everyone else about military matters, but it does look suspicious for a weapon (Thracian or Dacian sica). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sica

An interesting find on one of the Balearic islands off the coast is Spain, which were the home of the famous Balearic slingers. “The team discovered a deposit of Roman military materials dating from around 100 BC, that includes: projectiles, arrowheads, knives, surgical tools, and a bronze spatula.” https://www.heritagedaily.com/2021/07/roman-weapons-deposit-unearthed-at-son-catlar-prehistoric-settlement/139792?amp Excellent video on the Balearic slingers:

Of course, this commercial is a warped Hollywood production. That said, the idea of a topless (or semi-topless) female gladiator might be more than some prurient adolescent boy’s fantasy. There is a controversy whether this statue is merely a female using a strigil to scrape herself or a female gladiator holding a weapon known as a sica. https://rogueclassicism.com/2012/04/18/female-gladiator-statue-skepticism/amp/ Interestingly, two of the members from the group Queen were in the video: Brian May (guitar) and Roger Taylor (drums).

Other nice references: https://www.worldhistory.org/article/35/female-gladiators-in-ancient-rome/ https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alfonso-Manas/publication/254237771_New_evidence_of_female_gladiators_The_bronze_statuette_at_the_Museum_fr_Kunst_und_Gewerbe_of_Hamburg/links/57174cbf08ae2679a8c63c4e/New-evidence-of-female-gladiators-The-bronze-statuette-at-the-Museum-fr-Kunst-und-Gewerbe-of-Hamburg.pdf?origin=publication_detail

This poor woman has suffered quite a bit recently … and in the ancient past:

We’ve dealt with this possibility in the past: Here’s a nice review of the current evidence: https://www.heritagedaily.com/2021/07/the-gladiatrix-the-roman-gladiators-that-were-women/139803?amp

This is an interesting theory that some cataclysmic flood forced migration to the Nile Valley, which helped Egyptian development. https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1469474/egypt-mystery-solved-noah-flood-archaeology-news-north-africa-ancient-history-spt/amp

Another article on the discovery: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/archaeologists-find-ancient-roman-vessel-near-sicily-180978313/ Nice short video on find:

Preservation of historical sites is so important. I never considered the presence of the Romans in the Channel Islands before. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-guernsey-58015191

I want to thank the wonderful online magazine “Roman Times” for bringing this excellent video by Dr. Patrick Hunt on Hannibal to my attention: https://ancientimes.blogspot.com/2021/07/hannibals-secret-weapons.html?m=1 At 34:30: Dr. Hunt talks about the types of Elephants used by Hannibal. At 1:02:00: Dr. Hunt discusses the use of the blinding dust storm off Africa into Southern Italy to his advantage. He had the wind to his back, while the wind blew into the Romans’ eyes at the Battle of Cannae. Dr. Hunt reminds us about the Battle of Cannae: Between 55-70,000 Romans died (one out of every five Roman males between the ages of 17 to 50). Possibly more deaths on that day than on any other day in the history on the battlefield.