guy

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.

A wonderful find in Israel: Statues of the goddesses Nike and Tyche, or Isis, at the Roman basilica in Tel Ashkelon National Park, Israel. Photo by Yaniv Cohen, courtesy of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/israel-discovers-ancient-roman-basilica-1978508/amp-page

The debate continues: “It is true that some of the treasures found in King Tut’s tomb did not belong to him, but to other rulers during the Amarna Period. But the mask did indeed belong to him,” he added.” “When it comes to the ear piercings, it was a natural and common thing among kings. Earrings were not limited to women — or children — in the case of King Tut.” https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2021/07/egyptologists-refute-british-theory-doubting-king-tuts-mask

It’s good to see that looted items are returned: https://nypost.com/2021/07/28/us-seizes-1-6m-epic-of-gilgamesh-tablet-from-hobby-lobby/amp/ https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/rare-cuneiform-tablet-bearing-portion-epic-gilgamesh-forfeited-united-states

Waterways were an easier and possibly safer means of travel in the ancient world. It is not surprising that Roman canals would be discovered. https://www.google.com/amp/s/phys.org/news/2021-07-dutch-unearth-roman-canal-road.amp

I’m waiting for more reports to come in: https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/28/ancient-roman-ship-discovered-off-coast-of-sicily

https://greekreporter.com/2021/07/28/pythia-delphi-oracle/ Excellent video about the Oracle of Delphi. I had never heard this anecdote before: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oracular_statements_from_Delphi https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/suetonius/12caesars/nero*.html (Suetonius Life of Nero 40.3)

The mystery of the ancient Roman dodecahedron continues. Ancient measuring device, sewing tool, gambling piece …? https://www.grunge.com/471518/the-unsolved-mystery-of-the-ancient-roman-dodecahedron/ https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/514246/are-roman-dodecahedrons-worlds-most-mysterious-artifact

An interesting find: https://www.livescience.com/michelangelo-fingerprint-found-statue.html

An interesting theory: https://greekreporter.com/2021/07/25/did-ancient-greeks-deliberately-build-their-temples-in-earthquake-stricken-sites/ We have discussed before the use of natural phenomena to create a mystical environment:

An interesting article from last year: https://archaeology.co.uk/articles/features/contact-conquest-and-cartimandua.htm

The position of the paleobeach ridge in the Treporti Channel in Roman times (in yellow in transparency over the current satellite data) and the alignment of Roman stone remains and levee road (red dots and lines), buildings (green squares) and brick walls (white pentagons); the pink solid line indicates the position of the structures reconstructed by Madricardo et al. Image credit: Madricardo et al., doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-92939-w. http://www.sci-news.com/archaeology/treporti-channel-road-09892.html