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Mithraism May Become a Bit Less Mysterious with New Temple Discovery in Turkey. Excavations ongoing since 2013 at Zerzevan Castle in Turkey’s Diyarbakir Province have turned up secret passages leading to an underground Christian church and shelter that could hold up to 400 people. A story in the Turkish online newspaper Daily Sabah says the most recent work at the castle has found the temple to Mithras, whose ancient religion was supplanted by Christianity. Zerzevan Castle is about 55,200 square meters (594,000 square feet) and has walls 12 to 15 meters tall (39.37 to 49.2 feet tall). The watch tower is 21 meters (69 feet) tall. The walls stretch for 1,200 meters (3,937 feet). The huge complex includes a church building (aboveground), ruins of homes, buildings for administrators, and storage facilities for weapons and grain. The castle also has tombs and water channels cut into the rock... ...via Ancient Origins

Greetings, I have been peripherally involved in a new organization called the Roman Republic (http://www.romanrepublic.org). This is a non-profit organization which is looking at promoting living the Roman way and restoring ancient Roman culture within a modern context. Basically, this organization supports, Latinists, reenactment, scholars / historians, those interested in ancient religion, and the casual Rome enthusiast. This organization wants to help bring these different people together for they can add the best elements of Roman history to their modern lives. One of the most exciting things this organization is doing is bringing Rome related groups together. For example, an independent reenactment legion can form a collegium within the Roman Republic. Similarly, a Latin language group or another Roman club can form a collegium. The organization has a points system which rewards activity and community building. These points can be traded between groups (collegia) to facilitate cooperation and activity. Personally, I think this idea holds some potential. We shall see. Similarly, the organization has founded an open source school called Academia Minervalis. This online resource aims to teach Roman history for free to members. I think this could also flourish and holds potential. The group is just getting started up. It launched on March 1, 2016, and it currently has over one-hundred members. I think some here might find this group of interest. The address is http://www.RomanRepublic.org