Exchanging Gladiators for an Aqueduct at Aphrodisias
A letter of Hadrian to the magistrates, council, and people of Aphrodisias (SEG 50.1096) has been interpreted as evidence that nominees for the high priesthood became reluctant to assume the office, when the traditional liturgy of sponsoring gladiatorial shows was replaced by a financial contribution towards the building of an aqueduct.
3000-year-old city wall discovered in Jerusalem
A section of an ancient city wall of Jerusalem from the tenth century B.C. — possibly built by King Solomon — has been…
Roman healing spas in Italy : a study in design and function
A spa is defined as a bathing establishment which used thermal-mineral spring water for therapeutic purposes. Although the topics of bathing and medicine in the Roman world have received considerable attention, thermal-mineral spas have remained inadequately studied.
Another 700km of the Great Wall of China discovered
Reports indicate that the third national survey on cultural relics in China has revealed more than 700 km of ancient Great Wall in…
King Tutankhamun died from broken leg and malaria
Egypt’s King Tut likely died from complications of a broken leg that was exacerbated by malaria, an extensive study of his mummy and…
Religion in the Ancient Novel
Religion plays a central role in the plot of virtually every fictional narrative, influencing the lives, actions, mentality, practices, beliefs, and eventual fates of the characters (and narrators); the types, interventions, and motives of divinity or other uncanny forces; the use of mythological exemplars.
Scholar finds evidence of ancient chemical warfare
Chemical warfare has long been used in human conflict. Now researchers believe they have found the oldest archaeological evidence of the practice – from Roman times.
The Tower of Babel: archaeology, history and cuneiform texts
Such is the fame of the myth of the Tower of Babel related in Genesis 11 that the publication of a new monograph on the building generally thought to have inspired the myth is an important event.
Texts, contexts, subtexts and interpretative frameworks. Beyond the parochial and toward (dynamic) modeling of the Ptolemaic state and the Ptolemaic economy
My concern in this paper is the historical interpretation of the Greek and demotic documentary papyri of the Ptolemaic period, the role of Archaeology in the context of Ptolemaic economic history, and the application of social science theory towards an understanding of Ptolemaic Egypt.
Greco-Roman sex ratios and femicide in comparative perspective
Is it possible to demonstrate that ancient Greeks or Romans disposed of newborn daughters in ways that skewed sex ratios in favor of males?