Articles On Ancient History

[JMcB]

Maritime Viewscapes and the Material Religion of Levantine Seafarers
By Aaron Brody


Fig. 1: Reverse of a Silver coin from Tyre depicting a “Marine God” on a hippokampos (seahorse). Ca. 360–350 BCE. © The Trustees of the British Museum


For ancient peoples, travel was profoundly liminal. Voyaging at sea was doubly liminal, leaving the safety of land and existing in a state of in-betweenness on the waters. To mitigate these thresholds, Levantine seafarers developed specialized religious ideas and practices not shared by their counterparts who never left dry land.

Two types of deities were vital for mariners, ones whose attributes controlled storms and others that affected wayfinding. In the Levantine pantheon, the storm god, Ba‘al, was a patron of seafarers. Marine deities, such as the Phoenician “Poseidon”, also had tutelary relationships (Figure 1). The goddesses Asherah and Tanit played vital roles in the protection of navigation, perhaps because of their link to the new, crescent moon (Figure 2). The god Melqart’s importance to seafarers is verified by numerous data, perhaps as a patron of commerce or voyaging.

Seafarers gave propitiations at harbor temples to honor their divine patrons, some unique to the sailors’ world. Votives included objects fashioned for rituals such as model ships, miniature rudders, and nautical graffiti, and ritualized artifacts such as anchors, anchor stocks, and steering oars. This is verified by nautical finds from temples at Byblos, Ugarit, Tell Sukas, and Kition-Bamboula, as well as Coria del Río and Carambolo in Spain. Temples in harbor cities may have also served as navigational aids while on the water …


For the rest of the article, see:

https://www.asor.org/anetoday/2023/09/ma...viewscapes

[leonardo]

Ancient Philistines Were Likely of Greek Origin, DNA Study Shows

https://greekreporter.com/2023/10/08/anc...rigin-dna/

[leonardo]

10 Ancient Sites That Rival (Or Outdate) The Pyramids Worth Seeing
From China to Peru, there are many Stone Age historic sites older than the pyramids in Egypt.

https://www.thetravel.com/ancient-sites-...-of-egypt/

[leonardo]

Discover The Underworld Cave Of Sibyl Where The Ancient Romans Would Consult The Oracle (& Its In Naples)

Southern Italy and Sicily were once full of ancient Greek colonies, and one of the oldest Greek colonies in Italy was Cumae near Naples. The Cave of Sibyl, associated with the Cumaean Sibyl, is an important ancient attraction located near Baiae. It is said to have been a place of prophecy and a bridge between the worlds of the living and the dead. Today, the Cave of Sibyl is part of the Cuma Archaeological Park and is partially open to the public. Visitors can arrange a visit in advance and explore the trapezoidal passage and innermost chamber where the Sibyl's prophecies were said to have taken place.

https://www.thetravel.com/what-to-see-ca...yl-naples/

[Ioas]

7000 year temple who spread 25 hectares found in Romania

https://newsweek.ro/cultura/asezare-de-2...-misterios

[JMcB]

Tree Rings, Drought, and the Collapse of the Hittite Empire
By Eric Cline


The recent Nature study about drought and the fall of the Hittite Empire doesn’t just make for good headlines, it adds to our knowledge about the Late Bronze Age Collapse in fresh ways.

In an article recently published in the journal Nature, Sturt Manning and colleagues presented new data related to a drought that coincided with the collapse of the Hittite Empire in the early 12th century BCE. The authors analyzed tree rings and stable isotope records from contemporary juniper trees in central Anatolia. The study has received a lot of media coverage thanks to the public’s thirst for apocalypse and climate-disaster stories. Beyond the sensationalist headlines, it is worth reflecting on the importance of this new research, as it adds to our knowledge about the Late Bronze Collapse in fresh ways.



Extent of the Hittite Empire in the Late Bronze Age (Iconact / Wikimedia Commons)


Overall, not only is the quantity of scientific data increasing, but also the different sources for that data. For instance, in just the last two decades, the proxy data attesting to a drought ca. 1200 BCE have come from a variety of different studies. These include pollen analyses, stable isotope analyses, and oxygen isotope analyses, among other studies, coming from lake sediments, cave stalagmites, dried-up riverbeds and lagoons, and so on, in regions stretching from Italy and Greece to Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Iran.

However, to my knowledge, this new study represents the first time that we have evidence coming from the remains of trees, specifically juniper trees, using dendrochronology as well as stable isotope analysis. What is particularly exciting is the specificity of the dating from this study, in addition to the fact that it is substantiating and corroborating our hypotheses as to what led to the Collapse of the Late Bronze Age.


For the rest of the article, see:

https://www.asor.org/anetoday/2023/02/tr...e-collapse

[leonardo]

Facial Reconstructions of Emperor Hadrian and Antinous (Video)

https://www.ancient-origins.net/videos/h...us-0019596

[leonardo]

Neolithic Europeans Consumed Seaweed and Freshwater Aquatic Plants: Study

During the Mesolithic in Europe, there is widespread evidence for an increase in exploitation of aquatic resources. In contrast, the subsequent Neolithic is characterized by the spread of farming, land ownership, and full sedentism, which lead to the perception of marine resources subsequently representing marginal or famine food or being abandoned altogether even at the furthermost coastal limits of Europe. Archaeologists have found direct evidence that seaweeds and submerged aquatic and freshwater plants were eaten in the Mesolithic, through the Neolithic transition to farming and into the Early Middle Ages, suggesting that these resources, now rarely eaten in Europe, only became marginal much more recently.
https://www.sci.news/archaeology/neolith...12366.html

See also, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-41671-2

[leonardo]

LEGIO V MACEDONICA – THE LAST ROMAN LEGION
THROUGHOUT THE HISTORY OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, COUNTLESS LEGIONS WERE RAISED AND DISBANDED, BUT ONE LEGION ENDURED THE ENTIRETY, REMAINING IN SERVICE TO THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE, MARCHING ON INTO THE MIDDLE AGES – THE LEGIO V MACEDONICA.

https://www.heritagedaily.com/2023/01/le...ion/145686

[leonardo]

Spy satellite photos reveal hundreds of long-lost Roman forts, challenging decades-old theory
Declassified photos captured by United States spy satellites launched during the Cold War have revealed an archaeological treasure trove: hundreds of previously unknown Roman-era forts, in what is now Iraq and Syria.
https://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-n...591152/amp

See also, https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/...EC6DC414FD

[leonardo]

3 of the World’s Oldest Inhabited Cities

From the depths of prehistory many thousands of years ago to the modern era, these oldest cities are still inhabited, outliving everything that came before and has come since.

https://www.thecollector.com/world-oldes...inhabited/

[leonardo]

Celtic Hillforts from the Iron Age
https://www.thecollector.com/celtic-hill...-iron-age/

[Alain]

Wie das Christentum nach Deutschland kam

https://www.nationalgeographic.de/geschi...chland-kam

Interesting insight but unfortunately only in German, the Baltic states became Christian very late, an example is the Baltic tribe of the Pruzzes, who were forced to be Christianized like the Saxons in the 8th century, on the left bank of the Rhine Christianity established itself very quickly without bloodshed and the Arian faith of the Goths, Vandals .. had no chance although I find it interesting that Jesus is seen as more human in nature than divine.

[leonardo]

https://arkeonews.net/analysis-of-ancien...uman-skin/
Analysis of Ancient Scythian Leather Samples Shows Ancient Scythians Made Leather from Human Skin



https://arkeonews.net/2000-year-old-dagg...-warriors/
2000-year-old dagger reveals the site of a long-forgotten battle between the Roman Empire and tribal warriors

[JMcB]

The Roman-Jewish Wars: Jewish Resistance vs Roman Might

Temples were torched, cities sacked, and their people devastated. The Roman-Jewish Wars were the Jewish people’s desperate, but ultimately futile, fight to resist Roman expansion.

Dec 20, 2023 • By Kieren Johns, PhD Classics & Ancient History



Relief depicting procession of spoils from the Roman conquest of Jeruslaem upon the Arch of Titus, 81 CE. Source: Wikimedia Commons


During a span of seven decades in the 1st and 2nd centuries, the Jewish people challenged Roman power in the eastern Mediterranean. The Roman-Jewish wars were the backdrop for some of the most dramatic and tragic episodes from ancient history, from the sack of Jerusalem to the siege at Masada.

In three separate insurrections, the Jews revolted against Rome and its religious impositions. For the Romans, the wars in Judaea offered the chance for riches and fame. But where there was glory for a fortunate few, others lost everything.


Prelude to the Roman-Jewish Wars: Judea and the Roman Republic


The province of Judaea was situated in the Levant, in the eastern Mediterranean. It had first seriously entered the Roman political consciousness in the middle of the 1st century BCE. The Roman Republic’s most capable commander, Pompey the Great, had been busy quelling considerable unrest in the eastern Mediterranean. Top of his priorities was bringing an end to the Third Mithridatic War, finally ending the reign of Mithridates VI of Pontus, who had shown the temerity to challenge Roman power on three separate occasions! In the east, Pompey consolidated Roman control, defeating Albanians, Armenians, and Jews who opposed him. This included the siege and sack of Jerusalem in 63 BCE.


Ostensibly, Pompey had been invited to Judaea to intervene in a dispute between two rival sons – Hyrcanus and Aristobulus – over the inheritance of the Hasmonean throne. Angered by the perceived impertinence of Aristobulus, Pompey marched on Jerusalem and ransacked the city. It took three months to breach the walls and overrun the Temple precinct, and the protracted siege resulted in the death of some 12,000 Jews. Pompey himself entered the Temple’s Holy of Holies (hitherto the exclusive privilege of the high priest). Although this desecrated the Temple, Pompey otherwise showed considerable respect: no treasures were looted to be included within his Triumph, for instance, and he was quick to allow rituals to be resumed within the Temple.



For the rest of the article, see:

https://www.thecollector.com/roman-jewish-wars-history/