Dec 19 2009
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On the importance of archaeological context, by Get Fuzzy.
Dec 18 2009
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If You Won’t Visit It, We’ll Take It Away
An odd ad campaign to encourage tourism at Italian sites and museums.
Dec 17 2009
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Monument Lifted From Cleopatra’s Underwater City
“Egyptian archaeologists on Thursday lifted an ancient granite temple pylon out of the waters of the Mediterranean, where it had lain for centuries as part of the palace complex of Cleopatra, submerged in Alexandria’s harbor.
“The pylon, which once stood at the entrance to a temple of Isis, is to be the centerpiece of an ambitious underwater museum planned by Egypt to showcase the sunken city, which is believed to have been toppled into the sea by earthquakes in the 4th century.
“Divers and underwater archaeologists used a giant crane and ropes to lift the 9-ton, 7.4-foot-tall pylon, covered with muck and seaweed, out of the murky waters. It was deposited ashore as Egypt’s top archaeologist Zahi Hawass and other officials watched.”
Dec 08 2009
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Roman Graffiti: From Pompeii with Love
On the brothel walls there is the usual (still today, even on Facebook) bragging such as “Celadus the Thracier makes the girls moan!” - wherein the army definitely shouts the hardest (“Gaius Valerius Venustus, soldier of the 1st praetorian cohort, in the century of Rufus, screwer of women”) and “Myrtis, you do great blow jobs.” The only thing still missing is their hastily-scribbled phone numbers. Oh, and Ladies, beware; “Restitutus has many times deceived many girls.”
Dec 05 2009
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Discovery of the Laocoon
An Italian archaeologist is claiming to have figured out where exactly the famed Laocoon statue was found in 1506.
The above link is in Italian, but here is an English summary.
Dec 04 2009
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Pompeii in Google Street view
Fabulous.
Dec 02 2009
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How December 25 Became Christmas - Biblical Archaeology Review
”..[I]n about 200 C.E., a Christian teacher in Egypt makes reference to the date Jesus was born. According to Clement of Alexandria, several different days had been proposed by various Christian groups. Surprising as it may seem, Clement doesn’t mention December 25 at all. Clement writes: ‘There are those who have determined not only the year of our Lord’s birth, but also the day; and they say that it took place in the 28th year of Augustus, and in the 25th day of [the Egyptian month] Pachon [May 20 in our calendar]…And treating of His Passion, with very great accuracy, some say that it took place in the 16th year of Tiberius, on the 25th of Phamenoth [March 21]; and others on the 25th of Pharmuthi [April 21] and others say that on the 19th of Pharmuthi [April 15] the Savior suffered. Further, others say that He was born on the 24th or 25th of Pharmuthi [April 20 or 21].’”
Nov 28 2009
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I have been tidying up my Flickr set of art & archaeology images, came across this photo of the head of an Amazon in the Capitoline Museums, Rome.
Nov 27 2009
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http://www.bsrdigitalcollections.it/
The British School at Rome: Library and Archive Digital Collections.
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History of the Parthenon, by Kostas Gavras.
