Racer XI @zanighedi

A 3,500-year-old Hittite sword made from a single piece of iron. It was crafted using the casting technique. The artifact is on display at the Amasra Museum. Source: Bartın Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism, Amasra Museum

Hierapolis, a Roman spa city raised over blinding white mineral terraces in what is now Turkey. Founded around 190 BC by Eumenes II of Pergamon, drawn by hot springs long sacred to older Anatolian cults. Rome later made it fashionable: baths, a colonnaded street, a theatre built under Hadrian. Somewhere inside those ruins sits something else entirely: a small stone gateway the Romans called the Plutonium. The gate to the underworld. The geographer Strabo visited and tested it himself. He threw sparrows through the opening. "They immediately breathed their last and fell," he wrote. Priests of the goddess Cybele would walk in and come out alive, seemingly protected by the gods. It became a serious source of income for the temple. In 2018, geologists finally confirmed what was really happening. The cave sits directly over a fault line venting carbon dioxide, thick enough in places to kill almost instantly. The gas sinks, so timing a breath and staying above it gave the priests a real chance of survival. Strabo's sparrows really did die exactly like he said. The Romans just never knew why. Two thousand years on, the gas is still there. The gate still kills birds that fly too low.🏛️

Statuette of an Ancestral King Late Period – Early-Ptolemaic Period, c. 380-246 B.C. Met Museum. 2003.154 ▫️This finely carved wooden figure depicts a kneeling king striking his chest in a solemn ritual gesture. Such figures formed part of temple processions, accompanying the sacred shrines of the gods as they emerged before the people during religious festivals. In temple reliefs, similar figures appear alongside falcon- and jackal-headed divine beings, attending the sunrise or the coronation of the king. The identity of this human-headed figure remains uncertain. Some scholars believe it represents a deified ancestral ruler, while others interpret it as a mythical being embodying the eternal nature of kingship within the divine realm. Originally covered with thin sheets of lead, which would have enhanced its sacred appearance, the statuette reflects the rich ceremonial life of Egypt's temples and the enduring bond between the pharaoh, the gods, and the rituals that sustained cosmic order.

Today in 30 BC: Octavian defeats Mark Antony at the Battle of Alexandria

This is Emperor Nero's 2,000-year-old bathtub. This massive basin is carved entirely from purple porphyry, a rare and coveted marble mined from a single quarry in Roman Egypt: if you were to acquire that much of it today, it would cost around $1 billion.

July 29, 1988 #Year1988 #July29th1988 #July1988 youtu.be/xy8KKQ5wcwM?is…

2,500 years looks good on you! 🏛️

The Epic of Gilgamesh predates the Odyssey by several centuries and is widely considered the world's oldest surviving great work of literature. The earliest versions were written in ancient Mesopotamia around 2100 BCE, long before the Odyssey was composed in the late 8th century BCE. The story follows Gilgamesh, the powerful but arrogant king of Uruk, whose life changes after he befriends the wild man Enkidu. Together they defeat monsters and achieve legendary feats, but after Enkidu's life comes to an end, Gilgamesh is consumed by grief and sets out in search of the secret to eternal life. His journey ultimately teaches him that human life is finite, and that a meaningful life, lasting achievements, and the legacy one leaves behind are the closest anyone can come to immortality. #drthehistories

#FrescoFriday - In situ fresco in the Macellum of Pompeii, depicting the moment Penelope encounters Odysseus, who is disguising himself as a beggar. #TheOdyssey #Odysseus

July 30, 1988 #Year1988 #July30th1988 #July1988 youtu.be/xy8KKQ5wcwM?is…

Pacific Ocean, California

la Fuente de Antonino en la antigua ciudad de Sagalassos. Es un ninfeo romano restaurado que data de la época del emperador Antonino Pío, aproximadamente entre el 160 y el 180 d.C. Turquía 🇹🇷 Buenas noches con hermosos monumentos

Merveille de l'art grec, cette kylix en terre cuite figurant l'épisode de Dionysos et les pirates, déjà métamorphosés par le dieu en dauphins. 540-530 av. J.-C. Staatliche Antikensammlungen, Munich, photo personnelle.

Snake paintings in Pompeii, commonly known as agathodaimon (good spirit) frescoes, were painted in Roman households as protective guardians They adorned lararia (household shrines), kitchens, and garden walls to ward off evil spirits, bring good fortune, and ensure fertility

Yesterday, visiting the Hissar Fortress near Dushanbe. #ArchaeologyTravel #Tajikistan Although much of the fortress we see today is largely an 18th- and 19th-century reconstruction, the site itself has a history stretching back more than 2,500 years. Located in the fertile Hissar Valley, about 30 km west of Dushanbe, it occupied a strategic position controlling the routes between Bactria to the south and Sogdiana to the north, making it an important centre long before the medieval fortress.

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Voici l'une des plus anciennes représentations du cheval de Troie (670 avant J.-C.) Motif découvert à partir d'un pithos, une grande jarre.

Histoire & Odyssée @HistoireOdyssee

3 weeks ago

La Troie de l'Iliade a-t-elle vraiment existé ? Contrairement aux idées reçues, les archéologues n'ont pas découvert une Troie, mais neuf villes successives, construites les unes sur les autres. Sous cette colline se cachent près de 5 000 ans d'histoire. 🧵

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Temple of Hera II (often called “Temple of Neptune”), Paestum. Date: mid‑5th century BC. Photographer: Floriano Rescigno.

The Arch of Titus in Rome is far more than a mere relic of antiquity; it encapsulates the narrative of an empire asserting its dominance. Erected in 81 CE by Emperor Domitian to commemorate his brother Titus, the arch pays tribute to the Roman triumph in Judea and the fierce siege of Jerusalem that occurred in 70 CE. Towering at over 50 feet (15.4 meters), this monumental structure is positioned along the Via Sacra, the principal thoroughfare of the Roman Forum. As you walk underneath it, you'll encounter intricate sculptures depicting Titus in a chariot on one side, while the opposite side showcases Roman soldiers transporting treasures taken from the Temple of Jerusalem.

July 17, 1988 #Year1988 #July17th1988 #July1988 youtu.be/xy8KKQ5wcwM?is…

Today on 17th July The Romans celebrated the festival of two deities - the god Honos (Honour) and the goddess Virtus (Courage). They shared a temple that housed many works of art at Porta Capena and was later damaged by the fire of Nero’s reign. Vespasian restored the temple.