Near the fabled Pompeii is Herculaneum, another city buried and frozen in time by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Herculaneum was smaller, much wealthier, and more important to Roman high society, than the now more famous Pompeii. Herculaneum catered to the richest of the rich and the most powerful of the Empire. After the eruption of [more...]
Ephesus was an ancient city on the west coast of Turkey. It was one of the twelve cities of the Ionian League and was famed for the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The area of Ephesus was inhabited during the Early Stone Age about 6000 BC. The city [more...]
“… match me such a marvel, save in Eastern clime A rose-red city, half as old as time.” ["Petra", John William Burgon] Petra was initially established around the 6th century BC, by the Nabataeans. They were a nomadic tribe who settled in the region and built the foundations of a commercial empire that extended into Syria and [more...]
The Pont du Gard is a segment of Roman aqueduct found in the South of France. It is almost 200 feet high and 900 feet long. The elevated aqueduct bridge was designed to carry the water across the Gardon river valley and was part of a nearly 31 mile long water system that brought water to [more...]
Palmyra is an ancient city in Syria. Palmyra was once called the “Bride of the Desert,” and was an important stop for caravans. It flourished in Roman times. But this is less about the city than about a woman. Palmyra’s trade began to flounder in the early 3rd century, when the Persians occupied the mouth of the Tigris [more...]
This ancient Phoenician city, where a triad of deities was worshipped, was known as Heliopolis during the Hellenistic period. It retained its religious importance during Roman times, when the sanctuary of Jupiter attracted thousands of pilgrims. Baalbeck became one of the world’s greatest and best preserved Roman sites. It is the largest complex of Roman temples [more...]
Hadrian’s villa (Villa Adriana) was a sumptious complex of over 30 buildings, covering an area of at least 300 acres. Much of this has yet to be excavated or has been only partially explored by archaeologists. The grounds were filled with full-scale reproductions of the emperor’s favorite buildings from Greece and Egypt. Hadrian’s Villa was built [more...]
The ancient Roman Port of Ostia was situated at the mouth of the Tiber River. According to legend, Ostia was founded by the fourth king of Rome, Ancus Marcius, who was thought to have ruled in the late seventh century BC. So far no archaeological remains have been found in Ostia dating from this period. The [more...]
In modern Western culture, we think of bathing as a private activity. But in ancient Rome, bathing was a communal and social activity. This was conducted in facilities that in some ways are similar to modern spas or health clubs. In the 4th century there were at least 900 bath establishments in Rome. There was a strong [more...]
There were eleven aqueducts which supplied the ancient city of Rome. When the city population was over a million, these waterworks supplied at least a cubic meter of water for each resident. That is more than our modern water systems provide. The first was constructed in 312 BC and the last was added in 226 AD. They [more...]
Michelangelo looked at everything with an artist’s eye and it was said he was not easily impressed. But when he first saw the Pantheon he claimed it of “angelic and not human design.” When he saw it, this classic Roman temple was already more than 1350 years old. Another 500 years have passed since then. In [more...]
The Vestal Virgins were the only female priests within the Roman religious system. The head of the college of Vesta was called the Virgo Vestalis Maxima, and she was under the direct authority of the Pontifex Maximus. Their main function was to keep the sacred fire of Vesta and never allow it to go out. The [more...]
The Temple of Vesta was considered the ancestral hearth of the Roman Nation It was the place where the objects that Aeneas theoretically had bought from Troy were kept, and it was the temple that was guarded by the Vestal Virgins, the only female priesthood in Rome. In exchange for the rigid rules that governed their [more...]
The Coliseum in the city of Rome, Italy, was the largest amphitheater ever built in the Roman Empire. It was one of the most impressive works of of Roman engineering and architecture to be constructed. Until later centuries the building was never known as The Coliseum. It was correctly called the Flavian Amphiteater. Its construction took place [more...]