Greece Archives - Page 3 of 35

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

“A trove of ancient statues, coins, pottery and pieces of a merchant ship has surfaced from the waters off the coast of Alexandria, Egypt.”

“An Italian archaeologist said recently he has found the exact location of Plato’s grave in the Platonic Academy in Athens after deciphering the Herculaneum papyri.”

New remains from the Kingdom of Lydia will soon be open to visitors to Sardis.

“The Minister of Culture and Tourism declared 2025 a ‘Golden Age of Archaeology’ for Türkiye.”

Zoom lecture on Sept 9: “After 1177 BC: The Survival of Civilizations,” by Eric Cline (date corrected)

Owen Jarus explains why identifying the Roman emperor who ruled the longest is complicated.

Philip Chrysopoulos explains why Nabonidus was the world’s first archaeologist.

Bible Mapper Atlas has created an audio-visual reading of Paul’s dramatic voyage to Rome in Acts 27.

in Biblical World’s second episode in its Second Temple series, Mary Buck explains the significance and major events of the Neo-Babylonian period.

I’ve recently been browsing Nancy S. Dawson’s All the Genealogies of the Bible (Zondervan Academic, 2023), and it is an impressive body of research on an important but neglected topic. It’s remarkable how much genealogies permeate Scripture. It’s available in hardcover from Amazon ($31) and digital from Logos ($30).

HT: Agade

Tagged Egypt, Greece, Lectures, Mesopotamia, Resources, Turkey, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

Nathan Steinmeyer has written an introduction to the Sinai, including its role in biblical history.

“Egypt Eternal: 4,000 Years of Fascination” is a new exhibition opening at the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East on September 21.

A Scottish tourist was accused of stealing five stones and a brick fragment from the ancient city of Pompeii.

An ancient footpath network connects 46 villages in northwestern Greece.

New release: Slavery and Honour in the Ancient Greek World, edited by David Lewis, Mirko Canevaro, Douglas Cairns (Edinburgh University Press, 312 pages, $140, open-access)

New release: The Boomer Archaeologist: A Graphic Memoir of Tribes, Identity, and the Holy Land, by Thomas Evan Levy (Equinox, 400 pages, $40). The reviews are quite good. Use code 2893-25 for 25% off. (Publisher’s website is clunky, but the book is not yet available at Amazon.)

Applications are now open for the 2026 Biblical Field Studies tour—a funded study trip in Turkey for Bible teachers and scholars in the Majority World.

HT: Agade, Gordon Franz, Alexander Schick, Arne Halbakken, Explorator

Tagged Egypt, Greece, Resources, Turkey, Weekend Roundup

July Roundup, Part 5 (Greece, Roman Empire, and more)

Archaeologists working at Philippi have uncovered a large public building, workshops, residences, and bathhouses.

An intact Roman-era bridge was discovered at the site of Elefsina (ancient Eleusis) in Greece.

“Twenty-six sites have been added to UNESCO’s World Heritage List, designating their cultural and natural importance,” including the Minoan palatial centers on Crete and Sardis and the Lydian tumuli in Turkey.

“When some residents of Athens, Greece, turn on their sinks, showers and public fountains later this month, water will flow to some taps from an ancient source: a 2,000-year-old underground aqueduct originally built by the Roman Empire.”

“A handful of broken oil lamps could shed light on a small and long-vanished Jewish community that lived in southern Spain in the late Roman era as the old gods were being snuffed out by Christianity.”

Brent Seales has been awarded a $13.5 million grant to support his work in deciphering the carbonized scrolls of Herculaneum.

“A new A.I. tool developed by Google DeepMind helps scholars fill in words missing from ancient inscriptions and estimate historical data about the textual artifacts, making educated guesses based on context and similar inscriptions.”

More than 120 dodecahedrons have been discovered throughout the Roman empire in the last three centuries, but though dozens of theories of their function have been proposed, scholars are still at a loss.

“Caligula, the notoriously erratic Roman emperor known for his bloodthirsty cruelty, probably also possessed a nerd’s knowledge of medicinal plants, according to a new Yale study.”

Thomas J. Derrick explores the smells, both good and bad, of ancient Rome.

The archaeological collection of the late James F. Strange is benefiting students at the University of South Florida.

ReferenceMapper is a new, free tool “that will fetch all related Bible Mapper maps and articles for each Bible reference on your page and link them to a map icon next to the Bible reference.”

Available for pre-order for Logos:

The Archaeology of the Bible, by James K. Hoffmeier ($14)
The Essential Archaeological Guide to Bible Lands, by Titus Kennedy ($18)
Archaeology and the World of Jesus, by David A. deSilva ($25)

Carmen Joy Imes discusses her favorite historical fiction books written by biblical scholars (8 min). I’ve read most of the seven books she mentions, and I agree with her recommendations.

HT: Agade, Explorator

Tagged Discoveries, Excavations, Greece, Italy, Resources, Technology, Tourism, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

“A contractor digging into the earth where the rubble of a destroyed house had been cleared away in northern Syria stumbled across a surprise: the remains of an underground Byzantine tomb complex.”

“A wooden-structured burial chamber believed to belong to the Phrygian royal family has been uncovered in the ancient city of Gordion in Türkiye’s capital, Ankara.” The individual is possibly related to Gordios or Midas.

“A recent study suggests that high-altitude wind patterns played a crucial role in the collapse of the Minoan civilization by spreading volcanic ash and aerosols from the eruption of the Thera volcano.”

“The Greek Culture Ministry has unveiled a series of enhancements to the Acropolis archaeological site, offering visitors access to newly restored areas and improved facilities for the first time in decades.” The Old Acropolis Museum has not yet been reopened.

Athens is working to help tourists deal with the summer heat, including planting thousands of trees, removing concrete, and closing the Acropolis.

Alison Wilkinson writes about women’s rights in marriage in ancient Egypt. The full issue of The Ancient Near East Today is online here.

The Grand Egyptian Museum will hold its official inauguration on July 3, and the museum will be open to the public beginning on July 6.

HT: Agade, Explorator

Tagged Discoveries, Egypt, Greece, Museums, Syria, Tourism, Turkey, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

Archaeologists believe that they have discovered the lost city of Tharais, depicted on the Madaba Mosaic Map, in southern Jordan.

“Two seal impressions found on a large storage vessel, dated to the Early Bronze Age (2700–2300 BC), raise compelling questions about the role of Greece’s Cyclades islands in the emergence of script—potentially rewriting the more commonly accepted narrative that places the birth of writing on Minoan Crete at around 2000 BC.”

St. Catherine’s Monastery has been closed to all visitors in protest of an Egyptian court ruling that challenges its ownership status. An agreement may have been reached on Wednesday.

“The Centre of Excellence in Ancient Near Eastern Empires has published an annotated text corpus of some 6,000 Babylonian texts from the sixth and fifth centuries BCE.”

Leonard J. Greenspoon, best known for his work in Septuagint and Jewish Bible translations, died recently.

Walter Brueggemann, a widely published OT scholar, died on Thursday. Brent A. Strawn has written a tribute.

Turkish Archaeological News surveys the main stories of the month of May.

After more than 20 years of archaeological work, only 1.3% of Laodicea has been excavated.
The Manisa Museum has been reopened after being closed in 2000.
A recent two-day event offered hikers a chance to experience some of the 342-mile-long Historic Cilicia Way Project.

Bible Archaeology Report’s top three reports for May “include shipwrecks, gold, and a stone capital with an intriguing image.”

HT: Agade, Keith Keyser, Arne Halbakken, Alexander Schick, Gordon Franz, Mark V. Hoffman, Ted Weis

Tagged Egypt, Excavations, Greece, Jordan, Mesopotamia, Sad News, Turkey, Weekend Roundup

Weekend Roundup, Part 2

“An ancient tomb in Greece does not hold the remains of Philip II, the father of Alexander the Great.”

A new study shows that the interior of the Parthenon in Athens was not a “sunbathed, bright marble room,” but rather a dim, dark space that “enhanced the sense of awe and religious experience.”

“The Herod Atticus Theater in Athens will close for at least three years for essential maintenance and restoration work.”

The Lion of Amphipolis “will be treated for damage from humidity, exposure, and the use of inappropriate materials in its original restoration.”

Deirdre N. Fulton and Lidar Sapir-Hen explain what zooarchaeology is.

“A scarab beetle set in gold shows that ancient Egyptians thought the heart was the most important organ in the human body.”

Sean Manning considers an Assyrian lion hunt in order to answer the question of how heavy Iron Age bows were.

This 8-minute video explains why ancient ruins are underground.

HT: Agade, Jon Litts, Explorator

Tagged Egypt, Greece, Mesopotamia, Tourism, Weekend Roundup