My statue has no nose! How does he smell? Terrible! Source: José Luis Filpo Cabana / CC BY-SA 4.0.

The Smell of the Greco Romans: Statues were Scented, New Study Finds

For those of you who watched the recent sequel to Gladiator, imaginatively named Gladiator II, firstly you have our sympathies. Whatever that mess was, it was closer to ill-conceived fantasy than a heroic, historical epic. But amidst the pointless diversions, the weirdly cheap sets and the endless toga flapping from a poorly cast and out-of-form

A room in the newly unearthed bathhouse, 2,000 years old and in an astonishing state of preservation. Source: Archaeological Park of Pompeii Press Office via AP.

A Once in a Century Find: Private Roman Bath Complex Unearthed in Pompeii

Near the center of the Roman city of Pompeii lies a large area known to archaeologists and researchers as Regio IX. This area is largely unexcavated, overlooked in favour of the grander public buildings which were prioritized as the city gave up her secrets. But, as recent discoveries have shown, there is much hidden beneath

New Roman Boundary Stone Discovery Writes of Lost Settlements

New Roman Boundary Stone Discovery Writes of Lost Settlements

A new paper tells of a discovery in northern Galilee: a Roman boundary stone dated to the Roman 3rd century, and a surprise for researchers. The boundary stone, used to denote territorial limits and to act as a signpost, contains inscriptions relating to hitherto unknown people and places. The boundary stone was originally discovered in

The tomb raiders did not stop at stealing Etruscan funerary items: entire sarcophagi were stolen. Source: Italian Ministry of Culture.

Looted Etruscan Artwork Recovered from Amateurish Tomb Raiders

Italian Police have announced the recovery of looted artifacts stolen from a necropolis in Italy, according to a statement from the Italian Ministry of Culture. The artifacts, from Umbria in central Italy, date to the 3rd century BC and are Etruscan, a civilization which controlled central Italy before Rome was the dominant power in the

he Cadaver Synod, where Pope Formosus failed to defend himself against the charges levelled against him, on account of being dead. Source: Jean-Paul Laurens / Public Domain.

The Cadaver Synod, when a Dead Pope Stood Trial

The office of Pope has historically always been a highly important one. Such a role was and is intensely political, with the Pope uniquely being able to influence foreign powers through their people and their faith. This power does not always attract the pious, and the history of the Vatican and the broader Catholic Church

Bust believed to be of Sulla, probably from after his death. Source: Glyptothek / Public Domain.

Sulla: The Man Who Showed Caesar the Way

There is no question that the fate of Rome, her empire, Europe and by extension the western world was changed by one man. In the space of a single human lifetime this man took the august but creaking Roman Republic and, driven by his own ambition as much as a love for his people, remade

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