I think before Suez you probably would have been right, it was definitely a thing to travel overland across that narrow stretch of Egypt to the Red Sea.
The History Thread
- Thread starter SteveJ
- Start date
I think before Suez you probably would have been right, it was definitely a thing to travel overland across that narrow stretch of Egypt to the Red Sea.
Yeah. That hadn't occurred to me. Railways changed everything in the nineteenth century even before the arrival of steamships. How much passenger traffic did the canal take, or was it mainly employed for freight?
So according to Hobsbawm, Jules Verne's Phileas Fogg took seven days going from London to Port Said by rail and steamer, via Brindisi - so there was an overland element - and then thirteen days on to Bombay. He reckons that Fogg's 80 days in 1872 would have taken around 11 months in 1848, and that this improvement was almost entirely due to the railway.
He says 1.25 million tons of cargo passed through the Canal in 1874.
He says 1.25 million tons of cargo passed through the Canal in 1874.
Nice piece here on Aleppo:
What is Aleppo? Once One of the World's Great Cities, Until the World Abandoned it
"War is God's way of teaching Americans geography."
—Ambrose Bierce
Five years of war in Syria may not have taught Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson what Aleppo is, and there are no doubt many other Americans who couldn't find Syria's largest city on a map. As another fragile ceasefire takes tenuous hold, I thought it might be a suitable time to talk a bit about a once magnificent city now reduced to rubble.
Before the civil war produced a huge outflow of refugees, Aleppo's population of over two million made Aleppo the largest city in Syria, larger than the capital, Damascus. In Ottoman times it was the third-largest city in the Empire, after Constantinople and Cairo.
Aleppo is an ancient city, very ancient. The Temple of Hadad inside Aleppo's spectacular citadel shows the site has been occupied since the Third Millennium BC, and perhaps much earlier. Archaeological exploration has been limited by the presence of the modern city, but like several other cities in the region it has a claim to being one of the earliest human settlements. It is mentioned as a key city in the tablets from Ebla and Mari.
The Arabic name for the city, Halab, is also very ancient, and seems to refer to whiteness. Its location at the curve of the Fertile Crescent, between the Euphrates and Orontes valleys, made it a center of trade from ancient times. With Antioch (and later Alexandretta) providing outlets for Mediterranean trade, and the evolution of the Silk Road to the East, on which Aleppo was a major entrepot, Aleppo became and until recently remained, one of the key trading centers of the Middle East. Its archaeological museum, now closed and with damage from artillery, was once a gem.
Like other ancient cities, prewar Aleppo was a palimpsest of ancient cultures: Amorite, Hittite, Seleucid, Roman, and in the Islamic era Hamdanid, Seljuq, Zangid, Ayyubid, and Mamluk. The great Arab poet al-Mutanabbi wrote some of his best work at the Hamdanid court of Saif sal-Dawla in Aleppo. In Ottoman times it was a richly cosmopolitan city populated by Arabs, Armenians, Turks, Turcomans, Kurds, and Jews.
In the early modern era, Aleppo became well known in Europe. The English Levant Company, one of the main Tudor trading companies, founded n 1592, had a headquarters at Aleppo. Shakespeare mentions the city at least twice:
Set you down this;
And say besides, that in Aleppo once,
Where a malignant and a turban'd Turk
Beat a Venetian and traduc'd the state,
I took by the throat the circumcised dog,
And smote him thus.
Othello, Act 5, Scene 2 (just before stabbing himself)
First witch: A sailor’s wife had chestnuts in her lap,
And munched, and munched, and munched. “Give me,”
quoth I.
“Aroint thee, witch!” the rump-fed runnion cries.
Her husband’s to Aleppo gone, master o' th' Tiger;
But in a sieve I’ll thither sail,
And like a rat without a tail,
I’ll do, I’ll do, and I’ll do.
Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 3
Though politically eclipsed by Damascus, Aleppo was a major center under the French Mandate, and in independent Syria. Its most famous European hotel, the Armenian-owned Hotel Baron, boasted a clientele of almost every famous figure in 19th and 20th century Middle Eastern history, including various kings and Presidents from de Gaulle to Nasser, and had a framed unpaid bar bill of T.E. Lawrence's on display. Sadly, though it stayed open through several years of the civil war, I understand the Baron stopped taking guests in 2014, by which time it was almost on the front lines. I never stayed there, but I did once have a drink at the bar. Unlike Lawrence, I paid my tab.
The old city of Aleppo, a UNESCO World Heritage site, has suffered terribly. The famous Suq was burned several years go; numerous mosques, the Archaeological Museum, and even the awesome Citadel have suffered damage. Perhaps the question should be, not "What is Aleppo?" but rather "What was Aleppo?"
http://mideasti.blogspot.ie/2016/09/what-is-aleppo-once-one-of-worlds-great.html
What is Aleppo? Once One of the World's Great Cities, Until the World Abandoned it
"War is God's way of teaching Americans geography."
—Ambrose Bierce
Five years of war in Syria may not have taught Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson what Aleppo is, and there are no doubt many other Americans who couldn't find Syria's largest city on a map. As another fragile ceasefire takes tenuous hold, I thought it might be a suitable time to talk a bit about a once magnificent city now reduced to rubble.
Before the civil war produced a huge outflow of refugees, Aleppo's population of over two million made Aleppo the largest city in Syria, larger than the capital, Damascus. In Ottoman times it was the third-largest city in the Empire, after Constantinople and Cairo.
Aleppo is an ancient city, very ancient. The Temple of Hadad inside Aleppo's spectacular citadel shows the site has been occupied since the Third Millennium BC, and perhaps much earlier. Archaeological exploration has been limited by the presence of the modern city, but like several other cities in the region it has a claim to being one of the earliest human settlements. It is mentioned as a key city in the tablets from Ebla and Mari.
The Arabic name for the city, Halab, is also very ancient, and seems to refer to whiteness. Its location at the curve of the Fertile Crescent, between the Euphrates and Orontes valleys, made it a center of trade from ancient times. With Antioch (and later Alexandretta) providing outlets for Mediterranean trade, and the evolution of the Silk Road to the East, on which Aleppo was a major entrepot, Aleppo became and until recently remained, one of the key trading centers of the Middle East. Its archaeological museum, now closed and with damage from artillery, was once a gem.
Like other ancient cities, prewar Aleppo was a palimpsest of ancient cultures: Amorite, Hittite, Seleucid, Roman, and in the Islamic era Hamdanid, Seljuq, Zangid, Ayyubid, and Mamluk. The great Arab poet al-Mutanabbi wrote some of his best work at the Hamdanid court of Saif sal-Dawla in Aleppo. In Ottoman times it was a richly cosmopolitan city populated by Arabs, Armenians, Turks, Turcomans, Kurds, and Jews.
In the early modern era, Aleppo became well known in Europe. The English Levant Company, one of the main Tudor trading companies, founded n 1592, had a headquarters at Aleppo. Shakespeare mentions the city at least twice:
Set you down this;
And say besides, that in Aleppo once,
Where a malignant and a turban'd Turk
Beat a Venetian and traduc'd the state,
I took by the throat the circumcised dog,
And smote him thus.
Othello, Act 5, Scene 2 (just before stabbing himself)
First witch: A sailor’s wife had chestnuts in her lap,
And munched, and munched, and munched. “Give me,”
quoth I.
“Aroint thee, witch!” the rump-fed runnion cries.
Her husband’s to Aleppo gone, master o' th' Tiger;
But in a sieve I’ll thither sail,
And like a rat without a tail,
I’ll do, I’ll do, and I’ll do.
Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 3
Though politically eclipsed by Damascus, Aleppo was a major center under the French Mandate, and in independent Syria. Its most famous European hotel, the Armenian-owned Hotel Baron, boasted a clientele of almost every famous figure in 19th and 20th century Middle Eastern history, including various kings and Presidents from de Gaulle to Nasser, and had a framed unpaid bar bill of T.E. Lawrence's on display. Sadly, though it stayed open through several years of the civil war, I understand the Baron stopped taking guests in 2014, by which time it was almost on the front lines. I never stayed there, but I did once have a drink at the bar. Unlike Lawrence, I paid my tab.
The old city of Aleppo, a UNESCO World Heritage site, has suffered terribly. The famous Suq was burned several years go; numerous mosques, the Archaeological Museum, and even the awesome Citadel have suffered damage. Perhaps the question should be, not "What is Aleppo?" but rather "What was Aleppo?"
http://mideasti.blogspot.ie/2016/09/what-is-aleppo-once-one-of-worlds-great.html
This day 2496 years ago, Western civilisation began at Salamis
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...rs-ago-western-civilisation-began-at-salamis/
Or perhaps you feel that a different day or event is more fitting?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...rs-ago-western-civilisation-began-at-salamis/
Or perhaps you feel that a different day or event is more fitting?
Ancient Roman coins found buried under ruins of Japanese castle leave archaeologists baffled
The rare coins are thought to date back to around 400AD
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/s...okinawa-buried-ancient-currency-a7332901.html
The rare coins are thought to date back to around 400AD
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/s...okinawa-buried-ancient-currency-a7332901.html
So...Chuck Yeager has discovered twitter. And i think a British gal might have told him to Foxtro Oscar once or twice. 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...asty-and-arrogant-says-wwii-flying-ace-chuck/
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/201...asty-and-arrogant-says-wwii-flying-ace-chuck/
Iraq MP: Ancient Sumerians travelled space and discovered Pluto
Iraq's Transport Minister Kazem Finjan has claimed that ancient Sumerians in Iraq invented space travel.
Finjan made the outlandlish claim during a press conference in the southern Iraqi province of Dhi Qar.
In a speech, he said that the ancient civilisation had built the world's first airport in the area around 5,000 BC.
Finjan went on to claim that the airport had served as a hub for space exploration, and that the Sumerians discovered Pluto falsely claiming it to be the solar system's "twelfth planet" and discovered by NASA.
In front of a beleaguered audience Finjan sought to back up his claims asking sceptics to study the works of Sumerian experts such as Russian professor Samuel Kramer.
The academic wrote about the Sumerian awareness of the solar system evident in the ancient society's creation myths.
The Sumerians represent the oldest known civilization in Iraq and according to historians reached their peak in 2,700-2,400 BC when Iraq - or ancient Mesopotamia - was regarded as the "cradle of civilisation".
However, most hold that the first manned space journey took place under the Soviet space programme in 1957.
Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin boarded Vostok 1 and embarked on a single orbit of the Earth lasting 108 minutes before Gagarin ejected at 23,000 ft and parachuted back to earth.
It's still not clear if he spotted any ancient Sumerians on his intergalactic travels.
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/b...umerians-travelled-space-and-discovered-pluto
Iraq's Transport Minister Kazem Finjan has claimed that ancient Sumerians in Iraq invented space travel.
Finjan made the outlandlish claim during a press conference in the southern Iraqi province of Dhi Qar.
In a speech, he said that the ancient civilisation had built the world's first airport in the area around 5,000 BC.
Finjan went on to claim that the airport had served as a hub for space exploration, and that the Sumerians discovered Pluto falsely claiming it to be the solar system's "twelfth planet" and discovered by NASA.
In front of a beleaguered audience Finjan sought to back up his claims asking sceptics to study the works of Sumerian experts such as Russian professor Samuel Kramer.
The academic wrote about the Sumerian awareness of the solar system evident in the ancient society's creation myths.
The Sumerians represent the oldest known civilization in Iraq and according to historians reached their peak in 2,700-2,400 BC when Iraq - or ancient Mesopotamia - was regarded as the "cradle of civilisation".
However, most hold that the first manned space journey took place under the Soviet space programme in 1957.
Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin boarded Vostok 1 and embarked on a single orbit of the Earth lasting 108 minutes before Gagarin ejected at 23,000 ft and parachuted back to earth.
It's still not clear if he spotted any ancient Sumerians on his intergalactic travels.
https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/b...umerians-travelled-space-and-discovered-pluto
The katun is established at Chichen Itza. The settlement of the Itza shall take place there. The quetzal shall come, the green bird shall come. Ah Kantenal shall come. It is the word of God. The Itza shall come.
What would Trump's Mayan name be?
Maya Quimby.What would Trump's Mayan name be?
Quiffyquotzel.What would Trump's Mayan name be?
Kwiftikitaka
youarefired
I'm looking for recommendations here. I'm reading a book called : The Myth of the Andalusian Paradise.
One of the themes is that during the so-called "dark ages", contrary to what many non-Spanish experts say, the Muslims did not "rescue Greek knowledge for Europeans" because the Byzantine Empire had maintained all those texts anyway. I wonder if anyone could recommend any books on this aspect of the dark ages
One of the themes is that during the so-called "dark ages", contrary to what many non-Spanish experts say, the Muslims did not "rescue Greek knowledge for Europeans" because the Byzantine Empire had maintained all those texts anyway. I wonder if anyone could recommend any books on this aspect of the dark ages
Photos taken by a Russian trawlerman; creatures he has pulled from the depths:
http://www.liverpoolway.co.uk/index.php?/topic/110580-the-oceans-depths/
http://www.liverpoolway.co.uk/index.php?/topic/110580-the-oceans-depths/
fixed
Titanic sank due to enormous uncontrollable fire, not iceberg, claim experts
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...ork-southampton-sink-april-1912-a7504236.html
Purely as someone who has an interest in history and a little knowledge of naval matters, i confess that i struggle with this theory. Did any of you see the documentary over the Xmas/NY period?
Dating back to the days where wood and canvas were the materials used when constructing ships, fire has been one of the greatest fears for sailors. That the company was complacent with the Titanic's design is one thing, that its crew and officers would be blasé about a fire, quite another.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...ork-southampton-sink-april-1912-a7504236.html
Purely as someone who has an interest in history and a little knowledge of naval matters, i confess that i struggle with this theory. Did any of you see the documentary over the Xmas/NY period?
Dating back to the days where wood and canvas were the materials used when constructing ships, fire has been one of the greatest fears for sailors. That the company was complacent with the Titanic's design is one thing, that its crew and officers would be blasé about a fire, quite another.
Wish I could take some photos of stuff I'm doing at work right now. Have a couple of roman skeletons which are quite cool.
What do you do, may i ask? And where are the skeletons from, a dig somewhere?
Admittedly, Hatshepsut is one of my favourite pharaohs (next to Sneferu), but i found this to be a great watch. I wanted to study archaeology at uni, and it's an inspiring tale from that perspective too.
An ancient continent that was once sandwiched between India and Madagascar now lies scattered on the bottom of the Indian Ocean.
The first clues to the continent’s existence came when some parts of the Indian Ocean were found to have stronger gravitational fields than others, indicating thicker crusts. One theory was that chunks of land had sunk and become attached to the ocean crust below.
Mauritius was one place with a powerful gravitational pull. In 2013, Lewis Ashwal at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa and his colleagues proposed that the volcanic island was sitting on a piece of old, sunken continent.
Although Mauritius is only 8 million years old, some zircon crystals on the island’s beaches are almost 2 billion years old. Volcanic eruptions may have ejected the zircon from ancient rock below.
Now, Ashwal and his team have found zircon crystals in Mauritius that are up to 3 billion years old. Through detailed analyses they have reconstructed the geological history of the lost continent, which they named Mauritia.
What the hell does that mean? A continental landmass was floating on the ocean and sank?
Would this be in the same place as the so called Lemuria?
Vanished States: the One-Month Life of the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic (1918)
http://mideasti.blogspot.ie/2017/02/vanished-states-one-month-life-of.html?m=1
A few years back, I started a series on "Vanished States," short-lived entities in the 20th century Middle East; I did posts on the Republic of Hatay (1938-39), the Syrian Arab Kingdom under Faisal (four months in 1920), the Hashemite Kingdom of the Hejaz (1916-1925), and the Rifian Republic (1921-1926) With this post, I'm returning to the theme.
The last two years of World War I and the several years following it were a time of the breaking of empires. The first of the transnational empires was that of Tsarist Russia, beginning March 8, 1917, the "February Revolution" (Russia was on the Julian calendar).
The Provisional Government in Petrograd soon appointed a "Special Transcaucasian Committee," responsible for the areas south of the ridgeline of the Caucasus, comprising the modern states of Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan.
At the time of the February Revolution, bear in mind that Russian forces were actively engaged against the Ottomans on the Armenian front, as well as operating in northwestern Persia.With the Revolution, there were widespread desertions on all fronts.
Areas occupied Sept. 1917
The Special Transcaucasian Committee took over administration in Transcaucasia and in Turkish territory that had been occupied during the war, This occupied zone was governed by local Armenian councils and referred to as Western Armenia and other terms.
The representatives on the Transcaucasus Committee were Mensheviks, members of the non-Leninist wing of the Social Democratic Party, who dominated the Provisional Government.
Evgeni Gegechkori
Then came the October Revolution on November 7 of the new calendar, when Lenin and the Bolsheviks seized power in Petrograd. On November 11, 1917, at Tbilisi, a Transcaucasian Commissariat was proclaimed, making the Transccaucasus nominally independent of Petrograd. It was chaired by the Georgian Menshevik Evgeni Gegechkori.
In January 1918, in an attempt to strengthen the tentative union, it was decided to create a Sejm or Parliament. In December, the Armistice of Erzincan with Turkey was endorsed by the Commissariat.
Chkeidze
The Sejm was led by Nikolay Chkeidze, another Georgian.
On March 3, 1918, the Russian Government signed the Treaty of Bresr-Litovsk. This called for the return to Turkey of its conquered territories. In negotiations in Trabzon, a delegation from the Sejm agreed to accept Brest-Litovsk as a basis for settlement, but this was rejected by the main Sejm in Tbilisi. Instead, on April 22, 1918, they declared the full independence of the Democratic Federative Republic of Transcaucasia, and also declared that it remained in a state of war with the Ottoman Empire.
The Flag
Unfortunately, the Democratic Federative Republic of Transcaucasia's name was longer than its duration as an independent state. With the collapse of the Russian Caucasus Army and Brest-Litovsk, the Transcaucasus cobbled together a Military Council of Nationalities of Armenian volunteers and Georgian and Azerbaijani troops. These untrained levies were no match for the Ottoman Third Army, which retook Kars and Erzurum and continued to advance on the Armenian front.
Anyone who has followed the Caucasus since the fall of the Soviet Union will not be surprisred y what happened after the fall of Tsarist Russia. The existence of enclaves of one ethnicity within the boundaries of another (Nagorno-Karabakh, Nakhichevan) was explosive then as now.
Remember, too, that in April-May 1918, World War I was very much still under way, and Germany and the Ottomans were very much still allies.
As the Ottoman Third Army advanced against Armenia and began to demand Tbilisi, Georgia negotiated a treaty with Germany, promising protection. Azerbaijan, meanwhile, chose to ally with its Turkic cousins in the Ottoman Empire.
On May 26, Georgia declared independence as the Democratic Republic of Georgia and proceeded to sign its treaty with Germany. Two days later, Armenia followed suit (the First Armenian Republic) and so did Azerbaijan. The Democratic Federative Republic had lasted from April 22 to May 28, 1918. Except for imposed entities under Soviet rule, the only real attempt at a Transcaucasian federation was virtually stillborn. Soon Armenians the three nationalities would be fighting each other, and the Bolsheviks, and Armenia would be fighting the Turks. There would be British intervention as well. But that is another story.
http://mideasti.blogspot.ie/2017/02/vanished-states-one-month-life-of.html?m=1
A few years back, I started a series on "Vanished States," short-lived entities in the 20th century Middle East; I did posts on the Republic of Hatay (1938-39), the Syrian Arab Kingdom under Faisal (four months in 1920), the Hashemite Kingdom of the Hejaz (1916-1925), and the Rifian Republic (1921-1926) With this post, I'm returning to the theme.
The last two years of World War I and the several years following it were a time of the breaking of empires. The first of the transnational empires was that of Tsarist Russia, beginning March 8, 1917, the "February Revolution" (Russia was on the Julian calendar).
The Provisional Government in Petrograd soon appointed a "Special Transcaucasian Committee," responsible for the areas south of the ridgeline of the Caucasus, comprising the modern states of Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan.
At the time of the February Revolution, bear in mind that Russian forces were actively engaged against the Ottomans on the Armenian front, as well as operating in northwestern Persia.With the Revolution, there were widespread desertions on all fronts.
Areas occupied Sept. 1917
The Special Transcaucasian Committee took over administration in Transcaucasia and in Turkish territory that had been occupied during the war, This occupied zone was governed by local Armenian councils and referred to as Western Armenia and other terms.
The representatives on the Transcaucasus Committee were Mensheviks, members of the non-Leninist wing of the Social Democratic Party, who dominated the Provisional Government.
Evgeni Gegechkori
Then came the October Revolution on November 7 of the new calendar, when Lenin and the Bolsheviks seized power in Petrograd. On November 11, 1917, at Tbilisi, a Transcaucasian Commissariat was proclaimed, making the Transccaucasus nominally independent of Petrograd. It was chaired by the Georgian Menshevik Evgeni Gegechkori.
In January 1918, in an attempt to strengthen the tentative union, it was decided to create a Sejm or Parliament. In December, the Armistice of Erzincan with Turkey was endorsed by the Commissariat.
Chkeidze
The Sejm was led by Nikolay Chkeidze, another Georgian.
On March 3, 1918, the Russian Government signed the Treaty of Bresr-Litovsk. This called for the return to Turkey of its conquered territories. In negotiations in Trabzon, a delegation from the Sejm agreed to accept Brest-Litovsk as a basis for settlement, but this was rejected by the main Sejm in Tbilisi. Instead, on April 22, 1918, they declared the full independence of the Democratic Federative Republic of Transcaucasia, and also declared that it remained in a state of war with the Ottoman Empire.
The Flag
Unfortunately, the Democratic Federative Republic of Transcaucasia's name was longer than its duration as an independent state. With the collapse of the Russian Caucasus Army and Brest-Litovsk, the Transcaucasus cobbled together a Military Council of Nationalities of Armenian volunteers and Georgian and Azerbaijani troops. These untrained levies were no match for the Ottoman Third Army, which retook Kars and Erzurum and continued to advance on the Armenian front.
Anyone who has followed the Caucasus since the fall of the Soviet Union will not be surprisred y what happened after the fall of Tsarist Russia. The existence of enclaves of one ethnicity within the boundaries of another (Nagorno-Karabakh, Nakhichevan) was explosive then as now.
Remember, too, that in April-May 1918, World War I was very much still under way, and Germany and the Ottomans were very much still allies.
As the Ottoman Third Army advanced against Armenia and began to demand Tbilisi, Georgia negotiated a treaty with Germany, promising protection. Azerbaijan, meanwhile, chose to ally with its Turkic cousins in the Ottoman Empire.
On May 26, Georgia declared independence as the Democratic Republic of Georgia and proceeded to sign its treaty with Germany. Two days later, Armenia followed suit (the First Armenian Republic) and so did Azerbaijan. The Democratic Federative Republic had lasted from April 22 to May 28, 1918. Except for imposed entities under Soviet rule, the only real attempt at a Transcaucasian federation was virtually stillborn. Soon Armenians the three nationalities would be fighting each other, and the Bolsheviks, and Armenia would be fighting the Turks. There would be British intervention as well. But that is another story.
The Trilithon/Stones of Baalbek complex:
Built 1000 years ago in Lebanon. Apparently the big stone blocks (3 of them, apparently) weigh about 800 tonnes each, so a single block is said to weigh as much as 3 Boeing 747s.
The Sacsayhuaman Walls:
Don't think too much needs to be said about what an incredible structure that is! Again apparently about 1000 years old, and extraordinary precision in the construction and arrangement of the stone blocks.
Stonehenge is an amazing structure but I feel like these two sites need more attention.
Built 1000 years ago in Lebanon. Apparently the big stone blocks (3 of them, apparently) weigh about 800 tonnes each, so a single block is said to weigh as much as 3 Boeing 747s.
The Sacsayhuaman Walls:
Don't think too much needs to be said about what an incredible structure that is! Again apparently about 1000 years old, and extraordinary precision in the construction and arrangement of the stone blocks.
Stonehenge is an amazing structure but I feel like these two sites need more attention.
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Giant statue of pharaoh found in Cairo slum
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/africa/giant-statue-of-pharaoh-found-in-cairo-slum-1.3005699
Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered a massive statue in a Cairo slum which is thought to be of Pharaoh Ramses II, one of the country’s most famous ancient rulers.
The colossus, whose head was pulled from mud and groundwater by a bulldozer on Thursday, is about 26ft (8m) high and was discovered by a German-Egyptian team.
Ramses II ruled Egypt more than 3,000 years ago and was a great builder whose effigy can be seen at a string of archaeological sites across the country.
Massive statues of the warrior-king can be seen in Luxor, while his most famous monument is found in Abu Simbel, near Sudan.
Statue Egyptologist Khaled Nabil Osman said the statue was an “impressive find” and the area is likely to be full of other buried artefacts. “It was the main cultural place of ancient Egypt – even the Bible mentions it,” he said. “The sad news is that the whole area needs to be cleaned up – the sewers and market should be moved.”
Mr Osman said the massive head removed from the ground was made in the style in which Ramses was typically depicted. The site contained parts of both that statue and another.
Egypt is packed with ancient treasures, many of which remain buried. Sites open to tourists are often empty of late as the country has suffered from political instability which has scared off visitors since the Arab Spring uprising in 2011.
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/africa/giant-statue-of-pharaoh-found-in-cairo-slum-1.3005699
Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered a massive statue in a Cairo slum which is thought to be of Pharaoh Ramses II, one of the country’s most famous ancient rulers.
The colossus, whose head was pulled from mud and groundwater by a bulldozer on Thursday, is about 26ft (8m) high and was discovered by a German-Egyptian team.
Ramses II ruled Egypt more than 3,000 years ago and was a great builder whose effigy can be seen at a string of archaeological sites across the country.
Massive statues of the warrior-king can be seen in Luxor, while his most famous monument is found in Abu Simbel, near Sudan.
Statue Egyptologist Khaled Nabil Osman said the statue was an “impressive find” and the area is likely to be full of other buried artefacts. “It was the main cultural place of ancient Egypt – even the Bible mentions it,” he said. “The sad news is that the whole area needs to be cleaned up – the sewers and market should be moved.”
Mr Osman said the massive head removed from the ground was made in the style in which Ramses was typically depicted. The site contained parts of both that statue and another.
Egypt is packed with ancient treasures, many of which remain buried. Sites open to tourists are often empty of late as the country has suffered from political instability which has scared off visitors since the Arab Spring uprising in 2011.
Shelley FTW.
Some pictures of Aleppo from early 20th c.:
Archaeologist Tired Of Unearthing Unspeakable Ancient Evils
HASAKE, SYRIA—When archaeologist Edward Whitson joined a Penn State University dig in Hasake last year, he did so to participate in the excavation of a Late Bronze Age settlement rich in pottery shards and clay figurines. Whitson had hoped to determine whether the items contained within the site were primarily Persian or Assyrian in origin.
Instead, he found himself fleeing giant flying demon-cats as he ran through the temple's cavernous halls, jumping from ledge to ledge while locked in a desperate struggle for his life and soul for what seemed like the thousandth time in his 27-year career.
"All I wanted to do was study the settlement's remarkably well-preserved kiln," said the 58-year-old Whitson, carefully recoiling the rope he had just used to clamber out of a pit filled with giant rats. "I didn't want to be chased by yet another accursed manifestation of an ancient god-king's wrath."
More:
http://www.theonion.com/article/archaeologist-tired-of-unearthing-unspeakable-anci-1448
HASAKE, SYRIA—When archaeologist Edward Whitson joined a Penn State University dig in Hasake last year, he did so to participate in the excavation of a Late Bronze Age settlement rich in pottery shards and clay figurines. Whitson had hoped to determine whether the items contained within the site were primarily Persian or Assyrian in origin.
Instead, he found himself fleeing giant flying demon-cats as he ran through the temple's cavernous halls, jumping from ledge to ledge while locked in a desperate struggle for his life and soul for what seemed like the thousandth time in his 27-year career.
"All I wanted to do was study the settlement's remarkably well-preserved kiln," said the 58-year-old Whitson, carefully recoiling the rope he had just used to clamber out of a pit filled with giant rats. "I didn't want to be chased by yet another accursed manifestation of an ancient god-king's wrath."
More:
http://www.theonion.com/article/archaeologist-tired-of-unearthing-unspeakable-anci-1448
Hundred years since the first use of chemical weapons in the Middle East - http://mideasti.blogspot.ie/2017/04/april-17-19-1917-second-battle-of-gaza.html?m=1
Ha. I had to write a longish term paper (~30p.) about military strategy in the battles of Gaza. I have quit studying history shortly afterwards. Horrible assignment; probably the worst thing that I have ever written. What a waste of paper. It was still a very interesting course about the non-European theater of war during WWI.
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Fecking Assad, he has been at this for ages!
DOI: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhevol.2017.02.006
Interesting study about the lineage/extraction (is this the correct English phrase?) of the Homo floresiensis. Homo floresiensis was a very short (about 1m) species that was found in 2003 on the Island Flores (Indonesia). They gone extinct about 12k years ago. The interesting question is how these little fellas are related to ourselves. There are three different theories.
1) They evolved from homo erectus (+ “island dwarfing”)
2) Is a late-surviving species of an earlier homo species (somehow linked to early versions of the homo habilis)
3) They are homo sapiens with certain pathology (genetic/metabolic disorder or something like down syndrome)
This study come to the conclusion that #2 is the most probable explanation. That would also question our understanding how/when different homo species left Africa and spread around the world. It might implicate that there have been earlier migration waves that are currently unknown. Usually it is assumed, that Homo Errectus (and later homo species) left Africa, but this would implicate that even Homo Habilis might have already done that.
Mexico's ancient city guards its secrets but excavation reveals new mysteries
Amazing:
https://www.theguardian.com/science...-secrets-but-excavation-reveals-new-mysteries
Amazing:
Guardian said:
https://www.theguardian.com/science...-secrets-but-excavation-reveals-new-mysteries