Table of Contents

• From the Editor

• In the News

• Quote

• Trivia Question

• Last Week’s Trivia Question

• Halloween Sale on Annual Subscriptions

From the Editor

Another week of work taking up much of my free time but I do have a new podcast recording and video planned for the next two weeks. So, bare with me as I get through this.

Anyways, archaeologists have made some remarkable discoveries, from a possible 4,700-year-old shipwreck off Türkiye that could be the oldest ever found to enormous statues of Ramesses II emerging from the sands of Egypt. Elsewhere, excavations at ancient Arsinoe are uncovering a columned building that sheds new light on the settlement’s history, while a child’s grave in Bulgaria has yielded gold earrings and a Roman coin dating back nearly 1,750 years. Meanwhile, new research into a 2,200-year-old Etruscan bronze statue suggests its dark finish may have been deliberately created, challenging what we thought we knew about ancient sculpture. From forgotten buildings to lost ships and surprising artistic techniques, these discoveries are revealing fascinating new details about how people lived, traded, and created thousands of years ago.

Ask Me Anything

It has been a while since I have done an Ask-Me-Anything video, so, now is your chance to start asking your ancient history focused or Digging Up The Past questions! And once I get enough, a new video will be recorded!

In the News

1. A Columned Building Emerges at Ancient Arsinoe

Archaeologists excavating the ancient Greek settlement of Arsinoe have uncovered a square building with a columned courtyard, along with pottery, bronze coins, roof tiles, and animal bones. The structure appears to have been rebuilt and used over several periods, offering new clues about how the town developed. Further excavations and surveys are planned to reveal more about its layout and history. Source: Archaeology Magazine.

2. Gold Earrings Found in a 1,750-Year-Old Child’s Grave

Archaeologists in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria, have discovered a Roman-era child’s grave containing two gold earrings and a coin minted during the reign of Emperor Aurelian around AD 274 to 275. The burial was part of a larger cemetery containing 135 graves, revealing a range of burial practices in the ancient city of Augusta Traiana. Although the child’s identity remains unknown, these personal objects offer a poignant glimpse into life and death nearly 1,750 years ago. Source: Arkeonews.

3. Giant Statues of Ramesses II Unearthed in Egypt

Two enormous statues believed to depict Ramesses II have been uncovered at Behbeit El-Hagar in Egypt’s Nile Delta after a local resident reported finding a carved granite block. The first statue’s head alone stands about 1.6 meters tall, and archaeologists estimate the complete monument may have reached roughly 8.5 meters in height. Excavations are continuing in hopes of recovering more fragments and learning how the statues fit into the history of this important ancient religious site. Source: Archaeology Magazine.

4. Was This Etruscan Statue Deliberately Made Black?

A new study suggests that the famous Etruscan bronze statue known as the Orator may have been deliberately given a dark finish more than 2,200 years ago, rather than turning black solely through natural corrosion. Scientific analysis identified layers of copper compounds consistent with controlled heating, suggesting the statue’s original appearance may have contrasted a dark surface with reddish details on its clothing. The discovery challenges assumptions about how ancient bronze sculptures were meant to look and highlights the sophistication of Etruscan metalworkers. Source: Greek Reporter.

5. The World’s Oldest Known Shipwreck Found Off Türkiye

Archaeologists exploring the waters near Kekova Island off Türkiye’s southern coast have discovered a shipwreck believed to date back approximately 4,400 to 4,700 years, potentially making it the oldest known shipwreck ever found. The Early Bronze Age vessel carried ceramic containers, offering a rare glimpse into maritime trade and seafaring long before the rise of many familiar ancient empires. Researchers hope the discovery will reveal more about the people who sailed these waters and the trading networks that connected early communities across the Mediterranean. Source: BBC News.

Quote

Poetry is finer and more philosophical than history; for poetry expresses the universal, and history only the particular. - Aristotle

Trivia Question

Last Week’s Trivia Answer

While its crew and cargo reflected connections to multiple Late Bronze Age Mediterranean civilizations, the Uluburun ship belonged to a Syro-Canaanite (or Phoenician/Canaanite) merchant culture.

Halloween Sale on Annual Subscriptions

Digging Up The Past is offering a Halloween promotional sale which ends on October 31st. Be sure to not miss out on getting 20% off annual subscriptions for all eternity! Mhua ha ha ha!

20% off annual subscriptions!

Your subscription helps support the interviews, videos, and other content that make this site possible. Many of the tools, resources, and guest appearances come with a cost, so your support really does make a difference.

Thanks for being here and helping me keep creating and sharing more with you!

Featured Image: Divers find three stone anchors. Source: Hakan Öniz.

Table of Contents

• From the Editor

• In the News

• Quote

• Trivia Question

• Last Week’s Trivia Question

• Halloween Sale on Annual Subscriptions

From the Editor

This past week has been a tough one, with a lot going on in my personal life, mostly work-related, which made it difficult to get new content posted. My apologies for that!

On the bright side, I wanted to take this opportunity to ask you all a question: What sparked your passion for history?

For me, some of my earliest memories of being fascinated by history go back to watching the Indiana Jones movies with my uncle while visiting Greece in the 1980s. Growing up in a Greek household also had a lot to do with it. Between hearing my parents, aunts, and uncles talk about Greek mythology, democracy, Alexander the Great, and so much more, history was always part of everyday life.

And then there were our trips to Greece, where history was impossible to escape. Everywhere you looked, there were ancient ruins and reminders of the past. I still remember playing with my cousins on fallen columns, treating them like our own personal playground. Looking back, those experiences probably had a bigger influence on me than I realized at the time.

But enough about me. I’d genuinely love to hear your stories!

What first sparked your interest in history? Was it a book, a movie, a teacher, a family member, or something else entirely? Share your story in the comments. I’d love to hear how it all started for you!

Ask Me Anything

It has been a while since I have done an Ask-Me-Anything video, so, now is your chance to start asking your ancient history focused or Digging Up The Past questions! And once I get enough, a new video will be recorded!

In the News

A 100-Meter Aqueduct Built Before the Romans

Archaeologists have documented a 100-meter-long aqueduct in Monteleone Sabino, Italy, that offers a fascinating glimpse into how people managed water before Roman rule. Carved directly into the rock, the carefully planned structure likely helped drain fields and improve agricultural productivity, suggesting that local communities had the resources and organization to carry out major engineering projects. Source: Archaeology Magazine.

184 Cuneiform Tablets Discovered in a Hittite Royal Archive

Archaeologists working at the ancient Hittite city of Šamuḫa in modern Türkiye have uncovered a royal archive containing 184 cuneiform tablets and fragments dating back roughly 3,400 years. The texts include references to military campaigns, disease outbreaks, the death of an infant princess, and commanders requesting help from the king, offering a remarkable look into the challenges of running the Hittite kingdom. Source: HeritageDaily.

A 3,000-Year-Old Bronze Sword Found Underwater in Italy

Underwater archaeologists have recovered a remarkably well-preserved bronze sword from a submerged Bronze Age settlement beneath Lake Mezzano in central Italy. Dating to the 13th century BCE, the weapon was found alongside other ancient objects, including a bronze razor, raising intriguing questions about whether some items were deliberately deposited in the lake as part of ritual practices. Source: Archaeology Magazine.

Mapping the Networks of Egypt’s Early Christian Monks

Researchers are using archaeological surveys, ancient texts, and modern mapping technology to uncover how Egypt’s early Christian monks stayed connected between the third and seventh centuries CE. Their work has documented hundreds of Christian structures and more than 1,500 Coptic inscriptions and graffiti in the Theban region, revealing how monasteries, desert paths, and Nile routes formed a wider network of religious communities. Source: Archaeology Magazine.

The Lighthouse of Alexandria Appears on a Rare Bronze Ring

Underwater excavations in Alexandria’s Eastern Harbor have uncovered a rare bronze seal ring engraved with an image of the famous Lighthouse of Alexandria. Researchers believe it is the first known seal ring featuring the iconic monument, and the discovery may offer clues about the continued use of Alexandria’s royal quarter and its possible administrative links to the lighthouse during the Roman period. Source: Archaeology Magazine.

Quote

Ordinary people seem not to realize that those who really apply themselves in the right way to philosophy are directly and of their own accord preparing themselves for dying and death. - Socrates

Trivia Question

Last Week’s Trivia Answer

Nineveh’s most famous archaeological discovery was the library of Ashurbanipal.

Halloween Sale on Annual Subscriptions

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20% off annual subscriptions!

Your subscription helps support the interviews, videos, and other content that make this site possible. Many of the tools, resources, and guest appearances come with a cost, so your support really does make a difference.

Thanks for being here and helping me keep creating and sharing more with you!

Featured Image: Credit to Sivasirade.

Table of Contents

• From the Editor

• In the News

• Quote

• Trivia Question

• Last Week’s Trivia Question

• Halloween Sale on Annual Subscriptions

From the Editor

We all know Christmas as December 25, the day Christians traditionally celebrate the birth of Jesus. But here’s the interesting part: the Bible never actually tells us when Jesus was born. So how did December 25 become the date we celebrate, and could it have anything to do with ancient Roman festivals, the winter solstice, or even some surprisingly creative theological math? In this article, we dig into the theories and what we really know about the origins of Christmas.

We also learned that beer was safer to drink than water in ancient Mesopotamia. And no, everyone was not getting drunk all day.

Ask Me Anything

It has been a while since I have done an Ask-Me-Anything video, so, now is your chance to start asking your ancient history focused or Digging Up The Past questions! And once I get enough, a new video will be recorded!

In the News

How the Greeks Turned Libya’s Coast Into a Major Port

New research is revealing how Greek settlers transformed a naturally sheltered stretch of Libya’s coast into the major harbor of ancient Cyrene. Over centuries, they carved channels, breakwaters, slipways, and other structures into the landscape, gradually turning the coastline into a busy center for trade and naval activity. Source: Archaeology Magazine.

Did a Woman Rule Egypt 5,000 Years Ago?

A new study is revisiting the controversial possibility that Meretneith, a powerful woman of Egypt’s First Dynasty, may have ruled Egypt in her own right. Researchers enhanced a 72-year-old photograph of a now-lost mud seal and found markings they argue support her connection to the royal throne, although some Egyptologists disagree with the interpretation. Source: Archaeology Magazine.

A Roman Drug Stash Hidden Inside a Bone

A hollowed-out animal bone found in the Roman Netherlands contained hundreds of seeds from black henbane, a poisonous plant known for both medicinal and psychoactive properties. The unusual container provides rare physical evidence that Romans deliberately collected and stored this potent plant rather than it simply appearing as a common weed. Source: ZME Science.

Where Aristotle Taught Alexander the Great

Archaeologists excavating ancient Mieza in northern Greece have uncovered ornate halls, mosaics, and a teaching area believed to be part of the gymnasium where Aristotle taught the young Alexander. The complex also included banquet halls and athletic facilities, offering a fascinating glimpse into the education and social world of Macedonian elites. Source: Smithsonian Magazine.

Roman Amulets Survived the Rise of Christianity

New research suggests that the Roman habit of using amulets for protection continued long after Christianity spread across the empire. The words and imagery gradually changed, with some traditional protective objects taking on Christian symbols and even incorporating passages from the Bible. Source: Archaeology Magazine.

Quote

Well begun is half done. - Aristotle

Trivia Question

Last Week’s Trivia Answer

The Hittite king who signed the famous peace treaty with Egyptian Pharaoh Ramesses II was Hattusili III.

Halloween Sale on Annual Subscriptions

Digging Up The Past is offering a Halloween promotional sale which ends on October 31st. Is it a bit early for a Halloween promotion? Nope! It is never too early for anything Halloween. 😄 Be sure to not miss out on getting 20% off annual subscriptions for all eternity! Mhua ha ha ha!

20% off annual subscriptions!

Your subscription helps support the interviews, videos, and other content that make this site possible. Many of the tools, resources, and guest appearances come with a cost, so your support really does make a difference.

Thanks for being here and helping me keep creating and sharing more with you!

Featured Image: Sumerian cylinder seal impression depicting people drinking beer. ( Cuneiform Digital Library)

Think you’d rather have a glass of water than a beer? Well, if you lived in ancient Mesopotamia, that might not have been the best choice. And no, it’s not because everyone was getting drunk all day.

Originally published by the Newnan Times-Herald and Albany Herald. Republished with permission by author.

In a matter of days, millions of families will gather to celebrate Christ’s birthday—a birth that we have been taught supposedly occurred specifically on December 25, but did it really? The answer—while not necessarily central to the Christian faith—isn’t quite so simple.

For one, the gospels fail to disclose when Jesus was born, although the Gospel of Luke mentions shepherds and sheep at the time of the nativity, which intimates a springtime birth. The fact that the gospels’ authors chose not to include a date shouldn’t be viewed as a glaring oversight. Contrary to Roman practices, Jews and early Christians at the time didn’t place much importance on birthdates. Rather, celebrating gods’ birthdays seemed like a distinctly pagan activity to many early church leaders.

Nevertheless, following many years, Christians began debating when Christ was born, and they produced a slew of dates, including some in January, March, April, May, November, and of course, December. While to this day the Armenian church celebrates Christmas on January 6, the bulk of Christians have settled on December 25, but why? There are a few schools of thought.

For some faithful, they certainly believe that December 25 was, in fact, the date of Christ’s birth—end of story. While it is possible that this date is accurate, academics have proffered other theories, including that December 25 was chosen to coincide with pagan celebrations or because of a kind of metaphysical math.

According to one popular theory, early Christians had no idea when Christ was born. So, “they simply assimilated the pagan solstice festival for their own purposes, claiming it as the time of the Messiah’s birth and celebrating it accordingly,” according to Biblical Archaeology. They may have done this to co-opt some of the pagan’s festivities to either attract new adherents or supplant the pagan religions altogether. Alternatively, Christians may have done so to help them blend in as they celebrated their savior, while also avoiding detection during times of persecution.

Whatever their reasoning, some believed the Christians placed Christmas on the joyous December Roman holiday known as the Saturnalia, which the Roman poet Catullus called “the best of times.” The Saturnalia celebrated the god Saturn, and during the festival, Romans ate and drank to excess; slaves sat at the masters’ tables and were served by their owners; and the Romans exchanged small gifts—some of which were probably a little inappropriate to modern eyes. After all, many of the ancient Romans were so perverted that they would have landed on Santa’s naughty list. Aside from this, the problem with the theory of Christians placing Christmas on the Saturnalia is that the ancient festival lasted from December 17-23, not December 25.

If the Christians didn’t choose the Saturnalia, then the festival of Sol Invictus is a tempting alternative. Around 274 AD, Emperor Aurelian set December 25—the winter solstice at the time—as the celebration of Sol Invictus who was the “Unconquered Sun” god. “A marginal note on a manuscript of the writings of the Syriac biblical commentator Dionysius bar-Salibi states that in ancient times the Christmas holiday was actually shifted from January 6 to December 25 so that it fell on the same date as the pagan Sol Invictus holiday,” reads an excerpt from Biblical Archaeology.

Could early Christians have chosen December 25 to coincide with this holiday? “The first celebration of Christmas observed by the Roman church in the West is presumed to date to [336 AD],” per the Encyclopedia Romana, long after Aurelian established Sol Invictus’ festival. However, there’s evidence that some Christians recognized December 25 as Christmas in the 200s AD. So, it is possible that a December 25 Christmas may have pre-dated Aurelian’s Sol Invictus holiday, although the worship of some form of sun god in Rome was far more ancient than Christianity.

A third theory is based on Christ’s death, which, after scouring the Bible for clues, many ancient Biblical scholars believed happened around March 25. Some ancients believed that prophets were conceived and died on the same date. Given this, some have theorized that the early Christians whipped out their abaci and conducted a little arithmetic. If the Romans crucified Jesus on March 25, then he was also conceived on that date years earlier, per this line of thinking. Add roughly nine months for gestation, and then, presto, you have a birthdate of December 25.

It’s important to remember that this is just a theory, like many others that academics have tossed around. The reality is that nobody knows for certain whether December 25 coincided with Christ’s birth and/or why Christians ultimately established Christmas on that date. Perhaps it is in fact the real date, but even if it isn’t, for Christians, the specific date of Christ’s birth should have little bearing on their faith.

Featured Image: Adoration of the Shepherds by Giorgione (1478–1510). (Public Domain)

References

• Bartleby. “The Golden Bough: Abridged Edition.” Bartleby, https://www.bartleby.com/lit-hub/the-golden-bough-abridged-ed/107920/. Accessed 28 Sept. 2026.

• Pruitt, Sarah. “Why Is Christmas Celebrated on December 25?” HISTORY, 24 Dec. 2012, updated 2 Mar. 2025, https://www.history.com/articles/why-is-christmas-celebrated-on-december-25. Accessed 28 Sept. 2026.

• Grout, James. “Sol Invictus and Christmas.” Encyclopaedia Romana, University of Chicago, https://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/calendar/invictus.html. Accessed 28 Sept. 2026.

• “Why December 25?” Christianity Today, Aug. 2008, https://www.christianitytoday.com/2008/08/why-december-25/. Accessed 28 Sept. 2026.

• “How December 25 Became Christmas.” Biblical Archaeology Society, Biblical Archaeology Review, https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/people-cultures-in-the-bible/jesus-historical-jesus/how-december-25-became-christmas/. Accessed 28 Sept. 2026.

• “Merry Saturnalia, and Other Myths About Christmas That Don’t Seem to Go Away.” The Tablet, https://www.thetablet.co.uk/blogs/1/1673/merry-saturnalia-and-other-myths-about-christmas-that-don-t-seem-to-go-away. Accessed 28 Sept. 2026.

• “Saturnalia.” HISTORY, https://www.history.com/articles/saturnalia. Accessed 28 Sept. 2026.

• “Saturnalia.” Perseus Digital Library, Tufts University, https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:id=saturnalia-cn. Accessed 28 Sept. 2026.

• “Why Is the Annunciation Celebrated on March 25?” Aleteia, 25 Mar. 2020, https://aleteia.org/2020/03/25/why-is-the-annunciation-celebrated-on-march-25/. Accessed 28 Sept. 2026.

Table of Contents

• From the Editor

• In the News

• Quote

• Last Week’s Comic Submissions

• Trivia Question

• Last Week’s Trivia Question

• Halloween Sale on Annual Subscriptions

From the Editor

For thousands of years, people on the island of Cyprus spoke a language that has since disappeared, leaving behind only a small number of inscriptions for us to study. Known as Eteocypriot, the language remains largely undeciphered, and its origins are still debated. But by taking another look at the surviving evidence, we may be able to uncover new clues about where this mysterious language came from and the people who spoke it.

Also this week, I sat down with Dr. Eric H. Cline to discuss his latest book, Love, War, and Diplomacy: The Discovery of the Amarna Letters & the Bronze Age World They Revealed. We explored how the Amarna Letters were discovered, the drama surrounding the race to acquire and translate these ancient tablets, and what the letters actually revealed about the Bronze Age world.

If you haven’t already, be sure to check it out!

Ask Me Anything

It has been a while since I have done an Ask-Me-Anything video, so, now is your chance to start asking your ancient history focused or Digging Up The Past questions! And once I get enough, a new video will be recorded!

In the News

2,600-Year-Old Cretan Armor Returns Home

Five pieces of ancient Cretan armor, including two bronze helmets and three protective body guards, are returning to Greece more than 60 years after they were illegally excavated from Afrati. Dating to the late seventh century BCE, the pieces were traced through archaeological records and investigations and will now be reunited with related finds already housed in Crete. Source: Greek Reporter.

A Treasure-Filled Etruscan Tomb at Vulci

Archaeologists at ancient Vulci in Italy have uncovered a monumental seventh-century BCE Etruscan tomb containing an impressive collection of pottery, weapons, chariot parts, gold, bronze, ivory, and personal items. Despite being disturbed by looters in the 20th century, parts of the tomb remained remarkably well preserved, giving researchers a rare look at the wealthy elite of Vulci. Source: Archaeology Magazine.

An Ancient Roman Kitchen in Spain

A 2,000-year-old Roman kitchen has been uncovered at ancient Segisamo in Spain, complete with cooking pots, storage vessels, mortars, and fragments of a portable oven. Some of the pottery was imported from Italy while other pieces were locally made, showing how Roman cooking practices blended with older local traditions. Source: Archaeology Magazine.

A New Piece of the World’s Oldest Peace Treaty

Archaeologists at Hattusa, the ancient Hittite capital, have discovered another fragment of the famous Kadesh Peace Treaty between Egypt and the Hittite Empire. The roughly 3,300-year-old fragment contains part of the treaty dealing with refugees and the protection of their homes, adding another fascinating piece to one of history’s earliest international peace agreements. Source: ZME Science.

A Roman Soldier Gives Thanks for Making It Home

A 1,750-year-old altar discovered at Binchester Roman Fort was dedicated by a soldier named Eltaominus to Fortuna Redux, the goddess associated with safe returns from dangerous journeys. The inscription suggests he considered Binchester home, and the altar was placed inside the fort’s bathhouse as a thank-you after his safe return. Source: Archaeology Magazine.

Quote

Jealousy is both reasonable and belongs to reasonable men, while envy is base and belongs to the base, for the one makes himself get good things by jealousy, while the other does not allow his neighbour to have them through envy. - Aristotle

Last Week’s Comic Submissions

No submissions.

Trivia Question

Last Week’s Trivia Answer

The Antikythera Mechanism was used to predict astronomical events.

Halloween Sale on Annual Subscriptions

Digging Up The Past is offering a Halloween promotional sale which ends on October 31st. Is it a bit early for a Halloween promotion? Nope! It is never too early for anything Halloween. 😄 Be sure to not miss out on getting 20% off annual subscriptions for all eternity! Mhua ha ha ha!

20% off annual subscriptions!

Your subscription helps support the interviews, videos, and other content that make this site possible. Many of the tools, resources, and guest appearances come with a cost, so your support really does make a difference.

Thanks for being here and helping me keep creating and sharing more with you!

Featured Image: Akhenaton raising his hands to the sun god, Aton. (ArchoiOptix / CC BY-SA 4.0)

Dr. Cline is a historian, archaeologist, and professor of ancient history and archaeology at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Together, they explore how the Amarna Letters were discovered, the drama surrounding the race to acquire and translate these ancient tablets, and what the letters actually reveal about the Bronze Age world.

How were the letters discovered? Who fought to get their hands on them? What did they say? We dig into these questions and more.

An English architect by profession and self-trained in the discipline and studies of linguistics and ancient history, Michael Ventris would be the first to identify the Mycenaean written Linear B inscriptions (1450 - 1200 BCE) as a language belonging to a more archaic form of Greek. With the aid of John Chadwick, a full decipherment of the Late Bronze Age corpus would continue from 1951 to 1953 and in turn, published for the world to see (Chadwick, 84). Unfortunately, this milestone did not provide any more insight into the still undeciphered Linear A (2500 - 1450 BCE).

Ever since I was a kid, I have been fascinated by human history. But when I got to college, that fascination turned into something much stronger, bordering on an obsession. At one point, I even made a promise to myself: I would be the one to officially translate the Minoan Linear A script.

I have not achieved that goal yet, but along the way, I have made some significant progress studying and translating what may be a closely related language. I am talking about Eteocypriot, one of two languages written using Cypriot Linear C, a modified form of Cretan Linear A. The other, of course, was Greek.

The purpose of this article is simple: to bring renewed attention to Eteocypriot, one of Europe’s ancient languages that still remains undeciphered, and hopefully spark the same curiosity and fascination in others that has kept me digging into the past for so many years.

A Brief History Lesson

There was once a time when the ancient island of Cyprus had its own native language; a language which was not Greek. Modern scholars routinely refer to this pre-Greek language as Eteocypriot or “True Cyprian.” Derived from the Minoan Linear A, the language was written in the Cypriot syllabary or the Cypro-Minoan variant which would later evolve to Linear C. However, during the 10th century BCE, the language was competing with the Arcadocypriot Greek dialect and eventually became extinct in approximately the 4th century BCE. To this day, the Eteocypriot language remains undeciphered and the mystery surrounding it continues.

Initially discovered in 1913 at the acropolis of Amathus, Cyprus, and written on a black marble slab, the Amathus bilingual (ca. 600 BCE) contains the most famous non-Greek inscription written with this Cypro-Minoan syllabary. It is a dedicatory inscription from the city of Amathus to the noble Ariston. As mentioned earlier, the script bore uncanny similarities to that of the Minoan Linear A which immediately earned its title of Cypro-Minoan. In the same fashion as both Linears A and B, the newly discovered system of writing was identified as a syllabary where each sign represents a consonant followed by a vowel. This bilingual is thought to hold the key to deciphering the language of the Cypriots prior to Greek colonization. The Eteocypriots who objected to the rule of the Greeks, gathered to the south of the island at Amathus where they continued on with their Eteocypriot language and more indigenous Cypriot culture (Karageorghis, 114).

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Table of Contents

• From the Editor

• In the News

• Quote

• Caption This!

• Last Week’s Comic Submissions

• Trivia Question

• Last Week’s Trivia Question

• Ask Me Anything

• Halloween Sale on Annual Subscriptions

From the Editor

The very talented Roman researcher and author, , challenged recent theories on the origins of Christianity in his latest article. Did Emperor Titus invent Christianity? He took a closer look at the evidence, revealing a conspiracy theory built on coincidence and not facts.

As we approach the spooky season, we also learned about the world’s oldest recorded ghost story! Yes, from Mesopotamia. The oldest recorded everything seems to always come from Mesopotamia (or Egypt).

Site Update

You may have noticed some re-organizing on the main Substack page. The primary goal is to make it easier for the reader to find the content that interests them the most. For example, in the top navigation bar, you will find a Categories dropdown menu which opens up to specific themes or topics. I will continue to refine these in the coming days/weeks.

In the News

Romans Buried Lightning for a God

A 1,900-year-old inscription found at Hadrian’s Villa reveals that Romans actually buried the remains of lightning strikes as part of a sacred ritual. The practice was associated with Summanus, the god of nighttime lightning, and the find may mark a small sacred site where a lightning strike was believed to have occurred. Source: Archaeology Magazine.

A Colorful Roman Sword Fitting at Vindolanda

Archaeologists at Vindolanda have uncovered a beautifully decorated Roman sword scabbard fitting that spent roughly 1,800 years buried beneath the famous frontier fort. The copper-alloy piece still has traces of colorful enamel, offering another glimpse into the weapons and personal equipment used by Roman soldiers in Britain. Source: Arkeonews.

A 4,000-Year-Old Flower Still Growing Today

Seeds found inside a 4,000-year-old Hittite vessel at Külhöyük have been identified as the remains of Sevgi Çiçeği, a flower that still grows around Ankara today. The discovery suggests this distinctive and now highly localized plant has been part of the Central Anatolian landscape for thousands of years. Source: Arkeonews.

Ancient Ports Were Bigger Than We Thought

New underwater research suggests ancient Mediterranean ports could accommodate far more ships than their surviving stone walls and docks would suggest. Archaeologists found that ships also anchored in natural bays, along open coastlines, and in deeper waters beyond the formal harbor structures, changing how we understand the scale of ancient maritime trade. Source: Phys.org.

A Colorful Fifth Dynasty Tomb at Saqqara

Archaeologists have uncovered a Late Fifth Dynasty tomb at Saqqara belonging to a high-ranking official named Yunmin, who served as a judge and court director. Its two chapels contain beautifully preserved painted scenes showing farming, offerings, and processions, giving researchers a colorful glimpse into life and funerary traditions during the reign of Djedkare Isesi. Source: Archaeology Magazine.

A Giant Roman Mosaic and an Eros Head

Excavations at ancient Pompeiopolis in Türkiye have uncovered about 105 square meters of remarkably well-preserved fourth-century Roman mosaic flooring. Archaeologists also found a second-century AD head of Eros, adding another intriguing piece to the story of the city’s transformation from a Roman center into a Christian-era bishopric. Source: Türkiye Today.

Quote

No notice is taken of a little evil, but when it increases it strikes the eye. - Aristotle

Caption This!

Welcome to a new, fun series where you get to be part of the joke!

Each time, I’ll share a comic panel and leave the caption up to you. Come up with something funny, clever, sarcastic, ridiculous, or completely unexpected. There’s really no wrong answer, as long as it’s appropriate. Just comment below!

The best part? Your submissions could make it into a future “Caption This!” post! I’ll pick some of my favorites and feature them in a follow-up, so you might just see your caption alongside the next panel.

So take a look, get creative, and give me your best caption. I can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Last Week’s Comic Submissions

Wait…did that guy say ‘Ides of March’ or ‘eyes of March’?

Trivia Question

Last Week’s Trivia Answer

Roman Emperor Diocletian was responsible for creating the Tetrarchy

Ask Me Anything

It has been a while since I have done an Ask-Me-Anything video, so, now is your chance to start asking your ancient history focused or Digging Up The Past questions! And once I get enough, a new video will be recorded!

Halloween Sale on Annual Subscriptions

Digging Up The Past is offering a Halloween promotional sale which ends on October 31st. Is it a bit early for a Halloween promotion? Nope! It is never too early for anything Halloween. 😄 Be sure to not miss out on getting 20% off annual subscriptions for all eternity! Mhua ha ha ha!

20% off annual subscriptions!

Your subscriptions help support the content that goes into making this site possible, including interviews, videos, and other great features. Unfortunately, many of the tools, resources, and guest appearances that make this content possible come with a cost. Your support helps me keep creating and bringing more of this content to you.

Your support is genuinely appreciated. It helps keep the site going and, just as importantly, gives me the motivation to keep creating and sharing more with you!

Featured Image: The Triumph of Titus relief on the Arch of Titus. (Jean-Pol GRANDMONT / CC BY-SA 4.0)

We tend to think of ghost stories as something that came along much later, but people have been telling creepy stories about the dead for thousands of years. In fact, one of the oldest ghost stories we know about comes from ancient Mesopotamia, and the ghost in this one has a pretty good reason for coming back.

Originally published by Classical Wisdom. Republished with permission by author.

Celebrated general, builder, and emperor, the Romans hailed Titus as one of their most beloved leaders. Despite his many exploits, both good and bad, modern historical revisionists have attempted to add a shocking feat to his lengthy curriculum vitae: creating or at least co-opting Christianity. Proponents even claim to have a “smoking gun” that irrefutably proves the matter.

If proven, this would be a paradigm-shifting revelation that would reverberate through the ages, but you don’t have to be a Christian to find this conspiracy theory entirely unconvincing.

There is more than one version of the theory, but they can generally be distilled down to a few points: Titus, perhaps along with his father Vespasian, concocted the idea of creating a pro-Roman, docile version of Judaism that would not rebel against the state. With the help of some intellectuals (possibly including Jewish historian Josephus), Titus and his conspirators manufactured Christianity, drafted the gospels sometime after the Temple’s razing in 70 CE, and may have even modelled Jesus Christ after Titus. Then they tried to convert the Jews to the new religion.

Despite all the bluster about this theory being well-supported, it relies heavily on flimsy circumstantial evidence and enormous (il)logical leaps, which other historians have happily pointed out. However, there are some other matters that merit addressing.

For starters, secular academics assert that only one of the New Testament gospels - Mark - was certainly written in Titus’ lifetime. Matthew, Luke and John may have come later. Many historians believe they were finalized after Titus had died, which discounts the theory that Titus or possibly his father ordered the gospels’ publication. Further, ancient pagan writers attested that Christianity existed before Titus or even his father rose to power, although modern mythicists suggest with no proof that the ancient writers were sorely mistaken.

Then there’s the issue of the Apostle Paul. His mission and death also occurred before Vespasian seized the throne. Even so, another fringe theory suggests that Paul was a Roman agent who was tasked with converting Jews to Christianity. It’s hard to square that with the facts we know about Paul’s life. Firstly, Paul spent years converting Gentiles, not Jews, to Christianity. Moreover, he was in and out of Roman prisons, and it was the Romans who ultimately executed him.

These issues aside, putting Josephus at the center of this conspiracy is improbable. While he was exceptionally close to Vespasian and Titus and wrote works that glorified them, Josephus was a Pharisee from a priestly family. It is virtually inconceivable that he would commit an egregious act of heresy, fabricating a messiah to lead his people astray.

This doesn’t hold revisionists back. In fact, they still maintain that pro-Roman intellectuals modelled Jesus after Titus. Evidence of this supposedly stems, in part, from Jesus and Titus both starting their ministry/campaign in Galilee and then heading to Jerusalem, as if they are the only people who ever travelled from Galilee to Jerusalem.

Never mind these problems, proponents believe they have undeniable proof to buttress their theory. The “smoking gun” purportedly supporting some of these theories is that the image of a dolphin and an anchor appeared on Titus’ coinage, and Christians also used some of this same imagery. Case closed, right? Not so fast.

Unfortunately for these mythicists, the Romans lived around the Mediterranean. So anchors, dolphins and fish were pretty common to just about everyone. Moreover, the authors behind this theory effectively undermine their own position. They readily admit that the aforementioned symbolism predated Titus and is related to the god Apollo, and they even acknowledge that the Christians didn’t use the dolphin and anchor motif on a large-scale during Titus’ life.

The fact that Christians at some point adopted a symbol similar to those found on Titus’ coins doesn’t prove that Titus invented Christianity any more than the Egyptian ankh, which resembles a cross, proves the Egyptians invented Christianity. There’s nothing to suggest they did.

The theory’s flaws don’t end there. If Titus had invented Christianity, then why did some of his closest family members convert to the religion, as ancient accounts go? And why did his brother, Domitian, supposedly commence a Christian persecution? Were they not privy to this grand conspiracy? Evidently not.

One of the biggest problems with this theory is that no ancient Roman historian mentioned it. Suetonius salivated over salacious stories - even if they were only rumors - and would have gleefully published accounts of Titus duping the masses. Cassius Dio similarly would have done so. Like many ancient writers, Tacitus explicitly affirmed early Christianity’s existence, but he was silent on Titus’ alleged involvement in its rise, which is telling.

Nevertheless, mythicists believe that Titus understood that a new form of Judaism was needed to subdue the Jews for good. By the end of the Romano-Jewish War, Titus had leveled Jerusalem, and according to Josephus, more than one million Jews had died. In Titus’ mind, there was no need to pacify Judaism; the Romans thought they had already, and if they believed otherwise, fabricating a religion might not have been their first strategy for dealing with rebellious Jews.

As Rome’s history has shown, if the Romans wanted to ensure the Jewish people were further subdued, they would have gladly used violent government force to do so. The truth is that they felt relatively comfortable with their settlement following the First Jewish War and probably preferred that many Jews remain adherents to Judaism because the Romans levied a tax on Jews, known as the fiscus Judaicus. If they and their descendants abandoned their ancestral faith for Christianity, the Romans might not enjoy this revenue stream any longer.

The last and most damning counter-point is if the Romans wanted to make Jews more amenable to their rule by persuading them to adopt a new religion, then why would the Romans portray themselves as killing the savior of that religion? That would be counterintuitive and could drive a deeper wedge between the Jews and Romans.

In the end, this theory simply does not live up to its billing, and there’s no supporting concrete evidence whatsoever: just coincidence and a misunderstanding of Roman, Jewish and Christian history. Many of my readers are certainly Christians, while others are not. That’s up to you, but don’t let a critically flawed conspiracy theory that’s a better fit for a Dan Brown novel influence your faith or lack thereof.

Featured image: The conquest of Jerusalem by Nicolas Poussin. (Public Domain)

Listen to Marc Hyden’s interview here:

Marc Hyden is a Roman historian, and he is the author of “Emperor Titus: The Right Hand of Vespasian.”

Emperor, general, and Vespasian’s right hand, Titus Flavius Vespasianus (better known as simply Titus) was remembered by the Romans as a leader to be celebrated and a deity to be worshiped. While he was not without fault--having committed numerous egregious transgressions--his life and achievements are undeniably impressive. He survived imperial turnover, lived through the great fire of Rome, presided over the empire as Vesuvius destroyed numerous cities and plague ravaged his homeland, and hosted Rome’s vaunted 100-days of games.

This book draws on the scant historical sources, the archaeological record, and modern academic commentary to present the most comprehensive available account of Titus’ life. Long neglected by historians, Titus’ significant role in Roman history is presented here in the fullest detail. Hero or villain, there are few pivotal historical figures like Titus who straddled more momentous history and whose effects are still felt today.

Table of Contents

• From the Editor

• In the News

• Quote

• Caption This!

• Last Week’s Comic Submissions

• Trivia Question

• Last Week’s Trivia Question

• Ask Me Anything

• Reminder: Paid Subscriptions are Back!

From the Editor

This week we learned about Justinian and how he wanted to bring the Roman Empire back to its former glory, and for a while, it looked like he might actually pull it off. But years of war, a devastating plague, and growing pressure from Rome’s enemies left the empire stretched thin and Italy in ruins. His story is a good reminder that trying to rebuild the past can sometimes create more problems than it solves.

Question for the Reader

Can an empire ever truly restore its past, or does every “restoration” inevitably create something new?

When in Rome…

We also learned that 2,000 years ago, Romans were already grabbing quick meals on the go, with their own version of fast food serving hungry people across the empire. Things like this have a way of reminding us that, in many ways, we really haven’t changed all that much from our ancestors.

Also, be sure to check out the chat. It is a great way to stay engaged with one another and discuss the topics which brought you here in the first place.

In the News

Roman Imperial Bath Found Inside a Palace Tower

Archaeologists in eastern Serbia have uncovered an exceptionally well-preserved Roman bath built inside a corner tower of a fortified imperial palace. The bath includes pools, a steam room, a furnace, and an intact hypocaust system used to heat the floors. Source: HeritageDaily.

Nimrud’s Hidden City Comes Into View

After nearly 180 years of focusing on Nimrud’s palaces and temples, archaeologists are finally getting a closer look at the huge lower city where most of its population lived. Surveys using drones, satellite imagery, and magnetometry are revealing streets, homes, and other structures that have remained buried for centuries. Source: Archaeology Magazine.

A New 4,600-Year-Old Board Game Found in Iran

Archaeologists at Iran’s Burnt City have discovered a previously unknown type of board game dating back roughly 4,600 years. The find adds to the site’s reputation for remarkable gaming artifacts and raises new questions about how people in this Bronze Age city spent their leisure time. Source: Arkeonews.

An Old Kingdom Tomb and Burial Complex at Saqqara

A newly uncovered Old Kingdom tomb at Saqqara belonged to a high-ranking official named Sekhentio-Ptah. The discovery includes a preserved funerary chapel, ritual objects, sealed sarcophagi, and more than 100 ushabti figures, offering a fascinating look at Egyptian burial practices. Source: Ahram Online.

A 2,000-Year-Old Ring Linked to Pontius Pilate

A small copper-alloy ring found at Herodium bears a Greek inscription that may actually represent the Latin name of Pontius Pilate. Researchers believe it probably belonged to a local worker involved with Pilate’s administration rather than the Roman governor himself, providing a rare glimpse into the people who helped run Roman Judea. Source: Archaeology Magazine.

New Spaces and Rare Paintings Found at Ancient Smyrna

Excavations at ancient Smyrna have uncovered three previously unknown rooms along with rare wall paintings dating to Late Antiquity. The discoveries are helping archaeologists piece together what life looked like in one of the ancient Aegean world’s major cities. Source: Türkiye Today.

Quote

If a man is proud of his wealth, he should not be praised until it is known how he employs it. - Socrates

Caption This!

Welcome to a new, fun series where you get to be part of the joke!

Each time, I’ll share a comic panel and leave the caption up to you. Come up with something funny, clever, sarcastic, ridiculous, or completely unexpected. There’s really no wrong answer, as long as it’s appropriate. Just comment below!

The best part? Your submissions could make it into a future “Caption This!” post! I’ll pick some of my favorites and feature them in a follow-up, so you might just see your caption alongside the next panel.

So take a look, get creative, and give me your best caption. I can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Last Week’s Comic Submissions

No submissions this week.

Trivia Question

Last Week’s Trivia Answer

The ancient Mesopotamian ruler credited with creating the world’s first empire is Sargon of Akkad. It is commonly referred to as the Akkadian Empire.

Ask Me Anything

It has been a while since I have done an Ask-Me-Anything video, so, now is your chance to start asking your ancient history focused or Digging Up The Past questions! And once I get enough, a new video will be recorded!

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Expect to see fresh new paid subscriber content soon!

Starting today, Digging Up The Past is offering a Halloween promotional sale which ends on October 31st. Is it a bit early for a Halloween promotion? Nope! It is never too early for anything Halloween. 😄 Be sure to not miss out on getting 20% off annual subscriptions for all eternity! Mhua ha ha ha!

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Your subscriptions help support the content that goes into making this site possible, including interviews, videos, and other great features. Unfortunately, many of the tools, resources, and guest appearances that make this content possible come with a cost. Your support helps me keep creating and bringing more of this content to you.

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Featured Image: 10th-century Hagia Sophia mosaic of the Virgin Mary with Christ, flanked by Justinian offering Hagia Sophia and Constantine I presenting Constantinople. (Public Domain)

Think fast food is a modern invention? Ancient Romans were already grabbing quick meals on the go nearly 2,000 years ago. So what did their version of fast food look like?

How the emperor who came closer than anyone to restoring the Roman Mediterranean ultimately helped create the world that replaced it

In the year 476, the Roman Empire supposedly fell. At least, that is the date with which generations of schoolchildren have been taught to mark the end of the Western Roman Empire. Romulus Augustulus, the young emperor in Italy, was deposed by the Germanic military commander Odoacer. The imperial insignia were sent to Constantinople. The ancient world, according to the traditional story, had come to an end.

Less than sixty years later, another Roman emperor sat in Constantinople and began trying to recover the territories that had been lost in the West. His name was Justinian. And for a remarkable moment, it seemed that he might succeed.

By the time Justinian died in 565, Roman armies had destroyed the Vandal kingdom in North Africa, conquered the Ostrogothic kingdom in Italy, established an imperial foothold in southern Spain and brought much of the Mediterranean back under Roman control. The empire once again stretched across territories that had been separated from Constantinople for generations.

Yet there was a terrible irony at the heart of Justinian’s achievement. The emperor who dreamed of restoring Rome may have made the empire less capable of defending that restoration. His reconquests were extraordinary. They were also ruinously expensive, politically disruptive and undertaken at precisely the moment when disease, war and demographic change were transforming the Mediterranean.

Justinian did not simply fail to restore the old Roman Empire. He may have succeeded too briefly—and at too great a price.

The Roman Empire That Had Never Really Died

To understand Justinian’s ambition, we first need to abandon the idea that people in the sixth century thought the Roman Empire had ended in 476. They did not.

The empire ruled from Constantinople was still the Roman Empire. Its inhabitants called themselves Romans. Its emperor was a Roman emperor. Roman law remained the foundation of imperial government. Constantinople itself was the New Rome.

Modern historians often describe Justinian’s western campaigns as a “reconquest.” That is useful, but it can also be misleading. From Justinian’s perspective, he was not necessarily conquering a foreign world. He was recovering territories that had once belonged to the Roman state.

The sixth-century empire was therefore not a new Byzantine state consciously replacing Rome. It was still Rome—although a transformed Rome.

The transformation was profound. Greek was increasingly dominant in the eastern Mediterranean. Christianity had replaced the religious world of the Caesars. Constantinople rather than Rome was the political centre of imperial power. But the Roman idea remained extraordinarily powerful. And Justinian understood that idea better than most.

Justinian’s Great Opportunity

When Justinian became emperor in 527, he inherited an empire that was considerably stronger than the western territories that had replaced Roman rule. The eastern Roman state possessed wealth, an effective administrative machine and a professional military establishment. The West, by comparison, was politically fragmented.

The Vandals controlled North Africa. The Ostrogoths ruled Italy. Visigothic Spain was outside imperial control. Yet these successor kingdoms were not necessarily permanent geopolitical realities.

Justinian found his opportunity in Africa. The Vandal kingdom had been weakened by internal political disputes, religious divisions and succession problems. In 533, Justinian sent Belisarius, his most capable general, to Africa.

It was a breathtaking gamble. The result was even more breathtaking. Within a remarkably short campaign, the Vandal kingdom collapsed. Carthage was restored to Roman rule. The Vandal king Gelimer was captured. Belisarius returned to Constantinople in triumph, participating in a ceremony deliberately designed to evoke the ancient Roman triumph.

Procopius, Justinian’s contemporary historian, describes the spectacle in detail. The imperial government was consciously presenting the victory not merely as another military success, but as a restoration of Roman traditions. And perhaps this was the moment when Justinian’s impossible dream began to look possible.

If Africa could be recovered so quickly, why not Italy?

Italy: The War That Changed Everything

Italy was a very different proposition. In 535, Justinian launched his war against the Ostrogoths. At first the Romans made astonishing progress. Belisarius entered Italy and captured Rome in 536. The ancient capital of the empire was once again under Roman imperial control.

But the Gothic War would become one of the longest and most destructive conflicts of Justinian’s reign. Rome was not simply captured once. It became a battlefield. The Ostrogoths besieged the city. The Romans defended it. Armies marched repeatedly across the Italian peninsula. Cities were captured, lost and recaptured. The war dragged on for years.

What had begun as a campaign of restoration became a struggle for survival. Procopius gives us a remarkably vivid account of the devastation. His History of the Wars was written while many of these events were still within living memory, and his later Secret History presents an even darker interpretation of Justinian’s policies.

There are reasons to treat Procopius cautiously. He was not a neutral observer. His Secret History is an extraordinary attack on Justinian and Theodora, while his official histories and Buildings present a much more favourable image of imperial achievement. Yet precisely because we possess these contrasting portraits from the same author, they allow us to see how contested Justinian’s legacy already was.

The war finally ended with imperial victory in 554. Italy was Roman again. But what had been restored?

The Italy Justinian inherited after the Gothic War was not the Italy that Theodoric the Great had governed. Cities had been devastated. Agricultural production had been disrupted. The senatorial aristocracy had been badly damaged. The political structures that had allowed Italy to function under Ostrogothic rule had been shattered.

Modern scholarship has increasingly emphasized this problem. The Justinianic reconstruction did not simply repair Italy after the war; it fundamentally altered Italian society. The reconstruction itself damaged Rome and the senatorial aristocracy, helping create the political vacuum in which the papacy would acquire an increasingly important secular role.

The irony is difficult to escape. Justinian had gone to war to restore Roman Italy. The war itself helped destroy much of the political world he was trying to restore.

The Cost of Restoration

This is where the traditional story of Justinian begins to become more complicated. For generations, historians have portrayed the emperor as an overambitious ruler who squandered the resources of the eastern empire attempting to resurrect a dead western empire.

There is truth in that interpretation. The reconquests required enormous quantities of money and manpower. Justinian’s government had to maintain armies across enormous distances while simultaneously defending the empire’s eastern and Balkan frontiers.

But the situation was not as simple as “Justinian wasted everything on Italy.” The western territories could provide resources of their own. North Africa, Sicily and southern Italy were economically valuable. Their recovery could stimulate Mediterranean trade and return productive territories to imperial control. Modern economic historians therefore caution against viewing the reconquests simply as a disastrous drain on Constantinople. The recovery of western resources brought real benefits.

The problem was not that Justinian’s dream was irrational. The problem was that the empire had to pay for it while facing a series of catastrophes that Justinian could neither predict nor control.

First Came the Nika Revolt

In 532, before the great western campaigns had even begun, Constantinople exploded. The Nika revolt brought together factions normally associated with the city’s chariot racing culture and transformed them into a serious challenge to imperial authority.

The capital burned. Thousands died. Justinian reportedly considered fleeing. According to Procopius, it was Theodora who persuaded him to remain and confront the rebellion rather than abandon the throne. The revolt was eventually crushed with extraordinary violence.

But the destruction gave Justinian an opportunity. The old Hagia Sophia was destroyed, and Justinian ordered a spectacular replacement. Completed in only a few years, the new Hagia Sophia became perhaps the greatest architectural expression of his imperial ideology.

Justinian was rebuilding Constantinople. He was also rebuilding Rome’s legal and political inheritance.

The Lawgiver

Justinian’s ambitions were not confined to territory. His great legal compilation, the Corpus Juris Civilis, reorganized centuries of Roman law. This achievement was arguably more enduring than any of his military conquests.

The emperor wanted to impose order upon the vast legal inheritance of the Roman world. His government therefore created a systematic body of law that would have consequences far beyond the sixth century.

The military campaigns, the building programme and the legal reforms were all part of the same imperial vision. Justinian was not merely trying to conquer land. He was trying to restore Roman order.

That helps explain why his reign remains so important. Even after most of his western conquests disappeared, his legal and architectural legacy survived.

Then Came the Plague

And then came the catastrophe Justinian could not defeat.

In 541, plague appeared in the eastern Mediterranean. It reached Constantinople in 542. It was the beginning of what historians call the Justinianic Plague—the first historically well-attested pandemic caused by Yersinia pestis. Repeated outbreaks continued across the Mediterranean world for generations.

The scale of the demographic disaster remains fiercely debated. Older accounts sometimes accepted enormous mortality figures reported by ancient writers. Modern scholarship has questioned whether those numbers can be taken literally. Archaeological evidence does not always support the picture of universal demographic collapse suggested by some literary accounts.

But the existence of a major pandemic is not in doubt. Nor is its potential significance. The empire was fighting wars, collecting taxes, supplying armies and administering newly conquered territories when disease began repeatedly disrupting human populations and economic activity.

Justinian’s government therefore faced a problem that no emperor could simply legislate away. The empire was trying to expand at exactly the moment when its human and economic foundations were being placed under extraordinary pressure.

The Emperor Who Had Too Much Empire

By Justinian’s death in 565, the map looked magnificent. North Africa was Roman. Italy was Roman. Parts of southern Spain were Roman. The Mediterranean once again appeared to be an imperial sea.

On a map, it was a triumph. But maps can be deceptive.

An empire is not simply the territory it controls. It is the army capable of defending that territory, the taxation system capable of financing that army, the population capable of sustaining it, the political institutions capable of administering it and the economic networks capable of connecting its parts.

Justinian had achieved the first. The others were under severe strain.

The empire had to defend the Persian frontier in the East. It had to deal with raids and invasions in the Balkans. It had to maintain armies in Italy and Africa. It had to administer territories that had only recently been conquered. And it had to recover from plague and repeated warfare.

The result was an empire whose geographical reach had expanded faster than its ability to consolidate that expansion.

The Lombards Deliver the Verdict

Justinian died in 565. Three years later, the Lombards invaded Italy. The timing could hardly have been more brutal.

The imperial government had spent nearly two decades fighting to recover Italy. Yet within a few years of Justinian’s death, large parts of the peninsula were outside effective imperial control.

This is one of the reasons Justinian’s western policy has often been judged a failure. From the western perspective, the reconquest was temporary. The Lombards arrived in 568. North Africa would eventually be lost to the armies of Islam. The western Mediterranean that Justinian had attempted to reunify would once again fragment.

But there is another way of looking at the story. Perhaps Justinian did not fail because he was attempting to restore Rome. Perhaps he succeeded in demonstrating how difficult it had become to restore Rome.

So Did Justinian Lose Rome?

The title of this article contains a deliberate contradiction. Justinian did not simply “lose Rome.” He conquered it. He lost it. He conquered it again. He rebuilt it. And ultimately, his successors struggled to hold it.

The deeper question is therefore not whether Justinian personally lost Rome. It is whether the Roman world he imagined was still recoverable.

The answer may be no. The West had changed too profoundly. The old imperial political system had disappeared in much of Europe. New kingdoms had developed their own elites and institutions. The Roman Empire remained enormously powerful, but it was no longer the same empire that had ruled the Mediterranean in the age of Augustus.

Justinian’s achievement was therefore both extraordinary and paradoxical. He was perhaps the last emperor who could seriously attempt to restore the Mediterranean Roman Empire. And he may also have been the emperor who demonstrated that the old empire could no longer be restored in anything more than fragments.

The Impossible Dream

There is a temptation to judge Justinian by what happened after his death. That makes the reconquests look like an expensive failure. But that judgment misses something important.

For almost four decades Justinian governed one of the most ambitious imperial projects of late antiquity. He rebuilt Constantinople. He transformed Roman law. He defeated the Vandals. He destroyed the Ostrogothic kingdom. He brought Rome back under imperial rule. He extended Roman authority into Spain. He patronized architecture on a scale that still astonishes us.

He came closer than any emperor after Theodosius to restoring the territorial unity of the Roman Mediterranean.

And yet the very scale of his ambition created a problem. An empire can be restored on a map much more easily than it can be restored in reality.

Justinian could send Belisarius to Carthage. He could send armies to Italy. He could issue laws from Constantinople. He could raise taxes. He could build Hagia Sophia. But he could not recreate the demographic, economic and political conditions of the fourth-century Roman world.

The Roman Empire that survived Justinian would therefore become something new. It would lose much of Italy. It would eventually lose Syria and Egypt. It would become increasingly Greek-speaking. Its armies and institutions would evolve. Its political centre would remain Constantinople. And yet its emperors would continue to call themselves Roman.

That is perhaps Justinian’s greatest historical paradox. He did not restore the old Roman Empire. He helped create the empire that would survive Rome.

Rome did not die in Justinian’s lifetime. It changed.

And perhaps that is the real story of Justinian. Not the emperor who failed to resurrect Rome, but the emperor who stood at the precise moment when the ancient Roman world was becoming something else.

His dream was impossible. But for a brief, astonishing moment, he almost made it real.

Featured Image: Court of Emperor Justinian with Archbishop Maximian of Ravenna and three other clerics on Justinian's right, and two court officials and his guards on his left. (Roger Culos / CC BY-SA 3.0)

References

• Procopius, Wars of Justinian.

• Procopius, Buildings.

• Procopius, Secret History.

• Michael Maas (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Age of Justinian.

• Angeliki E. Laiou and Cécile Morrisson, The Byzantine Economy.

• Michele Renee Salzman, The Falls of Rome: The Later Roman Empire and the Decline of the West.

• Peter Sarris, Economy and Society in the Age of Justinian.

• Hugh Kennedy, The Mediterranean World in Late Antiquity.

Leslie Ivings is also the author of Byzantine Emperor Constantine V, Pen & Sword (2025)

Constantine V - warrior, reformer, and one of Byzantium’s most formidable emperors. A brilliant general who crushed the Arab advance, strengthened the crumbling empire, and won the loyalty of his soldiers long after his death.

But history has not been kind. A fierce iconoclast, hated by the church and smeared by monastic chroniclers, he was branded Copronymos (“the dung-named”), compared to a sorcerer - even the Antichrist.

Married three times, politically astute, and as influential in theology as he was on the battlefield, Constantine’s legacy rivals Justinian himself. Yet unlike Justinian, he died not in splendour, but leading his army on campaign in Bulgaria.

Listen to Leslie Ivings discuss his book on our podcast:

Table of Contents

• From the Editor

• In the News

• Quote

• Caption This!

• Last Week’s Comic Submissions

• Trivia Question

• Last Week’s Trivia Question

• Ask Me Anything

• Reminder: Paid Subscriptions are Back!

From the Editor

This week, we saw another amazing piece from the very talented , this time on the ancient Bronze Age civilization of Ugarit.

The discovery of Ugarit made a huge impact on the understanding of the Old Testament and Biblical history as a whole. Ugarit gave biblical scholars a much clearer look at the world surrounding the Bible. This is especially the case with its language, poetry, and religious traditions. The discoveries showed surprising connections between Ugaritic texts and the Hebrew Bible, helping scholars better understand where many biblical ideas and passages came from.

Fun fact: I have a tattoo of an Ugaritic phrase in Ugaritic cuneiform on my right arm.

Also released this week is a new series of mini-documentaries I started called Forgotten Worlds. The series spends a few minutes exploring forgotten cultures and history. The first episode focuses on the ancient Cycladic culture which predates the Minoans in the Aegean. This series sits behind a paid subscriber paywall but if you are interested, you should be able to at least use your freebie to access it.

Oh, and before I forget, I just created a Digging Up The Past Instagram account (to add to the collection of socials). If you are on Instagram, be sure to find us there!

In the News

A Rare Snake-Headed Vessel and a Mysterious Roman Cult

A strange ceramic vessel found at a Roman villa in northeastern Spain features a handle shaped like a two-headed serpent. Archaeologists believe it was connected to the obscure eastern god Sabazios, suggesting his worship had reached rural communities in Iberia during the reign of Augustus. Source: Archaeology News.

An 11,000-Year-Old Sculpture of a Person Riding a Leopard

An unusual sculpture showing a human figure sitting on a leopard has been uncovered at Karahantepe in southeastern Turkey. Dating to around 11,000 years ago, the 28-inch-tall piece was found sitting on a bench inside a circular Neolithic structure. Source: Archaeology Magazine.

A High-Ranking Egyptian Official’s Tomb Found at Saqqara

Archaeologists have uncovered the Old Kingdom tomb of an official named Sekhentiu-Ptah at Saqqara, along with a preserved funerary chapel and ritual objects. Nearby burial shafts contained more than 100 ushabti figures, coffins, mummies, and other artifacts, showing that the area continued to be used as a cemetery for centuries. Source: Archaeology News.

Could This Be Egypt’s Lost City of Mesn?

A sandstone lintel bearing the name of Ramesses II and a reference to the mysterious city of Mesn has been discovered at Tell Abu Saifi in northern Sinai. The inscription is an intriguing clue, but archaeologists are stressing that more excavation is needed before the site can confidently be identified as the lost city. Source: HeritageDaily.

Archaeology Beneath the Holy Sepulchre Matches the Gospel Account

Excavations beneath Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre have revealed an ancient landscape of abandoned quarries, cultivated plots, and rock-cut tombs. While the findings cannot prove that the traditional tomb belonged to Jesus, they show that the landscape described in the Gospel of John is remarkably consistent with what archaeologists have found beneath the church. Source: Arkeonews.

Quote

Neither can the wave that has passed by be recalled, nor the hour which has passed return again. - Ovid

Caption This!

Welcome to a new, fun series where you get to be part of the joke!

Each time, I’ll share a comic panel and leave the caption up to you. Come up with something funny, clever, sarcastic, ridiculous, or completely unexpected. There’s really no wrong answer, as long as it’s appropriate. Just comment below!

The best part? Your submissions could make it into a future “Caption This!” post! I’ll pick some of my favorites and feature them in a follow-up, so you might just see your caption alongside the next panel.

So take a look, get creative, and give me your best caption. I can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Last Week’s Comic Submissions

Perseus realizing there are apparently multiple ways to get rock hard. 😅

CJ Morgan
Yes. It turned to stone.


Face? What face?

Trivia Question

Last Week’s Trivia Answer

Queen Artemisia I of Caria commanded a naval squadron of five ships for the Persian king Xerxes I during the historic Battle of Salamis in 480 BC.

Ask Me Anything

It has been a while since I have done an Ask-Me-Anything video, so, now is your chance to start asking your ancient history focused or Digging Up The Past questions! And once I get enough, a new video will be recorded!

Reminder: Paid Subscriptions are Back!

Just another reminder that Paid Subscriptions are re-enabled! As a paid subscriber, not only will you get special access to both videos and special articles but your contributions will help support my project to continue providing the content you enjoy.

Expect to see fresh new paid subscriber content soon!

Starting today, Digging Up The Past is offering a Halloween promotional sale which ends on October 31st. Is it a bit early for a Halloween promotion? Nope! It is never too early for anything Halloween. 😄 Be sure to not miss out on getting 20% off annual subscriptions for all eternity! Mhua ha ha ha!

20% off annual subscriptions!

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Featured Image: Ugarit Royal Palace reception hall with pool. (HaubilGerhard Haubold / CC BY-SA 4.0)

Welcome to Forgotten Worlds, a mini-documentary series where we spend a few minutes exploring forgotten cultures and history, presented by Digging Up The Past.

When we picture the ancient Aegean, it’s easy to focus on the places we know best: Athens, Crete, and Mycenae. But scattered across those blue waters are the Cyclades, a collection of islands with a story that goes back thousands of years before classical Greece. The people who lived there were skilled sailors, traders, artists, and craftsmen, yet so much about their world remains a mystery. Who were they? What did their rituals mean? And why did they create those haunting marble figures we still recognize today? In this episode, we’re heading into the heart of the Cyclades to explore what archaeologists have uncovered and, perhaps more importantly, what they still can’t explain.

Read more

The ancient city of Ugarit in modern Syria remained nothing more than a legend buried beneath a great mound of earth until its discovery in 1928. Thousands of years of settlements from the Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age were stacked atop one another, forming its mass. During Ugarit’s last era, grand temples, palaces, and libraries overlooked the glistening waters of the Levantine Mediterranean. Texts, records, and correspondence were written in at least eight different languages. Their own written language was among the first alphabetic systems in recorded history, one used to decipher religious texts of the modern world.

Yet, for all that Ugarit accomplished, it was their god and his epic that commanded eternal reverence. Baal, god of storms, fought his way to power, swaying Death and the Sea to his mighty will. His reputation faltered as a new religion swept through the Levant, condemning him as evil. Perhaps he was too powerful. His worship was widespread, an unstoppable force of earned legitimacy. Ugarit found its legitimacy through its own pragmatism and the foundations of a god’s accession. It was only inevitable that a singular god would see in himself the power that Baal once had.

A Kingdom of Trade and Tales

Ugarit was never a major player in military exploits. They found their success in maritime trade and clever alliances. As a fortified seaport, they catered to those who could benefit them. Egypt, Cyprus, Crete, the Cyclades, and Mesopotamia relied on their strategic location along the shores of the Northern Levant. During the Middle Bronze Age, kings of Egypt gifted sovereigns of Ugarit stela, statuettes, and carnelian. Shells from Crete, cylinder seals from Babylonia, pottery from Mycenae, and art of stela, bronze, and ceremonial ivory displaying the flair of Syria and Egypt further attest to their expansive network. By the time of Egypt’s New Kingdom, they thrived as a booming trade center. A golden age of architecture decorated a city equally elevated atop a lofty acropolis.

Fortunately, Ugarit’s golden age produced a plethora of documentation. The city housed multilingual archives in languages such as Egyptian, Sumerian, Akkadian, Hurrian, Hittite, Luwian, and Cypriot-Minoan. Private residents as well as palatial institutions kept meticulous records of anything from trade to social and cultural life. Temple libraries provide ample evidence of their alphabetic system, consisting of thirty letters written in cuneiform, a notable departure from syllabic or pictorial writing systems.

As the world around vied for supremacy, Ugarit, as a trade hub, could not entirely stand on its own. From c. 1600 – 1200 BCE, it relied on the good graces of Egypt and Cyprus, who proved formidable allies. Even as the Hittites took control of their city around 1340 – 1300 BCE, they used them to their full advantage. At times, they offered military, financial, and economic support to the whims of their overlords. Other times, they exploited their weaknesses. When Rameses II battled the Hittites at Kadesh, the Ugaritians fought alongside them, but the moment failure was imminent, they fell back into the welcoming embrace of Egypt, with seemingly little consequence. They, themselves, never instigated war. Ugarit’s strength was in its diplomacy.

At the end of the Bronze Age, Ugarit collapsed just as most of its neighbors did. The pressures of a new age could not sustain them. The palace-temple economy that ruled them fell apart as people expanded out into the countryside. Natural disasters and the migration of the legendary Sea Peoples hastened the demise of their now fragile port, and they, along with the Hittites, became seemingly lost to the world that once was. Though the city would remain in obscurity until a 20th-century farmer uncovered the tomb that brought archaeologists to the base of its hill, Ugarit somehow continued to influence those around them.

The Battle of Storm, Sea, and Death

The myriads of bilingual and multilingual texts from Late Bronze Age Ugarit no doubt demonstrate impressive cordialities that may support why they never had any enemies. More so, it shows a rather remarkable affinity toward storytelling. Among their religious texts are many of the same stories that circulated through the region, such as Gilgamesh and the great flood. It also shows that they worshipped the same deities, the storm god Baal and the supreme El, creator and father of gods.

At the time, Baal’s worship was widespread. People throughout the Levant, Phoenicia, and even Egypt knew Baal by one of his many names. He was a king who represented order, overcoming the forces of chaos that disrupted nature’s delicate balance. He was the Rider of the Clouds, the Mighty One, the one without equal, Lord of heaven and earth; there was none above him. His foundational epic describes the scenes that shaped the seasons and made the Levant such a fertile landscape, culturally and agriculturally.

The Baal Cycle is a story of cosmic proportions. It portrays Baal’s struggle in subduing his opposition, the god of the sea and the god of drought and death. Though somewhat fragmentary, what remains etched on clay tablets tells a tale of drama and perpetual defiance. The story begins with Baal feasting among his fellow gods along with his sister and consort, Anat, goddess of war, known to wear the heads of her victims upon her chest. During this time, Baal has no palace to call his own; recognition of his sovereignty completely depended upon his father, the supreme El.

When the ruthless god of the sea, Yamm, sent his messengers to demand obedience, claiming he is the most powerful of gods, Baal simply asked what clever speech the god had prepared for him. Yamm’s messengers boldly declared the sea god’s claim to Baal. But the storm god would never surrender to a god so presumptuous. With weapons fashioned by the divine craftsman of Egypt, Kothar-wa-Hasis, Baal readied himself to face the savage Sea. Anat spoke to her husband, battle looming.

“To earth shall fall the strong,
To dust the mighty…
I tell thee, O Prince Baal,
I declare O Rider of the Clouds.
Now thine enemy wilt thy smite,
Now wilt thy cut off thy adversary.
Thou’lt take thy eternal kingdom,
Thine everlasting dominion.”
“Kothar brings down two clubs
And gives them names…
Do thou swoop in the hand of Baal,
Like an eagle between his fingers;
It strikes the pate of Prince Yamm…
Yamm collapses,
He falls to the ground;
His joints bend,
His frame breaks.”

(Pritchard translation)

Baal had won, and Yamm was forever imprisoned, but victory was not enough. A god was nothing without a worthy house. Alas, El granted Baal his palace, thanks to the persuasions of his and El’s consorts, and the storm god’s kingship was finally legitimized. From his throne upon Mount Saphon, Baal’s thunder shook the earth, his dominion stretching to mortal cities near and far. Yet divine glory would inevitably awaken another fearsome foe. Mot, another son of El and personification of death, came to claim Baal just as Yamm had tried and failed.

Anger festered in Mot at the thought of being excluded from the divine feast of gods. He threatened Baal, wanting to use the terror of deathly invocations to consume his brother. Briefly, Mot succeeded. Baal was swallowed by his ghastly brother, and with the storm god gone, droughts came, and the earth began to wither. Just as Baal to Yamm, Anat would not submit so easily to Mot. She hunted him with a chilling vengeance, violence spilling out of her until Mot was dead, ground up and scattered to ash.

“With the sword she doth cleave him
With fan she doth winnow him
With fire she doth burn him.
With hand-mill she grinds him.
In fields she doth sow him.
Birds eat his remnants,
Consuming his portions,
Flitting from remnant to remnant.”

Mot had been consumed as he once did to Baal. Meanwhile, sun goddess Shapshu scoured the earth for the fallen storm god. Baal triumphantly returned. Still, Death can never truly ever die, not in the same way a mortal can. The cycle of storm and death’s struggle restores itself time and time again, as seasons change, as Baal returns to his throne.

Common Themes in Baal and the Bible

The Ugaritic Baal Cycle is one of many ancient texts that describes agricultural cycles and the precarity of death as a unifying narrative. More specifically, however, these texts follow very similar patterns, especially throughout the ancient Near East and Mediterranean. Not so surprisingly, they also involve the sea as a catalyst for order overcoming chaos. Versions may slightly vary in their telling; some may incorporate a grain goddess of sorts who works to appease the storm god, becoming something of a consort. Others may be intertwined within creation stories.

In Mesopotamia, after the chaos that ensued from Inanna’s descent into the underworld, Tammuz, the god of the fertile spring, was chosen to reside in the underworld for part of the year. In Egypt, the death of Osiris at the hands of his brother, Seth, was connected to the rise and fall of the Nile. In the Contendings of Horus and Seth, Horus fights for his rightful place as Osiris’s successor against the brother and perpetrator of his father’s slaughter. Similar to Baal, the series of battles is headed by a divine assembly, a supreme entity who ultimately decides the fate of the next king. Horus earned his victory through fierce struggle and was granted legitimacy. Baal was granted a palace and legitimacy in the eyes of the gods and his people.

The theme of agricultural cycles, battles between gods, and kingship carried on even as civilizations collapsed at the end of the Bronze Age. The ancient Canaanite culture, indigenous to the Levant, transformed into the Israelite culture. Gods became a singular presence and new stories were told of creation, chaos, and order. As such, the city of Ugarit becomes far more important. Linguistically, the written languages of Ugaritic and Hebrew are so similar that biblical scholars have used Ugaritic to decipher challenging words and phrases that otherwise would have been subject to interpretation. Both systems share an identical alphabetic order, as well as a consonantal structure referred to as Abjad, meaning that short vowels were generally omitted.

What these findings reveal is that the Ugaritic and Hebrew languages were vastly similar, both expectedly being from the same Semitic family. Additionally, as expected, the two cultures would also share a great deal of literary parallels. Israelite texts have often called Baal a false god in opposition to Yahweh. Yet one cannot help but notice the familiar ways in which battles were fought and divine palaces erected. Sequential events in the Old Testament are remarkably similar to those of the Baal Cycle: the battle of the sea, the coming of the city of heaven, and finally, Death’s defeat.

“Yet, God, my king from the first, author of saving acts throughout the earth,
by your power you split the sea in two, and smashed the heads of the monsters on the waters.
You crushed Leviathan’s heads, gave him as food to the wild animals.
You released the springs and brooks, and turned primordial rivers into dry land.
Yours is the day and yours the night, you caused sun and light to exist,
you fixed all the boundaries of the earth, you created summer and winter.” (Psalms 74:12-17)

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; the first heaven and the first earth had disappeared now, and there was no longer any sea.
I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride dressed for her husband.
Then I heard a loud voice call from the throne, ‘Look, here God lives among human beings. He will make his home among them; they will be his people, and he will be their God, God-with-them.
He will wipe away all tears from their eyes; there will be no more death, and no more mourning or sadness or pain. The world of the past has gone.” (Revelation 21:1-4)

Further, early Israelite theologies state that Yahweh’s earthly palace was built atop a mountain, just as Baal’s, but more specifically, as per symbolic tradition, to represent the boundary between the earth and the sky, heaven. Gods throughout the ancient world took up earthly residence atop mountains; one primary example would be the entirety of the Greek major pantheon and their supreme god of storms, Zeus, on Mount Olympus. What is more compelling, still, is the epithet by which Baal was identified, Rider of Clouds, being reimagined to describe Yahweh in multiple verses.

“Sing to God, play music to his name, build a road for the Rider of the Clouds, rejoice in Yahweh, dance before him.” (Psalms 68:4)

“…build your palace on the waters above, making the clouds your chariot, gliding on the wings of the wind.” (Psalms 104:3)

“No one is like the God of Jeshurun: he rides the heavens to your rescue, rides the clouds in his majesty!” (Deuteronomy 33:26)

Psalms 135:7 claims that Yahweh can summon clouds, bring rain, lightning, and wind. In Matthew 8:23-27, Jesus soothes his disciples aboard a boat caught in a raging storm by simply rebuking the winds and calming the sea. Throughout the ancient world, weather and agriculture determined sustainability. As such, myths often reflect geographical, political, and social issues tied to a people’s ability to thrive. Themes associated with the sea may be a reflection of advancements in trade routes and conflicts between seafarers, fishermen, and piratical groups. Further themes, such as droughts and death, profoundly affect humanity. Mythology gives reason to suffering through the struggles of gods. And those who can control the weather ultimately control the world.

Still, the parallels seen between Ugarit and biblical writers do not assume that Baal was repurposed as Yahweh. Rather, it shows a broader familiarity with Northern Semitic religious expressions that emphasize the significance of storms, sea, divine kinship, fertility, and chaos. Where Baal establishes his authority and legitimacy by defeating the Sea and securing his divine palace, Yahweh is portrayed as the supreme creator and king who already commands the sea and cosmos. Ugarit, therefore, offers a missing piece in Canaanite cultural and religious evolution and transformation through those with whom they shared cultural ties and interacted. As other religions have done, the Israelites likely aspired to distinguish themselves from their neighbors while still honoring their heritage. Inherited stories, the conflicts of man, and perhaps the authority of Ugaritic Baal may have shaped the might of a god, but that god would have his own story to tell.

Featured image: Ruins of Ugarit (modern day Raš Shamra, Syria). ( Loris Romito / CC BY-SA 3.0)

References

• King, J. 2012. Ugarit. World History Encyclopedia. Available at https://www.worldhistory.org/ugarit/

• Schaeffer, C.F.A. 2025. Ugarit: Ancient City, Syria. Encyclopedia Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/place/Ugarit

• Atwood, R. 2021. The Ugarit Archives. Archaeology Magazine. Available at: https://archaeology.org/issues/july-august-2021/features/ugarit-bronze-age-archive/

• Benner, J.A. 2026. Ugarit and the Bible. Ancient Hebrew Research Center. Available at: https://www.ancient-hebrew.org/biblical-history/ugarit-and-the-bible.htm

• Pritchard, J.B. 1969. Ancient Near East Texts Related to the Old Testament. Princeton University Press. Available at: https://www.marquette.edu/maqom/baalyamm.pdf

• Lutz, R.C. 2019. The Baal Myth from Ugarit. Available at: https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/religion-and-philosophy/baal-myth-ugarit

• Old Testament excerpts retrieved from https://www.catholic.org/bible/old_testament.php

Table of Contents

• From the Editor

• In the News

• Quote

• Caption This!

• Poll Question

• Last Week’s Poll Answer

• Ask Me Anything

• Reminder: Paid Subscriptions Are Back!

From the Editor

A lot has been on my mind lately. Something that I have noticed in recent months is that engagement seems to be down all over Substack. It isn’t limited to the newsletters but I am also seeing it on my podcast episodes to even the community driven Notes social feature. I have been asking around and it seems that I am not the only one affected by this and it may be more of a Substack platform issue. But at the same time, I need to consider increasing the quality of my content. I owe it to all of my subscribers.

I have been spending quite a bit of time in the recent couple of weeks creating new video content for the site (which also gets shared on social media). I have already shared the One-Minute Digs with you. And there are more episodes in the queue, waiting to get published.

I am also working on a new video series of short documentaries (we are talking 3-4 minutes long) which will likely remain behind the paywall called Forgotten Worlds. Similar to the One-Minute Digs, the goal is to provide quick digestible facts about the ancient cultures that continue to fascinate us. The first episode is nearly complete. Stay tuned for more…

Latest Podcast Episode on Emperor Titus

Also, be sure to check out our latest podcast episode where I sit down with research and author, to discuss his latest book: Emperor Titus: The Right Hand of Vespasian. I never realized how much more there was to this little written about Roman Emperor.

Content and Scheduling

Consistency is good. Especially when it comes to online publications. I am also trying to figure out a proper schedule for content. The plan is to limit content to no more than 3 per week. After doing some research and following a few trial experiments, I believe I will schedule the following content on the following days.

• Tuesdays — Long form articles or a detailed artifact analysis special feature

• Thursdays — Audio Podcast or video content

• Sundays — Weekly Digests (like this one)

Note - There may be some weeks where long form articles may not be available to publish (especially, in the beginning) but I will do my best to limit this interruption.

In the News

Ancient Roman Bathhouse Revealed at Apollon Smintheus

Archaeologists excavating the Apollon Smintheus sanctuary in Türkiye have uncovered the cold-water pools and changing room of a Roman bathhouse dating to around the third century AD. The discovery adds more detail to a complex that included hot rooms, service corridors, furnaces, and water systems. Source: Hürriyet Daily News.

A Mysterious Goddess Hidden in a Spanish Cave

More than 120 Roman inscriptions have been recorded inside a cave sanctuary in eastern Spain, including five dedicated to a previously unknown goddess called “the Lady.” The inscriptions, along with jewelry, pottery, coins, and other offerings, suggest the deep underground cave was an important place of worship. Source: Archaeology Magazine.

Göbekli Tepe May Have Been More Than a Ritual Site

New excavations at 11,600-year-old Göbekli Tepe are challenging the long-held idea that the site was used exclusively for religious gatherings. Archaeologists have uncovered evidence of large residential structures, suggesting people may have actually lived there during part of its history. Source: IFLScience.

Did Bronze Age Arabia Have Its Own Brand?

Pottery produced at the oasis of Qurayyah in northwestern Arabia around 3,600 years ago may represent one of the earliest examples of branding. Its distinctive designs, consistent production methods, and wide distribution gave the pottery a recognizable identity that spread hundreds of miles. Source: Archaeology Magazine.

Egyptian Tomb Reveals Changing Burial Practices

A tomb in the Theban Necropolis is giving archaeologists a fascinating look at how Egyptian burial practices changed over several centuries. What began as separate burials in coffins eventually became densely arranged layers of mummies, including a curious case where a mummified dog was placed above human remains. Source: Archaeology Magazine.

Quote

For as the eyes of bats are to the blaze of day, so is the reason in our soul to the things which are by nature most evident of all. - Aristotle

Caption This!

Welcome to a new, fun series where you get to be part of the joke!

Each time, I’ll share a comic panel and leave the caption up to you. Come up with something funny, clever, sarcastic, ridiculous, or completely unexpected. There’s really no wrong answer, as long as it’s appropriate. Just comment below!

The best part? Your submissions could make it into a future “Caption This!” post! I’ll pick some of my favorites and feature them in a follow-up, so you might just see your caption alongside the next panel.

So take a look, get creative, and give me your best caption. I can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Poll Question

Last Week’s Poll Answer

Athens and Sparta were the two prominent city-states that fought as the primary rivals in the Peloponnesian War.

Ask Me Anything

It has been a while since I have done an Ask-Me-Anything video, so, now is your chance to start asking your ancient history focused or Digging Up The Past questions! And once I get enough, a new video will be recorded!

Reminder: Paid Subscriptions are Back!

Just another reminder that Paid Subscriptions are re-enabled! As a paid subscriber, not only will you get special access to both videos and special articles but your contributions will help support my project to continue providing the content you enjoy.

Expect to see fresh new paid subscriber content soon!

Starting today, Digging Up The Past is offering a Halloween promotional sale which ends on October 31st. Is it a bit early for a Halloween promotion? Nope! It is never too early for anything Halloween. 😄 Be sure to not miss out on getting 20% off annual subscriptions for all eternity! Mhua ha ha ha!

20% off annual subscriptions!

Your subscriptions help support the content that goes into making this site possible, including interviews, videos, and other great features. Unfortunately, many of the tools, resources, and guest appearances that make this content possible come with a cost. Your support helps me keep creating and bringing more of this content to you.

Your support is genuinely appreciated. It helps keep the site going and, just as importantly, gives me the motivation to keep creating and sharing more with you!

Featured Image: The treasures of Jerusalem relief under the Arch of Titus in Rome, Italy. (Jebulon / CC0 1.0)

Think going to the dentist today is stressful? Imagine having your teeth held together with gold wire. Thousands of years ago, ancient Egyptians were already getting creative with dental repairs. So how exactly did this bizarre bit of ancient dentistry work?

Be sure to visit Marc Hyden’s website: https://www.marchyden.com.