Most Recent Visit: June 2017. This post will be a bit different, as it’s kind of the mid-point between my usual schedule of updates. Because it’s just a small villa site without too much information available, and rather off the beaten path in the first place, I figured it would be better served as a…
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Most Recent Visit: June 2017 The ancient town of Herakleia Minoa was founded in the middle of the 6th century BCE by settlers from Selinus probably as a means preventing expansion by Akragas (Agrigentum). The ancient remains are located near the modern village of Eraclea Minoa, and about 26 kilometers to the west of Agrigento….
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Most Recent Visit: June 2017. At the westernmost tip of Sicily is the city of Marsala, and at the western most tip of Marsala is Capo Boèo, which makes up one of the three points of the trinacrium of Sicily, and the location of the ancient remains of the city of Lilybaeum. Lilybaion, a name…
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Most Recent Visit: June 2017. It’s not often that I’ll delve completely off the path of the Romans and do a site that doesn’t even have a period of Roman occupation. In fact, Motya was gone for over 100 years before the Romans even came to the island in force. But, I thought I’d make…
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Most Recent Visit: May 2017. Well removed from any modern settlements is the ancient remains of Segesta. Like Eryx, Segesta seems to have been one of the major settlements of the Elymian people of Sicily, and served as the political center of the Elymians. Also, like Eryx, the name of the city seems to have…
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Most Recent Visit: May 2017. Perched at a height of 750 meters, on a mountain overlooking the modern town of Trapani, is the town of Erice and the location of the ancient settlement of Eryx. Though the original settlement was probably founded by the Elymian people of western Sicily, mythological origins are also attributed to…
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Spain has always held a bit of a special place in my consciousness. It was the first country that I visited on my first trip to Europe. It was that trip, and in part my experiences in Spain, that helped push me towards Archaeology at time when I was still pursuing a degree in another…
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Most Recent Visit: June 2016 The site of modern day Barcelona seems to have been occupied well before the arrival of the Romans. According to legend, a city was founded on the location by Hercules. Another legend places the name Barcino as being derived from the Carthaginian Barcid family and was founded by Hamilcar Barca….
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Continued From Tarraco Part II There are a number of interesting Roman sites in the area around Tarraco, most of them accessible with public transportation from Tarragona. The one exception to this is the Arc de Berà, an arch constructed in 13 BCE at the behest of Lucius Licinius Sura and dedicated to Augustus. This…
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Continued From Tarraco Part I (See Map Here) Located just next to the circus, at Plaça del Rei 5, is the impressive Museu Nacional Arqueològic de Tarragona (MNAT). The museum is open in the summer (June 1st to September 30th) on Tuesday through Saturday from 9:30 to 20:30, and from 10:00 to 14:00 on Sundays…
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