Most Recent Visit: June 2025 The settlement that would later become Spalatum under the Romans was originally founded by settlers from the Greek colony of Issa (modern Vis), located on an island of the same name about 50 kilometers off the coast. The colony was established as Spalathos (or Aspalathos) on a natural harbor on…
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Most Recent Visit: June 2025 The ancient city of Aptera (or Aptara) was located on a strategic plateau above the south side of the mouth of the Souda Bay in northwestern Crete. One derivation given for the name is from the mythological singing contest between the Sirens and the Muses that was said to have…
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Continued From Salona, Dalmatia – Part III While the majority of the archaeological remains of ancient Salona are contained within the archaeological park, there are a few things worth seeing outside the park as well. The easiest one to get to from the entrance of the archaeological park Marusinac cemetery complex. Marusinac is located about…
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Continued From Salona, Dalmatia – Part I A stairway descends from the top of the fortifications down into the area of the Episcopal Center of Salona, just to the west of the excavated towers. A few meters on and to the west of the bottom is a structure designated as Oratorium A. This space originally…
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Continued From Colonia Ulpia Traiana Part I The archaeological park is more or less divided up into the insula that would have been present in antiquity using dirt visitor paths (the actual roads are either not excavated or are not present) to mark the paths of the dividing roads. The vast majority of the site…
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Continued From Agrigentum, Sicilia Part IV At the very west end of the archaeological park, near the Temple of the Dioscouri, is the entrance to the Giardino della Kolymbethra, a valley located along the north side of the archaeological area. I didn’t visit this on the 2017 trip because I thought having a separate additional…
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Continued From Agrigentum, Sicilia Part II The first time I visited Agrigento in June 2017, I was just a few months on from officially starting this project. It was one of the first sites I visited after I had actually started working this. Though I had gone into summer 2016 travels with the idea, I…
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Most Recent Visit: May 2024 Though the area was inhabited since prehistoric times, the ancient city of Edessa seems to have been continuously occupied by the late 8th or early 7th century BCE. It is thought that the earliest inhabitants were the Bryges, a Thracian people from which the Phrygians seem to have originated. The…
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Continued From Apollonia, Macedonia – Part III On the south side of the sacred way, above the north end of the stoa, was another set of retaining walls. On top of the plateau formed by these was a temple. The temple dates back to at least the 2nd century BCE and was then restored and…
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Continued From Apollonia, Macedonia – Part I From the tower, the road begins to slope uphill toward the main archaeological site. Another 250 meters on or so, on the east side of the road, are the remains of a large residential building. The residence, referred to as the House of Athena after a statue of…
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