Continued From Dodona Part I Immediately to the east of the theater are the barely discernible remains of the priest’s house abutting the eastern retaining wall of the theater. The house predates the theater, being built sometime in the latter half of the 4th century BCE. The southeastern corner of the theater actually overlays the…
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Continued From Nicopolis, Epirus Part II Just across the dirt path (where the cardo maximus would have run) to the west of the odeon are the remains of a temple. Like the bathing complex adjacent to the odeon, these remains too are heavily overgrown and difficult to view from the ground, but perhaps a slightly…
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Most Recent Visit: May 2021 In the lead up to the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE, after wintering at Patrae and unsuccessfully attempting a move to Italy, Marcus Antonius moved his forces to the southern promontory at the mouth of the Ambracius Sinus (the modern Gulf of Ambracia), south of the town of Actium…
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Continued From Sanctuary of Asclepius Part II East of the Tholos and south of the west end of the Enkoimeterion stands the remains of the temple to Asclepius, one of the central and most important structures of the sanctuary. The temple was constructed around 375 BCE, during the height of the building program at the…
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Tucked away among the foothills of the Cottian Alps in Northern Italy, the ancient settlement of Segusium is today located in the Val di Susa, which takes its name from the modern successor of Segusium, Susa. The settlement at the confluence of the modern Cenischia stream and the Dora Riparia (Dura Minor in antiquity) was…
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Continued from Serdica Part I Out in front of the hotel that makes up the western part of the building complex enclosing the Church of St. Geroge, where we left off, is another set of excavations, the Sveta Nedelya Square excavations. These were ongoing when I visited in 2017, and seem to still be presently…
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The Roman settlement of Julia Augusta Taurinorum, which gave rise to the modern Northern Italian city of Turino (Turin), seems to have begun life as a settlement of the Celto-Ligurian Taurini peoples, perhaps called Taurasia. The location of the settlement at the foot of the Cottian Alps and the confluence of the Padus/Eridanus and Duria…
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Continued from Philippopolis Part II Theater The ancient theater of Philippopolis is located on the saddle between Taksim Hill and Dzhambaz Hill (two of the three hills of Trimontium) straddling Boulevard Tsar Boris III Obedinitel, which runs through the hill directly below the theater. The actual address of the theater is Tsar Ivaylo Street 4….
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Located on a plateau atop the Monti Lepini (Volscian Mountains), an anti-Apennine mountain range overlooking the Agro Pontino (Pomptinus Ager in antiquity; the land of the Pontine Marshes), sits the ancient settlement of Norba. The settlement’s commanding presence over the Pomptinus Ager made it a particularly important location in the control of the area. The…
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History Located at the mouth of the present-day Marecchia River (the Ariminus in antiquity) is the Italian Adriatic seaside resort town of Rimini, successor of the Roman settlement of Ariminum. The area seems to have been under the control of the Etruscans until about the 6th century BCE, when the Etruscans were dislodged from the…
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