International experts in classics and filmmaking are taking part in a University of Liverpool conference to discuss the re-emergence of ancient world films in popular culture.

Alasdair Wilkins — The Olympic Games first began in the ancient Greek city-state of Olympia. For all its fame, the city suffered a mysterious fate, destroyed by an unknown natural disaster. Now it looks like tsunamis were the culprit…despite being 30 kilometers inland.

The German Newspaper, Der Spiegel, recently ran a controversial article about the origins of modern Britons and the restructuring of British society as a result of the Anglo-Saxon invasions. It makes for interesting reading! Click here to learn more.

We have just moved Ancient History Encyclopedia to new servers! The old servers were reaching their limits, and we have now found a load-balanced clustered solution, which spreads the traffic over several servers. Due to the move there have been several errors on the site, as well as some downtime… sorry for that. Hopefully you can now enjoy a faster-loading and more stable Ancient History Encyclopedia! Many thanks to tsohost for helping us with the move!

Researchers in Egypt have recently suggested that Ancient Egyptians lived with air pollution just as we do in the modern day. Apparently, this research and its findings have been controversial. Read this provocative article by clicking here.

There is exciting news from Bulgaria! A team of Bulgarian scientists and archaeologists are excavating an ancient Thracian palace, which dates from the reign of King Teres I (r. 351-341 BCE). The site is located near the village of Starosel vin Hisarya and was at the crossroads of Greek and Thracian influence in Antiquity. Please read more about expedition by clicking here.

Peter Davidson’s Atlas of Empires is a very accessible and informative history of all of the world’s major empires, describing the reasons for their rise and decline. Most history books focus on great leaders, battles won, lands conquered, and economies exploited when summarizing the history of an empire.While these are important aspects of empire-building, Peter Davidson uses a different lens to look at empires, as he explains in his introduction:This book, then, defines empire as an unequal relationship between a core state and a periphery of one or more states controlled from the core. To explain how empires have risen, persisted and fallen over the millennia, the core, the periphery and the international situation each need to be examined.The core state is the place to look to find various motives for expansion, from the dream of imposing an imperial peace on squabbling states to the desire for economic exploitation, lust for the glory of conquest or zeal for evangelism, religious or ideological.The periphery is the place to look for crucial resistance or collaboration. Specifically, the …

If you find yourself in Italy in the near future, you might want to check out “Portraits: The Many Faces of Power,” at the Capitoline Museums (Piazza del Campidoglio, Rome). This exhibition is one of five annual shows in Rome which trace the trajectory of Roman art through the centuries and through various media. The exhibition, running until September 25, showcases over one hundred fifty busts.

I just wanted to alert our users that a great resource is available to you for free! If you enjoy watching documentaries–especially those on ancient history–you must check out Top Documentary Films. The website includes free, streaming, online documentary films, and movies on a variety of topics. It’s a fantastic tool for the scholar, educator, and casual viewer alike!

South of the bustling Lebanese capital–the alluring Beirut–is the ancient Phoenician city of Tyre. In its heyday it was a major center of international trade and commerce. From Tyre, Phoenician merchants and sailors  sailed to present day Spain, Greece, and Tunisia. The ruins of the old city are remarkably intact and bear witness to centuries of invasions and cultural exchange. For more information please read Mohammed El Hebeishy’s “Phoenicia Revived” You can also view several pictures of these imposing ancient ruins when accessing the provided link. If Turkey is more to relevant to your interests, you should take a look at Susanne Güsten’s recent article in the New York Times by clicking here. Turkey has undertaken steps to protect ancient Christian churches and monasteries, in particular those found in Anatolia. Restoration and preservation work has been conducted and tourists are flocking to these sites as a result.