Month: October 2014
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10 Coins of Ancient Greece
The first Greek coins were minted in Aegina from 560 BCE, and then Athens and Corinth also began their own coin production shortly after. Each city used an easily identifiable symbol: a turtle for Aegina, an owl for Athens and a winged-horse for Corinth. The turtle was an apt choice for the Mediterranean trading power,…
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Ireland’s Exquisite Insular Art
While much of Europe was consumed by social disarray in the centuries following the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in 476 CE, a remarkable golden age of scholasticism and artistic achievement began in Ireland. Untouched by centuries of Roman rule, Ireland retained an ancient cohesive society characterized by rural monastic settlements rather than urban…
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Visiting the Burrell Collection in Glasgow
One day before my fellowship admission ceremony at the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, I was sitting in my room and surfing the net. I found that a museum in Glasgow, the Burrell Collection, houses some artifacts from Mesopotamia. That’s great! I hired a taxi and went there. I arrived at 10:30…
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10 Ancient Gold Jewellery Pieces
Malleable, lustrous, resistant to corrosion, and high in value, gold has always been a favourite material for jewellers going back to earliest antiquity. The following jewellery pieces are all from the ancient Mediterranean and have nothing more in common than their excellent craftsmanship and striking designs. For more on the history of ancient gold see…
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Ancient History Encyclopedia & Chickasaw.tv Partnership
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 20, 2014 Ancient History Encyclopedia Announces Partnership with Chickasaw.tv New collaboration expands online educational resources about the ancient world LONDON — Ancient History Encyclopedia, a nonprofit, digital humanities website focused on ancient history, today announced that they have begun a strategic content sharing agreement with the Chickasaw Nation Video Network. The collaborative…
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Visiting the Pergamon Museum in Berlin
August 11, 2014. It was a partly cloudy day. I arrived at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin around 10 AM. I found a long queue . . . Average waiting time: two hours! I asked a guard about this. He said, ”This line is for holders of priority pass tickets and pre-booked tickets.” I said, “OK,…

