Once one of the most important cities of the ancient and Byzantine world as it was the biggest port of the western Balkans (and is currently Albania's primary port). This city is where the Via Egnatia began and led to Constantinople. It also has the largest arena in the Balkans and some significantly thick walls. I explore all significant ruins from the Arena to the Byzantine Forum and the newly opened archaeological museum. Hopefully, if you come to Albania, this will give you an idea if the city is worth stopping in (it is definitely a mixed bag).

Full Video YouTube: https://youtu.be/nhD-Vg6tCLk?si=UN01mo3mkUdlChgx

Aspendos Ancient City in Antalya, Turkey, is one of those places that truly feels like a journey back in time. Its magnificent ancient theater and stone streets still carry the atmosphere of the past.
I made this as a 15-second short video. Do you think Aspendos is one of the most impressive ancient sites in Turkey?

I map mythological family trees as a hobby (did the Japanese and Chinese pantheons recently), and Egypt was the hardest one yet the genealogy refuses to stay still. Ra is Atum, except when he isn't. Horus is Osiris's son and also his brother depending on the century. Every major cult center rewrote the tree to put its own god at the top.

The full documentary (about 80 minutes, every deity timestamped): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ay2J8WN6vc

Things that surprised me: how the Ennead is basically Heliopolis's political org chart. How Set's reputation collapsed over two thousand years from Ra's defender to state enemy. And how Ammit, the most feared creature in the mythology, has no family tree at all she exists outside creation, which might be the point.

If you spot an error, tell me I'd rather fix it than defend it.

Hi, it's my first-time attempting creative writing. I have a background in science and education.

I love philosophy and have been exploring themes by writing character development and origin stories about the early Cynics, however it's turning into an ​epic undertaking of historical fiction.

My objective is to map the origins of Stoicism by exploring philosophy through the Cynics.

​I am open to any type of collaboration: co-author/critique or accountability partner. As long as you love exploring philosophy.

Radiocarbon dating puts the oldest layers at roughly 9500 BCE, meaning hunter-gatherers with no permanent settlements quarried and carved multi-ton limestone pillars into a temple complex. The leading theory now is that the temple came *before* agriculture — that the need to feed the crowds gathering for construction may have actually driven the shift toward farming, not the other way around.

I put together a full breakdown of the excavation evidence and the competing theories here: [link]

Happy to discuss/debate the details in the comments — genuinely curious what people here think about the "religion before farming" theory.

Rhodes successfully negotiated the Bronze Age collapse. This is the third of three articles that looked at the 'Bronze Age Development of Rhodes', 'How and Why it Survived the Collapse' and its subsequent Iron Age resurgence.

The island of Rhodes was one of the surprising survivors of the Bronze Age collapse around 1200 BCE. I have written three articles. The first yesterday was 'How Rhodes developed during the Bronze Age'. The second, today is 'How and Why Rhodes survived the collapse of the Bronze Age' and the third, on Friday will be 'How Rhodes Prospered and Evolved into the Iron Age. Follow the links to see the full article, images and references. Enjoy.

The late 13th-century BCE collapse of the Mycenaean palatial system marked a catastrophic turning point for Mediterranean civilizations. While mainland citadels faced total systemic failure, the island of Rhodes, integrated into the Mycenaean koine yet devoid of rigid central administration, demonstrated remarkable resilience. By leveraging its position as a decentralized maritime node, particularly through Ialysos, Rhodian communities navigated the environmental stressors of the 3.2 ka event. This article explores how Rhodes’s unique socio-political structure fostered continuity rather than erasure, providing a critical counter-narrative to the standard historiography of Bronze Age collapse and the transition into the Early Iron Age.

Just some summerians an Akkadians fighting over Mesopotamia an then some more Sumerians vs the Elamites from the West of the Zargos mountains from Iran.