Most Recent Visit: July 2024 The site of Colonia Flavia Scupinorum, often shortened to Scupi, is located on the north bank of the Axios (the modern Vardar), a few kilometers outside the modern capital of North Macedonia; Skopje. The immediate area of the settlement has produced archaeological evidence suggesting the location had been inhabited since…
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Most Recent Visit: June 2023 The ancient city of Megalopolis is today located just outside the northern limits of the modern Greek town of the same name. It was established along the banks of the Hellison (modern Elissonas) river, close to the confluence with the Alpheus (modern Alfeios). The river apparently bisected the city, rather…
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Most Recent Visit: July 2023 Located about 120 kilometers southeast of Rome at the foot of Monte Cassino, site of the famous battle of the Second World War, are the remains of the Roman settlement of Casinum. The settlement appears to have been founded by an Oscan group, perhaps the Sidicini, sometime prior to the…
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Continued From Colonia Ulpia Traiana Part II Roughly 85 meters southwest of the Römische Schiffswerft, nearly at the next intersection is the Limespavillion, a thematic exhibition about the Roman army generally as well as the Roman limes in the vicinity of Colonia Ulpia Traiana. There are lots of helpful maps and information on legionary camps…
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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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Most Recent Visit: June 2022 The area that the Romans would eventually settle as Colonia Ulpia Traiana, near the confluence of the Rhenus (modern Rhine) and Lupia (modern Lippe) rivers, was sparsely inhabited by local groups for at least the preceding two millennia. There does not seem to have been any large settlements identified in…
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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 III The next few points for the Agrigentum addendum are within the main Parco Valle dei Templi archaeological area or very closely associated with it. The main entrance is conveniently just half a kilometer south down the Strada Provinciale 4 from the Casa San Filippo parking lot. The park is…
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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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