Continued from Lugdunum Part I Theater/Odeon Archaeological Area Adjacent to the museum is a complex that includes the theater, odeon, a sanctuary of Cybele, and a few other miscellaneous remains. This park is open every day from 7:00 to 21:00 during the summer (April 15 to September 15) and from 7:00 to 19:00 the rest…
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Most Recent Visit: June 2018. The modern city of Lyon lies at the confluence of the Saône (referred to as the Arar or Sauc-Onna in antiquity) and Rhône (Rhodanus, in antiquity) Rivers and is the third largest city in France behind Paris and Marseilles. In antiquity, the predecessor to Lyon, Lugdunum, was a similarly important…
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Most Recent Visit: June 2018. About 10 kilometers to the southwest of the modern city of Caen is the town of Vieux, the location at which the ancient town of Aregenua once stood. While the location of Aregenua fell within the area inhabited by the Viducasse prior to the arrival of the Romans, there does…
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Most Recent Visit: June 2018. The site of the modern-day city of Jublains, France seems to have been inhabited by the Gallic Diablintes people (also referred to as the Aulercii Diaulitae) as a domestic site as early as the late 2nd century BCE. The town of Noviodunum (also known as Noeodunum or Noiodunum, and not…
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Having finished posting the sites of my swing through Sicily in the summer of 2017, I thought a short post tying everything together as an actual itinerary, as I did with my Spain trip in 2016, would be in order. I meant to post it last week, but didn’t get around to it. I definitely…
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Continued From Syracusae – Part I Just to the west of the park, though outside, are some rows of tiered seating associated with a possible viewing area, referred to as the ‘linear theater’. This may be the remains of a 5th century BCE, or earlier, theater that preceded the theater in the park. It has…
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Most Recent Visit: June 2017. Though now overshadowed by Palermo, and even nearby Catania, the ancient city of Syracusae (Syrakousai) was perhaps the most important city on the island of Sicily in antiquity. Syracusae was founded on the island of Ortygia by Corinthian colonists (as well as Locrian or Dorian colonists, though they, as a…
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Continued from Catana Part I. The theater (along with the odeon) is arguably the centerpiece of the Roman monuments of Catana; it is certainly the most completely excavated and well-preserved of the Roman remains here. It is located at Via Vittorio Emanuele II 266. The theater is open every day from 9:00 to 17:00 and…
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Most Recent Visit: June 2017. Like many of the cities in eastern Sicily, the second largest city on the island, Catania, has its origin in one of the Greek colonies in that part of the island. The exact date of founding is unknown, but it is believed to be around 729 BCE when Chalcidian colonists…
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Most Recent Visit: June 2017. The area around the modern city of Taormina, and ancient Tauromenium, seems to have been originally inhabited by the native Siculi people, who may have even dwelt on the site of Taormina. A few kilometers down the coast, though, in 735 BCE, the Greek colony of Naxos was founded. Naxos…
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