Egyptians never called their river “Nile”. This word comes from the Egyptian “nwy”, which means 'water' – it was mispronounced by Greeks as “Neilos”. But the original and very ancient name of Nile was “Hapi” probably signifying "the hidden". Later, Egyptians started to call the Nile 'the river', and Hapi became the name of river’s god, or, more precisely, the god of the [...]
Some travelers who come to Rome think that Trajan’s column was the very first of its kind and that it is unique. In reality, Romans have erected many great columns in Rome and across the Empire. Some of them still stand today, but most of them are unfortunately lost. We know about a dozen of Columns that stood in Rome, but only three [...]
The Circus Maximus’s history is as ancient as Rome’s itself. Legend has it that it was during the first games in the circus, put on by Romulus himself, that Rome’s king gave the order for the infamous Rape of the Sabine women. Under the Tarquins, wooden seats were constructed that spatially separated spectators according to class. And during the mid-Republic (c. 189 BC) [...]
Ephesus has a continuous and complex history which begun some nine thousand years ago. Ephesus location is very favourable, but the shoreline was constantly moving from east to west due to sedimentation, which led to several relocations of the city. Excavations have revealed splendid monuments of the Roman Imperial period including the Library of Celsus and the Great Theatre. But the most famous [...]
We are starting a new series of posts dedicated to Roman coins. Our focus will be places and monuments that are shown on ancient coins. The first post is about the most emblematic monuments of the Ancient Rome: Rostra. Get our app on Apple store Get our app on Google play A rostrum was not a mere platform or podium for the talkers, [...]