Santorini - Thera

The Greek Island of Santorini was in the headlines in early 2025 because of a swarm of severe earthquakes. The earthquake swarm prompted an exodus from the island. Santorini, classically Thera, is an island in the southern Aegean Sea, about 200 km (120 mi) southeast of Greece's mainland. It is the remnant of a volcanic caldera.

The eruption of Thera was a catastrophic eruption which is thought to have occurred some 3,400 years ago at the height of the Minoan civilization. It was the largest volcanic event on Earth in recorded history. The eruption devastated the island of Thera, and may have led to the collapse of the Minoan civilization on Crete.

Kolumbo is a submerged active volcano. Its most recent eruption in 1650 CE, generated a tsunami causing destruction in the islands of Santorini, Ios, and Sikinos, while the poisonous gas emitted from the eruption killed 70 in Santorini.

Kolumbo’s edifice was created by at least five eruptive cycles, the earliest dating back more than 1M years.

New research into ancient tree rings from half a world away helped settle lingering questions about when Thera erupted. Scientists believe the volcano erupted in the 16th century B.C., about 3,400 years ago, blowing some 24 cubic miles of rock and ash into the atmosphere. The eruption had long lasting and wide ranging effects world wide. Researchers were able to determine colder years in the tree rings of Irish oaks and bristlecone pines in California. Scientists believed that the eruption happened between 1600 and 1525 B.C.

Evidence of a catastrophic tsunami that followed the eruption of Thera was found at Çesme-Bağlararası on Turkey’s Aegean coast, more than 100 miles north-northeast of Santorini.

Researchers found an articulated skeleton of a man (and his dog) believed to have been killed by the tidal wave following the eruption that devastated the Aegean island. Calibrated radiocarbon ages found within the tsunami deposit say the remains date no earlier than 1612 BCE. The eruption left a large caldera surrounded by volcanic ash deposits hundreds of metres deep.

The myth of Atlantis, described by Plato, may be based upon the Santorini eruption. Excavations in 1967 at Akrotiri made Thera the best-known Minoan site outside Crete.

Only the southern tip of a large town was uncovered, yet it revealed complexes of multi-level buildings, streets, and squares with remains of walls standing as high as eight metres, all entombed in the solidified ash. Pipes with running water and water closets found at Akrotiri are the oldest ever discovered.

The advanced architecture, and the layout of Akrotiri resemble Plato's description of the legendary lost city of Atlantis.

Dense patches of crocus flowers on the fresco ‘The Saffron Gatherers’ from Santorini suggest cultivation. Saffron crocuses are effectively clones dating back to saffron’s emergence in ancient times.

In 2015 archaeologists discovered 39 ingots scattered across the sea floor near a 2,600-year-old shipwreck off the coast of Sicily. The ingots were made from orichalcum, a cast metal which ancient Greek philosopher Plato wrote was from the legendary city of Atlantis. X-ray fluorescence analysis indicate the ingots were made from a mixture of zinc (15-20 per cent), charcoal and copper (75-80 per cent) with traces of nickel, lead and iron. Orichalcum is a brass-like alloy, which was made in antiquity through the process of cementation, which was achieved through the reaction of zinc ore, charcoal and copper metal in a crucible.

In Plato's Critias, orichalcum was described as a lustrous metal second only to gold in value. It was used to cover the walls of the inner sanctuary in the Temple of Poseidon in Atlantis. Roman coins were made of orichalcum. Orichalcum was officially valued higher than bronze, but sat just below silver and gold.

Dupondius of Faustina the Younger.

The Romans standardized their use of orichalcum during Augustus's monetary reforms in 23 BCE. The alloy was typically reserved for higher end base metal coins, the prestigious sestertius and slightly smaller dupondius. Coins were brightly gold coloured when newly struck but tarnished over time to a darker or greenish patina.

Roman marching camp found in Slovakia

Archaeologists in Slovakia have uncovered a large Roman military camp likely used by troops of Marcus Aurelius.

The "extremely rare" camp came as a surprise to archaeologists, as it holds the hastily buried remains of numerous soldiers in unusual graves, including wells. Most are thought to be Roman soldiers.

Military equipment found with the remains included spearheads, arrowheads, fragments of helmets, pieces of segmented and scale armor, legionary brooches, coins, and iron hobnails from Roman military caligae. Researchers also recovered everyday items such as an axe, a cutting tool, and a gaming die. Between A.D. 166 and 180, the Romans fought a series of battles against the Marcomanni, who lived north of the Danube River along the border of the Roman Empire in what are now Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Marcus Aurelius reigned as Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and commanded troops in the Marcomannic Wars.

Gold of ancient Syracuse found

Archaeologists have uncovered a rare fifth-century BC Syracusan gold coin during an emergency excavation at the Maddalusa necropolis near Agrigento, Sicily. The discovery was made during the recovery of a Greek tile-covered burial, known as a cappuccina tomb, in the coastal dunes west of the mouth of the Akragas River. The excavation revealed an exceptionally well-preserved gold coin dating to the final decades of the fifth century BC. The obverse depicts the head of Heracles facing left, wearing the leontè—the skin of the Nemean Lion, which he defeated during his first labour. The reverse features a quadripartite incuse square enclosing a small female head, accompanied by the inscription Syra, identifying the coin as an issue from Syracuse.

The coin belongs to a series of emergency gold issues struck by Syracuse during the Carthaginian invasion of Sicily at the end of the fifth century BC. The city minted these coins to help finance its military campaign as it allied with Akragas against advancing Carthaginian forces. In 406 BC, Carthaginian armies captured and destroyed Akragas after a prolonged siege, marking the end of the city’s Golden Age as one of the leading Greek colonies. The Maddalusa necropolis is recognized as one of the primary burial sites of ancient Akragas.

Aquila - SPQR

Jaws flapped about Trump's use of the Nazi eagle.

The Nazi eagle (Parteiadler - Imperial Eagle) was stolen from the Romans. The Nazi swastika was also hijacked.

The word swastika comes from the Sanskrit svastika, which means 'good fortune' or 'well-being.'

An aquila, or eagle, was a prominent symbol used in ancient Rome, especially as the standard of a Roman legion. A legionary known as an aquilifer, or eagle-bearer, carried this standard. Each legion carried one eagle.

The eagle was extremely important to the Roman military, beyond being a symbol of a legion. A lost standard was considered a grave event. The Roman military often went to great lengths to protect a standard and to recover it if lost. In the aftermath of the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest the Romans spent decades trying to recover the lost standards of the three destroyed legions. No legionary eagles are known to have survived. SPQR stood for Senatus Populusque Romanus. The meaning was "The Senate and People of Rome". S · Senatus = 'The Senate', P · Populus = 'The People', Q · Que = 'And', R · Romanus = 'Roman'.

Battle of Pharsalus

The Battle of Pharsalus was the decisive battle of Caesar's Civil War fought on 9 August 48 BC near Pharsalus, Central Greece.

Julius Caesar and his allies faced the command of Pompey. Pompey had the backing of a majority of Roman senators and his army significantly outnumbered the veteran Caesarian legions. According to Caesar, his own army included 22,000 Roman legionaries distributed throughout 80 cohorts (8 legions), with 1,000 Gallic and Germanic cavalry. Pompey was described as having 88 cohorts of Roman infantry, which at full strength would come to 44,000 men.

Pompey also had 5,000 to 7,000 cavalry, and thousands of archers, slingers and light infantrymen in general.

Pompey used his superior cavalry to try and crush Caesar's right flank. Caesar anticipated this and hid a select reserve of 3,000 close-quarters shock soldiers behind his lines. Caesar had studied Pompey's cavalry commander Titus Labienus. Labienus was a former top lieutenant of Julius Caesar who defected to Pompey at the start of the conflict.

Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (106-48 BC) ‘Pompey the Great’

He commanded Pompey's large cavalry force. Caesar pulled 3,000 veterans from his third line and gave them an order that broke the rules of Roman warfare. Late Republican armies typically deployed in three lines. He ordered his 4th line men to hold their javelins like spears, and to not throw them. They were ordered to advance and drive them into the rider's faces. When the legionaries unexpectedly advanced and drove steel toward their faces, the riders flinched, wheeled, and ran. Their retreat collapsed the entire Pompey flank.

Titus Labienus

The fourth-line legionaries couldn't outpace the fleeing cavalry, but they were soon among the lightly armed archers and slingers – men without armour, trained and equipped only to fight at a distance. They were cut down in large numbers. The fourth line then halted, reformed, and with the 3 line executed a devastating right hook, plunging into the exposed left flank and rear of Pompey’s main line. Pompey took horse and fled. Elements of his broken army rallied, but they surrendered when Caesar offered generous terms.

The Caesarian army lost only 200 killed, including 30 centurions, while the Pompeians lost 15,000 killed and wounded, while more than 24,000 surrendered. Death came to Labienus in the Battle of Munda, an evenly matched conflict between the armies of Caesar and the sons of Pompey. Pompeians suffered massive casualties during the rout, in which Labienus himself was killed. This defeat ended Caesar's Civil War. According to Appian, his head was brought to Caesar, who then dispatched men to locate the body of his former friend, and buried him with full honours.

Amanishakheto gold

Queen Amanishaketo ruled Nubia from 10 BCE to 1 CE. During her reign, she followed in the footsteps of former warrior Queen Amanirenas, leading troops with her bow in hand. When the Romans broke a peace treaty ensuring that they wouldn't invade Nubia, Amanishaketo led the nation’s defenses and warded off the Roman army sent by Augustus.

The Candaces of Meroe were the queens of the Kingdom of Kush. They ruled from the city of Meroe in what is now Sudan. Amanishakheto bore the titles “Qore” and “Kandake”, both “King” and “Queen mother”, meaning that she was a ruling queen, and not merely a consort. She was the successor to Queen Amanirenas. Queen Amanirenas is one of the most famous Meroitic queens because of her role in leading the Kushite army against the Romans from 25 BC to 22 BC. This war is largely responsible for halting Rome's southward expansion in Africa. Amanishaketo and her kingdom was extremely wealthy. Kush produced most of the gold in ancient Egypt. Rich grave goods found in her tomb are testaments to her great wealth.

Her grave treasures consisted of 10 bracelets, 9 shield rings, 67 signet rings, 2 bracelets and a large number of amulets, all created by the finest craftsmen of the Kingdom of Meroë.

Jewelry was stolen from the Queen's pyramid in 1834.

Como hoard

A hoard of gold coins was found in Como, about 50 km north of Milan in 2018. The hoard was discovered in a soapstone jar during excavation of the Cressoni Theatre. The haul was exactly 1,000 coins, most in as struck condition.

639 were struck in Mediolanum, (modern-day Milan) capital of the Western Empire.

They were minted between 395 and 472 A.D. and bear representations of eight emperors and four empresses. The fall of the Western Roman Empire is traditionally dated to the end of Emperor Romulus Augustulus in 476 A.D. 744 of the coins were minted after 455, the last two decades of the empire. In addition to the coins, the treasure contains the raw materials for goldsmith work, including jewelry and a gold ingot.

In total the hoard contained 5 kg of gold, a huge amount of wealth.

Tyrian Purple

Tyrian purple is a pigment made from the mucus of 3 species of murex snail. In nature, the snails use the secretion as part of their predatory behavior to sedate prey. The snail also secretes mucus when it is attacked or antagonized. Production of Tyrian purple for use as a fabric dye began as early as 1200 BC by the Phoenicians. It continued with the Greeks and Romans until 1453 AD, with the fall of Constantinople. The pigment was expensive and time-consuming to produce, and items colored with it belonged to the elite. The pigment was the most expensive product in antiquity – worth more than three times its weight in gold, according to a Roman edict in 301 AD

The ultimate status symbol in Rome were robes dyed Tyrian purple. The colour, named for Tyre, its place of origin, was made from the Hexaplex trunculus snail. It took 13,000 snails to produce 1.4 grams of dye, enough for the trim on one garment. In Republican Rome only the wealthiest men, the equites, were allowed to wear it. In Imperial Rome it was restricted to the Emperor.

In 40 AD, the king of Mauretania was killed in Rome on orders of Caligula. Despite being a friend to the Romans, he caused a grave offence when he strode into an amphitheatre to watch games wearing a purple robe. Archaeological data from Tyre indicate that the snails were collected in large vats and left to decompose. This produced a hideous stench. Little is known about the mass production of the most highly prized "blackish clotted blood" colour. It may have been achieved by double-dipping the cloth, once in the indigo dye of H. trunculus and again in the purple-red dye of B. brandaris.

Tyrian purple may first have been used by the ancient Phoenicians as early as 1570 BC. The dye was prized in antiquity because the colour did not easily fade, but instead became brighter with weathering and sunlight. Phoenicia means 'land of purple.' True Tyrian purple, like most high-chroma pigments, cannot be accurately displayed on a computer display.

A Tunisian man has pieced together a secret linked to ancient emperors: how to make a prized purple dye using the guts of a sea snail. No historical documents clearly detail the production methods used. Production of the dye was among the main sources of wealth for the ancient Phoenicians, and then for the Carthaginian and Roman empires. Whole economies depended upon it's production. Even today the dye can cost $2,800 per gram from some European traders, and prices can reach up to $4,000. To obtain one gram of pure purple dye, 100 kg of the ill smelling murex need to be shelled.