Crimea Gold

A priceless collection of ancient gold artifacts from Crimea that was on loan to a Dutch museum when Russia annexed the region is still in legal limbo. The trove of Scythian treasures, which including a magnificent 4th century BC Scythian helmet, had been lent by several Crimean museums to the Allard Pierson Museum in Amsterdam when Russian forces seized control of the peninsular in March 2014.

The Crimea and the Black Sea were and remain an important crossroads between Europe and Asia. The recorded history of the Crimean Peninsula, historically known as Tauris or Tauric Chersonese, begins around 500 BC when several Greek colonies were established along its coast. Crimea since that time has endured a long series of conquests and invasions.

The modern history of Crimea began with the annexation by the Russian Empire in 1783. In 1921 the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was created. This republic was dissolved in 1945. Since 1991 it has had the status of an Autonomous Republic within Ukraine until its recent annexation by the Russian Federation in the 2014 Crimean Crisis.

Nearly a year after the exhibition “Crimea: Gold and Secrets From the Black Sea” wrapped up at the Allard Pierson Museum 565 rare treasures on loan from four Crimean museums remain in boxes in a storage facility, awaiting a court decision about where they should be shipped. “Russia is attempting to appropriate valuable exhibits from Crimean museums that are currently on loan abroad," Ukraine’s vice prime minister for social affairs, Oleksandr Sych, said during a news briefing.

Construction of the Olympic venues in the Imereti Valley resulted in over a dozen archeological expeditions, and close to 400 artifacts have been handed over to the city's history museum. "The construction of the Olympic venues in Sochi over the past five years has triggered large-scale archaeological excavations previously unseen in this resort city," said Alla Guseva, Deputy Director for Research at the museum.

In October 2013 the museum unveiled the Ancient Gold of Kuban and the Black Sea Region exhibition as part of the Cultural Olympiad's Year of Museums. This is the first exhibition to feature artifacts unearthed during the Olympic construction. The excavations in the Imereti Valley started in the wake of the Olympic construction. Previously, the area was considered unattractive for archeological expeditions. However, the first excavations have demonstrated that the area has been populated since ancient times.

The Bosporan Kingdom was an ancient state located in eastern Crimea and the Taman Peninsula, on the shores of the Cimmerian Bosporus (now known as the Strait of Kerch).

Gold Stater - Bosporan Kingdom

It was named after the Bosphorus, also known as Istanbul Strait, a different strait that divides Asia from Europe. The Bosporan Kingdom was the longest surviving Roman client kingdom. It was based on the export of wheat, fish and slaves. The profit of the trade supported a class whose conspicuous wealth is still visible from the newly discovered archaeological finds.

Gaius Cassius Longinus

Gaius Cassius Longinus, often referred to as simply Cassius, was a Roman senator and general best known as a leading instigator of the plot to assassinate Julius Caesar on March 15, 44 BC. He was the brother-in-law of Brutus. Cassius had a successful military career including taking part in the infamous Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC, where he was serving under the Triumvir Marcus Crassus as a quaestor. Crassus was part of the First Triumvirate, with Julius Caesar and Pompey. The Battle of Carrhae would be one of Rome's greatest defeats. Crassus was killed.

A coin of Gaius Cassius Longinus.

By 50 BC civil war was looming. Without Crassus the First Triumvirate was finished. With Caesar and Pompey at each other's throats, Cassius, along with his friend Brutus, sided with Pompey. Caesar was victorious at the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 BC, causing Pompey to flee to Egypt where he would be murdered. Cassius fled but was intercepted by Caesar and he promptly surrendered. Cassius found Caesar to be very forgiving. Now allies, he promoted Cassius to the position of legate.

On the Ides of March, 44 BC, Cassius and the other conspirators murdered Caesar in the Theatre of Pompey. Caesar suffered 23 stab wounds, with one to the heart fatally wounding him.

Babylonian proto-trigonometry predates Greek

Our understanding of trigonometry dates to ancient Greek astronomers studying celestial bodies. Now it appears the ancient Babylonians likely developed their own “proto-trigonometry” more than 1,000 years before the Greeks. A 3,700-year-old cadastral survey, Si.427, depicts a surveyor’s plan of a field. It is one of the oldest examples of applied geometry from the ancient world.

The need for accurate surveying is apparent from ancient writings. Measuring rope and the unit rod were tools of the trade. These were revered symbols of fairness and justice in ancient Babylon and were often seen in the hands of goddesses and kings.

The Spanish galleon San José

The San José was a 60-gun galleon of the Spanish Navy. The ship is considered the holy grail of Spanish colonial shipwrecks. It was sunk off the coast of Cartagena, Colombia in 1708. Colombia and Spain have disputed ownership of the Galleon San Jose for years. Built in 1698, the ship was sunk after a battle with a British squad commanded by Captain Charles Wagner.

The San José was part of a Treasure fleet during the War of the Spanish Succession, under General José Fernández Santillán. On 8 June 1708, the fleet encountered a British squadron near Barú. During the battle, the powder magazines of San José detonated, sending the ship to the bottom.

All but 11 of the 600 people on board perished, either incinerated in the explosion or drowned at sea. The San José was located by an international team led by Colombia’s Institute of Anthropology and History on Nov. 27, 2015 nearly 1,000 feet deep about 16 miles from Cartagena. Speculation says it likely had 7 to 10 million Spanish pesos on board at the time of its sinking, similar to its surviving sister ship, the San Joaquín.

Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos announces the discovery of the remains of the Galleon San Jose

The San Jose was carrying one of the largest gold and silver hoards ever lost at sea. Estimates place the value of the cargo to at least $1bn.

A seafloor image of the shipwreck identified as the San Jose. The wreck has yet to undergo exploration, leaving questions about what riches might be found. The type and number of bronze cannons found at the site leaves no doubt that the ship is the San Jose.

Pandora's box

Pandora's box is connected with the myth of Pandora in Hesiod's 'Works and Days'. The container in the original story was a large storage jar but the word was later mistranslated as "box". When Prometheus stole fire from heaven, Zeus took vengeance by presenting Pandora to Prometheus' brother Epimetheus. Pandora opened a jar left in his care containing sickness, death and other evils which were released into the world.

Though Pandora tried to close the jar, only one thing was left behind – usually translated as Hope. From this story has grown the idiom "to open a Pandora's box", meaning to do some small act that will cause great and unforeseen harm.

"Painters of Pompeii" opens

"The Painters of Pompeii" opens in Oklahoma City and highlights Roman wall painting, which was common in ancient Rome. The interiors of Roman buildings were decorated with bold colors and designs that ranged from mythology to landscapes to still lifes to architecture.

Often paintings covered the entire wall, from floor to ceiling.

17 decapitated skeletons found at ancient Roman cemetery in UK

Seventeen decapitated skeletons dating back about 1,700 years have been discovered in three Roman cemeteries at Knobb's Farm in Cambridgeshire, in the U.K. Archaeologists who excavated the site think that the people were executed for violating Roman laws. The cemeteries hold the burials of 52 people, and the 17 decapitated bodies include those of nine men and eight women and all over 25 years of age at time of death.

The number of capital crimes in Roman law increased dramatically during the third and fourth centuries, around the time these skeletons were buried. Death offenses grew from 14 at the start of the third century to around 60 by the death of Constantine in A.D. 337. Evidence suggests that the Roman military used Knobb's farm as a supply center, and would have dealt harshly with any infractions.

Kent detectorists strike gold three times

Two rare gold tremissis from the Merovingian dynasty - the ruling family of the Franks from the middle of the 5th century until 751 were found. Only 115 such coins have been recorded in Britain. How the tremissis turned up in the UK will never be known exactly but they originate from a time of social turmoil across Europe, in the wake of the collapse of the Roman Empire. It was a time in Britain when no coins were being minted by the tribes left free of Roman rule.

A Gallo-Belgic gold stater isn't as rare as the tremissis, it's older, from around 150BC - and has its origins in another time of turmoil. They was minted to pay mercenaries fighting in the Gaul war against Julius Caesar. It could have been bought over by a mercenary from the continent. They were only struck on one side and were produced hastily.