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The city of Rome has declared heightened security around the Colosseum after an outbreak of illegal and sometimes violent behavior: Rome has designated the entire area around the Colosseum as a 24‑hour “red zone” security district, adding constant surveillance, more police patrols, and stricter movement controls in response to a recent surge in vandalism, nighttime trespassing, and tourist‑related disturbances. The article explains that authorities are installing new cameras, drone monitoring, and reinforced barriers to prevent people from climbing the monument or entering restricted archaeological areas after dark. Police presence will be continuous, with rapid‑response units stationed nearby. The city government argues that the Colosseum has become increasingly vulnerable due to overcrowding, late‑night gatherings, and social‑media‑driven stunts. https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/02/travel/rome-declares-security-red-zone-around-the-colosseum-to-protect-tourists-amid-violent-crime-incidents https://nypost.com/2026/09/05/world-news/rome-declares-area-around-colosseum-a-red-zone-adding-24-hour-security/?utm_campaign=iphone_cap&preferred_app=capost&utm_source=message_app

The blistering sun and heat in Rome would have made attending the gladiatorial games and other activities in the Colosseum unbearable. Fortunately for the spectators, the Romans developed a retractable awning system called the velarium to give attendees both shade and cooling relief from the heat. Below is a nice short video on the archaeological evidence for this awning system: The Colosseum never had a solid roof; instead, it used a vast retractable awning system called the velarium, an enormous arrangement of linen sailcloth panels rigged above the seating areas to shade spectators from the sun. Ancient writers like Martial and Pliny describe it as one of the amphitheater’s defining comforts, and physical evidence remains visible today in the 240 stone corbels around the uppermost story, which anchored the wooden masts that supported the rigging. The velarium covered the cavea (the seating bowl) but left the arena itself open, both for light and ventilation. It functioned through a complex web of ropes and pulleys operated by sailors from the Roman fleet at Misenum, whose naval training made them ideal for handling massive sheets of fabric under shifting wind conditions. Modern estimates suggest the system could shade 50,000 spectators, weighed as much as 24 tons, and created a cooling updraft that circulated air through the structure. https://scienceinsights.org/what-was-the-velarium-used-for-romes-giant-awning/ https://www.history.com/articles/colosseum-roof-air-conditioning

A cheap copper‑alloy ring found at Herodium in the 1960s does not point to Pontius Pilate himself but, according to new research, to someone working for his administration. The key is a single vowel in the inscription. The ring’s inscription PILATO, written in Greek letters, most likely means “to Pilate” or “for Pilate” — suggesting it was used by a lower‑status worker sealing goods or documents destined for Pilate’s office, not by Pilate personally. Quick reminder: Pontius Pilate was the Roman prefect (governor) of Judea from AD 26 to 36, appointed by Emperor Tiberius, and he is best known for presiding over the trial and execution of Jesus of Nazareth as described in early Christian sources. Archaeologists uncovered the ring at Herodium (pictured above), Herod the Great’s hilltop fortress south of Jerusalem. It’s a simple copper-alloy ring with a small oval bezel engraved with mirrored letters so it could stamp wax or clay. Its cheap material and clumsy workmanship already made scholars doubt it belonged to the wealthy Roman prefect. The inscription matters because its single word, PILATO, reshapes how the ring is understood. Earlier scholars tried to read it as meaning “of Pilate,” either implying ownership, or being two unrelated abbreviations with no connection to Pilate at all. Catherine Bonesho argues instead that the engraver wrote a Latin dative—“to Pilate” or “for Pilate”—but rendered it in Greek letters, using an omicron where a Latin learner would normally use an omega. That small linguistic slip is typical of Greek‑speaking artisans across the Roman East who occasionally reproduced Latin names imperfectly. Under this reading, the ring becomes evidence not of Pilate’s personal jewelry but as a seal used by a lower‑status worker marking goods or documents destined for Pilate’s administration. https://www.zmescience.com/science/archaeology/pontius-pilate-ring-seal/ https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00310328.2026.2695544#inline_frontnotes

I like this short video on the Forma Urbis:

A mosaic with the names of the pets has been found in a villa in Turkey. It dates from the 2nd-3rd centuries AD. Below is an article about the discovery of an exceptionally well‑preserved Roman villa in ancient Adramytteion, now Burhaniye, on the Aegean coast of Türkiye. Excavations uncovered a mosaic floor in the villa’s northern hall. The mosaic contains fifteen figurative panels depicting birds, fish, mythological creatures, and—most strikingly—a cat and a dog, both named. The cat’s name is interpreted as “Smeraldo,” while the dog is labeled “Okyanos,” meaning “Ocean.” This offers an interesting glimpse into the world of the villa’s owners. The villa, dating back to the second and third centuries AD, likely belonged to a wealthy family. It was constructed around a central atrium and featured colorful mosaics, frescoes, and an advanced water system. Some artwork, such as Medusa and pygmy figures, indicates links to North African mosaic traditions, while the winged horse symbol reflects local civic pride, as shown on regional coins. The residence remained in use and was modified into late antiquity, with later rooms decorated in both geometric and figurative styles. https://arkeonews.net/1800-year-old-roman-villa-mosaic-discovered-in-turkiye-preserves-the-names-of-a-cat-and-dog/#google_vignette

This is a fascinating chart from Jeremy Ney at Substack: https://substack.com/@jeremybney/note/c-325465601?r=k9yfw&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action

This is a nice short video about Rome’s great sewer system, the Cloaca Maxima: The Cloaca Maxima, Rome’s “Greatest Sewer,” was an enormous drainage canal first built in the 6th century BCE under the early kings, traditionally Tarquinius Priscus, to transform the marshy lowlands between the Capitoline and Palatine hills into solid ground for what would become the Roman Forum. Over time, the open canal was roofed with massive tufa blocks and expanded into a vaulted tunnel large enough for maintenance crews—and even small boats—to pass through. Functioning primarily as a storm drain, it carried runoff and wastewater into the Tiber, enabling Rome’s rapid urban growth above it. Its longevity is surprising: It was renovated repeatedly, connected to aqueduct overflows by the first century CE, and it is still partly functional today. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloaca_Maxima

A nice short video on the Arch of Constantine and its use of spolia (repurposed parts from other monuments):

There have been numerous posts (see below) on the use of quicklime in Roman construction. Here is a very informative short video on the topic, explaining Roman concrete’s durability. Ancient Romans used quicklime (calcium oxide) because it was the essential reactive binder that made their mortars and concretes harden into durable, stone‑like masses. When quicklime was produced by heating limestone and then combined with water, it transformed into calcium hydroxide, which could then react with volcanic ash to form the calcium‑aluminum‑silicate hydrates that gave Roman concrete its strength and centuries-old longevity. Recent analyses of Pompeian construction sites show that Romans often used hot mixing, adding dry quicklime directly to ash and aggregate (the solid, inert material—such as stones, gravel, sand, crushed brick) before hydration. This produced intense localized heat and left behind lime clasts (the bright white, calcium‑rich chunks of partially reacted quicklime embedded throughout ancient Roman concrete) that later dissolved and recrystallized, effectively “self‑healing” cracks in the structure over centuries. These white clasts can be seen in the video. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pompeii-house-frozen-mid-renovation-reveals-secrets-of-roman-cement/ An earlier short video explaining the Pantheon’s durability:

A kitchen knife block (from the Substack @Coolstoriesabouthistory). https://substack.com/@coolstoriesabouthistory/note/c-321894285?r=k9yfw&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action

Here is an interesting video short on Roman dice towers. Roman dice towers—known in antiquity as the pyrgus or turricula—were gaming devices designed to ensure fair, random dice rolls. A dice tower was a small vertical structure with internal ramps. A player dropped dice in the top; they tumbled through the interior and emerged at the bottom in a randomized roll. This prevented sleight‑of‑hand, loaded throws, or palming—complaints that appear in Roman literature as early as the 1st century AD. Pictured above: The Vettweiss‑Froitzheim dice tower is a 4th‑century copper‑alloy Roman gaming tower about 22.5 cm tall, discovered in 1983 in a villa near Vettweiss in Germany, notable for its internal stepped ramps that tumbled dice onto three tiny bells, its openwork dolphin and geometric decoration, and its striking military inscription—PICTOS VICTOS / HOSTIS DELETA / LUDITE SECURI (“The Picts conquered, the enemy destroyed—play in safety”)—which strongly suggests it belonged to a Roman soldier on the northern frontier and served both as an anti‑cheating device and a piece of triumphal propaganda. https://www.classroomadventures.co.uk/post/the-roman-dice-tower

Kibyra, Turkey, has been the site of recent archaeological research. (See posts below.) Researchers have found a statue of Hadrian (reign 117-138). The statue is dated to Hadrian’s reign (AD 117–138) because its portrait features match the standardized imperial iconography used only during his lifetime, and because the stylistic and archaeological context supports the creation around AD 130. This also aligns with Hadrian’s documented travels through Anatolia, when cities often commissioned new imperial statues. It is believed that the statue was shattered during an earthquake in AD 417 when it toppled from an upper section of a monumental gateway. The archaeologists in Kibyra (south‑western Turkey) have reconstructed the 2.14‑m marble statue of Emperor Hadrian, along with additional imperial sculptures, from fragments long buried in the ruins of the city’s Monumental Entrance Gate. The nearly complete marble statue of Emperor Hadrian was reconstructed from a portrait head and an armoured torso found in separate excavation seasons. It stands shows him in elaborately decorated military dress with lion and eagle reliefs. Roughly 20 sculptural pieces (arms, legs, feet, torsos, portrait heads) have been recovered across excavation phases. Fragments of a statue of Empress Sabina, Hadrian’s wife, were also identified, along with additional male and female sculptures. https://www.heritagedaily.com/2026/08/monumental-roman-statues-emerge-from-ruins-of-ancient-kibyra/159075

I grow weary of reports claiming suspected burial sites of ancient figures like Alexander the Great and Cleopatra. Here's another: an assertion of Jesus' burial site based on archaeological landscape research. The photos above and below are of the same site from different angles: the Aedicule inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, the site of Jesus’ burial and resurrection. The Aedicule is the small, ornate shrine that encloses what Christian tradition identifies as the Tomb of Jesus—the site of the burial and Resurrection. It sits beneath the church’s main rotunda, called the Anastasis, with its large dome and hanging lamps. Both these articles below describe a discovery that strengthens the archaeological plausibility of the traditional site of Jesus’ burial. The landscape beneath the Church of the Holy Sepulcher matches the New Testament’s physical description more closely than any previously documented excavation. From John 19:41: Archaeologists from La Sapienza University in Rome have uncovered a first‑century landscape beneath the Church of the Holy Sepulcher that closely matches the New Testament’s description of the place where Jesus was crucified and buried. Their excavation revealed rock‑cut tombs, an abandoned quarry later filled with soil, and cultivated areas with olive trees and grapevines. These features align with the Gospel of John’s account that a garden and a new tomb were at the site of the crucifixion. The discovery indicates that the physical environment described in the Bible is archaeologically plausible at this location. The excavation began during restoration work on the church floor between 2022 and 2025. Researchers determined that the quarry lay outside Jerusalem’s city walls in the early Roman period, consistent with biblical references indicating that Jesus suffered “outside the gate.” They also found evidence of a Roman structure from Emperor Hadrian’s reign in the second century that had sealed one of the tombs. When Emperor Constantine built the first Christian shrine in the fourth century, the Roman structure was demolished, the tomb was uncovered again, and a Christian sanctuary was built around it. This sequence of construction demonstrates a long historical continuity of attention to the site. The excavated area reflects many details from the New Testament. The cultivated land with olive trees and grapevines corresponds to the biblical account of a garden near Golgotha. The rock-cut tombs resemble freshly carved burial chambers. Its position outside the old city walls aligns with scriptural references that state the crucifixion took place beyond Jerusalem’s gates. These similarities make the site notably consistent with the Gospel account. I will allow others to evaluate the evidence. https://punchng.com/archaeologists-uncover-ancient-landscape-matching-bibles-description-of-jesus-burial-site/ https://orthodoxtimes.com/a-2000-year-old-mystery-in-jerusalem-findings-that-match-the-bible-point-to-the-burial-site-of-jesus/#google_vignette

There have been several previous post reassessing Nero (see below). Below is a very good video describing Nero’s Domus Aurea:

New excavations in Wales have proven the extensive Roman presence in the area. Here is an article on the latest findings from the Wrexham site, which were first excavated in 2019. These findings will help shed light on this under appreciated Roman development. https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/new-dig-north-waless-first-34511915

Below are quotes about the display: “The panels were likely sculpted by, or for, Roman legionaries based at Caerleon, known as Isca to them, and may once have decorated a fortress building. Believed to date from circa AD 75 to AD 150, but recovered from a later context, the fragments may represent the earliest portraits produced in Wales. The stone carvings, which depict defeated and imprisoned Celts soon after the Roman invasion of Britain, were discovered during excavations in Caerleon in 2010. Following research and conservation work, visitors will now be able to see the remarkable artefacts as part of a permanent display at the National Roman Legion Museum in Caerleon.” https://nation.cymru/news/roman-stones-said-to-be-wales-earliest-portraits-displayed-for-first-time/ https://museum.wales/news/1449/Roman-sculpted-stones-said-to-be-Wales-earliest-portraits-displayed-for-the-first-time/

There was a recent post about the Via Appia (see below). Above is a recent photo of the Via Appia, outside Rome (from the substack “Modern Scholar”). https://substack.com/@worldscholar/note/c-255995870?r=k9yfw&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action

Here is a followup on the above find. If the dating of the sarcophagus is correct (4th-5th century AD), this burial reflects an emerging Christian culture. Constantine allowed Christianity to flourish beginning in AD 313, when he and Licinius issued the Edict of Milan, granting full legal toleration, restoring confiscated church property, and permitting Christians to worship openly without fear of persecution. By the late 4th century, Christian burial norms were spreading across Dalmatia. The sealed sarcophagus—with a single individual, minimal grave goods, and careful mortar sealing—aligns with emerging Christian preferences for simplicity, bodily integrity, and monumental stone coffins. The careful mortar sealing had a Christian significance. It was part of a theological and ritual shift: The body was to remain whole, untouched, and protected until the Last Judgment. In pagan Roman practice, tombs were commemorative monuments. In Christian practice, they became holy resting places. Summary: Late Antique burials (4th–6th c. AD) increasingly shifted toward Christian simplicity, church‑associated burial, and less emphasis on roadside display. The contrast marks one of the most dramatic transformations in Roman cultural and funerary history. https://www.heritagedaily.com/2026/08/158972/158972

The will be the first (of hopefully many) interesting, mostly ancient-themed pictures I come across. Above shows the layers of history found in one Istanbul (previously Constantinople) building. Source: Substack “Nenad Giorgievski” https://substack.com/@nenadgeorgievski/note/c-318624714?r=k9yfw&utm_medium=ios&utm_source=notes-share-action

So, did the Romans use an abacus for calculations? After watching the above advertisement, I was wondering …. Answer: The ancient Romans absolutely used the abacus, and they used it in a surprisingly sophisticated, portable form. The device was called the Roman hand‑abacus, a metal counting board with sliding beads in grooves. It appears in the archaeological record from the 1st century AD, and multiple sources confirm its widespread use in commerce, engineering, land surveying, and accounting. A 1st‑century CE bronze abacus from Aosta, Italy was archaeological evidence. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_abacus?utm_source=copilot.com

There have been numerous posts about Roman roads. Here is a short video summary about the construction of the Via Appia. The Via Appia, often called the Regina Viarum—the “queen of roads”—was one of ancient Rome’s most important arterial routes, built in 312 BCE under the censor Appius Claudius Caecus to link the capital with southern Italy and ultimately the port of Brundisium, giving Rome a strategic military corridor and a commercial lifeline that shaped its expansion.

In a previous post I wrote long ago (and had forgotten), I suggested that Tiberius (ruled AD 14-17) had banned public kissing to prevent the spread of herpes (pictured above and below). I now have to review the evidence supporting the statement from ancient sources. Suetonius reports that Tiberius prohibited kissing. The Life of Tiberius, 34.2, Suetonius 2 He issued an edict forbidding general kissing and the exchange of New Year’s gifts after the Kalends of January The reason for this ban, however, remains unclear. The prohibition on public kissing may have been intended to preserve court etiquette and public decorum rather than to address public health concerns. Tiberius may have been more concerned with regulating Roman social behavior and restoring “traditional standards.” Note: Suetonius is the only ancient source to mention this ban on "general kissing" "Suetonius never explicitly states that Tiberius’ ban was limited to public kissing; his term—“general kissing”—is broad and unspecified. While modern authors often interpret this as a ban on all public kissing, this is a subjective interpretation rather than a definitive ancient fact. Since Suetonius provides no specifics on where the ban was in effect, who it affected, or how it was enforced, scholars generally assume it concerned public decorum, given Tiberius’ reputation for austerity and other etiquette measures. Ultimately, the actual extent of the edict remains unknown: Suetonius is the only ancient source, and his brief mention leaves it unclear whether the ban applied to public greetings, court conduct, or broader social practices." It’s interesting that near-contemporary Pliny the Elder (AD 23-79) mentions a facial fungal infection (tinea barbae or sycosis barbae, pictured below): "Mentagra was a notorious skin disease in early Imperial Rome, first noted during the reign of Tiberius. Pliny the Elder describes it in Natural History (AD 77) as a disfiguring eruption that began on the chin and spread across the beard, cheeks, neck, chest, and even the hands. The lesions were scaly, painful, and so unsightly that Pliny remarked death might be preferable to enduring them. The name itself is a Roman joke: mentum (chin) combined with agra (attack). Although initially associated with fashionable elites—its spread linked to intimate contact such as kissing—later medical writers, including Galen, Archigenes, and Celsus, classified it under sycosis, or “wild lichen,” a follicular disease of the beard region. Pliny also recorded herbal treatments such as plantago and lichen mixed with honey, situating mentagra within broader Roman anxieties about “new diseases” arising from luxury, excess, and moral decline." Summary: The precise reasons for the ban on public kissing remain uncertain, possibly related to public health concerns or issues of decorum and morality. Nonetheless, this ban is recorded by Suetonius.

As archaeological research continues in Aspendos, Turkey, recent findings are making headlines. (See previous posts below.) During a recent excavation of a newly uncovered ancient cemetery, researchers discovered skeletal remains alongside coins featuring wrestlers. The tomb is dated between 475 and 300 BCE. (The image above shows a coin similar to one of those found, though it is not the exact coin from the tomb.) The grave appears to belong to a Classical‑period athlete — possibly a wrestler — based on the objects interred with him. Archaeologists discovered the skeleton within a box‑style stone sarcophagus, along with silver staters minted in Aspendos that depict two nude wrestlers, a motif strongly associated with the city’s athletic identity. Several Aspendian wrestler coins were placed with the deceased. These coins circulated widely, suggesting (but not proving) that the person was a wrestler. Scholars note that skeletal analysis — e.g., healed nasal fractures or musculoskeletal markers — will be needed to confirm athletic activity. The coin's presence in the grave would still be meaningful: it could merely reflect Aspendos’ civic identity, where wrestling was not just a sport but a marker of local prestige. Aspendos was a Greco‑Roman city in Pamphylia, about 16 km inland from the Mediterranean. It was founded by Greek colonists in the 5th century B.C. and became a prosperous hub for the trade in salt, olive oil, timber, and horses. https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/2-400-year-old-grave-of-possible-ancient-pro-wrestler-discovered-in-turkey

This is a wonderful short video, but I have shared my opinions below: The Roman phrase “bread and circuses” (panem et circenses) comes from the satirist Juvenal, writing in the late 1st–early 2nd century AD. Interestingly, he didn’t say “grain (frumentum) and circuses.” Juvenal deliberately chose "panem" because he was mocking the Roman people’s desire for the finished, consumable product — literal bread in hand — rather than the raw grain they received as their dole. The phrase “bread and circuses” refers to the crowd’s desire for ready-made food and entertainment, not the harder work of grinding wheat at home. Some correction in terminology: The annona was broader than just the dole: it included provisioning the army, Rome’s markets, and even emergency famine relief. The annona was Rome's food-supply system, especially the state-managed import, storage, and distribution of grain. Think of it as the pipeline that kept the city fed, with fleets, warehouses (horrea), and administrators. The frumentatio was a subset of the annona, specifically the citizen entitlement. It was the grain dole — subsidized or free wheat given to eligible Roman citizens. This was the monthly ration, usually about five modii (roughly 35–40 pounds) of wheat per person. Bread distributions were an imperial innovation (notably under Aurelian in the 3rd century AD), reflecting both practical needs and political theater — emperors wanted to be seen as feeding the people directly. Before Augustus, grain supply management was more informal, handled loosely by magistrates and temporary officials. In the late 1st century BCE, Augustus took a major step by creating a permanent office, the praefectus annonae, to oversee the grain supply. This official was responsible for everything related to grain—its import, storage, and distribution to the people of Rome. They managed fleets from Egypt and North Africa, supervised storage warehouses (horrea), and made sure the monthly grain allotment (frumentatio) reached everyone. By ensuring the city was well fed, Augustus helped prevent riots and build a stronger connection with the people. He made the grain supply system a lasting part of the empire's structure by establishing a powerful office, and the person in charge of it became essential to imperial governance.

Here is an interesting article about DNA evidence from grape seeds recovered from wells at Cetamura del Chianti, the site of the famous “red” Chianti (pictured above). Archaeogenetic evidence from ancient Tuscany, however, shows that the dominant grape cultivated by the Etruscans and Romans in Chianti was a white grape variety. Since grape skin color is the key determinant of wine color, those vineyards would have yielded white wines. “Between 300 BCE and 300 CE, local residents dropped grape pips into deep wells, where oxygen-poor mud preserved them.” The article describes how archaeologists sequenced DNA from 2,000-year-old grape seeds found in wells at Cetamura del Chianti in Tuscany, providing the most detailed genetic look at ancient grapevines from a single site. They analyzed 80 seeds and found that most came from a single, identical variety that was grown continuously from the Etruscans to the Romans, showing a strong consistency in local grape growing. The genetic markers revealed that this main clone produced white grapes, which is surprising since Chianti is now famous for its red Sangiovese wines. After the Romans arrived, new grape varieties appeared, indicating that carefully chosen cultivated types were brought in from across the empire. Some seeds also showed signs of wild grapes. One of the most interesting findings is a lineage genetically close to a rare Hungarian grape and to the famous Maribor vine in Slovenia—the world's oldest living fruiting grapevine. This points to long‑distance connections in ancient viticulture and hints at the broader networks through which grape varieties moved across the Roman world. Cetamura’s grape seeds are important because they provide a rare and well-preserved glimpse into how viticulture developed in central Tuscany, spanning from the Etruscan period to Roman rule. The history of grape seeds found at Cetamura del Chianti is told through well-preserved layers in two ritual wells. These layers date back to the Etruscan period (3rd–2nd century BCE), then through the Roman Republican and Imperial times, and even into the Late Antique era (4th–6th centuries CE). It's interesting to note that the later Roman grapes weren’t examined because of the biological changes they underwent. This uninterrupted sequence shows that viticulture in the Chianti Hills was already established before Roman influence, intensified during Roman agricultural expansion with greater varietal diversity, and persisted even after the decline of Roman authority, making Cetamura one of the rare sites in Italy where the evolution of grape cultivation can be traced continuously for nearly a millennium. The DNA also shows no direct match with modern Sangiovese but does share alleles with Tuscan heritage varieties such as Colorino, Canaiolo Nero, and Malvasia The real surprise is the grapes' color: the dominant lineage carried alleles for white berries rather than red. In other words, the people living in the Chianti hills two thousand years ago were cultivating a white‑grape variety (and drank white wine), despite the region’s modern association with red Sangiovese wines. https://www.technologynetworks.com/applied-sciences/news/ancient-dna-from-tuscan-wells-reveal-origins-of-modern-wine-413573 https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305440326001354?via%3Dihub