Not all the mosaics with mythological images in them were excavated and taken off to the Zeugma museum. There are a few partial exceptions. It the picture above you can see some of the terra cotta pipes for the running water in the building, and yes they had toilets in houses as well. Here’s the even bigger pipes, and yes they had cisterns in house for collecting water as well for bathing etc. Notice the cistern in the picture above... Read more
The Roman elites in a colony city tended to cluster together in one part of the city, think the high rent district. In many ways, they kept to themselves, partially out of self-preservation. Overlords are often badly out number by local natives, not to mention by their slaves. Like at the slope houses in Ephesus, houses were built up a hill, and packed together side by side…. Sometimes, it is hard for students to imagine from the ruins what the... Read more
The word zeugma in common parlance means bridge, and in this case it refers to a frontier town built next to a crucial bridge across the Euphrates guarded by the Romans on the eastern frontier of the empire. Very few tour groups ever go to Zeugma itself, only to the Zeugma Museum on Gaziantep which is spectacular, and which we have done various blog posts on previously. But finally we went this time to the site itself. The backstory is... Read more
The port for the city Antioch was a considerable distance from the city, a full 18 miles over rugged terrain. But this is where Paul and Barnabas would have sailed from to go to Cyprus, and where they came back to after the first missionary journey. Today there is little to see of the ancient port, but it was an important port in ancient times, especially for the Romans as they built their Empire eastward. Here are some shots of... Read more
Hovering high above the city of Antioch, and founded long after the time of St. Paul, is the remains of a Byzantine monastery, famous for Simon Stylites or Simon the pole sitter, who according to legend sat on a column for 45 years without coming down, out of total devotion to God. When I say high, I mean even higher than the wind turbines dotting the mountain it’s on… It is of course a defunct monastery now for many centuries... Read more
So Im riding down the road in Egypt towards Luxor and there in front of me was a Toyota truck. In the back originally were two guys, two motorcycles and a camel. This actually is a picture from Saudi Arabia, so apparently its a multi-cultural tradition to give your camel a ride here and there. Camels are noisy beasts, and ornery too. But they are indeed the Cadillacs of the desert. They can go a very long time in blistering... Read more
It is a delicate balance to produce a movie for kids, that also keeps the parents interested, and laughing. The Despicable Me franchise has managed to do this rather well, especially in the first film, and the one that began with the backstory of the Minions. This one is better than the last one, and clocks in at under two hours, which is just as well considering the attention span of the kids. Stephen Colbert plays Perry Prescott, the yuppie... Read more
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