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On a whim, I recently posted the image below of the frog riding the beetle irreverently entitling it as Hannibal Crossing the Carpathians. Hannibal Crosses The CarpathiansWhile it was obviously posted in jest, several comments appeared in scholarly discussion of the use of elephants in war, having come across this article thought it might be of interest.Please take note any establishment, organization involved in science will inevitably be a left-wing liberal tool, certainly so, a group with the tagline, where science meets society. War Elephant Myths Debunked by DNAThe Institute for Genomic BiologyWhere Science Meets Society Through DNA analysis, Illinois...

Alexander the Great built a legendary empire before his untimely—and mysterious—death at the age of just 32 in 323 BC. Some historians argued was death was due to natural causes, while others maintained he was secretly murdered at a celebratory banquet. Now, an Otago University scientist may have unraveled the case some 2,000 years later. National Poisons Center toxicologist Dr. Leo Schep thinks the culprit could be poisonous wine made from an innocuous-looking plant, according to a report in the New Zealand Herald. […] His research, co-authored by Otago University classics expert Dr. Pat Wheatley and published in the medical...

The city of Heracleion was engulfed underwater 1500 years ago. This grand city had been mentioned by the Greek writer Herodotus, the 5th-century BC historian. He had told a wonderful tale of Helen of Troy, who traveled to Heracleion, then a port of 'great wealth', with her Trojan lover, Paris. When French marine archaeologist Franck Goddio stumbled upon some relics, it led them to one of the greatest finds of the 21st century; a city underwater. The discovery took place when Goddio had been in search of Napoleon’s warships from the 1798 Battle of the Nile, when he had been...

Experts find enormous marble tomb fit for a king under a massive mound in Greece Archaeologists have uncovered what could be the grave of Alexander the Great at a site near ancient Amphipolis, 370 miles north of Athens The warrior king was thought to be buried in Egypt but experts have discovered a marble-faced wall dating from the 4th century BC Site archaeologist Aikaterini Peristeri has voiced hopes of finding 'a significant individual or individuals' withinArchaeologists have uncovered what could be the grave of Alexander the Great at a site near ancient Amphipolis. The warrior king - who ruled in...

Why are the Kalash important?There are three reasons why the Kalash are important in the study of Eurasian prehistory: Their mountainous habitat contributed to isolation and relative immunity from historical population movementsTheir non-Islamic religion has definitely preserved them from recent gene inflowTheir language is unique within the Indo-Aryan family, and it often considered today as part of a separate Dardic family of Indo-Iranian in addition to the more populous Iranian and Indo-Aryan families.The Kalash are crucial for those interested in the origins of Indo-Iranians, and the fact that they are, indeed, a simple West/South Asian mix is not without significance...

A linguistics researcher at the Macquarie University in Australia has discovered that the language, known as Burushaski, which is spoken by about 90,000 people who reside in a remote area of Pakistan, is Indo-European in origin. Prof Ilija Casule’s discovery, which has now been verified by a number of the world’s top linguists, has excited linguistics experts around the world. An entire issue of the eminent international linguistics journal the Journal of Indo-European Studies is devoted to a discussion of his findings later this month. More than fifty eminent linguists have tried over many years to determine the genetic relationship...

Ancient Israelite capital Sebastia, site of important Roman and Crusader ruins, lies unprotected because of security situation. The ancient town of Sebastia is one of the major archaeological sites of the Holy Land, with its overlapping layers of history dating back nearly 3,000 years. But today the hilltop capital of biblical kings, later ruled by Roman conquerors, Crusaders and Ottomans, is marred with weeds, graffiti and garbage. Caught between conflicting Israeli and Palestinian jurisdictions, the site has been largely neglected by both sides for the past two decades. Beyond the decay, unauthorized diggers and thieves have taken advantage of the...

Anagnostis Agelarakis, Greek professor and Chair of Anthropology at Adelphi University in Long Island, New York, transported some of the remains of a wounded ancient Greek warrior from Greece to Long Island Jewish (LIJ) Medical Center, with the Greek Archeological Service’s permission... LIG radiologist Helise Coopersmith performed an X-ray on a bone fragment from the soldier, whose remains date back to more than 2,500 years. In the left ulna (a major bone in the forearm) a bronze arrowhead is embedded. It was deduced that the shaft of the arrow and part of one of its three lobes had been removed...

With his flowing white locks and extravagant manner, Macedonian archaeologist Pasko Kuzman has become something of a celebrity in his native country. Aside from some notable finds in his native Ohrid region, as head of the Cultural Heritage Protection Office he has had a major role in the Macedonian government's controversial, if not provocative, use of ancient historical figures to adorn the capital, Skopje. He's also seen as the force behind the latest beautification effort: the multimillion-dollar project called Skopje 2014. Most contentious is the massive bronze statue of Alexander the Great, erected in 2011. At the time, Greece objected...

Within the enclosure, by the way which led up to the tomb, a small building had been constructed for the Magi who guarded it, a duty which had been handed down from father to son ever since the time of Cyrus' son, Cambyses. They had a grant from the King of a sheep a day, with an allowance of meal and wine, and one horse a month to sacrifice to Cyrus. There was an inscription on the tomb in Persian, signifying: O man, I am Cyrus son of Cambyses, who founded the empire of Persia and ruled over Asia. Do...

In January or February 324, Alexander reached the old religious capital of Persia, Pasargadae. Here, he visited the tomb of Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Achaemenid empire, who had lived two centuries before. The Greek author Arrian of Nicomedia describes the events in section 29.1-11 of his Anabasis. The translation was made by Aubrey de Sélincourt. At the same time he moved forward himself with the lightest infantry units, the mounted Companions, and some regiments of archers, along the road to Pasargadae. [...] Arrived at the Persian frontier, he found that Phrasaortes, the governor, had died while the...

Athens. It is believed that the tomb of Alexander the Great and the Ark of the Covenant have been found on the Greek Island of Thasos, announced Russian Grekomania.ru, which is information partner of the Greek Minister of Culture and Tourism.

HERAT, Afghanistan — In the 1970s, tourists traveled to western Afghanistan to climb on the ruins of an ancient citadel, a fortress resembling a sandcastle that has stood overlooking the city of Herat for thousands of years. The citadel was crumbling then, but today the newly restored structure, dating back to the days of Alexander the Great, is a hopeful sign of progress in a country beset by war. Hundreds of Afghan craftsmen worked to restore the ruins’ past glory with help from the Aga Khan Trust for Culture and about $2.4 million from the U.S. and German governments. The...

Chinese archeologists have found new evidence of international cultural exchange on the ancient Silk Road. Four European-looking warriors and lion-like beasts are engraved on an empress's 1,200-year-old stone coffin that was unearthed in Shaanxi Province, in northwestern China. The warriors on the four reliefs had deep-set eyes, curly hair and over-sized noses -- physical characteristics Chinese typically associate with Europeans. The 27-tonne Tang Dynasty (618-907) sarcophagus contained empress Wu Huifei (699-737), Ge Chengyong, a noted expert on Silk Road studies, said Tuesday. Ge said one of the warriors was very much like [Zeus], the "father of gods and men" in...

The tomb was discovered during the excavation of a large mound -- the Great Tumulus -- at Vergina in 1977. Along with many treasures including ceremonial military equipment, bronze utensils, silver tableware, and gold wreaths, the tomb contained two sets of skeletal remains. Those of a man were found in a gold casket in the main chamber and those of a woman in a smaller gold casket in the second chamber. Both individuals had been cremated and evidence of a wooden funerary house containing a pyre was also found near the tomb. Dr Jonathan Musgrave of the University of Bristol's...

ANA-MPA/Alexander the Great's achievements were one of his favorite childhood tales, whereas ancient Greece and classical antiquity piqued his curiosity from a very young age. His fascination with Hellenic civilisation, in fact, took Omar Sultan all the way to the University of Thessaloniki to study the classics and archaeology. Decades later the classically-educated Sultan serves his native Afghanistan as Central Asian country's deputy culture minister. As fate would have it, Sultan was also a student researcher on the team assembled by noted 20th century Greek archaeologist Manolis Andronikos to excavate the ancient site of Vergina - which the Andronikos' team...

The Styx River, the legendary portal to the underworld, harbors a deadly bacteria that may have ended Alexander's life. An extraordinarily toxic bacterium harbored by the "infernal" Styx River might have been the fabled poison rumored to have killed Alexander the Great (356 - 323 B.C.) more than 2,000 years ago, according to a scientific-meets-mythic detective study... reviews ancient literary evidence on the Styx poison in light of modern geology and toxicology. According to the study, calicheamicin, a secondary metabolite of Micromonospora echinospora, is what gave the river its toxic reputation... Another account by the Greek geographer Pausanias (110 -...

<p>The first recorded usage of a timepiece worn on the wrist dates back to 333 BC. Although it wasn't the mechanical-digital type of device that would be recognised as a watch today, it was nonetheless an effective time keeper.</p> <p>During the battle of Issus, Alexander the Great came head-to-head with Persian King Darius III. Outnumbered by a ration of two to one, Alexander decided to try out a new invention. He had all his men tie to their wrist a strip of cloth impregnated with chemicals that would change color after a certain length of time. This is similar to how today's SAS synchronize their watches before going into action. When cloth changed color his men would know that it was time to attack.</p>

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama says the United States and Greece are bound by struggles and shared democratic ideals. The president and Vice President Joe Biden welcomed guests to the White House to celebrate Greek Independence Day. Obama says the United States' founders were students of Greek history and turned to ancient texts for allies. Archbishop Demetrios, who is primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America, noted that the U.S. and Greece share ties of freedom and democracy. He says he prays for the first family. The White House also welcomed Greek-American chef Michael Psilakis as a guest...

Centuries-old shards of pottery mingle with spent ammunition rounds on a wind-swept mountainside in northern Afghanistan where French archeologists believe they have found a vast ancient city. For years, villagers have dug the baked earth on the heights of Cheshme-Shafa for pottery and coins to sell to antique smugglers.