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A manger wouldn’t have played well with the red-staters they’re trying to woo. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s big speech on Thursday night will be delivered from an elaborate columned stage resembling a miniature Greek temple. The stage, similar to structures used for rock concerts, has been set up at the 50-yard-line, the midpoint of Invesco Field, the stadium where the Denver Broncos’ National Football League team plays. Some 80,000 supporters will see Obama appear from between plywood columns painted off-white, reminiscent of Washington’s Capitol building or even the White House, to accept the party’s nomination for president… Once Obama...

DENVER (Reuters) - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's big speech on Thursday night will be delivered from an elaborate columned stage resembling a miniature Greek temple. The stage, similar to structures used for rock concerts, has been set up at the 50-yard-line, the midpoint of Invesco Field, the stadium where the Denver Broncos' National Football League team plays. Some 80,000 supporters will see Obama appear from between plywood columns painted off-white, reminiscent of Washington's Capitol building or even the White House, to accept the party's nomination for president. He will stride out to a raised platform to a podium that...

Spartans did not throw deformed babies away: researchers Mon Dec 10, 1:22 PM ETAFP/File Photo: The statue of King Leonidas of ancient Sparta stands over the battlefield of Thermopylae, some... ATHENS (AFP) - The Greek myth that ancient Spartans threw their stunted and sickly newborns off a cliff was not corroborated by archaeological digs in the area, researchers said Monday. After more than five years of analysis of human remains culled from the pit, also called an apothetes, researchers found only the remains of adolescents and adults between the ages of 18 and 35, Athens Faculty of Medicine Anthropologist Theodoros...

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece on Sunday began moving the ancient sculptures from the temples of the Athens Acropolis to a new museum, designed specifically to prod the British Museum into returning its own prized collection of Parthenon marbles. Dozens of bystanders, some in tears, watched as three cranes relayed a massive stone slab from the 2,500-year-old Parthenon. It was carved with four youths leading bulls to sacrifice to the goddess Athena. "I am trembling, it touches my soul," said pensioner Pelagia Boulamatsi, 71, unable to hold back tears. "This is an ancient civilization that is the foundation of the world."...

Greek fires reach ancient Olympics site By PETROS GIANNAKOURIS, Associated Press Writer Massive fires consuming large areas of southern Greece for a third day raced toward the site of the ancient Olympics on Sunday, engulfing villages and forests as the flames reached one of the most revered sites of antiquity. At least 57 people have been killed in the country's worst wildfires in decades, including five who died Sunday in a new blaze on the island of Evia and a woman whose body was found in a village near Ancient Olympia. There were fears the death toll could rise as...

SAN FRANCISCO – Previously hidden writings of the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes are being uncovered with powerful X-ray beams nearly 800 years after a Christian monk scrubbed off the text and wrote over it with prayers. Over the past week, researchers at Stanford University's Linear Accelerator Center in Menlo Park have been using X-rays to decipher a fragile 10th century manuscript that contains the only copies of some of Archimedes' most important works. The X-rays, generated by a particle accelerator, cause tiny amounts of iron left by the original ink to glow without harming the delicate goatskin parchment. “We are...

Greek archaeologists confirm authenticity of 'Theseus Ring' Aug 2, 2006, 15:44 GMT Athens - The long-lost 'Theseus Ring,' a gold ring found in the Plaka district of Athens in the 1950s and generally dismissed as a fake, has been identified by Greek archaeologists as a genuine 15th century BC artifact, reports said Wednesday. The Greek press had reported the discovery of a gold signet ring, with dimensions 2.7 x 1.8 cm dating from the Minoan period, and the National Archaeological Museum wanted to purchase it for 75,000 euros from the woman who owned it. There was a huge debate about...

It argues that the "palaces" could more likely be "temples" rather than residential buildings. For sure, archaeologists are quick to point out that certain parts of the palaces definitely had a religious function. But some go further. Archaeologist Oswald Spengler stated in the 1930s that these "palaces" were temples for the dead. His opinion was not taken seriously, as it went against the accepted belief. Wunderlich continued where Spengler had stopped. Both noted that the state of the palaces was particularly bizarre. Thousands of people are believed to have roamed the corridors of the Palace of Knossos, but the staircases...

Greek archeologists and journalists said Thursday they are teaming up on an ambitious project to catalogue thousands of Greek antiquities owned by foreign museums and collections. But organizers said the resulting database would not be used to boost repatriation claims... Thousands of artifacts from Greece's rich past are displayed in museums and private collections all over the world. Most were removed during the four centuries of Ottoman rule before the country's independence in the 19th century, while others were plundered during illicit excavations. The project will be carried out in co-operation with unions of the University of Thessaloniki archeologists and...

The explorer who discovered the Titanic's resting place is to undertake a search for ancient shipwrecks off the southern Greek island of Crete, the Greek foreign ministry said Thursday. The search, by American oceanographer Robert Ballard, will be conducted in international waters, with the Greek culture ministry hoping to send a representative to observe operations, a ministry official said. "Deep-sea research will be conducted in the area between Santorini and Crete, for the purpose of locating (ancient) Mediterranean sea trade routes, recording ancient shipwrecks etc," culture ministry general secretary Christos Zahopoulos told a news conference this week. "The necessary steps...

Typhoid May Have Caused Fall of Athens, Study Finds Nicholas Bakalar for National Geographic News February 27, 2006 An ancient medical mystery—the cause of a plague that wracked Athens from 426 to 430 B.C. and eventually led to the city's fall—has been solved by DNA analysis, researchers say. The ancient Athenians died from typhoid fever, according to a new study. Scientists from the University of Athens drew this conclusion after studying dental pulp extracted from the teeth of three people found in a mass grave in Athens' Kerameikos cemetery. The mass grave was first discovered in 1994 and was dated...

Archaeologists have unearthed a massive tomb in the northern Greek town of Pella, capital of the ancient kingdom of Macedonia and birthplace of Alexander the Great. The eight-chambered tomb dates to the Hellenistic Age between the fourth and second century B.C., and is the largest of its kind ever found in Greece. The biggest multichambered tombs until now contained three chambers. The 678-square-foot tomb hewn out of rock was discovered by a farmer plowing his field on the eastern edge of the ancient cemetery of Pella, some 370 miles north of Athens, archaeologists said. "This is the largest and most...

'Expert' author claimed sex good for 'nurturing,' 'mentoring' young boys Two days after WND exclusively reported on a new book claiming sex with children "can benefit and even serve a "mentoring function," the publishing company has announced it is canceling the book in light of the public outcry the story prompted. "Same-Sex Desire and Love in Greco-Roman Antiquity and in the Classical Tradition of the West" features "scholarly" treatises by a raft of mostly-Ph.D. academics, all praising earlier civilizations – particularly Greece and Rome – for the role homosexuality played in those ancient cultures. One chapter in particular, titled "Pederasty:...

In their reports, the researchers said these findings suggested that the pavement and wall stones were from the time of Helike's destruction and supported stories that the city ruins were for a long time submerged in the sea or a lagoon. The ruins were buried by silt, which, combined with a general uplifting of the land, had left the once-submerged site about half a mile inland from the present shore. A house built on the shore between the Selinous and Kerynites Rivers in the 1890's is now about 1,000 feet from the sea.

The biggest technical project of the Mycenae civilization is the one of the drainning of the lake Kopaida in the 14th century B.C. The water from the rivers and the torrents that were overflowing the plain, were conveied through an irregular canal, the width of which was 40 -60 metres, and a system of banks at the NE side of the lake, where a concentrating trench(ditch) (total length of 9 kilometres) was carrying them away into deep holes. Those holes were not enougth to absorb all that water, so the Mycenae's technicians builted an underground inclined tunnel, dug into the...

Archeologists uncover ancient coins in the heart of Athens Thu Aug 11,11:46 AM ET ATHENS (AFP) - Scores of silver coins dating back well over two millennia have been unearthed in the heart of Athens, officials announced. More than five kilos (11 pounds) of silver pieces dating primarily from the 4th century BC were discovered in an excavation project of the American School of Archeology, a statement from the ministry of culture said. Some 45 of the silver pieces are believed to date back to the 5th century BC. The discovery at the Athens Agora -- the chief marketplace and...

More than two millennia after it was toppled by an earthquake, the Colossus of Rhodes - one of the seven wonders of the ancient world - is to rise again. Instead of standing astride the venerable port of Rhodes town, however, the 100ft bronze figure will tower over the island's downmarket resort of Faliraki, infamous for the drunken antics of thousands of British tourists who go there every year. Faliraki, about five miles south of Rhodes town, boasts a strip of bars and clubs a third of a mile long, where cut-price alcohol lures hordes of tourists on drinking binges...

The Warriors of ParosEarliest Polyandria (Soldiers' burials) found in Greece offer clues to the rise of Classical Greek City-States and Phalangeal War Tactics. by Foteini Zafeiropoulou and Anagnostis Agelarakis Soldiers' bones in urns-evidence of a forgotten battle fought around 730 BC. Did these men perish on their island home of Paros, at the center of the Aegean Sea, or in some distant land? The loss of so many, at least 120 men, was certainly a catastrophe for the community, but their families and compatriots honored them, putting the cremated remains into large vases two of which were decorated with scenes...

Like many I was glued to the television in the days following the tragic terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. As it happened, I tended to tune to FOX. In those first days when FOX finally started to insert commercial breaks, they introduced those breaks with a series of inspirational quotes. One blurb they used time and time again was: “To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. – Alfred Lord Tennyson” Most will recognize this as the last line of Tennyson’s masterful work “Ulysses.” The full thought is “. . . . and tho' we are ...

From spectacular chariot races to bloody wrestling bouts, the Ancient Olympics offered the ultimate pagan entertainment package. Competitors had to swear an oath on a slice of boar's meat that they had not used magic to boost their performances. Runners making a false start were thrashed by the official whip bearer. Wrestlers could tear out their opponent's intestines -- but eye-gouging was banned. Prostitutes made a year's wages in five days at the Greek spectacular. Married women were forbidden to attend the GamesA where all athletes performed naked. That gave writer Tony Perrottet the perfect title for his entertaining look...

Ancient Greeks' Olympics Didn't Start Out In The Nude POSTED: 8:23 am EDT August 19, 2004 UPDATED: 11:10 am EDT August 19, 2004 ANCIENT OLYMPIA, Greece -- The ancient Greeks may have been famous for competing in the nude. But they apparently didn't start out that way. Historian Lamros Lambracos says the earliest runners wore little skirts. In one race, he says, a runner lost his skirt and won the race. That ushered in the era of naked Olympics, he said. Lambracos, who has taught at New York University and the University of Athens, worked as a volunteer at the...

<p>The Greeks also wrote of their own women warriors. Amastris, wife of Dionysius of Heracluria established her own city state by conquering and uniting 4 settlements.</p> <p>Artemisia I, ruler of the Greek city-state of Halicarnassus and Cos and advisor to Xerxes the ruler of the Persian empire, assisted him in his attacks on the Greeks by commanding a force of warships in the naval battle of Salamis around 480 BC.</p>

    For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces.     Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today!     ANCIENT WARFAREPart III: Ancient Greek Military Arms and Warfare   There were many differences between Greek society of the Bronze Age and that of the Archaic and Classical periods. Warfare at this early date probably did not involve the organised phalanxes of heavy infantry (hoplites) which were characteristic of Classical Greek warfare, although there is evidence, both archaeological and documentary (from the Linear B...

    For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday... Thank the Veterans who served in The United States Armed Forces.     Looking forward to tomorrow's freedom? Support The United States Armed Forces Today!     ANCIENT WARFAREPart III: Ancient Greek Military Arms and Armour Between the early 7th century and the mid-4th century B.C the Ancient Greeks adopted a form of warfare using heavily-armed infantrymen called hoplites, armed with a short sword, shield and spear. At first, they tended to wear many items of heavy bronze armour to protect their bodies. Gradually, however, as it was realised that the...