Free Republic

A small-sized find in an ancient megalithic temple stirs the imagination. Excavations among what many scholars consider to be the world's oldest monumental buildings on the island of Malta continue to unveil surprises and raise new questions about the significance of these megalithic structures and the people who built them. Not least is the latest find -- a small but rare, crescent-moon shaped agate stone featuring a 13th-century B.C.E. cuneiform inscription, the likes of which would normally be found much farther west in Mesopotamia. Led by palaeontology professor Alberto Cazzella of the University of Rome "La Sapienza", the archaeological team...

Carthage, N.C. — The police officer credited with ending a shooting rampage at a Carthage nursing home that left eight people dead and three others injured two years ago testified Wednesday that he stopped the gunman with one shot.

Archaeologists from the Portuguese Association of Archeological Research (APIA) believe to have found in the Azores a significant number of Carthaginian temples, from the fourth century BC, dedicated to the goddess Tanit. The new archaeological sites were found in Monte Brasil, Angra Heroismo, Terceira island. According to APIA archaeologists Nuno Ribeiro and Anabela Joaquinito, "More than five hypogea type monuments (tombs excavated in rocks) and at least three 'sanctuaries' proto-historic, carved into the rock, were found." A monument located at "Monte do Facho" shows inbuilt sink shaped carvings linked to water conduits for libations. "There are 'chairs' carved into the...

A corpse buried on Byrsa Hill, above the Gulf of Tunis, is at the heart of a groundbreaking exhibit that opened Friday (October 15th) at the Carthage Museum... French archaeologist Jean-Paul Morel and other researchers determined that the skeleton buried five metres deep on the grounds of the Carthage Museum was that of a young man in the prime of life, aged between 19 and 24 years old. His bones were more than 2,500 years old. He died sometime in the 6th century BC... The re-building process lasted 16 years... Ziad, an employee in the Ministry of Culture, said: "I...

The remains of a sunken warship recently found in the Mediterranean Sea may confirm the site of a major ancient battle in which Rome trounced Carthage. The year was 241 B.C. and the players were the ascending Roman republic and the declining Carthaginian Empire, which was centered on the northernmost tip of Africa. The two powers were fighting for dominance in the Mediterranean in a series of conflicts called the Punic Wars. Archaeologists think the newly discovered remnants of the warship date from the final battle of the first Punic War, which allowed Rome to expand farther into the Western...

History demonstrates that destruction awaits those who attempt to placate their enemies by surrendering their weapons. In 149 BC, half a million citizens of Carthage tried to appease Rome by turning over their armaments. But instead of buying peace, they only facilitated their own destruction. Ninety percent of the Carthaginians were killed, and the city of Carthage was razed. Those who survived were sold into slavery, and Carthaginian civilization was forever wiped from the face of the earth. The story of how the Carthaginians sealed their fate by delivering their weapons into the hands of their enemy is chronicled in...

From the Col du Mont Cenis in the north to the Col Agnel 35 miles (60km) almost due south of it three approach routes have been argued for. In the most recent study, Dr William Mahaney, a geomorphologist, and his colleagues have looked at the evidence from Classical sources. "As documented by Polybius and Livy in the ancient literature, Hannibal's army was blocked by a two-tier rockfall on the lee side of the Alps, a rubble sheet of considerable volume," they note in the journal Archaeometry. "The only such two-tier landform lies below the Col de la Traversette, 2,600...

Researchers examined 348 burial urns to learn that about a fifth of the children were prenatal at death, indicating that young Carthaginian children were cremated and interred in ceremonial urns regardless of cause of deathPITTSBURGH—A study led by University of Pittsburgh researchers could finally lay to rest the millennia-old conjecture that the ancient empire of Carthage regularly sacrificed its youngest citizens. An examination of the remains of Carthaginian children revealed that most infants perished prenatally or very shortly after birth and were unlikely to have lived long enough to be sacrificed, according to a Feb. 17 report in PLoS ONE....

CARTHAGE — Forming a fortress of American flags, members of the Patriot Guard encircled St. William of Vercelli Catholic Church of Carthage on Monday afternoon to pay tribute to a fallen soldier. "I never met Alex," said Army Staff Sgt. Miguel Fabbiani of his brother in arms while taking shade under a cedar tree. "But that's beside the point; he's one of us, he's our brother. We're here to pay respect for his service and to his family." Army Staff Sgt. 1st Class Alejandro "Alex" Granado III was among three people killed Aug. 2 during an ambush in eastern Afghanistan....

"Within a few years of the martyrdom, Gov. Thomas Ford recognized that the events that unfolded in Carthage might transform a common county jail into sacred space...that Nauvoo and the Carthage Jail may become holy and venerable names, places of classic interest like Jerusalem." The governor was right, explained Brian Q. Cannon, a BYU history professor speaking at the Mormon History Association conference May 22 on "Long Shall His Blood ... Stain Illinois: Carthage Jail in Mormon Memory." Carthage Jail became a sacred memorial for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. SNIP And the question of...

------------------------------cut------------------------ “In this month, we saw a shooting in Germany, we saw a church shooting and we saw an assault weapon rampage in Alabama that killed 10 people,” said Kolar. “That's an epidemic and that's just one month." But pro-gun groups are also at work this session. Grass Roots North Carolina President Paul Valone said "no carry zones" like Pine Lake Health and Rehabilitation post signs on site – a welcome sign for criminals. “Concealed handgun laws deter violent crime,” Valone said. “To that effect, we have legislation in the works to remove restaurants and public parks from the list...

CARTHAGE, N.C. – A single shot from a decorated police officer stopped a gunman's rampage through a North Carolina nursing home, ending a slaughter that left eight people dead and three more wounded, police said Monday. Carthage Police Chief Chris McKenzie said Monday the gunman may have targeted the home because his estranged wife, whom he did not name, works there. ... Authorities said Robert Stewart, 45, went on a terrifying rampage in the Pinelake Health and Rehab center on Sunday morning, killing seven residents and a nurse and wounding three other people. He was stopped by a single shot...

http://www.wral.com/news/local/audio/4846048/

Police Releasing Few Details CARTHAGE, N.C. -- At least five people have been shot at a nursing home in Moore County, police said Sunday afternoon. Police were at the scene of the shooting at the Pinelake Nursing Home at 801 Pinehurst Ave. in Carthage at 12:30 p.m. According to sister station WNCN, the five people shot were taken to Moore Regional Hospital. WXII 12 has a crew at the scene and will bring more information as soon as it is available.

More than 10,000 graves containing ancient amphorae, "baby bottles," and the bodies of soldiers who fought the Carthaginians were found near the ancient Greek colony of Himera, in Italy, archaeologists announced recently... "Each [mass grave] contains from 15 to 25 skeletons. They were all young healthy men and they all died a violent death. Some of the skeletons have broken skulls and in some cases we found the tips of the arrows that killed them," Vassallo said. He thinks the human remains are from soldiers who died fighting the Carthaginians in a famous 480 B.C. battle described by Greek historian...

One of the bars has Iberian characters on it. According to the German Mining Museum in Bochum, the lead originates from the mines of Sierra Morena in southern Spain... A fourth specimen had already been found on an earlier occasion. The characters on the upper surfaces of two of the four known bars are syllabary symbols from the script of Northeastern Iberian... The meaning of the characters has not yet been determined, however, the dating of the objects to the third century B.C., i.e. the period of the Second Punic War, raises further questions. The reason for this is that...

The Phoenicians, enigmatic people from the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, stamped their mark on maritime history, and now research has revealed that they also left a lasting genetic imprint. Scientists reported Thursday that as many as 1 in 17 men living today on the coasts of North Africa and southern Europe may have a Phoenician direct male-line ancestor. These men were found to retain identifiable genetic signatures from the nearly 1,000 years the Phoenicians were a dominant seafaring commercial power in the Mediterranean basin, until their conquest by Rome in the 2nd century B.C... The scientists who conducted the...

County commissioners reaffirmed their stance against the Trans-Texas Corridor, and they took another step toward keeping county government transparent when they met Tuesday. First up on the court's agenda, commissioners heard a presentation by Connie Fogle on behalf of the newly formed Pineywoods Sub-Regional Planning Commission. According to Fogle, the Texas Local Government Code, Chapter 391, requires state agencies to coordinate with local commissions to "ensure effective and orderly implementation of state programs at the regional level." "Critical in the code is the word 'coordinate,'" she said. "This does not mean the commission has to cooperate. The intent is to...

Local residents who want to add their two cents about the proposed Interstate 69 construction won't have to fill their tanks to do it. TxDOT is coming to Longview. The Texas Department of Transportation is holding 46 public hearings this month in East and South Texas along the planned corridor, including Tuesday's meeting in Longview. The hearings will give Texans a chance to comment and ask questions about the proposed Interstate 69/Trans-Texas Corridor, a collection of passenger and freight roadways, utility and rail lines from Texarkana to the Rio Grande Valley. A draft environmental impact statement released in November suggests...

CARTHAGE — James Mason doesn't want a new highway cutting him off from his property. James Boggs wants to keep American jobs here. They were just a sample of about 140 residents who asked, commented and listened during a public forum with state transportation leaders Wednesday night in Carthage. It was the second of several forums scheduled along the Interstate 69/Trans-Texas Corridor, a proposed superhighway that likely will parallel U.S. 59 from Texarkana to the Mexican border. "We haven't done a very good job of (communicating) in the past," said Steve Simmons, deputy executive director of Texas Department of Transportation....

TEXARKANA, Texas — The biggest construction project ever attempted in Texas comes under public debate beginning Tuesday in the first of a series of town hall meetings about a proposed 4,000-mile network of superhighway toll roads. The Trans-Texas Corridor, or TTC, as it's become known, was initiated six years ago by Gov. Rick Perry. It's rankled opponents who characterize it as the largest government grab of private property in the state's history and an unneeded and improper expansion of toll roads. Texas Department of Transportation officials, and Perry, have defended the project as necessary to address future traffic concerns in...

A state mobility agency wants local input concerning a major corridor that might slice through East Texas. A town hall meeting will be held in Carthage on Wednesday to discuss the Interstate 69/Trans-Texas Corridor study area, according to a Texas Department of Transportation media release. The meeting, slated for 6:30 p.m. at the Texas Country Music Hall of Fame located at 300 West Panola Street, will be the first of 11 such discussions held statewide. Interstate 69 consists of two parts — a completed portion from the Canadian border to Indianapolis, and a mostly proposed extension to the Mexican border...

CARTHAGE - My siblings and I call it "The Asian Invasion." Every summer during the first weekend of August, tens of thousands of Vietnamese Catholics flock to the small southwest Missouri town of Carthage for a four-day festival to celebrate the Virgin Mary. Vietnamese refugees credit the Catholic icon for their protection and rescue from Vietnam as they fled the country after the Vietnam War. The Marian Days celebration began in 1978 with only a few hundred people. It takes place every year on the 28-acre campus of the Congregation of the Mother Co-Redemptrix, a Vietnamese order of priests and...

What happened to the 50 tons of gold, silver and sacred treasures looted from Herod's Temple following the Roman legionnaires' sack of Jerusalem on Tisha b'Av in the year 70 CE? The Arch of Titus in Rome, erected shortly after the death of Titus who reigned as emperor from 79 to 81, clearly depicts Roman soldiers bearing on their shoulders the golden candelabrum, silver trumpets and bejewelled Table of the Divine Presence which the Roman emperor Vespasian and his son Titus carted back to Rome as trophies of war. Between 75 CE and the early 5th century, the treasure...

When the complaints of reservists reached the media to the effect that the IDF was not able to supply them with, among other things, water, I recalled images from the nightmare of the expulsion from Gush Katif; images of policemen and soldiers wearing their best expulsion outfits, with a stylish, uniform water bottle clipped on their backs. It was another piece of equipment of an organized and well-equipped army - but only for the oppression and expulsion of "the enemy within," the settlers. A year has passed and that same army went to war against the real enemy, with supply...

If this isn't appropiate please cut it. I'm trying to get my facts straight so I don't mind correction if I'm wrong. Carthage was an important figure in history. They were the heirs of Phoenicia and were the main traders of the Mediterranean. They controlled Northern Africa, Sicily, Sardinia, and Spain. They posed a very real threat to Rome and its allies. So much that the Romans destroyed them with no pity at all in the Third Punic War with absolutely no pretense other than that the Carthaginians were regaining the trade business. I went to my local library found...

Carthage tries to live down image as site of infanticide Thursday, May 26, 2005 By Andrew Higgins, The Wall Street Journal CARTHAGE, Tunisia -- Mhamed Hassine Fantar has a bone to pick with the Roman Empire, French writer Gustave Flaubert and a group of Americans who specialize in digging up old graves. An expert on ancient Carthage -- a city obliterated by the Romans more than 2,000 years ago -- Mr. Fantar is campaigning to clear his forefathers of a nasty stigma: a reputation for infanticide. "We didn't do it," says the 69-year-old archaeologist, rejecting accusations that the ancient citizens...

The failure of "Alexander," the newspaper wrote, has "brutally exposed the cultural and moral divide which slices America in two." Uh-huh. "It is being suggested that a film about a global warrior with dyed blond hair and waxed legs was never going to conquer an America fresh out of a presidential election in which gay rights became a major issue." Is there another America they might be talking about? Major issue? Brutally exposed? The last thing an American movie brutally exposed was Kathy Bates in the hot-tub scene of "About Schmidt."

Ancient map of Africa poses questions The unveiling in South Africa's parliament on Monday of a replica of an ancient Chinese map of the then known world which includes a recognisable outline of Africa is raising intriguing questions of which foreigners first explored the continent. "The idea is to take us beyond what we have been ... brainwashed into believing" declared Speaker Frene Ginwala at the opening of the exhibition, which includes other maps and rock art. The "Da Ming Hun Yi Tu", the Amalgamated Map of the Great Ming Empire, dates back to 1389, decades before the first European...

The History Channel is going to air a new historical series entitled DECISIVE BATTLES including some classic wars between ancient Persian armies and Roman and Greek ones. The History Channel goes on location to the actual battlefields and integrates cutting-edge videogame technology to bring history and imagination together in the new series DECISIVE BATTLES. The half-hour series DECISIVE BATTLES premieres Friday, July 23 at 9-9:30pm ET/PT. The series is hosted by Matthew Settle (Band of Brothers) on location at the ancient battlefields and features expert commentary from the world©s foremost historians. DECISIVE BATTLES is unlike any series The History Channel...

"Das Geheimnis Pattons ist die Vergangenheit," says a captain in the German high command. "Patton's secret is the past." The secret of the man and the movie. I rented the 1970 film, Patton, last week, and saw it three times with my son. A fellow’s got to get his money’s worth. It made quite an impression on yours truly, though I’m not so sure about Richard, who is three-and-a-half years old, and is currently much more passionate about James and the Giant Peach. The moment Patton opens, you know this will be like no other war movie. General George S....

QUESTION: Is it true that 1 John 5:7 is not in any Greek manuscript before the 1600s? If it is true, why is it in the King James Bible?

Politics: Democrats may be warming to idea of Gore run, poll shows Copyright © 2002 AP Online By WILL LESTER, Associated Press WASHINGTON (July 12, 2002 7:44 a.m. EDT) - Al Gore plans to spend some time in July mending fences in Tennessee - attending an Indy car race at Nashville Superspeedway and campaigning for congressional candidate Lincoln Davis in the sprawling 4th District. The 2000 Democratic presidential nominee plans to attend the Firestone 200 on July 20, an Indy Racing League event, with a boyhood friend from Carthage, aides say. He will campaign for Davis earlier the same day...