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The first wall remains and wall paintings were found in 1904 by people ploughing in the Balácapuszta field of a village named Vámos in Veszprém County. Soon it became apparent that traces of a Roman farm had been discovered. The farm in Balaca is the largest known Roman farm in the former Pannonia Province. The famous mosaic floor of 62 m2 of its central building was discovered in 1925 with the help of the National Museum. It is still the main attraction of the Roman Lapidarium of the Museum. The other three mosaic floors were transferred back to their original places in 1984, in the year of the official opening of the gardens of ruins.
mnm.hu/en/museums/villa-romana-balaca-roman-villa-and-gar...
Highlights from the wonderful exhibition of Tutankhamun's Gold Treasures at Saatchi Gallery London UK 30 Nov 2019.
© Amberinsea Photography 2019
The Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut is one of the most beautiful of all of the temples of Ancient Egypt. It is located at Deir el-Bahri ("the Northern Monastery"), at the head of the valley beneath the peak of the mountain (and natural pyramid) "Dehent" (now known by its arabic name, el-Qurn - "The Horn"). Hatshepsut´s temple was named "Djeser-djeseru" ("holy of holies"). It sits directly against the rock which forms a natural amphitheatre around it so that the temple itself seems to grow from the living rock. The design of the temple echoes that of the Mortuary Temple of Montuhotep which is its neighbour. There is also a mortuary temple dedicated to Thuthmosis III and a number of Ptolemaic burials in the vicinity. Apparently, there used to be a mudbrick temple dedicated to Amenhotep I and Queen Ahmose Nefertari, but it was destroyed to make way for Hatshepsut's temple.
Hatshepsut is an intriguing character. She initially ruled as regent for her step-son Thuthmosis III but promoted herself to the role of pharaoh instead of passing power to him when he came of age. Her temple is one of the most striking monuments in Ancient Egypt even in its semi-ruined state. It was designed by Senenmut (who according to some ancient and modern commentators was her lover) as a "garden for her father" (Amun) and exotic trees and shrubs from Punt (possibly Somalia) were planted the lower courtyard. However, after her death Thuthmosis III and Akhenaten both intentionally damaged the monument. The former directed his attacks at Hatshepsut herself, either replacing her image with his own or simply obliterating references to her, the later damaged her temple because of the frequent references to the god Amun.
She was omitted from the Kings lists of Ramesses II and Seti I, but Ramesses II and Merneptah both made additions to her temple. During the Ptolemaic Period the temple was repaired in places repairs to the temple which they apparently though was dedicated to Imhotep and Amenhotep son of Hap. Some time later, a Christian Monastery was built upon the ruins which covered much of the original temple.
Thanjavur or Tanjore or Stanmore, its former name, is a city located in Tamil Nadu that was once the capital of the Chola dynasty; the town counts 93 odd temples, the most famous being the Brihadishwara Temple, also known as the ‘Big Temple’; constructed by Raja Raja Chola I during the 11th century and listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Monument, the temple is dedicated to Shiva; the pillared halls, the gopurams (tower at the entrance of the temple), shrines, the statue of Nandi (mount of Shiva) and an outstanding monolithic granite block on top of the tower make this place a marvel; the city has other attractions such as the Maratha Palace complex built around 1550 AD by the Maratha dynasty and the Nayaks of Madurai or the museum that houses a collection of bronze statues, a art that makes the city famous as others of its production (carpets, jewellery music instruments, silk); founded in a fertile delta, the town’s main activity is agriculture
© Eric Lafforgue
One of North Africa's best-preserved ancient Roman cities, Sufetula is awash with temples, monumental arches and bath complexes that speak of an ancient civilisation that knew how to live.
Archaeological site of Sbeïtla , ancient Sufetula. Sbeïtla is renowned for its three temples dedicated to the gods of the Capitoline Triad: Jupiter, Juno and Minerva. In addition, the place has a theater, a bath complex, churches, a triumphal arch and forts from the Byzantine era.
The surrounding countryside proved ideal for olive growing, and Sufetula quickly waxed wealthy, building its finest temples in the 2nd century, when the town – like all of Roman Tunisia – was at the height of its prosperity. Fortuitously, its olive groves ensured that Sufetula continued to prosper long after other Roman towns slipped into decline, helping it to become an important Christian centre in the 4th century.
The Byzantines made Sufetula their regional capital, transforming it into a military stronghold from where they could tackle the area’s rebellious local tribes. It was here in AD 647 that Prefect Gregory declared himself independent of Constantinople. However, his moment of glory lasted only a few months before he was killed by the Arabs, who simultaneously destroyed much of Sufetula.
El Brujo Archaeological Complex, just north of Trujillo, La Libertad Province, Peru, is an ancient archaeological site of the Moche Civilisation in the Chicama Valley.
The Brujo Complex is represented by three major huacas. The Huaca Prieta mound dates back to the preceramic times. Huaca Cortada and Huaca Cao Viejo (the largest) are stepped truncated pyramids constructed at the northern corners of the terrace. Building archaeology unveils seven phases of construction spanning the early and middle phases of Moche era.
Huaca Cao Viejo is famous for its polychrome reliefs and mural paintings, and the discovery of the Señora de Cao. The 25 year old woman buried here was believed to be a 3rd century AD female ruler of the Moche state, and her tomb was full of gold and other previous artifacts.
The murals at the complex also depict the ritual human sacrifice that took place here regularly: teams of men would engage in ritual battles and the losing team would willingly be sacrificed to the gods to ensure fertility and peace in the community. Murals show the naked warriors (with fully erect penis) being marched to the sacrificial platform to be decapitated and blood to be collected for the gods.
Jerash in Jordan lies on a plain surrounded by hilly wooded areas and fertile basinsis, it is famous for the ruins of the Greco-Roman city of Gerasa, also referred to as Antioch on the Golden River, It is considered one of the most important and best preserved Roman cities in the Near East, it was a city of the Decapolis
© Eric Lafforgue
A Walking Tour of Chichén Itzá: Chichén Itzá, one of best known archaeological sites of the Maya civilization, has a split personality. The site is located in the northern Yucatan peninsula of Mexico, about 90 miles from the coast. The south half of the site, called Old Chichén, was constructed beginning about 700 AD, by Puuc Maya emigres from the southern Yucatan. The Puuc built temples and palaces at Chichén Itzá including the Red House (Casa Colorada) and the Nunnery (Casa de las Monejas). The Toltec component of Chichén Itzá arrived from Tula about 950 AD and their influence can be seen in the the Osario (the High Priest's Grave), and the Eagle and Jaguar Platforms. Most interestingly, a cosmopolitan blending of the two created the Observatory (the Caracol) and the Temple of the Warriors.
Adjacent to the Temple of Warriors at Chichén Itzá are long colonnaded halls lined with benches. This colonnade borders a large adjacent court, combining civic, palace, administrative and market functions, and it is very Toltec in construction, quite similar to Pyramid B at Tula. Some scholars believe this feature, when compared to Puuc style architecture and iconography such as seen at the Iglesia, indicates that the Toltec replaced the religious-based leaders for warrior-priests.
Photo taken in February 1986 on Kodachrome 64 film with a Minolta SLR camera and Vivitar 70-150 zoom. Scanned 2005. Photo by: Jim Gateley. Text Copyright 2006: archaeology.about.com/mbiopage.htm used with permission. A list of references used for this project is available for further reading on Chichén Itzá.
A Walking Tour of Chichén Itzá: Chichén Itzá, one of best known archaeological sites of the Maya civilization, has a split personality. The site is located in the northern Yucatan peninsula of Mexico, about 90 miles from the coast. The south half of the site, called Old Chichén, was constructed beginning about 700 AD, by Puuc Maya emigres from the southern Yucatan. The Puuc built temples and palaces at Chichén Itzá including the Red House (Casa Colorada) and the Nunnery (Casa de las Monejas). The Toltec component of Chichén Itzá arrived from Tula about 950 AD and their influence can be seen in the the Osario (the High Priest's Grave), and the Eagle and Jaguar Platforms. Most interestingly, a cosmopolitan blending of the two created the Observatory (the Caracol) and the Temple of the Warriors.
The Temple of the Bearded Man is located at the north end of the Great Ball Court, and it is called the Temple of the Bearded Man because of the several representations of bearded individuals. There are other images of the 'bearded man' in Chichén Itzá; and a famous story told about these images was confessed by the archaeologist/explorer Augustus Le Plongeon in his book Vestiges of the Maya about his visit to Chichén Itzá in 1875. "On one of the [pillars] at the entrance on the north side [of El Castillo] is the portrait of a warrior wearing a long, straight, pointed beard.... I placed my head against the stone so as to represent the same position of my face... and called the attention of my Indians to the similarity of his and my own features. They followed every lineament of the faces with their fingers to the very point of the beard, and soon uttered an exclamation of astonishment: 'Thou! Here!".
Not one of the high points in archaeological history, I'm afraid. For more on the wackiness of Augustus Le Plongeon, see Romancing the Maya, a terrific book on 19th century exploration of Maya sites by R. Tripp Evans, where I found this story.
Photo taken in February 1986 on Kodachrome 64 film with a Minolta SLR camera and Vivitar 70-150 zoom. Scanned 2005. Photo by: Jim Gateley. Text Copyright 2006: archaeology.about.com/mbiopage.htm used with permission. A list of references used for this project is available for further reading on Chichén Itzá.
Das seis Maravilhas sumidas, o Farol foi o último a desaparecer. Por isso nós temos conhecimento exato de sua localização e aparência. Avaliações antigas tais como as de Strabo e Pliny, o Velho dão-nos uma breve descrição da "torre" e do revestimento de mármore branco. Eles conta-nos como o misterioso espelho podia refletir a luz a dezanas de quilômetros de distância. A lenda diz que o espelho também era usado para detectar e queimar navios inimigoss antes deles conseguirem alcançar a costa.
Em 1166, um viajante árabe, Abou-Haggag Al-Andaloussi visitou o Farol. Ele documentou com riquezas de informações e deu-nos uma precisa descrição da estrutura pelo qual ajudou os arqueologistas a reconstruírem o monumento. Erguia-se de uma plataforma de pedra, composta de 3 estágios: o quadrado mais inferior tinha 60 m de altura com um núcleo cilíndrico, o do meio era oitavada com os lados medindo 18 m e uma altura de 28 m; e o terceiro era circular com 7 m de altura. O altura total do prédio, incluindo a fundação da base, era de 117 m, equivalente a um atual edifício de 40 andares. No alto, ardia uma fogueira de lenha ou carvão. O núcleo interno era usado como uma haste para suspender o combustível para o fogo. No estágio superior, o espelho refletia a luz solar durante o dia, enquanto que o fogo era usado à noite. Uma larga rampa em espiral conduzia à parte mais alta da construção. Nos tempos antigos, uma estátua de Poseidon enfeitava o topo do prédio.
In 796, the lighthouse may have lost its upper tier, which apparently went without repair for about a century. We are told that afterwards, Sultan Ibn Tulun (868-884) built a mosque with a dome in its place. However, this seems to conflict with Idrisi's report that the structure still operated as a lighthouse in his visit in 1115 AD. The account of this mosque may come from an unlikely tale that part of the lighthouse was demolished through trickery. The story goes that in 850 AD, the Emperor of Constantinople, a rival port, devised a clever plot to get rid of the Pharos. He spread rumors that buried under the lighthouse was a fabulous treasure. The caliph supposedly ordered the building to be torn down, and as the Arab workers began dismantling the cylindrical tower, the huge mirror of polished metal slipped away from its base and crashed into the sea. The beacon chamber was then stripped down as well as the eight-sided middle section and its two balconies. With only the base of the Lighthouse remaining, the caliph realized that he had been tricked and halted further destruction. He then ordered his workmen to start rebuilding the tower, but since the damage was now too extensive, the project had to be abandoned and instead of a tower, a crude mosque was constructed. Idrisi's report appears to completely negate this tale, though there are a number of reports of such a mosque surmounting the second tier.
In 950 and again in 956, parts of its surface cracked and to stabilize it, the lighthouse was reduced by some 22 meters in height. In 1272, the famous Sultan, Salah el-Din (Saladin) undertook restoration work, but alas, his work was in vain because on August 8th, 1303, a major earthquake shook the whole eastern Mediterranean. This was to be the end of the Seventh Wonder of the ancient world, as attested to by a maritime map preserved at Montepellier that dates the quake and notes that the lighthouse was totally destroyed. Actually, there remained some ruins of the structure for decades to come. A traveler named Ibn Battuta visited Alexandria twice, once in 1329 and again in 1346. In the first visit, he was still able to climb the ramp and reach the door of the tower, but on the second visit, the lighthouse was in such ruins that he could no longer get near it. These ruins remained for just over a century, until the Mamluk sultan Qait Bey finally had them cleared away in order to construct his fort which still stands there today. Supposedly, it uses some of the stone blocks form the Lighthouse in its walls.
Somnathpur or Somanathapura is a small village located few kilometres away from Mysore; the focus of the place is the outstanding Keshena Temple, also known as Cassava or Chennakesava Temple; considered as a masterpiece of Hoysala architecture, this star-shaped temple was built during the 13th century AD during the reign of the Hoysala King Narasimha III; the monument surrounded by cloisters, consists of three accurately carved sanctuaries situated in the middle of a courtyard; the intricately rock cut images of gods, scenes of epics, ornate ceilings in the pillared hall make Somnathpur a must see place
© Eric Lafforgue www.ericlafforgue.com
Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Sanstha (BAPS) Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, Pune, India - The mandir, known as a Hindu place of worship, serves as a hub for the spiritual, cultural, and humanitarian activities of BAPS. As of 2019, the organization has 44 shikharbaddha mandirs and more than 1,200 other mandirs spanning five continents. In the tradition of the Bhakti Movement, Swaminarayan and his spiritual successors began erecting mandirs to provide a means to uphold proper devotion to God on the path towards moksha, or ultimate liberation.
Members of 155ath Brigade Combat Team (BCT) are given a tour of the historical city of Babylon, Iraq as a gesture of goodwill by the Iraqi people, Babil, Iraq, on March 21, 2005. These periodic tours of the ancient ruins are given to service members to learn more about Iraq's history and help boost moral. U.S. Military Reserve and Active Duty personnel are forward deployed to central Iraq in support of Iraqi Freedom. This 180-degree panorama was assembled from 13 separate digital images to create one photo illustration. (U.S. Navy photo illustration by Chief Photographer's Mate Edward G. Martens) (Released)
From Tell el-Amarna, 1350 BCE. Egypt, 18th dynasty.
Nefertiti (c. 1370 BC – c. 1330 BC) was the Great Royal Wife (chief consort) of the Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten. Nefertiti and her husband were known for a religious revolution, in which they started to worship one god only. This was Aten, or the sun disc.
Neues Museum, Berlin
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The close up shot for detail of sandstone carving and guardian statue of ancient Banteay Srei temple, Siem Reap, Cambodia
The site of Palmyra is an oasis in the Syrian desert, north-east of Damascus, it contains the monumental ruins of a great city that was one of the most important cultural centres of the ancient world, Palmyra mixed Graeco-Roman techniques with local traditions and Persian influences, it was listed UNESCO World Heritage in 1980
© Eric Lafforgue
Highlights from the wonderful exhibition of Tutankhamun's Gold Treasures at Saatchi Gallery London UK 30 Nov 2019.
© Amberinsea Photography 2019
A Walking Tour of Chichén Itzá: Chichén Itzá, one of best known archaeological sites of the Maya civilization, has a split personality. The site is located in the northern Yucatan peninsula of Mexico, about 90 miles from the coast. The south half of the site, called Old Chichén, was constructed beginning about 700 AD, by Puuc Maya emigres from the southern Yucatan. The Puuc built temples and palaces at Chichén Itzá including the Red House (Casa Colorada) and the Nunnery (Casa de las Monejas). The Toltec component of Chichén Itzá arrived from Tula about 950 AD and their influence can be seen in the the Osario (the High Priest's Grave), and the Eagle and Jaguar Platforms. Most interestingly, a cosmopolitan blending of the two created the Observatory (the Caracol) and the Temple of the Warriors.
The Castillo (or castle in Spanish) is the monument that people think of when they think of Chichén Itzá. It is mostly Toltec construction, and it probably dates to the period of the first combination of cultures in the 9th century AD at Chichén. El Castillo is centrally located on the south edge of the Great Plaza. The pyramid is 30 meters high and 55 meters on a side, and it was built with nine succeeding platforms with four staircases. The staircases have balustrades with carved feathered serpents, the open-jawed head at the foot and the rattle held high at the top. The last remodel of this monument included one of the fanciest jaguar thrones known from such sites, with red paint and jade insets for eyes and spots on the coat, and flaked chert fangs. The principal stairway and entrance is on the north side, and the central sanctuary is surrounded by a gallery with the main portico.
Information about the solar, Toltec, and Maya calendars is carefully built into el Castillo. Each stairway has exactly 91 steps, times four is 364 plus the top platform equals 365, the days in the solar calendar. The pyramid has 52 panels in the nine terraces; 52 is the number of years in the Toltec cycle. Each of the nine terraced steps are divided in two: 18 for the months in the yearly Maya calendar. Most impressively, though, is not the numbers game, but the fact that on the autumnal and vernal equinoxes, the sun shining on the platform edges forms shadows on the balustrades of the north face that look like a writhing rattle snake.
Archaeologist Edgar Lee Hewett described el Castillo as a design "of exceptionally high order, indicating great progress in architecture." That most zealous of Spanish friar zealots Bishop Landa reported that the structure was called Kukulcan, or 'feathered serpent' pyramid, as if we needed to be told twice.
The amazing equinoctial display at el Castillo (where the snake wriggles on the balustrades) was video-taped during Spring Equinox 2005 by Isabelle Hawkins and the Exploratorium. The videocast is in both Spanish and English versions, and the show lasts a good hour waiting for the clouds to part, but holy cow! is it worth watching.
Photo taken in February 1986 on Kodachrome 64 film with a Minolta SLR camera and Vivitar 70-150 zoom. Scanned 2005. Photo by: Jim Gateley. Text Copyright 2006: archaeology.about.com/mbiopage.htm used with permission. A list of references used for this project is available for further reading on Chichén Itzá.