There are two Nefertiti stories making the rounds -- one important and one maybe not so much.We'll start with the lesser news of the day, yet another attempt to tell us what the real Nefertiti really really looked like.Two Italian scholars -- Franco Crevatin , an ethnologist at Trieste ..
Early in 244 CE, the hapless Emperor Gordian III led the Roman army into Mesopotamia to wage war against the second Sassanian-Persian King of Kings, Shapur. Their armies met in battle near the city of Misikhe (modern Fallujah in Iraq).In the ensuing battle, the Roman army was obliterated -- or ..
On this day at the Russian Imperial Court, we are told, they would chant this Troparion commemorating the Holy Martyrs Zenobia and Zenobius:As brother and sister united in godlinessTogether you struggled in contest, Zenobius and Zenobia.You received incorruptible crowns andUnending glory and ..
Autumn colour isn't just for trees: Zenobia changes colour too. Zenobia pulverulenta, I mean. And she's a shrub.With nodding white bell-shaped flowers exuding an exotic, spicy, almost cinnamon-like Syrian scent.This Zenobia, however, is no native of Syria.The shrub grows wild only in the ..
Like most bloggers, I'm used to having posts copied and put on someone else's website ... without getting so much as a mention. But never before has my blog been run through an automatic translator (twice, I believe) before being plagiarized.That's what happened to The Double Duchess and ..