M.J. Rose

This is truly a castle fit for a king. Or, as the case may be – a royal tomb.

Imagine living inside your own opulent palace, that also happens to be an entire mountain. Sadly, as Herod became aware of his impending death, he decided to turn the palace into a memorial hilltop instead…

Monumental entryway to Herodian Hilltop Palace unearthed

Posted by Past Horizons

“Archaeologists from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Institute of Archaeology have discovered a monumental entryway to the Herodian hilltop palace. The unique complex was uncovered during excavations by The Herodium Expedition in memory of archaeologist Ehud Netzer.

The main feature of the entryway is an impressive corridor with a complex system of arches spanning its width on three separate levels. These arches buttressed the corridor’s massive side-walls, allowing the King and his entourage direct passage into the Palace Courtyard. Thanks to the supporting arches, the 20-metre long and 6-metre wide corridor has been preserved to a height of 20 metres…”

Click here for more, as well as the fantastic photos.

One MILLION mummies? Who are they?

And…read closely and you will also find mention of the other recent discovery that is baffling scientists.

Why is this news so under reported? Is there a bit of a cover-up going on here?

Experts Make Massive Discovery Under the Sand of the Egyptian Desert — and It’s Left Them Puzzled

by Oliver Darcy

“A team of archeologists say they have unearthed an ancient cemetery in the Egyptian desert containing more than one million mummies buried approximately 1,500 years ago.

“We are fairly certain we have over a million burials within this cemetery. It’s large, and it’s dense,” project director Kerry Muhlestein said while presenting his findings in Toronto last month, according to Live Science.

The discovery, however, has left the experts from Utah’s Brigham Young University a bit baffled…”

For the rest, click here.

The long, elaborate history of our besties, the witches…

Where do witches come from?

by Alastair Sooke (BBC Culture)

“Images of alluring young witches and hideous hags have been around for centuries – but what do they mean?

Ask any Western child to draw a witch, and the chances are that he or she will come up with something familiar: most likely a hook-nosed hag wearing a pointy hat, riding a broomstick or stirring a cauldron. But where did this image come from? The answer is more arresting and complex than you might think, as I discovered last week when I visited Witches and Wicked Bodies, a new exhibition at the British Museum in London that explores the iconography of witchcraft.

Witches have a long and elaborate history. Their forerunners appear in the Bible, in the story of King Saul consulting the so-called Witch of Endor. They also crop up in the classical era in the form of winged harpies and screech-owl-like “strixes” – frightening flying creatures that fed on the flesh of babies.

Circe, the enchantress from Greek mythology, was a sort of witch, able to transform her enemies into swine. So was her niece Medea. The ancient world, then, was responsible for establishing a number of tropes that later centuries would come to associate with witches…”

For the rest, click here.