The Greek ship Syracuse, according to some sources the largest ship built in antiquity, rightfully ranks among the most miraculous achievements of ancient shipbuilders. Our knowledge about this ship is largely due to the Greek writer Athenaeus. According to his words, Hiero II, ruler of the Sicilian city of Syracuse (270-215 BC), commissioned the construction … Read more
The Hellenistic period in history began with the conquests of Alexander the Great in 334 BC and was a time of military and political domination of the Greek Macedonians in the Mediterranean and the Near and Middle East. The political domination of the Macedonians over other peoples from Egypt and Syria to India was accompanied … Read more
…they built for you a fleet of senile cypresses, they took the cedar of Lebanon, raised masts for you; they carved oars for you out of oak wood from Bashan, they made a deck for you from ivory and ebony from the Kitian islands! They made your sails from Egyptian linen, embroidered. And they adorned … Read more
Olive, Latin name Olea europaea L., is an evergreen tree of Mediterranean origin, but it is also cultivated in regions with similar climates, such as California, South Africa, and Australia. Today, there are over a thousand different varieties known. In the Mediterranean region, among the shrubby vegetation of maquis, wild olives with thorny branches and … Read more
