Hacker News with Generative AI: Ancient Rome

We Know Why Ancient Roman Concrete Lasts Thousands of Years (sciencealert.com)
The ancient Romans were masters of building and engineering, perhaps most famously represented by the aqueducts. And those still functional marvels rely on a unique construction material: pozzolanic concrete, a spectacularly durable concrete that gave Roman structures their incredible strength.

Ancient Rome, Engineering, Construction, Materials Science

29 points by tomcam 21 days ago | 15 comments

The Cannae Problem (joanwestenberg.com)
It's August 2, 216 BCE. The Roman army stands in formation under the blistering Italian sun. Eight legions strong—the largest force Rome has ever fielded—nearly 80,000 men await the order to advance. Across the plain at Cannae stands Hannibal's army, outnumbered almost two-to-one. The Roman commanders, Consuls Varro and Paullus, feel confident. How could they not? They've assembled the greatest concentration of Roman military might in history specifically to crush this Carthaginian invader who has plagued Italy for two years.

Military History, Ancient Rome, Hannibal, Battles

164 points by flobosg 36 days ago | 106 comments

A Roman Gladiator and a Lion Met in Combat. Only One Walked Away (nytimes.com)
A discovery in an English garden led to the first direct evidence that man fought beast to entertain the subjects of the Roman Empire.

History, Archaeology, Ancient Rome, Gladiators

33 points by diodorus 45 days ago | 51 comments

A Gladiator's Marble-Etched Epitaph Is Found in an Ancient Roman Necropolis (smithsonianmag.com)
Over 2,200 years ago, the Republic of Rome founded a colony called Liternum on Italy’s west coast, just north of present-day Naples.

Archaeology, History, Ancient Rome, Italy

11 points by bryanrasmussen 48 days ago | 0 comments

Mass grave of Roman soldiers found under Vienna sports field (gizmodo.com)
Construction workers have discovered a mass grave from a battle involving ancient Roman legionaries.

Archaeology, History, Ancient Rome, Austria

111 points by speckx 64 days ago | 52 comments

Somnium Scipionis (wikipedia.org)
The Dream of Scipio (Latin: Somnium Scipionis), written by Cicero, is the sixth book of De re publica, and describes a (postulated fictional or real) dream vision of the Roman general Scipio Aemilianus, set two years before he oversaw the destruction of Carthage in 146 BC.

History, Ancient Rome, Literature, Philosophy

4 points by benbreen 87 days ago | 0 comments

Pompey's Greatest Show on Earth (historytoday.com)
In the autumn of 55 BC Pompey the Great, one of the most powerful generals of the Late Roman Republic, opened his brand new theatre.

Ancient Rome, History, Theater, Military History

7 points by diodorus 93 days ago | 2 comments

Wake up Neo: An ancient painting competition, and The Matrix (blogspot.com)
Technical skill at imitating reality seems to have been a yardstick by which the best ancient Greek and Roman artists were judged.

Art, Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome, The Matrix

12 points by ArtHeresy 96 days ago | 0 comments

Discovery of fresco portraying Dionysian mysteries at Pompeii (pompeiisites.org)
Over 100 years since the discovery of the Villa of the Mysteries, a large new fresco casts light on the Dionysiac mysteries in the classical world.

Archaeology, History, Ancient Rome, Mythology, Art

149 points by dr_dshiv 96 days ago | 85 comments

Traces of London's first Roman basilica found beneath office basement (heritagedaily.com)
Archaeologists from the Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) have discovered traces of London’s first Roman basilica, dating back nearly 2,000-years.

Archaeology, History, London, Ancient Rome

25 points by janpot 114 days ago | 3 comments

AI helps researchers read ancient scroll burned to a crisp in Vesuvius eruption (theguardian.com)
Researchers have peered inside an ancient scroll that was burned to a crisp in the volcanic eruption that destroyed Pompeii nearly 2,000 years ago.

Artificial Intelligence, Archaeology, History, Ancient Rome, Disaster Recovery

7 points by pseudolus 120 days ago | 0 comments

First glimpse inside burnt scroll after 2k years (bbc.co.uk)
A badly burnt scroll from the Roman town of Herculaneum has been digitally "unwrapped", providing the first look inside for 2,000 years.

Archaeology, History, Technology, Ancient Rome

144 points by goodcanadian 122 days ago | 81 comments

The 22-Year-Old Who Unlocked the Secrets of Ancient Rome (thefp.com)
While driving to his SpaceX internship in Texas in March 2023, 22-year-old Luke Farritor was listening to a podcast about a niche use of artificial intelligence: deciphering ancient scrolls. Then, he heard about a new competition—called the Vesuvius Challenge—being offered to the first person who could use AI to decode an ancient scroll from the ruins near Pompeii.

Artificial Intelligence, History, Ancient Rome

12 points by dsr12 124 days ago | 3 comments

Curse tablet found in Roman-era grave in France targets enemies by invoking Mars (livescience.com)

Archaeology, History, Ancient Rome, France, Religion

32 points by diodorus 138 days ago | 14 comments

'Once-in-a-century' discovery reveals luxury of Pompeii (bbc.com)
After lying hidden beneath metres of volcanic rock and ash for 2,000 years, a "once-in-a-century" find has been unearthed in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii in Italy.

Archaeology, History, Pompeii, Italy, Ancient Rome

177 points by pseudolus 141 days ago | 135 comments

'Once-in-a-century' discovery reveals luxury of Pompeii (bbc.co.uk)
After lying hidden beneath metres of volcanic rock and ash for 2,000 years, a "once-in-a-century" find has been unearthed in the ancient Roman city of Pompeii in Italy.

Archaeology, History, Ancient Rome, Italy

12 points by gadders 141 days ago | 0 comments

What Roman Coins Reveal About the People Who Made Them (lithub.com)
“In a way the coin is our superior. The hardness of its metal secures for it ‘eternal’ existence. A coin does not grow, it issues ready-made from the mint and should remain as it then is; it should never change.” –Elias Canetti, Crowds and Power

History, Archaeology, Numismatics, Ancient Rome

23 points by bookofjoe 142 days ago | 2 comments

2k-year-old wine and the uncanny immediacy of the past (resobscura.substack.com)
In 2019, construction workers in Carmona, Spain uncovered something remarkable underneath a very old house: an access shaft that led them to a Roman tomb which had remained perfectly sealed for two thousand years.

History, Archaeology, Ancient Rome

244 points by benbreen 143 days ago | 90 comments

'Barbarians' May Have Been Inspired by Opium When Attacking Rome, Study Suggests (haaretz.com)
The Romans thought the barbarian monsters on their borders should settle for alcohol, but the drug spoons the Germanic warriors carried into battle suggest they didn't agree

History, Ancient Rome, Drugs, Anthropology

10 points by wslh 158 days ago | 0 comments

Nitpicking Gladiator II, Part II (acoup.blog)
Last week, we started our nitpicking of Gladiator II (2024) by looking at the problems with the films chronology and its portrayal of the Roman army of the early third century, both in its equipment and in its battle tactics.

Film Criticism, History, Ancient Rome

11 points by Tomte 176 days ago | 0 comments

Famous Roman siege thought to have lasted years ended in 'mere weeks'-New study (independent.co.uk)
The Roman siege of Masada at the end of the First Jewish-Roman War lasted “mere weeks” overturning previous beliefs of a drawn-out battle ove several years, according to a new study.

History, Archaeology, Ancient Rome, Israel

14 points by historynops 267 days ago | 4 comments

The Badass Female Gladiators of Ancient Rome (atlasobscura.com)

History, Ancient Rome, Women, Gender

12 points by BerislavLopac 311 days ago | 2 comments

Dyēus (wikipedia.org)

Mythology, Religion, Ancient Rome

9 points by danielam 313 days ago | 6 comments

how do you 'accurately' speak English in ancient Rome? (text.npr.org)

Language, History, Linguistics, Ancient Rome

23 points by rntn 316 days ago | 96 comments

Human parasites in the Roman World: health consequences of conquering an empire (cambridge.org)