
"Buried treasure, me hearties! Darr, there be no gold here"
Is this merely a co-incidence or because today be International Talk Like a Pirate Day, me hearties?
Bone-bothering boffins have uncovered a massive Roman mosaic in southern Turkey, proving that the ancient Empire's influence reached far into the area. Roman mosaic uncovered in Turkey The humungous mosaic, uncovered by a farmer in his field next to a still-standing bathing structure, is 1,600 square feet of meticulously …
No gold? No gold is it now?
Now ye may be talkin' like a pirate, but youse isn't thinkin' like one, is ye?
I mean, a nice mosaic like this, very pretty it is too, twould be a shame if sommat unfortunate like happened to it, wouldn't it be?
Some seadog could accidentally run a couple of nine-pounders over it and do all sorts of mischief to the tilin' with their trucks.
What do ye say to two thousand up front and a hunner'd-fifty a day?
> The city held all the typical wonders of the ancient Roman world: temples, baths, markets
I wonder if the natives from that part of Turkey viewed the ubiquitous architecture of the roman empire in the same way that people today view the encroachment of "western" culture: McDonalds, shopping malls and multi-storey car-parks.
Did they welcome it as a civilising influence and added amenities, or just as more bloody commercialisation that was pushing out the local influences?
The area was actually in the heart of the Roman empire, which at that time (and for many years after) was run from Constantinople (or New Rome).
The empire's second and third cities were Alexandria (in today's Egypt) and Antioch, which was actually just along the coast from this part of Asia Minor. Rome was long gone, overrun by goths.
However much I like reading this sort of story, perhaps El Reg should stick to IT if your hacks are going to be surprised by things which are actually quite normal and expected?
Article says "middle of the first century". Assuming that at least this much is correct, you're a fair bit out date-wise as Rome was very much the centre of the Empire in the middle of the first century. Constantinople was founded by Constantine, who (from rather shaky memory) was some time in the middle of the FIFTH century. Middle of the first was about the time Vespasian was tramping up & down what's now Britain quelling revolts from the natives.
City founded middle of first - remains date to third and fourth, just when Byzantium became the New Roma (in the first quarter of the fourth century. Yes, when the city was founded, Rome was strong, when the baths were built, the city was slap bang in the real core of the empire. Nice capitalisation of WRONG INFORMATION.
... my father comes from a little village near diyarbakir (rather south and a bit eastish)and I remember him saying that tesserae made regular appearances from the ground. Locals always suspected something roman beneath.
Archaeo-types, start your engines. And 'ware ancient magics...