#bithynia

[illustratus]

The Battle of Nicaea in 1097 (First Crusade) by Gustave Doré

[gemsofgreece]

Mosaic of the 3rd century AD, discovered a few years ago in Bithynia, in modern day Turkey, and revealed just today, in light of Pope Leo XIV’s visit to Turkey and his official meeting with the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I. 

The reason the reveal took place today “in light of this visit” is probably that the mosaic dates to the Roman period and Turkish websites and Facebook pages stressed how it connected Turkey with a Roman past through the Ottoman heritage. 

None of the pages and sites I saw explained why this was most suitable to coincide with the arrival of the leader of the Roman Catholic Church, when the mosaic has inscriptions in Greek, suggesting Greek or Hellenized artists and owners, and by proxy is the millionth piece of evidence of the mostly Greek character of East Rome. Let alone since the mosaic has no evident Christian reference and it features personifications of nature. 

But of course the Turkish state would rather self-combust than address the reveal to the Greek state as Greek monuments are systematically labelled as Roman or as vaguely “ancient” with a refusal to provide linguistic and contextual information to the visitors of a lot of these sites, especially those discovered lately. In fact, the reveal coinciding pointedly with the Pope’s visit seems more like a disregard and revisionism towards Greek history and Greeks in general instead, as I do not see why it would otherwise feel special to reveal this mosaic “in light of the Pope’s visit” when there is nothing Latin or Christian (Catholic) about it. 

So, I am going to give you the missing information: 

The mosaic pictures ΓΗ (Earth) as a woman, accompanied by two smaller masculine beings, the ΚΑΡΠΟΙ (fruits / seeds). ΓΗ is the Koine evolution of the ancient word ΓΑΙΑ (Gaea), which also signified the goddess of Earth and mother of the Titans in the ancient Greek religion. Both ΓΗ and ΚΑΡΠΟΙ are still the standard words used in Modern Greek. Derivatives which have also entered numerous foreign languages are geology, geography, geometry and more specialized biological terms like monocarpic and polycarpic. 

[twofielder]

Coin of the Day #470 (8/17/2025)

They can’t all be winners…

Roman Province - Bithynia

AE23 - 6.19g

Gordian III 238-244 AD

Nicaea Mint

Obverse Μ ΑΝΤ ΓΟΡΔΙΑΝΟC ΑΥΓ

Bust of Gordian III right, radiate, draped, cuirassed, from front

Reverse ΝΙΚΑΙΕΩΝ

Tyche standing left, holding rudder and cornucopiae, countermark: Nike standing right, holding wreath and palm (GIC 255, RIC 378)

RPC VII 1938

[romegreeceart]

Roman cult statue from Antonine period

* Claudiopolis, Bithynia

* 2nd century CE

* Bolu Museum

Attribution:

Carole Raddato from Frankfurt, Germany, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

[surbifarfaen]

Nicomedes IV & Julius Caesar 

I don’t know, I just love to draw them (: 

[frequentpondcrosser]

[omniatlas]

NEW MAP: Europe 276: Marcus Claudius Tacitus (early 276) https://buff.ly/3sFZ99Q In late 275 the Roman Senate ended the post-Aurelian interregnum by appointing the aged Marcus Claudius Tacitus as emperor. Tacitus soon faced serious challenges: that winter Germanic tribes invaded Gaul while the Heruli overran much of Asia Minor. He defeated the Heruli in 276, but died—probably assassinated—while returning west, after a reign of just six months. #thirdcentury #asiaminor #ancientrome #bithynia #cappadocia #carta #europe #europeanhistory #gothic #galatia #goths #historical #historicalmaps #histories #historybuff #historymajor #historymaker #historynerd #lowergermania #romanemperor #maps #militaryhistory #pontus #roman #romanempire #romanhistory #romans #spqr #uppergermania #newmap (at Ankara, Turkey) https://www.instagram.com/p/CNJ-a7uAsvT/?igshid=5bw89dvop1hq

[ye-olde-historie-memes]

everyone in ancient rome when julius caesar came back from bithynia: haha bro unbased and cinaeduspilled