Stunning 2200-Year-Old Mosaics Discovered in Ancient Greek City

Ancient mosaics discovered in ancient Greek city of zeugma

Twisted Sifter Site: Three new mosaics were recently discovered in the ancient Greek city of Zeugma, which is located in the present-day province of Gaziantep in southern Turkey. The incredibly well-preserved mosaics date back to 2nd century BC.

Zeugma was considered one of the most important centers of the Eastern Roman Empire and the ancient city has provided a treasure trove of discoveries with 2000-3000 houses in remarkably good condition. Excavations at Zeugma started in 2007 and continue to this day.

Up until 2000 the ancient city was completely submerged underwater until a project to excavate the area received funding from a number of sources.

Travelling to Ashgabat the capital of Turkmenistan, Day 1

A hotel in Ashgabat city

Web: Our Nomadic Life – We visited Ashgabat, Turkmenistan on a work trip. We hardly had any knowledge about this country (did not know even the name of the capital and where it is located), We managed to get some information via the web but it got us a bit worried as the country seems to be known as the North Korea of Central Asia!!!

This was an extremely rare opportunity for us to visit the country and fortunately our organization could issue us two invitation letters, as it is very difficult to enter Turkmenistan. In all, we stayed 5 nights in Ashgabat.

We flew from Jakarta to Ashgabat via Dubai. Ashgabat airport was really clean and shiny like a 5 star-hotel. But we hardly saw anyone there. Surprisingly, almost 30% of the passengers in our flight were Japanese and they seemed to be traveling on an organized tour. We wondered why they have chosen Turkmenistan for their holiday destination but we did not have a courage to ask them…

How Old is Ashgabat?

Goddess woman in Parthian Empire

Toronto – Dr. Khangeldi Ovnuk:

Introduction: In the earlier indepandend Turkmenistan, in the year 1992-94 at the Academy of Sciences of Turkmenistan, the country appellation debate over the historical name of the capital of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat (Ashkabad) was taken.

One of the experts of the Academy of Sciences of Turkmenistan, S. G. Aqajani, unlike theorists A well-known Russian scientists. A. Maroshenko and A.Potseluyevsky , in naming Ashkhabad city based on the “- up comes from the presence of the Russians, who since 1881 has started!” Were questioned, with this view, he is the ancient name meaning city “Ashk” to “Eshq /love/”,” which is derived from the ancient era empire “tears /Ashk/” is, fundamentally different !!.

Muhammad biopic director calls for more movies about the prophet’s life

A group of Iranians protested at the premiere of Muhammad: Messenger of God. Photograph: Cristian Mijea/Cristian Mijea/Demotix/Corbis

The Guardian: Speaking at the premiere of Muhammad: Messenger of God, Majid Majidi says further films would help improve understanding of Islam around the world

It had the potential to be one of the most inflammatory film projects of recent times. Yet the world premiere of Iranian director Majid Majidi’s biopic of the prophet Muhammad not only passed mostly without incident, but even amicably – with a surprise call for rapprochement between the religion’s Sunni and Shia sects.

A small group of protesters gathered outside the Imperial cinema, Montreal, where the premiere was held. Holding signs declaring, “Down with Islamic republic of Iran”, members of the city’s Iranian community objected to what they saw as a glorification of the Islamisation of Iran.

The mood inside the press conference for the film – the first on the subject since Moustapha Akkad’s 1977 film The Message, and the first to visually depict the prophet – was conciliatory. Majidi issued a direct invitation to a rival Qatari team currently developing their own Muhammad franchise to collaborate on future, Islam-themed projects.

“The more movies that are made about the prophet’s life, the better,” Majidi said at Montreal’s world film festival. “We hope the Qatari team will make a correct interpretation of Islam, and they are most welcome to come and film at our facilities in our country.”

In line with the more liberal Shia tradition of depicting the prophet, Majidi’s Muhammad: Messenger of God – the 171-minute first instalment of a projected trilogy – features shots of the prophet’s hands and legs as a baby, and the back of his head as an adolescent, but never shows his face.

Majid Majidi speaking at a press conference for the film. Photograph: Clement Sabourin/AFP/Getty Images

The director said he believed a more proactive approach was required from Islamic film-makers in the light of acts of terrorism that were shaping global perceptions of the faith. “We’ve been guilty of shortcomings in introducing the world to the real and true face of the prophet. There have been 200 movies about Jesus Christ, 100 featuring Moses directly or indirectly, 42 about Buddha, but only two on Muhammad. It’s a natural act of introduction to our culture.”

Actors on the set of the movie. Photograph: Mohammad Foghani/AFP/Getty Images

Outside the Muslim world, the film is expected to garner mostly specialist interest, despite an impressive international crew, including Apocalypse Now cinematographer Vittorio Storaro and Bollywood soundtrack maestro AR Rahman, as well as poster art redolent of The Passion of the Christ. This perhaps explains its inclusion at Montreal’s militantly arthouse festival, where Majidi, one of Iran’s breakthrough 1980s generation of directors, has strong links. Though its producers suggested that this year’s Charlie Hebdo killings had reduced the willingness of other festivals to consider it.

The Qatari project is far bigger in scope, currently tabling $1.2bn (£780m) across a franchise of seven films covering all the Abrahamic prophets, culminating in the life of Muhammad. In development at private company al-Noor for six years, the prospective series has Lord of the Rings producer Barrie Osborne in an advisory role. It aims to capitalise on the mainstream resurgence in religious-themed films that last year saw Noah gross $362.6m and Exodus: God and Kings $268m, as well as a raft of smaller projects mainly catering to America’s bible belt.

Producer Azahar Iqbal, also in attendance at Montreal, confirmed that his team were “open-minded” about a possible collaboration with Majidi. But he also stressed that their approach was both more constrained in terms of adhering to the traditional prohibition on representations of the prophet, and more free-ranging, with a fantasy-influenced, blockbuster-esque story outline designed to snare interest from Hollywood. “We’re not here to preach. We really want to work on something that works as entertainment,” Iqbal said.

 

There where the river flowed

A ruins Sarykamysh in XIII century

Türkmen Medeniýet ulgamy

 Written by Ruslan Muradov – Category: Culture herritage:

The north of Turkmenistan is characterized with severe and contract landscapes where steppe plains of Ustyurt ends with stiff cliffs and below until the horizon the boundless Garagum stretches. But yet five hundred years ago everything was different. Here in the lower course of the Daryalyk – the ancient course of the Amyderya – there flourishes oases with several fort cities, numerous villages and thousands of hectares of irrigated lands. It is difficult to believe that if not those ruins and hardly visible trenches from irrigated canals lost in the vast fields of the Sarykamysh. The Daryalyk is the main artery of water in this region and was formed in the 13th century: no matter how it looks paradox as a result of damages, made by the Mongolian conquerors to Khorezm. They destroyed the dam on the Amyderya and the swirling water flooded first the capital city of Gurganj (present Koneurgench) and then the Sarykamysh depression and Uzboy by which in the far remote past the Amyderya fell into the Caspian sea. From this irrigation, Turkmens made use of successfully creating here at the end of the 14th century a grandiose irrigation network of facilities. Perhaps, the fort city of Ak-gala appeared on the bank of one of tributaries of the Daryalyk. It protected by the mount of Butentau with its stiff cliff hanging over the river in the north.

About Empire of Trebizond from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Empire of Trebizond (brown) and
surrounding states in 1300

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Empire of Trebizond was a monarchy that flourished during the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries at the far northeastern corner of Anatolia. Originally a revolt by the grandsons of Emperor Andronikos I Komnenos, within a year the territories that supported them organized into one of three Byzantine Greek successor states established after the fall of the Byzantine Empire to the Fourth Crusade, the others being the Empire of Nicaea and the Despotate of Epirus.^[1]i

Although their prospects of reconquering Constantinople were reduced following the loss of Sinope in 1214, the Emperors of Trebizond pressed their claim on the Imperial throne after the Nicaean reconquest of Constantinople in 1261, which extinguished the feeble Latin Empire, when the Empire of Trebizond had settled into the role of a minor state, primarily concerned with its profitable role as the Western terminus of the Silk Road through a unique form of diplomacy: “Most of the emperors were blessed with a progeny of marriageable daughters,” writes Donald Nicol, “and the beauty of the ladies of Trebizond was as legendary as the wealth of their dowries.”^[2]

Great Reformer Scholars of “Turkmen Sahra”

The nenorial of Kummetkowus

“Turkmen Sahra” (ترکمن صحرا) is a big area in the northeast of Iran. It contains “Golistan” province and some parts of “North Khorasan” province. Turkmen Sahra extends from “Bandar-e-Turkmen” (Turkmen Port) city to “Raz” city of North Khorasan. Turkmenistan is the northern neighbor of Turkmen Sahra which has 400 kilo meter longitude. The well known Caspian Sea is located at the west of Turkmen Sahra. Besides there are many cities including villages located in this region such as Aq-Qala, Gonbad Kawous, Gorgan, Bandar-e-Turkmen, Kalaleh, Marva Tappe, Simin Shahr, Negin Shahr, Gamesh Tappe etc.

Some information about big city of Turkmenia of Iran

The Famous St. Basil’s Cathedral

Red Square in St. Basil’s
Cathedral

Although it’s known to everyone as St. Basil’s, this legendary building is officially called “The Cathedral of the Intercession of the Virgin by the Moat”. The popular alternative refers to Basil the Blessed, a Muscovite ‘holy fool’ who was buried on the site (in the Trinity Cathedral that once stood here) a few years before the present building was erected.

The Cathedral was ordered by Ivan the Terrible to mark the 1552 capture of Kazan from Mongol forces. It was completed in 1560. That’s pretty much all the genuine history that’s known about this celebrated landmark. There, however, scores of legends.