One of my favorite inscriptions of the Hellenistic period comes from the Red Sea port of Adulis in modern Eritrea, where King Ptolemy III Euergetes (r. 246-222 BC) established his own “res gestae” known simply as the Adulis Inscription (OGIS 54)
This inscription lists the achievements of Ptolemy III in the Third Syrian/Laodicean War (246-241) against the rival Seleucid Empire, in which Ptolemy managed to march as far as Mesopotamia and lay siege to Babylon. No other Ptolemaic king had as much success.

Pompeii and Herculaneum have provided some of the most beautiful and well-preserved frescoes of the Greco-Roman tradition. Yet there exists a remarkable find that predates them by 300 years.

Let me tell you about my visit to the Macedonian Tomb of Agios Athanasios:🧵 Located ~20 kilometers west of Thessaloniki, the village of Agios Athanasios is your typical sleepy rural town. What is unique are two large mounds, one of them covered in pine trees and foliage. In 1994, a farmer discovered that they contained ancient tombs.

Forget about silks and spices, let us talk about one of the ancient world's most desirable and surprisingly influential exports: the "Heavenly Horses" of Fergana. A 🧵 involving global trade, warfare, and biology (1/15) The Fergana Valley is a region nestled in the heart of Central Asia in modern Uzbekistan. Surrounded by the Tian Shen mountains to the north and the Pamir to the south, the valley's depression brought freshwater and enabled lush grasslands to grow in abundance (2/15)

One of the best documented figures of Ptolemaic Egypt was Senmonthis, an Egyptian woman living in the village of Pathyris. In 152 B.C., she was married to a Greek cavalry officer some thirty years her senior named Dryton, considerably elevating her socio-economic status (1/7) Upon her marriage, she took the notably Greek name Apollonia, which she used in all her legal and financial documents. This reflects the hierarchical nature of Hellenistic Egypt, and the legal and political favoritism for those presenting themselves as Greek (2/7)