Wednesday, August 05, 2020

VR reconstructions of ancient sites

THE NEXT BEST THING TO BEING THERE: Ruined Unesco sites virtually rebuilt before your very eyes! From Jerusalem to Iraq, digital wizardry restores renowned cities and temples to their former glory (Jennifer Newton and Ted Thornhill, Daily Mail).

The project includes digital reconstructions of the Temple Mount, Hatra, Leptis Magna, and Palmyra.

For endless PaleoJudaica posts on the Temple Mount, run "Temple Mount" through the blog's search engine.

Hatra was an important Aramaic-speaking city on the Silk Road in late antiquity. The archaeological site in Iraq was bulldozed by ISIS in March of 2015. It was retaken by Iraqi forces during the annihilation of ISIS in 2017. Follow the links (and cf. here) for more posts on Hatra.

Leptis Magna is a Punic site in Libya. There was fear that ISIS would come for it, but the Libyans successfully protected it. Past posts on Leptis Magna are here, here, and here.

For many posts on Palmyra, its history, the ancient Aramaic dialect spoken there (Palmyrene), and the city's tragic reversals of fortune, which more recently seem to have been trending for the better, start here and follow the links.

Cross-file unde Digitization, Technology Watch, Punic Watch, and Virtual Reality.

Visit PaleoJudaica daily for the latest news on ancient Judaism and the biblical world.