Lost city discovered beneath Egypt's desert with ancient church • Hacker News Board

Re: Lost city discovered beneath Egypt's desert with ancient church

#41

Post by derdi » Fri, Jul 10, 2026, 6:44 PM UTC

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #33

derdi wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not singling you out, all the articles do it, but: Strange to call this Byzantine. The coins found are from the reign of Constantius II, who at times ruled the whole empire alone (as did his successor Julian). The idea that the East, even when administered separately, was some foreign/"Byzantine"/not- really -Roman "other" was invented much later.

Well, probably Greek-speaking rather than Latin-speaking, right? And with that, would there also be some cultural differences?

One of the articles mentioned inscriptions in Coptic, Latin, and Greek. The elites would have spoken both Greek and Latin, I think? Greek was commonly known and used. Caesar, a Very Latin Roman, as he was being murdered in Rome, is conjectured to have spoken Greek to Brutus, another Very Latin Roman.

The notion that people are mostly monolingual, and that language is very closely tied to a cultural identity, is a modern projection (and far from universally true nowadays as well).

Re: Lost city discovered beneath Egypt's desert with ancient church

#42

Post by NitpickLawyer » Fri, Jul 10, 2026, 6:46 PM UTC

BoggleOhYeah wrote: post #22

spiderfarmer wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The bad things are all true. Scamming people is their default. You can’t trust anyone you haven’t paid.

Eh. I concede that there are a ton of scammers in the tourist areas. However, I think a lot of people used to the manners of the West really struggle with Egypt’s (admittedly, exhausting) haggling culture.

> haggling culture.

There's haggling where you actually enjoy the process (i.e. Turkey, visiting the bazaars, you get to haggle, then you get invited for some cay w/ the vendor, talk a bit, that's really enjoyable) and then there's outright scamming. Friend of mine went to Egypt, really wanted to ride a camel. Agreed on a price, rode the camel, and at the end they wouldn't bring the wooden thingy so that he could dismount, and they were asking for more money. That's not enjoyable at all.

Re: Lost city discovered beneath Egypt's desert with ancient church

#43

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jul 10, 2026, 7:03 PM UTC

derdi wrote: post #25

thisisauserid wrote: post #5

A Byzantine lost city around the year 400 CE.

Not singling you out, all the articles do it, but: Strange to call this Byzantine. The coins found are from the reign of Constantius II, who at times ruled the whole empire alone (as did his successor Julian). The idea that the East, even when administered separately, was some foreign/"Byzantine"/not- really -Roman "other" was invented much later.

[deleted]

Re: Lost city discovered beneath Egypt's desert with ancient church

#44

Post by momoschili » Fri, Jul 10, 2026, 7:07 PM UTC

derdi wrote: post #37

philistine wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, invented much later, but the expression of a different power structure that those types of Romans felt was not present. But to our modern eyes it was. Hell, the mere fact the centre of power was in Constantinople and not Rome is proof enough that they were distinct.

Proof to your modern eyes. Not to the eyes of those who also called Constantinople "New Rome", and who called themselves Romans even 1000 years later.

Many Western polities have sought the title of the Roman Empire and the legitimacy it endows. Constantine split the empire, and Constantius II did not rule over Rome (or many other parts of the empire). Is it even reasonable to assert it was still the Roman Empire after the fracture?

Is it legitimate for the Eastern Roman Empire to claim the legacy? I think so, and I think they have among the best arguments for it. Conversely it is also legitimate to note the major differences between the two and the fact that discontinuities do exist.

Re: Lost city discovered beneath Egypt's desert with ancient church

#45

Post by hashim » Fri, Jul 10, 2026, 7:09 PM UTC

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #2

... Do we have a better source than Daily Mail? Here: https://archaeologymag.com/2026/07/byzantine-city-with-writt... and https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/04/archaeologists...

Came for this, thanks. I try everything I can not to read the Daily Heil, whose politics haven't really shifted that much since Harold Harmsworth used it to push his propaganda for Hitler.

Re: Lost city discovered beneath Egypt's desert with ancient church

#46

Post by stogot » Fri, Jul 10, 2026, 7:38 PM UTC

dominotw wrote: post #6

this is amazing. I am ancient egypt nerd but sucks that egypt is in egypt. I got scammed last time i went there and ppl were rude and agrresive.

What was the scam?

Re: Lost city discovered beneath Egypt's desert with ancient church

#47

Post by seszett » Fri, Jul 10, 2026, 7:39 PM UTC

kenjackson wrote: post #26

eahm wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>This is the only place in the world where I can say this about. Really dude? About India? South America in general, especially Brazil? I traveled a lot and I love everywhere, everyone and everything buy there are some places that scam 24/7.

Italy was it for me. The train station in Rome was crazy. And just Venice in general. I was probably just in the touristy areas, but it was definitely the most hardcore non-stop street scamming I'd been around.

> Venice in general

That's weird because in Venice I never had a single problem, didn't feel scammed or anything, ate in very nice restaurants (I do avoid the tourist shops and restaurants though) and the people in general were nice. I almost felt at home, and many shopkeepers even spoke French, maybe better than English (I am French). I don't think anybody in the street accosted me at all, anyway. I'd go back without any hesitation.

Re: Lost city discovered beneath Egypt's desert with ancient church

#48

Post by PapaSpaceDelta » Fri, Jul 10, 2026, 7:43 PM UTC

testoo wrote: post #40

testoo wrote: post #27

anyone else immediately reminded of this lovecraft tale? https://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/nc.aspx

actually it looks like he wrote several stories on this theme: https://www.hplovecraft.com/writings/texts/fiction/up.aspx what did H.P. know that we did not??

He was inspired by Iram of the Pillars, which is mentioned in the Quran (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iram_of_the_Pillars). There's an interesting overview of its role in his work here: https://lovecraft.fandom.com/wiki/Irem.

Re: Lost city discovered beneath Egypt's desert with ancient church

#49

Post by cwnyth » Fri, Jul 10, 2026, 7:46 PM UTC

derdi wrote: post #37

philistine wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, invented much later, but the expression of a different power structure that those types of Romans felt was not present. But to our modern eyes it was. Hell, the mere fact the centre of power was in Constantinople and not Rome is proof enough that they were distinct.

Proof to your modern eyes. Not to the eyes of those who also called Constantinople "New Rome", and who called themselves Romans even 1000 years later.

They actually called themselves Ῥωμαῖοι, not Romani, and not every description needs to be emic. There's nothing wrong with the label "Byzantine" except to Byzaboos.

Re: Lost city discovered beneath Egypt's desert with ancient church

#50

Post by gaudystead » Fri, Jul 10, 2026, 7:48 PM UTC

secondcoming wrote: post #36

anon291 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been to India many times (visiting family) as someone born and raised in America, and most people on the internet have bizarre views on India. I'm someone who is generally 'down' on travel to India because it's just a lot to ingest and I prefer easier places, but I personally would never worry about the sorts of things people online claim. It's not particularly dangerous in terms of violence. Food is amazing obv…

The problem with India is hygiene, not so much safety. The food might be great but you're practically guaranteed to get Delhi-Belly. I visited for work years ago, didn't eat any street food and was still taken out of action for 3 days. Rubbish is strewn everywhere , any standing water stinks. I don't think visiting again is worth the risk. Every Indian I've ever met has been lovely though (except for the ones who try…

Can confirm... Was flying back home and during a layover in Mumbai I grabbed some food from the food court. It was only after having sat down and eaten most of my food when I noticed that there were pigeons roosting directly above where my meal was purchased from, with their poop stains dribbling down the raised walls directly above the food. That was a particularly rough set of flights back home, but I lucked out and had a fairly empty flight for one leg of it that offered a full row of empty seats for me to lay down in and disassociate from the pain on.

(for anyone who is unaware, the airports - the ones I passed through, at least - in India are fairly open air, so birds were a common sight within them)