Greek mythology gives clues about ancient neonatal care

September 12th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a new study, scientists have determined that the role of a predator, before humans colonized New Zealand about 750 years ago, was filled by a giant, extinct raptor known as Haast's eagle. Although the bones of Haast's eagle have been known for well over a century, the behavior of these giants has been a point of debate.

September 8th, 2009 SOFIA - The lyre of Orpheus, the string instrument which the Thracian and ancient Greek mythological musician played with mastery, has been recreated and will be displayed in the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv. According to a report carried in the Balkan Travellers, the lyre was recreated as part of a 150,000-euro project between Bulgaria, Spain and Italy.

September 7th, 2009 LONDON - A team of archaeologists has solved the ancient mystery of why the odd-looking statues on the Easter Island statues wear red hats. Up to one thousand years ago, the islanders started putting giant red hats on the statues.

September 7th, 2009 ATHENS - The Greek culture ministry launched an investigation Monday into the disappearance of a large fragment of a column from the archaeological site of Ancient Olympia in the western Peloponnese. A guard at the ancient site reported the column capital, from part of a sixth century basilica, missing at the weekend.

September 6th, 2009 Greek column capital stolen at Ancient OlympiaATHENS, Greece — Greece's Culture Ministry says a column capital has been stolen from the archaeological site of Ancient Olympia, one of the country's most important. The ministry says the capital, part of a 6th century Byzantine church on the grounds of the guarded site, was found to be missing just before midnight Saturday.

August 24th, 2009 Areas affected by wildfires outside AthensMassive fires outside Athens have scorched more than 37,000 acres (15,000 hectares) of forest and brush. Here are some of the areas hardest hit by the wildfires.

August 21st, 2009 JERUSALEM - Archaeologists have found a cache of three figurines of Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love, dating back about 1,500 years, in the southern Golan Heights site of Susita, in Israel. According to a report in the online edition of the Haaretz newspaper, the figurines, made of clay, and are about 30 centimeters tall, depict the nude goddess standing, with her right hand covering her private parts - a type of statue scholars call "modest Venus." The figurines at Susita were unearthed in the excavations of the University of Haifa's Zinman Institute of Archaeology, now in its 10th season, headed by Professor Arthur Segal and Dr.

August 8th, 2009 WASHINGTON - In a new research, scientists have said that an ancient first century B.C. Greek statue, discovered off the coast of Croatia in 1998, may help researchers develop metals that are more resistant to "biofouling," the accumulation of critters that can eat away at ships' hulls.

July 25th, 2009 Scene cut from Athens museum film after protestsATHENS, Greece — A scene from an animated film shown to visitors at the new Acropolis Museum that depicts Christian priests destroying parts of the Parthenon has been deleted following protests by the Greek Orthodox Church. The creator of the segment, Greek-born French filmmaker Constantin Costa-Gavras, has demanded that his name be taken off the film credits in protest.

July 13th, 2009 WASHINGTON - A team of researchers and scholars are using high-tech imaging to clear the layers of text hidden beneath words and letters written on levels of ancient papyrus, which may reveal fascinating insights into the writing and everyday life of early Egyptian, Greek and Roman societies. As part of the research, a team of national researchers and scholars examined dozens of papyri among the thousands of papyrological pieces in the University of Michigan (U-M) collection for the last four weeks.

July 9th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The restoration of a 2,000-year-old bronze sculpture of the famed ancient Greek athlete Apoxyomenos may help modern scientists understand how to prevent metal corrosion, discover the safest ways to permanently store nuclear waste, and understand other perplexing problems. That's the conclusion of a new study on the so-called "biomineralization" of Apoxyomenos.

June 24th, 2009 SOFIA - A team of archaeologists has uncovered an intact Thracian settlement close to the southeast town of Nova Zagora in Bulgaria. According to a report in novinite.com, the team comprised of Konstantin Gospodinov and Veselin Ignatov from the city of Burgas, who hope that their finding would be the first Thracian settlement to be uncovered in its entirety.

April 30th, 2009 2 Greek weightlifters suspended for dopingATHENS, Greece — The Greek weightlifting federation has suspended two athletes who tested positive for a banned stimulant during national games this year. A third athlete who took part in the European Union weightlifting championships in Poland in March has also tested positive for an unspecified stimulant but results on his backup sample were not yet available, the federation said Wednesday.

March 20th, 2009 ATHENS - Pirates seized a Greek-owned cargo ship off the coast of Somalia late Thursday, Greece's merchant marine ministry said. The Saint-Vincent-flagged cargo ship Titan, with 24 crew, was loaded with steel and was reportedly sailing from the Black Sea when pirates seized the ship off Somalia.

January 19th, 2009 ATHENS - Greek shipping magnate Pericles Panagopoulos was freed unharmed by his abductors after a ransom was apparently paid, according to media reports early Tuesday in Greece. The amount of the ransom was not known.