A new doctoral thesis from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, shows that, in contrast to traditional scholarly claims, Dionysian cultic activities may very well have occurred in archaic Rome in the decades around 500 BC. Maenad playing a tambourine, satyr blowing pipes, and the young god with his panther dance. From the Villa Quintiliana on the Appian Way.Roman, 100 CE A strong scholarly tradition rooted in the 19th century denies the presence of Dionysian ecstatic rites, cults, and satyr plays...

 It will be the world's most-watched sporting event of 2012 – aside from that little summer shindig in London – yet the chances are you have never heard of it. The T20 Cricket World Cup began this week and over the course of the next 16 days will be watched by an estimated 1.5 billion people, or around a quarter of the global population. India takes on Afghanistan in a T20 Cricket World Cup match.The tournament will captivate the top 12 nations in cricket, of which the United States is not...

Last month, Samsung finally unveiled the much-awaited Samsung Galaxy Note II at the IFA 2012 in Berlin. It is the successor of the company’s first phone/tablet (phablet) hybrid device, the Galaxy Note. This handset comes with a large 5.5 inch display and a powerful 1.6 GHz quad-core processor. Unlike the Galaxy S III, this device runs on the latest Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) Operating System out of the box. Samsung has already announced the availability of this device in the US. Now, it seems that...

Archaeologists have unearthed remnants of what they believe is a 1,000-year-old village on a jungle-covered mountaintop in the Philippines with limestone coffins of a type never before found in this Southeast Asian nation, officials said Thursday. National Museum official Eusebio Dizon said the village on Mount Kamhantik, near Mulanay town in Quezon province, could be at least 1,000 years old based on U.S. carbon dating tests done on a human tooth found in one of 15 limestone graves he and other...

Pop sensation Britney Spears has dabbled in acting in the past — who can forget her movie masterpiece, Crossroads? — and has appeared as a guest star on some major sitcoms, including How I Met Your Mother and Will & Grace. Is Modern Family next? Yesterday, Britney tweeted about her love of the show, declaring, "I know everybody is excited about the Super Bowl, but I personally can't wait to see the next episode of Modern Family! Funniest show on TV." This inspired some of her fans to start...

A British soldier has given birth to a boy while serving in Afghanistan at the same desert camp where Prince Harry is deployed and a Taliban attack last week killed two U.S. Marines. The birth in a field hospital is thought to be the first time a serving member of Britain's military has gone into labor in a combat zone. The solder, a Fijian national serving as a gunner with the Royal Artillery, delivered the child Tuesday at Camp Bastion. The sprawling British base in southern Afghanistan's Helmand...

There might be 25 years between them, but Nick Knowles dismissed any concerns about the age gap between himself and girlfriend Jessica Rose Moor as the pair wed in a romantic ceremony in Rome. The DIY SOS star, who turns 50 this year, posed up with his 25-year-old bride as he told Hello! magazine that Jessica 'makes everything sweeter'. He told the magazine: 'I came to the conclusion that you can't spend your life worrying about everybody else. 'She makes everything sweeter!' Nick Knowles, 49,...

Her body is pretty much a work of art already, so Sofia Vergara was happy to let her figure become a canvas for a body painting session. The sexy Modern Family star was snapped stripping down to her underwear at her Los Angeles, Calif home to let her artist pal, Domingo Zapata slap paint all over her. Wearing nothing more than a black bra and panties, Vergara, 40, still managed to look stunning despite the bizarre doodles she ended up covered in. So what did she get out of the artistic session? Vergara...

Before the days of Colombian 40-year-old Sofia Vergara stripping down for body painting sessions and sassing it up and getting nominated for Emmys in the hit show "Modern Family," she was already an award winning model and hugely popular actress on Hispanic television. But before that? Everybody has to start somewhere, and for Vergara, one of her early appearances included bouncing around in a blue bikini while working out in a pool. Watch the video above. Any more commentary on this is quite...

Angela Simmons may be the offspring of rap mogul Rev. Run, a.k.a. Joseph Simmons, but it appears that she still cannot afford a full bikini. Angela was spotted in Miami on Tuesday, getting a head start on celebrating her 25th birthday by frolicking on the sand in her itsy-bitsy gray bikini -- it might as well have been her birthday suit. And the skimpy bikini wasn't lost on Angela either. The reality star and fashion week frequenter walked along the beach while holding a balled-up piece of clothing...