Cup of the Ptolemies understanding, also referred to as "un-naming", seems to have been a way for pagan artifacts to be reused for Christian purposes. The cup was probably made in Alexandria, Egypt. It was once thought to date back to the Hellenistic period, c. 250 BC, but is now regarded as dating to the 1st century AD. Its supposed connection with the Ptolemies dates back to 1644, when the historian Jean Tristan de Saint-Amant argued that the vase was made for the funeral processions of Ptolemy II Philadelphus, who ruled the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 285 until 246 BC. Later, the scholar
Fortifications of ancient Smyrna simply keep out bandits and keep in the animals. Such massive fortifications as seen at Smyrna were rare, and the sheer size of the walls (15 meters thick is extremely large) and the presence of bastions by one of the gates in the second phase of fortifications shows that these were more than just for show. As most armies at the time were not professional standing armies, the existence of such substantial fortifications demonstrates that the rulers of Smyrna expected a fight, and spent their resources in anticipation of that fight. Fortifications of ancient Smyrna Smyrna (modern day Izmir in