Byzantium

Planners and construction workers are hard at work building new Byzantine and Roman galleries at the Royal Ontario Museum, in Toronto Canada.

The galleries will be completed some time in 2011. For now I thought I would show a picture of a key artefact that will be featured in the Byzantine Gallery. It’s a mosaic that dates to the time when the city of Constantinople was being founded (AD 325-350).

Archaeologist and historian Ross Burns knows Syria better than most, having lived there (and in Lebanon) for many years. He is the author of The Monuments of Syria: A Guide and Damascus: A History.

Ross, who is currently preparing a doctorate on the archaeology of the Roman provinces of the Eastern Empire, has lectured at a range of institutions in Australia. He also leads study tours to Syria and Jordan for British and Australian travel companies.

He explains why narrowing Syria's ancient treasures down to a top 10 proves such a challenge:

The ancient Egyptians were well aware of the properties of Frankincense, and used it to treat phlegm, asthma, throat and larynx infections that bleed, and for calming down vomiting. The inhalation of the melted stem relieves both bronchitis and laryngitis. But new research by immunologist Mahmoud Suhail suggests that it may contain properties that could cure cancer. Could the knowledge of the ancient Egyptians be scoured to revolutionise cancer treatment today?

Frankincense is grown in green valleys, on the other side of the Dhofar Mountains that catch India's summer monsoons, making the area a paradise in the Arabian Peninsula. Boswellia sacra was produced there as far back as 7000 BCE, locals say. Almost as long ago, the ancient Egyptians began importing the substance. The journey from what is now Oman to ancient Egypt must have been made millions of times by ancient caravanserai.

Although Viagra was launched onto the market in 1998 as the new wonder drug for virility, what the makers didn’t realise is that it’s actually been around naturally and has been used since the time of the pyramids. In ancient Egypt, the blue lily was linked to fertility and sexuality and now, thanks to the recent chemical analysis by the Egyptian section of Manchester Museum, it appears there is a scientific reason for this link - the chemical make-up of this plant contains phosphodiesters, the active ingredients of Viagra.