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Courtesy of Noelle Soren

Eternally frozen in a protective embrace, the remains of an ancient family vividly testify to the enduring power of love. When a powerful earthquake struck Kourion, Cyprus, on July 21, 365 A.D., a 25-year-old man (the skeleton at right in the photo) tried to comfort his 19-year-old wife, who, in turn, attempted to shield their infant child from collapsing walls. In his History, the fourth-century A.D. historian Ammianus Marcellinus described this earthquake as “a frightful disaster surpassing anything related either in legend or authentic history.”