Kosmo

I have seen Israeli cruise ships bringing each hundreds of Israeli tourists in Turkey without any problem. The two countries were very close allies until this year.

There are millions of Jews in the Middle East

There are no restrictions for visiting Turkey or Jordan and both countries have very good greek and roman sites besides the ones you mention like Byzantium, Ephesus, Side in Turkey and Gerasa in Jordan. I've been many times in Turkey and there are still lots of classical sites I did not get to see including Antioch. Does British Museum counts as a roman site? That was my last visit.

He probably went 'pop' as in the 'old' nursery rhyme A pop up weasel?

This type of contract proof was used in some mountainous areas long enough to be recorded by moderns. The difference from what you say is that the quantity owed was noted with a number of notches on the stick so it was a proof on how much was owed. In traditional societies business relations were highly personal and they could be very public and multi-generational. Blatant refusal to pay such a contract could result in loss of honor and face to the extent of turning the offending part into a pariah. The stick was probably a proof accepted in court as well. In the High Middle Ages of Western Europe a large banking system came into existence and financed large scale long distance trade despite the fact that because the Catholic Church was forbidding interest the loan contracts were very hard to enforce even when they were camouflaged as currency exchange. The entire system rested on trust and worked well except when kings were the debtors... How is the weasel?

I think Cicero poked fun at spaniards for something like this, but I never heard of it being a roman custom.

Publicani were fleecing conquered subjects while the modern banks are going after their own citizens. Actually I am not surprised given that Americans gave their companies the right of free speech and to secretly take part in politics. They even allow them to create their own proofs against their opponents in court cases, like the scandal with the mortgage affidavits shows.

Many happy returns!

An interview not about the movie but about the biography written by Stacy Schiff. I guess I should have put this in Libri Questions for Stacy Schiff The Queen Interview by DEBORAH SOLOMON Published: October 15, 2010 In your new biography of Cleopatra, you take issue with historians who have attributed her achievements to her looks and implied that she slept her way to the top. For reasons I am sure you can explain to me, it has always been preferable to attribute a woman

"Stacy Schiff's biography peels away the layers to reveal the true Cleopatra, a much more interesting woman than the Hollywood version, and, as it turns out, a formidable queen after all, according to reviews. A Pulitzer Prize-winning American nonfiction author and guest columnist for The New York Times, Schiff digs up astonishing and rare facts about the queen that could make the film into an entirely new story." Sounds excellent. Top director, actress, script, producer etc and we can count on breathtaking special effects and other Hollywood visual treats that come with a big budget.

It does remind me of Thermopyle with the enemies of greek freedom sneaking on an unguarded path and falling on the privileged equals from behind.

A surprising article about the helmet on NYT (because is short I copied it in full) "When Art World's Gain Turns Into a Country's Loss by Souren Melikian (surena was a parthian title if I recall well ) LONDON

"ATHENS, Greece (AP)

My bet is Marcus had to use the right hand. For example in my country left handed people had to use their right hand in many activities. Warsaw Treaty weapons were made for right hand users only so even if you were left handed you still had to train to use it while conscripted. Left handed people like my father or my childhood best friend were taught and forced, in school and at home, to write with their right hand. My friend, a very talented artist, during class was taking notes with the right hand and was drawing comics with the left. Given the attitudes of romans and greeks towards the sinister side of things I think one will want to use the right hand. I don't remember well but I think a greek wrote about this and about the need to make soldiers/citizens ambidextrous.

When they introduced the new shekel the old shekel was withdrawn from circulation. This coin was thrown away when the owner realized that it will not be accepted anymore by the slot machines on the Eilat cruise ships.

I think that the timing between our discussion and this event is funny: "Druids Recognized as Religion for First Time in UK Filed at 7:48 a.m. ET LONDON (AP)

The earliest mention of druids that I know of it's in Caesar. Brennus won at Allia around 390 BC while the great celtic invasion of the Balkans and Greece was in 280-279 BC. Not always. For example slavs spread on a huge space long before any significant slav state emerged. Viking expansion it's often portrayed as been caused by internal competition and conflict that preceded the establishment of the scandinavian states similar with greek colonization in pre-classical times that preceded or accompanied the birth of the polis. The main cause of celtic movement can be connected with the german expansion in Central Europe that pushed the celts south and east. The celts had a warrior mind set and, contrary to widespread belief, effective (defensive) weapons and these explain their successes but there is no evidence of a "strong central leadership". Petty aristocratic chieftains always in competition is the usual description of their political system.

They were used also at Thapsus.

The galatians are from the branch of celts that had expanded East from the Danube valley in the Balkans and in Ukraine. I heard no mention of druids in this area. Druids are mentioned only by late sources in connection with Galia and Britannia and not in the Danube valley, northern Italy or Spain other areas of celtic influence so rather then a widespread "celtic" phenomenon they are maybe a local development in the Atlantic region. I have little faith in modern understanding of celtic identity.

Happy birthday!

They used elephants.

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I call dibs by placing the blame on Marius and his military reform. My logic was that a professional army led to the empire and that the empire was inherently unstable. I wonder if the price edict of Diocletian was really put in practice.

I think the author of the article it's wrong in his praise of gung-ho military types and scolding of politicians because war it's supposed to be a political tool, not the other way around. His assessment of Dien Bien Phu it's wrong because he fails to see the French dilemma: in order to rally the locals, divide the nationalists from the communists, appease the anti-colonialist elements of the public opinion and enlist US support it was necessary to give independence to Vietnam, but if they did that there was no reason for France to keep fighting. The french fought to keep Indochina a colony, when that become impossible they did not care enough if it was the nationalists or the communist or both that kicked them out. It was not worth fighting for anymore and the french government realized that before the battle but the Army wanted a victory. In Algeria, after the arab terrorists did their ethnic cleansing of the millions of Europeans living there, it was little left to fight for except the political goals of the far right. American contemporary campaigns are plagued by the ideological approach that pushes on those countries a political system unsuited for their level of development. They fail to acknowledge that democracy fuels ethnic conflicts and corruption in weak states and complicates "state building". Whatever US and NATO do in the end this countries will have a political system that suits them and repulses us.

You raise a good point, Kosmo. Cleopatra has always been portraiyed as a stunner (I'll go with Amanda Barrie in Carry on Cleo as my favourite, how about you?), but on the coins . . . well, she was no Theda Bara, put it like that. Maybe tastes have changed. Hang on a minute . . . I've just realised where Nephele got her avatar from. How dim have I been? Vivien Leigh was perfect as Shaw's cute and naive Cleopatra.