Bryaxis Hecatee

Why not attempt to use Iphicrates type forces ? lighter, much more manoeuvrable than either traditional or macedonian phalanx, tactically efficient, ...

I'm not sure of how interesting Saarbrucken and it's area might be for a lover of ancient Rome, but http://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=26683 might help you with that. But if you're in K

Christ was only a small troublemaker for the romans, his cruxifiction being only a minor opperation led by local officials without orders or sanction from the central governement, especially since Rome had other issues to tackle at the time. As for later, war against the Parthian and the Jewish revolt were the only reason for the emperors to take notice of the legions of the area. My scientific library is still in crates so I can't help you with the identity of the roman forces in the area at the time, which might be legionary or auxiliary.

remembers me of some places I saw in Marocco... could it be Banasa ?

you truly do amaze me with your ability to find so quickly the places I try to make you find with some difficulty ! it is indeed the Porta Consulare at Spello, in central Italy

Well I remembered that some of Alexander cities have walls rather well kept. Looking at the vegetation I saw a kind of land and agriculture that seemed rather Syrian or Afghan. From there I did some google research on cities of Alexander in Afghanistan, hellenistic cities, and such keywords with no results. Then I googled a map of Alexander's Empire to get a handfull of city names, looked at those, remembered Bactres as one of those still having walls, googled Bactres and found it. So, as for a picture now, let's get back to some more roman place...

Bactres, one of the cities of Alexander the Great in Afghanistan ?

Indeed it was Alesia being pictured here, and so goes the hand to the Lady Ummidia Quadratilla !

You already narrowed it down for it is indeed Gaulish

And here is something that will hopefully get you playing some time.

Yes I did notice the eyes too, but they seemed less outrageous than those on, say, a bust of Constantine. As for your picture... It's splendid ! I don't think I've seen such a well worked pilosity for a long time ! Closer to bronze work than to traditionnal stonework, could this be a late second or early third century piece ?

The roman theater in Amman, Jordania ?

Damn, that's quite a nice piece for such a late period ! I would have dated it as no later than the mid 3rd century !

If UNRV expands the number of reviews it offers in too large a way it might become necessary to re-organize the way the reviews are accessed by ordering them a bit more than is currently the case...

I probably could do some from my library, Ursus,at least those which are in English. Yet it'll have to wait for 1) the books coming my way from UNRV 2) my library furnitures to be finally built (should take about one week) and supplied with the content of the various bags and crates full of books that are taking all the space in my flat !

Well for me the romans achieved such reputation not by being the very best in every realm but the best average. Their leaders were mostly average, with some above par ones (Scipio, Marius and Ceasar comes to mind for the Republican period, Germanicus or Corbulo for the early empire, etc...), their armor was good lorica hamata for the most part, with the lorica segmentata being an exceptionnal equipement but heavy in maintenance requirements and reserved for the main offensive force of the army, namely the legions (which made up, one has to remember, only 1/3rd to 1/2 of the overall forces). Their training was harsh and the literacy requirements allowed greater tactical flexibility (ability to read orders) but one has to remember that the military forces were often deployed in various small sub-units to guardposts, surveillance tasks, etc and thus not always availlable for training. But all this they did with uniformity and perseverance. A defeat did not mean the end of an operation or of a war, and their force were probably more often of the same quality in place A and B than they might have been in other nations. They had no hastily raised militia for defense, but a stable force availlable on hand for operations. And when they saw a deficiency in their equipment, training or tactics they did not hesitate to adapt and even adopt foreign practices like the spanish gladius, the specific lorica segmentata arm add-on for the dacian wars, the corvus for naval warfare, etc. Thus they were probably the best army of ancient time because they were the most balanced and the one that could achieve the most results under average circumstances : they did not need a Epamimondas or an Hannibal to achieve victory on a foe, they did not need cataphract cavalry or horse-mounted archers to beat steppe peoples : they could do it with what they had, withoug having to wait for what they would like to have.

Also one has to remember that the judaic (and later christian) interpretation of homosexual acts was not around yet in the mind of Alexander or Caesar. At best what was source of debate was wether you were the one stuck or the one sticking out, the former being seen as passive and thus showing a lack of character, the later being seen as a normal activity since you were active and dominating. Rules like the roman prohibition of homosexuality in the army had more to do with preventing disputes between lovers and maintaining morale than any condemnation. Beside I'm not sure what makes it important to know if one former glory of the world was part of this or that category we use to analyse our society, as says Ursus it is rather stupid.

In 19 BC, the Romans founded a legionary base on the Hunerberg, east of Batavodorum (modern Nijmegen, Netherlands), the capital of the Batavians. Even when the legions were transferred and the soldiers

Isn't it a piece of the Capitoline Museum in Rome ? I don't have time to check my Picasa galery right now but it might well be in there...

And since the picture is indeed from Plovdiv's roman theater you are the one who shall provide us with our next querry !

well in Brussels, Belgium, capital town of Europe and Belgium you would not find a Starbucks (though one is slated to be openned soon I think), you would not even have found a Starbuck in all of Belgium 5 years ago... I'm not even sure we'd have that many, if any, KFC or Burger King here, due to the battle between McDonald and Quick, the homegrown international giant. Also if you look at McDonald in Brussels and in Trier (Germany) you'll see that while the Belgian one is close to the US model, including the garrish facade and the bad food, the German one will only provide you with the horrible edible material (well the edible qualification might not stand to close examination, but that's something else...) : the fa

From what I understood from the article (and I don't know swedish, so it's based upon german...) the mask was fouind on Gotland and appears to date from the 1st century AD. Made of Bronze, it was sent to a museum in Stockholm for further analysis. It is indeed a very fine find !

A slave is indeed not considered as a person, despite some philosophical treaties on the subject. Still it did not prevent them from being treated with humanity, especially household slaves. For slaves could be laboring in the houses of their masters or working in their shops or their fields if they were owned by private citizens. Other slaves were property of the state or of local administrations. Depending on their origin or their background or on their capacities they could be used in all kind of functions : some were private secretaries, other worked as personal assistant for ladies, helping them to make themselves beautifull. Others worked in the kitchens or were tasked with the cleaning. But let's face it, most did not have such kind of live : they worked replenishing wood for a kiln or an oven, they clensed the streets or worked in the fields and, especially dreadfull, in the mines. They could officially have no mariage, their children were the property of their masters and their only possession was their savings, made with the ultimate goal of freeing themselve, something most could never achieve. It was considered being beyond poor to be free and not to own a slave, and it is often said they were 1 free person for two or three slaves in the empire. I have to go right now but others should be able to provide you with more infos.

Could this (mainly on the basis of your hint) be Julia Domna ?

You could probably do something like Desenzano in the morning, arriving there around 10AM (train station on top of the city, take the large avenue in front down to the water front, villa will be in a small street on the left side, duomo a bit on the right, museum a bit further still to the right, the port being in the middle), then going to Sirmione by ship (arriving around 12AM), eating there before visiting the castle (1PM) and the villa (from 2PM to 3PM/3.30PM), don't miss the small museum -pictures unfortunately forbidden- , coming back to the ship's dock at something like 4.30PM, taking the boat to Garda and from there the coastal ship back to Peschiera and it's train station. You might win some time in Sirmione by taking the "small train" between the town and the tip of the peninsula to win about 15min of travel time between the two (in full summer heat I took about 20 to 30min walking the distance, but it was after the castle (and it's many stairs) and walking up the whole peninsula so it might be possible to go faster).