Bryaxis Hecatee

Ask and thou shall find : https://picasaweb.google.com/bryaxis/LibanMars2001 here are my pictures of Lebanon (I have so many galleries that you have to click on "show more" in order to see anything before 2008...). But my pictures, taken by a young 18 years old self, are in no way comparable to the very fine ones you found on Flickr !

well, yes, if someone google the exact filename... it thought it was safe since it did not give information in the filename itself...

Yes I did visit both on the same day, I could even say the same afternoon due to a mistake in my train schedule and then going off one step too early from the bus, making me walk the entire peninsula... I was comming from Verona and arrived first in Sirmione, going to the Castle and then the Villa (going by foot), comming back (still walking) to take the boat to Desenzano where I went to the villa then came back toward the center, visited the Duomo (which, I must confess, did not especially impress me) and went to the small archeological museum (mainly stone, bronze and iron age remains and models of life around lakes at these periods). I did not visit the churches at Sirmione and could have wandered more in the town, but I was on a schedule and there were too many peoples in the streets.

Eastern Europe it is indeed, but Split is about as far as possible from that place (Maladict how did you cheat ? did I leave a clue in the filename or something ?)

A National Geographist journalist has been allowed access to Saqqarah and reports on a well organized PR event which seems to confirm that the feared damages were not as important as thought : http://www.kv64.info/2011/02/key-tombs-at-saqqara-safe.html

A place I've not visited yet, which I hope will provide a bit more of a challenge to you roman loving peoples !

indeed not too hard since the small tower and the gallery on the left appear on the first page of Google when one does type "roman wall spain" (why spain will you ask ? well the surrounding looked definitively european and I had to begin with a country, and I did not remember any such remain in either the UK, Belgium, Germany or France. Thus my answer is : "the walls are in Barcelona's Old Town (the Barri G

well Sagalassos is indeed being dug by a belgian led team, which rediscovered the city and started restauring it, bringing a new economic lung to that part of Turkey, but it's in no way a Belgian national treasure, and as far as I'm aware we've never even had an exhibition on the city here in Belgium...

you're too good ! Indeed it's Sagalassos, in Turquey, the roman bath to be precise. What gave it away ?

Well, first and foremost I read. I read, read and keep reading. On ancient civilisations of course, be they Rome, Greece or, sometimes, a bit more exotic (as far as precolumbian america whenever I can find something left in my book budget). But a lot are also simple novels, be they S-F, Fantasy or closer to thrillers and adventure books. I also write, in french obviously, but have a problem finishing my writings... Well, all can't be perfect Those words I play with while listening to music, some classical of course but also Trance music, deep and relaxing modern sounds. Celtic music can also come and put some peps in my life, as might some time some more gothic albums... What I do also spend a lot of my free time on is digital humanities, contributing whenever I can to some projects of digitalization or on issues around the digital encoding of texts (like TEI or Epidoc). This topics introduce my (over)use of computers. Of course my job is functional analysis for web solutions, with my current mission being to put up the new intranet portal for my university, but I do also create websites for friends when the times comes. Finally, when I have the money, I go traveling, mainly around Europe, in order to contemplate the jewels of our heritage.

So ? Does this location put you off track so much that you all keep silent ?

here are some new informations : - on how the local peoples in Karnak protected the ancient remains and, at the behest of their imams, the christian churches in town : http://www.kv64.info/2011/02/personal-account-from-karnak.html - a large article on Saqquarah where the official version is being more and more contested : http://www.artsjournal.com/culturegrrl/2011/02/news_flash_detailed_report_abo_1.html It says that some egyptian workmen used by the archeologists were leading the looting and did massive destruction. - Dashur might now be secure but there are fears of damages at Abusir : http://www.kv64.info/2011/02/saqqara-update.html I think the information on how some islamic clergy ordered their flock to protect other faiths is a good sign and shows that the attack on coptic churches in december were not approved by the main population (as had been shown at the time by muslims protecting the christians churches immediately after the bombings)

New information on Saqqarah, it is said the site was looted by as many as 200 hundred looters : http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2011/02/egypt-update-rare-tomb-may-have.html?ref=ra

While there has indeed been islamic terror attacks against tourists (one may remember the deadly Deir El Bahari attacks) they were more against the tourists than the artifacts, the idea being to make tourists flee in order to cut off tourism revenue for the governement. The Egyptians see tourism as a milkcow that helps keep their economy afloat (11% of the country's GDP if I remember well) and ancient egyptian civilisation is not perceived as a threat. On the other hand coptic remains (and active places...) are seen as more legitimate target because being part of an active faith and a part of christianity. The looting might be more the fruit of the association of artifacts and value (after all museum are built around them...) and thus attempts at guick cash (especially since it seems that valuables in precious metals have been primarily targeted since they can always be melted if they can't be sold in their current form). Part of the looting could also be born of criminal activities by international gangs targeting specific remains (especially true of mural paintings in tombs or temples) who, on specific orders by private collectors of great fortune and few principles, will go and grab what they want. Similar operations have been seen in Irak and are also common in far-east Asia.

a very fine discovery, a pity the prophet's connexion isn't elaborated on (I'm always most doubtfull when biblical archeology appears in the news, especially in Isra

Some more informations from the PhDiva on the damages caused to the Egyptian Museum, with pictures of the damaged mummies : http://phdiva.blogspot.com/2011/02/egyptian-museum-etc.html

Make no mistake, the spartan army was truly an excellent force and this was one of their finest hour, and one of the finest hour of the Greeks since so many states fought alongside the spartans. Sure the Persians had only left part of their army behind, but that part was their best one, their elite force under their best general. Of course too they had lost morale due to the defeat of the fleet at Salamine, but they had also looted and burned Athens before that. The battle of Plataea's significance in strategic terms is linked to the fact it broke the heart of the persian army of the time on a plain, in full regular battle conditions with no trickery or strategic surprise : it was just a decisive battle fought when one side attempted a movement and the other tried to impair it. The greeks technological superiority (in armor type, weapon type and fighting formations) led them to be victorious despite the 1 against 2 or 3 odds (or maybe 1 against 4 or 5 if indeed only a fourth of the greek forces fought and if about 1/5th or 1/6th of the persian did not fight). But I'd say that the Spartans had the easy fight in the instance, with "only" less organized and much less equiped forces fought from a favourable place. The Athenians, who fought against the Thebans, probably had a much more difficult fight...

Another country I still have to visit.. And now let's change our area of enquiry and look at : re-edit : ok now it's the good picture

some more data on the damages in Saqqarah shows massive looting and damages, including fire damages, to the ruins : http://lootingmatters.blogspot.com/2011/02/looting-at-saqqara.html another blog talks about who's been looting the museum in Cairo and says that it was in part guards and members of the tourists police who did the preliminary looting : http://www.talkingpyramids.com/who-looted-the-egyptian-museum/ that's it for today's update

ok, a first update : it looks like, according to the sometimes somewhat contestable Dorothy King, that the museum as served as a base for the pro-mubarak, the army letting them run the place to launch the attack on the Tarhir square. cf : http://phdiva.blogspot.com/2011/02/egyptian-museum-in-cairo-is-battle.html Kate Phizackerley has not yet had time to look at the informations and report but says that the fire in the museum might not have caused much damages

I hear the same information on Euronews, along with the fact that it has suffered new lootings and two more mummies might have been destroyed. I'll investigate my sources and repport here ASAP

Then the amphitheater from Pula, Croatia ?

Arles, France ?

Here in the French speaking world we usually consider the books by Le Bohec to be amongst the best one might find, and they were translated into English. Otherwise there are the good old trustworthy Keppie (The Making of the Roman Army from Republic to Empire) and of course the very good books by Goldsworthy. A short introduction to the topic of the roman army with a lot of bibliography for further reading is "Ancient Warfare: A Very Short Introduction", by Sidebottom, but this small book does also speak about other civilisation's ways of making war and might not be what you're looking for. "Republican Rome: Army and Allies" by Emilio Gabba is also an old book but a good point to look for information on the demographics surrounding the mainly late (as in "post hannibalistic") republican armies of Rome.

(well noted Kosmo, thanks for the advice) I would say that we are in a central european or balkanic context, but the vegetation would make me think more about northern Greece...