DecimusCaesar

Interesting story. First Alexander the Great's panoply and now Antony and Cleopatra's tomb. Well, if those items really do belong to Alexander, and if Hawass really does discover the tomb; it'd be two magnificent archaeological discoveries in a very short time. Worth keeping an eye out for any updates on this story.

I believe that the 12th century philosopher Roger Bacon was highly influenced by Middle Eastern science. His experiments in optics and prisms were influenced by Arabic works, and many of his ideas predated Issac Newton's work in the field, even though Newton takes most of the credit for those discoveries. Abū al-'Iz Ibn Ismā'īl ibn al-Razāz al-Jazarī was greatly influenced by the works of Heron of Alexandria and Philon of Byzantium. Many of his inventions were so advanced that his 'Double-action suction pump with valves and reciprocating piston motion' were not equalled in engineering until the 20th century. As a matter of fact, that technology was not thought to have been created until the 1920's. The rediscovery of Al-Jazari's works have led to engineering history having to be rewritten. Sadly though, many of these technologies did not reach Europe for many centuries. One type of water pump in use by Al-Jazari in the 12th century did not appear in Europe till the 1400's. The Arabs often deliberately cut off their discoveries from Western Europe - after all, they didn't want their enemies to get their hands on their ideas. That attitude must have held back European development for a long time. Still, the Medieval Europeans did produce many of the technologies in use in the Arab World independently. The Byzantines also had similar attitudes towards the Europeans. Bishop Louis Prand who had visited Byzantium, brought a copy of Ptolemy's Almagest to bring back to his study in Europe. He was stopped at Byzantium's borders by officials who confiscated the books. The Byzantines certainly didn't want knowledge getting into the hands of the barbarians. You could argue therefore that the Fall of Byzantium and the decline of the Arab World would have been a blessing to the Europeans. Without it the Renaissance would have been delayed. Then again, the Medieval Europeans were not as backward or as ignorant as many people believe.

What about the skull of Philip? Was that discovered at Vergina or some other site? I've seen a few wax recreations based on Philip's skull, and according to the archaeologists it matches his descriptions - the skull showed signs that the man had lost an eye to an arrow, just as Philip did during a siege. Could the skull belong to Alexander's half-brother (Philip Arrhidaeus) ? Did he ever lose an eye? After all I believe he was epileptic, but I don't remember reading about him losing an eye. But if this really is Alexander's panoply then it is a brilliant (albeit old) discovery.

I personally think he's a brilliant historian. I own a few books written by him on subjects ranging from Cleopatra to the Fall of the Roman Empire. I even think I reviewed one of his books for this site. I also believe that 'The History of Rome' is one of the best single volume books I have on Rome's history. It covers everything from the Etruscans up to Romulus Augustulus, and it really is brilliant at explaining the development of Rome's culture and society. It's a shame he isn't alive today.

I think you need to destroy the Egyptians in a campaign. You can also unlock them (as well as every available faction) by completing a campaign. You can also unlock all factions by editing the game files. A demonstration of how to do this is available on youtube: That is go to program files/activision/rome:total war/data/worlds/maps/campaign/ imperial_campaign then click on the 'descr_strat' wordpad. Copy and paste all unlocked factions to the playable factions section. By the way, do not try and unlock the non-playable factions as they will make the game unstable. It is also best to keep a clean copy of the descr_strat file in one of your folders, just in case you make an error. I once did and I had to re-install the entire game.

Europa Universalis Rome has just been released a few days ago. I haven't purchased it or played it yet. The one review at 'Amazon UK' has given it a 3 out of 5, stating that several flaws in the game (especially in diplomacy and unit movement) make the game difficult to play. Official reviews on the other hand seem to be very positive - IGN (one of the top game reviewers on the net) have given it a 8.7 out of 10 - an excellent score considering that benchmark titles such as Medieval II: Total War have recieved a 8.8 rating. EU Rome has also been awarded the IGN Editor's Choice Award. Other reviews include - 8/10 - GameTap 3/5 - Gamespy C/A+ - 1up.com I might give this game a chance, but not in the near future. I'll probably wait till it ends up in the bargain bin.

It looks a lot like rough faced marble, but it could also be a granitic eratic either of them dropped by a glacier. The Scandinavian Ice Sheet passed just north of London running from about Bristol in the west curving up to about Northampton, and then back down about to just at or north of London. Take a look HERE and note the ice exclusion area across south England. Then take a look here at Indiana and you will see a similar exclusion. We have eratics like the one our altar "object" was possibly fashioned from in lawns as landscape art objects. However England/British Isles is so rich in geological features, that the science of Geology enjoys more names of time periods or ages named from "first" discoveries there than perhaps anywhere else. Both Marble (from limestone) and Granite have undergone immense heat when they were buried far below the surface and that is the cause of the discoloration they both show, and which makes them suitable for architecture and gives them their psychedelic like beauty. Marble is quarried in Ireland. Faustus Thank you for the answer Faustus. The natural colours are beautiful.

I'd have to be very boring and say that I mostly drink water...but it's not my favourite.

Happy Birthday Antiochus!

Hail Rome! Those pictures look brilliant. I just wish I had the opportunity to be there!

Rubicon is a good book, I just wish that it had been a little bit longer. The final section on the wars between Octavian and Antony and Cleopatra was a bit too short. I'm looking forward to Mr. Holland's next book, although I think he's now turned his attention towards Medieval Europe.

You are right, they are making a Europa Barbarorum MOD for Medieval II: Total War. I tried downloading EB for my new PC and it still won't work. It just doesn't seem to like Windows Vista. Instead I've been playing Medieval II: Total War and it's a brilliant game. Hopefully after they have completed Empire: Total War (the next game in the series), the Creative Assembly will spend a few years on designing a Rome 2: Total War. That would be worth seeing!

I have heard of this but I've never played any table top wargames. I think they have just released a few manuals called Rise of Rome (the wars of the Roman Republic) Legions Triumphant (about the Principate period) and Immortal fire (the Greco-Persian wars). There's a link below: Osprey - Field of Glory

How much awards (if any) did it win Augusta?

That one sounds very weird! It's like the type of film you'd expect from Troma. Hopefully it'll provide plenty of cheesy laughs.

Carl Sagan's words are a moving tribute to the end of Classical learning. Thank you for posting Nephele, and thank you MPC for posting those great videos.

That altar looks rather psychedelic. Aelius Victor must have been wacked out most of the time. Still, does anyone now why it is that colour? I do remember reading that many altars and headstones were painted.

A few interesting titles. There seems to be a growing interest in Ancient Rome's relation to the past and modern United States. The Imperial Possesion title looks like it might be worth a read.

The film is based on a novel by Valerio Manfredi, an Italian archaeologist and historical novel writer. I haven't seen the film or read his book, although I did read his Alexander trilogy, which was good but flawed. Despite being an archaeologist his books are not very historically accurate.

Hypatia became famous to a generation of people following the broadcast of Carl Sagan's 'Cosmos' series back in the eighties. There's a clip about her on Youtube from the series that's worth digging up. The history might be a bit off (we can't be completely sure if the library of Alexandria was burnt down by Christian zealots) but nonetheless it is rather powerful. That's a striking picture of her by Raphael. Thanks for posting it Cato.

I read a few of them, and they were very good although I prefer Mr. Cornwell's Warlord Trilogy - a series of books that attempts to establish a historical Arthur. They are very well written; evocative of the Dark Age period as well as exciting. Bernard Cornnwell himself acknowledges them as his best books. The Sharpe TV Movies weren't half bad either. They seem to be constantly repeated on satellite Television.

This reminds me of the story I read of looters digging up World War One trenches in search of jewellery and watches to flog on the black market. It just shows how common looting really is.

I'm a big fan of Michael Wood. I have a few of his series on DVD, including 'In Search of the Trojan War' and 'In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great'. I also like Terry Jones's stuff, although I prefer his books rather than his TV shows, which tend to be far too light. Medieval Lives and Crusades are good series, that are worth watching.

I think a few archaeologists believe that Christianity never took off much in Roman Britain. It is also worth noting that a lot of the Christian sects in Britain were considered heretical by the Roman Catholic Church, such as the Pelagian church. Maybe the Romano-Britons never fully adopted the Christianity worshipped in Rome, and that they remained largely as pagans or heretical Christians. The only problem I can see with this idea is that why did the pagans of southern England abandon their 'Romano-Celtic' gods in favour of Germanic ones ? Why did Sulis-Minerva make way for Woden, and why did the old gods fall out of favour completely - to be overtaken by the Germanic deities? Perhaps Germanic gods had always been worshipped in Britain?

Congratulations on getting your new laptop! I got a new (or rather a second hand) PC this week, after having wanted a new one for over 2 years. It seems odd to lose the old one though, I had that one since 2002! Will you be keeping your own PC or selling it off?