Bryaxis Hecatee

well first you have to define the period at which you're looking, and then the region as the trade dynamics were not the same everywhere. For instance in the Republican period we have roman traders going all around Gaul, They would teach some latin, or use translators that might teach their skill to others. But we know from Caesar that there were more chances that the Gauls might now the greek alphabet (see the Helvetii's tablets after their defeat). In the imperial period you had both traders going out of the empire into the wilderness, and traders from barbarian lands comming to outposts to sell their wares. The roman traders would go to villages/town and then bargain, either with the help of a translator or with people who, by their elite statute might already know latin thanks to previous association with the empire (Arminius had been in the Roman army for instance, so he spoke latin). Others might then want to learn the langage to be able to show they too can be part of this elite. Soldiers might also become traders themselve after their time serving the army, their "pension bonus" providing them the cash to establish their business and their former comrades becoming their new clients. Finally the foreign traders might also learn latin in inns and taverns inside roman territory... Also remember that the langage situation could be hyper-local : I remember visiting two cities on the Danube, some 50km from each other, one with all its epigraphy in latin and the other in greek...

I'll tell you as I'll be at the villa on the 23rd

Well I'd presume a good concordance search for the words palaestina could help identify all occurences of the word and even potentially it's link with syria, providing one with the sources. other than that a book such as the OCD (Oxford Classical Dictionnary) or a sum such as the good old Pauly-Wissowa Real Encyclodie der Altertums Wissenshaften should also be able to help here

Le Bohec's led encyclopedia looks to be something I'd like on my shelves, but damn the price !

Krentz' book and the Buraselis/Meidani books would be my two first choices, with Fink's as a third

Well no other front did present a continuous stone wall with such an heavy military presence. Simply look at the forces deployed on the wall vs the lenght of the defended border, and add to that the three supporting legion further south, and then compare it with the density of troops on the German border (which used waterways and a berm + wooden wall with observation towers and camps as defense), the Danubian border (water + towers and camps), the desert border (fortlets and bases) or the Algerian side (unguarded low wall to direct traffic + fortresses) : you do indeed have the most heavily guarded border. You may want to check David J. Breeze's book "the frontiers of imperial Rome" (Pen & Swords 2011), for example figures 17, 20 and 22 :

Indeed, often such persons are only studied in passing or in limited articles, often old ones too. You may read a book I reviewed for this site a few years ago, that talks about second rank politicians of the 1st century BC (http://www.unrv.com/book-review/questioning-reputations.php) but they remain "famous" when compared to many. The issue for many of the almost unknown characters of roman history you mention is the fact that so little survives about them so that we often have no more than one or two anecdotes, two or three lines or maybe a paragraph of Livius or another source. Then such characters become relagated to compendiums of curios, and lost to most peoples

Very good review, I'm myself about 3/4th in the book and I too have been quite surprised by the little room left to those who helped Octavian become Augustus. Agrippa in particular seems almost absent or at least made less important than he was, but also Maecenas. If you look at the index you see almost as many references to him as to Cicero. It is, I think, maybe due to the large introduction to the politics of Rome up to the death of Caesar, which might have been done in less depth without prejudice to the book. Had I done the review I would also have mentioned the choice, argumented but not that common, of calling Octavian by the name of Julius Caesar through the book. Still, good review and good book !

I've also signed up for this course, although it will compete for my time with a few other MOOC such as designing cities, making decisions in a complex world or introduction to submarine archeology... But I'll follow it

It's not as surprising as you might think : we have no ancient text about the ancient etruscan necropolis, nor about many large buildings or cities that awe us when we visit their remains. For example I don't think we have anything on the three republican temples of the Largo Argentina, in the middle of Rome. This tomb, here, was mostly a big mound of earth for the ancient and mostly a curiosity for the inhabitants of Amphipolis, with the lion at it's top, but many might not have known it was a tomb.

It's one of the outfit used by a German reconstitution group I think, or at least very similar to the one borne by those I saw in Belgium a few years ago. The shield design is inspired by the Notitia Dignitarum if I remember well, while the helmet has a very ornate helmet from the hadrianic period if I'm not mistaken, the overal goal being to give an idea of the cavalry who demonstrated its talent in front of that emperor during his tour in the 120's

As always Right now I'm looking at Merida (Emerita Augusta), Grenada, Cordoba and Sevilla : Seville archeological museum Seville Palace of the Countess of Lebrija Seville Metropol Parasol antiquarium Seville Italica Cordoue Archaeological site of Cercadilla Cordoue Great Mosque of Córdoba Cordoue Theatre Cordoue Roman Temple Cordoue Mausoleum Cordoue Roman Bridge Cordoue Colonial Forum Cordoue Forum Adiectum Cordoue amphitheater Cordoue Roman walls Cordoue Medina Azahara Grenade Alhambra http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emerita_Augusta http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%B3rdoba,_Andalusia#Main_sights

Actually after posting it here I went back to writing the following parts : you can read the firsts results of this effort on http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=293937 Anyway I'm pleased you liked it

The inscription is in greek and says "Hermes" (ERMHS), the greek name of the god Mercury. I don't think I ever saw the exact type which inspired this copy, but it seems a bit like the "Hermes and the Infant Dionysos" from Olympia (cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermes_and_the_Infant_Dionysus )

You might like to read Christopher Matthew's "A storm of Spear" then, one of the very rare books that attempt to look at as many archeological remains and ancient representations of warfare as possible to reassess ancient greek warfare without the bias of previous authors and then to confront the "truth as it comes from the ground" with the various theories floating around on the topic. "Men of bronze : hoplite warfare in ancient greece", edited by D. Kagan andG.F. Viggiano is also a nice read by the way, if only to see were the lines of scholarship were drawn in 2008 (a pity the book came out 5 years after the conference...)