Ti. Coruncanius

I think Ronogorongo refers to the people who built the big stone sculptures on Easter Island. The writing from that island, I know is called Rongo Rongo script. Helike is cool. It is a Greek city that collapsed into the sea after a powerful earthquake. There are some accounts of it in classical texts but I'm not near a library and can't recall where the references might be. In an archaeological magazine I read once, I remember that the Greek antiquities ministry (or some organization like that) is trying to excavate the site. The Fall of Minoans isn't really a big mystery, like Ursus said. Actually, it is used as a case study of archaeological timelines (at least it was for me). The lost Roman legion. Which one? If it is the Romans in Asia mystery, there seems to be some evidence that survivors of Roman defeats in the Near East were taken to the far ends of the Parthian/Sassanian empires to lend their skills to defending those frontiers. Crassus's legion(s) come to mind but also Emperor Valerian's legions may have been taken to central Asia. I thought a mystery that might make the list would be the Etruscans. We have two accounts of their origins. Could they really have come all the way from Lydia or those parts? Like Primus Pilus, I thought Roanoke Colony is a mystery that could have made the list. I read in some travel book that there is some legend that survivors od Roanoke moved (or were removed) to some area of the Appalachian mountains. When more people moved into the Appalachians they found a group of "white" indians. Probably untrue, but Roanoke is still a mystery.

I thought they were around longer, but I am not positive. Is there any evidence that this type of armored horseman was the predecessor of European knights?

This is the standard pic representing the Cataphracts. It can be found in several books. This comes from Dura Europus.

Well I found this in the news awhile ago: "Union Products, the Leominster, Mass., company that manufactured plastic pink flamingos, has closed its doors and announced it will no longer be turning out the kitschy lawn ornaments." Perhaps we will see the extinction of the plastic pink flamingo in our lifetime?

I second Vercingetorix's thoughts on this. Ozzy is to Black Sabbath as Dio is to Rainbow.

In Agricola we read the impassioned speech of Galgacus who says: Auferre trucidare rapere falsis nominibus imperium, atque ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant. To robbery, slaughter, plunder, they give the lying name of empire; they make a solitude and call it peace. The entire speech is moving, also, (for me) one of the easier to read sections of Tacitus.

Generals. Peter the Patrician, although perhaps he was more of a diplomat. Procopius of Caesarea is the best source for these events (Procopius at Project Gutenberg) but I think we're still left to speculate why Justinian and his court thought reconquest was a good idea. I really need to reread Procopius sometime. Khusro I Anushirwan, the Persian monarch seemed to be alarmed at Justinian's efforts. Supposedly he said that the entire earth was not enough for Justinian's ambitions. Maybe it was just ambition.

From the British Isles, how about Fergus Millar? To add an American (Austrian by Birth, I think) to the list, I would suggest Erich Gruen. I've sat in on a couple of his lectures. They were very thought-provoking.

Because you are not Nixon.

How about Andres Segovia?

I drank WHAT!? -Socrates

Hi Pertinax! Glad you like the nominations. As for which one to go on your list, I really can't say. I usually just deal out the options and let people pick their favorite. So take your pick!

Hi Viggen! Thanks for the welcome. I saw this site a while back but was very busy at the time and very little seemed to be here at the time. I found UNRV again when searching for Roman History and computer games. This site and the webpages for Roma Victor came up. Are any of you playing/testing Roma Victor? It looks very cool.

What would Indy do? On the subject of Christian relics, how about the one of the biggest and best documented of all, the remains of the True Cross. Reportedly located by the Empress Helena (Emperor Constantine's mother), this was ensconced in Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. In 614, the Sassanids captured Jerusalem and removed the relic to Persian lands. The Emperor Heraclius regained it in 627, taking it to Constantinople. Eventually it was returned to Jerusalem and was said to be hidden by the Christians living there in 1009. Later it was supposedly found by the crusaders in 1099(?) and then lost to Saladin and the Muslims in the 1180s and destroyed presumably. Pieces and accounts of it continued to surface after this and perhaps it was not turned into kindling. Certainly Indiana Jones would risk life and limb for a chance at recovering the True Cross. How about the tomb of Alexander the Great? Where is the greatest conqueror from ancient times buried? The mystery is said to remain... Alexander supposedly wanted no funeral but rather to be dumped into the Euphrates. His generals had other plans. While bickering over the empire Alexander and the Greeks had carved out, they prepared a great funeral procession to bear the body of their king back to Macedonia(?). One general, Ptolemy, who was in control of Egypt at the time, waylaid the funeral procession and took the body of Alexander to Egypt where he reportedly had it interred in Memphis. Later the body of the king was supposedly moved to Alexandria. Accounts mention that Augustus viewed the tomb as did Emperor Caracalla. However after this time, the sources never mention the exact location or anybody else visiting it. This tomb has never been located, to my knowledge even though several modern archaeologists have made attempts to do so. I'd bet Indiana would bite at the chance to locate this lost person/place!

Two works come to mind: The lost books of Livy. Especially the second decade consisting of books 11-20 that covered the period from the end of the Samnite Wars (ca. 290s) to the conclusion of the First Punic War 264-241 and its aftermath (down to ca. 230). This was an important era for the Roman republic but it is poorly documented. The Lex Hortensia gives more power to the people of Rome; Rome nearly meets its match against King Pyrrhus of Epirus in the years 280-275; and then Rome squares off with Carthage in a 20+ year long war over control of Sicily. Rome is a very different place when Livy's narrative resumes in Book 21. The historian Ammianus Marcellinus' first 13 books. These were said to cover the period from the Emperors Nerva and Trajan to when his History becomes extant in 354 AD. It might be nice to have his accounts of the tumultuous middle third century after the accounts of Dio Cassius and Herodianus end.