Kosmo

There are very little literary sources about the Latin speakers north of Danube until the Romanians/Vlachs are mentioned in the 10th century. The area was controlled by various tribes like Goths, Huns, Slavs etc who probably dominated the romanized inhabitants. When Trajan established the roman province of Dacia large groups of Dacians East and North of the province remained independent. These Free Dacians kept raiding the Empire until they were absorbed by Goths and were not Latin speakers.

True, but they were both rebuilt. Troy was a tourist city until the Late Empire while Tyre was famous in the empire for it's tall insulae.

I believe that rather then aesthetics a contact would have brought new technologies like iron or the wheel.

Wow 50! Nice! Happy many returns!

It is certain that vikings reached Newfoundland and maybe other civilizations crossed the Atlantic but as long as they did not established trade routes, colonies, cultural and biological exchanges etc it is pretty much irrelevant. Phoenicians/Carthaginians were reputed seafarers at some point but even in Antiquity technology and knowledge improved constantly and spread to new areas so we see in military/naval aspects Greeks and Romans catching up and surpasing them.

Both Belgian communities are mostly catholic. I think the biggest hurdle for flemish secession is deciding the fate of Bruxelles, a french speaking city located in the dutch speaking region. The legacy of Mussolini is the founding of fascism by mixing marxist populism and focus on the state with large scale corruption, nationalism and militarism in a toxic demagogic cocktail. While there are no more openly fascist states contemporary dictatorships like that of Mubarak in Egypt or the so-called communist rule in China look very much like fascism. He also played a decisive role in breaking any effectiveness for the League of Nation and the multilateral treaties that kept the order established after WW1 and so he played a vital role in preparing and later in extending WW2. Maybe without his intervention Spain would have become a communist pro-soviet state.

Did Romans had magic books? Some practices regarded by Romans as sorcery were forbidden and punished while others that we may consider magic were part of the state cults like divination in entrails or bird flight. Also Ancient medicine was something that we will regard as mostly magic rather then science. Modern distinctions between religion, magic and science were non existent for Romans.

During the fighting in Libya there was concern over the fate of the country's historical treasures. Most seem to have survived in tact including the jewel in the crown, Leptis Magna, the ancient roman city on the Mediterranean. The BBC went to visit and was shown around by tour guide Khalifa Ali Hweta, who has lived there his whole life. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14983921

I actually know two sisters named Minerva and Atena. The girl with the greek name is not as wise as you might think. Anyway, I agree with The Bottle tonight (again).

That's not a problem, Turkey has an amazing network of private buses that go in all directions. If you want a chance at sunny weather go on the south coast - Marmaris or Antalya Clearly the biggest historical destination in Turkey is Istanbul Can't wait to see your pictures

The only thing I know is that the writer was getting nothing of those money because romans did not had copyright laws.

Many happy returns!

Sad news

I'll look for them.

Byzantine Empire is a very wrong and derogatory name, but is well known. The only correct name is Roman Empire and it looks like slowly it is winning some ground. Eastern Roman Empire makes sense only for the 5th Century but it can be used for later periods. The roman german empire is usually named in English as the Holy Empire. Greek Roman Empire is weird especially because the greeks within the empire did not spoke of themselves as greeks but as romans.

The same thing from BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14795756

Three historic monuments have been attacked by vandals in the Italian capital, Rome. In the first attack, a man was caught on security cameras chipping two pieces off a marble statue on a fountain in the Piazza Navona. Hours later tourists watched as a man threw a rock at the famous Trevi Fountain in the centre of the city. Police then said they caught an American student scaling a wall of the Colosseum to chip off pieces of marble... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14782948 Interesting choice of title given that vandals actually attacked and looted Rome.

He gave her away young and took it back rich.

'Byzantines' influenced the arab caliphate, the seljuq turks and directly the ottomans but not to a large extent. The ottomans were focused mainly on the seljuq traditions because they started as a seljuq emirate. For example the fief holder cavalrymen - timarli sipahi- is an institution with seljuq origins. An important role was also played by Islamic law and culture. The central ottoman institution was that of the slave group recruited from christian children -dev?irme- that formed the bureaucracy and the core of the army (including the Janissary), and wielded tremendous political power. This is very different from roman/byzantine traditions but not unheard in Islamic context (mamluks) . The ottoman culture and state were very different from Byzantine one. About fashion I don't know much but I think that excepting imperial and clergy clothes the late byzantines followed a dress influenced by western models. The ottomans used Islamic and Turkish dress like turban, wide pants etc.

The remains of the original builders of Stonehenge could have been unearthed by an excavation at a site in Wales. The Carn Menyn site in the Preseli Hills is where the initial bluestones used to construct the first stone phase of the henge were quarried in 2300BC. Organic material from a tomb there will be radiocarbon dated. Archaeologists believe this could prove a more conclusive link between the site and Stonehenge. The remains of a ceremonial monument were found with a bank and ditch that appear to have a pair of standing stones embedded. The bluestones at the earliest phase of Stonehenge - also set in pairs - give a direct architectural link from the iconic site to this newly discovered henge-like monument in Wales.... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14733535

You must give a name to this thing

Saudi officials say archaeologists have begun excavating a site that suggests horses were domesticated 9,000 years ago in the Arabian Peninsula. The vice-president of the Saudi Commission for Tourism and Antiquities said the discovery at al-Maqar challenged the theory it first took place 5,500 years ago in Central Asia. Ali al-Ghabban said it also changed what was known about the evolution of culture in the late Neolithic period. A number of artefacts were also found. They included arrowheads, scrapers, grain grinders, tools for spinning and weaving, and other tools that showed the inhabitants were skilled at handicrafts. Mr Ghabban said carbon-14 tests on the artefacts, as well as DNA tests on human remains also found there, dated them to about 7,000 BC. "This discovery will change our knowledge concerning the domestication of horses and the evolution of culture in the late Neolithic period," he told a news conference in Jeddah, according to the Reuters news agency. "The al-Maqar civilisation is a very advanced civilization of the Neolithic period. This site shows us clearly, the roots of the domestication of horses 9,000 years ago," he added. Although humans came into contact with horses about 50,000 years ago, they were originally herded for meat, skins, and possibly for milk. The first undisputed evidence for their domestication dates back to 2,000 BC, when horses were buried with chariots. By 1,000 BC, domestication had spread through Europe, Asia and North Africa. However, researchers have found evidence suggesting that the animals were used by the Botai culture in northern Kazakhstan 5,500 years ago. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-14658678

Interesting theory. You may be right and then the position of Theodosius the Great in favor of orthodoxy both against pagans and against heretics could be rooted in religious attitudes in his Iberic homeland.

I think the Catholic Church got a central role in Iberia during the conflict between the Arian Visigoth rulers and the catholic conquered roman population. After the Goths converted to catholicism the state becomes very close to a theocracy with bishops and Church Councils playing a very important role. This catholic identity was only straightened by the Islamic invasion and Reconquista.