JGolomb

You get a much better sense of the scale of the statue with these pictures: Apollo Statue Photos

I found the additional references to animal hunts and impact on species in Rupert Matthews' "Age of Gladiators". He claims that by 350 AD, due to Games-related hunting, the North African species of elephant was extinct as well as the Balkan lion and the cheetah of the Middle East. Does anyone have anything to support this? Or perhaps some thoughts on the Ancient Roman attitude towards conservation in general? Themistius seems to be a fascinating author indeed; unfortunately, the retrieval of some of his specific quotations has proven particularly difficult. My impression is that he was an outmost exponent of Julian's doctrine of tolerance; indeed what religious fundamentalists usually call "apostasy". (BTW, it would be otherwise hard to explain why on Earth would IV century Neopagans and Jews cared at all one of the other). The extinction of the North African megafauna seems to have been a long (centuries or even millennia long) process; IMHO, it would be hard to assign even tentative numbers to the relative contribution of different factors. In the case of Loxodonta (africana? cyclotis? pharaonensis?) tusks and ivory trade, recreative hunting, habitat distortion, ecological conflict with agriculture, climate change and even massive taming may all have had a greater impact than the venatio requirements. Sylla, I agree...they would all play a part in the extinction process, but certainly some factors could play a larger role than others. I believe this is a similar argument to what's made about the various environmental issues we face today - identifying factors that have LARGER impact than others. There'd have to be some serious damage done by any single factor to drive extinction in the course of a couple of hundred years (not knowing any longer extinction trends, I choose to assume that those species were happy and healthy heading into the 2nd or 1st centuries BC). Any impact of the Games on animals survival certainly is more glamorous than agricultural impact and I think our pop culture society would be more than willing to grasp onto the amount of animal carnage in Games required to cause an animal to go extinct. Separately, Sylla, what is the meaning of your comment about Neopagans and Jews? I'm always interested in reading your message responses. :-)

Colossal Apollo Statue Unearthed in Turkey Sept. 8, 2009 -- A colossal statue of Apollo, the Greek god of the sun, light, music and poetry, has emerged from white calcified cliffs in southwestern Turkey, Italian archaeologists announced. Colossal statues were very popular in antiquity, as evidenced by the lost giant statues of the Colossus of Rhodes and the Colossus of Nero. Most of them vanished long ago -- their material re-used in other building projects. "This colossal statue of Apollo is really a unique finding. Such statues are extremely rare in Asia Minor. Only a dozen still survive," team leader Francesco D'Andria, director of the Institute of Archaeological Heritage, Monuments and Sites at Italy's National Research Council in Lecce, told Discovery News. Split in two huge marble fragments, divided along the bust and the lower part of the sculpture, the 1st century A.D. statue was unearthed at the World Heritage Site of Hierapolis, now called Pamukkale.

Short and interesting video on how modern DNA testing may confirm a theory that an ancient Mayan-Teotihuacan war ended on top of a pyramid at El Mirador in Guatemala. DNA to prove attack on Mayan city I find it fascinating that more and more archaeological discovery is less about finding new "things" than it is about new technologies uncovering new things about old discoveries...

It would seem so based on some not-so-new research. Good summary of details around gladiator diet and training: Were Gladiators Vegetarians? I believe it was already common knowledge that the primary element to the gladiatorial diet was barley-based gruel, but a lot of what's summarized in this story makes good common sense, too. Here's a quote from the Archaeology Magazine story that's not in the link above. I think this is the equivalent of Rocky downing his raw egg and fruit smoothie during training: To keep their bones strong, historical accounts say, they downed vile brews of charred wood or bone ash, both of which are rich in calcium. Whatever the exact formula, the stuff worked. Grossschmidt says that the calcium levels in the gladiator bones were "exorbitant" compared to the general population. "Many athletes today have to take calcium supplements," he says. "They knew that then, too."

I found the additional references to animal hunts and impact on species in Rupert Matthews' "Age of Gladiators". He claims that by 350 AD, due to Games-related hunting, the North African species of elephant was extinct as well as the Balkan lion and the cheetah of the Middle East. Does anyone have anything to support this? Or perhaps some thoughts on the Ancient Roman attitude towards conservation in general?

Alessandro Barbero's "The Day of the Barbarians" - tightly written and enjoyable read about the Battle at Adrianople of 378. If you liked Breem's "Eagle" then you'll enjoy this non-fiction look at events leading up to the barbarian massing along the Rhine.

I've read recently in a couple of books on Ancient Rome that the thirst for bigger and more awe inspiring Games led to a massive kill-off of animals throughout the Empire and its' environs. I've read of the need to hunt further and further from Rome to find animals that were once available more locally. And I've read of animals that were killed off completely. I'm reading Allessando Barbero's "The Day of the Barbarians" about the Battle at Adrianople in 378. 9 years before this momentous battle, the Emperor of the eastern Empire, Valens, signs a treaty with the Goths. A Greek rhetorician Themistius gives a speech in praise of the peace. According to Barbero, Themistius says (in a combination of direct quotation and paraphrase), "We worry so much about preserving animal species, we're worried that elephants may disappear from Libya, lions from Thessaly, and hippopotamuses, from the Nile; therefore we should rejoice that a race of men, yes, barbarians, as some will say, but men, has been saved from extermination." The comparison between animals and Goths is interesting, but not the topic I'm raising at the moment. Clearly Themistius is referencing a common and well known concern for the preservation of animals. I'm curious is anyone else has come across similar concerns in literature? Are there any specific statistics around the amount of animals that must've been killed in Games to raise concerns over their continued existence?

I'm finding that a good historical fiction is a terrific entrance into non-fiction. I'd not had any particular interest in late Empire until I'd read "Eagle in the Snow" by Wallace Breem. I'm chewing through "The Day of the Barbarians" by Alessando Barbero which focuses on the Battle of Adrianople - the Romans get their butts' whipped by Goths and other 'barbarians'. It's a key moment in the decline of the Empire and directly leads up to the events in "Eagle in the Snow". I know that Scarrow is fiction and it's enjoyable just for that. I think we all like a good story put in a reasonable appropriate, and moderately correct, setting.

Looked for a bit, but couldn't find any pictures of the earrings. :-/

Ack! I wish I'd read this before I ordered "Caesar's Legions" from Dando-Collins earlier this week. Sigh. It has a mix of reviews on the US version of Amazon, and definitely gets hammered by a few reviewers for being a little more than offbase in its history. I'm curious - does the more academic community on UNRV feel similarly about Dando-Collins' works?

The evidence connecting the artifacts to a Saint in this story is pretty weak, but it's interesting nonetheless. Bulgaria Archaeologists Find Relics of Medieval Saint at Perperikon The team of Bulgarian archaeologist, Professor Nikolay Ovcharov, has discovered relics of a medieval saint at the fortress of Perperikon in the Rhodoppe Mountains. The remains of human bones were found inside one of two bronze crosses as the archaeologists were excavating two churches. One of the crosses is larger and has an life-like image of the crucified Jesus Christ on its front, and an image of Virgin Mary praying on its back. It is dated back to 10-11th century. The second cross is smaller, with geometrical motives, dated to 5th-7th century AD, and it is inside it that the archaeologists found the remains of human bones. "These are broken and decayed bones, most definitely of a saint. We will never learn which saint they belonged to, there are no inscriptions or signs whatsoever," Professor Ovcharov said as quoted by BGNES. He underscored the fact that Perperikon, the ancient Thracian city, had later become one of the most important centers of Christianity in the entire region. One of the two churches discovered at Perperikon is the oldest in the region, dated back to 4th and 5th centuries, the rules of Emperor Arcadius (395-408 AD) in the Eastern Roman Empire, and Emperor Honorius (395-423 AD) in the Western Roman Empire, after the division of the Roman Empire in 395 AD. This coincides with the mission of Bishop Niketa of Remesiana (lived 335-414 AD) who started to convert the population in the Rhodoppes to Christianity in 393-398 AD. Ovcharov's hypothesis is that the church at Perperikon was the first church of Bishop Niketa in that region. Ovcharov's team has discovered numerous coins of both above-mentioned emperors, which are a proof about the dynamic development of Perperikon at the time, and believes that it was the seat of a bishop from the 4th to the 14th century, right up to the Ottoman conquest. The archaeologists have discovered a number of bronze, gold, and silver crosses, as well as a number of seals. The latest seal they found bears the name of Byzantine dignitary Museliy Bakoriani (or Muselius Pakourianos). The name Bakoriani is connected with the founders of the Bachkovo Monastery, which is located nearby, and is still operating today, and attracting thousands of visitors. The monastery was formally founded in 1083 AD by the brothers Gregory and Abasius Bakoriani. The archaeologists are seeking to discover information about the actual connections between the Bachkovo Monastery and the city of Perperikon in the Middle Ages. The relics of the unknown saint will be donated to the Assumption of Mary Church in the nearby city of Kardzhali where since 2003 pieces of the Holy Cross of Jesus Christ discovered by archaeologists have been preserved.

I've got "Eagle of the Ninth" coming from Amazon in the next couple of days. It's referred to as young adult and it appears that many on this thread read the story when they were young, so I'm going to share this with my son and daughter (9 and 12). I'd never heard of it until I saw it mentioned on UNRV a couple of weeks ago. Looking forward to the read...and then the movie.

Magnus Mucro or Maximus Gladius

I just purchased Murdoch's "Rome's Greatest Defeat". The review on UNRV sounded solid and it's not pure academia. Any thoughts on other books about the Battle of Teutoburg? Any good fiction?

Marcus - you're not being contrary at all. Thank you for your perspective. The Colosseum was at the top of my list of sites to see in Rome. So I made my wife get up early on our first day so we could get in as soon as it opened. We stayed for about an hour and by then the roving tour groups of 10-20 people led by their microphoned tour guides were already swarming. But for the most part we had the place to ourselves. I think we lucked out by visiting early in the tourist season and during a down economy. But since we're on the topic of the condition of the Colosseum, I thought you might be interested in this thread from one of the other UNRV forums based on a blog post by Mary Beard: Can the Forum Get Any Worse? Without trying to sound deliberately contrary, on my first visit to Rome just over twenty years ago, I spent my first evening simply walking without paying much attention to where I was going. My pocket map was always going to get me back to the hotel so it was wonderful just taking everything in. I walked around a corner and there was the Colosseum, in the middle of the traffic, but quiet and majestic in itself. In those days, you simply walked in and out at will and this gave me many opportunities to enjoy this most famous of buildings. On my last visit a year ago, the experience of the Colosseum from the previous year led me to give it a swerve. There was the hassle from groups who offered to fast track you through the long lines, that ultimately we stood in for a couple of hours still having to argue the toss over our EU residency all combining to having had enough almost as soon as we got in. I suppose the Rome authorities have done what they needed to do in commercialising the major monuments; after all the revenues raised have funded an immense amount of research and archaeology as well as maintaining the viability of the well known attractions. I just have a bit of a romantic memory about the many free trips to the calm Colosseum in the middle of the frantic traffic island.

Artimi - your comment about the cobblestones in Jerusalem remind me of exactly how I felt when I was walking the Appian Way earlier this summer. I have a nice picture looking straight down at my feet on the large stones that made up the base of the 2000 year-old road. I also couldn't help but feel a little awe at where I was...and what had come before me. Interesting what you write about the Acropolis. I think I'd definitely feel a little loss if I wasn't able to be IN the building itself. Being able to walk through the Colosseum, and see what so many had seen long before me, made the visit quite special. The Pantheon was just magical and touched me more than any other site in Rome or Venice (as you can tell from my icon, eh?). To be in a building of such renown, that's been continuously in use for 2,000 years. 2,000! That's almost more than one can truly understand. And the space itself is just so dramatic. I was in Israel many years ago...too young to truly appreciate what I was seeing. The Wailing Wall was unique, but much different than the image I'd expected. As I'm sure you know, the site is split because women can't pray in the same place as men. In '83, there was kind of a cheesy faux paneled wall that separated the genders. I didn't expect there to be any separation (I guess I'd never thought about it) and the divider was so incongruous with the wall itself and other surroundings. There were also military personnel all around. And coming from America, you simply don't see soldiers with machine guns protecting public spaces like that. It was jarring.

Sylla - I'm glad you pointed that out. I didn't look closely enough at the image...I thought it was a straight-on ground level view. Much more impressive from above! :-) -Jason

Magnificent Roman Building, c. 1,800 Years Old, was Exposed in Israel JERUSALEM.- A spacious edifice from the Roman period (third century CE)

I visited the Colosseum two months ago with my wife and couldn't have enjoyed it more. I'd read and researched and my wife and I listened to a Rick Steves audio tour during the walk-around and I loved it. Reading and research to provide context makes any visit like that much more enjoyable and rewarding. I've not been to Machu Picchu but have read quite a bit about it. And honestly, I think the "uncomfortable" trek to get there makes it much more genuine. It isn't, afterall, right in the middle of a city which is why it was "lost" for about 400 years. It's remoteness is one reason why it's at the top of so many visit-of-a-lifetime lists.

Name the 2 heads of the Praetorian Guard under Tiberius' reign, and the actor's names. I think one is Sejanus played by Patrick Stewart.

Here's the full story Here's the list and some key commentary from the story: Stonehenge You cant touch it, you cant walk inside, you cant wander about its space and you have to pay an entrance fee to see it. Petra The tourism village that has grown up around Petra now threatens to outsize the ancient city itself. Colosseum Italys most-visited sight is often crowded and usually has long queues. The entire building is a traffic roundabout and the interior is too precious to host concerts. Your visit will be even more memorable if you fall victim to a pickpocket. Machu Picchu The journey to Machu Picchu is not pleasant, and the entrance fee has risen to more than $25. Ankgor Unfortunately, theres no escaping the crowds here. The days when Angkor was a remote and challenging destination are sadly long gone. Personally, of the complaints rationalizing a site being named to this list, I think Stonehenge is the only one justified. The excuses are kind of weak.

Not a professional arcaheologist or working full time ain arcaheology although I have been studying archaeology for a few years now. The site where I have been excavating whenever I've had a chance iover the last few years s the Marcham/ Frilford Romano-British Temple complex near Abingdon (south of Oxford). Details at: http://www.arch.ox.ac.uk/VRP1.html Melvadius Melvadius - Well this is just downright cool. I've been looking for a fun dig for myself for the past couple of years, but haven't found the right kind of thing. I'm a much bigger fan of "world" history than U.S. and, well, I live in the U.S. so that makes things a little more difficult. :-) So I have to ask...what have you found?

I am just about to read that. So it is very different from Scarrow you say? well I might still read it all the same... Don't give up on it until you get through those first 75 pages or so. It's much more subtle than Scarrow. Let me know what you think once you start digging in.

I just finished the third in Scarrow's "Eagle" series. Much stronger end than start to the story. Just starting Matthews' "Age of the Gladiators"