JGolomb

Crispina - 117AD is when the Ninth disappeared, and that legion was part of Claudius' invasions of Britain. For a nifty little review of Sutcliff's novel, I'd like to point you here: The Eagle of the Ninth by Rosemary Sutcliff And I know what you mean about the battle scenes. I actually enjoy the action...you know, kind of just letting yourself go and enjoying for the sake of itself. But those scenes become a bit repetitive. I'm not sure how unique the descriptions can be when they occur so frequently...over and over and over again. I think that's one of the reasons the first two books were particularly strong (because the battles are "new"), and why "When the Eagle Hunts" was fun (because the battles were more unique than the typical roman set-piece battles). The characters WITHIN the battles, and drama and intrigue BETWEEN the battles, is what makes the books enjoyable. J

Mal - Do you work in Venice itself or do you commute to the mainland? I'm curious about the patterns of one's existence in such a unique place.

Callaecus - this is interesting. I'd not heard of this prior to your post. How big (in territory and population) was Helike? J

Lost Pictish Throne Brought to Life by National Museum of Scotland Team

Happy BDay, K!

Crispina - I finished "Wolves" right before the long weekend. Good story, but not great. Though I felt this book did a lot for the character development of Cato and Macro. I've got the next one on order. How do you like it so far? I started reading Manfredi's "The Last Legion" which, so far, focuses on the last Western Emperor - Romulus Augustus. From reading the historical notes (the book is fiction), it appears the author's going to tie this into Arthurian legend in Britain. So far, though, not as strong as Scarrow. J

Why would you think that's abnormal? Seems perfectly logical to write all scribble-scrabbly and multi-directional. :-)

Here's a picture and, um, translation of the words burned into the shroud: Big Pic: Close-Up of Latest Shroud of Turin Claim

Light Up! Light Up! Hadrian's Wall to get Spectacular Light Show Any UNRVers planning to attend, should definitely bring a camera. Sounds like some pretty cool eye candy.

Crispina - I think you're psychic. I just started "Wolves" two days ago. Just got past the first battle with the Atrebatan auxiliaries. And yes, the Boars and Wolves need to seriously get the whole head-thing under control. LOL So far I like it. I think it's a pretty strong beginning. How does it compare to the others? Jason

Fine to combat contemporary examples of looting, when both sides are agreed it was "looting". Not fine when Egypt or some other place unilaterally stretches the definition, then intimidates museums to accept it's terms or else face a cutoff of cherished activities. For a counter example, there is a reason for the legal concept of statute of limitation time periods. Things happened before under different mutual assumptions and with legal entities that don't exist anymore and can't be reconstructed correctly by contemporaries. Western guardians of museum collections may be too happy to give lots away anyway, for that halo of political correctness. What suffers are museum goers (and taxpayers who probably fund their museums and have contributed to recent 28 billion $ foreign aid to Egypt). Caesar - I'm guessing you wouldn't want this for Christmas? Zahi Hawass Explorer Hat

Terra Cotta Warriors: Guardians of China's First Emperor All - I work at National Geographic in downtown Washington, DC. Our museum is the last stop on a tour of the Terra Cotta Warriors from Xian, China. I've not seen the exhibit yet (incredible security has locked the place down) but will be attending next weekend. If anyone from UNRV plans to attend the show, please let me know so we can meet up. The link above is a review from the Washington Post. The official website is below. Word of mouth says it's an incredible display...the largest exhibit that National Geographic has hosted. Here's the official website

Neph - if it's the same set up as I saw in Philly, don't worry. Aside from the giant gift shop with...wait for it - Zahi Hawass-branded clothing, including his signature Fadora...it was top notch. J

Elaborate measures keep Tut collection safe Interesting feature on some of the security measures surrounding the 5-year North American tour of artifacts of King Tut. If you have the chance to see it, I highly recommend a visit. I hit the show in Philadelphia about two years ago and it's breathtaking.

Virtual Roman Leicester: A Digital Recreation of 'Ratae Corieltauvorum' 210AD Pretty cool technological advances make for niiiiice eye candy. Link above includes a video of the digital recreation.

Ursus - Yes, you've hit the nail on the head. The statement above is introductory rather than addressing a point of dispute.

Hm. Doesn't bode well for the little city, eh? I think that global warming would have a far more disastrous effect than wealthy tourists... J

Here's a pretty good editorial on Dr. Hawass and his latest drama. Some clips and thoughts below. Is Repatriation Good for Archaeology? Zahi Hawass' Quest for Egypt's Antiquities

I was in Venice in late June of this year and didn't find the crowds out of control at all. I think we may have beaten the serious tourist rush by a few weeks and it's possible that the down economy kept tourism down overall in Europe. I also felt like I saw a solid number of folks who appeared to be full time residents - parents with kids carrying their bikes over canal bridges, kids knocking around a soccer ball, etc. The city felt very genuine to me, not all that different than any large US city with tons of tourists and tourist trappings. J

Here's another story and a video...but the video is only available to folks in the UK. J

Roman military sites investigated

Tourism in Venice is Reaching Meltdown Here's a terrific video of John Julius Norwich, famed historian, discussing how Venice is rapidly becoming a rich man's Disneyland. He touches on some other things as well, and the video includes some nice Venetian photography.

"Shangri-La" Caves Yield Treasures, Skeletons This research has been going on for a few years now...looks like the press announcements time nicely with the National Geographic-produced special. :-)

Western Wall Heritage Center a threat to Jerusalem's Roman History?

About a year or year-and-a-half ago, Yale University and the Peruvian Gov't entered into an agreement whereby Yale would return hundreds of artifacts found by Hiram Bingham when he "discovered" Machu Picchu in 1911. Part of the agreement included that Yale would get to keep some artifacts and/or hold onto some things on load from Peru. Peru would open a modern museum dedicated to the discovery of Machu Picchu that would spotlight Bingham's "discovery" and the returned artifacts. One nuance here is that there is pretty clear documentation SIGNED by Bingham himself indicating that he was only taking the artifacts out of the country temporarily for research purposes. Yale has since reneged on the agreement and the two parties are still battling it out. I thought the compromise between Yale and Peru was a nice way to reconcile their differences and theoretically ensure that both parties would have a beneficial outcome. Here's a recent story on the ongoing Yale-Peru battle. Quite frankly, I don't buy the statute of limitations argument. I don't see how you can argue for a legal statute of limitations when dealing with objects that were in a region/country/whatever for hundreds, or sometimes thousands, of years.