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I like the passage about Plato's final request for a Thracian slave girl to play the flute to him - only to criticise her lack of rhythm!  Oh well, it was probably difficult to find professional musicians at short notice.

At least he did not ask for a glass of wife beater... 

Maplewood Hobby (maplewoodhobby.com) still hosts historical miniatures every Thursday night, usually starting about 7. 

The Maplewood Nerd Gamers have a Discord server for arranging games, both ftf and online, general discussions, etc, etc.  If you're interested, go to the 'welcome-and-intros' forum and say Hello.

Fascinating example of technology allowing us to decode the past.

Quote from: Duncan Head on April 30, 2024, 03:38:15 PMhttps://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/apr/29/herculaneum-scroll-plato-final-hours-burial-site

The fancy new technologies for reading folded scrolls have started to produce a result.

This is most encouraging.   Let us hope that missing histories turn up while we may still enjoy them.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/apr/29/herculaneum-scroll-plato-final-hours-burial-site

The fancy new technologies for reading folded scrolls have started to produce a result.

The bridge at Arkadiko is more usually dated, from the Cyclopean masonry technique used in its construction, to the 'Mycenaean' Late Helladic (III) 1300-1190 BCE period, and more specifically to about 1,200 BCE. Thus it is perhaps 'only' about 3,200 years old. Still, a venerable survivor by anyone's standards.

It is now bypassed by a modern (minor) road bridge and there is a small layby for parking nearby. You are indeed able to walk across it, access both sides of it from the (seasonal) stream bed it spans and, if you are small enough (and you do need to be quite small) crawl through its corbeled arch. Interestingly, there are remnants of the stone paving that the Mycenaean road bed was originally surfaced with nearby. To suggest that it is used everyday might be a bit of a stretch. It is certainly available to be used by pedestrians every day though modern hikers and interested visitors will need to make a small but special effort to do so!

Though I have not walked this particular Mycenaean route I have been fortunate to walk the Mycenaean 'chariot road' from Berbati to Mycenae along which another similar bridge survives in situ. Walking cross-country along this road (in modern English terms, a bridleway) and approaching the site of Mycenae on foot is certainly a very different experience to arriving by tourist coach!

Adrian.

Hmmm, "over 5000 years old" equates to circa 3000 BC. A date not normally associated with Mycenaean culture...

God bless journalism 😇

I was always persuaded that there must have been a fair number if only for the enduring cultural effect in the area for centuries

Quote from: Imperial Dave on April 30, 2024, 11:11:15 AMhttps://greekreporter.com/2024/04/28/bactria-the-ancient-greek-state-in-afghanistan-video/

One of my favourite armies btw....

Fascinating. I must admit that it's the first time I've seen such stress put on the number of Greeks settled in Bactria under the Persians

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1892270/oldest-bridge-greece-arkadiko-bridge-peloponnese?gaa_at=la&gaa_n=ARTJ-U-rqx2H5K2IwS5NAa_kSRJy-C4LPk6VJW1qu7k6LbPfKteIoldMi6HpT9XL7r0%3D&gaa_ts=6630c767&utm_source=newsshowcase&utm_medium=discover&utm_campaign=CCwqGQgwKhAIACoHCAow9935CjCe0eYCMKy7pQIw4MLXAg&utm_content=bullets&gaa_sig=mNxOz0BaP5L91a0y-aJTMw8Q-1ltuN7RMoT8Vjx_YN-TgYwMglw24IM1NKAQ-nchJNQRmGE0PGAXouzLPVvD_w%3D%3D

And still no pot holes...