Archaeologists May Have Found What Was Once The Biggest City In Italy

The Economist ^ | 11-4-2004

[Cronos]

bushushaski? Is that the langue from Chechnya/Ingushetia/Dagestan?

[Cronos]

Alexander the Great decided to go around Rome and leave it alone on his conquest of the known world.

huh???? Alex didn't even head west to conquer the Illyrians -- he headed to conquer the civilised states in the East -- Persia in particular. The Persian Empire was ripe for picking -- remember the Persians practically came up with the notion of an Empire, with bureaucracies and administration in place. The Persian Shah was also very weak (just a decade earlier, Macedonian mercenaries had nearly helped a minor son take the throne, so they knew the country) and by just tipping it over, he got a developed Empire falling into his lap

Rome at that time had just been sacked by the Celts (well, around that time).

When Alex reached India, he nearly got routed by a very minor Indian King -- Purva. His soldiers heard of the mighty Magadhan Empire (based in the Gangetic plains) with its gigantic army and basically told Alex to shove it -- they wouldn't head any further east.

Incidently, Greek commanders got Indianized and many settled in northern India, or moved east -- in what is now Kashmir there are folks (hunzas?) who are supposed to be near pure Greeks), while in Bengal tales of demonic figures and the Devi goddess are supposed to be linked to tribals fighting against a force led by Northern Indians with Greek mercenaries.

[Cronos]

My personal opinion on why Alexander left the city-state Rome alone was that Rome had already gained a reputation as feirce fighters.

well, I don't think he considered them worthy of being conquered -- just as the Romans decided it was not worth going into Germania in the 1st century

[Cronos]

Remember that Rome was sacked by the Gauls at around that time and then slowly rebuilt herself to fight in the Punic wars -- the third Punic war was the catalyst that pushed Rome into superpower status and helped her in her fight against the Alexandrine kingdoms in Greece, Syria and Egypt

[Cronos]

Author Robin Lane Fox (The Search for Alexander) seems to think Nanda could have been overcome--it fell within a few years to the upstart Chandragupta--had Alexander not tried to cross the Punjab in the monsoon season.

Well, Chandragupta (the founder of the Mauryan Empire) did lead a gigantic army -- and his grandson Ashoka did rule over an Empire that incorporates most of what is now India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Burma (to some Extent) with vassalages in Central asia and the Tibetan plateau

[VadeRetro]

I was simply reporting Fox, not particularly agreeing with him. That was a very chewed-up Macedonian force by the time it turned around. (And some of its worst traveling lay ahead.)

[Ptarmigan]

Maybe. That's anyone's guess? They tried to link with Basque and Ainu.

[SunkenCiv]

Just updating the GGG information, not sending a general distribution.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
Gods, Graves, Glyphs PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

[SunkenCiv]

· join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic · subscribe ·
	Gods Graves Glyphs	Just updating the GGG info, not sending a general distribution. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
·Dogpile · Archaeologica · Mirabilis.ca · LiveScience · Biblical Archaeology Society · · Discover · Bronze Age Forum · Science Daily · Science News · Eurekalert · PhysOrg · · Nat Geographic · Texas AM Anthro News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · Google · · Archaeology · The Archaeology Channel · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists · · History topic · history keyword · archaeology keyword · paleontology keyword · · Science topic · science keyword · Books/Literature topic · pages keyword · ·

[whence911]

thanx

[tet68]

Some say Basque is related to Etruscan language.

Naah, they’re just basquing in their glory.

[blam]

"Maybe. That's anyone's guess? They tried to link with Basque and Ainu."

The Relationship Between The Basque And Ainu