Pass by German Aachen Cathedral September 16, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Cars, Destination, Dubai, Europe, France, Germany, Hotels, Museum, Netherlands, Rail Pass, Sightseeing, Travel Gear, Trip , 2commentsThe location now was occupied by Aachen, adjacent to the modern borders of France and Holland, was resorted to even in prehistory because hot springs occur there. Exactly how far back into antiquity the place had importance is unknown, but the Celts were certainly established in the area by the time the Romans discovered the springs. The waters were sacred to the Celts and dedicated by them to the healing god, Granus. The Romans called the site Aquis Grani. They built bath complexes and shrines. Some houses edging the Hof, a triangular space a stone’s throw northeast of the cathedral, were built on first and second century AD Roman masonry, and part of a well sanctuary was uncovered. (more…)
A Second Shufti at Jordan September 6, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Airlines, Damascus, Hotels, Museum, Tour , 3commentsThe Queen beat me to it — she got to Petra first! But I doubt if she had as much fun. There was she, a horse- loving woman, bumping through the Siq in a Land Rover, wearing a skirt and hat. Whereas touristy me — town-bred and with no more knowledge of nags than a few donkey- rides sixty years ago — I rode high and proud on Suzy, a two-year-old Arab who was full of wind and nervous at moving so slowly.
Holding my back straight and clutching the plaited strings that had once been reins, I felt as intrepid as Stark, as hardened as Lawrence, as much the explorer as Burckhardt. I was there — at last! (more…)
London Sightseeing Pass: Westminster Palace and Abbey & St Margaret’s Church August 25, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Air Tickets, Cars, Destination, Hotels, London, Rail Pass, Sightseeing, Tickets, Tour, Trip , 5commentsIt is at the first sight difficult to imagine any ancient, geomantic mysteries to be present in the teeming modern metropolis that is London. There is no doubt that what may be there is well submerged both actually, beneath accretions of buildings and earth, and metaphorically, beneath layers of time. We have to look to legend, history, archaeological glimpses and the barely discernible lineaments that have survived in the present layout of streets, sites and place-names. (more…)
Split: the east coast of the Adriatic May 30, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Europe, Library, Museum, Oceanarium, USA , add a commentThe Yugoslav town of Split, or Spalato, lies on the east coast of the Adriatic, the much-travelled sea route linking Venice and Central Europe with the more ancient civilisations of the eastern Mediterranean. Here, in the first years of the fourth century, the Roman emperor Diocletian built himself an imposing palace, which, of all his many achievements, is perhaps the clearest reflection of the effect on his personality of his unceasing efforts to reorganise the scattered and rebellious Empire.
The future emperor was born about 245 as simple Diodes, the son of a poor Illyrian farm-hand. On joining the army, he served under a number of soldier-emperors from his own native province of Illyria, which corresponds roughly to modern Yugoslavia. (more…)
The Ptolemaic Temples April 9, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Egypt, The Nile , add a commentBefore examining specific temples, we should clarify one point. It is well known that in 30 B.C., as a result of the defeat of Mark Antony and Cleopatra’s fleet by Octavian, Egypt became a Roman province. There then began a period of Egyptian history that presents a number of problems substantially different even from those of the Ptolemaic epoch. Given their complexity, we cannot consider these problems here. For various reasons, the Roman emperors continued to enlarge and decorate even the basic parts of the Ptolemaic temples, so that these monuments exist today as a complex of elements from different ages. Nevertheless, contrary to what we have noted with the pharaonic temples, the Ptolemaic-Roman temples present considerable unity. As a result, it is almost impossible to separate single elements from the total context of a Ptolemaic monument. However, our discussion must concentrate on the way the Ptolemies approached the temples, even when the Roman influence is quite strong. (more…)
Medieval Europe March 30, 2008
Posted by flyman in : China, England, Europe, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Lodges, Spain , 5commentsAfter the chaos of the Dark Ages that followed the fall of the Roman Empire, states and nations began to evolve. At the same time science, letters, arts and culture were developed by the monastic civilization that exercised a Christian order over an emerging feudal system, in the same way as the Samurai developed almost total military power over an identical system in Japan. But whereas the Japanese declined to lose its scholars to China and Korea by reverting to a complete and deliberate isolation that mummified any architectural development, the nations that were emerging in western Europe were becoming powerful enough to set aside the rule of the Holy Roman Empire, and they no longer stood in awe of the architectural remains that memorialized the genius of Roman architecture. Thus, Romanesque was born from the ruins of ancient buildings and developed as a prologue to the great European period of Gothic architecture. Romanesque was a compound of many influences, including Roman, Byzantine, Carolingian and Ottonian, Viking Celtic and Saracenic, but it was universally influenced by the monastic churches of St Bernard and St Benedict, where an eclectic style was homogenized by the development of the Roman vault. (more…)
The Roman Empire March 29, 2008
Posted by flyman in : Italy, Vaccinations , add a commentAfter the fall of Magna Graecia and the decline of the Etruscan civilization, the Roman Empire emerged as a great republic able to take advantage of two colonies in which scientific, artistic and philosophical scholarship was without match.
During the early years of the Republic, the Romans’ apathy to art and general conservatism makes it difficult to summarize their architectural achievements. After the fall of the Republic, however, the great generals, Sulla, Pompei and Julius Caesar, whose military victories provided a cause for monuments to be built in celebration, promulgated one of the great periods of Roman building. Caesar’s heir, Octavian, or Augustus as he was later known, boasted that he had found Rome a city of bricks and left it a city of marble. In fact, the Roman development of the Etruscan arch into the vault and the ingenious invention of concrete as the principal load-bearing building material, would have Augustus’ own successor, Tiberius (AD14-37), find a city of marble and leave a city of concrete. (more…)
