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Ken Revis was training to be a structural engineer, and had almost qualified, when war broke out in September 1939\. He promptly enlisted and, at the age of 23, was commissioned in the Royal Engineers. Training complete, it was during the Christmas festivities of 1940, such as they were in the Army in wartime Britain, that Ken glanced at a typewritten sheet pinned to a noticeboard to discover that he had been posted to a Bomb Disposal unit. His first device, aside from those he had seen under the watchful gaze of his instructors, came early in 1941 in the form of an unexploded 500kg German bomb. Having failed to detonate, it had buried itself in a garden only a yard or so from a footpath leading off a pleasant avenue in the East Sussex town of Hastings. This is it,' Ken remembered thinking. This is the real thing.' Despite his nerves, Ken successfully dealt with this bomb, the first of many that he faced over the coming weeks and months. While most soldiers in the United Kingdom were busy training and preparing for the coming invasion of Europe, Bomb Disposal units were engaged with their dangerous craft in which almost daily they matched their skill and nerve against the inventive genius of the German scientists. It was at 10.00 hours on 10 September 1943, however, that, in an instant, Ken's life irrevocably changed. While he was removing anti-invasion booby-traps from the West Pier in Brighton, something went terribly wrong. In a blinding flash, thirteen mines blew up in his face. After immediate first aid, the mangled body of Ken Revis was rushed to East Grinstead Hospital, home of the renowned plastic surgeon Sir Archibald McIndoe. It was the start of the long, hard trail that lay in front of him, for it required no less than twenty skilled reconstructive operations to rebuild Ken's shattered face and body. But despite all the surgeons' best efforts, Ken's sight could not be saved. Aside from the traumatic injuries he had suffered, he now had to deal with complete blindness. In this moving biography, John Frayn Turner reveals the remarkable individual who was Ken Revis, exploring the many, and very different, challenges that he faced before and after the disaster on 10 September 1943\. As Lieutenant-General Sir Brian Horrocks once remarked, Courage and determination are the two outstanding qualities that emerge from this remarkable story'.

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Hogarth’s Britons explores how the English painter and graphic satirist William Hogarth (1697–1764) set out to define British nationhood and identity at a time of division at home and conflict abroad. With notions of community cohesion, good citizenship and patriotism, wrapped up in a unifying idea of British national character and spirit in all its variety, and set alongside the ongoing national debate on Britain’s past, present and future within European and World affairs, Hogarth and his art has never been more relevant.In the summer of 1745, Prince Charles Edward Stuart ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’ landed with his supporters, the ‘Jacobites’, in a remote corner of Scotland. This signalled the start of his audacious military campaign, with the backing of Britain’s global adversary France andduring a Europe-wide war, to topple the Hanoverian, Protestant monarch George II and restore the Catholic Stuarts, exiled in France and then Rome since 1688, to the throne. The country descended into turmoil, with regional, local and family loyalty for these rival royal dynasties severely tested, and opposing visions for the new nation of Great Britain – since the Union of England and Scotland in 1707 – laid bare. By early December the prince and his 6,000 troops arrived in Derby, just 120 miles and five days’ march from London. For both sides everything was at stake.From the 1720s, through the crises of the early 1740s, to the civil war called the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion or Rising, Prince Charles’s defeat at Culloden in April 1746 and beyond, Hogarth created some of the most iconic images in British and European art, including Marriage A-La-Mode, O the Roast Beef of Old England (The Gate of Calais) and The March of the Guards to Finchley. Through such vibrant scenes, rich in topical commentary, he conveyed a sense of external threat (real and imagined) from foreign powers and internal political, social and cultural upheaval. At the same time he offered his fellow Britons a confident, reassuring idea of the rights and liberties they enjoyed under King George and his government: a flawed status quo, as Hogarth would readily admit, yet certainly better, he would argue, than the regime that would replace it under the ‘popish’ Stuarts as client monarchs of the self-serving French king, Louis XV.With British society and politics in flux, and the Union between Scotland and England arguably more vulnerable now than at any moment since 1746, the themes explored in Hogarth’s Britons have profound resonance with our own time.

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Having penned hundreds of letters to his family over four decades, Freeman Dyson has framed them with the reflections made by a man now in his nineties. While maintaining that “the letters record the daily life of an ordinary scientist doing ordinary work,” Dyson nonetheless has worked with many of the twentieth century’s most renowned physicists, mathematicians, and intellectuals, so that Maker of Patterns presents not only his personal story but chronicles through firsthand accounts an exciting era of twentieth-century science. Though begun in the dark year of 1941 when Hitler’s armies had already conquered much of Europe, Dyson’s letters to his parents, written at Trinity College, Cambridge, often burst with the curiosity of a precocious seventeen-year-old. Pursuing mathematics and physics with a cast of legendary professors, Dyson thrived in Cambridge’s intellectual ferment, working on, for example, the theory of partitions or reading about Kurt Gödel’s hypotheses, while still finding time for billiards and mountain climbing. After graduating and serving with the Royal Air Force’s Bomber Command operational research section, whose job it was “to demolish German cities and kill as many German civilians as possible,” Dyson visited a war-torn Germany, hoping through his experience to create a “tolerably peaceful world.” Juxtaposing descriptions of scientific breakthroughs with concerns for mankind’s future, Dyson’s postwar letters reflect the quandaries faced by an entire scientific generation that was dealing with the aftereffects of nuclear detonations and concentration camp killings. Arriving in America in 1947 to study with Cornell’s Hans Bethe, Dyson continued to send weekly missives to England that were never technical but written with grace and candor, creating a portrait of a generation that was eager, as Einstein once stated, to solve “deep mysteries that Nature intend[ed] to keep for herself.” We meet, among others, scientists like Richard Feynman, who took Dyson across country on Route 66, Robert Oppenheimer, Eugene Wigner, Niels Bohr, James Watson, and a young Stephen Hawking; and we encounter intellectuals and leaders, among them Reinhold Niebuhr, George Kennan, Arthur C. Clarke, as well as Martin Luther King, Jr. The “patterns of comparable beauty in the dance of electrons jumping around atoms” invariably replicate themselves in this autobiography told through letters, one that combines accounts of wanton arms development with the not-inconsiderable demands of raising six children. As we once again attempt to guide society toward a more hopeful future, these letters, with their reenactment of what, at first, seems like a distant past, reveal invaluable truths about human nature.

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What role do objects play in crafting the religions of Southeast Asia and shaping the experiences of believers? The Spirit of Things explores religious materiality in a region marked by shifting boundaries, multiple beliefs, and trends toward religious exclusivism. While most studies of religion in Southeast Asia focus on doctrines or governmental policy, contributors to this volume recognize that religious "things"—statues, talismans, garments, even sacred automobiles—are crucial to worship, and that they have a broad impact on social cohesion. By engaging with religion in its tangible forms, faith communities reiterate their essential narratives, allegiances, and boundaries, and negotiate their coexistence with competing belief systems. These ethnographic and historical studies of Southeast Asia furnish us with intriguing perspectives on wider debates concerning the challenges of secularization, pluralism, and interfaith interactions around the world. In this volume, contributors offer rich ethnographic analyses of religious practices in the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Burma that examine the roles materiality plays in the religious lives of Southeast Asians. These essays demonstrate that religious materials are embedded in a host of practices that enable the faithful to negotiate the often tumultuous experience of living amid other believers. What we see is that the call for plurality, often initiated by government, increases the importance of religious objects, as they are the means by which the distinctiveness of a particular faith is "fenced" in a field of competing religious discourses. This project is called "the spirit of things" to evoke both the "aura" of religious objects and the power of material things to manifest "that which is fundamental" about faith and belief. Contributors: Julius Bautista, National University of Singapore; Sandra Cate, San Jose State University, California; Margaret Chan, Singapore Management University; Liana Chua, Brunel University, London; Cecilia S. de la Paz, University of the Philippines (Diliman); Alexandra de Mersan, Centre Asie du Sud-Est (Paris) and Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales; Johan Fischer, Roskilde University, Denmark; Janet Hoskins, University of Southern California; Klemens Karlsson, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm; Laurel Kendall, American Museum of Natural History and Columbia University, New York City; H. Leedom Lefferts, Drew University and Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore; Nguyên Thi Thu Huong, Academic Council of the National Museum of History, Hanoi, and Vietnam Museum of Ethnology; Anthony Reid, Australian National University, University of California–Los Angeles, and National University of Singapore; Richard A. Ruth, United States Naval Academy; Kenneth Sillander, University of Helsinki; Vu Thi Thanh Tâm, Vietnam Museum of Ethnology; and Yeoh Seng Guan, Monash University, Malaysia

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For more than a century, Rolex has stood apart as the most legendary brand of watch in the world. A Rolex conveys many things: a luxury timepiece, a tool of power for movers and shakers and the symbol of passage into adulthood. New labels pop up, styles come and go, but the brand at the top never changes. Ever the record setter—the Daytona that had belonged to Paul Newman was auctioned by Phillips in New York in October 2017 for $17.8 million— it comes as no surprise that Rolex is the most collected watch brand in the world. The Vintage Watch Company is the only store of its kind in the world, with a devoted client base of devoted Rolex aficionados, from royalty to sporting legends to stars of the silver screen. Throughout, father and son, John and David Silver have been carefully cataloguing and amassing one of the largest pictorial records of vintage Rolex watches in the world. Published to celebrate the company's 25th anniversary in late 2020, the book contains a unique pictorial collection of vintage Rolex watches that have passed through the shop during the past 25 years. More than 1800 watches have been photographed and are described in detail in the book. From early Rolex pocket watches to the world’s first wristwatches, elegant in their simplicity yet revolutionary in their impact, to the very first Submariners, iconic Daytonas and jewel-encrusted Crown Collections, the mesmerizing archive of vintage timepieces charts the extraordinary rise of an extraordinary brand. Choose from the First Rolex Submariner, later coined the James Bond, or the Early GMT-Master made for Pan Am transatlantic pilots. Read about the First Explorers made famous by the 1953 Everest Expedition or the later Explorer II worn by Steve McQueen. Marvel at Early Vintage collections, from the Officer’s Pocket Watch to the Ladies’ Diamond; from the Oyster and the Stella & Stone collections, to the Sport Collection. This book is a perfect gift for all lovers of luxury retail as well as passionate collectors of Rolex watches who will want to read about the models they own.

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Excavations at Dryslwyn between 1980 and 1995 uncovered a masonry castle, founded in the late 1220s by Rhys Gryg for his son Maredudd ap Rhys, the first Lord of Dryslwyn. The first castle was a simple round tower and polygonal walled enclosure, within which were constructed a kitchen, prison and wood-framed, clay-floored great chamber beside a great hall. In the mid 13th century a second ward was added and the great chamber rebuilt in stone. This castle was greatly expanded in the period 1283-87 by Rhys ap Maredudd, the second and final Lord of Dryslwyn, who built an Outer Ward and gatehouse. He also rebuilt much of the Inner Ward, adding an extra storey to the great hall and great chamber, apartments and a chapel. At the end of the 13th century a large three-ward castle stretched along the eastern and southern edge of the hill while the rest of the hilltop was occupied by a settlement defended by a wall and substantial ditch with access through a gatehouse. This castle and its associated settlement were besieged and captured in 1287 by an English royal army of over 11,000 men following damage inflicted by a trebuchet and mining of the walls. Throughout the 14th century the English Crown garrisoned and repaired the castle, supervised by an appointed constable, before it was surrendered to Owain Glyn Dwr in 1403. During the early to mid 15th century the castle was deliberately walled up to deny its use to a potential enemy and it was subsequently looted and demolished. By the late 13th century, the castle had a white rendered and lime-washed appearance, creating a very dramatic and highly visible symbol of lordship. Internally, the lord's and guest apartments had decorative wall paintings and glazed windows. Evidence from charred beams still in situ, the sizes, shapes and distribution of nails, sheet lead, slates and postholes recovered during excavation has enabled some of the wooden as well as masonry buildings to be reconstructed. Waterlogged deposits had preserAt just 132 hectares (325 acres) the parish of Caldecote is one of the smallest parishes in Hertfordshire. Today the settlement comprises the manor house, until recently surrounded by a range of traditional farm buildings, together with six labourer's cottages and the church. To the north lies the site of the old rectory and the earthworks of a medieval settlement. In 1973 the Department of Environment and the Deserted Medieval Village Research Group arranged a rescue excavation to examine the earthworks of the medieval village before they were levelled and ploughed. Five crofts, the old rectory site and much of the moated enclosure were investigated in one of the largest excavations ever conducted on a later medieval rural site in Britain. Though the excavations did recover a Bronze Age beaker burial and small quantities of Roman and Iron Age pottery, the medieval settlement at Caldecote was probably founded in the 10th century, and by the time of the Domesday Survey there was a church, a priest and nine villeins. A moated site was added in the 13th century. A century later, Caldecote was granted to the abbots of the Benedictine monastery in St Albans, at a time when there were seventeen householders. Early in the second half of the 14th century, the estate and demesne were subdivided into six farms, each complete with a hall-house and two or more barns. Following the dissolution of the monastery in 1539, the manor was again held by an absentee lord and the farms continued to prosper. However, the late 16th and early 17th centuries, for which there are several surviving wills and inventories, saw their gradual abandonment.After the desertion of Caldecote Marish in 1698, Caldecote was farmed as a single unit until 1970, when the estate was attached to that adjoining the manor of Newnham. Of particular importance from Caldecote is the archaeological evidence for medieval peasant structures, the development of the later medieval domestic plan and the structural tra

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Process Engineering, the science and art of transforming raw materials and energy into a vast array of commercial materials, was conceived at the end of the 19th Century. Its history in the role of the Process Industries has been quite honorable, and techniques and products have contributed to improve health, welfare and quality of life. Today, industrial enterprises, which are still a major source of wealth, have to deal with new challenges in a global world. They need to reconsider their strategy taking into account environmental constraints, social requirements, profit, competition, and resource depletion. “Systems thinking” is a prerequisite from process development at the lab level to good project management. New manufacturing concepts have to be considered, taking into account LCA, supply chain management, recycling, plant flexibility, continuous development, process intensification and innovation. This book combines experience from academia and industry in the field of industrialization, i.e. in all processes involved in the conversion of research into successful operations. Enterprises are facing major challenges in a world of fierce competition and globalization. Process engineering techniques provide Process Industries with the necessary tools to cope with these issues. The chapters of this book give a new approach to the management of technology, projects and manufacturing. Contents Part 1: The Company as of Today 1. The Industrial Company: its Purpose, History, Context, and its Tomorrow?, Jean-Pierre Dal Pont. 2. The Two Modes of Operation of the Company – Operational and Entrepreneurial, Jean-Pierre Dal Pont. 3. The Strategic Management of the Company: Industrial Aspects, Jean-Pierre Dal Pont. Part 2: Process Development and Industrialization 4. Chemical Engineering and Process Engineering, Jean-Pierre Dal Pont. 5. Foundations of Process Industrialization, Jean-François Joly. 6. The Industrialization Process: Preliminary Projects, Jean-Pierre Dal Pont and Michel Royer. 7. Lifecycle Analysis and Eco-Design: Innovation Tools for Sustainable Industrial Chemistry, Sylvain Caillol. 8. Methods for Design and Evaluation of Sustainable Processes and Industrial Systems, Catherine Azzaro-Pantel. 9. Project Management Techniques: Engineering, Jean-Pierre Dal Pont. Part 3: The Necessary Adaptation of the Company for the Future 10. Japanese Methods, Jean-Pierre Dal Pont. 11. Innovation in Chemical Engineering Industries, Oliver Potier and Mauricio Camargo. 12. The Place of Intensified Processes in the Plant of the Future, Laurent Falk. 13. Change Management, Jean-Pierre Dal Pont. 14. The Plant of the Future, Jean-Pierre Dal Pont.

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In this book from the critically acclaimed, multimillion-copy bestselling Little People, BIG DREAMS series, discover the incredible life of Mozart, world-renowned classical musician and composer. Wolfgang Mozart first started playing the keyboard at just three years old. Inspired by his sister’s talent, little Wolfgang soon mastered several instruments and was even writing his own musical compositions. As a young boy, he travelled from city to city with his father and sister, playing for Europe’s royal families and delighting them with his talents. When his father fell ill, and Wolfgang had to keep quiet in their home, he wrote a whole symphony from just hearing the instruments in his head! As he grew, Mozart pushed the boundaries of western music and created exciting masterpieces: from dances and masses to symphonies and operas. Wolfgang wrote over 600 pieces during his short life. Wolfgang became a world-renowned musician and composer, known for his prodigious talent and ability to write across a wide variety of styles. His music has become a key part of western music education, and continues to inspire young musicians to keep playing and practicing their instruments. Today, Wolfgang’s music still delights audiences across the world, from the smallest school hall to the biggest opera house. This inspiring book features stylish and quirky illustrations and extra facts at the back, including a biographical timeline with historical photos and a detailed profile of the incredible musician and composer’s lifeLittle People, BIG DREAMS is a bestselling biography series for kids that explores the lives of outstanding people, from designers and artists to scientists and activists. All of them achieved incredible things, yet each began life as a child with a dream. This empowering series of books offers inspiring messages to children of all ages, in a range of formats. The board books are told in simple sentences, perfect for reading aloud to babies and toddlers. The hardback and paperback versions present expanded stories for beginning readers. With rewritten text for older children, the treasuries each bring together a multitude of dreamers in a single volume. You can also collect a selection of the books by theme in boxed gift sets. Activity books and a journal provide even more ways to make the lives of these role models accessible to children.Inspire the next generation of outstanding people who will change the world with Little People, BIG DREAMS!

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Insight Guides Explore BudapestTravel made easy. Ask local experts.Focused travel guide featuring the very best routes and itineraries, now with free eBook.Part of our UEFA Euro 2020 guidebook series. If you're planning to visit Puskás Aréna in Budapest to watch Euro 2020 matches, then this pocket guidebook provides all the information you need to make the most of your trip, from ready-made itineraries to help you explore the city when you're not at the game, to essential advice about getting around. Discover the best of Budapest with this unique travel guide, packed full of insider information and stunning images. From making sure you don't miss out on must-see, top attractions like the Royal Palace, Margaret Island and the Grand Synagogue, to discovering cultural gems, including a stroll down Andrássy Avenue, drinking in one of Budapest's vibrant ruin bars or taking a dip in Széchenyi Baths, the easy-to-follow, ready-made walking routes will save you time, and help you plan and enhance your visit to Budapest.Features of this travel guide to Budapest:- 10 walks and tours: detailed itineraries feature all the best places to visit, including where to eat and drink along the way- Local highlights: discover the area's top attractions and unique sights, and be inspired by stunning imagery- Historical and cultural insights: immerse yourself in Budapest's rich history and culture, and learn all about its people, art and traditions- Insider recommendations: discover the best hotels, restaurants and nightlife using our comprehensive listings- Practical full-colour map: with every major sight and listing highlighted, the full-colour maps make on-the-ground navigation easy- Key tips and essential information: packed full of important travel information, from transport and tipping to etiquette and hours of operation- The ultimate travel tool: download the free app and eBook to access all this and more from your phone or tablet- Covers: Castle Hill; Parliament; The Jewish Quarter; Andrássy Avenue; City Park; The Palace District; Margaret Island; South Pest; South Buda; Buda HillsLooking for a comprehensive guide to Hungary? Check out Insight Guides Hungary for a detailed and entertaining look at all the country has to offer.About Insight Guides: Insight Guides is a pioneer of full-colour guide books, with almost 50 years' experience of publishing high-quality, visual travel guides with user-friendly, modern design. We produce around 400 full-colour print guide books and maps as well as phrase books, picture-packed eBooks and apps to meet different travellers' needs. Insight Guides' unique combination of beautiful travel photography and focus on history and culture create a unique visual reference and planning tool to inspire your next adventure.

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This is the dramatic, often erratic, and at times unbelievable story of the fortunes and misfortunes over 900 years to the present day of one of England’s premier aristocratic families, who in 1661 were given the Earldom of Essex by Charles II. This fascinating, previously untold story begins just after the Norman Conquest with a Hugh Capel in AD 1100 and ends at the present day, with Frederick Paul de Vere Capell, 11th Earl of Essex and the future heir presumptive, William Jennings Capell, a former shelf stacker, who lives in Yuba City, California. Over a period of 400 years the Capell family built a fortune, and over the next 500 years lost it due to an incredible number of mistakes bad judgment calls, and misfortunes. Lord Arthur Capel, one of England’s richest men, changed sides from Parliament to support Charles I, and after a further series of poor decisions, was executed at Palace Yard, Westminster at the age of 41 in 1649 by the same executioner, using the same axe as had executed King Charles I barely three months earlier. His son, also Arthur Capel, created 1st Earl of Essex by Charles II became involved in a plot against the king, and was mysteriously found with his throat cut whilst awaiting trial in the Tower of London. Did he commit suicide to avoid the consequences of treason and to save the estates and titles for his son? Conspiracy theories abounded. The king commented sadly that he owed the Earl’s father had died for his father, and he owed him a life and would have spared him. Arthur’s young son became the 3rd Earl and went down in history as `the most debauched young man in London.’ The long-lived 5th Earl had numerous mistresses and, as a close friend of the debauched Prince Regent, shared a well-known courtesan, Mrs Robinson with the Prince. Unhappily married, with no legitimate male heir, living at the family seat, Cassiobury in Watford, at the age of 81 he married secondly a 44-year-old actress and died shortly afterwards, accompanied to the grave by some very irreverent press comments. The three-times-married 6th Earl, whose father was a bankrupt debauched gambler, had an illegitimate son, George Ingerfield Capel, who had an illegitimate daughter who was the mistress of the `Sundance Kid.’ The 7th Earl, in 1892 struggling to keep Cassiobury and the family fortunes together married a title-hunting American heiress, Adele Beach Grant, who was not really an heiress, and who became a member of the Edwardian `fast set’. Her alcoholic husband, known as `sulky’ stepped in front of a cab outside his London club in 1916 and was killed. Adele was found mysteriously dead in the bath in 1922. Her step-son the 8th Earl had eloped with and married young, and by the 1920s the extensive family estates had to be sold. The much-married 9th Earl died heirless in Bermuda in 1966. A contest broke out over whom should now inherit the titles. Robert Edward de Vere Capel, the next Earl, born in 1920 was the son of a railway parcel porter and was a Royal Air Force flight sergeant during the Second World War. He fought a dramatic battle to prove his right to the Earldom. His son, Frederick Paul de Vere Capell, the 11th Earl of Essex, who lives modestly not far from Lancaster, is a retired assistant schoolmaster and a classical music devotee. He has no children and unless the inheritance laws change, the title will one day go to his American cousins in Yuba City, California.

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The central position of the province of Cuenca, Spain, was a decisive factor in its relationship with Toledo, the capital of the Visigothic kingdom. Also, its location meant that, from the middle of the 6th Century, it was directly affected by some of the most relevant historical episodes of those times: the foundation of the royal city of Reccopoli, the establishment of the Servitanus monastery, the transformation of Toledo as the metropolitan seat of the Carthaginian province and the military campaigns against the imperial forces. Parallel to this, archaeological excavations document a process of disrupting the old urban centres in favour of small populations within their municipal territory. This process was resolved with a shift of power centres towards other cities supported by the political power of Toledo: Toledo itself in the case of Segobriga, Reccopoli in the Arcavica’s case and Illunum to the detriment of Valeria. In this way, the ancient Roman cities were reduced to serve as a symbolic reference of the small villages that developed in the shadow of the old urban centres. This volume presents a historical and archaeological study of the province of Cuenca in Late Antiquity. The study concludes with an examination of the archaeological collection from the province, which has been divided into three large groups: monumental sculpture and epigraphic items, ceramic productions and metalwork arts. The first group is mainly constituted by the findings made in the excavations of Cabeza de Griego (Segobriga). Most of the pottery productions correspond to vessels placed as funerary deposits. Due to the absence of excavations, the ceramics for kitchen and storage use are hardly represented, whereas there is an overrepresentation of types destined for use as libations or offerings. Finally, most of the elements of industrial arts correspond to elements of the Latin-Mediterranean fashion or Byzantine style of the 7th Century. The almost total absence of materials corresponding to the Pontic-Danubian fashion also should be noted. | La posición central de la provincia de Cuenca ha sido el factor determinante en su relación con Toledo, la capital del reino visigodo. Esta situación fue la causa también de que, desde mediados del siglo VI, se viera directamente afectada por algunos de los episodios históricos más relevantes del momento: la fundación de la ciudad regia de Recópolis, el establecimiento del monasterio Servitano, la transformación de Toledo en sede metropolitana de la provincia cartaginesa y las campañas militares contra los ejércitos imperiales. De forma paralela, las excavaciones arqueológicas documentan un proceso de desestructuración de los antiguos centros urbanos a favor de pequeñas poblaciones de su territorio. Este proceso se resolvió con un cambio de centros de poder hacia otras ciudades apoyadas por el poder político de Toledo: Toledo mismo en el caso de Segóbriga, Recópolis en el caso de Arcávica e Illunum en detrimento de Valeria. De este modo, las ciudades romanas quedaron reducidas servir como referentes simbólicos de las pequeñas poblaciones que se desarrollaron a la sombra de los antiguos centros urbanos. El presente trabajo se completa con el estudio de la colección arqueológica procedente de la provincia, que se ha dividido en tres grandes grupos: escultura monumental y epigrafía, producciones cerámicas y artes industriales. El primer grupo está constituido principalmente por los hallazgos realizados en las excavaciones de Cabeza de Griego (Segóbriga). Por otro lado, la mayoría de las producciones de cerámica corresponden a vasijas colocadas como depósitos funerarios. Debido a la ausencia de excavaciones, la cerámica de cocina y de almacenamiento apenas aparece representada, mientras que hay una sobrerrepresentación de tipos destinados a libaciones u ofrendas. Finalmente, la mayoría de los materiales de las artes industriales corresponden a elementos de la moda latino-mediterránea o del estilo bizantino del siglo VII. La ausencia casi total de materiales correspondientes a la moda póntico-danubiana es sumamente significativa.

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Roaming Wild details the unconventional and pioneering lives of Anna and Peter Roberts, a British couple who were instrumental in making the animal welfare movement a respectable, highly-impactful and worldwide organisation. This book explores the paths that led Anna and Peter to found and steward what is now the world's largest and most successful animal welfare charity from a backroom of their own home, with few funds, and at a time when caring for animals and our planet was seen as 'crankish' and 'sentimental'. This is the story of their family, their era, influence, their rebellion and prophetic ideas and the development of Compassion in World Farming. It spans the period from the early 1920s when they were born, throughout the decades of their childhoods and World War II, to their highly romantic meeting and marriage in the 1950s, and then the next years of their lives as dairy and chicken farmers in rural Hampshire. This 'ordinary' part of their story preceded their move to change everything by making the 'extraordinary' decision during the tumultuous 1960s, of risking their livelihood, going vegetarian (as animal farmers), and losing the approval of their peers, to found their compassion-driven campaign. This personal transformation was at a time when the British countryside was also transforming, irrevocably and for the worse, when intensive, polluting farms were just taking root, the cruel battery and broiler system had recently been developed, and the countryside's biodiversity was being destroyed with the implementation of monoculture and the profligate spraying of lethal biocides, such as DDT. The Roberts were at first rejected by the popular animal charities of the day; believing that the public cared only about companion animals or those in circuses, rather than those animals who suffer the most at human hands - those in the food chain - and so the Roberts family went out alone and set up CIWF in the face of much public derision. Then followed the highs and lows of campaign life, a court battle with an order of veal-farming Catholic monks, famine campaigns in Ethiopia, work alongside comedian Spike Milligan, model Celia Hammond and philosopher Peter Singer, challenging EU legislation, and battles with agricultural and chemical giant Monsanto. Corporate giants like McDonald's were influenced to go free-range, even the British Royal family was challenged to go free-range, and animals were put on the agenda of every major political party in the 1970s and much more. The story interweaves the personal with the political and documents the highs and lows of family life, the judgement faced when they chose to raise their three daughters as vegetarians in the 1960s, their myriad spiritual quests, including the couple's time spent in the Indian ashram of Sathya Sai Baba, their rewilding of the land near their family home, and the story of their fifty-year love. This is a tale of an 'ordinary couple with an extraordinary vision'.

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A Country Life 'Best Book of the Year' 2023The Times Book of the Week * * * 'I could read Martin Williams all day. He is a staggeringly communicative historian; this book throws shafts of light on recent history almost repeating itself, giving vivid glimpses into monarchy and the way things were, and are. Compulsory reading.' --- Dame Joanna Lumley'A social historian and gifted storyteller, Williams is by turns moved and amused as he reflects on the poignancy and rituals of a nation united (pretty much) in grief...' --- The Times'adroitly-written...[told by Williams] so skilfully, and with such silken prose, that it's a pleasure to spend the time inside his head' --- The Oldie'delightful details...to rekindle this vanished epoch' --- Country Life'Vivid, panoramic, skilfully written, this gripping book is an insight into a time and an age'. --- Kate Williams'Martin Williams has written a fascinating and absorbing account of the Edwardian era, the demise and funeral of the King, and the iconic Black Ascot that followed it. He has brought a lost age grippingly to light'. --- Hugo Vickers'witty, informative and immensely readable... captures the spirit of the times'. --- Miranda Seymour'A tour de force'. --- Dr Kate Strasdin'We tend to think that Cecil Beaton single-handedly invented the Edwardian Age. Martin Williams shows us succinctly and elegantly that perhaps it was the King himself.' --- Nicky Haslam'... moves with unflagging wit and style. A fresh perspective on a brilliant life and a lost era beautifully evoked, it is impossible not to be swept away by this gem of a book. Pure pleasure.' --- Robin Muir'a must-have... a wonderful and thought-provoking read.' --- The Historian'...a book about a changed and changing world trying to cope with even more change...beautifully written [and] timely' --- The Catholic Herald'...resonates powerfully with our own recent experience of collective mourning...Williams describes the king's gradual demise in evocative detail.' --- Air MailUnforgettable as it was, the public response to the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September 2022 was not without precedent. When her great-grandfather King Edward VII - glamorous, cosmopolitan and extraordinarily popular - died in May 1910, the political, social and cultural anxieties of a nation in turmoil were temporarily set aside during a summer of intense and ritualised mourning.In The King is Dead, Long Live the King! Martin Williams charts a period of tension and transition as one era slipped away and another took shape. Witnessed by a diverse but interconnected cast of characters - crowned heads and Cabinet ministers, debutantes and suffragettes, artists and murderers - here is the swansong of Edwardian Britain. Set against a backdrop of bereavement and parliamentary crisis overshadowed by the gathering clouds of war, we see a people caught between past and future, tradition and modernity, as they unite to bid farewell to a much-loved monarch who had personified his age. From Buckingham Palace to Bloomsbury, and from the lying-in-state in Westminster Hall to a now legendary Royal Ascot enveloped in black, this is a vivid evocation of a world on the brink of seismic upheaval.

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A sumptuous monograph presenting for the first time the extraordinarily imaginative and delightful work of visionary artist Renaldo Kuhler (American, 1931–2013). The Secret World of Renaldo Kuhler catapults a thrilling new discovery into the pantheon of the most accomplished visionary—or “outsider”—artists. Like Henry Darger, Howard Finster, George Widener, and Adolf Wölfli, Renaldo Kuhler was an exceptionally gifted artist and possessed an imagination all his own. By day Kuhler was a self-taught scientific illustrator under the employ of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, for which he created thousands of wonderfully precise illustrations of myriad natural history specimens—reptiles, fish, turtles, and the like. Renaldo Kuhler was an unusual individual, as was instantly clear from his appearance alone. Six-foot-four, with a white beard and ponytail, he wore a custom-tailored uniform consisting of a sleeveless Kelly green suit jacket with wide, black, notched lapels, epaulets, and brass buttons, a matching suit vest, yellow flannel dress shirt, a fleur-de-lis Boy Scout neckerchief, and tight-fitting knee-length shorts (“cotton-blend lederhosen”). However, unbeknownst even to family, friends, and coworkers, Kuhler was more than an eccentric, gifted scientific illustrator. He was a prolific visionary artist, who, as a teenager in the late 1940s, invented an imaginary country he named Rocaterrania—after Rockland County, New York, where he had lived as a child. For the next sixty years, in secret, he illustrated the nation’s entire history and the prominent characters of its populace. Rocaterrania is a fantastical world, a richly illustrated amalgam of Kuhler’s personal cultural and aesthetic fascinations. Situated just north of the Adirondacks in New York, at the Canada–United States border, Rocaterrania is a sovereign nation of immigrants, from Scandinavia to Eastern Europe. Kuhler invented a complete world populated by a royal family and a succession of leaders resembling historical Russian figures, Women reminiscent of Marlene Dietrich and Janet Leigh play important roles as do bearded men of a seeming Hasidic Jewish heritage, men bearing curious physical similarities to American presidents, and neutants—individuals neither male nor female. Amid forests, mountains, lakes, and rivers, Kuhler’s imaginary country is made up of provinces and cities filled with distinctive Rocaterranian architecture and well-planned railroad and metro systems. Its government is unique, and it has its own religion, Ojallism, and its own evolving language and alphabet. With an organized labor service, a prison system (modeled after a New Jersey state penitentiary), a university system, a Rocaterranian Olympics, and an independent movie industry, Rocaterrania is a nation bustling with dozens of characters and their intrigues. Initially meant to be an escape, Kuhler's Rocaterrania became a secret lifelong obsession, an intricately coded, metaphorical account through Rocaterrania’s tumultuous history, which dovetailed with Kuhler’s own struggles for independence and freedom. Renaldo was the son of the German-born industrial designer Otto Kuhler, renowned for his Art Deco–era streamlined trains; his Belgian mother had little patience for her son, who was ostracized and bullied throughout his life for being “different.” The Kuhler family moved in 1948 from Rockland County, New York, to a remote cattle ranch in the Colorado Rockies—an unbearably isolated environment for the teenaged Renaldo. Retreating to his sketchbooks, journals, and watercolors to invent his imaginary nation of Rocaterrania, young Kuhler wrote, “The ability to fantasize is the ability to survive.” The Secret World of Renaldo Kuhler is filled with more than 400 illustrations in pencil, ink, acrylic, oil, gouache, watercolor, colored pencils, and markers, demonstrating Kuhler’s phenomenal draftsmanship and wide range of style—from delicately shaded graphite works to comic-book ink drawings. Complementing Kuhler’s impressive artistry is his gift for analogical thinking, which flowered in his appropriation and reimagining of personalities, places, and events from world history to form a cohesive and fully imagined world. After decades of secrecy, Kuhler eventually first shared his work and the story of his imaginary country with filmmaker Brett Ingram, whom he met by chance in the mid-1990s. In 2009 Ingram released Rocaterrania, a feature-length documentary with prized footage of Kuhler at home and at work, and talking about his creation. With The Secret World of Renaldo Kuhler Ingram has written the complete story of Rocaterrania as relayed to him over time by Kuhler, resulting in a fascinating, highly entertaining first and major book about this rare, newly discovered, full-blown visionary outsider artist.

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Selei City is the capital of the Imerialte and one of the most desired locales in all of the Skolian Empire. But its thin veneer of civilization is cracked when a series of brutal crimes implicates those in political power in a vast conspiracy. Three prominent scientists have lost their lives to a serial killer—and notes at the scenes of the crimes lead to a connection to the Royalist political party. Major Bhaajan, former military officer turned private detective, is called back to Selei City to solve the crime. Bhaaj and her crew of Undercity Dust Knights plunge into the Byzantine world of Imperial politics—a jigsaw world where none of the pieces seem to fit. As the assassination plot becomes more and more convoluted, Bhaaj is kidnapped, threatened with death, and must fight for her life against the growing number of people threatened by her investigation. Bhaaj has faced all this and more, but now she must deal with something far deadlier—interstellar politics. About The Vanished Seas: “Catherine Asaro continues exploring the underbelly of her baroque, decadent Skolian Empire with this latest adventure of Major Bhaajan, private eye to the highest nobility. . . . It’s a story full of intrigue, mystery, and action. Along with Asaro’s trademark deeply human characters and intricate politics comes a noir-flavored plot that drips with menace and secrets. Major Bhaajan is a compelling character, smart and sympathetic, and both the squalid Undercity and the decadent City of Cries are engrossing. Those who are familiar with the Skolian Empire will find much to like here. For those who aren’t, the Major Bhaajan books make a fine jumping-on point to this vast and convoluted universe.”—Analog About the Major Bhaajan series: “. . . riveting. . . . The world is rich and vivid, with two distinct cultures in the Undercity and the aboveground City of Cries. This exciting novel stands alone for anyone who enjoys science fiction adventure.”—Publishers Weekly starred review “Asaro plants herself firmly into that grand SF tradition of future history franchises favored by luminaries like Heinlein, Asimov, Herbert, Anderson, Dickson, Niven, Cherryh, and Baxter . . . They don't write em like that anymore! Except Asaro does, with . . . up-to-the-minute savvy!”—Locus “Baahjan, who starts out keeping an emotional distance from the people in the Undercity soon grows to think of them as her community once more. Asaro . . . returns to the Skolian empire's early history to tell Bhaajan's story.”—Booklist “Asaro delivers a tale rich with the embedded history of her world and bright with technical marvels. Her characters are engaging and intriguing and there is even a bit of romance. What really touched my heart was Bhaaj's interaction with the children of the aqueducts. I spent the last fifty pages of the book sniffling into a tissue.”—SFcrowsnest “I‘m hooked, both on her writing and her Skolian universe. This book had everything I wanted: strong characters, a new and unique world, and a plot that isn't as simple as it first appears.”—TerryTalk About the Skolian Saga: “Entertaining mix of hard SF and romance.”—Publishers Weekly “Asaro’s Skolian saga is now nearly as long and in many ways as compelling as Dune, if not more so, featuring a multitude of stronger female characters.”—Booklist “Rapid pacing and gripping suspense.”—Publishers Weekly

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The story of the Great Liners begins on the Atlantic route between the Old World and the New, between Europe and the United States. It was the most prestigious, most progressive and certainly most competitive ocean liner run of all time. It was on the North Atlantic that the largest, fastest and indeed grandest passenger ships were created. In this book, William Miller concentrates for the most part on these Atlantic superliners. It has been a race, sometimes fierce, that has continued for well over a century. Smaller passenger ships, even ones of 30,000 and 40,000 tons, are for the most part left to other books. The story begins even earlier, in 1889, when Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II visited his grandmother, Queen Victoria, and attended the British Naval Review at Spithead. The British were more than pleased to show off not only the mightiest naval vessels afloat, but the biggest passenger ships then afloat, namely the 10,000-ton 'Teutonic' of the White Star Line. These ships caught the Kaiser's royal eye. His enthusiasm, his determination and, assuredly, his jealousies were aroused. Her returned to his homeland determined that Germany should have bigger and better ships.The world must know, he theorized, that Imperial Germany had reached new and higher technological heights. To the Kaiser and other envious Germans, the British had, quite simply, had a monopoly on the biggest ships long enough. British engineers and even shipyard crews were recruited, teaching German shipbuilders the key components of a new generation of larger ships. Shipyards at Bremen, Hamburg and Stettin were soon ready. It would all take eight years, however, before the first big German liner would be completed. She would be large enough and fast enough to be dubbed the world's first "super liner". She would only be the biggest vessel built in Germany, but the biggest afloat. The nation's most prominent shipowners, the Hamburg America Line and the North German Lloyd, were both deeply interested. It was the Lloyd, however, which rose first to the occasion. Enthusiastically and optimistically, the first ship was the first of a successive quartet. The illustrious Vulkan Shipyard at Stettin was given the prized contract. Triumph seemed to be in the air! The Kaiser himself went to the launching, on 3 May 1897, of this new Imperial flagship.Designed with four funnels but grouped in pairs, the 655-ft long ship was named 'Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse', honoring the Emperor's grandfather. With the rattle of chains, the release of the building blocks and then the tumultuous roar as the unfinished hull hit the water, this launching was the beginning of the Atlantic race for supremacy, which would last for some 70 years. Only after the first arrival of the trans-Atlantic jet in October 1958 would the race quiet down. The 'Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse' was the great beginning, the start of a superb fleet of what has been dubbed "ocean greyhounds" and later aptly called the "floating palaces". Worried and cautious, the normally contented British referred to the brand new Kaiser as a "German monster".

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London's suburbs are home to many thousands of people who travel into the centre every day to work, but they also house many thousands who rarely find a reason to do so. They contain all the essential infrastructure for the city, too, including airports, offices, shopping centre, factories and warehouses. Outer London is therefore both metropolitan and suburban at the same time - it is Metroburbia. In this book Paul Knox examines the architectural history and development of London's suburbs, and celebrates their surprising variety and organized structure, refuting the common claim that they are monotonous or amorphous. The first chapter, The Foundations of Metroburbia, explains the foundation and development of Metroburbia and looks at how topography and geology influenced the siting of the villages that would become part of Greater London. The River Thames, of course, is one of London's most important and well-known structural elements, and in this chapter Knox examines how its meanders and bends have produced distinct patterns of settlement and development. He also describes in detail the seven distinctive sectors of London, which are (running clockwise from the west) the Thames Valley, Northwest London, North London, the Lea Valley, Northeast London, the Thames Estuary and South London. Finally, he looks at how early settlements, country estates and royal palaces shaped Metroburbia, and how the increase in roads and industry consolidated the development of what would become suburbia. Chapter 2, Pattern-book London, looks at Victorian and Edwardian suburbs - the first developments to be given that name. The building booms and their effect on employment in the city, and the difference in style and purpose between the various suburbs, are discussed, and Knox also examines the effects of immigration and industrialization on the city's housing requirements. He also describes the genesis of the parks, cemeteries and garden villages that now provide such valuable green space for Londoners, and the creation of the impressive industrial, civic and institutional buildings that are still striking parts of the city's infrastructure. Chapter 3, Inter-war Suburbia: Metro-Land and the Universal Plan, describes the acceleration of building projects between the wars and the beginning of the transition from Edwardian society to the modern welfare state. The term 'Metro-Land', introduced by the Metropolitan Railway Company in the early twentieth century, gives the chapter its title, and describes the expansion of residential London along the route of the Underground lines into Buckinghamshire. The effect of widespread car ownership is discussed, and the various housing styles - Stockbroker Tudor, Suburban Moderne, the mansion block, and so on - are described. The fourth chapter, Secular Reformation and Modernism, covers the thirty years from the end of the Second World War, during which time the welfare state brought about radical changes to life in London and the architecture of the city. Chapter 5, Counter-Reformation, describes the changes wrought on the country by the new neo-liberal agenda, as the welfare state was overtaken by a market-driven economy that fostered free-for-all development. By this time Metroburbia had spread outwards to incorporate Chelmsford, Southend-on-Sea, Maidstone, Guildford, Reading and Luton. This was an era of radical new infrastructure projects - from the rise of the suburban shopping centre to the construction of the new Thames Barrier - and huge increases in house prices. The regeneration of the Isle of Dogs into the Docklands commercial area is one of the most high-profile developments of the era, but infill house-building and small-scale environmental developments were also produced, and social housing regenerated. Finally, the last chapter, Megapolitan Futures, explores the various theories about the capital's future and conjectures about the shape of the city in the twenty-first century.

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'A dazzling chronicle, a bracing challenge to modernity's smug assumptions' - Bryce Christensen, Booklist'O what a world of profit and delightOf power, of honour and omnipotenceIs promised to the studious artisan.'Christopher Marlowe, Dr FaustusBetween the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, Europe changed out of all recognition and particularly transformative were the ardent quest for knowledge and the astounding discoveries and inventions which resulted from it. The movement of blood round the body; the movement of the earth round the sun; the velocity of falling objects (and, indeed, why objects fall) - these and numerous other mysteries had been solved by scholars in earnest pursuit of scientia. Several keys were on offer to thinkers seeking to unlock the portal of the unknown:Folk religion had roots deep in the pagan past. Its devotees sought the aid of spirits. They had stores of ancient wisdom, particularly relating to herbal remedies. Theirs was the world of wise women, witches, necromancers, potions and incantations.Catholicism had its own magic and its own wisdom. Dogma was enshrined in the collective wisdom of the doctors of the church and the rigid scholastic system of teaching. Magic resided in the ranks of departed saints and the priestly miracle of the mass.Alchemy was at root a desire to understand and to exploit the material world. Practitioners studied the properties of natural substances. A whole system of knowledge was built on the theory of the four humours.Astrology was based on the belief that human affairs were controlled by the movement of heavenly bodies. Belief in the casting of horoscopes was almost universal.Natural Philosophy really began with Francis Bacon and his empirical method. It was the beginning of science 'proper' because it was based on observation and not on predetermined theory.Classical Studies. University teaching was based on the quadrivium - which consisted largely of rote learning the philosophy and science current in the classical world (Plato, Aristotle, Galen, Ptolemy, etc.). Renaissance scholars reappraised these sources of knowledge.Islamic and Jewish Traditions. The twelfth-century polymath, Averroes, has been called 'the father of secular thought' because of his landmark treatises on astronomy, physics and medicine. Jewish scholars and mystics introduced the esoteric disciplines of the Kabbalah.New Discoveries. Exploration connected Europeans with other peoples and cultures hitherto unknown, changed concepts about the nature of the planet, and led to the development of navigational skills.These 'sciences' were not entirely self-contained. For example physicians and theologians both believed in the casting of horoscopes. Despite popular myth (which developed 200 years later), there was no perceived hostility between faith and reason. Virtually all scientists and philosophers before the Enlightenment worked, or tried to work, within the traditional religious framework. Paracelsus, Descartes, Newton, Boyle and their compeers proceeded on the a príori notion that the universe was governed by rational laws, laid down by a rational God.. This certainly did not mean that there were no conflicts between the upholders of different types of knowledge. Dr Dee's neighbours destroyed his laboratory because they believed he was in league with the devil. Galileo famously had his run-in with the Curia.By the mid-seventeenth century 'science mania' had set in; the quest for knowledge had become a pursuit of cultured gentlemen. In 1663 The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge received its charter. Three years later the French Academy of Sciences was founded. Most other European capitals were not slow to follow suit. In 1725 we encounter the first use of the word 'science' meaning 'a branch of study concerned either with a connected body of demonstrated truths or with observed facts systematically classified'. Yet, it was only nine years since the last witch had been executed in Britain - a reminder that, although the relationship of people to their environment was changing profoundly, deep-rooted fears and attitudes remained strong.

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The facts of Alexander's life are extraordinary, and it's no surprise that two major Hollywood films on his life are in production. Born Alexander III, king of Macedonia, and the first king to be called "the Great," he was born in 356 BC and brought up as crown prince. Taught for a time by Aristotle, he acquired a love for Homer and an infatuation with the heroic age. When his father Philip divorced Olympias to marry a younger princess, Alexander fled. Although allowed to return, he remained isolated and insecure untilP hilip's mysterious assassination about June 336. Alexander was at once presented to the army as king. Winning its support, he eliminated all potential rivals. No sooner had Alexander ascended the throne, than the Illyeians and other Northern tribes, which had been subdued by his father Philip, erupted into Macedonia, but they were quickly dispatched by the armies of Alexander. Some Grecian states, with Athens and Thebes at their head, thinking this a favorable oppurtunity, attempted to shake off the macedonia yoke; but the sudden appearance of the youthful Alexander in their midst soon put an end to all resistance. Thebes was taken by strom and razed to the ground, only the house of the poet Pindar and several other dwellings being spared; and the inhabitants were sold into slavery. Athens and the other Greek states immeaditly submitted, and were generously pardoned by Alexander. Then he took up Philip's war of aggression against Persia, adopting his slogan of a Hellenic Crusadeagainst the barbarian. He defeated the small force defending Anatolia, proclaimed freedom for the Greek cities there while keeping them under tight control, and, after a campaign through the Anatolian highlands (to impress the tribesmen), met and defeated the Persian army under Darius III at Issus (near modern Iskenderun, Turkey). He occupied Syria and--after a long siege ofTyreE--Phoenicia, then entered Egypt, where he was accepted as Pharaoh. From there he visited the famous Libyan oracle of Amon (or Ammon,identified by the Greeks with Zeus). The oracle hailed him as Amon's son (two Greek oracles confirmed him as son of Zeus) and promised him that he would become a god. His faith in Amon kept increasing, and after his death he was portrayed with the god's horns. After organizing Egypt and founding Alexandria, Alexander crossed the Eastern Desert and the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, and in the autumn of331 defeated Darius's grand army at Gaugamela (near modern Irbil, Iraq). Darius fled to the mountain residence of Ecbatana, while Alexander occupied Babylon, the imperial capital Susa, and Persepolis. Alexander acted as legitimate king of Persia, and to win the support ofthe Iranian aristocracy he appointed mainly Iranians as provincial governors. Yet a major uprising in Greece delayed him at Persepolis until May 330 and then, before leaving, he destroyed the great palace complex as a gesture to the Greeks. At Ecbatana, after hearing that the rebellion had failed, he proclaimed the end of the Hellenic Crusade and discharged the Greek forces. He then pursued Darius, who had turned eastward. Darius was assassinated by Bessus, the satrap of Bactria, who distrusted his will to keep fighting and proclaimed himself king. As a result, Alexander faced years of guerrilla war in northeastern Iran and central Asia, which ended only when he married (327) Rozana, the daughter of a localchieftain. The whole area was fortified by a network of military settlements, some of which later developed into major cities. During these years, Alexander's increasing preoccupation outside of Greece led to trouble with Macedonian nobles and some Greeks. Parmenion, Philip II's senior general, and his family originally had a stranglehold on the army, but Alexander gradually weakened its grip. Late in 330, Parmenion's oldestson, Philotas, commander of the cavalry and chief opponent of the king's new policies, was eliminated in a carefully staged coup d'etat, and Parmenion was assassinated. Another noble, Cleitus, was killed by Alexander himself in a drunken brawl. (Heavy drinking was acherished tradition at the Macedonian court.) Alexander next demanded that Europeans follow the Oriental etiquette of prostrating themselves before the king--which he knew was regarded as an act of worship by Greeks. But resistance by Macedonian officers and by the Greek Callisthenes (a nephew of Aristotle who had joined the expedition as the official historian of the crusade) defeated the attempt. Callisthenes was then executed on a charge of conspiracy. With discipline restored, Alexander invaded (327) the Punjab. After conquering most of it, he was stopped from pressing on to the distant Ganges by a mutiny of the soldiers. Turning south, he marched down to the mouth of the Indus, engaging in some of the heaviest fighting and bloodiest massacres of the war. He was nearly killed while assaulting a town. On reaching the Indian Ocean, he sent the Greek oooooofficer Nearchus with a fleet to explore the coastal route to Mesopotamia. Part of the army returned by a tolerable land route, while Alexander, with the rest,marched back through the desert of southern Iran, chiefly to emulate various mythical figures said to have done this. He emerged safely in the winter of 325-24, after the worst sufferings and losses of the entire campaign, to find his personal control over the heart of the empire weakened by years of absence and rumors of his death. On his return, he executed several of his governors and senior officers and replaced others. In the spring of 324, Alexander held a great victory celebration at Susa. He, and 80 close associates, married Iranian noblewomen. In addition, he legitimized previous so-called marriages between soldiers and native women and gave them rich wedding gifts, no doubt to encourage such unions. When he discharged the disabled Macedonian veterans, after defeating a mutiny by the estranged and exasperated Macedonian army, they had to leave their wives and children with him. Because national prejudices had prevented the unification of his empire, his aim was apparently to prepare a long-term solution (he was only 32)by breeding a new body of high nobles of mixed blood and also creating the core of a royal army attached only to himself. In the autumn of 324, at Ecbatana, Alexander lost his boyhoodfriend Hephaestion, by then his grand vizier--probably the only person he had ever genuinely loved. The loss was irreparable. After a period of deep mourning, he embarked on a winter campaign in the mountains, then returned to Babylon, where he prepared an expedition for the conquest of Arabia. Weakened from numerous battles, he died in June 323 without designating a successor. His death opened the anarchic age of the Diadochi. Alexander at once became a legend. Greek accounts blended almost incredible fact with pure fiction (for example, his meeting withthe Queen of the Amazons). What remains as fact are Alexander's indisputable military genius and his successful opportunism and timing in both war and politics. The success of his ambition, at immense cost in terms of human life, spread Greek culture far into central Asia, and some of it--supported and extended by the Hellenistic dynasties--lasted for centuries. It also led to an expansion of Greek horizons and to the acceptance of the idea of a universal kingdom, which paved the way for the Roman Empire. Moreover, it opened up the Greek world to new Oriental influences, which would lay the groundwork for Christianity.

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