Sardis and Croesus

From Wikipedia

Sardis or Sardes was an ancient city at the location of modern Sart in Turkey's Manisa Province. Sardis was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Lydia,[1] one of the important cities of the Persian Empire, the seat of a proconsul under the Roman Empire, and the metropolis of the province Lydia in later Roman and Byzantine times.
The earliest reference to Sardis is in The Persians of Aeschylus (472 BC); in the Iliad, the name Hyde seems to be given to the city of the Lydian chiefs and in later times Hyde was said to be the older name of Sardis, or the name of its citadel. It is, however, more probable that Sardis was not the original capital of the Lydian, but that it became so amid the changes which produced the powerful Lydian empire of the 8th century BC.

Map of Sardis and Other Cities within the Lydian Empire

The city was captured by the Cimmerians in the 7th century BC, by the Persians in the 6th, by the Athenians in the 5th, and by Antiochus III the Great at the end of the 3rd century BC. In the Persian era, Sardis was conquered by Cyrus the Great and formed the end station for the Persian Royal Road which began in Persepolis, capital of Persia. Sardis was the site of the most important Persian satrapy.[2] During the Ionian Revolt, the Athenians burnt down the city. Sardis remained under Persian domination until it surrendered to Alexander the Great in 334 BC.


The early Lydian kingdom was very advanced in the industrial arts and Sardis was the chief seat of its manufactures. The most important of these trades was the manufacture and dyeing of delicate woolen stuffs and carpets. The stream Pactolus which flowed through the market-place "carried golden sands" in early antiquity, which was in reality gold dust out of Mount Tmolus. It was during the reign of King Croesus that the metallurgists of Sardis discovered the secret of separating gold from silver, thereby producing both metals of a purity never known before.[3]This was an economic revolution, for while gold nuggets panned or mined were used as currency, their purity was always suspect and a hindrance to trade. Such nuggets or coinage were naturally occurring alloys of gold and silver known as electrum and one could never know how much of it was gold and how much was silver. Sardis now could mint nearly pure silver and gold coins, the value of which could be — and was — trusted throughout the known world. This revolution made Sardis rich and Croesus' name synonymous with wealth itself. For this reason, Sardis is famed in history as the place where modern currency was invented.
Disaster came to the great city under the reign of the emperor Tiberius, when in AD 17, Sardis was destroyed by an earthquake, but it was rebuilt with the help of ten million sesterces from the Emperor and exempted from paying taxes for five years.[4] It was one of the great cities of western Asia Minor until the later Byzantine period.

Sikandar the Destroyer - the battle of Granicus

From Wikipedia

The Battle of the Granicus River in May 334 BC was the first of three major battles fought between Alexander the Great and the Persian Empire. Fought in Northwestern Asia Minor, near the site of Troy, it was here that Alexander defeated the forces of the Persian satraps of Asia Minor, including a large force of Greek mercenaries led by Memnon of Rhodes.
Total casualties for the Greeks were between 300 and 400. The Persians had roughly 1,000 cavalry and 3,000 infantry killed, mostly in the rout. The Greek mercenaries, under the command of Memnon of Rhodes, who fought for the Persians, were abandoned after the cavalry retreat. They attempted to broker a peace with Alexander but to no avail. As a result, after the battle Alexander ordered the mercenaries to be enslaved. Out of the 18,000 Greek mercenaries, half were killed and 8,000 enslaved and sent back to Macedon [It would be better to tell that 10000 were killed, and 8000 enslaved, ossia 10000 Greci passati a fil di spada dopo la battaglia].  They were bound in fetters and sent away to Macedonia to till the soil, because, though they were Greeks, they were fighting against Greece on behalf of the foreigners [actually, they were fighting against Alexander].

Alexander sent 300 Persian armours to the Parthenon of Athens as an oblation to Athena, with this epigram: "Alexander, son of Philip, and the Greeks, except of Lacedaemonians, from the barbarians who live in Asia". («Ἀλέξανδρος Φιλίππου καὶ οἱ Ἕλληνες, πλὴν Λακεδαιμονίων, ἀπὸ τῶν βαρβάρων τῶν τὴν Ἀσίαν κατοικούντων»-"Alexandros Philippou kai hoi Hellēnes plēn Lakedaimoniōn apo tōn barbarōn tōn tēn Asian katoikountōn")

I barbari che vivono in Asia?!  

Kardo and Decumanus - Torino

Romans planned their military castra with a precise regular scheme, based on two main axes, crossing at right angles at the center of the settlement. These axes are known as Decumanus (D) and Kardo (K). Sometimes, a castrum evolved in a colonia and then in a modern town. Torino is an example of this evolution, that was born as a Julius Caesar’s castrum. Today, the Decumanus is Via Garibaldi. In this Google Earth map, we can easily see the rectangle of the Roman town, composed of several insulae. The modern town had maintained this layout during its expansion.

Silhouettes. Tusculum bust and coins - 1

This article https://www.carotta.de/subseite/texte/articula/CesareTuscolo_CorriereDelTicino.pdf  published on the Corriere del Ticino in 2017 tell us  some information about the Tusculum bust, a portraiture of Julius Caesar, today at the Archaeological Museum of Torino.
This is a translation from the article written by Francesco Carotta entitled Il Cesare Incognito.

"The story of the discovery of the Tusculum bust has some humor in it. The marble head was found in Tusculum by Luciano Bonaparte. Luciano made profit with the antiquities, in particular those emerging from the ruins of that pleasant town among the Alban Hills (near today's Frascati), where the Roman nobility had built the villas, a famous one was that of Cicero. He used these antiquities to refund his huge debts. However, he did not realize that he had in his hands an original portrait of Caesar, which would have allowed him to restore his financial health. The bust then remained unsold and passed to the House of Savoy. With some others items of Lucien Bonaparte's collection, the bust was taken to the Castle of Agliè, where, a century and a half later, in 1940, archaeologist Maurizio Borda, comparing the profile with some coins of Caesar, recognized that Caesar was portrayed in it."

Maurizio Borda, vissuto nella prima metà del XX secolo, fu archeologo, ricercatore e docente universitario, storico e incaricato presso la Direzione Generale delle Antichità e Belle Arti di Roma al Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione. In qualità di archeologo, si occupò degli scavi della città di Tusculum negli anni dal 1952 al 1955. Attribuì a Giulio Cesare un ritratto in marmo riscoperto proprio a Tusculum, ritratto che oggi viene considerato l'unica rappresentazione certa del dittatore. Sistemò il primo Museo Tuscolano del dopoguerra aperto nel 1954 nel castello della curia vescovile di Frascati, poi i vari reperti del museo furono spostati alle Scuderie Aldobrandini.

Let us use the coin of August 43 BC. AR Denarius 43 BC. Rome mint. L Flaminius Chilo. Laureate head right within pelleted border. From a picture of the profile of the Tusculum bust, we can obtain a silhouette (in red). Superposing to the coin, we have a remarkable coincidence.

Julius Caesar - Coin - 44 BC

Magnifico profilo. Testa piccola.

Wreathed head of Caesar right, behind crescent; before, CAESAR·IM downwards; behind P M upwards. Border of dots. As explained by http://www.humanities.mq.edu.au/acans/caesar/Career_Coins.htm

it was struck just after Caesar's refusal of the crown at Lupercalia.

On the Lupercalia, let us read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupercalia and https://www.etymonline.com/word/february

It is possible that the world Lupercalia derived from lupus, "wolf," though both the etymology and its significance are obscure [1]. Lupercalia was a very ancient, even  pre-Roman pastoral , annual festival,[2] observed in Rome on February 15, to avert the evil spirits and purify the city. Lupercalia was also called "dies Februatus", purified (literally "februated day") after the fumes of purification (https://www.etymonline.com/word/february). 

The Lupercalia had its own priesthood, the Luperci, whose institution and rites were attributed either to the Arcadian culture-hero Evander, or to Romulus and Remus. The Luperci were young men. They formed two religious collegia based on ancestry; the Quinctiliani (named after gens Quinctia) and the Fabiani (named after gens Fabia). Each college was headed by a magister. In 44 BC, a third college, the Juliani, was instituted in honor of Julius Caesar; its first magister was Mark Antony.[10] The college of Juliani disbanded during civil wars, and was not re-established in the reforms of  Augustus. 

Descriptions of the Lupercalia festival of 44 BC attest to its continuity. During this Lupercalia, Julius Caesar refused three times a golden crown offered to him by Mark Antony.[17][18] 

SCIARRINO Morte di Borromini | T.Carraro, O.T.La Scala, R.Muti | video 1...

Salvatore SCIARRINO: "Morte di Borromini", per orchestra con lettore ('a Riccardo Muti' - 1988) *world premiere* Tino Carraro, narrator, Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala, Riccardo Muti, conductor (PAL 4:3 | live, Teatro alla Scala, Milano, 20 October 1988)

® Restored Video Legacy | 1963-2015: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list... --- 

© COPYRIGHT Disclaimer, Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976. Allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.

Sikandar the Detroyer - Multan

Cari Lettori,
leggete per cortesia come Wikipedia dipinge in modo eroico la campagna di Alessandro contro i Malli https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mallian_Campaign e poi leggete https://cronologia.leonardo.it/storia/ac327.htm

LO STERMINIO DEI MALLI (Novembre 326- Febbraio 325)
"Se c'erano ancora dei dubbi divenne ben presto chiaro che gli invasori Macedoni non erano benvoluti in India. Le popolazioni che abitavano la parte meridionale del Punjab non erano rette da regoli locali, ma avevano un governo repubblicano ed erano perennemente in lotta fra loro. Alessandro sottomise con una certa facilità le popolazione dei Sibi edegli Agalassi, ma trovò ben presto una resistenza maggiore nelle popolazioni successive. Visto il comune pericolo incombente le tribù più importanti, quelle degli Ossidraci e dei Malli, che abitavano intorno alla confluenza dell'Acesine con l'Idraote, avevano deciso di sospendere le loro lotte e, unirsi contro il nuovo pericolo, fortificandosi nelle loro cittadelle. Alessandro a quanto pare non volle scendere a compromessi e decise di dare un esempio di terrore, sterminando ogni volta la popolazione delle città che riusciva a prendere d'assalto. I Malli si opposero con risolutezza ma senza riuscire a respingere l'assalto: due cittadelle caddero facilmente nonostante la disperata resistenza dei difensori e vennero rase al suolo. In una di esse si era scoperto che era stata la casta dei brahmani a organizzare la resistenza fino all'ultimo uomo. Questa mattanza ebbe il culmine nell'assedio della città principale dei Malli, di cui le fonti non riportano il nome, ma che è stata identificata con l'odierna Multan. Alessandro stesso guidò i suoi uomini, scalandone le mura della cittadella, come aveva fatto a Tiro. [e c'è la descrizione di come Alessandro si sia buttato dalle mura nella cittadella dei nemici da solo]
... Le fonti dicono che, credendo morto Alessandro, i soldati si vendicarono sulla popolazione sterminandola tutta quanta, comprese le donne e i bambini, ma in verità non c'era bisogno della vendetta per comportarsi a Multan come avevano fatto altrove. I Malli furono distrutti per la fama che avevano di essere un popolo potente, coraggioso e ingovernabile. Il loro massacro aveva lo scopo di terrorizzare le tribù vicine e indurle a non opporre resistenza, e difatti gli Ossiadraci si sottomisero rapidamente, così come tutte le popolazioni della regione non ancora attaccate. Alessandro fu ridotto in fin di vita dal colpo ricevuto e solo la perizia di Perdicca nell'estrargli la freccia lo salvò da morte sicura. Il Re Macedone dopo qualche giorno ebbe la forza di mostrarsi in piedi davanti al suo esercito, che attendeva visibilmente preoccupato notizie riguardo il suo stato di salute, ma dovette aspettare molti mesi prima di riprendersi e fu davvero fortunato che la ferita non si infettasse. Finalmente la sanguinosa campagna ebbe termine nel punto in cui l'Acesine si congiunge all'Indo, in cui fu fondata l'ennesima Alessandria detta di Opiene."
Vedi anche Wikipedia in Italiano https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campagna_indiana_di_Alessandro_Magno
"Informato dell'alleanza sancita ai suoi danni (novembre 326 a.C.), Alessandro mosse incontro al nemico per evitare che le forze dei due schieramenti si congiungessero. Con una massiccia operazione anfibia, passando dal fiume Idaspe al fiume Acesines (attuale Chenab) con una flotta appena costruita, raggiunse in cinque giorni il territorio nemico e si gettò sulla prima popolazione ostile alla sua portata: la tribù dei Sibea[31]. Volendo farne un esempio, Alessandro distrusse la capitale degli indigeni, massacrò la popolazione maschile e schiavizzò le donne ed i bambini[32]. Dopodiché avviò una complessa operazione a linee interne per assicurarsi che i Malli venissero annientati: ordinò a Nearco di risalire con la flotta l'Acesines per stabilire una base avanzata, affidò un contingente a Cratero con l'ordine di marciare lungo la riva destra del fiume e prese il comando della forza che avrebbe marciato lungo la riva sinistra[33]."

Etruschi e Romani

Oggi ho trovato e  letto con estrema attenzione l'articolo dal titolo "Etruschi e Romani, fu una Shoah?", scritto da Franco Cardini e pubblicato il mercoledì 2 febbraio 2011 sull'Avvenire.
https://www.avvenire.it/agora/pagine/etruschi-e-romani-fu-una-shoah_201102020935019400000
E' un articolo da leggere e rileggere, perché costringe a pensare.

L'articolo comincia così "Ho letto le dichiarazioni dei Elie Wiesel riportate da "Avvenire" il 25 gennaio 2011. Ammiro il Wiesel scrittore, ho simpatia per il Wiesel uomo e testimone delle sofferenze del suo popolo e del nostro tempo. Tuttavia, .... " Io non ho trovato le dichiarazioni di Wiesel, ma sembra, dall'articolo di Cardini, che si parlasse di un genocidio degli Etruschi da parte dei Romani. 

Ecco cosa dice Cardini. "I Romani non commisero alcun genocidio, cioè non soppressero mai in massa il popolo etrusco; avrebbero potuto distruggere la cultura etrusca, commettere cioè un etnocidio: ma non fecero nemmeno quello, limitandosi semmai a un’assimilazione che cancellò cultura e memoria, non stirpi. ....  In realtà, nonostante la lingua latina sia di ceppo decisamente indoeuropeo e quella etrusca d’origine tuttora incerta (le polemiche continuano, le ipotesi si accumulano...), la "cancellazione" dell’idioma – il quale peraltro sopravvisse fino al V secolo d.C. come "lingua sacra", nei rituali magico-divinatori dell’etrusca disciplina – non corrispose affatto alla cancellazione demografica d’un intero popolo diffuso dalla Lombardia alla Campania e le vicende del quale sono strettamente legate a quelle dei Romani. Etruschi erano i "re di Roma" dell’ultima fase del periodo monarchico; etrusche, ancora in piena età imperiale, grandi famiglie aristocratiche come i Cecina e la gens cui apparteneva Mecenate, amico e consigliere di Augusto. Gli studi sul Dna nella media Toscana, nel Volterrano, hanno rivelato una realtà biologica ancora vitale che può esser fatta risalire agli Etruschi. Consiglio il ricorso al pur discusso, ma importante, Dizionario della lingua etrusca di Massimo Pittau, docente emerito nell’Università di Sassari (Dessì 2005), che ha sistematicamente vagliato le fonti etrusche e alla luce del quale risulta evidente come l’abbandono dell’idioma etrusco si dovette principalmente a un fenomeno di assimilazione etrusco-romana che non ci sono motivi di ritenere condotto con metodi violenti e tantomeno genocidi, ma che fu piuttosto portato avanti attraverso tecniche di organizzazione istituzionale e di politica matrimoniale".

Posso aggiungere che c'è una parola Etrusca che usiamo tutti i giorni, ed è "satellite".

Si veda: The Word Satellite, Its Origin from Etruscan and Its Translation into Greek
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2899407

Sikandar the Destroyer - Massaga

Sikandar is the Persian name of Alexander the Great. Let us consider his behaviour in the case of the  fortress of Massaga, Swat Valley. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_campaign_of_Alexander_the_Great

"A fierce contest ensued with the Aspasioi, in the course of which Alexander himself was wounded in the shoulder by a dart, but eventually the Aspasioi lost the fight; 40,000 of them were enslaved. The Assakenoi faced Alexander with an army of 30,000 cavalry, 38,000 infantry, and 30 elephants.[6] They had fought bravely and offered stubborn resistance to the invader in many of their strongholds such as the cities of Ora, Bazira, and Massaga. The fort of Massaga could only be reduced after several days of bloody fighting in which Alexander himself was wounded seriously in the ankle. When the Chieftain of Massaga fell in the battle, the supreme command of the army went to his old mother, Cleophis, who also stood determined to defend her motherland to the last extremity. The example of Cleophis assuming the supreme command of the military also brought the entire population of women of the locality into the fighting.[7][8] Alexander was only able to reduce Massaga by resorting to political strategem and actions of betrayal. According to Curtius: "Not only did Alexander slaughter the entire population of Massaga, but also did he reduce its buildings to rubbles".[9] A similar slaughter then followed at Ora, another stronghold of the Assakenoi."

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleophis
"Alexander's retaliation against the defeated Assaceni was severe. He had Massaga burned. Victor Hansen writes: "After promising the surrounded Assaceni their lives upon capitulation, he executed all their soldiers who had surrendered. Their strongholds at Ora and Aornus, were also likewise stormed. Garrisons were probably all slaughtered."[9]
"Additionally, Alexander pursued the Kamboj mercenaries, surrounded them on a hill, and killed them all. Diodorus describes the event in detail: "...The women, taking up the arms of the fallen, fought side by side with their men. Accordingly, some who had supplied themselves with arms did their best to cover their husbands with their shields, while others, who were without arms, did much to impede the enemy by flinging themselves upon them and catching hold of their shields." [10][11][12]

Cleophis came to terms with the invaders and abandoned Massaga with her followers. Diodorus Siculus says: "Cleophis sent precious gifts to Alexander with a message that she expressed her appreciation of Alexander's greatness and assured him that she would comply with the terms of the treaty."[7] According to Curtius and Arrian, Cleophis was captured along with her young granddaughter.[8]

Sikandar the Destroyer - Tyre

Sikandar is the Persian name of Alexander the Great. Let us consider his behaviour in the case of the city of Tyre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Tyre_(332_BC)
"The Siege of Tyre was orchestrated by Alexander the Great in 332 BC during his campaigns against the Persians. The Macedonian army was unable to capture the city, which was a strategic coastal base on the Mediterranean Sea, through conventional means because it was on an island and had walls right up to the sea. Alexander responded to this problem by first blockading and besieging Tyre for seven months, and then by building a causeway that allowed him to breach the fortifications.
It is said that Alexander was so enraged at the Tyrians' defence of their city and the loss of his men that he destroyed half the city. According to Arrian, 8,000 Tyrian civilians were massacred after the city fell. Alexander granted pardon to all who had sought sanctuary (safety in the temple), including Azemilcus and his family, as well as many nobles. 30,000 residents and foreigners, mainly women and children, were sold into slavery. ...  According to Quintus Curtius Rufus 6,000 fighting men were killed within the city and 2,000 Tyrians were crucified on the beach.[7] The others, some 30,000 people, were sold into slavery. The severity of reprisals reflected the length of the siege and Alexander's response to the Tyrians having executed some of his soldiers on the walls, in sight of the attackers." This is the justification given by Wikipedia for Alexander's behavior.  Let me stress that Alexander was attaching Tyre not viceversa!
From  http://factsanddetails.com/world/cat56/sub366/item2036.html "The victory over Tyre added Lebanon as well as Palestine, Syria and Egypt to Alexander's empire.Alexander was reportedly so enraged by the loss of time and men used to capture Tyre that he destroyed half the city, and rounded up its residents, who were either massacred or sold into slavery. Seven thousand people were slaughtered after the capture, 2,000 young men were crucified and 30,000 people were sold into slavery." Ecco come finanziava la sua guerra Alessandro. Faceva cassa ad ogni città conquistata.
That is, it is clear that the financial support for Alexander's war that of selling people for slavery.