Creditur olim velificatus Athos, et quidquid Graecia mendax / audet in historia
Historians - as well as Juvenal - have debated whether the famed Canal of Xerxes was really dug all the way from coast to coast. Some have doubted its existence, pointing to a rocky plateau that they argue would have made the construction an impossible task for workers of that day. Now, scientists from Britain and Greece have come up with what they say is conclusive evidence that the canal was built. Using geological information gathered from several meters below the earth's surface, where the structure now lies buried, the scientists have drawn a map detailing the canal's dimensions and course. The findings confirm Herodotus' account, which some scholars have long regarded with scepticism. Buried under centuries of silt and alluvium, the structure is testament to remarkable military strategy, work-force management and civil engineering. It also tells of shortsightedness and haste, and of a king who was probably in such a hurry to conquer that he never thought of preserving the canal as a permanent waterway. "From the analysis of sediments in the canal, we know that it probably had a short lifetime," said Richard Jones, the lead researcher on the project and an archaeologist at the University of Glasgow. "The Persians did not think of it as a monument that would remain for centuries. Once their ships were through, that was the end." Spanning about 30 meters at the surface, the canal was just wide enough for two war galleys to pass. "It was a colossal enterprise," said Ben Isserlin, an archaeologist at the University of Leeds who started the canal exploration project in the early 1990s. "There were no pulleys. So the workers had to shovel earth into baskets and pass them along from one person to the next, all the way to the top." [New York Times Nov 12 2001]
ritual. The torch was apparently immediately relit with an alternative flame also kindled by the sun's rays in the Temple of Zeus Olympios on the morning of March 30th. Memories were recalled of the Tokyo Olympics, where a similar incident was avoided by prompt use of a cigarette lighter. Many Classicists (even) assume the ritual is ancient. There were of course torch races (like the one Socrates had been to at the beginning of Republic) - but they were never part of the Olympics. The Olympic Flame goes back only to Hitler's Games in 1936 - and was possibly one of Leni Riefenstahl's concepts (she wanted the runners naked : the Greek boys involved said
no!). The appropriate still from Olympiad her amazing film is available.) [Guardian etc May 8th 1997]