For Those Interested in Archaeology

Australians got into chariot racing...
Give bloody Ben-Hur a run for his money.

 

Ave cesare! They're wearing bloody togas too!

Ben Hur was written by Maj. Gen. Lew Wallace whom Grant (unfairly) blamed for the Shiloh. Wallace thereafter held the position of defending Washington, DC and Baltimore. He led his scratch force out to Monocacy, MD to blunt Jubal Early's advance on the capitol. Wallace was joined by a division of the VI Corps and while he lost Monocacy, he bloodied Early sufficiently to slow his advance and allow the rest of the VI Corps to reach and defend Washington. It was the last battle where a president of the United States came under direct fire of the enemy. A surgeon standing next to Lincoln was shot and a young artillery officer (Oliver Wendell Holmes who later became a Supreme Court Justice) shouted, "Get down, you damn fool!" That fort has been preserved by the National Park Service.

Anyway, post-war Lew Wallace became the Governor of the New Mexico Territory where he made a secret deal with Billy the Kid whereby Bill would testify and receive immunity. The Attorney General refused to honor the deal and Billy was incarcerated. Wallace's home and library are still standing and are open for public visit. Above the library which is a separate building form the house, Wallace has a carved stone image of what he thought Judah Ben Hur appeared like - looks mighty wyte and he has a mustache too!

 

Sounds like a cool place to visit...

 

And today's offerings-

15 November 2024
A section of one of Britain’s most important Roman roads unearthed under Old Kent Road in south-east London -
1500-year-old Stunning Pendant Amulet Depicting the Prophet Solomon Spearing the Devil on Horseback Found in Türkiye