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Showing posts with the label Acrobat

Nazi Motorcycles

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Who knows their motorcycles?   I noticed this on the street in Gythion.  My first thought knowing how proud the Greeks are of their resistance to the German invasion and occupation is that this is a war trophy.  I have seen this before in towns on Crete, BMW motorcycles proudly displayed in front of shops as a monument to their expulsion of the Nazi occupiers.  But that was decades ago and I don't remember the details of the models used by Germany during World War II.

Handstand on a Nile Crocodile!

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       Nubian acrobats were all the rage in the Roman Empire and it seems that a troupe paid a visit to Thmouis (Tell Timai).  A group of lamps, surely sold as souvenirs to the audience, were found in an offering pit or foundation deposit in the central tell...my speculation is that the gymnasium was in this area (note, there was a dedication stone for the gymnasium recovered early in the 20th century at Tell Timai, but we do not know from where. the stone is now at the newly re-opened Graeco Roman Museum ).  The baths are about 80m from the offering deposit, so not too far for men to run naked through the city to soak after a workout. For more details do see the Tell Timai publications in print due to the efforts of our figurine expert, Dr. James Bennett!  J. Bennett, A Troupe of Six Terracotta Acrobat Figurines found in a Votive Pit at Thmuis    J. Bennett, R. Littman, and J. Silverstein,  The Terracotta Figurines from Tell Timai: 200...