Xah Lee's Unixism

[Brian {Hamilton Kelly}]

On Friday, in article
     <41386155$0$19713$61fed72c at news.rcn.com> jmfbahciv at aol.com
     wrote:

[Horses' arses and 4'8.5" gauge for railways and previously carts]

> There was a city getting restored in Turkey that JMF and I visited;
> I cannot remember its name other than it's in the New Testament
> written by Paul.  It was one of most fascinating places I'd ever
> been other than aquariums and zoos.  There are ruts in the
> stone-block pavements caused by running carts to/from harbor/city.
> We were told that these ruts were worn down by usage.  I always
> wanted to get a big stone and spend 5 min/day rubbing it to see
> if the claim was true.

I one visits Paleaopaphos, the ancient capital of [the west of] Cyprus,
one can see such runnels in the stones.  Moreover, the gate into the city
has two 90-deg bends in it, to prevent a frontal assault (certain
American Consulates could have learnt from that) and there are "turning
stones" on the corners of this entrance.

Such stones ensure that a wagon gets tilted up to one side if the wheel's
tyre is too close to the walls, thereby ensuring that the wheel's hub
does not strike and erode the stonework of the walls.

This ancient city wall is totally unremarked, in a field about 2km from
the modern-day village of Kouklia, which has evolved around the ancient
Sanctuary of Aphrodite.  There one can still see the remnants of the
siege-mound erected by Darius (or was it Xerxes?) in ca.452 BC.  One can
also see the tunnels ("mines") dug by the defenders of Paphos underneath
that siege-mound, and the caverns created when the wood that had been
placed beneath was burnt, leading to the collapse of the mound and
(eventually) the defeat of the Persians.

Even some two-and-a-half-centuries later, one can still see that the
earth was burnt by that firing, which amazes me.

-- 
Brian {Hamilton Kelly}                                     bhk at dsl.co.uk
   "I don't use Linux. I prefer to use an OS supported by a large multi-
   national vendor, with a good office suite, excellent network/internet
   software and decent hardware support."