Probably the funniest Greek myth is that of the innkeeper Procrustes. In this myth, Procrustes was a son of Poseidon, and he had a stronghold on Mount Korydallos at Erineus, on the sacred way between Athens and Eleusis. There he had an iron bed, in which he invited every passer-by to…

When I was thirteen years old, I bought my very first LP. It was Simon and Garfunkel’s  “Bridge over troubled waters”. I can still sing the refrain of one of the songs from memory. The song is called “So long, Frank Lloyd Wright”, and the refrain goes like this:

Architects may come

and architects may go

and never change your point of view.

When I run dry

I stop awhile and think of you.

To this day, it is the only pop song about architects that I can…

In terms of the ability of a small nation to maintain control over a large geographical, demographical and cultural expanse continuously over many hundreds of years, the Roman Empire was the most successful empire the western world has ever known. Many historians attribute this success to the martial skills of the Roman armies, or to the civilizing influence of Roman law, and they are right. But that is not the full story, because neither of these factors would have been of lasting value if…