A Murder On The Appian Way*

We go with brother’s friend Amir who is a tour guide to Bet She’an. This is a Roman city which was destroyed by an earthquake in 749AD.

It was first excavated by the University of Pennsylvania between 1921 to 1933 when relics from the Egyptian period were discovered. Excavations were resumed in 1983 and then 1989 – 96 by the Hebrew University Of Jerusalem. The excavations have revealed eighteen successive ancient towns.

Much of what you can see now at the site is the Roman city:

You can see us standing on the stage of the Roman amphitheatre in the attached photo.

Amir has the inspired idea to hire the golf cart at the site so we can drive around it, which is wonderful as it’s a large site and also twenty seven degrees today which is Too Hot for walking.

In the car park we see a swallowtail butterfly like this one:

Then we drive around Mount Gilboa where we see storks flying and some spectacular views:

The view was better than that but it is misty due to the Holy Air apparently.

We drive back through Nahalal where brother’s trainer lives and we see some horses:

Now it is 6.42pm and nearly suppertime. The panther is dozing after a long day: resting his chin on his front paws his eyes are closed and every so often the tip of his tail twitches or an ear flicks.

Happy Thursday everyone!

*1996. By Steven Saylor. Book 5 in the Roma Sub Rosa Mystery series set in the final decades of the Roman republic, starring Gordianus the Finder.