Elephants in the underground

So, I listen to the radio a lot during the summer and there were two interesting reports on WUNC today.

First was on NPR's Talk of the Nation, about a new book on Hannibal and the war with Rome. The author has a good turn of phrase ("the problem with panzer pachyderms") and he made some really elegant points about why this is relevant to us today. He pointed out that because Rome all but abandoned the survivors of the first clash with Hannibal, the Roman legions became more and more distrustful of the Republic in favor of their own generals. Find a charismatic general like Caesar and... Say hello to my little empire.

Second, was on PRI/BBC's the World and covered the Catacombs of Paris... Yea, ok, it's not strictly about the Roman aspects... But, still, it's a really cool report.