{"id":3756,"date":"2023-11-03T08:04:02","date_gmt":"2023-11-03T08:04:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thepoetryofscience.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\/?p=3756"},"modified":"2023-11-03T08:04:02","modified_gmt":"2023-11-03T08:04:02","slug":"between-sky-and-sand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/thepoetryofscience\/3756\/between-sky-and-sand\/","title":{"rendered":"Between Sky and Sand"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the shadow of
\nthe crescent’s fertile arc,
\nwhere ancient stones rest
\ndeep within the earth,
\nRoman hands
\nonce marked their land
\nwith spade,
\nwith sweat,
\nwith blood.
\nLonely island forts
\nstood brooding
\nin a sea of rolling dunes
\nand lifeless lakes,
\nthe wind’s haunting cry
\nechoed deep
\nas walls rose high,
\ncarving their fate
\nin the shifting dust
\nof fading mounds.
\nSilent sentinels scan the land,
\nunearthing relics buried
\nbeneath history\u2019s vast expanse.
\nSpectral rays pierce
\nthe desert’s timeless shroud,
\nrevealing ancient walls,
\nmajestic fortresses,
\nand tales of lives once loud.
\nGhostly remnants,
\nteeming with legions
\nnow mere whispers
\non the wind-sculpted terrain \u2013
\nlost in the endless dance
\nof time’s unceasing sands.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
CORONA images showing some of the forts (image credit: J.Casana et al.; CORONA imagery courtesy U.S. Geological Survey).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This poem is inspired by recent research<\/a>, which has used Cold War spy satellite imagery to reveal Ancient Roman forts.<\/p>\n

Two thousand years ago, forts were erected by the Roman Empire across the northern Fertile Crescent, stretching from present-day western Syria to north-western Iraq. In the 1920s, Father Antoine Poidebard catalogued 116 forts in the region, undertaking one of the world’s inaugural aerial surveys with a WWI-era biplane. Poidebard noted that these forts were built from north to south, delineating the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire.<\/p>\n

In this new study, researchers used declassified satellite imagery from the CORONA and HEXAGON satellites, collected between 1960 and 1986. These images, part of the CORONA Atlas Project, were refined for accuracy, and by examining a 300,000 square kilometre area of the northern Fertile Crescent, the team mapped 4,500 known sites and identified an additional 10,000 sites. Among these, they pinpointed 38 of Poidebard’s original 116 forts and discovered 396 new ones in the same region. Some of these forts had variations in design, including unique interior structures and those built around a mounded citadel. The findings significantly expand our understanding of the region’s historical landscape, challenging previous notions about the purpose and distribution of these forts and offering a broader view of the Roman Empire’s influence and infrastructure in this region.<\/p>\n