... it was the five camels of the expedition who emerge as the dominant characters with a good walk-on part for Tuna, an oasis dog that adopts the party.

My final test drive of this exemplary guidebook was to check up on half a dozen specific items that I have long puzzled over. I began with the gorgeous marble statue in the main entrance hall of Tripoli’s museum

Septimius Severus (145-211) was one of the greatest of the Roman Emperors but remains one of the least known. I have always been fascinated that this man used to the heat of his native North Africa, should die in northern England during a campaign to conquer Scotland.