TORTENETI TANULMANYOK VI. - HUNGARIAN POLIS STUDIES 2. A KLTE Tortenelmi Intezetenek es 6kortorteneti Tanszekenek kiadvanya Debrecen 1997 Gyorgy Nemeth LOVE OF STATUES* N'as-tu pas, promeneur des superbes musees, Au milieu des ces chairs divinement usees, Trouble adorable apres Ie depantdes badauds, Senti, lorsque les voix se sont tout a fait tues, Et qu'un inoffensif gardien tourne Ie dos: Le desir de baiser les levres des statues? ]. Cocteau: Les statues The ring of Venus The following well-known and popular story begins with these lines that are rather uncommon to belles-lettres: "I have always suspected that geographers do not know what they are talking about when they locate the battle of Munda in the lands of the Bastuli-Poeni people near the Munda of today, a few miles north of Marbella. I myself on the other hand - relying on the text of Bellum Hispaniense whose author is unknown, along with the information obtained from Prince Osuna's excellent library - have come to the conclusion that this memorable battlefield, where Caesar for the last time staked everything against the champions of the Republic, should be sought out in the area of Montilla. At the beginning of autumn 1830, while staying in Andalusia, I decided to make a lengthy excursion to dissolve any remaining doubts I might have. In the near future I intend to publish an essay which I hope will clear everything once and for all for the naive archeologists. But whilst my research is solving this geographical problem 115