Is making sense of a story more important than getting at its truth? Looking at the treatment of myth in ancient Greece may help us navigate what is true, and whether that matters.
Magic was an every day part of life in the Graeco-Roman empire.
John William Waterhouse
Across the Graeco-Roman Empire, the romantically challenged turned to magic to improve their chances
The Romans have been denounced for their reverie in ‘vice’ but their hedonistic approach to love and sexuality should be celebrated
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Grecian love is often idealised as an respectable model for queer love. However, there’s more pleasure and reality to be found in ancient Rome’s dirtier version
Heroes and heroines of Classical Greek tragedy used to get all the glory. Today scholars, and theatre and film directors are looking to what the minor players can tell us about the zeitgeist.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe brings the virtues and politics of the comic world - indeed the Ancient Greek world - to life. But trusting the message doesn’t mean I trust the corporation behind it.
Monkeys frescoes in Akrotiri.
Thera Akrotiri Excavations
From a young age, Neaera was trained for the life of a hetaira, or courtesan. Her tragic story comes to us only through court documents, but she deserves to be remembered.
Heintz Joseph the Elder, The Rape of Persephone, circa 1595.
Wikimedia Commons
Like many Greek myths, the story of Persephone’s descent into the realm of Hades, and her emergence from it, has resonances in contemporary arts, most especially the notion of death and rebirth.
The stage is set and the cast members are in their places for impeachment hearings.
AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
Since its beginnings, theater has been where the public can see what was happening, a venue for transparency and a point of view on real-life scenarios. It defines the American political landscape.
At the dawn of democracy, Plato foresaw an unfortunate end.
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The Ancient Greeks modelled a form of education that, in variants, has endured for centuries. But with climate change and globalisation, the world has changed, and the role of education with it.
Members of the European Research Group are right to compare themselves to ancient Spartan warriors. Behind their combative stance, they seem to have no plan for when the Brexit war is over.
Two small figures guard the table holding the Buddha’s relics. Are they spearmen, or robots?
British Museum
In a time and place that offered few career opportunities for women, the role of priestess at Delphi was enormously influential. She was consulted on everything from warfare to love to public policy.
One important reason for the Spartans’ obsession with fighting was the constant possibility they would need these skills in war and also at home, in Sparta itself.
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From about age seven, Spartan children learned to fight and practise obeying orders. They also staged pretend battles. Boys and girls were trained separately.
President Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Indiana.
AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster
The Parthenon has been seen as central to the history of Western civilisation. But the building has a troubled past that is somewhat at odds with our ideas of democratic values.
Anselm Feuerbach’s depiction of Medea, circa 1870: the play is particularly cogent today in the context of the #MeToo movement’s assault on patriarchal power.
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