A 2,500 year old drawing by a Greek shepherd on a hill near Athens may solve the mystery of a large temple on the Acropolis that predates the Parthenon.
Worrying environmental issues dominated the time of William Shakespeare as they do now, from depleted fish stocks and food shortages, to overpopulation and animal exploitation.
A scholar of ancient Greek literature goes back to the account of Greek historian Thucydides on the spread of plague and finds parallels in the American response to the health crisis today.
Ancient Athenians and Romans also let shared mass tragedies propel justifications for going to war – even when it wasn’t clear what that violence would solve.
Homer and Aeschylus turned to the divine to write their happy endings. But no gods are conspiring above the US, ready to swoop down and save humankind from itself.
In ancient Athens, the richest people paid taxes to support what the residents considered the salvation of the city. These taxes earned them social and political clout more valuable than money.
Shakespeare understood that our fate depends on fostering the humility and empathy that dethrones money and transforms it into something we use to advance the common good.
Thucydides’ description of the plague that struck Athens in 430 BC is one of the great passages of Greek literature. It focusses on the social response, both of those who died and those who survived.
A play written in the fifth century B.C. mirrors America’s current disunion: Political and moral views are framed in terms of a fight between patriot and traitor, law and conscience, and chaos and order.
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.
Pope Francis has said that death penalty violates the dignity of a person. But, this might just deepen the debate among Christians, who for a long time have been divided over the issue.
Do businesses have to act like businesses? Or could we pay slightly more for goods, like coffee, and recognize that stability for working people is essential to a robust economy.