Fighting for voter access is an inevitable part of any democracy, from ancient Rome to the US today. Roman legislators were able to thwart elite political sway by introducing written ballots.
Ancient bas-relief on grave stele in Kerameikos in Athens, Greece depicting two wrestlers in action.
(Shutterstock)
Without the internet, television, radio or any widespread means of communication, ancient Greek athletes had to struggle to make their success known and easily communicated to a broad public.
Menelaus holding the body of Patroclus – Diana Mantuana (1535-1587).
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Following a number of films featuring debauched emperors, it is nowadays commonplace to associate the Greek-Roman antiquity with orgies. But is this historically accurate?
In a new land, the ancient past held special meaning.
'Temple of Aphaea, Aegina' by John Rollin Tilton. Courtesy of Bowdoin College Museum of Art
Americans of all stripes have long embraced the culture of the ancient Mediterranean, using ancient ideals to navigate a new world.
Three soldiers (far right) carry karnyxes, long horns with frightening boar-headed mouths that produce eerie calls during battle.
Prisma/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
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.
The fall of the Athenian army in Sicily during the Peloponnesian War in 413 BC as depicted in an 1893 illustration by J.G.Vogt.
Wikimedia Commons
Africa has one of the world’s richest fossil records, and evidence suggests that amateurs collected really important fossils long before professionals arrived on the scene.
Ostraka from classical Athens nominating the persons of Kallias and Megakles.
Cycladic Art Museum, Athens, Greece/Wikimedia Commons
For the first time in recent memory the possibility of imprisoning political rivals has entered the political discourse of a modern western election. But ostracism is an ancient democratic tradition that offers an alternative approach.
A still from the new Ben-Hur.
Paramount Pictures and Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer Pictures Inc
Hollywood loves a Roman action film. And recent archaeological evidence offers fresh insight into the world of the hippodrome: from sprinklers to cool horses to a mosaic displaying the four phases of a chariot race.