Writing wasn’t just invented once by a single person. Many different ancient societies invented writing at different times and places.
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Writing has only been a part of the human story for the last 5,000 years. In comparison, humans began to communicate using speech some 50,000 years ago.
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.
Some people think the mummies brought good luck!
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From the amphitheatre at Arles to London’s Wembley, stadiums can be adapted to serve their cities.
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.
A group of men proceeds to an Otobo in an Igbo village.
John Kelechi Ugwuanyi
Without the scientific knowledge we have today, ancient cultures turned to myths and legends to understand celestial objects.
The “Burney Relief,” which is believed to represent either Ishtar, the Mesopotamian goddess of love and war, or her older sister Ereshkigal, Queen of the underworld (c. 19th or 18th century BC)
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Sex was central to life in ancient Mesopotamia. And the authors of Sumerian love poetry, depicting the exploits of divine couples, showed a wealth of practical knowledge about the stages of female sexual arousal.
Puzzle: fragments of 2,000-year-old scrolls before reassembly.
Shay Halevi, Israel Antiquities Authority, The Leon Levy Library of the Dead Sea Scrolls
We think of the Druids as being embedded in British culture from the mists of ancient times. But what we think we know about Druids is of surprisingly modern provenance.
A central convention of Greek mythological narratives called katabasis, the hero’s journey to the underworld or land of the dead.
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Journeys to the Underworld – Greek myth, film and American anxiety
The Conversation36.9 MB(download)
Our new podcast, Essays On Air, features the most beautiful writing from Australian researchers. Today, classics expert Paul Salmond explores how modern cinema directors borrow from Greek legends.
Kayentapus ambrokholohali footprints belong to an animal of about 26 feet long, dwarfing all the life around it.
Theropod image adapted by Lara Sciscio, with permission, from an illustration by Scott Hartman
Until this discovery, theropod dinosaurs were thought to be considerably smaller, at three to five metres in body length, during the Early Jurassic.
A relief at the ancient Persian city of Persepolis (now in modern Iran), including inscriptions in cuneiform, the world’s oldest form of writing.
Diego Delso/Wikimedia
Cuneiform was used for over 3,000 years in the Ancient Near East, but was only decoded in the 19th century. The writing form is still revealing amazing stories, from literature to mathematics.
The martyrdom of the Maccabees by Antonio Ciseri.
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Lecturer in Classical Studies, Institute of Classical Studies, University of London; Honorary Fellow, Macquarie University, School of Advanced Study, University of London