Menu Close

Articles on Ancient history

Displaying 61 - 80 of 98 articles

The Temple of Apollo at Delphi, where the wisdom of the oracle was dispensed. Janet Lackey/flickr

Friday essay: secrets of the Delphic Oracle and how it speaks to us today

Cicero asked: ‘how to become famous?’ Nero sought to know the timing of his death. The Oracle at Delphi offered pronouncements on all manner of topics - yet as with Google today, the question posed was as important as the answer.
‘Alcibiades on his Knees Before his Mistress’ by Lagrenee.

The one Trump comparison you haven’t heard yet

A classics professor writes that Trump’s raucous campaign style is nothing new. He introduces us to a chariot-racing statesman from ancient Athens who may have given Trump a run for his money.
Daviegunn/Wikimedia commons

Three ancient cities to rival London, Paris and New York

It can be difficult to imagine that the antiquities in our museums were once a part of vibrant and cosmopolitan cities. Let our expert take you on a tour of three cities to rival today’s global hubs.
National Theatre of Wales

Why Homer belongs on Netflix

Classical epic can seem particularly alien in the instant gratification culture of Instagram and Twitter, yet there’s a surge of interest in them.
‘Doctor, whenever I get up I feel dizzy for half an hour.’ ‘Then wait for half an hour before getting up.’ Alexander the Great trust to physician Phillip, Henryk Siemiradzki

Five things the ancient Greeks can teach us about medicine today

Medicine has changed beyond recognition in the last 2,000 years. So why should we still care what the founders of Western medicine thought?
Studies of a reclining male nude: Adam in the fresco ‘The Creation of Man’ on the vault of the Sistine Chapel. c. 1511. Michelangelo. © The Trustees of the British Museum

The truth about sex in ancient Greece

Here are the facts behind four commonly held beliefs about Ancient Greek sexuality.
Map depicting the two major hypotheses of the spread of Indo-European languages (white arrows) and geographic distribution of the archaeological cultures described in the text. Wolfgang Haak

European invasion: DNA reveals the origins of modern Europeans

Europe is famously tesselated, with different cultural and language groups clustering in different regions. But how did they all get there? And how are they related?

Top contributors

More