Since antiquity people have harnessed sound as a weapon, and the practice continues – in new high-tech ways – today.
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Articles on Ancient Rome
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Mulled wine has been around for at least 2,000 years.
Pompeii is remembered as a place of surprising liberality – but the ‘masturbating man’ is probably a far less lurid tale than assumed.
A patchwork of Roman laws (including Rome’s complex murder laws) sought to address coercive and violent behaviour
We tend to romanticise the Christmas season, that time of year when we gather with friends and family, feast and be merry. But for most of its history Christmas has been a time of sordid behaviour.
Scent and magic have been entwined in our imaginations for centuries – right up to today’s witch-inspired perfumes.
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.
The classical tradition has long excluded anyone who wasn’t white. But a succession of Black female artists have attempted to broaden these ossified boundaries.
While they weren’t living through a pandemic, citizens of ancient Pompeii weren’t strangers to societal stress.
Voices on the extremes don’t represent society.
New technology mapped the buried ancient Roman site of Falerii Novi. Now archaeologists have started targeted excavation and soil testing to reveal details of life from more than 2,000 years ago.
People have painted on cave walls and written on clay and wax tablets, papyrus and paper made from wood. Could screens replace paper someday?
The domed neoclassical Capitol building was inspired by European cathedrals and the Roman Pantheon – shrines to imperial power, not rule by and for the people.
How on earth did an obscure Roman social practice end up lending its name to a modern psychedelic?
Pompeii was so famous in the ancient world for its wine other regions made counterfeit wine, sold in imitation ceramic jars.
The role of witches in society relates directly to the role of women in society. And during times of social upheaval and changes, witches represent access to women’s power.
Crowds, albeit smaller ones, will again watch the AFL and NRL grand finals. Crowds can bring people together but, since the time of the Roman republic, they have also expressed political dissent.
Believed to possess magical qualities, amulets were once widely used. They range from amber pendants worn during Denmark’s Mesolithic age to wind chimes found at Pompeii.
The Roman Stoic Seneca is the author of many letters and dialogues that can help us overcome adversity.
They might not really fly on broomsticks or cast spells, but the witches and wizards of books and films are based on real people.
Top contributors
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Associate Professor of Classics and Head of the Centre for Classical Studies, Australian National University
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Senior Lecturer in Classics, University of Roehampton
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Professor of Classics, University of Newcastle
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Associate Professor of Classics, College of the Holy Cross
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Paul Eliadis Chair of Classics and Ancient History, The University of Queensland
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Head, Public Engagement, Chau Chak Wing Museum, University of Sydney
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Lecturer in Roman Archaeology and Art, Royal Holloway University of London
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Professor, Department of Classics and Ancient History, University of Sydney
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Lecturer in Ancient History, Cardiff University
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Assistant Director of Archaeology, British School at Rome; Honorary Postdoctoral Fellow, Macquarie University; Research Affiliate, Australian Archaeological Institute at Athens, Macquarie University
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Professor of Science Communication and Chemistry, University of Hull
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Professor of Politics, University of Sussex
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Associate Professor in Philosophy, Deakin University
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Professor of Classical Studies, Brandeis University
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Senior Lecturer in Classics, Swansea University
