(this piece contains some nasty incidents- just so you know). In 133 BC King Attalus III of Pergamon died. His lands in the west of Anatolia (including coastal areas) weren’t passed to an heir, Attalus III had none. Instead he left his kingdom to Rome and it became the new province of Asia. Though this …
In 1949 three brothers in Panagyurishte, a small Bulgarian town southeast of the capital Sofia, came across a number of artefacts whilst digging for clay. In total the nine objects weighed in at just over 6kg. They were made of 24-karat gold, though their worth cannot be measured on this alone. The Panagyurishte treasure, as …
I hope the below helps with giving more context to the episode on Hannibal and his exploits from the highs of Cannae through to the lows of Zama. In the episode I mentioned previous episodes I have done on Hannibal and his battles (and much more). Here are some links to them. Hannibal in Spain. …
Whenever I get the chance I like to jump on the train and make a visit to the British Museum. It’s not just a trip, it’s a walk down memory lane. I studied for my part time MA nearby at Birkbeck and spent many an hour wandering around the place. This year I took the chance …
Something I stumbled upon many years ago was that Barbie released a Greek Goddess series in 2008. Three figures from Greek myth got the treatment, the dolls designed by Linda Kyaw. Here they are. Medusa. Curiously the first released in 2008 was Medusa, a character notable for not being a Greek goddess. In recent times …
You may not think of sports when considering the Iliad. Homer’s great work centres on the infighting and fighting at Troy. However, even back then there was time for some sporting drama. It started during the funeral games for Patroclus. Here Achilles organised a chariot race with five prizes and five charioteers step forward. First …
I hope you enjoyed the episode on Magna Graecia, as promised here is some more content (including the sources I used/ further reading) and the transcription. In case you are interested here’s the link for the museum at Pithekoussai – it’s got some great information. Perhaps one day I’ll get to visit. There is also …
It can be easy to fall into the trap of thinking pottery from antiquity as distant to ourselves in the modern day. Savage tales of heroism, brash nudity and a plethora of deities deipicted on them only serve to remind how different the ancient Greeks were. But finds can sometimes do the opposite, namely to …
Potnia Theron. For a while I’ve been considering a new tattoo, the last one I had celebrated passing my MA in Classical Civilisation and was inked back in 2003. The image I had chosen was taken from the Francois Vase, a large piece which dates to the 6th century BC. It’s an astounding piece with …
A Roman bridgehead into Britain. Recently Richborough Roman Fort has had a new addition, or rather a new version of something which stood there when the invasion of AD43 saw legionaries stepping foot on British soil. This was the reconstruction of a gateway of that period (you can read specifically about this here). The gateway …
