Book review – ancient history
Horoscopes and horror – the reign of Septimius Severus
Notoriously brutal and superstitious, Rome’s first African emperor was responsible for killing of his rivals on an unprecedented scale as well as genocide against the Scots
Symbols of eternity
On the banks of the River Thames in central London, an ancient Egyptian obelisk, known as Cleopatra’s Needle, reaches towards…
War on Mount Olympus
It is a curious fact that the modern Hebrew for ‘atheist’, Tim Whitmarsh notes in passing, is apikoros. The word…
On the way to the Forum
It’s strange that tourists rarely visit the most famous site in Roman history. The spot in Pompey’s assembly hall where…
The glory that was Greece
Financial crises are nothing new in Greece. Back in 354 BC, at a time when Frankfurt was still a swamp,…
A neglected corner of Roman history
When Ovid was seeking ‘cures for love’, the most efficient remedy, he wrote, was for a young man to watch…
Shades of the prison house
A few months ago I went to a lunch at Univ, my old college in Oxford, to celebrate the 95th…
Beautiful losers
The ‘Great Kings’ of Persia were renowned for their good looks and imposing stature, but they will always, throughout history, be eclipsed by the Greeks, says Tom Holland
Not many good jokes on the way to the forum
At the beginning of The Art of Poetry, Horace tells a story that, he promises, will make anyone laugh: ‘If…
Noble cities of the dead
The first visitor to take a break on the Bay of Naples was Hercules. He had just defeated some rebellious…
‘Tell it not in the future’
Sam Leith finds the most sacred site of Ancient Greece still a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma
A treasure-trove of wonders
How many writers would give their eye teeth to have a book reissued 2,500 years after their death? It certainly…
