The experience of studying ancient history at any level is to deal with dates as amorphous and ranging. Even where we can assign a year to an event the idea that you can whittle this down to a specific date and, shock horror, an hour makes the hairs on the neck bristle. Yet this option …
The Eclipse in Antiquity. Can we provide dates from these? Read More »
In May I took the day off and journeyed up to the British Museum. I had planned on doing this anyhow, but the Feminine Power exhibition was on and so I thought I’d check it out. Here are some of the artefacts with notes. Female figurines. These formed some of the oldest pieces. From left …
A trip to the Feminine Power exhibition at the British Museum. Read More »
It was Aristotle, in his work The History of Animals, who noted that there were two types of camels. The Bactrian, who had two humps, and the dromedary who was afforded a single hump[1]. Though he may not have been the first to make this classification (as I will come to) he did allot the …
It’s possibly a question you’ve asked yourself. Wine in ancient Greece and Rome is often referred to as being cut with water, rather than drunk neat (as we do). One ide from this is that it was because the wine had a higher alcoholic content. Not so according to Dr Emlyn Dodd (@emlynkd). Dr Dodd …
If you’ve listened to the latest Ancient History Hound podcast on ghosts then you’ll have heard me mention that I’d post some bits from the episode which I mentioned. These sources I read and mentioned, maps, links, pictures and podcasts (including the one on ghosts). Maps. I referred to both Mesopotamia and Assur in the …
Night of the Livy Dead 3: Ghosts – podcast shownotes. Read More »
It’s that time of the year when I have to get creative and try to work out which Greek vase image I am going to attempt to replicate on a pumpkin. I’ve included some of the images below as well as a couple of my YouTube vlogs. There’s even a list of my Night of …
For those of you who listen to the Ancient History Hound podcast (links on the main page and available on most platforms) you might have noticed I recorded a two-parter recently. Below I have embedded both episodes so you can listen from here. I would say I hope you enjoy it, but perhaps I’ll settle …
Human sacrifice in Antiquity podcasts. Part One and Two. Read More »
(for Part One click here) Pyrrhus in Italy. Pyrrhus was one of antiquity’s more curious characters. Part Odysseus in his wanderings and Achilles in his fighting he was unfortunate to borrow from the character of Agamemnon when it came to politics. When a son asked him who he would leave his Kingdom to he answered …
In 55 BCE Pompey the Great held games as part of a dedication to a temple named Venus the Conqueror which celebrated his conquests in the East. These included beast hunts and though they were a staple of such an event the last day involved an animal which rarely featured, the elephant. Cicero’s account of …
For those of you who have followed me on twitter you may have noticed that around early October my feeds hums with the various designs I challenge myself with. You see, pumpkins are near perfect in terms of recreating images from Greek vases. They don’t offer a flat surface which I think often renders an …
