Volume 38 Issue 12 December 1988

The Ascendancy Mind

A dream world, or a culture of style that carried within it the seeds of self-destruction? Roy Foster marks the high tide of the 18th-century’s Anglo-Irish elite.

The Vikings on the Continent

Alfred the Great was not the only one to be beset by Norseman – Simon Coupland and Janet Nelson re-interpret their impact on the mainland of 9th-century Europe.

The Syrian Cuckoo: Rome and the Unconquered Sun

Running after foreign gods - Richard Stoneman explains how Rome's Syrian rival, the city of Palmyra, and her formidable queen Zenobia influenced the religion and mores of the later Empire - and brought us in the process Christmas Day.