Recently published

When Roman forces burned the Temple in Jerusalem in AD 70, the Flavian dynasty thought it had defeated the Jewish god in the name of Jupiter. It was mistaken. 

For most Egyptians independence came with the revolution of July 1952, not with the end of the British protectorate in February 1922. Yet, as the experiences of three patriotic writers show, independence did not mean freedom.

In March 1722 rebellious Afghan forces laid siege to the Safavid capital. Was the great Iranian empire on the brink of collapse?

‘As an immigrant, I wanted to understand the roots of my adopted country.’

Sherlock Holmes is the 19th century’s most famous cocaine user, but why did he take it? 

An extravagantly entertaining account of a medieval ‘theatre state’.

Letters discovered in 2015 get us closer to understanding the tragic truth of the royal murder-suicide of Crown Prince Rudolf and Baroness Mary Vetsera at Mayerling.

The spread of Hellenic ideas from Greece to the world.