‘The Diver of Paestum’ by Tonio Hölscher review
The Diver of Paestum: Youth, Eros and the Sea in Ancient Greece by Tonio Hölscher – and translated by Robert Savage – searches beneath the surface for the meaning behind a beguiling fresco.
Greece
The Heroic Remains of Homer’s Odyssey
For those living on the Greek island of Ithaka, The Odyssey is written all around.
The Ancient Greek World at War
For the ancient Greeks, the Peloponnesian War was a conflict involving the entire world. For Thucydides, it was a lesson in the realities of human nature
Plato’s Last Word to Dionysius
How to reform an ancient Greek tyrant? Plato’s final advice to Dionysius the Younger was not well received.
The Violent Life of the Medieval Monks
Meant to live a life of perfect peacefulness and contemplation, in reality monks were human and fallible. How violent could life in the medieval cloister be?
50 Years of Cyprus Divided
Was the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974 inevitable?
Decoding Linear B
In a BBC interview on 1 July 1952, self-taught linguist Michael Ventris announced that he had deciphered the Linear B script of Minoan Crete.
‘Sparta and the Commemoration of War’ and ‘The Killing Ground’ review
Two very different volumes, Sparta and the Commemoration of War and The Killing Ground: A Biography of Thermopylae, grapple with the myth of Sparta.
Was the Trojan Horse Real?
Did the Greeks really trick their way into Troy inside a gigantic wooden horse?
What Do We Get Wrong About the Byzantine Empire?
Four historians evaluate perceptions of Rome’s eastern successor beyond the piety, icons, bureaucracy and gold of Byzantium.