Ancient Greece

Marble bust of Thucydides. Totontonian new/Alamy Stock Photo.

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 Cave, Flemish school, 16th century. Bridgeman Images.

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.

Automedon with the horses of Achilles, by Henri Regnault, 1868. Museum of Fine Arts Boston. Public Domain.

‘Epic of the Earth’ by Edith Hall review

Epic of the Earth: Reading Homer’s Iliad in the Fight for a Dying World by Edith Hall sees the signs of environmental collapse amid the adventures of Achilles.

Statue of Euripides in the Vatican. Photograph by James Anderson, 1859. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. Public Domain.

Euripides’ Lost Plays

One of Greek tragedy’s ‘big names’, Euripides survives largely in scraps and fragments. What can 78 new lines from Ino and Polyidus reveal?

Young Spartan Girls Challenging Boys, by Edgar Degas, c. 1860. Art Institute of Chicago. Public Domain.

‘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.

The Trojan Horse on the Mykonos Vase, c.675 BC. akg-images.

Was the Trojan Horse Real?

Did the Greeks really trick their way into Troy inside a gigantic wooden horse?

Bronze juror’s identification ticket, Greek, fourth century BC. Rogers Fund, 1907, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

Power and Populism in Ancient Greek Courts

In ancient Greece the ‘least dangerous’ branch of government – the courts – wielded serious political power.

A white marble Roman head of Plato, 3rd century AD.

Plato of Athens by Robin Waterfield review

Well-researched and attractively written, Plato of Athens: A Life in Philosophy by Robin Waterfield grapples with a life that left few records.

Achilles tending Patroclus wounded by an arrow, identified by inscriptions on the upper part of the vase.

Homer and His Iliad by Robin Lane Fox review

Homer and His Iliad by Robin Lane Fox is a masterly survey of the Iliad, its majesty, its pathos and its unparalleled progression from wrath to pity.