Rubio in Athens
During his speech in the Greek capital, the US secretary of state dispensed with the hypocrisy that has cloaked America’s globe-spanning ambition in recent decades.
Brian Stewart
· 26 min read
Ancient History
A collection of 37 posts
Treachery in the Heart of Rome: The Rise and Fall of Sejanus
In a new book chronicling the lives of ancient figures, historian Guy de la Bédoyère describes the audacious power grab that almost unseated Rome’s second emperor.
Guy de la Bédoyère
· 9 min read
Like Odysseus. But Real
Twenty-four centuries ago, Xenophon and his 10,000-man Greek army found themselves trapped at the heart of the Persian Empire. Their amazing escape, described in a new book by Robert L. O’Connell, is a tale for the ages.
Jonathan Kay
· 14 min read
Three Ancient Ways of War
In a new book, Robert O’Connell situates the battlefield tactics of ancient Greek hoplites within the grand sweep of bronze-age military history.
Robert L. O’Connell
· 16 min read
Capturing the ‘Odyssey’
Homer’s epic provides a window on to a strange, paradoxical, fascinating, beautiful, and terrifying world that is at once familiar and unfamiliar.
Mallory Young
· 8 min read
Agency and Adaptation
Humans have not merely been shaped by evolution—we have shaped it too, through the environments we chose to inhabit and the lives we chose to lead.
Tristan S. Rapp
· 8 min read
James Kierstead on Ancient Greece, Christianity, and the West | Quillette Cetera Ep. 63
Does “the West” actually exist — or is it merely a modern political myth?
Zoe Sankey, James Kierstead
· 38 min read
Israel’s Creation: The Ultimate ‘Decolonisation’ Project
Jews have had a continuous indigenous presence in the Levant for more than 3,000 years—despite enduring settler-colonial occupations by Romans, Arabs, Crusaders, and Turks.
Roy Altman
· 12 min read
The UN’s Historically Selective Denunciation of Human Bondage
The transatlantic slave trade was a monstrous crime against humanity. Yet it represented just one example of an ancient evil that spanned many civilisations.
Brian Stewart
· 9 min read
Podcast #332: The Historical Case for Israel
In a new book, US District Court Judge Roy Altman traces Jews’ indigenous presence in the holy land over the last 3,231 years.
Quillette
· 3 min read
Podcast #318: Christmas in Byzantium
Jonathan Kay speaks with History of Byzantium podcast host Robin Pierson about the Christian traditions and imperial culture that took root in the eastern half of the Roman Empire.
Quillette
· 3 min read
The Gospel According to Pasolini
Pasolini's 1964 film reimagines the gospels as fundamentally Jewish stories.
Robert Huddleston
· 8 min read
Podcast #312: Ancient Christianities: The First 500 Years
Jonathan Kay speaks with scholar Paula Fredriksen, whose new book describes the theological diversity that existed among Christian communities before Nicene Christianity was adopted as Rome’s state religion in the fourth century.
Quillette
· 27 min read
Holding Out for a Hero
From Achilles to Anakin Skywalker, the messiah myth has evolved from religious prophecy to cautionary tale.
Stewart Slater
· 12 min read
The Bronze Age Energy Crisis
How a supply chain failure brought down an ancient civilisation: a tale with disturbing implications for present day societies with their brittle energy logistics.
Joseph Zeller
· 9 min read