Ancient Greeks wrote their books on rolls of papyrus, but, as papyrus was expensive, they also wrote less important things on bits of pottery. They called these pieces of pottery ostraka (singular ostrakon, ὄστρακον). These…
An interesting article on the actual colours of Ancient Greece and Rome, which was much more colourful and diverse than the white marble statues in the museums would lead us to believe. The Myth of…
At first the Achaemenid army consisted wholly of Persian (Iranian) warriors, and even when other regions were subjugated, Persians formed the nucleus of the imperial army. With the expansion of the once tiny kingdom of…
“Xerxes, son of Darius, Great King of Persia & Media, King of Kings, King of all Lands”. “I am skilled in both hands and in feet. A horseman, I am a good horseman. A bowman,…
“A great god is Ahuramazda, who created this earth, who created yonder sky, who created man, who created happiness for man, who made Darius king, one king of many, one lord of many.” “I am…
By 500BCE the population of the Greek homelands stood at about 2,000,000 and the Greek appetite for food had altered and broadened from the earlier, hunting-dependant, meat based diet. All sorts of changes had taken…
Athens has a unique place in human history. As the people who pioneer the arts of history, philosophy and theatre, who attempt the first radical version of democracy, and who achieve a degree of perfection…
In ancient Greece, the great rival of Athens was Sparta. The city-state and its surrounding territory were located on the Peloponnesus, a peninsula southwest of Athens. Sparta (called Lacedaemon by themselves) was the capital of…
“Molon labe” (μολὼν λαβέ). Literally, “Come and take (them)”. This was the message sent by Leonidas, King of Sparta, to the Persian king Xerxes, when Xerxes demanded that the Greeks lay down their arms. The…