No, the Ancient Greeks Weren’t Color Bli...

The 17th-century battlefield ushered in a new era, with formed musketeers and pistol-wielding cavalry gradually taking over from the knights and men-at-arms that had dominated the European battlefield. But knights could still be found on these battlefields as late as the 1640s, p ... Show More

In 1861, an archaeologist named James Farrer broke into a grass-covered Neolithic tomb on the Orkney Islands expecting to find ancient bones and treasure. The tomb was empty. But its walls were covered with runic inscriptions, dozens of them, carved by Norse visitors centuries ea ... Show More

When the First Crusade arrived at the walls of Antioch in 1097, the two most powerful Muslim rulers in Syria were not preparing a joint defense. They were trying to destroy each other. Ridwan of Aleppo and his brother Duqaq of Damascus had been locked in a fratricidal war over th ... Show More

<p>In his epic poem, <em>The</em> <em>Odyssey</em>, Homer mentions the colors black, white, red, and yellow. But despite numerous mentions of the brilliant Greek sea and sky, the word blue never makes an appearance. </p> <p>This omission set off a debate between perception and la ... Show More

There's so, so much more to the concept of "Homer" than a blind poet from Archaic Greece. In fact, there probably was never any Homer, or any Hesiod for that matter. Plus... Toxic heroes being toxic. Follow the Sententiae Antiquae twitter here, or visit the site for loads of anci ... Show More

He was a blind poet whose stories of heroes and gods helped launch an incredible era of literary and cultural flourishing. History of Literature host Jacke Wilson takes a look at the influence that Homer had on the minds of Ancient Greece – and the resonance that the epic poems T ... Show More

<p>The Iliad and the Odyssey are two of the world’s most famous poems. But who was their author, Homer, and how have his name and poems survived so long, preserved for almost 3 millennia?</p><br><p>In this episode of The Ancients, Tristan is joined once again by author, classicis ... Show More

The ancient Greeks weren't all gods and monsters. Herodotus was the world's first historian, he travelled the region writing down stories of the recent past. We discuss how he accounts for some of the most famous myths of the Greek world, and some of the badass women he wrote abo ... Show More

Which ancient civilization *didn't* have a flood myth, that's the real question! It's time for the full story of the flood myth of the ancient Greeks, the Great Deluge and Deucalion and Pyrrha.CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. Given it's fiction, and typically invo ... Show More

When we think of Western philosophers who pondered questions about the good life, we typically think of the classical era of Greece and the likes of Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle. But my guest would say that the poets and philosophers who came out of the preceding period, Greece ... Show More

In the grand scheme of history, modern reality is a bizarre exception when compared to the worlds of ancient, precolonial and Indigenous civilizations, where myths ruled and gods roamed, says historian Greg Anderson. So why do Westerners today think they're right about reality an ... Show More