November 2018

Ancient Greek heroes at play
On a black-figure amphora by Exekias, the Greek heroes Achilles and Ajax are shown playing a game to while away the hours at Troy.

Roman girls in “bikinis”
A mosaic from the Villa Romana del Casale
One of many beautiful mosaics from a large Roman villa near Piazza Armerina, Sicily, features girls dressed in what look like bikinis.

Assassin's Creed: Odyssey
Exploring Cephalonia
Continuing our adventure, we explore the island of Cephalonia. Comments on ancient Greek mercenaries, clothing, architecture, and more.

Gods of Egypt in Leiden
Review of a new exhibition
A new exhibition about the Egyptian deities in the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden is interesting, but workmanlike.

Wine culture in the Hellenistic Mediterranean
What is true now was true in antiquity, too: wine is always good business. Tracing Mediterranean wine culture, this article focuses especially on the last three centuries BC.

Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey
The first hour or so
Set around the start of the Peloponnesian War (431 BC), Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey offers an interesting take on ancient Greece.

Rise of the Early Roman Republic
A discussion on Roman “civism” by Thomas L. Dynneson
Any book that attempts to understand Early Rome is fraught with difficulty; some sink while others float. Thomas Dynneson’s work may be found somewhere in between.

History of Carthage, part 1
In this first part of a series on the history of Carthage, Joshua Hall and Josho Brouwers talk about Phoenicians and colonization.

Meeting the gods
Encountering the Temple of Apollo on Ortygia
On a cool spring night, an ancient historian found himself face-to-face with the gods whilst strolling Ortygia.

Ancient Greek shield blazons
Greek shields from at least the later eighth century BC onwards were often decorated with abstract or figurative blazons.