Around the mid-sixth century BCE, Greek vase-painters began depicting mythological episodes involving the hero Herakles set in Libya and Egypt. While these are typically seen as visualizations of Greek preoccupation with barbarian “others,” closer examination reveals a more complex reality.

The publication of a new edition of Eric Cline’s book 1177 BC causes Josho to think about how we frame “collapse”, and whether the end of hierarchical societies is really as bad as many scholars seem to suggest.

Our understanding of ethnic diversity within the classical world owes much to how museums have curated their Greco-Roman antiquities. These collections were strongly influenced by the interests and values of the original collectors themselves, many of whom were antiquarians living and working in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This article raises the question of whether their traditions have had an impact on how we understand and curate Black bodies in Greco-Roman galleries today.

In Early Iron Age Kommos, joint participation in religious activity by Cretans and Phoenicians may have fostered a shared identity and ensured peaceful collaboration and coexistence.

Why would nineteenth-century abolitionists be attracted to the work of slave-owning leaders in ancient Greece and Rome? The answer shows us how using difficult histories can help fuel moral movements.

Continuing her series on network analysis, Arianna explains how graphs are not only tools to use in your research, but also powerful instruments to show your results to others. She explains how you can manipulate your graphs to present information.

In celebration of Black History Month in North America, Ancient World Magazine is publishing a short series of articles looking at the reception of antiquity in the African diaspora and African peoples in the ancient world.

In this three-part series, Daniel looks at the Athenian symposium from three different perspectives to fully understand what really went on at ancient Greek house parties. This first part will explore the personal gains from attending a symposium.

The most studied aspect of the ancient world is its political history. Whether it’s a critical narrative of Roman history or a detailed look at the structure of the polis, politics are central. But how we understand politics and its ostensibly substantive equivalent, the state, is no less subjective than any other aspect of historical analysis. However, this subjectivity is often overlooked.

The Greek-mythology themed game Hades was fully released by Supergiant Games in September 2020, and has since been named “Game of the Year” by several gaming publications. What is it about this story of the son of Hades fighting his way out of the underworld that appealed in a year from hell?