According to the Prose Edda, attributed to the Icelandic scholar Snorri Sturluson (1179-1241), the Norse gods were foreigners. They had made the trek northwards and westwards from their original home in Anatolia: the ancient city of Troy.

In the Iliad, Paris challenges the Greeks to a duel to settle the Trojan War once and for all. Menelaus accepts, but before he can kill Paris, the Trojan prince is rescued by the goddess Aphrodite. Still, why wasn’t Menelaus proclaimed the winner?

A black-figure olpe or jug, currently in the archaeological museum of Rhodes, features a scene with a character who has been identified as the god Apollo. On what is this identification based?

The ancient Greek stories about gods and heroes are set in a time long ago. Did the ancient Greeks believe that their tales were set during the period that we today refer to as the Bronze Age? The answer is no, but this requires some qualification.

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 debate about identification is front and centre of discussions about the Artemision god. But is there anything more to say about this statue than “Zeus or Poseidon”?

The century following the collapse of the Mycenaean Palaces in Greece is marked by successive destructions, but also revival. The Cycladic Islands of Naxos and Paros offer a compelling case study of these times.