The Panathenaia was a festival organized in Athens to celebrate the city’s patron goddess, Athena. The prize for winning a competition was a large, black-figure amphora filled with olive oil.

Shortly before the Persian Wars, the ancient Greeks developed a new ritual, known as the sphagia, in which a male sacrificial animal would be killed shortly before the start of a battle.

Phallic imagery was popular in ancient Roman society. In this article, Adam Parker explores their use as powerful amulets against malignant forces.

From the Bronze Age citadel of Mycenae comes a plaster head of a figure with a penetrating gaze, white skin, and red rosettes on the forehead, cheeks, and chin. Who or what does this figure represent?

One of the most impressive structures of ancient Rome, the Pantheon was a temple dedicated to all the gods. The main room consisted of a large cylindrical drum topped by a dome, with a central hole or oculus allowing for light and air – and rain! – to pass through.

The ancient Greek symposium was a drinking party in which the participants engaged in a number of activities. In this article, Daniel Woon focuses on cultural aspects of the symposium.

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?

About 8 km south of Rethymno, along the road to Spili, lies the well-signposted archaeological site of Armenoi. It is a cemetery with more than 200 chamber tombs dated to the Late Bronze Age.

The Apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla is a fascinating read that enjoyed wide popularity for centuries. It presented Thecla as a powerful figure who overshadows Paul. Thecla made an unexpected decision which meant that through Christianity she was actually liberated from the concerns of the body and from the dominion of a future marriage.

Our ideas of the past are often based on mere scraps of evidence. Nowhere is this more literally true than when it comes to reconstructing ancient wall-paintings, such as the “Saffron Gatherer” from Knossos.