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.

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.

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?

J.R.R. Tolkien described The Lord of the Rings as a fundamentally Catholic work. But a close reading of the epic novel reveals many more influences, including a connection between Mithras and the wizard Gandalf, whose Elvish name is Mithrandir.

On the southern coast of Crete, a little north of Matala, lies Kommos, the site of a Minoan harbour town. While not open to the public, you can get a good sense of the site from behind the fences.