

Curating in colour
Seeing Blackness in post-18th century Greco-Roman collecting culture
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.

The state of the state
Why it matters for the ancient world
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.


Mithra-ndir
Gandalf and the Roman cult of Mithras
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.

An ancient, sacred place
The Melidoni Cave near Rethymno, Crete
Located about 30 km east of Rethymno is Gerontospilios (“Old Cave”), more commonly referred to in English as the Melidoni Cave, an underground site of great historical significance.

Carved into rock
The so-called “caves” (tombs) at Matala
Located on the southern coast of Crete, Matala is a modern beach-side resort with a history that stretches back to ancient times. The only visible remains of the distant past are the artificial caves near the beach.

A rogue general and the sack of Rome
Alaric, the commander who led the sack of Rome in AD 410, is often depicted as a wild barbarian. In truth, he had had a long and distinguished career as a general in the Roman army.

Production activities at archaeological sites
Proceedings of a workshop
An interesting look at archaeological research that focuses on all aspects of the production process, from the procurement of raw materials to the use of finished products.

Sieges in the Ancient Mediterranean
A new Companion published by Brill
This book, based on a workshop on fortifications and sieges, features a collection of papers that deal with siegecraft among the ancient Assyrians, Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans.

Warfare and Society in the Barbarian West
A book from 2003 by Guy Halsall
People studying the first half of antiquity, with free cities and omens and cuneiform, don’t always pay attention to the very end, with kingdoms and Christians and clumsy Latin. But the people studying the end of antiquity have some exciting stories to tell, and they face some of the same problems as people studying Early Greece.

“Not just lions in the Colosseum”
How the Romans acquired wild animals
The ancient Romans organized games, the venationes, in which wild animals were often an integral component. But where did the Romans find these animals, and how did they get them to Rome?