Want to win a copy of Kathryn Lomas’ The Rise of Rome? Are you a student? Check out this contest sponsored by Ancient World Magazine.

Many people may be surprised by the role the fascist leader Benito Mussolini played in conserving Roman monuments in the twentieth century CE. Alannah Campbell investigates how his regime used these monuments, which portrayed the ideals of ancient Rome, to recreate Italian supremacy in the Mediterranean two thousand years later.

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 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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.