Ancient greece
Boris Johnson is no Pericles
Boris Johnson’s Unleashed imagines him, like Cincinnatus, leaving his plough, saving Rome, and returning to it. But given that Boris…
The first Olympian: what was there to celebrate about Heracles?
However great the achievements of athletes at the Olympic Games – and even more so the Paralympics – there will…
How Ancient Greece handled riots
Riots are difficult enough for us to deal with, let alone for the ancients, who had neither police nor prisons;…
The Greek guide to swearing an oath
A lawyer who wished to serve on a jury but was no Christian was given permission to swear his oath…
How to crack election jokes like a Greek
As the party of the lost and the party of the losers square up to each other, the next few…
On the trail of Roman Turkey with Don McCullin
Barnaby Rogerson on how his collaboration with a great photographer has brought the ancient world very close
How the ancients treated gout
Medical problems come and go in the media, and at the moment the flavour of the month appears to be…
The ancient problem of the man who threw away £150m in bitcoin
James Howells has spent years trying to persuade Newport council to allow him to spend millions digging up a rubbish…
The unflattering truth about the battle for No. 10
The battle to be PM raises the question: in a functioning democracy, how should arguments be won? Surely, by persuasion.…
30,000 gallons of wine, 2,000 golden bulls and a three-month party: how the ancients celebrated
The ancients certainly knew how to put on a celebration. Let us hope the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee comes up to…
The ancient Greek ship that was too big for any harbour
The biggest cruise ship yet builthas just been launched, but in like-for-like terms, it comes nowhere near the Syracusia,built c.…
The age-old story of strongmen
The only good news, after the massacres in Ukraine, is that so many ugly behemoth super-yachts have been seized and…
Could today’s Hollywood stars have made it in ancient Greece?
The Oscar frenzy spent, it is worth reflecting on how easy writers and actors have it these days. The ancient…
The Greek myths are always with us
Once upon a time there was a collection of stories that everybody loved. They involved brave heroes such as Perseus…
Will Colston’s statue wreak its revenge?
The statue of the Bristol merchant Edward Colston is apparently guilty of a hate crime. Let us hope that the…
Would the ancient Greeks have agreed that children are born evil?
The ‘social mobility tsar’ Katharine Birbalsingh has suggested that children, born evil, ‘need to be taught right from wrong and…
Twitter has taken the place of the ancient curse-tablet
Twitter and other easily accessible means of online communication have encouraged the public to believe that Their Voice Will Be…
How the ancients handled refugees
Hardly a day goes by without headlines about immigrants, asylum-seekers and refugees. In the ancient world, movements of people were…
The ancients knew politicians were powerless
Why are cabinet ministers Liz Truss and Dominic Raab squabbling like children over access to grace-and-favour Chevening? Because they know…
How the ancients kept people behaving responsibly
The Prime Minister is urging citizens not to throw caution to the winds when lockdown ends on 19 July but…
What the EU could learn from the Athenian Empire
The EU has regularly been likened to the Roman Empire. But its current direction suggests that the Athenian Empire (478-404…
The best podcasts to be enjoyed at 4 a.m.
Now that all of the billionaires are going into space, the night sky holds a special new kind of allure.…
