Ancient Rome
Silent films
On 15 September 1888 Vincent van Gogh was intrigued to read an account of an up-to-date artist’s house in the…
The treasures of Alexandria revealed: British Museum’s Sunken cities reviewed
It was not so unusual for someone to turn into a god in Egypt. It happened to the Emperor Hadrian’s…
The best guide to being an EU politician – from 1,900 years ago
Boris Johnson argues that the current European Union is yet another failed attempt to replicate the golden age of a…
Why confront the ugly lie of Islamic State with a tacky fake?
Can the beauty of Palmyra be reproduced by data-driven robots? Stephen Bayley on copies, fakes and forgeries
On immigration, are we doing as the Romans did?
Last week it was suggested that the questions asked of London mayor Sadiq Khan had nothing to do with racism,…
Romans, racism and Sadiq Khan
‘Racism’ refers to the belief in racially determined inferiority, most often recognised in body-type, about which, by definition, nothing can…
Elephants are special – the Romans knew it too
In order to deter poachers, hundreds of tons of elephants’ tusks are being incinerated in Kenya. But even for Romans,…
The Camerons of the ancient world boasted about the tax they paid
As Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell whinge away about how rich David Cameron’s family is, they might consider that in…
Ancient Roman advice on how to deal with bouncers
The papers are full of top stories about important people who cannot get into important parties because the doorman does…
Long live ENO!
The three most moving, transporting death scenes in 19th-century opera all involve the respective heroines mounting a funeral pyre —…
Oscars goodie bags should take a tip from the Roman emperors
There was something admirable about the spirit of careful mockery behind the doggy bags on offer to the finalists in…
A short history of statue-toppling
Sculptural topplings provide an index of changing times, says Martin Gayford
If he’s lucky, Jeremy Corbyn might be as good on defence as Nero
Chief of the Defence Staff Sir Nicholas Houghton is worried that Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will never use the existing…
Egypt: where gods are born and go to die
Tom Holland on Egypt, where the deities were born and history itself began
The fall of the Roman republic – and the rise of the EU
As both sides of the great EU debate line up their forces, it is worth reflecting on the implications of…
John McDonnell’s true economic guru: the emperor Nero
John McDonnell, shadow chancellor in the Corbynite splinter-group, has announced that £120 billion is waiting to be reclaimed from tax…
What Tiberius could teach Jeremy Corbyn about democracy
The virtuous Mr Corbyn is insisting that New Old Labour should return to its traditional republican ways and take decisions…
How ancient Rome turned immigrants into citizens
In the migration crisis, the EU is currently acting just like the ancients, as if border controls did not exist,…
Jeremy Corbyn and what a real plebeian revolt looks like
Last week, guru Corbyn was invited to reflect on the 2,500-year-old Roman origins of the republicanism to which he is…
How to tell if Jeremy Corbyn is a proper republican
True to his antique, bearded ideology, guru Corbyn is a ‘republican’, a form of government invented 2,500 years ago. ‘Republic’…
Tips for Boris from imperial Rome
While the Labour party rakes over its past in an effort to find a policy for its future, the commentators…
Even Nazis weren’t quite sure how to do the Hitler salute
Gesture politics A royal home movie from 1933 apparently showed the future Queen, aged seven, and her mother giving a…
Vespasian’s Middle East policy (it should be ours, too)
As Ahmed Rashid argued last week, it is hard to see what the West is doing in the Middle East,…
When is a rape not a rape? Fiona Shaw's Rape of Lucretia at Glyndebourne reviewed
When is a rape not a rape? It’s an unsettling question — far more so than anything offered up by…
What Tacitus would have made of the applause at Fifa
Apparently Fifa emperor Sepp Blatter received a ten-minute standing ovation from his 400 staff when he addressed them after his…
