ancient greece Archives – AncientBlogger
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Each year in Athens women from across all levels of society would climb ladders and make their way onto rooftops for the Adonia. This was a festival mourning the death of Adonis, a mortal beloved by Aphrodite. The grief of the goddess was so heavy that it led to a separate ritual for those suffering […]
The Adonia: women on rooftops in ancient Athens. Read More »
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Odysseus will soon be on the big screen as part of Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey. Recent images released of Matt Damon as the eponymous hero brought much commentary, not all of it warm. For many the look was drab and at best resembled a mash up of what Hollywood considered ancient Greek. This isn’t a new
Odysseus and the boar’s tusk helmet Read More »
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The ancient Olympics were a pinnacle of physical performance but twinned with this need to succeed was something less noble, cheating. Perhaps it shouldn’t be that much of a shock – in Homer’s Iliad the chariot race at the funeral games for Patroclus has Menelaus seething at what he percieved was an illegal move made
Ancient Olympics and cheating Read More »
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For the ancient Greeks love wasn’t a singular thing. It manifested in a number of types and to help illustrate this Aphrodite had a retinue which represented the variations. They were often referred to as Erotes and here is a bit about them. If you are interested in more Aphrodite related content there’s a podcast
Aphrodite and her Erotes Read More »
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The below figurine is of a Greek deity you will be familiar with, namely Artemis. But look closer and you might notice something unusual. The cap Artemis wears is a Thracian or Phrygian cap, this was an item of clothing which belonged to the neighbours of the ancient Greeks (this features in a previous article
Artemis Bendis Read More »
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In a recent Ancient History Hound minisode I spoke about a number of gifts which, well, didn’t go so well. Here’s a few instances of gifts from Mesopotamia and Greece which had the sort of outcomes which weren’t expected by the recipient. Mesopotamia. We have references to gifts and the situations behind them in cuneiform
Ancient gifts gone wrong. Read More »
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Lovers in Arms. The story of how Athens formed its democracy is a complex one, it’s a tale of tyrants, opportunists and unlikely allies (I recorded an episode on Archaic Athens and Democracy for my podcast if you want a wider and more in-depth discussion). One story which was linked to the foundation of democracy
The Tyrannicides – a democratic myth? Read More »
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I’ve long been a football fan and as such when I heard that there was an Italian football team embracing a greek myth I had to learn more. Circe, the myth. The character of Circe is one of the famous visits which Odysseus makes, you may remember how she turned Odysseu’s men to swine and
Circe and Calcio! Read More »
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I hope you enjoyed the episode. It was tricky not to go too much into how Thucydides framed the expedition from the get go, but I did an episode on this titled ‘Wish you weren’t here: The Sicilian Expedition‘ which you can find on the podcast. I also hope you got my hand-map, as you
The Sicilian Expedition. Episode notes Read More »
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The Isthmus of Corinth. Mainland Greece is connected to its southern Peloponnese, a peninsula, by a narrow isthmus. This is a narrow strip of land, approximately 6km, rising to 80 metres above sea level. To the east of it is the Saronic gulf and the west is the Gulf of Corinth. When viewed from above
The Diolkos, a Corinthian curioisity. Read More »