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Mycenae: Behind the Myths

Mycenae: Behind the Myths

The author of a new novel on Clytemnestra writes about the ancient city that was central to so many myths.
Susan C. Wilson

Mycenae: Behind the Myths Most ancient Greek myths take place during a heroic age, when men fought with monsters and gods walked among us. The roots of these myths are in an often-overlooked period of Greek prehistory: the Bronze Age. The Greek poet Hesiod identifies...

Books of 2023 From Aspects of History

Books of 2023 From Aspects of History

Our authors and contributors recommend books they've enjoyed this year

Books of 2023 from Aspects of HistoryAlan Bardos Author of The Dardanelles ConspiracyMy book of the year is SAS Forged in Hell. The next instalment of Damien Lewis’ WW II odyssey with the men of 1 SAS, as they become the ‘tip of the spear’ in the invasion of Sicily...

A Family History of the World

A Family History of the World

Our editor met Simon Sebag Montefiore in 2022 to talk historical events and families, interspersed with current affairs such as Ukraine and Iran.
Oliver Webb-Carter

On the day I meet with Simon Sebag Montefiore to discuss his new book, The World: A Family History, the Russians have plundered the body of Prince Grigory Potemkin who was the subject of Sebag’s breakthrough book in 2001. Catherine the Great & Potemkin (Aspects of...

The World: A Family History, by Simon Sebag Montefiore

The World: A Family History, by Simon Sebag Montefiore

An expansive, enlightening, and entertaining history of some of humanity’s most interesting characters.
Luke Pepera

An expansive, enlightening, and entertaining history of some of humanity’s most interesting characters. The first thing worth mentioning about Simon Sebag-Montefiore’s The World is that it wholly delivers on the promise of its title and its synopsis. If you are by...

The Rise of Cyrus the Great

The Rise of Cyrus the Great

The Achaemenid Empire was the greatest the world had ever seen, spanning from the Greek cities on the coast of Asia Minor to the mountains of Afghanistan. Its founder was Cyrus, a ruler whose achievements made him truly ‘Great’.
Matt Waters

Shortly after Cyrus the Great conquered the Babylonian Empire in 539 BC, he dedicated inscriptions commemorating his achievements, to wit: “The great gods have delivered into my hands all the lands, and I caused the land to live in peace.” With much of the known world...

The Assyrian Homeland

The Assyrian Homeland

What were the borders of the Assyrians?
Mark Healy

The Assyrian Homeland To the Assyrians, the ‘Land of Ashur’, the mat Ashur – a term first employed in the Middle Assyrian kingdom – embraced not just the Assyrian triangle but also the lands between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers that had been conquered in the 13th...

The Assyrian Homeland

Mark Healy on The Ancient Assyrians

The Ancient Assyrians are given a new appraisal which highlights their military and imperial achievements.
Mark Healy

Mark Healy, many congratulations on your new title, The Ancient Assyrians: Empire and Army. Who were the Assyrians? We would locate Assyria in the northern half of modern Iraq. The name Assyria derives from that of its chief god, Ashur. Assyria = ’the land of Ashur’....

CVHF 2023: Day 3

CVHF 2023: Day 3

Wednesday was a day of Hollands.

CVHF 2023: Day 3 The V-Bombers - Norman Bonner & Ed Jarron with James Holland Britain And The Nuclear Threat - Julie McDowall The Pacific War 1941-45 - Saul David & Michael Neiberg The Wolf-Girl, The Greeks And The Gods: A Tale Of The Persian Wars - Tom...

CVHF 2023: Day 3

CVHF 2023: Day 1

The sun shone as is traditional on Day One of the world’s greatest festival, Chalke Valley in the glorious vales of SE Wiltshire. 

CVHF 2023: Day 1 Ashes Heroes - Mike Brearley, Gideon Haigh, Simon Hughes The Ship beneath the Ice, The Discovery of Shackleton’s Endurance – Mensun Bound How to Be: Life Lessons from the Early Greeks – Adam Nicolson Bazball This year’s opener was a crowd-pleaser, the...

Snakehead – Review

Snakehead – Review

The Medusa myth is re-imagined by playwright Samuel Rees.
Amie Bawa

Directed by acclaimed playwright Samuel Rees, Snakehead is a palatable piece of gig-theatre, offering a refreshing re-examination of the Greek mythology tale, Medusa. Over the generations, the story of Medusa depicts the snake-haired woman as a monster, with a...