The past is never dead, it isn’t even past
Stephen P. Kershaw’s new book has been published at the right time, what with an autocratic ruler recently invading a European democracy with overwhelming odds. There are always problems with direct comparisons, but one can’t help thinking of Ukraine when reading...
When visiting the Royal Tombs of the Argead dynasty at Aigai, Vergina in northern Greece, one descends a slight declining ramp, in bright sunlight with multi-coloured oleander on either side, towards a doorway at the end that is cloaked in darkness. On entering the...
Medea @Soho Place - Review Euripides' Medea is one of the more affecting tragedies emanating from 5th century Athens. For those unfamiliar, it's a sequel to Jason and the Argonauts - but if you're thinking it's in the style of the Hollywood version with Todd Armstrong...
With All Quiet on the Western Front having won the BAFTA for best film, it got me thinking as to my top 10 of war films. Now my lists are always subject to change depending on my mood, and whilst I enjoyed AQotWF, it hasn't made the list. Nor have other recent movies...
From the Questions here Which play, written by Euripides, is set in Thebes during the rule of Pentheus? The Bacchae Alexander of Macedon is known as The Great, but what number Alexander was he? Alexander III After Nero’s botched suicide attempt, Rome entered the year...
As we all celebrate Aspects of History Day – I thought I’d reflect on where AoH is after two years. The whole project: magazine, website and podcast has been hugely rewarding. After all, for the four years previously I’d worked in an obscure office at a large American...
When Alexander reached the very edge of his vast new empire on the banks of the River Indus, he wept for there were no more worlds to conquer. Having visited the British Library’s new exhibition on the great man, he might have saved his tears because the visitor can...
In the last 25 years, as far as I can tell since Quentin Tarantino arrived on the scene with Pulp Fiction, ‘medieval’ has been used as a term of insult – intended to convey a particularly brutal form of behaviour. There are plenty of historians of the Middle Ages who...
Alexander the Great in the Dock At The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom in London, on 26th October 2022, Alexander the Great stood accused of terrible crimes against humanity, the indictment of which can be found here. I witnessed the televised proceedings as...
Prior to the Cliveden Literary Festival one of its invited speakers, the great Salman Rushdie, suffered an horrific attack in upstate New York. Fortunately, Rushdie is now in recovery, but the brutal assault was a reminder that there are certain authors who really do...
