James R. Harrison investigates how Paul's letter to the Romans might have been heard by an audience in Neronian Rome by examining the material and ideological culture of the city and setting prominent Pauline themes in juxtaposition with Roman ideological themes.
Carolynn E. Roncaglia'sNorthern Italy in the Roman World analyzes the effect of the Roman Empire on northern Italy, tracing the evolution of the region from the Bronze Age to the Gothic wars. A wealthy and strategically important region, northern Italy presents an interesting case study for examining the influence ......
The Persian Invasion of Greece and the Evacuation of Attica
Between June 480 and August 479 BC, tens of thousands of Athenians evacuated, following King Xerxes' victory at the Battle of Thermopylae. Abandoning their homes and ancestral tombs in the wake of the invading Persian army, they sought refuge abroad. Women and children were sent to one safe haven, the elderly to another, while all men of ......
Scattered through the vast expanse of stone and sand that makes up Egypt's Western Desert are several oases. These islands of green in the midst of the Sahara owe their existence to springs and wells drawing on ancient aquifers. In antiquity, as today, they supported agricultural communities, going back to Neolithic times but expanding greatly in ......
Victory at Sea and Its Tragic Aftermath in the Final Years of the Peloponnesian War
A pivotal skirmish involving nearly three hundred Athenian and Spartan ships toward the end of the Peloponnesian War, the Battle of Arginusae was at the time the largest naval battle ever fought between warring Greeks. It was a crucial win for the Athenians, since losing the battle would have led to their total defeat by Sparta and, perhaps, the ......
Since the first edition of Approaches to Greek Myth was published in 1990, interest in Greek mythology has surged. There was no simple agreement on the subject of 'myth' in classical antiquity, and there remains none today. Is myth a narrative or a performance? Can myth be separated from its context? What did myths mean to ancient Greeks and ......
In Pythagorean Women, classical scholar Sarah B Pomeroy discusses the ground breaking principles that Pythagoras established for family life in Archaic Greece, such as constituting a single standard of sexual conduct for women and men. Among the Pythagoreans, women played an important role and participated actively in the philosophical life. While ......
Scholars of ancient literature have often focused on the works and lives of major authors rather than on such questions as how these works were produced and who read them. In Roman Literary Culture, Elaine Fantham fills that void by examining the changing social and historical context of literary production in ancient Rome and its empire. ......
Alexander the Great led one of the most successful armies in history and conquered nearly the entirety of the known world while wearing armor made of cloth. How is that possible? In Reconstructing Ancient Linen Body Armor, Gregory S. Aldrete, Scott Bartell, and Alicia Aldrete provide the answer.An extensive multiyear project in experimental ......