Manolis is rested and back on track after a wonderful, sunny Easter in Greece. So, he sent me this new and exciting quiz. He invaded a town in time of truce, surrounded the theater in which an assembly was taking place, shot everybody down, then killed all adult males and sold the women and children as slaves in order to get money for his mercenary army. An ancient historian says of him: “He was a cruel and unjust robber”. Who was he? »
I have always been in favour of the popularisation of Ancient History and the Classics, since I believe that this is the only way for the discipline to remain alive. In accordance to my belief, I present here the announcement of Greek language sessions taking place outdoors in Oxford during the Spring and the Summer. Specifically, The Iris Project will be starting up a new series of free lessons for adults and families. Ancient Greek in the Park will involve a series of free hour-long weekly ses... »
“People who make history know nothing about history. You can see that in the sort of history they make.” (G.K. Chesterton, in J.A. Gere and John Sparow (eds.), Goeffrey Madan’s Notebooks, 1981) »
As you probably know, these days I am organising the Mediterranean Identities: Formation and Transformation conference in the University of Leicester, which you can also follow in my twitter account. Yesterday, one of our delegates, Norberto, asked me to set a question to the followers of this blog. I think you will find it most interesting! Who was the first Roman Imperator to die in a war against Parthia? »
“History is not what you thought. It is what you can remember” (W.C. Sellar and R.J. Yeatman, 1066 and All That, 1930) »
Manolis will not grace us today with a new quiz; so, I decided to ask a Roman question. Which Roman emperor was born in North Africa and died in Britain? »
How do you measure intelligence in antiquity? Answer the following quiz. Ancient Athenians were very clever. However, just once, they have been tricked into thinking that a specific Sicilian town was rich. The fact was that the town was very poor. Its inhabitants presented to the Athenians golden cups and bowls, which did not really belong to them. Which town was it? »
“History repeats itself. Historians repeat each other.” Philip Guedalla, Supers and Supermen, 1920. »
Manolis is inspired by the economic crisis today! In 2001, when we last used drachmas, 1000 of them was a very small amount, about 3 euros. But in antiquity when this man was fined 1000 drachmas for reminding the Athenians of their own misfortunes, it WAS a big deal. Who was he? »