Ancient History Magazine

Editor-in-chief: Jasper Oorthuys Editor: Owain Williams Assistant editor: Lauren van Zoonen Proofreading: Naomi Munts Design & Media: Christianne C. Beall Contributors: Barbara Boczar, Mirko Canevaro, Kalliopi Efkleidou, Paul Erdkamp, Manon Henzen, L

The term conspicuous consumption, first coined by Thorstein Veblen in 1899, refers to the excessive expenditure by economic and social elites to demonstrate just how wealthy and powerful they are. Today, we see this type of behaviour among the superr

Lab analysis of ancient faecal matter recovered from two latrines in Jerusalem dating back to the seventh to sixth century BC has proved conclusively the presence of a microorganism known to cause debilitating diarrhoea in humans. The research team l

Evidence for the oldest surviving codex-form book has been discovered among material that was later repurposed in antiquity for use on a mummy. The discovery was made purely by chance during routine work on papyrus fragments in the Special Collection

The Instituto de Arqueología de Mérida (IAM-CSIC) has revealed the remains of five anthropomorphic reliefs dating from the fifth century BC found at the site of Casas del Turuñuelo, Badajoz in Spain. Two of the figurative reliefs are almost complete

This was the eighth part of a series on papyrology. In issue 36 of Ancient History we offered a general introduction. In the next issue, we explained how easy it is to create a plausible-looking fake. With a couple of exceptions, such as the Leiden A

A round the year 480 BC, a woman of some status was buried at the base of the flat-topped hillfort of Mont Lassois, near the upper Seine River. While hers was only one grave in a larger necropolis, the Woman of Vix clearly stood out. The grave goods

Competition held a position of great importance in archaic Greece, so much so that the period has been called a culture of competition. Athletic prowess was a marker of one's quality to the Greeks. Cleisthenes, tyrant of Sicyon in the sixth century,

As Roman society placed ever more emphasis on ostentatious domestic display, several distinct styles began to develop, which are usually broken down into a number of ‘phases' or ‘styles'. Some of the most well-known are the four phases of wall painti

The series of tombs along the Appian Way is one of the most representative examples of how grave monuments contribute to conveying the memory of both famous and lesser-known individuals. In the Republic, the area became typically associated with the

In the spring of 384 BC Plato was on his way home from Syracuse, the greatest Greek city in Sicily. He had left Athens the previous year for an extended visit to southern Italy and Sicily. Several ancient biographers tell us that at least one of his

ISBN: 978-9464260779 Sidestone Press (2022) - €35.00 www.sidestone.com I was very excited to read this book. Unfortunately, by the end, I was sorely disappointed. Mull purports to use Greek myths as a source of evidence for Bronze Age trade. In some

ISBN: 978-1788162906 Profile Books (2022) - £25.00 www.profilebooks.com When we think of Greek and Roman sculpture, we tend to think of Polykleitos' “Spear Bearer” or the “Augustus Prima Porta”, their well-muscled bodies and serene expressions encaps

By Nick Fisher and Hans van Wees The Classical Press of Wales, 2011 ISBN: 978-1905125487 The Greeks are described as having a ‘culture of competition', but competition and competitive displays are by no means restricted to them. This volume contains