Reading Homer’s Odyssey
Picking up Homer’s Odyssey and reading it ‘cold’ is not a good idea. Reading it is essential, as it (together with The Iliad) is the foundational text of Western civilization,…
The Intoxication of the Ruins of Rome
You may think you know the ruins of ancient Rome, but this book will make you think about them in new ways. Roland Mayer is Emeritus Professor of Classics at…
EXHIBIT OF ANCIENT MARBLES in Ft. Worth
The Torlonia Collection is the most important private collection of Roman marble sculptures in the world. Comprising more 622 works and a wide range of sculptural types and subjects. A…
The Conqueror’s Gift
It is typical for an author to summarise the chapters of a book in the Introduction. Sort of like a film teaser, where you get a glimpse of the best…
THE PRISM OF BEAUTY: Ancient Greeks and the Gods
Image: A Classical sculpture in Florence “It is beautiful; it has no meaning,” the French Nobel laureate André Gide remarked on Aristide Malliol’s sculpture The Mediterranean when it was shown…
When MONSTROSITY DEFINED HUMANITY
While this is a fine synthesis of the ancient Greek experience, it must be said that there is little ‘new’ in this book by Jennifer Roberts. The target audience is…
Lawless Republic
What would happen if a clique of very rich people, led by an autocrat, took over a Republic? What if he awarded grand gifts of money and power to the…
Rome’s second Emperor: Tiberius
Augustus was a hard act to follow. Rome’s first Emperor is widely considered to be one of the finest absolute rulers of all time. Quite literally, no one could measure…
Socrates and Plato: Two New Handbooks
Since everything Socrates said, or is purported to have said, is contained in the works of Plato, distinguishing between the two has always been problematic. Thus, if you going to…
Living Personification of the Marvellous
Virgil hailed him as the greatest part of his fame. He was the “living personification of the marvellous,” and a “central enhancing embellishment” of the first Roman Emperor, Augustus. And…