Category: Ancient
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Artemisia between Herodotus and the High Middle Ages
After the extreme fictionalization of Artemisia in the blockbuster 300: Rise of an Empire (2014), I wondered how historians depicted her throughout history. What survives leaves massive gaps in the historiography, but what remains creates a narrative that remains true to Herodotus’s original depiction of Artemisia. After Salamis, the fate of Artemisia remains lost to history. Based…
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The Artemisia of Herodotus was Complex
Historians were less than disappointed with the portrayal of Artemisia in the Hollywood blockbuster 300: Rise of an Empire (2014). In order to understand their disappointment, it is necessary to establish Herodotus (c. 484-425 BC) and his work, The Histories, as the basis for most of what we know of Artemisia today. Among surviving ancient…
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Will anyone remember Artemisia, Themistocles, or Salamis?
It can be difficult to quantify the impact a historical film has on popular memory, especially with a film such as 300: Rise of an Empire (2014) that merely appropriates historical names, places, and events. While it gained mediocre reviews at best and failed to live up to 300 (2007), the film still grossed $330…
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Book Review: Hannibal: A Hellenistic Life
MacDonald, Eve. Hannibal: A Hellenistic Life. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2015. Pp. 323. ISBN 978-0-300-15204-3. $38.00. Using the prisms of the Roman perspective and the Hellenistic world (chapter 1), Eve MacDonald crafts a narrative that follows Rome and Carthage through the First Punic War and Carthage’s own civil war (chapter 2), the rise of…
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Alexander’s heroic and divine nature on my middle finger
Among the countless tourist shops in Athens, I stumbled across a jeweler who had the perfect decoration for my finger. The jeweler made a replica of a famous coin depicting Alexander the Great on one side, or so I thought. The other side depicts Zeus. After I had time to do some digging, I learned…
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Barry Strauss’ storytelling drives ‘Death of Caesar’
It took 60 conspirators guarded by as many as 100 gladiators to assassinate Julius Caesar in the middle of a Senate session. Of his 23 wounds, only one was fatal. Meanwhile, the rest of Rome – including Mark Antony, Cleopatra, and Cicero – was clueless.
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Greek Depictions of Augustus in Life and Death
I was fortunate to come across two strikingly different depictions of Roman Emperor Augustus (r. 27 BC – 19 AD) while in Greece last year. These depictions, one made during his rule and the other after his rule, give us a clue as to how Augustus wanted to be portrayed and how people portrayed him…
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Has Hanson Abandoned the Western Way of War?
Victor Davis Hanson started the debate on whether there is a Western Way of War, the concept of frontal infantry assaults started by the Greeks, which was discernable from other modes of warfare and often superior. However, he has seemingly lost all interest in the concept. In The First Clash (2011), Jim Lacey makes an astute…
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Herodotus through the 24-hr News Cycle
While I was reading and tweeting Herodotus, I became inspired to produce a half dozen mock images of his stories as though Fox News or MSNBC reported them. My only goal was to bring more attention to Herodotus. In case you missed any of them, here they all are in one place (click for a…
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Live Review of 300: Rise of an Empire
For those of you who missed it, here are the tweets from my live review of 300: Rise of an Empire. I saw the movie twice and on the second viewing, I decided to review live. Also, I was sure not to bother the other patrons with my mobile phone use. I am tweeting all…
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Why I’m tweeting Herodotus
About a week ago, I started tweeting as I read Herodotus. It started as a trickle, but the past few days have yielded dozens of tweets from this ancient historian. Aside from the usual updates and sarcastic quips, I have tweeted everything I get out of Herodotus. This started as quotes, but now includes summaries…
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Renaissance-era Restorations to the Dying Gaul
In addition to the Dying Gaul being a remarkable piece from antiquity, the restorations of it have become part of its rich history. Originally excavated around 1620, it saw several restorations immediately afterward. While the piece seems complete now, it was missing its right arm, left knee, toes, left thumb, nose, penis, and portions of…