The Mysterious Eleusinian Mysteries
Conjuring up mystical images of secret initiation rites held under cover of darkness, the Eleusinian Mysteries had a reputation as a dark and dangerous festival. …
Clytemnestra: Twilight of the Matriarch
As any self-respecting Greek hero knows, sacking a city and raping its female inhabitants is hard work. So it is no wonder that after Agamemnon …
Augustus’ Draconian Marriage Laws And The Banishment Of Julia Augusti
“Let her be banished for life,” Augustus (63 BC-14 AD) is recorded as saying about the harsh exile of his only biological child, Julia, to …
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The Age of Heroes
Often recognized as the “Age of Heroes,” the Mycenaean civilization (1600 BCE-1100 BCE) was eternalized in the Homeric epics with indelible characters such as the …
The Hymn to Demeter Or The Thesmophoria – Which Came First?
Evoking early agrarian rituals which celebrated the primal mysteries of birth, death, and resurrection, the Homeric Hymn to Demeter has the distinction of being amongst …
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The Bronze Age Queen—Helen of Sparta
Celebrated as the most beautiful woman in the world, the allure of Helen of Troy née Sparta was the yardstick for which all women were …
The Slaveholding City-State Of Sparta’s Liberated Women
On the face of it, Spartans might have felt right at home living under the iron fist of the Third Reich given that this city-state—more …
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Giving Thanks, the Ancient Greek Way
The Original Thanksgiving… was only for Women? The sometimes Violent, sometimes Psychedelic Ancient Harvest Festival Dear Classical Wisdom Reader, Today hundreds of millions of Americans …
Analyzing Antigone
The playwright Sophocles (497 – 405 BCE) might have been amused to find that nearly twenty-five hundred years after writing about his eponymous heroine, the …
Advance of the Amazons
It was love at first sight when Achilles locked eyes with the famed Amazon warrior queen, Penthesilea. Romance, however, was the last thing on his …
Empress Theodora—Sinner or Saint?
The hooded gaze of an inscrutable Theodora (c.497- 548 CE) greets hundreds of thousands of visitors each year as they pay their respects to her …
The Savagery of Citizen Wives
The dominant paradigm was turned on its head when subjugated women were made autonomous by participating in a feminine fertility festival known as the Thesmophoria. …
The Bible’s Bedeviling Bad Girls: Delilah, Jezebel And Salome
It should come as no surprise to most that the biblical writers were unfair to the gentler sex. After all, ever since Eve bit into …
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