Hera: Suppression of the Native Queen
Of all the unhappy couples in Greek literature perhaps the unhappiest is that of the Olympian first couple themselves. As the goddess of marriage,
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Fulvia: The “Fourth” Triumvir
History has long been unkind to Fulvia (85/80 BCE-40 BCE)—the notoriously jilted wife whom Mark Antony abandoned for the Queen of the Nile. The
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“The First War Between Women”: Olympias and Adea Eurydice
The earth turned on its axis the day Alexander the Great (356-323 BCE) died. Notorious for his unrestrained aggressivity and hard drinking, it should have come as no surprise to the Greeks that Alexander the Great would not live to see old age. Yet when the warrior king died at the age of thirty-two, it left a power vacuum the likes of which the ancient world had never seen, resulting in widespread unrest and turmoil throughout Alexander’s vast empire.
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Alexander the God
It is no wonder that Alexander the Great (356 BCE–323 BCE) was often mistaken for a god; he modeled his life on nothing less.
The Greek Temples of Paestum
Located south of Naples on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea, some twenty miles south of the Amalfi Coast stands the ancient Greek city of
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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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Giving Thanks, the Ancient Greek Way
Giving Thanks, the Ancient Greek Way Did the ancient Greeks have an autumnal festival that corresponded to the traditional Thanksgiving holiday? There was, in
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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
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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.
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